Reason #9 - Hanging out with the Family is twice as fun with my nieces around

So tonight we made gingerbread houses, which is a Randall family tradition. It was some serious fun. My friend Erika came along and she and Nick created some sort of fancy castle, while I stuck to a more rustic theme. I had grand ambitions of creating my own pretzel lincoln logs, which quickly dissolved... but it was still a good time and I was pleased with the result.

As fun as gingerbread houses can be, nothing was more fun than watching the constant entertainment my niece provided. I fed Libby sour watermelons, pretzels, and marshmallows,and made her say my name and make the "fish" face 100 times. There's just something absolutely endearing about hearing a little tiny curly haired girl say "Ray Ray." We've been working on that since she was about 8 months old, so I'm glad to know that it paid off. I think she might have said my name before any other aunt or uncle. I'm not going to say that makes me her favorite, but...