I remember when my oldest nephew, Robert (who is now 14!), would have sleepovers with me, years

  ago.  Most of the time he would lay on his stomach and say, "Scratch my back, Mim.  Under the shirt."  Then, if he was still awake when I was done, he would put his arm under my neck, kiss my cheek and say, "I yuv you, Mimmy!  Good night."  And then we would fall asleep like that.  I don't think I could pay him to do that now. lol…but that's okay.  

Ross, who is almost 10, didn't like sleepovers as much as Robert did.  But he would still get all cuddly and he also asks me to scratch his back for him.  He doesn't know this yet, but part of his Christmas present this year is a 10 minute back scratch;).  I can already see his eyes lighting up!

Ryder, who is 3, is at a very cuddly stage.  He's not as into the sleepovers with me yet, although we were successful once this past summer, when he stayed with me at my parents' house one night.  He had a bout of crying, but I got him to calm down.  The other night, Ryder slept in Robert's room, while I slept in his bed.  In the morning, he opened the door and quietly whispered, "Mim, ah (are) you awake?"  My eyes were closed, and clearly I was not awake, but I lifted the covers up and he crawled into bed with me.  It was such a precious moment.  We both fell asleep, until his hand accidentally smacked me in the face, but I just fell back asleep again.  

We woke up about an hour and a half later and immediately he wanted to read his bug book from the school library.  I had a blast reading this intriguing little book about "creepy, crawly, baby bugs".  We discussed big words and I asked him big questions.  We even talked about letter sounds.  (you can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can't take the teacher out of the teacher…that doesn't sound as right when I try to write it out…you know what i mean)  

Later that morning, out of nowhere, Ryder says to me, "I wuv you, I wuv you, I wuv you, Mim!"  This was followed by a big hug and a kiss.

An awesome Christmas break it so far…yes it is. :o)