It was Uncle Mike to the rescue.  Last Monday, my sister Maureen had an appointment in Cranston, which is very close to where I live in Providence.  She asked if I could watch the girls for a couple of hours during that time.  Of course, I was happy to do so.  I’m blessed to have three beautiful nieces (Stephanie, 9, Nicole, 8, and Olivia, 6…going on 16), and a handsome nephew (Kevin, 11), and I love spending time with all of them.  This day, I would have the joy and challenge of babysitting for Nicole and Olivia.

What should I do? Admittedly, I didn’t have much of a plan.  When I arrived I said, “So, how about we go to the kids section at Borders.”  They agreed, not with a whole lot of enthusiasm.  Once we arrived, we headed to the children’s section and I could tell that we’d be there for about six minutes–six-and-a-half minutes if I was lucky.  I thought to myself, “Oh boy, how am I going to drag this out without them getting bored.”  Then I had an epiphany: Toys R Us is close by! I had them choose one book each and we headed to the checkout line. Read more »