Just another Saturday morning...with Davis Jake.

We had my nephew, Davis Jake, over for a Saturday morning play date with Joey. Joey loves Davis a lot. And, I ain't kiddin' about that. So, we had him over, and in hopes that Davis' mom and dad would have a tiny sliver of alone time before that baby enters this world!

Here's what I like about having nephews over:

• You can say things like this: "What's that, Davis? You want some candy? No problem. Just don't tell your mom. And a juicebox? Sure. Some marshmallows? Coming right up. Cereal for lunch? You got it."


• You don't have to do things like this: Make them wash their face after lunch because you know they don't like it so a messy face is just fine.


• You solve problems like this: He's your cousin, and he doesn't live here, and so he gets to play with whatever he wants while he's here. End of discussion.


• You try to totally put off the "Coolest Aunt" vibe - which I DID by making edible playdough, which was a huge success.
  
• You try to teach him things that he wouldn't learn from home- like the words to "Chicken Fried" (by the end of the day, I could hear Davis singing "Cold beer on a Friday Night...A Pair of Jeans That Fit Just Right...).
  
• You take lots of pictures and give lots of hugs and steal lots of kisses because you're just not sure when he'll take a break from "playing Spiderman" ever again.


• You admire the things that he does that are just like your own kids: his love for Spiderman, how he danced to the music, how he likes weapons of all kinds, and his crazy hair. Crazy hair is a terrible Coppola gene that continues to be passed down.


• You ask him to repeat the things that he says that are the cutest, for instance "Mad Dog" for Maddox. He kept saying, "Come here, Mad Dog" and "Here you go, Mad Dog" and "No throwing, Mad Dog" and "Mad Dog hit me with a screw driver and I said 'No! No!'.

Here are some pictures from our morning with edible playdough...

I made two different recipes: Peanut Butter Playdough and Frosting Playdough.

Peanut Butter Recipe: 1 c. peanut butter; 1 cup nonfat dry milk; 2 T. honey

Frosting Recipe: 1 can chocolate frosting; 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar; 1 cup peanut butter (I added a lot of nonfat dry milk at the end to help with the consistency.

Both playdoughs were a success! Then I had ingredients for them to mix in: chocolate chips, goldfish, jellybeans, chocolates, sprinkles and Maddox dumped his juice box in his, as well. They put their Spiderman in it and played for an hour straight without leaving the table.

Here's Davis and I playing...I love this photo because Davis is ALL about Joey, but for just this moment, he stopped and tickeled me and kept saying, "Tickle, tickle, Aunt Holly!"

Joey doesn't know it yet, but his world will be a little different when Davis Jake moves to Decorah this summer....but nothing, not even 300 miles, could keep these two superheroes apart. Not when you can sling webs 400 miles and crawl on buildings and fight crime. Nope, when you're best friends AND superheroes, anything is possible. Plus, when he's bad, I plan on putting him in a box and shipping him there. Don't worry, he'll go first-class.