A few weekends ago, I flew up to Oakland and had the pleasure of meeting two wonderful little boys. The first was my new nephew Cassell, seen here laughing at his crazy aunt:

Cassell really likes singing, and since I am an accommodating crazy aunt, I sang the “Soft Kitty” song to him about six million times. (“Soft Kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur! Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr” from an episode of The Big Bang Theory.) I got some quality time in with Cassell’s older brother Griffin, too, though none of my pictures turned out. Trust me, he’s cute.

After doting on my nephews (and talking Playstation games with my brother Jeff), I headed across town to grab breakfast with Tim and Heather and to finally meet River. I loved their new apartment with its gorgeous view, and I really enjoyed our walk around the lake. But my favorite thing by far was watching how much Tim and Heather laugh with their boy River. Everything he did felt like a miracle.

I had such a wonderful weekend, surrounded by so much life and joy.