Who needs online dating services? I have a 7 year old niece...

My older brother, his wife and their three kids are in Calgary this weekend for a dog show (they are showing their Newfoundland, Joy, who is so so so cute and also huge but mostly adorable)

I see this brother and his family whenever I go home to my Mom's, but they've never been able to make it to visit me here, so it was nice today to have a chance to spend time with them all. All of my nephews and nieces* make me laugh harder than anyone else I know.

I went to the show this afternoon, watched them show Joy, and ended up with all three kids for the remainder of the afternoon. The kids are 12, 7 and 5, so entertaining them is a challenge. We settled on a DVD, which is a pretty common denominator for the three.

As it turns out, while I enjoyed spending time with them and they with me, my one bedroom apartment is not all that kid-friendly. Or, more accurately, not all that kid-interesting. The youngest, within seconds of walking through the door was asking where I kept all the toys. I had made them hot chocolate but I don't have a table per se. Then the middle one ate an entire box of Junior Caramels when I wasn't paying close enough attention (key quote: "You didn't tell me not to eat them all")(great moments in auntie-dom)

We went to meet up with my brother and his wife for supper, where I was treated to several awesome moments.
1. My brother and sister-in-law will probably never need to worry that their kids are keeping secrets from them. We hadn't even gotten through the door at the hotel and the kids had spilled it all: the whole box of caramels, the trick I played on them with how far it was to my house, the youngest almost getting hit by a car (oh, yeah, another great moment in auntie-dom)(I'll be surprised if they let me near the kids tomorrow), how they were fighting
2. My youngest nephew, the 5 year old, astonished me with his vocabulary when he used the word "devastating" in a sentence. (He used it incorrectly if we're going to be nit-picky about it, but where does a 5 year old learn the word "devastating"?)
And, my favorite of all, a two-parter:
3 a) when I said that my apartment isn't entirely "kid-friendly" when talking to my brother and his wife, the middle came up with the opinion that it was because I don't have kids. Then the youngest piped up with "it's because you're not pregant yet!" (seriously, what is he learning in Kindergarten?)
3 b) moments after that revelation, the middle one started grilling me about whether I would ever want to be married.
I said "Yes, one day, I would like to be married." and we all laughed.
"Well," she asked, "Like soon? Like this year?"
I wondered where she was going with this when she continued. "Rayna and me have always wanted to be cousins."
Now, the kid can pull a non sequitor like nobody's business, so i didn't immediately try to make the connection. But when she continued, it all came together for me:
"She has an uncle. I don't think HE'S married either. AND he lives in Calgary!"

My entire family: matchmakers**.


*(well, other than the brand new niece, I haven't met her yet. I'm expecting great things from her but I'll give her a little time to grow into her sense of humor. Or, you know, to be able to hold her head up.)
**(none of them has ever actually gone so far as to actually set me up with anyone, mind you, just that they all want to "hint" about various single men of their aquaintence)