Elizabeth received big news at ballet today. Her teacher would like her to start practicing with the next class up (D1) beginning next week. Her teacher said Elizabeth is progressing rapidly and that if she works hard over the summer, she could move up another level (D2) in the Fall. Elizabeth was quite overwhelmed by this development and isn't sure she wants to move up so fast. I told her she didn't have to do anything but try next week and see how she feels. It'll mean 75 minutes of ballet on Mondays with a 30 minute break between classes. I'm not sure she has the stamina at this point, but her teacher told her she could just start off with the barre exercises in the second class and go from there.

I suggested we go out to eat tonight to celebrate the good news. Elizabeth picked Wendy's chicken nuggets and frosty. Oh so glamorous.

Ten, 20, 30 years from now, I want to remember how the twins looked as they raced across the wet grass to get into the car to go to school. Lunch boxes in hand, their school bags, half as big as they are, bouncing on their backs.

Wil and Elizabeth are 7-1/2 years old today. Happy half-birthday!

Bethy was looking at Wikimapia over my shoulder and said 'I didn't know Canada was a country. I thought it was a state.'

I said 'It should be...'

No, not really ;-)

Then she said Daddy, who's the president of Canada and I said I have no idea.

Update: She's lying on the floor right now waiting on me and she said It would be fun if the house was upside down.

Hands in pockets

Wil's got this incredibly cute new habit where he puts his hands in his pockets. It doesn't seem to be out of insecurity. It just looks like it feels comfortable to him. He does it so much that when I put my hands in my pockets, it reminds me of him. I *feel* like him. Makes me smile :-)

Wil to Sean: What if a kid went to college before he was even finished with first grade, and when he finished college he got to stay home until he was grown up.

Sean: That's the part you'd like.

Wil: Yeah.

Elizabeth's "Lightning Share"

At school on Wednesday: I have some good news, some more good news, some more good news, and some bad news. The good news is I finally got my room organized, yesterday was my Daddy's birthday, and I got another American Girl doll for Christmas. The bad news is that my Barbie mall is in the middle of my room and all the stuff fell out, so it looks like my room is messy, but it really isn't.

Update: The Barbie mall got cleaned up and put in the closet. Elizabeth's room is now the cleanest, most organized room in the house. It's inspiring. If she can do it, anyone can.

Wil on Civ4

I was looking at the Civ4 manual the other night while lying in bed with Wil, waiting for him to fall asleep. He said 'Daddy, do you have rememorize all that to play the game? I said I knew most of it and was just looking for the stuff I didn't know...