I know I've missed posting a lot of great stuff this year, but that's how it goes sometimes. However, I want to take this opportunity to recommend a fun children's book Muncha, Muncha, Muncha. The refrain around our house these days is "Tippy, tippy, tippy, pat... Muncha, Muncha Munch!"

The other night lying in bed (part 2), Wil asked 'Can we pray to God that Jesus will come back before my parents die?' So we did. Sweet, sensitive boy...

When we were lying in bed friday night, Wil started talking about 'Obi Two Kenobi' who's related to 'Obi One Kenobi'. How cute is that? :-)

(cross posted at interact)

Wow, are you ever in luck!

We recorded the twins (and their dad) singing Schoolhouse Rock's No More Kings last night, and you can hear it, too:

No More Kings, by Elizabeth and Wil (and their dad).
lyrics (in case you can't make out our words real clearly ;-)

Of course as Bethy noted, sometimes you can't hear either one of us over Wil's exuberance.

(Anti-procrastination note: this link will only be good for a week. If you need the file after that, email me.)

Nap jerks

When Wil was falling asleep tonight, he turned toward the wall, then kicked it. He rolled back over sleepily and told me that he'd been dreaming about soccer. I told him that's something I used to do when I played soccer. Sweet connection point for the boys :-)

(cross-posted to interact and twinlog)

Bethy said the sweetest thing to me last week, sometime wednesday, thursday, or friday (can't remember which). She said 'Daddy, can you wait 'til monday night?' Now I had no idea what she was talkiing about, so I asked her. She replied 'That's when Wil and Momma go to Cub Scouts and we stay home.' So that's tonight. My daughter makes me happy. I told her to be thinking about what she wants to do...

Spiderman vs. Elektro - Part 2

SpiDy Gets out oF the way.
SpiDy sees ELectric(ity).
Where SpiDy?
ZaPeD!
SiPDY is cLobbrD.
"uuuuuuu."
EleKtRo zaPeD.
Spier sense tinGLinG.
SPiDy jupds. [jumps]
SPiDy swinGs.
EleKtro is srviveing.

Careers update: We played teams with the boys on Saturday night. They beat us soundly. It was certainly the worst game luck the girls have ever had.

This morning in the car Wil said, "I wish it was Monday." I couldn't believe my ears. Who wishes for Monday? Especially as he and Sean had been wishing earlier that they could stay home today. But I asked, "Why do you wish it was Monday?" "So I could go to Cub Scouts again," he said. I'm so glad Wil likes Cub Scouts. It's more work for parents than Girl Scouts has been so far, but I think it will be worth it for him and for us.

Wil's Spiderman story so far...

Peter Pokr was At his hous.  he want ed to do sPiDer werk.
So he Did.
he USEd his SPier sense.
He saw EleKtRO.
EleKtRik!  SPiDY Gets zaPeD.  "Gua Gua Gua!"

Bethy and I had some nice time together last night, also around Tolkien. Christine took Wil to Tiger Cub Scouts and Bethy and I stayed home. She decided she wanted to watch The Fellowship of the Ring, which was fun, laying on the couch together.

Another fun Bethy story: this weekend, maybe sunday, I was singing Smashmouth 'I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed', and she asked me about that. Eventually she asked me what the sharpest tool is in out shed. I showed her my new Aluminum-Tim-Nickel plated utility knife. Bethy is fun!

Last night I read most of the chapter Inside Information, Bilbo's encounter with Smaug, to Wil. He really got into Bilbo's riddles to Smaug, which I hadn't ever given much thought to. He had me repeat them one by one so he could 'solve' them. Then, this morning, he recounted almost all of them to Christine. It makes me really happy, yes that he's smart, but moreso that we enjoy the same things.

twinlog update

twinlog now has an Atom feed, and Christine, especially, has been updating pretty regularly. You might want to check it out and/or subscribe.

2 stories about Bethy from today:

1. She has told 3 or so relative strangers that she's going to Disney World on the 17th. She's pretty excited.

2. We went to El Chico for lunch. She asked me 'How do you spell 'Max'?' and I told her. She asked 'How do you spell 'Barker'?' and I told her. Then I followed her eyes. She was looking at some writing on the wall that said 'Where Tex [break] Mex Began' and she thought that looked like the name of one of the students in her class. Smart cookie!

Perhaps you wouldn't guess it, but Elizabeth is incredibly savvy when it comes to playing games, especially board games. I picked up a copy of Careers on clearance at Target this week. It's marked ages 8+, so I thought we'd play a modified version by just playing for the money instead of trying to earn all the necessary hearts and stars to fulfill the "Success Formula." Silly momma. Elizabeth quickly realized that the fastest way to make money in this game is to get your salary up and then go around the board, skipping the career paths, as quickly as possible. When we quit today she had $689,000 and I had a measly $245,000. We're scheduled for a rematch tomorrow, only this time we're going to play by the rules to give me a fair chance.

Recently a couple of people have commented on what a good helper Elizabeth is, and the music teacher stopped me after school yesterday to tell me how nice the twins are. Wil's teacher wrote on his progress report, "Wil is a great student! He has lovely manners and a good work ethic! He is a talented artist." I read it to him twice. It's nice for us all to have affirmation from outside sources once in a while.

The twins will not admit to saying this, but here is the conversation as I heard it:

Wil: Elizabeth, will you please play with me?
Elizabeth: No, I want to play by myself.
Wil: Pleeease.
Elizabeth: No, Wil!
Wil: I'll be your best friend.
Elizabeth (exasperated): You already are my best friend!

Lunch on Friday was fun. We invited Elizabeth's friend Rachel to sit with us because Elizabeth "promised." She also promised Brooke that she could sit with us next time. She has entered the age of making promises to her girlfriends. The sweetest part to me is how seriously she takes her promises. After school Rachel and her twin William stop by to play. Total chaos, but fun. Elizabeth further solidified their budding friendship by giving Rachel one of a pair of necklaces that say "Best" and "Friend." I was proud of her act of generosity.

Elizabeth loved showing me around her classroom. Notable moments included puzzling out why there is a picture of a fox with the letter X, and explaining to me about fiction, non-fiction and poetry books.

It took Wil a little longer to get into the spirit of showing me around his classroom, but then he had a dozen things to say. He also had a funny story about morning greeting. He was paired with Will White. "Hello, Will. Hello, Wil," seemed pretty silly to them. At lunch they were still smiling about it whenever they caught each other's eye.

After School

Me: Wil, what was your favorite part of school today?
Wil: The part where we got to go home.

No one wanted to go to school today. Wil said, "I wish we could all stay home together." But they did pretty well getting ready, and Elizabeth was consoled by my promise to join them for lunch tomorrow. We'll try to finish eating ahead of her class so she can show me around her classroom while it's empty. We like that.