7yo wanted Thai takeout for dinner ( Read more... )

I'm making lunch as the kids agree to play chess in the other room. 7yo smugly announces that he gets to go first because silver's more like white than gold is. 11yo has no problem with this. There's the sound of a piece moving. Then the 11yo says "My king calls in an airstrike!". 7yo replies "My king calls in an airstrike too ( Read more... )

The first thing 10yo said this morning when he woke up was "Oh, crap". So, when he came in our room and asked to use the computer first thing on a school morning, instead of scolding him for wanting to play games before breakfast, I asked him what for (the advantages of being overheard :). Turned out he had "extra credit homework" he'd forgotten ( Read more... )

Ayuh, the boys are in high spirits tonight. The sorting of the laundry basket full of clean underwear was full of hysterical laughter, "trench helmets", and "Sock Ninjas ( Read more... )

It was the best of mornings, it was the worst of mornings. Joyous boys were in their bedrooms going through their candy hoards, discovering the good stuff, running back and forth to trade the stuff they disagreed on the merits of, and making piles of stuff to trade with Mom (for 7yo, this pile included all the nuts he couldn't persuade his brother ( Read more... )

Our school's 5th grade flag football team had our first away game today -- and our first non-loss, yay! 19-19 tie. 10yo has been moved from Safety to Rusher this week, and informs me that he got all but one of the sacks today. I did see him get the other team's flags several times; I saw other kids do so a bunch too, but he says those others ( Read more... )

We just watched the first two episodes of McHale's Navy with the kids, at my brother's recommendation. 7yo was discussing afterwards how funny the sign on their camp is: "It said Navy people keep out, but women can go in if they feel like it ( Read more... )

I forced my kids to listen to The Gammage Cup and The Whisper of Glocken audiobooks over the summer. They didn't seem to mind, but they weren't enthusiastic either. A few weeks later I found the 10yo lounging on his bed reading our paper copy of the Gammage Cup, and he commented "This is really a great book." With the tone of voice that suggested " ( Read more... )

For many months, the duplos languished, unused, unwanted, while the legos were getting all the attention. Now the boys have aged back into the duplos, creating gigantic living-room-filling scenes. A few weeks ago, it was a 6-foot square airport with cargo handling facility and fully functional train for cargo delivery from the mines in the ( Read more... )

7yo (Excitedly, while Digging thru Duplos bin): Oh! Another sword! Want another sword??
10yo: No
7yo (incredulously): You DON'T????