Smart little guy

"Wait wait, not so fast, not so fast, smart little guy," he said to me.

Thanksgiving leftovers

Never mind turkey sandwiches. I submit that the best Thanksgiving leftovers are pie for breakfast. Sophie made this blueberry pie herself.

I'm second

We were having dinner together when Max said, "For the record, I can totally beat Dad in Hungry Hungry Hippos."

And with that, I'm emasculated. A man who can't win at Hungry Hungry Hippos is no kind of man at all.

Roxanne

One of the radio stations around here plays songs on a schedule, which means we hear the same songs at the same point every day. On the way to Max's preschool, apparently the song on that radio station is Roxanne by The Police and he likes it. No, we haven't explained what it's about yet. But that regular exposure to a great song leads to moments like this:

You're welcome.

What do pirates like to watch?

The kids and I were talking about New Orleans and I told them that pirates used to live there a long time ago.

Me: What do you think pirates liked to watch?
Max: Spongebob Squarepants!

Better than what I had in mind.

"We want the redhead!"

Flash of parental genius

Today, after church, I had a total flash of parental brilliance. Max was running around like a maniac, so I said, "Hey, you want to play a game?"

Max: What game?
Me: The Nap Game!
Max: The Nap Game? How do you play the Nap Game?
Me: You find a nice, comfy bed and lay down on it.

He ran into my bedroom and laid down on my bed.

Max: Like this bed?
Me: Yes. That's a good, comfy bed.
Max: Now what?
Me: You close your eyes and hold as still as you can for a long time and the person who feels the most refreshed at the end wins.

We snuggled in bed for probably 10 minutes before he jumped up, declared "I feel the most refreshed so I WIN!" and ran off to share his victory with his mom. I stayed behind and played The Nap Game for another couple of hours and just got up. I hadn't expected it to work at all, but I got that kid to lay down for awhile and almost convinced him to take a nap.

Maybe I'm not such a bad parent after all.

Halloween

Because she's undaunted, Chelsea made Halloween costumes for the kids, despite being the ballet mistress for Provo Civic Ballet's The Nutcracker. Not only did she make costumes, but they also look great. Sophie decided she wanted to be "Wonder Woman Mermaid" and Max wanted to be a "yellow car." Sophie naturally had detailed instructions for how it should look, so Chelsea just put her in charge of making those happen. In my opinion, though, Max totally ended up with the cooler costume this year.

Funny munchkin

Sophie came home from school with a flyer about the school book fair yesterday, which listed some of the books available to buy. Some of these were books like Royal Princess Academy: Dragon Dreams, Candy Fairies and Peace Love and Cupcakes. But on the back of it, in the spaces for kids to list their favorite of the books for their parents, I was surprised at what I found in spot number 1. I'd expected something like the ones I listed.

Nope. That funny munchkin had listed a book called Snake Attack! from the Lego Ninjago series. She had chosen a book about ninjas and snakes over a book about candy fairies. I must be doing something right. Despite my, um, questionable parenting style.

Pictures of Halloween costumes are coming, so stay tuned.