Living

Anna was so tired when she got home after Thanksgiving last night that she didn't brush her teeth. This morning I told her to brush her teeth right away, and she explained she didn't need to because she didn't brush your teeth much at all and K4 and never got cavities. I told her, first of all, that wasn't true, but, if she didn't always brush, maybe she just got lucky. I said her teeth had to last her maybe 95 more years. Anna thought about this for a while, but finally explained, "I don't need a grown-up to teach me how to live; I have my own way of living."

Fantastic

Luke asked Dave to make a paper airplane like the one my dad had made earlier in the day.  Dave said he wasn't sure how to make that kind.  Luke responded, "Yeah, Opa's sort of fantastic, isn't he?"

Lucky

The best thing about twins is certainly their interactions.  I love watching them play, and, even more, I love listening to the things they say to each other.  Last night, Dave overheard Luke say to Ally, "Ally, you know what's lucky about being a boy?  We have a penis."

First snow

This morning, I woke up to the pitter-patter of feet and then a whisper (so as not to wake me up?), "Mommy, did you look outside?" Luke asked. "There's snow, and it's amazing!"

I got up.  We ate, and then we went outside and enjoyed the weather.  Thirty six hours before, we'd had on shorts in Florida, but there's something wonderful about the first snowfall. 

Elsa.  She comes from Florida, but she's okay; the cold never bothered her anyway.

Heads or tails

Several months ago when my parents were watching the kids, my dad was evidently flipping a coin with them, probably for something to do.

A few days later when Kate and Anna were counting their allowance, Luke began to go through their change and grab about half of it.  He told me, "Opa really likes 'heads.'" He was taking all the money with heads to save for him.

I thought this was too cute to tell him that every coin had a heads and a tails.

I think my dad has since cleared it up with him, but only to a point...

After I handed Luke out his allowance last week, he went through all the coins.  He began to push some into a pile, but with most, he mumbled, "Put it back," and dropped it into his bank.

I asked him what he was doing, and he told me, "Opa likes money that has heads and tails."  The ones he was saving in a pile for Opa were ones that did, in fact, have both heads and tails.  The other ones he was putting in the bank.

It took me a minute to figure it out.  None of the pennies had a tail, because the Lincoln memorial didn't count as tails.  Neither did the nickels, because Monticello...well, it might as well be the Lincoln memorial.  Dimes didn't count either, because the torch and branches... yeah, definitely not tails.  He liked some of the quarters, but not them all.  Then I realized he only liked the ones with the eagle on the back.  The state quarters were really throwing Luke for a loop.

He finally had a good size pile and asked for a ziplock bag to put them in.  Then he told me, "Call Opa.  Tell him to come right now, because he's really going to be excited about these!"

Ewwwwwww

One of my favorite pictures of Luke and Ally hangs on the wall in the study.  I've always meant to try to edit the wrinkles out of the sheet, but haven't gotten to it.  (I took the picture before I had a 50 mm lens, so the wrinkles unfortunately look as crisp as the twins.)

Anyway, I was reading to Ally in the study when the picture caught my eye.  I pointed to baby Ally in the picture and asked her, "Who do you think that is?"

"Ewwwwwwww," she said, and she started laughing.

"What?" I asked her, "That's one of my very favorite pictures!"

She was laughing too hard to even answer.  Finally, she got out, "The bottoms!"

I laughed with her a moment, and then she calmed down enough to say, "That is the gwossest picture in the whole world!"

She shook her head a while and added, "I don't want to look at that picture ever again!"

When I was looking for the file with the above picture, I found these cute ones.

I really wish I'd had a better lens (and maybe camera) back then,
because I sure had some cute models!

Sweet Luke.  He still looks like this when he gets upset.  

Anna and Joey

I was driving Anna and Joey to orchestra this morning.  They were talking in the back, then Anna said, "Mommy, Joey and I decided how many kids we're going to have!  Six!"

"Oh, wow!" I said, laughing a little, "That's a lot of kids! Joey, what kind of job are you going to have to make enough money to have six kids?"

Joey replied, "Hmmm, I don't know."

Anna decided to help, "Maybe a doctor?"

Joey, happily replied, "Sure!"

Then Anna added, "And I'll sell my pictures in the front yard. No, actually, I'll make pictures, and you can sell them!"

Joey enthusiastically told her, "Okay!  Yeah!"