From the mouth of babes...

With the new guy not really burning it up with conversational ideas, his siblings had decided to pick up the slack. And what a job they have done. What follows passes for comic relief in our house these days. Oh, by the way lil' Mac tipped the 7 week scales at an even 10 pounds!!



Wrong way dad.
Running late for work one day, I forgot to drop off Noah at school. Quietly he sat in the back of the minivan, probably just grooving to the music. It wasn't until I pulled off the interstate and was only a couple of blocks from work that he finally spoke and startled me. He said looking around, "Dad... did you go the wrong way?"


Teaching lessons.
Like all parents, we are forever attempting to teach the boys about being respectful and having good manners. One recent experience comes to mind. Driving home one evening after playing hard with their cousins, and overtired Noah and Oliver were teetering in and out of consciousness. I made the mistake of turning on the car intertior light to see if they had fallen asleep. Choas ensued. Noah pleaded for the light to be turned off, while Oliver screamed for it to be left on. After traveling a long, dark mile listening to Oliver's protestations, I gave in. As I turned on the light, I turned around and said, "The light's now on. What do you say?" Hoping that he would say 'Thank you daddy". He looked at me straight faced and said "And leave it on!!!" We've got some work to do.


Just say no.
In the midst of a Christmas list conversation, Michele was attempting to talk Noah out asking Santa for a "drive-on-the-wall-car". She had begun her well-rehearsed "Well, Santa might forget to bring..." speech when she was cut-off by her no nonsense four-year old saying, "Mommy, if he brings the toy - great. If he doesn't, I'll just deal with it."

What did I say?
Thanksgiving snow (as you'll see in the pictures) was a dream come true for the kids (well, perhaps Noah). After spending the lion's share of an hour getting Oliver and Noah bundled up, we waddled outside, grabbed a shovel and sled, and went to work on the driveway preparing it for our 'bobsled' runs. After Noah and I made a few test runs I asked Oliver, who was very content eating snow, if he wanted to go for a ride on the sled. He sternly said 'no'. OK. We made a couple more 'Olympic' runs. I looked over at Oliver. Content. I pointed the sled down the driveway, quickly grabbed Oliver, placed him on the sled and sent him hurtling down the driveway. Walking back up the driveway I could hear him muttering something angrily over and over. Pointing accusingly at me, he said "I didn't want to go. Don't do that everrrr again!!"



Click here for some more family and Thanksgiving pictures.

Also, check back again shortly for the 3rd Annual Top10 Photo Moments that didn't make the Christmas Card.