for good or ill, they're always surprising me...

Last night at supper, I asked the boys what was the most fun thing about their school day. Gray gave us an exasperated look, shook his head, and said, "Well, it sure wasn't gym."

"Why? What was wrong with gym?" I asked.

"We had to watch the puberty movie. It wasn't pretty."

*****

Annie finished up A Canticle for Leibowitz over the weekend. I was really curious to hear what she thought of it, and yes, a bit worried that she might not be thrilled that I made her read it. In some ways, though not entirely, it's a quiet book. And I wasn't sure how she'd feel about the "religious setting." Her reaction:

"Mom, I loved this book. I think it's the best one we've read all year."

Hmmmm...go figure. Of course, I also enjoyed the book much more than I would have expected.

*****

On the "ill" side, I was cleaning up the mess of clothes that Max had managed to land on the floor of his closet when I discovered a little chunk of soap. Somehow I immediately knew that he'd taken a bar of soap from the bathroom cabinet and tried his hand at carving. A little more digging and I found a pencil with soap all over it...his carving tool, I presumed. I called him in, and got the confession. Except, I could tell from the way he was acting that I wasn't hearing the whole story. Sure enough, I little bit deeper digging, back behind his shoes, I found one of my very sharp, very nasty wicked tomato knives. *sigh* I'm grateful he still has all his digits, of course. But I tell you, the stress this munchkin causes is just of an entirely different breed than his siblings.

*****

Also last night at supper, Gray asked how many people died each year of malaria. Rich said, "About a million. And of course, most of the people who die are children. And the elderly."

Gray got this sad, surprised look on his face and said, "Not old people. Something needs to be done. Old people are precious!"

It was just a reaction that caught me totally off-guard. And made my heart smile.

winter break, the first 24 hours (Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon)...

*kiddo's doctor's appointment, where big decisions were made

*pizza night

*2 Edgar Allan Poe stories: "The Descent Into the Maelstrom" (didn't care for) and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" (much better)

*40 minutes of exercise while watching the penultimate episode of season one of Jericho...think what you will, I still freakin' love that show

*load of laundry...always always laundry

*a bit of reading and note-taking on the Early Roman Republic

*a lot of smiling due to eavesdropping on Max and his friend Abby

A sample conversation...

Abby: Don't you wish we had all this money for real? (They were playing Dogopoly at the time.)

Me (interrupting): What would you do with that much money?

Abby: I'd buy a baby!

Me: A baby?!!

Abby: Yeah, a baby from the hospital.

Me: So, would you want a baby brother or a baby sister?

Abby: A baby sister, definitely!

Max: Yeah, well I'd buy a half-pipe.