Superman and a skeleton

Dear Andrew & Abby,

We had another busy night tonight, but thankfully, bedtime was a much less war-like experience than last night.

We went to church to see a mini concert by the Heritage Christian Singers. They are a group of teenagers from Heritage Christian High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who tour and sing as part of their education. They are an amazing group of young people (and now I know I must be old to actually have just referred to teenagers as "young people." Sheesh!). Their singing is awesome, but on top of that, they witness as if it is completely natural. That is an ability that I think I will never have, and they have it down before they're 18. You were both mesmerized by the singing for the first 15 or 20 minutes. Abby stood on my lap and stared at the singers. Andrew stood on the other end of the pew. The spell did wear off a little, but you were both better than I expected, right up until the end, when I had to take a screaming Abby out so she didn't drown out the singers.

After the concert, there was fellowship time with ice cream and cookies. The Superman ice cream was a big hit. Yes, I let Abby have two helpings - I was living on the edge. She decided that the ice cream was actually called Batman ice cream and that SHE was Superman. So yesterday a fishy, today Superman. Hmm.

Andrew sat at a table with six of the singers, smack dab between two of the girls, of course. I'm not sure what all he was talking about, but by the looks of him and the girl he was talking to, he had the charm on full force. I should have checked his hand for a phone number before he went to bed. At the end of the get-together, he went around to each of the singers and told them his favorite joke. I am proud of the fact that I taught him the joke at Halloween, but I am amazed that it is still such a hit. Here's the joke:

"Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?"
"Because he didn't have the guts."

HAHAHAHA...

So tonight, in an effort to keep the joke from getting stale (too late?), I taught him a modified version of a joke I learned from Melissa at AlphaMom:

"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"Interrupting dog."
"Interrup-" "Woof woof woof!"

I like it. But I think Andrew still likes the skeleton joke better. Apparently, I need to work on more new material.

love,
Mommy

What's blue and white and T-I-R-E-D? A fishy!

Dear Andrew & Abby,

Oh, so much to talk about today...

As I type this (at 9:15pm), you are both sniffling in your beds. We have spent over an hour fighting about bedtime. Your dad and I are both ready to pull our hair out or sell you in a garage sale. Luckily for you, it's 9 pm on a Monday night in January, and there aren't many garage sales going on in the neighborhood, so I guess Daddy and I are going bald. We're pretty sure it's a holdover from our late night Sunday night. We live in Indiana, close to Indianapolis, home of the Indianapolis Colts, AFC Champions. Go Colts! It was a great game, and I don't regret letting you stay up to watch it, but it was a late night and we are paying for it tonight with over-tired, cranky, back-talking, whiny children.

Andrew was actually grounded from wearing his Peyton Manning jersey for a week during the bedtime wars tonight. Considering the desperation with which he begged for the jersey, that's pretty serious grounding. We had to make a special trip to the mall last Saturday to find that jersey. FIFTY-FIVE DOLLARS!!! Okay, it's not a fortune, but holy CRAP that's expensive. Luckily, I was able to convince him to get the bigger 10-12 size instead of the size 8, even though it was white instead of blue. So at least he should be able to wear it next year. I'm trying to get that cost-per-wearing ratio as low as possible.

Abby was also pretty into the game and has "Go Colts!" down to an art form. Today there was a new variation that came out as a result of her favorite book, "A Story of Christmas" (she calls it the Baby Jesus book). The new saying for the day is "Baby Jesus Go Colts!" I don't know why...
Last night, Abby also decided that she is a fishy. I'm guessing it's somehow related to the Laurie Berkner DVD we watched almost ALL DAY yesterday. I think we watched the Goldfish song a million times. Or maybe it just felt that way. This morning when I went into her room and said "Good morning, Sunshine!" the reply I got from a face buried in her pillow was a tired-sounding, "I a fishy."

Finally, I think my little fishy and her big brother are sleeping. Let's hope it's a restful restorative sleep and we don't have to do this again tomorrow night.

love,
Mommy

Go Colts!