Vic. He wears pointy steel-toed boots and then sits down in your sinuses, with his back propped against one sinus cavity wall, and KICKS.

That's the one. His snot-goblin friend was bad enough, but then Vic himself moved in sometime in the middle of a class I was teaching this afternoon and said, "Hi! You know how you're not used to consciously feeling the entire FRONT HALF OF YOUR HEAD all the time? About that..."

Today we had a field trip to the fire station with Olivia's preschool class. When the firefighters asked the class if they knew of any hot things, Liv said, "Mercury is hot! It's the hottest planet. We don't go there because it's so hot." He blinked for a minute and said, "Yeeeaah. Does anybody else know of anything that is hot?"

I don't think she could point out a match or a lighter but the planets--those are covered.

Cash, get the girl to hubblesite.org...

Liv said, "Mercury is hot! It's the hottest planet. We don't go there because it's so hot."

Heh. She's astronomical!

We're trying to figure out Matilda's Halloween costume, but she keeps changing it from answer to answer.

Emmett: What costume do you want for Halloween?
Matilda: Robin! I'm Robin and you're...you're...you're...Raven.
Emmett: I'm not emo!

Though now she's off Robin and is either Starfire or Raven. Or a Fairy. Or Winnie the Pooh.

Emmett: I'm not emo!

I love that *that's* his objection.

A moment in Abby-Land:

A bit of backstory first-- Lewis has the unfathomable (to me at any rate) ability to eat something sweet and then follow it with something savory. LIke he can eat a powdered donut and follow it with nachos or something. It weirds me out monumentally. I cannot do it. Our children, especially Abby, have inherited this habit. Tonight, she and Nate asked if they could have chocolate pudding cups. Idiotically, I agreed without presenting them with the caveat of "After you finish dinner." Both of them grabbed the pudding cups and chowed down, then calmly returned to their chicken fingers and hot dogs.

I spluttered something along the lines of "You know, you could have waited to finish your dinner!"

Abby calmly replied, "But Mom, you know I don't mind eating savory after sweet. It's a lifestyle choice!"

What could I say to that?

Nothing, that's what. I just laughed.

"But Mom, you know I don't mind eating savory after sweet. It's a lifestyle choice!"

DAMN, how they rebel against their parents!

Congratulations!!!

Congrats, Gris!

Hil sounds like Mac N' cheese to me. If it were me I'd add garlic because I add garlic to almost everything. If I'm just making for myself I don't bother with flour. (I might under cook the pasta, then let it finish in the cheese sauce. Absorbs the cheese flavor better anyway.) If it came out watery you could add cracker crumbs or bread crumbs at the last moment.