Overheard

ANDREW (to Ethan): I'm smarter than you.
ME: That's not true, Andrew. All of you are smart. Everyone's smart in different ways. You might be smarter than Ethan about bugs, but Ethan might be smarter than you about drawing.
EMMA: And I'm really good at making tiger sounds. Roar.

Sunday afternoon tradition

Popcorn and the comics.

For Ethan it's become a Pavlovian reflex: "Mmm...popcorn. But where are the comics?" (The conditioning works in both directions. If we bring out the comics too early on Sunday morning he'll want popcorn with breakfast.)

Now that Sophie also likes to "read" the comics while eating popcorn, we have a dilemma because the comics section rips neatly into only three parts. And there are four kids.

Overheard

The following conversation occurred today while I was working in my office. I wasn't planning to post this, but Ginger said it belonged on the blog:

SOPHIE (walking into the office): Poop.
ME: Did you do a poop?
SOPHIE: No. Daddy poop?
ME: No. I didn't poop.
SOPHIE: Let me see.

And before I knew it she was standing next to my chair trying to check my diaper.

Overheard

ETHAN: I won!
SOPHIE: I two! I three!

Taste test

They make good root beer in the midwest. Lucky us! In today's taste test the contestants were Berghoff, Goose Island, Sioux City Sarsaparella, IBC and Dad's.

Ethan liked the IBC best.
Andrew liked the Sioux City.
Emma and I both liked the Berghoff.
Nobody liked the Dad's.

Sophie and Ginger voted "present."

Andrew and Ethan both liked the Berghoff second best, so we declared it the winner. Although it's very good, it's not nearly as good as the root beer we found in Anderson, Indiana this week. If you're ever in Anderson, be sure to stop by Gene's Root Beer. It's an old car hop where they hang your food on the window of your car and sell their homemade root beer by the gallon. It is the best root beer we've ever had.

And to answer your question: Yes, we're total nerds.

Emma planted a popcorn kernel in the backyard this weekend.

She's expecting it to grow into a popcorn tree. Yes, she knows popcorn comes from corn, but how is that relevant?