Macaroni & Superheros

Ruby's breathless monologue of the week:

I'm Macaroni Man! He's like Spiderman except he shoots macaroni to make webs and stuff!

When I get some money, I'm going to buy lots of these boxes --- and I'll eat them too! -- and I'll make a whole suit of these! I'll put them on my arms and on my legs and on my belly and on my feet and on my shoulders ...

Because I want to save the world!!

Archie, I'll save your life!!

And then she had a card trick. 

I was instructed to draw a card from the pile, 

"Don't show me, Mom!" 

As she turned her back, 

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight." 

She laid down a pile of ones. 

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight." 

She laid down a pile of twos. 

And so on, until she got to the sevens. 

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven ... (long pause)" 

I waited.

"Do you have a seven, Mom?"

"Yep."

(Very, very pleased)

"I knew it!!" 

"Do you know how I did it, Mom?" 

Ummmm ...

Looking at Linus and Penelope together,

Woo: You need to start growing, Linus.
Linus: Yep. 

I'm almost in 'igh school, Dad. 

Or preschool ...

Me (incredulous): So you ran faster than Dad?
Herbie (as if spelling out the basics to me): Well. My shoes are faster than everyone's. 

So, yes.

Penelope's prayers usually go something like this:

Woo: Thank you for Mom. 

Penelope: Mommy! 

Woo: Thank you for Dad. 

Penelope: Daddy! 

Woo: Thank you for Archie. 

Penelope (pointing downstairs): Baby! 

Woo: Thank you for Herbie. 

Penelope (pointing at Herbie): Baby! (In fact, she calls all the other kids "baby.")

My favorite prayer went like this:

Woo: Thank you for Mom. 

Penelope: Mommy! 

Woo: Thank you for Dad. 

Penelope: Mommy! 

Woo: No, Nell-Pe. 

Thank you for Dad. 

Penelope: Mommy! 

Woo: Dad. 

Penelope: Mommy! 

Woo: Hmm.  

Thank you for Moses. 

Penelope: Mommy! 

Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!

Moses as Captain Underpants' more modest cousin -- Captain Shorts!

Woo picked us up a free couch on his way home from the temple. The kids flock to it and have spent many quiet, relaxing sessions on it.

Woo: Maybe all we need for world peace is for someone to build a big enough couch?

We've now had Archie long enough that a few nicknames have started to emerge: Archibald, Archimodo and Artichoke.

Well, that's all folks.

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