Originally written: 04/22/13

I just had a pretty good weekend with the kids and thought that I'd share some anecdotes.  First off, you should know that Jenny and the kids had some kind of stomach bug they were passing around.  So, naturally, the kids brought it with them when they came over.  (Let's just say that I didn't get much sleep last night.)  Poor Michael, our child that looks like a half-starved reanimated skeleton, was throwing up on Friday and having diarrhea yesterday morning, and had absolutely no appetite almost the whole time he was here.  On the other hand, Carly was continuously hungry the entire weekend!  It didn't matter how much I fed her, within an hour she would be asking for more food.  I tried to deter her by offering only carrots between meals, but all that meant was that I had to get up at least once an hour to prepare a carrot for her.  On another Carly-related note, I've been thinking that I've been loosing weight, but at one point I was walking around the apartment with my pj bottoms and undershirt on, and Carly giggled and said something to the effect of "Daddy, I can see your boobs.  You're not supposed to let people see your boobs."  Well, needless to say I put on a t-shirt over my undershirt, and then made a batch of chocolate-chocolate chip cookies.

     This weekend I also inadvertently found a very effective way to get the kids to go to sleep with very little fuss, at least on the weekends when the timing of bedtime isn't as critical.  Since Michael was feeling so bad on Friday night, I took him into the living room with me after putting the other two to bed, and he cuddled in my lap while we watched Mouse Hunt.  I was amazed how quietWilliam and Carly were being, and then I realized that they were trying to listen to every bit of the show and every word that Michael and I exchanged.  They were out cold by the time the movie was over and Michael fell asleep shortly after.  The next day we started watching Matilda, but we only got a little ways in before Carly and Michael started protesting that it was too scary (they did NOT like the idea of parents or a principle being evil).  William really wanted to finish watching it, so that night I asked William if he'd like to finish watching the movie with me.  He did, of course, and we had a great time watching it together as he continuously narrated and provided commentary for the entire movie.  Again, Michael and Carly were incredibly quiet and were out cold by the time the movie was done, and William went promptly to sleep when it was time for him to go to bed.