The Bad and the Best

     At supper "yesterday night" (kid language) Tirzah was chattering away at an unprecedented rate about anything and everything.  In the midst of her commentary, she announces, "And I am the best kid...ya."  (She regularly ends her statements with "ya", as if confirming to herself that she knows all about it.) After a brief pause, she looks at Scott with her sweet little smile and adds, "Just like you, Daddy!"  I roll my eyes; he chuckled and said, "We'll keep you around, Sweet-Tart". 

     As a note, Scott came up with the nickname Sweet-Tart for Tirzah after I told him about the time I overheard Tirzah talking to Aila, "My name is Tirzah, but Mommy and Daddy call me Tirzah."  I think she was used to the boys being called by their nicknames, so I mentioned to Scott that she should have one.  (He used to call her Sour Squaw, but perhaps she'd not appreciate that in the future!)
     I was at a friend's house this afternoon, looking at some curriculum, when Scott called.  He had an idea that we should go on a little off-road adventure in the Suburban, and offered to call in a pizza.  I, of course, thought that was a brilliant idea, since it involved no work on my part.  We picked up the pizza on our way home, gobbled it down, and headed out onto the back roads to check out some potential biking/hiking/ canoeing/camping/hunting areas.  We were travelling on an abandoned railroad bed, designated as a DEC truck trail.  The boys had unbuckled and were trying to get a better view out the front, when we came to a particularly rough patch.  "Sit down, boys, this looks really bad!" Scott warned.  "I love bad!" yelled Levi.  "Things that are bad are fun!"  I am afraid this may be his motto in life.