Rise and Shine!

No school today for the kids, so I thought I might get to sleep in this morning. Clay is an early bird, but usually I wake up Spencer and Allison at 7 each morning. Some Saturdays, the younger two have been known to sleep until 8:30 a.m.

I had such grand plans for dream land.

Until I heard bickering in the den at 6:30 this morning. Clay and Allison. I weaved downstairs and quietly whispered an earful to them. ("Quietly" because I didn't want to wake the third munchkin up!)

Then I crawled back in bed. Bruce hopped in the shower a few minutes later.

And then Spencer crawled in bed with me.

All before 7 a.m.

What is wrong with these kids?! It's a day off!!

But Spencer had such a smiley face when he scooted over to me. What can a mom do but smile back and start the day, grateful.

Spencer loves to be tickled, so we got in a few minutes of that before we settled in for a deep discussion.

It was his turn to tickle me and he had my arms pinned over my head while he sat on my belly. I have to note that he had an unfair advantage because my legs were still all bunched up under the covers. But he is extraordinarily strong for such a string bean.

He was letting me rest in between pokes when he said, "I want to look up your nose."

And if that's not an indication of a soon-to-follow ridiculous statement, I don't know what is.

"Okay," I said.

"Hmmm," he said. "You have hair up there."

"Yes, Spencer, I know," I replied. "You do, too. Everyone does. It helps keep junk out of your nose and helps to keep you from getting sick, too."

Then he made a comment about how his great grandpa had LOTS of hair up his nose.

And coming out of his ears, too.

My grandpa is 91. He's bald as can be on top of his head, but he does have some hairy ears.

I laughed and said, "When you get old, you'll have hair growing out of your ears, too."

He looked stricken. Horrified, really.

"Oh no," Spencer said. "Then no girl will want me."

When I quit cracking up, I said, "You'll probably already be married, so you should be safe."

And then his precious 7-year-old logic kicked in and he said, "Yeah, and by then, she'll have hairy ears, too."

What a great way to start the day.