Greatest Kids on Earth

I know that we are biased about our children - and usually it is either wildly in one direction (how badly behaved and frustrating they are), or wildly in the other direction (how amazing they are).  Over the last several months, however, we have really begun to see so much of the good.  Case in point:  a few weeks ago, we went to New Jersey for a powerlifting competition (more on that in another post).  We picked the girls up from school a little early and headed directly to Newark, spent the night at a two star hotel, spent more than 11 hours at a powerlifting competition, and then drove back to Connecticut, arriving home just shy of 11 p.m.  During the entire 36 hours, not one word of complaint came from the girls.  They loved the hotel; they loved eating at the bar with the guys from The Refuge; they loved sleeping in the hotel (despite the fact that we FORGOT lambie!!); they loved stretching out in the corner of the competition room with all of their sketch pads and toys, listening to music.  Even Elizabeth, who spends a great deal of her time sitting with me because she has to videotape our lifters, never complained about the fact that Emily got to play more.  As the day wore on, more and more people came over to me to tell me how impressed they were with the girls' behavior.  I have to say, it makes all of those years of timeouts and daily discipline worth it, because they really are great to be around and so much of the "hard" stuff (at least for this age) is done.  We made sure that the girls knew about all of the compliments they were receiving and they were pretty proud themselves!

Two readers! 

Despite our initial skepticism, these headphones may be the best purchase I ever made. 

Reading in the hotel, waiting for weigh-ins. 

Watching Animal Planet before bed. 

All set up with their stuff in the corner they claimed.

Reading between lifts. 

Working hard - we pay her for her efforts, compensation depends upon the number of lifters.  She takes her role as videographer very seriously and often injects some artistic flair.

As the day wore on, Emily got tired and so we brought out the sleeping bag for her.

Happy Meals on I-95 on the way home.  The only other Happy Meal they ever had was on the way home from Lee's first powerlifting competition.  This is truly the highest reward they can ever receive.

Passed out.