Gambling and Hexbugs

Everett (very excitedly) received a hexbug set for Christmas.  He and the kids had a lot of fun with them, except Charlie who at best was tenuously intrigued, as the vibrating function weirded him out.  We had a lot of fun turning them on and placing one in Charlie's hand just to watch revulsion fill his face.

The hexbugs came with a tunnel set.  One night all of the kids were grumpy, I was grumpy, and Joel was probably grumpy but as his grumpiness is always pretty light, he was the least-noticeable.  I decided we all badly needed a distraction.

Cue hexbugs.

Interestingly enough, there is room enough in the tunnels for two hexbugs to pass by each other.  This gave way to our Big Family Gambling Night in which we wagered on a hexbug, set it loose through the tunnel against an opponent, and collected our winnings or agonized over our losses. 

The currency was candy hearts and the excitement was palatable.  To make things easy, we set a basic 2:1 odds for all races.  The kids each started with 10 candy hearts.  They could choose to bet all ten on one race (Everett's main strategy) or a conservative few (Ashley and William's preference).  If their hexbug finished first, they got back double what they wagered.

I thought the kids would lose.  They rarely did.  Everett turned his ten candy hearts into eighty in a short period of time.  Ashley and William were satisfied with their thirty or forty hearts.  The kids knew exactly how many hearts they were due after a win and vigilantly checked over the amounts Joel gave them.

Gambling: the best way to teach kids to do quick and accurate math?

After some time, Everett was only one win away from getting 100 candy hearts--to him, a magical win.  He bet ten more hexbugs.  

He lost.

He bet twenty more; he lost again.  Over and over this happened until Everett had lost half his winnings in just a few rounds. The pressure and subsequent disappointment was too much for him and he left the room in tears.  The sweet victory he'd imagined was permanently bittered.  It took him a few minutes to compose himself enough to rejoin the family and to grumble, "Yeah, well, they're my hexbugs, anyway."

Ashley and William, though excited throughout the event, took their losses with a shrug.  They each had a favorite bug, "I've got my eye on that one," Ashley would glow, "He's a speedy little guy."

And who do you think lost everything?  That's right: Joel.  Our riskiest gambler lost it all.

(I need to be careful what I say here because I lost it all a few rounds later.)

James was just along for the ride but happily shared everyone's enthusiasm.  We had to ply him with suckers so he wouldn't sneak everyone's winnings.

I recorded a few seconds of a race to preserve the excitement and noise for posterity.  Sometimes I feel like our house is always this loud.


DSC 0209 from Elise Johnson on Vimeo.

The kids are chanting "Gray, gray, gray," the color of the hexbug they hope will win.  I don't know how they had such a knack for choosing the winner, but they were almost never wrong.

This was a noisy evening but it is definitely something we will repeat.

Christmas Here and There

This past Christmas was one of the best I can remember with my little family.  My brother was set to return from his mission to Alaska shortly before Christmas, so we decided to travel out to Utah so we could see him, share the holiday, and baptize Everett with family in attendance.

It was a great decision.

Joel and I decided we would have a simple family Christmas morning before we left for our trip.  This way we could spread out the gift-giving and not have to bring too much with us.

That was also a great decision.

We woke up around 7am Saturday December 20th and opened presents together.  The kids were thrilled to open presents early.  They seemed to think they were the luckiest kids in the world.

We gave the kids gifts following that old rhyme:  "something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read."  However, the kids already had a lot of books so we substituted games for the something to read.

One of the kids' favorites was a dinosaur excavation kit we gave William.

They all loved it, which leaves me thinking I should look up a way to create one of these at home.

Among the other memorable gifts:  Everett's official lockbox with electronic keypad, Ashley's furry hat and boots, James's remote control Dusty the airplane.

And then, a few days later, we jumped on an airplane to Utah.  We decided to drive two hours to the Omaha airport, which has a short direct flight to Utah.  

It was, by far, the best and easiest time traveling to Utah we've ever had.  

There was no line through security in Omaha.  The kids enjoyed playing around while we waited to board the airplane.  Charlie was going nuts--he tried to crawl around everywhere and just couldn't sit still.  The kids thought he was hilarious and had fun keeping him corralled in the carpeted area.  Charlie constantly tried to bypass his little babysitters to make a run for it to the main walkway, baiting the kids into cracking up and pulling him back to the right area.  I think the two hour drive to the airport did him in.  I was worried about the flight but Charlie did just fine.

The flight was the perfect length of time.  The kids didn't stop enjoying the ride and they were all entertained by a movie and/or catnaps.  (And suckers.)  Everett and Ashley have flown enough times that they are very careful about eating or sucking on something to make sure their ears don't hurt while changing altitudes.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with my grandparents and family.   It was a full house with 15 people to feed.  

I love dressing my kids in matching pajamas, but I can only do it for the little boys these days.  Everett is relieved.  I think he would be disappointed if I bought him real pajamas--he prefers a t-shirt and sweat pants or shorts.  In fact, Everett just had a pajama party at school and Joel and I teased him that he was wearing the same outfit he had worn only a few days earlier on a non-pajama day.

All Ashley wanted was footie pajamas, preferably patterned so she'd look like a cat.  I think she was satisfied.

I love my little dino boys.  They think it's fun to be matching.

My sisters and I had matching pj's too.  It was fun to take a photo all together, just like old times except with a few little additions.

Christmas morning at the Burton's house was delightful.  The kids had a lot of fun things to do and a lot of love and attention.

Everett and Joel had fun setting up a hexbug run.  We've used this since then to have hexbug races.  It's a fun contraption.

Later Christmas Day, we headed up to the Johnson party.  The kids especially were really looking forward to seeing their cousins, and they weren't disappointed!

The cousins were almost all there.  We just had a few missing.  James really loved playing with his cousins, who are mostly girls.  He took to a cousin who is about Everett's age.  She was so sweet with him, and he followed her around everywhere.  He did everything she said.  I think he still misses her!

Charlie also liked all of the attention, especially from Everett.

The adults all had fun playing games, eating good food, and enjoying each other's company.  With a few of us living out of state, it isn't very often that we can all be together in one place.  We always have so much fun that we leave still craving more time with the Johnsons.

The only unfortunate part of the holiday was that both families came down with the flu at the same time.  It was pretty sad to see everyone so sick.  Charlie and I were fine because we had the flu two weeks before we went to Utah, but all of the other kids got it and were miserable just like their grandparents.  

Even though everyone got sick, it was a wonderful Christmas, and I will always be glad we made the trek to Utah.  I am sure the kids would agree!

William got a dino truck for Christmas.  With it came a little pamphlet of all the other dino trucks Vtech offers.  William clung to this pamphlet.  He carried it around with him for days until it started falling apart and I had to save it by putting tape all over it, much to William's relief.  

We let William keep it out for the airplane ride.  I think this is all he would have needed to be entertained.

It was Willliam's most prized possession for almost a month.  He memorized every possible detail about each truck in the pamphlet.  William wanted another one of those trucks so badly that he offered to do chores to earn money for it.  I didn't even have to remind him to get his chores done--he worked and worked until everything was done.  When he finished one chore, he'd immediately ask me what he could do next.  William finally earned enough to go to the store and buy another dino truck.  He still pulls the pamphlet out once in a while to show me exactly which truck he plans to buy next.  

I am so glad we had Christmas in Utah.  We loved our time there and we love our family!

Everett's Baptism

Everett was excited to be baptized for over two years. As soon as he turned six, I think he felt he was in the homestretch for this major life event.

Everett had to wait six weeks after his birthday to be baptized, but it was worth it!  Almost all of our family was able to attend because we waited until we traveled to Utah for Christmas.

Joel baptized Everett the day after Christmas.  I may have been so preoccupied with traveling, packing Christmas for five kids, and figuring out if we have everything we need no matter which house we were staying in, that I forgot a couple of things I promised I'd bring to the post-baptism luncheon.  Fortunately, everyone is so gracious that it all worked out fine.

I had to take some baptism photos of Everett in his new suit.  He wasn't thrilled with this idea but I thought he looked so cute (uh, handsome) in his suit that I couldn't help myself.

Unfortunately, I forgot to explain to Everett that he needed to treat his suit differently than his regular church clothes.  After the baptism, Everett had fun running and sliding across the gym floor with his cousins.  The result?  Holes burned into the knees of his suit pants and scuffed-up (new) shoes.

Sigh.  Lesson learned.  At least we have pictures of him wearing it!

The kids were all very proud of Everett.  They were not too happy about standing still for a picture but they were excited for Everett's special day.

Everett is very blessed--he doesn't know how blessed--to have two sets of wonderful, loving grandparents.

We were thrilled to have my parents come.  My Dad presented Everett with his scriptures.  Everett was thrilled to own his grandfather's scriptures.  He has taken very good care of that special memento.  He is lucky to be able to learn from his Grandma and Grandpa Burton.

Joel's parents hosted the baptism in their church building.  I don't know what I would have done without them, particularly my mother-in-law.  She was amazing and took charge of the details that I could very well have been overwhelmed by.  We had a nice luncheon afterwards thanks to her hard work.  Everett is lucky to have these two wonderful people in his life.

My grandparents came to Everett's baptism, which was a real treat.  Everett calls them "oma" and "opa."  They gave him a special remembrance book and Everett has been working to fill in the details of his special day.  It is because of their support that Everett's baptism was even more meaningful.  I think Everett would happily do anything they asked of him.

I had to get in a picture.  Everett and Joel looked great together in their whites.  Everett's were the wrong size but he didn't care a bit.  

Everett was pretty nervous, which is a little unusual for him.  I think he had been looking forward to this for so long that he was worried about making a mistake.  Fortunately the baptismal ordinance is so simple there is very little opportunity for error.

Joel was mouth for a beautiful blessing which bestowed the gift of the Holy Ghost on Everett.  Everett was excited for this.  He wrote in his book of remembrance: "I felt nervous and happy.  I felt nervous because I thought they were going to say the wrong words and happy because it was exciting."

Everett also wrote that his blessing promised him that he would easily recognize the Holy Ghost and should listen to the Holy Ghost in order to help him and those around him.  The blessing also reminded Everett that he has a supportive family and that they will love him.

I do remember, but not in exact words, that the blessing promised Everett that he would have and recognize many opportunities to serve those around him.  

I was so glad that Everett and Joel got to share this special time.  Moms get to do so much for their kids from birth to adulthood, it is really nice to have milestones that revolve also around the fathers.  I am glad that Joel is the father in our family--he is the best man I know and I love what he does for us.

Everett has a deep, tender testimony of our church.  He loves the gospel and he loves the Savior, and he loves praying and reading the scriptures.  He has a testimony that the scriptures teach truth and he loves trying to emulate the heroes within.  Everett has a great heart and I am grateful for a church that teaches tenderness and love and responsibility in a time that these attributes are not very celebrated, especially in boys.

Turning eight meant that Everett also got to start going to cub scouts.  I don't know very much about this program, but I think I am falling in love with the things it teaches.  Everett loves doing the activities and learning, and I think it will help him to be more well-rounded.  

Possum Friend

In December, we were visited several times by a juvenile opossum.  

Joel left one night to run an errand and when he came back, we noticed the garage door wasn't shutting properly.  It was a little crooked and the tension was off enough that it would retract instead of shutting all the way.

We went to figure out the problem and saw this little guy hanging from where the cable winch was.

He was not too happy to see us.  I tried to prod him off with a long pole to no avail.

When we finally got a good look at the situation, we realized that the opossum couldn't get down even it if wanted to, because the cable that used to pull our garage door up was now wound loosely around its body and tail.  

The possum snarled when we got too close.  I may have googled whether possums are carriers of rabies before we did too much more with it.  Turns out, it is extremely rare for a possum to carry an active rabies virus.  Yes, this made us feel slightly more confident.

We tried to pull the cable off without getting close to the opossum but we didn't make much progress, so we decided a call to animal control was in order.

Animal Control sent out a random dispatch officer.  While we waited, Joel and I decided to try again to free the opossum (with almost literally a ten-foot pole).  We un-looped its body from the cables successfully, and then instead of prodding, we pushed and pushed and almost whacked that possum until it finally tumbled off.

I shrieked (I never shriek) as the opossum came tumbling down to where I was.  The best part is that I shrieked just as the dispatch officer pulled into our driveway.

He helped us search for the possum (who had sought refuge under our lawn mower) and shoo it out.

His parting advice to us was to leave our garage door shut so critters couldn't come in.  Thank you, dispatch officer.

Because we didn't have the tools or the know-how to fix our now off-track cable, we had to call a garage expert.  Over a hundred dollars later, we had a fixed door and a diagnosis:  a baseball bat fell behind the cable track, got pulled up with the cable, and knocked the cable off its track when the bat hit the top.  

Well, that is what he said happened.  All I can say is that the opossum chose a very coincidental time to make a haven of our garage door.

We thought the opossum was scared well enough to avoid our house, but it kept showing up--ambling across our back deck, creeping in the side yard, hanging out on our front porch.

I saw a few opossums smeared across the road over the next few weeks and gave a mental fist-pump every time I did. 

I have never taken pleasure in dead animals before.  But I was sure creeped out about a skittery opossum invading our space.

We haven't had any other critters visit since December, and I am not anxious to meet any more.  I think five kids causes enough pitter-pattering around here.

Charlie is One!

I know I say this every time, but I can't believe our baby is one!  In the scheme of things, he is still a baby but so much growth happens in the first year that I always find myself looking back in amazement.  

I tucked my sweet, cuddly boy into bed the night before his birthday and gave him an extra squeeze.  I whispered that no matter how old he gets, he will always be my baby.  Charlie grinned at me and kept on sucking his thumb.  It almost pained me to lay him down in his bed.

He has had two big-boy haircuts with the clippers, which I've almost forgiven Joel for.

(Charlie at nine months old, uncut.  See all the cute blond pieces that are now gone?)

Here he is, two big-boy haircuts later.  At least Charlie still has those very smooshable, kissable cheeks.

Charlie is fun because he is usually happy.  He is entertained by everything.

Charlie recently learned what a dog is, so we spend part of every day looking out the windows for dogs.  Charlie jabbers and points excitedly but we have seen very few dogs, so sometimes I wonder if I have confused him and he thinks we're pointing at something else entirely. 

Charlie loves it when we call his name.  He'll look at us no matter what he is doing and give us a grin.

One funny thing about Charlie is that he hates noises he doesn't understand.  He has been this way since he was a newborn; I'd carry him tightly swaddled against me in the moby wrap as we would go about our day, and through the deepest sleep, Charlie would jump about a mile high every time he heard a sudden sound.

Charlie cries when he hears the musical background to Angry Birds.  Today when Charlie crawled by the printer, it randomly turned on, jabbing him into a fit of panic.  

He used to cry when he heard the vacuum, but he has since accepted that noise and has settled for the vacuum warily.

Charlie loves to listen to us talk to him.  He especially loves when we make funny noises.  Despite his aversion to strange sounds, there isn't a whole lot we can do with our voices that scares him.  I have even spoken sternly to him a couple of times when he messed with something dangerous, but he just looked at me and giggled.

He has started scrunching his face up like this.

And he frequently gets this jolly look.  Now that he has gained some weight and gotten back on the growth chart, his double chin doubles our enjoyment.

Charlie is doing all of the normal just-barely-one things, like pointing and jabbering and looking for things and figuring out puzzles of various kinds, playing peekaboo and chasing (or being chased), and liking a food one day and refusing to have anything to do with it the next.

He loves to clap.

He still loves sucking his thumb.

He is not done teething (eight teeth down, four big molars to go).

Charlie also feels the need to exercise the teeth he's grown.  Unfortunately for James, Charlie loves to chew on (and climb on, and mess up) the toddler bed.  

He loves climbing the stairs.

He is good at coming back down now, so we are not on constant alert like we have been.  We like to tease him by letting him get most of the way up and then calling him from the bottom.  He'll turn his head, grin at us, and then slide right back down.  Then someone will go to the top and call him again and Charlie will pop right back up again.

The railings are always fun.  Charlie likes to grab us through them.  He laughs and laughs and laughs like it is the best prank in the world.

Charlie loves crawling.  His balance is not developed enough to be very close to walking but I don't think he feels he is missing out.  He crawls quickly and cruises along the furniture and that is good enough for him.

Besides, there are about a million people in this house who just love carrying Charlie anywhere he wants to go.

He is easily portable.

I think the kids enjoy carrying him more than he enjoys being carried.  William, who likes to grab Charlie and then just dump him topsy-turvy in random places, especially is overly confident in Charlie's ability to right himself once set down.  Charlie has learned to avoid being carried by William but is not fast enough to be successful in evasion.

Charlie does, however, completely trust and adore Ashley.

I can't end this post without a big shout-out to Charlie's favorite blanket.

It is soft and fleecy and has bright colors.  Charlie loves it.  He rubs the corners along his face while he sucks his thumb.  All we have to do is say the word "blankie" and Charlie giggles and giggles until we find it.  If I find this blanket and scoop Charlie up onto my lap, I am guaranteed some cuddles, even if he was in the middle of something engaging.

I think he likes the word "blankie" even better than the word "milk", which is saying something.

Charlie hates oranges and eggs, and really anything if the mood strikes.  It is difficult to predict what he will be willing to eat.  One meal he refused to eat strawberries, grapes, watermelon, and honeydew but loved the ham.  You can be sure that the next day he would reverse all that.

My favorite thing about Charlie is that he loves to cuddle.  He loves to snuggle right into me.  If I'm sitting somewhere, he'll come and find me and melt right into me.  If I'm walking around, he'll find me and demand to be picked up so he can wrap his left arm around my neck, lay his cheek against mine, and put his right thumb in his mouth.

Even though I am sad that Charlie is growing out of the baby stage, I am excited to see where this happy, easy-going guy will go in life.

James is Three!

James turned three at the beginning of December.  He had been anticipating that day for a very long time.  He can't hold three fingers up yet, but that doesn't stop him from holding all five of his fingers out at an awkward angle and telling people, "I'm three!"

James is quick to remind anyone who says otherwise that he is indeed a big boy.  

He really believes that he is.

James still loves his moose.  I told myself a long time ago that when he turned three, I'd make sure he stopped bringing it with him everywhere we go.  But now I don't have the heart to do it.  I can wait until he's four, right?  

That moose is James's lifeline.  He is soothed by it in every way.  He loves the antlers so much that I've had to sew the ends back up three times and stitch the entire things back on twice.  The stuffing has worked its way out of a particular section the antlers thanks to James's constant stroking of his favorite part.  He likes to hold that piece of the antler under his nose as he sucks his thumb.  The fur is matted and will forever smell like a variety of food, no matter how many times we wash it.  The stuffing in the body is squashed and mashed and lumpy and much less pillow-y than it began.  James holds it around the neck so often that the head flops and lolls about

When James is upset (which is relatively often), he will sob, "I want my moosie!"  And usually the kids run and get it for him.  When he gets hurt, he doesn't even have to ask (but he does).  The kids find the moosie.  

I even let him take it to the store.  I know I am a total pushover about it.  I think I am ok with that fact.  

James gets stressed very easily, especially in new situations.  He always wants his moose and a few snuggles from me.  If he gets those things, he is back to normal pretty soon.

James has a silly side.  We all love this side of him.  He loves to crack jokes.  He delightedly points out when other people are joking as though it is the cleverest thing he's ever seen.  "You're joking!" he'll say, pointing at the person of interest and giggling.

He doesn't,  however, enjoy anyone cracking a joke at his expense.  

James has always been clever about getting what he wants.  Does he manipulate me?  Oh yes.  I play into it all the time.  He is too smart for his own good.

He doesn't get Joel nearly as often, but James gets him more often than any of our other kids did.  

One day our neighbors, who are our good friends, sent over a plate of cookies.  The kids ate them up and James wanted more.  When I told him there were none left, I was surprised when he didn't complain.  A few minutes later, James reappeared through the garage door with two cookies in his hand.  I opened my mouth to say something but James beat me to it.  "Mommy," he said quickly and sweetly, "I got this cookie for you!"

 I asked my neighbor about it and she said he rang her doorbell and asked for "a few more cookies for my mom."

She laughed and brought him two and let him know that his mom could have as many cookies as she wanted.  

James just replied, "This isn't a few."  She laughed again and sent him home.

James was clever enough to get more to eat under the ruse of doing me a favor.  Did that surprise any of us?  No.

James is very sweet as well.  Once, we were driving in the car late at night and William was a little scared.  Through his whimpering we heard James pipe up repeatedly until someone acknowledged his sentiment:  "William, don't worry.  I am right here with you!"

Or James often finds me upstairs and says, "Mommy, will you come down and snuggle with me?  Because I am all alone down there and I don't like to be alone."

I was recently very sick and spent much of the day laying down in my bed.  James came up to find me and said, "Mommy, will you come downstairs with me?"

"Oh, I can't right now buddy, I'm sorry," I replied weakly.

"I will get you some water."

I laughed.

James looked perplexed.  "But mommy, you told me this morning that water will help you feel better."

James also wants to be friends with everyone, especially his siblings friends.  William's best friend lives next door and James spent all summer a little jealous of the attention William and his friend paid each other.  

One night as I was tucking James in bed, he said to me matter-of-factly, "Mommy, Alanna likes me a little and she likes William a lot."  He was upbeat about it but also spoke so I knew he knew the case was closed on that subject.

James loves to work a situation to his advantage.  Case in point: a recent bedtime conversation with him. 

James loves having a fan running while he goes to sleep.  Ashley doesn't.  This is somewhat problematic as they share a room.  However, Ashley usually falls asleep immediately which leaves our awake James able to ask for the fan to be on, free and clear.

A few nights ago, James was a little over eager.

James:  Ashley is asleep so I can go turn on the fan.

Ashley:  I am not asleep yet, James.

James:  Ashley, you need to go to sleep or you will be in trouble.

Ashley:  Sorry James, I am not sleeping yet.

James:  But Ashley, you need to go to sleep so I can turn the fan on!

Me:  Why don't you ask Ashley nicely, and if she says no then you will just have to wait.

James:  Ashley, can I please have the fan on?

Ashley:  (shakes head no)

James:  Awwww.

Ashley (to me):  Why does he even need the fan on?  He is just going to get in bed with you anyway.

Me:  Well, not until morning.

James:  I only snuggle with Mommy in the morning time.  Not at night.

James (to me):  I snuggle with you every morning, because I like snuggling with you.

This brings me to another point:  I've never let any of my children come sleep with me for as long as I have let James.  For one thing, I'm tired and don't usually notice him slyly slipping under the covers on my side of the bed.  For another thing, I don't have the heart to move him.  He is so sweet when he is snuggling.  

I mean, how can I say no to this face?  

James loves watching his favorite shows and will watch them all day long if we let him.  In the past few months he's been into Clifford and Scooby Doo.  You'd think he loves Scooby Doo for the dog, but he loves the show because he loves Daphne.  When we turn it on, James loves to say, "Mommy, you and me can be Daphne."  I am not sure why he picked her out as his favorite but he is a die-hard Daphne fan.

Very recently, James got into Spiderman--specifically the show from the early eighties with Firestar and the Iceman.  I've tried him on other Spiderman series but he doesn't want anything to do with them.  They are not the true Spidermans, apparently.

So far, James is the only one of my kids who really loves dressing up.  He has worn Everett's old Spiderman costume night and day for the past three days.  He is amazed by Spiderman's abilities.  He loves everything about the show.   He cannot be Spiderman without also wearing the plastic mask we have, also a first in our family.

He loves to knock me out.  Then he'll inform me about what being dead is all about (this has been a topic of interest for him for the past six months).  

"Mommy, I need to tell you something.  When humans be dead, they have to close their eyes.  But I'm not dead anymore!"

It was with great pleasure that we threw James a little family birthday party.

He got many nice presents from his grandparents and his siblings, including this train from my grandparents.  They have made one for the other kids and James had anxiously been waiting for his turn to receive the coveted package in the mail.

Thanks to William, James is also into dinosaurs big time.  So of course James wanted a dinosaur cake.  No problem!  That is one of the easiest cake shapes to make.  Even though he knows many complicated dinosaur names and how to tell a styracosaurus from a triceratops, he was content with a simple, vague, dinosaur shape.

Anything with candles, right?  James was so excited to blow out his candles.

Silly Papa put a trick candle in there, so Ashley helped him out.  If you blow out a trick candle enough times, it will eventually go out.  What fun.

It's been a great year with James.  I had to call poison control on him one time, but that was manageable.  James found a small bottle of children's liquid ibuprofen (I don't know where) and opened it (I don't know how) and drank it down.  The poison control rep said he could drink the whole bottle and be perfectly fine.  Thank goodness.  When I asked James about it, he simply said, "But Mommy, I had a cough!"  

I'll close with one final gem.  

One day James found something of Everett's, probably an intricate lego creation.  I discovered this and said, "James, that is Everett's and he doesn't want anyone to play with it."

"But Everett's at school!"  James insisted, with a twinkle in his eye.