Nicky-isms

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When Mike brought home the current standings for the ESPN Washington office pool, Nicky (who is eight) learned that his brackets are right up near the top. I asked him what he was going to do with the prize money if he should win. "You know," he said, in his slow, serious way, "money is losing value really fast. I think it's important I spend it right away."

Last night was an off night for the NCAA tournament so Nick tuned into the NIT. He asked Christian what "NIT" stood for.
"Not Important Tournament," Christian answered without missing a beat.
"Why would they name it that? It's bad marketing decision. No one is going to watch a Not Important Tournament!" Nick proclaimed.

And the boy who has a head for sports stats, money, and marketing decisions has decided that he wants to work at ESPN. Since his brackets are currently well ahead of the hosts of both Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn, he's saving this weeks standings to attach to his resume one day.

Gingrich to Convert

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Laugh with me this morning:
When one of my children saw the headline "Gingrich to Convert" at National Catholic Register, she said, "To WHAT? Liberalism?"

I convulsed in giggles. And she said, "No, seriously, what is he converting to?"

My children see Newt Gingrich at church all the time. Last Christmas Eve, they were at the Basilica way before time for midnight Mass. They bumped into (literally) a familiar silver-haired gentleman in the cafeteria. He chatted with them for a few minutes and they wished him a Merry Christmas. Then, Stephen turned to Christian and said, "Don't I know him from somewhere?"
Nicky (rather loudly) replied, "Yeah, he's always on Sean Hannity! He must be important if he knows Sean Hannity."
Mr. Gingrich smiled.

Newt Gingrich always sits in about the same place in the Basilica. His wife sings in the choir, and so my children all assumed he already was Catholic.Imagining that Newt Gingrich is Catholic is not a far reach for my family and we look forward to going to the Lord's Table with him (maybe Easter?).

Imagining him converting to liberalism is another thing entirely;-)

Nicholas on the Perils of Childbirth

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I was chatting with Nick yesterday on the way to confession and he was wondering aloud if he could possibly get all seven sacraments. I reminded him that it's tough to get both Matrimony and Holy Orders:

Me: Remember Ryan's grandpa? He was ordained a priest after his wife died. So, he got both. It can happen, but it's pretty rare.

Nick: So, I could do that. But, I probably won't get Annointing of the Sick, huh? I don't get really sick.

Me: You never know. I've been annointed five times. Three when I had cancer and twice before Sarah was born.

Nick: That was a good idea. You could have died in childbirth.

Me (growing concerned and wondering which big kid offered Nicky too much information): How do you know that?

Nick: Star Wars.

Me: Oh...

Nick: Luke's and Leia's mom died in childbirth.

Me: Well, that's pretty rare these days. Women just don't die in childbirth often at all. You know that, right?

Nick: Of course. Your husband would have to go to the Dark Side and then strangle you...
That's not gonna happen.

Whew. Glad to hear it.

SOCIAL Studies-- When You're Social......

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by Mary Beth

...So today we had to transfer our assignments for the week into our planners and at the top there are blocks that say "math, geography, language, etc," and there is one that says "social studies." Considering that we have a lot of history this year I wondered why Stephen's block that said social studies was blank; so I asked:

"Super, you do know what social studies is right?"

"Yeah," he answered

"Then tell me what it is." I said

"It's when we study with the Ashwells! I mean it is SOCIAL studies!" he answered.