that would be something

Evan: "What if a plane ran out of gas right over the Space Needle and fell on it, and the needle part poked through the plane, but then someone came along and put gas in the plane again, and it flew away, but it took the saucer part of the Space Needle with it, and it was all lit up, and everyone thought it was a flying saucer?"

the sun'll come out...

Evan: "I have an injury on my thumb, and one on my knee. This has kind of been injury day for me."

Eric: "I'm sorry, buddy. How did you get all these injuries?

Evan: "Just bad luck. Tomorrow I'll have no-injury day. Because of karma."

rf mph

Evan: "Daddy!"

Eric: "What?"

Evan: "Did you know that my bike can go from zero to really fast in 14 seconds?"

daddy, i presume

Eric (singing a lullaby): "Daddy was a little baby boy, long time ago..."

Sage: "Am I in this song?"

Eric: "Nope, just Mommy and Daddy."

Sage: "How did the writer know your names?"

come as you are

Eric: "Let me wipe your mouth off, Sage."

Sage: "No! I don't need it wiped off!"

Eric: "Don't you want to look pretty for the party?"

Sage: "I am looking pretty!"

he knows how this movie ends

Sonja (leaning in the car window): "I'd better stay at work until 7 or so. I can get a ride home."

Eric: "Okay."

Sonja: "There's leftover risotto in the fridge. You can heat that up for supper. And there's salad."

Eric: "Okay."

Sonja: "See you later."

Eric (rolling up the car window): "See you later."

Evan: "We're free to order a pizza."

the chicken whisperer

catch of the day

I come from a family that tends to demand documentary evidence to back up all fish stories. So...

Evan's bass:


Sage's crappie:

uh-oh

Evan: "I found a rock in the yard that looks kind of like poop, and I can draw with it."

scenes from the TCS Poetry Tea

Signing autographs...

Tonight on Frontline

blush and bashful

Sorting clean laundry. Yep, that's eleven pink socks, each one unique and special in its own way, like a snowflake.

that answers that

Eric: "Sage, why are you naked from the waist down?"

Sage (rolling around on the floor): "I'm Supergirl Who Always Likes To Roll On The Ground With No Pants On Her."

wish you were here

after the race

Sage: "Aw! You always win!"

Evan: "Well you need to work out more."

is she really going out with him?

Evan's favorite song of the moment is "Big Sur" by The Thrills, a bunch of fashionably scruffy Irish guys whose songs are all about California.

The song's refrain is, "Just don't go back to Big Sur. Baby, baby please don't go." Evan was surprised to learn that Big Sur was a place, not a person. "I thought the lead singer's rival was a guy named Big Sir," he said. "I pictured him looking kind of like Bluto."

Ice Sage

Sage: "Can cheerleaders be on ice skates?"

Sonja: "Sure. Why not."

Sage: "Good."

Evan: "Sage, you don't even know how to ice skate."

Sage: "Yes I do!"

Evan: "No you don't. You've never even been ice skating."

Sage: "I've never been ice skating, but I know I'm really good at it."

everyone's a critic IV

Sage: "Ooh. There goes an orange kitty!"

Eric: "Oh yeah. There's something weird with its tail -- it looks kind of floppy there at the tip."

Evan: "Well it probably thinks your bottom looks weird."

those were the days

Sage: "I remember when you called me Mimi."

Evan: "No you don't. That was before you were born."

Sage: "Yes I do!"

Evan: "You remember things that happened before you were born?"

Sage: "Yes!"

Evan: "So you remember what it was like in Mommy's tummy?"

Sage: "Yes."

Evan: "What was it like?"

Sage: "Oh... just... kind of foody."

Bearded Sage

Sageface

prince albert in a can

Evan: "Next time I catch a Monarch butterfly, I'm going to name it Monarchy."

onward

Two months ago I walked into the kids' room and told Sage, through tears, that Franklin had died. The death of a beloved animal raises all kinds of questions in a child's mind, and Sage immediately asked me, through tears, the most urgent one of all: "Can we get a hamster?" Today, on our ride from school to daycare, we revisited the subject:

Sage: "After we've thought about Franklin for a little while longer, can we get a hamster?"

Eric: "I don't think so. But after we're back from our summer trip, maybe we can get another cat."

Sage: "But I really want a hamster."

Eric: "You know, hamsters take a lot more work than you think. They also die pretty easily, and it's so sad when a pet dies."

Sage: "But they have chubby little cheeks."

Eric: "I know they do."

Sage: "Oh, did you know that if you don't drink water, your cheeks will turn dry and hard like a tree?"