8:30 PM

Is a magic time around here. At 8:30 DC gets his one bottle of snakejuice (milk) and settles down to sleep. Brian is usually downstairs at this point, and the house settles down.

8:30 is not a static time, though. Some nights it comes a little later than most. Such as the night of Christmas, when I came upstairs after settling Brian down in order to kiss DC good night at 8:30. An hour and a half later he was still playing on the computer with Kate and the in-laws and I were happily chatting away. At quarter 'til 11, I told him that it was time to go to bed. His response was "Is it 8:30 yet?"

Yes, DC, it's 8:30...

Yesterday and tonight, 8:30 occurred earlier in the day. DC was just so tired that he had a meltdown around 8:00. Nora and I looked at each other and said "It's 8:30."

Life, if you're a kid at Rosehill, is pretty good. DC and I made a foray off the ridge today and went to Wal-mart. Didn't find what I was looking for, but we discussed the fact that I'm a big marshmallow while picking out Power Rangers. DC insisted on getting Kate the pink Ranger so that she could play with him and his green Ranger. They also scored Crayola Crayon Makers. I love after Christmas sales.