Things I learned with the cousins...

My niece and nephews stayed with us last weekend. Here are a few things I learned.

• If you get shot in the heart, you don't die, but you can't have peace because you can't know Jesus.
• In a light saber battle, it's debatable whether having your arm sliced off is a mortal wound.
• When you are 9-years-old, you can talk your uncle/father into paying $4 for a ticket to park in his own garage (if your aunt/mother is involved).  You cannot, however, talk him into paying $50 for 9-year-old valet.
• The mental health of some 4-year-olds hinges on whether they're allowed to strictly adhere to the open slide/closed slide/open slide/closed slide rotation at the pool.
• In general, you can get a lot more information from a 7-year-old girl about the Sunday School lesson and about whether anyone was supposed to be sitting under the table during the lesson than you can from a 6-year-old boy (particularly if he was the one under the table).
• Apparently it's possible to be hurt horribly by jumping on your own thumb.  Try it.  It's actually extremely difficult to do.  Watching the other kids try to reenact the injury was almost worth dealing with the melodrama of the original incident.*
• Zombies make everything more fun.  Chris came up with Zombies vs. Survivors, Nerf style.  It was a hit.

I love these guys and, as much as I love their Mom and Dad, I really enjoy the way I get to know them when Chris and I are the only food source, entertainers, hold-me-when-I'm-tired option and tucker-in-at-nighters.
 
* In fairness to their cousins, I need to say that this was one of my kids.