Pre-teens say the darndest things

My kids crack me up. Regularly.

Today we were driving to the library and park (typical Saturday outing) and I mentioned to my kids that tonight is Earth Hour. I told them that I wanted to participate in this hour (8 - 9 pm) where all people and cities are asked to turn off the lights (and other electric) for one hour. It's an event to remind us about climate change. They decided it was cool, so we're doing it.

A few minutes later, my almost-13 daughter announces, "Hobos are saving Earth."

"What?" my son and I asked back.

"Yeah, you know," she explained, "hobos don't drive cars, they don't leave the lights on in houses, they don't waste water... they're saving Earth."

I couldn't help but smile at her logic!

Then... when we were heading home from the library and park, we decided to stop at the grocery store and cash the voucher we got from recycling earlier this week. I told them we'd divide the cash in three and could each spend it as we wanted for our Saturday movie snack. My daughter pulled out her cell phone to calculate dividing $6.75 into three.

My son (the math mind) teased her about using a calculator. He insisted that you needed to know mental math because you won't always have a calculator.

"Like," he began, "if you were on a desert island... and you had 6 coconuts... and you ate 1 1/2... and you wanted to convert that into a decimal..."

I lost it! I could just see him on a desert island and the most important thing is to convert 1 1/2 coconuts into a decimal! I laughed so hard I could barely drive into the grocery store parking lot!

Those were the kind of laughs that burn calories. I love these kids!