Dear lord....

6:45 a.m. Six-frugging-forty-five in the frugging morning.

*pound* *pound* *pound* "Wake up, Dad! It's morning!"

Only by technicality, dear. *groan* My children are awfully lucky that I love them.

Of course, now I have no blankets.

As the non-custodial father, I know my weekends with the kids are supposed to be filled to bursting with trips to the bowling alley, the zoo, the amusement park, and every fast food joint between here and the next county. Screw that: board and card games, grilled ham and cheese with applesauce for dinner, rotating control of the iTunes library, a rented Pokemon DVD, and (my favorite) a two-room fort constructed of blankets, the dining room table, two chairs, and the kids' air mattresses set on end as walls. The fort came out so well that they've elected to sleep there tonight as an indoor camping trip.

Oh, yeah. If I ever get too old to love this, shoot me.

Related notes:

1) The games in question started with the typical Go Fish and War, but soon proceeded to Dvonn (one of Abbey's favorites) and Ido. The corruption has begun nicely. *evil cackle*

2) When noticing that eight-year-old Abbey and five-year-old Nik would likely not be able to play Ido, as the rules say "12 and Up," Abbey didn't even flinch: "8 and 5 make 13. We'll team up." Can't argue with that. (And yeah, they did well.)

3) Also from Abbey, this time regarding our last Dvonn session: "I whipped your butt, little man." *cough* I'd like to slap the yoyo who taught her that, but I'm afraid it might have been me. How's that for karma?

4) Actual Lines from Actual Pokemon Episodes That Sound Like Bad Slash Fanfic: "Ash, would you massage Pikachu's cheeks like I showed you?"

5) It's official. Six consecutive playings of "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes is too many.

6) Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....