Thank you! We'll be here all week!

 The boys have discovered jokes.  Specifically "knock knock" jokes, but they also have a few others that they will pull out.  William in particular has a willingness to do a little routine for a select crowd; namely, our parish priest, Fr. Dave.  For the last couple of weeks, he will pick a specific joke to tell him.  We practice with him a bit as his delivery isn't always great, but it is getting there.  I unfortunately have yet to see Will do his delivery for a live audience, but I hear he had quite the crowd this past Sunday.

It has been a treat to watch both boys grow in knowledge about the art of telling a joke.  They have one "knock knock" joke that is their favorite and we generally hear it at least 4 times at dinner.  But, during one meal, we discussed expanding their material a bit.  This led to some really bad jokes, which, in turn, lead to a discussion about what constitutes a bad joke.  I suggested it was a joke that didn't make sense or lacked a punch line.  They were able to provide ample examples of bad jokes.  After each telling, they would look at me with serious eyes and inform me that what they had just told was, in fact, a bad joke.  I'm sure my suppressed laughter may have confused them, but they are getting the hang of it mainly by paying more attention to a song that has several jokes within it.  Anything is better than the old standby (or some variation) of:

Have you ever seen a monster driving an ice cream truck?  (...and that was it...you see what I mean about the lack of punchline)

Oh, you lucky family members who we will be seeing soon.  Get ready for some fun!