Laughing

It drives me crazy when the kids bicker.  I simply can't stand it when I can hear them arguing and then they come running in to tell me what the other has done.  The other night I could hear yelling and then one saying, "I'm going to tell Mom!" and the other exclaiming, "I'm going to tell before you do!" followed by their thunderous footsteps through the house to where I was in the computer room.  As they came running in I turned to greet them with a huge, excited smile on my face.  Not sure what to make of it, Zach began by telling me that Lexi hit him and scratched him.  I nodded excitedly, and then turned to Lexi with my huge smile and said, "And what did he do to you??"  Looking slightly confused, but not willing to miss her turn to tell on Zach, she explained that he had ripped the book right out of her hands while she was reading it.  I laughed loudly and said "Oh my gosh, you two!  What a great story!!  Thank you so much for sharing it, it was hilarious."  Leaving them with totally confused looks on their faces (but no longer bickering because they were now united in concern over mom's mental state), I went upstairs to change for my run. 

A minute later Zachary came up to see me.  "Mom...I was downstairs throwing the ball around in the kitchen, and it knocked over one of your pictures."  I turned to look at him with a stern expression and was about to tell him that this is why we don't allow him to play with balls in the kitchen when he interrupted me and said, "Remember that laughing thing you were just doing?  How about we do that again!"