Madison is home to my favorite grad student (sorry those of you in 600 and 603), Margaret Merrill. It was fun to spend an afternoon with her, meet her new BFF, and remember what it was like to worry about what I wanted to be when I grow up… Wait. I’m still not sure.

Anyway, we all had fun.

Doing what academics do best... Talking

The twins thought that Dan's shelves were a little messy, so they cleaned them off for him... Twice.

He didn't solve it while we were there, but it kept him busy when he wasn't playing on the bunk-couches.

While we were in Wisconsin, we drove out see some friends in Madison (don’t worry, Margaret, that’s a post for tomorrow). Madison has a small free zoo, and the weather was nice, so we took the kids. It’s more intimate than most zoos, but the small facilities don’t seem appropriate for many of the animals (though I’m sure it’s great for the university’s life sciences departments).

Brooke should really make this post, but she’s getting a routine non-stress test, so I’m here with Miles.

I work with two women who each have a three-year-old: One’s Hungarian (Janka) and the other is Chinese (Jie). (I know this sounds like a really bad joke, but it’s not.) Last Halloween I was teaching an evening class (what kind of professor would cancel class on Halloween?) so Brooke went out with Janka’s family. That started a little tradition where we get together for trick-or-treating.

This year I invited both Janka and Jie to bring their boys over to our neighborhood (which is awesome BTW). Jie’s parents are on an extended vacation here (while Jie’s husband finishes his dissertation in Tennesee), so they came to experience their first Halloween. They speak almost no English, but are extremely generous, as evidenced by the “candy” they brought for Ben and Miles:

Yes, this is Miles enjoying a Ferrero Rocher. He received his own 12-pack, and so did Ben. Needless to say, we’ve been… “sharing” a bit.

I expected a little push-back for the way I revealed our big news this weekend. But I expected it to come from my family members (you know, people with whom I share some DNA) rather than from friends. I IM’ed Margaret to get her to check my blog, and she retaliated by posting a transcript of our conversation.

The next time we have twins, I just won’t tell her and make her wait until I attach our Lilypie countdown: