Okay, so I won't sell them on the black market yet.

After all of my dramatics, even I have to admit that tonight, I didn't want to pull my hair out for longer than a few seconds at a time. "What was the magical combination?" This was the question running through my brain all evening. Was it the fact that they were both in school today and therefore Quinn was running on essentially no nap (i.e., less energy for screaming)? Was it the soft-voiced preparation I heard John giving them over the monitor right before they came down for dinner? Was it Bryce's euphoric state over the Froot Loop necklace he had made during the "cooking" portion of his school day? Was it my last minute decision to light candles at dinner; did the fire have some hypnotic hold on them? Was it the fact that they were starving after not eating well at school, and therefore would have been thrilled to eat whatever foreign object we put on a plate in front of them? Or was the wine I had with dinner simply dulling my senses?

Dinner was lovely. The planets must have aligned properly, because FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, both kids ate their dinner. With. No. Complaints. And they asked for more. And we were eating baked potatoes and salad! Bryce asked politely to be excused, Hannah got to speak without the boys' antics cutting off any attempts she made at socialization, Quinn only spilled half a glass of water.

I had to pinch myself: "Can this be?"

Later, while we were cleaning up, the boys were dancing in the living room, re-enacting a scene from Singin' In The Rain. I asked John if they watched that movie today. He gave me a proud glance and said, "No, actually they didn't watch ANY T.V. today!!"

Wheels turning. Thinking...thinking...thinking... DING! "Huh, could this fact possibly be related to their NORMAL behavior at dinner tonight???!" John gave me a laugh of agreement, and I returned to the dishes.

I'm just glad that, for now anyway, I can go back to thinking of my kids like this:

Instead of like this: