I've talked about the love of chess around here lately but I didn't mention that it extends down to even the youngest members of the family as well. True, their rules don't always completely resemble the actual game. For instance, today Ben captured every one of my pieces - or "guys" as they are called around here - with a pawn. The same pawn. And Jack can be heard saying, ""Oh! You dot my Ting!" after Ben captures any and every piece. But they love it and really do think they're playing. The set that they use belonged to my grandpa and it was bought for him by my mom over 40 years ago (sorry, mom!) during her world-traveling flight attendant days. Yes, it takes a little bit of abuse, but I'm pretty sure Grandpa would be glad to know that it's being loved well.

Mini chess players joy...

In other news, my kids were delighted to find out that today is Hobbit Day. We celebrated in true hobbit fashion by eating yummy food. : )