Saved in the nick of time

Last night, I thought dinner was doomed for sure. Spiraling down into the abyss of grumpiness that was Matthew. He had an issue that he just would not let go - thought he was being treated unfairly. Short story, his brother did something he wasn't supposed to do, then Matthew thought he should be allowed to do it. Ummm, no. We didn't allow Jacob to do it, he just did it. And got scolded for it, by the way. So, hell-to-the-no, you cannot do it too!! UGH!

But, lo and behold, all was saved in the nick of time! Andrew, with a mouth full of food, mumbled something that came out pretty much gobbledy-gook. Now, normally, he would have gotten the speech about talking with food in his mouth. But the mood was so dark already. Then Big Daddy, aka husband, chuckled. And repeated it back. Which made GrumpyPants, aka Matthew, giggle. I felt the mood lightening! So, of course, I have to go in for the kill, which meant telling stories of more incoherent speech, usually made by the boys at night while sleepwalking. They, having no memory of such things, thought this was hilarious. Oh, there was also the story of Husband and me waking up to find Matthew in our doorway, pretty much asleep, getting ready to pee. Thought he was in the bathroom, I guess! Anyway, riotous laughter and giggles was our dinner music for pretty much the rest of the meal. Hallelujah!

At one point, things had quieted down a bit (everyone was tired from laughing), when I hear Andrew going on about something. Went sorta like this:

"We ain't had nothing but maggoty bread for t'ree stinkin' days! Why can't we have some meat?!" 

Yes, Lord of the Rings rules at my house. For the next 15 minutes or so, Andrew, Jacob and Big Daddy recite every line in the scene from Two Towers where the Uruk-hai have kidnapped Pippin and Merry, and have stopped to rest. Some of the nasty guys want to eat the hobbits because

"We ain't had nothing but maggoty bread for t'ree stinkin' days! Why can't we have some meat?!" What about them, they're fresh!" "They are not for eating!"....all the way to "Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!" (complete with accents)

It was rather impressive, I must say. And entertaining. Did I mention there were accents? 

So yes, Virginia, dinner was saved. In the nick of time. And we made some really fun memories in the process!