The girls love their Raisin Nut Bran.

Breakfast on these days has become highly ritualized. First they get the cereal dry, with a small dish on the side. They pick through the cereal pulling out the sugar-nut-encrusted raisins, and set them onto the side dish. They each count how many SNERs they have, and if they aren’t even, they will share until they have the same number. Only then do they want milk poured into the cereal, which is now just Nut Bran (the nuts being almond slivers).

They eat the cereal, and then begins the carefully coordinated process of synchronized devouring of SNERs. “Ok, eat your largest one. One, two three!” “Ok, now your next biggest one. One, two, three!” This continues until they are finished together, and then we start bowl two.

Because the bowl they have is wet, the second bowl of cereal goes into a new dry bowl so they can pick out the SNERs, then the Nut Bran is poured into the first bowl, SNERs are counted and equalized, and the process begins again.

All told: four bowls, two side dishes, two spoons, two bowls of cereal, two silly girls.