The dam breaks...

• Yesterday when I picked up A and S at school we were getting in the truck and 3 men were riding bicycles towards us. S said, ever so seriously, “Those men look like evil minions.” Anyone know what movie she watched lately?
• Doesn’t it seem a bit bizarre to have St Patrick’s Day and Easter in the same week?
• A and S both can ride their bike without training wheels! Unfortunately, they haven’t got the hang of starting without help yet.
• I’m so happy that C’s response to my first effort to explain the slavery of Africans in the Americas (particularly the idea that their intelligence was inferior to white people) was an explosive, “That is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard!!”
• M is gone overnight. :(
• S cut her own hair on Monday. So, I took her to the salon today to get it fixed. It turned out pretty cute, but I hope not to have to repeat that.
• While S was cutting her hair under the table, C and I were baking MANY chocolate chip cookies. C then sold a bunch of them to our kind-hearted friends. The deal is this: she wants to make money and gets a kick out of selling things. I get ½ the profits. I don’t nearly break even, but we have fun.
• Last night I made this and instead of putting BBQ sauce over the meat, I used fajita seasoning (following the directions on the pkg.) and a little bit (1/4 cup?) of BBQ sauce on about ½ the meat. Then we ate it in tortillas with cheese, refried beans and guacamole. Wow.
• C and I are past the ½ way mark in grade 2 and loving it. She learned Roman numerals yesterday and it thrilled her.
• L is a firecracker these days. When her sisters cross her (ever-so-determined) path, plug your ears. She’s been such a laid back kid compared to the others, but part of it is that she’s just finding that independent streak later than they did.
• We are invited to an Easter egg hunt on Sunday afternoon.
• This is our 4^th Easter here. Imagine.
• In less than 5 months, we’re leaving for Canada. For five months.
• The fact above reminds me to trust God. Many, many times a week.
• A is SO ready to learn to read…but isn’t putting it together on her own yet. I’m trying to keep her satisfied with learning letter sounds, etc for now…
• I’ve returned to conjugating French verbs on index cards and memorizing them. Just trying to learn them by listening wasn’t cutting it. Can I just say here that there are just way too many verb tenses in French?
• Are you bored yet?
• Too bad, cause I’m not done yet.
• I’ve been kind of homesick lately, and look forward to the fun parts of our home assignment daily. (i.e. visiting with my sisters and “old” friends, eating my mom’s cooking, shopping for scrapbooking supplies, etc.)
• The weather has been funny lately. Some days I think winter is here and contemplate using the fireplace. Some days I am wearing shorts and taking the kids to the pool. Some days both of those things happen on the same day.
• I bought firewood today for the day when I do actually want to make a fire. Hopefully it will by dry enough by then.
• My roses are blooming again. And my hydrangea.
• Our camera bit the dust, so we’ve been shopping for a new one. I miss having a camera quite a lot.
• (Warning: this part is about poop.) L keeps talking about how that God puts the poop in her body, and no matter how pleasant or unpleasant the process of getting it out is, she gives Him the credit. For instance: “When I got this hard poop that God gave me out of my body, I praised the Lord!”
• She also talks about what it was like before she was born and shortly after being born. “Before I was born, I couldn’t see your clothes, because skin was in the way!” And, “When I was just born I smiled at you and said you had pretty clothes!” (She loves pretty clothes.)
• We have a new kind of pop here, Fanta Cassis. Cassis means “blackcurrent” in French, but it reminds me of Grape Crush. With added sugar. It’s really good. :)
• So. I just talked to M on the phone and he says our camera is working fine and the problem must be with our rechargeable batteries. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, since we’d been looking at an upgrade if we bought a new camera. Oh well.
• Angie had a link to Google Sketchup awhile back. Let me just say this: I didn’t know how much fun it could be to design house plans. :) I also didn’t know that my kids would find it so intriguing.
• And now, good night. It is time to sleep.