Life Update

Corban: Just completed his first week of school minus one sick day (already--but it was legit:) He is eager to learn which is a great help. He is frequently counting to 100 for fun these days:) He's bending his arm and getting to bathe his elbow now:)

Haddon: Is getting the hang of the computer. He loves to play the "Smiley Ball" game, which is really just using my email to put different smiley face inserts that yahoo offers:) It's amazing how young kids can figure out how to use a mouse! It keeps him busy while we are doing school.

Kai: Is getting 2 more teeth. I call them the canine teeth--the pointed ones:) He is in "phase one" of potty training--which means when momma sees "the face" she runs him to the toilet, rips off his diaper and sits him down on it. It's working, when I catch it! And he loves the applause he gets for it. He is also beating up on his big brothers. He is not afraid to tackle, pinch and scratch their faces! He pays the penalty for being a bully but I don't know whether to laugh or cry inside. It's funny seeing a 17 month old taking down a big boy but I don't want my child to be a terror so we are working to put a stop to it!

Me: I just completed my first week of Kindergarten...again:) I loved it. One small little instance was when Corban was learning about cents in math. He learned about pennies and how many cents they are worth. Well I thought about that we won't have change lying around to show him what the coins look like. (He'll learn Indian rupees too) I went to get my "American" wallet that sits in a drawer and pulled out the few coins I had. Do you know that there was one of each type of coin in there! I was so excited:) A thoughtful gift from God. He sent us back to India with just the right amount of money in our wallet:) 58 cents:)

Not So Presto Pesto
Yesterday I made homemade pesto sauce for a pasta dish I was bringing to our church small group. I am all about shortcut cooking and you may know that I have joked about feeling like a pioneer woman here (in the states I would have bought pesto in a jar:). Well, the recipe called for toasted walnuts. So I did find some whole walnuts w/shells at the store. I don't have a nut cracker so I had to open them with a rolling pin all while the children are napping. It was quite loud and tedious. I was sweating by the end and only managed to get about half of the actual walnuts out of the shells. I was fantasizing the whole time of walking down the baking aisle at WalMart and buying a pack of chopped walnuts:) (There's that comparing again:) So I put them in the oven, started working on the pasta and then, oh yes, smelled the pungent burning coming from the oven. They were inedible. Ah, the joy of cooking. And though I know there are many American woman who prefer to make homemade pesto rather than use a store bought jar, I still feel like Laura Ingalls sometimes:D And really, don't let me fool you, I do have it easy here...I had a co-worker in MN whose wife had to wring their chicken's necks to get a meal when they lived in Africa. That's a pioneer woman!