"I hate spiders rats, rain... and sprouts."

"I love laughing, going out with my friends, telling jokes, movies, plays and creating things."

This was a part of the note that we received from our French exchange student who arrives this afternoon. I am worried because there are times of stress in our household that I fear might send her running back to France. I am, of course, thinking of the 7:30-8:00am time slot where I use whatever method I can of trying to move the kids out the door and to school. Sometimes it works ok, other mornings I feel like the evil general barking hostile orders... kids always on the brink of mutiny. I have told them that we have to get it together and be civil in the mornings for the sake of our relationship with the good people of France. They have made no promises.

I hope that Madamosielle A. is feeling strong enough to endure the occasional insanity of our home.

Viva la France!

The Rules defined by Lillian

  I discovered a posting outside of the little guys rooms last night. Witness below our little trio of rule makers/breakers and to the right, the room rules that they (or rather, their spokes-girl)came up with.

Prominantly displayed, is a list of rules composed by Lillian which outlines the laws of behavior within each room.  It looks like whining like a baby, spitting, the pulling down of pants and fish/frog petting are not tolerated on any level.  Other things, like playing with guns are ok to do with permission.  I imagine that Lily is the one who grants such permission.  Also to be noted is that the ok guns to play with are nerf guns.. the kind with orange foamy "bullets" with suction cups on the ends that make the most satisfying thwack when fired.  We are not talking about automatic rifles here... even Lily would refuse permission for something like that.  

Update!

We just received an update on our junior miss in Ethiopia....all is well, she is doing ok. She is in an orphanage in Addis and is being well cared for. I wish that I could post photos of her adorable little self but Ethiopian adoption laws prohibit such random acts of cuteness until she is really, really our little girl. If all goes well, this should be May 18th...our court date, and then travel in June to bring her home. But trust me please... she is completely and totally gorgeous and I can't wait for the day when she is our daughter and I get to plaster photos of her sweet little face all over this blog.