The Pictures

The photographer has the pictures ready and I'm so pleased with them!  She did really good work.  (Her business is called Siri K Smith Photography, if you're looking for someone!)

Here are some of my favorites:

 

Senior Pictures

Yesterday Drew and I went out shopping for an outfit for his senior pictures.  He and I are on the same wavelength when it comes to shopping:  get in and get out, like guerrilla warfare.  We got him some new jeans, new shoes, and a new shirt.  We compromised, too.  He insisted on a black shirt ("Because I have to be myself, Mom.") and I insisted on it being a nice black shirt.  The result is a black, button-down with a collar...and his Morrow t-shirt underneath.  This is how that conversation went:

Him:  I want to wear my Morrow shirt, too.  It's who I am right now.

Me:  What???  No.

Him:  Yeah, I really want to.

Me:  [stopping and thinking about it for a second and realizing it doesn't matter]  *sigh*  Okay, fine.

So we'll have some pictures with one shirt and some with the other.

Actually, the pictures were taken this morning.  Mike and Drew met the photographer at a place called Richmond Beach, and I guess she went all out.  She posed him by the water, by the woods, on some railroad tracks, and by some train cars.  Hopefully we'll get some good shots!

House Band News

Today everybody has been on pins and needles, waiting to find out if Baylee got into house band.  Periodically she'd say, "I don't think I got in.  That's okay."  Finally, though, at about 4pm she received the email that told her...drum roll...she made it!  She's so excited.  It's considered an honor and a privilege to be in house band, and that's an especially neat thing for her, because she's only been playing drums for a little over a year.  She's gotten pretty darn good in a short amount of time!  I was thinking about it today, and I think she has three things going for her.

1. She's kind of a little work horse.  If she can't get something on the drums, she'll keep at it until she does.  Usually that involves tears.  It's a bit of a family joke now (and she laughs right along with the rest of us) that every time she's assigned a song that's difficult, she goes through a stage that involves crying and gnashing of teeth.  She always comes out the other side, though, with a new skill.
2. The SoR is set up to rocket a motivated kid skyward.  
3. She has a really good drum teacher over there.  He gives her lots of encouragement...and lots of homework.  lol  Plus, I kid you not, his name is Michael Knight.  Remember that '80's show Knight Rider???  With a name like that how could he be anything but awesome?

Thursday

Morrow got the nicest e-mail from one of the people running the venue they played at* the other night.  Drew let me read it.  I don't remember exactly what it said, but basically the woman who wrote it told them she was surprised by their young ages, because they did an amazing job and were very professional, and she said that they were welcome back there.  At the very end she said they reminded her of why she got into the business in the first place.  It made my heart swell with happiness for those five guys.

Baylee has a close group of friends from the SoR.  I mean, she's got quite a few friends there now, but there's one group she's a part of that's become sort of inseparable.  It consists of two boys, Max and Lucas, and two girls, Baylee and Mira.  They were all at our house yesterday for about five hours, talking, laughing, singing.  For real.  Singing.  SoR friends are weird that way.  Most teens wouldn't be caught dead singing out loud, especially in a group that includes the opposite sex, but not these kids.  They sing all the time.  At one point last night they were all belting out songs like "Mr. Big Stuff," by Jean Knight and "I Will Survive," by Gloria Gaynor.  lol  They're total weirdos, and they couldn't care less.

    

*called the Black Lodge.  It's a neat place that's known for being secret.  You have to "know someone" to get the address.  lol  (It's actually not that hard.)  Here's what they say about themselves online:

The Black Lodge is an independent, all-ages live music venue located in Seattle, WA. Shows are booked and staffed by our collective of volunteers. The Black Lodge specializes in booking independent touring and local bands. We have been around since 2008. During that time we have hosted hundreds of shows with bands from all over the country and world.  Seattle’s best worst-kept secret, the Black Lodge hosts all-ages hardcore/punk/noise shows in a beautifully dilapidated DIY space located … somewhere.  Unless otherwise noted all shows start at 9pm. Please do not publicly post our address.

Wednesday

Morrow's show last night was a success!  I'm so proud of them.  They played to a full house, and everybody there seemed to really like their stuff.  When they were finished I heard tons of people talking about them, saying things like, "Wow, that was awesome!"  I got some video, but I'm not even going to post it because it doesn't do the whole thing justice.  My camera just couldn't capture it very well.  Here are a couple pictures that Mike took, though.  It looks foggy because Morrow has a fog machine that works a little too well if you ask me.  Honestly, sometimes it got as thick as pea soup in there.  There were points when you could barely see your hand in front of your face.  Then it would sort of dissipate, only to have the machine kick in again.   #NeedAFoghorn  #AndALighthouse

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We just found out that Drew passed the language arts portion of the GED!  That's two parts down (science and lang arts), two to go (history and math).  He's trying to move things along, because he's got a self-made deadline now.  Do you remember how I said that the program he got into over at Shoreline Community College makes all its participants take a "pre-college" class before they're allowed to actually start working on their degree?  Well, Drew signed up for the summer session of that.  That means he needs to finish this GED stuff in the next month, then do the pre-college class over the summer, then he'll be all set to take regular college classes in the fall, which is actually right on schedule with his age.  

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A snippet of a brother/sister conversation I overheard yesterday afternoon...
 
Drew:  I admit, fourteen and fifteen-year-old guys are just dumb.

Baylee:  Yeah.  Mom told me that you were dumb back then, too.  She said she would wake up from a nap to find you setting off a bomb in the front yard.

Drew:  Hey, that's not true.  The bomb was what woke her up.

Edited to Add:

I texted Drew and he just got back to me. 

Me:  Did they let you take the test?

Him:  Yeah.  It was two hours of pure cancer.  I think I passed, though.

So, that's good news, anyway.  I'm glad he took it and I hope he did well.  Now it's on to the next thing for him, which is Morrow's first show tonight!

Distracted

One word to describe the last couple days for our family:  Distracted.  Or maybe scatter-brained, but that's two words. 

Baylee worked for a few weeks on an audition for house band, and yesterday was the big day.  I took her to the SoR, said, "Good luck!" and drove away.  I got all the way home, and that's when I got a text message:  "Mom, could you bring me my sticks?"  I mean, what???  How in the world do you show up at an audition without the one thing you absolutely need???  *deep cleansing breath*  Mike was home from work by that time, so he ran them over to her and everything was fine.  In fact, she thinks she did well!  We'll find out the results on Friday.

This morning Drew asked for a ride to school, so I gave him one.  We got all the way there, when suddenly he realized he forgot his wallet, which had his school ID in it, which he needed in order to take the language arts portion of the GED test, which he was scheduled to show up for at 11:30.  *another deep cleansing breath*  Luckily we were running a tiny bit early at that point.  We went back home, he grabbed it, we drove back to school, and he walked in there at 11:35.  I still don't know if they were kind and let him take the test even though he was late or not.  I hope they did.  I told him to be very apologetic.

And here's a couple random pictures I snapped of Baylee, just because I thought she looked cute.

A Memory

A couple days ago an old college friend of mine private messaged me this:

"God has instilled in everyone some of Himself, but only those of us who believe in Him can fully use that God-likeness to do all things through Him who gives us strength." Someone said this in 1993. Can you guess who?

I had no idea, so I asked, "Who?"

It turns out I said it.  I truly have no memory of that.  She said it was part of the commencement address I gave (I was one of two commencement speakers from among the graduating students), and she ran across a copy of it when she was cleaning out a box of old college stuff.  My only real thought about it was that I sounded a lot smarter back then than I am now.  LOL

I remember being under so much pressure to get that speech written.  The college's recruitment office wanted to send a copy of it to the religion section of the Grand Rapids Press, which meant that they (the recruitment people) were breathing down my neck to get it written way in advance of our graduation ceremony.  (I remember one time specifically they were asking me about it, and I was like, "Yup, I'm getting there.  I've got it well under control."  The thing is, I hadn't actually started yet.  Their response was, "Great!  So give us a rough outline."  Gulp.  I made up one on the spot, which I'm pretty sure I didn't stick to at all.)  Plus I was trying to get ready for finals, I was training for the new full-time job I would take after graduation, and I was putting the final details on my wedding at the same time.  It was a lot.

One day during all that, when I was feeling especially stressed out, one of my professors, Craig MacDonald (who reads here!), came up to me and asked me a simple question about when I was going to be able to get something done.  I burst into tears.  I think he was probably a little shocked, but to his credit he gave me a big hug and told me everything was going to be fine.  And it was.    

Upcoming Stuff

We've got a big week coming up:

• Baylee decided to audition for the summer house band, and that's going to happen on Monday.  She has to play one song that was assigned by the school ("Out on the Tiles," by Led Zeppelin) and one song of her choosing ("Mama Kin," by Aerosmith), and she has to answer a theory question.  They're doing it a little differently since Drew went through it, though, in that they now make everyone audition in front of everyone else.  In other words, you get up in front of your peers plus two judges (Zeke and Lori), and you do your thing.  Baylee's not happy about the change.  Hopefully she'll do well!  Here's a short video of her practicing the Led Zeppelin song.

• On Tuesday morning Drew is taking the language arts portion of the GED test, which includes grammar, reading, essay writing, etc.  They've been having him write essays for the past week at the school to get ready.  Every time he goes to class he's given a topic and a bit of information, then told to choose a position and write on it.  Yesterday's was "traffic cameras."
• On Tuesday night Morrow has their first live performance.  It's the one I talked about the other day.  I'm hoping they do well, too! 

Algebra

Baylee and I are at that point in the school year where the end is fairly close, but it still feels like we'll never reach it.  (She's totally on track, but there's just a lot left to go.)  It doesn't help that we're doing something in Algebra right now that's putting us both on edge.  She's on edge because she's 14 and this stuff is hard for her.  I'm on edge because, well, she's 14.  In fact, we had to come up with a catch-phrase to save ourselves from ourselves.  It's:  "I didn't deserve that."  When one of us is getting shrill and/or snippy, the other gets to say it.  (PS:  Mostly I say it to her.  Ahem.)

Anyway, what we're doing in Algebra right now that's causing all this friction is something called quadratic equations.  Baylee has had to learn how to solve them three different ways:  by factoring, by completing the square, and by using the quadratic formula.  Let me show you this quadratic formula, just to give you an idea of what we're dealing with here:

If that's not enough to make a 14-year-old want to cry, then they turn around and use it in word problems!  It's the worst of the worst.  Baylee had to solve problems like this today:

The square of the sum of two positive, consecutive, even numbers exceeds the sum of their squares by 336.  Find the numbers.

Sigh.  Only another month and a half of Algebra 1 to go. 

Morrow News

Today is a double-post day, because something just happened that made my heart speed up and my eyes get teary.  I logged onto Facebook, where a friend of mine had posted a link for me to look at, and she added, "Sue, have you seen this?"  I clicked on it and it was a write-up on Morrow's "Last Light" done by National Rock Review!  Here's what was written:

Morrow is a new five-piece band from Seattle, Washington, who utilized masterful musical skills and their penchant for black metal to create “Last Light.” The band released this new single independently and in advance of their forthcoming full-length album. Morrow is Trevor Eulau (guitar), Drew Harper (guitar), Ben Afallouss (vocals), Arthur Evseev (bass), and Wes Hornig (drums).

At nearly 10 minutes in length, “Last Light” is an epic. An acoustic intro draped in reverb starts a musical journey that compels the listener with feelings of sorrow, pain, and in some respects, triumph. The intro gives way to blasting drums and blackened screams. This track is reminiscent of Dissection with blistering single-note runs chasing the fleeting drums in a symphonic orgy of metal.

“Last Light” derives a great deal of its appeal through the changing motifs within the song. It moves from quiet classical guitar introspection to metallic fury in a well-crafted song. Particularly well done are the guitar solos. Instead of going overboard with ultra-technical histrionics, they refrain and stick to well-phrased lines that accent the overall composition.

If there is one weakness to Morrow’s new single, it is the recording and mix. The sound quality just misses the mark in overall fidelity, as is most evident in the drums, which lack clarity and seem to be a bit distant in the mix.

Morrow has crafted a fine piece of black metal that incorporates many progressive elements into an intriguing new single. Hopefully, there will be a full-length offering coming soon.

You might be wondering, like I was, how Morrow is taking the news that its recording and mix was so off-the-mark according to these reviews.  I asked Drew about it awhile back, and he just shrugged and laughed.  It's a case of live and learn.  They did the best they could.  Next time, when they put together the whole album, they'll have that part done professionally.

You also might be wondering how I, as a conservative Christian mom...and a Dutch one at that...feel about all this.  Honestly,  I'm so very happy for him, but I wish it wasn't black metal.  Like, I really, really wish that.  Sometimes I ask myself what we could've done differently.  Not enrolled him in the School of Rock?  Or if you want to go way back, not ever had him learn to play the guitar?  We could've chosen a nice, safe instrument like the piano.  When he was 8 years old he actually begged for piano lessons, but we said no, because we couldn't afford a piano at that time.  If that had worked out, though, how would his path be different now?   On the other hand, his love for this and his drive...and when I say "drive," I mean it in a way that you don't see very often.  I'm talking about hours upon hours upon years of practice time.  I'm talking about bloody fingers.  I'm talking about tendonitis in both his wrists...have been like a speeding train.  I don't know if we ever could've stopped it.

Mostly?  I'm just proud of him. 

Next Year's Plan for School

Can you believe Baylee's going to be in 10th grade next year?  I've been giving some thought to it, and this is what I came up with as a plan.
 

English 2:  This one will be through the high school she's enrolled in, South Ridge Christian Academy.  I love their 10th grade English course, mostly because it includes The Hiding Place.  That book is wonderful and every high school kid should read it.

Geometry:  When the boys did this subject, I chose to use a program called Teaching Textbooks.  Normally I love that curriculum, but it was horrible for us for geometry.  Every day was torture.  That's why this time I'm going to have Baylee use South Ridge's course.  I'm also going to have her go through an Algebra review workbook in order to keep that subject fresh.  The workbook is called Use It!  Don't Lose It!  Daily Algebra Practice, and it'll take about 5 to 10 minutes a day.

Physical Science:  This is another one that we'll get through the school.  It's quite a math-heavy introduction to chemistry and physics, but I think Baylee will do fine.  For me it's nice because we own the DVDs for it, so I'm not actually the teacher.

World History:  This one we're getting from a publisher called Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum.  We used them this year for world geography and it went well, so we'll try them again. 

French 3:  I'm going to have her do both Learnables 3 and Michel Thomas' Total French.

Music:  She'll be taking lessons and doing rehearsals and shows with the SoR.

Old Testament Survey:  I'm going to try something new this year.  I found a book on Amazon called A Journey through the Old Testament.  It looks like something Baylee can handle by herself and like something she would enjoy.

Sunny Days

More flowers from our yard. 

The reason why Drew has holes in all of his pants.

One of Baylee's dog walking jobs.  This friendly guy's name is Crosby.

We've had record high temperatures (and the records go back to the 1800's) over the last couple of days here in Seattle.  It's been almost 90!  When he got home from work yesterday Zach said about his motorcycle, "I felt like I was riding a space heater."

Tuesday

In my Ireland/United Kingdom diet support group, they're always saying the word "cheeky," but in a way that I can't figure out the meaning of.  Like here's an exact quote:  "I just had a cheeky 30-calorie rice cake to keep me going."  Huh?  I don't get it.  What was cheeky about the rice cake?  Another way they use it is to say, "I had a cheeky weigh-in."  What does that mean?  I want to ask, but I don't want to be that American who doesn't get stuff.  

Morrow has something big coming up next week:  They were invited to be a part of a show with a few other bands.  One of the bands (Woman is the Earth) is from a different state and is actually well-known among the metal crowd.  From what I understand, this show is part of that band's tour.

Here's the promotional picture for the event. 

Anyway, Morrow is very excited (and I think a little bit scared!) for the opportunity.

Monday

If I'm watching TV Drew will almost always find his way in there, sit down next to me on the couch, and watch as well.  It doesn't matter what's on, either.  For instance, last weekend he plopped down and watched that Pixar kids' movie, Inside Out, with me from beginning to end.  He's a fun one to watch stuff with, too, because he laughs at the funny parts and he makes witty comments about things.  Anyway, there's no real point to this, except that it makes me happy.  He probably won't be living with us for too many more years, so those little moments are...at the risk of sounding syrupy...something I treasure.

Quick Pic

On Friday afternoon, after school, Baylee went to her grandpa and Reyna's house, and that's where she spent the whole weekend.  She had a good time, especially because Reyna's grandson was also there.  Baylee likes that little guy.

Sleepwalking

I was talking to my mom on the phone earlier today, and she mentioned that one of my nieces, Addy, got hurt this week.  The other night she was sleepwalking, and she fell off the top bunk and landed right on her face.  The poor thing looked pretty bad in the morning.  Anyway, I was thinking about that, and I remembered two stories from my own childhood that I haven't thought of in years.

1.  One night when my brother was little he got out of bed, sleepwalked over to his dresser, opened up one of the drawers, and peed in it.  He was dreaming that he was using the actual bathroom.  The worst part was that particular dresser was made out of cardboard.  For real.  It was sturdy and cute...I remember it was a patriotic red, white, and blue...but it wasn't built to be used as a toilet, and so that was the end of it.

2.  One night when I was little (very little) I got out of bed and sleepwalked out of my room.  I went through the kitchen, through the living room where my mom and her friend Rowena were sitting and chatting, through my mom's room, and into her closet.  That's where I peed into a mason jar that was on the floor.  Weird, right???

And here's a bonus story:

3.  When I was in college I spent one summer being a counselor at a camp.  One night I was on the front porch of my cabin doing some paperwork, and all my campers were sound asleep in bed.  Suddenly I heard something that sounded like a door opening and closing.  I quickly went in and used my flashlight to check on every girl.  They were all there...except one.  There was an empty bunk.  I rushed out the back door of the cabin just in time to see a little girl in a white nightgown disappearing into the woods.  I ran out there to her, took her by the hand, led her back, and got her into bed.   She had no memory of it in the morning. 



 

You Did What Now???

This is an actual, honest-to-goodness conversation I just had with Drew...

Him [walking in the door after school]:  I just found a cake at the bus stop, and I ate it. It was good.

Me:  What???

Him:  There was a chocolate cake in a bakery box at the bus stop.  Somebody must've accidentally left it.  So I ate it.

Me:  What happens if somebody put poison in it or something?!

Him:  Well, then I'm doomed.


Words fail me.

Friday

There's a news article going around right now about a 5-year-old kindergartner in Georgia who was paddled in school for misbehavior.  The mother, who was there in the principal's office when the discipline happened, secretly videoed it, and now people are taking sides as to whether or not the school was right, etc.

That's not really what I want to tell you about, though.  What I want to share is the conversation that happened when I pointed the article out to Mike...

Me:  Look at this picture.  The paddle they're going to use on the boy is literally half the length of his body.

Mike:  Yeah, I see that.  It reminds me of the paddle my sixth grade teacher used on me once.  Did I ever tell you about that?

Me:  I think so, but what happened again?

Mike:  It was totally unfair.  The kid next to me farted and I laughed about it.  Then everyone blamed me, and I was paddled even though I didn't do it.

Me:  Well, I'm sure you farted some other time, so it all worked out in the long run.


PS:  Mike said that teacher was actually one of his favorites.  He was like a cowboy; he owned a horse ranch and everything.  The reason he disciplined Mike was because he thought Mike wasn't acting like a gentleman, and he wanted to teach him that that was important.

My Diet

I had three New Year's resolutions this year.  One was to get through the entire Learnables French program, and I'm on track to do that.  The second was to get to my goal weight, and...ahem...let's just say it's time to get going on that one...and I am!  I'll tell you about what I recently started doing (and talked Mike into doing with me) in a minute.  Let me start at the beginning, though.

Over the last several months I've been watching Mike's cousin's wife, Jessica, lose a lot of weight...like close to 100 pounds.  We don't live very near them, but I've been able to follow her progress, because she occasionally posts pictures on Facebook.  It's been inspiring to say the least!  In fact, it got me interested enough to give her a call awhile back, and she told me that she's been accomplishing all this by doing Medifast.  We had a good, honest conversation, and she basically encouraged me to do what works for me, whether that's Medifast or something else.

That conversation led to me doing some research, and I discovered something:  Slimfast, which you can buy in the grocery store, is a lot like Medifast, only WAAAAAAY cheaper.  The only real difference is that if you're doing Medifast, all the meals are sent to you.  If you choose Slimfast, you have to go to the store and pick out what you need each week.  I decided I was totally willing to do that, and so I started.

Here's how it works:  It's called the Slimfast 3-2-1 program.  Every day you eat 3 100-calorie snacks, 2 meal replacement (either bars or shakes), and 1 regular meal of 500-600 calories (if you're a woman).  That looks like this for me:

• I have a shake for breakfast.  I can choose strawberry, vanilla, or chocolate, and they all taste good.  The strawberry is actually delicious. (PS:  I could have a bar for breakfast if I wanted, but I always choose a shake.)
• Mid-morning I have a 100-calorie snack.
• At lunchtime I can have another shake or bar.  I often choose a bar.  They're tasty as well.
• Mid-afternoon I have another 100-calorie snack.
• At dinner time I eat a 500 to 600-calorie meal.  That's actually a lot of food if you play your cards right.
• In the evening I get my last 100-cal snack.

Total amount of calories for the day: 1200 to 1300 (Again, that's for women.  It's higher for men.)

It's great!  It's my favorite diet I've ever done, because there's very little counting involved, and I get to eat every two to three hours.  I get a little hungry before supper, but that about it.  The rest of the day is very even-keeled. 

I made this little video to give you an idea of what I eat as far snacks, and to show you the meal replacements.

And like I said, Mike does the same thing, but he uses shakes and bars that he found at Costco.  They're higher in protein, and that helps him get through his workday.  For snacks he eats oatmeal, fruit, etc.

 

Tuesday

Awhile back I started a certain diet*, and so I began looking around for a group of people on the internet who are also doing it.  I like groups like that, because their members often give good ideas and support.  Anyway, there were a few groups, but the best, most active one was made up of folks who live in Ireland and the United Kingdom.   I private messaged the moderator, asking to join even though I live in the US, and she agreed.  So far it's been fun and kind of interesting in there.  The women talk about how many stones they've lost and they say things like "whilst."

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I was talking to Mike about how so often men can't seem to take a good picture, because when they smile it looks forced and sometimes even a bit pained.  "That's the problem with guys," I said.  "They can't be natural on command."

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Drew took the the science portion of the GED last week.  He said he had to go to the testing center on campus and fill out forms and set up a time beforehand. Then when the day came he had to sign something saying he'll never share any of the questions or answers.  Finally they took his picture and set up a video camera to watch him while he tested.  Yeesh!  He did it, though, and yesterday we found out he passed!  That's one part down, three (history, math, and language arts) to go.

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*Mike is doing it, too!  It's been great to be in it together.
  

A Few Pics

Yesterday was National Sibling Day, so I found this cute picture of the kids to put on Facebook in honor of that.  Look at how little they are!

Also yesterday a bunch of kids came over to play in the yard, and, of course, I made them all stand together for a picture.  They're used to it by now.

And finally, yesterday Morrow's shirts came in.  The band invested some of their money into having these shirts made, because there's going to be a neat opportunity...one in which they could possibly sell some of them...coming up in the near future. 

Drew wore his to school today.

PS:  Some girl at school made him that necklace for his birthday.

Sunday

I just read and understood my first French joke!  Here it is:

Après une audition, un producteur dit à une chanteuse:

«Mademoiselle, votre chanson est comme l'épée de Charlemagne.

—Toute fière, la fille dit, Ah bon??  Comment ça?

—Eh bien, elle est longue, plate et mortelle!»

Here's what it means:

After an audition, a producer says to a singer, "Miss, your song is like the sword of Charlemagne."

All proud, the girl says, "Really?  How so?"

"Well, it is long, flat, and deadly!"


PS:  I just learned how to make all those weird French accents and stuff on this Mac keyboard.  :)  I'm not exactly sure I punctuated everything correctly, though.  The rules are different in French.

If This Doesn't Work...

We're still dealing with Gibbs being horribly itchy to the point of biting himself bloody if he's not wearing a cone.  It's so sad.  We've tried everything from the vet (and the medicines she gave us) to changing his diet dramatically.  Finally today we reached the end of the line in terms of treatment options.  We tried the strongest thing out there:  sulfurated lime dip.  It's supposed to clear up the worst case of itchy rashes.  Maybe you're wondering, like I did, why it isn't the first option instead of the last, since they say it's so great.  Well, it's because of the smell.  Think of a thousand rotten eggs.  Or, no, imagine replacing your bathrooms with indoor outhouses.  That's what it's like over here right now.  So who wants to come over for dinner?

Happy Birthday to Drew!

When I first started this blog Drew was 8 and he did things like this:

He would kill me if he knew I posted that.  LOL  If I remember right, I took it because he wanted to show me some of his "cool dance moves."  He was a happy-go-lucky little guy.

Now he's an 18-year-old man!  Isn't that weird?  We're proud of him.  He's highly motivated with his music and he's working hard in school, but in a lot of ways he's still that easy-going kid.

More French

I decided that before I dove into Learnables Advanced French, I would finish off the Duolingo app that I started awhile back.  In fact, I had done about half of Doulingo several months ago, but I got overwhelmed and quit.  What's really cool, though, is that when I picked it back up a few days ago I found that I was able to fly through it!  The difference between where I was when I first tried it and where I am now is unexpected* and so encouraging to me.   I made this little video to show you what I accomplished:

*It's unexpected because Learnables, my main program, is so gentle.  It's immersion-based, so it's talking to you and having you read in French the whole time, but you pretty much always feel like you get it.  In fact, you're left wondering if you're really learning very much, because it's fairly painless.  lol  But then you try another program, like Duolingo, and you realize you know hundreds and hundreds of words.  Plus you understand how to put sentences together.

Naughty French

Baylee and I were listening to Patti LaBelle sing a song called "Lady Marmalade" in the car just now, because it's one of the Queens of Soul numbers.  As it was playing I suddenly realized that it had a repeating French section in the lyrics.  I said, "Hey, that's French!"

"I know." 

I waited to hear it again.  "'Ce soir.'  That part means 'this evening' or 'tonight.'"

"Yep."

"'Voulez vous.'  That means 'Will you' or 'Do you want.'"

"Mm hmm."

"'Avec moi.'...'With me!'  But what's the verb?  I can't quite make it out."

"'Coucher.'"

"Ohhhh..."

In other words, I just methodically pieced together the sentence, "Will you sleep with me tonight?"  and that stinker knew all along what it was. 

Sunday

I love these girls.  They're the kind of friends that are more like sisters.

This morning I remembered an interesting conversation I had with Drew awhile back, about the personality of different band members.  It started out because we were discussing how flaky bass players tend to be.  Drew was like, "Oh, that's usually the way they are."

"They're all like that?  Why?"

He told me it has to do with the personality of someone who would choose to play bass in the first place.  They want the instant success that comes from an instrument that's easy to pick up and learn just enough to get on stage.

I was intrigued.  "Do all the members of a band have certain personality traits?"

"Yup, pretty much."

"What about drummers?"

"They're crazy."

"Singers?"

"Whiny.  They're always worried about their voice."

"What about lead guitarists?"

He grinned.  "They want aaaallll the attention."

lol  Hmm.  I think he's on to something! 

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday!  I'll be honest:  It started out to be not that great, and it was totally my own fault.  I had decided I didn't want any presents or a special meal or a cake or anything, mostly because I didn't want to get derailed from my diet.  That was fine, all the way up until the day went on and it was very normal and chore-filled, and suddenly I started feeling a bit sorry for myself.  lol  Anyway, my family knows me well.  I came home from running errands and doing the grocery shopping to find birthday cards, flowers, and chocolate, and Mike took me out to Patty's Egg Nest for breakfast for dinner.  It was lovely.

Oh, and Mike's card made me cry.  I probably shouldn't share this, because it's kind of like reading somebody else's love letter, but I will because it was so nice.  Here's what was written in the card I got from him:

Suzy,

Well, it's been almost 25 years since I watched you stride across the GBC cafeteria in your pink summer dress.  I was instantly smitten.  Now we are growing old together, getting our kids prepped for their lives, and looking forward to the next 25+!  I can't wait each day to find out what's on your mind, what interesting thing you will do, or to see you smile.  Happy Birthday, my love.