Escargot on get the hell outta here

Is this the kind of snail you might eat in France? Just your ordinary garden snail? Because, if so, I need never go to the grocery store again. My family can feast every night.
Months ago Jennifer told me to just step on them if I want to get rid of them. The thought of the crunch and the squish made me too squeamish. However...I do like the plants in our garden. So much that I seem to have overcome my squeamishness. Yesterday and today I have plucked close to 40 snails, placed them on the frisbee, carried them to the back lane, and stamped on them. With glee. Crunch. Squish.

All Sorts

I didn't make this cake (google image), but Heather and I did make one just as delicious. She

had pineapple upsidedown cake at a friend's house the other week and loved it. Just hearing about it made me very nostalgic for my mother's homecooking, so we found a recipe and yumyum.

Three-in-one:

Rather than spreading the girls out into the numerous bedrooms in this house, we are jamming them all into one. Claire has moved in with the big girls and Laura has got her own room, so no longer has to put up with her parent's snoring. It's going reasonably well.

I've got eyebrows:

Actually, it sounds like, "me dot eyebwows". Last month Claire began listing everyone she knows who has eyebrows. The other night she was cuddled in with me for a few hours and in the dark I felt this little hand reach out to my face and begin stroking my eyebrows.

Pot of Gold:

Guess what badge you get when you move up from Rainbows to Brownies, as Ailsa has done this week. That's right, the Pot of Gold badge. get it?

Thud. Waaa!:

Laura is trying to stand up, holding on to the couch, table, anybody's legs, the bin, anything. She falls down a lot. These are tearful times.

They're Watching Us

Ailsa makes the sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time next Friday. She asked me the other day if I am ever going to go to confession again. I said, "Well, I haven't been in a long time....maybe I should go." To which she said, "I know what you could tell!"

I didn't ask for further clarification. I'm not sure I want to hear it.

Musical Racing

Or, if you are two, you can run around it at breakneck speed, creating a great sound effect: bleepboopboplaladeedoodiddlebloopbloop.

Claire has got phrases that neither Ailsa nor Heather had to master at that age, such as, "Mum, Mum, listen MY story, listen Mum, listen MY story now!!
She doesn't always have a story to tell. She just wants a fair share of the chattering. So she chatters.

Musical Crawling

As you wave your hand over these lights, a musical note will play, or a funny sound. If you are small enough you can crawl over them, and go around and around for ages, entertaining yourself.

Pick Me!! and P.U!!

Claire is trying very hard to be like her older sisters. When we were at the Satrosphere science centre last month, we went to a short talk about animation, aimed at 5-10 year olds. A few times they had to raise their hands to answer the questions. Well, for nearly the rest of the talk, Claire sat keenly with her hand straight up in the air, even when no questions were being asked.
I was a bit worried that they might call on her and she'd say, "Me ibbapibba, neh, an ugu domino".

For the last few days we have noticed an offensive and mysterious stench when we went into the garage. Dead animal? Mould? Serious mould? Rotting wood? It reminded me a bit of a barn and a bit of seaweed. Well, John and I were getting anxious about it. Then Ailsa walked in and proclaimed, "I smell fish blood and bone meal". wha? yuk.
She knows this smell because it is the fertiliser they have been using on their garden projects at school. And she was dead right. Turns out the smell was even stronger in the back lane, so one of the neighbours must be doing some planting. So the smell is there. but is so much less offensive when you know the source, and you know it is nothing you have to clean or eradicate.

Friends and Sisters, Grass and Jeopardy

Some beautiful pictures taken by my friend of the sisters and their friend.

In other news, we have grass!!!!! It is beautiful and lush and green and soft, and we can't walk on it for 2 weeks. When we moved in here, the back garden had three sections: plants, patio and gravel. The gravel is gone, and John and I laid down turf (sods), to tickle our toes. It makes such a big difference to the look and feel of the whole garden.

Lastly, sometimes you think that certain things are just part of your past, but couldn't be resurrected and fit into your current life. Like Jeopardy, to which I was addicted for many years. And then, one day, Ailsa drags the Jeopardy board game (given to me as a wedding shower gift by above mentioned friend) out of the cupboard , and she discovered the joy of quizzes, and being quizmaster and adding up money, etc. So yesterday morning I was eating my cornflakes and had to answer questions on State Birds, T-Time and In Other Words. I loved it. I'm not sure John was so enthusiastic to come downstairs and be forced to choose between Religion and Physical Science before even pouring a coffee.

Fun with Fiona

Cousin Fiona was here this weekend. You can see how much the girls love her. She did their hair, was willing to have her hair done, helped the Easter Bunny hide some eggs, went cycling with them, took funny videos, even letting Ailsa record a commercial for phones that she made up on the spot, and then stayed up late into the evening with us, talk talk talking. She also gave her lovely voice to help John with the music at church. A very nice weekend.

Happy Easter

She loves her card from Oma and Opa. She carried it around for two days.
Happy Easter everyone.

chugga ugga hnnng unga

Does anyone own this book and a complete set of mechanic/electrical/diagnostic tools? Our car has been in the garage/ off the road/ behaving badly for 14 out of the last 19 days. We have been getting a lot of exercise. In fact, with walking to work and school and the corner shop, getting groceries delivered and a bus stop right outside our door taking us downtown or connecting further, we have realised we don't actually NEED the car very often. We need it for church, nice trips to visit friends or go outside Aberdeen, and going to the hardware store. We could get a bus there, but most of what we buy, we probably couldn't take home on the bus. Anyway, feel free to send lottery tickets. If we win big, we'll get a new car. If we win small, we'll all get new sneakers.