Bavaria

After Ellynn and I had a very hilarious conversation last night (we thought it was funny, how can it not be with Ellynn?) I decided that I should probably clarify on a misquote from Mike in the article I blogged. First, I had to confirm it with him through e-mail but when he said in the article that "this war could not be won militarily"(that is not a direct quote by the way, just one from my memory) they left out the very important ending word "alone." I'm sure you can see how that might make a big difference and how bad it might be if a guy in charge of leading lots of men had no faith in what they were doing. Anyway, he was pretty annoyed by it, but the Washington Post is a very liberal newspaper and they are going to try to put their spin on everything I guess. I knew it didn't sound like something Mike would say. Also, for my piece of mind I learned that the cheez-its and cheeze whiz were part of an MRE. The cheese spread was actually for the burritos or something that they were eating. This probably makes no speck of difference to anyone else but if you understood my huge aversion to all things artificially cheesey you might understand how disturbing this combination of cheez-its and cheese whiz was to me.

Besides that, everything is pretty good here. We spent the whole afternoon at the Dr. yesterday. Our entire family has strep throat. Ellyn was the only one to have a fever so I thought it was just part of a cold or something coming on. None of us really felt sick but it did feel like I was swallowing razor blades. The good side of that is that I've lost three pounds in a couple of days. So...we are all out of school today- yeah they are going to come take my kids from me. It was going to be a three day weekend anyway and now it's a four day. Fabulous. Nothing like trying to keep the kids entertained in the house while it is cold and rainy.

Mindi, as far as the kids saying things about religion. I wouldn't sweat it. I guess if it doesn't get too out of control. You don't want them to be self-conscious about talking about something that is so important to them. The situation that has come up most often with both my girls were kids saying "the special word"- the Lord's name in vain. I've told them that some people don't realize how special it is but it has never bothered me when they've told their friend that it's a special word that they shouldn't say. I just try to make sure they don't get judgemental, since most these kids don't have a clue. Along the same line, but different. Yesterday Miss Loretta, Ellyn's respite provider brought over Christmas presents for the girls before she moved back to the states. I had talked to her the day before when she had watched Ellyn for the memorial service and she had told me that she had bought Jane High School Musical 2- the actual DVD (she knew we had the burned copy from Anne). So when I got home I explained the situation to Sadie and Jane and told them not to say that we already had it, just to thank Miss Loretta and then Jane and Sadie could each have a copy. I thought we had it all clear. When Miss Loretta came over and gave the girls their dvds Jane was very gracious and acted with appropriate enthusiasm and Sadie kept looking at me and saying "but..." and "mom..." with a very concerned look on her face and I kept distracting her. Our visit with Loretta was brief because we all had strep and she was leaving today. When she left Sadie almost burst into tears. "Mom, we aren't supposed to lie. We don't tell lies." Yeah, tried to explain that to her and it didn't go over at all. Not to mention Jane didn't actually lie. It was pretty cute though.

Okay, I have to go. Cortney, I love your invitation. You look absolutely beautiful. You can send me an invitation just like you send one in the states. Same postage and everything because we are a military post. I think Chels has my address but if you need it I can send it to you. Or I can just enjoy the one on the blog. I do love sticking pics of my cute family on my fridge though. Alright, I love you all.