One of my kindergarten boys walked into the speech room recently with his arm in a cast and a sling.  I wondered how he broke it.

Cara: What happened to your arm?
Boy: I bwote it.  (I broke it.)
Cara: How did you break it?
Boy: I dumped off a twut. (I jumped off a truck.)
Cara: You jumped off a truck!?
Boy: Yeah, my bwuva told me to dump off da twut and I did it.  I not donna listen to him no more! (Yeah, my brother told me to jump off the truck and I did it.  I'm not gonna listen to him no more!)
Cara:  Yeah, jumping off a truck is not such a good idea.
Boy: My bwuva dust had his bwain tuwned off.  (My brother just had his brain turned off).

Well I guess so!

I taught the preschool and kindergarten Bible class tonight.  The lesson was about Lydia.  I was telling the class how Lydia was a lady who loved God and sold purple cloth and how Paul came and taught Lydia about Jesus and Lydia and her household were all baptized.  About halfway through the lesson, 3-year-old Olivia raised her hand.  I said, "Yes Olivia?"  She asked, "Um, are we just talking about me?"

I've been working with my kids on making books the last couple of weeks. I was telling them that they could take their books home this week to give to their mom and dad. One kindergarten boy told me he didn't want to give his to his mom. I asked "Why not?" He said, "My mom shaves too much." "She shaves too much?" I asked. "Yes," he said, "she shaves her legs too much."

- Cara

Living in Arkansas and driving to rural Waldron for work twice a week, I'm pretty used to seeing roadkill - squirrels, racoons, armadillos, and the occasional skunk. But today, I had a first - I saw a chicken in the middle of the road. I don't know why he started to cross the road. I just know he didn't make it all the way across. Guess Tyson won't get that one.

- Cara

We have a new cat!

Her name is tentatively Cleo, but if you've got any other ideas for names, leave them in the comments. If you'd like to see a few more pictures of her getting acquainted with her surroundings, check out our pictures (the Photos link to the left).

Cleo came from Mansfield, AR (aka out in the country). She leaves behind two siblings who were adopted by one of Cara's coworkers. They all lost their mother to a gunshot wound. Apparently, some people out in the country just think cats are nuisances.

She's about six weeks old. She likes to be held and meow when she's not being held. Her food bowl is as big as she is and she has to climb in to eat.

In just over 24 hours, I will be skipping my grad school graduation. For those who didn't know, I've been working on my MBA for the past two years. My employer was willing to pay half the cost of tuition, so I couldn't really turn it down, though I probably would've preferred a more technical degree (I'm a computer nerd).

I didn't really want to wait for hours on end just to hear my name mispronounced. I know Cara didn't want to wait. My parents didn't want to wait - my mom had already told me that she would rather just come visit me than sit in a crowded stadium or gym while thousands of other names were yelled out. Maybe if I had more of an attachment to the U of A (like I did with Harding), it'd be different, but I've been a parttime student. Most of my classes weren't even on campus. I honestly just want to get my degree and have free nights again.

The final reason - I've still got 9 hours to go this summer so I'd rather wait until I'm really done

David

Just a short post here, but I found an interesting website today that illustrates what things look like to people who are colorblind. Check out the website here. If you mouse  over the different views, it will change the picture of the flower and the 29 picture to show you what it would look like to someone who is colorblind.

Neat!

Today I ate the best strawberry ever.  It was quite small really, and only pretty and red on one side.  To you, it might not have been all that impressive.  But to me-yum!  It was the first strawberry to grow (and not be eaten by a bird or some other stealthy creature before it reached it's full ripeness) on the plants I am growing in the backyard.  I planted strawberries and tomatoes and I said after I planted them that they'd better be good.  Getting the ground ready to plant was no easy task!  I had no idea how hard farmers must work.   If the rest of the "fruit of my labor" is as good as that first strawberry, it will indeed be sweet success.
-Cara

I've been hearing from a lot of people lately that they want to hear some news from us. Well, without further ado, I'd like to share the story of LAWN MOWER MISSILES!

To the left, you will see a picture of a... well, the seed I guess... of a sweet gum tree. I don't know what the technical name is, but I've decided to call them lawn mower missiles.

Why, you ask?

You've never mowed over one, have you?!?

When you mow over a lawn mower missile, essentially what happens is the harmless sweet gum ball (for lack of a better word) becomes a highly dangerous projectile. Your lawn mower accelerates the ball to ridiculous speeds that give the sweet gum ball missile-like qualities, the likes of which your legs will wish they never knew.

Our yard is full of the things.

And they hurt... a lot.

Sure, laugh now. Just wait till you get hit by one of them. Then you'll understand.

(original image from here)