Sea Turtle Cookies

Madison was supposed to bring in something for everyone in her class, so tonight she and Mommy made thirty-six sea turtle cookies.  Daddy was off at work, so he couldn't help out, but the two of them spent some time making lots of cookies to bring in tomorrow.  They turned out pretty good, and pretty fun.  They also look pretty tasty.  There's just something special about coming home to a house that smells like cookies.  We walk into the kitchen, and the smell is there, automatically making a big smile.

Today Madison did really well on her Latin America summative, getting a perfect score on it!  She didn't do that well at all with the test on homonyms and homophones, but despite the lower grade, she'll still come out of ELA with an A.  We'll work on those homophones and homonyms over the summer.  I think she was confused by "effect" and "affect," as well as "principle" and "principal."  But she'll get them from this point on.  I always remember best those things that I got wrong.  I tend to remember them for the rest of my life.  To this day, I remember misspelling "surprise" at a spelling bee in second grade.  I don't remember much of anything else at second grade, but that one sticks out there!

Madison was working on a presentation for tomorrow, something that is not for a grade, I don't think. She and another girl are doing a presentation on Southeast Asia, which of course happens to have China in it.  This may be a preview of what is to come next year in seventh grade.  And some time soon, we've been considering a return trip ourselves, a "heritage tour" where we'll bring Madison back to China to see the place of her birth.

Daddy has been dealing with a stiff neck lately, which is a description for stubborn people, but I don't think I'm terribly stubborn.  I just have a sore neck.  This is due to a fall a couple weeks ago, I think, and hopefully something we can get fixed up at a chiropractor.  In the meantime, there's medication I suppose.  We've been sitting in the morning on the front porch, typing up things for work and getting a lot done out there in the coolest part of the day.  It's getting hotter out there, and soon it will be super hot with the heat wave approaching.  Meanwhile, the tornado alley of this country is living up to its name, with some massive storms sweeping across.  We were following some storm chasers online, and we've seen some pretty amazing footage.

It's late tonight, and pretty warm outside.  We're grateful for air conditioning, amongst other things.  We said our prayers tonight, packed up the cookies and did some vacuuming to pick up the stray sprinkles off the ground.  We're trying to keep our visiting ants uninterested in anything within the house.  Occasionally they'll find their way in somehow, and of course we're plugging those entrances as soon as we can.  Another visitor in our neighborhood:  a bear.

Yes, there's been a bear around here, possibly displaced by all the cleaning and construction of the new school.  There are warnings out there, particularly for owners of small animals.  We'll see what happens next with the bear - hopefully he'll be okay himself.  But the idea of a bear in the neighborhood is... interesting.