That Yellow Orb in the Sky

Irma: I have the cutest story to tell you.

A-L: What has Pete said now?? He's always saying the darndest things.

Irma: No, this time it's Aila. Sister Maria and Grandbrother Hector went to a parent-teacher conference last week. And Mrs. Bread-Crumpet reported to them that she had been explaining the planets and stars to the class, when Aila said "but you know, the sun is mostly hydrogen."

A-L: You're right. That's the cutest thing I've ever heard. I can't wait to tell everyone who has internet access. I'll start by e-mailing GW. He's always game for a good niece story.

--

A-L: Hi GW, see above for the latest cute niece story.

GW: Everyone knows that Hydrogen only accounts for approximately 74% of the sun's surface by mass. The remainder is accounted for by Helium. She may have been referring to Hydrogen by volume, I guess.

A-L: She did say mostly Hydrogen.

Crumb-pets

A-L: Hi Maria, how's Kindergarten?

Sister Maria: I'm not in Kindergarten any more.

A-L: You know our lives and conversations now revolve around the two little people you made. How's Aila doing?

Sister Maria: She's well. She loves Kindergarten, and her teacher, Mrs. Crump.

A-L: Do you mean Mrs. Bread-Crumb?

Sister Maria: You heard me, I said Mrs. CrumP.

A-L: Who's Mrs. Crump? Does she have two teachers? This isn't one of those new-fangled job-sharing situations, is it? You're not sending her to a Presbyterian kindergarten, are you? What happened to Mrs. Crumb. Did she leave?

Sister Maria: Turns out her teacher's name is Crump. Like Crum-pet.

A-L: Not as fun as Bread-Crumb, but we'll work with it.

Happy Early Birthday

Emma, I'm so sad you're (sic) birthday's not until March, because I found this:

















from http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/.

Report from Kindergarten

A-L: Hi, tell me all about Kindergarten.

Sister Maria: Why are you spelling it like we're speaking German? And I'll pass you over to Aila, so she can give you the full report.

A-L: Hi Aila. Tell me everything. How was your first week of Kindergarten?

Aila: Hi. Good. Do you want to talk to my sister?

A-L: I already spoke to Annais. At length. She told me she's wearing a brown dress, and she wants to come visit me, but it's too far away. We've run out of things to say to each other. How was Kindergarten?

Aila: Good. I'm in the quail group and there are roadrunners.

A-L: I guess at Kindergarten in Scotland the groups would be grouse and haggis, maybe. What's your teacher's name?

Aila: Mrs. Crum(b)(p)

A-L: Mrs. Crump?

Aila: No! Mrs. Crumb.

A-L: Oh, Crumb, like bread crumb.

Aila (laughing): Yeah.

A-L: So what does Mrs. Bread-Crumb teach? What did you do all day?

Aila: We had morning snack, and then lunch, and then afternoon snack. And then we learned about earthquakes. When Mrs. Crumb says 'bunny in the hole' we have to get under the desk and cover our heads so we don't bump them. I love you. Bye.

Sister Maria: Hi. Did you get the full report?

A-L: Totally. And I look forward to people Googling 'quail', 'roadrunners' and 'earthquakes', and winding up reading Aila's modern-day, Southern California Kindergarten tale.