For Patti and anyone else interested. ( :

The girls arrived at the end of July, one from Spain and one from Germany. After a few days they were very homesick and in tears, but soon were better. They love it here. I'm glad, relieved. Johanna wanted to play soccer and it took forever to get her paperwork done. The school system has to ok it after she got the physical and the other paperwork filled out. Her physical cost her $138, I felt bad because another male exchange student went to a different clinic and got one for $30. Their insurance doesn't cover routine physicals. Now Maria is wanting to play basketball and I'm dreading the wait for her to play. This trimester coming up, Johanna is on the swim team. We just got back from Lexington because there were no swim suits in our little town or the next one. Finally called a big sporting goods store in the mall and they told me they had a bunch! They start practice tomorrow.

Maria was cleared to play basketball last Friday after having a fainting spell in the shower earlier in the week. I heard her fall-it woke me up, but wasn't sure....there are so many bottles of body wash, shampoo, soap and conditioner in my bathtub now that something always falls down making a huge racket...but this was louder. I asked her if she was ok and she said yes right after it happened. Later that afternoon, though, she told me she passed out twice...then proceeds to tell me she was diagnosed as a baby with a heart arrhythmia! So, around 3 pm I'm scrambling around trying to get her in to see a doctor. They thought she was just dehydrated and told her to drink plenty of fluids and come back last Friday. All was well. She's from an area in Spain that has a climate a lot cooler than here. We've had unseasonably hot weather this Fall. So, hopefully that is it.

Other things that have happened: My toilet has flooded/clogged up about 5 times. No one is admitting to it. One of them I'm sure was Alex but the other times the girls had just used the bathroom. Usually, I put an out of order sign on it, pour bleach down in it and leave it a few days and it will flush. Time before last it didn't work and I had to call a plumber, $97. I had to go over again what they could and couldn't put in the toilet and how much. I told them I didn't care if they had to flush the toilet 6 times, it was better than it clogging up again.

Maria and Johanna are very different in personality and tastes but have become very close. Lauren is kinda out by herself with her friends. I was hoping they would all be great friends but I don't think that is going to happen. Lauren will include them in things with her friends and have invited them to hang out in the park but they prefer to come home on the bus. They've also made friends with kids at school and with some of Lauren's friends on their own.

Johanna is addicted to Pop Tarts. Especially the brown sugar cinnamon ones. LOL! She got a box of cookies and cream flavored ones for her birthday....which we celebrated this past Sunday. Maria's birthday was last month. Maria helped pick out Johanna's cake: soccer field with a stuffed bear inside a stuffed little soccer ball with cute bright colors. Johanna picked Maria's cake: a graveyard scene with the grim reaper, a grave and black balloons. Everything else was too pink, bright and cutesy for Maria...who hates pink. Maria got a gag gift too for her birthday, pink M&Ms...she loves M&Ms but hates pink.

We've been on a train ride down to an old coal mining town. Last Friday night we went to Waverly Hills in Louisville with Lauren's girl scout troop. It's an old hospital/sanitarium made into a haunted house. Not very scary, I laughed through the whole thing. I also got to listen to Lauren who is very sarcastic as she was right behind me...she talked to the actors all through the walk through. I guess so she wouldn't get scared. I thought Johanna was going to have a fit, she didn't want to go in and even asked if she could go back to the car. I told her no. She loved it afterwards. Only 2 of us didn't wear costumes in our little group...one of them was me. One of the other moms wore a nurses' scrub outfit...kinda funny. I should have thought of that!

We are going to a Halloween party on Halloween night at the girl scout troop leader's house. They're having a pirate theme this year. Johanna has a cute little pirate outfit but Maria didn't want to be a pirate...she wants to be Gene Simmons of KISS, her favorite group...but is having trouble finding the right wig..so she went as a purple witch to Waverly Hills.

The girls are looking forward to Thanksgiving, Johanna has never had turkey before. They are also looking forward to Christmas, they've seen all the lights and decorations we Americans put out in the movies. ( :