Gobble, gobble, gobble

Guess what! Cort is SO smiley. It's very cute and we're all peering over him with odd sounds and ridiculous faces the minute he wakes up to get a chance to see that sweet smile. The picture shows more of a spazed out 'you-people-seem-very-very-tall' look and doesn't convey the ultimate cuteness we experience in person. other news: We're moving to Turkey! Yeah, I know...that's supercool. Billie is a Brownie, Cort is a rock star, we climbed on The Awakening on the Potomac River and had a picnic this morning.
Everything is confirmed for us going to Ankara, Turkey sometime early next year (no dates yet). Bill has had a good/boring time in the general training classes so far. i STILL can't find a blog of foreign service homeschoolers so that will be something new to figure out. i am VERY happy we're doing this for now, it would be hard on Billie if she'd just started school in Sept, stopped in Dec. moved to a new country in Jan and had to start over again with a new teacher/class/environment where everyone else involved already had the routine down pat.
Also, the first grade CAT test we need to take at the end of the year, to like, prove that she's not just letting her brain atrophy while sitting around eating twinkies all day. That CAT test is so eeeeeeeeeeasy- Billie could have passed it if we'd given it to her last year; Jackson could pass it tomorrow with a decent score.
I can either feel happy that my kids are pretty smart or concerned that the standard is so low...

Sloane would get high marks in stubbornness and also excels at 'testing the limits'. Which, apparently, means that you don't have to listen when I say 'no' the first time...when Mom gets up and stops what she's currently doing (knitting or eating)...then and only then is when you close Cort's diaper cream lid/stop making long distance calls by hitting the redial button on the cordless phone/instantly cease drawing in our beloved Babar books and hide the marker you were using under your dress. Getting up is like, SUCH a pain!

Billie has totally embraced Girl Scout- goodness. We got the books, read the 'Girl Scout Promise' all with the "promise to be honest and fair...considerate...blah...blah...blah" all the things i'm constantly badgering her to be. But then she DID IT! she was like the KINDEST KID EVER (almost as good as Suzanne) for a couple days. It's worn off a lot but not completely and Jackson is quick to remind her when she slips into a selfish proclamation of "Why I should always be allowed to keep everything to myself and never ever have to share. Ever." Jackson says "Billie, you're a BROWNIE!!" the technique doesn't always bring about instant results but she will usually find a nicer voice to state her case and throw in some reasons why this is actually beneficial for Jackson: "That way, if you don't have any of your own toys...you won't have to move them when move to Turkey."