As Eliana and I walked down the long hallway of her school this afternoon, she pulled a Grape Crush out of her backpack.

“Where did you get that?”, I asked.

“I traded for it,” she said.

I didn’t like the sound of that. Mainly because she traded her school flash drive a few weeks ago for an o-o-o-o-o-l-d Nintendo Game Boy.

The Game Boy did work. And it even came with a game.

But it did not come with a charger. And between her and Zane, the battery was drained by the next day.

“What did you trade for it?”

“My bread at lunch,” she said. “It’s awful!”

I’d say she got the better end of THAT deal.

Someone is having a birthday.

Could it be… Karys?

Why, yes!

Our little monkey is 7 years old today.

And she received a lot of birthday love from her best buds at school this morning.

Today is the Chinese New Year and begins the Year of the Dragon.

So… Xīnnián kuàilè! or 新年快乐! (Chinese for Happy New Year!)

I’ve had Zane repeat this phrase about half a dozen times and I still can’t say it correctly.