Still hot. Still no pictures.

Dave finally figured out what's wrong with the camera (other than not wanting to document my pregnancy): the rechargeable battery has finally decided that it no longer wants to be recharged. Thus, another battery is necessary ... at the cost of $34 ... isn't that 1/3 of the original camera price? If so, we are officially a culture completely duped by consumerism; but I have no energy to write about that.
Instead, I'll tell you about our latest purchase. (Yes, I grasp the irony in that segue-way.) An Ipod. Or is it IPod? I don't know. But it belongs to Dave and sort of Hannah. Turns out Hannah is a bit of a technology whiz and had the darn thing figured out long before her father. In fact, around about a month ago, I found that she had made her own Ipod. I wish I had thought to have taken a picture: it was an ingenious contraption made of a tiny plastic box with two pieces of wire emerging from its side to which she had attached two beads as earbuds. It was easily identifiable and was quite the "it" object over which to argue.
Apparently she has been granted exclusive rights to incredibly occasional use of the new gadget to, in her words, "I don't know. Whatever. Listen to farm music and maybe some country music." Oh. Apparently she has already used an Ipod on her class trip to Frontier Trails where, on the bus, she sat next to her friend Isabelle whose mother let them use her Ipod. (I don't remember anything about Ipods on the permission form. Jacob said his seatmate had a video game but he preferred to read his book. Smile. Well done, eldest son.) Hannah came home singing a song that after some deciphering (she is lyrically challenged much like her mother) was finally identified as belonging to Taylor Swift. Uh oh.
But relax, we are not parents who will hand over the reins of technology and cultural access very easily. So far, 18 has been set as the date for all rites of passage and, ahem, at the tender age of seven, the twins have agreed... Except for driving: they are both determined to drive at the age of 16 and Jacob is absolutely adamant that he will obtain his license exactly ten minutes before his twin sister. He is willing to produce documentary evidence of their birth times.
Dave spent the late hours last night downloading music to the Ipod in preparation for his marathon of marking which he begins on Monday. He will be marking provincial testing 8 hours/day for five days. He said that the first two hours are somewhat stimulating. Thus, the Ipod. In the midst of his musical downloading he discovered a treasure trove of home videos on our computer. Who knew that I had thought to record Joseph trying to walk. For 11 whole minutes. I and the kids watched the footage this morning before mass. Joseph was torn between cheering for this other baby called Joseph and saying, "No yaffing. This is not funny." But, it was. Especially when Benjamin appeared stark naked about half way through.
And, in only-by-the-grace-of-God news, Joseph is completely toilet-trained in just 10 days. On our all-day outing to a nearby citylette (a town that pretends to be a city) in order to purchase the Ipod and everything that we could possibly need before the baby's arrival (diapers, school supplies and deodorant), Joseph wore a diaper. Nevertheless, he insisted on peeing at every locale: Walmart, Pizza Hut (twice) and the side of the road. I think that he was marking his territory. To say the least, we are all amazed at his potty prowess: peeing took only 2 days and the other kids are jealous of how quickly he achieved this latest feat. Must be the cod liver oil.