Cassel Crew

So Much Going On

2012-02-17T18:24:00.005-08:00

Tyler came home late last night for Jasmine's birthday which is tomorrow. He definitely has my hair (and nose)!

Before I made him go get a haircut : ) (It's wet here or it would be sticking straight out all bushy)

After the haircut.

Life today revolved around getting Tyler to the dentist, me shopping for the cruise (March 5-9, more on that later) and getting ready for Jasmine's big party tomorrow. We also made time to take Tyler to see Jessica's new puppy. She, the puppy, is still with the mom right now.

Jessica's is the lighter colored one. She will be three weeks on Monday and now has her eyes open and is learning to crawl. She's a Dachshund/Pomeranian mix.

Momma doesn't want to nurse anymore and has to be coaxed to nurse.
I wonder if he'll like being a big brother. He's doing so well in beginning doggy class. He should graduate on Tuesday.
Jessica got me a late Valentine's present--chocolate covered strawberries! I'll take another picture after I unwrap it. Rick got me roses and the four Murder She Wrote Movies on DVD.

We decided to go ahead and celebrate Jasmine's birthday today for a couple of reasons. First, she'll get presents at her party tomorrow and coming home and getting more won't be that much of a novelty. And secondly, Adam and Jessica work so they'd miss it.

We are doing a really cool party at Wonder Works because it's been a while since Jasmine has had a party. Usually we go somewhere because it's a long weekend, but she attends the only school in town that has school Monday. So she's my only one who has to get up and go to school Monday.

There are three birthdays in a row this week--our niece Courtney (Rick's sister's daughter) on the 16th, Rick's mom on the 17th (Happy birthday!) and Jasmine's on the 18th.

I'll post pictures over the weekend, but I'll leave you with this one of the cream filled cupcakes Jessica made for Jasmine.

Cupcakes

2012-02-16T10:33:00.004-08:00

Jasmine's birthday is Saturday. She took cupcakes to school today because her teacher is going to be at training tomorrow. Instead of buying them (actually I usually buy Walmart frosted sugar cookies), we made them and then sent a ton of candy for the kids to top them with.

We made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and yellow with chocolate frosting.

The kids are going to love, maybe not the teacher so much....

No More Kindness!

2012-02-14T19:08:00.005-08:00

Our two weeks are over! Just kidding--mostly. Our two weeks of kindness are over, but hopefully our kindness isn't. We've been up to our elbows in crafts, cookies, taco soup and so on. We didn't get all our projects done, and of course we can to them at other times of the year. Here is one last project we did--crosses made from nails. The cross Jasmine is wearing used 1" and 2" nails. That makes a pretty big cross. The one she made for Mrs. Ginger (pictured) and her school teacher used 1 1/4" and 3/4" nails.

Jasmine shared her stomach virus with me and the last 24 hours haven't been pretty, but I think I'll be back to normal tomorrow.

Today is Jessica's half birthday. And Valentine's Day. Instead of buying chocolate and candy, I bought everyone subs from Subway because all their foot longs are $5 this month. I don't have any pictures though. And Rick got Jessica a red velvet roll for her half birthday, but she had to leave for puppy school and her pre calculus night class before she got any. But it's waiting for her. Or rather, what's left is waiting for her.

Hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day.

Yesterday's Race

2012-02-12T07:24:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was the Mardi Gras 5k and one mile run. Last year Jeff won the 5K, but he's in the army now. No one from our family ran the 5K, but Kaleb and Jasmine ran the one mile. They are in the front 3 and 4 over from the orange cone.

And they're off!

Jasmine is in the white shirt. The girl looking back beat her for first place.

Jasmine came in at 9.28 and was second in her age group. That's a bit faster than the church one mile run a few weeks ago.

Kaleb came in at 11.09 for second place. If he hadn't stop to dance and swing his coat around when he was almost to the finish line he would have been first. But still good.

They just got Mardi Gras beads for the prizes for the one-mile.

My winners.

The camera shut off on the video of Kaleb crossing the line! And my cannon isn't working now either. Do you suppose the cameras know we are leaving on a cruise in three weeks!

More Acts of Kindness and Other Stuff

2012-02-10T04:37:00.001-08:00

We are continuing to do something nice for someone every day until Valentine's Day Third day of taco soup. We made it for Rick's office, Jasmine's teachers and the twins' teachers.

Jessica took these cookies to Explorer's last night, and the twins and Jasmine took them to school today for the office ladies and whichever special area teacher they had today.

Last night the Secret Keeper Girls team were in town. This is Jasmine with her school teacher. She is blessed with a Christian teacher this year.

Trying on a Secret Keeper's shirt.

Jasmine and Mrs. Ginger, our children's minister.

We took over the men's restroom too : ) Pink, white and purple balloons? You just can't disguise a urinal.

Okay, I just can't end on that photo. So I'll add one more.

My little Jazzy is becoming quite the tomboy. I got her these boy's Shaq's for $15. She's not a pink person and she now chooses black pants for church over dresses. She adorable in dresses but if she'd prefer the pants, that's fine too. I hated dresses growing up and I had to wear them to school and every church service. It was freezing cold waiting for the school doors to open in the winter and we were all out there in dresses and panty hose. And I really hated wearing a dress to go to our neighbor's church on Wednesday nights when they had games and stuff and all the other girls were in jeans. As long as my girls are appropriate, I don't try to make them be someone or something they are not.

Tomorrow Jasmine and Kaleb are running in a one-mile run. Jessica marches in the second Mardi Gras parade, and Adam has Saturday school. He has to go the eight Saturdays leading up to the reading FCAT because he has failed it at least twice so far. It's not that he is not capable. I am pretty sure that with having to do this, he will make an effort to pass it.

So what are all of you doing this weekend?

Acts of Kindness and Other Things

2012-02-07T12:56:00.001-08:00

We made cards for teachers and grandparents.

Last Saturday was the Mardi Gras parade. Jessica is carrying the Florida flag.

We made taco soup for Rick's office for Monday.

And we made cookies for the teachers. Of course we had to taste them too....
Wouldn't want to give the teachers something that didn't taste right : )

Today Jasmine took taco soup to school for the 5th grade team of teachers.

Jessica and Jasmine took videos of each other. Jessica videotaped Jasmine singing Tyler Russel's song along with his CD for Rick's Sunday school class. And Jasmine video taped Jessica leading off the Mardi Gras parade carrying the Florida flag.

For Your Sunday Morning

2012-02-05T05:52:00.000-08:00

Which one do you prefer? This is Jasmine singing the same song in two different keys.

The first one is in a lower key than the second one. Excuse the burb. It was so hard not to laugh.

Everyday Stuff

2012-02-03T08:00:00.001-08:00

Many people did a month of kindness in December, but we didn't because there's enough goodwill to go around in December but it's wearing thin by February. So we declared two weeks of kindness in February. Each day for the first two weeks of Feb, we will be doing something nice for someone else.

We started with each family member writing something nice about the others on a piece of paper and then gave it to them Feb 1. All the comments were written on the same sheet of paper for each person.

On February 2 the kids gave teachers pen bouquets they made. Not every child did this project. In order to do something extra like this, you have to be done with your work and be willing to cooperate and work together.
I finished the first half of my devo book project--January 1- June 30--and sent that to my editor, so we celebrated with tacos.
The red tacos are volcano tacos and are very hot (spicy).

Adam and Kaleb both chose all volcano tacos!

For the third day, we made brownies for the bus driver. Have to get every bit of chocolate!

Making cards to go with the brownies.
Unfortunately most of them got left behind in the chaos of getting out the door at 6:10 this morning. They won't be quite as fresh Monday.

Today we took dog food and treats to the lady who owns the mom and dad doggies to the puppy Jessica is getting. We also took laundry detergent. The family doesn't have a lot and doesn't have transportation either.

This is just a few hours after the babies were born last Monday. Three females and a male.

This is Jessica's puppy hours old. (above)

This is Jessica's puppy this morning, so four days old. (above)

One of the female puppies died this morning. That's Jessica's in the middle. We are not really preparing until the time comes to bring it home because things are uncertain with puppies at times.

Daddy checks out his daughter.
This was not a good thing to happen during our weeks of kindness!! An uninsured lady backed into me while I was parked. She said her window was fogged and she couldn't see my SUV. First, I was parked away from any other cars so their was no need for her to be backing anywhere near my SUV. Second, you drive uninsured. Third, if you can't see out your window, you don't back up. It is $931 of damage and I have to pay the $500 deductible. We will be attempting to get that from this lady. She already has to go to court for driving uninsured and got a ticket for reckless driving so she will probably not want to go to small claims court. Still, it is inconvenient because I have to leave the car to get fixed Monday and get a rental car.

Caspian just turned a year old last month. He is collector. Thankfully the toys in the kennel are his this time. He sleeps with two stuffed animals. But he goes into the other bedrooms and collects things. We will find underwear and socks from the boys' dirty clothes basket, small stuffed animals from everyone's rooms, and even his dog bed dragged into his kennel!

I think this puppy has springs in his feet, what do you think?

Sad to say

2012-02-02T15:15:00.000-08:00

that since I made comments anonymous and took off word verification, I have had at least twelve porn links left as comments. I mean, do these guys just spend their day looking for blogs that allow anonymous comments? Really! So, I'm going to have to go back to having people sign in on a google account to post comments. You can just set one up for free and don't have to have a blog to do it. You can use your current e-mail address too.

January Food

2012-02-01T06:53:00.000-08:00

Here's what was cooking in our house in January.

Jasmine made enchiladas (named after Adam because he was the first to make this recipe). Unfortunately she didn't like them. That happens. She is a rice, noodle person. She could live on ramen.

Adam's Enchiladas
1 lb boneless chicken breasts cubed
10 ¾ oz can cream of chicken soup
1 c thick and chunky salsa
8 flour tortillas (6")
10 ¾ oz can condensed cheddar cheese soup

Cook chicken in skillet until browned. Add chicken soup (no water added) and 1/2c salsa. Heat through. Spoon about 1/3c chicken mixture down one side of each tortillas. Roll up and place seam-side down in 2 qt microwave-safe baking dish. Mix cheese soup (no water added) and remaining salsa. Pour over tortillas. Microwave on high 5 minutes or until hot. Serves 4.

Jessica made stir fry. There are no pictures of her because Rick was on his way home with Adam and the twins from taking Tyler back to college, and his timing belt went out. I had to go rescue them and wasn't here to take pictures at that point. I took the picture of her stirring the chicken and she took the rest of the pictures.

The problem was that it took me over half an hour to pick up Rick and the kids and a half hour to get back so the stir fry was over done and had been sitting a while. I think it would be good fresh. I bought Jessica a stir fry pan and she is going to try it again. She wants to add a lot more seasoning than it called for because it was a bit bland.

Stir Fry
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
3 tbs cornstarch
2 tbs soy sauce
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp garlic powder
3 tbs oil, divided
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup sliced celery (1/2" pieces)
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 small onion cut into wedges
1 cup water
1 tsp chicken bouillon granules

Cut chicken into ½" strips, place in resealable bag. Add cornstarch and toss to coat. Combine soy sauce. Ginger and garlic powder, add to bag and shake well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

In large skillet or wok, heat 2 tbs oil; stir fry chicken until no longer pink. Remove and keep warm. Add remaining oil; stir fry broccoli, celery, carrots and onion for 3-5 minutes or until crisp tender. Add water and bouillon. Return chicken to pan. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.

Anyone have a stir fry recipe they love?

Kayla made boxed frozen Teriyaki Chicken.

She served it with rice, green beans and corn on the cob.

Adam made Haitian Macaroni and Cheese

Ready to bake. He doubled the recipe (and left out the onions).

All done.

Adam loves brussel sprouts!

But he did not like the macaroni and cheese. He dislikes mayo, yet chose a recipe with a large amount of it. Go figure. It was good although not a favorite.

Haitian Macaroni and Cheese
4 cups ziti 1 cup mayonnaise
1 ½ tsp salt 2 tbs vegetable oil
¾ c evaporated milk 2 tbs ketchup
½ large onion minced 1 cup plus 1 tbs grated cheese
2 eggs beaten (we mixed cheddar and Colby)

Preheat oven 350F. Boil ziti in 8 cups water with 1 tsp salt for 10-12 minutes. Rinse with cold water. Add eggs, onion, milk, mayo, oil, ketchup and ½ tsp salt. Mix in 1 cup grated cheese. Pour into 8x8 pan and sprinkle with tbs grated cheese. Bake 50 minutes or until top is golden brown. Allow to cool 15 minutes before serving.

Kaleb made Taco Chicken

Preparing the chicken.

Putting the ingredients on pieces of foil.

Ready to bake.

Slicing vegetables for salad.

Yummy!

Ready to eat

We used the basic recipe and directions from another blogger HERE. But adapted how we put it together.

Foil Wrapped Taco Chicken
Boneless chicken breast (or half) per person
Taco seasoning
Potatoes peeled and thinly sliced ( a half of large or whole small per person)
Salsa
Shredded Mexican cheese
Sour cream

Preheat oven 400F. Place on serving of potato slices on a large piece of foil for each person. Cut the chicken into strips and put one portion on each foil on top of the potatoes. Sprinkle with taco seasoning. (Per individual taste) Add one tablespoon of salsa and shredded cheese to each. Wrap the foil over the chicken mixture. Place on cookie sheet and bake 30-35 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Release steam and let stand five minutes. Serve with sour cream.

So that's what we had in January.

Jasmine

2012-01-29T06:54:00.001-08:00

Jasmine is the only one of my adopted children that I've had almost since birth. I started visits with Jasmine in the hospital nursery when she was about two weeks old. She'd been transferred to a college hospital for a ten day evaluation and then brought back. I started visiting her after that and took her home as a foster child about a week later.

I will warn you that her post is longer than the twins' were, but that is only because it's only about a month short of her being with us for eleven years. Hard to pick out the highlights because there are so many. This was going home day.

Always my angel.
First Christmas.

First birthday.

Second birthday

Third birthday

Jasmine helping me get my race trophy from former President Carter. She actually "ran" the race too.

The first five
July 14, 2004 Adoption day. Jessica was a TMI preteen camp and was at a project in New Mexico so Tyler is holding up her mission card. It took 3 1/2 years to be able to adopt Jasmine. She's being held by her case manager.

Jasmine's first year at Teen Missions. She was four and we were at Mustard Seed camp together.

First dance recital

Fourth birthday

Pilot for a day

Kindergarten graduation

Jasmine's favorite author--not to read, but to talk to each year. Gearing up for the Karen Kingsbury cruise right now.

I could post pictures of her all day. I have so many very special memories of together times. We have a great bond because we were totally inseparable her first three years of life. And I've walked beside her through so many surgeries and tough times as well as sharing many wonderful times. We have traveled together throughout IN, MI, GA, FL and to Colorado Springs, St Louis and other places. She went with me to Haiti four out of five trips to visit the twins.

Jasmine is a good reader and musician. She's just started drums and bells (looks like a xylophone to me) this year. She has some challenges from EEC Syndrome and from some genetic junk, but don't we all? We'll deal with it as it comes. She really does the best she can with what she been given.

I'm going to post a couple of my favorite older videos of Jasmine before her new one.

This is Jasmine Christmas 2006 at the Christian school where all the kids attended at the time.

This is Jasmine singing to Nicole C Mullen in 2008

You may have to turn your volume up for this next one, and it doesn't seem to have picked up the background music on the first snare piece. There is no background music for the second one. Jasmine didn't sing on this video, but is working on two songs for the next time.

Since this post is so long, I'm not going add newer pictures of her at this time. You've seen most of them in past posts.

But please take a minute to leave a comment or Scripture for Jasmine.

Breakfast

2012-01-28T14:09:00.001-08:00

Adam left to take his SAT. Jessica and Rick went car shopping. The rest of us got creative with what was in the fridge.

If you missed the post about Kayla and Kaleb, please go back and leave them a comment or special verse. I read them everything posted.

Kaleb

2012-01-27T06:23:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of Kaleb sent to us by the orphanage. Ignore the dates. The photos were all taken 2007-2009.

Kaleb is a fun loving little guy who would rather do sit down activities than those requiring physical exertion. But if you get him going, he does quite well at running, biking and other things. Kaleb is a good reader, but needs a little work on comprehension. He tested highest in his class on one of the recent reading evaluations.

We did not realize at first that Kaleb has almost no vision in his right eye. He was seeing everything through his left eye. Now he wears glasses and a patch. The vision has not improved in his right eye, but the eye is learning to work with the glasses to see much better.

When we first met Kaleb, he was quite delayed. Not unusual considering his life at the time, but he was a lot behind Kayla also. When he got home, he caught up in most areas. One problem was that Kayla was trying to be his mother, and I made him start dressing and feeding himself. He was four by then.

He really surprised me because I expected delays in learning math and reading, but he caught on quickly. Socially he still has a lot of catching up to do, but his teacher said that's true for many of the boys in the class. He has what the teacher calls a fun side and a dark side. We are hoping to see less and less of that dark side as time passes.

Kaleb is a great kid and easy to love. He is more the follower than the leader and more easy going than his twin. Before he'd do everything she said or chose to do, but now he's learned he can make choices too.

Kaleb is in tumbling once a week at the dance academy and will be in his first recital in May.

We are sure that Kaleb's love language is food. If that isn't one of the five, it should be!

Here is Kaleb reading.

Kaleb will be going to Teen Missions as a Peanut this year June 17-24. He will learn to mix concrete and pour sidewalks for the Covered Wagon Circle. Some of you will remember that Adam was on the team that built the covered wagons a few years ago. Kaleb will also do puppet skits, music and will learn Bible verses. This is not a church camp, this is a mission training camp. It can be tough. They have obstacle course, work projects and missions time. This age group does get to swim everyday, but showering and washing hair is done by bucket. They sleep in tents and eat in the chow hall. Sometimes they eat outside. It's a tough program, but builds character and friendships. Jasmine went three years of Mustard Seeds and one year of Preteen. Jessica went to two years of Peanuts, one year of preteens and lead a preteen team last summer. Adam and Jeff went as Peanuts and preteens and Adam as a teen. So the kids know what to expect.

If you want to help Kaleb raise his $300 please use the donate button to the right. Neither twin has any donations so far.

Here are some more recent photos.

Please leave a comment for Kaleb. I will read all of them to him, although he does a good job of reading for himself!

Two Years Home

2012-01-26T05:16:00.001-08:00

I debated quite a while about posting what yesterday was really like or skipping this post altogether. I had decided to skip it instead of writing a negative post. But then I decided to just say it like it is. Because it wasn't all bad. But that's only because my facebook friends gave me good advice.

We did not tell the twins it was the two year anniversary of their homecoming until last night. When they get privileges or extra attention they feel empowered and that often results in serious bullying and hurting others. I wish I understood why that happens, but for now I just know it does. It's the same reason I can't eat with Kaleb at school anymore. Last time he had that, "I'm better than you because my mom brought me lunch" attitude and he hurt children.
I had planned to make the celebration very special, but when I picked the twins up I was so disappointed to learn that Kayla had to pull not one or two tags for defiance and hurting others, but FIVE! Earlier this week she told another child she was going to kill her. That did not go over well at all. If she makes a threat like that again she will be suspended or expelled. She can be very sweet and helpful and also very defiant and downright mean. Obviously time for a conference.

It's been this way for two weeks now. She told me she was really good on the morning bus. I gave her a star on her home chart for that (that's how we determine rewards and privileges for the week). But then this morning when Jessica walked them to the bus, the driver told her Kayla was very sassy and defiant all the way to school yesterday. So the star comes back off the chart. Don't know what to do about the lie. Kaleb is having a pretty good week other than eating his lunch on the bus and then telling the lunch ladies we wouldn't give him breakfast so he had too. Thankfully they asked Kayla if that was true, and she told them he'd had hot oatmeal, a banana and milk. We talked to Kaleb about how saying something like that can get you removed from your home. Those of you who have been foster parents know how true that is. Now his backpack has to stay up front with the driver. Kayla had done the eating her lunch and then telling people she didn't have a lunch routine early in the year. She knew if she convinced them, she'd get a hot lunch. But once they figured her out, that stopped, and she had to eat whatever she had left of her lunch. Both of them now take their lunch in a stapled brown bag so at least the teacher can see it's been opened. (We don't do hotlunch because of cost and because they instantly bond to whoever gives them food and we don't need an unhealthy attachment to lunch line ladies based on food.)

It was very tempting to skip celebrating their homecoming, but we didn't. We told Kayla that we were celebrating her and her being with us two years, but we were not celebrating the behaviors we've been seeing lately. We watched a video of our last trip to visit them in Haiti which was just a few weeks before the earthquake. We watched their homecoming and their first couple days at home so they could see how much they'd learned and grown. So the evening ended well.

I know we are going through a difficult time behavior wise with Kayla, but hopefully she will soon decide that having privileges and activities is more fun than missing out. We've told her that when she is so defiant and ugly to others, her heart is all junked up and she can't feel very good about herself but that obedience brings peacefulness to her life. I don't know if she's able to understand that. I think she did. Now the decision is hers. She's been to a few counseling sessions and she's not feeling trauma from anything that happened previously or a sense of loss. So we don't really know where this is coming from.

If you have walked this road, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a more cheerful post.

Two Years Ago Today

2012-01-25T06:34:00.000-08:00

We (jessica and I) left the Stanford Airport with our twins at 1:20 a.m. after being at the airport for 36 hours and 20 minutes. Even paid $109 for a hotel room we didn't get to use. This was the easiest way to get the twins to the car.

We got to bed at 3:05 a.m. Monday. I hadn't slept since I got up WEDNESDAY morning!! We woke up the next day around 10 which is the latest I ever remember sleeping, but I don't think I've ever gone so long without sleeping. We stopped at McDonalds and had major trauma getting the twins inside, because they had no idea where we were. It is no problem at all now : ) But at that time we had a whole crowd gathered wondering why two children were shrieking in fear of going into McDonalds.

We got home near 6 p.m. and there was a television reporter waiting. The kids played while Jessica and I talked with her.

I looked so hyper on TV later. But considering that I only had seven hours of sleep to make up for three sleepless days or so....

This post tells more about the pick up trip. Seriously, it was a nightmare and I don't let myself think about it much. The twins are home now, and that's what matters.

Her are some more pictures from the twins' first days home.

Kayla

2012-01-23T02:58:00.000-08:00

Some of you reading this blog know my children personally, and some don't. I thought I'd feature each child in his/her own post over the next couple of weeks. For their complete stories, you can go back to when I told about each child and how they joined the family. Check the archives.

I'll start with Kayla, the youngest. (Birthdad indicated she was born second).

Here are some earlier pictures of her. She is between 2 and 4 in these.

Below is a video of Kayla that I hope plays for you.

Kayla is smart and very capable. She is social and loves to learn. We are working on some issues, but she's learned a lot about living in a family since arriving home almost two years ago. Kayla is in tumbling 1 at the dance studio and will be in her first recital in May. I think she is going to succeed in many areas. She can probably do about anything she puts her mind to, and I look forward to watching her talents blossom and seeing all she can accomplish.

Kayla is going to Teen Missions this next summer! She will be a peanut. She will be a the camp at Merritt Island from June 17-24 (along with Kaleb). Jasmine and I are going to stay in Orlando during that week rather than make two very long round trips to Merritt Island. Jasmine and I would love to meet up with some of you who are in that area.

Kayla's project will be to build trusses that will be used to cover the sidewalks at camp. She will learn to use tools and do carpentry as well as learn Bible verses and talk about important things like obedience, faith and the Bible.

Kayla needs to raise $300. If anyone would like to help her, just use the donate button to the right or send a check to her, but made out to Teen Missions.

One- Mile and 5 K

2012-01-22T07:30:00.000-08:00

The childrens' minister at church took some pictures of the kids too. (this post is a continuation of the last post) Jasmine with church friends.

Jasmine and Mrs. Ginger. I took this on her camera.

Jasmine stopping to walk for a couple of minutes.

Adam was second place overall in the 5K. He came in second to a runner from another of the local high schools. The over all winner had a time of 17:00. He's 15 but very small so most people think he's 10-11.

One Mile Run

2012-01-21T14:56:00.001-08:00

Today our church held a 1 mile run and a 5K. It was open to anyone. Jasmine did the one mile. The twins were going to but could not show me that they would follow rules and stay safe. So they watched.

Jasmine was a little nervous ahead of time. She doesn't actually do as much running at home as Adam and the twins. But she did fine. She ran a ten minute mile.

She got 7th place overall in females. They didn't divide it by age.

I have a video but it seems to have downloaded into never, never land. Rick may be able to figure it out for me later, and I'll add it if he does.

Typical Reactions

2012-01-20T17:13:00.001-08:00

Last timeThis time

More Disney

2012-01-18T05:48:00.001-08:00

Sunday we started at Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM).
Each park has something that symbolizes it--a castle for Magic Kingdom, the Spaceship Earth ball for Epcot, the tree for Animal Kingdom and the Sorcerer's hat for H.S.
Waiting in line at the Toy Story ride.
Strapped to Sid's rocket. This was in a building across the street from the Toy Story ride. We waited in this building a long time to get pictures with Woody and Buzz.

So we amused ourselves while we waited.
Oh the drama of it all!
Did I mention drama?
And finally the picture. Rick and I bought these shirts in '07 when we were at Disney. The girls bought theirs on the November trip. Adam didn't buy one. We had brought Woody and Buzz costumes for the twins that we got after Halloween marked down. They would have looked so cute. BUT. We were dealing with so many behavior issues that we decided they didn't need to be getting tons of attention from strangers telling them how cute they were while they were in the middle of pout fits or defiance. Maybe next time. I know it will be cute.
Love this movie. And Toy Story too.
The hen house from the Hannah Montana movie.

Rick's group left from Hollywood Studios for home, the rest of us went over to Magic Kingdom, but we didn't really do that much. Everything was crowded. One of our favorite rides--Thunder Mountain Railway is closed for renovations until the end of May. We rode about 4 rides and then drove about an hour toward home and stopped for the night.

There are a lot of good Disney movies but I think my favorites are the Toy Story movies, Tangled, The Princess and the Frog and Monsters. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

Just random--Rick, Tyler, Jessica and I went to Tokyo Disney July 92. We went to Euro Disney in France around '97. And now all the kids have been to Disney in Orlando, but only Rick has been to the one in CA. How about you? Which Disney do you go to? (if any)

Home Again

2012-01-16T17:34:00.000-08:00

Jessica and I picked Jasmine up from school Friday and headed down to Orlando arriving late Friday night. Rick brought the twins and Adam when he got off of work. They made it most of the way to Orlando and met us at our hotel the next morning. We got into the park first because J & J and I already had our tickets because we went in November. The others had to cash in the passes I'd bought them.

Tigger and Pooh were right inside Magic Kingdom.

The girls are warming up with Tigger, but we were supposed to be getting our picture taken.

And there it is.

In front of the castle.

Getting ready to go on Space Mountain. This is where the other group caught up with us. I wasn't sure about the twins going on it because it's wilder than ever since the renovation. Space Mountain on steroids. But they were with Rick and he put them on it : ) They did fine and even when on it again later. I guess I worry about whether kids are emotionally ready for something, not just tall enough.

People mover

Adam pretty in pink

All the goofies

Sisters!

Trying Coke products from others countries.

Decided to try them all.

Italy was not Adam's favorite!

The girls and I went back to our hotel and did our devo book.

Devos are much more hilarious after midnight!

So that was our first day!

At Disney World

2012-01-14T20:49:00.000-08:00

The Way it Happened

2012-01-12T09:52:00.001-08:00

Today is the second anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, and also Adam's 17th birthday. We are both "lucky" in that I get to forever share my (legal) first name with a very damaging hurricane, and he gets to share his birthday with the anniversary of the earthquake. On the bright side, it brought our twins home after already waiting three years.
Because Rick leaves right after work to get Tyler, who is our pet sitter this weekend, and Jessica has tumbling and Explorers this afternoon and evening, we celebrated with Krispy Kreme donuts at 5:45 a.m.

17 candles in a donut!

We got him two pairs of South Pole shorts and three shirts, a clip on lamp for his bed and money toward track and soccer cleats. We put together money from other relatives too for those because they are going to be well over $100 combined. Tyler and Jessica got him Hoodwinked too (they are both very broke from college!), Kaleb got him a bag of chips and Jasmine got him three long sticks of laffy taffy.

This above picture doesn't go with the birthday photos, this changes the subject to Jasmine. I found out a couple of days ago that she was getting a Bobcat Pride award. (Before I was very careful not to say exactly where we live but that's increasingly harder because of more involvement in school activities, college majors etc.) Each letter stand for something and one child from each grade level is chosen by all the teachers together to get the award for that level.

This is kept secret from the students of course so they don't know who will be getting awards. I like this better than student of the quarter because 11 students instead of just 1 get awards and it is for character traits as well as achievement.

Jasmine's uniform pants were short on her and I wanted to get her new ones. Decided this was the time since she'd be up front, I bought them while she was at dance, and she didn't think anything about it because I've said for weeks she needed a longer pair. (They have to come from a certain store which is quite a ways from our house but not so far from dance.)

Then things got tricky. I mentioned to another mother who'd been at the charter school for a long time that Jasmine was getting a Bobcat Pride award in the morning. Since we're new to the school she told me the parents typically bring flowers or some little gift.

I am hearing this the night before the award ceremony, and the only child I have with me, of course, is Jasmine. As I'm driving her to the mall to eat and work on homework (more fun while you're eating), I'm trying to decide how to get flowers in the morning and realize the awards are too early for that. So I decide to get her something at the little mall store that has the chocolate covered strawberries and things like that.

I get Jasmine supper and tell her I need to get something for Jessica at the store which is just yards away. That was believable and since Jessica was at college for a night class, I'd just tell her about it later in case Jasmine mentioned it. Um, then Jessica walks in the mall!!! Uh huh. The same child who is suppose to be at college at that very moment. She walks over and I know she's going to ask why I have a bag from the candy store. I try to give her the "play along" look and tell her I picked up the stuff she wanted for her friend, but she was out of it and didn't catch it. So I discreetly nod at Jasmine, who picks that moment to look up!

Jasmine thinks it's for her for A/B honor roll, but I tell her it's not (it wasn't), report cards are not for two more weeks and besides she has 3 C's. She looks disappointed so I tell her "but you can go pick one thing from the store for yourself." I make up a story about how the other stuff is for a friend of Jessica's at college who helped her out. (Is there such a thing as an excusable lie? I mean, after all, undercover cops lie for a good cause everyday or they'd be dead).

Anyway, after Jasmine left for school today, I put the goodies together in box to take to the school. Our children's minister saw on my face book wall that Jasmine was getting an award and showed up for it with only a half hour notice! I'd meant to face book her a couple days ago and forgot.

This is Jasmine's teacher.

I thought Jasmine was going to get "b" for break through (finally catching on to something), C for compassion (because she'd befriended a child who was getting teased a few weeks ago) or P for persistence. But she got I for integrity because her teacher likes that she can always trust Jasmine.

All the winners got a certificate, ribbon and water bottle.

back with her class

Mrs. Ginger with Jasmine and a friend from her class who also goes to our church.

Jasmine loves her treats. I bet she was very popular at lunch today!

She's wearing her new pants and a new belt.

The Twin's Birthdad

2012-01-11T05:02:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago I sent money and pictures for the twins' birth dad. The child finder went to see if she could locate him and found out he was living in the mountains. She hoped he would hear she was looking for him and come to the orphanage. He showed up last week but I don't know if it's because he got the message or because it was the holidays or if he just needed help. I'd ask the O people to take him to the store so he could get things he really needed, but he just wanted to take the money instead. I really hope it goes toward things that will really help him. Last I heard he had no home and no job. This should get him by for a while.

I don't know really anything about the birth dad other than he had a shelter made of banana leaves, and when it rained he'd have to stand and hold the twins. The shelter blew down in a storm. He wanted more for the twins, so he brought them to the orphanage. I hope that he's had the chance to hear the gospel during visits to the orphanage. I hope he knows he think about him and pray for him. I hope he realizes the twins are being cared for, and that I won't let them forget they have a dad in Haiti who loved them enough to want them to have a life he couldn't get them.

I feel bad that I get to raise his twins because I live in a country where most of us have more than we need, and he lives in poverty. Sometimes life doesn't seem all that fair. We can't change it all, but I hope I'm changing at least my little corner of the world for the better.

Better Beans!

2012-01-10T06:33:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd report back about the beans in case anyone checked to see how it went. So this time I did it partly my own way. The first time I wanted to follow the directions pretty much as they were to see how it turned out. Normally I do soak the beans overnight or at least a few hours like a couple of you suggested. So that's what I did this time. I soaked them about five hours before I cooked them. I cooked them a lot longer too. Then I double and tripled the amounts of onion, green pepper, shallot, garlic cloves and tomato paste. But I think the best improvement was I added three tablespoons of chicken bullion. That perked it right up! I'd seen a totally different bean recipe that had bullion and though I'd try it. It made a big difference. These beans were really good.

Anyone have a bean recipe or a Creole recipe they want to share? Just post it as a comment. Have you noticed that the Haitian Creole recipes normally have ten or more ingredients? The bean one had about the fewest ingredients of any in the book. I'd like to try the pumpkin soup or chicken creole but it's intimidating just reading the ingredient list!

Boring Beans

2012-01-09T05:49:00.000-08:00

I decided to make red beans and sauce from a recipe in a Haitian creole cook book. They were VERY bland and boring. Here's how it went. I started with dry beans. It said to cook them an hour in six cups of water. In an hour, they weren't cooked and the water was gone. I added more water and cooked them longer.

While the beans were cooking I diced pepper.

And garlic.

And shallots.

And onion.

And cooked them in oil. The recipe only called for small amounts of each--1/4 green pepper. 3 garlic cloves, 1 shallot, 1/2 onion.

Then I added tomato paste. It called for one tablespoon, but I added two.

This was supposed to be added to the beans, and simmered for 30 minutes or until the liquid thickened. I had no liquid again, so I added more water. And thyme and the tomato paste stuff. When it was done cooking and we tested it, it tasted just like plain beans! So I added salt and pepper, and more pepper, and even some garlic pepper, but no matter what I did, the beans were bland and boring. Since I have lots of the ingredients left, I'm going to try it again today doubling the amount of pepper, onion, shallot and garlic. But I don't have high hopes. Any suggestions?

Jessica brought me these chocolate covered strawberries last night as a late birthday present.

And also three butterscotch haystacks which we split among us. Those are definitely NOT boring!

50

2012-01-07T05:31:00.000-08:00

feels the same so far. But this was last night and I was still 49 : ) (And a little bit worse for wear as you can see! 5:00 just comes too early, especially since very rarely can I fall asleep before 11:00)

Don't you just love these old photos? Anyone else have this kind? I would have been 4,5 or 6. I have the 8x10s that are in color (although it looks like color was added maybe?) for about 6 mos - 6 years old so I'll have to get Rick to scan them in later and post them.

Rick and Tyler are on their way to take Tyler back to college now. Jessica and Adam work later. Jasmine and I are going to a movie when Rick gets back. Chipwrecked. Anyone see it yet?

Happy Three Kings Day

2012-01-06T05:10:00.000-08:00

This is the first year I've had someone not put their shoe out. He was mad at me all day--mad at me because he ate his lunch (all except the apple) on the bus on the way to school in the morning and the school didn't let him charge a lunch. Hard to say you didn't have a lunch when you have a twin setting there with a very full lunch bag. (I give them plenty so there's never a question about them being fed--past experience with other children!) So he gets a bag stapled shut from now on too.

Then he didn't want to correct his math test so kept hiding it in the classroom, but the teacher kept putting it back in his folder. So he wasn't getting his way at all at school and came home in a very stubborn mood about it all. He finally "showed me" by refusing to do the math (his teacher said he won't get fun Friday) and not putting his shoe out. Yep. Mean mommy. I didn't put anything out for him. It was only a box of candy and dollar toy. He had a chance to fix his behavior and then I told him "I accept your choice." And that was that. I just don't play the games anymore. Too many issues to play their games.

And I don't make a child participate in the fun activities. We just added this tradition for fun. We show that the kids in Mexico do this so we just decided to do it-our own way. We read about the three kings finding baby Jesus, have monkey bread, oranges and eggs and that's it.

The kids just take it as a fun thing, and it's one more chance to remember Jesus' birth. I meant to leave the nativity out and move the wisemen into the stable today like someone last year said they do and between then and now, I totally forgot about it. What can I say? I'll be 50 tomorrow! My mom turned 80 yesterday and I meant to post about that but it was a very "interesting" day as you may guess!

This is me sitting on my mom's lap. This was a few years ago!

Hanging Out

2012-01-03T18:43:00.000-08:00

Jessica, Jasmine and I went to We Bought a Zoo. It was a good movie but I won't allow the twins to see it now that I've previewed it because there is way too much language, and they like to repeat anything they hear. The boy and his father use d--- at each other and the boy yells b--- s--- at his dad. There are other random swear words in it. It's too bad because it would be a really good family movie otherwise, about equal with Dolphin Tale. (I just realized that I mentioned this in a previous post but I guess it bears repeating if anyone is thinking of going to this movie)

On New Year's Eve we lit sparklers to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world. We usually do this Christmas Eve but behaviors didn't allow for it at that time. We had some other little fireworks that Tyler set off for us. Adam and Jessica were at work.

Then several of them played Scene It. Adam was home by then, but Jessica didn't get home until 11:40pm. We save her snacks and some fireworks. The crowns are from English holiday crackers. Not food crackers, but popper where you pull on each end and they open with a bang. They have a junky plastic toy, jokes and a crown in them. You can get much more expensive ones with better toys but these were all we could get without journeying back to England. We used to do them there.

On New Year's Day we just hung out and played. Jessica worked again but not until 6 so we had time together.

Jessica, Jasmine and I built a train we got half price. I haven't done the gingerbread projects before, but she was getting very frustrated with one train car that kept falling apart, so I volunteered to do that one.

All done! We all look a little worse for wear! It's been a somewhat trying vacation with the twins' behaviors. It seems they intentionally sabotage all the fun times, even when they appear to be having fun. Who knows what goes through their minds?

This was Caspian's first Christmas and New Year, and he's enjoying the extra attention. Jessica declared January 1 his birthday since we aren't quite sure when it is, but within a few weeks either direction of New Year. So he is officially one now. And I'm paying for obedience school as a birthday present!!

Today Rick and Tyler drove all the way to Ty's college to find out that the dorms don't open until the 7th even though the website lists the 2nd. So that was a six hour round trip for nothing. Oh well. Could have been worse. Another student was there who'd driven herself 6 1/2 hours to get there and find the dorms closed!

Adam, Jasmine and the twins go back to school tomorrow. Ty and Jessica both start Monday. Both need to meet with advisors to work out kinks in their schedules.

Hope you all had a good start to 2012.

New Perspective

2012-01-02T20:08:00.001-08:00

Here's something to think about for the new year. Anyone make a resolution not to let other people (including strangers who say the most goofy things about your parenting or adopted children) ruin his/her day or put a damper on his/her dreams?

What's Cooking?

2012-01-01T07:02:00.001-08:00

NOVEMBER

Jessica made:

Sausage Tortilla Lasagna
1 ½ lb sausage ½ tsp garlic
2 c small curd cottage cheese 3 c spaghetti sauce
2 T all purpose flour 10 lg tortillas
1 tsp oregano 1 ½ c shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tsp basil

Brown sausage in a skillet. Drain grease. Mix cottage cheese and flour in a large bowl. Add the sausage, seasonings and 1 ½ c of the spaghetti sauce. Mix. Spoon ½ c of the mixture on to each tortilla. Roll like a jelly roll. Place seam side down in a large baking pan sprayed with cooking spray. Pour remaining sauce over the top. Bake covered at 375F for 30 to 35 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese. Put back in oven until the cheese melts. Serves 6.

Kayla made green bean casserole.

Green Bean Casserole
16 oz bag French green beans cooked
can cream of chicken soup
cooked bacon crumbled
salt and pepper
can French fried onions

Combine beans, bacon and soup. Add ½ can onions. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Top with the remaining onions and bake 5 minutes more.

Jasmine made Indiana tacos from a recipe from mission camp.

DECEMBER

Jasmine made chicken.

Zesty BBQ Chicken
21/2-3 lb chicken cut up or chicken pieces 2/3 c brown sugar
2 T vegetable oil ½ c honey
1 tsp seasoned salt 2 ½ c bbq sauce
½ c onion chopped

Preheat oven to 300F. Coat chicken with cooking oil. Season with salt. Mix onion, brown sugar, honey, and bbq sauce together. Pour over chicken. Bake uncovered for 2 hours.

Kayla made spaghetti.

Kaleb made shake and bake chicken.

Tyler made Hobos

Hobo Dinner
1 ½ -2 lb lean ground beef ½-1 cup ketchup or tomato sauce
1 egg beaten ½-3/4 cup uncooked oatmeal
2 yellow squash sliced 2 -3 lg. potatoes peeled and thinly sliced
4 carrots sliced 2 lg. onion thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix ground beef, ketchup, egg and oatmeal. Form into six patties. Place each on a square of aluminum foil. Place vegetables on top of each patty. Add salt and pepper. Wrap foil tightly around each patty. Place on baking sheet. Bake at 375F for 1 hr to 1 hr 15 min.

Jessica made lasagna with ground sausage. No picture of her because she had to leave for work.

So, that's what's cooking here.

2011-12-29T16:22:00.000-08:00

We've followed somewhat of a schedule during Christmas vacation because things run smoother for the littles if they know what to expect. We start with group devotions like we do on school days but at 8:30 or 9:00 instead of 5:45. Everyone has up until that time to be dressed and eat breakfast. We always go over the daily schedule at this time. We do that during the school week so everyone knows where they are supposed to be that evening--tumbling, dance, counseling, church choir etc.

We are actually reading through some devos that are for my next book this week. Then we have Bible quizzing and read a couple of Christmas books. We then listen to one Adventures in Odyssey episode but people with unmade beds or trashed rooms are excused to clean.

At around 10:00 Adam takes the little three out to run. There is a church 5K/1 mile run in January so that's motivation for them. He does exercises and tumbling with them after that. Then they play for an hour. They often play Wii with Tyler during this time.

After that we have lunch followed by a rest time where people who've earned extra privileges can watch a movie. The others can color or read books on their beds. The older ones often listen iPods or go online with kindles, phones etc.

After that we do a little math and reading. Then it's job time (about 15 minutes at most), drum practice etc. Once everything is done, it's play time until supper.

After supper we do games together followed by a movie. The twins go to bed after that. The others may go back to playing Wii or split into groups to watch movies.

Jessica and Adam both work some hours during the week.

This is Kayla playing the Wii game Grandma Sims got us for Christmas.

Jasmine

Tyler

Jeff. The bigger kids are pretty good about playing with the little ones as long as they get time to themselves later.

Tyler and Jeff caught the trolley to the theater to watch Real Steel, and then came home and played with the littles.

Adam got stuck with the new pink remote cover : )

Jeff just looks so thrilled. I think his mind was on packing up. He flew back to TX this morning.

The guys watching a movie in Tyler's room (which is now Jessica's room when he's at college)

Tyler is 21, Jeff is 18 and Adam 16 and they have similar interest in movies.
Today we had Chinese for lunch. I wanted to do this before Jeff left but we ran out of time. Jessica's favorites are sweet and sour chicken and orange chicken (spicy).

Jasmine's favorites are egg drop soup and sweet and sour chicken.

Tyler's favorite is orange chicken.

Kayla's favorite is egg drop soup.

Adam was at work and Kaleb had just peeled a large chunk of paint off his wall so he was sitting in his room during these pictures! His new thing is ripping covers off of books and peeling paint off of walls! The room was just painted a couple of years ago so in very good shape still.

Jessica, Jasmine and I went to "We Bought a Zoo." It was an excellent story, but I was disappointed at the language. Among other things, the dad and son swear at each other. The boy yells b--- s----. and they both use d--- at each other. Other characters swear also. If it weren't for that, it would be the perfect family movie. In the same category as Dolphin Tale.

I think we would all fit in well at the zoo! I was shooting in the dark so not even sure what I was taking pictures of!

So what has your family been doing this week?

And for those of you with adopted children, do holidays trigger behaviors for yours or not?

Christmas

2011-12-26T20:06:00.000-08:00

We all went to the Christmas Eve service. There were issues with one child, but I'm not going to go into it because overall it went amazingly well.

When we got home, Jessica read the Christmas story. Then everyone opened stocking presents and kid-bought gifts.

Jeff bought Jessica a Kindle Fire!

It's Caspian's first Christmas.

On Christmas morning we opened the other gifts. Tyler

Jasmine

Adam

Jeff (a couple of his gifts weren't here yet)

Kaleb He's still young enough that he judges his gifts by size. So he was very happy!

Kayla also still judges gifts by size so she's happy with hers.

Jessica. She's holding an underwater camera I got her.

Ty playing his new Skylander game.

Jasmine trying out a new scooter. She's getting quite a collection!

Jessica is trying to run Jasmine over with my remote control tank that shoots air pellets.

Kayla on her pogo stick.

Everyone got to make their own pizza for lunch. This is Jessica's with ham, pineapple and hard salami (?).

Birthday cake for Jesus. We usually do this and sparkles (for Jesus is the light of the world) on Christmas eve but that didn't work out this year so we did the cakes Christmas afternoon.

Girls' cake done

Boys' cake done

We save the presents from my mom to open later in the day after everyone had a chance to try out all their other presents. She buys a combined gift which is usually games everyone can play together. This year it was two Wii games, an extra remote and accessories.

So that was our Christmas.

Today all is calm, and everyone is hanging out together. Two work later. Jeff flies back to TX on Thursday and Ty heads back to college sometime before the 9th. The rest go back to school on the 4th.

You just have to love...

2011-12-24T12:39:00.001-08:00

...those old photos!

December 1964

December 1966

This is at my grandma's house with three of my cousins. Guess one wasn't born yet and one wasn't adopted from Korea yet. Not sure what year that would make this.

Not sure if there are other old photos around. If my brother or sister got them first, there probably aren't : )

Just Hanging Out

2011-12-23T13:36:00.001-08:00

We are doing a lot of just hanging around reading, watching DVDs, playing with the dogs and cleaning. Jessica and Adam have some work hours this week. Jessica works both Christmas eve and Christmas day as usual.

Caspian is very helpful when it comes to Facebook.

Tyler is home for a month. He and Jasmine are catching up on Wii time.

We're going through the puzzles and any missing pieces are getting tossed.

Scrappy has really gone downhill quickly. We thought we were going to lose him a couple of times. He has heart worm that he's being treated for but we found out he also has arthritis and a bad back. He has a tracheal cough and wheezing too. We got him summer '01 and he was 2-3 years old at that time. Caspian has become very attached to Scrappy so I hope he pulls through. Scrappy tolerates Caspian very well too. Sometimes Caspian will join Scrappy in his kennel rather than go into his own.
Tacos for lunch

We had volcano tacos too. The brave ones tried them.

Some people ate two volcano tacos. Hehe.

Pets who don't appreciate baths should not dig in the mud!

Everyone is helping clean. When we moved every three years, things got sorted out and cleaned. We are going through and decluttering, washing down every shelve and cupboard in the kitchen. We do this at least once a year. Three bags full of clutter have gone to give away and three bags of trash to the curb. There is lots more clutter out in the sheds! And closets too I'm sure.

Utility room

Jeff flies in tomorrow. Jessica works 12-8 tomorrow and then Christmas evening. We'll open stockings after the Christmas eve service along with presents the kids bought. We'll open the rest Christmas morning and hopefully spend the rest of the day trying out toys, watching movies and playing games.

The Littles

2011-12-20T05:00:00.001-08:00

The girls

All of them. Pretty typical picture. Usually I only post the best ones, but that isn't actually a very realistic representation of our pictures. Kaleb gives me some pretty goofy looks.

Jasmine doesn't look too thrilled about the picture taking.

Kaleb is giving me his typical look.

They are ready for the Christmas program at church. Everyone did really well during the service, but one had to throw a big fit on the way out of the church and all the way home because she didn't get to ride in the car she wanted to but in the car leaving first. This was after having a nice time at the service and eating the refreshments afterwards.

Jasmine getting ready to watch While You Were Sleeping with Jessica and me. She's supposed to be in bed, but her room mate was still acting out from not getting to ride in the car she wanted to ride in. When possible, I try to ignore the poor behaviors and reward those doing right instead. So since one was making it impossible to sleep, the other got a movie and got to stay up later as a result.

What movies do you watch at Christmas time?

Love This Girl

2011-12-18T07:02:00.000-08:00

She has been through so much, but still has her smile.

She's growing up too fast, changing, becoming a young woman--but she's still my little girl.

There's a lot stacked against her, but she also has a lot going for her.

I know God has a very special plan for this little one of mine.

Christmas Bells

2011-12-17T08:51:00.001-08:00

This Week

2011-12-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

Crazy week.

Children's choir program-done (see older post)

Band program-done (see older post)

Church women's dinner-done (no photos)

Explorer's party for underprivileged kids-done --Jessica was even on TV playing at the bounce place with them

Explorer's party and gift exchange-done --the bottom photo is of Jessica before she left for the part

One meds appointment-done

popcorn duty at the school-done-Jessica and I were the only ones who showed up. Good thing she knows how to run a popper! She popped and I bagged 100 bags of popcorn

Other meds appointment-today

Ty's church party-tonight

Church program with Jessica in the orchestra-Sunday

Three separate dental appointments-M, W, Th

Three class parties-M, Tu

Band party-M

Jeff here-24th

Christmas eve service-24th

With Jessica being involved in the police explorer's program I get calls time to time, "I need picked up at the police station." If it was anyone else I might worry, but not when it's Jessica. She was even picked up at the college by an officer in the car for the underprivileged kids party. But not too many people run up to police car smiling and waving before hoping in the back : )

Nativity

2011-12-15T04:53:00.000-08:00

This was my first nativity. Not even sure where I got it. My father-in-law built the stable.

This is my newest nativity I got a few years ago on clearance after Christmas.

This is plastic, not glass, so can be played with. Don't remember where I got this one either.

I made this one. Someone added the baby long ago and we've kept that as part of it.

I got this in Mexico while on a cruise with my mom, Tyler and Jessica.

I want a Little People Nativity but they never have those left to mark down after Christmas.

The Nativities are the only part of the decorating that I do. If it was up to me, I'm afraid the tree wouldn't get put up. Good thing Jessica likes to do that.

Fun Night

2011-12-13T09:18:00.001-08:00

Last night was Jasmine's first band concert! She's back by the brown door standing next to the bass drum. She played snare though, not bass. Mr. Q, the band director, has had her play bass a few times in band though.
This is 5th grade band. They have band twice a week for 45 minutes. Next year it will be a regular class period for her.

My little drummer girl.

Afterward Tyler, Jessica, Jasmine and I went to TGIF to celebrate her first concert. Jasmine had never been there before. We normally go to Chilis for special times. And I had coupons for TGIF : )

Tyler

Jessica & me

We had planned on getting two appetizer plates to share, but we ended up with three because I wanted skewers. Our server told us it was only $1 more for the entree so we got that, and the only difference was there was a little rice and cooked squash with it. (And I got to use the buy any entree and get a free appetizer up to $8 coupon)The above appetizer plate had wings, fried green beans and potato skins.

The other appetizer plate had ribs and a different kind of wings. Ty didn't really eat all those ribs, he's posing for me : )

Tyler helping Jasmine with the rice. It looks like we have more dipping sauce than food on the other plate!

We had plenty left over for Rick at the end since he took the others home. In fact, he left with the others about ten minutes into the concert due to one child's behaviors. The two not causing problems made sugar cookies from refrigerator dough and popcorn while the other went to bed.

I think Jessica had too much of the Jack Daniel's wing dip.

Look how much we had left!

Both of Jasmine's concerts are behind us now. We have several school and other parties along with Jessica's program still ahead. How about the rest of you? Those who don't home school are probably finding themselves buying classroom party food, teacher gifts, gift exchange gifts etc. I've spent $80 so far on the stuff for the three youngest for their class and band parties plus inexpensive teacher gifts.

First Program

2011-12-12T09:26:00.001-08:00

Last night was the children's program at church.

One of the teens did the make up : ) Jasmine does a little better in reds than pinks but she is the only non white girl in the whole choir.

Afterwards we got pizza and breadsticks, and Jessica made butter beer. This recipe had too strong of a butterscotch taste so she is going to try another recipe before her party Thursday evening.

You can just see the calories!

So, the first program is over. Tonight is Jasmine's first band concert. Thursday Jessica has the Explorer's party for one of the underprivileged schools in town, that evening is the Explorer's Christmas party. Kayla's class party is Friday, and Tyler has a church party Friday night. Next Sunday is the church program and Jessica plays in the orchestra. Monday is Jasmine's band party and Tuesday Kaleb and Jasmine have their class parties.

Jeff will be flying in the 24th so we will have all the kids home for a few days.

The Good Stuff

2011-12-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

December 8 was Adam's 16th adoption day. I bought two dozen donuts but didn't think to take a picture until after everyone left for school, and this is all that was left. We had some red velvet ones that were really good but there were none left. I think the last one went in Jasmine's lunch.

My light man is home from college. There are certain jobs each of us like and those that would be left undone if it were up to us. I take care of getting the Christmas cards (usually the year before half price after Christmas), getting everyone to sign them and making sure they get mailed. I have a couple that got missed this year and still have to be mailed. Jessica sets up the tree and is in charge of the decorating. Tyler is in charge of outside lights, and he usually puts the ones around the fireplace too. Rick fixes anything that goes wrong!

Jessica and I ate lunch with Jasmine at school today. We took sarku's and these chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels.

The last strawberry.

Sad for the Duggars

2011-12-08T17:50:00.000-08:00

Feeling sad for the Duggars. Michelle miscarried her baby today in the second trimester. You can read it here. This article doesn't have a place for comments thank goodness. The articles that allow comments are already full of people saying nasty things about how they shouldn't be having anymore children.

I would never say that because:

1. They have never accepted any kind of outside financial help. They live debt free and are teaching their children to do the same. Their boys have already started businesses.

2. They are raising them to be responsible citizens, follow good morals and have strong values.

3. They are giving back to their community and beyond through service projects. They serve at soup kitchens, take mission trips and several of their older children (even the girls) are trained volunteer fireman. They all went to help out when deadly tornadoes hit in their state. And they were doing this kind of thing before they were in the public eye. It's not just for the cameras.

4. The children are encouraged to be their own person (within the family's value system). They each have their own strengths and hobbies. Several have made plans for the future and they aren't being shoved into one mold.

5. Their parents are investing their lives in raising them themselves. They are homeschooling them and teaching them life skills.

I know a lot of people who gripe about how much work their children are and complain that their one or two children are driving them crazy. They dump them in daycare practically as soon as they are out of the hospital nursery.

I think they complain about the Duggars because they see a lack in their own lives. I mean really, why would it be anyone elses' business?

I followed a link just this morning to a blog with a post titled, Why Does the World Hate the Duggars. You can read it HERE.

Pop vs. Soda

2011-12-07T05:51:00.001-08:00

I did a post on this a year or two ago, but I have new readers since then, so I'll bring it up again. Pop or soda or cokes? When I grew up in northern IN it was pop.

I moved to Jacksonville, FL to teach, and the cafeteria ladies called everything coke. "We have many kinds of cokes."Our conversion would go like this, "What do you want to drink with your lunch?" "Coke" "Which kind of coke?" "Coke coke. The kind in the red can!"

I started calling it soda. I've called it soda for 25+ years now. It sounds weird to hear it called pop now. Pop is a person not a drink.

And obviously, people have given this a lot of thought. Just look at the maps below.

Here's a pretty general overview.

But look at this one. It's broken down by counties! Find your country and see if you agree.

So what do you call that carbonated beverage in a can?

Tree Done

2011-12-06T06:53:00.000-08:00

It's taken me longer to get back to this blog because it was a rough weekend followed by a really rough Monday. One was suspended Friday, another hid the fact he had an F in math so he wouldn't lose privileges and then he was indignant when he did. So not the greatest start to the weekend. Also, so few people comment that I've really thought about ending the blog. But I'm going to wait and see.

Ready for church.
Decorating the tree after church. Jessica is pretty much in charge of all things associated with the tree.
The younger girls worked with her.
Hot chocolate and cookie break.

The last step is adding candy canes.
Rick bought about five different kinds for the tree!

Finally done--except for the topper.

I probably should end this post here on this happy note, but unfortunately, that's real life. We have a problem here I have no explanation for. Maybe one of you will. After the twins get attention and take part in fun events, they turn into monsters. If you remember, Jessica and I went to eat lunch at school with the twins. After we left, things went straight downhill. They were defiant to teachers and bullied other kids. I don't know if they just felt empowered because we'd been there or what.

A few weekends ago, Kayla went on a girl's day to the mall. We ate there and then went to team kid at church. When we got home, she was argumentative with Rick, wouldn't go to bed and bullied others at school the next day.

After we decorated the tree, Jessica went to work and Jasmine and I headed to team kid. Kayla didn't go because I haven't taken her since the last incident with team kid. I reminded her that she'd had a fun weekend and if she wanted another fun weekend the next week, she needed to make good choices. As soon as I'd left, she started in with Rick. She argued with everything he said, got bossy, refused to go to time out and started screaming all sorts of stuff. Monday at school she hurt a child. Yesterday was worse. She was totally out of control screaming and crying as loudly as she could when I sent her to her room. She only stopped because I took in a bucket of cold water and told her if she couldn't get control by herself, I'd help her. She knew I wasn't kidding. I'm not listening to screaming and crying for however long she can keep it up.

Jessica also gave Kayla a lot of attention during the tree decorating only to have her totally disobey her at the bus stop Monday. (Jessica walks them down). Then she got on the bus and badmouthed Jessica loudly the whole way to the school to the point the driver was very upset.

Consequently, since Jessica is in charge of the after school half- hour Wii time for those with good behavior, Kayla will be excluded from that to help her understand you can't be mean and nasty to someone, tear them about verbally and then expect them to want to share a special time with you.

Praise also seems to sabotage them rather than encourage them to continue the same positive behaviors.

Anyone have any ideas? It's discouraging to have a fun weekend only to have a child turn into a monster as a result. They've been home 22 months now.

Also had another one test me on the "You will be home by 5:20 no exceptions" only to have him waltz in at 6:37 the very same day. But that is dealt with. Said child will be coming straight home on the 3:00 bus from now on. He is indignant but he knew he was on his last chance with the constant late arrivals home.

So, we are having some good times, and some times of testing. We will come out okay and everyone will survive but I wish I understood why really ugly behavior follows anytime we do something special.

One last note, yesterday was Jeff's 11th adoption day. He's actually been with us almost 14 years because there was a delay in finalizing his adoption because we had to wait until we'd moved back to the states.

Dec 5, 2000
Sept 2011
Nov 2011

Tree Up....

2011-12-03T13:16:00.000-08:00

...Not Really!

I think everyone was having too much fun!

Any questions on why the tree isn't finished? And of course we had to have a cookie and hot chocolate break. (no photos, I was too busy eating the cookies!)

What a cute helper!

Yep. She got herself tangled in the lights.

Jessica is at marching practice with honor guard for tonight's parade. This is the last year she'll lead off with the flag. She turns 21 next summer and ages out of the police department Explorer's program.

Check back tomorrow or Monday and hopefully there will be pictures of the tree decorated.

The Need for Control

2011-12-01T05:29:00.000-08:00

Who is who? Well, if you know the twins, it's not hard to tell. The head shape and body builds are very different. In fact, Kaleb is the more slender, delicate one. And he's hard to get focused in pictures. He tries to be "cute." I normally only post the best picture, but I decided to post all four to show you typical pictures.
So, you might notice that Kayla has very little hair. This is actually the second time we've gotten it cut short, but the first time it's as short as Kaleb's. We got it cut for the same reasons as last time. When I put it in braids or twists, she "scrubs" her head on the ground and ruins them. She cuts them out if she feels like it. If I leave it as free hair, she has a fit every time I comb it. I give her the chance to comb it first, but she almost always says she sprayed (water with conditioner mixed in) and combed it, and almost every time the hair is absolutely dry and hard and definitely not combed.

So her hair was about three inches long in the front with two cut out section that were about 1/2" long, and the back was much shorter because many times I give up before I get the back braided and leave it free. After a major melt down crying fit over her hair on Tuesday I told her it was time to get it trimmed even again. Rick, tired of the morning fits, took her that same day. The lady cut it to about 1/2" so it was mostly even. She combed it out nice for Kayla to see. Kayla, needing to be in control of the situation said no, she wanted it cut off. In fact she demanded it. Rick called me to see what to do. I had him ask her again if she was sure and then let her be in control of the decision, because she's the one who has to live with it. So, viola, look alike hair for the twins! In fact, last night Kayla went to tumbling and Kaleb didn't and the other parents asked me "How did you get him to wear a pink sweatsuit?" They didn't realize it was Kayla until she took the sweats off and had on a girl's leotard.

This is a pretty typical picture for Kaleb.

And this is the one where I finally say, stop leaning on Kayla, stand on both feet and look at the camera!

More from Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T07:30:00.001-08:00

The kids' project for Thanksgiving afternoon.

Pet shop game

Jasmine!

Watching Polar Express and having hot chocolate

Hanging out together

I didn't win!

The dogs get the turkey gizzard!

Caspian's first Thanksgiving

Jessica has several papers to write

New rule: If you go the wrong way on purpose (pretending you don't understand which way to go) you have to start over. Counting ability increased greatly after that rule went into effect.

Dinner

Building the gingerbread village

The girls worked together and the guys worked together.

All done!

Tyler tried to teach Kaleb how to build with Legos. Ty was amazingly patient.

The holiday went pretty well. Tyler got home Wednesday evening and is on his way back to college right now. The younger ones had all week off. Jessica skipped Monday and Tuesday for our trip to Disney.

The twins have come up with some new and unacceptable behaviors but when they occur, the offender is removed from the fun as to not take away from the fun for the others. Unfortunately missing out wasn't enough of a deterrent for one and she is at this moment in her room writing, "I will speak politely at all times."

They both came up with a new and very rude phrase they say to others when I'm not around. They know that if they wouldn't say it when I'm in the room, then it's wrong. Also the week before vacation I received about six notifications by phone or parent alert from the school about bullying, injuring others and having to be removed from class due to kicking over a desk and throwing books when asked to pull a tag for behavior. This has become a daily habit. The bullying and injuring others has resulted in no basketball this year. I've explained that if they cannot treat others appropriately in the classroom, how can they be trusted to do so under a competitive situation?

I am remaining consistent in the rules, privileges and loss of privileges. We are going back to a behavior chart Monday due to increased inappropriate behavior at home, on the bus and at school.

Jasmine is doing pretty well. She is coping with the stress of 5th grade better. She has more homework than Adam, who is a junior. She has both a church concert and a school band concert coming up.

Adam finished cross country and is in wrestling just for something to do until track starts since he did not make the soccer team. This is a picture of him with his date for the homecoming dance a few weeks ago. He just got the picture from a friend on facebook.

Tyler and Jessica both have finals coming up and Jessica has several papers to write. I think they'll both be ready for the semester to be over.

And that's it from our end.

I'm thankful for

2011-11-25T17:12:00.000-08:00

my guys who do the cooking each Thanksgiving

my hardworking gingerbread village builders

pumpkin pie with no crust

my faith, family, friends and lots more....

What are you most thankful for not just during this season but year round? Leave a comment if there's something you're thankful for.

Disney Weekend

2011-11-23T09:20:00.001-08:00

We drove down to Kissimee Friday leaving after school. We decided to drive all the way through and got a hotel room around 1 a.m. Finally got settled down at 3 a.m. I was starting to wonder if we were just going to stay up until time to go to Disney!

The first day we went to Hollywood Studios, which used to be called MGM. We didn't do lots there, but this is one of the most crowded weeks so it took us all day to do what we wanted to do. You can see those pictures a couple of posts back.

Sunday and Monday we split between Epcot and Magic Kingdom. Saturday we left the park about midnight but left at 11:00 on Monday because we were driving home on Tuesday.

It was really, really crowded so we chose what we wanted to do carefully knowing that since we have year passes we'll be back.

The girls didn't get these shirts until after we'd had our picture taken with Mike. I got mine a couple of years ago.

The lights at Magic Kingdom were amazing.

Only three of us went this time, but we're looking forward to the rest (who are here at home) going in January.

The Twelve C's

2011-11-22T19:31:00.000-08:00

For those who asked what the twelve Bible C's are, they are:
1. Creation
2. Clan
3. Confinement
4. Covenant
5. Conquest
6. Court
7. Crown
8. Captivity
9. Construction
10. Christ
11. Church
12. Completion

Here's a way to describe the Bible in 50 words:
God made
Adam bit
Noah arked
Abraham split
Joseph ruled
Jacob fooled
Bush talked
Moses balked
Pharaoh plagued
People walked
Sea divided
Tablets guided
Promise landed
Saul freaked
David peeked
Prophets warned
Jesus born
God walked
Love talked
Anger crucified
Hope died
Love rose
Spirit flamed
Word spread
God remained

I did not make up either of these, they are the work of other people. If you know your Bible well, they make sense, if you don't, they don't.

Hollywood Studios

2011-11-20T21:49:00.001-08:00

Here are more pictures from Hollywood Studios Saturday. We waited in line almost two hours for Toy Story Mania, so we took about 50 pictures to amuse ourselves. I'll spare you from having to look at all of them.

Another Toy Story photo.

Mike from Monsters Inc.

Soldier from Toy Story.

Jasmine and I with the cars from Cars 2.

It's hard to decide what all my favorite Disney movies are. When Tyler and Jessica were little they watch 101 Dalmatians over and over. Twice a day. If you have kids you know I'm not kidding. Then it was Lion King. Cars, Cars 2, all three Toy Story movies, Monsters Inc, Princess and the Frog and Tangled are other favorites.

Today

2011-11-19T19:58:00.001-08:00

Jessica, Jasmine and I spent the day at Hollywood Studios, formally MGM. It was a short day. Crowded and we left at 5:00 when it started raining. We got to our hotel at 1:11 a.m. this morning and got to bed at 3 a.m so a short day was okay with us. It's 11 p.m. and we should be headed to bed after the short night last night.

What's your favorite Disney movie?

Feeling Sad

2011-11-17T16:09:00.000-08:00

The little boy I just started sponsoring at Real Hope For Haiti died today. This is the report I got about him:
This is Alma’s second time in the Rescue Center. He has suffered with kwashiorkor for several years now (that's why his body is all swollen up with water). This makes 8 times he has been through this. His body is very weak, he is turning yellow and is not doing well.
Alma’s parents tell us that when there is food that he eats well. But many times they do not have food to feed him. He needs a lot of protein in his diet right now. He has been eating a lot of the medika mamba and lots of chicken.

But this morning he took a turn for the worse. And then he was gone. I know he's totally healed and waltzing down the streets of gold with so many other Haitian children, but I was praying he'd grow up to make a major impact for God in Haiti. But God's way is always better and heaven is more grand than anything we can imagine.

Random thougths from the Web

2011-11-15T14:57:00.001-08:00

I need to switch eating and sleeping.

Haha. And this is only the first volume guys!

Teaching about the Bible

2011-11-13T18:45:00.001-08:00

Tonight I taught a group of 3rd-5th graders about the Bible. It was less organized than I'd liked. We had to move quickly because we only had one hour start to finish. I left out a couple of activities I usually do and that threw me off. Crafts

Bible authors. The Bible was written by ordinary people- a doctor, tent maker, tax collector, kings, fishermen, shepherds and a cupbearer.

Yep. They had to hold a spoon in their mouths and move the frogs from one plate to another . This was from the ten plagues.It was easier said than done.

The boys won.

I have Jenga blocks with the books of the Bible on them. The three grades raced against each other putting them in order. Fourth grade won.

My biggest helper.

One thing we taught was everything that's in the Bible using twelve C words. I didn't make it up, but I borrowed it because it's a good way to cover everything in the Bible. Anyone know the twelve C's?

Veterans

2011-11-11T17:38:00.001-08:00

A few of the guys who served in the military from our family. I know there are more pictures and older pictures but I can't seem to locate them. My dad, Merle Sims, WWII Private in the Service and Ammunition Battery of the 67th Armored Field Artillery Battalion of the 3rd Armored Division.

Rick's dad, Richard Cassel Sr, Korean War

My mom's brother, Gene Bowers, Korean War

My mom with her older brother Gene.

My mom's younger brother, Terry Bowers, Korean War

My hero, Richard Jr, Desert Storm

And of course now Jeff is in the army stationed at Fort Bliss. I don't have a good one of him in uniform.

Sunday

2011-11-09T06:22:00.000-08:00

Sunday night we talked to a group of 1st & 2nd graders about the Bible. We called it "Adventuring Through the Bible" which is why you see an assortment of adventure hats in the pictures.

We had out Books of the Bible blocks for kids to put together. Jasmine was a big help during the lesson. We gave out the bands on her arm to the kids who learned the key verse (Psalm 119:105). We said it about a zillion times together so everyone could learn it.

We had a phone for God told me what to write. An eraser for The Bible has no mistakes. A Bible handbook for The Holy Spirit helps us understand the Bible. And a magic picture book for God Shows himself to us in the Bible.

We talked about how the Bible authors were ordinary men who were fishermen, prophets, a tent maker, a doctor, a tax collector, shepherds and a cup bearer.

We talked about how the Bible has two parts--The Old Testament and the New Testament. Then we did activities with Noah's Ark and Joshua and the walls of Jericho.

We ended by doing crafts to go with the stories of Joshua and of Esther.

The girls were invited to join the fall challenge HERE.

Next Sunday night we'll be talking to the 3rd-5th grade students. We cover some of the same things but on a more difficult level, and instead of the games, we go through the major events of the Bible using twelve C words. Oh, and we do actually have one game which is picking up the frogs from the ten plagues using a spoon which is held in the mouth : )

"Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch"

2011-11-07T04:29:00.001-08:00

Rick, Tyler and Jessica went to Universal Friday and Saturday. The park was pretty empty Friday and they were able to walk right onto the rides. They only waited 15 minutes for Harry Potter instead of the usual hour and 45 minutes!

Lots of drama in the pictures

Ever feel like climbing the walls? Tyler did!

See?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (or double wide manufactured home as the case is), Adam prepared for his first school dance.

Practicing his look

Awww. All grown up.