Jaelyn and Last Year's Santa

I don't know if I shared this last year or not.  I just rediscovered it and I can't resist sharing it again.  Anyone have a lump of coal we can wrap up for Jaelyn????

 

 

Big Sister Tries to Interfere

Our school district uses an Internet site called Powerschool to communicate with parents.  At any time, I can log in and see attendance records, grades and lunch account balances.  We've been watching grades closely and a few weeks ago, we noticed Caden had a 108 average in PE.  He normally gets a 10 out of 10 participation grade each week, but one week, he had 14 out of 10.  I decided it was probably a typo. 

Jaelyn overheard me and Caden talking about it.  14 out of 10 didn't seem fair to her at all and she's all about fair.  She took it upon herself to discuss the grade with Coach O.  She told her that Caden had 14 out of 10 one week and asked her why.  Jaelyn was sure it was a mistake that Coach O would correct bringing his average down to 100 (tied with hers).  Instead Coach O told her Caden earned the 14 by always following directions when none of his classmates would.  Ha!  Big Sister was thwarted in her attempt to interfere!

Hobbies

My mom taught me to crochet when I was a kid. It didn't stick. A few years ago, I took a knitting class and I found my thing. I don't knit anything huge. Scarves are my speed, and I always start browsing the yarn aisle as soon as it gets cool. I'm working on several scarves for Christmas presents right now.

I tried to teach jaelyn to knit, but she's not coordinated enough to manage the two needles. She asked me to teach her to crochet on Monday. We bought a crochet needle and I tried. I don't remember much. I can chain, but on my first try at the second row, I ended up with loops on my needle like I was knitting. Oops. With the help of google and YouTube videos, Jaelyn is figuring it out herself. Baba will be so proud. Jae says she's found her hobby :).

Another Generation of Friends

I met Keri in third grade.  We were great friends all through school, college and young adulthood.  We last saw her in 2000, the first time Dan was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground.  We sort of lost touch after that, but reconnected on facebook a few years ago.  Keri was in town this summer when we were and Jen and I got to see her for a quick snack at Panera.  It was just like we had seen each other the week before.  I guess when you've known someone that long and that well, it's easy to reconnect without all that weirdness. 

 

When we were home a couple of weekend ago, I took the kids to a park to run off some energy.  Jen and her kids met us there.  Keri posted something on FB that morning that led me to believe she was in Pensacola as well.  I called and she, her mom and her two little boys met us at the park.  Keri's boys are 3 and 5, but they kept up great with the big kids.  It's so neat to see my kids playing with my childhood friends' kids.  Full circle...I could get emotional if I thought about it too long :).

 

More Special Than You

I knew one day I would hear Caden tell someone he is more special because he grew in my tummy.  It happened on Saturday.  I don't remember what they were talking about over dinner, but to Jaelyn he said "Mommy would pick me because I'm more special.  I grew in her tummy and you didn't."  That's definitely not something that's going to slide by me.  I explained to him that while he grew in my tummy, the girls grew in my heart and I had to travel half way around the world TWICE to get them.  They are all special to me.  "Ha" said Jaelyn as she proceeded to tell him he started as an egg in my tummy.  Caden didn't like being an egg at all (I'm sure he was picturing himself inside a chicken egg).  At this moment, Dan pointed out that Jaelyn started out as an egg in her birthmom's tummy.  She didn't like that either.  LOL.  Way to turn the tables Dan.  The subject was changed and Allie's bottom starting shaking to the music to distract all of us.  (Did I mention we had fun on Saturday?)  I guess it's time to have a few more adoption and biological child talks with them.

Lost in the Maize Take II

Did I mention the drought we had this summer?  It was the worst drought in recorded history.  Drought = lack of rain = a really sad corn field :(

 

We had been planning our trip to this corn maze for weeks.  We were a tad bit disappointed.  We drove over an hour to get there.  They took us an a half mile hay ride and deposited us here...

 

...at the shortest corn maze we've ever seen. The hay bale maze in Maryland was taller than this :p.

I'm poking fun, but it didn't matter. We still had a great time. It was just what our family needed...some fun time without bickering or whining or complaining.

 

Look, if I get down at worms eye view...it almost looks like tall corn :).

 

It was a beautiful, clear day, but it was also cold.  I think fall is finally settling in to stay.

 

After the maze, the kids went for a ride on the barrel train.  Funny!  Seriously, everything was just so silly, that we laughed and laughed.

 

Well, that is until we let the kids race through the two sections of the maze alone.  Jaelyn and Caden went one way.  Allie went the other.  Jaelyn and Caden worked together to see the way - Jaelyn put Caden on her back and he'd scout out the path most taken.  Allie on the other hand was alone.  Once she got to the back of the maze, we could see her hat bobbing around, but she couldn't see anything but corn.  She stopped and I raced to her.  I found her standing still, sobbing and scared.  I had flashbacks to a fateful day at hourly care in Germany (I bet my mom remembers exactly what I'm talking about).  She was that upset.  I calmed her down and let her get one more easter egg (sorry, just can't call them Halloween Eggs) even though everyone had already hit their limit of candy.  Tootsie Rolls cheer everyone up!

 

 

 

Since we were so close to Springfield, we headed to the mall to buy a couple more winter clothing items and then had an early dinner at McAllister's Deli.  I wish we had one closeby.  Everyone loves to eat there and with $1.99 kids meals, it's actually affordable.  We might have also wandered around target for a bit with a spiral notebooks to get a head start on Christmas lists.  I can't believe it's that time already.

 

I've got to say, Saturday was a perfect day.  Lately, the kids seem to argue and fight constantly. There was none of that.  Jaelyn and I read in the car together (1/3 of the way through the first Harry Potter book).  We had a good time laugh and joking.  They cooperated with us and helped each other out.  It was just a great family day!!! 

Frog Rock

One of my favorite Missouri Landmarks in what we call "Frog Rock."  I don't know what other people call it, but if you say frog rock, they know exactly what you are talking about.  Frog Rock is on a hill between the two tiny towns that our outside the base:  Waynesville and St. Robert.  Someone had a great imagination when they envisioned this outcropping and got to painting.

 

 

Recently, these signs where put up on either side of it...too funny.

 

 

We were told they were put up for "Frogtoberfest."  Seriously, that's what they called the Waynesville Family Octoberfest.  I raced to get a picture before they were taken down again, but they are still there.  Anyone want to come visit to see the rock???

Lost in a Maize

It Happened Again

It keeps happening...that thing called life. I received an email from a loyal reader informing me I've been MIA from my blog again (grand loyal reader - I enjoy phone conversations encase you are ever concerned).

Today marks 4 weeks that I've been sick with sinus crud. I just finished a weeks worth of antibiotics and steroids. My doctor suggested allergy testing, but we are moving in 9 months. It doesn't seem worth it. I still have pressure in my head and yucky drainage. The weather continues to be as wishy washy as 10 year old girl ;) (I speak from experience).

The kids are doing really well in school. So far, everyone has straight As except a C in Art for Jae. How do you get a C in art, you wonder? She didn't like the contour lines for one assignment so she just didn't do them. She said "they take away from the owl I drew." When the assignment is learning about contour lines, you should probably include them in your artwork. Jaelyn has also struggled with long division, but after a few email with her teacher and some discussions with her, I think we've ironed out the problem.

October has been project month at school. Caden made a rainstick out of recycled materials. I even let him use MY drill. What can I say, I love my boy! Caden also had to decorate a pumpkin as a favorite book character. He chose Ninjago's Sensei Wu. We had fun making him; although I did learn you shouldn't use kids craft paint on a pumpkin. Everyone had to make a vocabulary hat for the hat parade next week. Jaelyn won a $20 gift card last year and all the kids wanted to win this year. I'm not sure Allies or Caden's will win, but once again, Jaelyn's has a good chance. She had to pick a science word. She chose circulatory system. Her hat has a big heart with veins and arteries running to her extremities. My creativity was in overdrive. :)

Gracie is in the dog house with me. She chewed up my favorite hat on Thursday and stole my "expensive" sunglasses off the table and chewed on them this morning. The frames are okay, but the lenses are ruined. I'm hoping I can just replace them and not have to buy a whole new pair. Arghhh.

Dan leaves Monday morning for meetings in DC. I'm worried about the "frankenstorm" that's heading that way, but he's not too worried. Next week will be my first single parenting week with all of our activities (early morning choirs, after school math clubs, karate, gymnastics, cheer leading). Add in my physical therapy for my hip, volunteering, homework, dinner and laundry and I think I might be crazy by Friday night. I'll try my best to update but I make no promises.

Please keep praying for Nana. She continues to grow weaker. Thanks.

Crazy Week

We got home Monday night from Florida and hit the road running Tuesday morning.  I had PT appts on Tuesday and Thursday.  Tuesday, we focused on my shoulders.  There's no indication of arthritus on my xrays.  The physical therapist thinks I'm having muscle spasms that are pinching something causing pain.  BTW, that's been my diagnosis for years.  She gave me exercises to do that should have stretch and strengthen those muscles.  Unfortunately, I carry my stress in my shoulders.  Thursday, we focused on what I thought was hip flexor pain, as diagnosed by the FNP.  The PT said it's not hip flexor.  She actually thinks it might be my hip.  I have to go on Monday and have an xray.  Then I have PT scheduled twice a week for three weeks to learn strengthening exercises.  After all that, I'll meet with the physical therapist again.

The kids had a busy week.  They all had make-up work, even though we did get some work ahead of time.  Add in normal homework and reading and sports and we didn't stop.  Jaelyn's gymnastics instructor invited her to come to the next level class next week. That's exciting for her. 

We added and then subtracted a new pet.  Jae's science teacher had crawfish in a pool for science.  He offered them to the kids when they were finished.  I was a sucker and let her bring one home.  Mr. K sent her with two.  One died within hours of being in our house and the other died a day later.  Oh well.  We weren't going to keep them long...they were heading to Happy Hollow this weekend.

I also started my volunteer work this week.  It's going to be a crazy year.  So far, I've enjoyed all the kids in my reading groups.  I have several that were in my groups last year.  It'll be fun to watch them learn and grow.

Friday, I had to hang around to get our windshield fixed for the third time...Hoping it's the charm or I'm going to be really unhappy with Safelite.  Then I headed to Waynesville for the Stampede in the Park.  The 4th and 5th graders who qualified ran a mile against the other schools.  Jaelyn and Allie both did well.  It was fun to cheer on all the kids.

Today, Jae and I are hanging around the house...well, it was mandatory for her to hang around her room :(...while Dan has the other two out having fun.  So far, I think they've been to the museum, out to lunch and now they are at the fire station, eating hot dogs and jumping in a bounce house.

Road Trip to Nana

We decided we should make a trip home to visit with Nana.  Dan had a four day weekend over Columbus Day; so we pulled the kids out of school and went.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend a lot of time with Nana.  When her blood levels get low, she sleeps.  It had been almost two weeks since she'd had blood.  She slept just about the entire time we were there.  She sat up for about 10 minutes with us on Saturday and Dan visited with her for about 20 minutes on Sunday.  Her doctor suggested a possible treatment that would give a small chance of increasing the time between blood infusions.  She only made it a few days before she decided she wanted to stop.  Nana is ready to go home to be with the Lord.  Will you please continue to pray for her and the rest of the family?

My Monkey on Her Monkey Bar..Take II

My Monkey on Her Monkey Bar

Progress Reports

I can't believe we are half way through the first quarter. Jaelyn brought home her midway progress report yesterday. She has straight As so far. Her lowest grade is a 93 in science. She said its low because she had a zero on one assignment. She turned it in, but without a name. I've seen her being diligent about writing her name on her homework ever since :). She's much more independent with her homework this year. I don't know if its her new medicine, our slightly different parenting, or just being a year older and maturing, but whatever the cause, I'm much happier with the effect!

I checked Allie's grades online. She had all As and one B in reading. She's still doing some wonky things in reading that her teacher is watching for. She skips words or she'll change the phrases, while keeping the meaning the same. She also flips words. For example she'll read "left" as "felt." She brought home her first book report book this week. Those fourth grade teachers love their book reports.

Caden is doing great as far as I can tell. He doesn't have any grades online, but everything coming home that's graded looks good. He still won't get real grades this year. He'll have a skills based report card where he'll get an E (exceeds), M (mastered), A or B (I can't remember what the A or B stands for, but we don't want As and Bs) for each skill. I had my first reading group in Caden's class on Wednesday, and from what I could tell, Caden is an enrichment group. He went to the library and did stuff with the librarian while the other kids read and did a worksheet.

The fourth and fifth grade teachers are a little slow getting started. I "think" their book club groups will start next week. I've so enjoyed getting back into school and helping out. The principal has even finally learned my name. At the end of the year last year, she called me Jeannie. 160 volunteer hours and she didn't know my name. I brought warm snicker doodles on the first day of school with a note...now she knows my name :).

Allie and Her Crush (insert my eye rolling)

She said "take my picture and put it on Facebook). Crazy girl.

In the Kitchen

Caden is slowly becoming a better eater, but it's a challenge.  I got him to eat an egg roll the other day by playing "guess the flavor."  He nibbled his way through it telling what he was tasting.  He didn't necessarily love it, but it all went into him. 

 

I had a couple of sweet potatoes I needed to cook a few weeks ago (I'm so behind).  I decided to see if I could get Caden to eat them.  Now, I probably over-shadowed all the good nutrients by frying them :), but Caden loved them. 

 

First I set him up at the table with the potatoes and a peeler.  He did all the hard work.

 

Next, I sliced them on my mandolin and fried them (bad bad bad Kelly)

 

We sprinkled a little salt and cinnamon on them and between the 5 of us, 3 sweet potatoes disappeared in about 10 minutes.  They were the best "potato chips" Caden's ever eaten.  If you are going to eat chips, which we do with sandwiches, even fried, home-made, preservative and artificial junk free sweet potato chips are the way to go!

 

Another morning, Jaelyn and I decided we wanted cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  I headed to my favorite recipe site for a quick and easy recipe and put Jaelyn to work.

 

The mess wasn't pretty, but the cinnamon rolls were!

 

They were yummy, but the recipe definitely needs some tweaking before I share!

 

Meet Gracie's Best Friend

I took my camera to our playdate tonight so I could introduce you all to Gobi.  She's Gracie's best dog pal. Brigit was the office manager at our old vet.  She used to see us playing at the tennis courts and asked if we wanted to get our dogs together because she lives nearby.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Gracie was a little scared of Gobi at first, but it didn't take long for her to look forward to our weekly playdates.

 

Give me a hug!

I think this picture is hilarious...I love Gracie's Cujo mouth and her funny two legged stance.

 

I love Gobi's eyes.

Family Hiking Day

We packed up the kids and the dog on Saturday and went in search of some good hiking.  We ended up at Ha Ha Tonka State Park.  The kids weren't too thrilled about it, but we told them they'd go and like it.  Turns out they did!

 

And even better...I saturated us with bug spray and we didn't get a single nasty, disgusting tick on us!

 

If only this tree was in our yard...

Gracie found her seat and we've budging!  Silly puppy!

I was in control of Gracie so I didn't bring my big camera.  We've used Jaelyn's little camera and I can tell the difference.

Jaelyn is becoming quite the photographer...this shot was hers.  I love her perspective.  The next 3 pictures are hers with a little cropping from me.

 

 

Caden had fun exploring the "secret island."  It wasn't really secret, but we told him it was.  We thought we were on a path, but we ran into steps and a railing.  We were on the wrong side of the railing!  Oops!

 

Prayer Request - Dan's Grandma

We need prayers for Dan's grandma, Nana.  She's not doing well.  She's struggled in recent years.  She's had breast cancer.  It metasticized to a spot on her rib.  She did a low dose of chemotherapy for a year that killed the spot.  She's had problems with her red blood cells.  A bone marrow biopsy revealed she had a syndrome that is usually a precursor for leukemia.  She's been getting weekly shots to help her body make red blood cells and for the last year or more? has been getting monthly blood transfusions.  She's getting weaker and is needing blood more often.  They believe she might have leukemia now, but they won't be confirming with another painful hip biopsy.  Recently, she's been dealing with nausea and loss of appetite.  She's had weight loss.  She's sleeping a lot of the time now.  She says she's not having any pain though.  Would you please pray for her and for Dan's family?

The Taste of Fall - Cocoa

Cooler weather is here.  I'm sure it's not going to stay.  My grandmother always said, "there's one last cold snap before Easter."  Well, there's one last warm snap before Thanksgiving too.  Honestly, I hate cold weather.  I hate being cold.  I hate grey skies....so dreary and depressing.  I can still vividly remember the gray of winter in Germany and opening the curtains one morning to a blue sky.  It was so shocking to see blue again.

Anyway, this post isn't about the weather, it's about the food.  So far I've only made a pot of chili.  I'll have to find the recipe to share.  It's a Southern Living vegetarian black bean chili that I add ground beef and pinto beans to :).  I'm looking forward to more crockpots filled with soups.

My favorite thing about cool weather is a mug of hot chocolate.  I don't buy the cheap stuff.  For the last few years, I've bought Land-o-lakes specialty hot chocolates.  I haven't bought any this year because it's not good for me...too much sugar.  The other night, I wanted a cup so badly.  I went to my favorite recipe site and found this one.  It is sooo good that I won't go back to store bought hot chocolate.  It takes a few minutes.  I really have to want it to make it.  I'm hoping that'll help me to ration the sugar :).  Here are my tweaks on the all-recipes recipe for 1 mug of hot cocoa. 

Hot Cocoa

1 1/2 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp water
a pinch of salt
1 cup milk
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp half and half

Combine the cocoa, sugar and pinch of salt in a saucepan. Blend in the water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn't scorch. Stir in milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and add vanilla. Add the cream to the mugs of cocoa to cool it to drinking temperature.