Today

TODAY:

Kayla had her tonsils and adnoids out. She doesn't look nearly as happy now as she did here before surgery.  She's on the couch watching the Princess and the Frog. (Yes they asked me to prove I was the mom. No I do NOT carry paperwork proving she's mine anymore than you do for your children. Why wasn't this brought up in pre op last Friday?)

Adam left for Montgomery for testing and to swear in as a Marine reservist.

The school called. Kaleb ate all of his lunch on the bus except his apple.  They  let me know they were letting him live with his decision and only have the apple for lunch. YES! Progress. He also yelled out in music class disrupting it to the point where nothing was accomplished today. The star chart does NOT seem to be working for him. He wants to do what he wants to do and doesn't care what privileges he can have later at home.

The Weekend (so far) Plus Haiti

Adam has decided to go into the Marine reserves. Rick and I had to sign the paperwork since he's only 17. But they wanted him to start right away. He'll go to a base a few hours away for testing and a physical next Tuesday and Wednesday. If all goes well, he will swear in on Wednesday.

Even though he's still in high school, he'll start training one weekend a month. After he graduates, he'll go to basic. The recruiter wants him to try for a ROTC full scholarship to college. If he gets that, he'll actually get out of the reserves for his college years. If not, he'll go to college but remain in the reserves. After college he'll go to officer school.

I hope this all works out for him. We've discussed that it could only take one thoughtless decision  or impulsive act to sabotage everything he's planned with the recruiter. The recruiter gave him the same talk. Adam is a good kid, but impulsive and goes along with things his friends' plans sometimes without thinking. He also has to retake the SAT or take the ACT, bring up his grades and work on pull ups. He is very fit, but can only do a few pull ups. The scholarship is very competitive and they look at physical condition (including pull ups) plus grades.

Jasmine had a game last night right after the recruiter left.  She plays at night so it's hard to get any pictures.

The middle school kids play on this huge adult sized field. This picture was taken this morning when they had it set up for two teams to play cross ways plus a practice section. But middle schoolers play the whole field! They are exhausted after their games. The older players actually play on a much smaller field than the middle school teams.

Kaleb was ready to go. And the weather was great. Unfortunately the game was moved an hour earlier but no one from our team was notified so we all showed up too late for the game. The kids were really disappointed.

A few weeks ago we sent money and pictures to an orphanage worker for the twin's birth dad. Since they'd located him last year for us, they were able to contact him and he came in right away.

We sent extra money to be used for the kids at the orphanage. The preschool class had just studied circles and made paper pizzas so they bought them real pizzas. How cool is that? It's nice to know that they've really improved living conditions at the orphanage since our kids were there. At that time the schooling wasn't regular or consistent and the kids mostly wandered around all day. Now they have planned activities and classes. 

Look at all those precious faces!

Just Stuff

As you can tell from the last two posts, we went to Disney last weekend. It was pretty good except Jasmine started throwing up the first night and it continued through the rest of the trip. She and I stayed at the hotel most of Saturday and then went into some shows at Hollywood Studios later. Sunday we went to Epcot for a few hours and then drove home. We have the Florida resident passes and they run out next month.

The Disney part itself was fun, but we have been dealing with lots of issues with the twins lately. I've made a daily chart listing the positive things we need to see (being honest instead of lying, not stealing, only touching in appropriate ways, doing homework etc) and putting stars when they do those things, because sometimes as moms we overreact or see only the negative when we're tired. Unfortunately the charts shows me what I thought. They are not-at this time-making much effort at all to behave in positive ways. Perhaps seeing it on paper will help them see the patterns of behavior they have formed. The special area teachers are having trouble even teaching due to the behaviors in PE, music and art.  The paper also lists the privileges available for the week. For this week it is Wii, nightly short DVD, Sunday school skate party, and Brave at the mall theater (where Jessica works). None of these have been earned. There are of course other things that are unconditional, but these are the extras that require the right behaviors.

Jasmine missed two days of school due to the vomiting, sore throat and headache. I don't know if she'll be able to play soccer tonight. She stayed at school all day yesterday but was wiped out when she got home.

Yesterday I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy. That was not much fun. A day of soft diet, a day of liquids (Tyler and Jessica on their own decided they were going to do that with me and they did!) and the yucky stuff you have to drink to clean everything out. I didn't do too well at drinking the stuff and started vomiting about 1/4 way into the gallon and gave up. But it was enough that I was well prepped. 

For some reason I thought I was going to hop right up and walk out of there and go on with normal life. Not so. I was really cramped up all last night. But the dr said it's the best looking colon she's seen in a while. So that was good news. I only had to do it because I'm 50 and it's a normal preventative procedure. She did the other scope because I've had reflux for many years and she wanted to check that there was no damage. There wasn't.

Adam went and talked to a marine recruiter. They want him to join the reserves while he goes to college and then enlist active duty after he gets his college degree. Rick was enlisted and so is Jeff so Adam will be our first officer unless Jessica goes into the navy with her scuba program after graduation. Rick and I will be signing paperwork tonight since Adam is only 17. He could wait a couple of months and sign for himself but they want to put him in for ROTC scholarships and do some other things now.

This is a little hard on Tyler who was turned down due to his aspergers. He is going to talk to the Job Corps people in Tallahassee next week. I hope that works out for him.

Kayla pre ops today for having her tonsils and adnoids out next week. We are hoping this lessens her snoring. We were all blessed with the snoring at the hotel this weekend.

So this week has mostly been appointments and business. Next week is Kayla's surgery, Tyler's job corps meeting and Jeff will be going to DC to run with the army team-mile team. It's also Jasmine's school's fall festival a week from tomorrow.

What's ahead for you?

Hanging Out with a Bunch of Characters

Pirates!

What's Cooking? September Food

Update: added the peanut butter pie recipe.

Tyler made mixed vegetable casserole. 

There's not a real recipe for this, but I wrote out what we usually do.

 Mixed Vegetable Casserole 

1 lg. pkg. mixed vegetables cooked

1 lb hamburger browned

Lg. can cream of chicken soup

hash browns, warmed

salt

pepper

Mix and bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes.

 Kayla made spaghetti. 

 She chose garlic bread and corn to go with it.

Jessica made stir fry. She's the only one who has tried it so I ask her to make it every couple of months.

Yum

 Beef Stir Fry

2 tbs cornstarch                    2 med carrots thinly sliced

2 tsp sugar                            6 oz package frozen pea pods thawed

6 Tbs soy sauce                    2 Tbs chopped onion

¼ c apple juice                      2 Tbs vegetable oil divided

8 oz can sliced water chestnuts undrained

3 c broccoli florets

1 lb boneless beef round steak cut into strips

hot cooked rice 

In a bowl, combine corn starch, sugar, soy sauce and apple juice until smooth. Add beef and toss to coat; set aside. In a large skillet, stir-fry broccoli, carrots, pea pods and onion in 1 Tbs oil for one minute. Stir in water chestnuts. Cover and simmer four minutes. Remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, stir-fry beef in remaining oil until meat reaches desired doneness. Return vegetable to pan. Toss. Serve over rice. 

Jasmine made the chicken creole rice recipe on the back of the box below.  You just add tomatoes and chicken to the rice and seasoning in the box.

She chose cheesy bread sticks to go with it.

Adam made beef stroganoff using the recipe on the back of the banquet family sized Salisbury steak  box.  

It was pretty good.

Adam made peanut butter pie.  (He didn't realize I was taking the picture so didn't give you all his charming smile)

He realized he hadn't added the whipped cream or chocolate syrup so it was a good thing there was a second pie.

Peanut Butter Pie

4 oz cream cheese

1 c confectioner's sugar, sifted

1 c crunchy peanut butter

1/2 c milk

8 oz whipped topping, thawed

1 deep dish graham crusts

whipped topping

chocolate syrup

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese and confectioner's sugar. Mix well. Add peanut butter and mix. Slowly add milk and mix well. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into pie crusts and cover. Freeze for at least 30 minutes. Pipe extra whipped topping around edge of the pie. Drizzle with chocolate syrup.

We used two shallow crusts instead of one deep dish. It made for flatter pies.

So that's what the kids cooked this month. What's your favorite easy-to-make recipe. 

Wild Hair

 Jasmine has had braids and beads in her hair since the very end of July. I rebraid them a few at a time and change the bead color every 3-4 weeks. But it was time to take out the braids. She doesn't like having me braid it, but she loves it once it is braided because she just has to moisturize it. No combing.

 She loves the bright ones.

 But sometimes we switch to white or black which go with everything.

 Taking braids out is a bit traumatic for Jasmine. (Are some of you nodding because you know exactly what I mean?)

 And this is what we have once the braids are out. Then she showers and uses about a gallon of conditioner and combs through her hair in the shower with the conditioner in. But she doesn't get it combed thoroughly so I do it again and apply pink lotion to the scalp.

There are always tears so she hold my, um, whatever this is, that plays wild thing. All done, but still a bit teary eyed.