Cool Stuff

Just a lot of this and that going on as we settle into a new school year. Here are some photos that capture these times.

Jasmine and I got new walking/running shoes. Hers are for completing 100 miles and mine for 300 miles. We got them during the buy one, get one half price sale during no tax week and with an additional 10% military discount. So we came out really well on it. The twins are around 65 miles.

We have $1 skating on Wednesday nights, but we'll be starting youth group after Labor Day.

Jasmine and me diving with Alex, an instructor. Even though we are certified, I don't feel confident enough to navigate without him.

Hehe. Bad hair day!

Between 10 and 15 feet down. Jasmine still struggles with clearing her ears. I want to meet with her cranio facial team at Shands, but our insurance has decided we can't.

 She's so colorful.

Shark skeleton

I love the feeling of movement in this picture.

 Kids playing with a friend. Kaleb and Josiah are in after school rhythm club.

I am doing some serious decluttering. I pulled everything from the back of my closet, including my wedding dress that has been sealed for 27 years. I saw that even though I paid to have it preserved, the arms and front have yellowed. There is also a stain on the sleeve. I have no idea what to do with the dress. I was going to try to find a place that collected wedding dress for the poor or something, but with the yellowing, I doubt anyone would want it. I guess for now it goes back into the closet.
And no, my 14-year-old is not getting married any time soon. 

 This is the family room, which is supposed to be my office also. One side is bookcases, the other side this. I'm tired of looking at clutter. Unfortunately, as an author, there are lots of papers, books etc that I need.

 The ping pong table takes up most of the room when it's set up. I am clearing out over 100 books and moving the rest to my closet. 

You can see the other side of the room in the background here. It's the bookshelves I often use as a background for the kid's pictures.  I will post update pictures as we go. As long as I am redoing the room, I am also babyproofing! Other areas of the house are getting decluttered also.

Jasmine is feeling her niece move. She was like, "That's soooo weird."

 I took Jess to lunch at the Chinese buffet.

 Someone Jessica knew had to get rid of their dog due to their housing situation. So Jessica talked Adam into taking the dog. She's a very sweet, six year old pit bull. She is mostly an indoor dog, which is good because he lives in an apartment. I hope it works out for them.

She was excited to be going for a car ride. Jessica bought her food, a bed and toys.

So that is all of our random photos and news for now

Indiana part 3

We did a lot of just regular stuff in Indiana. We went to the mall to get somethings we wanted.

 They have a Christian bookstore, so of course we looked to see if they had any of my books. They had four of them. (Only one shown in this picture)

Tyler got a little bored and found ways to amuse himself.

 My sister is normally sane and quiet. I think her husband is always glad to see us go as we tend influence her :)

Jessi and I spent some time brainstorming ideas. Now we need to follow up on them. Writing for me, crafts and sewing for her.

We were invited to do a prediction run. You guess your time for either the 3K or 5K. Time limit is 30 minutes, so Jessica, Jasmine and I did the 3K, and the others the 5K. However, the trail wasn't really marked, so we did part of the 5K route too. I have no idea how far we really went. More than 3K, less than the full 5K.

Well, we had fun together no matter what our distance or times were.

Yeah, it was really hot.
Everyone ran but our crew finished before my sister started taking pictures.

We went to McDonalds afterwards to meet up with a friend and her daughter who is a runner.

 Next day we went over to Mishawaka to Chuck E Cheese.

We don't have one, and I had tokens left from the two we stopped at in conjunction with the Orlando trip.

Pizza

We made arrangements to meet up with Felicia again. I wish our families lived closer together. Funny to meet up in IN.

The girls all got along great.

Yes, we were thrilled to be there! Really we went and shot baskets.

 The plan was that after Chuck E Cheese we would shop a little at the nearby mall, go home and change and meet Rick's parents for early dinner at 4:00. We soon realized that plan wouldn't work. There wasn't enough time. And we were meeting them at Great Wall of China. We'd be driving past it home to change and then back. I should have had everyone dress for dinner before we went to Chuck E Cheese, but I figured that we'd spill soda or pizza on the clothes.

The boys looked okay, but Kayla's shirt was stained, Jasmine's was a little thin, and Jessica and I were wearing Minion shirts! So we decided we'd just get new shirts at the mall for the girls.

Kayla was easy. We got her a full outfit at Children's place. The rest of us weren't so easy.

We met up with Felicia's crew again at the mall.

We got Jasmine a hoody to go over her shirt. Good thing because it was cool with the a/c in the restaurant. I got a shirt and jacket, and Jessica got a sleeveless top. She ended up going out to the SUV to get a hoody I'd left in it. I often leave a jacket in the car since I know some places with a/c are cold in the summer.

We had a really good time with Rick's parents. And the food was excellent. The portions were so big we could have easily shared a meal between two people. Kayla ate all of hers, but I don't know how. The rest of us ate half and took the rest home for another meal!

Ty decided to eat a couple of hot peppers! 

 We video taped the pepper experience.

The kids with Grandpa and Grandma Cassel

Jessica with an afghan my mom crocheted.

More to come!

A Busy Week...and This Week Holds Even More

Last week was a crazy busy week and this week will be even more so.

Mother's Day. Rick took me to Chili's in the evening, and by then it was almost empty.

Kaleb had games last week, and next week is the end of baseball. The final game is this coming Thursday and it's awards day too. His team is tied for first place. He is still afraid of the ball. I want him to try another season. Adam is going to try and make time to work with him this summer.

I realized there is a walking path around the pond at the baseball park. It's not where our teams usually play, so I didn't know this.

We have had a lot of shoe drama the past few weeks. I have one child who intentionally destroys shoes. Thankfully the teacher caught on to this and doesn't think we are just being negligent about shoes. Five pairs in one school year.  While we were talking about shoes, I traced feet to check sizes. Kaleb has the smallest foot. Jasmine has the next to smallest foot. Kayla, who is four years younger, has a larger foot than Jasmine. Jasmine's feet are actually two different sizes. That is because on her right foot, the large toe lays sideways against her foot due to missing toes. So she always has one shoe that fits and one that is too big.  My foot is the largest one on the paper. 

Jessica had an exciting announcement for us!!

I got to give her the first baby gifts. (I was ready for the announcement!)

The twins turned 10 on Friday. Kaleb got to pick donuts at Krispy Kreme.

Unfortunately, the day was a little marred by an incident on Thursday. Most of you know that Kayla has had nine disciplinary referrals for aggressiveness toward younger/weaker kids and multiple detentions suspensions. She missed Battle of the Books last Monday due to In school suspension for assaulting another child.

We talked a lot about kindness, how to deal with it when you feel like being unkind (walking away, redirecting your anger--although these have all been unprovoked for the most part--talking to an adult about feelings etc) and I felt like she was listening. Wednesday night I rebeaded her hair and used the time to reminded her that Friday that was both her birthday and field day. The very next morning she injured a first grade child in the bus and got two days out of school suspension before the school day even started. I think field day may have been canceled so she might get that anyway, but she didn't get to take her birthday treats. And she will not get a chance to redo that.

She and Kaleb had already planned separate celebrations and hers had to be changed. We made a big deal of her birthday, but at home, not a girls' night out as planned.

We had pizza, a cake for just for Kayla and gifts. Then we watched movies at home.

Look at Kaleb's face. He couldn't believe they got Kindles. Loaded with 23 appropriate books and parental controls in place.

The kindles were a hit.

Blowing out the candles.

Poor Max was missing for two days and then came home with the side of his facing looking like there was a golf ball in it. He had a bad abscess.

The tube is stitched to his ear. They had to put him under, drain the abscess and put in a tube.  He was born July 7, 1999, and we've had him since 6 weeks old. I had originally posted a picture of the underneath of his chin, but then realized it was a little hard on the stomach seeing it if he's not your baby.

Jasmine hand fed him tuna.

 Jessica and I went to the mall and rode wild animals!

And I bought her first maternity outfit even though she won't need it for a while.

Saturday morning we had a 5K

We all finished. I hate doing a 5K in the sun on a track. Prefer my park! We had signed up ahead and ordered shirts. Everyone else signed up that morning. Instead of sitting our shirts (preordered!) aside, they gave shirts out first come, first serve. So Kayla ended up with an adult M. Next year we'll send one person ahead way early to get our shirts!

Kaleb's party was Saturday afternoon

Then Jasmine and I went to a high school production of "Into the Woods" that was really good, but really, really long.

Ty David and four others from Job Corps were sent to Washington and Jefferson National Forest in VA to help with a fire, but it was out by time they got there. So they did some routine cleaning and made $17 an hour for it. He's disappointed he didn't get to fight the fire, but glad for the pay. Hopefully the group will get to actually help with one next time. He has a chance to get more fire training, but is not sure if he wants to delay coming home in order to do it. I think it should because the chance might not come along again, but it has to be his choice.

Jasmine and I continued our adventure yesterday, plus she had dress rehearsal for her recital which is Friday.

This week's schedule:
today-Haitian Flag Day

Tuesday- Jasmine's final middle school concert and awards reception
Wednesday-full dance dress rehearsal
Thursday-last baseball game and awards
Friday-recital
Saturday-not sure yet
Sunday--adventuring with Jasmine, moms over for Liz Curtis Higgs DVD hopefully
Monday-jet skiing for the first time this season if the weather is good. Right now we are forcasted for rain.
Lots of appointments for all three children--one eye, two ADHD, one physical, three dental, one urology (me), two vet (Max)
Last day of school-June 5