The Weekend

A year ago at the ECW conference, we signed up for this year. There was no way to know that Jasmine would be in surgery at the same time!! So she was on her way home with Rick as we were leaving for the conference. I knew she'd be fine with him even though I felt bad about not being there. The conference was only Friday and Saturday or we would have canceled.

We planned to stop and shop on the way and go to the beach. The shopping went okay but it was totally foggy so no beach!! Our first stop was Books a Million. I don't normally shop there but saw some books the kids can work through this summer to keep up on their school work. So I ended up with a pile of books and a membership. I'm not going to show the pile of books because there are birthday presents in the pile. I also bought a Build a Bear for a birthday several weeks down the road that I'm not going to show : ) We don't have a Build a Bear here.

At the hotel. 

We ate at Red Brick Oven. We'd never eaten there before.  Wow looking this is making me hungry! We enjoyed our pizza. I'd like another right now!

Jasmine is feeling much better from her surgery, but she has drainage tubes glued into the back of her head! This is going to be challenging. But at least she's not in nearly as much pain as she was in 2008 but maybe that's because the incision was pulling open that time. We are all glad to be through it! Thank you for all the prayers and good wishes.

Waiting for conference to start. Francesca had a concert at the end. We got out at 10:30 Me trying to cross the street at 10:45 with 2000 other women! Drive through at 10:55 The second day.

Neck Surgery Start to Finish!

September 08 before the surgery. You can't really see the webbing that well. At this point it didn't seem that big of a deal just to pull the skin around and be done with it. If we'd known we may have just waited.

Surgery 2008

Surgery Dec 2010 to put balloons in to expand the skin because it pulled back into the webbing after the 2008 surgery and left a wide scar on the back of her neck.

Skin totally expanded and Jasmine ready to be done with this.

Before surgery 2011

In recovery. She doesn't look too happy. I know she was in a lot of pain after the 2008 surgery when I was with her so I can only imagine she's feeling it now too.

Family portrait and more

Church directory picture. Olan Mills came to the church and shot about 30 photos of our family, boys, girls, individuals, Rick and I etc. They ranged from mediocre to bad. I was really disappointed after all the work we did in picking outfits. But this one picture was pretty good. Not perfect. I wish they'd told me to pull my shirt down so I don't look pregnant and I wish Jasmine wouldn't have been in so much pain with her neck. She's missing her true smile. But everyone is in the picture and the mood was good. That may have been the promise of the chinese buffet afterwards, of course....

The weather was beautiful this weekend so I took the three littles to the park. We stopped for soda on the way. The Mt. Dew diet Voltage is pretty good but it's part of a deal where people vote between sodas and only one stays. So the nasty purple one may get more votes and there will be no more diet voltage.

We stopped at the library on the way home. The little ones don't go very often because it's a ways away. Jessica stops every Wed night on the way to church, but I take Jasmine to church from dance. Be sure to go back a post and see her recital costumes.

Jasmine cooked supper last night and Shy was very interested in that.

He slid back off and didn't get a drummette. Even though we don't give our cats table food I offered him the bone from one after we ate and he didn't want it. Maybe his feelings were hurt!!

There's a lady at the bus stop who has a ten year old with some of the same issues you see adopted children with but he's a birth child. She's a bit different and doesn't seem to have much support other than her boyfriend. She is pregnant with a girl with spina bifida.

They are going to deliver the baby at a hospital three hours away in a week or two. The baby only weighs a pound and a half right now.

Jessica and I decided to do something for her. There were absolutely no preemie clothes at Walmart even though this winter that's about all there were. So the newborn outfit will fit the baby about August!! The little toy is so soft and silky. Maybe I should get me one!

I don't believe this lady attends any church. She doesn't have a car. I'd say she lives in a trashy area but so do we so it's no big deal. Maybe we should get her some doll clothes??

We actually received the twins original birth certificates and adoption decrees from Haiti. The social security office accepted them (which is funny because Rick had the signed letter from the translator but had forgotten the translations and they never noticed) but said they can only process one card at a time!! Maybe the court will be more favorable to us now too????

If you didn't do the favorites post, go back and leave a comment with some of your favorites. Inquiring minds wants to know. Some of us have similar favorites and others are very different.

Maybe it depends on whether you still have kids home or not. I mean, some people don't own a disney or pixar movie. Imagine.

Jasmine has pre op tomorrow and surgery on Thursday if all goes well and I desperately want it to go well. I want this behind us.

So that's our life for now!

Dance

Costume fitting day at the studio. This is a $95 costume plus $9.50 for tights. Oh, and after being told I had to buy the black tap boots because that was what was required for the class, it was decided that the girls all needed tan tap shoes for the recital!!! This is what I had in the first place--dug a pair out of the abandoned shoe box the first week of class and wore them from Sept to Jan when I finally bought the black ones. Well, if they still fit, at least we have the tan ones for recital.

Jasmine decided not to do dance photos this year due to her neck. It's the first year they've done class pictures. Usually it's just individuals if you want to buy them. And if you want an "ad" in the program book, you have to buy them. This year there will be class pictures in the book but no Jasmine. No Jessica either because she hates how she looks in her tumbling costume.

This is Jasmine's jazz costume.

They will be wearing black tights with the costume. Jazz is right after tap so no one had time to put the tights on for fitting.

Food!

Jessica made chicken wings.

Jessica's Teriyaki Chicken Wings Flour Package of drummettes (approximately 14) 1/3 c soy sauce ½ c granulated sugar ½ tsp garlic powder 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds (optional) Measure 1-2 cups of flour and put in paper or plastic bag. Rinse drummettes in cool water. Place drummettes 3 or 4 at a time in the bag. Seal and shake until chicken is flour coated. Tap off extra and place on cookie sheet. Bake at 375F for 35-45 minutes. While chicken is baking, mix soy sauce, sugar, garlic powder and sesame seeds in a small bowl. Adjust sugar and soy sauce to taste.

Jeff made chicken broccoli alfredo.

Don't know why this is underlined or how to fix it.

Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo 8 oz pkg. linguine or spaghetti 1c fresh or frozen broccoli flowerets 2 tbs. butter 1-2 lb. boneless chicken breasts cubed 2 cans cream of chicken soup 1c milk 1/2c grated Parmesan cheese Cook linguine according to package directions. Add broccoli for the last four minutes of cooking time. Drain. Heat butter in large skillet. Add chicken and cook until browned, stirring often. Add soup, milk, cheese, pepper, and linguine mixture and heat through. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese.

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 torillas (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.

Jasmine made crockpot pot roast. We like this recipe and there's not much that can go wrong with it.

Crock Pot Roast 3-6 lbs beef roast 1 can cream of celery soup 1 can cream of chicken soup 2 packs Lipton Beefy Onion Soup Mix 2 c water 1-3 c each carrots, celery, potatoes cut into 3” pieces Mix soups, beefy onion mix and water in crock pot. Add meat. Cook on low 6- 8 hours. Add the vegetables. Turn to high and cook 2-3 hours more. You can speed it up by turning it to high earlier.

Kayla helped make the taco meat for taco night.

Tyler made Hamburger Helper crunchy mexican but he added a can of drained black beans and a can of drained whole kernel corn. That made it go farther and added more flavor.