First Program

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

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

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

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

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....

...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

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!