Jeff's Birthday

Dear Jeff turned the great 55 today and now gets many more discounts. Anything to save a buck for all those who know me. We had a little birthday party for him and the girls made him birthday cards.

Brace Face at our house X2

This morning both Ruth and Sara went in for their braces. They were not totally thrilled with the process and are still not eatting much. I am pressed to think of soft foods that they like and can eat.

Ruth just got the top set for 3 months until they get ligned up enough to do the bottom. Sara will get her 4 teeth pulled in January-two at a time and one week apart.....oh the injustice hehehe.

Christmas photos

We were working on getting a photo for the almost annual Christmas card and you can see how much these girls love each other. It took a while to get a winner, but I think we did.....now, see if anyone gets one before or near Christmas.....don't hold your breath.

I am thinking about sending out the "real" girls this year...we will see.

Turkey Day

We went to my Parent's house for Thanksgiving and almost everyone attended. We had once again a wonderful dinner and I so wish I could eat it all day long! We had crafts where my mother blew out extra large eggs and the girls decorated them for Christmas ornaments-photos to follow. Niece Julie was learning to sew, the usual card games, and we made turkeys out of oreo cookies, malt balls, icing and candy corn. All in all it was a fun weekend.

And did I say my girls were little angels most of the time......

SCHOOL PICTURES

Way back on Sept 3, the girls got their school pics made so here is how they look.

Good medical news

On Friday we took Ruth to get her spinal X-ray (no photos allowed) and Sara for her EKG. This photo is the only time they got Sara to stop giggling~~the girl is so ticklish. Got word back today that all is well and Ruth will go back in 6 months for her next one. With Scoliosis, it is monthly or yearly X-rays to make sure the situation does not get worse until they stop growing around 18.

Nature's Art

What else can you say but Thanks God! So glad we took time to watch a most beautiful sunset display tonight.

Yes, we are those kind of people...

So on Sunday, while Jeff was in town to help, we put up most of the fall/halloween decorations and had Jeff help us take the Christmas tree down from the attic. Why is it that only Jeff and I got cut/splinters? Note to self-next year wear garden gloves to handle the monster.

It was a little hard to decorate with it being 80 outside, but I put on the christmas music and we got the lights on. Some people are already putting outside lights on before it gets to cold. We have to do a final mulch cutting of the year before we put ours out so we are hoping there will still be some warm weather.

Orthodontist visit

Today the girls went to see the orthodontist for the first time. Of course their dental problems are opposite-Ruth's are too far in and Sara's too far out. SO, Sara will need to have 4 teeth removed to be able to pull the teeth back. Ruth's bottom jaw is not keeping up with the top one, so she will need to wear rubber bands attached to her braces to help pull these teeth forward-----20 months for both and even with ins.....can you say cha-ching, who emptied the money tree...again.

Since we were already there, we went ahead with the necessary 8 spacers between the molars to make room for the braces. Sara's teeth are so tight, they were very difficult to put in. Ruth's are so far apart, she only got two on the bottom.

They also took a panoramic X-ray of Ruth's to see where her 12 yo molars are, and they are about to come in. It was funny watching them getting the molds of their teeth. Of course Ruth was calm and quiet with no drama......Then there was Sara with drama to the hilt. As usual, I get the parting comment, boy, I bet this one keeps you on your toes aka~~she is hyper~

Dr. time

This evening I finally took the girls to the pediatrician to begin their HPV series of shots. I wanted this to be in use for years before I subjected my girls to it. The entire visit was interesting. Sara was first with the physical and she is SOOOO ticklish that she could not sit still, or be quiet. I mentioned her getting faint everytime she ran hard, so we had a blood test done and she is anemic so we will add iron to her diet in pill form. She is also scheduled for an EKG next week. She had to get her shot in her leg because her arm is so thin-but she is up to 81# and excited about that---what a confused girl!

Next was my very quiet Ruth. She had a migraine to begin with, so I felt so sorry for her. She was so still and quiet as usual. When it came shot time, I did not even know she had gotten it because she did not even flinch. Then we checked her spine and the Dr. showed me in more detail her scoliosis-which begins with one leg being longer, and then the rest of the body adjusts by twisting some. We have X-rays every year to make sure it does not get worse.

The girls go back for the second shot in 2 months, then a third I think a few months after that. This will prevent a certain type of cervical cancer.

MISC

Western day, Nerd day, and doing homework. All is well here.

HALLOWEEN

Well, the decorations are out, the candy is bought, the costumes are decided on, the weather is great, time to go!

Sara's 4 year anniversary

Four years ago today we took Sara as our daughter and have been running full speed ever since. She has flurished and progressed so much faster than we ever thought she would, and is fully breaking us in as parents to a teenager with full force!!!!!!

This is when we first got Sara...look how small she was! Then she wore size 4 toddler-at the age of 9!

Charlene McKinzey

Very early this morning a special angel went home. Ms. Charlene was instrumental in the youth program at our church and a much sought after Pre A/P 8th grade Language Arts Teacher. She had the patience of the angels and directed all of our youth programs. She was also the wonderful cook at our mission trips. Sara was so hoping to get Ms. Charlene this year, but about one year ago, she found out that she had pancreatic cancer and they suspected that she had 3 months to live, but God had other plans. Ms Charlene did make it to her last class of confirmation kids that she had started.

Ms. Charlene (aka Mrs. McKenzey) will be so missed by her husband Art, two grown kids, and everyone who knew her.

Cross Country is finished

Yesterday was the district meet for Cross Country. It involved all the runners from 9 school in the 7th and 8th grade. Each grade has a boy/girl and A/B team, making 8 teams.

The first race is A/B 7th grade girls-Ruth's team. Then A/B 7th Boys, A/B 8th grade girls-Sara's team, finished with A/B 8th grade boys. The A team is the top 10 runners from the school and they wear a penny over their uniform to keep them together with the scoring.

The team Ruth was on came in first, along with 4 other teams.....making our school taking 5 of the 8 top teams. She really ran fast and pushed until the end, but she is totally glad this was the last race, since it is still hot here. After the race Ruth likes to hang out with her friends who are all really nice girls, and a few boys. If you know Ruth, she is very shy and this is a good time for her to open up some. We do stay until all teams run, since the girls like to cheer on the boys.



UNFORTUNATELY, Sara's team did not come in first.







Sara is still the fastest runner on her A team for her grade and came in 10th, but I think considering the circumstances, she should have come in first for toughness.There are not any others on her team that come close to her time, so we did not get enough points to come in first.





ALSO, this time the course was in a beautiful park that included one HUGE hill and many others, but the problem was the gravel at the beginning of the race in which they were all grouped together still, and had to make a sharp left hand turn, then narrow out to a very thin section of the course. In the gravel, Sara got tripped and went down hard. YES, this tough girl did finish the race as best as she could and still came in 10th, but was unable to give her best and finished with blood running down her leg. Luckily there is a trainer at the finish line who took her right away and clean and bandaged her leg which now does NOT include quite a bit of flesh. Good thing I did not see it because I do NOT do blood well.

Look in the background of Sara's pic and you see some girls in blue uniform-this is Ruth and her friends cheering on her sister.....how sweet!


BEEN SWAMPED, but this puts an end to 2 of the car pools-YEA MOM!!!!

new teeth for Sara

Today Sara took the trip to the dentist to repair the two front teeth that she got as a child. She has a beautiful smile, and I told her that she had better take good care of them because I only buy her teeth once. Since there is such a small bonding surface, she can never again bite into an apple, it must be sliced.

Sister love

Sometimes these girls are so silly. No one was hurt in this take down. You can tell who won.

Butterflies

It has finally cooled down and like us, there is once again action outside......I am speaking of the butterflies. The beautiful yellow one is on our lantana.

The brown butterfly was inside the dog's bowl reaching down for a sip. Luckily no one else was thirsty at the time. You can see that the butterfly is missing part of one of his wings, but he could still fly.

Volleyball & cross country

Sara is in the red penny-meaning she is on the top 8th grade team....and still the fastest girl in 8th grade in her school. This is Ruth's first year and, as she says, she loaths cross country, but it is mandatory for the volleyball team. I guess you get the good with the bad. This is the two of them after running~~~~WORN OUT! After this first meet, then Sara went to soccer practice, and Ruth went home for homework. They both slept very well!!!!!

This is an action shot of Ruth during one of her games. They have won all they games but one. She is a front line setter, probably because she is so tall. She really loves playing and gets up better than I do at 5:15 AM

RUNNING FAST

Still here.....this year is crazy. I have from 3-5 carpools/day depending on what day it is. Ruth's volleyball team has won all but 1 game.....Sara placed first in her school on their first cross country 2 mile run last week and Ruth managed to run her complete 1 1/2 mile cross country meet.....not bad. Grades are good. Jeff and the girls and I spend alllllllll weekend working in the yard, taking down the Halloween decorations and getting them started. Weather is cooler YEA! Sara's soccer team is doing terrible. I hate getting up at 5:15 every morning with Ruth to begin her carpool....and she is so tired too. Bedtime has gotten very early for ALL of us. Will do pics very soon.

Silly animals

Our dog Jessie would not get near the pool all summer, but only for a quick drink. Now that it is empty, he finds it quite fun.

Our cat loves Ruth's book bag and kept rubbing against it and I finally found out why. She loves the scent of peppermint and Ruth had some peppermint gun in the outter pocket!

V-Ball Tournament

Today was the first volleyball tournament. Of course we were up at the crack of dawn to head out. The team won the first 3 of 3, so they went to the playoff and came in second. The last game had some very questionable calls, but oh well. It was a full day of playing and they really did great~~~except for the first game after lunch which they lost, but it was the best of 3/3. Us parents decided that maybe next time, we will not let the girls eat and if so, only lots of sugar because obviously the"eat only healthy snacks" wasn't working. After all, what 12 year old thrives on "healthy" foods....I'm just sayin'.

WEATHER

...remains from Hermine has come and knocked on our door.....bring 8 inches of rain for us, and 3-4 tornadoes for just north and east of us......Ready for this to end. Needless to say, no soccer practice today, especially since THE PRACTICE FIELD IS FEET UNDER THE CREEK that is next to it!!!!!