A very Disney Christmas

We have returned form the land of make believe. Mickey sends his regards to all. Jeff and I are still recovering from 5 days, with a few days off in between, of sun rise to sun set Disney. The girls and I rode splash mountain a number of times and were totally soaked....a great thing when it is warm, but not so great in the winter. We loved thunder mountain next door too and by the 5th time, Sara rode with her arms in the air, and Ruth was finally opening her eyes. Both girls got to dance in the Lion King presentation. To the kid's thrill, High School Musical was doing a show at MGM and we watched it 3X! The girls got out and danced with the final number. One day we saw the opening time wrong, so we were there really early....first family there! Funny the second and third families also had very young girls from china...one home a year, and one home 2 months! Since we were the first family, we were escorted through the park before they opened and chose the safari ride and got a private safari trip with our own guide, and a fast pass for all day to that ride! The girls got to ride in the front of the monorail 5 times! The Polynesian Resort where we stayed was beautiful and had a heated pool with a huge water slide through a volcano! We all loved the animated talking turtle Crush at Epcot. We watched it twice. Sara loved the China section in Epcot and took photos of EVERYTHING there!

One day our friend Shirley and her daughter Fu, Mailia came for the day. Mailia came home the same day as Sara and lived in the same SWI and now lives near Orlando. Mailia is now 7. It was like they were never apart, except that there was no Chinese spoken, only English. Ruth enjoys Mailia too. They swam in the pool, played at the beach, played game cube, rode the monorail a few times. We left the 24th for Jeff''s parents house to be there for Christmas morning.

Christmas-early

We had our Christmas celebration last night, and this morning for the gifts I forgot where I had put!!! The girls were please and I managed to make sure that there was the same number of gifts for each. I think the biggest hit was a digital camera. Don't go crazy on me, they were not expensive, but can do a lot....technology is getting cheaper. These will come in handy at Disney World and they have been strictly advised that if lost, they are without until they get a job and earn the money to replace them....let's hope this threat works.

Happy birthday to me.

Today is my birthday....again. Jeff and I had a wonderful "date" night last Saturday--without kids--yea!!!! This was dinner and a movie. I highly recommend date night to all couples....it really helps with the sanity issue, and don't even pretend you do not know what I am talking about.

Florida Christmas

We will be heading to Disney World and Nana and Papa Judd's house for the holidays. We are so excited. The girls are mixed about being pulled out of school early. Ruth does not want to miss the parties, and Sara is sad anyday that is not a school day. We will be busy doing make up homework. Got the car ready for the trip today...ouch!

We are having really freaky weather. We go from 80-30-70-40....all in a 48 hour period. I have the windows open now to warm the house up, will need to close them and run the heater tonight, and the A/C in another day! This does explain the saying if you don't like the weather, wait a minute, it will change!

The leaves are rapidly changing and beautiful. These trees are at our church.

Sara's birthday party

Last night we had Sara's birthday party/sleep over. We had two girls come, and one spent the night. It worked out great. The girls played on the trampoline, ate pizza, did crafts, watched a movie, did cake and ice cream, played games, played math flash cards (only my kids), and were in bed and asleep by midnight. This morning I got up and we all went for doughnuts and then to church together.







My little sister Lisa came for a short visit with her daughter Angie, then another of my sisters Chris called for a visit....I guess I will call my other sister today so I can give my love to all of them.

Jeff's birthday

My dear husband had a birthday today. The girls made cute cards and we took him out to our favorite restaurant...Chinese of course. We had a good day together.

Brainiacks

BRAGGING TIME! My dear loving (most of the time) girls both came home with A honor roll report cards. I was worried about Ruth, but after another conference with her teachers, she saw that I was serious about her grades and cracked down and got all A's We are so proud of our girls!

Thanksgiving

We (including Cooper the dog of course) traveled to my parent's house for Thanksgiving and had the usual wonderful food prepared by my mom, assisted by my sisters, nieces, and the professional turkey slicing by my father, who was caught a number of times "dropping" scraps to the dogs. . . we know!

We did our usual all night card games, did a little shopping, visited my long time friends Ruth and Richard, who are remodeling their entire new house by them selves....they are very handy.

Indoor soccer now

Ruth and Sara are on the same indoor soccer team. We got Sara's goggels the day of the game so she can play, and good thing we did because she took one to the face....ouch....but then she was back in. They lost to a team that are VERY good and have been playing select (the cream of the crop) soccer for 3 years together. All in all, our team heald their own and lost, but played a good game.

Wildlife refuge

Jeff took the girls to a local wildlife refuge. They had a great time, and I got some quiet time. They saw many animals and enjoyed themselves. Notice the shirts the girls have on...the ones they wore the first time they saw each other. They say "blame my sister" and how true is this? It was a beautiful cool day.

Camp Carter

Sara is in 5th grade this year, and they are divided into 3 groups. Sara is 5C. On Tuesday Sara left for Camp Carter, a YMCA camp. They will be gone for 4 days and nights....a little quiet in the house LOL!!! Tonight we are driving to the camp to see the skits they will present, and they will be home tomorrow. This is the first time Sara has been away and she was getting extra hugs and kisses for a week to store up for when she was away....remember these times beause. . . . there will be a time when she will be too busy to get even a single hug and kiss, but I hope it is not for a very long time!


Sara is home and had a blast and would have stayed another week or two if she could have! Ruth can not wait to go next year. We are considering sending them for a week in the summer.

Recyclenators

THIS IS GREEN WEEK across the US! Last year Ruth was on the GREEN TEAM at school, the kids has to apply for the position. They were in charge of the paper recycling in each classroom. On Thursdays, they would collect all the papers from each class' recycle box and take them to the back of the school to the two large recycle bins. We continued it big time this summer, and still continue it this year, though they are no longer officially on the GREEN TEAM. On Thursdays is our recycle days in our town. Everyone has a recycle bin for their glass, aluminum and paper goods. We leave a little early for school and hit as many of these bins until the back of my van is full. Paper for the school and cans for Sara and Ruth. Sara's teacher is collecting the pop tops for the Ronald McDonald homes, and the girls recycle the cans for their allowance. This week we are having a phone book drive and dear Jeff brought a bunch home from work from his coworkers.

HALLOWEEN

Tonight is Halloween and the girls are excited. Jeff will take the girls while I sit comfortably at home and pass out the candy. The girls are going with their friend's soccer team. They have a flatbed with hay pulled by their Texas two-ton truck...in case they get too tired to walk....yea! I think it may be for the parents when they get too tired of walking....maybe it should have lazy boys in the back.....maybe a thought for next year! The girls went for many house and brought home a load. I gave out 35 pounds of candy and about 100 Halloween pencils.

You will notice a photo of the house...I do put light, graveyards, and lots of spider webs out for Halloween. I usually have a scary sound tract, but this year I could not find it. I will be better prepared next year.


Now, for my pet peeve.....if you live somewhere else, do not drop your kids in our neighborhood. Do not drive your kids door to door, Halloween is about walking about. If you are an ADULT do not come to my door again, and do not trick or treat for your infant child....they don't even have teeth!!!!!!!!!

One Year ago...a new daughter!!

Can you believe it? A full year has passed since we saw our beautiful shy (or so we thought) daughter. She was so full of fear and hesitation at first. By the first night, we could see how perfect she was for us...God knows!








Today we celebrated with some cake and ice cream. When looking at the pictures, Sara is wearing the same PJ's as one year ago, only a size larger!

Farewell

My sister called and told me my cousin Dale passed away this morning at 11:00 am. Hopefully it was peaceful.

Busy

The girls finished their hip-hop class and helped with the Sunday evening service after the church carnival. It was tooooo cute. Sara and Ruth attended a Halloween party (Sara's first Halloween) and both had a great time. We had a short cold snap, but this did not keep the twosome off the trampoline! And now we have carved our pumpkins, supervised by a nervous mom as they use a knife! Sara was unsure what this was all about, but decided COOL!

familycrisis

I got a call that my cousin Dale from Austin was in ICU and unresponsive. He was in the hosp. because of pneumonia, then he collapsed and had a mild heart attack. His sister Joyce and my cousin's two girls drove 16 hours from St. Charles to Austin. Still no good news, so if you feel a desire, please pray for Dale. He is a young man. Their mother was my mom's sister Ruth - recognize the name - who passed almost two years ago.

countdown to 1 year

The social worker came this afternoon for our final check up, and yes she saw that Sara was thriving!!!! Sara wanted the SW to come back again for a visit....she thinks she has a new friend. We had to provide photos so we we snapping away.

Today Ruth's team worn 8-2. It was a tough game because of the strong wind!

daily race

Things are still going well here. Ruth is in full force with soccer...that girl has a strong kick and plays defense. Sara is still going strong in gymnastics and is getting warmed up for the chess club at school which begins next week.


The weather has finally gotten a little cooler, for a day or two. Next will be our indian summer and back into the 90's again....with changes like this, no wonder everyone gets sick this time of year. At least the huge outbreak of mosquitos seems to be over!

We picked out pumpkins from the church's pumpkin patch....they raise money for the youth mission trips. We decided on 2 larger pumpkins and about 7 small pumpkinetts.....this is Sara's first Halloween at home. Last year we had her only one day at halloween.....



The girls have been having fun playing in daddy's clothes getting ready for halloween...

Get well sis

Today my big sister in Katy, TX had knee surgery. She tore a tendon a few weeks ago and finally got it fixed. I lent her my crutches that I had from my knee surgery a few years ago and she was supposed to practice with them....but she did not and now is in a bind. I have been assured that she is being properly spoiled and will have a long recovery, including a long time in PT .