Pumpkin Carving Time

Tonight we (and I mean everyone else) carved our pumpkins. The girls have been waiting for about 10 days to do this. Jadyn has asked every day "Can I decoration my pumpkin?" Well tonight she could. Jadyn actually drew 2 faces on her pumpkin. It's cute.

When Bill opened up our big one, he wanted the girls to help clean it out. Tiff went in and got a lot out. I think this is the first year she did not complain. :-) Then it was Jadyn's turn. Nothing scares her. She loved it. Then we had to make Abby get in there. She did not want to get messy. She only did it for the photos, then she was out of there! LOL

The pumpkins look really nice. Tiff actually carved the 2 smaller ones all by herself. She made me so nervous, but she did great.

Tomorrow is the big night. I'm not a fan of Halloween. Hopefully it will go by fast. I will take photos and upload them on Saturday.

Enjoy the slide show.

Tiff amazes me-UPDATED 10/30 8 PM

I just wanted to say that Tiff had to turn in her project today. She said that last night at church her prayer request was that the project would be okay. Well today, the teacher announced instead of each student getting in front of the class and reading it, they had to pass it around and everyone had to read them in their seats. Tiff was so relieved. She said a few students said "Wow, why didn't I think of him?"
I will let you know what her grade was when she receives it.



Tiffani has a project due for Language Arts. She was to choose a hero and do a comic strip about this particular hero. Well, Tiff was thinking of who she could choose. Then she thought about Jesus. So she chose to do it on him. I was impressed. I don't know what her teacher will say. You know how they can be if you put religion in schools. But I'm proud of Tiff for standing up and doing this. She is such a witness to others. She is not afraid to share her faith and show it.
I'm not sure if it is due today or next week. Once I find out what her teacher said, I will blog about it.
In the mean time, here is her comic. She did it all on her own.

Preschool Trick-Or-Treat

Today Abby & Jadyn got to trick-or-treat in school. They wore their costumes to school. They were so excited. I volunteered to pass out candy. Thankfully there were enough moms helping that I could go around and take photos. All I can say was it was organized chaos. :-) Every class went to each classroom and got candy. Then they did it again. The kids had fun and loved every minute of it. I did get some cute photos. It was tough running between both classes.
Now they are having snack and then a special lunch. I chose to come home. I'm exhausted.
The bags that they used today they made in class. They are so cute. Some other moms helped out.
Enjoy the photos. I will have more tomorrow night of Halloween.
Until next time.....

Another Trip to Disney

Today we skipped school. I know, bad parents. But it was for a good cause. Our good friends are up in Orlando and we wanted to spend the day with them. So we got in the car and drove up to Magic Kingdom. It was COLD today! The car temp said 47 degrees. That is COLD for FL.
We had an awesome day. The crowds were lighter than on the weekend. We did Dumbo, the Carousel, The tea cups, Goofy's roller coaster, lunch, Small World, Monsters Inc Laugh Lab and the race cars. The girls had a blast! Before we knew it it was 3 PM. We planned on leaving by then so we could get home before rush hour. We said our goodbyes, which was very hard. Autumn does not like goodbyes and the look on her face made me so sad. It took all I had not to cry.
We started to leave and then saw the crowd for the parade. So we rode the people mover and then Bill saw the line for Space Mountain was 20 min long, so he & Tiff did that. Then we were off.
Tinker Bell & the fairies are at the park now for the kids to see, so we tried to see them earlier in the day and the line was 90 minutes long. So we did not do that this time.
Here is a slide show of our day. It was a good day. Everyone had a great time. I wish the Clarks did not live so far away. We miss them already.
Until next time....

Annual Birthday Celebrations

Every year, my friend Dawn & I make sure we get our families together in the fall to celebrate our girls birthdays. They are September (Abby), October (Autumn), November (Kya), and December (Jadyn). This year we did a Halloween Theme. The girls loved wearing their costumes. Kya was Hannah Montana. Abby was a Cheerleader (High School Musical Cheerleader if you ask her), Autumn was Spider Man and Jadyn is a Cheetah.


We strongly believe that Abby & Kya knew each other in China. They had a bond that we instantly recognized. We have vowed to make sure they remain friends. When they see each other, they act like they see each other every day. They are so happy together.
Jadyn & Autumn did not grow up together in China, but we adopted them together. And they have so many similarities that it's scary. They are also very good friends. You can tell by the photos below how much our girls love each other.



After they opened their gifts, they swam in the pool. We met our friends at a town home they are renting for vacation. It has it's own little pool. The girls had the best time swimming together. It was fun to watch.


After pizza, it was cake time. Nobody had a match or lighter, so we did not have candles this year. But we did sing Happy Birthday. The girls loved it.


This final photo is of Tiffani & Kya. Kya loves Tiff. I was happy to get this precious photo of the 2 of them.


We had such a great time. It was fun to see the kids. Unfortunately the visit was very short. So we planned on meeting them at Magic Kingdom so Kya & I can ride Dumbo together. :-) That was her only request. It made me feel special.
Until next time.......

Our Weather!

Look at what the news is predicting for this week. BRRRRRRR. I love it!

Preschool Fall Festival

Today was the Preschool Fall Festival. We were worried about rain today. So most of the activities were held inside. I volunteered at the pumpkin roll game. So Bill was great enough to come and take photos of the girls doing the games with their classes.

The girls had a blast! They were so excited that today was the day for the festival. They did a candy walk, pumpkin roll, got face painted (except my girls wanted it on their arms), got to decorate a cookie (and then eat it), go fishing etc. They had a lot of fun.

Bill took some good photos. He actually took 175 photos. There are only a few in the slideshow below. :-) The last photo was fun. Ms. Tara (Jadyn's teacher) took the kids outside of the classroom and arranged them on the grass to spell out FUN. Because they all had fun today. It was a riot watching this. Ms. Tara and Ms. Kirsten even got in on the spelling. It was very hard to get a photo of the "word".

The girls are really enjoying school. Jadyn more than Abby I think. But they are still having fun and they love their teachers. Next week they will get to dress up for Halloween and go trick-or-treating around the school. Of course we'll have photos.

Until next time......

Please pray for Tiff-UPDATE 10/23

I want to send out a HUGE Thank You for the prayers for Tiff this week. She is doing a lot better. The FCA group she is in is handling the situation very well. And she is getting a lot of support from her friends. They are all bonding together. It's great to see how God is working in these kids lives, even through something like this. Thank you again for praying for our daughter & everyone involved. We really appreciate it.
Love, Debbie



I'm asking for prayer for Tiffani. Something happened over the weekend with a teacher at her school who she looked up to. I don't want to go into details on the blog. But Tiffani is not taking it very well (he is not sick, he made a bad choice). His actions did not involve Tiffani (or a student), but it is affecting her & all the students who looked up to him. Can you please pray for all of the kids. They are confused right now. They don't know what to think. Please pray for peace in their hearts.
And can you please pray for this teacher. I know the first thing people want to do when they hear something like this is to be negative etc. Our first thought was to pray for him. So I'm asking, if you could, please pray for all of the youth and this teacher.

Thank you!

Family time at the pumpkin patch

Today we made it to the pumpkin patch. This is my 3rd time there this week. :-) That's okay. We had fun. The girls wanted to show Bill the "silly" pumpkins they saw when they were there with their school. We walked around for a bit and then found our pumpkin (sorry, I have not taken a photo of the actual pumpkin we bought. I will when it's time to carve it. So check back). Tiff also got a pumpkin for her to carve (she is holding it in the photos). Abby & Jadyn also bought little ones (of course Jadyn's is still bigger than Abby's). Abby said "I wanted a small one because the others are too heavy). :-)

We had a fun time here. We will be carving our pumpkin closer to Halloween. Since it's so hot here, we have to wait so it will not rot.

Happy Halloween!
Debbie

Care package for Billy

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Halloween Costume Party

Last night we had 8 friends come over for a costume party. Bill & I spent most of the day decorating and making food. The house looked neat. Cobwebs everywhere. Orange lights in the house. It was cool.
Friends started to arrive around 6 PM. Everyone was in their Halloween costume. They all looked really cute.
After everyone arrived, they ate monster food. I make monster toes, witches fingers, mummy pizza, pumpkin sandwiches & "monster snack".
Then we played some games. The first was a Mad Libs game. It turned out really funny & silly. The girls loved it.
Then they played a "Boo am I" game. Each girl had a turn at popping a balloon and then acting out the character that was inside the balloon. It was fun to see how they popped the balloons.
After that was "the broom dance" game. Tiff went first. She did a dance and then everyone had to copy it. They went on and on and could not copy it exactly. After a while of the girls trying to copy her dance, Tiff told them that before each dance, she cleared her throat. That was what they were supposed to copy. Once the girls figured it out, they laughed, and then wanted to do "their own dance".
After the broom dance they went bobbing for apples. Another fun site to watch. The girls had fun doing this and got wet too.
Then it was time for cupcakes. I made "ghost" cupcakes. The girls loved them.
After all that we planned was done, the girls then played hide & seek and some other "loud" games. They had a great time. It was fun to hear all the laughter.
Here is a slideshow of the party. Enjoy!

Band Night

Well last night was band night. Every year, the High School Marching Band invites the 7th & 8th graders to march over to the high school and participate in the football game with them. This is Tiffs 2nd year going. It's a lot of fun.
When middle school lets out, the kids go to the band room and change. Then they take all of their things and march next door to the high school. They go to the auditorium where they meet the band director and some of the section leaders of the marching band. Then each section goes out with the high school kids. They tell the middle school kids what is expected of them in the band etc.
After that, it's dinner time. The HS band director said that with both bands and parent volunteers, they were feeding over 300 people. We were told that our band director brought over 104 students. That's a lot. We were also told that about 60 are 8th graders. Most plan on going to marching band next year. Tiff being one of them.
After dinner, the HS kids got their uniforms on and the MS kids got their instruments. Then it was warm up time. The MS kids mingled in with the HS kids. They did some warm up exercises. It sounded really good.
Then it was time to march to the field. The MS kids got to sit in the stand with the HS kids. They got to play a few of the songs in the stands. Then at 1/2 time they got to watch the HS bands perform. Our HS is amazing. I'm excited for Tiff to be joining next year.
Thankfully this year the game was good. Our team won. The kids had a great time. It was a long night, but fun.
Here is a slideshow of the night. Enjoy!

Jadyn's Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Today it was Jadyn's turn to go to the pumpkin patch. She was so excited when she woke up today.
We left school at 9:30 and headed to the pumpkin patch (this is at a local church. We go here every year as a family). The kids got to run around and look for the largest, and bumpiest and smallest pumpkins. We took tons of photos (I took 88 photos today). Then the kids listened to 2 stories. Then it was FINALLY time to pick their pumpkin. Jadyn picked a good one. And when we got home, she saw it was BIGGER than Abby's. :-)
After the pumpkin patch, it was off to the park. J had a great time running around. Then lunch and then we came home.
Here are a few photos from today. Enjoy!

Abby's trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Today the Jitterbug class went to the pumpkin patch. Abby was excited. She & I went together in our car. I was thankful I did not have to be responsible for another child. :-) When we got to the pumpkin patch, the kids were allowed to look at them all. Then they were told a story. Then they could pick their very own pumpkin. It was fun.

After the pumpkin patch, we went to the park so the kids could play & eat lunch. Abby had fun. But she got hot quickly. We left before everyone else and came home about 10 min earlier than everyone else. Abby was okay with this because she wanted to cool off.

Here are a few photos from this morning. Jadyn will get to go on Thursday. So look for those pictures to come soon.

Love, Debbie

Tiffani got her braces today

Well the day has come. Tiff now has braces. I have to admit that it made me a little sad. I was afraid of how it would change her smile. But I just kept it all to myself. I sat in the room with Tiff and watched (and embarrassed her by taking photos). We were there about 2 hrs or so. Tiff did a great job. The doctor even thanked her for being such a good patient.
Tiff will go back in 10 weeks. They gave her a list of things to do to keep the braces clean etc. I hope she will follow their directions.
Here is a before & after photo. I think her smile is beautiful.
Until next time......

I love this song!

Busy days

The past few days have been busy. Sunday we went to church. I helped out in the nursery & Bill & Tiff went to church. Then we went to Sunday school. We got home around 11:15 and by 12 we had family over. My cousin & her family were in town and wanted to see everyone. So we hosted the reunion. It was a lot of fun. The weather was nice. The kids swam in the pool. We ate and talked. It was a good day. Here is a slide show.



Sunday afternoon, Abby & Jadyn were invited to a princess tea party. Bill took them since I stayed here with my family. He came home with some cute photos of the girls. It looks like they dressed up like princesses, and had a fashion show. The made very cute little "bags" to bring home. Then they had their tea. Bill said "they drank Real hot tea!" He thought that was funny. Abby & Jadyn said their tea was pink. They loved it and even showed me how to drink from a tea cup. Here is a slide show of the princess tea party.



Then today was Abby's eye doctor appointment. A few weeks ago her pediatrician thought we should have her eyes tested. So we went. Abby was excited. She was getting "reading glasses so she could read". :-) We were there 2 1/2 hrs. They dilated her eyes. They did not dilate the first time so more drops, which Abby did not like. Finally the doctor checked her eyes. And guess what. She has PERFECT eyes. I know I should be thankful. And I am. But why did we have to see an eye doc if she had perfect eyes? Oh well. At least we know. I'm so glad she does not need glasses at age 5. Abby on the other hand is sad that she is not getting reading glasses. She was ready to read. LOL Here is a photo of Abby in her "cool sun glasses".


On Thursday Tiffani gets her braces. Please pray for her. She had a rough night the first night of the spacers. Please pray that she does not have any discomfort. I will of course take photos of her new mouth and upload them later this week.

On another note, we received an email from Bills friend Sarah in China. She gave us Billy's actual address (and Chinese name) so we can now send him the care package we bought 6 weeks ago. We decided to send him a package so he knows we are praying for him. I hope he will like it.

Until next time.....
Debbie

Fireproof

Bill & I just got back from a much needed date. We went and saw the movie Fireproof. It was amazing! I had seen the trailers for the movie and knew what it was about. But was not expecting to leave feeling the way I did. The movie is 2 hrs and 2 minutes long. I did not get "antsy" or "uncomfortable" sitting for that long. The movie kept me intrigued. The actors were very good and drew me in to their story. I cried in several parts of the movie and I laughed too. There is comical relief in this movie. I highly recommend you going to see the movie. You will come out different.

I'm so glad that there are good, wholesome movies for us to see. We loved Facing the Giants and we now love Fireproof. I pray that they will continue to make more movies and that the public will go and see them. Bill & I were talking on the way home and wondered if there was anyone in the theater who went to see the movie not really knowing what they were about to see. I love how open they are when talking about Christ and what He did for us. Again, an awesome movie!

Is this really our daughter?

This is Tiffani's 8th grade school photo. We were stunned when we saw it. She's such a beautiful girl. So hard to believe she's a teenager. :-(

Spacers & eating outside

Today is a big day for Tiffani. The start of getting braces. I took her to the orthodontist at 8:30 AM this morning so they could put spacers in her mouth. I had no idea what this was or what they were going to do. Honestly it seems silly. But that's because I'm clueless to what is in store. Anyway, they took Tiff back and put the spacers in between her back molars. She has a total of 7 spacers. This is supposed to put space between the teeth so they can then put the braces on. Tiff said it feels like there is food caught in her teeth. She also said it's a little uncomfortable. Here is a photo of her spacers. I know it's not a very pleasant photo. :-) Next Thursday Tiffani will be getting her braces. Please pray for her. :-)


This afternoon turned out to be very pleasant. Not too hot. So we decided to eat outside by the pool again. I love doing this. The girls love it too. They ask me every night if they can eat outside. So tonight we did. After dinner, the girls played on the lanai. It was great to see them playing and not sweating.


Tomorrow is Friday again. The weeks seem to be going by faster. I love having the girls in school 5 days a week. I thought I would be able to get more done. But because they get out at 12, it makes for a fast morning.

This weekend I'm hoping to go see Fireproof with Bill. I have heard wonderful reviews about this movie.

The girls are all doing well. School is going well. Abby & Jadyn love school. Jadyn has been sad most of the week when we pick her up because her teacher has had to leave early a few days because her daughter is sick. Jadyn does not like change so it's been hard for her.

The other morning I was talking to Abby's teacher and she asked me if Abby liked school. She said that Abby is always wanting to be with Jadyn and that she is very clingy and wants to be held or stand by the teachers. I told her that I am surprised she misses Jadyn so much, and it does not surprise me that she is so clingy. I explained to Ms. Nadia how Abby is a touch person. She loves to get hugs and if she could, would ask everyone to carry her all day long. So I told her to just tell Abby she needs to sit with the kids. I also explained to Abby that she needs to sit on the carpet with her friends or in the chairs. She is not to hang on her teachers all day long. She can give them a hug in the morning and a hug to say goodbye. I also assured Ms. Nadia that Abby loves school. So she felt better after we talked.

We found out today that the middle school band will not be going to Washington DC in April. There was not enough interest in the students/families. We needed a minimum of 50 students to go and Tiff said about 20 turned in the deposit (which was due yesterday). I know her band teacher was excited about this opportunity. So I know she is upset about it now.

So that is our week. Hopefully this weekend will be fun.

Until next time...