Jasmine Turns 13!

I can't believe you are a teenager! You were born in Cheyenne Wyoming on Nov. 25 at 7:23 pm. You weighed 8 pounds and were 21 inches long. You had a massive amount of black hair on your head and were dark skinned like your mom. That soon changed. By the time you were one, you had blond hair and were fair skinned. You have traveled the world living on three continents, in three countries, visited 12 countries, spoken many languages, tried many foods and have experienced many different cultures. You are a bright student. You receive all A's on your report card. You were selected into the National Junior Honor Society and are a member of Club Zero. Your favorites are chocolate and pizza. You would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you could. You love your iPod. You are very sarcastic (which you learned from dad) and fun to be around. We love you very much and hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Maya's New Glasses

Maya got new glasses today! She's very happy about it. I guess all this time she couldn't see very well and needed glasses. We had taken her to the optometrist every other year since she was 3 but they always said she was fine. She was diagnosed at 7 after four years of testing with Visual Processing Disorder. It's kinda like Dyslexia but on a much broader scale. Once she put the glasses on, she started reading like crazy and so fast. Maybe this was all that she needed. We'll watch how things go at school for the next quarter and hopefully we'll be able to make some adjustments!

Job Well Done!

Maya and Kiera were both awarded the High Honor Roll today during school. The High Honor Roll is awarded to students having a gpa of 3.5-3.9.

Maya receives her award by her principal, Dr. Carlson.

Her teacher, Mr. Thomson, congratulates her (he was her special ed teacher last year and has been a great help this year since she is no longer on an IEP).

5th grade High Honor Roll students

Kiera receives her award by the assistant principal, Mr Mierzejewski (yeah, I spelled that right).
4th grade High Honor Roll

Kiera also was awarded the Citizenship award.

4th grade Citizenship award (Her best friend of 4 years is standing beside her. She's moving to Georgia in December. Kiera's going to miss her tons.)

Let's not forget Jasmine. She received all A's this first quarter. Her school will not be having an awards ceremony until the end of the semester in January. Way to go girls! We are so proud of you and your continuous hard work!!

Gobble, Gobble

Today was Charlie's squadron Thanksgiving lunch. We were in charge of cooking up two turkeys this year. We fried them as usual. You can't beat having a turkey ready in one hour. Lucky for us we have a fryer because they wouldn't fit in our tiny oven. They were so good and juicy. There were tons of food at the luncheon to indulge in. I also made a new treat, turkey cookies. They were a hit with everyone. Even some asked me for the recipe and took pictures. I love to make people happy!

Family Pictures

We had our yearly family pictures made this past weekend. It was a beautiful, perfect day. We drove up north to one of our favorite spots that is always gorgeous and secluded. It couldn't have been better weather. I think the pictures turned out fantastic. I was really proud of my girls for being so patient. They really hate taking pictures (I don't know why; they are so pretty).

And Sandy did so well too. She loved taking a ride in the car. She wasn't happy unless she was hanging her head out and having the wind in her face. She loved the beach too. I was worried that she wouldn't stay with us and that she would wonder off but she did great. She played with us, climbed the rocks and laid in the shade.

The Party's Over Here

Maya enjoyed having her birthday party actually on her birthday this year. The girls had a half day at school and then a day off on Friday. So Maya invited a couple of friends over for a sleepover and to celebrate her birthday.

They made pizzas,

watched movies,

played games,

ate cake,

and opened presents!

They all had a great time. Girls truly are easy. They stayed up until 2am, got up early and just hung out until I made breakfast, played at the park and just had fun. Maya was happy with all her presents. She got lots of money (thank you!), some Littlest Pet Shops, toe socks (they are big here in Okinawa and for some reason my kids love them), earrings, Ice Age movie and a 5th generation iPod nano.

Do you see Jasmine's face here? Can you say Jealousy? She was ticked off because Maya's new iPod is better than hers. So she's already making plans to sell her's and buy the newest one.

Happy Birthday Maya! I'm glad you enjoyed your day.

Maya is 11

Happy Birthday Maya!

11 years ago today you were born at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany at 2:50 am. You were 8.5 pounds and 20 inches long. You've come a long way baby from tears and fits to smiles and happiness. You've traveled to three continents, lived in two different countries, made it through nine years of school and made many friends along the way.

You have a love and compassion for people and animals. You think of others before yourself and you dream of becoming a veterinarian one day. You love working on crafts like Perlier beads, writing stories, playing with Littlest Pet Shop, listening to music and spending time with your sisters. Watching movies and playing games are on your top list of things to do also.

You've learned how to swim, snorkel, play soccer and basketball. You've seen more of the world than most, eaten exotic foods, spoken 4 languages and experienced many cultural activities. You have become a beautiful young lady, sweet daughter and best friend to all. We love you and wish you the best on your birthday!

The List

So we've waited for YEARS for this mysterious list to come out. It gives us an idea of where we could be sent to next on this wonderful military journey. Since Charlie's job is merging with another job, the overseas list will be delayed until Feb. That makes things complicated. The state-side list comes out in Jan. You have to be picked for overseas before the state-side list comes out. So with that being said...we don't have any idea of our options. I think we've decided to just ride it out and wait for orders. It's not like we can really do anything about it anyway.

Happy Halloween

We all had a great time trick or treating despite the rain. Jasmine went out with her friends and Maya and Kiera tagged along with us. We went to a different neighborhood than usual this year and the kids really racked up on the candy. After an hour and a half, we were drenched, tired and their buckets were dragging the ground. Once we got home we tried putting it all together into a bowl but it all wouldn't fit. So we ended up putting everything in a trash bag. It measured about a third full and weighed about 15 pounds. I had never seen so much candy gathered by these two kids. They have enough to last a loooooong time.

A vampire,

Cleopatra,

and a ninja.

Spooky Party

Friday night we had a little Halloween party with our friends. We spent all day decorating their house and cooking treats for the night. Some of the favs. were black corn chips with my signature cheese dip that I dyed green that looked like vomit (so I was told), some delicious meatballs, magic wands, and mummy dogs.

The kids had fun playing games like guessing how many candies were in the jar, Halloween twister, pin the nose on the pumpkin and guess the goo.