Happy Thanksgiving!

It was so nice to celebrate Thanksgiving in the states. Charlie's family came down from NC to have some deep fried turkey and share some family time with us.

Boy that turkey smelled so good!

It turned out perfect! It was so juicy inside! Mmmmmm, delicious!

The girls were happy to play with their cousin, Kyle.

Charlie has been working so much lately, the girls have missed him. It was nice to have him home for once to enjoy some fun times. I'm happy I was able to get some good photos of him and two girls (not sure where the 3rd one was and wish I had all 3 in the picture).

Charlie and Maya

Charlie and Jas

Happy 14th Birthday Jasmine!

Jasmine celebrated her birthday on Thanksgiving Day this year. The good thing about that is that we were surrounded by family and friends!

We had her favorite chocolate cake (she trying to save her candles from being blown out by every one's obnoxious singing).

She opened gifts.

Cards and money are always a favorite!

A Cookie Monster shirt is perfect for her because she is always stealing cookies.

And fuzzy pajama pants are her new fav.

Time for her birthday spankings. Daddy just couldn't count out the numbers right.

So Maya was there trying to save her from getting whooped.

She had a great birthday and we all enjoyed it with her. I can't believe she's 14. Someone reminded me that this time next year she'll be getting her driver's permit. Ugh, really? I don't want to think about that yet.

Insert scream here --->

Growing up, we didn't start learning algebra until 9th grade. Nowadays kids are learning algebra in the 6th grade. I know they are learning everything faster than we did, things are much more technical and advanced but some things may need to wait some time still. Here is a conversation that happened between Maya and me over algebra.

Maya: "I need help with my math."

Me: "Alright, lets see what you have here."

Maya: "I have to solve for x in this problem. 3=4x"

Me: "Ok, what do you need to do first?"

Maya: "Get x by itself but I don't know how."

Me: "Ok, you need to divide 4x by 4. What you do to one side, you do to the other. Also divide 3 by 4. What does that give you?"

Maya: "3/4=x"

Me: "Right, that's it."

Maya: "How come that's it? Why don't I now divide 4 into 3 and get .75?"

Me: "Because you don't have to go that far. Just stop at the fraction."

Maya: "Why?"

Me: "Because you are done. You have solved for x."

Maya: "But why?"

Me: "Do you see the problem and how you solved it? You divided by 4 on both sides and got x by itself?"

Maya: "Yes, but why am I done? Why don't I go more steps?"

Me: "Because you don't. You are done with the problem."

Maya: "Why?"

Me: "Because there aren't any more steps. The problem is over. You have the answer here."

Maya: "Why?"

Me: "You are making this too hard. It's not that hard. Just stop after this step. There are no more steps."

Maya: "Why?"

SCREAM

Fun Dinner

This weekend, my girls and a few of the teens from our church hosted a Fun Dinner. We've been trying to get the girls to feel comfortable in their new town and that includes at church too. We needed something that would really break the ice. Well let me tell you, this did!

I know what you may be thinking, "What are they doing?...Ok, eating dinner...Shoveling their food?"

"Eating with their hands?"

"Spaghetti of all foods?"

"What in the world?"

"And everyone is having fun?"

Let me explain...We set up a menu usually of a spaghetti dinner including meatballs, salad, bread and chocolate cake. Everyone has to fill out their menu using 9 words listed on their paper in any order they'd like. They hand in their menu where I determine the order of their dinner from my master answer key. There are three courses and after each course whatever you have finished will be thrown away (that includes utensils too!) So some got chocolate cake, a napkin and meatballs for their first course while others received spaghetti, bread and only a knife to eat it with. It was a surprise to everyone. It was no time to be embarrassed or shy. There was so much laughter going on. I think everyone enjoyed it and the kids really loved serving the adults, watching their reaction and seeing how creative they became.

Maya's Birthday cont...

We took Maya out to her choice of resturants for her birthday. She chose Chili's. Yum! Once we returned home we had cake and she opened her cards from family.

The cake was really good!

Maya racked up with some spending money.

Happy 12th Birthday Maya!

Maya had a great time at her Twilight themed birthday party. I can't believe my little girl is 12, officially a pre-teen. We didn't play up the party much, just had some friends over for pizza and a sleepover. I heard they stayed up until 3:30. Wow! I didn't hear a peep past 11.

Happy Birthday!!!

Maya opened presents. She got a gift card from Target, movie theater passes, Party Wii game, Twilight games, a puzzle and a mirror.

She's best friends with her "twin" Izzy. They both moved here over the summer, her dad is military too and they have so much in common. Hopefully they will be together for years to come. Can they not look more alike?

Trick-or-Treat

The girls had fun trick-or-treating. Maya and Kiera met up with their friends on the street and went around our neighborhood. Jasmine went out with her group of friends in their neighborhood and then went to a party afterwards. They all had a good night.

Jasmine - Thing 2 (her friend was Thing 1)

Kiera - Goth Girl

Maya - The Mad Hatter

And lets not forget Charlie as Napoleon Dynamite