Happy Halloween

We decided to put all those princess costumes we've had given to us to good use this year...2 beautiful princesses and the little UPS delivery girl were ready for some candy. Check out the package strapped to Delaney's back, which her daddy made.
The Pumpkin Party at Germantown Baptist Church has been a fun place for us to take the girls for the past 3 years. The girls enjoyed all the carnival games and candy galore. And we all enjoyed the free hotdogs and soda.
The Collierville Square is all decked out for fall. We checked it out this afternoon with Daddy in tow. Free music, and lunch at one of the local eateries made this a really great day. The weather was terrific, too.
Daddy is the official family pumpkin carver every year. He did a fine job.

$ 1.99 A Gallon Gasoline !

On the way to work this morning Rick went by the Fillin' Station and gas was selling for $1.99 per gallon...never thought we'd see those prices again in our lifetime!

"Spread The Candy Around"

Chicken & Hominy Soup

Chicken & Hominy Soup

3 tbsp olive oil
2 small yellow squash, diced
2-3 bunches green onions, sliced (2 large bunches or 3 smaller ones)
4 tsp ground cumin
2 1/2 tsp paprika
10 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (14 1/2 oz.) can petite tomatoes in juice
1 purchased roast chicken, meat shredded, skin & bones discarded
(about 4-5 cups of chicken) I used boneless chicken thighs
4 tsp. hot pepper sauce
3 (15 oz.) cans golden or white hominy, undrained
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 avocado, sliced

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add squash, green onions, cumin and paprika, saute 3-5 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes with juice, chicken and hot pepper sauce. Puree hominy with liquid in food processor or blender (you will likely have to do this in batches). Mix this pureed mixture into soup, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 15 min. Stir in cilantro. Ladle soup into bowls. Add slices of avocado before serving. Makes about 16 cups.

I found this recipe in our local paper. It is delicious! We had it again last night when all the kids were here and everybody enjoyed it. We topped it with Archer Farms Black Bean & Jalapeno tortilla chips (from Target) and served it with toasty garlic bread. Try it, you'll be back for more.

Who? Who? Who?

Lindsey and I are both wondering the same thing...who is it that visits both our blog pages that lives in MARTIN, TN? Will you tell us who you are? Pretty please?

Fall Break @ the Memphis Zoo

Celina, Adam and I took the kids to the zoo last week. A beautiful, albeit warm day for October, and our little United Nations group enjoyed the animals as much as they enjoyed being with each other.

Ruby's New Look: Tiger?

Ruby looked funny after being spayed. Her stomach area was shaved, as was one leg where the IV was. So we took her in and had a summer cut done on her to get things evened up. Now we think she looks like a tiger. "Brindle" is the correct name for her coloring.

Hangin' With the Cousins

We recently stopped in at the Mendoza house to see what was going on. Lots, it turns out. Sydni had lost more teeth, and I joked with her that she's probably made enough money off the Tooth Fairy to get her own apartment. She looks so toothlessly cute. Jordyn isn't far behind. She's got loose ones on the top and bottom. Then the girls showed us how they've learned how to ride without training wheels. They were terrific at it, and Celina is surely patting herself on the back for choosing a house in a cove (or cul-de-sac for most of you). Makes riding so much safer, especially when you're watching out for two. The video is for you, Grandma Corrine. The girls are really proud of this accomplishment.

Fiona...She's So Cute

Fiona is a GREAT kid. She has been a wonderful baby, so easy to love. Those double dimples melt you when she smiles. She is the most polite toddler you will meet...she nearly always remembers her thank-you's. She is the cuddler we prayed so hard for. We just feel so blessed to be raising this little dynamo. We went to the park the other day and here are a few photos I snapped of her. She's wearing the new outfit we got at Target that morning. You can tell she feels pretty wearing it.



Videos........

YOUR PRAYERS NEEDED

Please pray for our good friends Wes & Teka Kennedy. Wes is a high school math teacher and the head football coach in Union, TN. He is the father of 3. Wes is in the hospital tonight, at the Med in Memphis, with burns over 75% of his body.
He was working a regular side job Saturday with another teaching-coaching buddy, cleaning machinery at the Kellogg factory in Memphis. They had thought they completed the job and they removed their has-mat suits, when they noticed they had missed closing down one cooking drum . Wes said no problem, I'll get that one, and he went to open the drum. He did not put his has-mat suit back on first, like he is supposed to. The drums are much like a big pressure cooker, and aren't supposed to open unless they have returned to normal pressure. But it seems that the pressure reader malfunctioned on the drum, and when Wes went to open it up the acid-based cleaner inside exploded under pressure and onto Wes. He was spared major burns on his face, but he is now suffering chemical burns over 75% of his body. Although he was scrubbed down at the hospital, chemical burns tend to continue to burn deeper into skin layers up to 48 hours afterwards. His doctors told Teka to prepare for his 2nd degree burns to go to 3rd degree burns, which would probably need skin grafts.
Wes and Teka are members of the LDS faith, and Wes received a Priesthood blessing Sunday morning from his father and brother. Teka told me that the wording of the prayer was to please limit the degree of the burns, and not let them burn further down in skin layer. As of this afternoon (Mon) his burns have not progressed to the more severe degree. But he is not out of the woods yet. He is in much pain, is at risk of infection, and requires much therapy. Please, if you pray, please join us in keeping our dear friends in your prayers. Thank you.

Tigers beat Arkansas St. 29-17 !

Do You Know The Significance of the Photo?

This photo means something special to our little family...do you know what it is?

"New Do" for Omi

Here's photos of the latest hairstyle for Omi. I've been watching some YouTube videos on styling African American hair and learning some new techniques from them. Who knew what you could learn on YouTube, and its FREE! This style took us nearly 4 hours to complete, and it lasted about 8 days before it began to look fuzzy. Then we took out the back twists (15 of them), moisturized, and retwisted. That took 90 minutes. Two days later we took out the top flat twists (12) and re-did them in about 2 hours. In the days between we just spray on our moisturizing mix daily. Each piece is really two sections of hair twisted together, with beads added to the ends. We used 6 pony beads per twist. She gets lots of compliments with her hair in the bead-twists....lots of people want to touch them. And Naomi loves it in the beads because she can swish her hair around and listen to the noise they make. Maybe you're wondering what Naomi does while I'm doing her hair? She watches TV mostly, and sometimes she looks at books or draws/colors. And she eats alot of popsicles. Sometimes we have nice little chats about her day, or whatever comes up.




Fiona has a totally different texture hair than Naomi. I'm still learning what to do with hers, and I resolve that I will not be putting any kind of relaxer (chemical straightener) in either girls hair. Fiona wears a lot of headbands around her little fro. I spray and then moisturize hers each morning, then pick it out with my fingers to fluff it up. She had a haircut early last spring when it was getting bushy looking. Right now we're going to continue to let it grow. Sometimes we put little afro ponys in it, but Ona has a big round melon of a head, and too many of those puffs looks kinda silly on her. She does like Naomi's beads, so hopefully in the next little while she'll have long enough hair to add some beading to hers, too. But right now she can't sit still long enough for a do like that.

Before we decided to try and adopt black American daughters, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do black hair. But I didn't want "hair" to be the reason we couldn't adopt. So I prayed to my Heavenly Father many times, asking Him if He would help me in learning to style black hair, and I'm happy to admit that He helps me all the time to give my sweet daughters hair styles they feel comfortable wearing. And I feel happy in sharing with you this truth; that a loving Father in heaven will help us do even the little things, if we but ask Him.

Lunch in the Park

Thursday we got to join the preschool class at the park for a picnic. Fiona had such a good time being with the big kids. After lunch they read a story, PINKALICIOUS, which is Fiona's favorite book. After seeing Fiona daily in the hall dropping Naomi off, Ms. Adams got to hold Fiona in her lap during the story, which tickled her pink.

Conversations With Five-year Olds

This is the conversation Naomi and I had at lunch today, over a bowl of clam chowder:

Naomi: Mommy, I have a new friend at school that's a boy.
Me: Oh really? Boys make good friends. What's his name?
Naomi: I don't know, but he winked at me in music.
Me: He winked at you? Wow. Did you wink back?
Naomi: No. But I smiled at him.
Me: How does it make you feel when somebody winks at you?
Naomi: Good. It made me think "Oh, maybe he wants me to be his friend."
Me: Its nice to have new friends, isn't it?
Naomi: Yes. I got to be on his monster team when we went out for recess.
Me: His monster team? We're you one of the monsters?
Naomi: No. I got to be his dog.

I was supposed to say "Oh, that's great!" , but I couldn't. I let the conversation end there. My daughter......some boy's dog.

All the Beautiful Pumpkins !

We found a special treat at the Fresh Market yesterday...pumpkins! And for once I had my camera with me. Fall is almost here and we can't wait. What fun it is to see the beautiful colors in the trees, and the bumpy gourds and fun decorations that adorn the houses. Fall is the time we get to wear our jeans and sweatshirts again. We get to play outside again! And even start to plan what we want to dress up as for Halloween. In the south they say " HAPPY FALL, Y'ALL !"

Treats for the Tigers

The Tigers are now 0-3, still looking for our first win of the season. Yesterday we went to practice to help pass out some treat bags to the players, a little motivation to keep them going and let them know we're here to support them. They need it badly, as the press and the "fans" here are very harsh. But we, as wives, are not ready to throw in the towel! GO TIGERS.
In the last photo that's Fiona and I, Lindsey West (head coach's wife), Lauren Chachere, and Angela Helton. Lauren's husband coaches special teams, Angela's is the offensive coordinator.

This One's For You, Ryan

It's been 2 months since we've seen Ryan, and we really miss him. The high school where he teaches/coaches in NJ won their first football game yesterday 30-7. Good to see one of the family's teams are winning. Saturday morning Naomi woke up and said she wished she could see Ryan. She was sad and a little teary because Ryan is always so good to her. He always takes the time to talk with his sisters when they call him on the phone. So Ryan, know that we miss you and love you and hope to see you at Christmas. Text me with those dates ASAP so we can start looking at a ticket.

Wig Fun

Some days life's more fun when you put on a wig

GO TIGERS !

The Tigers are 0-2 after our heart-breaking loss to Rice last weekend. Tomorrow we play at Marshall (which is in W. Virginia). Daddy's offensive line has been doing its job, and that's what matters most in our house. The girls love to wear their cheerleader uniforms to the game. Here we all are at the first home game of the season last week. Naomi makes friends wherever she goes. Here is one little guy, also 5, whom she met and hung out with most of the second half. It wasn't important to her to know his name, so I can't list it.
Fiona and Delaney munching on snacks, which are vital to have last thru such a long game. We're in the end zone seats, which makes it seem like there aren't many people there, but there were lots of people cheering on the Tigers.
One, Two, Three, Four...Who are we rooting for? The Tigers, yeah, yeah, the TIGERS. T-I-G-E-R-S.....Go TIGERS!!!!!

She can't understand how our quarterback threw that interception in the last 30 seconds, which ended the game and the Tigers chance for our first win of the season. Believe me, we all felt the pain....Check out Lindsey's site for more photos of the game. The link is in the column to the right. >>>>>>>>>>