Today the teens and I meet with some friends to do some Christmas baking.  we brought the above ingredients.  Don't ask me what they are called because I have no idea.  I was surfing the web one day and saw them on someones blog.  They so simple and easy and that is my type of recipe.

First you unpeel a bunch of Rolo's. 

Place down some pretzels.  Those square types.

Place one Rolo on each pretzel and bake at 350 for 4 minutes.



Take it out and while hot smush a half pecan on each one.

That is it, so simple and so tasty.



We made lots of different goodies and had a great time.



And of course we made a big mess.



We still have fudge, cookies and buckeyes to make.  Anyone have a simple recipe to share?

Keeping Busy

We have been keeping busy.  It is hard to believe that this year is quickly coming to an end.  Time seems to fly by just a tad too fast these days.

This morning I got to go to Larissa's class to watch them sing Christmas songs.  I finally have one in the back row.  All my other little ones were on the short end and always in the front row.

Larissa got to get off early and go shopping with me.  It was nice to spend a little one on one time with her.



Today was the last day of school for the year.  All the kids are off for Christmas break.  I hope that I survive!  The two new little ones are so jealous of each other and the other kids that they cause constant chaos when they can.  I always have to be vigilant to protect the other kids from their manipulations. 

Lily in particular can say very hurtful words to the other kids.  We hare having problems with this at home as well as complaints from school.  She can get kids into tears.  She is a bully.  Sarah is not going to school because of this type of bullying so I am not too patient with this.  Anyone have suggestions for how to deal with this?

There has been no backlash from visitation.  The girls have made no mention of it.  It is almost as though it never happened.  This is new to me.  I am used to having behavior problems after a visit.  I assume that this is a reflection of their attachment.  They only have visits once a month, we will see if anyone shows up next month.

The girls have been here about two months.  Sometimes it seems as though we haven't made any progress but when I really think about issues I realize that progress has been made.  This is going to be a long term process.  A lot of harm has been done from all those moves and it won't be quickly and easily healed.  Time is needed.

Sometimes, it is really very hard.

Making Messes

Anyone check out the Pinterest sites?  My baby food jar ornament that I made last year ended up on a lot of those sites.  It surprises me because that little ornament is posted on HGTV, Pinterest and numerous other sites; some of them in foreign languages.  He is kind of cute.



I saw this cute little ornament on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.

If you get into a paint fight with your mom, expect to get marked!

One small problem, once the paint comes out and you tell the kids to get it on their hands....well, there is no going back.

I want to paint my cabinets white, I got a small preview.

Yea, I didn't put out any newspaper.  The paint came up easily since it was some of my water based acrylic paint.

They did come out cute and they all have character.  I found some directions that said to do the faces with permanent markers.  I couldn't get the markers to write well on the paint so I pulled out my paints and finished them up.

The girls made two each and today will take one to their dad.  Dad showed up but mom didn't.  We leave in 30 minutes to go downtown. 

Visitation

Tomorrow is visitation for the girls.  Apparently both bioparents are coming.  After a few months of nothing they are showing up for December.  I haven't told the girls that their parents will be there yet.  In the morning they are going to call us when they start our way.  If the bios show up then I will tell the girls.

I did tell them that we are going to the big city to have the visit with their SW.  Dimples first question was to ask me if they were coming back.  Then she wanted to know who was driving them, me.  Then she asked again if they were coming back.  Five minutes later she asked me once again if they are coming back.  Just a tad bit of anxiety showing up.

Lily is quite a bright child.  She knows that visitation in the big city is not our norm.  She stuck beside me all evening.  by stuck beside me I mean body to body contact close to me.

We had wanted to do straight adoption so we wouldn't have to worry about the fall out of visitations.  Well, that didn't happen. I expect an increase in problem behaviors with this visit.  This also reminds me that we don't have TPR yet.  Until we have TPR there is always a chance that they will go home, I know this.  I have seen a lot of different things in foster care and things don't always go as expected.

For a distraction I decided that it would be a good evening to do a Christmas craft.  We made ornaments and lots of messes.  I'll have to post pictures in the morning.  For now, I am exhausted and heading to bed.

Trying New Things

We took the girls to Chick-fil-A this weekend.

Upon entering the restaurant I asked Dimples if she had ever been to a Chick-fil-A before.  She told me yes so I asked her what she wanted....a taco.

I asked her if she was sure she had ever eaten here because they carry chicken and not tacos.  She said yes.  Ok, so I asked her what she wanted.......a hamburger.

Lily hears our conversation and pipes in....we have never eaten here before.  Ahh, I got that perception.

Prime Real Estate

It was a good day here. No major melt downs or tantrums.

Sarah and our teen were packing for a weekend of church activities.  They will be gone until Sunday so it will be interesting around here with only little ones.

After dinner I was sitting on the floor coloring with the girls.  I came to realize that my lap is prime real estate.  First one girl would sit on my lap for a while.  As soon as she got up another girl would come and sit.  This went on for quite a while...three girls trying to claim that spot.  I am surprised that any coloring got done.

Shortly after that I left to go drop the girls off at church.  For some reason Lily was crying about this.  I don't know if it was the girls leaving or me leaving to take them, she couldn't say.  I am not even going to guess, perhaps it was both.

What was Anthony doing during that time?

He got this from Santa yesterday.  I would have to estimate that he spent 4 hours working on this today.  He worked very hard at following the directions.  We finally had to send him off to bed, he would have worked on the next one all night if allowed.

He definitely takes after his momma, loves to create.  It gets it from his biodad too, he carves beautiful canes that he sells.  I really need to buy two off of him for the kids.  Maybe I will stop at the park and talk to him one day before Christmas.

Tomorrow we are heading out to a gun show.  John wants some old Russian rifle for Christmas.  I am not going to even try and guess on that one!

Off to bed to read again.  Have a great evening.

(Tasha is in Kuwait and I have an address.  If anyone wants to write her email me)

The Neighbor Kid

The girls had a little neighbor kid over to play

She asked the new girls who they were.

Larissa said that they were her sisters.

The little neighbor girl said that wasn't possible because they aren't the same color.

They didn't agree.