Trick~or~Treating for a Flu Shot...

Sometimes I forget that the smallest Judge has only been in an English speaking world for less than a year. 99.9% of the time... she understands everything. Tonight... she got a little mixed up! My fault... you see I explained the concept of Trick~or~Treat to her this afternoon and shortly after told her and Abby that we were going in the morning for our Flu Shots...

Fast forward a day and we are talking to my mom on the phone... Lilli, in a loud joyful voice, told her nanny that she was going "Trick~or~Treating for a Flu Shot tonight"! YIKES!!! Poor Baby! I explained that the treat would be much better than a flu shot... Reece's Peanut Butter Cups and M&Ms and Nerds and Laffy Taffy! YUMMY!

They were dressed and ready very early... and they were not too happy about the "waiting" until dusk part of Halloween. They set on our steps until they could not stand it any more... off they went!

The girls had fun... escorted by Holly and Joey around our neighborhood block. Abby opted to come home early to help me give out candy. When Lilli and Holly returned, they took over the "giving" with Abby! I got to go inside the warm house and enjoy a cup of coffee!

Enjoy the pictures!

Perfectly Stated

You will need to pause the music player at the bottom of the sidebar - to the right -

in order to listen to this video.

What Would You Do?

I am seeking ideas... ideas about decorating the outside of our home for the holidays. Please leave me a comment and tell me what I should do... Remember... I am without "testosterone" so there can't be any ladders involved! Next year... if it doesn't move it will be covered in twinkle lights... that means you Joe!!!!... but this year I will be doing it with a little help (which can sometimes be hindrance) from the kids....

Everyday Cuteness

NERVOUS!!!

Joey is now the proud owner of an Alabama Driver's License. YIKES! Joey is so excited! I am excited and nervous!!!

Not too long ago, this was the car that Joey was driving...

He LOVED it! I could not get him out of it! I do believe when we sold it at a garage sale, it had a few million miles on it!

Times have changed and now, this is Joey's dream car...

I don't think this car will be parked in our driveway anytime soon, but Joe and Joey will shop for a used car during the holidays. It will certainly help on nights like tonight when I have 3 kids that need to be at basketball practice at the exact same time at 3 different schools.... I think I need Joe to buy a car for Joey and a truckload of Calgon for me!

Chick-On is My Favorite!

Next time I should probably change her out of her new pastel pink turtleneck sweater before giving her BBQ chick-on (as she calls it)!

Good Day...Well, Most Of It!

Holly made the high school tennis team... she is so excited! I asked her if she would "letter"... she looked at me like I was from another planet! Am I out of it... do kids not "letter" in sports anymore??? Anyway... guess I will be watching tennis matches along with basketball games this year... cool! She had 6 years of lessons in Jakarta with a great pro from the Philippines... guess she will put them to the test this year!

Abby told me I was better than Santa Claus today... I take that as a HUGE compliment!

Strange factoid... completely brought on because I saw the picture below when I searched for tennis clip art... can you imagine playing on THIS tennis court? It is part of a hotel in UAE... my friend was posted at the US Embassy with her husband and she told me that for a tour of the hotel... NOT to stay the night... JUST a tour was $400US dollars... YIKES!

Why did I say "well, most of it" in the title of this post... because I am sick... and it is 50degrees and raining outside! I have a horrid cold... and I just don't see how single parents do this! No matter what... a single parent has to get up and get going.... no rest for the weary! I SALUTE every single parent out there! You guys are strong and brave and deserve tons of respect! I am learning quickly what I have taken for granted for way too long... Joe is an awesome dad and a great partner! I must tell him that every day! 9 months more ... 9 months more.... 9 months more.... The only thing fun about being apart... is being able to write love letters! Forget email... it is for utilitarian purposes only! Love letters on beautiful stationary (on my part... Joe's come on a post it, on computer paper... hehehe) ... I am enjoying sending and receiving those! TMI???? sorry!

Sharing a Few Photos

While my parents were in town, we celebrated me dad's birthday... I won't say how "old" he is, but I will say he was born the same year Pluto was discovered... a fact that I loved to share when I was little! I thought that was way cool!

He loves Nascar (Junior fan!) so the girls picked out Cars accessories and a pretty red cake! Over the last decade, we have usually wished him the best over the phone so it was great actually being together!

Another cute photo... one thing I was able to "save" from our storage shipment was a pair of Joey's shoes from when he was a itty bitty baby! He wears a size 14.5 now... so I just had to compare... WOW!

The girls had a visit from the Fire Truck and Firemen at school last week! They were SOOOOOO excited about their fireman hats and smoke detectors. I was very excited that they learned so much about fire safety! Such a great lesson!

Lilli will forever have that "Chinese Peace" pose of hers! When I first saw it, I thought she was holding up 2 fingers because she was 2... NOT! It is just what they do in China instead of saying "cheese"!

Chores and kids go hand in hand! Joe and I strongly believe this... especially in a big family, it is necessary! Even when we lived in Asia and had full time help, the kids still had responsibilities around the house... or "condo". Now that we have moved back to the "real world" and we are the full time help... chores are even more important to keeping the house orderly and clean! Everyone has their "specialties". Occasionally, someone will try and get out of their share... but generally they all carry on and get things done! Even the littles have their jobs! Their favorite at the moment is definitely vacuuming after dinner! They would vacuum the entire house - giggling the entire time - if I did not stop them! It is just so much fun! And... I never know what "uniform" they will wear to complete the task at hand! Here was their choice last night:

Notice that Abby is more of a "supervisor" than a hands on kind of girl like Lilli... I am working on that now!

And finally... we take our music very seriously at the Judge house! Abby and Lilli held a concert in an awesome concert hall tonight... our hall... the one that goes from the kitchen, past the living room and foyer to Holly's room! They were singing Jonas Brothers, Secondhand Serenade, and of course High School Musical (thank you big sister Holly for teaching them such a wide array of tunes!) ... Abby playing her Kleenex box guitar and Lilli on lead vocals with her toilet paper microphone!