Trick or Treat?!

Halloween is a very celebrated event in Levittown. At noon, kids were released from school to go home for lunch, change into costumes, and then return to school for a parade and party the remainder of the day! Yards are decorated as much as people in Texas decorate for Christmas. In all the cities I have lived....13 now counting Levittown....I have never seen so much emphasis on Halloween. It is no secret that I am not a fan of Halloween for many reasons. I could so easily get on a soap box right now....but I won't. At the same time.....I am not against candy and costumes and having fun.....so that's what we did! Madison dressed as Hannah Montana and looked so cute! Emma was Dumbo and was adorable! Madison's parade and party at school was a lot of fun! It was so wonderful to meet all of her classmates and get to know them better. Each one of her classmates is precious and so sweet! The party started with a parade outside the school in the big field. The entire school paraded down a marked path for all the parents to see! The music from "Ghostbusters" was playing from a loud speaker. It was funny! I got to meet and spend a lot of time talking to 3 other mothers I had not met before. They were so nice! Madison and Emma had their well check ups after school. Madison had to get 2 shots and Emma just got the flu shot! When we got home at 4:30, kids were everywhere on the street. There must have been 150-200 kids walking just down our street. This was Emma's first time trick or treating. She was so funny! The first house we went to, she rang the bell and as soon as the lady opened the door she started telling them all about her bandaids from the doctor and that she was Dumbo! The lady laughed so hard that she choked on her food. Emma talked non stop to every person we saw. She was so cute and she was thrilled about getting candy! She did not want to go home! This was a great opportunity to meet many of our neighbors down the street. We had a fun day today! I still do not like Halloween and what I believe it represents........but I know God provided amazing opportunities for me today because of Halloween. God is good that way!

Autumn in New York!

We love walking outside to the view of the large tree in our front yard. The entire tree is covered with vibrant orange and yellow leaves. The tree lined streets are beautiful! Red, yellow, and orange leaves, with a breath taking blue sky as the back drop. It is amazing to see God's glory as the season changes.

Team Day!

This week has been Red Ribbon Week at Madison's school. In order to promote learning and fun, each day the kids were asked to wear a specific thing to school. Today was "Team Day". Students were supposed to wear something that showed their favorite sports team! Madison was so excited because she knew exactly what team she wanted to show off proudly......The Yankees! As much as she loves the Houston Astros for her daddy.....she says she is now a total New York Girl! When choosing between the Mets or Yankees.....it is hands down Yankees for Madison and I! Sweet Emma likes them all! Sterling on the other hand is still undecided.....although I believe he leans more towards the Mets. I have to say though, if the Yankees had fired Coach Joe Torre after their sad season end, I might of had to join the Mets band wagon as well. I am a Torre fan! My Dad and Grandfather, ("Poppy & Papaw") have been lifelong Yankees fans! Madison knows how much her Poppy loves them, so she naturally has cheered for them since she was very little! She also loves the fact that her teacher is a huge Yankees fan! It makes it a lot easier to be a Yankees fan now that we live in New York.....but Sterling and I will always be Astro fans at heart!

Growl Power!

Last night Madison and I went to The Cheetah Girls Concert at Nassau Coliseum! It was a sold out concert. We were lucky to have been able to purchase pre-sale tickets online before they sold out, and ticket brokers raised the prices. Some tickets after that point were actually selling for $700. That's CRAZY! I only paid $26 per ticket and I so assumed our seats were probably not so hot! But, they were great seats. You can tell from the picture that we were just to the right of center stage, right above the floor seats!
On the way to the concert, Madison told me she bet people would be screaming their lungs out and that it would probably be louder than her lunch room at school. :) She was right.....the screaming never stopped! Madison had the best time! I have never seen so many mothers and daughters in one place before! Girls of all ages decked out in their cheetah girl attire! Mothers dressed head to toe in cheetah! Growl Power is an understatement! Vanessa Anne Hudgens, from High School Musical, opened up the concert! I have no idea how the girls could even begin to sing on stage with all the dancing they were doing. They definitely know how to get their young fans excited! Glow Sticks swaying from side to side and confetti falling from the ceiling! As Madison and millions of other girls would say............it was Cheetahlicious!

Emma at the Dentist!

Emma had her first trip to the dentist this past week! She was so excited! All she knew was her big sister went to the dentist and came back with 4 prizes and a new toothbrush! Emma loves to brush her teeth......I think mainly because it involves playing in the water :). When we got to the dentist, the lady talked to her about each thing she was going to do to Emma's mouth. She showed her "Mr. Thirsty", which is the tool that suctions out the saliva in your mouth :). Emma got to hold it and suction out her own mouth....and boy did she ever! When it came time to let actually clean her teeth....well Emma did not care for that very much. She kept on sticking in "Mr. Thirsty", trying to keep the cleaning tool out of her mouth! It was pretty amusing to watch! Finally her teeth were sparkling, and it was time for the fluoride treatment. She got one good swipe of it, and that was it! Emma refused to open up anymore...even for "Mr. Thirsty". Finally it was prize time! She picked 4 things out of the basket, and then told the lady that her sister needed one also. And the lady asked her if she always told her sister what she wanted. She said "Who is the boss, you or your sister?" And Emma said "Mommy is!" I was very proud to see she has actually been listening to me lately, because we have been working on who the boss in our house is........because most of the time Emma thinks she is! Anyway, the dentist came to check her teeth out and just could not get over how precious Emma was. She could not believe a 3 year old would talk so much. Emma asked the dentist all kinds of questions and chatted up a storm. The dentist sat there chatting with Emma for 5 minutes. It was very cute! Always an adventure!

Our First Broadway Show!

We had a blast this weekend! We all hung out and relaxed on Friday night. But, on Saturday morning at 9am, we headed out on the train for an exciting day in Manhattan. We had no idea just how much fun it would be.
Anita, my sister in law, almost did not come because she came down with a bad cold. She felt miserable, and it is cold here.....compared to Houston anyway. We all felt so bad for her, because it was hard for her to enjoy everything feeling so sick. But, I am so glad she came. It would not have been the same without her!
We started the day in Times Square at the Hershey Store! Free Hershey Kisses and Take 5 candy bars were delicious.....especially to Miss Emma.....who had it all over her hands! We then went to the famous Toys R Us! Aunt Anita took all the girls on the Ferris Wheel and they rode the "Little Tykes" Car! They had so much fun! We were in there for over an hour.
We had to eat quickly so we could get to our main attraction of the day..........."Beauty and the Beast" on Broadway! This was all of our first time to ever see a Broadway show....except for Melanie. It was more than we ever expected.....like a mini vacation from the world! We all love the story of Beauty and the Beast, but even better was that Donny Osmond recently began playing the role of "Gaston". I grew up watching Donny and Marie.....even had the Donny and Marie Barbie Dolls! Always fun to throw a celebrity in the mix of a Manhattan trip......no matter who the celebrity is.
Two amazing things happened at the show! First, we were sitting in our seats, which were pretty good! We got orchestra tickets, 25th row, right of center stage for 40% off the ticket price. But, the amazing part happened when two grandparents walked up to us with their 4 or 5 year old grand daughter, asking if we would trade seats with them because their grand daughter was afraid to sit to close to the stage. They only had three seats and we had 7, so my mother in law took Madison and my niece Edie and ended up sitting 5th row center stage! Wow! They were so excited! Confetti fell all over them at the end of the song "Be Our Guest". The second amazing thing was getting my picture taken with Donny Osmond after the show! He was sick and we were told he was only coming out for a few autographs and then would go back in. He came out, and every woman above the age of 40 was screaming madly! (and a few younger ones :)!) It was pretty funny! He signed a few autographs and then they said he had to go, and everyone screamed one more! And that lucky last one was Madison! As he turned around to leave, Melanie asked him to please take a picture and so very quickly Anita took a picture of Melanie and I with Donny! He was behind a short curtain rod so we had to lean back! It was so funny and so much fun! Donny is certainly not the heart throb of my generation, like he is for my mother in law :), but it was so much fun to see him up close and get a picture with him! He was wonderful as "Gaston"! Definitely added a lot to the show!
Sterling met us for dinner after the show, and then we headed home on the train about 7:30. We were all exhausted, especially Anita, but we had so much fun! My best Manhattan trip yet! Thank you Melanie, Granna, Anita, and Edie for coming and making such wonderful memories with us!! Fun Pictures below!
From the left:

Anita, Jenna, Edie, Granna, Madison, and Emma in Times Square!

Edie, Madison, and Emma at the train station!






















Excited Emma awaiting Belle and the Beast! Edie and Madison at the Theatre!



Jenna, Donny, and Melanie after the show!
Can you tell we were a little excited? :)

Company is Coming!

We are excited for the weekend ahead! On Thursday night, Melanie Hoo, from Clear Lake, is coming to stay with us through Monday! She is a sophomore at Baylor University. She is very special to our family. She was one of those amazing babysitters I spoke of in the last blog. But, she is so much more than that.....especially to me. We are going to have a wonderful time catching up and having lots of girl talk on the couch....just like old times!
We are also thrilled to have family arriving on Friday afternoon through Sunday morning. (short but sweet) My mother in law Cherrie a.k.a. "Granna", my sister in law Anita, and my niece Edie are coming! Madison is counting down the days for Edie to get here, Emma is counting down the days for her Granna to get here, and I am counting down the days for Anita to get here! :) I love spending time with my sister in law. She is absolutely amazing! A beautiful wife and mother and a wonderful friend. She is so easy to talk to and is always such an encouragement to me. I wish we lived closer! Madison is so excited to take Edie to Manhattan to see the Toys R Us with the giant ferris wheel! The last time we left Houston, Emma was very sad because she did not want to leave her Granna. So, Granna decided she could not wait until Christmas to see us again! We are very happy and thankful for that! We will have a full house this weekend! Lots of pictures and fun to share with you after the weekend!
Jenna

Back to School Night

Last night, I attended Back to School Night at Northside Elementary School. This event was not intended for children, so Sterling stayed home with Madison and Emma. We were spoiled by our now college students from Clear Lake when it came to babysitters. Not only did they adore our girls, and our girls adore them, but they babysat for FREE! They are amazing girls, and we look forward to them visiting us in New York, so Sterling and I can go on a date! (Just Kidding Girls!) Anyway, I was the lucky one who got to visit Madison's classroom. I enjoyed being there so much. I even got to sit at Madison's desk while Mrs. Leung went over important details of the class and school year. Madison had neatly cleaned her desk that afternoon, before leaving school. And a booklet she had made was sitting on top, entitled "Back to School Book". One of the pages was "All About This School Year". She had to write about several of her favorite things about school. I thought I would share them with you, because they were so cute! Of course like a lot of kids, she thinks her favorite subject so far is "GYM"! Her favorite lunch is soup. (she was very excited to take a thermos of soup to school!) She said this year she wants to learn about science.......but most of all what she really wants is to "do hard math"! Her favorite place in school is Art Class. And last, but not least, she responded to the statement In school, it would be very strange if: "Somebody yelled!" :). I really like Mrs. Leung. She is very structured and organized, and loves to read. She is very big on the kids understanding how important it is to be a good reader. She also wants them to understand, every grade on every test and paper will not be 100%. No one is perfect. The most important thing is mastering the subject....which she considers 80% or higher. They do not receive letter grades on Report Cards. Instead they are scored developmentally on a scale of 1-4. Different from what I remember, but I like it much better......because Madison is already concerned about making an F! :) I assure her she won't, but this makes it even better. The best thing I like about Mrs. Leung is the way she deals with behavior. Every Friday, grades 2-5 have Fun Time Friday the last hour of school. The criteria to participating is you must have all your classwork from the week done, all your homework done and brought back, and of course behaved in class. There are a few rules that automatically mean no Fun Time Friday if broken.....one being misbehaving during emergency drills. Madison came home last week saying how sad it was that a certain classmate was the only one who did not get to go to Fun Time Friday from her class. She went on to tell me that they had an emergency drill in the school, in which they are to be silent. Apparently the teacher left the room for a minute, when this classmate yelled out "Fire! Teachers gone! Ya hoo!" :) I laughed and laughed at that story. Anyway, that was an automatic rule breaker with no warning. After I stopped laughing, I asked what the boy did. Madison said "He was very sad just sitting there instead of going to Fun Time Friday." Then she added, "It is not Mrs. Leung's fault". "It was his choice to make." (Something Mrs. Leung always says). I was very impressed to hear her say that, and even more impressed at how Mrs. Leung is teaching her. I reminded Madison how much that applied to our entire life. How God gives us free will, and we always have a choice to make....right or wrong.....and that our choices determine our consequences. Now I hear Madison telling Emma whenever Emma does something wrong, that she makes her choices. I love it! I pray so much for Madison to make wise choices. Sorry for such a long blog, but I had a lot to share. Continue to pray for Madison, Mrs. Leung, her classmates, their families and her school. Thank you! God is so good to me.