Batman plays the piano and practices his spelling words

Batman came to the house this afternoon.  he decided to practice piano and practice spelling words.  He had a hard time with the math homework and decided to leave before soccer practice.  It was nice to see Batman.

He allowed me to photograph him from the back- he has to keep his identity secret.

I got too close and Batman is frustrated

Then he headed into my office to practice spelling words.

 I tried to get a picture of his face- not a good idea. math practice was a total loss. 

Love and hugs,
Deb

Wow- 6 years!

6 years ago, shortly after 11 am US eastern time, these pictures arrived.  My world world changed.  It would be another 15.5 months before we officially stepped on to US soil as a family.  But this was the first glimpse that I might actually get to be a momma.

Bug and I looked thru the pictures from the 15.5 months of waiting tonight, reading the notes I jotted down from that period.  I can not believe that it has been 6 years now.

that's my boy- 6 years later. 

love and hugs,
Deb

quilting and a milestone birthday

We celebrated Uncle Dave's birthday this weekend.  He turned 40 last weekend.  Clearly he is not happy about it.

Bug is not happy that everyone is singing. But notice he has moved closer to the cake

Pap singing

Uncle Darrell singing

Bug blowing out the candles before Uncle Dave.  Clearly no one's birthday wishes are coming true this year because Bug has beat everyone to blowing out candles or caused people to laugh so hard they can't blow out candles.

I worked on a quilt square yesterday afternoon- this is supposed to be 12.5 inches square and even though I cut everything correctly, it is 15 inches square.  I am not happy. I am going to have to redo the entire block.

love and hugs,

Deb

Mulch- getting ready for veggie gardening

We had some mulch delivered today.  I have never done this, usually I buy about 20 bags of mulch per year and mulch the gardens.  But this is actually cheaper, especially when they offer free delivery.  When I set up the delivery, I had no idea it would be the rainy day this week. But on the plus side, it was the coolest day this week.  Bug was very excited to see the dump truck arrive.

Checking the process- this is Terry, from the garden center.

scrapping everything out

We took delivery of 2 yards of mulch.  We got about 1.5 yards put around the 3 apple trees and 2 of the 5 vegetable gardens.  We finally stopped due to the rain and thunder.  We will have about a hour of work in the morning to get the last bit on the 3 remaining garden beds.  Then Sunday, we can plant lettuce, radishes, peas and spinach.  Bug was a great help, he helped fill the wheel barrow and he spread the mulch around when I dumped it out.

The most interesting part of the mulching process- talking to all my neighbors who came out to see what was going on.  Apparently, a momma and her son hauling mulch around is a big event in the neighborhood.  My neighbor in the house in the pictures offered me an extra tarp when the rain really started coming down.  I did end up using it when I finally decided to call it a night.  Other neighbors just hung out on their back porch and watched and had the kids ask questions.  Life with neighbors right next to you.

Bug and I did good work today and now we are tired.  Hopefully Bug will sleep late and I can finish up the mulch quickly in the morning so we can head out to go swimming.

Love and hugs,
Deb

"fairy rings" and soccer

I noticed yesterday, that I have grape hyacinths in the yard where I never planted them.  And they are in a ring.  I know it is the work of birds, but it reminded me of 'fairy rings', so I had to take a picture or 2.

You can see the curve better here.  I had to go out and get pictures before the grass cutter, Jay, mowed them all down. 

Tonight was Bug's last soccer game this session.  He is signed up for one more session before school ends and then he asked to take the summer off from soccer- which I agreed with.  Since he will be in summer camp all day, swimming and running around, he will enjoy the time off to just do things.  He did say he wants to start back with soccer in the fall.  I have to see if he can stay in the same group, even though he should move up.  The next group up means he will get to bed late on Thursday nights, which is not good considering he still needs 10+ hours of sleep a night and he usually has tests at school on Fridays.

We'll see what happens.

I can totally see the growth in his skill level and his confidence.  He is loving soccer and being more aggressive in going after the ball- not with the other kids, but running after the ball instead of waiting for it to come to him.

at the end of the class, the kids got their certificates.  I sit and talk with these 2 kids' mom.  Bug and Y are usually on the same side in the games and little sister M talks with me about everything.  She is going to start soccer in the next session, but she will be in the group before Bug and Y.

It is hard to get 3 kids to look at the camera at the same time.

That's all for tonight.

Love and hugs,
Deb

Eventful week or so

last week, the cub scouts had there Blue and Gold Banquet.  This is a celebration of the acomplishments of the school year for the boys and it is the ceremony where the senior weblos cross over to boy scouts.  Bug was excited becuase he earned his tiger rank.  He will moved to wolves at the end of the school year.

Mam and Pap came along to enjoy the celebration

The Tigers preparing for their den skit (it was cute)

Bug recieving his awards. 

 His rank badge

Thursday we had hail- yuck, yuck, yuck

Friday, Bug was off school, so I took the afternoon off.  We took Jason to the movies.  Bug, of course, had to play some of the video games.

And Saturday, Bug and Pap prepped the lawn mower for the grass cutting season.  I took the family out for dinner.  Does Bug look like he a little boy?  It is like all of the sudden he has grown up.  He is all boy.  I think the trip back to Guatemala is going to be shocking  for everyone if he keeps growing at this rate.

Love and hugs,

Deb

First trip to the circus

Today, Bug experienced his first circus.  It was an early start, so he rested a little bit before J and N arrived to join us.

The circus has a meet and greet for anyone before the show starts.  We sat and watched it rather than join the crowd on the floor.

Bug, N and J

Elephant!!

Bug said this was his favorite thing in the first part of the show- the fire jugglers.

I thought this was cool- 2 strongmen and a spinning swing type thing.

tight rope walkers

Wheeler walker- Bug liked this too

during intermission, Bug got a stuff animal.  He has an entire zoo of animals now.  He is very excited to have "Stripes" in his family of animals

our family

a better picture of us.

The best part of the show, per Bug, TIGERS.  He thought these were the best

More elephants.  I really like them

after the show- showing off their new animals.

This evening, we headed to the farm to visit with Hermano and his family.  The boys had animal wars.

I think the day wore Bug out, as I hear him snoring on the couch. 

Love and hugs,
Deb