Greek Festival 2013

J and N came over today to play, have lunch and go to the Greek Festival with us.  Bug was very excited .  The boys had so much fun playing together before lunch.  They were ninjas.

We headed to the festival around 2:30.  It had been raining and storming all day.  Bug had been praying for a 2 hour window in the rain to be able to enjoy the festival and then head home.  The sun started shining and the rain cleared out- yea!!!

As we came into the festival, the kids could play games to win prizes from Kroger.  Bug and N won fanny packs- they got to carry their own ride tickets. 

Plinko was the game to win.

They could win a stuff animal by throwing the soccer beanies thru the corn hole game.

And finally, the wheel of prizes.  Bug won popcorn and soda, I won a gift card, N won ice cream and Julie won pop tarts.  It was a great way to start the festival.

After getting tickets, the boys headed to the slide.  They had enough tickets for 5 rides each.  The went on the slide 2 times before heading off to more rides.

The rode the fun house- more like a jungle gym to climb thru and slide down.

The mommas watched.

The boys went on the space ships

They are up there somewhere

They were very dizzy when they got off the space ships.

N wanted to ride the motorcycles/cars, but Bug is now too tall for the little kid rides, so N really had to think about what to do.  In the end, they stuck together for one more ride on the slide.   

Then some Greek food- pizza and cheese on a hot dog, before heading inside to get desserts.  baklava!!!!! Including chocolate covered baklava.  We had a great time with Julie and N today.  So glad to have time with friends.  Julie and I had a good time watching the boys, they are getting so big and acting so grown up.

 

We have been home about 2 hours and I can hear the thunder, more storms coming, but we got to enjoy the day.  Thank you God for answered prayers.

 

 

Love and hugs,

Deb

look what I found

hi Bug- I found some babies for for us!!!

What do you think?  Just so you know, they are baby dolls.  There is a convention here at the hotel and all these women are pushing around strollers with "babies" in them.  They stand around loving on these dolls, they have pack-n-plays for them in their rooms.   I must admit, some of the babies are cute, but mostly, this whole thing creeps me out.   I think one of these might be super for Auntie Lulu though.  She can have a baby, but none of the realities of a real baby.  HUMMMMMMMM

Here are some other ones, these don't look as life like. 

I had lunch with some of the team today, it was great to talk to people and enjoy the time with friends.

I had some excitement today, my tire was flat when I went to go to the office this morning, so I spent an hour at the rental car place this evening getting a new car for the rest of the week. 

Love and hugs,
Momma

RTP- Day 2- no pictures today

Hola Bug-

it is lunch time here and I thought I would let you know how I am doing.

I stayed at the hotel last night, too tired to go out anywhere and I had a migraine.  I had dinner in the lounge, some cheese, crackers, carrots, tomatoes and some awful little hot dogs (they were yuck).  I also had some desserts- brownies and apple pie slices.  They were about 2 bites big, so I had a 2 of each.  Yummy.

I did some shopping at the little gift shop in the hotel, I bought 3 post cards, some snacks for the hotel room, some water and a tee shirt for you.  I think you will like it.

Work has been good.  I am working on reviewing files and I have gotten thru 2 studies worth of documents in 1.5 days.  I still have one more study to go.  Hopefully I can finish it before I leave- it is a big study.  I am also supposed to get a new work laptop while I am here.  The laptop man and I keep sending emails, but so far we have not been able to talk about when I get my new laptop.

It has been nice seeing people in the office that I usually only talk to.  A few of us are going to lunch tomorrow, I hope to get some pictures for you. 

I  love you  lots.  I was happy to talk to you this morning.  I hope you had a great time at camp today.  I will talk to you later tonight.


love and hugs,
Deb

RTP- Day 1 17Jun2013

HI Bug, I know you are having a great time with Mam and Pap and enjoying your first day of Y Camp.   I thought you might like these photos of you ready for cub scout camp from last week.  You look so handsome.

Of course, you and Pablo look pretty silly here, you being silly and Pablo wanting down.  I love you forever, forever, for always mi hijo.

I got a really great room this time, it is my 10th stay at the hotel- which is nice on hand for the upgrades, but not so nice when I count up the days away from you.  From my room you can see the main headquarters of my work.  I am in a different building this week, but it is nice that work is watching over me even when I sleep.

This is my room.  It is very nice, the bed is so big that I ended up sleeping sideways in the bed this morning. 

The upgrade to my room comes with free breakfast, so I had some fruit, yogurt and a bagel with peanut butter at 6 am this morning.  I was hungry by 9 am.  I think I will have to take a granola bar or some fruit and bring it to the office so I can have a snack in the morning.

I have nearly finished my to do list for today, which is good.  This means my work is on track and I will not be rushed.  Tomorrow's review should only take 1/2 a day, so that means I can start on the big project tomorrow afternoon.  I still have to work in the hotel room this week, running reports for my teams and answering emails, but I might not have to stay late in the office.

I love you lots.  I can't wait to talk to you tonight and hear how the first day of Y Camp went and if you saw any of your friends from last summer. 

Love and hugs,

Momma

frustrated

No pictures tonight.  I will have some tomorrow for Bug to look at as I will be traveling to North Carolina for business this week.

So what am I frustrated about?  I am frustrated with a little man who does not listen, then when he does hear decides to back talk me and who is spending large amounts of his days arguing or whining at me. 
I know he is 7, I know change is hard for him, I know all this and yet, I am still frustrated.

Change is school ending and summer camps starting.  He had cub scout camp this week and will start camp at the Y this week.  Then add me traveling for work and he is out of sorts this weekend.  He will calm down once I am back home and we have routine settled but that will not be until the week of 24Jun.

To add to the frustration this weekend, is the fact that bug lost his backpack at scout camp.  He had it on Friday and then when he went back to the table where he left it, it was gone.  We spent some of today buying replacement backpack, lunch box and a swim suit, all of which are needed for Y camp.  These ere expenses I was no budgeting for.  I am still waiting for a call or email from the scout camp director to see if the backpack was found and can be returned to us.  I hope so because I would really like to take the things I bought today back to the store and get my money back. 

tomorrow is Father's Day, Bug and I send warm wishes and lots of love to Popi Carlos.  We sat on Friday night and looked at pictures of Bug from before he came home.  We talked about how much Popi loves him and how much Bug misses and loves Popi.  We can not wait to go back to Guatemala.

Well this is all for tonight.

Love and hugs,
Deb

06Jun2013- last day of 2nd grade

Today is the last day of school for Bug.  He is excited to be done, but sad that he will not see most of his friends over the summer.  I told him I would work on setting up play dates with him and his friends in the evenings and on the weekends.  Hopefully, this will help. 

He is a happy boy.  There will be a second post today/tonight, with pictures from the awards ceremony at school today.  I am not sure if Bug is getting any award, but I will take a few pictures of him no matter what.  This evening we will be going to the all school swim party.  It is a busy last day of school.

Love and hugs,
Deb

Family Day 2013- 7 years and counting

It is hard to believe that 7 years ago, we came home, finally a family.  You can see the older pictures here, I miss calculated last year, Bug came home in 2007 and it has been 7 years now.  This is Bug today, so big, so grown up.  He is not my baby or my little man any more, but my young man.  School ends in 4 days and Bug starts summer vacation.  12 more weeks until he is 8 years old.  Time flies.

We headed to the butterfly show today, we thought we might not see many butterflies due to the cloudy skies and the pending rain.  But...

 We saw lots of butterflies.  We saw lots of people, lots of picture takers and lots of flowers.  Bug was happy seeing the butterflies and trying to catch them.

Mam and Me

Bug and Momma, bug being silly.  He is ham with the camera- making faces and mugging for the camera

 

a small family, Pap was at home waiting for us to get back. 

 

our little family.  Still a silly Bug

 

 

I had a plan to watch old videos with Bug tonight, but he had other plans.  He is at Mam and Pap's house spending the night with them and having a great time playing.  I am home watching "The Game of Thrones" a totally unsuitable program for Bug. 

 

Love and hugs,

Deb