Birthday celebration part 2

it was a wonderful day for Bug's friend party.

We had J and N, the MKs, T and Y, M from across the street, J, D and E from church and Hermano.
the plan: playtime in the water- sprinkler outside, play on the swing set, cupcakes in ice cream cones with ice cream on top and then present.

The plan worked!!! A successful B- day party. Mariposa was gracious and took all the pictures for me. We did run out of battery life, but everyone promised me their pictures
This is toward the end, Bug is tired. So he was refusing to say "thank you" for his gifts.

Y- wearing Bug's sunglasses. I am not so sure what she is thinking, but she loves to wear Bug's things.

A comparison picture to last year- yep- chocolate still ends up all over her face.

And all over Bug's face too.

Mariposa with Bug and N. everyone enjoying ice cream cones with cupcakes in the cone. This was the best idea ever- no mess (OK, minus the face issues).

Bug, Momma and Y just hanging out at the back door.

Hermano and his hair cut. He is too cute. We had dinner with hermano and the boys were playing with tractors. We will be heading to hermano's house over Labor day weekend and we might see them for out zoo trip this month and then of course we have a trip to Hermano's for his birthday

Bug and Y swinging. Y is not happy with Bug as he was roaring at her all day.

My Bug - can you see how tired he looks? I think that Lulu will get a long nap from him tomorrow

Playing in the water- N, M and MK

MK2 was loving the water. She was a happy little girl today.

N- not so happy- but he was having a good time.

hermano- loving the swings.

Y and Bug- they are always close together and always 'pushing each others's buttons'

Mariposa took over 100 pictures for me today. YEAH. Bug too almost as many with her camera.

More on Mariposa's arrival:

We were early picking her up (go figure), as I was calling the number of the house she was at, someone knocked on the window of the car- it about scared me to death. it was the homeowner who hosted all the students on their first night in America. I was so shocked and so excited, that I left my car keys in the ignition of the car when I got out. Bug was very shy, but it was OK.

On the way to pick up Mariposa, he admitted that he was scared. So we talked on the drive over to get her and I told him a again and again, that we are a family forever and ever. I also used words that the therapist gave me a few months ago and explained to him that this year it is our job to take of Mariposa and then she will go back to her mother and father in Germany. This is not exactly true- she is my daughter for the next year, but it will help Bug understand a little better how she fits into our family and why she will leave at the end of year.

I think was clearer for him today when Mariposa decorated her room with pictures of her family. This is something that I have to continue to help him understand.

We took Mariposa around the area to see her school, the Y, the mall, the park, and then home.

Today she saw church- it was very different for her. But before church, she had McDonald's for breakfast- this was the first time for her to have McDonald's breakfast food. Church, I explained to her that we can wear what we want, so we all had capris on today. She was amazed to see people with drinks in church, to have a rock band playing music. She could not follow the sermon, but that is OK. I showed her where the youth group meets- this is an opportunity for her, but she is free to choose not to hang out with the youth group.

I think it was a good start. Tomorrow, I will take her to enroll in school and school starts in 2 more weeks. We are going to the Y tomorrow night to swim after we pick up Bug. It should be a good day.

I am tired now and I will say good night

Love and hugs,

Deb

PS- Angie- Mariposa speaks excellent English- not all the slang, but her English is fantastic. I lived in Germany almost 7 years and took Germany all through high school and college, but my German is horrible compared to Mariposa's English. I am not supposed to speak German with her, so that she learns more English, but I am making her tell me words in German for things that we see- like Turtle.

And for the dog- I am not ready for us to have a dog- the agreement with Bug is that I will begin discussions on a dog when he is 6 years old- then he will be old enough to do the chores associated with a dog- cleaning up poop, feeding and watering the dog, and walking the dog. So until Bug is 6, we will not even look at dogs. But thank you for the offer.

birthday and welcome to the family

We had a busy day but a great day Bug playing with his new additions to his train set

Helping Mariposa to unpack her bags. Bug is in love with Mariposa- she is his best friend. We will see how it takes for her to decide she needs a break from her 4 year old shadow- right now she think he is cute.

Our welcome sign

My 4 year old Bug- the train would not fit on the cake. but the many candles and pick up truck were a hit.

My birthday prince.

We had an awesome time talk with Popi, Momi Mireya, Susy, Karla and Andrea tonight- we had a webcam!!!! It was great to see them watching Bug. This is the coolest thing.

Mariposa- we were early for her pick up time, but she was ready. We took her for a drive around the area and showed her the school, the Y, the mall, and the park.

She says she is not jet lagged, which is good. Tomorrow we have the friend party- should be a fun time.

Love and hugs,

Deb

Post 2 for the night- note to Bug's birth family

Dear S and family-

I have struggled on what to write this year, and I still have not put the letter in the mail to searcher to hold until you can can be located. But on the eve of Bug's birthday, my thoughts have been about you today.

I want you to know that Bug is loved and cherished. He is all I dreamed of and so much more. This year he has changed from a baby on the verge of being a little boy to being a little boy. He loves his cars, motorcycles, trains and anything loud. he climbs anything, jumps off everything and goes all out in everything he does.
he thinks red is the best color of all time. He begs for a dog all the time. he really wants a real motorcycle.
he loves to cuddle, he snuggles up with me each night. he loves books and our trips to the library. he wants to do everything, pay at the store, drive the car, get his own drinks, help around the house.

he knows his numbers and most of his letters- although he pretends not to because then he can be silly. he is leery of starting school when he is 5 years old, but we have a year to work on changing his mind.

here is the link to last year's birthday

http://lifewithlittlebug.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html

Physically, he is now 41.5 inches tall and he is 34.5 pounds. This means this year he has grown 3.5 inches!!!! and gained 4.5 pounds.

he wears 4T shirts and 4T shorts, but I checked his pants and he will have to move up to 5T pants this fall as all his height is in his legs.

he wears a size 12 shoe now - at least this year he did not grow through 4 shoe sizes in one summer.

Bug is a joy and a blessing and I am honored to be his momma. Bug and I prayed for you tonight, that you know that he is loved and that you are at peace with the choice you made for his life. I pray that one day I will be able to stand before you and honor your love for Bug.

God bless you and protect you.

Deb

For everyone else- prepare for lots of pictures this weekend- 2 birthday parties, one new sister arriving- lots of excitment at our house!!!

Post 1 for tonight

No news on mariposa, but she should be here in the city now- just overnighting at the welcome house for orientation.
We leave to pick her up at 5 pm tomorrow night. So less than 24 hours and she will be in the house.

Love and hugs,
Deb

Quick post before work- she should be in NY now

Mariposa should be in NY now. She has a day of resting and then an evening flight to here. She gets into ourtown around 8 pm this evening. She will spend tonight at the welcome house and then have orientation tomorrow and then at 5 pm tomorrow we can pick her up.

More to follow as I hear from AFS.


Love and hugs,
Deb

Mariposa is on her way!!!!!

Mariposa should be at the airport now. She begins a long journey- rumor has it most of the exchange students don't sleep the night before leaving and they don't sleep on the flight to the US.
So i am guessing that when we pick her up from the welcome house on Saturday evening, she will exhausted or hyped up on adrenaline.

The house is almost ready for the parties and her arrival. Today Jason came over and cleaned while I cut the grass. Bug and Jason did the following tonight:
1. Swept the floors in the living room, dining room, hallway, Mariposa's room and Bug's room
2. dry mopped the floors in all the rooms above
3. wet mopped the floors in all the rooms above
3. moved all the clean laundry from the basement to the living room so I could fold it.

Still left to do:
1. clean the bathrooms- Saturday morning task
2. put away all the folded laundry- during lunch on Friday
3. Clean the kitchen counters- Friday evening
4. scrub the kitchen floor- Friday evening

What will not get done:
1. cleaning Momma's room (that is what doors are for- no one will notice)

I am feeling awesome about the parties and Mariposa's arrival. And I am so grateful for Jas' help. he is a great young man, I hope that Bug grow up to be like him.

I had a wonderful experience today- I chatted with Susy today. so cool. I cannot wait for Saturday when we chat and have a webcam session with them. I can't wait to see them and talk to them.

That is all for tonight.

Love to you,
Deb

2 more days and she is here and it will be Bug's birthday

Random photos from today Bug being himself on the couch. This is what an almost 4 year old looks like when he has been awake since 5;30 am and has had no nap during the day. he looks pretty tired.

This is what momma looks like on the couch preparing to post pictures to the blog as she tries to ignore the repeat on Dora or Diego. They really need to put some different episodes on - I am of the same ones over and over again.

Lunchtime- sunflowers and butterfly bush by the garden shed.

I really like these sunflowers- I think they are called 'Indian blanket". I do think I want to plant some usual yellow ones with these next year just for the contrast- but this was nice too. Bug likes the color- of course, he likes just about anything that is red.

I am at the point that I am ready to move Bug's birthday to another month- maybe we should celebrate half birthdays instead of the actual day of his birthday. here is why:

1st birthday- he was still in Guatemala and I was unemployed. It was very hard to be away from him because his birthday marked the first month of average timeline of 4-6 months from referral to being home. And we all know how that went.

2nd birthday- he was home 12 weeks and his birthday doubled as his welcome/introduction party. It was stressful just from the standpoint of lots people, and me putting lots of expectations on myself.

3rd birthday- I locked 5 studies in 8 weeks leading up to his birthday, including 1 the week of his birthday that I took on after a co worker was in an accident. Locking databases or studies are never stressless and 5 in 8 weeks was very hard on me and Bug.

4th birthday- that would be this one. I have an issue at work that should have been resolved on Monday and now is looking like it carry over the weekend- All hell broke loose at 3 pm today and I think the next 2 days at work are just going to be more of the same.

So maybe if I move Bug's birthday to April, then he would get a stress free momma for the few days before his birthday.

This really sucks that I just can't enjoy his birthday, maybe one day there will be no work issues the week of his birthday and we can just enjoy the weekend. But I am thinking not. Maybe I need an attitude adjustment - but then again every one has work issues at some point.

I am just complaining in an effort to vent some stress- it will be fine, but it just sucks right now.

Love to you,

Deb