Words of wisdom

Wow-

this post says it all.  She sums up what I want for hijo- contentment and a committment to God (to be holy).  

College fund at this - non existent at this point- I hope to fund some of hijo's college, but one of the things that I think made me who I am today, was working through college and paying for it myself.  Yes, I had debt when I came out of college- but that was becuase of other choices I made (moving out of my parents house, buying  car, spending my money on CDs, books (not text books), etc).  But I paid off my college loans and it was the best feeling in the world. 
I would be content if hijo got some scholarships hat helped him pay for college and then had a part time job to pay for the rest. 

But the post is not about college- it is about being a parent or being a friend to your child, or giving them everything. 

I need to print this post nad hang it where I have to look at it on a regular basis- to be riminded of what is important- contentment and living my life for God.

that's all tonight- maybe pictures tomorrow -

Love and hugs,
Deb

Uncle Dave's Bday party

we had the family over today for Uncle Dave's birthday.  It was a great day weatherwise- in the 50s F, sunny and just perfect. 

Dinner was steak and chicken, baked potatoes, corn (from Hermano's family- frozen over the summer) and tomatoes.  YUMMY!!!   Hijo wanted to help cook the chicken- so he helped turn them.  He is a big help.

Uncle Dave turned 38 and hijo really wanted to help with the candles again.  Between the two of them, they managed to blow out all the candles.

Hijo and I had played football and golf before every one arrived.  He played Frisbee with Jas and then Momma started throwning snow balls- that was it.  hijo was attacking everyone then.  Of course, he was not happy when Jas got him with a snowball.  But it was fun.

It was a good day with family.  Now at 6 pm in the evening, I think Hijo will be sleeping by 7 pm.  So then Momma can go rest too.

Love to you,
Momma.

Building a rain guage- AKA how to have fun on a Saturday morning

We headed over to our favorite store this morning-- H.ome D.epot- we have missed you this winter.  The goal was to buy wood to build some more raised beds for our vegetable gardens, that failed- anotehr story for another day.  But the bonus was that they had the kids workshops this morning (first Saturday of every month, if you are interested).  So I thought I'd take hijo over and do the rain guage project.    Apparently lots of other parents had the same plan for Saturday morning, becuase it was crowded- maybe the sun and warmer temps had something to do with it.

Hijo loved it!!!  We are coming back next month to male a butterfly house.  Hijo got to keep his rain gauge, got  a certificate, a pin and a sticker- he was happy.

Of course, he had to ride the "tractors".  He had to start with the red ones, of course.  I bought some more blueberry plants that I now I have to keep alive in the house for a month before I can put them in the garden, but I can do it.

We also picked up the materials to prep the lawn mover for the grass cutting season.  Oh joy, oh happiness.  To think I used to like cutting grass- now I just want to take out my lawn and make it all gardens. 

Love to you,

Momma

The Zoo- first time this year

First, there was apparently a virus on my blog yesterday/today.  Not sure how it got there, but it was attached to a statcounter I had on the blog.  I removed that and virus left too (I used the instructions from blogger). 

Hijo and I headed out to the zoo this afternoon.  A well needed break and some family time.  I decided not to bore you with the animal pictures- instead just pictures of us.  See the bright blue sky- LOVE IT!!!  The weather was jsut below 50F, so still a little cool, but by the end of the 3 hours at the zoo, hijo and I were both happy to take off our coats when we got in the car. 

The zoo is doing some major changes- all the old parking lots are being ripped out and converted to new animal exhbits.  The zoo is getting a HIPPO.  The giraffe area is being expanded.  I am so excited and I think hijo is going to love it.  The train and carosuel were not running, they are not operated in the winter, but they start up again on the 20th- I think we might  have to go to the zoo around then.  We saw lots of birds and daffodils poking up through the ground.  Spring is coming. 

So on the pictures.

Momma and Hijo at the end of the day.  Hijo is getting close to being able to get up on the baby rhino by himself.  He refused to sit on the momma rhino.

I need to find the pictures of him from last year against this tiger painting.  He has grown so much and this picture shows it.  Maybe that will tomorrow night's post.

Watching the polar bear sleeping.

Self picture since hijo refused to take my picture

spinning coins to pay for the cat food (that would be wild cats- like leopards, sand cats, etc).  Hijo says this is one of his favorite things we do at the zoo.

Barely hanging on to the baby rhino

Rhino riding momma

Our little family- happy being out in the sun and being together.


Love to you,
Momma

The park- snow, grass and sun- not our typical March

We had sun today and warmer temps.  So after work, I took hijo to the park.  It has been a long winter for us.  I looked back at last year and compared to this year.  Last year our snow and cold temps started in November and was done by mid Feb.  This year it was late December before the really cold temps set in.  The weather reports last night stated that by this time in the year, our average temperature is 47 degrees F.  We hit 37 yesterday.  Today it was in the 40s, The weekend will be in the 50s.  We also had 26.1 inches of snow in February, where our average is 6 inches.  So definitely our winter came later and stonger then usual.  No wonder we are all getting cabin fever being inside so much.  By this time in the past, we were outside on a regular basis, not praying for sun and warmer temps.  I am ready for Spring and so is hijo.

As you can see, we have snow melting, still on the ground.  We have grass and the ground is thawing, so the mud is coming soon (this weekend).

Hijo had to roll down the hill and I had to stop myself from admonishing him for getting his clothes dirty.  Silly me, my thoughts racing- this kid has been dying to get outside and play, clothes can be washed, little boys can be washed, let him have his fun.  And then I join him- not rolling down the hill, but running through the muddy grass.

We were playing football - not soccer, but north american football, when hijo found the snow "bombs".  They were the snow pile next to the path and they were just soft enough for him to pick up and smash to the ground.   This was the hit of the outing- occupying him for most of the time we were at the park.  it also served to soak his gloves completely.  He was in heaven with this game.  I took part by stomping on the bombs that would not break when he threw them. 

We walked the smaller trail looking for signs of Spring and found most of the trees budding out.  We saw a woodpecker and heard quite a few song birds.  Spring is definitely in the air.

we had some football kicking practice- hijo teed the ball up in the snow and then kicked it.  He was having so much fun.

After the park, I treated him to a new mexican resturant in the area.  we liked the back of the booths- with carved and painted scenes from Mexico.

Hijo showed me how much of big boy he is by cutting his own dinner.  Where has my little boy gone?  Who is this big boy who now sits across from me?  He is growing up so fast.

His fruit for the night was the lemon.  Yep, he is just like me, eating the lemon.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another beautiful day as is the entire weekend.  I am so happy. Hopefully a few days of sun and warmth will help us both to reset our attitudes and moods. 

Hijo is in a mood, he had a meltdown this morning as we were leaving the house.  I asked him to put on his fleece jacket and he burst into tears.  When I asked what was wrong, he told me "Momma, I am having a bad day".  He was so upset.  We had a talk and the end of the discussion was that he wanted to go to Mam and Pap's house today.  So 2 calls and 5 minutes later, we headed over to Mam and Pap's.  I talked to Mam a few times during the day, and he was doing much better.  The final call was at 3 pm and from her voice, I knew hijo was wearing them down.  Apparently, he was not content to play cars, nope, he wanted them to play hide and seek, chase, tag and jsut about anything else that involved not sitting.  No shock here, he went to sleep in 2 minutes tonight.  Nothing like an exhausted 4 year and a warm bed.

I am exhausted too, so I am heading off to bed.  Love to you and hasta pasta.

Momma

Soccer - Take 2

Remember these 2 posts- this one and that one.  Well, hijo asked to play soccer again- he did- on Saturday.  Today the email from the soccer place came through and I asked him again if he wanted to play on the field, with the coaches and momma on the sideline.  he said yes, so I am signing him up again.

I am praying that having done it 3 times before, having it be in the same place, with the same clothes and the same ball, he will actually participate this time.  He seems more excited about it, maybe it is being a year older? 

Soccer will start the the Thursday after Easter, so I have time to do some prep with him, we might actually stop by the place and watch a few practices so he is reminded of what it was like.  Just maybe he will play, just maybe.


I took him to the pool tonight- he had a blast playing for 1.5 hours.  Of course he and I are exhausted now. He found a friend and they played for 45 minutes together.  The dad and I talked.  Hijo had to make sure I was watching him and not the othe boy or the dad though. Funny how my little man knows when my attention is wandering.

In other news: the social worker is coming to the house on Friday morning.  Wendy's post here has me well prepared- hahahaha.  We'll have to see what comes of it.  But I found it interesting that when I mentioned that the reason I needed my homestudy sent out of state was for some possible changes to our family, she immediately wanted to talk to me about options here in our city. After having an approved homestudy in the state since June 2006 and getting 1 call for 2 sisiters that were not right for my family, the fact that I am considering looking at other states suddenly means that my state might have some situations for me to look at- it boggles my mind. 

I am not ready to talk about what might be, it is just something I am looking at right now.  We'll see where the future takes us.  I can't plan too far ahead, things change to much (as my boss reminded me yesterday). right now I need to focus on the next 3 months, work and home wise.  Anything after that is subject to too much change.  Although, it bothers me that I can not plan- even planning the worst and best case scenarios woudl be nice, but I can't do that- too many unknowns.

Before I go, a funny story from this morning:
I got up and hijo heard me.  I heard him talking to me but I could not make out what he was saying, so I told him I would be in an minute but I could not understnad him right now.  Next thing I know, I hear him coming into my bedroom. He stands at the door and asks me if his TV shows are on.   I immediately realize that he thinks it is the weekend and it is "momma days", this is not going to be pretty when I tell him that it is a work day.  Deciding that I might as well make it clear to him, I tell him that his shows might be on when he gets to Auntie Lulu's house.  I wish you could have seen him, all his enthusiasm for the day just fled from his body.  he stood there in front of me, one dejected, unhappy little boy.  he stomped back to his bedroom, with my admonishment to start getting dressed ringing in his ears.  He was not happy, not happy at all.    The evil momma in me was having a laugh- he wakes up at the crack of dawn most weekends, but fights getting up during the week- he got caught out today. 

He informed me tonight that he does not like Auntie Lulu's house.  I guess when jas graduates this May, I should start a count down to school for hijo so he knows when he no longer has to go to Auntie Lulu's house?  He does love her, I think he just wants to be home with me.  It is a shame he does not realize that school is going to be just like this, alhtough he will get to sleep later.


That's all for tonight.  Love and hugs,
Momma

My coupon cutting man

Hijo and I read the paper last night.  I usually rip the coupons out, but apparently he has learned to cut them out thanks to Mam and Auntie Lulu.  He wanted to cut out some coupons for me, so I let him after a promise not to cut his jammie shirt.

What did he cut out for me:   Nice and Easy hair color and Rogaine hair treatment.  I guess he had hair on his mind.  He also cut out some pictures, but he was insistent that I accept the hair care coupons.


Tonight, we headed to the library.  Hijo loves the library, he acts like he owns the place.  He was so determined to pick his books, his video and carry the bag.  Of course, he refused to read the books when we got home- the lure of Dora was too strong.

Tonight, hijo prayed for our dinner.  This is the fist time he has volunteered to pray and the first time he said the entire prayer.  he thanked God for the food, the grocery store, the watermelon and family.  I think he hit the important parts.  It was so precious to hear him pray.

I am back to struggling with a migraine again.  The meds are barely keeping it at bay.  I think I know what is wrong- not anything bad- just an annoyance. I just have to decide that I am going to go to the doctor and get it addressed.  I dislike going to a new doctor.


It was warmer today- 40 degrees F.  A heat wave.  It is supposed to be 50 degrees F by the weekend and sunny.  I think the zoo or the park are in our weekend plans.

that's all for tonight.

Love to you,
Momma