final soccer class of the season.

tonight was the last soccer class for hijo.  He has loved it.  This picture shows it all. 

He is in the game, running hard, trying his best

He plays with the team, and really encourages his team mates

But he is one sweaty, dirt covered little man when he is done.  yes, he sucked down half a bottle of water in less than 30 seconds- and they get 3 water breaks during the 45 minute class.   You can see the sweat plastered hair he has- it was like this after 5 minutes of class tonight.

He took a few falls to the ground tonight and his hands were black after the class. 

He had a great time and earned his outdoor soccer class.  unfortunately in our area- outdoor soccer will not be back until the autum.  He was fine with that and is signed up for the session that starts on 28Aug.  This summer he will be taking Gymnastics classes- his choice.  I am so happy he loves sports and I am able to give him these opportunities.

He was asleep in 5 minutes tonight.  We have 2 weeks before gymnastics starts- I see lots of trips to the park in the next 2 weeks or lots of rides on his bike to wear him out each night.

Love and hugs,
Momma

another day in the life of hijo- or at least the evening

last night's dinner at our house: totillas, cheese, tomatoes and refried beans.  Hijo loved it.  I choose to add some meat to my version.  Hijo loved ripping up his tortilla and dipping into the refreid beans.

since I have been boring you all with pictures of the back gardens, here is the front of the house.  the yellow flowers are "jospeh's coat" roses- they start yellow and will end up a deep red.  In between they are pink and orange colored.  I love them so much.  The purple flowers are my irises I transplanted 3 years ago.  they have not bloomed since I transplanted them.  This was the year that if they did not bloom, they were going to compost bin.  They wll be allowed to stay in the garden now. 

WARNING- potentially upsetting pictures below- stop here if you are easily upset or get queasy at the sight of dead things

We went for a walk to tonight, which meant I walked and hijo rode his moto. While walking, we pass a storm drain area.  Hijo immediately noticed the dead bird.  of course, I have a boy- he would notice the grosses thing out there.  So we had a 5 minute viewing and discussion of the bird.  Hijo is convinced that the bird was made dead by a frog.  I had to explain over and over that it was not a frog that made the bird dead.  frogs don't have sharp pointy teeth that pierce the wings and body- more likely it was a cat or fox (yes, we have those around here).

When we got home, hijo had to have a rest in the garage sale find I got for him when we visited lady bug and bitty bug.  He looked some comfortable in the chair.

Love and hugs,
Momma

lots of photos- captions tomorrow (Updated- captions now included)

As promised - the captions to all the photos below

Saturday:

Pap and hijo taking out a bush on the side of my parents home.  they worked on this while Mam and I attended a class at church- hosted by this lady.  Then Mam and I headed to the garden center to pick up veggies for the garden.

After getting our plants, I took Mam and Pap to dinner at Cracker B.arrel.  Hijo and Pap had a rousing game of checkers which ended in a temper tantrum by an adult.  No further comment on that from me, but Pap amd Mam missed ice cream becuase I was done being in a drama session again.

Sunday: Mother's Day in the US

Mam came over after church- Pap was resting.  We had some play time on the back porch- actually Mam and hijo had play time while I worked in the garden and listened to the fun.

Mam and hijo played some hide-n-seek, which I eventually joined in on.  Hijo seems to think that he is skinny enough to hide behind the clothes line (he is a funny little boy).  We discovered that hiding behind the japanese maple tree is perfect for watching most of the yard.

We checked out the strawberries that growing- hijo really wants them NOW!!!!

The gardens- strawberries, potatoes, onions, radishes, carrots, letttuce, swiss chard, snap peas, and corn at this point.  Corn is on the far end.

I grilled steaks and cooked corn for dinner- delicious!!!!!!  We had enough steak for me to have lunches this week too.

Monday:

Finally, I could plant the summer veggies.  Saturday and Sunday nights the temperatures got down to freezing, so the plants spent the nights on my dinning room table.  Monday I had to get everything planted at lunch before the rain moved in.  We are supposed to get rain for the rest of the week.

Hijo's garden- 2 tomatoes and 2 cucumbers!!! Right up on the patio so that hijo can eat them straight from the vine.  he has cherry tomatoes- his favorite.

The pepper plants in- 2 rows in the front.  We have 4 sweet peppers- green and yellow.  We also have 4 hot peppers - this is my first year with hot peppers.  I have been told the longer they are on the vine, they mellow, so we are going for as long as possible on the vine.  I will need to fine some reciepes for them. 

Here is the lettuce, radishes, carrots and swiss chard bed.  things are coming up- I might get a few things this season becuase I should have planted 3-4 weeks earlier then I actually did.

Monday evening:

The rain stayed away, so knowing that the rain was coming for the rest of the week, I took hijo to park.

Hijo fell asleep on the way to the park- too precious.

But he woke up to have fun at the park before heading over to Mam and Pap's house while I went to class at church.

So that is our Mother's Day weekend.

we hope you had a great Mother's day.

Love and hugs,

Momma

So te excitement today- large digging machines sitting in my front yard today as of lunch time.  Of course, they took a 2 hour lunch after parking this in my yard.  the reason for the machine- new gas lines being installed.  The irony, my gas line was replaced last year after a gas leak. 

But apparently last year, though, they did not run the line all the way to the main, they coupled it to the branch line.  Today they had to connect it all the way out to main line on the other side of the street.

This is the hole left- it does not look like much, but it will settle and then I will have a nice large low spot in the yard (yes, that was sacasm). I am not happy.  This low spot will go out to the street over the next few years  months.  UGHHHHHHHHH!!!

The connection is the opposite  side of the street- the hole over there- the diameter of the gas line.

AI should note, every house in the neighborhood is getting new gas lines- mine was just the first house done today.  They got 3 houses done today- wow, 8 hours of a work day, 2 hour lunch, 6 hours to complete 3 houses.  my house took 20 minutes to complete, the house next door took 20 minutes.  I wonder what the workers did the rest of the day.

Tonight, I took 45 minutes of video at soccer.  I will get the DVD created and sent down to Guatemala later this weekend.

Love and hugs,

momma

how to tell you need a day out

I am quite far behind on some pictures- these are from Sunday- Mam's birthday party!!!  We are signing happy birthday to mam and hijo is just watching.  he simply refuses to sing.  But he will blow out the candles for you.

Happy Birthday Mam we love you!!!!

Today, I realized hijo and I need to get out.  So we headed to the park after work.  I need to pull up the pictures from the first visit to the park and show how much he has grown.

He still loves to swing in the 'baby" swing.  I had to break it to him that come his birthday in August, he is not allowed to swing in the 'baby' swing any more.  More so becuase I do not want him to be mocked at school.  I realized as I was pushing him, the day is quickly coming when he will want nothing to do with me and maybe I should try to hang to him and keep him dependent for a little longer.  But then I came to my senses and decided that I am supposed to be teaching him to be more independent.  There will be other things he still needs me for- like telling him he can not play with the 9-11 year olds who were set him up in a game of tag so that he would never be able to catch them.  yep- they saw an easy target- a little kid who wnated to play and they were stacking the game so that hijo was going to have to chase all of them.  These are the kids who climb in top of hte tube slides and toweres in the playscape- clearly places that hijo can not get to them. so we went and played somewhere else instead.

Hijo drove me to Guatemala today.  Our drive time- 5 minutes.  If only this were true!!!!

off to the slide and loving it.

pushing his baby in the swing.  Hijo talks about his 3 babies all the time.   Today I found out that his babies are firetrucks!!!!!!

His imgination is wild.

Some more sliding before we headed home.

And finally- the reason I knew we needed a night out............>

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I was so happy to see laundry hanging on the clothes line today.  clearly I need some time away from home for a while.

Love and hugs,
Momma

catching up

Some pictures from the last few days.  Wednesday- the steps almost done.

Thursday- handyman totalling up my bill..

view from the end- LOVE IT!!!!!!!

The far end- no way for the stray cats to get under the porch and hide in the window well.  yes, there is a window under the steps- no clue why the house was built that way- but there have always been steps over the window- so I am not concerned about covering it. Now I have a 2-3 week wait (depending on the rain) until I can seal the porch or stain it.  That should give me enough time to consider weather I want to leave it a pine color or stain it a darker color.  Dang (sarcasm here), another reason to go to H.ome D.epot.

Thursday night, Mam and Pap went to soccer with us.  Hijo was very happy to sit on Pap's lap and not smile.  He spent the 15 minutes before class asking me how many more mintues he had until class.

The coaches brought out the larger inflatable soccer balls so the kids had a larger target for kicking.  Hijo did great with it.

There was a huge gaggle of kids in the middle most of the night.

Some sauntering to the middle of field.

volunteering for the backline.  Mam and Pap were shocked to see Hijo talking to the coaches.  A 180 degree change from last year.  I am going to take my video camera next week and video the entire class- it should be funny. The video will be sent to Guatemala for Popi and the girls to view- I can not wait to hear their comments on the class and the way the kids react.

Today we headed to a consignment sale- hijo found this- he was happy to ride it while I looked for school uniforms for me.  I really need to find a place for him to take more riding lessons, I think he would enjoy it.

That was the last few days. 

Tomorrow we are celebrating Mam's birthday.  Today was her birthday- but we celebrate on Sundays.  it was also Popi's birthday today- Feliz Cumpleanos Popi.  Hijo says you are the best Popi ever.


Love and hugs,
Momma