My Dad

I have his face.  I look just like him.

He knows things like the capital of Ethiopia.
Like how to put a hitch on a truck.
And how to throw to the cut-off man.

He knows how to install a backyard sprinkler system
And how to bowl a 300.

He also knows how to work HARD.
And make personal sacrifices for his family's benefit.

He has a cute smile
And a great head of hair.

He has fun at weddings
And adores his grandchildren.

I like remembering him as a baseball coach
because he was patient and knew how to teach them.
And he let me keep the scorebook, which made me feel important.

He taught me how to be a loyal Dodger fan
No matter where in the country I live.

He's taught my boys how to watch sports on TV
and how to do them in real life.

I'm so glad I have a dad
A dad like you.

Happy Birthday!

To The Beach

We wish.

Rube and I woke up feeling the waves calling to us.  I was able to come to terms with the fact that we live a gazillion miles from the California beach.  But Rube insisted on putting on his swim trunks this morning.

He's ready.

You just never know when a beach situation might show up.

Someone enjoy a beach for us today.

*Can you tell this is his favorite shirt? 
It's in just about every picture of him. 
I do wash it.  Promise.*

Ode to my Brother

I have a big brother.

And I'm so glad I do.

Everything he did as a kid

I wanted to do too.

*That's as far as the rhyming goes*

He skated on a Vision board
and when he was done, I tried it too

He learned the trumpet and played in the Lehman band
When I was old enough, trumpet is what I chose too

We pegged our pants
And played floor hockey before school
I remember the first check he wrote was to buy a hockey stick

I locked him out of the house once while he was babysitting
My apologies - I'm sure you were mad.
But I felt like I'd conquered some huge feat.

I watched him climb onto the roof to retrieve a ball
And I felt confident to do it one day, then got stuck
and the neighbor dad had to get me down.

He has achieved much and is so well liked
He loves his family and cares for others
He tells a good joke and gives a good hug

I just wish our families got to be together more.

I love you

Happy Birthday

Snakes and Ladders

We just finished studying Ancient India and learned that the game Chutes and Ladders comes from India's version called Snakes and Ladders.  So we got it out and hissed like snakes when we slid down a slide.

 Giving Rube the low-down on how to play.

If only all of life's instructions were as easy as Chutes and Ladders'.

Sweet ladder-climbing skills.

 Age 3 is really a great age for this.  No need to follow any rules.  Spin the spinner only because it's fun to do and just find a ladder or slide and go up or down it.  Game ends when he gets distracted by something else.  5 minutes tops.

Play with a 6 year old and the game lasts for-ev-er.

Guitar Lessons

A favorite activity at our house is to turn on some upbeat tunes and jump around and flail about.  Not Paul and I so much, but Peter and Reuben, yes.  They specifically like Relient K and Hawk Nelson and this one Bionicle song from Lego.com.

Bruce, the stick horse, serves so many purposes.

Today, he's a guitar.

Mastering the Power Stance and Full Arm Strum with Paul.

Like this, Dad?

About to slide out of the Power Stance.

And the big finale- Guitar Spin!

Library Card

It was an historic day.  A big day for this 6-year-old.

Signing his name in cursive on the back of the card and getting The Talk from the Librarian.

Ta-da!

His very own Library Card.

This was something that he wanted to do.  When he spoke to me about it he was very calm, used a low voice, and was almost solemn about it.  A rare form of Peter.

Helping the Librarian look up a book for him.

He's a reader.  Loves  to read.

Currently at-this-moment reading Mission to the Arctic.

It's a Lego story.

Brilliant Lego.

Thanks for encouraging our son's devourment of books.

SOLD

There were only 2 bidders and it sold for the price of a car!  Can you believe it?  Who's wishing they'd flown out here for the auction of the purple house?  Ends up some friends of ours bought it, so we'll get to spend some time in it in the future.  They said the kitchen and bathrooms need gutting and redoing, but everything else is 'pristine,' she said.

We are off to get the boys' adoption physicals this morning.  While we're "in town", Paul and I will get new passport photos taken.  Then, this evening we have our first of two meetings with our Adoption Specialist (aka social worker) to get our homestudy underway.  She met with us and wrote our last homestudy and we're looking forward to working with her again.  Wow, we did this 5 years ago.  Doesn't seem that long ago, but we started in spring 2005 and Reuben joined us Feb 2007.  Oh, let's reminisce...

Ah, he's so cute!

8 months old here, been with us for 3 months.

Have a great day!