Nana & Papa took the boys to the pueblo zoo today. Lots of fun, and we practically had the place to our selves. We saw all kinds of animals, but saying noah loved the otters may be an understatement.
2 hours in the car
Ezra, “I want to go home.” me “but we’re going to Colorado” Ezra, “bye bye Colorado”
Ezra, “I want pizza, I want ice cream!” (at 6:45 am)
Ezra, “daddy push triangle button.”
This spring has been a super busy gardening season for me. Usually I have my little backyard garden that I tinker with and get some food in return. This year I had two new opportunities that have kept me very busy. I kept meaning to blog about my garden projects with little updates, but I have been so worn out with all the gardening (and now all the preserving!) that I just haven’t gotten around to it.
First, I am part of the Master Gardeners Program through the U of A. While I don’t consider myself a master gardener, it is an amazing learning experience. In March we started setting up a display garden at the U of A agriculture center and it was a ton of hard labor. I loved it! Now it is all set up and we can experiment with different plantings, water amounts, and pest control. You can check it out here on our facebook page.
Second, I was given a patch at the community garden in exchange for volunteer work. This little garden spent most of June producing like crazy. I think I have harvested nearly 100 pounds of just tomatoes! I’ve been busy canning them. I am also getting zucchini, eggplant, corn, melons, cucumbers, onions and peppers.
It is really heating up here this week and that means gardening is finally slowing down. I have some melons left to ripen, and will continue to get eggplants, zucchini, and tomatoes (thankfully in smaller amounts now).
Today the boys had one of those rare days when you think, “hmmm maybe all this hard work is paying off.” I watched my friend’s two year old girl Sydni today. The boys were so excited she was coming over and couldn’t wait to show her their castle.
When she arrived they greeted her with a nice, “hi Sydni!” Then began to show her their toys. Which they happily shared the WHOLE morning long. Not once did they hit, bite, or grab the toy back saying “that’s mine!” They made sure she had fun and that she didn’t miss her mom. They brought her toys, gave hugs, received hugs, and made sure she had her milk. Noah even got down from eating his lunch and went and got Sydni “her own napkin.” (how dare I forget to get napkins!) I loved hearing Ezra’s sweet little voice saying, “bless you Sydni” when she sneezed.
They were super sweet to her all morning long and I loved it. They don’t act like this very often, they are normal two year olds after all. I am just so happy and proud that they were good hosts today. (For the record she was an angel too.)
Happy Father’s Day to one super awesome daddy! You are amazing and it clear you LOVE your boys. It makes this momma’s heart very happy to see the bond you three have. I have no doubt that we have two little boys already wanting to be just like their daddy. They will be amazing men thanks to you.
You are the best and we love you so much!
Last November we finished up the rest of the paperwork required for the boys to receive Certificate of Citizenships. Yesterday we drove up to Phoenix for our last immigration appointment ever! They gave us a window of time to show up, of course nap-time and the boys fell asleep on the way up.
We were super worried that they would be super grumpy and we would have to wait for a long time. The worries were unnecessary, Ezra perked right up and Noah was out of it but not grumpy and they took us right back, no waiting at all!
Matt just had to sign the certificates, that was it no ceremony, nothing exciting. The lady who helped us was super nice, she even took the time to look at the boys eyes to figure out who was who for herself and could tell them apart easily. 🙂 Also, you aren’t allowed to take cameras or camera phones (turned off in your pocket is fine) into USCIS, but she was nice enough to let me turn on my phone to take a pic.
Flags! They have been in love with flags recently, so to get their very own was a big deal. 🙂
Here’s a video of them being happy on the way home. Believe it or not they took a very nice nap once we got home despite their earlier cat nap!
We have had to create a lot of silly rules in our house. Some of the best are worthy of sharing.
I think its clear are little boys are all boy. Im sure there are more rules. We have to make up a dozen new ones every day it seems.
I purchased this pot from an old woman who lives in a cottage made of candy in the forest.
As a parent you sometimes say things you never thought you would have to say. So I thought I would start a new series here on the blog. My favorite from the past is, “stop licking the outlets.”
Today I had to say three new ones all to the same kid. Feel free to guess which one. 🙂
“Stop eating styrofoam.”
“What are you eating now, oh a plastic fork!”
“Stop putting the silverware behind the couch.”
Can you believe it’s been 2 years? We cant. Sometimes it feels like just last week we were in Ethiopia meeting these amazing boys, and some days it feels like it was forever ago.
Want to see some exhausted parents who just traveled around the world to meet their sons?
Ezra is a little confused. Every time Matt says, “Let’s wrestle!” He runs of looking for “wrestle.” Yes he confuses wrestle with puzzle. So if Ezra asks to wrestle, he might want to just do a puzzle with you.
The other day Noah came walking in funny and said, “Taffi poop, Taffi poop.” So I checked the bottom of his feet, he had simply walked through some mud. 🙂
The other night we were coming home from picking up pizza for dinner and Noah was whining for a drink, we told him he would get one when we got home. Ezra shouts out, “I want a beer!”
When we are out and about I often say, “don’t touch other people’s cars.” The boys now say, “no people’s cars.” Last night the boys were eating cookies and Noah randomly said, “no people’s cookies.”
Noah dropped a book between his bed and the wall it has Larry and Bob in it. When Matt retrieved the book Noah said, “Yeah Larry Bob safe!”
Me, “Ezra are you poopy?” Ezra, “no poop.” me, “are your sure I smell something?” Ez, “no smell!”
Ezra has also recently said the following:
“Seriously wow.”
“I want to hold you mommy.”
“mommy pretty girl.” (pretty sure Matt trained him on that one.)
“Abby pretty girl.” (he wasn’t trained on this one)
He says “I love you mommy.” almost every time he leaves the room.
