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Summer Comes Early

Weekly Happenings: This past week was pretty average. We went to the park quite a few times since the weather is better for it (plus we need to enjoy it before it gets too hot). Joseph thoroughly enjoyed music playtime, and we enjoyed a night with friends over to play games.

The Weekly Weather: The beginning of the week was nice and mild, and then it started to warm up toward the end of the week. Not too bad for the first part of May. What I like is that it takes a while for us to reach the projected high temperature (sometimes that doesn’t happen until four or five in the evening), so we can still do outside stuff in the morning. The down side to that is that it makes it hard to do stuff in the evening. It also doesn’t really cool down in the evenings too much. It’s kind of hard to believe that summer is quickly approaching.

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s still enjoying work and is starting to get some more projects done that we have talked about. Yesterday was a busy day for him. He mowed and edged both lawns, did some more work trying to get the future tomato patch ready (this has been difficult for him because the soil is so full of clay, but we went to Lowe’s and got another tool, so hopefully it will be easier for him), helped me plant flowers where the cilantro used to be (it wasn’t turning out well, so we had to toss it), and installed a ceiling fan in our loft. I’m so happy with it! Now it circulates the air up there a bit better and hopefully it won’t get too stuffy when true summer hits.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I have been plugging away with my piano students (and may even pick up two more in a month or so; just waiting to hear back from their mom). I have also done a couple of crafts (just little banners for decorations. There’s pictures of them further down in the picture section of this post). I’m also being kept on my toes by an almost three-year-old (in four months…when did that happen?!). Which leads to…

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been trying to bargain with me on occasion: I asked him one morning, “How about some oatmeal?” His answer was, “How ’bout a cheese stick?” It took some convincing (and a promise of a cheese stick after he ate his oatmeal) to get him on my side. When it’s his turn to say the blessing on the food, he’ll often throw in other things that he’s thankful for, such as: temples, church, forks, hot dogs (or whatever other food might be on his plate…by the way, he LOVES Ranch dressing), Little Einsteins (one of his favorite shows), and cars (still one of his favorite toys). His imagination is also just exploding. He was watching Paul mow the lawn and making mower sounds. He later came up to me and said, “I’m a lawnmower! Vvvvvvmmmmmmm!” Oh, and the other day, he had one of his “play” phones (one of Paul’s old flip-phones). He was talking into it and said, “Hi! Guess what? Great news! (followed by some incoherent words).” He then handed me that phone and said that his Uncle Jason was coming. He talks a lot about Uncle Jason coming and Grandma and Grandpa coming. It will be good when we get to see them all in December. 🙂 Finally, he’s demonstrated that he’s got a rather excellent memory for shows that he’s seen multiple times. We were watching an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that he’s seen quite a few times and he was telling me all about what happened at the end. And he was right. His mind amazes me!

This Week in Pictures:

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Getting to hang out with this little man is SO worth it!
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One of my craft projects. I did this for Memorial Day/Flag Day/Fourth of July. 🙂 I put it in our entryway. It’s sort of hard to see in the picture, but each of the squares have a letter on them that spells out, “America!”
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If we’re outside (or in the car, which is effectively outside), he needs his sunglasses. We think he might have super-sensitive eyes like Paul.
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He loved getting a postcard addressed directly to him (from Barbara Diamond, one of Paul’s former foster parents, who we still keep in contact with).
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It had a harbor seal on it that was sort of 3D.
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Riding his bike in the street in front of our house. I love that our street isn’t super busy. It’s getting busier as they add more houses, but right now it’s pretty calm. We obviously are out there with him. 🙂
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Sporting his new shirt (which I kind of hope will still fit him in October…it would make the perfect Halloween costume): a Superman one (with an actual cape that Velcros to the back).
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Even Superman needs to have healthy teeth…
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Cheesin’ it up for the camera.
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At the park in our neighborhood. He almost always has to find a stick to hold as soon as he gets there…
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Giving Paul a good smile…and showing off that he can put on his own sunglasses. 😉
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Hanging out on some of the equipment.
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He’s got quite a bit of upper body strength.
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My other craft project: this one is hanging in the kitchen. It says, “Bon Appetit”. 🙂
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I came in to get him one morning and he said, “Look! My tower!” He was pretty proud of his stuffed animal tower.
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Hanging out at the park one evening…