Sneak Peek

For you loyal blog followers... a little sneak peek of the chosen costumes for next month!

 Mehandis, Abera and I went costume shopping after school yesterday.  Mehandis could hardly wait to get home to try out his new Light Saber (who know about the spelling... I am sure I need to study up more on Star Wars vocabulary) and Anakin apparel.  He sure has the pose down!

 Our little T-Rex got in on the dress up fun too!

Big brother told little brother that even though T-Rex's eat meat, Abera is not allowed to bite people.

Wise words to live by.

Looking forward to biting into all of the candy these cuties will bring our way!

First Day of 4-K!!!

While I went back to my school a week ago, students did not start up until yesterday.  This year, for the first time, Mehandis went to school too!  Here we are the morning before we went to our respective schools :)

Mehandis and his friend next door are both in the same morning session of 4 year old kindergarten.  Watch out here they come!

While Mehandis will typically be walking to school with our neighbors, Michael took the opportunity to be part of Mehandis's first day.  Thanks for the photos Michael!!!

Their 4K teacher, Mrs. Gordy, is full of smiles and hugs.  She is perfect for the job.

I love looking at all the parents' expressions in the background.  Think I would have been seen in their pictures with kleenex in hand.

All the students gathered together for the first morning in a common area, as the principal welcomed them back.  Looks busy!

Michael said all the kids quickly settled onto the carpet to listen to Mrs. Gordy read a story.  Pretty good crowd control on her part :)

Hooray for the 2011-12 school year.  Let's make it a great one.

Camping with Culture

BIG thanks to Courtney and Paul for their annual invites in joining their family for Ethiopia Heritage Camp.  We are so happy we accepted the invite this summer... what an incredible weekend!!!

The camp is run by the Chicago EAKC organization and held in William's Bay off Geneva Lake.  We shared a rustic cabin (had bunk beds, mattresses, electricity, lighting and table/chairs) with the VA's.  Sharing of the top bunk by our four and a half year olds' didn't go as smooth as our co-habitating but it was just as much fun.

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Abera & Tiz on a walk

We enjoyed having all of our meals prepared for us in the dining hall as well as the campfire corn roast and s'mores.  Mawi Asgedom, a well known author (and one of Oprah's fave top 20 interviewees) gave an incredible presentation too.  

Courtney lending a helping hand with little Bear ;)

We learned more of the healing properties of coffee and enjoyed a traditional coffee ceremony run by an Amharic speaking Caucasian Senior Citizen.... she was amazing!

As the weekend went further along our 4 year olds' (and 1 year old too) earned a lot more independence.  Mehandis and Tiz took an awesome solo adventure through the woods - with a few great quotes to share upon their return.

Abera was picked out from the group to participate in the teens' play they put on toward the end of camp.

Abera being held on the back of an "actress"

His role was unfortunately cut short due to his fatigue and finicky mood.

Mehandis and Abera both made their own sets of fast friends and "fans".

 

Definitely looking forward to making this an annual event.

16 words at 16 months?

As Abera turns 16 months old today I will try to his big little self in 16 words -

• Social
• Musical
• Confident
• Persistent
• Joyful
• Adventurous
• Loving
• Skilled
• Moving
• Eager
• Imitative
• Vociverous (if that means "having a large appetite for many things")
• Fast
• Beautiful
• Silly
• Vocal

And to further expand upon his vocal skills, let me try to capture all of the words he is now saying!

1. Mama
2. Dada
3. Dandi (for Handi)
4. mi (milk)
5. kaker (cracker)
6. cheese
7. more
8. all done
9. let's go!
10. yes
11. no
12. ow si (outside)
13. tee (teeth)
14. dater (water)
15. To (for our neighbor Tom)
16. Dido (for their dog rhino)
17. doddy (doggy)
18. boo (book)
19. ball
20. up
21. uh-oh
22. go
23. nigh-nigh (night-night)
24. hi
25. bye

I probably have left some off.... but have to stop bragging at some point ;)

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

It is one of those days.  The kind where moods are fast to change as quick as the weather (which has finally become a bit variable versus the past week of consistent hot and humid).  So today's post is about seeing the rainbow after the rain clouds let the sun through.

Good - Made donuts with the boys this morning

Bad - Abera cries every time he sees the leftover donuts since he wants more ;)

Bad - Had a "foot-full" of hair torn out of my head.
Good - The hair was torn our on accident in the midst of abundant wrestle/cuddles while I played on the floor with the boys. 
Extra silver lining - I keep toying with getting my hair textured/thinned out as I am growing it out... so I saved a few bucks.

Ugly - The contents of my purse after getting rained on outside after I forgot it at some one's fire pit overnight.
Good - The purse was still there and the phone still works.
Bad - Really would like an excuse to get a Blackberry.

Bad - It rained all morning long; therefore needing to miss two play dates at the pool.
Good - The rain brought the temperature down and cooled off the upstairs enough to finally play on the second floor again.

Ugly - Mehandis's bed was full of popcorn yesterday afternoon (half of the amount shown below ended up in his sheets).
Good - It was the result of a fun play date with a like-minded busy boy.
Silver lining - Mehandis ate up the majority of it while he cleaned it off his bed (less waste and he cleaned it all 2 perks!)

Bad - My camera is MIA frequently as Mehandis likes to snap his own candid shots.
Ugly - Some photos really do no flatter the subject matter
Good - Some photos are pretty priceless and show the hidden moments through out the day.

Great - Free time and free moments to explore new territory and adventures together!

Jumping through July

We are now well into July and this is the time of year I don't want to know the date... because I don't want to realize when we are halfway through summer!  Not yet, I am pretty sure, but I am not going to take the time to figure it out.

Fun things we have recently filled our days with include crafting/Lego building (while little Bear naps), weekly Rhyme Time at the library, play grocery shopping (recently it turned into a Goodwill store) and can't forget Angry Birds on the IPod.  Below is our self-made "library center" where Mehandis and I learned that if you keep Abera buckled in we can all read books together - versus having them eaten.

The playdates keep us busy too!  Thanks to the Z's for having us over for some awesome water and sand fun.

Mehandis and Daniel are both donning shark themed swim trunks here.  Not sure if Mehandis is acting out shark moves here?

Mark and Abera kept up with the big boys the best they could. 

We celebrated the 4th of July on the 2nd at the lake house with several of our friends.  Unfortunately none of the friends made it into our photos... but plenty of their kids did.

Stefan and Handi were mesmerized by Jonah's Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Many bands were quickly formed around the keyboard - here are Analiese, Handi and Abera.

A decent spread of picnic food fare was enjoyed from morning till night.

These smiles were pretty much in place for all - all day :)

We were back home for our city's Independence Day parade and fireworks.  In  between these two events we had some sparkler celebrating with neighbors.  Thanks for hosting Shannon and Andy!

That was all the fireworks Abera and I took in this year... as he slept though two sets of them ( I only slept through one! ).

Summer Vacation - Week 2

It is still early summer and I have been up a bit too early today... since 1 in the morning to be exact.  At least it gives me time to get some blogging done (in addition to the laundry started, furniture re-arranged, FB updates read and closet decluttering).

We had quite a full week last week - our 2nd week of summer break.  It was kicked off with some Father's Day celebrating at Pike Lake.  Michael surprised me with going on the Solar System Hike (something that I read about as being one of Wisconsin's must-do's in the summer). 

Abera LOVED being in the hiking back-pack.  Lots of giggles and happy baby sounds/smiles.

Mehandis loved seeing which planet each sign represented.  It was a good educational stroll for all of us.  Now if I can only remember the sentence again for listing all the planets in order?

Anyhow... later in the week I headed back to school to actually attend a continuing ed class (mainly consisting  of building with legos).  A big thanks to Michael and my parents who took turns spending a day with the boys while I "played". 

We all enjoyed attending a modified version of "Jazz in the Park" hosted by the M's.  It was nice to have some new faces there as well with neighbors joining in.  The kids had a blast playing in the sand, grazing on snacks and running around.  I most enjoyed simply sitting down and chatting with friends - with a sampling of treats at arms reach!

Stefan was a gracious host - sharing ice cream treats with kids and adults alike.

Great job playing together in tight quarters... I think the sand is now fully out of little Bear's hair ;)

A quick cookie capped off the night before the rain arrived... typical Jazz.

Not sure if that is a frisbee or empty plate in Handi's hand?

The weekend entailed a new take on a "stay-cation".  We vacationed in the Chicago suburbs and stayed at Michael's parents house in Glen Ellyn - where he grew up. 

This is how we kicked off Saturday morning... donut picnic at the lake park.

Not a bad way to start a day!

 Michael and I even got to sip our coffee and chat for a bit while Mehandis pushed Abera in the swing.

I had to get my turn in though with the giggling swinger.

 Lunchtime took us to Toot Toot Cafe.  These trains cargo include-

 Cheeseburgers, french fries and chicken nuggets delivered to your table spot, while Thomas the Tank videos play in tvs surrounding you.  Crazy. We now know what it takes to keep a talkative/"expressive" 14 month old completely quiet during a restaurant meal!

 Couldn't pass up a pony ride in a place like this.

From lunch we traveled to Cantigny, where you can see (and climb) tanks from various time periods.

What you don't see are the walk-in fountains that we found, just as we were on our way out of the park.  Mehandis showed all his enthusiasm for water.  At the car we literally had to wring water out of all of his clothes.

But all of this energy expended resulted in Mehandis, Abera AND Michael taking over 2 hour naps.

At 4:12 all was still quiet in the house!

After waking and freshening up the troops, we had a simple barbecue in the back yard.

Bring on week 3 :)