A few fun pics

Here a few fun pics from last week:

Its a party in the evening when dad gets home! The boys are so excited to see him. Ermias decided to tie Waymond's shirt on his head for whatever reason, I don't know.

They aren't the only ones excited to see Waymond's truck pull up in the evening!

I found some goggles on clearance this week. I know I might get hate mail from this comment (sorry family & friends in the MidWest), but it really hasn't been hot enough here for them to swim. We have a wading pool at the park near us and they've been twice all summer. Every time they got out of the pool they were shivering. They still love the goggles, they call them water glasses!

Waymond lead the kids' worship on Sunday. Ermias kept him company as he practiced! I think he's small enough we could close him in the case and carry him around!

Saturday we went to a Princess Party. The boys had no idea it wasn't any other party where cake is served and they can ride other people's bikes. Isayas made a prince crown.

Waymond is starting the boys early on our letterpress. Which I'm hoping doesn't backfire on us and we have boys with expensive hobbies like their dad!

Free book

Go here for a free Francis Chan book. There are five to choose from. Waymond says he's a really "solid" guy, but I've never read any of his books. Enjoy!

Found this on another blog ~thanks!

Sad news from the zoo

The boys love the tigers at our zoo, as you well know from all the pictures. We spend most of our time at the zoo with them (or playing in the play area). Sadly one of the cubs passed away this last week. You can read the article here. When Waymond told me the news I almost cried. Kind of crazy, but as much as I've seen of these tigers in the last 3 months, I was sad!

Just thought I'd share!

A new game

I created a new game last night for the boys. All it is really, is an old egg carton with numbers written on the inside. The boys have to put the right number of animal erasers in each space.

Ermias did a few, but then was disinterested. He is still working on numbers (why I made the game). Isayas loved it and played several times. This is right up his alley!

After Isayas was done, they played with the animal erasers for about 30 minutes!

Summer School

Isayas started Summer School on Wednesday. He only has four days left, so it's not exactly a huge school experience. But we thought every little bit would help him when he starts in the fall. He is going on his first field trip on Monday!

Also he gets breakfast and lunch at school, so it's been good for him to eat new things!!

Sidewalk chalk

The boys love bringing out the sidewalk chalk. At one point, our entire back porch was covered with chalk. They were sad after it rained (which its done a lot this summer).

This is Isayas' "Madagascar boat." They love that movie (actually both movies). Since we live in a port town we see big boats often and in the boys' minds they all go to Madagascar, which they know is in Africa!

Video: Ermias is just plain funny.

At home learning

We've been having fun this summer learning new things (all of us included)! Since Isayas will start Kindergarten in the fall I wanted him to get a little bit in before he starts. And personally, I'd like Ermias to know the alphabet before the end of the summer. Could be a lofty goal, I realize!

So we've been doing some fun activities along those lines.

Ermias has been practicing his cutting skills with a crafty Kumon booklet. He cut these out himself and I was amazed! I helped him glue, but he really did most of it himself. We've been talking to them both about time and reading a clock. Isayas gets it a little. Ermias just says numbers, mostly VERY big numbers.

I put out some letters cut from magazines and had Ermias pick out all the letter As and glue them on his paper. I was pretty picky which As I put out because I didn't want to confuse the poor boy with some crazy fonts!

Isayas has been working through a Kindergarden book that someone gave us as a gift. It's been really good for him to have to follow the directions. I know he'll experience a lot of that in school!

And, then they had some fun with watercolors. They made about five pictures each. I think they used up most of the paints in this one go. I'm not sure they've ever painted before; they had such a great time. And, you should see some of their art work!

Very interesting!

Waymond sent me this link to a story on what is in our food. Read it here. Highly enlightening!

Clothes

This morning I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and Isayas came in all excited. He was showing me two pairs of pants that were very similar. He was telling me that one was his and one was Ermias and they were the same. "Look Mom three, three." and then he pointed to the side of the pants. Both pairs of pants have three stripes down the side.

The next thing I know both boys emerge from their room dressed in the same outfit, down to their socks! They were showing me how they dressed the same. And then they said, "photo Mom, photo."

Funny because I can't get Ermias to wear pants like this normally. He like jeans and occasionally kakis and shorts (with pockets).

Our berries

Here's a shot of the blueberries I managed to pick without the boys knowing so they wouldn't eat them. I wanted Waymond to try a few!

I would have pictures of our raspberries, but the boys and I have been eating them as they get ripe. Really there's only been a handful, but they are super tasty! The boys now look every day to see if there are ripe ones. I think the birds are going to be out of luck, no raspberries for them!

We also picked our first ripe tomato today. It is a small yellow one. The boys are super vigilant on checking our plants to see if there is anything to pick. They might not eat it, but they want to pick it! Isayas is especially excited about our zucchini. I am curious if he'll eat it.

Blueberry Muffins

I made some blueberry muffins today thinking the boys would love them; I was wrong. Ermias took two bites and said, "not good." Isayas tried really hard to like it thinking it was cake. He ate a little and then picked out the berries and then ate a little bit more. He sat the half eaten muffin on the table and said, "all done."

I guess that just means more for us, because I think they taste amazing. Although tomorrow they could decide they like them, we just never know!

After we had the muffins, I showed them our blueberry bushes in our front yard. They picked a few ripe ones and ate them and liked them. I told them they were the same in the muffins, but I'm not sure they believed me! Well, actually the blueberries in the muffins were frozen ones from Trader Joe's not the ones we are growing, but still the same berry! Our plants aren't mature enough to have too many berries. Maybe next year.

Video: How do you say Rice Krispy?

Video: Predinner Music

Making jam

We got a 1/2 flat of strawberries at the Farmer's Market on Thursday. I started hulling the strawberries tonight while Waymond put the boys to bed. Then we made jam!

I saw a recipe online using frozen blueberries for jam so we did two jars of blueberry too, to use up the frozen ones in the freezer. Can't wait to try them!

We had just a little left over, not enough for a

jar. So, Waymond enjoyed it over the last of the vanilla ice cream! Such a creative guy! He didn't even dirty a bowl.

Special Delivery

We got a package in the mail yesterday and the boys are loving it!! Waymond's mom & dad sent the boys some decorations from the new Cars movie. They have no idea what the Cars movie is, but it's cars with eyes and teeth...what could be better?

We just borrowed the Cars (1st) movie from a friend tonight. So some time this coming week the boys will be introduced!

The garden

We've enjoyed our garden this year!

Our raspberries are finally coming in! I found several ripe ones the other day while watering and the boys quickly ate them all. I did get one. They didn't even save any for Waymond.

The lavender is coming along. Not sure what to do with it except enjoy the smell. I haven't figured out how to harvest the flowers to cook with....someday!

Who knew that planting kale would be such a hit. The boys love it and apparently had it or something like it in Ethiopia. I've been making kale chips, which is roast kale. Super tasty! Some times its all Ermias has for dinner.

Our creative kids

The boys are getting so much better at playing outside by themselves, which is amazing for me!! Today I was cleaning in the kitchen while they were outside riding their bikes. Isayas called for me to come and look and this is what I found:

They are really creative when they play. At this point they don't want us to recycle any boxes that we get. They are all played with! Yesterday this same box was a tv and Isayas made a remote out of a piece of paper. Sadly I didn't get a picture of it!

And since they found the bike helmet in the garage they fight to see who gets to wear it! They think its the coolest thing ever. Our neighbor boy has started wearing his too since the boys always have it on. So funny!

July 4th

We had a great, yet busy 4th of July. We started the day getting to sleep in a bit which was wonderful!! And then we joined others from our church and handed out free waters to those walking down to the Freedom Fair on the waterfront in Tacoma. The boys did great. No one could resist taking a free water from a cute little kid!

Ermias & I took a break and went home for a "rest" and then picked up Isayas and played at the spray park.

Bread

Anytime there is food to be eaten our boys request bread. Every time! Isayas says bread is his favorite food.

Today we had sandwiches for lunch; Ermias ate the crusts around the sandwich and left the middle. What kid do you know who just eats the crusts?

I'm wondering how long that will last. I'm sure in a couple of months they'll be requesting their sandwiches crust free!

Saturday fun

On Saturday we drove over the mountain to Wenatchee to our Adoption Agency's camping outing. Since I'm not a camper we just went for Saturday.

I think the boys would have just been happy to drive around all day in the car. They pointed out EVERY motorcycle that was on the road. We should have been counting!

A little coffee for the road!

It was a beautiful drive! Long, but beautiful. Up through the mountains.

There was water, food, games and lots of hanging out! It was so nice to talk to other families who have adopted from Ethiopia. I felt like we were normal!

This was taken by Ermias. He was a little too close!

Family shot!

Friday

Its been a long week here at the Hampton household (and the weekend looks like it's going to be busy too). So the boys and I went to the zoo today to walk around in the wonderful sun!!

Isayas measuring himself to the Polar Bears.

Eating is their favorite part of the zoo. Mom always has some snacks in her bag!

Camel ride anyone?

We spent most of our time with the tigers. If our zoo had lions, we would have spent most of our time with them.

I don't think I've ever seen a elephant sleeping! Had to get a picture.