Summer School

Today was Ermias' last day of summer school.  He learned so much about Mexico, Panama, & Peru.  And, he had a great time.

At the celebration his class sang a song in Spanish.  Waymond recorded it.  I'll post it tomorrow.

My dad

There are so many times that Isayas reminds me of my dad; they would have been great friends!

We went to have some coffee as a family and I couldn't resist snapping this photo because he totally looked like my dad!

Grocery Outlet

While Ermias was in summer school Isayas and I went to the Grocery Outlet.  Isayas had the time of his life!  Since it was just me and him, he got to browse at everything while I was shopping on the same isle.

Lucky for him the toiletry isle is also the toy isle (got to love discount stores).  Plus he got to pick out cookies!

Ethiopian

We had a chilly day a few days ago (in the 60's) and Isayas was frozen.  He wrapped one of our blankets around his head to warm up.

There are so many times when I remember they are from Ethiopia.  I had to take a picture because he totally looks like he got off the airplane!

Got to love his sense of style.  I hope he keeps it!

Relaxing

We were at a friend's birthday party this last weekend and Ermias found the best spot!  He enjoyed the hammock, even when he fell out (must be why the cushion is underneath).

Chilling at the park

We been spending our days at the park.  Waymond got me an early birthday gift of a giant umbrella with sides so I can have some shade.  The boys love to chill in the new umbrella!

Birthday boy

Isayas will be seven on August 4th!  He's had a count down going for about six months now.  I'm not sure he could actually be more excited.

We've updated his Amazon Wish List (see the link on the right) and he's constantly telling me things he wants to do at his party.

One year and three months in America and his likes include, Star Wars, Super Heros, Phineas & Ferb (especially Perry the Platypus), Cheetos (especially hot ones thanks to his school friends), Doritos, the Wii and anything controlled by a remote (especially cars)!

Sports

This has been a favorite picture so far of the summer.

Waymond plays catch in the backyard with the boys after work sometimes.  Neither of them are baseball lovers, but they all enjoy this.

Before the boys came home we found two kid sized gloves at yard sale and a school rummage sale.  They are great gloves and were cheap!

The boys try playing together, but usually one of them ends up catching the ball with their face instead of the glove!

Drawings

We go through A LOT of paper around here.  The boys love to draw.  They are in to drawing super heros a the moment.  This is Ermias' version of Batman on a building.

Lego creations

One of Isayas' latest Lego creations.  He has an amazing way to see something and then create it, either in Legos or drawing.  It's a skill we need to make sure he keeps up and improves on!

BINGO

We've been practicing our numbers by playing BINGO.  This has been another way the boys earn time for video games.

Isayas has been enjoying BINGO.  It's been super helpful for him to practice the bigger numbers.  They spend Kindergarden counting to 100 by ones, fives & tens.

Video Games

Our boys love video games.  They ask all the time if they can play.  I knew this summer would be filled with lots of asking and more "no"s than "yes"s when they asked so we came up with a new plan.  The boys get to earn time playing video games when they read a book (for Isayas) and Ermias earns time when he practices writing his alphabet.

Never before has Isayas come in from playing and  asked, "Mom, can I read you a book?"  It's really been motivating him!  I've been keeping a record of the books he's read so at the end of the summer he can see how well he has done.

Our 4th

We had a very uneventful 4th of July.  The boys wore their patriotic tie-dyed shirts their cousins made for them and we played at the park.

Later in the evening we grilled out and roasted marshmallows in the backyard.

 I asked Isayas to give me a pose and this is what I got.

These were the only fireworks we purchased.  The boys had the best time throwing these around!  Maybe next year we'll move up to smoke bombs!

Summer time

The boys have been enjoying their summer.  We've spent many of our afternoons at our local parks playing in the splash park.

Ermias has recently found that crossing his eyes gets a good laugh.

 A little lounging lunch time in the park.

Waymond has joined us a couple of times on his lunch break!  Needless to say, the boys love it when that happens.

Superheros

We've been spending our days checking out different parks.  This year Metro Parks summer program has a superhero's theme...and Isayas is taking advantage of it all!

He swam in the wading pool for awhile, played in the organized games and them became a super hero.  He even wore this while playing kick ball!

Blueberries

We recently found out that Isayas has tested out of ELL (English Language Learner); its the new term for ESL (English as Second Language).  Therefore he cannot attend the ELL Summer School.  He is such a smart boy!  A year and a half with the language and apparently he's up to part with native speakers his age!

So when we dropped Ermias off at Summer School this morning we checked out Tacoma's Blueberry Park.

Sadly, it's just not time for blueberries to be fully ripped so we mostly walked around.  The place is HUGE.  This picture shows one of three blueberry patches.  And, its free for anyone to come pick.

We'll be heading out again to check it out while Ermias is in school.  We spent an hour walking the path and foraging for ripe blueberries.

We did see some amazing wild flowers along the way.  A cloudy but nice morning.

And although Ermias is the youngest in his summer school class his teacher said he did really well.  She paired him with an older student who read to him.