quiet weekend

Last week was about as close to a quiet week as we ever have. We went to the zoo Saturday AM w/ our friends Michelle and Bri; and Jennifer and Elaine. We were SO tired when we left. We hung out at home in the afternoon. Sunday we went to church in the AM and did some back to school shopping in the afternoon. Oh, yeah, just 2 weeks away! In this photo, they are playing on Wilson's new toy.

A good friend who I don't see much recently asked me to tell him about the boys. I'm going to copy in some of my response for you serious readers.

Jackson turned 6 in April and will start first grade this fall. He’s very smart and witty. He talks constantly; loves sports; sleeps well; eats well and is generally fun to be around. He is very photogenic as you see, but he’s handsome in person too. His fave sport is basketball right now, but he did very well in soccer and Tball last season. He’s in a sports camp this summer and its nonstop kickball, basketball, dodge ball… He loves it. He’s a pretty good reader and can do some math. We are watching the Planet Earth documentary together when we have time at night. We cook our own popcorn for it. He loves to help around the house, but has started asking to be paid for it. I’ve told him everyone has responsibilities that come with the privilege of being in this home, but he can volunteer for extra duties for low pay. He recently told me that he’s saving money so we can get a bigger house. He likes to be hugged but he’s too big to kiss now (according to him). He is very good with directions and can tell people how to get around town- or at least the places we go. He’s fairly well traveled, having been on an Alaskan cruise, to a Green Bay home game, and visited in San Fran, Dallas, Chicago X 2, Nashville x 3, Little Rock, Mammoth Cave, KY, St. Louis and the Miss Gulf Coast, which he loves. He is fed up with flying though, so our trip to Chicago over Mem Day weekend was via the overnight train. It was a great adventure. Oh, and of course he went to Guatemala twice. He’s traveled and flown more than some adults. He loves our church. He can be over-dramatic, like at church last night when I told him he’d waited too late to get an ice cream (I was wrong) and he melted down on the spot. He is a great helper w/ Wilson. They truly had love at first sight. They are big huggers. We also have dance sessions. We have a Go Fish (Christian kids band) CD that we rock out to. It’s like Pavlov when the music comes on- they start hopping. In a lot of ways he’s a classic first born- on the straight and narrow and wanting to please. I think because it was just the two of us for so long he has this idea that he gets an equal vote with me on family matters. Like on the topic of siblings…how many, gender, etc.

Wilson will be 2 on Monday the 14th. Wilson’s 5 month homecoming anny is Sat [July 12] and that’s when he’ll have a small birthday party. He has had almost no transition issues. We’ve had small bumps in the road but not b/c he emigrated- because he is a child. He sleeps and eats well. He’s got a super sweet personality. He doesn’t talk much and is in speech therapy, but I’m not too worried because he seems to understand very well and I think his “delays” are consistent with a child who heard Spanish only for the first 19 months, then switched to 95% English. I do speak a little Spanish to him- as much as I know. Last night he said “rana” and I realized he was pointing to a picture of a frog in his book. So of course he is right, but they wouldn’t know that at his daycare. He’s so small, I refer to him as pocket sized. <>