Another Week Come and Gone

Nothin' better than a can of rootbeer and icecream.
Papa's earning a lot of points with Maicol by making some cool modifications to his bike!
They all help hauling wood to the back yard, but Maicol gets to give rides on the way back.
Mama and Juan Pablo taking a break from organizing the garage.

More soccer games have come and gone. It doesn't seem like it's been a week since I wrote last. Today (Sunday) was a big day for getting some work done out side! After Church and eating lunch with Jonathan we went to work cleaning out and organizing the garage. It was getting really hard to get around in there. Once I got the tiller out I figured I should go ahead and get to work on the garden. We are celebrating this year because the rasberries we planted last year are beginning to send up alot of new canes. We've been trying to grow rasberries without success for several years. The asparagus is also doing great. So anyway, we went to the store to get some manure and peat moss to mix in the soil. Of course Maicol had to ask what manure was. When I told him it was cow poop he wasn't too excited about helping to spread it. He decided he would be much better suited for spreading the peat moss. The tiller wore me out, but it was good to get the soil ready. Of course Andrew had to touch the muffler guard while it was still hot, but it didn't burn too much. He also fell at the store while we were getting plants for the garden and almost busted open his cheek. We figure he'll probably have a black eye in the morning. Later on Maicol admitted to me that he had accidentally caused Andrew to fall while they were horsing around. He felt really bad about it. Those boys really love each other. And they don't leave any doubt in my mind that they love us. Sometimes it seems like they're doing everything they can to drive me crazy; but other times, when I reflect on how far they have come in just 7 months, I am overwhelmed by how much love they have to give and how blessed we are to have them.
Time for a little shut eye. Don't forget to count your blessings too!
Dan

1st Soccer Games

All right guys, I know we haven't had any practice or experience, and we don't have a clue what we're doing, so just get out there and have a blast!

Great game, guys!

Rats! How come I'm stuck on the sidelines? I'm as good as those guys, ain't I Dad?

Doin' a great job so far!

Good game, good game, good game, good game, good game, good game.....

Well, today was the first set of soccer games for Juan Pablo and Maicol. Fortunately, competition is not stressed in Upwards Soccer. The boys were only able to go to one practice before the first games. Guess that's what you call "on the job training". It was a bit cool, but they had a great time. Maicol was proud that he made a goal all by himself! Bethany was home and got to watch the games too. Grandma McCarty is going to be up from Peebles this Sunday to pick up her computer from repairman Jonathan, so all seven Bakers and Jean will be able to enjoy a nice get together.

Hope you enjoy these pictures from the games.

Have a nice weekend.

Dan

Picking up Sticks and Marshamllows

What a beautiful day here! We managed to get our schoolwork done and get outside by 2pm. It would have happened much sooner except Juan was very reluctant to complete his work. We did some cleaning up in the backyard, jumped on the trampoline, and tossed a ball.

Maicol moved wood from the neighbors house to our yard. He has been wanting to get a job to earn money, so this was something that Dan told him he could do. He worked some today, but still has several more days worth of work to get it all done. I found a great way to get all of the sticks picked up in the backyard - start a fire and let them throw the sticks in it. Juan and Andrew are very good at picking up sticks with the proper motivation.

After Dan got home we cooked hamburgers over the fire. They are so much better cooked outdoors. Maicol ate 3! He barely eats three meals a day, so that is alot for him. We also roasted marshmallows. I had to put a limit on them, or they would eat the entire bag!

Hoping for an even warmer day tomorrow.
Karen

These things are great!

Finger-Lickin' good!

A little extra fiber is good for you, right?

Wish you could see how dirty his face really is! Must have been a very fun day.

This his how you do it Mami.

A lesson in marshmallow roasting from the master.

Tax Time and Keeping Them Busy

We thought spring was here , but I guess we were mistaken. It's back to coats and firing up the fireplace insert. After that little taste of spring, we really, really can't wait for spring!
It is also coming down to the wire to get our taxes done. You'd think since we're getting money back we (Dan) would have done this a long time ago, but if you thought that you'd be wrong. :) That self employment stuff (and not the greatest in recording everything) makes it alot more work. I got my part done - adding up our adoption expenses. Now my job is keeping the boys busy and away from Dan so he can get it all figured out. Hence the pictures today. I started out playing cars with them. That led to getting a large piece of cardboard and making a road for the cars with various other things one might see while driving the car. Then I made a couple of long "chutes" out of cardboard to race cars in. When the fun from that had died down I resorted to the following - washable markers. I started with drawing a spider on Andrews hand and it just increased from there. They wanted to be dalmation dogs, so they spotted themselves with a black marker. Then they wanted Spiderman webs on their tummies, spiders on their hands and legs, bugs, etc. Andrew just wanted to draw on himself. They were quite a mess, but had a good time and were very occupied. A good, long bath with plenty of soap took care of most of the marker. Just a little residual is left. Maicol told me he'd need to wear a long sleeved shirt to church tomorrow so no one could see what's left of the spider webs on his arms.
Now, what will I be able to come up with tomorrow to keep them busy? :)
Karen


Dalmation spots, spider webs, spiders, bugs, and just alot of marker going on.

Spring?

It seems that it may be spring here in Indiana. We are cautiously optimistic. It has been in the 60's and the boys think it is warm enough to go without a shirt! I guess when it's been winter for so long 60 seems pretty warm. They have been out playing and spending alot of time jumping and playing on the trampoline. Problem is we have to play too and they are wearing us (me) out! I thought we got the trampoline for the kids?! We did have a great time today playing with them tho.
We took all of them to start their immunizations today. It's taken us awhile to be able to have a day where both of us could go and the health department is open. They did pretty well. A little crying from the younger two, but no kicking and screaming. Andrew cried until he saw the container of candy and then he stopped crying immediately! With him candy can cure any problem and cure it really quickly. Now we have to figure out how to get them back in a month! They will know what the deal is next time.
Here are some pictures of a fire pit we made Saturday night. We had been hauling home large pieces of stone from my Mom's house for a year to do some landscaping with. We weren't getting very far with that, so decided to do this. I think it looks good and will work really well. Our neighbor Scott came over and joined us for the inaugural fire. Only problem is it stays light so late now we have to let the boys stay up in order to enjoy a far after it gets dark. Maybe we'll have to have some daylight fires.
Hoping for more warm days.

Karen

Where is Spring?

The days just seem to fly by. Guess it's that way with most of us, huh? Nothing special going on. Still waiting for spring to show up here. I keep thinking it will be any day now, but we can't seem to warm up much. I did wade through the mud to play on the trampoline a little with the boys. Dan has too.

We have managed to do well with school work this week. Some days it goes so well, and other days they don't want to do anything and don't remember anything. How is that possible? I've bribed them a little this week. Maicol and Juan are both very interested in animals. I found a couple of masks of animals for them to color and cut out. That has provided incentive to get the work done. They really like pretending to be animals - sound effects and jumping and running included.

We decorated sugar cookies tonight. Fun included with a little something to eat. Andrew is really just interested in eating. The other two realized they were too full from just eating dinner to have more than one cookie - but not Andrew. He's just a little eating machine - especially when it comes to sweets.

Have a fun weekend.

Karen