Garden planting and more

It's 4:18pm, we have just finished 3 1/2 hours of planting our garden in the heat of the day. whew, I am so glad the process of chicken coop cleaning, spreading on the garden, then tilling and finally planting is finished. The whole process takes about 3 - 4 weekends worth of work, and we got it planted before June 1st...speaking of chickens, we just threw a 5 gallon bucket of organic eggs (8 dozen) back to the chickens today for munching on and have been for the last 3 weekends..we have surplus, anyone want to buy a dozen of organic eggs for $2.50/dozen, give us a jingle, post or email....

We planted beets, lettuce, chard, leeks, green and purple cabbage, sunflowers, tomatoes - many varieties, peppers- many varieties, cucumbers- many varieties, butternut and summer squash, broccoli, pole and bush beans, carrots, oregano, basil, cilantro, dill and melon..and in another smaller side garden because they are monsters when growing are jack--lantern, big max, blue and sweet pie pumpkins.

Ve finally has been identified as needing speech and language help so we finally have a 3 year plan to help with her processing...yah!!! Hopefully we will get her all figured out before she hits junior high.

I applied and got an interview for an elementary principal. Fifty -two people applied, twenty were interviewed. I heard I had done a good job, but I am not licensed yet, so I didn't get called for the second round of interviews. I thought I interviewed much better this time than I did a year or so ago, so I am improving.

 Mim's birthday celebration

 the three amigos on a paddle boat at cousin N's pond

 Tuki and her softball photos

 photos of our hibiscus in bloom

Mim's 4  x 4 relay qualified for Sectionals, but then they placed 5th at Sectionals, and only the top 3 teams qualify. Her 4 x 4 team did run a PR, around a 4:09, but not fast enough.

We have one full week of school left, a week off, and then summer school begins. All the girls are taking summer school, but I am taking my last three administration classes.

Spring Happenings

 Tuki in the Spring Concert

 Performing to her maximum

 Ve quieter but still performing well

 Ve now playing her recorder

 Robin photoed on Mother's Day incubating her eggs

 Mim running her first 800 of the season

 she took first for her heat

 Nestling one day old, and the egg is piping

 our resident chipmunk

 hen mallard with her five ducklings on our north pond

 Tuki at a free pitching clinic

 again

 and again..all the moves to teach them to become fastpitch pitchers

 sandhill crane incubating her eggs out in a marsh

 robin nestlings now 3 & 4 days old

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 Tuki on the A's team for the third and final year. Ve is off this season trying to heal a knee injury from Basketball..below photo is Tuki running home.

one egg in the Eastern Phoebe nest as of this past Saturday, May 24

All of the girls has been to our therapist Gretchen once.  Tuki needs to see her about every 3 weeks and Ve and Mim weekly. We have recently discovered while checking for ADD in Ve that she has PTSD, due to her trauma while living in Haiti, and her transitioning to her new life here. I suggested we test Mim too since she seems to wear her emotions on the outside whereas Ve has hers all contained on the inside. So just one more piece of the puzzle we are figuring out.

Mim turned 17 on Sunday, May 25th, we celebrated at home and then again at Pam ad Bob's last night.

The garden will be planted next weekend...

Robin

We watched this Robin build this nest and now she has been incubating for about one week..We'll keep and eye on her as she progresses through the nesting and fledglings stages with her young. I will try to take pictures as the days go on...The nest is located in a 8' Balsam fir.

Recap of the weekend

Yesterday we (Tuki & Ve & me) held the spring ecycle drive while Mim stayed finishing the coop cleaning. Then once the ecycle was over, Barb (who was visiting) took the the wee ones to the culture Festival while I continued to rake leaves and Mim continued to clean the chicken coops. Mim and I had a tussle again over the fact that she was in one of her rebellious moods and was trying to get out of her consequence of cleaning...

Today, Tuki served me breakfast, then I opened hand made gifts from all my girls. Later we finished out yard work and chicken coop work. About 1:00pm we went out to eat at El Mezcal restaurant. We came home, napped, and then intended to bike and walk the dogs but then it started to rain....so now we are all in the house sitting around like slugs and enjoying every minute of it..

Mother's Day and Tuki homecoming day

Today couples both the day I became a Mother 8 years ago along with the actual celebration of becoming and being a Mom  .Eight years ago I was in Guatemala holding Tuki in my arms and this time I wouldn't have to let her go again....She was coming home..Happy Homecoming Tuki.
What a blessed today is.....and what a emotional filled eight years it has been with not only Tuki, but Ve and Mim as well.

Working hard

another day of raking, coop cleaning, tree trimming, dog walking and biking....loved every minute of it too, but still need to finish the coops and raking..hopefully by next weekend. Even though we worked hard this entire weekend, there is something wonderful about being outside at home bonding with your yard together as a family after a hard winter....this weekend reminded me of my childhood, my entire family working in the yard together, laughing, joking, arguing, and yet content because we were all together.....

Rough week with Mim

First let me say that behavior contracts don't work on children through adoption...they will break it and you will have to enforce it. Because they aren't really keen on the idea of cause and effect, they don't hold to any consequences from bad behavior.

Mim has had a rough week with me and now a run in with a student teacher. She has only a few times taken her rotten attitude out of the home, but this past week a student teacher had to experience it. Mim feels since she doesn't like him, so she can be rude, not listen, tell him how to act, and be just a turd all around..very similar to what she does to me when we are going at it. She was suppose to lose track according to her behavior contract because of all her negative behaviors this week, but we agreed to switch consequences at her request. Now rather than losing the rest of the season of track she has agreed to clean out the chicken and duck coops by herself. That has freed me and the wee ones up to do other spring chores...
She will be starting to see the therapist on May 21st...can't wait

 Mim cleaning the coop

 the manure pile outside the coop that needs to be forked onto the garden

 the vegetable seeds in the garden

the garden as it is today, just ready for the manure and eventually seeds and plants