Elrod 25 year celebration

I had the real pleasure of going back to Elrod Elementary School today - not to work, but to enjoy celebrating Elrod Elementary's 25th year celebration.  It was so nice being back with my former co-workers.  Most of us only keep in contact now through Facebook, so it was nice seeing all of them in person and being able to hug them and talk with them again.  Elrod really was a great place to work.

Here is a picture a friend took of me standing with Mr. and Mrs. Elrod.

It was so nice to see them again, and to have the opportunity to thank them for all they did for us when I was working there.  They really are very genuinely nice and generous people.

And a student from many years ago who now has a baby of her own!  This girl is as sweet now as she was back when she was a 5th grader!

My goodness

Here are some pictures that I hadn't posted yet.   Just a little behind but better late than never!

Rebeca had been off from work from about May 21 through May 26th, so I'm sure Scotty was so happy to have his mommy there for more than just a few hours in the evening.  They had their adventures during those 5 days just like he and Jason have their own adventures while Jason takes care of him.

On the 23rd, Rebeca sent this picture of Scotty enjoying a little "floor time".

One of their fun adventures was shopping for a new little seat to be entertained in!  He seems to love it!

And Jason sent this picture yesterday of he and Scotty enjoying a nice laugh!

More rain

Hard rains when we went to bed, and not sure, but it seems like it rained on and off during the night.  When we woke up, we heard thunder so we went out to get the newspaper and shortly after that, it poured!  Lots of yellow on the radar.  Deck seems to be holding up well.
As I'm writing this, it's 10:30 in the morning and it looks like it's practically night time.  Another line of heavy storms is about to hit!!

Anyway, here's how the deck looked at around 9am this morning.

And now, it's 10:33 and one of the storms is upon us!!  There are more on the way.  It has been raining hard non-stop.  It is SOOOOO nice to be here in this house where we can enjoy a hard rain.  With how much it has rained, though, and with how hard it has been raining and with how the radar continues to look (still with lots of yellow and some red), things can't be going that well for our friends still living on El Verde Rd.

Wet morning

Doesn't look all that promising to paint today. It rained pretty good in the morning BUT before it started, Guillermo was able to place a tarp over the deck in the hope it would stay dry and that the day would turn sunny enough to paint.

After checking the radar in the afternoon, it didn't look like anything was imminent so we started painting.  There was one tense moment when rain drops started to fall, and the deck actually did get a little wet, but we just kept thinking it's going to quit.  There was nothing out there on the radar.  So, we kept on painting even with the drops falling.  It did quit after a few minutes and there seemed to be no harm done so we kept on going until we finished the whole can of paint.  This paint seems to dry really fast, so that's a good thing.

 So, this is how the deck looked when we quit.  Not bad.  Next we need to paint the white between the boards but first we have to buy more paint.

As I'm writing this at around 11:30 at night, it is raining HEAVILY outside!  But we think the paint was dry enough to take the rain.  If not, well, then we'll have a red yard!

And a picture we got from Rebeca!  We did a Face Time with her and Scotty today, and he was doing so well sitting up on his own for a few seconds at a time!  Awww, he's growing up!

Still no painting

On Friday, it sprinkled just enough to annoy and today, Saturday, we got a little more than a drizzle.  Definitely not enough rain to make a difference but enough to make us not be able to paint.
We went to Mom's house today and cut away some Hackberry trees that were growing in her fence.  Then we went out to have some lunch.  It rained HARD while we were eating lunch and we had hoped it was doing the same at our house, but when we got home, it didn't seem very wet at all.

It dried up enough towards the evening so that Guillermo was able to sand what needed sanding on the deck so now maybe we can paint tomorrow!

Rails are up

We spent most of today finishing putting the rails around the deck. Not an easy job when trying to figure out how to space them evenly.  There must be some easy formula and we eventually ended up looking online for help in figuring it out.  It still didn't seem to come out perfectly even but it was better than how we had been doing it.  It was comfortable working in the morning when it was cloudy, but in the afternoon it was a little brutal in that hot sun.

Well, if it doesn't rain, (which it's forecast that it will but everyone knows how THAT goes), we'll paint the deck tomorrow.

Peas are a resounding NO!!!

According to Rebeca, Scotty had one of his biggest fits ever today after trying two spoonfuls of peas.  Took him 10 minutes to calm down.  Guess he truly honestly and seriously doesn't like peas.

A picture of him before trying those peas.

Garden update

Garden is doing well this year, much better than last year.

Corn is coming!

We've eaten lots of kale, Japanese greens and Swiss chard

The squash is starting to take over the compost bin.

The tomato plants look good but Guillermo is worried because he hasn't seen many bees and thinks that might affect the plants.

The boards are being placed back on the floor of the deck.

Guillermo says he feels like he has a little plot like in the community gardens we saw in Switzerland.  Which is a good thing - we were so impressed with those gardens over there.

Exciting times

Such a big boy in his chair!  Yesterday Rebeca started Scotty on pears.  He LOVED them.  So now he's tried bananas, carrots and pears.

Here he's playing the endless game of throwing something to the ground. 

It's pretty hot there in Tucson, so this is how to beat the heat.  It's called a Paper Towel Hat.  It's a wet paper towel put on his head.  Sometimes he wears a Paper Towel Shirt, too!!

And this picture is from today!

Guillermo's turn

To set off the security alarm.  The first thing he usually does every morning is turn off the alarm before getting the newspaper.  But this morning - he just opens the door first thing!  There goes the alarm.  So, we're scrambling to get on the phone as fast as possible to let the alarm company know it was our mistake. Ha- ha.  No harm done but it makes us cringe.  I did the same thing about a year ago.

My Mother's Day flowers are looking prettier than ever!

Jason sent us this picture yesterday.

And this picture today

So, today is Wednesday, and I forgot to mention that on Monday, the little napper that Scotty uses BROKE!!  I don't think Scotty was in it, but it's not good news because that little napper was Scotty's favorite place in which to sit around or to nap or whatever.  He had grown to feel very comfortable in it and since it was so portable, Rebeca and Jason (and even I when I was there) used it a LOT!!!  All day long!!  Jason went out that very evening to buy another napper but the store was sold out.  So, the picture above shows what Scotty has to use now.  It's a swing and it's not the same - it's definitely not as portable and small as the napper and not as comfy since the little napper had lots of mesh for good air circulation.  But for now, it will have to do.  This was the napper I'm talking about.  At least he got a good 4 months use out of it.

We celebrated Mother's Day today!

First with lunch at Viola's Mexican Restaurant

 Linda, Skye, Mom

Myra holding her son Flynn, Mom looking like a proud great-grandmother, and looking equally as proud Flynn's grandma Kathy

Chris, Flynn, Jacob, Skye and Myra

 Kathy, Mom, Linda and Guillermo

Then after a really nice and enjoyable lunch everyone came to our house for coffee and little lemon cakes.  Then we had fun looking at a few YouTube videos on TV.

with my camera

with Chris's camera

Something other than milk!

So, today was a big day for Scotty - and for Rebeca and Jason.  Today they gave Scotty his first taste of a food other than milk!  A little bit of banana - and Scotty liked it!

Here's Scotty sitting in his little tray chair like such a big boy!  And getting ready to enjoy a new taste.

This is all just so fascinating - and kinda weird!!!  They're not holding me in their arms, there's no nipple or bottle and this stuff on this hard thing feels a little thicker - oh but it's oh so good!!!!

Wow, this world is so exciting!  Who knew there was this OTHER stuff that could be eaten?????

Cutie!

Jason sent this picture today of Scotty enjoying his new swing!

Working hard

It was just going to be "take off a few boards and replace them".

It's almost like the whole deck is being redone.