Happy Birthday

to my amazing husband! The best father and husband anyone could ever ask for. The rock of our family. The person who knows my mood before I do. The one and only human being that can make me laugh even when I want to cry. The only man I know who is capable of displaying tough love and downright silliness at the same time. Happy Birthday, Babe!

The Apples of My Eye

What a beautiful weekend! It was sunny and in the high 60s to low 70s with a nice little breeze. We went to Apple Acres Farm to do our apple picking. Do you remember this post? It's hard to believe that he was that little!

You Can Take the Boy Out of Ethiopia......

I'm sure I've mentioned before that when Petros lived in Ethiopia, they had goats (meich'chos). Quite a bit of the memories that he shares with us involve the goats or the cow. From what we gather, his oldest sister, Benshne, was in charge of the goats and Petros loved to play with them and to help out-one time he even lost one, and it made him cry!

I took Petros and his cousin Avery to Smiling Hill Farm yesterday for an ice cream and to play. They have several goats, a baby cow and ponies for kids to feed and pat. As I was getting them ready to leave, I heard a lady say, "Um, the goats are supposed to stay behind the gate, right?" A goat had broken out of it's humongous enclosure!

Without missing a beat, my child gets off the train that he was playing on (while all of us moms are standing around trying to figure out what to do) and herds it back behind the fence. We're all looking at each other in complete disbelief as he runs back to his train completely unaware that anyone thought what he did was pretty cool!

When we got in the car, I told Petros how cool it was that he did that, because nobody else knew what to do. His response: "It's not that big of a deal, Mommy. It was just one."

First Day of School

Preschool that is! This day came with a lot of nervous anticipation for me. Until this day, Petros has been left with very few people that are not Dan or I. 4 people to be exact. All of them immediate family. Some may think that it's a little insane cautious, but that's the way I like it.

We chose a preschool that's curriculum includes many things that are important academically,and important to us as a family. They celebrate diversity better than any establishment I've seen here in Maine!

Petros was super excited to be there. This was several months in the making. At first, he told me daily about his plan to stay home by himself with Maggie, the computer, television and my iPhone as entertainment (which would double as a communication device should he need something)! By yesterday, he was ready to roll! He had a great day, and the teachers could not stop gushing about him when I picked him up.

Kancamangus Adventure

This Labor Day, we decided to go with Dan's parents to the Kancamangus Highway in New Hampshire. It's a great spot that goes up into the White Mountains with all kinds of stops to hike or explore. We loved stopping on Loon Mountain where we took the gondolas up the mountain and hiked through some tight caves. (Or as Petros likes to call them, "hugging" caves).

Nolan Rand Stone

So it's super late (a whole month!) but here are pictures of our nephew Nolan's Birthday! We all love him so much!

My Little Fish!

Head over to my mother-in-law's blog to see a cute 30-second video of my little fish!

Ethiopian Culture Camp

Last weekend, we headed to Rindge, New Hampshire for The East Coast Ethiopian Culture Camp. Not only was it great to see all kinds of Ethiopian kiddos running around playing, getting their hair braided, taking Amharic classes, having a blast at Field Day, etc., but we also got to take classes that ranged from hair care, to transracial adoption, to heritage tours. Perhaps the best part though, was the older kids panel. We were able to listen to teenagers recount their experiences growing up Ethiopian in America. I also can't forget the Ethiopian dancing both nights. There was fabulous music and lots of shoulder movement!! On the way home, Dan and I were nearly speechless for much of the ride. We didn't want the weekend to end! It definitely left us hungry for another visit to Ethiopia. (Hopefully sooner rather than later!)

You Are a Bad, Bad Blogger!

Yeah, I pretty much know that I'm slacking. I'd love to say that I'll do better, but who knows if that's true or not. I'll try to do better. I always said that I wouldn't be one of those people who got her kid home then disappeared from the cyber-world!

We've had a busy couple of weeks. Here are some highlights:

Visiting the deer and other animals at the Maine Wildlife Park

Building sand castles
Playing in the yard with enormous beach balls that Nana likes to buy
Learning how to roller skate

Pushing Avery on the swings

Taking Daddy and Papa to a Red Sox game and to Addis Red Sea for Father's Day

Things continue to go well here in the Engelhardt household. We're as busy as ever, and spending as much time outdoors as we can. (I say 'as we can' because Maine has had considerably more rainy days than sunny days this summer.)