Too long

It has been too long. I have pictures to post from camping but those will come later. A quick update first.

School has started. I went back almost 2 weeks ago. My students showed up last Monday. I think I have a really good group of kids this year so I am excited. I also love it that I am down to 3 periods this year. I feel like I barely start my day and it is over and I get to go home. I love that.

Kaia is getting so big. She had been grabbing and holding stuff for a while. This week she learned how to sit up really well on her own. Only once in a while does she topple over. Micah and Kaia are best buds. Kaia loves Micah and he loves her. It is so cute to watch her whole face light up when she sees him. I think Micah thinks she is his own personal living toy. He has never been really jealous that I can see. You should see some of their screaming matches. They scream back and forth at each other and love it. He always wants her to lay on him and he is so good with her. We will see how things go when she starts taking his toys. : )

Jeff is still looking for work. We will see where God takes us. Jeff has a couple of possibilities. We are even looking outside of San Jose. I told him only warm places. I don't do cold. And since I am 51% of God's will for our lives, I get warmth. : )

Oh, I bought a bunch of AIO (all in one) with pockets, one size fits all Coolababy diapers off of ebay. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them. They are so easy to use and clean. You can get all you need for about $200 and then all you are paying for is detergent and water. I just run them through a whole cycle (with soak) two times and they are so clean. I even let the poop stay on them and crustify. Am I getting too graphic? I love them! And not one more diaper into the trash. Yeah! Anyway, if anyone else has a baby you will probably get one from me to try it. I don't know if I would have tried it except that my friend got me a diaper service and I wanted to wash them on my own so I looking into something easier.

So life is good. Prayer for a job for Jeff. It has been several months now of looking and we are getting antsy.

Now I just need to post those camping pics....

My cute kids

Micah's 3 year check up and pics

We went to see the doctor today for Micah. Everything looked great except that Micah was a little on the hefty side. The doctor said that we really need to make sure that Micah is eating healthy and not so many empty calories. I think he was like 80% height and 98% weight. We don't let Micah eat terrible but we are not as strict as we could be. I think that some of it is just that Micah likes to eat. We will have to see where we are at in 6 months.

As I believe Sarah started, I will include some pictures from the past with a couple recent to see Micah growing up.


THE BEGINNING





ONE




TWO





THREE






Goodness I love this kid.

Portland/Seattle Vacation

Here are some pictures of our vacation to Portland and Seattle. There are a ton and they are all mixed up so I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves. We had a great time visiting first with the Portland Budds and then more of Jeff's family in Seattle.

Let's go to the beach

Our first but hopefully not last visit to the beach this summer.

Love the colors of the buildings.

Picking a good spot.

Napping



Exploring.



Sand digging.

It was a pretty fun and exciting day.

Goodbye beach, we hope we see you again soon.

Micah, friends and picture painting

This is Jeff's view of Micah. He is way down there.



When Heather and I were in the house talking Jeff and Kevin made a fire pit in the backyard. Very manly. They even found some Christmas lights to decorate with. What do you do with a fire pit? Roast marshmallows and make smores of course.



Kevin teaches photography at a college so he showed us some functions on my camera like changing aperture and shutter speed. We had fun with that and did some picture painting. We used the outdoor lights, a flashlight and laser to paint. These were some of my favorites.










Can you see Micah the ghost in this one?

Camping!

I love camping. We went camping for a couple of days last week. Get ready for a ton of pictures. I couldn't help it.

Give a boy a stick/hoe and what do they do with them....


We went with Maija and Michelle, friends of ours.


Micah checking out Maija's daughter Qena.


Micah and James are king of the rocks.


But maybe they will let Qena join them.


Qena's a cutie.


When you are camping you need a little tent playing.


A little sun baking.


Some smore making.


And marshmellow eating. Even if they are a little charred.


Ah, like father, like son.





Michelle acting out the Statue of Liberty!




Maybe these girls burned their marshmallows?


And what camping trip would be complete without a hike?


And a break.


With water to put our feet in.


And snacks to eat.


And rocks to climb.



And logs to sit on.


We weren't able to drive to the site so we had to cart all of our stuff in. Kind of a pain but it made for some cute pics.




Goodbye camping and big trees. Until next time.

Water Park

While we were in LA Pam brought us over to a park that had a water section. It was a really good water section. I wish I would have got a picture of the whole thing.

Dean wasn't sure what he thought of the water. He was a little timid at first but then got more into it.


Notice how he is leaning away from the water.


He thinks that is cool.


Maybe Pam is giving him some words of encouragement.


Still leaning away.


Well maybe I could try it....Micah is wet and he is fine.


Yeah Dean bravely touching the water.


Micah had fun.



Snack time.


Kaia decided to stay in the stroller and blow bubbles.

More of LA

We were able to see Dad and Susan when we were down. Before you scroll down see if you can see something interesting about the first picture of Susan holding Kaia, then scroll down.


Susan gives her dog some ointment for his eyes. It helps with his cataracts. She said she must have had some on her hand and then rubbed her eye. I think it acts similar to a muscle relaxant to the iris wasn't contracting like it should and stayed open. Weird. It went away after about a day.

We had fun the next day playing in Pam and Jake's back yard. It is huge. The house is huge. They bought it with another couple and are sharing it. It is split up great and I think it is like 3,600 square feet. It is a great house. Jeff calls it the compound.


Dad and Susan brought over this huge bat and sword. Micah had a blast playing with them.




Of course Micah got a bag of goodies with cars, balloons, glow sticks and some other stuff I can't remember.


Micah and Dean are good buds.

We had hamburgers and hot dogs. Yum.


And we played late into the night. I love warm summer nights.