Thursday, November 29, 2007

Thanksgiving

It was so great to be able to have everyone together for thanksgiving from the Budd side of the family. It doesn't happen often enough. The food was amazing as usual. Luann is a great cook and took care of everything. It was outstanding.


We always get so full after family dinners that we have to take a walk to the park to burn off some calories. It helps us not feel so guilty for eating so much.


Our amazing family photo.

The kiddos with Great Gandma CeCe.

Just the kids. So cute. They got the matching clothes from Luann and Kevin from their trip to Hawaii.

The kids played constantly. They loved the balloons and balls.

Maggie was overjoyed to have Micah want to sit on her. She was a trooper. I did make sure Micah was not too rough.

Grand Prix

Before Thanksgiving break my students raced their gand prix cars that they had been working on for the last week. They always have lots of fun making the cars and it relates great to what I teach about speed, acceleration, friction, gravity, momentum etc...


Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Softball Game

The teachers at my school each year play football agains John Muir Middle School, our big rival, in order to get some spirit going for the canned food drive. We compete against John Muir for cans as well. We usually in the past have won the football games but they have been getting pretty rough and teachers were getting hurt. This year we decided to play soft ball instead. These are some pictures of the game.


One of the other teachers daughters LOVED Micah. I think Micah got a little overwhelmed by her but for the most part he liked her.


This is my face of intimidation. Unfortunately I think that I ended up looking intimidated rather than the other team.


I got a base hit my second time at bat but we still lost 22 - 1. Yikes!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Micah's stroller

Micah loved pushing strollers at other houses we went to so I decided to get him one. Of course he threw the bear out that I had put in it and put in a basketball instead. Hmmm...

LA

Last weekend Jeff and I went down to LA to see family. It was so nice to see everyone. We were able to see Dad and Susan a few times. Jeff and Jake even helped Dad reroof part of his house. We went up to Big Bear to see Mom and Jim. We hadn't been up in almost a year to Big Bear. Unfortunately Jim escaped my camera again. Bummer. Uncle Steve was up at their house so we also saw him. I wish we lived closer but at least I get to see everyone every couple of months.





Friends

We had some friends over for dinner the other night. Kim and Brian are great people. We had a good time.


Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Going on

Not too much is going on here but I felt like I should post something. Jeff has set up his next job at the new church. It is called Great Exchange and it is pretty big. It is a church plant, 5 years old, of about 600 people. Of that about 85 percent are Asian American. I thought is was not considered a multi-ethnic church but a member of the church explained that it is very rare for so many different ethnic groups within the Asian American community to come together. Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese and others so it IS actually considered to be a multi-ethnic church. That is cool. I have mixed feelings about the church. I feel like I need to get involved and learn a lot because that is why they want Jeff and I to wait 6 months before planting our own church. So we can take time to learn from a different church than the one we have been at for the last 10 years, but as the same time I don't really want to get involved because I know that in less than a year I will be leaving that church and all of the relationships I have put time into. Kind of a funny situation to be in. So we will have to see how it goes.
At the same time we have been thinking about moving into the community that Jeff wants to plant the church in but rent prices are crazy. Jeff and I are SO lucky to have what we do for the price. I just don't think it makes sense to move if we are going to get a lot less for a higher price rent but it is frustrating to be thinking about church planting in a neighborhood that you can't afford to live in.
My school told me that they will need me to work full time next year so I am a little depressed about that. I really don't want to have to work full time. I always said that I wouldn't work full time when I had kids but it seems like every year I have justified why it would be OK to work a little more. I ask myself when I am 80 years old will I regret the fact that I worked instead of staying home with my kids. It woould require some big sacrifices on our part in order to live on one salary that I just don't think Jeff and I would be willing to make. I am trying to ask the district if they could find anyone to work part time so that I can also work part time. I will also be looking. Prayer would be appreciated.
Micah is doing well. He understand a lot of what we say it seems. I really need to start watching what I say around him. We just broke out the playdough and he loves it. He love to hit things with sticks or hangers or anything that can increase his reach. He is definitely not a stacker like Emily, he likes to knock my blocks down. His rule seems to be no stacking of blocks over two in height. Micah still loves to help. He likes to climb and go outside. He is still in love with cats and dogs. He is nice to the cat now most of the time. He likes piggy back rides and rides on your shoulders. He loves to play, play, play and will pull you by the finger to make sure that you come play with him. He loves to "read" books and to watch videos on the computer. I think he could watch videos all day long. His favorite videos are of his friend Madeline. I think she might be his favorite person in the world. He get so excited to see her. That is who he is chasing in the previous video. He also really likes Madeline's mom, Michelle. Sometimes even when I am around he wants to sit in her lap or have her hold his hand. I am not used to being rejected and I don't like it, but I am glad he likes her so much since Michelle babysits for me somewhat often. Micah likes to make rules and have you stick to the rules. He does enforce his rules which I guess is only fair since I get to have so many rules for him, half of which he probably doesn't even understand. He is usually a very good kid.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Halloween Video

Micah looked so darn cute in his Halloween costume.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Happy Halloween - Part 2

That night we went out with some friends of ours trick-or-treating. Somehow I didn't really get many pictures of my friends.

This first one is with Jeff in his 70's outfit. He did have some kids ask him if he was wearing a wig. : )

This next picture is one of kids we went trick-or-treating with. I thought it was a cool picture.

OK, now for you Shrek fans. My friend Gina dressed up as Fiona. She was amazing and she madeher own costume. She looked just like Fiona. Her son Jaliel was baby Shrek. How cute!


Here we are after returning home. Kevin and Luann came over to visit.

I was able to get Kevin's leg.

Micah got Grandma to try on my wig and glasses. A true 70's woman. : )