Micah's Birthday - Part 1

This is Micah's birthday cupcakes. He is totally into cars and balls but for cupcakes the balls worked better so I went with that.

Micah waiting for his guests to arrive.

This is Megan and her three kids Blake Audrey and Tyler. I haven't seen them for a while so it was nice to catch up.

This is Wendie, my ex-neighbor and her two kids Kiely and Stevie. I miss having them next door.

Lastly is Michelle, you can see her black shirt and jean skirt with Madeline and James.

Megan and Michelle.

Jeff also joined us for a little while.

The kids had fun playing in the back yard.

We made visors as a craft idea since it was neat and really easy. I got the idea from my neighbor Wendie. You just buy the foam visors and foam stickers. Both were 50% off at Michaels also. Perfect. I thought they came out cute.

Micah getting ready to blow out his candles.

I can't remember what Micah and Madeline were saying here but it was funny.

Micah opening his gifts.

We had a good time. Now onto the nap and part 2 of Micah's birthday adventures.

Dishwasher

When we first decided to move and I heard that we did not have a dishwasher I thought I may cry. I hate dishes and all I could think of was the torture of washing dishes for years to come. Then one day someone mentioned something about a portable dishwasher. Seriously. This is not made up? There just may be hope? But then I can't remember if there is room in the kitchen for one. I pray. Upon seeing the kitchen for the second time I see there is a big empty spot right next to the stove and close to the sink. My prayers have been answered! I look up portable dishwasher on craigs list and purchase my very own dishwasher for $250. This dishwasher has been fabulous. It works as good as or better than the one at our old house. Also, when we move I think I can sell this dishwasher for almost what I paid for it although I would have paid the whole $250 just to not do dishes for a year. The only downside I can see of the portable is that you can not use your sink when it runs because it attaches to the faucet so we just run it when we are leaving or at night. Now some people think I am silly (mom and dad) for my passion about this topic but I don't care. I am excited not to do dishes. Would you have bought the dishwasher?

The latest haps

Michelle e-mailed some pictures to me of recent events so I thought I would share. The first is Madeline and Micah at Happy Hallow.

This is Micah and James at the Japanese Gardens. We are on our way to Happy Hallow.

This is from our swim lessons. Michelle with James and me with Micah.

Micah and Madeline at Jeff's birthday party.

Micah being silly.

Our latest event besides Micah's birthday which will soon be blogged is our friends Laura and Freddy's wedding. I work with Laura and we went to Costa Rica together to learn spanish a few years ago. Jeff performed the ceremony and he did a great job.

The happy couple as they exit.

Friends from school. First is Jenni and Jim. I also went with Jenni to Costa Rica. She doesn't work with us any longer but we still keep in touch. On the other side is Kim and Brian. I also work with Kim and we are pretty close. All of these gals are cool.

Ashley Budd watched Micah for us so we did not have to take him to the wedding and then she dropped him off at Michelle's house half way through. This is a picture of Micah and Madeline asleep. Michelle said that she read them books and played sleepy music for them. As they fell asleep Madeline would give Micah a kiss and then he would rub her arm and such until they fell asleep. How cute.

Oh yeah...

Oh yeah... did I forget to mention that I am pregnant? I really need to call the doctor and schedule an appointment. Whoo hooo! Number 2 on the way. What is really cool is that I think I am due some time in March so I will be able to take off the rest of the school year and summer break. I won't have to go back to work (if I do) until the next school year. That is 5 months! Perfect!

Trip to LA

I went down to LA last weekend and had fun seeing everyone. We went over to David and Melissa's on Sunday to see their new pool and more importantly to swim in their new pool. Very cool. Everyone had a good time.

This first picture is of a tricycle that Mom and Jim bought a long time ago but it is hard to reach the pedals for little ones so the adults had to take over. Micah loved riding in it.

The finished pool. Yeah! This is the reef for little kids, dogs or anyone who just wants to get their feet wet.

Pam and Melissa take care of Dean.

Mom and Kiya.

Caiden and Micah got along really well. Caiden was good with Micah and shared his toys and knowledge of how things work. I think Caiden is giving Micah instructions here.

More hanging out.

This is when David put poor Flash in the grotto. Dad is trying to help Flash out. Flash is not a water dog so he is a little scared of the water.

Micah and Caiden enjoy their popsicles together.

This is really sad, but this is the best picture I got of Dean. I have got to start getting my camera out more!

Visit from my mom and Jeff's Birthday

I am sorry to say that I did not get any pictures from when my mom was here or for Jeff's birthday. So sad, but my mom is going to send me a disk of what she got. She posted some pics on her blog that I stole.






I don't know how to do that thing where you have people click on the link and highlight it with a special name so I could just send people to my mom's blog. Maybe I can't do it with a Mac. Help anyone?

Anyway, mom and I had a good time. She helped out a lot with stuff around the house like putting up lights and cleaning and the big one, Jeff's party. We had a great visit and she even said she plans on coming up again soon. Yeah!

Dad and Susan up to visit

My Dad and Susan came up to visit and help us move. They were absolutely fantastically awesome. They helped SO MUCH it was unbelievable. The move went as smooth as could be expected and we had a lot of help which was awesome. We are pretty much unpacked and settled. We even have pictures hanging on the walls although the garage is still a mess and needs to get organized.

But we didn't work the whole visit with Dad and Susan. We had some time to play also. We went to a small parade over near our new house on the 4th of July and then that evening we went up to the Church on the Hill and watched some cool fireworks.







Melissa and David bought Micah a swing car pictured below for his birthday. It is a lot of fun. I like to ride on it but usually Micah makes me get off so he can ride it if he catches me. : )


Before Dad and Susan left my Dad did a whole bunch of projects for us on the new house. It was awesome so now we have enough closet space, 3 prong outlets, shelves and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember now. Susan watched Micah while Dad and I worked and Jeff went to church to preach.

The new house is cool. I like it a lot so far. There are lots of things close by to walk to and all of the neighbors seem REALLY nice. They have things like block partys and stop to say hello and want to get to know you and stuff. Weird.

The only thing I don't like so far is that we are in a heat wave and our heater is stuck on. I think they are coming today to fix it. The other thing is that we have had this aweful smell coming from under our house into our house. I called the management company and they sent someone out yesterday. I thought maybe a sewer pipe burst or there was a dead animal. It turns out cats are living under the house and there is crap all over under there. I am really hoping they take care of this soon because they heat is making the smell really bad. The other thing is that Jeff and I have had a lot of fleas. When the guy came out from under the house he had at least 50 fleas on him. SO GROSS. I thought the people before us had a cat so I was going to bomb the house but now I am realizing that they are coming from under the house. They will need to spray for fleas and clean up the poop soon or I will not be very happy.

Oh and fix the heater! It is stinkin' hot!