Not in the mood

So I haven't been in the blogging mood lately, actually I've been spending most of my free time reading. Mia and I just finished Harry Potter #6 together, she's ready to start 7, but I need a break from HP. On my own I finished Lady Susan and Northanger Abbey, from my new Jane Austin complete works (thanks mom & dad). Now I'm on to Emma which I haven't read in years and I started Jane Eyre too. I also have Wuthering Heights on deck, the last time I read that was in high school and I remember hating it, so I thought I'd give it another chance. Anyway, I took a nap today and now I can't fall asleep so I thought I'd give a family update.
Aaron is still working hard. I really don't know how he does it. It's coming up to three and half years since he took on a second job, and almost a year and a half since he became a supervisor at his second job which includes truly heinous hours. My heart bleeds for him when his alarm goes off and I know he's only been in bed for three hours or less! Is there an end in sight? Possibly, but I know he really enjoys his jobs, if there wasn't so much overtime at the airport job, I think he would keep going for years. He continues working on the house, he really wants to get going sprucing up the outside, but with his tight schedule and it being winter I don't think he'll be using his new rototiller for a couple months yet.
Besides reading, I have been enjoying teaching. It started out rocky, but I love the kids and want to finish out the end of the year with them. However, because of our recent babysitting dilemmas this will be the last year I teach until my kids are all in school themselves. I've also been busy booking our trip to HAWAII! Yep, for my 30th birthday we will be taking off for the Big Island, which I'm excited about because I haven't been to that isle yet. Aaron gets free airfare to Honolulu, so we just have to pick up the inter island flight and my mom scored us 4 nights using my grandma's timeshare. So this whole trip, airfare, lodgings, rental car is only costing 500 bucks! We would have spent more than that driving a half hour north to SF for 4 nights.

Mia is doing well in school and has found a bosom buddy. The teacher said that there are times they are across the room from one another and they'll look up at the same time and just start cracking up. Part of me is excited for her to have a friend like that, I know how important and fun friends like that are, but the other part of me is like, "oh no, I don't want her to be too distracted in school." I have a feeling though, that the teacher might recommend to put them in different classes next year, so their shenanigans can only go on during recess and lunch. I'm watching her grow and am just amazed at her compassion and ability to see peoples needs. She wants everyone around her to be happy and she'll do what she can to fix it if they aren't.


Kai is our homebody. He likes nothing better than being home with his family and relaxing. It's hard for me to get him out the door for school or swimming lessons and church. He just began sunbeams and is definitely not a fan...yet. It has nothing to do with teachers or kids, he just feels out of his element. He has such a sweet spirit and really just wants to be loved. He'll sit on the couch and ask me, "who loves me?" and as I sit there and name every family member and friend we know his smile grows wider and wider.


Noah is still getting into trouble, the way that he knows how. Just this week he emtied three quarters of a bottle of elmers glue on the carpet, couch and coffee table, boy was that fun to clean up! I'm taking it all in stride now, I know it's part of his personality, and I can't help feeling like all of his messes and curiosity is him exploring his inner genius. The other part of his personality is FUN! This kid just wants to have fun all the time. He loves to laugh and play and explore. I can't believe he is going to be 2 in two weeks. I feel like that marks the official no longer a baby-even though he'll always be the baby in this family.
So there we are in a nutshell. Unless something spectacular happens in the next couple weeks, there probably won't be much blogging going on. I wanted to share a ton of photos, so hopefully that will make up for taking some time off. We went over to the beach on MLK Jr. Day. It was a beautiful 70 degree day and it's January (it's raining now though). Don't miss my favorite pic, the car seat pic, look how mischievous Noah looks in it.