A Little Movin' and Shakin'

Welcome to Southern California living! Micah experienced his first earthquake on Tuesday morning. I'm sure we have had others in the last 4 years since he was born, but this one was big enough to actually feel - a magnitude 5.4. What surprised me was the sound. I was so focused on trying to figure out what the noise was that it was almost over by the time I realized the whole house was shaking. That was fortunate though because it was all over by the time panic struck. Needless to say, Micah received his first lesson in what to do next time he feels the earth shaking ~ run for the nearest table, get underneath it and stay there until an adult tells you to come out. This picture is his reenactment of that instruction.

When I asked Micah what he thought about the earthquake, his response was, "It hurt my ears." I guess I'm not the only one who thought it was loud.

As for Ashlyn, the shaking was enough to wake her up momentarily and notice that her mobile was swaying back and forth. But she quickly went back to sleep. She probably figured it was just her big brother jumping around again...

Growing so fast...

Ashlyn turned 4 months old on Thursday. With the last month she is not only getting bigger, but also starting to do more. It's so fun!!! I love this stage with babies as they begin to interact with the world around them. We are so enjoying our baby girl ~ she brings such joy to our lives. Here's a few of her new things from this month...

Sitting with her sweetheart bear

She moved out of the bassinet (and Daddy & Mama's room) into her crib. Micah is thrilled to have a roommate!

Beautiful new facial expressions

Discovering her hands ~ one day I caught her just staring at her hands as she was trying to clasp them together. It was so cute!

Blowing bubbles

Getting an "updo" ~ she finally has enough hair for me to try to play with it a little

Beautiful baby eyes

Her newest thing is licking anything that comes near her mouth. (Watch out if you try to give her a kiss!) She was in her baby bjorn this particular day when I realized that the entire side of it near her face was all wet and her tongue seemed to be glued to it, of course only until we pulled out the camera. We tried to get a picture of that tongue but she just wouldn't cooperate. The tongue, combined with oodles of drool that come forth from her mouth have led us to finally pull out the bibs in an effort to try to keep her shirts dry. It didn't really work with Micah though, so I'm not expecting it to help with her either. It looks like we've got another drooler on our hands...

The 4th of July

Our little American Sweetheart!

Today Ashlyn discovered that she can use her feet to make noise with the rattles on her bouncy seat.


Micah had fun making an Uncle Sam hat. Of course, now he wants to know "Who's Uncle Sam?"

We went to the lake for a picnic and to watch the fireworks

While we waited, Micah had fun playing in the water...

...and playing with the rocks.

Ashlyn enjoyed being out at the lake, but she didn't stay awake long enough to actually see the fireworks.

We ran into the ice cream truck at the park so Micah enjoyed cooling off with a popsicle

Ashlyn and Daddy

When the policeman came through on the quad he stopped to give Micah a "Jr. Officer Badge."

Hope you all had a fun 4th of July!

Look at our Big 4 Year Old!!

We celebrated Micah's actual birth-date with a special family day. It was fun to have Daddy home with us for breakfast and a little morning adventure. Here's what we did...

We started the day with Breakfast Birthday Cake ~ a family tradition

Micah received a few more presents, including this sand and water table which he absolutely loves! It makes a huge mess, but he has lots of fun doing it!

After breakfast we went to Mountasia and took a few spins on the bumper boats. It was a hot day so it felt good to get wet.

While Daddy and Mama took turns on the boat with Micah, Ashlyn was content to lay in the shade


Cuddle time with Micah and Ashlyn

Daddy got Micah an air-powered plane for his birthday. They had fun testing it out at the local park. It was pretty windy though so the plane certainly had mind of its own. It thought it was a kamikaze plane from WWII... There was not a safe kid in the park. Fortunately it didn't actually hit anyone!!! We'll have to try that again in a less crowded park.

Micah finished his special day with his free ice cream from Baskin Robbins - can you see the blue ice cream all around his lips? I guess it must have been good!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

We celebrated Micah's 4th birthday with a party at a local park on June 28th. He invited several of his friends and provided me with all the instructions for the type of party he wanted... lots of people, a backhoe cake, a pinata, and lots of balloons. He had so much fun and is already talking about what he wants to do for his 5th birthday! Thanks to everyone who was able to come and make it a special day for him!

Look at me, I'm 4 years old!!

The backhoe cake ~ there was a lot of candy used to decorate the cake so the kids all had fun picking out what part of the cake they wanted to eat. (Micah had fun decorating it as he got to "sample" all the different candy. Too much sugar for this kid!)

Blowing out the candles

Hanging out with his friends

The kids all had fun going to the top of a nearby hill and then running down

Micah and his buddy Jack

Cooling off with a little water (thanks to Daddy!)

Pinata time ~ no big sticks for this pinata. The kids had to jump and pull on a piece of caution tape. Grab the right tape and you open the trap door to let out all the candy.

The wind made this task a little difficult

Jack got the lucky piece of caution tape

Micah was excited about his new Mack transporter

Micah, Daddy, Ashlyn, and Mama

After the party (and a nap), Micah and Josiah had fun playing the pool

The babies were content to sleep while the boys splashed around

And they got a little play time together at home. Joshua is starting to catch up with Ashlyn. He's not looking like a newborn anymore.

Daddy made special "ice cream mice" for dessert

We finished the day with the wrecking ball game that we weren't able to play at the park because there was too much wind.