The Christmas Story

For those of you who have followed this blog for the last year I'm sure you have been dying to know what Tanner(cousin) and Micah will be in the Christmas story this year. For those of you new to this blog let me just recap for you. Last year Tanner and Micah, as pictured below, were Mary and Joseph. They sat so nicely in the backdrop and wore their costumes. All this was done while we read the Christmas story. Let me also remind everyone that this could only be dreamed up from Rita Johnson. So without further adieu,
I give you angels. Now, you will not find any pictures of the cousins together. They never stood still and they definitly did not stand anywhere near the backdrop. Yes, Micah is wearing tights. He really didn't seem to mind these. As you noticed he is happy in this picture. He just got everything on.

And then he realized that he had these crazy things on his back. He started turning and grabbing and wanting them off. But we didn't take them off because there was more to the costume.

And that was this halo thing. He absolutely did not like this. Now he's had the costume on maybe 4 minutes. He wants it off NOW! This is right about when we start reading the Christmas story. So then we start taking the costume off and calming him down.

Tanner, on the other hand, was a perfect angel.

Beach Trip

I have been bugging Adam since Summer to go to the beach. Well, it's December and we finally went. We went to Cambria with Jill's family. Micah had a blast! He loved throwing rocks in the water, watching the birds, and digging in the sand. He was also facinated by the elephant seals. The weekend was cold and raining most of the time but during the breaks we headed to the beach to have fun.

Christmas Tree Time

Getting the Christmas Tree is always fun to do. Having a toddler along is even better. This year we tried going to a fairly new cut your own tree place in Auberry. They planted their trees about 8 years ago and have a few more years before the fir trees might be big enough. Micah did enjoy walking around. In addition to the trees they had a little gift shop shed along with free hot chocolate and coffee. The dog and cat were wandering around too since it is family run, with the house on the hillside above the trees.

Fortunately for us they also had a small supply of pre-cut fir trees to choose from after not finding one while walking around. They had a beautiful looking one out so we got that one. We picked up Auntie Jenny on the way home in Fresno for a week of fun with Micah.

On Sunday we tried to get pictures of Micah with the tree before and after church, with and without toys, the cat, the dog and other people. Definitely not a cooperative photo day. We did get a few good ones and funny ones. Below, Micah is actually taking off the ornament and not putting it on and the last picture is one we tried with the cat that had everyone laughing.

Light Parade

This year we decided to try out the Clovis Light Parade. It was a hit! It was also pretty cold. But Micah really enjoyed it. He sat in my lap for over a hour watching everything go by. It really helped that almost the entire parade was trucks and horses. 2 of Micah's favorite things. Throw in a couple bands to "dance" to and it was perfect. This started off our week of fun that we are having while my sister Jenny is home from Romania and staying with us.

18 months

Well, it's a bit past 18 months but I still want to update you on what Micah is up to. Micah is full of energy and always on the go. He loves being outside so we spend as much time as we can out there. Luckily we have a lot of property that always has work to be done on it. One of his favorite things is getting rides in the wheelbarrow as he's helping dad with the leaves. He loves cars, trucks, and anything that goes. His latest love is airplanes. He has been pretending to be one by holding up his arms and zooming around the house. He tries to make the noise his dad taught him, which I can't seem to master. I think it is a guy thing. He also likes to use his spoon as an airplane. Not with food on it, but just playing around. Which brings me to another subject. We are revisiting our difficult behavior when eating(around 9 months was super difficult). Maybe this will be a short phase. He really loves birds and will laugh so hard when he sees them. I can't really say he knows a lot of words but he does have ones that he uses all the time. "Cuck" is truck, elmo, bird, plane, please. He's really good at this last one, unfortunately he thinks that he should get everything he wants when he say please. Well, I'm sure you've heard enough. Life with a 18 month old is busy and we rarely sit down, but it's lot's of fun.

More random things

Micah loves to point and look at all kinds of birds. Birds on TV, in books, flying in the sky, sitting on the telephone wires. Birds, birds, birds! Halloween morning we got a big suprise with one of the chickens from next door at our house. Micah points at it through the window. So we asked him if he would "like to go outside?" Of course he does and runs for the door. He got to walk around with the chicken for about five minutes or so.
After being a little scared of the rooster, he decides to try and poke it with a stick or something. The chicken was not the biggest fan and backed off. Playtime ended when our dog Sammie came outside and wanted to chase the rooster. It ran through the fence. However, a few days later the rooster was back but in the back yard and Sammie chased it some more and got some feathers. The chicken flew home and hasn't been back.

Micah loves riding in wheelbarrows and was able to share the fun with his cousin Tanner. Uncle Jay did a great job pushing them around the yard so we could get a picture. If the wheelbarrow is full of leaves Micah will sit with his hands in his lap until they are dumped out and then get back in and hold onto the sides only when it is empty.

Grammie and Grandpa Johnson came up to visit for bit last Sunday. Tanner and Micah are coloring with Grammie while waiting for lunch.

Halloween

We started off the Halloween season by visiting the pumpkin patch. Micah wasn't too excited about about the pumpkins though. We tried having him hold a small pumpkin but he kept throwing it on the ground. After breaking a couple stems we decided we should probably stop.

Micah did love the hay bale maze. He liked being chased through it.

On Halloween Micah went as a dragon. I was actually surprized that he wore it all night. You know how halloween can be. Hot?? Cold?? Who knows. It was a bit warm early in the evening but he was fine in his warm costume. We went to our church carnival. Micah's favorite part was running around with his buddy Jeremy on the bounce thing. Not the one picture behind him in this picture. This one he didn't want anything to do with.

After the carnival we went trick-or-treating with some friends. We only went to a few houses and most of them Micah thought he should be going inside. I had to take the candy out of his basket right when he got it so that he wouldn't lose it. It really was a lot of work. Maybe next year will be more fun when he actually eats candy.

October Update

Well we sort of lost our camera this month. It showed up hiding behind a picture frame. This month has been pretty good. Micah got to help fix up his room and get a little lesson in replacing wall plugs. It did not take him that long to figure out that Adam's screwdriver was real and that his was not. After that he only wanted to play with the one that Adam was using at the time.


Here is what his finished room looks like. Pretty similar to the paint color at the last house. We really like yellow paint. His drapes that Jill made with Grandma Lee also fit the window too!

We also had a chance to go to Waterford (near Modesto) for the day earlier in the month when it was still warm and had a fantastic time playing outside with Micah's cousin's all day. We also got to watch his cousin Evan's soccer game that morning and go to a little festival at the local park and see the duck at the petting zoo. Micah is now totally focused on birds and looks around for them outside and also checks to see if the chicken next door is out in the side yard to stare and point at.

Lastly, we have a evening routine of trying to play outside for a little while then Micah will watch a Elmo video (big fan right now) while Jill makes dinner and then after dinner we will play outside until it gets dark and or is bedtime. We this month we have had to change things up a little bit and "do exactly the same thing" but with warm clothes and a jacket on.
Jill really liked this beanie hat thing and got it for Micah a little while ago. He also enjoys wearing a blue beanie that his Grammie Johnson got him. Still working on getting his thumbs into the right spot on his mittens.

Out in the back yard we use a big work light on a stand with an extension cord to get pushed around on the tricycle, play with some of the other toys or ride on the swing.

In the front yard anything goes. Sometimes we use this push cart for rides and put the light on the front to see where to go. Micah is also liking to look up at the stars and the moon. In the daytime you will find him looking for planes (sometimes it is just a motorcycle in the distance). He also loves to wear his boots with the camo on them.

Snow boots

Micah has found his snow boots for use this winter and decided that he needs to wear them around the house. This past weekend he wore them several times and got Jill and I laughing pretty good when he was walking around with a "look at me" grin on his face. He has learned to asked for his shoes to be put on by doing a combination of grunting, pointing, lifting up a foot, and bobbing his head repeatively, this too is quite cute. He also likes to find my baseball hat, put it on and them come find us and laugh that he is wearing my hat.

Micah also loves to be outside. Just a few days ago he figured out that he can sit inside of one of his toys that we have on the patio and throw the blocks out of it. This kept him busy for about 30 minutes. We also went to a local arena on Saturday night and watch team sorting ( two riders on horses have to get cattle from one pen to another in consecutive by the numbers they are wearing). We enjoyed getting to watch the various skill levels of the local teams that were there and learning about new horseriding activities that people can do. Micah really like the ranch dog that was roaming around and tried share his crackers with the dog. If we have a few more warm Saturday evenings in October we will definitely consider going back again for another evening of free country-style entertainment.

New Toy for Micah?

This past weekend we had lots of fun. Friday night we drove to Waterford (near Modesto) for a birthday party for Rylie, one of Micah's cousins. She turned four and had a wonderful hawaiian themed party. Then on Saturday both of Adam's sisters and their families visited the new house for the first time and made a visit to the Fresno Met Museum to see the "Bob the Builder" exhibit. Micah had fun with several of the activities and really liked to watch the wall tracks that rolled golf balls. Before going to the museum we had time to swim with the kids and go see the neighbor's horses "Sunny and Mia", both horses are over 25 years old and very sweet and gentle with kids. Finishing up the weekend we went to the Madera County Fair Sunday afternoon following nap time. They had a monkey show with several trained baboons and a dog that Micah really liked. By far his favorite activity was climbing up and down and all around the ten or so different tractors on display by local companies. Micah and Adam think that this would make a perfect toy at home, sadly the Lee family tractor will most likely be a "Tonka" and not a nice New Holland, John Deere or Kubota like at the fair. Next time we will definitely make sure to go earlier during the week when the 4-H animals are still there, that definitely would have been the favorite event.

Baby Micah or Big Boy Micah??

This past weekend we had a BBQ with Adam's side of the family. Rylie, who is turning 4, loves babies. I mean really loves babies. She kept asking me to let her hold baby Micah in her lap. I kept telling her that I didn't think Micah would sit in her lap anymore. After much persistence I finally told her we would give it a try. I thought a book might make him sit there longer. Here they are for one second looking like she's holding her baby.

And here they are one second later as Micah tries to get away. She kept a hold of him though. Luckily Micah didn't mind. He ended up laughing hysterically as she kept pulling him back.

I guess he's not her baby anymore.

Bakersfield Weekend

We went down to Bakersfield this weekend and visited with Grandpa and Grammie Johnson. Saturday was the big day with a trip to CALM (California Living Museum) Zoo. At this zoo they only have plants and animals that have habitat areas within the state. For Micah it was a toss up between the roadrunner bird inside the tortoise exhibit and the goats at the farm animal area. He also really liked the porcupine since it was pretty active in climbing around in its cage. At the zoo we also took a short ride (5 minutes) on a miniature train that sat about twenty people. Lunch was at Luigi's and it was very tasty with lots going on in their busy dining room. The rest of the weekend was spent playing and relaxing around the house. Micah did very good on the car rides considering that we usually drive during nap time or after bedtime. It helped that Micah now likes Elmo and we brought along his DVD that he just loves right now. We also got a free ping-pong table from the neighbors (Monday night) so watch out for some fancy moves from Jill in the future.

Romanian Shirt

Well, you knew it would eventually come. Our little multicultural boy is sporting his Romanian shirt that he got from his Auntie who lives there. He loves being outside at his new house. When we say, "let's go outside," he says "ow-eee." This is his word for outside. He'll say it over and over until we get outside. We try not to say the word until we are ready, with shoes on, to head out. Once outside he is on the run. He's got things to do.

Pool fence and of course more of Micah!

Part 1 of the pool fence is done. We have the mesh safety fence and gates around the flat concrete area of the pool. Next up will be getting wrought iron fencing to go around the back of the waterfall. After that some new colorful plants surrounding the back of the waterfall and we will be ready to relax in style and safety.

Micah is learning to use a spoon now. We still do not trust him with that many different foods so he might have to wait for mash potatos again. Our dog gets plenty of food just from him using his hands (the throwing over the edge at times does not help).

Cheap toys! Who knew that what babies like best are free things. So far the topping the play item list is: cool whip containers (great for stacking and knocking over), orange plastic cones for soccer, pine cones, plastic pipe, sticks and the occasional bug. He still loves his books and other toys but can be easily satisfied with all these other things too.

All time best item is water. Micah loves the dog dish, buckets on the lawn, sponges and buckets for washing cars, throwing rocks in grandma & grandpa Lee's pool, fountains (like the one below) and any type of puddle he can splash in. Unfortunately one time that puddle happen to be from our dog so we had a nice washup and change of clothes after that.

New House

Jill has been enjoying her pool and I have been trying to enjoy my projects and the yard. The house had basically been empty for about three years with the orig. owners staying some weekends to keep up the yard. Hopefully we have found out everything that needs fixing and can just enjoy it for awhile. We get our fence on Monday the 10th.

Backyard and back of the house.

Micah has started talking and says "hi", "ball", "cat" and "mumah". He is loving it here and is getting to know some of the neighbors with horses so he can pet them. At the rental house he loved going out and feeding the landlord's goats some weeds by the handful that we would pick from outside of the pen.

Jill starts teaching at school soon so we will also be working through a schedule change for both Jill & Micah. Micah is also been trying new foods and seems to like things based upon how messy they are. He had fun the first time he ate pasta with red sauce.

Moving

Well, I'm sad to say that we have lost our old blog. I quess I thought this was the internet and the blog would stay there forever. In our move to our new house we spent 2 months in a rental and had trouble getting internet there. So with no activity on the blog they dropped us. Just like that. So we have moved to a new blog. I actually started it way back when Micah was born because I didn't like the other blog site but couldn't convince Adam to switch over. So here we are with Micah's big move to his new house and to a new blog sight.