Lucky #13

It happened again. We've moved. Really this blog is for people to know what state we currently reside in. Half the time I don't know.
Anyway, we packed up our stuff and moved our family BACK to the great state of Washington. We put in for a transfer to Portland, OR last month hoping that we would get it by the end of the year. Well, we got it. A little sooner then we thought but none the less, we got it. We posted our apt on craigslist in hopes that someone would pick it up and the right person fell into our laps. I was suppose to go to Portland the weekend these people came to look at apts for us but travel plans just weren't adding up. I called it off. As soon as I decided not to go I knew that the reason I was staying was because the person who needed our apt was going to come. Weird, I know. But she came and told me that we were an answer to her prayers. Little did she know that she was an answer to ours as well. She wanted to move in a week. AHH! I won't get into the details (it involves multiple moments of tears) I'll just say that it was a very stressful week. But enough about that. It's done. We're here in Vancouver, WA. So far so good. Maybe move #13 will slow us down a bit, huh? I don't think so either, but we can always hope.

Other things happening:
I started online classes the beginning of Sept. I had the crazy idea that I could handle a full course load. I'm 2 credits shy of a full load and I'm still feeling like I'm going to drown. Silly me. Why did I want to go back to school. It's hard for me to remember right now. I'll just keep going and hope it jogs my memory soon.

Breanne started first grade a few weeks before we left. She was heartbroken when we told her about the job transfer. She was making friends and trading friendship bracelettes. She even confided in me one day that she was in love with Aiden. It was so cute how she went about it too. She was standing behind the couch kind of figiting. She said, "Mom, I want to tell you something, but I don't want to tell you." I thought for sure she did something bad by the way she was acting. I just wanted to know what it was.
"Bre just tell me and get it over with, please." I was worried what it might be. Did she break something? Do something? Wet her pants? C'mon kid, what is it?
"I think I'm in love with Aiden." Luckily, I knew this Aiden kid because I had been helping out in her class a couple days a week. He was a bit of a class clown, but a smart kid. And I have to admit that she knows how to pick out the cute ones (she gets that from me). All in all it made me feel good that she wanted to confide in me. We did have a talk about what "loving" someone means and that she can date boys when she's 16. Sorry, kiddo, you got 10 years.

Kaity has beed awfully lonely without her sister around during the day. Her favorite part of the day is picking Bre up from school. She asks me multiple times during the day if it's time to go get sissy. There's been a couple days when Cam has been home and Kaity's been asleep when it's time to get her. I decide just to run and get her real quick. When Kaity wakes up she is so mad, It doesn't matter that Bre is home she's upset because she didn't get to go. It's cute when she does come. We stand in the grass waiting for her. Kaity keeps asking,  "Do you see her yet?" As soon as we do she runs to her and gives her a big hug. It's sweet to watch.

Cameron is still doing what he does best. His schedule changes on a monthly basis so it keeps us on our toes. Never want to get too comfortable. His new routes from Portland wont be near as interesting as the ones out of Fresno, but he says it's worth being close to family. I have to agree with him. We're only been here a couple of days but his parents came and stayed with us one night and my sister came down to help unpack. That was fun. I've missed spending time with her and I love that Sophia finally got to come visit us. We even got to go shopping, my sister and I, at IKEA. Wonderful. It was my second time there in 3 days. I see an addiction forming. She bought us a "house warming" gift. In reality she helped unpack my dishes and took pity on me. Either way, I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I smile everytime I open my cabinet.

Other then all that, life is good. Our girls are getting so big. They're not so little anymore and I really wish we could have that stage of life again. It is fun to see them grow though. Anywhoo, here's to Lucky #13!!

Team Tiny Tot

We met this really awesome couple back when we lived in Sedro-Wooley, WA. Laura, Keiffer, Calista, Bridget and Tennyson Marino. Anyone that's been following our travels will know that that was a long while ago. Kaity was only 8 months old. She's turning 4 in September! Anyway, the Marino's, which back then was just Laura, Keiffer and Calista) totally reached out to us when we moved there even though they were relatively new as well. We moved to Riverside, CA after our 6 months in WA and just a few months after we got to CA the Marino's moved to San Diego. We were able to spend some more time with them during the year we were there.
What I'm trying to say in all this is that we know them, spent time with them and think the world of them. This isn't some strange family we've heard of through a friend of a friend.
Through A LOT of thought and research they have decided to adopt a child from Russia. I've been following their process so far and it's crazy the amount of money, time and energy that needs to be spent to do this. I was reading their current blog post (www.tinytottale.blogspot.com) and I really wanted to do something to try and help. At this point, we aren't able to help in a significant financial way but reading on their website (www.teamtinytot.com) I've learned that there are so many other ways to help. One way is to spread the word. I can do that. I have posted a picture on the side of our blog of "Team Tiny Tot". To find out more about why they have chosen to adopt and what you can do to help them along their way go to:
www.teamtinytot.com
www.tinytottale.blogspot.com
Or you can find them on facebook
www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Tiny-Tot/401215149934568

Remember, there are so many ways we can help!

PaPa-PaParazzi

Cameron's family came into town the night of the 4th to spend a couple of days with us before heading off to Lake Tahoe. We didn't do anything spectacular because we all got head colds. Fun. But lucky for us, Cameron's parents wanted to see us enough to put up with our coughing and sneezing. And like the great people they are, they took my two loverly children with them when they left for Tahoe. The girls were so excited and so was I! Cameron was able be here for most of their visit but was called to sit reserve (TDY is the fancy airline name for it) in Los Angeles. He left at 1pm and wouldn't be able to go to his hotel until he got "off" reserve at 9pm. I figured that since his family was going to be leaving early the next morning that I should fly out to LA and spend Friday night and all day Saturday with him. Again, because they are so great, they were more then happy to let me go. So that's what I did. I caught a flight that landed me in LA at 8:55pm so that we could catch the hotel shuttle together. Perfect. This is the hotel that Cameron get paid to stay at and have a little get-a-way with his wife:

 

The room decor was modern but the building was old. It was very nice. We didn't know how nice until Saturday night when we were waiting for my airport shuttle. But before all that, the hotel was about 2 miles from the beach and I couldn't be that close and not go. We got our walking shoes on and walked to Dockweiler Beach. We got there and we ate some lunch while watching the waves and getting a little more sun then we intended. I always forget that you can get burnt through clouds. We went to the wash station to wash the sand off our feet. There's two buttons, one for the shower and one for the foot rinse. Well, I wasn't paying close enough attention and I pushed the shower button as Cameron was standing underneath. I can't tell you how funny it was. Oh man, it was great. Not only because he got wet but because I did it on accident and he knows it so he can't retaliate. Anyone who knows Cam know that he loves to get people back. Not this time. He had plenty of time to dry off on our walk back. We went back up to our room all tuckered out and fell asleep watching MythBusters. That show's so cool. We went down to the lobby to wait for the shuttle back to LAX. Man, were we under dressed, or should I say "overly" dressed. It was something off of BET or some music video. 

It looked like some rapper was having a private party. These are not actual pictures but they could have been.

Heck, if I knew any of these people in these pictures they very well could have been there. There were girls showing up in nothing but metallic bikini tops and short skirts with 5 inch heels on, Mercedes, Range Rovers and even a Ferrari rolling around in the valet parking. I guess when you think of a typical LA private party this would have been it. It was so funny to watch all these people come and go in the lobby, try and pick up girls and looking for their "boys". I can't do it justice. It was the most entertaining 15 minutes I've had in a while. I got into the shuttle with a couple from New Zealand and as soon as the door closed we looked at each other like, "did we really just see all that?" You just kept waiting for paparazzi to pop out some where. All this was going down in the lobby and we could have been people watching that whole time! haha It was a really great mini vacation for us and even better because it was all paid for!

 Now the girls are in Tahoe with Grandma and Grandpa and Cameron's still in LA. It really is nice to have absolute peace and quite some times. I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday afternoon because I am sure going to enjoy mine!