The Olympics!!

Don't you just love the Olympics?! We have been staying up super late watching everything on TV. Terina loved watching the gymnastics. She would do here little somersaults and then take a bow when she got back up. It's quite a site to see. But the Olympics are super special this year because I actually know some of the athletes! An old team mate from Washington State, Diana Pickler, is competing in the Heptathlon and then Jill Camarena, who went to Stanford, is throwing shot put. I saw them during the opening ceremonies and it brought tears to my eyes. It's just so crazy and amazing to see people I know out there walking in the Olympics. I am going to be rooting for them and I hope they do well. So I have been working now for 2 weeks and I am having so much fun with my little 4th graders. They are so different than the high school and middle school kids I have worked with in the past. They are excited to see me and they give me hugs... never before has that happened! And it's so cute.. they call me either Mrs. Marie or Auntie Marie. Oh! And they come to school without shoes! Yeah... some of the kids walk to school without shoes or they take them off outside their classroom and that's where their shoes stay all day. Things are just so different here than they were back in Washington. I really like working with the kids and I really like only working half of the day. I guess I'll see how much I like it when I get my first paycheck. Anyways... Terina is doing well. She's growing like a weed. Back in July we started to make marks inside the kitchen door of her height. She has grown about an inch and a half since we have been here. We had to go get her new shoes because her feet are growing. I have been trying to put shoes on her when we go out so that she doesn't end up with super wide feet. Her hair is growing longer too. I think she might need a hair cut but the last time we tried that it didn't go so well so I'm a little hesitant to take her somewhere. We are getting ready for Kim and Jake to get here too. Kim will be coming in on Friday and Jake on Sunday. I have been working on organizing Terina's room and cleaning all the color crayon marks off the floors and walls. Hopefully I'll be able to get our little apartment in order before I have to go pick Kim up at the airport. I'm excited that Jake will be here with us for a while. He's a good babysitter and Terina likes him. I will be taking full advantage of having Jake around. Maybe I'll actually get a little time to myself!! I know Jake, Kim and Kasala are all getting ready for school to start. Jake and Kasala have pretty heavy class loads and the school has asked Kim to teach 1 beginning weight lifting class along with her soccer duties so everyone will be pretty busy once classes start. I'm really looking forward to it though. It will be a fun semester. Anyways... the three of us are doing well. We are working hard and trying our best to make it out here in Hawaii.