Birthday Celebrations

We gave daddy some gifts-homemade cards, a candy lei,

and a few other things in the morning before church.

As well as had some donuts to celebrate.

Later in the day we headed south to spend some
time with HIS family. We had a combined
January Birthday Party, since there are four
in the family to be celebrated.
We ate, and played

had cake and cupcakes

and were thoroughly entertained
by these 2. They LOVED the sliding
glass door, followed each other around,

and are just soo darn cute together!!

All in all, it was a pretty mellow day, but

hopefully Quinn felt LOTS of LOVE,

relaxation, and was well fed!

Quinn is a wonderful man, friend,

husband and father.

He is always thinking of the best interest

of his family and others.

We LOVE you soo much honey and

hope you felt extra SPECIAL on YOUR day!!
(oops forgot about this last picture of Kaipo)

Someone is having a birthday???

I pulled off a last minute surprise dinner for Quinn

@ Rooster's, with some of our neighborhood friends.

We had such a fun night just talking and hangin' out.

That 2+ hours went by WAY TOO FAST!

We don't get to enjoy this kind of opportunity often enough!!

(I hope it was a great start to his birthday celebration)

Winter Entertainment

Since the kids got a tramp for Christmas,

what else do we do with it for the next several months...

so we set it up in the basement.

Yes Ame and Kaipo have to watch their

heads a bit, but our ceilings are 9ft. down there so they have

a little room to jump and entertain themselves.

Nalu even got in on the action...

FiNaLlY

January 7, 2011

was the official day that Nalu took his first real steps. He was 14 months just a few days ago. Nalu has been walking along the kitchen table bench, couches and anything that would give him just the slightest bit of support, for quite some time now. We just knew anyday now he would take his first steps. Quinn swears he has been the one to teach all the kids to walk, but I don't agree with him on that one. Ame for sure because I was working at the time, but the others are a bit of a blur. Of course Nalu still crawls most of the time, but with encouragement (and some reminding) he is walking more and more. Hurray (I think), he is FiNaLlY doing it!!

(hopefully we will get some better video because the ones we took last night are awfully dark)

Also, he has gotten his teeth really randomly and in a strange order. He has had 4 teeth on top and 4 on bottom for quite a while now. I just noticed this past week that we has a molar already in. NO eye teeth, so just a big space and then this molar in the back. Interesting!! But he is just soo darn cute, who cares what craziness is going on in his mouth. They will all come in eventually, right!? And it won't matter in what order or how weird it may have looked for a time!

playin' a little hookey

Our Joyschool group planned a fieldtrip to

Discovery Gateway

today, and because we got such a great discount with our

group I let Ame and Kaipo play hookey from

school and come along with us!

We have never been there,

and we were all thoroughly impressed!

There was soo many fun, creative

things to do. It was well worth the

drive downtown, and missing a little school.

These balls provide some great fun

through tunnels, shoots and all sorts of mazes.

It was hard to get a clear picture out of

these excited, energetic, active kids.

Kaipo playing some music

there was this life size horse
that I found Ame riding SEVERAL times!
She definitely has a LOVE for horses.
I hope one day she can take some riding lessons.

thank goodness the horse was well fed by Kaipo.

I caught them for a second, and forced a picture.

these pipes were really cool too.

they could be arranged and rearranged, forming

tunnels and paths for more ball fun.

outside there was a REAL helicopter for the

kids to sit in and pretend to fly, although we did

NOT spend much time there because it was just sooo

darn cold outdoors!

Ash with some of his Joyschool buddies.

We had a grand time, but the fun had to come to an end

so I could get Ame back to school in the afternoon.
Definitely a place we would love to visit again!

Christmas with the Hanamaikai Ohana

Our Christmas Eve Celebrations began

with the short Luke 2 video, after which

the kids ACTED out the nativity as Dad

read it aloud.

We knew Nalu wouldn't ACT the

part of baby Jesus, so we opted to

have a doll instead and let him be a

Wiseman, and a cute one at that!!

(those India costumes continue to come in handy)

Ame took her MARY roll VERY serious!

After the play, we did our LOVE STOCKINGS,
(an Asplund tradition that WE have continued)
in which we write a special note to each member
of the family. Then the kids watched
Mr. Krueger's Christmas while mom
made homemade eggnog and set out the
NON-homemade cookies (no time, energy OR
desire to make cookies this year, plus I am just
NOT very good at making sugar cookies).

Ame wrote this cute note for Santa,
to leave with his cookies and milk.

The kids opened their new jammies

and got ready for bed.

Then the last thing before hitting the hay

was to spread some REINDEER food.

A Christmas Story in bed and

then it was LIGHTS OUT.

Surprisingly they all went to bed

with not too much of a challenge,

thank goodness cuz there were last minute

preparations to be made!?!

Bright and early the kids were up-

6AM, but mom said no presents

until at least 6:30.

Then the gift giving began.......

Ame got the neatest gift from

GRandma Frankie. It was this

pretend butterfly in a glass jar, and I am not

even sure how it works (some sort of

magnetism). But it flutters, flies and

looks just like a real one.

REALLY COOL!

Quinn and I loved our homemade

gifts the kids made at school, they were

the best by far (although I am very much looking

forward to using the

massage gift certificate Quinn got me).

One of the many unexpected gifts

(we may attempt to set it up in the basement

or the garage for the winter)

the kids did get some COAL

in their stockings (thank goodness it

was only bubble gum)

grandma and grandpa joined us for breakfast

well after all the presents and craziness

were over! But they did bring some of their

own Holiday cheer, with a cute book

which they had recorded their voices reading

Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Grandpa Kimo also gave us a recorded

book of him singing Frosty the Snowman.

Wonderful treasures to have for years to come!

I think the kids wore grandpa and grandma

out just telling about and showing all they got!

But we were sooo thankful to have them

here this Christmas, and already know

we will be missing them next year!!

This awesome gift was inherited

from Jason and LeAnne when they moved.

It is awesome and Nalu is already

LOVING it!!

Ame's SANTA gift was

Biscuit

the interactive dog.
She was dying to have it!
She knows this is the closest

she will get to the real thing for

a LONG time. But seeing her

interact and play with this

thing does make me feel a little

bad she doesn't have a real dog

(but NOT bad enough to get her one)!

Kaipo got his #2 choice

Motor Skooter
#1 was a DS, but mom just wasn't

down with that one, and glad Santa decided

against it as well, since Kaipo is already

addicted to the Wii, I-phone, computer.

He just doesn't need anything else electronic

to waste time with!

Getting the skooter worked out perfectly

since his push skooter broke just a few weeks ago.
Since it was SNOWING outside he

was trying the NEW one out in the basement...

as was Ash and his new basketball hoop.

The hoop will stay here all winter

and bring him (and the others) hours

of exercise and entertainment. We

will have quite the players come summer time!!

And there you have it...

a peek at Christmas with the Hanamaikai's.

We did join my parents and sister (and her family)

for a WONDERFUL dinner, dessert and more

presents later in the evening.

My parents also shared a beautiful short video

of Christ that I had never seen before,

but definitely want to find (they got it from

neighbors as a gift). It was the perfect

ending to our CHRISTmas day!!

We definitely had a grand day and are very thankful

for the generosity of our families. They

truly made this a WONDERFUL Christmas

for our little family. Not just for the gifts (and money)

but for the love and memories made!!

And most of all we are grateful for this Season

we have been able to reflect on and grow closer

to our loving Savior. We really tried to help our

children focus on HIM this CHRISTmas!
WE are truly blessed to know of HIM and feel of HIS love.

Happy New Year to all!
Hope YOU have found the same happiness this Season.

PRE-Christmas FuN

The kids were out ALL week from school,

so mom had to find some things to entertain them

before we all went stir-crazy!!

Since we hadn't made gingerbread houses,

that was first on the list.

Mom picked up a few things at the store,

but we also tried to just use things we already had

1/2 eaten around the house.
Ame wanted to do a BIG house

but Ash got my vote for the BEST LOOKING
house (maybe cuz mom helped just a little)

Grandma took us GIRLS one day, for

a little spoiling. I was pampered with

a pedicure (something I have only been

treated to a few times in my life; never

just done it on my own)

And Ame got her NAILS done. They were soo

cute (for a FEW days anyway), painted all Christmasey!
******

Didn't get any pictures of it, but Ame, Kaipo and Quinn

all went and saw Narnia with Grandpa Asplund

on Christmas Eve (day). The showing they saw

was actually in 3D and Ame got sick part way through
so Dad had to take her out for walk in the mall for a while,

but Kaipo LOVED, LOVED it. He has seen the others and

is very into that series. Ame even reads the chapter books to him.

Dad said he was soooo into the movie that

he kept yelling things out like: No! don't!! or watch out!!

I am pretty sure it was high light of his Christmas Break.

Ame on the other hand, I don't think so...

its funny cuz originally Ame wasn't going to go because it was

a BOYS outing, but Kaipo really wanted her to come,

so last minute she did?!

At least it wasn't a total waste of $$$ for everyone!!!
So FUN has been had, with

many more Christmas memories

and times of Joy on the way!

Lots of Celebrating

Last night we had our annual neighborhood Christmas Party.

I was gabbling and enjoying myself WAY TOO MUCH

and didn't take one picture (even though I did have my camera).

LOTS of yummy food, LOTS of playing and LOTS of good conversation!

We were there for almost 3 hours, and still had to drag everyone away,

so we could get up, bright and early, for church this morning.

**********************

Then tonight we had our

Hanamaikai Family

Party and gift exchange.

This was suppose to happen on Christmas

Eve, but because of too many conflicts

we moved it to today.

We ate AND ate, exchanged gifts, watched

The Grinch, ate Yummy Peppermint

Chocolate Snowflake Cake, the kids the

played with their new gifts, us adults

talked & talked and had LOTS of laughs.

Just what family time is all about!!

Ash was sooo thankful to Olivia for
the gift she gave him!

Amaya is such a cutie, walking all over
the place (wish she would teach Nalu a little of that)

Nalu loves opening presents!

I think Kaipo was happy about his gift?!!

(he's pretty easy to please)

We were sad not everyone made it.

Some live out of state and others just had conflicts.

But fun WAS had by all who came!!