can't forget the other

of course we can't leave out a little

blogging about our sweet Nalu boy,

just because he is soo darn cute! just enjoying a little chicken noodle soup

(baby food style)
And when we were least expecting it,
tonight while mom was reading stories with
Ame and Kaipo, Ash was playing with Nalu.
Well I looked up and away he was going.
FINALLY crawling!
we have been encouraging this for
weeks/months now. I guess he decided
it was worth trying out.
Of course when we got the camera out
he wasn't performing quite as well,
but here he goes...

oh yeah and nice fall by Ash off the chair at the end

(hence the reason for the quick camera turn off)!

Back to School and whole lot a new...

Sunday we had our traditional (going on our 2nd year)

back to school kids choice dinner.

The menu included:

Maui chicken, carrot rice, corn on the cob,
and homemade french bread.

and ice cream sundae's for dessert.
Before bed the kids each received the most

important part of our back to school traditions-

*a father's blessing*

Here they are bright and early, super excited for school.
these are the kind of pics I got after sending dad
outside with the kids & the camera
(and several others just like this one).

(Good thing mom took a few pics of her own)
Kaipo is soo ready to finally start school.

I think he is even more excited that he

is starting the Spanish Immersion program,

which means half of their instruction is

in english and half in spanish.

All of the kids have been practicing

their spanish CD (that Ame's teacher gave her

to use over the summer).

Ame, on the other hand, has been filled with much anxiety

about her first day in the Spanish Immersion Program.

She will spend the first half of the day with Mrs. Eskelson,

who is her spanish teacher and their instruction is

COMPLETELY in spanish.

Then the afternoon is spent in english with Mrs. Smith.

Ame came home SUPER excited for what this

year has in store for her. She was soo nervous because all

the other students have been in this program since Kindergarten

and so of course have the advantage in speaking spanish.

Ame is such an GREAT student and soo at the top of her academics

that I think this year will give Ame the perfect challenge,

and she definitely won't be bored because everything is

soo easy (as it has been the past 2 years).

And Ash couldn't be left out,

even though we aren't starting

Joy School until after Labor Day.

He kept saying "what about me..."

as all the focus was on the other 2.
oh how we LOVE Ash!!

talk about smart...this kid is amazing!

(more about him later)

Ame all ready to learn SPANISH!

Kaipo already enjoying kindergarten!

I got to spend the first day WITH him.

We rotated around centers doing lots of fun acitvities

and beginning of school stuff.

The rest of this week is Kindergarten testing

so he doesn't officially have his FIRST day until next week.

The anticipation of the first day is over

and now the FUN and LEARNING can begin!!
Before we know it, we will ALL be fluent spanish speakers

(thank goodness dad already is so

he can give the rest of us extra help).

last bit...week in review

We tried to fill our last week of

summer

with a bit more fun.

*We enjoyed a picnic and day of swimming

w/Gma A, aunt Karli, Kaiya and TayTay

*annual OHANA picnic w/ the

IliOPolynesia Group
filled with bounce house, games, prizes, music, food
and LOTS more fun...

Ame tried to get in on the TRIVIA game

*lots of play time with neighborhood friends

*Ame and Kaipo got to go on a special

BACK TO SCHOOL date with

Gma and Gpa Asplund (I am sure gma will

have some pics on her blog about that in a few days)

*our neighborhood outdoor movie night was a BLAST!

complete with TREATS galore...

(nice action shot-LOVED the popcorn)

even though we have seen Kung Fu Panda plenty of times,

its a completely different experience to watch it outdoors,

under the stars, with all our friends

(and those pesky mosquitos are NOT included as friends).

even Nalu was havin' a good time

some other neighbors attempted to do this a few

weeks ago, but we got rained out.

We were all bummed it got cancelled, so we are glad

there was a second try.

It was definitely a great way to end our

summer vacation!

Winding Down...

I am having mixed feelings about the summer winding down,

as I am sure many other mothers are too.

But one thing I am grateful for is that

the SUMMER FUN has not come to an end yet!

In the past week we have had...

cousins get-togethers WITH water balloons

LOTS of popcycles (and shave ice)

Nalu even discovered the goodness of these treats

Ame and mom did a 5K Fun Run w/our stake.

Ame rode her bike, as I tried to keep up with her.

we took 2nd place in our division

our 1st race together-

Hopefully we will have many more!

MORE swimming. This time daddy joined us.

A real treat, as we don't get to enjoy his

company very often (poolside that is).

Kaiya had her 3rd bday party.

We were soo glad we could celebrate with her!

Don't want to steal Karli's thunder,

so I'll let her blog about the party

(but look at that FUN cake).

much enjoyed by all!

Luckily we have one more fun-filled week

of SUMMER left. Lets see how much

FUN we can fit into our last few days b4 school starts?!

my BABY is 9 months old today

My baby boy continues to grow way too fast!
Today we had his 9 month check-up

and these were his stats:

weight=20.5 lbs=55%

height=29 in=80%
I was a bit surprised by these finding,

mostly because this boy *LOVES, LOVES, LOVES

to eat and I feel like he is hungry all the time!

He will eat anything and everything.

Some other bits of info about Nalu at this age:

*he is close to crawling, but just doesn't quite make the

move yet. He does a lot of reaching! Mom is not at

all anxious for him to start crawling. I am fine for

him to stay immobile for as long as he'd like!!

*he enjoys interacting and playing with all sorts of toys

AND his siblings are soo entertaining!

*he is not shy, nor does he have a fear of

an unfamiliar face. He just smiles away!

*Nalu LOVES swimming & playing in the water

*he loves being outdoors

*doesn't like to be left alone-sometimes

dad or one of the kids can entertain him a bit,

but he pretty much ALWAYS wants MOM

*he has discovered how to use his mouth/voice,

exploring sounds he can make-squealing,

smacking his lips and spitting

(not so fun at feeding time)

*still doesn't sleep through the night,

but he does nap really well (usually 2-3 hrs at a time)

so mom gets some time to rest her arms!

*he has 3 visible teeth, and a few others that

keep poking back and forth through your gums

(you haven't been so happy about that).

Oh Nalu, you are such a joy. You bring soo much

happiness to our family. We really could not imagine

life without YOU!!!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH

(please just stop growing up so fast)

neighborhood fun

There was a emergency preparedness fair

in our neighborhood last weekend and the kids got to

have a tour of the fire truck and ambulance.

Kaipo had LOTS of curious questions

and they were all pretty facinated

Hula Pics

Once a year they try to get the whole group together for pictures.

While waiting, and waiting, and waiting...

for everyone to show up I took lots of pic of just Ame

Oh this girl...

Ash insisted on coming too

(after about a half an hour he

was ready to go home,

so for 2 hours I got to enjoy his

whinning about wanting to

GO HOME)
He did have a little fun...

watching the SCARY, BIG geese in the pond

Keiki 1, 2 and 3 groups

Ame and her friend Emma-

they have been taking Hula about the

same amount of time together

MOST of the group

Ame has been apart of the group for about 4 years now.

Something I hope SHE wants to be apart of

for many more years to come!