Guess who...

PEEK A BOO,

GUESS WHO TURNED ONE??? As if this boy couldn't get any sweeter,

he got filled with much more sweetness.

*Donuts for Breakfast*

That seems to be the tradition

around out home for BIRTHDAYS!!!
Nalu Alena Hanamaikai

*IS a 1 YEAR OLD NOW*

and we have soo much to celebrate!

He has blessed our family more than

we could ever have imagined.

Each day he is soo happy, full of life

and just a joy to have around.

He had quite an eventful day.

Unfortunately he had a Dr's Appt.

and had to get 3 shots. What a way

to celebrate, huh?!
We did find out how much he has grown.

He now weighs: 23.4 lbs

and his height : 31 inches

Those are almost the exact same

stats as his brother kaipo had

at 12months. So we know Nalu

is going to be one tall boy!

Of coure he LOVES facing forward

in his carseat now.
------------
He is soo close to taking his first steps.

He pulls himself up everywhere, and

walks along the bench of the kitchen table.

I'm thinkin' give him a few weeks

and he will be walking!
LOOK OUT

It is really hard NOT to be happy

when I see this boy.

No matter how crummy of a day

I am having, all I have to do
is see my precious boy
and I can't help but smile!!

Can't have a birthday without

some of the GOOD stuff.

One of Nalu's most favorite things is to

Take a Bath
If anyone even mentions that word he is

squealing and squirming with excitment!

Now that he's all clean from

that yummy cake and ice cream,

it time for PRESENTS!
Of course there is no enjoying

opening them by himself...
gotta have those brothers

ripping into them too.

Speaking of siblings, Nalu

just LOVES his brothers and sister.

He is constantly crawling around the house

looking for them, or yelling up the

stairs when he hears them playing.

He giggles hysterically at the silly things

they do and is constantly entertained by them!

If he would only realize how much MORE

fun he could have with them if he would

JUST WALK!! Then he could follow them everywhere!

Nalu, you are the sweetest boy and we all

LOVE you to pieces!
You make our family complete.

You just EXUDE happiness and your smile is soo contagious!

You have brought nothing but Joy to our lives.

It's hard to believe it has already been one year

since you first blessed our family!

HaPy BiRtHdAy to you...

and the celebrating has just begun!!

MORE

Man, when I don't get the opportunity to blog very often,

then when I finally take a day off from school,

there is a lot of catching up to do...

So the MUCH anticipated day FINALLY arrived

*TRICK OR TREAT*

of course, just about the time the kids

were all dressed and ready to head out

the door is starts to POUR RAIN.

I made them wait a bit, to see if it

would let up, but it didn't really so

I let them go to the houses just on our

street. I kept yelling out the door to them

RUN! They weren't moving very fast.

I know the rain is fun for kids, unlike

the annoying thoughts I have about it!

So after finishing our street, they came inside,

dried off and had a bite to eat.

By this point sick ASH was done, so he stayed indoors

with Dad and Nalu watching a movie and passing out candy,

while mom headed out with Ame and Kaipo.

Luckily the rain let up, and it wasn't

tErRiBlY cold. I have to admit I actually had fun

running from house to house with these two!

We were especially grateful for the AWESOME
neighbors that passed out donuts and hot cocoa.
One day I would like to be THAT neighbor,
that everyone remembers!!

Adults only

This year we made it to our neighbors

Halloween ADULTS ONLY party.

(but WE were accompanied by a non-adult)

Can you guess where we got our costumes?
It was fun to just hang out, eat lots of yummy food

and talk, talk, talk with some great friends!

Poor Boy

Last week Ash got CROUP.

We have never had it in our house b4, so

it was quite scary for us!!

It started with him complaining of a sore

throat, and then QUICKLY progressed

into him pretty much not being able

to talk or even breathe very well.

At 5 am Quinn finally took him to

Wee Care, where he got a steroid shot

and Ash was soo brave he said he did

not even cry. It was an amazing

difference from the time he left to when

he returned, how much better he sounded.

The Dr said it was like he was trying to

breathe through a straw. He wasn't losing

oxygen, but he was definitely struggling! Today is the first day, he seems to have most of

his 3 year old energy (and attitude)back and

for once I am grateful for that. He mostly just has

a cough left, which sounds more like a cold

related cough. We have been praying that

no one else, especially Nalu, gets the

AWFUL CROUP
and we have lucky so far...

Concert in EsPaNoL

Last week we got to attend a concert put on by

the 2nd grade spanish immersion classes @ Ame's School.

There are 2 classes, each with 28 students.

They did such a great job.

There songs were so fun-some in spanish

and some in English

complete with props and all

(that is what is in their decorated bags)

When Ame gets embarrased she folds her arms

and gets this expression that looks as though

she is annoyed and really doesn't want to be there.

I pointed it out to her and she got all upset and

thought I was being sooo rude!

I just wanted her to see it (video clips to prove ot)

and know so her future performances look like she

is actually enjoying herself, because I know she is :)

I decided not to include the video with her arms folded

so she doesn't get more mad at me!

I was so proud of her learning all those spanish songs.

She is doing awesome in the program, and her teacher

just raves about her and the success she is having!

Of course we already know how incredible she is!!!

SOME traditions

Well this year Mom was really slacking on

the Halloween Traditions.

With the craziness of my schedule, we did manage

to get some TrEaTs made...

CaNdIeD aPpLeS and CoOkIeS
(great picture taken by Ame, her feet and all)
we shared with our friends and enjoyed some ourselves!
But I felt bad we never made it out to the pumpkin patch
for a hayride and pumpkin picking, nor did we even
decorate pumpkins this year. I know, I know, lame mom!!
Better luck next year!

I told Ame maybe we would decorate pumpkins for

thanksgiving instead of Halloween?!?

BuSy....

It has been soo busy lately! I have subbed twice this week, in addition to continuing to speed through my master's program, which I am half done with the 10 modules to complete my first course (18 units). My goal is to finish this course before thanksgiving, and take a break until the Holidays are over. I am grateful that Quinn works from home so we don't have to worry about who is going to watch the kids when I am gone subbing, but things just don't get done quite the same when mom is not around all day. But I should just be happy they are safe, loved and fed, right?! Who cares about the mounds of laundry, dishes, dinner to be thought about and home work to be done when mom arrives home?! right??? It does show me that I have a lot more time during the day when I DON"T work, but when I do....I am wiped out!!! I know I can't complain because some moms have to do it every day! I know I won't be in school forever, but there will come a time when I work full time again, and I will somehow have to juggle it all. For now I am grateful for the flexibility I am blessed with, and the time I get to spend with my kids at home (in my PJ's all day if I choose)!

TRUNK or treat

The kids got to try out their Halloween Costumes early this year.

Our ward had the annual canival and trunk or treat on Tuesday evening.

The original plan for costumes didn't quite work out,

so this is how it turned out... the boys were

all basketball players (even Nalu, but he was taking

a nap until we left so he missed the pictures).

Mom even dressed up as a football player, in dads

old High school uniform. Its too bad grandma

did away with all moms cheer costumes, it would have

been fun for Ame AND mom to dress up in them :)

But thanks to aunt LeAnne she still

got to be wht she wanted...a cheerleader.

enjoying some chilli, corn bread and breadsticks

the weather was very cooperative

and it was quite pleasant outside

(thank goodness for all our bare legs)

then it was carnival time-lots of games, face painting

and a donut eating contest

(Ash didn't really get the right idea of the game,

but he sure tried to eat that donut fast)
We got a really good video of Ame chowing down,

but it was too long to post.

followed by the trunk or treat,which mom (and Nalu) got stuck passing out candy at the car and dad was off somewhere talking so no pictures got taken of the kids getting their treats. But this was only round 1, so I am sure there will get more pictures at round 2 (including Nalu).

2010 Reflections entry

Since she had such a great experience with Reflections last year,

Ame was insistant she do it again this year!

She made this clay lei

to represent the theme which was,

Together we can...

Make a Circle of Beauty I hope her expectations aren't set to high

after winning at the district level last year

with her Hula performance.

Not that she didn't do a beautiful job with

her creation this year, but I just don't want

her to get too disappointed if she

doesn't make it as far again?!
I am just happy that she wants to share

her creative talents and be involved,

that is so important for kids to discover

and learn early on in life, win or lose.

JUST HAVE FUN WHILE DOING IT!!

I am also glad she has friends that want to do the same!

Just some things that made me smile today

I swore after being up late last night doing school work, that I would get to bed early tonight. And here it is 11:00 and I am STILL up blogging. But as crazy as my schedule is I don't know when I will have free time again to do this, and I didn't want to forget to blog about these

things that just made me smile today...

I was doing the dishes after dinner and looked over and saw this.

Amidst her brothers loud, fighting, craziness,

Ame was writing in her journal and working on her Faith in God.

What a jewel this girl is.

It was a definite proud moment for this mom

and one that just MADE ME SMILE!!

that and her beautiful singing with the Senior Primary Choir

in Stake Conference Today, that just brought tears to my eyes.

She was right in front and sang with such pride,

conviction and love for her Savior.

And this boy, just makes me smile every

minute of the day (well almost).

I was a little slow to get the video and didn't

quite catch him when he was histerically laughing.

He became a little too mesmorized by the camera

to laugh much more after I started filming.

But still such a cutie!

Joy School

I have never participated in Joy School b4.

Mostly because I have always wanted my kids

to have experiences away from me, and lets

face it I do need a break sometimes.

But for economic sake, I thought why not give it

a try and if anything safe us some $$ every month.

This past week , amidst starting school myself,

it was MY TURN to teach joy school.

Lets back up a bit.

Ash has not had such a smooth start with this

whole preschool thing. WIth joy school we are

rotating between 7 homes, and I don't think that

is Ash's ideal environment. He missed 3 straight

classes because he just wouldn't stay when MOM

took him. So I thought lets have DAD take him

and sure enough, it worked!

SO I think he is liking it a bit more, or maybe

just because it was with mom this week.

We have a really cute bunch of kids.

All pretty low key and they get along very well.

(Porter, Hyrum, Abram, Ash, Abby, Jacob and Jaylee)

My 2 lessons included:
Joys of the Earth-seasons/seeds and animals
We planted seeds, talked about the seasons, sang songs,
ate apples, applesause, apple juice.
Then we made bird feeders out of pinecones,
brought pets to share, and much, much more!
These are quite detailed/interactive lessons, but a lot of fun!
After a whirlwind week, I am glad to have a break
for 7 weeks! Although this week we are taking
a fieldtrip to Great Harvest Bread
(that's if I don't get a sub teaching job, which
is always a possibility...oh yes one of the other
things on my list of busyness).

I hope I don't have to miss this one, I LOVE GHB!

It was a JOY to spend time with my Ashy Boy this week
and see him interacting with his peers!

its gotten CRAZY!

Life has gotten CRAZY around the Hanamaikai home since the past post.

Mostly because mom has started school!

I am getting my Master's in Math Education, k-6.

I started on October 1st and since then I can hardly keep

my head on straight. I still don't know what I think about

getting an online degree. I am just such a hands on, interactive

learner, it is definitely enlightening as to my abilities as a learner.

We have had to make some adjustments around here so mom

can study a few hours during the day,

but also mom is just getting less sleep and

doing a few hours of school work

at night after the kids are in bed.

My R & R time is gone for the time being.

I used to love that time after the kids were

all in bed and I could sit down with a bowl

of ice cream and enjoy one of my favorite shows!

These late nights are kickin' my butt, I must say.

Staying up until 11:30 or later, just doesn't work

well when I SHOULD be up at 6:30 the next morning

(if I want any chance of getting in a work out b4 the craziness

of getting kids ready for school begins).

As part of WGU we commit to at least 20 hours a week,

and I am trying to stick somewhat close to that,

at least for the next 6-8 weeks.

My main goal is to finish my first course, which is

18 units. I am trying to get my teaching license current

again. It expired since I haven't taught for over 4 years.

And the quickest way to renew it is with college courses.

Once I get enough credits to get my license renewed,

I will slow things down a bit with schooling

and not feel so pressured to work so hard and so fast.

Amidst teaching Joy School, volunteering in my kids classes,

trying to figure out Halloween costume, think about

my baby turning 1 and just BE A MOM, I

am now a student again.

This is one WILD ride!!

It's GREAT to be 8

(thanks to Jamie for these simply perfect invitations)

This day has been anticipated by us all for quite some time now.

WOW was it a special day!

We were waiting for all to arrive...

We shared this baptism daywith our next door neighbor,

Summer and her family. Her grandma gave the baptism talk,

and Grandma Asplund gave the Holy Ghost talk.
She shared the importance of following the

promptings of the spirit, just like Lehi

followed the Liahona and was guided in the

right direction.

Grandma Frankie gave a beautiful opening

prayer, took LOTS of picture for us

(thank you) and brought ALL the

GIANT sandwhiches to feed our large

crowd afterwards. She is amazing and we soo

appreciate her love and support!

Our beautiful girl SOO clean and pure

She got her very own engraved scriptures (from mom/dad),

a beautiful bracelet & journal (thanks gma and gpa)

and this VERY cute scripture bag (thanks AUntie Karli).

She also got several other fun gifts, since this was

a baptism/birthday family party.

we really appreciated all the support from our families,

to travel the distance and help out in so many ways
to make this day soo special for OUR girl!

all the cousins who were able to come show their

excitment for Ame's BIG day!

Ame's 2 primary teachers were wonderful to come

and support her as well, and one of them brought

this AWESOME scripture cake.

(it was much better looking than mom's #8 cake)

Sunday Ame got introduced as the

NEWEST member by the Bishop, got

to sit on the stand and she even

CHOSE to be the very first

to share her testimony.
What an amazing girl!

We LOVE you & are so PROUD of you

*Ame'lia*

We are excited to see your beautiful spirit

continue to blossom and grow!