It's out!!

A few weeks ago we noticed Kaipo's BIG tooth

growing in behind his baby tooth.

The baby has gradually gotten looser,

and of course the anticipation for

his FIRST tooth to come out has been

BUILDING for the past few days.

Well today with the help of his sister,

it came out.

I don't know how many times he

announced how HAPPY he was

but he has been super excited all night!

The tooth fairy better

REMEMBER to visit our house tonight!?!

Hayride and Santa Wishes

Yesterday was our Annual Ward Christmas Breakfast.

Of course I forgot my camera, but we had a

great breakfast (oven omelets and cinnamon rolls)

and a surprise visit from an

AWESOME Santa and Mrs Claus

(their helpers of course).

Then last night we went on a Hayride that took

us around the Layton City Park light display.

We chose a great night, because it was quite pleasant

and all bundled up we weren't really cold at all.

afterwards we went indoors for some hot cocoa

and another visit with Jolly Ol' St. Nicholas.

It was interesting to hear the kids express their

wishes to Santa (twice in one day)
and the different things they asked for each time.

Way to confuse Santa and HIS HELPERS!!!

(this a funny picture of Kaipo giving bunny ears

to Ash and Santa catching him being naughty)

Ame is definitely at the age of embarrassment

with sitting on the Jolly Man's lap.

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

We are trying to enjoy this Beautiful Season and

remember it's TRUE meaning!

Much Overdue...But none the less thankful

Although this post of Thanksgiving is MUCH overdue,

I feel no less thankful for my abundance of blessing!

We have not been without challenges

(financial strains have been the greatest),

but those we have faced seem minimal compared

to challenges of those we know and love.

Family

(both our own little family and

all of our extended families on both sides)
means so much to us!

We were grateful to spend time with

the Asplund's and the Hanamaikai's during

Thanksgiving (thankfully on seperate days).

We have such special bonds with our

siblings, parents, in-laws and our kids with

their cousins, aunties/uncles & grandparents.

Another great blessing we cherish

is that of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and

our membership in HIS church.
We TRY to teach our kids of its importance

and hope that their own testimonies grow

and can one day stand strong.

Life is GOOD and amidst life's MANY challenges, we feel blessed!

Friends, Friends and more Friends

Ame's friend Layla invited her to join their family

to see the Nutcracker.

They got to go out to dinner first

@ Wingers. Ame was soo excited to have

ribs and asphault pie. Man that girl can eat!!

(when it is something she actually likes)

Ame LOVED the show, even though it was quite

long and she didn't get home until VERY late.

She even bought a crystal ornament as a souvenier

(with her own money).

The week of Thanksgiving, when the kids had a few days

off, we decided to let them have a movie night WITH friends.
Kaipo had Campbell over and Ame invited Layla (of course).

Mom tried to find a friend who could join Ash, but no luck.
He didn't seem too disappointed though.

Ramona and Beezus

was the movie of choice

(cute, cute show)!

Complete with pizza, homemade hot cocoa

and lots of treats.

Nalu didn't want to miss out on all the fun

Ash is content just havin' his Mickey Blanket and pillow,
while hangin' out with the BIG kids!

These two are best pals and pretty inseperable.
I am soo glad they clicked so quickly this year
and have become such great friends, especially
since Ame had a bit of a hard adjustment
at the beginning of the school year,
with joining the Spanish Immersion Program
and not knowing anyone/feeling out of place.
Layla's mom teaches at our school
and is the English teacher in the
Spanish Immersion Program for fourth grade,
so Ame and Kaipo will each get to have her.
(Kaipo has the little sister, Marina, pictured in the
nutcracker pic above, in his class this year).

Just For Fun

It's been almost a month since I last sat down and got some

things blogged, so I have a lot of catching up to do....

Some friends invited us to Boondocks several weeks ago, of course the older kids favorite thing to do is

DRIVE THE CARS

(no matter how darn COLD it is outside)

And it looks like we've got quite a ball player...



Hopefully Santa will bring Ash what he WANTS
for Christmas, to help enhance those skills???

lessons on Service and Gratitude

What to do with all those pumpkins???

We had a FHE lesson on Gratitude and

decided to share what we are thankful for...It was my week to teach Joy School.

We talked about and got to

do some Service.

The cute kids making funny faces.

We made cookies on Tuesday and took them to

a friend down the street (I was grateful my mom

came to help, she is soo good with those little munchkins).

It was a nice blistery day,

so that was why I chose to visit someone

close. The lesson suggested raking leaves or

something like that, but the weather just

didn't cooperate with that idea, plus no one

in our neighborhood has mature enough trees

that drop many leaves.
The kids also drew secret pictures for each other,

and today we focused on our Mother's and how much

service they do for US! So the kids made cards for their

Mother's and we made these turkey treats...

We have lots to be grateful for!

And as CRAZY as life has been these days,

I am thankful for these simple moments

that help ME reflect on my blessings!!

flowing with creativity

Ame is always searching the internet (nick-jr, pbs kids, etc)

for art projects, mostly because she has a lame mom

who doesn't come up with fun things for her to do.

She made this kite and had a little

luck flying it. Kaipo had to get out a kite too

and join the fun.

Ame got the Award of Merit

(equivalent to 2nd place I think)
and her 3D Art will be going on
in the Reflections contest.

She recently made this at "Activity Days"
It is a 5 generation Family Tree.
I thought it was such a neat, creative idea
so we framed it and put it on the wall.

The artisitic and creative ability
of this girl continues to
amaze me, especially because
I have NONE!

more birthday celebrations

Nalu got 2 more birthday celebrations.

First, with the Asplund Family.

We all gathered for a scrumptious

Roast dinner (thx to gma) and after

the kids all ran around and played for awhile,

some enjoyed cupcakes and others tasted the

butterfinger cake (that was quite delicious,

even if I do say so myself).

Ash and Ella entertained us with some dancing.
These 2 were quite serious in their performance.

This was the gift from some of the family.

IT'S AWESOME!

Nalu LOVES it as well as the other 3 siblings!

Our next round of celebrating was with

the Hanamaikai's. Nalu cousin Amaya

is only 2 weeks younger than him,

so we had a double celebration.

cake AND cupcakes

Nalu drooling over the presents!

and these two cuties opening

each others presents

Amaya is so stinkin' cute and

already full of attitude!

A typical Hanamaikai...haha

We had fun celebrating

the BIG #1 with our sweet boy!

And look forward to MANY more

years of celebrating!!

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!!