SUmmer begins...

This week was the first official week of summer,

and we started if off with swim lessons.

It began as I expected-Ame was a great listener

and student (always willing/wanting to please),

Kaipo just wanted to swim,
not listen so much.
After the first class his teacher
said I can teach him, but he will
learn A LOT more if will actually listen
DUH!!
So we had a talk and made some
deals with Kaipo and he has been
doing much better
AND sooo proud that he swam in the
deep end.

Ash was very timid at first
and it took the first half of class
to get him settled and willing
to stay in class (as I expected)
but now he is doing GREAT!

The reward for everyone
after the 2nd day of lessons
and making improvements
was to go meet up with some friends
for a picnic & FUN IN THE SUN.
The park by our old house in
Riverdale just put in a splash pad
so we had to go check it out.
Unfortunately not long after we arrived
it stopped working. A HUGE disappointment
for us and the TONS of other people there,
trying to beat the heat.
But we had fun playing at the park anyway
and of course seeing old friends!

You can tell we haven't had too much

warm, sunny weather here.

Even these kids need a tan!

The stormy, cold weekend we have

ahead isn't going to help with that.

Maybe we will actually get to enjoy

SUMMER before the kids go back to school?!

7 months and counting...

Nalu continues to be the JOY of our family.

What would we ever do without him???

He loves to watch his CRAZY siblings and

interact with them. The boys are always fighting

over who gets to look at him, or hold him.

Needless to say he has NO lack of attention!

Despite getting an eye infection a few weeks ago,

then having the flu this past week,

he continues to be a happy boy!

What are you guys doing to me?

Probably what goes through this little guys

mind several times a day.

Whatever he may think, he is still soo easy going,

loveable, kissable and oh soo sweet.

We LOVE you soo much Nalu boy!!

New Discovery

I visited a specialty store today and

here are a few things I added to my pantry today.

Nothing really out of the ordinary,

EXCEPT that it is Gluten Free.

Yes, this is a NEW discovery we have recently

had. QUinn went in for a physical and

some blood work several weeks ago and we

just received a call from the Dr. last week

informing us that QUinn has Celiac Disease,

which is an allergy to GLuten.

My first reaction hasn't been real

positive and I am still VERY overwhelmed

by it all. I mean really???

Gluten is in EVERYTHING!!!

I did come across a GLuten Free Store

but I am going to have to get a part time

job just to afford buying anything there.I KNOW things could be soo much worse,

and in the grand scope of things we are very

lucky this is all that was discovered.

I am trying to be positive about it and

do lots of research, and find ways to make this

fit more comfortably into our family

lifestyle. I just feel the weight of all of this

is on ME and that Quinn is only going to

kind of make changes if I provide a means

to do it. So if any of you have insight, encouragement,

information or contacts that can help me DEAL,

I would greatly appreciate it!

preschool graduation

Kaipo has finally hit that BIG milestone

of no longer being a preschooler,

and he is very ready for Kindergarten now! We are all soo proud of this BIG, SMART boy!



SOme of the things about Kaipo at pre-K:
*he can spell & write his FULL name
(no easy task for a Hanamaikai kid)
Kaipolani Keli'i Hanamaikai
*he can say & write his address and phone number
*he can whistle
*he can wink
*he can blow a bubble w/gum
*he can read and write simple words,
phrases, and small books
*he has such an imagination, is
very creative and loves to draw
*his appetite is incredible & he is
ALWAYS hungry (I have no idea where it
goes in that skinny body)
*he LOVES to play super mario on the Wii
*he is becoming more athletic
*he still loves to dress-up, action heros & really
likes to build things with Trios and Blocks
*he can FINALLY ride the new bike he got
for his birthday WITHOUT training wheels
(and yes the video is sideways cuz mom ALWAYS
forgets & turns the camera like taking a picture
and then remembers after the fact I can't rotate video)

VERY cool

For the past several months Ame's class has been learning about

The Rainforest

Then they turned their classroom into an Rainforest.
with all kinds of art work, and other creative & unique stuff
and then they became TOUR GUIDES

This past week family and friends (and all the other

classes at school) got to enter the RAINFOREST.

Kaipo and I went over one day (and then dad & Ash went

another day, but no pics from their visit).

We got to look at snake skin through the microscope,

learn & see so many cool things

all from the BEST tour guide ever!

They have each been keeping a rainforest journal,

which they wrote in daily as if they were IN the rainforest

and the experiences they were having there.

Ame has been doing extra research at home on the

computer, and has just had soo much fun learning

and discovering all she can about the rainforest.

We had so much fun visiting too!

What a creative and neat experience for those first graders!!

I am grateful for her teacher that provided such a fun

learning opportunity.

good bye to a friend

Earlier this week I met some friends at Cold Stone to bid farewell to a sweet girl in the ward. Heidi (in the middle w/grey stripes) is such a neat, fun girl. I first met her last summer at a RS party and instantly felt connected. FOr one we were both pregnant and had our baby's within a month of each other. Her husband is a Murdock (car dealership) and is being transferred to Tremonton (of all places) and Heidi is soooo NOT a country kind of girl. She is a cute girl who LOVES to shop, and I would say is pretty high maintenance. So needless to say, she was NOT excited about this move. But you do what you gotta do, right?! I for one know that! She has already promised she will be back on occassion

so we all look forward to being with her again!

the last of it

Tuesday evening we went to a BBQ for all the studio 48 competition teams. When we arrived the line to get food was all the way across the park. QUinn instantly was like lets go. But I convinced him to stay and good thing we did, cuz Ame was the winner of one of the HUGE team trophies. The anticipation has been building for weeks, since they told the dancers about this drawing. She was soooo hoping she would win one. Afterwards QUinn and I told her that we had never really won any kind of drawing, so her luck it definitely better than ours! She was exstatic to say the least. Hurray for Ame!!! (now another giant trophy...what to do with it)

Ame anxiously waiting to hear what her

individual award would be.

Fun memories for a little girl!!

Fun for Some...

Our fun weekend started Friday night,

when we headed up to Logan for a

birthday celebration for little Tay Tay.

Only Ame, Nalu and mom got to go

because Kaipo and Ash are both

fighting an eye infection, so dad

stayed home with them.

I don't have any pics of the festivities,

but Karli did a great job on the party.

It was simple and sweet, just right for

the BIRTHDAY GIRL!

And the cake & cupcakes were soo

creative & cute. Way to go Kar!

So glad some of us could make it!!

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

Saturday morning Kaipo was suppose

to have his last soccer game, but

due to the continued eye infection, he had

to miss the game. Such a bummer!

But a teammate dropped off his trophy

and getting his very FIRST trophy definitely

MADE HIS DAY!!
Saturday afternoon Ame had her dance recital.
Mom decided to carry on the tradition from
her younger days, and get Ame a corsage.
She LOVED that little surprise!
This is it with STUDIO 48.
We are taking a dance break and going
to try some other THINGS.
But Ame has had a fun, busy year in dance.
We are soo proud of her and all her hard work.
She has such a talent and is a fantastic performer,
but she wants to TRY other things while she is young.
(A wise decision we think-
these are the years to discover her passions)

The boys are still fighting the eye infection

and we hope that passes soon, cuz this coming

week is even busier than the last!!

a FULL day in SUN

Saturday was the first day we had dad home, in a long time.

He has been teaching for several months (or playing golf),

so we did all we could with him around.

First it was off to Kaipo's game.

Of course dad is GOOD LUCK cuz,

the 2 times dad has come, Kaipo scores a goal

(not all the other times mom goes SOLO to support him).

After his game we headed to the park for a

Community Bike Fair, where the kids got

to play some games, meet Clifford & McGruff

and have some pizza for lunch.

Can't beat all that FREE fun!

We also played tennis, did some yard work,

rode daddy's motorcycle and spent as much

time outside as possible, because it was such

a BEAUTIFUL, absolutely PERFECT day.

(I even got my first slight sunburn of the year)
We are soo ready for summer!

helmet head

What is the helmet for, you may ask?

Well this past week, Quinn bought a small

motorcycle, as a commuter vehicle.

Mostly to get him the few miles from our house

to the trax station, which is how he gets

to work in SLC most days. The kids LOVE taking

rides around the neighborhood with dad,

and wearing his helmet around the house. Not sure what Nalu thought of that HUGE thing

on his head, but he was still all smiles!
funny shot

Never Had...

We have NEVER had one of these...

A BINKEY KID

mixed feelings about it, but sometimes it is soo nice!

A Mother FULL of Gratitude

This isn't being written ON Mothers Day,

but it doesn't mean my gratitude is any less,

because I truly have soo much to be thankful for! Most of all, these 4 amazing children, that my

Heavenly Father has blessed ME with.

Although there are many a days that I feel

stressed and overwhelmed, not just at everyday

life, but also at the responsiblity to be their

mother, their teacher, their example and so much more!

And although I constantly fall short of perfection

and have a tremedous lack of patience, I am

humbled that I was given this amazing opportunity!!

All week my kids have been extra excited and

secretive with all that they were doing for me,

to make ME feel SPECIAL.

And they surely did!!
I enjoyed a traditional

Breakfast in Bed.

Here is Ame's beautiful art work, which she

made at school, along with many homemade

card. She is an expert card maker, that is for sure!

And so sincere and sensitive. I love that about her!!

And Kaipo amazes me at his abilities

and how enthusiastic he is about becoming

a READER and a WRITER.
(the card in green says...

I am always going to love you)

Ash also made me some special cards,

and Nalu, well he just had to smile his

BIG SMILE and that is all I needed!

Not bad for a

set the timer, late for church,

family picture.

I had to get a close-up of the

BEAUTIFUL, UNIQUE lei

Quinn got me this year.

Another tradition that I LOVE.

I am always excited each year

to see what he is going to get me.

This year was definitely a favorite!

And the biggest gift of all was getting

all this green in our yard.

Quinn worked sooo hard this week

in his little spare time to get the yard all ready,

so they could lay the sod Friday Night.

Despite the sod being REALLY late and

all of our help (13 guys from our ward showed up...isn't

that awesome) having to wait, it got done.

Thank you honey for making the time, so now we

can finally enjoy our yard!

(Now its on to the flowerbeds)

Grass has never made me soo excited!!

Too see this sight out my window as the rain

pours down, is wonderful!

And this is one of the few times I will say

BRING ON THE RAIN

I feel so loved, so appreciated and so special
AND so grateful to be a MOTHER!

6 months

Nalu turned 6 months old a few days ago,

and also had a check-up.

Here is what we found out:

weight- 17.7 lbs. (65%)

height-27.7 in. (90%)

Some things about Nalu at this age:

*he now has 2 bottom teeth

*he continues to put everything in his

mouth & is learning how to move things

from one hand to the other

*he is a good independent sleeper,but still

wakes up once in the night for a feeding

*he is lovin' baby cereal and when mom

introduces it, I am sure will LOVE other

baby food as well

*he likes to hold his bottle

*he is a great pooper & has

at least one diaper explosion a day

(usually at the most inconvenient time-

just after a bath, when ready to head out the door,

or away from home like @ church)

*he HATES to have anything on his head-

a hood, beenie, etc. I am hoping he outgrows

that and will be OK with hats this summer??

*he is now aware when mom leaves the room

& usually doesn't like that so much

*he loves to interact with others and has

the BIGGEST, brightest smile

The best of all...

He has learned to laugh & squeal with excitement

We LOVE you sweet Nalu and couldn't ask for a sweeter, easier baby. We can't believe you have only been apart of our family for 6 months, but WOW how quickly those 6 months have gone! We want you to stay our little baby forever, but know that isn't going to happen. We are soo excited for all that you will be learning to do, even in the next 6 months.