costume to dress up

Ame and I had discussed the idea of getting a new dress-up, after Halloween, since she didn't really get a real costume for halloween, at least nothing that could really become a dress up afterwards. I told her if we could find something on Sale, she could choose one. We hit wal-mart and they were completely bare, next we tried Shopko and got lucky. This costume was $50 (I would never pay that much) but was reduced 75%, so we got it for $12. It isn't a REAL cinderella costume (as Ame so quickly pointed out) but she was happy with it and I was even more happy to find such a deal!! This picture is a pretty poor one, cuz it is taken with Quinn's camera, but it captures the costume good enough.

photo shoot

So, a few weeks ago, LeAnne (my sister-in-law) was gracious and patient enough to meet us at the park for a little photo session. I guess I shouldn't say little, cuz we were there for a few hours. But now I have hundreds of pictures of great snaps of the kids. LeAnne has a great eye, and got tons of cute shots. Here are a few...

Can you tell Ame LOVES to pose?

Kaipo was a bit difficult to get a snap of, so we had to get creative. LeAnne was soooo patient. I would have given up long before she did.

We only got a few of Ash even looking up. He was mesmorized (sp?) by ALL the leaves.

I like this shot beccause it captured PERFECTLY what this experience was like.

Ame posing pretty, Ash eating the leaves, and Kaipo collecting sticks and running wild (we fortunately got him to sit for just a second, literally)

As you can see I went with the whole Camo idea. Ame has a cute skirt on, which you can't see. She saw these pics and said she looked naked (bottom half of course).

LeAnne you're awesome!

THanks so much for your help and for doing such an amazing job!!

Much better than I ever could have done.

HALLOWEEN FUN,AND MORE AND MORE...

I sort of feel halloween'd out and it isn't even officially halloween yet. But the kids have had lots and lots of fun and that is what it is all about!
We went to a community halloween carnival, which is usually outside at the park right down the street, but because of the winter storm we had over the weekend it was moved into the community center. They had games, story telling and a bake sell. It wasn't super exciting but the kids got to dress up, see their friends and play games, so it was worth it for them.

Don't let the smile fool you, Ash didn't really like his costume, especially the hood.

But isn't he the cutest Spiderman ever???

SUPERMAN

What a grin...

Ame loves to bake and decorate the cookies

Kaipo loves to eat them

Daddy helped with the pumpkin carving-he cut out the face on one and Ame colored the face on the other pumpkin. One pumpkin carving was enough I guess. They're holding each others finished products. Mommy even cleaned and roasted the pumkin seeds.

Ame's class @ their school, all ready for the Halloween Parade. Kaipo even got to join in the fun.

Ame's teacher, Ms. Mandy w/her little girl. What cute matching costumes, huh!

The kids got to have a parade all throughout the high school and went into several of the classes where they got to trick or treat and get their bags filled with candy.

Kaipo was in heaven and loved all the attention. He felt like such

a BIG BOY at school with his sister.

Hope everyone is having a Happy Halloween!! We sure are!!!

home decorating

This is what I've done in Kaipo's room. The order I got actually came with 6 surfboard and a ton of flowers and leaves, so it is actually on two walls. I like this wall better, the other has different designed boards. A student of mine, a few years ago, had made me his name sign and it goes perfectly with the colors.

And this is the vinyl saying in his room.

Here is one of the walls in Ash's room. These are called "wall-pops". I found them @ Lowe's, and they come in all sorts of colors, shapes and designs. They are awesome because they are adhesive and can be taken on and off as many times as you want.
Great for trying to come up with a design!


Ash's room is somewhat decorated with the "pond animals" so this is his saying...

These are also "wall-pops" in Ame's room and a cute saying for our girl full of dreams!

It is fun to come across easy inventions that really add character to a room.

our strippling warrior

So yesterday, when I went to pick up Kaipo from Nursery, one of the leaders (who just loves Kaipo and is soo good with him) said Kaipo was REALLY good today, and he was a true strippling warrior (which happen to be what their lesson was about),

hence the 3 large scratches to his cheek, he is pointing to.

He was "attacked" I guess you could say, by one of the boys (Zach) whom they already have a lot of issues with and he isn't even 2! The nursery leader said Kaipo didn't fight back, but was really SAD, so she took him for a walk and got him some candy (and magically he was all better).
I just didn't know the kids needed hands on experience to become a real strippling warrior!

I guess Kaipo is already living up to the vinyl saying I ordered for his room:

Don't wait to be Real Man, Be A Real Boy.

We love you Kaipo are so proud of the great boy you are becoming! It is OK to be full of energy and excitement for life. We wouldn't want you any other way!

PS: a funny side note- I got a phone call last night from the mom asking if I could watch their 2 younger kids (which would include Zach) while she went to help in her older daughters class. Fortunately I had plans the morning she wanted help. I mean do you really think that is a good idea after what happened?

No, we are not really feeling that bad about it. Zach's dad is actually the couselor over the Activities Committee, so I work with him a lot, we played in a volleyball tournament w/ both of the parents on Fri. nite, his mom made mine and Karli's baby slings, so as you can see we have a great realtionship w/the parents. They're really cool and laid back. Maybe too laid back, huh?

A visit to the fire station

On our way home from dance class last night, we drove past the fire house and they were having an open house. So we hurried home and had dinner, then headed back to have some fun. Kaipo, was in HEAVEN sitting in the drivers seat!

I don't quite think this is how a real fireman poses.

This kind of simple family time is so memorable, especially for the kids. I'm glad we went, even though Ame is going to the firestation for school this week too. Two times is better than one!

Some friends of ours, from the ward, were there at the same time. They have a boy Kaipo's age and a girl Ame's age AND a baby just a month younger than Ash (they also have an older boy).

A little side note: Jody's (on the left) dad is the president of the PCC. (you'd think they would be polynesian, huh? we did. it seems to make sense that way, but no)

super hero party

Ame and cousin, Ella-she was looking pretty foxy as wonder woman. Daddy told Ame she had tohave long hair to be wonder woman, which is true-that really does make the costume.
Kaipo's costume was a bit too big, so we had to do some pinning in the waist area. But he was loving being a superhero!!

A few weekends ago our good friends daughter, had her 6year old party and it was a super hero theme party. So kaipo was superman (also going to be his halloween costume) and Ame was catwoman (she also said it was going to be her halloween costume, but has since changed her mind-I was bummed because it really only took about $4 to construct her costume and now she wants a $35+ costume instead, but she changes her mind like everyday.. so we will see).

Anyways, they had a BLAST dressing up and playing superhero games. Of course this party fell on our first blizzardy cold day so the party had to be moved indoors. But the kids didn't seem to mind at all. I think it was the birthday girls' parents who had a harder time with that.

Off to School

We wish it was to Kindergarten, but Ame is off to preschool. She actually missed the first day because we were still in Disneyland, but we came back in time for the 2nd day. She was a little distraught cuz we hadn't been able to find her a backpack before we left on our trip, so she had to take just another bag. Luckily we took care of that over the weekend, so she is good to go tomorrow! She is attending the pre-school at one of the high schools here. There is 2 head instructors and then the students are the teachers aids (they take a class in which they prepare lesson plans and then teach the preschoolers). I have heard really good things about this program, so we will see. The only tricky part is she has an alternating schedule every week, MWF or T, TH. Luckily we get a calendar to keep it straight.

One of our neighbors have a boy who is 4, named Garrett (you may have seen him in a previous post holding hands with Ame), who is also going to the same preschool. That will be nice because his mom and I are going to take turns taking the kids, so we don't have to both drive there each time for class.

Ame is really excited and we think she will have a lot of fun!

Mouse in the House???

Last night Kaipo woke up in the middle of the night, calling for daddy (a somewhat frequent occurance). When Quinn went in his room he said there was a mouse in his room. Quinn quickly flipped on the light, pulled out the drawers below Kaipo's bed and searched the room, but did not find any unwanted guests. Who knows if it was a real thing Kaipo was talking about. It could have been a dream, could have been the Mickey Mouse ears hanging in his room, or the recent catching of a mouse in our garage.
Yes we did catch one! Quinn and I both, on seperate occassions swore we saw "something" run and hide in the garage. So we got some mouse traps. I set them out, the sticky pad kind, and sure enough the next morning when I went out in the garage WITH the kids to leave, there is was. It must have just recently gotten stuck in the trap because it was still squirming. YUCK!! Luckily quinn was home and I frantically yelled for him and he came to the rescue. I told him we were leaving and he needed to get rid of it. QUinn was quite distraught, I could tell by the look on his face and didn't know quite what to do. He called me a little while later and said he just couldn't kill it. So instead he carried it over, still in the trap, to the church field and carefully removed it from the trap. He even said he had to peel its sticky arms apart, hoping he didn't break them or anything (with gloves on of course). QUinn said somebody else would just have to kill him, cuz he couldn't do it! What a kind and gentle person you are quinn, so full of love for even the grossest little creature.
I am just glad I wasn't the one who had to take care of that pesky little thing!
Hopefully now that our yard isn't an open field (we now have grass and a fence), we won't have any more little critters running around!! Especially in our house!!!
I sure hope this time Kaipo actually didn't know what he was talking about.

Disneyland

Well, I must say that going to Disneyland is definitely a "trip" and not a "vacation". But we did have so much fun! We stopped several times on the way down: 1st Mesquite to spend the night and while we were there we got a nice evening swim in and of course a filling buffet; 2nd we stopped in Barstow and hit the outlets for a bit and it was soo windy & cold there, we pretty much ran from store to store in our t-shirts and shorts; a few more drink and potty stops; then we stayed with QUinn's cousin, who has kids pretty much our kids exact ages. We had a family get together with cousins we hadn't seen since our wedding on Sunday, which was also fun to catch up with them, while the kids had a blast.

Then Monday morning we headed to the magical world of Disney.

You definitely learn a lot about your kids through an experience like this.

Ame was a roller coaster demin and went on everything she was tall enough for, but was close her eyes and plug her ears scared at anything DARK and the least bit scary, like Snow White's Scary Adventure, & Pirates. Kaipo pretty much followed her lead. He closed his eyes soo tight on Pirates of the Caribbean that he actually fell asleep. Quinn captured their expressions perfectly in this pic.

But of course Ame was in heaven when she got to meet several of the princesses.

She also got to do some dancing with the prince.

Just as exciting was when we got to see the High School Musical Parade and they invited her up to dance. She thought that was the coolest thing ever.

THis kind of ride was more like what Kaipo enjoyed. As well as Dumbo and the Winnie the Pooh ride (which was actually really cute).

Unfortunately, he was only like 2 inches to short to go on most of the rides.

We got to see The Cars.

The double stroller was a LIFE-SAVER, with Ash sometimes, but Kaipo most of the day. We did have a harness for Kaipo, but he preferred to ride a lot. QUinn got a good work out pushing it around all day, especially when Ame wanted to ride too.

Getting a little rest on the ferris wheel.

Kaipo was in AWE that Mickey was real in person.

And beautiful Pocahantas, was soo exciting to see.

Ame picked out a princess Diary as a souvenir, that came in a frilly feather bag and with a feather pen. She was soo glad she chose that because then when we ran into Cinderella, she could autograph her book. THAT was extra special!

Our little princess had the time of her life and was crying sad when it was time to go.

Even though the drive was long and the kids got extra honry and tired, it was all worth it to see the excitement in their faces all throughout the day.

I hope they have some memories now, that will last a LONG time. We definitely have lots of pictures and video to help them remember.

Ame told us that dreams REALLY do come true!

She's 5!!!

I cannot believe my first-born, little girl, is already 5!

This was one of her big requests, along with all the other barbie stuff, snow cone machine, princess dress-ups and endless coloring supplies. Oh yes, and as you can maybe tell from the picture a make-up kit. Barbie, combined with Ariel, is what Ame seems to be into now. We didn't have a friend party this year, because we are going to Disneyland and because mom didn't want that big stress too. Especially since having just family is quite an ordeal. We were just going to do cake and ice cream this year, but daddy thought no one would come ALL THE WAY to our house for just that, so we kept it somewhat simple and did pizza too. We had such a fun time just hangin' out and Ame got pretty much everything on her WISH LIST and then some!

Mommy decided to attempt to make Ame's request for a castle cake this year. So I got on the internet and did some researching and browsing for helpful hints and suggestions. This cake is what I tried somewhat to copy, with an Ariel twist of course.

Here is what I came up with. I was pretty happy with the end result, although, of course I could list several flaws. I actually did have fun making it, once I got past the intimidation of the big idea. I may even try another one some day.

While in the process Ame did make the comment, "Mommy it doesn't really look like the picture." That is when I let her know that mommy was trying real hard to make it look pretty and that she should be grateful I was doing all this work to make it special for her. Although my tone, as I remember, was NOT quite so gentle and kind.

She was, in the end, very pleased and that is what counts!!

growing too fast!!!

Our little guy is growing up way too fast. I definitely don't feel like I enjoy enough of my time with this precious boy. He is such a happy and easy going baby, most of the time.
He has begun to eat rice cereal and, as you can tell from the pic, is having no trouble gobbling it down.

When I was downloading the pics from the camera I had to take a second glance at this pic. For a second I really did think this was Kaipo. There definitely is no questioning whether or not our kids are siblings.