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!!

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!