The Simple Things in Life

My poor kids are almost always cooped up in the house.  I stay at home cause competing with cars and people are not my thing.  But, I don't really take them in our yard because it's usually always HOT and cars drive REALLY FAST through our road.  I'm always scared that the kids will venture onto the road if we turn our head for a split second.  The kids have stepped off the curb before (very scary) but for the most part, are pretty good about it. 

Last week after Na'u got home from school, she asked if they could stay outside for a little while.  I said it was ok and sat down on the bench to watch them.  They were literally chasing each other in a little circle that was probably 4 or 5 yards across.  It was so funny because they were laughing  and getting a kick out of it.  They were having the best time ever. 

When running in the circles got old, they went and got some "chopsticks (=chalk)" (for some reason, Na'u always gets confused and switches chalk and chopsticks all the time) and bubbles.  What kid doesn't like chalk and bubbles?!

Na'u started off with a flower that had a stem that kept going and going and going. 

Flowers are her specialty.

 Iwi got into it too.

 

How-to-Blow-Bubbles

1.  Dip  2.  Blow Carefully...

...3.  Watch in awe.

My kids could blow bubbles ALL day!

I love my happy, chubby baby!

This face makes me smile :).

 Playing outside, giggles & laughs, keikis playing nicely, chalk, bubbles, and cute & gummy smiles are some of the simple things that make us happy.

Finally...Some Food

Last week we fed Loli'i some rice cereal for the first time. 

"Hmmm...I'm not sure how I feel about this."

  "Which tastes better? Food or fist?" 

"Ah, Mom?!  More please!"

 "I like this stuff."

I just wanted to throw this picture in because you can see how long his eye lashes are.  I love them!

 By the end of the feeding, it seemed as if Loli'i couldn't get enough.  When he saw that spoon coming, he grabbed it and shoved it in his mouth.

We were so excited to start feeding Loli'i food and he really started getting the hang of it.  

By the 2nd time feeding him, I would say "ah" for him to open up and he did.  I think this boy was soooo ready to eat. 

But then....

 ....my poor baby broke out in hives a day later.

Loli'i didn't seem different in behavior and he didn't have a fever (thank goodness) but he had hives all over his arms and legs.  They pretty much lasted the whole day.  I thought it was weird that he broke out a day after we started feeding him.  I figure that if someone was allergic to something, they would react soon after eating or getting into contact with it.  But, this was the only thing that I could think of that changed.  Doc said hives could last up to a week and in the mean time to just stop feeding him rice cereal.  She thought it was also weird that he mostly got them on his limbs because in most cases hives would show up on the torso too.  As of now, his hives are all pau.  I hope we don't run into any more bumps in the road. 

Holiday School Festivities

On Halloween day, Na'u's school had some holiday activities.  Parents were invited to come so I packed the boys up and headed out. 

The classroom tables were decorated for their party.

 My pretty butterfly showing off her wings!

Every kid was wearing a costume, most of which were store bought.  Some were homemade but I was most impressed with this helicopter.  Isn't it cool?!

 Out in the courtyard, everyone (about 5 different classes and parents) formed a LARGE circle. Each class went one-by-one singing their favorite Halloween song.  They were all excited to share.  Na'u's class, Aloha Kamali'i, did a wonderful job.

My Na'u is growing up too fast.

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On October 29th, Na'u's school had a fall fair. We are required to volunteer a few hours throughout the school year and so this was one of the reasons why we went.  It just so happen to be the same time that Cameron had to work and everyone of our babysitters were busy. This left me with one infant, one very active toddler, and one 'want to explore everything' preschooler.  I knew it would be challenging so I had been preparing myself mentally.  My plan...carry my Loli'i in the backpack carrier, strap Iwi down in the stroller with plenty of snacks to keep him occupied, and have Na'u just be a big helper.  We were assigned to help in the book fair section but Mrs. Cheryl (Na'u's class aid) was a total angel...

...or in this case an alien :). She made it really easy for me.

After, we got a $10 card ready for some fun.

The kids got to play some games and eat some shave ice.

The game in the top left picture was plinko.  The kids needed to place the ball in the tube, let it roll down, and watch it fall into a space below. Whichever slot the ball went into determined how many tickets they won.  I thought this was an easy enough game for Iwi Boy so I let him out of his stroller.  Not a bright idea.  As soon as he had a ball in his hand, he threw it across the room.  I just about wanted to die :).  I was already sweating cause I was still holding Loli'i, trying to help Na'u, and trying to keep Iwi from running away.  I couldn't add one more thing on my to-do list.  One of the other parents was kind enough to help me out :) and retrieved the ball.  Iwi eventually got the hang of it but that was it...back in the stroller he went.

The highlight of the day were these airbrushed tattoos.  A spider for my obsessed bug boy and a butterfly for the princess.

Iwi kept on showing his tattoo to people saying "bug, bug!" or "pider, pider!".  When it started to come off days later, his words changed to "bow-ken pider!"...too cute! 

We actually got a family shot.

I have the best baby ever!

Most times when I wait to do things, I always wait for Cameron to come with me but there are sometimes when a moms got to do what a moms got to do.  I <3 my job!

Cookies, Pumpkins, Spiders, & Ghosts

The night before Halloween I thought it would be a great idea to do Halloween stuff to get into the mood. We invited Megan, Eva and Kanalu and their two girls, Naia and Sarai. 

I had the fabulous idea of making sugar cookies with the keikis.

They had soooo much fun punching out the different shapes, getting flour EVERYWHERE, decorating them and of course eating them.

The yummy results.

When it was time to do the pumpkins, I thought that they would have fun taking out all the goowey "guts" but not really. Iwi refused to even feel the goo and as you can see...

...Na'u tried and basically posed for the picture. Her facial expression in the first and second picture pretty much sums it up---yuck!

Here are the daddys doing their thing. Cameron did the blood-shot eyes pumpkin while Kanalu did the evil looking one.

One of these days, I'm going to do a pumpkin all by myself. I'm usually the one to do the guts part but thats not all that fun when you do it year after year.  Honestly, how hard could carving be?

Earlier in October, we made hand print spiders and ghosts that the kids had a blast with.  What kid doesn't like painting their hands...but of course we had to help them cause I'm sure that we would have paint EVERYWHERE (just like the flour).  When they were all dried, we hung them from the ceiling right outside our bedrooms.

Everyday (even now), Iwi stands under them, pointing and says "pider, pider."  I love it!

All you moms who craft with your kids have inspired me to do so too.  I always mean to do fun things (especially around the holidays) but never get around to doing it.  It's fun to do things out of the norm and I love that we are building memories together.  So thank you other moms!

A "Very Hungry" Halloween

For some odd reason, I feel the need to (1) make our costumes from scratch and (2) have them all matching. Every year I know this is what I want to do but don't actually decide on the theme til I am forced to because Halloween is right around the corner. I decided on the book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" as our theme the tuesday before Halloween. Boy was my plate full. I spent numerous nights staying up way past my bed time but I did it. I'm very happy the way each costume turned out.

Loli'i was the cutest caterpillar ever!


My Iwi boy was the watermelon. I loved that his costume was poncho style with no other accessories. It was perfect for him because I'm sure I would find pieces of his costume all over the ground.


My Na'u was the beautiful butterfly.
I made those wings out of wire hangers which were pretty sturdy. As we were trick-or-treating around our neighborhood, she kept on smacking other kids in the face as she walked by them. I had to keep on telling her, "sideways babe, walk sideways."

I was a simple cotton candy.
We didn't exactly have the book with us to remind us of the actual food that were in the story but I was totally sure that cotton candy was in there. We found out after Halloween that it wasn't but shhhhh....don't tell anyone :). The caterpillar still could have eaten it but just didn't document it.

We hope that everyone had a fun and festive Halloween!


P.S.-Our dad wanted to be grapes but the store was all out of purple balloons. So he ended up being Michael Jackson :).

Our Little Getaway

It seems that the holidays of 2010 were just balled up into one big whirlwind. This proved to be sure for us especially in December. This was Cameron's busiest month singing with A Touch of Gold (they sing mostly oldies stuff like songs from the Temptations) with shows every single weekend. In one night they sang 3 shows moving from one to the next. More shows = more income but at the same time, we loose daddy time (something I was not crazy about since it was the holidays). With Cameron being at his regular job and then shows during the night, I was home with the kiddies a lot by myself. When Cristmas rolled around, my family wanted the kids and I to join them on Moloka'i, because it was my younger brother's 1st christmas back from his mission. The kids and I went but Cam couldn't. This was the first Christmas that we've spent apart. The kids and I were there for about a week. While we had fun on Moloka'i (something I still need to post about :), it wasn't the same without our Cameron.

We finally returned back home a few days after Christmas, and was able to spend New Years Eve with Cam. BUT, he had a show that night too, so...it wasn't exactly the best FAMILY time. Anyway, the holidays passed, and we were beginning to get back into our normal routine. Cam and I thought that as a couple, we didn't really get time to ourselves during the holidays. SO, we went on a little getaway and stayed at the Marriott in Waikiki compliments of Cameron's cousin, Monica. Thanks Monica! We stayed there 3 days and 2 nights. It just so happen to be my dad's birthday the same time so we figure, we get my parents a room too for a night. My parents have been married for 30 years and have never been on a vacation. We thought it would be a nice present where they could stay at a hotel, eat out, and just relax. It took a little convincing, but they agreed to come a day early to come and stay at the hotel.

This is what it our rooms looked like.


Both of our rooms were on the same floor...just a few doors apart. I don't know if that was a good or bad thing because our kids kept on wanting to visit papa and mama's "house" practically the entire time.

That night we took my parents out for a birthday dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I love this place. They give a good amount of ono food and the cheesecake is to die for. Whenever we go there, both Cam & I never finish our food. Sometimes we are so stuffed that we don't even order dessert.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and to keep Na'u and Iwi in our room, we made them a tent. They loved it! But, Iwi soon discovered that breaking the tent down was way more fun than lying down under it...typical boy :).

The next day, I asked my dad how his night went. His reply was, "I couldn't sleep all night. I was tossing and turning. There were too many pillows. The bed was too soft and I was way too full." Too funny. I hope you had a Happy Birthday anyways dad :). Love you!

The best part of our little getaway was when my parents took the kids back with them to Moloka'i. Cameron and I got to spend one more night in the hotel...just the two of us. We did miss our two monkeys though. It was nice to have some peace and quiet yet at the same time, we almost didn't know what to do with ourselves. Let's just say there is never a dull moment with them :). This little getaway was just what we needed...enough to relax a little bit to recharge our batteries. Thanks mom and dad! You're the best!

Silly Bands are DANGEROUS!

I see kids every where wearing these Silly Bands. I've noticed some kids with a few bands on each wrist but some other kids who go way overboard with bands going up both arms almost up to their elbows.

When I first saw them, I thought that they were cute with all the different colors and shapes.

I got Na'u a Tinkerbell set and she loved them. The hot pink ones were her favorite. Most of the time, she would wear one or two for a few hours, loose interest and take them off.

When my parents were here in Dec, my dad bought Na'u a pack (I'm pretty sure that she kept on bugging for for them). Next thing I knew, she had the entire pack divided onto both her wrists. She actually went a few days with them on and there was no problem.

The morning we were going to take our Christmas family pictures, Na'u woke up and started crying and complaining that her hand was sore. When we looked closer, her right hand was SWOLLEN. The silly bands were all tangled up and pulled very tight on some areas cutting off her circulation. We quickly took them off and Na'u screamed in pain. Just looking at it made me want to cry. It looked like it was about to pop if we touched it too hard. When I though about what could have caused it, I remembered that the day before Na'u kept on taking bands off one at a time to see what shape it was. I'm pretty sure that is what did it. Just all that tugging and pulling made it tangled and tight. Cameron did notice that all the silly bands looked a little tight the night before so he took them all off of her left wrist. He didn't know that she had it on both. I'm sure that we would have had TWO swollen wrists instead of just one if he didn't take them off.

We were REALLY worried because it looked BAD. We didn't know if we should take her to the ER because it was so sensitive. Na'u was in total tears. She would cry even more if we touched it lightly. Cameron quickly jumped on the internet to see what we should do. It said to pinch her finger tips to make sure they turned white and then pink again. Finger tips white then pink....check. Then it said to gentle massage it so that the fluids could circulate. We tried the best we could but like I said earlier, she cried whenever we touched it. It took about 3 days for the entire swelling to go down. Even til today, she still has marks from those stinkin silly bands.

I think it looked worse in person.




In this picture, you can compare both hands.



The marks you see on the right wrist (left side in the picture) are the ones still there today.

Now whenever I see them around the house, I just throw them away. I do not want her to go through anything like that ever again! Na'u remembers what happened and how sore it was. Now when she has one on, she'll show us and say, "it's ok...I'm only wearing one. It's not sore." But she won't dare wear them for a long time.

If you do buy these things for your kids, PLEASE be careful and make sure to check them often. They don't need to wear a whole bunch of bands at a time. Better safe than sorry.

"Mom, I'm a BIG girl now!"

Our girl is definitely getting big but she's still our little girl. Na'u celebrated her 3rd birthday way back on November 26th. We had a little party at home with her favorite colors purple and pink (orange was just an added bonus).

I made these super easy tissue pompoms to hang around for decorations.


Goody bags for the keikis.


I really wanted to make Na'u's birthday cake and plus too, I wanted to practice my cake decorating skills. I came up with this.


I made purple roses, white daisies, and little pink and orange flowers.


Super HUGE THANKS to my friend Gabby who helped me get the right consistency for the buttercream. It was starting to look like a disaster until she came.


By the end of the night, after everyone had taken a piece of cake from the BOTTOM, it toppeled over :).


Thanks to my mom who made the ONO food! We had rice, potato salad, green pasta salad, baked beans, deer meat, char shiu chicken and sweet BBQ chicken. I wish I got a picture of the food but I have the next best thing...the kids eating it :).


Iwi eating with Gma Sandi.


I LOVE this picture of the kids.


After eating, we had a little scavenger hunt for the kids. Cameron sat all the kids down and told them of a typical Na'ulei day. The story was full of things that the kids had to find or take a picture with. They had to find a mango leaf, a piece of mail, a Na'u dollar (money we made for her birthday last year), a left slipper, grass, lemon leaf, a white flower and pictures with the swing, on the bench, with torch ginger, and one with the birthday girl. It was fun watching the kids run around the yard.





Poor Iwi Boy didn't last.


Aunty Leila helped Na'u open her presents.


We LOVE our "big" girl!