i did it!

total candy eaten today, halloween: 0, nada, zilch, none!

it's been screaming my name, but i have resisted!!

mitch's pumpkin

he's so talented! see the mummy on the wall behind?

you've got ta be kidding me!

every sunday night i plan out my workout schedule for the week and last week was no different.

monday morning after getting the two oldest off to school, i feed kawena oatmeal and rush off to the gym so i can run before a 10 am class. i pull into the parking lot and just as i am about to grab kawena, her oatmeal spews out of her mouth all over the front of her. i hate when that happens because i NEVER have anything in the car to clean up a mess of that proportion.

so, i clean her up using a gazillion baby wipes and strip her down to her bare nudies. i strap her back into her car seat and head home. by this point she is happy as a clam! i throw her into the bath tub where she splashes around, squealing with joy. you wouldn't even know that 20 minutes earlier she was vomiting all over herself for how happy she is.

the rest of monday she is fine and tuesday, no problem. so i think, it must have just been some freak thing. wednesday morning, after getting the girls off to school and music, i head back to the same gym for a core class and running. no joke, as i pull into the parking lot i turn to look at the baby, just in time to see her heaving up the scrambled eggs she just had for breakfast. unbelievable!! this time i don't even park, i just turn around a drive home, baby covered in vomit.

i just can't believe it! i call mitch on my cell phone to tell him the news. he just laughs at the whole thing! hmmmm, i'm sure glad someone is enjoying it, because i definitely am not! he adds, through a chuckle, "maybe you should try a different gym!" thanks!

i'm thinking, "this child is sabotaging my efforts to lose the last 10 pounds of baby weight. how will i ever get back to where i want to be if i can't even pull into the gym parking lot without having baby vomit show it's ugly face!?"

the rest of the week i just gave up on going to the gym in the morning, baby in tow. i know, that probably wasn't the best thing to do, but hey that's what i did! i had enough of it! i still made it to the gym wednesday and thursday night, though! i don't like doing that so much because it cuts into my mitch time, but i needed it!

post script: this morning i actually made it to the gym, the same vomit inducing gym. the whole time driving there i was keeping one eye on the road and one eye on the baby. thankfully, she was in the back happily chatting away. and she didn't even hint at vomiting as i pulled into the parking lot!

today, is a very good day!!

our little environmentalist

on the way from preschool the other day the kids were watching happy feet (bridget was driving and they have one of those flip down dvd players in their car). before the show started they had a little environmental plug about protecting the ocean life.

lala asked, "why do we kill fish?"

so ethan explained to her that the fish are killed so that we can eat them.

then lala says, "well, can't we just eat the fish that are already dead?"

photography and pumpkins

i spent all day saturday at a photography seminar in portland. it was an excellent class! when i got home, mitch and the girls were waiting to carve our pumpkins. we only finished 2 of them tonight.

i was the designated photographer. it was a bit tricky because of the lack of light and the sugared up children that couldn't stay still long enough for the slower shutter speed. i played around with the settings, applying the info i learned in the class, and was pleasantly surprised with what i captured!

this is nani's witch pumpkin. she picked out the design and mitch did an awesome job creating it! she absolutely loves it!!

these next two are my very favorites!!

this is lala's pumpkin. it isn't quite finished, yet. i love the play of the light on the girl's faces!

hopefully, tomorrow we will finish the remaining three pumpkins!

maybe this time around it will be more effective

for those of you who have been with me from the beginning of my blogging life, you will remember the hitting game. if you have joined me more recently you will want to go back and read it, i guarantee it will make you laugh (you'll need to read it first for this post to make sense!).

well, last week lala was acting out, again, but this time mitch was dealing with it. i was not there so this is how it went, as told to me by my husband.

lala got upset with something that he was asking her to do, probably something like cleaning up a mess she made (she really hates cleaning up her messes). so, she did the first thing that came to her mind and hit him. uh-oh! big no no!

so mitch says, "oh, do you want to play the hitting game?"

lala says, "yes!"

then he hits her, apparently harder than i did in our version of the game.

lala starts wailing and screaming at him, "you aren't playing by the rules!!!"

mitch says, "what rules?'

lala answers, "the rules that mommie made! that you can't hit harder than i do!"

hmmmm, i don't ever remember making that rule.

my rule, ..... JUST DON"T HIT!! that's my rule!

pumpkin patch revisited

ok, so we had to go back to the pumpkin patch last night for family home evening so that everyone else in the family could pick out a pumpkin! beacuse lala had already gotten one last week at her school field trip, she designated herself to be kawena's little pumpkin picker outer!

i will spare you the details because, well, we pretty much did the same thing as we did at lala's field trip, minus the corn maze. oh, and add about a gazillion mosquitos, poor mitch! he is my mosquito repellent! whenever he is around i NEVER get bit because they all like his blood better! he's just tastier!! good for me, bad for mitch!

the weather was ideal! we arrived just before the sun began to go down and i was able to get some pretty cool pictures as we enjoyed the beautiful sunset!

so, if you will endulge me, i wanted to share some pictures:

up do

i put kawena's hair up in a ponytail today for the first time because it is getting longer! she's even got some little curls in the back! so adorable!

so, when i got home i grabbed the camera to snap a few pictures of this momentous occasion. i wanted to share my two favorites:

i know, she is so sad in this picture, but i love it still! her little pouty face is just too cute!

I love her up do with the ribbon!

cuddling, kissing, singing

many of you may remember this post about my "non-cuddly" baby. well, almost the exact day that i posted that she did a complete turn around. i wouldn't say that she is the cuddliest baby ever, but it seems like she actually enjoys when i wrap her in her blanket and sit down to hold her before putting her down to bed! it is so very sweet!

well, i just laid her down for her nap and she just wrapped herself right around my little finger as i rocked with her! i was holding her in my arms, all cozy in her blanket, while humming "lullaby and goodnight". she had her head resting on my shoulder when she suddenly lifted her head and puckered her lips as she leaned in to give me a kiss. i thought, "awww! that is so sweet!"

she laid her head back onto my shoulder and relaxed there for a moment. then, again, she lifted her head and puckered up and planted a big kiss on my lips, then laid her head back down. at this point i am just in heaven!

kawena did this several more times. then, she started "singing" with me while she lay on my shoulder, stopping only to kiss me!

i love sweet, private moments like these that i am so blessed to be a part of! the simple pleasures are what make up the important parts of our lives!

baggenstos pumpkin patch

yesterday, lala went on her first preschool field trip to the baggenstos pumpkin patch, and i was fortunate enough to go!

when i woke up i was a little discouraged by the rain pelleting on our skylights. i was not looking forward to being cold and wet, while traipsing through the mud looking for the perfect pumpkin. however, by the time we met the bus at the pumpkin patch (lala couldn't ride the bus because she was not the minimum weight of 40 pounds) it had stopped raining. it was still fairly cold and the wind was blowing pretty good, but at least it wasn't raining, too!

first, they took us on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, where lala was determined to find the BIGGEST pumpkin, which i think she actually did! it took her all of 3 minutes to find the perfect one!

while i was walking around taking some pictures, i came across lala telling her big buddies about her strong muscles. then she said, "i can carry it!" her buddies were saying things like, "are you sure? it's really big!" and, "it's pretty heavy!" but true to form, she was determined to carry her own pumpkin. she gave it a good go, laughing as she did, but in the end, it was too big and too heavy. that's my girl, never backing down from a good challenge!

after we got the pumpkins back by hay ride, we took an adventure through the corn maze. it was the first time i had been through one and it was pretty fun, despite the slippery, muddy trail! lala had fun splashing around in the mud and splattering it on anyone around her! i'm sure glad she was wearing her rain boots!

thanks to the excellent guidance of our guide (aka one of lala's big buddies) we all made it safely out of the corn maze. we were wondering there for awhile if we would make it out!

it was such a wonderful trip! i am so glad that i was able to go and experience this with her! it was fun to see her interacting with her big buddies and to see how much they enjoy her cute little personality!

walking, soccer, and squats....excellent sources of exercise

for the past week and a half kawena has been working hard at walking. though walking is not her first choice when it comes to mode of transportation, she is doing it more frequently and for longer distances.

here are two videos that my mom captured while she was here over the weekend.





she is very proud of her newfound abilities. i love the squats she does and the excitement with which she does them! too bad i don't share that excitement for squats! i would definately do them more often, that's for sure!

a tasty tradition

last saturday our baby turned 1 year old!!

by way of tradition, to celebrate the survival of and a healthy first year of life, we had a huge luau celebration. complete with a real hawaiian chef! yup, in fact, the best hawaiian cook i know! my very own dad!

the menu:

kalua pua'a (kalua pig)

teriyaki chicken

chicken long rice

chinese chicken salad

lomi salmon

haupia (coconut pudding)

poi

waioli tea room carrot bread

rice

the food was incredible! and true to form, my dad cooked more than enough and the guests were encouraged to take home plates of food to enjoy later! even after all the "take home plates", we are still eating left overs a week later! yummy!!

the weather, for oregon, couldn't have been better. it was actually sunny and clear, not a drop of rain or a hint of clouds. we couldn't have asked for a better day or better friends to celebrate with!

here are some pictures from the luau celebration:

here is a little slideshow of kawena eating her cake. we made sure to give her a piece that had a lot of brightly colored frosting! she enjoyed it very much!

i just love baby hands and fingers, so naturally i love this photo!

happy birthday baby girl! we love you so much and you are an absolute joy to our family!! you truly are the "rosy reflection of the sunrise" in our home!

other people's wishes

our weekend was pretty crazy, so my mom took us to baja fresh (oh so tasty) to get some take out. at this particular baja fresh, they have a water feature/fountain in the front entrance. so, while my mom got the food and i got the salsa from the salsa bar (yum yum), nani and lala wanted to play by the fountain.

i was about halfway through my salsa getting, when lala comes in and says to me, "mommie, we need a bag!"

"well, why do you need a bag?", i asked.

"so we can put all of this money in it!"

at this point, i actually turn around and look at her and she what she has in her dripping wet hands. proudly, she holds out her hands, face beaming with excitement (for all she knew she had struck it rich!), to show me her spoils. "mommie we got all of this money from the fountain and we need a bag to put them in! there's so many!" i wish i could have just pulled a bag out of my pocket and said, "have at it girl!" because of the look on her cute, little, innocent face, but my mommie side took over.

"oh, sweetie, you can't have those! they aren't yours. i need you to go put them back and tell nani she needs to put hers back, too!"

her face fell and she turned around to break the bad news to her big sister. "wow, that went surprisingly well," i thought.

i finished getting the salsa and met my mom at the front door to leave. as we walked out to the foyer of the restaurant, the first thing i saw was a very wet lala. second, my eyes came upon nani, who was reaching into the fountain bringing out handfuls of coins and adding them to the already enormous pile of extracted coins on the table. the last thing i saw, was the bottom of lala's pucci pups purse lined with coins.

"girls you can't take those, they are other people's wishes!" reluctantly, they threw all of the money back and we were able to get home and enjoy our baja fresh!

who let the dogs out?!!

last friday, lala had a puppy party for her birthday. she invited 10 puppies to her party and 8 showed up for a total of ten puppies (nani and lala included). we had a full house...of puppies. and boy did they play the part well!

when they arrived to our "doggie day care" to the sounds of "who let the dogs out", each puppy was asked to choose their puppy name, which we wrote on a dog tag for them. we had a fifi, a fluffy, a nana, an ally, a nathan (which was actually this puppies dad's name), a seahawk, a kukui, a sally, an ethan, and an aidan. after getting their dog tags and a puppy treat, they picked out ears. once they were outfitted with their puppy dog ears, they went to the table to make a dog collar for their name tag, which they wore around their necks. as they were making their doggie collars they were also getting their "spots". here are our two puppies, nana, the birthday puppy and ally, her sister:

we played "trainer says" and rewarded the puppies who obeyed the trainer with a doggie treat. we also played "doggie, doggie where's your bone?" after lala blew out her birthday candles:

each of the puppies were given a pup-cake in their very own doggie bowl:

some of our puppies really enjoyed eating their pup-cake chow:

it was so fun to witness imaginations run wild at the puppy party. what child doesn't like to pretend to be a four legged creature?!

happy birthday "nana"! what a great party! we love you!

what do you do???

okay, ladies and gents, i have a question to put out to you. how do you deal with lying children? i mean, i know that children lie. i know i did my fair share of lying as a child. i know it is something that all children go through, so what do you do?

why do i ask?

i got home from running errands this evening, sans children (ahhhh, it is amazing how much you can get done without children!), and my mom tells me that lala had to spend some time in her room for biting her sister. great!! apparently, lala bit nani "really hard" on her finger, so nani bit lala on her leg. and i thought we were past all the biting a long time ago! i guess i was wrong!

so, wanting to know what happened, i asked lala to tell me her story (miracle of miracles there was no yelling. it was discussed rather calmly, for once! nani did shed some tears, however):

lala: "nani started it."
me: "how did she start it?"
lala: "she pushed me."
me: "what happened right before she pushed you?"
lala: "nothing."
me: "really? you did nothing and then nani pushed you."
lala: "yeah."
me: "are you telling the truth? it's more important that you tell the truth. it will be better for you if you tell the truth. what really happened?"
lala: "i don't remember."
me: "you don't remember?"
lala: "no."
me: "okay, i am going to ask nani to tell me her story."
lala: "she bit me right here (pointing to her shoulder)."
me: "nani bit you on your shoulder, so you bit her really hard on the finger. then she bit you on the leg? is that right?"

now comes nani's story:
nani: "i did not! she wouldn't get off the blanket."
me: "so then you bit her on the shoulder?"
nani: "no i didn't!"
me: "well, then what happened? you'll be a lot better off if you tell me the truth!""
nani: "i didn't bite her on the shoulder!"
me: "okay, then what did you do?"
nani: "i accidentally scratched her."
me: "with what?"
nani: "i accidentally scratched her with my teeth."
uh-huh??!! seems suspiciously like a bite.
me: "why did you 'scratch' her with your teeth?"
nani: (looking down under her lashes with a sad face) "she wouldn't get off the blanket."
me: "so you bit her?"
nani: "but then she bit me super hard on my finger. i didn't bite her that hard!"
me: "well, do you think she would have bit you if you didn't bite her?"
nani: looking down at the ground, shaking her head, "no."
me: "i think you're right. so what do you think you could do differently next time?"
nani: "i don't know?"
me: "can i make a suggestion?"
nani: "yes."
me: "maybe next time you could ask for help from someone else. then nobody will get hurt and we all will be happier. what do you think?"
nani: "yeah."
me: "and lala, if your sister asks you to do something, do you think you could do it?"
lala: yea."

so, after the punishment was given and carried out, we find out that it was really nani that should have been sent to her room, not lala. it was nani that made the first strike.

how do you parents deal with the not knowing who did what and who did or didn't do it first? if you think you see the whole thing, but in reality missed the first strike, then how do you know if you are dishing out the right consequence to the right person? when there are two different stories, who do you believe?

should they both get punished for not getting along and working it out? would that help them learn to work things out on their own. should they both get punished if one of them is lying? would that make it less tempting to lie? or should i just hope that i pick the right daughter to punish. then, like tonight, when you find out that the wrong one got in trouble, what do you do then? it's so hard to know!! so, you wonderful bloggers, this is where you come in.....

what do you do in your home???

beautiful prayers

sometimes lala says the sweetest things in her prayers. yesterday, she said the dinner prayer and the bedtime prayer. here are some of the things she said:

*thank you for this beautiful woold (world)
*thank you for all the wonderful things that Heavenly Father and Jesus made for us
*thank you that tutu man and tutu lady could be here
*thank you for everything that Heavenly Father and Jesus did for us
*please bless tutu man that he will get back home safely, and tutu lady, also
*please bless the food that it will give us nourishment and strengthness

ahhhh, the prayers of little children!!

stop

on thursday lala was helping mitch make cupcakes for her "puppy party" (more to come on that later). she was helping pour the batter into the cupcake tins. as the batter got closer to the top of the tin, this is the conversation that occured:

mitch: "okay kale'a stop."

she keeps pouring...

mitch: "kale'a, stop."

she keeps pouring...

mitch: "kale'a stop!....Stop!...STOP!!!"

she finally stops.

mitch: "kale'a, what part of stop don't you understand?"

kale'a, after a lengthy, thoughtful pause: "the stop part."

eyeshadow or superhero???

this is what i found this afternoon when i picked lala up from bridget's house....

i wasn't sure if it was eyeshadow on her face or if she was playing superheros! what do you think?

boys will be boys, i mean.... men will be men

on saturday we spent the afternoon at the wilde's. while the kids were having a great time playing, us adults were catching up on each other's lives.

that is until the husbands went out back and saw a huge spider hungerly waiting for a meal. so, mitch and gordon decided to aid the spider in his patient quest for food. gordon, spotting a fly in the house, the perfect dinner specimen, ever so gently "injured" the innocent fly only enough to debilitate his flying capabilities.

with their first objective accomplished, mitch set out to toss the fly into the web of the spider. the first attempt was foiled by a "large" hole in the web which, lucky for the fly, he escaped the dinner menu. however, the boys, errr i mean, the men, were not put off that easily. they went in search of the fly in the grass. the poor fly was discovered.

finally, after several mishaps, the men were triumphant in their quest!

yummy! hungry anyone?

happy birthday mom!

this is a picture of my lovely mom when she was in high school. i found it on my dad's bedside table while we were visiting this summer and i knew i needed a copy of it. isn't she beautiful?

today is my mom's birthday. so, i thought of 64 reasons why i celebrate her life:

1. you let me eat snails in the backyard
2. you laid me out in the nude in the front yard so i could get a tan

3. you weren't offended when that rude lady asked you, "how old was she when you got her?" when i was just a tiny newborn

4. you would wait up for me at night when i was out with friends
5. you put those pink foam curlers in my hair at night so i could have pretty curls in the morning
6. you made lunches for me everyday while i was in school

7. you kept your opinion to yourself when i was dating a not so great guy (if you had said anything i would have wanted to be with him more!)

8. you came to all of my swim meets
9. you were always so encouraging with the things that i wanted to do
10. you took us on family walks down to the beach every sunday
11. when i walked in the door everyday after school you were there waiting for me, i loved to hear your voice and felt comforted to know you would be there
12. when i burned a hole in the carpet in our bedroom you didn't kill me
13. when i fell asleep with gum in my mouth you used peanut butter to get the gum out of my hair so we didn't have to chop it all off, sadly my blankie wasn't so lucky
14. when katarina got the chicken pox you took me over there so i could get them from her. then you let us play until they were gone
15. you got me into swim lessons and swim team when i was young so i developed a great love of swimming
16. you would let me sleep in your room when i was sick, that always made me feel better
17. you wouldn't let me watch tv or play computer games all day, you limited us to 1 hour
18. you took us trick or treating. when we got home you would let us keep 25 pieces of our favorite candy. half of those we could put in the freezer for later and the other half we could keep out to eat when we wanted. all the rest of the candy we gave to less fortunate children
19. when gavan purposely locked me out of the house and i got so mad that i broke the glass door you didn't kill me, again
20. you cared enough to give me a curfew
21. you were married in the temple
22. you taught me and showed me the importance of a temple marriage
23. you "gave" me a baby brother and sister after much persistence from me
24. we had a family garden that we worked on together
25. you shared your testimony of the gospel with me
26. you never gave up on me even when i treated you so rottenly
27. you told me that you couldn't wait til i had a daughter just like me. i still worry about that now, especially with three daughters of my own
28. you were understanding when i had a missionary companion who treated me the same way i treated you as a teenager. i was grateful i was able to see it and apologize for my rotten behavior and even more grateful that you forgave me
29. when we were out playing with our friends you would make the coolest whistling sound with your fingers when you needed us to come home. i still wish i could do that
30. you flew out to hawaii with me to help me get settled into the dorms at byu-hawaii my first year there
31. whenever i came home from hawaii you would take me shopping and send me back with as much food as i could carry because the food was so stinkin' expensive back at school
32. you didn't send me the "little brown paper bag in the back of my bottom drawer" that i asked you not to look in, though you already knew what was inside of it. and you didn't get mad at me
33. you encouraged me to go to byu-provo "just to try it out", before i went on my mission
34. when i was "disappointed" by my mission call, you were so positive and upbeat
35. you kept telling me that i didn't want to get married til i was 25. i kept saying, "no way! that is too old!" sure enough i was 25 when i got married
36. you loved mitch the moment you met him and later told me that he was a keeper
37. you didn't throw a fit when mitch and i wanted a very short 2 month engagement, even though i'm sure that inside you wanted to
38. you helped me make our wedding announcements
39. you drove me all the way out to who knows where (it was a long drive) to a hair salon so i could chop off 19 inches of my hair and donate it to locks off love
40. you came out when nani was born
41. it was beacuse of you that i wanted to try a natural childbirth. i haven't wanted to do it any other way since
42. you gladly got up with a crying nani every two hours in the middle of the night, to relieve an over-exhausted new mommie
43. you were sad when tutu lady died 2 days after nani was born and had to leave us to go to the funeral. that was one of the hardest things for me. i only had you for 3 days.
44. whenever i am in town you let me crash your "lady's nights out" and join in with your friends
45. you came out when lala was born
46. you've given me so many wonderful recipes
47. you took our girls to disneyland
48. i know i can go to you for great parenting advice and you will give it to me without judgment
49. you came out when kawena was born
50. you cook for us everytime you come out when i have a new baby
51. you are the best tutu lady to our girls and they love you
52. you stay up late with me every time you visit so we can talk
53. you watched all three girls when "baby" #3 was only a couple weeks old so mitch and i could go to the temple to figure out what to name our nameless baby
54. you come to visit every few months. we all look forward to those visits
55. you made it possible for us to stay close to you in our fifth wheel this summer
56. you came down to sea world with us in august and didn't complain about sleeping on the uncomfortable pull-out couch in the fifth wheel
57. you video taped me while boggie boarding for the first time
58. you are so talented and creative and always make the best cards for us whenever we have a birthday
59. you've given our girls the funnest stickers, papers, rubber stamps and sizzix machine that they absolutely love. it helps them tap into their creative side
60. you've spent 2 wonderful christmases up here in oregon with our family
61. you always take time off work when we come visit you in california
62. you've helped shape me into the person and mother that i am
63. i love that we talk weekly
64. you're not only my mother, but you have become my great friend

happy birthday mom! you're the greatest! i love you!