brinlee

on occasion, mitch will be called upon to substitute in primary for either nani's (ctr8) or kale'a's (ctr6) class. I will, of course, come along to "assist". i really enjoy watching mitch interact with these sweet children! it is especially precious because both of their classes are primarily girls. I think nani's class has 1 maybe 2 boys and kale'a's class has only 1 boy.

 

a few weeks back mitch was called to substitute in kale'a's class. it was fun teaching these girls and quite entertaining at times! there is one girl, in particular, that i want to tell you about.

 

her name is brinlee. now, brinlee is the oldest and the only girl of three kids. she is a very bright girl and she says what is on her mind.

 

the theme for the month in primary was about how we all have responsibilities within our family. so, the bishop was talking to the children about what a mom's responsibility is and what a dad's responsibility is. then he asked the children what their responsibilities were in their families. the kids raise their hands and say things like, "we clean up our messes", "i help mom with the baby", "i clean my room". you know the typical answers you would expect to hear from young kids.

 

then brinlee raises her hand and says, "we ALL have the responsibility to be debt-free!" EXCUSE ME??? did i hear you right? did this 5 year old girl just say that we all have the responsibility to be debt-free??!

 

the bishop was literally speechless! after regaining his composure he says, "brinlee, i think we are going to send you to the gospel doctrine class!"

 

does she totally rock or what? if there were more people that realized this in our country, we would be much better off! but that is a whole nuther story!

 

then, during the singing portion of primary, brinlee is sitting next to mitch. after we sing all of the songs that had been prepared for that sunday, the chorister reminds the kids to go home and listen to the cd's that have the songs for the year that they are learning so they can remember the words to the songs. brinlee leans over to mitch and says, "you need to go home and listen to your cd more!"

 

i just love this girl! she has no qualms about saying what's on her mind!

 

during class brinlee was fidgeting with her bolero jacket over her dress. she looks at mitch and says, "i really want to show you what's under my jacket but my dress is immodest so i won't!" to which mitch replies, "thank you brinlee, that's a great idea!"

 

oh the joys of primary! you can tell that brinlee's parents are doing a great job at raising their children! it makes me wonder what my children say when i am not around!!? i probably don't want to know!

week 16 "reflection"

  

 

this week's contest is "reflection". and just as the theme states the picture must have a reflection of a face in it. mitch and i worked together to come up with the most creative "reflection" we could think of. again, we threw around some ideas, but they seemed too common. so, we decided to get a little crazy. okay, not really "crazy" just "different"!

 

adult category

 

for this shot we went outside to utilize the natural (and bright) light to get the effect we needed. we put the macro lens on the camera and got up close and personal! i held a square mirror in front of my face so you can see my face reflecting in the mirror. but then we took it one step further...

 

mitch got behind me. with the camera mounted on a tripod looking over my shoulder, he manually focused on my eye. if you look closely, you can see, reflected in my eye, the mirror with the reflection of my face in it. does that make sense?

 

pretty cool, huh?

 

kids category

 

same idea as above, but i took the picture of mitch's eye. in the reflection of his eye you can see me behind the camera and kale'a next to me in the white shirt.

 

 

go check out the other creative entries for this weeks contest!

3 months

 

well, our baby is 3 months old today! amazing! isn't she a little angel? look at that face! so easy to love!

 

what is mahealani doing these days?

• she has discovered her fist and enjoys sucking on it. i love the cute sounds she makes as she sucks away!
• she has been a little miss piggy these past few days. it seems like she is eating constantly! she's a growing girl!
• she's starting to get little pudgy rolls on her legs! she was such a little scrawny thing, but is starting to fill out!
• she is still pleasant as ever, just content to be around the action that is her family!
• her sisters are still enchanted with her. they haven't gotten bored with her utter cuteness, yet!
• she still doesn't take a pacifier, just like her sisters.
• last week, we moved her from sleeping in her car seat to sleeping in her bassinet. why would we do that if she was sleeping through the night, you ask. well, her head was starting to look a bit flat and funny. so, we made the transition. the first several nights were rough. i almost gave up and moved her back to the car seat thinking, "she's a girl. her hair will cover her funny shaped head!" i was desperate for more sleep. but i held out and i am glad i did. she sleep 7 hours last night in her bassinet! success! and already her head looks better!!
• she loves to smile! in the morning right after she wakes up is my favorite smile time! she is all smiles!
• she is becoming quite verbal! i love having cooing "conversations" with her.
• she loves when we cluck our tongue at her. gets a smile every time.
• she really loves kale'a. kale'a seems to get the most smiles out of mahea. 
• she is almost starting to respond to tickling. when i tickle her, she doesn't just give me a blank stare like before, she gets a smile on her face but doesn't quite laugh yet. she does more of a grunt. it's very cute!
• she loves her bath!
• she's awake more often and more alert and interactive.
• as crazy as it may sound, i think she may be starting to teeth. she drools, she bites me when eating, and she sucks on her bottom lip. all things her sisters did when they were teething. it's not completely out of the question, nani had her first two teeth by 4 months!

those are just some of the things that i can think of and wanted to document of our little growing girl.

oh.....

and i love her little toes!

 

update....

                    

this photo:

...made the top ten!

 

i'm thrilled to have been chosen! i'm all giddy about it! there are some very talented photographers that enter their photos each week, so i am flattered! go check out the others that were selected, too! and enter this weeks contest! it's super fun!

self-portrait--i heart faces week 15

 

here are the rules:

For both categories, you must take the photo and you must be holding the camera when you take it (you can’t use a tripod or anything else to hold the camera for you.)

 

kids category 

this is a very close-up of nani and i. we were laying down on the ground and i was holding the camera above us. i had the 50mm lens with a wide open aperture, thus you see nani is not in focus because of the shallow depth of field, but i am:

 

 

adult category

this was a lot of fun to think up. i started out with some boring self-portraits and i wanted something more. so, i tried reflections in sliding glass doors and mirrors, and just straight frontal shots, but i didn't like any of them. then i thought of this:

 

now that's more like it!

 

i was standing in our bathroom in front of the mirror. in my left hand i was holding an eye shadow compact that had a mirror. i positioned the camera so that it was focused on my eye in the compact mirror so it is in sharp focus while the rest of me is blurred. pretty fun, huh?

 

it's fun when the creative juices get flowin'!

yellow

this year, the girls got yellow easter dresses. i love the color yellow because it is so bright and cheerful. 

it was a horrible time of day to take pictures, but we get out of church at noon when the sun is high and bright. what can you do? these four girls were not about to wear their dresses all day (and not get them dirty) until the lighting was good. so, they are a bit bleached out by the bright sun, but i'm not complaining because we L.O.V.E. the sunshine!

 

anyway, we had a mini "easter dress" photo shoot:

apparently, kawena was much more interested in the dirt at her feet than looking at the camera and smiling for mommie.

 

 

because there is always silliness in a family of four girls....

kale'a seems to be the silliest of them all, although, kawena is giving her a run for her money!

 

and have i mentioned how much i adore this little baby? oh, i have? well, i absolutely do!

the easter bunny delivers

look what we found when we arrived home last saturday from nani's baptism (more on that later):

 

the girls were so excited that the easter bunny got there letters and was able to make a special early delivery to them(that's their cousin logan, mr. e even left her a basket!):

 

aren't those baskets cute? i especially love the hats on the girls!

 

for the egg hunt the easter bunny gave each of the girls a certain color egg to search for. nani's were hidden in more difficult (read: higher) places

 

than, say, kawena's.

 

now we know that the easter bunny will honor a simple request. i'm pretty sure we will make this a tradition in our family.

 

it was wonderful on sunday to focus on the real reason we celebrate easter.  we were able to read the account of the first "easter" found in the scriptures, after which we gave each of the girls a framed picture of the Savior as a reminder of all that He has given to us. now, they each have their own picture of Christ next to their beds.

 

and this is my favorite picture from easter...

a simple request

after discussing it with the girls, our family decided to send a request to the easter bunny this year. we want the focus of easter sunday to be on the Savior and His resurrection and not on the easter bunny and his goodies and egg hunting.

 

so,.....

 

kale'a made this:

(that's a picture of nani and kale'a in bed while the easter bunny delivers their baskets and hides eggs)

 

and nani wrote this:

(Dear, Easter bunny, instead of coming Saturday night, can you come Saturday around 4:30. thank you. I Love you. Love: Nani) nani has choosen to be baptized tomorrow afternoon at 4:00.

 

then, we folded them both and stuck them in this:

 

put a stamp on it and handed it to the mail lady...

 

now we just wait until tomorrow after nani's baptism and mahealani's baby blessing to see if the easter bunny honors our request!

 

we'll let you know how it turns out.

i {heart} faces: week 13 "my friend and i"

well, it's that time again! this week the theme is "my friend and i".

 

being the mother of four girls i am witness to many "friend" moments between the girls, as well as "non-friend" moments, if you know what i mean! i love the sweet "friend" moments that our girls share and i pray daily that they will always be friends and love and take care of each other throughout their lives. surprisingly enough, there are more friend moments than non-friend moments!

 

lately, kale'a and kawena have been very cute friends to one another! it is most likely due to the fact that nani is in school all day so they have a lot of time to spend together! they play dress-up and dance together. they play school together. they play lincoln logs together, and polly pockets, and littlest pet shop. they make mudpies outside together and throw them at each other laughing the whole time (i don't laugh so much when they have mud caked all in their hair and clothes, etc.). they play superheros. they pull each other around the house in the wagon. you get the idea...they do a lot together!

 

so, for this weeks entry i choose this picture of the two of them sharing some chocolate on the front doorstep:

 

 

 

why?

i think the word "why" should be eliminated from the english language....

 

 

or at least  from this little girls vocabulary!

2 months old (almost a week late)

mahealani, is it possible that you are 2 months old already? i guess time flies when you're having fun! i know i am, having fun, that is!

 

you are an incredibly sweet baby! and so easy going! here are some of the things i love about you:

• you are our only baby that doesn't spit up volumes! i still carry a burp rag with me everywhere i go, not because i need it. just out of habit, i guess. because of this you always smell so sweet!
• you're an awesome sleeper! for the last month you have been sleeping through the night (my definition of sleeping through the night is going more than 8 hours without eating) 90% of the time. you are so kind to let your mommie sleep!
• you are a much quieter sleeper than you were a month ago. not as much grunting = mommie sleeps more!

• you are so accommodating with the comings and goings of your sisters. you are content to go along for the ride, wherever that may be!
• when we go on long outings, say to the zoo or aquarium or park, you sleep the WHOLE time so that i can give my attention more fully to your sisters.
• you don't cry when we go grocery shopping.
• you are patient when i need to attend to your sisters needs.

• you are starting to smile and make the cutest little sounds!
• your hair is growing back and you don't look like a little old man anymore
• you let me do pilates and run on the treadmill (two things that i need desperately so that i can lose the extra 20 lbs. that seems to be wanting to take up permanent residence on my body since you were born). you either sleep through it or you sit in the swing and watch.
• you let your sisters hold you even though it doesn't look very comfortable most of the time.
• you take both a morning AND an afternoon nap, something that your sisters would only do one of.
• you've made having 4 kids almost seem easy (much easier than i ever imagined it could be)!
• you're just plain cute!

• and i L.O.V.E the hint of that dimple on your cheek!

i love you, my sweet baby girl!

stats: weight: 11 pounds (50%), height: 22 3/4 inches (70%) head circ.: 15 1/4 inches (50%).