sweet, colorful mangos

jan 15 – jan 17 (project 365)

2012-01-21T00:15:00.001-07:00

jan 15 (sunday)

as i was writing my last post i was breathing this:

f/2.8, 1/40, iso 640, 24-70 f/2.8, manual

mitch, along with nani and kale’a made a loaf of whole wheat bread, and two loafs of macaroni grill bread! the house was full of delicious smells! we call the macoroni bread “mitch’s special bread” and it is amazing! ask anyone who has tried it!!

jan 16 (monday)

f/2.8, 1/30, iso 640, 24-70 f/2.8, manual

kawena and mae mae started swim lessons on monday. this was their first swim lesson with the new swim school. this is kawena doing her back float with the noodle to get ready for the back float without the noodle. she is doing awesome!! i don’t know how to get a good picture in this condition! everything looked very blue. this was the best i could get. anyone know how to get it right without a flash? malia?

jan 17 (tuesday)

f/2.8, 1/30, iso 200, 24-70 f/2.8, manual

i may be biased, but this is one beautiful girl!! i think this is my new favorite picture! i love the natural smile, as opposed to the “fake” one i get so often with my kids! i took this is our front room with natural light coming in the front window. she, of course ,was wearing her ballet outfit and dancing around the room with mae mae to music from the keyboard! it is a favorite thing for our girls to do… dress up and dance!

i LOVE this shot of my pretty kawena!

jan 12 – jan 14 (project 365)

2012-01-18T00:08:00.001-07:00

jan 12 (thursday)

f/2.8, 1/20, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

can you guess what i did this day? i typically go to costco on saturday because i refuse to go with 1 year old twin boys and a 2 year old. call me crazy! so, i always go when i can leave them home with mitch, which saturday is the only day. sucks, but that’s where we are right now!

anyway, obviously the events of the previous saturday did not leave time for my weekly costco run! by thursday we were out of milk, cheese, bread, eggs, yogurt, you get the idea! there really was no option… i HAD to go. so, i put the boys down for their nap and the minute nani and kale’a walked in the door i loaded kawena and mae mae into the truck and we took off for costco. it was a bit liberating to leave nani home with the boys, to see a light at the end of the tunnel! woot!

i made the costco run and loaded up the fridge and nani and kale’a and the boys were fine!

whenever i go to costco this is the traditional dinner, rice, veggies, and this:

f/2.8, 1/15, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

jan 13 (friday)

f/2.8, 1/10, iso 400, 24-70 f/2.8, manual

remember in my last post how i said i even used this project to get my girls to clean their room? well, here’s the proof. they weren’t cleaning their room, so i whipped out the camera and started threatening posting pictures of their dirty room on my blog! hah!! it got clean!

i love this picture! as i was snapping a shot of this pile of shoes and clothes nani attempted to cover it up by throwing a blanket over it. i captured it just as the blanket was crossing the path of the shot! pretty cool, right?

jan 14 (saturday)

f/2.8, 1/40, iso 500, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

through the “glass” at the ice skating rink. this was kale’a’s second ice skating lesson. she is doing awesome! she is very steady on her skates and she is always one of the first two students to make it across the rink when they “race”. ever since the 2010 winter olympics this girl has wanted to do hockey. i thought she might grow out of it, but she still wants to do it, so for christmas we gave her ice skating lessons in preparation to start hockey. we will just have to wait and see where this takes us!

this love of hockey also was the reason for the hockey tickets that she got for christmas that kale’a and got to enjoy the saturday before! and we sure did enjoy it!

jan 8 – jan11 (project 365)

2012-01-15T22:47:00.001-07:00

this week has been a pretty good week, as far as this project goes. i am getting better at remembering to get the camera out. i am becoming more familiar with the settings on my camera, which is exciting for me! i am remembering to check my iso! i am beginning to use this project to chronicle some of the mundane, some of the traditions, some of the daily hum drum of life. i even used this project to motivate my children to clean their room this week (check jan 13, friday)! who knew?! so, some of the pictures might be a bit “boring”, but this is all about the photography experience!

jan 8 (sunday)

f/2.8, shutter 1/20, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

we have a fast sunday tradition in our family. each fast sunday we have breakfast for dinner. last sunday was fast sunday and for dinner we had sticky buns, eggs, bacon, and breakfast potatoes. oh, and we can’t forget the fresh fruit smoothies! YUM! fast sunday’s seem to be a family favorite for dinner. in fact, it is one of the few nights when there isn’t a complaint mumbled from the lips of any of my children!! hmmm, maybe we should have breakfast for dinner every night!!

jan 9 (monday)

f/2.8, shutter 1/15, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

have i ever told you what awesome manners our kids have? no? well, probably because they don’t! this is mae mae eating her spaghetti on monday night. i actually didn’t grab my camera fast enough! if i had ,you would have seen her head tilted back, her big hand of spaghetti perched high above her mouth, dropping noodles in!! but because the camera wasn’t sitting next to me at that moment, this is what i captured!

jan 10 (tuesday)

f/2.8, 1/15, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

i find the boys giggling and babbling in this spot several times a day. it seems to be a favorite spot for them. there is a treadmill below this window which makes it the perfect height for them to be able to look out. i don’t know what they find so fascinating about this spot, but it sure is fun to hear them playing and laughing together as they stand there together!

i got several pictures this day of the kids. i will share one more cute one of the boys:

f/2.8, 1/25, iso 200, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

maui is in front and kaio is standing in back (for those who don’t know which is which!)

these boys L.O.V.E. to play in laundry baskets! it’s another “favorite place! sometimes i walk into the room and maui is just sitting in a laundry basket smiling! no toys, no books, nothing… just him sitting in the basket smiling! it cracks me up! when both of the boys are playing in it together it is hilarious to watch them climb in and sit there together. then they will tip it over and coming spilling out! i love that these boys love each other and are best buds!

jan 11 (wednesday)

f/2.8, 1/15, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

this was maui thursday morning, cursted snot under his nose from his cold, tear coming from his crying eyes that are begging me to pick him up and feed him! such a sad boy!

we have a room in our house that is two steps lower then the other rooms on the first floor. a couple months back the boys were driving me crazy with how suddenly mobile they became. we had a gate in front of the stairs to the second floor, but they figured out how to weasel their way onto the stairs, despite the gate. with the gate at the bottom of the stairs it only kept them from going upstairs, sort of, but they still had access to the kitchen and ALL the cabinets. my life was NOT fun! i spent most of my day trying to keep them from careening to their death onto the tile floor at the bottom of the stairs or pulling big, heavy pots on themselves.

until my brilliant husband had a great idea!! he put the gate at the entrance to the family room which has the 2 steps down! ever since that day my life has gotten SOOOO much better! i toss the boys in their “cage”, as i lovingly call it, and they have a whole room to play in. their toys were already in that room, so it is perfect!! however, they are beginning to catch on and sometimes are not exactly happy to be in the “cage”, but at least i know they are safe! most of the time they DO love it!

this photo just happens to be one of the times when they DIDN’T love it! kaio was somewhere sprawled on the floor equally as sad!

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that’s all i have time for right now. i will finish the rest of the week tomorrow! i am off to bed!

Jan 1 – Jan 7 (project 365)

2012-01-08T22:29:00.001-07:00

i am trying to become re-familiarized with my camera after such a long hiatus from photography. the good part is that photography is somewhat like riding a bike, once you learn to ride you can pretty much can pick up where you left off and still know how to ride. the bad part is that photography is much, MUCH more complex than riding a bike… like a hundred times over. this is why i am excited about doing this project right now… the improvement will be like night and day, at least i hope it will!! haha

a couple of years ago my sister, malia, who, by the way, is an amazing destination wedding photographer in fiji, told me briefly (very briefly) about how she learned how to take the white balance off of auto to use kelvin/temperature to set white balance. back then i was busy with a new baby and wasn’t able to try it out and, frankly, it seemed way too complicated, not to mention intimidating, at the time (i already had too much to adjust with aperture/shutter speed/light meter/etc.). but now i am finally ready to look it square in the face and conquer it! i have decided that i want to learn to use kelvin to set white balance and take myself out of the auto wb setting. i know that my photos will be so much richer and the colors more true to what they truly are.

this means that much of my photos may be off for awhile, as i figure it out so bear that in mind as i learn by trial and error! i’ve been told and have read everywhere, and totally agree, that to become a better photographer the best thing to do is to take pictures… and that is what i am doing!

jan 1 (sunday)

f/2.8, shutter 1/30, iso 320, lens 24-70 f/2.8, exposure manual

on sunday, we left in such a hurry to church that no one grabbed the church bag which contained the cups, snacks, and toys. so, after sacrament meeting we had to go home and grab the food and cups for the boys because they NEVER would have lasted through church without those things. however, we are in that stage in the boys life when i can’t stay in relief society because they are way too busy. on top of that, mitch was teaching in his deacons class that day …which meant i had both boys for the last hour… which meant i wasn’t going to actually be able to stay in class. don’t judge, but we decided since we had to go home anyway, that i might as well stay home and put the boys down for their nap (the joys of 11 o’clock church). so, that is exactly what we did!

kaio and maui were looking so sharp and adorable in their cute blazers and ties (thank you barbmom and darbie), that i wanted to get a picture. it was impossible to get both of them in the same shot (i know because i tried), but i got this cute one of kaio.

i opened the shutters in our family room to let in the natural light.

jan 2 (monday)

f/2.8, shutter 1/25, iso 320, lens 24-70 f/2.8, exposure manual

monday, mitch went to work and came home at lunchtime (after going to the gym) and decided to stay home. we played a game of ticket to ride with nani and kale’a. phoenix was the hot spot of the game and just happens to be where we live. so, i snapped a shot of the game board. mitch won this game!

today has two pictures:

f/2.8, shutter 1/25, iso 320, lens 24-70 f/2.8, exposure manual

nani taught our family home evening lesson. she gave each of us a new piece of foil and told us to crumpled it into to a loose ball… mine is the one on the left, kawena’s is the one on the right. i don’t think she listened very well to the instructions!! haha! then, nani told us the story of saul who had been persecuting the church of God until he repented and instead, began to serve God. though he repented and changed his ways the damage he did to the church was hard to repair, if not impossible.

nani asked us to straighten out our foil balls and return them to what they looked like before we crumpled them. of course it was impossible to get them to look as perfect as they did when she first gave them to us.

she reminded us that we need to be careful about what we do and say because we can’t always repair the damage we can do by our actions and words! ii thought it was a great object lesson and a great reminder for our family.

jan 3 (tuesday)

f/2.8, shutter 1/400, iso 320, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

i should have paid attention to the iso

this girl is a candy hog! if anyone leaves candy within her sight, she will get to it and eat it! it has been the source of many tears of lost candy on her sisters part and on mae mae’s part because we will take away whatever she hasn’t already ingested!

the girls were outside riding their bikes. when i got outside mae mae was riding her bike while holding this bag of reese’s and sour straws! she asked me to open it for her. i told her no because she had already had her piece of candy.

i went to take a shower. before i got in she came to me with this same bag of reese’s and asked me to open it for her. again i told her no because she had already had her candy. she bursts into tears and runs out of the bathroom. the second i turn the shower off, she is right outside the shower with the same bag of reese’s in her hand and says, “are you done? can you open this for me?” again, i tell her no and she bursts into tears and runs out of the bathroom!!

she IS persistent, i will give her that much! i know that some day that persistence will be a great asset for her to have!!

jan 4 (wednesday)

f/2.8, shutter, shutter 1/10, iso 320, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

again, i should have paid attention to iso

ok, this was my, “oh crap i forgot to take a picture” day. kale’a wanted me to take a picture of her with kaio because they “matched”. she asked me earlier in the day, but i was doing something else and totally forgot to take the picture until it was bedtime and the sun was long gone. my indoor/nighttime photography stinks! so, this is what i got! i am embarrassed to post it, but it’s all i got…

let’s move on!!

jan 5 (thursday)

f/2.8, shutter, 1/1000, iso 100, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

this day i got up early and exercised before the kids were up so we could get out of the house and have some fun. there is this awesome park a block away from our house, right next to the elementary school. the girls hoped on their bikes and i put the boys in the bob jogger and we headed to the park. parks are great places for photo ops. i snapped away as the kids played and monkeyed around.

nani and kale’a had brought a beach ball so we could play volleyball at the sand court. the only problem was that there was a light breeze! the ball had a mind of its own and the game was anything but predictable, but we had fun just the same!

as nani was letting the air out of the ball, just before we headed home, i got this photo.

jan 6 (friday)

f/2.8, shutter 1/10, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

we had so much fun at the park the day before, so i planned to take the girls again the next day. unfortunately, kaio woke up in the middle of the night with the croupe. so, we hunkered down and had a house day.

for Christmas, we got our very first tv in our 12 years of marriage! wow! it’s a pretty big deal around here! friday morning a package arrived and it was the just dance kids for the wii! we were excited to try it out. we had a ton of fun and got a good workout! i was breathing heavy and sweating from dancing! it was a blast!

i had to get a picture of how cute the girls looked doing the dance! they were doing great! look how in sync they are!! our girls are so much fun!!

jan 7 (saturday)

f/2.8, shutter 1/1250, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

not the most exciting picture, but this pretty much threw a wrench in our whole day, so i had to use this picture! i took many more pictures that were more fun, cute, and not nearly as dull, but this is the one that says so much more about this day! i will post the other ones, as i said i would, but tomorrow.

so, there you have it! my first week of my project 365!

not at all what i planned

2012-01-08T01:38:00.001-07:00

what i planned to do today (saturday):

get kale’a ready for her first ice skating lesson
send kale’a off to her first skating lesson with mitch
hangout with the other 5 kids at home having a leisurely saturday morning
go to costco
exercise
shower
send mitch and kale’a off to enjoy her christmas present of going to a coyotes hockey game
get the kids bathed for church tomorrow
have a movie/wii night with the other kids at home
start my very first project 365 post with pictures
go to bed at a decent hour

what ACTUALLY happened:

woke up a little late (about 9:30) because i stayed up late blogging last night :)
noticed mitch wasn’t home, the girls were playing wii and kale’a wasn’t ready for ice skating which they were supposed to be leaving for in a half hour
turned into a crazy woman trying to find kale’a’s “snow” gear for ice skating
mitch walked in the door covered in grass and limping worse than i’ve every seen him limp before asking for me to help pull his shoe off and saying, “ i think you’re going to have to take kale’a to ice skating today.”
run upstairs throw on some clothes
run downstairs and inhale some greek yogurt
leave 15 minutes late to take kale’a to her first ice skating lesson
come home to hungry children and my stomach is growling, too
mitch says he needs to go to urgent care because he thinks he tore a tendon playing football
we all pile into the car after getting everyone out of pj’s and into clothes (it is almost 1 pm), still hungry, and head to the urgent care
drop mitch off and take all the kids to in n’ out and bring it back to the urgent care so mitch can eat while he waits his turn
realize that in all the craziness that was this morning no one changed mae mae’s diaper and she is still in the diaper that we put on her last night before bed!! ack!!
corral 6 kids who are running around like a bunch of crazies outside the urgent care, while trying not to GO crazy myself (took some pictures while there, though)
over two hours later mitch comes out with the news that he tore his achilles tendon and needs an mri. oh man!!
the hockey game starts in less than 3 hours and is 45 minutes away which wouldn’t be a problem except that we bought the tickets on groupon under mitch’s name because he was supposed to take kale’a but now couldn't because of his newly acquired football injury.

this is when things REALLY get annoying… according to the groupon deal the tickets could only be picked up at the box office by the person whose name was on the groupon, which is mitch, the injured, unable to go dad!

we all pile into the car and make the 45 minute drive to the arena so mitch can hobble to the box office window and flash his id to acquire the tickets that will now be used by me and kale’a
the game now starts in less than 2 hours, so we turn back around and head home so i can drop everyone off just to turn back around to make it to the game on time
15 minutes into the drive home mitch says, “we should have just left you there so you wouldn’t miss the beginning of the game.”
we get off at the next off-ramp and head back to the arena
we park the car so i can nurse the boys
kale’a and i wave goodbye as the family heads back home, again

this is where things got better for kale’a and i

the arena is next to an outdoor mall and there is 45 minutes before the game starts. on the way we walked by a coldstone and decide to make that our dinner
we finish our ice cream dinner and sit down in our seats just as the game begins
the game was awesome!! we had a great time watching the coyotes beat the new york islanders
in the last half second of the final period, no joke, doan the team captain for the coyotes, scored his third goal of the game. those of you who don’t know hockey that is called a “hat trick”. the crowd, including us, went crazy! according to the guy sitting next to us ,this has not happened in 12 years for this team! wow! and we were there when it happened!
mitch drives back to pick us up, leaving nani home with all of the kids, except maui, still awake (her first babysitting for longer than 30 minutes)
we get home just before 10:00
none of the children have bathed
the house is a DISASTER (only because mitch couldn’t do anything with his bum ankle)
i nurse makaio (who, i forgot to mention, has croup), put him to bed
the girls all jump into the shower TOGETHER
i start cleaning the house
nani puts the 2 and 5 year olds to bed
meltdown ensues with the 2 year old who wants to play the leapster in her bed, but mean ole’ mommy won’t let her because it is now 11:30
everyone is in bed by midnight… except me

instead, i am blogging about this crazy day because if i hadn’t lived it i wouldn’t believe that we could have survived it! and because it will all be a big blur tomorrow, or i guess i should say today because it is now more than an hour into sunday, if i waited to write it down! i will have to add the pictures of the day later after i get some sleep because i am way to exhausted to go through them and add them now!

let’s see:

no shower
no costco
no exercise, not to mention the horrid things i ate all day
no sleep
nothing leisurely about the day… i woke up and hit the ground running, not because i wanted to, but because i HAD to

some days just don’t turn out to be what you plan them to be!! GOOD NIGHT!

Project 365

2012-01-07T00:19:00.001-07:00

ok, i know it has been a horribly LOOOOOONG time since i blogged, but i have a great excuse… 6 kids, the last 2 twins. nuf said!

well, those twins are now 13 months old and i lament at the goobs of stuff that i have not documented of our small little lives since they entered the picture. if i think about it too long it makes me sick to my stomach… so i won’t dwell on that. instead, i look to the future…

i have embarked on a HUGE undertaking, well, it is huge for this busy mom of 6. this busy mom who used to take pictures like they were going out of style. this little mom who once started a very teeny, tiny photography business only to be brought to an abrupt halt at the news of twins growing in her soon to be large tummy. this mom who has not wielded her camera near enough in the last 13 months (i’m getting that sick feeling in my tummy right now)!

all of this has been mulling around in my brain; how i need to document our lives like i used to, how i have missed so much of what we have done (and believe me there have been HUGE changes since i last posted, HUGE), how i have forgotten how to use my camera, how much i love taking pictures, how i used be an awesome photographer (hehe), how much i love to go back and read my blog and laugh at all the stuff that i otherwise would have forgotten had i not written it down, how this all needs to change!

i found the solution in Project 365! i’m sure you have heard of it before! it’s been around for some time now. in short, i will take at least one photo a day, plain and simple! no themes, no restrictions, no rules. just pure photography of whatever!

i am excited and scared. it is a big deal! i will be carrying my camera just about everywhere with me. capturing whatever i want to. then i will share, at least, one of these photos from each day here on my blog. i will add little tidbits, or big tidbits, of my life. in this way, i will solve many of my concern that i mentioned above. i will NOT be blogging everyday, but i will blog at least once a week the pictures from each day of that week. it may be more often than that, but i hope to blog at least once a week so i don’t get too behind. of course, things happen, so i will be flexible.

so, there you have it! i started on january 1st and so far i am 6 for 6! not bad for a girl who was gotten VERY rusty and out of the habit of taking pictures!

i am excited to see what happens to my photographic abilities in the next year, but i am even more excited to start writing my history… AGAIN!

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and while i am at it i think i should update my blog header to include my other 3 children and the photos on my sidebar to include a current family photo with our twins…

ya think??!!

i’ll work on that…

the new do, kawena style

2011-05-10T22:25:00.001-06:00

this is what kawena looked like when she woke up this morning

lovely isn’t it?? love the look on her face!!

about 15 minutes after she woke up, kawena’s saving grace arrived in the form of our friend, cathy! she arrived, scissors in hand, ready to salvage, and hopefully work a miracle, on our little girl’s butchered hair job from the night before.

here it is as it unfolded

kawena was very quiet the whole time cathy was cutting her hair. it was pretty funny!

when cathy arrived she told us that we would be able to donate kawena’s hair to locks of love because it was that long! i had no idea it was long enough! so, that is nice to know that someone will enjoy kawena’s beautiful hair!

here she is showing off her locks

can you believe those “bangs”, if you can even really call them that?! wow!! that’s all i can say is, “wow”! cathy told me, much to my relief, that bangs actually are the fastest growing part of your hair. who knew??! i sure didn’t, but i am glad to know it now!

after cathy left, kawena jumped in the bath to get all those itchy little hairs off of her, but really i just needed to see what i could do with it. i needed to start with fresh, wet hair to try and style it because i wasn’t liking the above look! i wanted to try and train the “bangs” to go to the side instead of straight down. you know, to kind of hide the fact that she did it herself!!

this is what we got

from the sides

this is how short we had to go in the back to make it, somewhat, blend in with all the shortness in the front because, of course, she didn’t touch the back with the scissors.

she looks cute, right? all except those “bangs”. i will be so happy once those grow out, even just an inch will make a huge difference!! she seems to like her new hairdo, although she told me tonight that she didn’t want anyone at school to see her hair tomorrow. not much we can do about that, babe! i don’t know that she really feels that way because she just kind of giggled after that.

after about 30 minutes to an hour after she got out of the bath and once her hair dried, it was clear that i was going to have to do more than just comb it to the side to hide the bad bang job. so, i dug deep into the back of my bathroom cupboards and came up with some “product”, i think it is hair paste, or something like that. i am not much of a hair product type of person. low maintenance is my kind of hairstyle!

so, i rubbed some of that pasty stuff into my hands and did my best to make her hair do what i wanted it to do. i think it will take a little time, but i think her hair might cooperate if i train it to go to the side.

i think she will be wearing dresses more in the next several weeks. she told mitch on the phone today that she had to wear dresses so she “wouldn’t look like a boy!”

i think she is pretty no matter what her hair looks like!

i just love this girl… every single inch of her!

WHY???… a bad mommie moment

2011-05-09T22:50:00.001-06:00

tonight was not a good night! i had one of my “bad mommie” moments!

let me explain…

as i was getting dinner ready tonight, our sweet kawena, who is 4, told me she had to go potty. so, off she ran down the hall to the bathroom. about five minutes later she slinked into the kitchen, sat down at the kitchen table and quickly hid behind the table. as she did this i caught a quick glimpse of her hair and a little voice inside my head said, “something isn’t right!”

so, i said, “kawena, what did you do to your hair?!” she didn’t budge.

“kawena, let me see your hair!!” she slowly raised her head above the table and that is when something snapped inside of me and that is when my “bad mommie” moment began!!

i began to yell, “what did you do to your hair??! oh my gosh! WHY did you do that??!!”

her very sad reply, through tears, was, “i don’t know?!!” then she broke down into sobs.

now, if i was a good mom at that moment, i would have realized that she needed me to take it down a notch (or 2 or 3) and comfort her, but like i said… “bad mommie” moment!

i was in disbelief that she would take scissors to her hair in such a horrible way. i just was so shocked that i just kept ranting about how horrible her hair looked and “why? why would you do that?” and “now we have to chop it off”, etc. etc…

i feel so awful because that is not what she needed at the moment.

she ran off to her room and stayed there until dinner was ready. it was good because it gave me time. once i had calmed down and gotten over the shock of it all, i finally returned to my “good mom” self.

i called her to dinner and she came to the table. i could tell she was very upset about the whole thing and that she didn’t realize what she was doing when she cut her hair, she did know it would be so permanent! i sat down next to kawena and held her as she cried into my chest. i told her that it was just hair and that it would grow back. and she cried. we just sat there like that and she cried some more. i took her into my lap and cuddled her close to me until her crying subsided. i told her i was sorry that i yelled at her and told her that i should not have done that.

when jessie (our help for the night) came over, kawena hid under her blanket and said through her sobs, “i don’t want jessie to see it!” it broke my little heart to hear my sweet kawena crying and so ashamed.

as the night went on we all got used to the new kawena. things went on as usual, but every time i looked at her i just couldn’t believe she actually did that!!

i called a friend who said she would come over tomorrow morning to fix it. we shall see what she can do with it…

just before bed she came to me and said, with a smile on her face, “my hair looks really bad!” i simply said, “yes it does!” and then she said, “but cathy will fix it tomorrow and then it will grow back out.” i sadi, “that’s right!” then she said, “i’m never going to do that again!”

thank goodness for that!!

now, i know you are all dying to see the pictures so here you go…

what i found in the bathroom:

oh how i despise you, scissors!! i knew i should have picked you up and put you away when i first saw you lying on the hall floor!

such beautiful hair! at least she cleaned up after she was done chopping!!

she was so sad!

just last week i was commenting on how long and beautiful her hair had gotten! it was so beautiful!

don’t those sad puppy dog eyes just break your heart?? they do mine!

i really don’t know what can be done to salvage that haircut, it’s like a mullet gone bad!! what am i saying… a mullet is bad!!

we shall see what magic can be worked tomorrow morning! stay tuned for the “new do”! it’s a good thing she is such a pretty little thing… she’d probably look good bald… though i hope to never have to see her bald!!

future rock climber

2011-03-30T13:23:00.000-06:00

this girl is a SERIOUS climber...

2011-03-30T12:43:00.001-06:00

i know i have been neglecting this blog, but i am still here wanting to update, but these lovelies…

are keepin’ me busy!!

and these little fatty’s…

are already four months old!! i know… where did the time go?? i still haven’t even written down their birth story. i plan to do it, still, and hope to do it before they are walking!! ;o)

we did have their 4 month appointment this week so here are the stats:

makaio (our reserved, mellow observer)

2 months: 10 pounds 3 ounces (10%), 22 inches (10%) head 15.25 in (20%)

4 months: 14 pounds (30%), 24 1/4 inches (25%) head 16 1/2 (30%)

maui (our sometimes blue eyed, social charmer)

2 months: 10 pounds 9 ounces (20%), 21 3/4 inches (10%), head 15 in. (10%)

4 months: 15 pounds (50%), 24 1/2 inches (30%), head 16 1/4 in. (25%)

as you can tell, they are growing nicely!! they are both starting to smile and coo and laugh, which we all love!!

here are some more pictures to enjoy until next time… whenever that is:

mae mae lovin’ on her brothers! maui looks a bit nervous!

kawena 4 1/2

mae mae 2

snow day

2011-02-02T15:51:00.001-07:00

we are on our second snow day, today! in the past, or more specifically before the twins were born, i did not like snow days when school was cancelled. however, things have changed! now, i look forward to the days that the three oldest are home, for the simple fact that i have extra hands and helpers!

you see, having the twins, who are so dependent on others, and our high spirited 2 year old at home with just me brings it’s challenges! i struggle on the days when the two oldest are at school all day and kawena is at preschool in the morning. i cannot leave the boys where mae mae can reach them without me right there. if i put them in their swings she likes to hang on the swing and put her face right in their faces. if i put them on the ground or on the couch or even in their bouncy chairs, mae mae is on top of them giving them “love”. she loves to poke their eyes or squeeze their heads or other “fun” things.

on those days, i have to get creative in figuring out how to keep the boys safe from their loving youngest sister. much of the time, i have to lock them in my bedroom, hopefully asleep, so she doesn’t have access to them.

so, you can see why i LOVE snow days… all of my little helpers, so willing to be of service! before we went from a family of 6 to a family of 8, snow days were an annoyance because it meant i had to change my plans. i don’t have many plans these days, aside from staying at home and keeping the twins safe, so that isn’t a problem! :o)

so, we say… bring on the snow!!

it has been very cold outside! in fact, it has become very obvious that this house is very old and needs new windows in a bad way!

when there is frost on the inside of the window, you know you need new windows. i can almost see the $$ seeping out and blowing away in the arctic wind. at least the girls are making the best of it:

window art! and one lucky person will get to clean the windows once it all melts away leaving cute, little, dirty hand prints! who will it be? i have my suspicions, but i will keep it to myself! :o)

the cold didn’t, however, keep the girls from going out for a little snow fun in the backyard. i believe it was somewhere around 8 degrees when they were outside. i could only be out there for a few short minutes to capture these pictures and then i was back inside where it was toasty!

the girls L.O.V.E. all of the icicles and we’ve got tons of them all around our house.

all together… ready… one… two… three…

yes, we are ALL enjoying our snow day!

she’s 2

2011-01-27T17:25:00.001-07:00

mae mae, what can i say! you are a joy! you have an energy for life that i never knew existed in a two year old! you’re a monkey and so full of energy!

many people have said about you that you are the happiest little girl. i would have to agree! you are quick to laugh and to find joy in the simplest things!

some of the things i love about you right now are:

you sleep in kawena’s radio flyer wagon
you don’t run, you gallop… like a horse
you are trying to speak, but much of what you say is very hard to decipher. it is both cute and frustrating all at the same time
you laugh A LOT
your sisters absolutely adore you
you love your brothers

you get SUPER excited when your sisters get home from school and your daddy gets home from work and you scream with joy
you comfort your sisters when they are sad and crying with a hug
you are very sensitive to others emotions
you cried when we were watching the lamb of God movie when they killed Jesus
you are good at entertaining yourself when you have no sisters to play with
you are a very smart girl
when you scream because you are so happy and excited
you play so well with your sisters
you go to other people without a problem

some of the things that i could do without:

your amazing ability to climb… on EVERYTHING
finding you on the counters in the kitchen playing with the knives or getting into the candy
your love for playing in the bathroom
your laying on the boys or poking them in their eyes or shoving the pacifier in their mouth, etc….

you don’t nap (but i do make you have quiet time which you don’t like
your fun screaming fits
your inability to communicate what you need and want to us
you wake up way to early (one morning it was before 6 am, but usually it’s around 7)
your ability to make a mess of your food when you are done eating and start playing with your food

mae mae, you have added so much life and fun to our family! we are so happy that you came to us and love every inch of you! i can’t believe you are 2!!

happy birthday baby girl! we love you so much!!

quotable quote #1

2011-01-20T12:38:00.001-07:00

kawena and makaio

kawena has been having lots of potty accidents in the past few weeks. super frustrating! mitch even put a diaper on her last night as a joke. she didn’t think it was so funny!! she took it off very quickly!

as she was going off to bed last night she said, very seriously, “i am following satan because i keep having accidents!” hopefully, thinking that will help her STOP having accidents because i know she doesn’t want to follow satan! ;o)

another cute thing she was saying last night when her sister was getting in trouble was, “her heart feels sad!” then she also said, “i need to go potty. my heart feels happy because i am going potty in the toilet!”

i {heart} kawena!

a forgotten post

2011-01-16T12:00:00.001-07:00

i just realized, in all of the craziness that has been our life these past months, that i never wished you a happy, merry christmas.

so, here is a belated christmas card for you, my friends:

i hope it was very merry, indeed!

p.s. i have decided that having a baby, or two for that matter, right before christmas is not ideal! it kind of throws the whole “simplify for the holidays” out the window!

just in case you were wondering! ;o)

while you were nursing…

2011-01-11T21:31:00.001-07:00

having twins comes with its challenges…

need i say more??

introducing…

2011-01-09T14:48:00.001-07:00

if i was on top of my life right now this would have been posted sooner and not, say, when the boys are already 6 1/2 weeks old!

we are loving our boys! they are two of the sweetest little guys! the girls love that there are two of them... nani AND kale'a can each hold one at the same time! and i love when they do! they are such big helpers that this is the first time in my life when i DIDN’T want them to go back to school!

this is just a quick post to announce that we did indeed welcome these boys into our family on thanksgiving day (yup, that is the day after i was released from my 5 week hospital stay) and that i am still alive! i do plan on posting the birth story because i love birth stories and this one was pretty crazy, but wonderful! plus, i need to write it down! however, that will be saved for a later date when things are a little more… haha, i was going to say normal, but that won’t be for awhile, i’m sure! so i will just say that the birth story will have to wait!

until then, here are a few more pictures of our dear boys:

makaio on the left and maui on the right.

baby toes, love them!!

makaio (baby a)

and maui (baby b) i love the wrinkles!

i’m off to love up my boys!! it is AMAZING having 2 babies to love!! twins are the best!

while you were in the hospital...

2010-11-23T17:08:00.004-07:00

note: this post was supposed to be up back before my release from the hospital, BEFORE the babies were born, but i was having some video upload problems. i finally figured it out, so enjoy our little monkey! my favorite video is the last one!

one thing that has been hard about being in the hospital is all of the things i have been missing of the girls! especially mae mae! she is at the age where she is learning so much! for example, when i was admitted to the hospital she maybe said 10 words.

mae mae is a super monkey now. since i was admitted to the hospital she strted climbing out of the crib. that caused some problems for nap time with many of the wonderful people who were watching our girls!

the lack of napping led to this many nights at the dinner table:

mae mae is an extremely strong girl! she obviously has a lot of upper body strength! last night mitch made the observation that she will probably be great friends with her brother's, a bit of a tomboy. i think that would be great! she is the closest in age to them so it would make sense! here she is showing off her mean strength, maybe she's just super eager to help with the dishes! awesome!

on the eve of my hospital release

2010-11-23T16:50:00.001-07:00

wow! so, we actually made it this far. the doctors didn’t think i would make it to 35 weeks, but after almost 5 weeks of laying in a hospital bed i am one day away from being sent home. this is the eve of my hospital release!

in honor of such a big day, i decided to post some pictures of my stay here and to share some of my observations and thoughts on hospital bed rest when pregnant with twins…

this is me in my hospital bed 4 days ago (34 weeks + 2 days)

my first observation is that i am HUGE! look at that belly!!
my second observation is that the nurses have been lying to me!! I SEE STRETCH MARKS!!! a sad realization, to be sure, but probably not wholly unexpected!!
i am so grateful for cell phones and texting! while in the hospital for an extended length of time, having a connection to the outside world is crucial to ones sanity! (i think i was talking to my dad in the above picture)

visits from our girls always brightened my day. i looked forward every week to sunday when mitch and the girls come to visit me.

when mitch calls and asks if i want him to bring mae mae or if he should leave her at barbmom’s for their sunday visit, always tell him to bring her because when he shows up without her you will regret it and be sad!
even though mae mae is into everything and wants to climb all over me it is still better when she is visiting! it causes a lot more stress, but it is so worth seeing her excitement at seeing me!!
the hospital has great juice and cool straws (the little red coffee stir straws) because the girls ALWAYS have to get some while they are here.
the nurses love our girls!

showering every three days makes for very greasy hair on the last day!
i have not fixed my hair or worn make-up for 5 weeks straight!
laying around in bed all day makes you always look tired with puffy eyes!
my legs have gotten really hairy with only one electric shaving the whole 5 weeks i’ve been here, thanks to nurse kim for the grooming!
it’s easy to become friends with your nurses when you get the same nurses several times a week!!
apparently, not all patients are happy and nice. i have been called “the nice patient who doesn’t ever need anything” and “the happy, positive patient”!
nurses really like nice, friendly patients!!

i love the art work on my whiteboard. nani and kale’a drew these for me when they came for a visit. i love the babies that nani drew. they are so cute and tiny! the nurses love the babies, too! i love the cheery bright colors that kale’a put up for me to look at everyday!
when you’re in the hospital, unable to see your family daily, it is VERY important to have a picture of them close by so you can look at them!

i stare at this picture on my wall A LOT everyday!!! and, without fail, it always makes me smile!
i REALLY miss my husband!
the longer i lay in a hospital bed the more my body starts to ache ALL OVER! the last few nights have been especially difficult! no matter what side i sleep on my shoulder or my elbows, or my hip or my knee, or my back screams out at me in protest!
nighttime is especially lonely!
when i’m alone, in the dark, trying to sleep is when my mind runs wild. nighttime is when i worry the most about every little contraction, or twinge in my cervix.

the hospital dietary needs a bigger variety for long-term patients! i mean, REALLY!!
getting dressed in your clothes everyday makes me feel much better. i think i wore a hospital gown for the first 2 maybe 2 1/2 weeks before my doctor told me i didn’t have to wear the hospital gown, but could wear my own clothes!!
free wi-fi totally ROCKS!!
when you lay in bed all day except to get up to go potty, your muscles get REALLY weak! it doesn’t help that i am lugging around two 6 pound babies, either!
my belly is heavy to carry around!
mechanical beds are a lifesaver! it’s much easier to get out of bed!
even though my bed is a tempurpedic, my body still gets sore, just not as quickly as it would if it wasn’t a tempurpedic!
i would have died without the fan they gave me from labor and delivery. the nurses like my room because it is “so fresh” and cool.
it’s a strange thing to look out my window everyday and see sunshine, especially now that everyone is talking about how cold it is. i look out and it looks exactly the same as the day i came in, so i just assume it is still warm.

one of the greatest things i love to hear from the nurses or doctors is, “the boys are looking great!!” music to my ears!
the other thing i love to hear is, “they are both head down!”
twin boys move A LOT!! i look at my belly and it is crazy to see it move so much!!
even with good veins i.v.’s are never fun to get started. my veins seem to roll out of the way when the nurses are trying to get a new iv line in. twice i have been stuck in 4 different places before they actually got it in. the frustrating thing is that they haven’t used the i.v. since i was admitted 4 weeks ago!!
i.v.’s in the hand suck!!
a good i.v. is worth it’s weight in gold! i have had this one stay good since the 9th of november!
getting woken up in the middle of the night from a dead sleep to take your medicine is not fun! they wake me at midnight and 6 am every day!

the most important observations that i have made are these:

miracles happen!
prayers are answered!
a good ward family is an amazing thing!
marrying mitch was the BEST decision i EVER made, hands down!
our girls are extraordinary!
i don’t know how we could have gotten through this without the gospel or our knowledge and faith in our Savior Jesus Christ and our loving Father in Heaven! SERIOUSLY!
i know our Heavenly Father is mindful of us and He loves our family because he gave us this trial so we could be made stronger. and i believe that we have been made stronger individually and as a family!
faith can bring about marvelous things!
these boys are going to be a huge blessing to our family!

mama’s belly pie

2010-11-18T16:53:00.001-07:00

one of the girls favorite things is when mitch gets hungry for “belly pie”! anytime he sees a bare belly he just has to get him some belly pie! so, he chases the girls around the house and pins them down to eat their bare belly pie, all the while the girls are screaming and laughing and wriggling around trying to break free of his belly pie frenzy! i love to watch it! lately even, mahea has been lifting her shirts up to expose her bare belly to mitch tempting him to eat some! of course, he does and she loves it!! it is so adorable!

since i have been in the hospital, i have not taken any belly pictures. so, last wednesday when mitch surprised me with a sleepover in my hospital room i had him snap some pictures. then again on sunday i had him take some more.

so, here is my belly (comparison to last photo taken):

27 weeks + 2 days 33 weeks

and here is my “belly pie”:

33 weeks + 4 days

lately, when i get a nurse that had helped me a week or two earlier they see me and they all say, “wow! you have grown!!” i guess the growth is more obvious when you’re not around it everyday. i can tell whenever i get up to go potty that my belly seems to be getting heavier and heavier! it’s a good thing, though!! that’s why i am still in the hospital, to grow these babies!

i am happy to report, also, that, according to my nurses, i still don’t have any stretch marks on my belly pie!! of course, i am just going on their word because i can’t see the underside of my belly!! :o)

here is another picture (very unflattering) of my belly from the front. i was brushing my teeth and trying to sit in a semi-reclined position when mitch snapped this shot. since i know you all are just dying to know where i have been living the last 4 weeks, you can also get a glimpse of my ~~luxury hotel~~ hospital accommodations. i even labeled things for you, cuz’ i’m nice like that:

the hospital has the most awesome ice chips! i know, weird, but it is so true!! let me tell you that i am so grateful for free wi-fi and my macbook! these two things have been a lifesaver! i have been able to finish my christmas shopping, blog, facebook, chat, skype every night with my kids and mitch, listen to music, watch movies, edit photos, make a photo calendar, and i’m even working on getting a christmas card out this year (something i haven’t done for ages!!). so, if you want a card from yours truly, which just might include a baby announcement with two cute mason boys, send me an email with your address to mahinamason@comcast.net, even if you think i have your address please send me an email anyway, just in case!

so, if you are wondering what the “SCD” tubes are, i will tell you because i didn’t know what they were 4 weeks ago, either. i have been wearing these since the first day i was admitted to the hospital in preterm labor. being that i am on bed rest and use my legs very little my risk of forming a blood clot in my legs is increased. these little SCD’s are like a little massage for my calves. i wear these lovely white knee high wraps on my legs. then, i plug the tubes into the leggings and turn the machine on. there are three chambers in the leggings, one above the next and the machine pumps air into each chamber starting at the ankle moving up to just below the knee. then it lets the air out. it does this about every 30 seconds all day and all night! so far, it has worked and i am clot free!! i don’t mind it so much, it feels like a massage. the only annoying thing is when i am trying to sleep at night my legs sometimes get a bit tangled in the tubes! that’s a small price to pay for clot free and varicose vein free legs!!

today, i am 34 weeks + 1 day and they will send me home the day before thanksgiving!! i’ve got 6 days left! they will take me off the medication and just let nature take it’s course. mitch thinks i will have them sooner rather than later (like within days or hours of being released) and i keep teasing that i will probably have to be induced 3 weeks after i get home. i hope mitch is right, though, this time!

i had an ultrasound today and found out that both babies are still head down. they measured them, too, and they both weigh approximately 5 pounds 13 ounces! which is awesome!! still measuring about a week+ bigger than gestational age. three weeks ago when they measured them baby a was 4 pounds 12 ounces and baby b was 4 pounds 4 ounces which was 2 1/2 weeks and 2 weeks bigger than gestational age.

our family is surviving this really well! i am amazed at how the girls have handled this! our family is being made stronger through this trial and i can see everyone’s faith growing as we put our trust in our Heavenly Father. i know we don’t ever want to go through trials, but i can honestly say that i am grateful that our Heavenly Father saw fit to give us this trial!! i know He loves us and He has trusted us to make it through this together and to come out stronger for it!

nani, the glue

2010-11-14T15:05:00.001-07:00

i was just talking to my dad on the phone and we were talking about our girls. he was asking how they were doing through this whole ordeal and i told him that they are doing surprisingly well! unless everyone is telling me what they think i want to hear and not the truth, the word is that they are still very sweet and good when they are being watched by all of the amazing people in our ward.

i’ll admit that they are doing better than i expected they would. i’ve seen other families go through separations similar to ours and the kids seem to start breaking down after about a week. they start acting out or become grumpy, withdrawn, or sad and manifest it through bad behavior. like i said, unless people are not giving me a truthful picture, then our girls are doing incredibly well!

so, i was talking to my dad about all of this and then we started talking about how well our girls get along. we really have been blessed with girls that are good friends that watch out for each other! sure, they have there moments, but for the most part they are great friends. they love to play together and imagine up games that include all the sisters.

just yesterday while i was talking to mitch on the phone, i could hear the girls screaming in delight and laughing in the background. apparently, they were playing a game of hide and seek that involved all 4 girls. mahea would just follow the seeker around and as soon as they found someone she would squeal in delight!! it was music to my ears and i couldn’t help but smile!!

anyway, while talking with my dad about how well the girls get along i said, “i think a lot of it has to do with nani. she is so sweet and thoughtful. she watches over her sisters and takes care of them. even when kale’a is getting in trouble she will defend her! being the oldest she is setting that example for her sisters” this, of course, was no surprise to my dad and he said, “i know, you can see it in her eyes, her kind, sweet countenance! she is the glue! i can’t think of a better way to put it, but she holds everything together!”

i’d never thought of it that way, but that is exactly who she is! she is the glue of the family! i love this picture of nani holding her sisters hand on a hike we took two summers ago. she was caring for kawena and making sure she got safely through the water without falling or getting hurt. this picture says so much about who nani is. she is a protector and a leader amongst her sisters.

nani has a genuine concern for others. i remember last year at the end of the school year i was talking with one of nani’s teachers. she told me that nani has a very caring heart. several times throughout the year she would inquire about the well-being of a fellow student who had gotten hurt because she was concerned for them. this was not just a one time thing, anytime one of the students in her class got hurt or sick and was not in class she would ask the teacher how they were doing. nani was given a heart of compassion for others and her peers are drawn to her because of her kindness and caring.

nani and her cousin, kele, this summer in california

since my last post, nani has come to visit me twice in the hospital! the first time was last monday and being a school night we pretty much spent most of the time doing her homework that was due the next day. even though we were doing homework and not playing games and coloring, like i did with her sisters, we still had a great time. maybe that was because she had just a little bit of math and the rest was creative writing stuff.

nani is a very creative person. for as long as i can remember, whenever she has been asked what she wants to be when she grows up it is always something that involves art and creativity. the first thing she wanted to be, many years ago, was a photographer. now, if you ask her she will tell you that she wants to be an author and illustrator! she has already written several stories and loves to draw and create!

so, here in my little hospital room, laying in my bed together we imagined up a story about a cheetah that walked into her school’s library and began reading books. once we finished that story, we wrote a free verse poem about babies, about how they are sweet and sometimes stinky, how they are soft and cuddly, how sometimes they just cry and cry, but most importantly how much we love babies! it was fun to be creative with my author/illustrator daughter!!

her second visit was yesterday. she really wanted to watch saturday cartoons because “we don’t have cartoons at home”!! so, we watched a little bit of them while she showed me how to make bracelets out of yarn. then, i taught her how to play solitaire, which she picked up quickly and enjoyed, we never did win, though! after that, she told me that she wanted to do homework and i thought, “really?” so, again we did homework… the creative kind!

i wasn’t completely shocked that nani wanted to do homework. she is a very responsible girl. there have been many mornings where she has asked mitch to wake her up early so she could finish her homework that she didn’t have time to finish the night before. she is just like that. she may have inherited some of my perfectionistic tendencies??? whatever it is, she sets a high standard for herself and most of the time she reaches it of her own doing!! though it was homework we did, we were still laughing and having a great time just being together.

i love my nani girl! she is super helpful at home. being our first child and the oldest, there is a lot more responsibility placed on her. sometimes she doesn’t think it is fair, but she still is my little helper and does so much around the house to help… especially since i have gotten so big and was having a hard time doing everything i used to do! i know that she will be such a blessing when these boys join our family.

noelani, her given name, in hawaiian means “heavenly mist”. mist is soft, and gentle, it is not harsh, but subtle. mist can make light visible. that is our nani. she has a gentle sweetness about her and she shines her light for all to see!

i loved having nani with me in my hospital room, just her and i. i think that in bigger families you miss out on a lot of the one-on-one time, but when you are given a chance to have some you realize what a blessing it is. while she was with me i paid close attention to who nani is. i listened and i watched as she talked to me and as we worked together. i felt so strongly the sweetness of her spirit in this room. i know that she is a daughter of God and He loves her so much, just as she loves Him. i could feel it as i lay next to her. she has such a desire for righteousness and a hunger for truth and light. i watched this daughter of mine and i was so grateful that she came to our family. she blesses our family everyday! she is “the glue”, as my dad said, that holds our family together with such strength,… and i am proud to be her mother!

kale’a, my delightful girl

2010-11-07T13:13:00.001-07:00

whenever i look at pictures of our second daughter i am always captivated by her eyes! she was blessed with these light brown eyes edged with black. if that wasn’t enough she was also blessed with these dark, long, thick lashes! when she speaks to me i am always drawn to those eyes. since she was a toddler her eyes have always been animated and full of life. she communicates a lot through those eyes.

kale’a, in the hawaiian language means “delightful one” and we were right to give her this name. this second child of ours is a delightful girl! she is spirited, she is thoughtful, she cares for her sisters and for those around her! she hungers for acceptance and love from her family and she enjoys being with us. she is a leader with a great imagination. she laughs easily and makes those around her laugh. she is super creative and full of all sorts of fun ideas. she is crazy fun and she is super silly. she is smart and she loves her Savior. she is a monkey that loves to climb up everything, higher than i wish she would, i might add. she climbs trees, she climbs the walls in our house, she climbs up anything and everything!

i don’t think it is a secret that she and i clash more than i’d like. kale’a is a very strong-willed girl. she is stubborn, as am i. this, of course is never a good combination! we have struggled a lot together! it is not something that i am proud of, but it is something that i am very aware of and something that i have been trying to overcome.

though we have struggled with this, kale’a seems to be drawn to her mommy! it seems so strange to me that though we argue and fight often, she still has so much love for me. i would think it would have pushed us further apart, but most of the time she prefers me over anyone else! she demonstrates so perfectly the unconditional love of a child!

since i have been in the hospital she is the one who calls me everyday! i can almost count on my cell phone ringing everyday between 3:00 and 4:00 when the girls get home from school. i know that when i pick it up i will hear kale’a’s sweet voice saying, “hi, mama!” i’ve begun to look forward to the daily phone call from this girl of mine when i can hear her voice and i can talk to her about her day. it puts joy in my heart that she needs to call her mommy daily!

honestly, i think this separation between kale’a and i has been a good thing. we are not constantly battling anymore. we have been removed from our daily contention and in that space we have been able to draw closer together and feel the spirit. it is interesting to me how our Heavenly Father works. this trial may not have anything to do with the boys, but it could have everything to do with the relationships within our family. i might be wrong and i may never know in this lifetime, but for right now i can’t help but notice how peaceful the relationship between kale’a and i has become in the short two and a half weeks that i have been in the hospital!

yesterday morning, kale’a was dropped off at the hospital to spend two hours with me. just like her sister before her, she packed a bag with books to read and games for us to play together. when she walked into my hospital room she was trying to hide her excitement, but i could see it behind her giddy little smile! it made my heart soar to see my delightful kale’a so happy to be with her mommy!

she hopped up into my hospital bed with me and we began to play “hiss”, a game where you make snakes by matching up color cards. we were limited by the tiny space of my bedside table, but we managed just fine. after that, we played a teeny tiny game of “trouble” which was located on the end of her pen that was given to her by a friend. we played some with her legos and then the nurse came in to monitor the boys.

as she was hooking me up, kale’a began to help the nurse get things put together and was such a big help! kale’a is always quick to help others, another wonderful quality of this sweet girl. since i had to lay fairly still while being monitored we turned on the tv and watched an episode of the magic school bus.

i loved laying next to this daughter that i have struggled with in so many ways and hearing her unbridled laughter. i loved that when i started tickling/scratching her back that she turned her back to me and lifted up her shirt so she could feel it better – that she would shift to the other side and tell me where she wanted me to tickle next. this is one of the things that she asks me to do all the time. she loves the touch of my nails on her skin – i think it is a way for her to relax and feel close to me.

as i lay there next to kale’a, i wished that we could just stay like this forever, cuddled together in the peace and calm that surrounded us! no contention and no frustrations, just peace and calm and the spirit! for kale’a and i, i feel, that this is what this trial is all about.

i love this delightful child of mine! she pushes me to my limit and makes my life uncomfortable at times, but that is what we all need if we are to become better people, if we are to become like our Father in Heaven. i love talking with her and seeing those beautiful, expressive eyes that tell me more than her words do. i love her zest for life and her strong will!

and today i am so grateful for the morning that i spent with her in my hospital room, just the two of us playing, laughing, and just being together. i love this girl more than ever!

kawena, my little buddy

2010-11-05T16:11:00.001-06:00

this kid has my heart 110%!! she is such a joy to be around and at such a fun age! her happiness and love for life is contagious! she is bright and funny and smart! she is sneaky and clever! she is so full of love and so lovable! she thinks of others, especially her sisters! she loves her sisters, she loves her daddy, and she loves her mommy! she loves to sing and she loves to dance:

i think this is because she has such a free spirit! and i love it! she is so much of what i wasn’t at her age! she can make friends instantly and calls everyone her best friend. she just makes it easy to love her! she loves to laugh and have fun!

it is her love for life and her energy that i have been especially missing this week! since school started, she and i have become good buddies and i’ve been missing my little buddy, a lot!

she seemed to be struggling a little bit this week, so mitch suggested that she come visit me in the hospital. just kawena and i for a few hours! i thought it was an awesome idea!

there was no preschool today, so today was our day!! mitch packed her a bag with coloring books, crayons, books, and games to fill our time together. our neighbor and good friend, erin, drove her to the hospital, dropped her off and then went to run some errands.

we had such a fun time. kawena climbed into bed with me and we started by reading the books. once we finished those kawena wanted to play some games. so, we played 2 games of candyland (i won the first game and she won the second), and then we played operation. it was so cute because every time she touched the metal side with her tweezers it always made her jump a little and she’d scream! she kept saying, with a giggle, “the buzzing scares me!” we were awesome surgeons!!

for the rest of the time until erin was finished with her errands, we colored in her coloring book! we helped each other pick just the right colors for our pictures and they were so beautiful when we were finished!

it was a wonderful morning! we didn’t do anything extraordinary, just the simple everyday things a mother does with her child, but it was the highlight of my week! i was able to get my kawena fix. i can’t hang out with my little buddy everyday right now, so for this short blip in our long life together i will be grateful for these moments! i will cherish having her warm little body cuddled next to mine in my hospital bed while i helped her brothers grow.

as she was getting ready to leave she got close to me and whispered, “mommy, i want you to come home with me right now.” i told her that i wanted to go too and explained to her why i could not. then, like someone much older than her 4 year old self, she accepted it, gave me a big hug and a kiss, and said, “I LOVE YOU!!” and with a content smile on her sweet little face she walked out of my hospital room!

like i said, she is so easy to love!!

what’s going on in my neck of the desert

2010-11-03T15:31:00.001-06:00

well, it’s been a long time since i last posted. since then i have grown quite a bit in the belly area, but unfortunately do not have any pictures of it. i kept planning on taking another photo, specifically on the day i was 30 weeks. obviously, i didn’t snap that photo, and i regret it because the following day i landed myself in the hospital totally unexpectedly!!

here’s what happened:

thursday, october 21st (30 weeks + 1 day) i went to my regularly scheduled perinatologist appointment to have an “ffn” (fetal fiber nectin, a test that will tell us if i will go into labor in the next 10 days to 2 weeks), to check my cervical length (not dilation), and to monitor the boys. totally routine for a twin pregnancy at 30 weeks.

as i watched the monitor while they measured the length of my cervix i noticed the numbers on the screen. my heart sank because i knew it was bad! two weeks prior at my previous appointment my cervical length was 3.3 which was fine. they had told me that as long as i am above 2.5 there are no worries, but if the cervix ever shortened to 2.5 they would become concerned that the babies are coming soon.

in order to get an accurate number they measure the cervical length several times. as i watched, i saw numbers like 1.7, 1.3, 1.5. so, they called the doctor in to talk with me. he tells me that they are concerned that my cervix has shortened significantly and past the point of concern. they want to monitor my contractions (i hadn’t been having any painful contractions, just braxton hicks type tightening, for months, which is totally normal for me!) and check my cervix for dilation. after that fun exam they told me i was dilated to a 1 and they were sending me directly to the hospital.

as i drove myself to the hospital, somewhat shocked, i call my friend who is watching my other children and mitch to break the news to them. the rest of the afternoon and the next day was filled with blood draws and monitoring, iv’s with nasty medicines like magnesium to slow the contraction (which give me major weird hot flashes in my hands and ears and eyeballs) and shots of steroids to mature the boys lungs.

they kept me in the hospital for 4 days totally expecting me to have these babies. by sunday, they realized that the contractions were under control, but not stopped. they had taken me off of the magnesium drip and given me a medicine that i could take at home to relax the uterus. they checked my cervix again and i was still at a 1, no change was good! so, they sent me home with a prescription and orders for strict bed rest and instructions to only get out of bed to go potty and to shower every other day. they told me to call on monday to my ob to schedule a follow-up appointment for that week.

i got all settled at home, had a minor breakdown when i saw the kids and then pulled myself back together and resigned myself to spending the duration of my pregnancy laid up in my bed. i was extremely good about my ~~sentence~~ instructions. mitch made very sure that i was obedient to the doctors orders.

on tuesday, october 26th, 2 days after my release, i went to my follow-up appointment and it happened again. after checking for dilation my ob sent me back to the hospital!! in those short 2 days i had dilated from a 1 to 3.5, without any painful contractions! as i left the office on my way back to the hospital, my doctor said, “don’t schedule an appointment on your way out because i won’t be seeing you in the office again while you’re pregnant!” i was so bummed!

so, it has been 8 days since my second admittance to the hospital. things are still under control. i am given my “control the contractions” medicine every 6 hours and monitored for contractions and listen to the boys heartbeats twice a day. i am able to get out of bed to go potty and shower every 3 days. i eat hospital food 4 times a day, and lay around in a hospital gown. i watch re-runs, read books, nap, write thank you notes, talk to friends and family, enjoy visitors, skype my kids and husband daily, and miss them every moment they’re not with me. i’m getting to know the nurses really well and am starting to settle into my new life. and now we just wait…

the boys are sounding great on the monitors and growing like crazy. the doctor said that if i make it to 35 weeks (3 more weeks, the day before thanksgiving) they could send me home to go into labor on my own. however, they are shocked that i am still pregnant now! i get the feeling that they think i won’t make it that far! i don’t know that i share their skepticism and i hope to prove them wrong! hey, we’ve done it once before when the doctors and midwives said my complete placenta previa with mahea would not move and i would have to have a c-section! it moved and i didn’t have a c-section. we have a way of surprising the medical community, so i say “why can’t we do it now?!!”

these are the ones i miss every hour of every day:

this picture is hanging on my wall in my hospital room so i can look at them whenever i want or need to!

things that i have missed while in the hospital: kale’a’s 7th birthday party, halloween (the girls did come to the hospital dressed in their costumes, though).

just a little (or big) comparison

2010-10-01T23:20:00.001-06:00

21 weeks 27 weeks + 2 days (sorry about the creepy look!)

wow! in a short 6 weeks i went from that…………………….. to this! holy cow!! no wonder i am feeling SO BIG!

HAH!…… and i thought i was big at 21 weeks! what did i know??!

i am soooo behind on blog posts right now, …swimming on labor day; 1st day of preschool for kawena; my awesome, amazing trip to oregon, to name a few. but this is the easiest, shortest (least time/energy consuming) post i could do! so there you have it.

i am trying to muster up the energy, somewhere (don’t know where to find it these days), to sit down and write all these posts. i can’t promise anything, but maybe, just maybe, i’ll find it in me to do some blog posts!

from 21 weeks to 24 weeks

2010-09-21T22:46:00.001-06:00

21 weeks 22 weeks + 5 days

23 weeks + 4 days

i asked mitch if he would take my picture last time i did a belly pic and he said, “can you at least smile and look at the camera, all the other pictures look like mug shots!” that was sweet of him wasn’t it? so, i looked and smiled this time! lovely, isn’t it? when i saw the picture i remembered why i don’t like to look, ….the neck fat rolls! so attractive, right!? i think i like the mug shots better!

so, i am beginning to fill out in my belly! i haven’t taken one this week, yet (26 weeks), but i will because i think i have reached the point where i have never been this big! right before getting in the shower tonight i looked in the mirror at my bare belly and my jaw dropped! i didn’t think it was possible for my skin to stretch that much and my belly to look that big! i had to go show mitch how big it was! i couldn’t believe it!

boy am i in for a huge shock over the next few months!!

shoe heaven

2010-09-11T12:50:00.001-06:00

on friday i was down to just one child. so, mahea and i went out to run some errands. one of our stops was payless shoes. i never imagined that a stop at the shoe store would make a 20 month old SOOOO happy! this girl was in heaven!

for the past several months mae mae has been obsessed with shoes. we have a closet in our hallway that has 4 boxes for shoes, one for each girl. anytime the door is left open we will find mae mae in there saying “shu, shu” as she grabs shoes and puts them on. it is the bain of my existence at the moment because i find random shoes spread all over the house. i am having a difficult time bending down to pick things up off of the floor so you can imagine how much i dislike finding shoes all over the place.

as much of an annoyance that it is, i love to see mae mae walking/running through the house with mismatched shoes. most of the time they aren’t even her own shoes she’s running around in!

shoes just make her so happy right now.

so, we got to the store and i took her out of the stroller and she was in shoe heaven! she couldn’t try all the shoes on fast enough. she would pull a pair off of the shelf, hand them to me, and i would put them on her feet, but she was already onto the next pair! when she had tried on all of the shoes from her size she moved up to the bigger sizes. then she got picky. i would choose a pair from up on a shelf that she couldn’t reach and she would shake her head no and push them away!

we still had a few other places to go before we picked kawena up from preschool, so we put the shoes away, made our selection, and tried to head out the door. key word “tried”! mae mae threw the biggest toddler fit because she didn’t want to leave! the stinker was NOT done with all of the shoes and was NOT ready to leave her shoe heaven!

thank goodness for strollers that have straps that she can’t undo. i forced her down into the stroller kicking and screaming and calmly pushed her out of the store! thank goodness she gets over things quickly!

seriously, how did i get so lucky????

2010-09-08T22:20:00.001-06:00

friday, september 3rd, 2010 started off just like any other day. i woke up slowly, secretly wishing that the girls could just get themselves ready for school and out the door without my help so i could stay in bed. after laughing at myself for even thinking it, i grabbed my compression knee highs and struggled around my belly to laboriously pull them up onto my tired legs. i swung my feet off of the bed and planted my hands behind me anticipating the heave to push my heavy body onto my feet, when the bedroom door opened.

i looked up expecting one of my children, sleepy eyed with ratty haired to ask me why i hadn’t woken them up yet. instead, my amazing husband walks in and says, “get back into bed!” in his playful “what are you thinking” tone of voice! a bit confused, i obeyed (but let’s face it, it doesn’t take much these days for me to obediently “get back in bed” when told to!!)

he then brings me a breakfast in bed tray complete with fresh fruit smoothie, bagel with peanut butter, and scrambled eggs. oh, but that is not all that is on the tray. laid across the top of the tray is a single white rose and a green envelop with my name printed on it.

as he was walking in the room carrying this labor of love i was thinking, “what day is it? did i forget something?” which isn’t unlikely in my pregnant state, in fact it is VERY probable that i would forget something, something even very important. i’m only speaking from experience here! but as much as i strained my brain, nothing was coming to mind. nothing was coming to mind because it was just an ordinary date on the calendar! no birthday, no anniversary, nothing! just a desire to spoil the woman he loves and adores! i know! how did i get so lucky, right?

i looked at my handsome husband with a sideways glance, full of mystery and a slight smile, as i opened the envelop. this is what i read:

Mahina’s to do list

September 3, 2010

7:00am Breakfast in Bed
8:00am Swim laps
9:00am prenatal massage with Aleen

i was shocked! i think i said something like, “really?” then, he left me in peace to enjoy my breakfast while he set himself to the task of getting the girls off to school. as i ate my delicious feast alone in my quiet bedroom, i was in awe of what just happened. the amazing thing is that the night before as i climbed into bed i was thinking to myself, “i really need a massage, my back is killing me!” little did i know what had been planned for me this morning!

just as i was finishing up my delicious breakfast, in walked mitch ready to shower me with even more than he already had. he tells me that he has something else for me and pulls out this:

a new maternity speedo
a swiMP3 player for listening to music while doing laps at the pool
a heart rate monitor/triathlon watch with gps (tells you distance, cadence, speed, etc for swimming, biking, and running)

again, the amazing thing was that two nights previous to this i had been looking online for a maternity speedo. they were all pretty ugly, and there weren’t many options. this one was the best of the bunch and i had decided that i would order this very same suit that mitch had just handed to me!

i was seriously floored! but he didn’t give me time to dwell on it. he hurried me out of bed to get ready to go to the gym for my lap swim and prenatal massage. a few minutes later he comes in with a gym bag that he had already packed with everything i would need to get ready for the day. the only thing he said was, “don’t look in the bag until you get to the gym.”

when i was ready to go, i said goodbye to everyone, but mitch stopped me and said, “wait, i’ll take you and drop you off!” so, as soon as the girls were out the door to school we loaded up the two youngers and we were off to the gym. i asked him what he was going to do about work and he said, “i’ll just go in later.”

after a quick swim, i met the aleen at the front desk of the club and she took me to the massage room. as soon as she closed the door she said, “your husband leave this for you” and indicated another green envelop addressed to me with a single red rose. shocked, yet again, i slowly pick it up and read the contents:

the top of the note was the same as the previous note, but 7:00am thru 9:00am were checked off and the next two lines read:

10:00 Shower
10:30 Brunch with Jessica at the Grove cafe & market (Jessica to pick up at gym)

i couldn’t believe it! from the moment this all began i had been thinking, “how did i get so lucky, to not only find this man, but to earn his love and affection?” as i laid there under the amazing hands of this massage therapist, (seriously the best massage i have EVER had) i couldn’t help but smile at my good fortune! i am in awe everyday of this man that i gave my heart to over ten years ago.

after the massage, i quickly showered and got ready for my lunch date with my friend jessica. after showering, i opened up the gym bag that mitch had packed and had implored me not to open until at the gym to find this:

there was a new sexy bra in the bag too, but i decided you didn’t need to see that! (ahem)

all new, all picked by mitch, all totally cute, and all the EXACT RIGHT SIZE! it was scary how perfectly EVERYTHING fit! i don’t even get that lucky when buying clothes for myself!! i tell ya, A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!

when jessica walked in to get me she was carrying, can you guess????? of course, a rose, white this time, with another envelop! you’re beginning to catch on!!

upon opening it this is what i read:

again the top was the same as the previous notes with everything checked off except the new “thing to do”:

12:00pm Nap

how sweet is that? he knows how much i NEED my daily nap. he knows that if don’t get it i am grumpy by dinner time and no fun to be around. so he worked it into my day!

jessica and i enjoyed a yummy lunch downtown. i had the best b.l.t on toasted wheat bread that i’ve ever had! it had guacamole on it, something i hadn’t tried on a b.l.t before. super good! you should try it!

after a great lunch and even better company, jessica dropped me off at home where mitch had been watching her daughter so she could take me to lunch! mitch rushed me off to our bed to take my nap. upon entering the room this is what greeted my eyes:

and this is what was inside the envelop:

same thing as previous notes with this added:

2:00 Hair cut, style, make-up, Manicure and Pedicure at La Bella Salon and Spa

okay, another amazing thing about this part of my day is that i have needed a haircut for ages! the previous week i had called a salon to make a hair appointment, but i had called after they had closed. so, i was supposed to call back during the week and schedule my appointment, but life got hectic and i never did.

not only that, but i had painted my toes back in july and the paint was coming off and i really needed to get it off. there was one big problem, though! i couldn’t reach my toes to get the old paint off or to get new paint on once the old stuff was off! i had been talking to my mom the day before and she told me that i needed to go get a pedicure and some pampering. i had decided i would do just that!

all day i just kept thinking, “how did he know that i was going to make an appointment for this? how did he know this was exactly what i needed?” i love when things work out so perfectly! it reminded me of the allison krauss song, “when you say nothing at all”. this song has always been a favorite of ours because it is so us! (song 44 on my playlist if you want to listen).

i laid down for my “nap”, but it became evident that it would only be a “rest”. i don’t know if it was all of the excitement or my complete wonder at all that was going on, but i could not for the life of me doze off! but it was alright with me! i felt refreshed after resting and ready for the next portion of my secret adventure.

the only downfall of the whole morning is that i didn’t realize what a big day this was going to be. up to this point i hadn’t had my camera with me. i wish i would have known that i would have wanted to capture all of this on film. seriously, this was quickly turning into a day that i NEVER wanted to forget and i didn’t even know that the best was yet to come!

before i left for the spa, i made sure to put my camera in my purse. i have to admit, unfortunately, that i was so overwhelmed by every new thing that i forgot to snap pictures of most of it! on my drive to the salon i decided i would get a before and after of my hair and make-up, but once there i totally spaced it and didn’t take, but one picture! lame, i know!

when i got to the reception area at the salon they asked for my name. when i told them they said, “oh, this is for you!” and handed me yet another white rose with another green envelop:

added to the previous “Mahina’s things to do” list was this:

5:30 Back home to get ready for a night out

for the next 3 1/2 hours i thoroughly enjoyed being pampering at the salon and spa. it was exactly what i needed! sadly, like i said, i only got one photo at the make-up table:

i got cute purple toes and a french manicure which i took pictures of after the fact once i got home:

aren’t the sandals that mitch gave me so cute?! i love that there is no heel on them. most of my shoes have some sort of a heel and they are killing me these days! he is so thoughtful that he took that into consideration when he picked these!

when i arrived home the house was empty. i figured mitch had just gone out to pick up the babysitter and would be back shortly. so, i went back to the bedroom to get ready for my night out to find this on the bed:

he had picked out my evening wear down to the very last detail. in fact, upon getting closer i noticed these laying on the dress:

i just about fell over from shock! these diamond earrings are gorgeous and HUGE! i couldn’t believe it! what more could he do to shock me! this whole day had been a dream to me! from the moment i woke up until this point it was pure pampering and it was ALL about ME! no special occasion, it was just because he LOVES ME and ADORES ME!

all day one phrase kept running through my brain, “how did i get so lucky?!” what did i do to deserve such a man!

the note that came with this get-up was this:

6:30 pick up for dinner

so, i got dressed, which was a bit of a struggle as my nails were still a bit damp. have you ever tried to put on stockings with newly painted fingernails? or attempted to screw on the backs of diamond earrings? how about zip up boots that are getting a wee bit tight around the calves? all while working around a huge belly? well, i can now say that i have and i wouldn’t recommend it!

but, with much effort, i got dressed and was ready when mitch arrived to pick me up. he was ALONE… no kids, no babysitter. in he walked carrying a white rose, a green envelop, and wearing a huge smile and pouring out words of adoration and love! and he looked HOT! i’m not talking sweaty hot, i’m talking hubba, hubba HOT!

the note he handed me said:

7:00 Dinner at Bien Shur restaurant with Mitch

he walked me out the front door to this:

yup, total complete shock, again, and i’m thinking, “what more can he do? does it ever end??” never in my life had i dreamed of a day like this! days like this don’t happen to little old me! these sorts of days are the ones you only read about in fictional books or watch in fictional movies, but never do you expect that it would happen for you in your REALITY life!

(haha! i just noticed that the light above mitch’s head makes him look like he has little devil horn’s or something! nothing could be farther from the truth of his character!)

the restaurant was on the top floor of the sandia resort casino and had an amazing view of the city out one side and the mountains out the other side. we were seated just as the sun was beginning to set out the west side of the restaurant.

as soon as we were seated our waitress, who was absolutely wonderful, walked up to our table and said, “i believe this is for you.” handing me a red rose and an envelop. i looked at mitch with a mixture of unbelief and awe and just grinned from ear to ear!

i will not translate this one for you and, yes, the rose was strategically placed for a reason! this is a family friendly blog, you know! but this did explain the lack of children and a babysitter when mitch picked me up from the house. he had arranged for barbmom and papa clyde (mitch’s second parents) to have the kids overnight!

over dinner mitch asked me, “what would your ideal day be?” i thought for a moment and said that i had never really put much thought into it. as i thought about it more he said, “i knew that your ideal day would have to involve swimming.” then i said, “first of all, on my ideal day i would not be pregnant (at least not this big), but this day would pretty much cover my ideal day. i can’t think of anything else that would make it a better day!”

we ate way too much and i was hurting by the time we were finished, but it was so worth it! before our delicious desserts came the waitress came and asked us if this was a special occasion. mitch and i looked at each other and slowly shook our heads and replied “no.” but then we realized that it was actually our 10 year 9 month anniversary and we might as well be celebrating our 11th anniversary (dec. 3rd). we deicided that with our luck we would probably be in the hospital in labor on our actual anniversary!

our waitress was so sweet and she said, “well, i am just going to give you your desserts on us to help you celebrate!” then we indulged ourselves on crème Brule and frozen lemon mousse! again, i forgot to have the waitress take a picture of us! what kind of photographer am i anyway? i’ll blame my pregnancy brain! i’m kicking myself for not documenting this incredible day. that must be why i feel that i need to record this in such detail, now!

after dinner, mitch helped me waddle my way to our room:

if i had thought that he had gone above and beyond and that there was nothing more that he could possibly do, i was wrong! the best part of this whole experience was right through this door!

i walked in and saw this:

and this:

in total there were 4 dozen roses in various bouquets! the roses were UNBELIVABLY GORGEOUS! but as beautiful as they were they paled in comparison to what each arrangement symbolizes!

My Eternal Friend Bouquet

on this card he told me that the yellow roses with the red tips symbolizes our friendship. he told me that i truly am his best friend and the red tips symbolizes how he loves me more with each day.

My Eternal Bride Bouquet

in this card he explained that the white roses represent my purity. he told me what an amazing bride i was and that i get more beautiful in every way with each passing day.

My Eternal Companion Bouquet

these red and white roses were the ones that he had given me throughout the day. on this card he explained that the red and white roses represent our unity. then, he went on to say that throughout the years we have become closer in so many ways. he longs to grow old together and cannot imagine spending eternity with anyone else but me!

My Eternal Lover Bouquet

um, i think i WON’T be telling you what this card said, … you know, family blog and all!!

at this point in my unbelievable (that is seriously what i was feeling. did this really happen? am i really sitting here with this incredible man? it was hard for me to believe what had been planned and carried out for ME) day, i was in awe of my husband. how did i get so lucky? how much time and effort and planning had been put into this one amazing day? and all of it was done without even a small indication or hint to me of what was being planned!

i thought back to all that had transpired in the past 15 hours and there were no words sufficient enough to express what i was feeling! it truly was an unforgettable, “fairy-tale-dream-come-true “kind of a day!

we slept in late and then awoke to this beautiful view from our room window. i love the sandia mountains in the background!:

before we went downstairs for some breakfast, mitch had one last surprise for me. obviously, he had packed our suitcase, but what i didn’t know is that he had one more new outfit that he had bought for me (well, i guess it would be more like one and a half outfits):

i love everything that he picked for me throughout this whole thing, which, if you knew our history with him buying clothes for me, is a tremendous feat! mitch hasn’t bought me clothes for a long time because he got frustrated watching me return clothes after clothes that either didn’t fit or that wasn’t quite what i was looking for, or that i thought was to expensive, or …you get the idea. but to my credit, you have to understand that i am a bit neurotic when it comes to buying things for me. i mean, i do the same thing with clothes that I purchase for MYSELF. it would not be uncommon to see me walking around with a shirt or pants that still has the tag on it just in case i decide i don’t like it! crazy, i know! but i digress…

so, like i said, the clothing was truly an accomplishment and just added to the incredible day!

i love this man! i love him more than i did on the day that i said “yes!” to his proposal, more than on the day that i married him and gave him my whole heart, more than on the day when our first child was born, more than i did yesterday! he is my best friend! he is my eternal companion! i will forever be his bride! he makes my heart go pitter patter with a glance of his blue eyes or a flash of his brilliant smile.

i can’t imagine loving him more, that my heart is capable of more love, but my heart never ceases to amaze me and neither does he!

i just read this on another blog,

“They say that a good marriage is the ability to fall in love over and over with the same person.”

according to this standard, i would have to say that we have a VERY good marriage!

seriously, how did i get so lucky??

oh boy! oh boy!

2010-08-25T12:19:00.001-06:00

well, he’s pretty excited about he and his brother joining our family! he’s given us the thumbs up!

both ultrasound techs repeatedly said, along with the doctor, at 16 weeks and 20 weeks,

“oh wow! there is NO question! they are definitely

BOYS! oh yeah, no doubt!”

i would say so!! they look NOTHING like girls, and we know girls!!

we have waited so long for these boys to come to our family! we are beyond excited! my dad has told us that these boys are going to bring balance to our family. balance is good!

all i can say is “oh boy, oh boy!!

one more

2010-08-24T20:34:00.001-06:00

well, like i said i would be doing one more curly post on my blog for the oldest daughter. friday night we curled her all up for her trial run and i must say it was a good thing we did a trial run!

her hair is so long so we weren’t sure how well it would take to the curl, so we decided to do the two middle sized curlers (out of 4 sizes). we thought that because there would be so much hair on each curler, due to her length, that the curls wouldn’t be quite as tight.

nani in the a.m.

we were wrong!

we were completely shocked at how curly and how short her hair got when we took out the curlers. it reminded me of the first curl job we did, a bit like orphan annie with a color treatment!

it was cute to see nani walk around after we got all the curlers out because she walked with a bounce to her step. she liked the way her hair bounced and boing-ed!

the bangs turned out lovely, don’t you think? look at that curly-Q!

hey can you tell they are sisters? theirs quite a resemblance, don’t you think?

in the end we decided that a pony would be the best option for the day!

next time we will definitely do the two LARGEST sizes for her hair. i’m sure it will turn out a lot better, but that is what trial runs are for!

watch me grow

2010-08-22T15:05:00.001-06:00

with this pregnancy i am fascinated by how rapidly my belly has been growing and i wish i could make it stop! already i am way-hey bigger than i was with my other pregnancies, obviously, because there are two babies sharing the space. but seriously i can’t imagine my belly stretching THAT far to accommodate them! i already feel like i want to burst!

i am 21 weeks this past wednesday. with each of my other four pregnancies this is around the time when i started telling people that i was pregnant. in the past, i have been pretty small as far as pregnant bellies go, so at 21 weeks no one could tell yet that i was pregnant, but i was to the point that it would become obvious very soon! i was able to announce that i was pregnant along with the gender of the baby.

actually, with noelani, since she was our first pregnancy i was just so excited to be pregnant that i told my mom the minute i got a positive pregnancy test. with kale’a we decided not to tell anyone for as long as we could get away with it. i liked it that way because the pregnancy seemed shorter without people constantly asking me how i was feeling, etc. i didn’t get sick, so that wasn’t a pregnancy give away, either! when others didn’t know i didn’t feel as pregnant. it was also fun that no one knew.

so, with kawena and mahea i opted to kept it a secret until we could announce the sex at the same time, though we didn’t actually announce mahea was another girl until about a month before she was born.

well, as you can see with these pictures, not telling until i was 21 weeks was NOT an option!

17 weeks + 4 days 19 weeks 21 weeks

because i am feeling so big i was curious to see how i compared to my last pregnancy picture that i took with mahea. so, here i am at 21 weeks this pregnancy and 34 weeks with mahea (she was born only 4 weeks after this was taken at 38 weeks):

wow! not much of a difference, and considering there is 13 weeks growth between the 1st picture and the 2nd, i am in trouble. oh man! my poor, poor belly!

so there you have it. the latest pregnancy belly update. i am almost to 5 months now, only 4 more, hopefully less, to go!

that’s more like it

2010-08-20T09:58:00.001-06:00

here we go again!

when kale’a got home from school yesterday and saw her sister all curled up, she decided she didn’t want to wait for the weekend to do a “trial run” on her curls. she wanted her hair curly for school today!

so, being the fabulous mom that i am (right!) i told her i would do it IF she ate her dinner quickly (something that she rarely does), bathed and washed her hair before 7:00 pm. i wasn’t going to have her go to bed late just so i could curl her hair (i cherish MY TIME after the girls are all tucked in bed too much to let that happen!!). well, she BARELY made it in time.

after the results from yesterday’s curls, we decided to use only the pink curlers, they are the largest size, and if we HAD to we could use the next size down to finish the bottom of her hair. i think we only had to use a few smaller ones underneath.

i had to get her up earlier than normal so we would have time to get all of the curlers out and not make us late for school. this is what she looked like this morning:

this picture cracks me up when i see the look on her face! total “morning kale’a”, sleepy eyes and blank stare, with drooping curlers to finish the look!

as soon as i took the first curler out i knew that this was going to turn out much better, or should i say, more like i had pictured in my minds eye!

nice loose curls!

this is what i had envisioned kawena’s hair looking like yesterday. i was happy that kale’a’s turned out. i would say that kale’a was happy with it, too!

i thought she looked so cute headed off to school with a head of bouncy curls!

tonight i will set my hand to the curlers one more time this week for the oldest daughter! so be forewarned, there will be one more curly post because we have to give equal time to the girls on the blog, or i have to at least try!

i promise i am NOT turning into a “hair blog”! i am WAY under qualified, for sure! like i’ve said before, i should have been a boy mom, if for the soul reason of my lack of hair skills! seriously!

p.s. kawena’s curls are looking adorable today now that they’ve had time to settle down! ;0)

does this bring back memories?!

2010-08-19T11:11:00.001-06:00

it does for me! how many of you slept in these foam rollers when you were a little girl? i know i did, but all of mine were pink and the same size.

i mentioned the rollers to the girls a couple of weeks ago and ever since then kale’a has been asking me, “did you get the curlers yet?” kale’a was the most excited about trying out the curlers because almost every sunday when i ask her how she wants her hair fixed for church she asks, “can you curl it?” the answer is always no because we are usually rushing to get out the door at that point so we’re not late for church. having to fix 4 little girls hair doesn’t help us get to church early!

i finally remembered to get the rollers the last time i was at the store. the girls and i decided to let kawena be the guinea pig since we were not sure how it would turn out and she’s not in school, yet. so, last night after her bath we went to work on her hair.

here she is all ready for bed. seeing the baby like this makes me want to reach into the picture and push her hair out of her face! drives me crazy!

i asked her if she thought she could sleep with the curlers in her hair and she said, “let me see.” she climbed into her bed, laid down and said, “oh these are so comfortable!” she didn’t complain once. i think she was just so excited about the whole thing to complain!

this morning she was pretty excited when she woke up.

can’t you tell?? look at that face! isn’t she a gem?! she was a little bit upset when she woke up because i was outside waiting for the two oldest to get picked up for school. kawena didn’t know where i was so she was sad. she refused to smile for the camera! i still think it’s pretty cute!

after breakfast we excitedly took the curlers out, not really sure what we would see.

these first ones made me a little nervous! way tighter than i had expected.

wow! not the wave that i was picturing in my mind! i’ll have to try the wider curlers the next time!

she was watching in a little hand mirror as i took the curlers out and she was giggling.

here she is getting her first glimpse of her whole head of curls once they are all out:

i think she is pleased with the way it looks! it’s a bit crazy in this picture. any time i tried to brush my fingers through it to somewhat style it she would pull away and say, “mom, stop! you’re going to ruin my curls!” honey, i don’t think they could get ruined, a little relaxing would do them some good!!

i think she is one happy customer! i think she looks adorable! and it seems to be mellowing slowly as the day goes on!

oh, and guess what movie she is going to watch today?

ANNIE, of course! she said, “i want to watch annie because i have curly hair just like hers, except not red!”

i think you are right on, chica!

and they’re off!

2010-08-18T12:03:00.001-06:00

today is the first day of school! nani is in fourth grade and kale’a is in first grade this year. we went yesterday to meet the teachers and we are all excited for this year of learning!

we got up nice and early to get the girls ready. they had already set out their clothes the night before and gotten their backpacks ready (unfortunately, they had to use their backpacks from last year because their new ones have not yet arrived from land’s end). all we had to do was get dressed, eat, fix hair, and lunches.

i have a wonderful set-up for getting the girls to school, as well as home from school. the school does not bus the kids like they did in oregon, but i have something even better! the bishop’s wife! the bishop and his family live just the block over from us and they have kids that go to the same school. when mahea was born, erin volunteered to take my kids to school to help out, even though she had just had a baby a month before i had. she has been taking my kids ever since!

the girls love going with erin and her kids because they get to ride their bikes, walk, or on days when time is short erin will drive them. when i took the kids to school we always drove!

mitch got the girls bikes ready last night with air in the tires and bike locks in backpacks, so they were ready to head off when erin came to get them.

and here they go, riding off into the sunrise!

i’ve been looking forward to the beginning of school, not because i don’t enjoy having them around, they’ve actually been getting along so well the past several weeks, but because now i will be able to go shopping and run other errands in the morning or the middle of the day. you see, all summer i have NOT taken all the girls out to run errands. you just never know what kind of a scene we will cause when all of us are out. plus, with my ever increasing belly things are much easier with fewer kids. not to mention the looks i get with four kids and an obviously pregnant belly!!

in three weeks kawena will be starting preschool 3 days a week and i will be down to one child at home. wow! well, that will only be until december when i will be back to having three at home (did i mention that all three will be in diapers!??! yikes!), a thought that thrills me, not the diaper part, and scares me all at the same time!

enjoy school girls and be safe! mommy loves you!

summer rainstorm

2010-08-02T23:33:00.001-06:00

we have been enjoying some great summer rainstorms the past couple of weeks! i love rainstorms in the desert because the rain comes down fast and hard. then it’s over almost as fast as it began! i love the huge raindrops and the smell of desert rain! it smells so good!

last week we were enjoying one such rainstorm and the girls ran to get their umbrellas as headed outside. once the rain started to subside they decided to blow bubbles. i remember as a kid making bubble cities in the bathtub and on the wet sidewalk, so i introduced the girls to the art of making bubble cities!

since it was still raining they got some rainwater and spread it on the ground under the covered porch out back. at first they discovered the the rain was blowing into their bubble cities and popping the bubbles. so, they decided to make a barrier out of their umbrellas.

once they blocked out the destroying rain, they were able to build their cities.

they soon ran out of bubbles, but that did not stop them!

instead, they decided to make their very own bubbles! i love that our girls will find a solution when they are faced with a problem to solve! but what i love even more is when they work peacefully and happily together to solve it!

kale’a caught the rainwater in the bucket while nani got the dish soap AND the hand soap (apparently, it only turns out right if you use a combination of both! who knew?) from inside the house. then, as nani poured the soap into the bucket kale’a stirred it all together. kawena would then take a sample and test it out. they continued this process until it was just right!! they made a great team!

it was so much fun to see the girls enjoying something that i enjoyed as a little girl! and i couldn’t resist taking pictures of this:

poor girl has no hips to keep her pants up!!

this is for my sis

2010-07-26T23:15:00.001-06:00

malia is still in fiji without an internet connection of their own which means that we have not been able to talk on skype, yet, since she left at the beginning of the month. however, thanks to facebook, we have chatted a few times while she was either at a friends using their internet or at an internet cafe. i am trying to be patient!

she’s been wanting to see a picture of me and my twin belly. i have been waiting for mitch to take a picture of me, but whenever he is home i forget to ask him. so, i took it upon myself to do a self-portrait, mirror shot before i get too far along. i am hoping to take photos every week or at least every two weeks because i am just fascinated to see how quickly and hugely i grow! this whole twin thing has me a little weirded out, but excited at the same time.

here i am sunday afternoon right before my nap (a luxury i enjoy EVERY sunday after church). i am 17 weeks + 4 days in this photo:

it’s funny because i was telling my sister how huge i am, yet when i look at myself in this photo i am not nearly as huge as i feel! however, those of you who have experienced any of my previous pregnancies knows that i can go until after my 20 week ultrasound without showing. with this pregnancy i was obviously showing by, at the very latest 14 weeks. it’s like i am 6-7 weeks ahead growth wise! like i said before, it’s kind of a weird thing! so, by those standards, i am huge, but by twins standards i don’t think i’m all that big??

i googled twin pregnancy bellies and i got scared for my poor belly! these ladies were mostly 36-39 weeks and they were ginormous! i hurt just looking at them! i showed the girls and they were like, “whoa!” and “ohhh!” it was pretty funny!

i went to my first ob appointment today and the doctor (another weird thing because we’ve always had midwives!) was listening to the heartbeats. baby a was head down and baby b was laying across the top of my belly kicking baby a, and i thought, “is this a sign of things to come??” i sure hope not! haha!

so, there you go malia! not quite as big as i was telling you. i am not yet as big as i was at your wedding (6 months with kawena) like i said i was, but just give me a few weeks and i’m sure i will be!

melting

2010-07-19T14:59:00.001-06:00

so, i know i have been pretty lame this week since i started posting again. in my defense, i am seriously melting over here in the high desert! as i type my arms are sticking to the table! gross, i know!

our swamp cooler is worthless in this humid heat! yesterday it was 84 degrees INSIDE our house with the swamp cooler on high! that means, with my two personal furnaces burning inside me, that i am HOT!! HOT and MISERABLE! the only thing i feel like doing is laying on my bed with my fan blowing full blast at me and napping…. so, that’s what i am going to do!

i just checked the weather forecast and we are supposed to cool down by thursday to around 87. so, until then i will be laying around trying to move as little as possible so i don’t over heat! BLAH!!!

wishin’ we were here right about now!

seeing double

2010-07-13T23:03:00.001-06:00

so , i went to the doctor today and can you believe, i was there for 3 hours? with the drive there and back i was gone for almost 4 hours! that’s crazy! i don’t think i’ve ever had a doctors appointment that was that long! thankfully, i had gotten a babysitter instead of dropping the kids off at a friends house because i would have felt bad for the poor soul who had to watch my kiddos for 4 hours and NOT get paid for it! at least i knew the babysitter was getting paid good money and i could be gone as long as i wanted, or needed to be!

during my appointment they did a lot of question asking, poking and prodding, checking and scanning and this is what they found:

i know it’s hard to make anything out on this picture. if it weren’t for the typed explanation you probably wouldn’t have any idea what you were looking at (they were not cooperating when we wanted to get a joint picture). but this one from 6 weeks ago is a bit more obvious and less mistakable:

now the big question: what are we having?

i’m not saying we will tell, that is still undecided, but if you want to play along it would be fun for us to see what the general consensus is!

happy guessing!

i miss her

2010-07-12T10:00:00.000-06:00

my little sister is amazing! i love her to bits and pieces! and i don’t know what i will do without her in the states! how will i survive without talking to her on the phone? i can’t just pick up my cell phone and speed dial #5 anymore when i need to talk to her and hear her ever familiar voice!

you see, as i mentioned in my last post, she moved to fiji last week! FIJI! as in the middle of the ocean, as in she doesn’t have a cell phone, as in i’m not going to see her in forever (at least that is what it will feel like!)!

i know, right! what a great adventure, FOR THEM! what a great opportunity, FOR THEM! how fun to live in fiji, FOR THEM! right??! but what about ME??! i know, selfish, right?? but, hey, she’s my only sister!

no, really, i am super excited for her and stuart, but not so much for me! i’m going to miss her! who am i kidding, i ALREADY miss her!

i loved seeing her while we were in california! it was a short and quick 6 days, but i’m glad that i had that many days with her before they left!

i opened this post stating that malia is amazing, do you know why she is amazing? back in april we flew her out so that mitch and i could go to washington d.c. on a second 10th anniversary trip. and my little sister, who has no kids of her own, became a “single mom” to our 4 girls for 9 days!! now that is what i call BRAVE! not many people would have said yes to that, but she did! she cooked for them, she chauffeured them around to their various activities, she tucked them in bed, she changed diapers, and she bathed them! it was no easy task!! but she survived it! she is amazing!

of course, many of you know that she is a talented photographer and while she was here she even took some great candid shots of our girls:

these were taken at the park. i just love the last one of mahea in the swing, love the lighting!

while we were gone she let them run and play in the sprinklers out back. as you can see they enjoyed having their auntie around! mitch and i sure appreciated her being there too while we were so far away!

i know malia and stuart are going to have the time of their life over in fiji, i just wish it didn’t have to be so stinkin’ far away!

malia, your big sis misses you! i guess i’ll just have to figure out how to adjust to not being able to call you any ole’ time! have so much fun!

givin’ it a go, again

2010-07-10T02:31:00.001-06:00

so, i know it has been a very, very long time since my last post, but i’ve been thinking a lot lately about this little ole’ blog. it has been sorely neglected since we had our fourth child and i think i am ready to give it a go again. i am not promising anything yet, but i am hoping to start posting more frequently, which won’t be very hard, since i haven’t posted in forever!

i have missed the connection i feel with you, my readers, every time you leave a comment. i have also missed all of the memories that i have not been recording. i so enjoy going back and reading my older posts and remembering things that i would have forgotten otherwise. our children are so young and still saying and doing the most entertaining, and sometimes frustrating things, that i like to look back on them. so, if for no other reason than to document them, i will resume writing our story……

since it has been such a long time i don’t think i will go back and update, but i will just start from right now, or at least in the past month.

we are coming off of a crazy few weeks of summer full of vacationing, visiting with old friends, and a horrible lack of sleep. however, yesterday, a day in pj’s and naps for everyone has helped immensely! i am hoping things will start to return to some sense of normalcy once again, now that we are home in our own surroundings and beds!

my dad, amazing as it may seem to those who know him, just celebrated his 70th birthday! this guy here…

is 70! you’d never guess it!

so, my mom and sister-in-law planned a wonderful birthday bash last month in california. all of the kids were there, something that hasn’t happened for a long time and won’t happen again for a long time since malia and her husband up and moved to fiji last week!! it was such a great time to be together for one last time for who knows how long!

for his birthday malia, kawika, mom and i arranged a photo shoot of tutu man’s ohana:

here are the siblings, kawika, gavan, me, and malia.

i wish that we all lived closer! we had such a great time hanging out, talking story, eating, and playing games. we never have enough time together!

our girls loved playing with their cousins, and, again, seeing them together made me long to live closer. nani and her cousin kele are a year apart and they are like two peas in a pod! they haven’t seen each other for 3 years and as soon as they got together it was like no time had passed!

here are the grandkids: kale’a, nani, kele, katrina. in front, mahealani (she was much happier without her dress on, i promise, i didn’t just dress her in a onsie!) and kawena:

we were able to stay in califonia for 2 1/2 weeks! it was great, but i think we stayed about 1/2 a week too long because the girls and i were getting pretty grumpy and ornery! mitch was only able to stay 5 days and then he flew off to work while i stayed with the girls. i was exhausted, to say the least!

ohana is the best! it is so important to cherish those relationships we have with our family. nani reminded everyone while we were there something that stitch said (or was it lilo??), “ohana means family. family means nobody gets left behind!”

i love my ohana so much and it was wonderful to all be together last month! wish it could happen more often, but i will take what i can get!

love this shot!! can you tell who’s who??

mini photo shoot

2009-12-13T22:49:00.001-07:00

this christmas we are giving grandma great (mitch’s grandma) some photo throw pillows. 4 to be exact… one pillow for each granddaughter. i guess we could have done one pillow with all four of the girls on it, but getting a picture with all four of them looking decent is quite a challenge and i didn’t even want to go there!

so, today after church i sat down which each girl and had a quick mini photo shoot. unfortunately, i decided this after the girls had gotten out of their church dresses. bummer! kawena was the only one that hadn’t changed.

here are the results of the shoot…

nani, age 8

kale’a, age 6

for kawena’s picture, there were so many good ones that it was hard to choose. we narrowed it down to these two:

kawena, age 3

there were two votes for both photos. so, we decided to let kawena be the tie breaker when she woke up from her nap.

which would you have chosen?

she chose the bottom one (as did i! ;-)

i actually took mahealani’s picture last week because my mom needed a picture of mahea for her christmas card. the problem, though, with these pictures is that i didn’t realize that my camera’s iso setting was on 1600. for those of you who have no idea what that means, basically it means that the pictures have a lot of noise.

a lot of noise = yucky grain

yucky grain = highly pixilated

highly pixilated = not clear and crisp

not clear and crisp = not happy me!

nonetheless, mahea is still adorable.

mahealani, age 10 months

i didn’t use either one of these for the pillow. instead i used a picture that i took back in october.

i’m sure grandma great will be thrilled with her new pillows, don’t ya think?

wow! i did it again!

2009-12-07T13:32:00.001-07:00

i came home from an amazing ski trip in keystone, co with my sweet, wonderful, hunk of a husband (happy 10th anniversary) on saturday evening to find that my photo had been chosen as one of the top ten in last weeks i heart faces challenge! what a great surprise to come home to! it was the perfect end to the perfect weekend! here’s the cute little tooshie that helped me get chosen:

go here to see the other photos that were chosen. i went back and was surprised that my photo made the top ten when there were 465 entries! wow! i am honored!

we ♥ tooshies ~week 47

2009-11-30T00:28:00.001-07:00

okay, i’m at it again…

another entry for the i {heart} faces challenge this week…

i call this photo “got mud?” it was taken on a hike at miller creek in vallecito, co this summer.

balloons~i ♥ faces

2009-11-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

i know it's been WAAAAYYYYY too long since i've posted.... i've been taking a blogging break and don't know when the break will be over. but i just wanted to post one of my favorite balloon photos for the i ♥ faces challenge this week.

this was back on the fourth of july in bayfield, co. kawena was watching the "pet parade". i love how she got down on their level to watch them go by. isn't the shadow from the balloon cool?

hopefully, i will be back soon to blogging, but don't hold your breath.....

on a hot summer day

2009-07-31T23:45:00.001-06:00

back at the beginning of summer, i was out running errands with all four girls, something i have since refused to do (unless in an emergency), and they were being well behaved. so, i decided they needed a reward and because it was a pretty warm day we went to uptown albuquerque to the ball fountain. if you don’t have one of these fountains near your house, kids love them, at least mine do!

when we first arrived the girls were trying to avoid getting wet, but as you may guess, that didn’t last long! here are nani and kawena when we first arrived (for some reason kale’a observed from a distance, at first):

nani stayed mostly dry by trying to cool off with the steam coming out of the vents,

while kawena stopped the water by stepping on the hole where it came out.

however, as i mentioned before, they didn’t stay dry very long…

they just couldn’t resist walking through it and standing in the middle while the fountain shot water balls all around them!

finally, kale’a saw how much fun her sisters were having without her and she joined in in a big way:

oh to be young again….i love the happy squeals of children!

oh baby i love your ways

2009-07-27T18:17:00.001-06:00

do you remember that song from ub40? i loved that band back in the day! great memories! well, that is how i feel about our 1/2 year old baby. i love her ways!

what “ways” do i love?

i love her smile
i love her easy-going, happy disposition
i love how she rolls around the den to get to her toys and remains content for a good hour doing it
i love that she loves being held by other people
i love how much she splashes in the bathtub

i love that she is ticklish
i love that she doesn’t stay upset for very long
i love her little fingers and toes
i love that she hangs out with her big sisters
i love that she is still working for those abs of steel doing daily crunches

i love how she blows bubbles before she gets really upset
i love her “energizer bunny” energy
i love that whenever you give her any sort of attention she grins from ear to ear and lights up the room
i love how she has discovered her toes and sucks on them
i love how she gets excited when she is laid down beneath any moving fan and she kicks and swings her arms and makes happy noises
i love how she sucks on her bottom lip (a definite teething thing)

i love those big, deep, brown eyes
i love that she only wakes up once at night, but am looking forward to the time when she sleeps through the night
i love her curiosity for things around her
i love that she has chunky baby fat
i love that she finally had a tooth break through on saturday just in time for her 1/2 birthday today
i loved feeding her avocado today for her first solid food experience
i love that she snorts when she laughs
i love her laughter
i love that when she gets up on her knees she leaves her face on the floor and pushes herself forward (i’m surprised she doesn’t have a rug burn on her forehead yet)

there are so many ways of hers to love!

happy half birthday, mahealani (she’s an actual age now!)

touching the temple

2009-07-24T14:27:00.001-06:00

as most of you know, i am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints (l.d.s.). as a member, i serve in my ward, or congregation, in whatever capacity i am needed. currently, i am a teacher in the relief society, or the women’s organization, and this sunday i am giving a lesson based on these two talks, here and here. they are excellent talks if you have a moment to read them!

the topic is temple worship and how to make our homes a sacred place.

in preparation for my lesson i have made a greater effort to “attend” the temple. when i say “attend” i don’t necessarily mean within the walls of the temple, though i am doing that as well. but this week i have taken the opportunity to visit the temple grounds with our girls. so far, we have been twice this week. our prophet, president thomas s. monson, once counseled, “as we touch the temple, the temple will touch us.” so, i decided to take the girls to the temple so they could “touch” the temple.

on both occasions, we have had a great experience. on one of the visits we sat in the shade of a tree and talked about and sang the children’s hymn “i love to see the temple”. i asked the girls what we can learn from the lyrics of the song. here are some of the things we came up with:

we are children of God
families can be together forever when sealed in the temple
we go to the temple to pray, to listen, to feel the spirit
the temple is God’s house
we make promises in the temple
the temple is a place of beauty
we must prepare to enter the temple

on another occasion we sat in front of the fountain and talked about the significance of the water and how it represents the “living water” of Christ of which we can partake of to never thirst again.

on both visits, we walked to the back of the temple and touched the walls of the temple just outside of the celestial room. i told them about the quote from our prophet about touching the temple and asked them what it meant to have “the temple touch us”.

during both visits the thing that struck me was how quiet and reverent they were the whole time we were on the temple grounds. i know, i know you all think that my children are always well behaved and never yell or whine, but sadly they do! ;-)

if you live near a temple, i highly recommend taking your young children to walk the temple grounds with you. it is a great place to teach them about the importance of the temple and to help them prepare, while they are young, to enter the temple. it is a wonderful place to feel the spirit and let the peace of the temple touch you. our girls, along with myself, look forward to our next visit.

our fourth

2009-07-16T10:05:00.001-06:00

(warning: this post contains LOTS of pictures!)

for the fourth of july we drove up to durango, co to stay at the cabin and spend the holiday with the grandparents. it was a change from our oregon tradition of spending the fourth with our good friends the dimit’s, but because they were too far away we started a new tradition!

mitch’s parent’s spend the fourth at the cabin most years so they had things planned out. they woke up early that morning and went into the town of bayfield to save us seats along the parade route. i had never been to a small town parade so i was pretty excited to see what bayfield had to offer.

we arrived a couple hours later and found them saving our seats. so, we sat down to wait…

on the left side of the picture are mitch’s dad, mom, and grandma.

first, they started with the “pet parade”. it was very interesting to see what people do to their pets…

first, there was this pair of dogs pulling the radio flyer wagon with the little girl…

then, there were the dogs that were dressed up by their owners….

if they only knew, i’m sure they wouldn’t stand for it!!

but kawena was sure fascinated by them..

i tell you, this girl needs a dog! whenever she sees a dog or a puppy she immediately wants to go play with them. someday, sweet girl, we will get you a dog!

and then there was this dude riding his cooler!

now that is the way to travel! he was whizzing back and forth on that thing…it was awesome.

after the pet parade, the real parade came through town with horses and tractors and military cars and floats with bands and all the rescue vehicles…

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it was a pretty cute, small town parade. i was sitting next to this old lady and when the fire truck came by spraying water out the back she covered her gray hair with her hands and said, “no! no! not this way, my hair!!” it was pretty funny!

the kids got lots of candy and beads handed and thrown to them. i would venture to say that they had a good time, too….

they were all smiles and looked pretty happy at the end of the parade, don’t you think?!

after the parade we drove back to the cabin and i took a nap with the baby while mitch tried to get the other three to nap, to no avail. then, it was time for dinner. we had hot dogs and hamburgers. my favorite were these…

that mitch brought from our garden at home and grilled on the barbie! he even let the girls help season them…

and nani got to be the taste tester…

after dinner the girls entertained us with a “show” of sorts, which involved big sticks…

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we were all convinced that someone would get hurt, but they surprised us and we all survived unscathed!

after dinner and the show we took the girls to get some ice cream at the country store. then it was off to wait for the fireworks over the lake.

unfortunately, we parked by a bunch of crazies with beer and fireworks…not a very good combination as they clearly demonstrated. they had a campfire and had lined up all of their “illegal” fireworks in front of it. they were shooting them off while their kids threw the small fireworks INTO the campfire. at one point i guess one of the “illegal” fireworks either tipped into the fire or one of the kids threw it into the fire and we were lucky not to get impaled by it! the girls were a bit concerned…

so, after that close call we moved our chairs to the other side of our car to provide a safety barrier between us and the crazies and anymore exploding fireworks!

then, the REAL fireworks began…

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and i actually remembered my tripod and got some cool shots! then it was off to the cabin for some much needed rest!

from the waking up early in the morning to the staying up late at night, we had a wonderful fourth of july! it was not like any other fourth of july i had ever had, but it was very good one!

late night “conversation”

2009-07-14T10:58:00.001-06:00

last night kawena got up at 12:08 because she was “stauy-ving”. i was actually just about to get into bed, so i thought i could “quickly” give her a few crackers and get to bed.

well, i got her 7 ritz, or “circle crackers” as she calls them and sat down at the table across from her. she began to talk to me in a whisper as she slowly ate her 5 crackers.

as i sat there listening to her chatter on, i was amazed at how easily she could go from one subject to the next without having a lull in the conversation. i use the term “conversation” loosely because all i really did was interject a “uh-huh” or a “really” every now and then. after sitting with her and listening i realized that i should write some of these things down as she spoke because they were so random and funny.

so, this is what i could scribble on a scrap piece of paper as she rambled on late last night. this is not all-inclusive because i only started writing about have way through her “conversation”, i wish i had gotten it all:

k: “i am growing this tall. will i still be kawena when i am tall?”

me: “yes, you will always be kawena.”

k: “yay! i get to be kawena when i am tall! i am growing tall so that i can clean the toe-let. when nani wakes up i want to tell nani and lala that logan (her cousin who is 5) can grow taller to come to our house and we can clean the toe-lets! (apparently, only tall people can clean toilets in our house and it is an exciting thing for “little” people to grow taller so they can do it!) i want to clean lala’s toe-let and logan can clean your toe-let!” (won’t logan be excited!)

k: takes a bite of her cracker and continues…..”when the sun was going down there was a bug in my eye. they were like bees and i grabbed one and put it in my milk cup (she motions holding a bug in her hand and putting it in her cup on the table), but we can’t drink them.” chuckle.

me: yawning, “can you eat your cracker, please?”

k: takes another bite, “i was naked and lala was having clothes on, but me wasn’t having clothes on (she was telling me about dinner because i was not there). daddy asked me, ‘why you don’t have clothes on?’” chuckle, chuckle, “that’s funny!”

me: becoming more tired by the minute, “can you eat your cracker?” she only has one more left on her plate.

k: looking at her ONE cracker and holding it up, “but me don’t like these crackers!”

me: “you’ve already had 6 of them!”

k: takes a bite, “i got some salt in my eyes.”

more chattering about more random things that i didn’t write down….

me: “can you eat your cracker, please?”

k: “okay.” picks it up, “but it’s like a boat. it’s like a tiny boat.”

takes a tiny bite, “it’s like another boat, mama. lala was touching that light in the living room when she was standing on the chair.”

k: taking her last bite, “i’m done!”

me: “thank goodness!”

k: “what? did you say ‘good’?”

me: “yup!”

k: “oh”

i look at the clock and it reads 12:54am! who knew it took 46 minutes and A LOT of chatter for a 2 year old to eat 7 crackers in the middle of the night!! who knew? it surprised me!

though i was exhausted, i really enjoyed our whispered “conversation” and she still blows me away with her constant chatter and how well she speaks for such a little lady! i love her little, sometimes too loud, voice and i will miss it when she is older.

thanks little bug for entertaining my exhausted little brain last night! it was an unexpected ending to a very long day! i love you!

“lemolade 4 sale…”

2009-07-09T17:19:00.001-06:00

anyone thirsty on this hot summer day? well, i have just the cure for your dry, parched mouth……

i happen to know 5 very cute, entreprenurial girls selling lemonade (“lemolade” if your name is kawena) right on our street.

in fact, they set up “shop” right in front of our house….

don’t they look excited and eager to sell you their sweet, delicious, thirst-quenching lemolade??

how could you pass up these sweet faces?

as they were setting up, their first customers arrived before the girls were even ready. you should have seen how quick they were to provide their product with a smile and a “have a great day!” that first customer blew a lot of wind in their “sales” and they were ready and determined to make a fortune!

the heat of the day didn’t even deflate their spirits! it was nothing a piece of ice couldn’t cool…

at the end of the 2 hour work day, they did pretty well! $10 was the take home (divided by 5) and the girls couldn’t have been more thrilled! i was so grateful for wonderful, generous people, for example….

the girl who had a handful of quarters (at least 10 or more) and said, “this is all i have.” and handed them all to the girls
the lady who said, “now, how many of you are there? one, two, three, four, five.” and handed over a quarter for each girl
the numerous people who gave a dollar for a cup

what made me even happier was the example of these people that taught my daughter to be generous, too.

just now, a neighbor was just out walking her dog and had no money. so, kale’a came to me and whispered in my ear, “can we just give her a cup for free?” of course, i said that was a wonderful idea. after the lady left with her dog kale’a said, “mom, i want to have my own lemonade stand where the lemonade is all free. that way more people will stop to get some.”

thanks all you generous lemonade buyers for teaching my daughter to be generous!

as i type this, my three are at it again selling more lemonade. so, if you are in the area, stop by for service with a smile and the most refreshing cup of lemolade you have ever tasted!

the little girl who loved to sing

2009-06-28T15:46:00.001-06:00

there once was a girl who loved to pick flowers…

she loved to wander the meadows and find lovely flowers. it made her very happy…

but as much as she loved picking flowers, there was one thing that she loved even more. that one thing was singing. she loved to sing more than anything else.

one day this little girls mom wanted to take some pictures of her in the beautiful meadows of the colorado mountains (aka outside of grandma great’s cabin). she was very happy to be outside in the meadow full of flowers. her mom thought she could get some beautiful shots of the little girl as she picked flowers. the one thing, however, that the mom didn’t take into consideration was her love for singing. for as she was snapping her photos, the little girl began to sing…

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and each time the mom asked her to stop singing for just a moment so she could get some “normal” pictures of the sweet little girl, she would get sad…

so, the mom decided to let her sing…

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because that was when the little girl was most happy….

and when the little girl was happy….the mom was happy!

camping in villanueva

2009-06-18T13:43:00.001-06:00

last weekend we took our beloved cougar out of hibernation and took him to villanueva for a fun camping adventure! it was our first time camping with mahealani and she was a camping rock star! she made camping with four little ones seem like a breeze! she napped a total of 6 hours the first day, broken up in two naps and then slept through the night the second night!

this was our first time camping in new mexico and this campsite was great. it was a short hour and a half drive and there was a little river meandering through the campground! so, before we left we grabbed some inner tubes and life jackets from the store. boy are we glad we did! while mahea was napping we floated down the river as a family:

we called it the lazy river because it was so slow and relaxing. apparently, kawena took it literally and fell asleep while floating down it! i tell you, now that that girl doesn’t take naps she can fall asleep just about anywhere!

when did she grow up and start looking so old??

as part of the camping trip we celebrated the girl’s counsin, logan’s, 1/2 birthday, a very interesting tradition in their family (i guess you can do that for your child when she’s an only child!)! this is their cousin, a very sober child, with frosting on her mouth:

she is 2 months younger than kale’a and was celebrating her 5 and 1/2 year birthday!

the cupcakes were a big hit with all of the 27 kids there, and a big mess!

i just love little buns in swimsuits!

it was a fun family trip and we are excited for more camping this summer!

now we are off to the colorado cabin for the weekend. no internet, no cell reception, just fun relaxation with the family….have a great father’s day, i know we will!

i won’t be back online till next week….

we need to leave in 30 minutes so i better pack up the car so we can head out……