Ivy's funnies

Nate and the girls returned from caroling and Ivy was telling me about something she had never seen before. "We sang to a woman that had no hair!" I explained to her that the woman had cancer and had to have some treatments that made her hair fall out. Ivy said, "Oh," and with a quizzical look on her face asked, "Is that how boys are made?"

Today at church we saw a girl wearing a dress that we had given her for Christmas under the name of "Santa". I told the girls to keep it a secret who actually gave it to her, and if they kept it a secret, they could get a treat when we came home. When we were eating lunch, Ivy reminded me of the promise, and I asked, "Did you tell her who the dress was from?" Ivy said, "No, I didn't! I just kept saying, "I didn't give you your dre-ess, I didn't give you your dre-ess."

Well, I guess she still deserves a treat, huh?

After dinner one night, Ivy put my hat on her head and pranced around the livingroom singing, "I'm mommy! I'm mommy!" I said, "Ivy come bring your dishes to the kitchen. She said, "No, I'm not Ivy; I'm Mommy." I said, "Mommies do things without being asked. In fact, they do even more than they're supposed to." She thought about that for a while and then stated, "Okay, then I'm Daddy."

Meeerrrry Christmas!!!!

Have a very Merry Christmas!!

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and the year ahead is full of happy experiences. We are so so so so so grateful for all the wonderful people in our lives, and if you so happen to be reading this, you can know you are one of them. Mahalo for touching our lives for good.

As a reflection of this year, here's a lowdown:

Nate is continuing as editor/founder of Stand up Paddle Surfing Magazine (www.supsurfmag.com) and is loving his work. He is also teaching entrepreneurs and small business owners how to market, generate leads, and sell online (www.nateburgoyne.com). He also has a web design business (www.integrityonlinemarketing.com). It's going well and we are so grateful that we are able to help give business owners a boost during these slower times. Nate loves stand up paddling, has been surfing in some contests, and loves the ocean.

I, (Heidi) am homeschooling Kezia (and Ivy) and am enjoying a much slower pace of life since making that decision. I am running our stand up paddle school (rainbowwatersports.com). I love the people I meet and the opportunity to teach them a sport they're likely to fall in love with. I have been teaching arts and crafts to kids on the furlough Fridays. It has been a blast and our girls have definitely had their artsy side turned on. I am trying to balance work and being a mom and a teacher and a home manager etc. If I'm not at with the kids or teaching lessons, most likely I'm out surfing.

Kezia (6) took a gymnastics class and loves to show guests her cartwheels and other gymnastic feats that make me think she's going to break her neck. She also took surfing lessons and swimming lessons and is continuing with hula. She is a really sweet girl with a very big heart and tons of energy.

Ivy (almost 5) started hula this year, and although she says it's not really her thing, she's quite good at it. Ivy took swimming lessons and yoga this year and loves to play at the playground and at the beach. She is a motormouth and says the funniest things. She is very full of life.

Elysse (almost 2) is talking a lot now. She likes to confuse her parents by saying "no" instead of "yes", "down" instead of "up" and "up" instead of "off". She likes to dance and play with her sisters. She started nursery this year when she was 14 months because I'm the nursery leader and has finally gotten used to sharing mommy's lap with other kids.

We have been very blessed this year with many wonderful people and experiences. We were able to live in a great neighborhood for most of the year, and just moved to Nate's mom's house a few weeks ago, which we are very grateful for. Next year is going to be AWESOME!!

Camping for Thanksgiving

We returned to our favorite camping place for Thanksgiving. Our friends the Garcias, Seeleys, and Nielsons joined us. Kay made a really cool teepee out of poles and tinfoil and hung a turkey from it with a chain. Unfortunately, the coals weren't hot enough, so we ended up cutting it up and roasting it overnight in the coals. I had the best Thanksgiving leftovers ever -- an ash cake sandwich with cranberry sauce, Brie cheese, and fire-roasted turkey. Mmmmm!

We did it! We moved!!!

That was quite a month. Working off of sheer will-power to move our family and Nate's office in just 30 days, we managed to complete three moves in one. We packed up boxes of books and things from Kay's guest room, moved many of our furniture and belongings to storage, and moved the rest into Kay's. Then we rushed to get things all in order so when Kay came up on the weekend, she wouldn't have a house full of boxes.

KA POW!!!

Here we are taking a break from the craziness and breaking out some really cool dance moves on our lanai. Every weekend there was a party going on in the field next door, and it almost always was accompanied by some really good music, live or otherwise. Here's our last private dance party

Here's a shot of Nate after our final move of stuff to storage. We were so relieved...and tired.

A week after moving in, I soaked my anxious nerves in a hot bath and let the stress float away in the bubbles.

Fun with Friends

A fun day with friends. We started with a craft day that I do on Furlough Fridays (the state of Hawaii decided to cut most Fridays out of the school year calendar...hey, if your state's education is at the bottom of the nation's, might as well go all the way!). We made paper snowflakes, an idea ( got from my mom (a completed one is in the window in the background).

Then the girls let loose their creativity on the easel.

Nate brought home a new surfboard which meant a new playbox for the girls. Nothing beats a homemade slide down the front steps!

Christmas is coming...

We are getting ready for Christmas! We went to the Christmas tree farm and got the best one...so nice to do this in t-shirts and shorts. It's so different from the freezing ventures into the Christmas tree farm in Chicago. The memory still makes me cold.

And we went to the Haleiwa Christmas parade!

We enjoy reading Christmas stories near the tree.

Eddie Aikau contest

December 11th was the Eddie Aikau contest. This contest is held only when the waves are 35+ and the conditions are good. The conditions were perfect.... and the waves were huge!! Of course, pictures make the waves look smaller than they were. We biked over there with the girls and got to watch. I had my camera at the ready, but ironically, when there was a really cool move (like the surfers getting barrelled in the shorebreak right in front of us) and when the pro surfers would pass right next to us, my camera card was full. Shucks. Oh well, you'll just have to believe me. ;)

Elysse's funny

I was hurrying to unpack the boxes outside before Kay came home for the weekend. Elysse was with me and kept saying "Drink!" "Drink!" And trying to disguise my inattentiveness, I kept responding, "You want a drink? Okay, we can get one when we are done." But when she kept calling, "Drink! Drink!" I turned to look at what she was doing. She had her mouth puckered around a narrow pole near the driveway with and was lapping up the black water with her tongue. She was getting a drink all by herself!! EEWWWW!!