BOO!! Happy Halloween pictures

Black and red hair was definitely way cool at our house for Halloween.


Here are some super-easy crafts and snacks from my Great Beginnings preschool for Halloween: spiders made of egg carton sections and pipe cleaners and for snack, a ghost of cottage cheese and raisins and a monster mouth made of a pear and pecans. It's so easy it's scary.



Here are some pics from Halloween! I hope yours was spooky.

Scary Moment, Elysse

Pennies, checkers, large foam beads, chunks of food, these are just some of the threatening objects we pull out of Elysse's mouth. It seems as soon as we take one out, she pops another one in.


Last night she had the tell-tale signs of a tasty hidden treasure: a closed mouth and bubbly drool dripping off her chin. As I swept her mouth with my finger to take out whatever was inside, whatever it was actually got pushed back into her throat making her choke. It was so scary. She couldn't breathe and her skin was turning dark. Nate was with me and was pounding her back. What was unsettling was my reaction of panic. I froze in a "What do I do?" state, wondering if I should call 911 just in case the pounding doesn't work, and trying to recall what to do in case breathing stops.

Perhaps that was best, though, so we weren't both trying to take charge. In the meantime, I played the part of a cheerleader, "C'mon, Elysse! C'mon Elysse!"

Thankfully, she threw up, at last dislodging a piece of stiff, rough velcro with dried paint on its backside that had fallen from the wall after I removed wall hangings from the girls' room.

I am so thankful for my little Elysse...again. (and if you are wondering about the "again" part, you can check out my July post titled, "Grateful for Elysse") Not to make light of the situation, but sometimes I wonder if these things happen to Elysse to keep up my gratitude for her despite her constant fussiness.

Sometimes I wish I could just tie her jaw to her chest! Here's a picture when we tried it the other day.....jk

Out with the old, on with the...very old? AND on with the better.

Nate has been trying to sell his motorcycle. He was finally able to do so, the same day we were able to pick up A NEW VAN for the SUP surf school. It is a 1979 Dodge van: old for a car, young for a person.
On the test drive it rained rust and the owner told us how it would rain on him during showers due to the holes in the roof. Nate got to experience that for himself before he patched up all the holes with foam. Now it looks like a foaming witches' brew or something, with foam oozing out the top. Anyway, we are cosmetically fixing it up, and the engine and brakes are great, and the price is great too: $200. Can't go wrong.

And speaking of new and different, WE ARE MOVING!!!! We are excited to be moving back to the North Shore to a familiar, close-knit neighborhood in about 2 weeks. Now, instead of walking through a pub, we can walk a block to a playground on the beach that is a gathering place for young families. Now instead of walking up stairs or taking an elevator we can walk a couple steps to our first floor apartment. Now instead of feeling bad because my kids have no outdoors in which to play, I can send them out to the yard (although, really it's literally a yard squaredbut, hey, it's grass!) and now instead of shouting over the earth-trembling racket of Harleys and trucks and the whir of cars going by, we will be lulled the waves of the ocean .

Ironically, it is the same apartment I had considered buying for our business 3 years ago!! It is a small 2 bedroom, so a definite downsize: we'll all learn to love each other even more ;) So, needless to say, the next few weeks are going to be very, very busy.

EEE--YAO, Kezia!! What a DOO!!

This last Sunday Kezia did her hair for church....ALL of her hair.

Ivy's first hula performance

Ivy has been doing pretty well in hula. She kept saying she couldn't dance, so she didn't want to go to the practices, but once her "shell cracked", she loves hula and follows directions really well. I am very impressed. And of course, with Kezia as well. Here are some pictures from the Harvest Festival, Ivy's first performance. It turned out my cousin Stacy and her husband Craig could be here for it as well.

Good friends

Jessica reading to Kezia and Ivy while Kaden looks on

Friends are so great. We have a good friend named Mike who has been separated from his wife since they were married for just 6 months. He is in the army and she was in the navy. Rarely have I met a couple so much in love. Mike would talk about his wife Jessica and son Kaden constantly and missed them terribly. Finally, she got out of the navy and he went out to Georgia to bring her and their son here. But because of complications, they couldn't all come back and live in army housing. When Nate heard of their plight, he offered to have them live in our studio until they closed on the house they were buying.

They became part of our ohana. These are some of the coolest people I've known, and I am honored to have them as friends. And sad they are gone now. It has been real nice to laugh and talk and chill this month with friends and leave worries behind. We've had a kickin' good time. And they have been so helpful watching our kids while we went on dates and got things started up on our stand up paddle school.

Their son Kaden is 10 months old, only 2 months older than Elysse. The two loved to gabber with each other and follow each other around the house.

Baby Buddies!


I had to put this one on. Watch the reaction Kaden has to Elysse grabbing almost all the Cheerios. It had me laughing tears!



This one ought to have a comment like "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"
My good friend Leslie is getting married in December. She met the man of her dreams, and it is so great to see her so happy. We got to meet her fiance a few weeks ago when he came out to visit.



My cousin Stacy and her husband Craig were here too for their anniversary. It was so fun to be with them and feel that "family" feeling again. We got to go to the temple and seal tons of family members together too so they could live together forever.

Craig after Nate took him for a paddle lesson

Elysse is Getting Heavy

There is an 8-year old boy in our church who has become my buddy. When Elysse was younger, he used to help me carry her in her carrier. I could tell it made him feel like a gentleman. Today he asked to carry her again. As he lifted her carrier, his arm slumped down as he realized she is a lot heavier than she used to be. Here's the conversation that followed:

Daniel: "How much does she weigh? I mean, I'm not saying she's fat or anything. I'm not saying anything like that. It's just that usually I can lift 9 pounds and, well, she seems a lot more than that."

Heidi: "She weighs about 15 pounds."

Daniel: "Oh. Okay," and then pushing his hand out to one side to say he doesn't want any part of drama, "Because I'm not saying she's fat or anything like that."

Nate: "Daniel, how many sisters do you have?"

Daniel: Rolling his eyes and holding up two fingers."I have two!"

A tribute to all the dads out there

Here's a big "Mahalo" to all the good dads out there who do so much for their kids, even when they're exhausted. Who's experienced this before -- whether it be on the horsey or the horsey itself?!

Ivy's concept of FOOD

We were walking down the sidewalk when Ivy gasped and called out loudly, "FOOOOOD!!!" I turned to see what she was pointing at and found a scrawny chicken crossing the sidewalk. Hmmm.... perhaps this mostly vegetarian diet is becoming too much for our girls....

The girls are just finishing up their lunch right now. A yummy lunch of bread, avocado, cheese, and yogurt. We were discussing what in our lunch is grow food, glow food, and go food. They were stumped on what the glow food was, so I gave them a hint that glow foods are the most colorful foods. Ivy answered, "lollipops!!" hmmm, no, not quite.

Speaking of lollipops, look what I found in our fridge the other day:




I went to the fridge to make some lunch and found it covered with Ivy's candy that she got from a pinata party we returned from. I thought this picture was so funny because anyone who knows me knows my fridge would never be filled with candy like this on my own doing!

September

Painting each others' nails. Oh-La-La!


Fun at a cove all to ourselves at Laniakea's

Whoa, Momma! Life is rushing past so quickly it’s difficult to stop and take a rest. Ok, so what has happened since Nate’s gotten back?...

KEZIA

Kezia finished her soccer season. I looooved going to her soccer practices and cheering on the cute 4-5 year olds as they herded down the field together, showing off their dance moves when they made a goal, and crying when someone kicked the ball away from them (“It was my turn with the ball!”) I mostly loved sitting on the lawn of the park with the blue sky up above and not moving. Kezia loved it too. She had a great coach and fun girls on her team. Go, Kezia!

Yo, what up,Kezia! Our soccer champ.

Kezia's goal

Go Rainbows! For more soccer pics and vidoes, click here.

Kezia is loving kindergarten. She is making great friends and has deserted her old ways of shyness and desire to be tucked under mommy’s wing. She tells me after I pick her up, “Mommy, I love school!” Although she has always loved learning on her own, her self-learning bug has grown since she began kindergarten. She received some Spongebob things from school (yeah, from school) and received a duplicate of something we already have for her birthday, so I said if we got rid of the Spongebob and the gift, we could get something different. At the store, she had a choice between a Carebear movie, make up, dress ups, and a kindergarten reading kit. She chose the reading kit. And she has been plowing through the workbooks! Sometimes I have to take them away from her so she’ll get ready for bed!

IVY

Ivy began Joy School and Great Beginnings this month. She is really enjoying both. I am grateful that Joy School grew. This is the parent-coop preschool that I had Kezia in last year. We started with just one girl and I and were able to form a whole group. Great Beginnings, on the other hand, has been slow beginnings. More on that later.

Ivy and Adam washing dishes at Great Beginnings

The Joy School Gang

I was worried how it would be for Ivy with Kezia in school, but she seems to be alright with it. We get to spend time together, just her and I, too, and I have loved that. It is easy to meld both girls together and treat them like a 4 year old, and this has made me realize that Ivy is a lot younger than I treat her most times. She has a wonderful imagination that is on fire. At one moment she’s a dog, then a princess, then she’s a scary lion, then she’s the mom and I’m “the kid”, then we’re walking through tall grass, then we’re going to a birthday party, then we’re being so, so quiet because we are passing the forest where the bears live. I love my Ivy! She is so much fun to be with.

The other day she was saying prayer and she kept interrupting herself. Then she explained she was doing that because “I’m making Jesus laugh!” hee-hee! I’m sure there was a giggle up in heaven!

And, look who finally decided to join the hula halau:

ELYSSE

Elysse is my too-fast growing baby. She made 8 months on Friday! She is standing while holding onto things already, crawling all over the place, putting all sorts of things in her mouth, and testing out her lungs. Her two bottom teeth popped through the gums a couple of weeks ago and the top teeth seem anxious to show themselves soon. She loves her sisters, and at times, they love playing with her too.

NATE

Wahoo! Happy Birthday, Daddy

Nate’s 32^nd birthday was on Friday. His celebration was taken care of by the delivery of four stand up boards, marking the official beginning of our stand up paddle school. After strapping the boards to the roof, we headed to the North Shore for a bit of beach time, then invaded Nate’s parents’ house for a bit of cake and traditional singing. We then spent much of the night covering two of the boards with deck pads to prepare for our first lessons the next day. With the rush of Friday and Saturday, the girls and I were finally able to shower him with gifts today (Sunday). The girls made sweet gifts: a book of colored pages, dinosaur coloring page he can do himself, bits of cut-up construction paper, etc. I somehow managed to reserve a “SUPSRF” license plate for him.

Check out the SUP surf school at www.rainbowwatersports.com and then come out and try it yourself! ;) We would love all kinds of feedback on the site. Please email comments to nateburgoyne@gmail.com. Thank you!!

HEIDI

I am doing great. And really busy. Mostly I am trying to keep my head above water and enjoying the ride in the meantime. Great Beginnings has had a super-slow start. I had an almost full class, but because of changes in parents’ schedules, the class size fell to just Ivy and a sweet boy named Adam. Despite advertising, I haven’t been able to make it grow. It may be for the best, though, because we are probably going to rent out the studio again to make a bit more income. Sad. I put a lot of work into the school, and it really is a good program, but oh well. Ce la vie.

I was grateful to be in the right place at the right time the other day. The girls and I went to a friend's birthday party. I left to get something from the car and noticed a 2 year old boy in the driveway across the street. He crossed the street and came over to me speaking goo-goo talk and saying "Momma". I figured he was lost, and as I tried to close the gate behind me, he started to go back into the street. I saw a car coming down the street. My arms were full with Elysse and things, so I couldn't grab him, and he was in front of a parked car that was higher than him, making it impossible for the moving car to see him. So I started yelling to make him stop and so the car would stop too. Gratefully I made enough commotion to stop the car right before it reached the boy. And we did find his mom, too.

I love this video of the girls at the beach a few weeks ago. It is so inviting -- makes me want to skip in the warm water. Hopefully it is inviting for you, too, and would come visit us!! We love visitors and are excited to see my cousin Stacey and Craig, our friends the Schields, Amy and Dan (hopefully) and Grandma and Grandpa Gunn in the next coming months !