Family Beach Evening

Some pics and videos from an evening with little girl-friendly waves. Good family fun!

Kezia lost her tooth!!!

The wiggly tooth finally gave way today at school. Can you see how excited she is?!



Nate and I collapsed that night....luckily the tooth fairy woke up past midnight to put something underneath the pillow. :)

Kezia's funny

Today I called the girls in for breakfast.  So far, I only had eggs on the table.  When Kezia saw the wimpy breakfast pickings, she said, "Mom, why are we only having eggs?"  I said, "Kezia, is that a polite thing to say?"  So she said, "Mom, will you please tell me why we are only having eggs?"

Elysse

Here are some shots of baby Elysse I thought you might enjoy.  She's now 15 months, and I know I keep saying this, but she is so much more enjoyable now that she can communicate without crying or screaming constantly, and can understand more and explore more.  

I am now the nursery leader in our church, and that means I get to spend that time with Elysse too, even though she's only 15 months old.  She has taken to it really well.  Actually, she loves it...unless she sees me leave her sight or comfort another child.  Did you know that babies can give one  cold stink eye?

One day last week the girls were collecting bugs outside our front door.  Kezia came in and forgot to close the door.  When I saw the door open, I thought, "Where's Elysse?!?"  Elysse runs out an open front door faster than a pesky house fly runs away from a fly swatter.  I ran outside and found her in the street!  And as I ran to get her, she ran further into the street!  I was glad I ran out when I did.   

Ivy is kind enough to give Elysse a ride on the back of her bike.  Elysse goes WILD when she gets to do this!  It's like her ticket to "Big Girlhood".  She's all squeals and smiles.

Whenever she can get her hands on it, Elysse can be found with Kezia's lunchbag around her neck.  Who needs clothes when you have strategically placed accessories?!?

Below are just some pics I took of Elysse this evening.  I was able to catch her doing one of her favorite activities on video:  playing with the magnets on the fridge.  That was right before her other favorite activity:  clearing the shelf of all its contents.

Happy 9 year anniversary!

Nate and I have been married for 9 years!!! And every year has been great.  I guess that's what happens when you marry your best friend.  

We had a GREAT time yesterday!  We took out our tandem stand up paddle board and went paddling together.  We had only done it once before in the calm river and bay where we do our lessons, and that was challenging enough.  This time we took it out to the open ocean water.  It was a bumpy, challenging ride, but we stayed dry! 

We did things that brought us back to the newlywed days-- we fixed up our skateboards and went skating (in the dark) and watched Indiana Jones, something we used to do often, while eating pizza, cherries, and ice cream.  It was a blast.  

We had such a good time.  Elysse stayed at Grandma's for the night and the girls were at a sleepover.  So we got to wake up on Sunday and just lounge in bed for (almost) as long as we wanted.  The only thing we didn't do was take a picture...

Goodbye, friends!

We have 3 good friends moving soon, and one that already left.  So sad, especially when two of them live across the street.  All but one of them is military, and it always seems a lot sadder on my end than theirs since they're used to the moves.  But we will miss them.  Here are some pictures from saying goodbye - and some great shots of Ivy I got in the meantime.

Summer lived across the street, and it was a constant battle in our house who liked her more.

Adam was Ivy's Great Beginnings classmate and a big sweetheart.  I don't know who is going to miss him more, me or Ivy!  And of course, Nate and I will miss their parents.

Kezia the book worm

As we left church last week, we saw a sign near the door. It was an invitation to an open house and read "Meet the Mormons". Kezia misunderstood what she read and quizzically asked, "Meet the Monsters?!?" (Like, who would want to go to that?)

But speaking of reading, she is just blowing through books right now. I am so amazed how quickly her reading ability is advancing. Her teacher says she is reading at a 2nd grade level, and she loves reading...unless you ask her to.

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the moms out there, you ROCK! Go get yourself some Ghiradelli's chocolate...

I had a great mother's day. Every year my husband makes it so nice--insisting on doing all the cleaning and cooking, buying me a lei and making sure the girls wish me a happy mother's day. He is so great. I even scored a foot massage this year!

The story of our lives right now...picture style

I have loved this excursion preschool that I have been doing with Ivy! (Kezia joined us on this one) On this one we went to my friend's farm. To see more pics, you can go to www.gbpreschool.blogspot.com.Kezia began indoor soccer and loving it. Here she is sporting her children's triathlon t-shirt sponsored by none other than Candyland, Blow Pops, and Tootsie Pops...Go figure. We're sending this picture in to Vitamin Water to see if she could get sponsored.
Here's Ivy with one of her good friends and neighbor Summer. We are so sad they are moving this week! This is at the end of another excursion preschool where the children made candles. But what is more fun than a tub full of rubber duckies?

Nate has been working a lot of hours with our businesses. He recently started marketing his services as an internet marketer and his ability to design websites and bring traffic to them. It's been going well so far. One afternoon he actually pulled out his dust-gathering guitar as he relaxed on the couch. It was such a rare moment I had to catch in on the camera.

I had to post this one. Elysse is a MUCH more enjoyable baby! Now that she is walking, signing, understanding, she is not screaming or crying like she used to. (Check out her walking video if you want to hear the scream) Now her favorite thing to do is run up to you and hug your leg. And call "MOM!" all day. I love my baby!
During spring break, Kay and I took the girls on a hike up Kaena point. Kezia lost her toy dog and a woman actually followed us back down to return it to us!
Nate does research and design for a board company. They sent out this tandem paddle board to try out. So far so good. Nate and I tried it together, both of us paddling. It was a trick, but we stayed dry!
We had a canning party in March to stock up our food storage!

Nate and I are considering leading a kid's cooking class this summer. Does anyone have any kid friendly healthy recipes they'd recommend? Or books with such recipes?

Little girl G-string?!?

Yesterday I helped out with Kezia's kindergarten class. Kezia had an accident so I took her to the nurse's office to borrow clothes. Kezia was changing in the bathroom when she called out that the underwear didn't fit right. I went in to help and it was a G-string!!!! I should have known something was up when I saw the SpongeBob character in the front. Can you believe that?!? So there went Kezia back to kindergarten wearing a G-string.

There was a sign on the wall in the bathroom with a quote by Charlie Chaplin that said, "A day without laughter is a day wasted." That day was not wasted.

(To save the nurse's rap, I don't think she was aware that the underwear in the package were G-strings...but what is the company thinking?!??)