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!
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.
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. ;)
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!!
Here are some cute shots of the girls taken a week or two ago. My friend Breanne Garcia is studying photography and had generously offered to take some family photos for us. This was way back in July!!! And now I am finally getting around to posting them on our site. So if you are very observant, you may notice a time lapse in the pictures!
Then lately I decided to try something out, just for kicks. I had had modeling recommended to me for my girls several times, but was never really into it. I was really afraid of the vanity issue. But one opportunity fell into my lap and we went for the casting. That's when I started asking people with experience in modeling about it, and it got me more interested. What I learned is that it's a great way to help save up for college and it's enjoyable for the kids and a confidence booster. So then I was excited that Kezia got call backs the beginning of this month, the same day we were told we had to move. I guess I was overwhelmed by everything, and in the end missed the call back. Bummer. But it got me motivated to do something about it, so I sent some pics to some agencies. They were interested but wanted more shots, so I asked Breanne to take some more. Still haven't heard anything, and if anyone has any experience with the modeling world, and have some advice, please let me know!
A long awaited trip, we finally made it to the dinosaur exhibit at the Bishop Museum this last week. The dinosaurs were robotic and would move and roar. It proved too scary for Kezia. Funny thing was, Elysse was pointing to the dinosaurs and saying, "Baby!" Looks like she's a fearless one.
Carving the pumpkins...they lasted maybe a day before turning black with mold.
Halloween was a blast. The girls had their outfits set...until their friend brought over new dress ups Friday morning...then suddenly their plans changed.
We hit 2 trunk or treats on Friday night, then had a spooky dinner with Kay and friends on Saturday night, then a bit of traditional (yeah!) trick or treating. We threw together a quick outfit for Elysse who was Encarnacion to match her side kick Nacho Libre. They looked so funny!
Can you spot the spooky foods in the dinner? (ghost rolls, witch fingers, jack-o-lantern fruit cups, green rice, swamp juice, pumpkin soup in jack-o-lantern, chicken with the bones still in it (that can be scary, right?) oh, and what's that in the pot? That's our friends' "vomit" dish -- watery chili with hot dogs. Scary and gross.)
Ivy informed me that her friend told her about a certain Candy Witch that comes to your house after Halloween and gives you a gift in return for your candy. We had never heard of her before, but we thought we'd give it a try, and guess what?!? She came! She even brought 1/2 off Halloween paraphernalia! However, Elysse found Kezia's secret stash of candy just after waking up in the morning. A disappointed Ivy caught her 1/2 way through her findings.
"When she's naked, I like Elysse better than you, Mom."
And here's one from a few weeks ago. Kezia was talking to Ivy and getting frustrated that Ivy wasn't responding. Ivy was goofing off bending over with her bum in the air. In a "talk to the hand" fashion, Ivy said, "Kezia, talk to the bum bum."
Yup, we're moving. Again. In the middle of the holidays. Again. Apparently our landlord is not able to stay in his home so he needs to move into our place. So we get the boot!
We are going to move into Nate's parents' home in Haleiwa. Kay lives on the boat during the week so we won't be too much in the way...hopefully. Still, I have loads of concerns about it and the daunting task of packing up the house makes me want to just sit here at the computer and post about it instead of pack.
But we are so grateful that this will be easier than our last move. Hey, we haven't even found the time this year to put up all our pictures! And we have plenty of things in storage or in boxes still, too! Plus the last move took 5 months to complete and was bubbling over with stress. So anything would be easier than that!
But we will miss this home. We've LOVED it here!! A playground and beach within walking distance, a backyard, view of the ocean, friendly neighbors, families everywhere, block parties, bike trail, etc.
We have 2 1/2 weeks. Wish us luck. And please add us to your prayers and thoughts. We could use it. Thanks.
