trick-or-treat!

This year, I tried really hard to put a concerted effort into Kela & Anna's Halloween costumes. Usually, I seek out a hand-me-down from Airi or throw something together from their dress-up drawer...but not this year! Kela wanted to be Dora, which was so easy-it almost felt like cheating! All I had to do was sew her a purple backpack to go along with the clothes. Then I decided to stick with the same theme and sew a "Boots" (Dora's side-kick monkey) costume for Anna. Sure, it sort of looked like a telletubbie...but still-I was proud of myself for making the effort and I think it turned out better than I thought it would! I couldn't stop laughing, she looked so cute! :)

OH,and to top it off, cousin Hugo was Diego! As you can see by the pictures, Hugo and Anna were inseparable the entire night. He decided to take Anna under his wing and held her hand around our friend's townhouse community for trick-or-treating. The kids had fun and we didn't have to walk too far, which was LOVELY! Especially since Jolee was super tired & I had to carry her everywhere. I was going to put a flower hoodie on her, but she was so tired that I let her off the hook this year.

All the little cousins together! (except little Jolee who was sleeping).
Sure hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!!

i can breathe again!

Last year, I got called to be the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency...a calling I was happy, but not eager to accept. Why? Because the responsibility of the annual Sacrament Meeting program rests with me, the 1st counselor. So, the past 11 months since receiving this call, I've been dreading it. Loathing it. Dragging my feet, hoping it would go away-or I'd be released before the program time came. It didn't. And even with the birth of Jolee...I didn't. Shucks. Bummer we have a small ward.

Anyhoo-this past month and half (yep, I'm a procrastinator with a capital "P") I've been stressing out over it...feeling inadequate and just plain worried that I'd do a horrible job. Today was the pinnacle of my fears and worries: presentation day.

I said a prayer (or, several prayers) that all the kids would show up, that they would remember their lines, that Jolee wouldn't cry with Mitch in the pew, that Kela wouldn't be too tired and shy to say her lines (her very first time, too!!), that I could remember my lines...the list was too long! But, just as I had hoped (and everyone reassured me), all went super smoothly-too smoothly. We were blessed and the kids did beautifully. Not in any way because of my program (which I thank the Idea Door for!!) but simply because that's just the way it goes-when it comes to the Primary, the children, we are always watched over. I surely can attest to that! We were blessed today.

I would have taken a picture of all 25 of the kiddies...but since our ward ends at 5:30pm, you can imagine after the closing prayer-the kids are dispersed in a flash! I was too late.

So, instead, I'll post a shameless picture of my little Jolee. For no other reason than I just think she's too stinkin' cute. :)

visitors!

So, this is my friend Clara & her husband Chris. They used to live in Houston, but now live in Florida and they both work for NASA! How cool is that?! They passed through Oahu on their 3 week vacation (who takes 3 week vacations, anyway?!?! CRAZY jealous!) in the Islands. It was great seeing them as it had been nearly 4 years since I saw them last-Kela was still a wee baby...apparently, though, Mitch thought it was just last year. His mind is slipping, too...

Anyway, Clara is my friend from high school...and interestingly enough, back in hs, we sort of looked alike. I think. Or, that's what people said. I should dig up a photo of us back then. We both had short straight bobs above our shoulders, wore similar silver rimmed glasses, and were-you know, Asian-looking. Nowadays, I think we look nothing alike. Aside from the obvious difference in skin tone, I look like I've had 3 kids! Well...I have had 3 kids...and look it, too! *sigh*
Regardless, it was fun catching up!
And eating malasadas at Leonard's! Anything to do with fried doughnuts is a good time, if you ask me!

happy 3 months

I can't believe our little Jo-Jo is 3 months old already! Time sure seems to fly by quicker and quicker these days...maybe it's a sign I'm getting older...

I have no idea how much she weighs now since I don't own a scale, but she sure feels heavier these days (Can you see the rolls?! And those cheeks?!). She smiles so much lately and seems to be getting better at focusing. My favorite is when she stares into my eyes while I'm feeding her-and then smiles. It melts my heart.

She's even started to giggle...just a little bit.

Kela and Anna still love to hug, kiss and smother their baby sister. I'd say about 70% of the time, it makes Jolee smile...the other 30% of the time, it makes her cry and I have to rush to rescue her from her over-bearing sisters.

As for the carseat, Jolee still hates it. She's lasting a bit longer these days, especially with Kela sitting next to her & holding her hand...but most all of our road trips end in wails from the back seat.

So, FYI, if you ever catch me in the car & I don't pick up my phone...it's because I merely can't hear it ringing. Or, I just don't want to "freak" out the person on the other end with the sound of a screaming baby. *sigh*

a little off the tip...

**WARNING**

GRUESOME DETAILS, SO IF YOU'RE SQUEAMISH, DON'T READ ON OR LOOK AT PICTURES.

YOU'VE BEEN FOREWARNED!

Last night as I was cutting lettuce for dinner, I carelessly and inadvertently cut off the tip of my finger. Ok, not the whole tip, but a nice chunk of it. It was pretty bad-enough to see the severed tip on my chopping board. And it bled. A LOT! It took over 3 1/2 hours to slow down the bleeding to the point where I could disinfect it and bandage it up. We contemplated going to the ER, but it was nighttime & I was worried about baby crying in the ER waiting room, so we decided to wait it out. Kela prayed for it to heal, and Mitch gave me a blessing that all would be ok...and we went to bed.

This morning, it had gotten better, but since it was still bleeding a bit when I redressed it, we decided to go into the Urgent Care clinic at the hospital-just to be safe.

Anyway, they looked at it, said it really wasn't that bad (relief!) and cleaned me up, put some type of foam dressing on it, wrapped it up, stuck me with a tetanus shot & sent me on my way.

While I was waiting in the room, I decided to snap a few shots of my tip-less finger.

Like I said before, if you're squeamish, don't look! But, if you're like me & love to get creeped out, enjoy! :)

Oh, and the only positive thing to come of this? No washing dishes for at least 2 weeks! Yay!

why i don't have a craft room...

This is basically reason #1 ... or really, the ONLY reason ... why we chose to dedicate our third room for our girls' toys and "stuff."

Embarrassingly enough, this is what the room looks like all the time. A friend dared me to post a picture of this mess, and I refused because...well, look at it! But seriously, all shame aside, so long as the rest of our house is spared from this mess, I'm okay with it. Is that bad?

However, despite the fact that my kids make a heck of a mess...there is one thing that almost makes up for it all.

*

*

*

*

*

Having girls who actually know how to clean a room:

PRICELESS!

*I promise...Mitch helped with the books, and only the books. The girls did all the rest by themselves. And yea, it's not perfect...but would you complain?!

gymbor-wheeee~!

Lame title, I know...

But, the other day, Kela and Anna went to their friend, Adia's birthday party at Gymboree. Honestly, it was their very first time stepping foot into that place. Yes, it's probably really germ-y and practically highway robbery what they charge to use their "room o' bright, plushy toys" but the girls had a blast! I must say, I'm almost tempted to use the free trial coupon their goody-bags came with. Almost...

kela was here.

Surprise!

This is what I found when I opened my drawer to scrapbook the other night. Hmmm...I think I remember the benefits of having all my crafting stuff stowed away and out of reach.

let's get scrappin'!

Since the prospect of moving into a 3 bedroom house came up, all I could dream of was having my very own crafting room with a separate and distinct area for me to spread out and scrap away! Well, when we moved in, I realized that this was most likely not going to happen. Our third room became home to all of the girls' toys...and nothing but toys. Granted, it's wonderful to have a completely separate place for their toys as we were used to sharing EVERY OTHER ROOM with their endless piles of tutu's, dress shoes, stuffed animals, books, etc.

Anyway, long story short (too late, I know) all of my crafting stuff has been piled up in a corner at the back of the house since our move. Just thrown in a pile. Which is why I've been on this dang computer so much lately...unable to do my scrapbooking, I've drowned myself in blogging and facebook. Well, no more! We ( I should say, I) finally got a table to organize my "junk" (as Mitch would probably call it). It's not the dream craft room that I had hoped for, but it's sufficient for my needs. It's now a "craft-cubby". Although the pictures really don't show much significant difference, believe me, it's better than I've ever had.

Next task: Catch up on 5 months of scrapbooking back log!!

BEFORE:

AFTER

**And FYI, my lovely sister-in-law made that "Family Home Evening" sign for us...and since we were living in such a small place before, this was stowed away in the closet. Upon our move, we busted it out, anxious to finally put it together and up on the walls--but we seemed to have misplaced all the hardware to construct and mount it on the wall. Sorry, Collette! Hmmm...I'm sure it'll surface sometime. Somewhere... Eventually...

fill 'er up!

Monday morning, Mitch comes home-very excited-and tells me, "Guess what I saw today? Gas is LESS THAN $4!!" Sure enough, later that afternoon, this is what I saw.

Save Alaska, Hawaii has the highest gas rates in the country! Sure, it doesn't help that I drive a less than eco-friendly, gas guzzling SUV, but seriously! Gas truly is a kicker when it comes to trying to budget! Anyway, this is the first time gas has dipped below $4/gallon since I can't even remember! (ok, apparently since June-according to the newspapers) Woo Hoo! Let's go for a drive!

...and the answer is...

Actually, Kela was the picture on top and Jolee the Bottom pic. Gosh, I guess us being parents, I thought it was a bit more obvious...they sure must look alike!

Of course, as Mitch pointed out, Kela's eyes have changed a bit since she was a wee baby. That, and me covering up the hair ( I think the tell-tale difference) made it difficult to distinguish one from the other. So, don't feel bad for guessing incorrectly!

As my sister kindly put it, at least there won't be much mystery as to what Jolee will look like when she gets bigger!

Here's just a few more random pics from that same day-of me trying to get the closest pose of Jolee to Kela's original "post-bathtime" shot.

an uncanny resemblance

Ever since Jolee was born, all I could think of was how much she looks like Kela when she was a little baby. Even now, people will come up to me and say how much JoJo looks like me and/or Kela. So, I thought I'd post a side-by-side picture...can you tell them apart?

Jolee really does look a lot like Kela, but has slightly bigger eyes and finer hair like Anna...sort of a good mix of the two. But seems to have been blessed with the smoothest skin out of all my girls. Since Kela and Anna both seemed to have inherited my eczema...I'm really hoping little Jolee comes out unscathed and rash-free. So far, so good!

Really, though-can you tell which is which?

cousins

The other night, we had my brother and his family over for dinner. Atau held up both Luke and Jolee...and I couldn't resist taking a picture. They are 2 weeks apart. How cute to have them grow up together!

Oy, and look at those cheeks! Doesn't it make you want to just squeeze them? Those are all Atau's cheeks. I should scrounge up a baby pic of Atau...they look almost too similar, it's scary.