noooo!

I was about to do my Holiday Pictures post when I realized...

In the midst of tinkering around with our new computer, brilliant me accidentally erased many of our pre-Holiday pictures! To say that I was/am sad would be an understatement. I literally cried. As in, cried like a little baby, cried. Really. *sob*

I don't know what I was thinking! I even managed to delete all of the pictures from our recent Seattle trip...although thanks to facebook, I managed to salvage most of the memorable photos I uploaded there (albeit, the quality leaves much to be desired...oh well, beggars can't be chosers, eh?)

So, of the fun pre-Holiday photos missing from my album (*sniff*) there were the the pictures taken at the mall when the girls rode the Christmas Train with their cousins Hugo & Marques...(although I seemed to have saved the one picture without the train in it! - see below).

And there were the many pictures I took of the girls making their gingerbread house. Argh! It makes me so sad to have lost them ALL!! Anyway, here's the finished house...which I took just now-at least we still had the thing sitting on our table (which doesn't say much for our home decor-or "cluttered-ness"...but oh well. At least I have a record of what it looked like.)
Which brings us to Christmas Morning. (Which, thankfully, I was too busy to upload them onto the computer...so they were safely stored in my camera). This year, we had a very simple and small Christmas morning...the girls had fun opening their gifts and sadly, I took very little pictures.

Lounging around on Christmas Morning...

Jolee checking Anna's present out...

Kela and Anna....enjoying two of their presents. (A new video & their uber-cute chairs that go along with the adorable wooden table we, I mean, Santa got them)

Hope your Christmas was spectacular, and you all have a very safe and happy New Years!

all fun & games...until the power goes out!

Last night, I was home alone with the girls and it started storming. Rain, wind, thunder & lightning. When the lightning started, I got out our lanterns and candles...just in case. I actually love stormy weather, so we were all having fun! Until the power went out, that is! I was sure glad I had prepared the lanterns while the lights were still on!

So, we spent the rest of the evening in the dark.

Mitch was actually stuck at Honolulu Airport until close to midnight-3 hours after his scheduled clock-out time. With even the airports out of power, it was pretty much on lock-down! Very few flights were able to take off and land-so, I'm grateful that Mitch was stuck here in Honolulu, and not Hilo where he was supposed to fly!

Crazy, Crazy, night...the power eventually came back on at around 3 am for us. So, after an evening of playing games and drawing in the dark, we all slept in the living room-camp out style. :)

AND, I know, I know-I haven't posted any Holiday pictures...I'll get them up soon.

shortest game ever played

Today as I was driving to church with the girls (strapped into their carseats, mind you!) I hear Kela and Anna thinking of games to play. Here's what I heard from the middle row of our SUV (I have 3 carseats strapped into the middle row of our car-Kela and Anna are right next to eachother)

Kela: "What game do you want to play?"
Anna: "Hide-n-go seek!" (this is their favorite game)
Kela: "Okay!" (covers her eyes) "1, 2, 3, 4, 5....20" (opens eyes) "found you!"

5 months!

I just can't believe our little Jo-Jo is 5 months old already! She's getting so big, so fast...I can hardly remember her as a little newborn anymore! Nowadays, she smiles and laughs all the time, reaches for things with her hands & puts nearly everything in her mouth...including her little thumb (see pic). I'm a little anxious about her becoming a thumb-sucking addict like her sister, but for the time being, it soothes her need to gnaw on something so I'm ok.

I have no idea her measurements or weight since I don't own a scale, but she's getting HUGE! Moved up a new diaper size, has outgrown many of her newborn cloths & is seriously in need of a crib! The bassinet is just not working for her anymore!

Next month, solid foods! Can't wait!

Here's just a couple pictures of little Jolee with her cousin, Luke. They were born 2 weeks apart! Cousins are the best!

city lights!

We headed out to the annual Honolulu City Lights festival this past weekend. Last year when we went, it was a day after Christmas & it was slightly drizzling rain so it wasn't too crowded...this year, however was a totally different story. It was a Saturday, for one, and number two-the final weekend before Christmas. It was packed! Needless to say, we didn't stay too long...just enough to walk around once, look at the fun decorations, and try (really hard) to get in the "Christmas Spirit." We went with my brother Atau and his family. The girls always enjoy spending time with their cousins, so it was a fun family outing!
And what made the evening spectacular? Jolee spent practically the entire evening in her carseat!! She even fell asleep for a little while! Only woke up about 5 minutes before we were about to leave!
*sniff* my baby's come such a long way!!
(click here or here for what I'm talking about)

a winter wonderland!

We made it!

With the Holiday travel season fast approaching, we weren't sure if we were going to make it out! (we fly "stand-by" - which is stressful, but well worth it considering it's FREE! Can't beat that!) Anyway, we flew out to Seattle for a very short, but adventure-packed 5 days.

Here's the jest of our fun-filled trip!

Our girls are "seasoned travellers." We know to keep them occupied with the DVD's and food...but they all (including Jolee) took naps and hardly fussed at all there & back! We were so proud-and happy. As were the neighboring passengers, too, I'm sure!

This trip we actually also flew up with my sister, Elika and her two kids. It's funny how strangely, more kids equals less work on our part! The girls behaved fabulously together!!

However, when we arrived at Sea-Tac Airport, it was so cold I almost jumped right back on the plane to go home to Hawaii!!

My brother Makoto has three girls (just like me!) And with Elika's little Aya in the mix, that makes for some SERIOUS estrogen overload!! Poor Mitch had no where to escape to!

The girls had an UBER-fun time playing house, dressing up, sliding down my parents' stairs, watching barbie princess videos, and of course, running around screaming and driving us adults INSANE!!

And, each time I go home we have to swing by my closest friend, Carrie's house. Kela and Anna love chasing around and feeding their chickens! They even got to collect some eggs the hens had laid! Well, ok-so technically, Carrie put a clean egg from her kitchen into the chicken coop for the girls to go pluck...but they didn't know any better & even braved the cold weather to chase the hens around. Me, on the other hand, ran right back indoors as soon as I got the chance!

Did I mention it was FREEZING!?!?! While we were relaxin' at my friend, Carrie's house...

It started SNOWING!!! FOR REAL!!!

Thanks to Carrie for the warm jackets and hats...we were all a bit unprepared for the weather.
What'dya expect from a couple of "Pacific Islanders" right?

So, after a few short hours, the snow was sticking & even deep enough to throw some snowballs and make a tiny snowman!

The only other time Kela has experienced snow was when she was only 5 months old, so technically this was both Kela and Anna's very first time playing in the snow!
Wouldn't 'cha know it, they practically lost track of time throwing snowballs and catching snowflakes with their tongue! They must have played outside in the freezing cold for over an hour while I only lasted about 15 minutes. They probably would have stayed outside for even longer had it not been for Mitch coaxing them back indoors!

Their first time in freezing weather and they didn't even complain!

AND, Lucky us, Santa allowed "RUDOLPH" out of the North Pole long enough for us to sit and chat with him! I think it may have been my very first time seeing an actual reindeer!! Too bad Anna fell asleep and missed all the action...although come to think of it, it was so cold out she may have been lucky to be bundled up asleep for this outdoor excursion.

And lastly, me and a couple of my "buds," Carrie & Rachel. We let the kids run around and play at an indoor playground while us ladies chatted away in the warm room. Sometimes, the best activities are indoor activities! I learned that on this trip-for sure!!


I wish we could have stayed a bit longer...although with the freezing cold, snow and ice, it may have been good timing to head home when we did. I hear Seattle just got pounded with some more snow just yesterday! I realized that as nice as it was to "feel the Christmas Spirit" with the cold winter weather...I am now and have always been, and forever will be, a "Summer" kinda gal. I love and miss Seattle often, but I'm happy to call Hawaii my home. :)

caring for baby 101

My friend posted this on her blog....and it was just too funny not to share.

(click on the image to enlarge so you can read)

Hmmm...I think I may have been doing some things wrong! I guess we shouldn't get that fish tank after all...