february birthdays, part 1

In our family, February is THE month for birthdays.

9 birthdays, to be exact.

And to kick it all off...here's what we did for Kumen's birthday.

He turned 5!

We headed out-on a Saturday, no less!- to the Zoo.

It was HOT.

But the kids didn't seem to mind.

Weird...we've been going to the Honolulu Zoo forEVER, but this was the first time I realized that there's an Alligator there!


Here's the kids...climbing the tree that they're NOT supposed to.
The "Do Not Climb" sign is posted on the other side of the tree.
ha ha ha...

Then, after the zoo...we headed back to Airi's house for the rest of the party festivities.
Including some piñata time.

Yup, that's Paul up on the roof holding the pole the piñata is attached to.

And then, after piñata breakage...the kids scrambled for some candy.

While Kaden slept through the whole thing.

Can you say, Chunky Baby?!


Here's Anna showing her "loot."

Which she shared with her sister, Jolee.

Who, by the way, shortly after this picture was taken, started choking on the candy.

SO grateful for Mitch's quick thinking, and first aid skills in dislodging the candy just in time with several sharp whacks on the back!

Talk about scary!

Mental note: No more hard candies for Jojo.

Especially while on the trampoline.

The birthday bunch again...
ready to eat some cake!

By far, one of the more annoying toys passed out that day.
But the kids loved 'em.

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Then, on Sunday, it was time to celebrate the OTHER February birthdays.

Well...the first half, that is.

Here's Elika (10th), Marques and Kumen (12th) and Hugo (14th).

Not pictured is Paul who's birthday was on the 2nd.

I mean, really...who needs a birthday party when there's THIS MANY cousins to help celebrate it with!

See you in a couple weeks for the rest of the February birthdays.

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Then...just for fun, here's a couple pictures of my girls pretending to be me.

week 5 update

Kaden is now 5 weeks old.

He weighs 12 lbs. That's a weight gain of almost 4 lbs. in three weeks!

My, he's growing fast!

Here's just a few pictures of what we've been up to lately.

Kaden likes to sleep. A lot.

Especially during the day.

And most especially on people's chests.

Here he is on Daddy's chest.

I had to crop out Daddy's face because the evil glare he was giving me (and warning me: "Don't post it!") while I took this photo would detract from the cute slumbering baby.

Since I cropped "said grumpy face" out of the picture, I figure his warning is unfounded and therefore, null and void.

Also this past week...Mitch's friend Corey, from waaaaaay back in the days (high school days, that is) came for a visit with his lovely wife.

Since they seemed to enjoy Japanese food...we decided to take them to our favorite ramen joint, Tenkaippin.

It's super cramped inside, they only take cash, and probably doesn't have the cleanest kitchen around, but the ramen is SO good!

We also took them to eat yummy mochi ice cream at Bubbies..but since we were too busy chowing down on the ono homemade desserts, I didn't take any pictures there.

What's new, right?

But regardless...with excellent company, the evening was spectacular!

On our way home, Jolee fell asleep holding her very first Kumon book.

Kela and Anna have been studying out of these books for a while, and Jolee was SO excited to get her very own, that she refused to let it go the entire evening. Even in her sleep.

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And below are just a couple pictures I took with my phone.

Hence the grainy quality.

With a bit of help (aka, my leg), he's starting to sit up!!
He's getting so big!

*sniff, sniff*


And just starting to learn to smile...


Awww...now tell me this face doesn't melt your heart!