a walk around the neighborhood

Kaden has been getting quite restless lately.  It must be because he's a boy and just has too much energy in him.  Plus, he's been fighting his naps lately.  So, in order to get him out of the house and burn some energy (read: tire him out!), we've started taking him for short walks around the neighborhood.  

 He actually enjoys getting out and exploring, so it's been quite nice for both of us!

 He also finds fascinating things like sticks and manhole covers...

 And nasty piles of leaves that the maintenance guys gather, but forget to pick up.

Once he starts poking and prodding said nasty leaf pile is usually about the time I end our neighborhood walks.  You just never know WHAT he'll find inside that pile of leaves, sticks and countless creepy-crawly things.

clever use of a sticker

I promise...she did this all on her own!

hugo's baptism

My nephew Hugo turned 8 this month and got Baptized!!

 Double-photo-bomb by Luke and Justus!  

And no baptism is complete without a group shot of ALL the many cousins! 

And no, this isn't even ALL of them...just most of the little ones. :)

Happy Baptism Day, Hugo!!

anna's bird house

For months, Anna has been asking to build a bird house.  And terrible mother that I am, I've quite successfully ignored this request.  Well, turns out Anna has more gumption that I thought because out of the blue, she presented me with a bird house of her own creation.  Made from an old milk carton.  Needless to say, I was equally impressed by her skills as I was ashamed of my callous disregard of her quest.

And so, to atone for my behavior, I strung some ribbon into the birdhouse and hung it from our lanai.  Anna decided to put some bread scraps inside and then we waited.  And waited.  And waited.

Alas, no birds.  

Anna was, obviously, disappointed.

And then, I had an idea.  I decided to go out and buy some bird seeds and see if that would make a difference.  But still...no birds.  

Needless to say, Anna was getting really, REALLY sad.

And then I had another idea.  

I decided to move the birdhouse away from our lanai (and subsequently, from rambunctious little children) and hung the birdhouse on our fence in the back yard.

The result?  

BIRDS!!!  And super cute little birds, to boot!

Anna was ecstatic!  And so was I.

Can you believe Anna designed this birdhouse all by herself?  Apparently, she utilized Daddy to cut out the windows, but the design was all her.  As was the chopsticks for the birds to rest on!  So clever!!

Good Job, Anna!!

aloha run + zoo day

President's Day means there's NO school.

I spent the morning of Presidents day doing this:

Yes, I ran the Aloha Run, and got my best time ever!

And then afterwards, gathered the kids and met up with some cousins and hit the zoo.

 It doesn't seem to matter to these kids that they've seen all the animals 50+ times, they still love coming here!  Well, technically, it could have something to do with the fact that we usually come with their cousins...

 Here's Kaden with Lani Moo.

Er...I mean, a replica of Lani Moo.

 And here they are with the "real" Lani Moo (3rd or 4th generation, I'm sure...)

Oh, did I mention it was just Elika and I?  With 11 kids?

And since I was coming off running 8 miles that morning, needless to say, I was beat afterwards!

first beach day of the year

Well, the weather seems to have finally warmed up enough to hit the beach once again!!

Here we are...at our favorite beach: Magic Island.

 As always, with our cousins, the Daley's.

Kaden...loves to splash anyone who comes within a 3-foot radius of his person.

Kashus getting quite adept at balancing on the boogie board!

 Apparently McDonald's was out at the beach making a sand sculpture to advertise their new "fish nuggets!"

Cool sand sculpture...but no thanks to McD's fish nuggets for us.

 Here's the kids...and Mitch discreetly trying to avoid the camera.  

 A hot day for February! : )

 Kaden trying out the boogie board.  He's so-so on it.

I think her prefers just splashing in the water and playing in the sand.

Me and baby Nixon...who happened to be enjoying his very first beach day ever!!

Here's looking towards many, many more beach days to come!!

happy birthday to us!

There are some advantages to having birthdays so close to my sisters....we can go out for one birthday lunch date and cover ALL three of us!

Or, wait...maybe that isn't quite a benefit.  It'd actually be nicer to spread out our lunch dates over THREE separate days, huh?

Either way, it was a nice and relaxing afternoon with my sisters to celebrate getting one year older! 

Happy Birthday to us!

gymboreeeee!

Tuesdays and Thursdays are Jolee's Gymboree days.

I get to drop her off for an hour (two hours on Thursdays!) for some art and play time.

We brought Anna here when she was 4 years old so she could get some exposure to art and play time with kids her age.  Since she didn't attend an actual preschool, this was our compromise.

The same goes for Jolee.  And she LOVES it!

She loves her teachers, and they seem to love her too!

What's great is that I also get to bring Kaden for some open play time after her class.

Kaden LOVES Gymboree as well.  Everything is padded, there's things to climb on, slide down, and run around in!  Plus, there's balls EVERYWHERE!  

And every now and again, when I find myself babysitting Luke, I get to bring him along too.

I think Jolee and Kaden will miss their twice-weekly Gymboree playtime when Jojo starts kindergarten this summer!!  

our smell-tester

For some odd reason, Kaden as an obsession with smelling things.

Usually, if we give him something new to eat or drink, he likes to smell it first before taking a bite or drink.

This is probably not too unusual, since I think many adults would probably do the same if given something new to try.

However, Kaden not only likes to smell food...he also likes to smell--everything!

Whenever I take him to the store, if I hand him something to hold or put in the cart, this is what he will do first:

 Is this normal, I wonder?

Should I be concerned?

Because...he literally smells EVERYTHING!