playing with food

I'm thinking she's ready for Kindergarten.

anna turns 7!

Our Anna Banana turned 7 on April 25th.  

I cannot believe how fast time seems to fly by!  And how fast our kids are growing up!

Since Anna's birthday falls on a weekday, we saved the actual celebration for the weekend, but couldn't not acknowledge her birthday on the actual day, could we?

 This crown, I believe, she received at school...I think?

 And in case you were unaware...she has been BEGGING us to buy her a fishing rod for months.  Possibly years, even.  She finally got her wish on her birthday!

She was SO very thrilled with her new Shakespere fishing rod and tackle box set.

 And then on Saturday, we hit the beach and pool with cousins to celebrate for real.

And by beach, I really mean tide pool.  With it being low tide, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to try and catch some fish and hermit crabs!

 Ezra, Luke and Anna trying to catch some fish.

 Ezra wielding 2 nets on the edge of the reef.

Not sure if it helped or not...

 Among all the weird creatures we've discovered tide pooling, this has got the be the weirdest!

It's a crab with some sea weed growing right onto its shell!!  How crazy is that?!

 Such a beautiful day to be out near the ocean!

 The tide pooling gang...

 And after tide pooling, we cruised over to my sister Airi's house to continue the festivities with some pool time.  Or, hot tub time since it seems ALL the kids crowded into the hot tub while the pool next to it remained empty.  

 Daddy was grill master (as usual) and BBQ'd up some yummy steaks for us!

 Lots and lots of kids on the trampoline while waiting for dinner.  

 Rather than make a big cake, I made cupcakes for the little cousins.

SO much easier to eat, with way less clean-up!

 Anna getting shy about blowing out the candles.  

Little does she know that she will get more help than she probably wants from her cousins in blowing out all 7 candles!

And in typical Anna fashion, she licked the frosting off clean...and then told me she's full.

Ugh, next time, I'll just give her a huge bowl of frosting and stick a candle in it, rather than make 48 cupcakes!

Anyway, happy birthday to our Anna Banana (not her real middle name)!

We love you so much and are so proud of the girl you are!!

fishies and birdies and ladybugs

On my jogging days, I have to get creative with keeping these kids occupied.  40 minutes of just siting in a stroller while I run can get pretty boring for these kids...even with an iPhone to keep them entertained!

So, I'll try and "bribe" them with some fish and bird feeding for after my run.

I'll often pack our bread ends and this is what Jolee and Kaden will throw into the water and at the birds.

Both of which love bread and tend to flock towards us.  

 How's that smile on Kaden, huh?

As you can see, Jolee sometimes gets distracted by her own hunger and ends up eating the bread instead of feeding it to the fish!  Much to the fish and birds dismay, I'm sure.

 On this particular day, we ate lunch at Sam's Club and while we were eating, a cute baby ladybug flew onto our table and I managed to catch it!  It crawled onto my arm and Kaden kept saying "ew" which is his go-to word for any kind of bug.

Jojo, however, loved it and wanted to play with it on her arm.

Unfortunately, the ladybug got smart and flew away before any overeager 4 year-olds could get their little hands on it.

our teeny tiny pool

On days that I don't feel like taking the little ones to the big pool...but don't want them cooped up inside all day, I usually bust out the tiny kiddie pool we bought last summer.  It's so very tiny, and has a slow leak in it and therefore, doesn't stay inflated too long.  But, for a couple of water babies...this is enough.

 It usually starts out like this.

They bring in the bucket and I let them play with the hose.  They splash around and spray each other...

 ...and slowly start bringing in more toys...

 ...and even more toys...

...until there are so many toys, you can't even see the pool underneath it!

At which point, their pool time is over and they're ready to go back inside the house.

The End.

swimming with cousins

With Summer nearing, it's getting hotter and hotter!

Saturdays are the perfect days to hit the water-whether beach or pool!

And since pool happens to be the closest body of water nearby...today was a pool day.

Oh, and our cousins came too, so the more the merrier!

 Kaden doesn't like anything on his face or head.  Which makes this picture all the more miraculous!

He yanked it off mere seconds after I snapped this picture.  But I got it! : )

Since Jolee is still a little afraid of the water, she spent most of the time either on the pool steps or playing with the bucket on the pool deck.

 Since Daddy was able to join us, Kaden spent most of the time in the water with Daddy.  

He doesn't like the boogie board either.  He fussed and got off mere seconds after I snapped this pic as well.

Sheesh, this kid is a lot of work!

But since these monkeys had lots of fun swimming and playing around, it was all well worth it!  

With Summer almost upon us...here's to many more pool and beach days in the near future!

nature walk and boxes

If I allowed my kids to sit inside and play on the iPad or watch TV all day...they probably would.

Or, there's no "probably" about it...they definitely would!

So, on this beautiful Saturday afternoon, I begrudgingly dragged out all 4 kids and made them WALK!

And since our neighborhood is full of hills no matter which way you go, they got a pretty good work-out! 

But not as much as me, since I was the one pushing a double-jogging stroller with 2 kids inside!

 But that's neither here nor there....

I mean, look at this beautiful weather!  Not to mention the beautiful views from up on the ridge!

I'll admit - It was pretty hot outside...and there was more than one grumble from more than one child, but in the end, they all enjoyed the outing, I think.

 Anna, being Anna, entertained herself by picking up some treasures along the way.

She may have grumbled the most...but she also took the most advantage of our surroundings by collecting random items from our "nature walk."

 We walked all the way up the hill...and then got to walk all the way down.  

They seemed to like going down hill more than up hill.  Go figure.

And after our walk...it was back to the iPad for Kaden, and some reading for Kela.

In a box.

Meh, you win some, you lose some, I guess.

shopping + nap time

This is what happens when shopping and nap time converge...

Thankfully, Kaden is still small enough to (barely) fit inside the shopping cart seat lying down so I can shop in peace!  Not sure how much longer I will be able to pull this off, but for now...I shall enjoy it while I can!

lunch time

By the time Kaden and Jolee are ready to get picked up from Tiger Tots, they are usually FAMISHED!

A couple of hours of playing and studying can deplete their little tummies so before I pick them up from preschool, I hit the store for a couple of musubis or onigiri for lunch.  Which they both LOVE.

Plus, Kaden will often fall asleep on the way home so if I don't feed him before hitting the road, he'll end up taking a nap before lunch!  Which any parent will tell you is NOT GOOD!  

A hungry boy = a cranky boy!

Chowing down on their salmon onigiri's before heading home.  

Japanese meals are SO kid-friendly!

 Even Kaden can eat it all by himself!

 Although there is one drawback to nori-wrapped rice balls...(black teeth, anyone?)

 But it's healthy, easy, and cheap...so more often than not, musubis and onigiris are what's for lunch.

Side note:  That is one giant flower on top of that little head, eh?

waikiki aquarium

Considering how much my kids LOVE animals, it seemed a shame I never take my kids to see the aquarium!

The zoo, we visit quite often, but the aquarium always seemed too expensive or too far away...when neither is true!

I decided to buy a family pass so I could take the kids whenever I wanted, and I'm glad I did!

Today was our first trip with just Kaden and Jolee.

The aquarium here is super tiny and we can zip through in about 30-40 minutes, tops!

But the great thing about it is that most of the exhibits are indoors and therefore, air conditioned!

Ahhh...why didn't I think of this before?!  

It's small but fun for the kids regardless of the size.  

Plus, when we're done looking at the exhibits, there's a huge open field for the kids to run around and play, with some benches in the shade for us Mamas to sit and relax and eat a snack.  

Yay!  Hopefully we can take advantage of these passes and come out here more often!  

happy birthday daddy!

Today was Mitch's birthday and lucky for him, he had the day off!

And lucky for me, we are finally the same age once again!

(it's tough being married to a younger guy!)

 Anyway, when asked what he wanted to do on his special day, he told me that all he wanted to do was hit the beach and do some SUP!

And so, SUP he did!

I jogged around Magic Island with the kids (no Tiger Tots today!) while Mitch took out the SUP board and hit the ocean for a little bit of relaxation and exercise.  

Which, I know, sounds awfully like an oxymoron but it isn't! If you've never SUP'd before, it's hard to explain, but it totally IS relaxing and a great workout at the same time!

 On our last lap, we saw Mitch paddling out close to us so we stopped and let the kids try and chase him down.  He didn't see us, but Kaden sure saw and recognized Daddy from a far!  

And then later that night after dinner, I busted out the teeny tiny cake I bought at the Sanrio store to sing "Happy Birthday" to Daddy with.

You can't see, but there's a chocolate Hello Kitty candy on the top that the girls got to share. :)

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

good morning

Guess where Mommy and Daddy sleep?

I'm thinking our King sized bed was the best investment we've ever made...

late night snack

I'm not exactly sure when it all started, but Daddy has developed the habit of eating a bowl of cereal every night before going to bed.

Now, he has instilled the same habit into our son.

Not sure if it's such a good idea to pump the kid with sugar-laden cereal right before bedtime...but rather than wiring him up, it does seem to fill his tummy and help him sleep.

Guess we may keep this habit going for now...especially since most nights, Mitch is eating his bowl of cereal right next to him at the same time. 

preschool, shave ice, and haircuts

Now that school's in full swing and Jolee and Kaden are fully enjoying their Tiger Tots classes...things have settled down into a normal routine.

I drop off Kela and Anna at school, then zip onto the freeway to take Jolee and Kaden to Tiger Tots (on the days they have Tiger Tots, that is).

This was one of those days.

 Here they are getting ready to go to class!

 After less than 3 hours of preschool, Kaden is usually pretty beat!  

He will usually knock out on the drive home.  But since I just had a fantastic run, and Jolee is usually super happy and wired, I sometimes treat us to some shave ice on the drive home.

See that huge shave ice?  That's a keiki (child) size.  Seriously--it's bigger than Jojo's head!

 But between the two of us, we managed to obliterate it with minimal difficulty.

No, this wasn't Kaden's sad face from missing out on shave ice.

This was his face after he got his hair cut later that same day.

If he knew about the shave ice, I'm sure there would be tears as well...

tiger tots!

With Spring Break over, it's back to school for Kela and Anna.

Fortunately for us, it also marks the beginning of Tiger Tots preschool for Jolee and Kaden!!

*clap, clap, clap

 Here they are...waiting for the doors to open and let them in!

Ok, in case you're wondering what Tiger Tots is...it's a short, 7 week preschool program put on by McKinley High School for their early education senior class students.

It's super cheap ($25/child) and only lasts about 7 weeks at 2-3 times a week.

Each class is about 2 hours 45 minutes.

And since they take children from 18 months to 5 years, we got to drop off both Jolee AND Kaden this year!  Yippee!

 I'll admit...I was pretty nervous about Kaden.  Since Jolee went last year and loved it, I wasn't concerned about her...I knew she'd love it and have no problems.  But Kaden was a bit of a wild card-you never know what he's gonna do and how he's gonna react.

But as soon as we dropped him off, he barely gave me a second look, went straight for the toys and the student teachers and started to play.  

I sneaked in a couple of pictures before silently tip-toeing away for our very first child-free afternoon!

 After a fantastically carefree run around Ala Moana beach park, Mitch and I got to sit down and have a nice lunch together!  That was my huge salad and fried rice.  

Honestly, I can't recall the last time I got to sit down for a quiet lunch without a child I had to feed and/or keep from falling out of their seat and/or making a mess on the table and/or spilling their drink on the floor!

Needless to say, we loved it.  :)

And then all to soon, it was time to pick up the kids.  I was pretty nervous and not sure what we would find upon arriving back at the school...but wouldn't you know it, they were totally fine!

I saw Kaden peeking out the window as I walked up and I could tell he was having a blast and didn't miss me at all!  I was so proud of my boy when I saw how well he behaved and how little he fussed. 

 Although I'll admit to having a bit of dust in my eyes when I discovered that he didn't miss me at all?! Not one little iota?!    *sniff, sniff. 

Anyway...here's to 7 more weeks of stroller-less runs and carefree grocery shopping!

(Us mothers are SO easy to please, eh?)