...and a happy new year!

To round up 2010...here's what we did.

A couple days before New Year's, we headed out to Diamond Head to do some tide pooling. Mitch keeps saying how he wanting to take the girls to go catch some hermit crabs and fish, so after checking the tide calendar, we headed out.

Lately, it seems low tide has been pretty late...and far from low at that...so it took a while for us to find the perfect time to go. BUT, miraculously, on Mitch's day off, the tide was low (and the evening light enough) for us to drive out to town for some evening hermit crab-hunting.
It took a while for the girls to gather the courage to stick their hands in the water...

But once they did...

They kept going back for more and more!

Even Jolee enjoyed catching the tiny ones...

*can you even see it?!


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Then on New Year's Eve, (even though Mitch was in Japan for work...) we gathered together at my sister Airi's house for a big family shindig.

Here's just some of the spread. After we started eating....since lately, I can barely remember to even take pictures at all, this is about as good as it's gonna get.

And...nothing like a little "All Dogs Go To Heaven" after dinner, right?

AND...my oldest nephew, Jonas turned 14 on December 31st.

Here's the yummy jello cake that Elika made.

Sheesh, all the cousins don't even fit in the picture!
Though, this time we had our good friends, the Ah Nees with us as well!

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And...you probably can't even tell, but this is New Year's Day.

Since we had celebrated the 1st with the (practically) the same people and at the same location.
And, of course, I didn't get a picture of the food.

Just a few of the kids chowing down on the good BBQ!

With the impending arrival of our #4...my Mom and Dad are both in town!

So, New Year's Day was a happy occasion for almost all of the Sakuma's to get together.

Next year...we need to convince my brother Makoto to visit as well, I think!

And here's all the little cousins sporting their cute pajamas that my Mom made for each and every little one of them!
Can you imagine sewing 18 pajamas?!

(*3 cousins are still in Seattle... )

Next year there will be 21 of 'em!

Sure hope you all had a safe and happy New Year's celebration!

And may 2011 be filled with lots of love and happiness and all that other good stuff!

merry christmas!

Christmas 2010 has come and gone.

And WOW, I can't believe it's almost 2011!

Where DID all the time go?!

The Holidays seemed pretty quiet and laid-back for the Seavey's this year...here's a peek at what we did to celebrate.

The "Hawaiian" Christmas Tree made by Anna

Kela's ever-so-helpful note to Santa.




Christmas morning...before the unwrapping began





Apparently, Jolee thought THIS was the Best. Gift. Ever.


(It's a tin of M&M's if you couldn't tell...)




Oh, and THIS was a very close second.


Have you ever seen or used these Dot-Art Markers?


They're basically like Bingo markers for kids.


We got some several years ago and the kids LOVE them!


They lasted quite a while, too (we're talking years, now!)...so this was to replace the ones we just recently threw away.





But, unlike the old ones, THESE are washable.
Definitely a bonus.




And then, it was time to bust out the Play-Doh.


It all started out quite tame and civilized...






But quickly turned to chaos.
The mess at the end of their play session was insane!



I don't know WHAT Santa was thinking when he got the girls this set...


Oh, and I'm beginning to think that ants like Play-Doh.
At least that's the conclusion I came to upon returning home to a colony of ants under our dining room table. Even AFTER we swept up the mess.
Mopping the kitchen floors at 11PM was NOT how I envisioned myself spending Christmas evening.... but that's what I found myself doing nonetheless.

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And then...after Daddy had to fly out due to work...we headed out to
Aunty Airi's house for some Family festivities.



Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the food or the festivities.



I know...so lame.




But, I DID get a picture of Jolee the ballerina doing her best Nutcracker impersonation in the living room!
ha ha ha....

And, not to mention me my sisters.

In all our "pregnant" glory.

In case you think I look ready to "POP" let me assure you, I AM!

At 37 1/2 weeks, I feel like baby could come at any time!

And...not so secretly, hoping he will sooner rather than later!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And then, speaking of HUGE...upon coming home, found this MONSTROSITY fluttering around in our kitchen.

With a wingspan of over 5 inches...let me assure you, it gave me quite a scare!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Here's hoping your Christmas was just as lovely and happy...and filled with lots of good stuff.

AND...may 2011 bring you even more!

eating rudolph

This past week at Anna and Jolee's preschool class, they got to eat Rudolph!

Well, after frosting him first, of course.

Their teacher, Mrs. Neill, made these cute reindeer shaped cookies.

And then the kids got to take turns mixing chocolate into the frosting (thus making it brown...though a very light brown)...
And then spreading the gooeyness all over their cookies.
With their fingers.

Jolee didn't care too much for the cookie, though.
No...she was quite content with just the frosting.

And...can't forget the red nose!

Ta~da~!

And, even though Mrs. Neill tends to make her cookies with less sugar than is required (sort of tastes more like a biscuit than a sugar cookie),

Anna thought it was pretty yummy...

Where's Jolee's cookie, you ask?

Mitch and I ate most of it.

And this was taken on Sunday after church.

It should have been a picture of all three of our girls wearing matching dresses...but the older two decided to change before I got the chance.

So only Jolee this year.
And...don't judge our tree.

It's our very first *real* tree. (true story!)

And, we decided to let the girls do the decorating...which tends to get redecorated about 10 times a day.

sunday cookies

One of the perks of Mitch flying to the mainland is that he gets to go shopping! And by shopping...of course, I mean to Trader Joe's.

Oh, how I wish we had one here...

So today, on a quiet Sunday afternoon, we decided to bust this out.

How great is this?

An all-in-one cookie kit!

And just so you know...Mitch made the dough.

He's the baker in the family. But...I rolled.

While the girls cut out the shapes.

And then Mitch transferred them onto the cookie sheet.
What team effort, huh?


Okay, so we let the girls roll the dough, too.
But just a little bit.

(Picture me trying to ignore the mess that's accumulating on the floor...)

And then after cooling, it was time to decorate.

Did I mention this awesome kit came with not only the dough mix, but the cookie cutters as well as the icing and sprinkles?

Oh, how I LOVE Trader Joe's.

And Jolee woke up from her nap just in time for the decorating.
Yes...we let her decorate. With the sprinkles.

(Here's where I tried really hard to ignore the mess on the floor...and failed miserably.)

Ta~Da~!

The finished cookies!!

And since eating cookies is SO much more fun with cousins, we shared them with the boys.

Wish we could have shared them with you, too!

They were super yummy!

a very blue (and aeronautical) shower

This past week, our Primary board had a meeting scheduled.

As a counselor in the primary program, I was feeling a tad guilty for not helping out with the planning as much as usual...only to find out that I wasn't even invited to the board meeting!

No...they had the board meeting without me, so when I arrived, I discovered this:

A baby shower for our #4!

Since this is far from our first child, I was completely caught off-guard and totally surprised by the gesture!

I so love our Primary presidency!

They are the best!
And I felt so much love~!

And LOOK!

Not only was everything BLUE...it was totally Aeronautical themed!

Ha!
How cute is this cake, by the way?!

Cara, your cake was so much fun...and delicious to boot!

Mitch ate most of it when I brought it home!

Anna, however, ate the frosting, and said, "I don't want the bread part."

He He He...go figure!

Some airplane mobiles...



And "baggage claim"...

Seriously...how cute was all this?!


AND...

They even managed to invite my (equally pregnant) sisters along, too!
Yes...just like 4 years ago, all three of us are expecting at the same time!!
Though...I'm the hugest of them all, I might add...


*sigh*

And though I loathe to post such an unflattering picture of myself...I suppose this may very well be the LAST pic of my preggo tummy before I deliver so I'll go ahead and swallow my pride for your snickering pleasure.

Yes, that's me in all my 35-week glory.

With dear Kori and her grandma, Lagrimas Lee.

christmas partaaaay

It's a bit early, I know...but our ward Christmas party always seems to land on the first weekend of December.

This year...I was quite lazy and took VERY few pictures.

Sorry in advance.

Kela and Jolee with their cousin, Riho.

This was shortly after I forced Jolee to get close to Santa.

NOT on his lap, now...just close to.

(picture to follow...)

Anna and her dessert.

She ate her dinner, I promise.

But like I said...I didn't think to take pictures of hardly anything...including the dinner.

Or the Christmas play that Kela sang in.

I know.

Epic FAIL as a parent, right?
*sigh......

BUT...I did manage to get a picture of Jolee screaming bloody murder while I held her next to Santa!!
Little did I realize that she was so intent on running away, that her goodie bag was totally covering her face!
Though you can probably tell from her body language what her face most likely looked like.
She was NOT a happy camper.
I'm a terrible Mommy for laughing, huh?

Unlike my nephew Luke who looked happy as can be on Santa's lap!

I seriously gotta get on my brother to figure out his secret...

But here's Jolee happy again minutes after escaping Santa's "lair"


And blowing bubbles with her sister, Anna.

Look.

I didn't even manage a family picture of the night!

I promise, I'll try and do better next year.