Skaters Take Over

The invite. Made by Cam. 

Whelp. Cam's birthday was back in January... but since we had guests every weekend from his birthday until the end of April, we asked if he could wait. And he did. He waited and waited and waited. FINALLY, in May, we had his birthday party. It was an easy one: skating at the skate park, pizza at Costco, and donuts to cap it off at Krispy Kreme. Boys are awesome!

Cam was nice and let Ana come with a friend. (Look at Ana's face and remember the blog post from yesterday...)

Cam's friend Ethan is a darn good skater. Cam aspires...

Elsie was able to make up for not going to the party by making a trip up the road to the Catholic church's annual festival. She and  Sophie don't even have to wear matching outfits to look like twins!

Happy birthday (again and late!) Cam!!

Club the Baby Seals for Jonah's Birthday

Jonah had a fun birthday back in April. Ana had made a paper mache baby Hawaiian Monk Seal for her school project, which then met an awesome demise as a pinata for Jonah's party. We filled it with with chocolates like Twix and KitKat since those are the only candies he will eat. 

Carry a big stick! The seal did finally break open and it was extra exciting trying to find the candy since it was night time and the only available light was my camera flash. 

Jonah then wore the seal torso for the rest of the night. 

Chocolate cake with strawberries! Happy birthday handsome husband!

(By the way, we love seals. We would never club a real baby seal)

Nine Years of Cambo and Luvy Comes to Town

Ana is getting a little shortchanged in the blog of late since her birthday is way back in August, so I just want to give a shout out and say that she is an incredible daughter and is getting to be a good surfer too! 

One of the things she does that helps me so much is she folds the laundry... and not only that... she folds it into the neatest piles you have ever seen. Hooray!

Another thing I really appreciate is how she takes care of Po with total patience, kindness and adoration. She always offers to help Po whenever she needs it and even lets Po sleep in her bed and helps her say her prayers at night. She is an angel. 

Cam got to be on the "Morning Broadcast" one morning because he had done an exceptional job on teaching kids in his class how to clarify words, so he was asked to present his method to the school. I peaked into Elsie's kindergarten class to watch him. He did a great job... but he didn't get Elsie's incredibly loud voice, so it was just a little bit hard to hear him, but he looked very knowledgeable. 

Right before Cam turned nine, my mom came to the island!! Then to top it off, our old friend Mark came to visit too! it was a little packed having them both here at the same time, but Jonah and I gave our room to my mom and the guest room to Mark, and we enjoyed our super comfortable hideabed in the living room. 

We dragged Mark and my mom to the school events... 

And enjoyed Luvy's help in reading to Po (she can't be satiated...)

But every time my mom comes to visit, I feel bad that we aren't more adventurous. It's just so relaxing having her here. She gets my house in tip top shape, instantly turns all the kids happy, and just gathers us all like a hen under her wings. So sorry Mom. I hope you had a fun time. We just love to hang out and gaze at your beauty and marvel at your efficiency. But man oh man do we love having her here. 

Cam's birthday was a little less exciting than in year's past, but I think he had a good time with a chocolate sheet cake with a Lego guy on top. He also got some nice presents. He chose to have a birthday party this year, but we haven't had a free weekend since he turned nine, so we have yet to have his party yet... but when we do, it'll be epic! (BTW, just so you know how bad I am, I make my kids plan their own parties. Cam just couldn't decide what he wanted to do in addition to every weekend being booked, so I've just waited until he took the initiative, which he finally has, and he's planning one for the week after next). 

I used to have a photo here of my mom eating a Dorito! She made me take it down and replace it with this one. But that's okay. She has a reputation to maintain. 

We were so sad when Luvy and Mark (or Chocolate Mark as my kids named him) had to leave. We did spend a monumental amount of time at the beach and we went on some great walks and Jonah and Mark did some crazy stuff... but, alas, no photos. 

But here is a photo of Elsie's homemade kite!

And here is a photo of Elsie with a monarch butterfly that she caught in the garden. 

(She released it later, don't worry.)

Poem’s First Birthday

Our little Poem is ONE YEAR OLD! We had a delicious day of fun for her, which included letting her take a nice long morning nap without any other kids making noise (they went snorkeling with dad and aunt Charity). WE MISSED HER (THIS IS JONAH IN CAPS) Then we loaded up and met a few families for a simple birthday party at the park.

The theme was POem’s POlka Dot Birthday party.

We were all supposed to wear Polka Dots, but it didn’t end up that way. I HAVE A POLKA DOT HEAD. Elsie decided the night before that she was going to be a polka dot cat.

The whiskers and tape were her own invention, and they stayed on all night! AJA WOULD'NT LET HER PAINT HER FACE SO SHE CUT THESE WHISKERS OUT OF SOME CHRISTMAS RIBBON AND THEY STAYED ON TIL THE NEXT EVENING WHEN SHE PULLED THEM OFF.

 THE BOYS DID SOME SKATING AND SAT ON THE ROOF WHEN THEY WEREN'T SKATING.  CAM IS A SKATER.  AGE DOESN'T MATTER WITH THIS GROUP.  THEY ARE THICK AS THIEVES INSTANTLY.

 HERE ARE THE INVITES AJA MADE.  SHE IS A MASTER CUTTER AND SHE IS NOT AFRAID TO SAY SO.

Here are the kids that we could coerce into standing still for the photo. We have some great new friends here on Maui, and all of their kids love little Po. She just about gets her cheeks kissed off every time we get together with any of these families. Luckily she adores the attention.

She also gets lots of love from Auntie Charity! We are so glad Charity could be here to celebrate Po’s birthday and her own half birthday.

Po was very good about just looking at the goodies and not touching. We had polka dot sugar cookies, cake pops, and a round chocolate cake that was delicious (thanks Charity for all your baking skills and help!!!).

Poem’s walking skills have really progressed—she’s nearly to the point where she exclusively walks (which makes me so happy because now she can wear dresses more often). I WILL LOVE IT AS WELL BECAUSE IT IS EASIER TO PUT HER ON THE TOILET.

Ana kindly wore the polka dot hat I made, since Po would have nothing to do with it.

I love this photo because Po looks so confused about everyone singing to her while there is a fire on the cake. She’s thinking, “What in the world?!”

Po was generously showered with gifts.

Then all the kids ran off to play in the mist that rolled in…

and Po stripped down so she could enjoy her favorite pastime—climbing stairs.

 IF THERE ARE STAIRS ANYWHERE NEARBY EVEN IF WE ARE AT THE OCEAN, SHE WILL CHOOSE THE STAIRS.

Charity relished in being out in the warm Hawaiian air, since it had been pouring rain for the last two days.

Ana and her friends made a huge CTR Heart with flowers they gathered.

After the party, we went home and and let Po blow out a candle one more time. Then she opened some presents and then, finally, she got a piece of cake! She had never had much sugar or any chocolate before and she looked at us and said, “Why have you been holding out on me!?”… but after she only slept for about 5 hours that night, we all knew why we had refrained.

We sure love our baby!! I can’t believe she’s a year old!

And to really celebrate, Jonah took me to the nicest Mama’s Fish House dinner that night since we had Charity in town to babysit. Mmmmmmmm. It was simply perfect. We haven’t been able to go on many dates this year, so it was truly a good long breath of fresh air. Mama’s makes some of the best food on the planet. PO WAS SCREAMING AT HOME WITH THE AFTER EFFECTS OF SUGAR SO IT WAS CUT A BIT SHORT.

Okay! More tomorrow!  Happy December and Merry Christmas!!!