The Very Best Month

But seriously, it is. Not just because it's my birthday month. I love October! 

It's starts with the LDS General Conference... which, thanks to our Apple TV, was watching without a single technical difficulty for the first time ever. 

Elsie drew the lovely little illustration above while watching... 

The kids had a week off of school so we spent a day Lahaina side with some surfing for a few hours and then a trip to Black Rock beach for cliff jumping and pool hopping...

The girls can't go by the Sheraton face photo thing without making me take a photo. 

We had fun afternoon with friends at the pumpkin patch. 

And finished that off with sledding, Maui-style (on cardboard, down grass).

The chickens have finished molting and are back into egg laying mode full time. 

I finished this great book... it is a historical fiction murder mystery written by a guy who graduated from Harvard the year before I got there. It's all set at Harvard and in Cambridge, so I think I especially liked it. I also learned a lot about the old buildings and historical sights in Cambridge as well as about Lowell and Longfellow, who were brilliantly brought to life in the novel. I hope the library doesn't mind that it was returned "well loved". 

We sell a lot of the chicken eggs to pay for their expensive chicken feed, but we still sometimes have enough to make German pancakes, the world's easiest breakfast and the most-loved breakfast of my kids. (AKA Jackson souffle in Jonah's family)

I took the three youngest on a hike all by myself! 

Jonah's sweet Grandma Ruthie died this month, so he left for about a week to go to the funeral in Logan, Utah. Check out the photos and write up by his mom Linda (and here) or sisters Saren, Shawni, Saydi, and Charity.  Grandma had been suffering through severe demetia for a few years, but her health had been excellent. And then, after a blessing and final visit from her five kids, she just peacefully passed. She was surely glad to be with her sweetheart husband who died more than 50 years ago. Grandma was an awesome and elect lady. Jonah was really close with her, especially after living with her and by her during much of college. We lived across the road from her for a few months after we got married too. She was a delight and a supreme example of light, love, intelligence, steadfastness, and selflessness. She accomplished amazing things in life, but more importantly, she became a woman we should all want to be. Love you Grandma Ruthie!

Jonah isn't one for funerals, but I think he had a really nice time with his siblings, parents and extended family. I think it was fun for all the siblings to get together without all of us in-laws crashing the party too. This is the first funeral he's been to on his side of the family since before we were married. (My side has had like nine in the last 15 years.) I think he was really glad that he went. But, he did say it was freezing, so I think he was also glad to come home. 

(Ana loves those sunsets that happen right after swim team practice every day).

After Jonah got back, the kids had a random-teacher-inservice-day-off-of-school, so we took the back road to Lahaina since we had never gone that way. We still have loads to explore back there some day, but we did find a favorite spot... a crystal clear deep tide pool down in the lava rock shore:

It is a scary drive over there, but I think we'll have to do it again soon. Anyone want to come with?

Po loves her blocks lately. They are her favorite toy. 

She also loves spelling her name.. I think because it's so easy. 

Of course, Ana had to get in on the action. Lucky for her I didn't inlcude the photo where she had accidentally held up A-N-X. Oops. She was mad when I wouldn't take the photo and couldn't figure out why I was laughing so hard. 

And its a great month because, of course, its my birthday month!!! 

My awesome friends Amy and Malia took me to brunch (that lasted so long it became lunch too) and I had the most scrumptious baked french toast with fresh raspberries. Mmmmm. We had a good time laughing and laughing. They are such great friends.

I came home to Ana baking up a storm. I couldn't figure out why she was making 50 pieces of naan bread. She also made me brownies from scratch (we have the best recipe... easy and delicious) and cleaned up the house. I also cleaned the house a bit and laid low. 

After taking the kids to swim team, we drove home and I was looking forward to the butter chicken Jonah had promised to make (to go with the naan bread). It smelled so amazing when I walked in the door. mmmmmm.... and then SURPRISE!!! Ana had organized a surprise party with the Anderson and Akinaka families. So fun. 

I probably would have done my hair and makeup had I known we would have visitors. :)

Oh my heck! Look at that face. 

Thanks Ana and Jonah and everyone for the great birthday. I got some amazing spoil-me presents from my mom, dad and in-laws and some great presents from the family. Looking forward to another great year!

September 2013-- Hiiiii YA!

Oh ya. I'm knocking these blog posts right out of the water. I'll caught up before you know it.. and then maybe I'll be a regular blogger again... who knows?

One of the treasures that we brought back from summer vacation is a face painting kit. Ana has been honing her skills in hopes of one day being one of the high-paid face painters at the village street fairs... Above: Po the Kung-Fu Panda.

Elsie quit ballet this year and started hula because, "I live in Hawaii, duh!" (I think she just wanted to try something new). On her way to h ula one Saturday morning, I asked her if I could buy her a favorite treat. It took awhile for her to explain to me what that favorite treat was, but I finally figured out that it was Nilla Wafers. Luckily I bought the right thing. She hasn't forgotten the name since. The weirdest thing is that Nilla Wafers are a favorite of my mom's side of the family... now how did that get passed on genetically?!

Some more Elsie photos. We've been practicing her posing...

We live within walking distance of a fantastic, fun and super cheap thrift store. Ana and I have been racing up there on certain mornings when they put new stuff up to buy things we know we can resell on Craigslist. We have been known to fight over certain items.. with each other. She also tries to charge me an exorbitant amount if she has to handle any of my Craigslist transaction (answering the door... making change...). Sheesh Ana-- didn't you read the web address of this blod?! Anyway, baby items sell very well. Plus, Po likes to play with them before they go to the new owners. 

The kids were actually somewhat excited to get back to swim team practice every day. They were ultra excited to do swim meets again. Elsie even did her first swim meet. She did well in her 25m freestyle (well, her dive looked good. she did get last place, but that's because she takes after me in the speed department). For her relay, she may or may not have jumped into the pool right after the second swimmer jumped in even though she was supposed to go fourth.. and she maybe ran headfirst into the third swimmer who was halfway across the pool.. .and she may have not heard the 20 people on the sideline yelling to her to turn back/watch out/ swim to the side. It was great. I love that girl. It was so fun to watch her swim. I love watching all the kids swim in the meets. It's truly fun.

Our great friends the Andersons let us celebrate many birthdays with them this month (Sydney and Sophie have September birthdays and Ethan is in October). Here we are at the first LDS Chapel in the Hawaiian Islands celebrating Sydney's bday. 

And now, for the big announcement!! (You may have suspected it when I was so sick this summer, but the strep/low blood count/ altitude sickness was actually surprisingly totally unrelated)... we are surprised and delighted to announce that we are expecting a baby due February 15th, 2014. Crazy you say?! You're telling us! But no, really, after a few months into it, we are coming to terms with it and getting excited.

But because it was unexpected, we (Jonah and I) didn't want to tell the kids until we found out if it was a boy or a girl. We felt like if it was another girl, we might need tell the kids differently than if it was a boy (like, we might need to preemptively get poor Cam into surviving-sisters-therapy). We are excited to announce that, according to the ultrasound, it is a boy!

We made plans to tell them at Family Home Evening on the the Monday after the ultrasound. 

We started our with homemade blue mac-n-cheese (it's just food coloring, not mold). 

Then Jonah and I wore blue...

(Jonah gave an FHE lesson on using less toilet paper.) 

And then we served them blueberry brownies. 

Welp. None of them caught on. They just said, "thanks for all the blue stuff." Finally we had to drop more hints about how we wanted to tell them something, and about how Cam would no longer be the only blueberry in the family, etc. FINALLY Ana caught on (I think she's had an idea for awhile) and she whispered in the ears of the other kids. But still, they were confused. Elsie listened to Ana whisper and then yelled, "FIREMAN?!?!!!" Cam kept saying, "I'm so confused! I'm so confused!" then he wouldn't stop giggling. Eventually they all caught on. It was extremely funny and we were all cry-laughing by the end. 

Po has by far been the most excited. She talks about her "new baby brother coming after Christmas" all the time every day. We've nicknamed the little guy, "Harry Pop" after Po's mixup with calling lollipops Harry Pops. (They do get hairy if you licked them and then drop them on the furniture). 

If we haven't had the chance to tell you in person, please forgive us. To be honest, it took us 20 weeks to tell our own kids... we're still grasping the fact that just when we thought we were moving into the kids-and-teenagers stage of life, we are being thrust back into the baby jail. It's hard to explain. We (both Jonah and I) haven't felt like this before, but I think its just the shock when we weren't expecting it. Babies and children are a blessing though, and we are grateful for the blessing and will do our best with the little guy to raise him well. We truly are getting excited and we are especially glad to bring Cam a brother. Here's the video we showed to some of our extended family:

Okay. Well. In other news, Ana finished the mermaid tail she promised Elsie back in January and did one for herself too. It was some tough sewing, but she pulled through and did it all by herself!! They wrap around the monofins they already had, so they are functioning swimming tails! So fun!

And I finally came through on a promise to Po and had her friend Betti come over to play a few different times. Po and Betti are about the cutest and dearest two-year-olds I've seen. I was worried about Po because she's got some rough older siblings and she likes to play rough and rowdy, but she and Betti are as sweet and gentle with each other as they can be. Po is so concerned that Betti gets what she needs and that she's having a good time and she's happy. It's heartmelting. 

Here we are on a walk. We stopped to feed the goat naemd Trough some hibiscus flowers.

It took us about an hour to make it four blocks, but they had a fun time.  The next time Betti came over, we did a much shorter walk. Po has since been to Betti's house too. But unfortunately, she had so much fun that when I came to pick her up, she clenched onto the door frame and screamed, "Don't take me! I don't want to go! I want to stay here! Don't take me!!!" It was a little embarrassing. 

 For an early birthday present, Jonah spent the better part of the month stripping and repairing and repainting my car!!  It looks fabulous!!! Po is not going to be able to crawl on the roof anymore... I don't want any scratches up there. 

Here's Po after she snuck herself a fudgesicle. Oops Po--You forgot to lick up the evidence. 

And I found this cool old galvanized tub to use as bath in our shower. It's perfect for Po. Our old rubbermaid bin was getting a little small. 

And lastly... isn't Elsie's art great?!... yep, even when she draws and traces it backwards

Fun and Fantastic August 2013, or Getting Back into the Swing of Things

Well, I'm glad we came back a day early from Oahu, because otherwise we would have come home only 12 hours before the first day of school Whew. We had one little day to recover and dig the kids' school shirts out of storage. They were a little peeved that I didn't have all their school supplies ready yet, but they survived in the end. 

Both Elsie and Cam have great teachers this year. We feel very blessed. They also have some great friends. Cam especially is a friend magnet. Elsie seems well-liked, but she's so distracted sometimes, I think she simply forgets everyone's name. Anyway, they were excited to get back to school... well, actually, Elsie was afraid that first grade was going to be "super hard", but she's doing fine. She's just afraid of hard work, but we're surviving that too. 

We were glad to go on some of our old favorite hikes with some friends who came to visit from LAs Vegas-- remember Anthony and Melissa and their kids (think Old Ghost Town Nelson in Vegas...)? Well, Anthony and Melissa can for five days on the tail end of their 15 year anniversary they had spent on the Big Island. We loved showing them around and spending some good quality time with them, since usually we can't even sit and talk since there are eight kids between the two families. Anyway, we took them on the Bamboo Hike...

Which tempted Po to disrobe, even though we said we would NOT be swimming this time.

and Cam cannot be kept out of the trees either...

Cute sisters.

August was a great month to just hang around at home and enjoy not needing to be anywhere or do anything (well, besides clean up the yard and garden that had died and overgrown over the summer, get the chickens back from their summer "babysitters" and get them happy and laying again, unpacking all of our stuff we put in storage, cleaning the house, restocking the food, helping the kids adjust to school and homeschool/online school (Ana), do doctors and dentists visits). In our downtime, Po practiced drawing and writing. LOOK! She was so proud of herself when she actually wrote "Po"!!

At open house, Elsie once again wowed us with not only her excellent artistry, but also her ultra-blondness in every self portrait. But, I have to say, she really does stick out here in Hawaii. 

Po was glad to be back in her outdoor bath

and back to "Beachtime!"

Down at Ho'okipa, where there are a dozen turtles sleeping in the sand behind them, we found three little mermaids (thanks for the sand construction, Amy!). 

And then, just like that, the month ended and my baby girl Ana turned 12!!!!

We had a small family party on her actual birthday,

And she got some great presents from her parents, siblings and grandparents...

Including her favorite--collectible Breyer horses and accessories. (No, she's not obsessed. Did I say she was obsessed?!)

And then we had a much anticipated friend birthday party, which started with a mall scavenger hunt and shopping excursion (this was all meticulously planned and executed by Ana... even the cute invitations),

Followed by a burrito and taco salad bar at home. 

Ana has made and solidified some really great freindships here. We were so glad to have such a nice and fun group of girls to help celebrate. Turning twelve is a big deal! Ana is a delight to have as a daughter and a friend. I can't believe she's already twelve, except that I sort of feel like she's been twelve since she was born. :) 

Happy Birthday Ana!!!

NOW! Attention readers. Rigth after Ana's birthday, my sister Sonna came to visit. She took all of my photos and her photos and combined them into a more excellent blog post here. You must read it. It's fabulous, as was her visit. It was a dream to have her here. Miss her and Sloan and her kids so much. I also like her little advice/tidbits on the left side of her blog... especially the one about laundry. 

Happy Halloween 2013

Happy Halloween! 

This year we are traditional scary Halloween creatures:

Ana is the Bride of Frakenstein,

Po is a spider,

Elsie is a witch,

Cam is a plain clothes vampire,

Jonah is a ghost,

and I'm a pregnant skeleton. 

(She wrote it herself!)

Scared yet? You should be.