Thanksgiving on Pupu Street

During the day the 5 of us (including Jack) were lying on the floor talking to Abby about being thankful and sharing what we were all thankful for.  I went through my list, and Matt his, and then we asked Abby.  She blurted out, "Auntie Jenn!".  Gotta love kids!  As we continued to prompt her for other menial things like parents, grandparents, Zack etc.  she got the hang of it and right in the middle of our very profound conversation Zack (octopus arms) reached over and spilled my coffee....never a dull moment!  I swear it should have been out of reach but he manages to get things that I think should be impossible.  We are in trouble now that he is crawling...nothing is safe! 


We got to skype with both families in California and Pennsylvania and lounge around the house before heading to Ewa Beach for our feast.  Tanya and Jerrod hosted Thanksgiving this year and threw a great celebration.   The first thanksgiving that I spent in Hawaii and that Matt and I spent together was at the original Pupu Street house with Monica and Brian hosting 8 years ago! 

We have a lot more kids and a lot less beer these days but still lots of fun and we certainly have tons to be thankful for.  It was great sharing the special day with our Hawaiian Ohana.

on our way in with all of our stuff

attempt at a family picture

Abby & Gavin

Milestones Galore

We had lots of firsts this thanksgiving weekend. 

The biggest is that Zack started crawling.  I began to think it was never going to happen because he was getting so frustrated and would just roll everywhere instead of even trying to crawl and all of a sudden he started getting up and all fours and alternates between getting on all fours and army crawling.  Yay Zack!
He is also starting to wave bye bye and play some version of  pat a cake..it is so cute!

He also loves standing and is cruising little distances.

Abby spontaneously counted to ten and is getting up to G consistently in her alphabet.  She is talking a lot more and is trying out some new catch phrases to see which get her the most attention.  Some of her favorites are:
*OOOOHHHH!  said very sweetly and with lots of enthusiasm when something is interesting ( or she just wants attention).
  another variation includes ooohhhh! thanks dad/mom
* Me: Abby...
   Abby:  What mom? (excuse me are you 2 or 12!)
* When I tell her something she has learned to ask not just why, buy why not
* She has been singing Happy birthday to Abby

As my dear friend Claudia pointed out to me, in spite of the "terrible" minutes here and there,  two is such a fun age.  We are loving getting to know their little personalities and see both of the kids grow minute by minute!

Momi Photo Shoot

We are so fortunate to know the mommy, creator and designer  behind all the beautiful clothes at Momi Boutique.  Last week she shipped her fabulous matching dresses for all of us and the little girls to take pictures.

We had a blast and got a tad carried away..here are some of my favorite from the day.

Thanks Rachel!!!  We LOVE the dresses.  They were so comfortable and looked great!

The moms and the daughters...of course Abby is playing in the sand but her dress held up despite her efforts to ruin it!

Frolicking in the sand

The beautiful pregnant mama in Momi, Lisa

Adorable 3 week old Mia and Jenn looking awesome

Monica and the little girls

The girls

Fits all shapes and sizes:)

Lots of love for baby Joseph

Yay for Momi Boutique

Just being silly

too much fun

Lovely Monica and Brooke

Love my silly little pumpkin:)

Adventures in Potty Training

I was going to write 2 days ago about how well Abby has been doing potty training but I got busy and in the meantime the adventures got a tad bit more entertaining.   She has been doing great while we hang around the house all day either naked or in her underwear and is good about telling us when she has to go.  When we are out and about she has had a few poop accidents here and there and they have all be in her pull ups so it has not been a big deal...until now.

We went to Ko'Olina tonight to take our Christmas pictures with the Buelows, which was an adventure of its own.  After an exhausting but hopefully worthwhile hour of picture taking we walked down to Kolohe's for dinner.  We had dinner, caught a glimpse of the sunset  in between feeding the 4 kids,  eating our own dinner and Steph and I trying to figure out how to write a draft of our dissertations by the end of the year.  Halfway through dinner Abby called out, "poo poo please".  I jumped up and rushed her to the bathroom.  SUCCESS!!  We were so excited the whole table cheered when we got back.  Dinner continued. Five minutes later she had to go again.  Matt took her this time and she apparently hadn't finished on round 1 and it wasn't quite as successful.  Matt assumed she was done after two trips and tossed the soiled pull up and brought her back to the table as we were finishing dinner.  Abby and Gavin were playing in the grass and Abby came up to Matt and told him she had to go AGAIN!?  Unfortunatley, she had no pull up and she was wearing a dress and she didn't hold it.  Yup, she dropped a log right on the ground next to the table.  I don't know what else there is to say about it except that she will never be without a pull up again!  It is one of those (many) moments where you have to laugh because really what else can you do?

Since Mark and Matt compete with everything including their kids and their embarrassing moments I think Mark has the upper hand with this one and I don't think that we will live it down...EVER!  I am sure they are still home chuckling about it now.

Random Pictures

I was just looking through pictures and I found some fun ones that I wanted to share.  So here are some somewhat recent pics of the kids and some family fun.

We ventured out of Waianae for our family date night and ate at Jut Tacos and Ko'Olina and so we had to stop for ice cream too:).

Zack's first ice cream.  He loved it and so did Abby.  Love Matt's face here.  I don't know why it is impossible to feed a baby with out opening your mouth too.

MMM..Yummy

 

 

 Zack and Jack...good buddies already

 

 A few weeks ago we took the kids tot eh Kapolei fair.  It was more fun than I expected and Abby got to go on a good amount of rides.  We even went on the Ferris wheel with the whole family.

Abby's first roller coaster.  You can't even see her head since she wasn't even tall enough to see over the bar but she LOVED it! 

Daddy and Abby on the carousel.  She sat on her own horse..I have to admit I was a little nervous on this one.

Round and round we go!  Just hoping we don't make the 5 o'clock news for getting stuck up here.

 It had been a while sice we had gotten out hiking so we packed up the kids and hiked Manoa Falls (one of the first hikes I ever did in Hawai'i).  It is a beautiful hike and a great way to get out and start the day!

 

The boys -rooting for the home team.  Go Warriors!

The Last Few Months in Videos

One of the many reasons why we love our iphones is that we have the ability to take videos anywhere...so we have tons!  I finally got around to doing something with them all.  Here are some of my favorites from the last couple of months.

Growing Up

Friday night we were out at Red Barron, our usual Friday date night, and one of the cooks walked by and said,  "we were just talking about you guys and how we have seen you grow up here".  It took me a minute and then I did the math and realized that we have been coming into this place almost every Friday night since we moved out to Maili, which has been almost 5 years! 

We moved out here at the end of 2005 and got engaged shortly after.  As we explored the wonderful town of Waianae we found this little dive pizza place where were could get two cups (not glasses) of wine and split a small pizza for around $13 including tip.  We became "regulars".

Five years ago we would bring in cards and play gin rummy and I would even occasionally win.  We would gossip about Ilima (our old school) drama and whatever else was going on- there was not much catching up about our days since we had already driven into work together, had lunch with each other and driven home together.  Then we would go home to our little apartment, overlooking the beautiful ocean and hang out on the patio watching the sunset over Maili beach.

Now, we load up the car, make sure we have enough food for the kids and diapers etc., and bring an extra bumbo since they only have one high chair.  We are usually the only ones there at 5 o'clock except an maybe one other older couple (This has actually not changed..we have always eaten with the senior citizens!) .There is no time for cards as we feed the kids, catch up on our days (since we work at different schools now) and keep up with whatever mishap occurs.  Last week, Zack who has some serious octopus arms, knocked over Matt's glass of wine.  They keep us on our toes for sure and of course, we wouldn't have it any other way BUT I will always be grateful for the adventures that we did have when it was just the two of us.  Now, we can enjoy all that comes our way as we "grow up".

Terrible Twos are Here!

Our dear Abby is turning two within 3 short weeks!  She is doing great with potty training and has only had a few accidents in a week.  She is such a big girl and very proud of herself.  So, that is the good news.  The other news is she is turning two, otherwise known as the terrible twos...UGH!  She gave me a sneak preview last night and it could be interesting for sure!

Beware this in not one of my finer moments but it might be entertaining!
Last night Matt had a softball game and I had my monthly class from 4-7 so we met up at his game to swap kids.  Against my better judgment I decided to take the kids to watch Matt's game and stay up past their usual 6:30-7 bedtime instead of taking them straight home.  We were about 15 minutes into the game and Abby was getting whiny and so I figred it was time to go.  We had a pretty decent walk and I was carrying Zack so we were playing "chase" games to keep her motivated to get back to the car.  She decided half way to the car that she had her own plans of where she wanted to go.  I ended up picking her up which meant I was juggling a kid on each arm- which isn't bad except thatt Abby was crying and trying to get down so I was that "mom" getting pitty looks as I did my walk of shame to the car. 

As we got to the car, I put Abby down head first (don't worry I made sure she put her arms down) since that is the way she was facing and I still had Zack in my arms.  She continued her tantrum on the ground and I put Z in his carseat- meanwhile he has done nothing but smile this whole time and just make goo goo faces at me to keep me sane.  As I was finishing buckling in Zack, Abby got up and walked around the car and headed into the open parking lot- I rushed to grab her and picked her up- of course against her wishes- reminding her it was NOT OK to be in the street.  At this point she was beyond upset so I just hugged her until she calmed down.  This would have been a good move except that Abby had worked herself up so badly that as I was holding her she threw up all over both of us, repeatedly.  With nothing else to do but continue to hold onto my poor little munchkin we just stood there for a few minutes.  After Abby was clam I undressed her and took of my sweater, attempted to douse the ground with water, and get in the car and headed home reeking of puke. 

So that, I think, is my introduction to a new stage of parenting the ups and downs of a two year old.  Here we go!

Potty Princess

We have been reading the "Potty Princess" and trying on new Dora undies as we are prepping Abby to begin potty training.  We had intended to officially being potty training today since we have 5 days (our daycare is off tomorrow) to get her used to it.   She has been initiating it herself and we have had 5 or 6 success including one poop..yeah! - The things that excite you as a parent:).  She was off to a great start but Matt had to go out and make copies of fliers for the house and he took Abby so I could clean with out her "helping".  In order to preserve sanity we took a break and put her diaper back on...so we will try again tomorrow hopefully.  Believe it or not, I am still not that excited to have Abby potty trained.  I think diapers are way easier but it has got to happen sooner or later so here we go...

On  a related note, I changed 3 poopy diapers and one wet one before 6:30 AM.  I hadn't even had my coffee yet c'mon kids!  By the end of today the kids racked up 9 poopy diapers and a few just wet ones.  The two seriously poop all day long.  Not too surprising for Abby since she also eats all day long too!  Luckily they are cute as can be and worth it all.

 My big girl!

 Abby's first poop in the potty!  She will hate me later for this but it had to be done.

If nothing else, we have a clean house

On Wednesday our house officially went on the market!  We have always known that we would not be here forever but not sure of much else.  We are in no hurry to leave the island just yet but in the not so distant future we plan to be in San Diego.  When some of our neighbors got a pretty good price for their houses that are similar to ours, we thought that now was as good of time as any to try and sell it so that we would have options.
 
We weren't too sure what to expect but we got a call hours after it was listed and a family local to the area came to check it out today.  We weren't quite prepared to have someone come look already but luckily we had the day off to clean and that is exactly what we did.  We took a lot of pictures down, patched holes, painted trim and and scrubbed a lot.  I had been wanting to do a really deep cleaning for a while so it was a great motivator.  So if nothing else, we have a clean house!

Just a few pictures...more than anything so I have record of them later in life as we look back at our first home!

A Night to Remember

Jenn's husband Matt just recently left for Iraq and is expected to be there until next Christmas.
 As Jenn was expecting the arrival of her 2nd daughter sometime this month everyone has been on high alert and Jenn has been ready to have her here.  Thursday we got the call that she was having more contractions and heading in so my Matt (not to be confused with Jenn's hubby) picked up our kids from daycare and I rushed down to be with Jenn.  Steph and Lisa were already there and luckily Jenn had the biggest labor and delivery room I have ever seen since Monica showed up a few hours after I did and then Jenn's doula was there also.  In total, there were 4 anxious friends, a doula and lots of doctors and nurses to help out. 

 Jenn talking to Matt while she is in Labor

 The Girls and baby Dylan catching a picture in between contractions

Jenn was a champ and handled delivery like it was nothing.  Matt, Jenn's husband, got to call in and listen to the delivery and we sent him videos right after.  Baby Mia Ann weighing in at 7 pounds 2 ounces and 19.5 inches long (both of which her daddy guessed exactly!).  Check out that full head of hair.

It was so amazing and emotional to be in there with Jenn as she delivered her beautiful baby girl, Mia Ann, into this world.  It just reminds me more and more that my friends have truly become our family our here and it is awesome to be surrounded by such amazing people.

Monica, Lisa ( due in 3 weeks!), Jenn and Mia, Me, Steph and Dylan (7 weeks)

Three years ago Lisa, Steph and I were driving home from graduate classes as UH sans Jenn who was in labor and we got the call that Makaela had arrived.  We stopped by when she was less that an hour old to meet her. 

Now, Steph has an almost  3 year old and a 7 week old, I have an almost 2 year old and a 7 month old, Jenn has a 3 year old and newborn and Lisa is due in less than 3 weeks...my how things have changed!