monkeying around

Uncle Pat & Leslie were on Maui,
fabulous dinner at their Honua Kai room.
Family Photo

Cuddles on the couch,
the girls were both sick last week...again.
We ended up missing two birthday parties,
Kalia handled it well considering they were both good friends.

Sick girl - staying home from school,
loved looking at her little profile.

Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles
Maya is getting so good at those Melissa & Doug puzzles.
Maya can match all the animals and name them,
most of the time she can get them right in -
occasionally she totally freaks out when she can't:)

Kalia has always been great at puzzles and now does these
with ease. We've moved onto the big girl puzzle. But the 3 year puzzles are too easy and the 5 year puzzles are just a bit too hard. Isn't there anything in between?
Tutu brought her a new puzzle to work on- 150 pieces.
To be completely honest, I like those puzzles too.

OK, a lot of photos- but these girls were
playing so cute outside. They were wrestling
and rolling around and having so much fun with each other!

It's really cute seeing their relationship developing,
they can be such good playmates - sometimes...

Painting cut outs of their hands - to be the feathers of our turkeys.
Maya's first time painting!

Kalia glued on all the parts and then holding up her
hand behind to see the finished product.

Maya going nuts o with the glue - wow, lots of
patience on my part...lots

Finished birds
Then they practiced, "gobble, gobble".

Hanging out with Sydney while Mommy & Daddy
surfed s-turns this weekend.

Cole James is here!
And so are Auntie Lo, Uncle Vere, Tutu & Grandpa
Dinner at Duke's

The girls are just a little bit into their cousin Cole.
We are definitely invading his personal space-
He's just too cute, we can't help ourselves!

Kalia gets her Cole fix

The girls loving Grandpa.
Maya loves Grandpa, she always is looking for him
and when he gets out of the car- she cries for him.

So a quick story from tonight that I think is sooooo funny! Dad went and got us Okazuya take out tonight and our meals came with these little shoyu packets (soy sauce). Anyway, Kalia asked me what they were and I told her they are "shoyu" and later she asked if I was going to pour it out on the plate and I said "no". She said, "but you said that you would show me" - I totally laughed- she thought I said "show you", which I did since it's prounced the same as shoyu. Anyway, I was hysterically laughing, I'm still laughing about it.

Kalia has really been a good big sister and taking care of her sister. Kalia has also been spelling some small words. If we give her a word and do the sounds for her, she will spell it out for us. It will be really exciting when she starts reading - since she loves her books.

So Maya is such a little "monkey see, monkey do". If you see Kalia doing something, you can bet that Maya will be following her around doing and saying the same thing. I asked Maya the other day, "Is everything that Kalia does, so cool?" and she smiled and said, "yes".

I am totally amazed that I have been able to (most of the time) reason with Maya- if I explain things. She may not like it, but once she understands things, it seems to calm her down. Baffling (such an Erik word).

Right now the "Hokey Pokey" can cure most of Maya's grumpies in the car.

I know there is more, but after a week of fighting off the cold that the girls had...I think I'm losing the battle...

Happy Thanksgiving - looking forward to family time tomorrow.

november happenings

Our "Thanks" and "Giving" Trees are back...
after spending all year rolled up in Maya's closet -
they are looking in need of a little TLC.
Kalia has been really into it this year!

OK, I could not get this photo in the right direction
and boy did I try.

The first night, Kalia was thankful for her friends:
Scarlett, Devyn & Tiare

So our association was bidding for landscapers - we went
2 months without cutting the grass...the girls loved it!
They could play hide and seek just by lying down.

We were so proud of Kalia's coloring job from school!

We had some rainy weather and it was rainbows everywhere.
This one is from Duke's one morning when I was walking in.

Saturday we went to a quinceanera for Ozzie (who Erik works with at Lei's)
& Bertha's daughter Mariah.
It was a masquarade ball theme and the girls (and us too) had a blast.

Watching everyone,
they later had so much fun running around
on the dance floor. They are getting to
be such little buddies - who like to wander off!

All the little girls with their masks on.
This was a fun party - they had an amazing video.
Two different choreographed dance performances-
Kalia loved it.

Sunday we went to a baby shower for Erik's cousin,
Shannin - this is the only photo I took, since we were chasing
the kids around and in the pool all day. At this point,
I was in a lounge chair with Maya sleeping on my chest.
You can see Shannin's tummy in the background - she had her
baby the next day- Nicholas Patrick.

No, not Halloween - yesterday afternoon.
The princesses cruising the neighborhood.

Last week was a full recovery week from Halloween and then into another busy weekend.


Maya loves to say right now: "What's that noise?" Please don't pass gas in front of her because she will call you out on it by saying very loudly, "What's that noise? _____ (fill in your name) poopie diaper?"

Today she put on her tutu and said, "Look, I'm a ballerina".

Maya is quite the Mommy's girl right now and I'm savoring it - I know it won't last like this. She loves to sit with me and then she looks up at me with a big smile and say, "Hi Mommy". Every morning when she wakes up early we lay on the couch and cuddle. She lays next to me with her head resting on my arm and her legs over one of my legs and we pull the blanket on the couch over us. I usually fall back asleep and she always says, "Wake up Mommy!"

This morning when Erik left for work I had both girls laying on top of me on the couch. I love Tuesdays. Since we now go to pre-school/childcare/work monday, wednesday & fridays, I love lazy tuesday mornings. The weekends have been so busy lately that I like just staying in our pajamas for a while.

Today I even got a little sewing done while Maya napped - Kalia is so good about playing in her room - playing with her princess dolls, coloring or looking at books. They both played so well together today - Maya just checking in with me and going back to play. Last week, Maya could not be without me for a moment.

...to be continued (we are so tired right now - erik made me do that).

halloween 2010

HALLOWEEN 2010
Halloween morning - testing the wagon for the Keiki Parade
In their Halloween t-shirts

Roasting Pumpkin Seeds

Keiki Parade 2010
Cinderella and Dorothy

We all headed down to the parade with Erik's friend Mark
and met up with Scarlett and her parents just as the parade was starting.

Kalia & Scarlett in the wagon

Baby Delaney - Pumpkin in a Patch, so cute!

Maya was not happy at the parade,
it was a little overwhelming.

I like this shot of the girls in action,
enjoying the parade!

Love these shots showing
them just being girls.

Maya would only sit in the wagon with me...
so Wonder Woman got a ride,
yes, I got a few comments about this.
And yes, I did wear this - I revived this
costume which 1st made an appearance in 1996
and then the last time in 2000. It is now
officially retired!

Little Red Riding Celia & Me

School Friends
Ben, Hudson, Kalia & Scarlett

On the big stage waiting to be announced, receive their ribbons
and goodie bags. Yes, Maya is going the wrong way!

Maya's big moment!

The 1st House we Trick or Treated: Our neighbor Nathan
This is the actual moment of Maya's 1st Trick or Treating Experience
She loved it all- by the way.
See how her arm is positioned with her pumpkin,
it was literally in that same position all night
and she would not let anyone touch her pumpkin!

After the parade we came home and had a bite to eat
and then trick or treated our neighbors.
Then Scarlett came over to go trick or treat
up at Kahana Ridge with us - the girls had a lot of fun!

Action shot of Maya - loving it all!

Erik's favorite photo -
Maya enjoying this little haunted garage
that was set up at one of the homes.

The girls posing with Jessa from school.

Checking all the Halloween decoration out.

Maya and her pumpkin - cruising down the street!

Cinderella & Prince Charming

We ended the night at Deveraux & Anderson's Halloween Get Together
The girls are checking out the goodies.

We had a really great Halloween. Kalia had a blast - since she got to do the parade with Scarlett and then got to go Trick or Treating with her (although it was hard to get them motivated after they started playing in Kalia's room). Maya's 1st Trick or Treating experience was great - she really charged the entire night!

OK, that part of the post was from earlier, here's an update from today:
Wow, tough day with Maya - you know, yesterday she was in a great mood and did great at Celena's - but today is a totally different story. She was so tired today and grumpy - she literally followed me or clung to me all day and cried. Totally not typical Maya behavior, I have to admit that we both had many moments. Kalia told me twice today, "It's OK Mommy, calm down, take a deep breath." And you know what, it kinda worked.

Kalia's sense of humor has definitely been developing - she was laughing over a part in a book that we got her for Christmas last year- she finally got the joke! Boy did she laugh and we had to read the part 4 times tonight.