my life as a mommy and a wife

Christmas is coming!!!!

2011-12-02T18:31:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it is December already and Christmas will be here quicker than we know it.

The day after Thanksgiving we set up the Christmas Tree. The kids helped Greg fluff it while I was cooking dinner. After that I took an hour trying to figure out the lights. You can't just plug each plug in they have to be plugged in the right one to work. It was a pain in the butt. Once we got it all figured out we started decorating. The kids helped put ornaments on. Kaidyn got bored of it quick, but Tailyn had a blast.

Fluffing the tree, the kids really didn't do much, but they thought they were helping

Decorating

I love her little fingers

trying to get Tailyn to put up the angel, she was scared

Our yearly ornament exchange from my bg buddies. We started doing this all of our kids second Christmas and hopefully we'll do it for years and years to come. We now include our other kids if we would like and since I don't have a group that does this with Tailyn I include her.

Tuesday we went to our favorite Gardens for pictures in our Christmas outfits for Christmas cards. Hopefully this year they are sent out on time and not after Christmas lol.

Tailyn just doesn't cooperate for pictures anymore. You have to catch her on the go to get anything good. This is why I got ONE good one of her and NO good ones of them together. Kaidyn is really good, poses for me, kind of smiles, he still has his goofy forced smile sometimes and continues to take pictures till I tell him he is done.

this is the best I got of them together. Not great

This is my ok picture I got of her.

SO the diapers we use while out have two inserts so they'll last a little longer and her pants don't go all the way up over them LOL.

Kaidyn and his friend Cassie

This year I decided to do an advent calender and continue it as a new tradition for us. I wanted to sew a cool one, but finding holiday themed material here isn't exactly easy, finding it for a descent price is even harder. So I decided to keep it easy and have the kids help me. I decided a chain for this year with some cute Christmas paper I have. I don't want to do any sort of gifts for them so I planned an activity for each night of December. Our list of activities are-

Dec 1- Make eggnog milkshakes and watch a Christmas movie
Dec 2- Write letters to Santa
Dec 3- Paint Christmas wood cutouts
Dec 4- Make paper snowflakes and decorate the house with them
Dec 5- Hot coco with Christmas marshmallows and a candy cane. Watch a Christmas movie
Dec 6- Decorate Christmas cards
Dec 7-Color Christmas theme pictures
Dec 8- Take the kids Christmas shopping for each other
Dec 9- Watch all three Santa Claus movies and have popcorn and other snacks
Dec 10- Make Christmas sugar cookies
Dec 11- Bring cookies and goodies to friends
Dec 12- Read the Polar Express and make jingle bell necklaces
Dec 13- Watch the Polar Express and snack on cookies
Dec 14- Make snow globes
Dec 15- Take cookies and goodies to the Fire Department
Dec 16- Visit Santa at the mall and ride the train
Dec 17- Go see the lights and displays at the City Hall
Dec 18- Make a Christmas wreath
Dec 19- Walk around to see Christmas lights
Dec 20- Read the Forgotten Carols and place ornaments on a small tree
Dec 21- Watch the Forgotten Carols
Dec 22- Make a ginger bread house
Dec 23- Pizza and a Christmas movie
Dec 24- Make Santa cookies and unwrap one gift before bed

Along with this we have our 24 Days of Christmas stories to read each night too. If you want to check it out go here.

Tailyn got to help me make the chain and Kaidyn did not because he didn't get his room cleaned like he was supposed to. He went to sleep instead.

I started with glue and then just stapled, much easier

once we were done she tried to tear it apart. Last night I went to bed before her and I woke up to find it all torn apart. KIDS

5 years!!!

2011-12-01T21:20:00.001-07:00

November 25 was our 5th year wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been 5 years, it hasn't seemed that long. We've never really been able to celebrate and do anything together. We usually go out to eat as a family and last year I got a sitter another day while we went to dinner. I wanted to do something just the two of us for a change. Date nights are far and few between and we hardly get out just the two of us to do anything. I wanted a whole day to spend together, but with most of my friends husbands soon deploying I didn't want to take away on their family days so we were able to get my friend to watch them the next day while her husband was on duty.

Our original plans were to kayak to the Mokulua Islands and explore a bit. I woke up got everything ready and then realized it wasn't getting sunny and decided to check the weather. Chance of rain with high surf and wind. Not exactly the best conditions for inexperienced kayakers. So I was off to figure out something else. We decided on going to Sharks Cove in North Shore and snorkel. The weather was supposed to be better over there. We got ready and headed out. It rained on the way and I was worried it wouldn't stop. We got there and walked down to the water. It was extremely windy and cloudy, but we went snorkeling.

The water was pretty murky and extremely choppy, but we were able to swim around and find fish to follow. We saw quite a few, got cut up on some rocks and spent a few hours in the water before deciding it was to stinkin cold and got out.

After that we went home, showered and Greg cooked dinner for us. We at diner watched some TV and then decided we should go get the kids.

We had a good time and it was so nice to spend time together.

We took a small camera and put it in a case we bought. The pictures turned out pretty good descent.

The one on the left was really pretty. I wish I got a better picture of him

and I'd add a wedding picture, but we recently reformatted the computer and I don't have any on it right now.

baby heaven

2011-12-01T19:19:00.001-07:00

If you know my daughter she is a total baby freak. She loves babies and is the biggest little mommy to her dolls. Just the other night I put her to bed, sometimes she sleeps with her favorite baby sometimes she doesn't. We'll I change her diaper and she tells me "baby poop (poop is used for all thing potty/diaper related with her)", I asked her if baby needed a diaper too and she said yes. So I go find a diaper for baby and put it on baby. I cover Tailyn up and she tells me "baby blanket (blanket doesn't sound anything like blanket, but I knew what she wanted)", again I ask her if baby need a blanket and she tells me yes. So I go get babies blanket and cover her up. Then I give Tailyn her cup and she tells me "baby juice", ask her if baby needs her juice and she tells me yes. Go get babies bottle and give it to Tailyn. I left Tailyn with her holding babies bottle to her mouth.

Anyway that is just one of many examples of how much she loves her babies. Real or not she loves them all.

Kaidyn is real fond of them too, human babies that is. He is really cute with them, loves to hold them and just stare and watch them.

I was babysitting two of my friends kids. A 3 month old, 2 month old and another one 6 days older than Tailyn. When Tailyn woke up and realized they all were here she was so excited. I took some pictures to capture her being the big help she tried to be that day.

hey your face is dirty, let me clean it

having lunch together

just because this is cute, she cuddles up with blankets

I swear she isn't choking her

oh you're hungry? Here you go let me feed you.

He thought it was hilarious, it cracked me up.

He just likes to sit and watch them

It was a fun day watching them all. I thought it would be totally crazy, but it wasn't at all. Only had one incident where they were both hungry at the same time. The hardest part was probably keeping Tailyn from picking them up and dragging them around like she does with her baby dolls.

grandpa's visit

2011-12-01T17:48:00.001-07:00

My dad came to town. His wife has been here for a couple months taking care of her sick parents. She grew up here. So my dad came for the week of Thanksgiving. We were able to get together a few times with them. The kids had fun and I'm glad to say we had a very nice visit, much better than I anticipated. I haven't been with my dad much in the past 8 or so years. I've seen him a few times, but never spent a substantial amount of time with him. So I was nervous, but thankfully there was no need. The kids each have met him 3 times so it was nice for them to spend some time with him. Maybe one day the'll have a better relationship with him then we ever did? I just hope they can continue to see him and have a nice time with him, no matter what type of relationship comes out of it.

He came in the Sunday before Thanksgiving. They stopped by our house after flying in and spent some time playing with the kids. My dad wanted to take them for ice cream so we went out for some ice cream.

this was after we ate ice cream, the kids took some pictures with him

The next day we were able to get together was Tuesday. We went to the Aquarium together. We'd never been, I'm not sure why. It's very small, but both kids are still free and it's only $6 for adults with the military discount. So it's a pretty cheap thing to do for us. The kids enjoyed it and had fun. Kaidyn was pretty cute naming different fish. Some he knew, but most he just gave a name by the way they looked. At one point he pointed out the "school fish" a ton of little fish and the "teacher" a bigger fish mixed in with them. Some one likes Nemo? Tailyn loved the seal "bella" to her and was playing peak-a-boo with it. She wasn't to fond of the fish, but eventually warmed up and wasn't so scared.

I was trying to get her to stand next to the sign, but she started pouting

checking out the coral

Learning about what is in the tank

huge clam

these jellyfish were really cool looking

I like jellyfish, they are so neat looking

this is with my dad's wives daughter.

cool unicorn fish

she was afraid of these, but they were almost the size of her

cool crabs

another one of my favorite sea animal

watching the seal

pretty clams

After the aquarium we went out to eat. Then stopped by Costco on the way home where they bought the kids tons of Christmas gifts. Then home, where they let Kaidyn play with his late birthday gift they brought him.

The next day we got together again. This time we went out to his wives parents house. They live a block away from the entrance of BYU Hawaii. We spent some time at their house and then walked down to the beach. It was cloudy, windy and rained on us for a bit, but we had fun and found some fun things. First we found a blue bubble jellyfish, then a fishing float, then a huge rope that probably came from a fishing boat with tons of clams and crabs in it and tons of pretty big sand crabs.

blue bubble jellyfish, we saw a couple that day. This is the first time I've seen jellyfish here.

Kaidyn playing with his submarine toy my dad bought him at the aquarium

going to get the float

they brought it back to her parents house. They have a collection of them they have found.

the rope. I first saw it and my dad went and got it.

pretty cool

tons of little crabs crawling around on it.

sand crabs. They weren't very big, but I zoomed in on them. They were all over. If you stood still long enough you had tons popping up around you.

After we were done checking it out my dad put it back in the water. Of course the waves kept bringing it up, but hopefully all the little critters on it can at least survive.

I caught a tiny sand crab and put it in Tailyn's bucket for her. She thought it was cool, but wouldn't touch it.

Thanksgiving we both had our own plans since our plans were already made before I knew they were coming. They left Friday, but they came over for a little bit before heading to the airport.

Daddy's Birthday

2011-12-01T00:18:00.001-07:00

The kids made cards for Greg and helped me make his birthday cake. Of course I took pictures so here they are.

When I woke up this is how I found them. One weekends they sleep downstairs together.

making daddy cards, he did pretty well with writting

stickers!!!

Greg came up right as we were finishing.

Their cards they made him

Getting ready to make his cake. Kaidyn didn't help with this part because he was supposed to be cleaning his room.

I had Greg take a few pictures of us.

goofy smile, but thats ok. I hardly get in on any pictures.

stirring

her favorite part.

handing daddy his gift

sprinkles galore

so proud of their finished cake.

the best decorated cake every!!!! LOL I can do fondant, but don't ask me to write on a cake.

getting ready to blow the candles out

Kaidyn insisted on scooping the ice cream for everyone. It was cute.

November Randoms

2011-11-27T20:47:00.001-07:00

Here are all the random pictures that wont be fitting into any of the categories I'll be posting. The pictures are all out of order for some reason and I'm not patient enough to fix them right now.

Kaidyn had been asking and asking to get Bella a costume for Halloween. We'll I wasn't going to spend the $20+ on one when I knew she wouldn't wear it. We ended up going to Target the day after Halloween and since they were 50% off I let him pick one out. Bella Hated it. She kept chewing at it.

These ones were taken in our backyard one day. They were "swimming". Kaidyn kept splashing around and paddling telling me he was swimming. Tailyn of course kept copying him.

These ones with the floaties on were taken at a families house from our new boat. They have a pool in the back outside of their fence and the kids got to play in it while we were at a Chief function.

Kaidyn had just jumped off the ladder and Tailyn climbed up and wanted to jump too. I think she would have just jumped, but Kaidyn offered to catch her and she jumped right to him.

this cracks me up, her butt in the air and his feet by his head

the jump Kaidyn did prior to Tailyn's jump

this is a little ring toy that came with their other pool. He put it around him and said it was his "life raft".

the end of his jump. GAH I've tried to put them in order and it wont stay for some reason.

dunking his head under. This is huge for him, he still doesn't like his face to go under.

Soon after this she slipped through lost her footing and Kaidyn had to pull her up. She could stand with her head above, but she kept slipping when she tried. Thank goodness I didn't have to dive in.

Bella played in the water table too

Kaidyn and Tailyn were playing upstairs. Kaidyn came down and I asked him where Tailyn was. He told me she was sleeping in his bed. Sure enough, she was.

Bella likes the water table as much as they do

The kids were asleep and I was practicing different settings with my camera so I used Bella. These two turned out cute.

She is constantly chasing her tail.

October Randoms

2011-11-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some random pictures from October that didn't fit into the posts I've already made, but I don't want to pass up.

Welcome baby shower a friend and I threw for a friend. They didn't find out the sex until he was born so we waited ot have a shower

Tailyn at the shower with baby AnnaRae

Mommy and baby Clayton

Tailyn fell asleep with Greg. I went to take a picture and Kaidyn wanted in too.

Tailyn in the Batman costume

The 24 Days of Christmas

2011-11-05T17:34:00.002-06:00

The last few years people have asked about this and I'm finally re-typing it all out for us so here is a link for everyone if you'd like to copy it out for your family.
The 24 Days of Christmas

It's in google docs because I use wordperfect and not many people do. I'd recommend you copy and pasting it to whatever program you use so you can personalize it however you want. The way I have it might not be the way you want it.

If you're unfamiliar. This is something my mom started with my younger two brothers and us. It has a scripture, hymn and story for each day of December leading up to Christmas. It can definitely help with teaching kids the real meaning of Christmas, something that seems to be often forgotten. I've read some with Kaidyn each year, but have never been good at reading it every single night, I'm hoping to change that this year. My moms book is all nice decorated with a fabric cover and the pages printed out on cute paper and this year I'm finally going to nicely decorate ours.

If you find any mistakes or problems please let me know so I can fix them.

If you want to sing along to the music you can find each of the LDS Hymns and Children's Songbook songs at LDS.org or you can follow this link.
Songs

on the left hand side you can click for the Children's Songbook songs, then click alphabetical and you can easily navigate to each song you want.

Halloween

2011-11-04T15:11:00.001-06:00

We had a good Halloween. This was the first year Kaidyn wasn't afraid of everything and he was able to get into it and trick-or-treat more than he ever has. Tailyn was the one afraid of everything, but once she knew she'd get candy she went along with Kaidyn. A few times she'd walk up to a home, get scared and run back to us before getting candy, but for the most part she did fairly well.

Greg is really into Halloween and dressed up. We were at Party City the week before Halloween standing in line. As of course were standing in line with the all the pictures of the costumes they had. A few of them Tailyn was afraid of. Kaidyn kept pointing to one asking her "this one" and she would say "no" and hide behind. Me she was really scared of the wolf costume and that is probably why Greg went with that one. That night Kaidyn and Greg had fun scaring Bella and Tailyn around the house.

Halloween day I finally got our package from my mom with the last things I needed for the kids costumes, bandannas. Hawaii is horrible for finding things. I did find some two stores, but never the right color. So I asked my mom to send us some. I checked the mail around 2, discovered that Tailyn's was not going to work and had to quickly get ready to leave in search of something that would. Tailyn and I headed out. First we went to Ben Franklin because I thought I remembered seeing some there, but they didn't have any so maybe they really didn't. Then we headed towards Walmart because a friend had mentioned she has seen some there. We got stuck in massive traffic and it took almost an hour to get there. They had some, most with sayings and a multicolored one. So I checked the fabric section hoping maybe they would have something that would work. I found two different material that I thought might work and bought some. On the way home I decided to quickly stop at Kmart hoping they might have bandannas. No luck, but I did find a solid brown t-shirt which I haven't been able to find anywhere else so I bought that. The original costume idea used the bandanna tied around the chest/belly, but I knew it would easily slide down and was wanting a shirt to go under.

By the time we got home it was 5. Kaidyn and Greg were all dressed up and Tailyn was very much scared of Greg. He put gray makeup on his face for when he wasn't wearing the mask and she was even scared of that. I quickly threw dinner in the oven and got Tailyn ready while it cooked. I ended up just cutting the material the size of a bandanna and tying that around her. It worked fine, but wasn't what I really wanting.

I took pictures of the kids and then trick-or-treaters were already starting to come. I quickly ate and then took the kids around our street, which seemed to take forever and only a few people were handing out candy.

Tailyn went right up to homes, grabbed some candy and said "tyou" every time. She was very polite and people thought it was cute. She is my more outgoing kid. Kaidyn was a little more shy, but did say trick-or-treat quietly and thank you.

she was watching the other kids go by, but it came out cute

I love this

every picture she kind of has her arms like this. I don't think she knew where to put her arms since she had the big puffy tutu

leaving a house

this was our neighbors, she almost made it to him lol.

Greg and Kaidyn

Greg taking them out. We only got her to go with him by asking her if she wanted candy.

he came back and got the wagon

right before she stopped and booked it back to the wagon. I was no longer at the wagon and she was so sacred she didn't even notice me as she ran past me.

total melt down

they really do have a cute little bond (they are holding hands, but it's hard to tell)

The day before we carved pumpkins. You really can't do them much sooner than that here. We ended up having to bring them inside after we were done because they were starting to wilt from the few hours of being outside.

This is Greg's Yoda

I had the kids paint a pumpkin each while I started cleaning them out. Little did I know they would be done painting in a couple minutes and want to help clean them out

their painted pumpkins. Thank goodness I snapped a picture right after they finished because soon after this Tailyn went and smeared her paint all over her hands and then rubbed Kaidyn's pumpkin messing it up.

neither of them were grossed out and Tailyn even got a few tastes in. I swear she'll eat anything.

Kaidyn really wanted to cut a pumpkin, but the designs he picked didn't really work for him to help. So since Tailyn ruined their pumpkins I drew a face for him to carve out. He didn't get far before he wanted help.

our finished pumpkins

Lit up

Hawaii Bucket List

2011-10-25T20:27:00.001-06:00

With us possibly only living her for another year I want to make sure we get to see and do everything we want to. The kids and I have done a lot and explored a lot over the last two years, but there is so much more to see and do. If we happen to live here longer then that will just give us a chance to repeat places we liked.

I started a simple list a long time ago and I'll continue adding to it as I hear or find things to do. Also organize it a little bit better. Hopefully we'll get it all crossed off before we leave. If any friends know of anything to add let me know. If you want to do anything with us lets plan a day.

Luau- with just Greg and I
Watch a Surf Competition
Bishop Museum
Makapu’u Point Lighthouse Hike
Arizona Memorial
USS Missouri Memorial
USS Bowfin Memorial
See All Memorials Around the Island
Polynesian Cultural Center
Visit BYU Hawaii
Waikiki Aquarium
Swim with Dolphins- Ko'olina Adventures Tour
Take Scuba Lessons and get Licensed
Macadamia Nut Farm
Kailua Beach Park
Lanikai Beach Park
Manoa Falls Hike
Dinner Cruise (Greg and I)
Byodo-In Temple
Koko Head Hike
US Army Museum
Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor
Saturday Farmers Market at KCC
Wet and Wild Hawaii
Waimea Valley Gardens
Waimea Falls Hike
Iolani Palace
Visit All Botanical Gardens (need to make a list)
Dole Plantation
Sharks Cove
Kaniakapupu Ruins
Eat at Boots and Kimo
Snorkel at Turtle Beach During Turtle Season
Jackass Ginger Pool Hike
Monk Seals at Turtle Bay Resort

caramel chocolate apples!!!

2011-10-19T15:15:00.000-06:00

This is a family tradition that started some time with us. My mom would make them in October around Halloween time. Yesterday Kaidyn and I made some together. Instead of doing whole apples I sliced them up. I only used two apples and I think we had 30 something pieces.

Waimanalo Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-18T20:33:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we went to the Waimanalo Pumpkin Patch. Greg has never gotten a chance to go to a pumpkin patch with the kids so we made it a family day trip. The kids had a great time. They had some animals you could feed, hay ride, corn maze, face painting, food and other activities. The activities were decently priced and the pumpkins were expensive. They don't grow them their, my guess is they are shipped here unlike the other pumpkin patch we went to earlier in the month.

Kaidyn was all for feeding the animals, he went right up and fed them.

Tailyn was a little scared. She would walk up to the fence and once they got close she would back away. She did like the taste of the grains.

backing away.

finally she was brave and fed one

pretty parrot

when I walked away it said bye bye

going through the corn maze

so pretty.

We let Kaidyn lead us through, he had fun finding the way

I tried to get a picture of them together, but Tailyn wasn't cooperating.

Walking through all the pumpkins Tailyn noticed the ones that weren't sitting upright. She'd say "uh-oh", run to it and fix it. When she was done she would say "there".

it's to heavy

he is at a good age for taking pictures

this one on the other hand, yeah not so much. When she gets shy or doesn't want to do something she puts her fingers in her nose. She has done this for awhile.

Tried to get a picture of them both, but Tailyn wouldn't take one

view of the ocean

they played in the house and on the tires while I waited in line for face painting.

Kaidyn picked a spider

he was so excited. I think this is the first time he has gotten his face painted. Tailyn wouldn't stop playing so she didn't get hers done, but she saw Kaidyn's and kept point to her cheek and saying some stuff I couldn't understand. I asked her if she wanted one too and she said "ah huh" all excited. So I got back in line, but she only lasted for a minute before she ran off to play. The line was long so I gave up.

the lemonade was sooooo good. I bet the lemons were sweet too.

Hoomaluhia Botanical Gardens

2011-10-18T19:35:00.001-06:00

I post pictures from this place often, we obviously go fairly often, but I love this place. I don't think I could ever get bored with it. The scenery is amazing and a nice change from this side of the island. The kids love it and always have a fun time. Best of all the place is so quiet and peaceful. It isn't visited by many. Some tourists show up from time to time, sometimes you'll see other moms and kids and once we even saw a school field trip, but the place is so big that you usually aren't bugged by others. If we lived on the other side, we'd definitely go every week. It's an inexpensive outing which of course is a huge plus.

Seeing to many locals with flowers behind their ears. When I went to take his picture he posed with this seed pod.

friend love, I turned around to see them hugging and then they kissed LOL

they all look so concerned or maybe they are just annoyed with me taking a picture

such an interesting, pretty plant/tree

My friend found these on her phone, her daughter had taken them . They are so stinkin funny. I don't know what they were doing.

Family Day at Chuck E Cheese

2011-10-18T18:39:00.000-06:00

I haven't been here since I was a kid, ok maybe teenager. I remember my younger brothers having their birthday party here so I was probably 13 or so then and I don't think I've been many times since. Growing up our grandfather would come and take us wherever we wanted to go for lunch to celebrate our birthday's. Chuck E Cheese's was a place we often picked until he could no longer handle the noise.

Kaidyn has been begging and begging to go to the "game eating place" aka Dave and Busters. We went in May I think when one of Greg's friends was leaving the boat and island as a goodbye dinner type thing and ever since Kaidyn has been asking to go back. He has seen Chuck E Cheese commercials, but we've never gone. With his constant begging to go to the "game eating place" Greg told him we'll go to Chuck E Cheese.

The kids had a lot of fun. Kaidyn and Greg mostly played games together while I ran around with Tailyn from thing to thing. She loved anything that had to do with a ball and hated the merry-go-round the first time I put her on. I thought she'd love it, but she went around once and then cried until I got her off. Chuck E came around telling all the kids to follow him for tickets. I grabbed Kaidyn and sent him with. They ended up having the kids dance to a song and then threw tickets out for the kids to collect off the floor. Kaidyn was so embarrassed and wouldn't dance. He just stood doing nothing lol, sounds like me. With all the older kids swarming to the tickets he collected one and wasn't very happy about it, but I sent him back to play and he was fine. All in all it was a good, but EXPENSIVE day. Holy cow the prices for a pizza.

Pumkin Patch

2011-10-06T19:08:00.000-06:00

Tuesday we went with other Louisville kids and moms to the pumpkin patch. The kids had a blast. They gave the kids a little lesson on the fruits and veggies they grow, went on a hay ride around the farm and then we got to go out on the fields and pick a pumpkin.

apple bananas

If you've never had them you have to try them. They are sooooo good.

We were one of the last ones to get on the hayride so Kaidyn didn't end up getting to sit next to his friends, but he still had fun. He sat by himself and enjoyed looking around.

Tailyn didn't want to sit much so I had to hold onto her during most of it.

a mango tree that is over 100 years old and still producing fruit

they both ran to the first pumpkins they could and wanted that one. I had to convince them to look around more.

the face she made when she was trying to pick it up

I got it!! They didn't have any smaller ones that were light enough for her to really pick up, but she didn't care.

avoiding me when I was trying to get her to pose

Kaidyn has got it down lol.

her cheese face

posing for pictures and then

she starts taking bites out of it

The weather wasn't the greatest, but thank goodness it rained before we got their and not while we were their.

LAST Underway DONE

2011-10-06T16:59:00.000-06:00

With the USS Louisville at least. Off we go to another boat. It's official we have orders in hand. Greg has another week on this boat and then will report to his new boat the USS Charlotte by the end of the month. No moving (well until we get Chief housing or housing on AMR) the boat is here in Pearl Harbor. Thankfully his orders are only for a year and going to this boat cuts out deployment number 4 for us. The Louisville deploys in January and from what we hear the Charlotte deploys December 2012. With these orders he wont be on for that deployment, but we all know that can always change. We'll see. He is on this boat for a year and then hopefully we'll finally get orders for SHORE DUTY. We were hoping for shore duty considering he has been out to sea for over 6 years, but at least we are getting off this boat.

If all goes as planned we only have another year on the island and that brings mixed emotions. I love it here, the weather is awesome, we have tons of friends, we have tons of things to do and I'm comfortable here. I know I'll make wherever we go next work, but I hope it's somewhere I want to go. I'm excited to get off the island and go back to school to get my EMT again AND go back to work. I'm excited for a change in my life and having something else than being a stay at home mom. I'm anxious and excited to do something that I know I love and am good at. I can't wait for that, but I'll definitely miss Hawaii too.

These were taken the day he left for his last underway Sept 16

there were so many fish out on the reef

Rest of September 2011

2011-10-06T16:25:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures and everything from September.

Kids color on walls, it happens I know. Kaidyn never was one to color on things much. He did a few random times, but not much at all. Tailyn on the other hand is CONSTANTLY coloring on things. Anything she can reach before being yelled at she'll quickly scribble on. Knowing that you'll understand the total shock I had when I went and found THIS on our wall.

this obviously wasn't done by Tailyn.

and this. I actually thought Tailyn did, but Kaidyn assured me he did it lol.

I asked him what he was doing and he said, " I was decorating". The next day he made a rainbow on another wall.

punishment was cleaning it up

Tailyn helped too.

These are from the 16th. That evening we went with some friends to the Hale Koa hotel pool to swim, get some dinner and watch the fireworks. The only pictures we have are from my friend. They were really picky with the kids not being in the water without an adult even though there are tons of life guards. So I spent most of the time in the water with them.

we also grabbed some ice cream, this is her mmmmm face

our cups and spoons turned into sand toys

the fire works started without a warning and scared the crap out of the kids. Tailyn was fine and settled down to watch them on the towel.

and Kaidyn was scared and wanted to leave the whole time. He has never been a fan of fireworks. When he was almost 2 we took him for the 4th fireworks and as soon as they started he ran as fast as he could up the street to get away. I think it is the sound he doesn't like and these are shot of very close from where we were so they were loud. He has been asking to go see them again though.

On our way to the cars the kids wanted to stop and wash their feet off. They spotted this

big ol' sea snail. I've never seen on here. I've seen pictures and seen one of their shells. That's my friends hand for size comparison.

Beach day the next weekend

I don't know what her deal was, she just wasn't having it. She kept sitting down on the towels and crying. Eventually she cheered up and had some fun towards the end.

We got together at my friends house to make decorations for a friends welcome baby shower (she already had him, but wasn't finding out the sex so we waited till after she had him to do anything) we were putting on together.

the kids played on the slip-n-slide. Kaidyn had the right idea, but never did slide.

putting the blanket on the baby. She is in love of all the babies.

Jealous brother was holding the baby and trying to take her away from him.

finally getting to hold her

she was so cute with her.

after we got home she was so upset because we couldn't find her bear. I had searched and searched for it for about an hour before we left that morning, but never found it.

she hadn't had a nap and was just over it. After searching for over another hour I finally found the dang thing behind our bed stand. No wonder why I couldn't find it. That thing was hidden well. I knew she would have a good reaction because she was so upset so I had to pull out my camera and take pictures as I gave it to her.

(and as I'm typing this she is sobbing because she can't get her bear out of the computer, it's upstairs and she wont go look for it)

she snuggled right up

I covered her up and the tears were gone.

I redid Greg's wall with all (most/important) stuff.

it went from this Nov 09 when we moved in to

this with new stuff from the last two years of being here. New NAM, Citation, Sailor of the Quarter and his Chief stuff.

We went to go see the boat come in from their underway. My friend and I wanted to try out the dog beach because we heard you can walk out to this sandbar and get real close to them and we wanted something different. So we went out. Then as we are walking I get a call from Greg. He didn't mean to call, but I could hear guys talking in the background and figured they were already in because Greg isn't topside coming in and we'll he wouldn't be calling even if he was. I hung up and realized he had texted saying they were in. They decided to pull in a few hours early so we didn't get to see them, but it does seem to be a good spot to go see the boat leave.

Q&A with Kaidyn

2011-09-27T14:24:00.000-06:00

This is going around on FB and I wanted to post it here so that I could keep it. Some of his answers were interesting.

1. What is your name: Kaidyn (if you ask him his full name he'll say- Kaidyn Tavius (Octavius) Lee)

2. How old are you: 4 (I had to really question him to get his age, he insists he is 5 so he can go to school)

3 When is your birthday: August 8

4. Who is your mommy: YOU

5. Where does mommy work: at home

6. Who is your daddy: It's just my dad

7. Where does daddy work: at the submarine

8 What is your fav color: blue, green, orange, red. That's all my favorite colors.

9. What do you want to be when you get big: dinosaur job

10. What is your fav food: oranges, apples, macaroni and cheese, pizza

11. What food do you not like: mangos, watermelon, pineapples (interesting, he really isn't very picky)

12. What is your fav animal: elephants and hipos

13. Where do you want to live when you get bigger: At Utah

14. What does daddy say: be good (Greg says this pretty much every time he is leaving the house)

15. What does daddy like to do: work on the boat

16. What does mommy say: clean my room (lately this is a constant every day multiple times a day thing)

17. What does mommy like to do: work in the house (Umm NO I don't)

18. What is your fav song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

19. What is your fav movie: Cars 2 (I thought it would be Cars, but not surprised it's at least a Cars movie)

20. What is your fav type of ice cream: Chocolate

21. Where is your fav place to eat: at home

22. Who is your fav person: Chloe, Alika and Cassie

23. Who is your best friend: Nathan, Chloe

24. Fav toy: my airplane ship (Imaginext aircraft carrier)

25. Fav TV show: Dinosaur Train

26. Do you have any brothers or sisters: I have one sister

Chief!!!!

2011-09-18T18:18:00.000-06:00

August 1, 2011 the results came out naming who had been selected for Chief. If you aren't familiar it is a pretty long process. They take the test in January. After that you find out if you made board or not. I think we found out in April or May. Then board gets together, I believe at the beginning of July is when they started. They go over ever single sailor that made board records and decide who should be selected for Chief. Then congress approves every one of those guys and results are posted typically the beginning of August.

We were pretty confident Greg would be selected but of course there is always that chance he wouldn't. He scored very high on the test and worked hard to qualify duty chief, chief of the watch, dive officer and anav over deployment. The only thing he isn't fully qualified for yet is anav because he is still waiting for interviews (10 months later). He has done everything on his end to qualify. My only worry was his time in would hinder his chance of making it. He has only been in 7.5 years this month and typically most selected Chief's have been in quite a bit longer than that.

We were anxiously awaiting the results and they finally came out. I was laying in bed, on my phone, literally minutes after Greg had left for work when I checked Navy Advancement Center's FB page and noticed that results were out on you're BOL, but the list wasn't public yet. I of course don't have his BOL log in info so I texted him immediately to let him know. When he got to the boat they wouldn't allow him on the computers so he knew results were out. An hour or so later he FINALLY texted me back letting me know he was in fact selected for Chief. That was the longest wait ever. I was sitting at the computer anxiously awaiting for his text or the official results to be posted. I was/am so extremely proud of him, he had worked his butt off and finally all that hard work paid off. Then 30 or so minutes later the results were made public and that made it official for me being able to see his name on the list. Yes he had already told me, but it made it that much more real for me.

With the results out next was induction season, a little more than 6 weeks long. The boat schedule constantly changed right after results came out and honestly at this point I don't even remember exactly when they left/came home, but they were gone for most of August and the few days they were home they were scrambling around trying to do what they couldn't do while gone, but had to get done. I know Greg and I'd want to bet the other two selects on his boat were a bit disappointed they were missing out on so much. Yes in some ways it made it easier for them, but I'm sure they would have liked to have the full experience.

Pinning is Sept 16 Navy wide, well that also happened to be the same day our boat was to leave AGAIN. Many wives (ok some Chiefs too, not all from our boat) some not even Chief wives were annoyed that the schedule had changed having them leave this day, knowing the reason why they were going underway and knowing the team going with them wasn't going to leave with them leaving many wondering why they didn't just wait to leave till the weekend was over. All week, they went back an forth on if they were pinning Friday or not. The ceremony was changed to the pier to better accommodate the boat leaving, but no one knew what time even on Friday morning.

Friday morning I knew I had to run to the uniform shop and grab new dress shoes for Greg since I had forgotten the day before. I figured I'd leave the house at 8 just in case pinning was at 9 we would be there on time. We'll I still didn't know if it was happening or not so I decided I'd actually straighten my hair and put some make up on just in case. Two things I rarely do, but I wanted to look descent if it did happen. I pulled out some outfits for the kids out of their closets, but was mad I hadn't gone shopping for them since I didn't think it was happening. I had wanted to get them both new outfits for the day. Thank goodness I had already gotten myself a dress.

About 8 I still hadn't heard from Greg about what was going on so I decided to start calling people to see if they knew the time or what was going on. No one did. I emailed back and forth with another selects wife and even she didn't know what was really going on. She was told the wrong pier, wrong time etc. Finally at 8:30 I got a text from Greg saying it was happening at 9:30. We had yet to leave the house. I was having a very difficult morning with Kaidyn getting him up and dressed. I threw on my clothes, threw the kids in the car and we were off. Thank goodness I no longer needed to get him new shoes so we were able to go straight to the pier.

At about 9 they started their normal quarters, some guys from the boat that were transferring gave their speeches and some guy was presented with some award. Then they started the little ceremony for the new Chief's. It was so short, so informal, so different from what I had expected from seeing others pictures and had read about. Very few guys from the boat came up and congratulated the three new Chief's and their families. Some very important guys that I feel should have didn't, (no I'm not naming names). We took a few pictures, the kids were upset, hadn't had breakfast and in horrible moods. Then we left. We had to rush home, sew all his new patches on his poopie suits and he had to rush back to the boat so they could leave.

As soon as I got home I told Greg that the ceremony was much different then I had thought it would be and very informal, all I got was "that wasn't how it was supposed to be". Ok fine, whatever. I start seeing pictures from other ceremonies and am shocked at how different they seemed. Then that evening We got together with some other wives for swimming, dinner and fireworks and I got to hear how it should have been. I'm very disappointed and upset that our guys didn't get the ceremony they deserved. I've heard a few different things, "well they had to leave", "at least they weren't gone when they got pinned" and other similar things, but honestly I don't care. Had he been gone when he got pinned I'd at least would have been expecting that and wouldn't have had any expectations. I would have been sad I couldn't had been their for it, but it would had been expected. If they had to leave then fine, but they still deserved more than what they got. To me that isn't an excuse to gyp them from what they should have gotten and what most new Chief gets. Would it had really hurt to do a proper ceremony?

So anyway he was pinned, he is now a Chief and what happened happened. It's done and over with and we can't change it. I've done my venting and I'm done. I'll always be upset, but again nothing we can do about it now.

Here are some pictures from the ceremony and after.

Hoping this is our LAST underway on this boat. Orders COME ON

Of course with them being gone they couldn't attend Khaki Ball. My friend Andrea, the COB's wife and I went by ourselves. It was a little awkward being there without our husbands sitting at another boats table with people I didn't know. Khaki Ball is pretty much all about introducing and congratulating the newly pinned Chief's. They read off every new Chief's name, had them stand when their name was called and had all of them come up to the stage to sing Anchors Away. I'm glad I went, but of course wish he was able to be their too.

And his gift I made him. I have to figure out his wall so I can fit a few more things that he has gotten over the last year or so on it. I also got him two Chief coins. One I got engraved with ETC (SS) Charles G. Lee Jr. 16 September 2011 on the back of it. I've had someone ask already so the left is his job symbol, Navigation Electronics Technician. Center of course is the Chief Anchor. Left is his ribbon stack and bottom are the submariner dolphins. Each qualified submariner has them. Pretty much anyone that has served on a sub. They typically get them a year or so after getting to the boat and finishing all their qualifications.

Caught Up

2011-09-06T00:59:00.001-06:00

I'm finally all caught up. WOW, that was a lot of catching up to do. Lets hope I don't get behind again like I did. Click through the pages I'm sure you'll have to go through a few pages to see new posts you haven't seen.

Chilean training ship BE Esmeralda

2011-09-06T00:57:00.000-06:00

Last Tuesday the Chilean ship BE Esmeralda was sitting at the pier. It was a sight to see, much different from the normal subs and warships that are at the piers. Here in Hawaii we get a lot of visiting ships/subs from all over the world, but since we have been here this was probably the best thing we have seen. It's not every day you see a huge sail boat in port. They have 21 sails, 334 crew members and has been around since 1946. They use it to train all new officers. Every officer in their Navy has sailed around on this ship. Pretty cool.

A few wives were talking on fb and we found out that you could tour it. So a group of us got together to go check it out and I'm glad we did. They gave us a tour of the deck of the ship. The guy that gave us the tour was extremely friendly and very patient with our large group. I think we had like 10 adults and even more kids.

I'm not sure what these are. The ones I looked in looked like ashed over coal, but the kids sure enjoyed looking in them.

This is what they use to tie up rope. The top twists. The kids enjoyed twisting them and twisting them.

We do so many things where I want him to pose in front for a picture. He is so just to it now he'll just stand in front of something he likes and wait for me to take a picture or ask me to take a picture.

Tailyn kept slipping walking down. I was so nervous she was going to fall off, as you can see the railing isn't much and she thought she was a big kid and could run around doing whatever she wanted like all the other kids.

Kaidyn asked him to take a picture with him and he put his glasses on Kaidyn.

then posed for a picture, he was so nice

the cook cooking their dinner. It smelled really good. It was Thursday and from my understanding Thursday was traditional food day.

Yesterday we went and watched them leave the harbor. We packed dinner and ate while we waited for them to come. We had heard 5 and 6, so we showed up at 5 just in case. We also brought bread to feed the fish.

At one point they did the wave

this one is out of place OH well

off they are

While we were waiting for them some family came up asking if we saw the octopus. We said we hadn't and they went to go find him. I guess he had been around the two evenings prior. They spotted him, we threw some bread for him and watched him move towards it. He looks just like the one we saw out here last summer.

and we saw crabs. There is two here, but hard to see one because of the setting I had my camera on.

checking them out. Not a great picture because of the setting.

We also saw a butterfly. Poor thing was on injured and on its last leg.

saw some cool fish. Kaidyn said looked like sharks.

and we're done. Both kids had their lunches packed in their backpacks.

August 2011

2011-09-05T22:32:00.000-06:00

The rest of August, that don't fit in the posts I already made.

Beach day with some friends

Pool with some friends.

I was so proud of Tailyn. I got the kids both new floaties and she just swam around.

getting in by herself

jumping in

goof

Seeing daddies boat come in

waving

this was the same day the Chilean ship came in. Our first look at it.

turtles!!!!

2011-09-05T21:59:00.000-06:00

On the 29th the kids and I took a trip down to "turtle beach". I don't know the actual name of the beach and it doesn't have any signs naming it, but I do think google maps has a name for the beach. I love love love this place. It isn't the best place to take young ones like Tailyn because it is very rocky and depending on the season the waves can be way to big. There is one area where you can go out into the water without stepping on rocks, but you do have to climb over rocks to get to that area.

The beach has volunteers that help protect the turtles from people getting to close to them and they told us last year that August and the afternoon is the best time to come. I've gone in other months, but during the winter months I haven't seen any turtles out on the sand. I'm sure they do come up, but not as often as the summer.

I've wanted to go all August, but it just hasn't worked out. I've wanted to go with Greg so that I had help with Tailyn, but again that just hasn't worked out. He has either been underway or busy working on Chief induction stuff. So the month was almost over and I figured what the hell I'll try going myself. I was mostly worried about Tailyn running up to the turtles and going in the "safe zone", but I also knew getting in the water with two kids by myself wasn't going to happen and well that's part of the experience. Snorkeling with them is amazing.

So we went one day. I planned the trip to get their around 1ish. Right when we arrived you could see one making his way back to the water. So we rushed over to check it out just in case we didn't see any more on the sand.

This is a male based on the length of his tail.

off he goes

watching the turtle

making their way through the rocks

thank goodness another one came up on the sand. Watching these guys hurl their body around is amazing.

they are so pretty. I never appreciated them as much as I do now before living here and getting to see them close up in their natural habitat.

We saw tons in the water, but the water was pretty murky and it was hard to get a clear picture of them without it just looking like a rock.

he wanted to go in the water so bad. If it were only him and I, I would have taken him. I let him play in the shallow area and kept a close eye to make sure no turtles were near him.

she wasn't impressed with the water, but she sure loved the sand that day.

damage on this ones shell. I believe it was a female, but that also depends on how old it is.

making her way back to the water

this is the same one, just out of order

Like I said she loved the sand that day. She hasn't ate sand since she was maybe 11-12 months old, but she kept eating handfuls and wouldn't stop. She sure didn't like those diaper changes after.

such a ham

You can't go to turtle beach without stopping at Matsumoto Shaved Ice. It is soooooo good. Although I haven't tried many different shaved ice places here, but this place is quite the popular tourist attraction. We had some Japanese ladies sit next to the kids, lean towards them, take a picture and then switch places. Just another day living in Hawaii. I wonder how many Japanese tourists have pictures of my kids floating around the internet? You can't go anywhere they are without them snapping pictures of your kids. I really don't mind, but I'd appreciate it if they asked first.

Saying Bye to a Friend

2011-09-05T18:30:00.000-06:00

Lets face it, we are a military family. Most of our friends are also military families and well saying good bye to a family transferring or even when you transfer will never be easy and will always be something that is part of our life. We have a lot of friends here that we have gotten to be close with. The kids have a lot of friends. Kaidyn being older he has better friendships and understanding of things. We'll Jamie, Alyssa, Aaliyah and of course their dad, good friends of ours got transferred and so we had our last play date with them. I hope one day our paths cross again.

Kaidyn spent most of the time in the water.

Tailyn with Alyssa and Aaliyah's daddy

The next day was the day they were leaving, but two of our good friends had just had babies and weren't able to come to the beach so we went and say them at the hospital.

AnnaRae

And this is little man Colton, who was in the NICU and born a week and a half or so before AnnaRae

Jamie

Kaidyn was so excited to go see Colton. I don't know if it's because he is a boy or what, but he has been so anxious waiting for his arrival.

After our trip to the hospital we had to take them to the airport. We got to the airport and Kaidyn flipped out. "NO, I want to go too. Alyssa can't go." I let him out of the car to give her a hug and the security guard noticed him freaking out. He came over and told Kaidyn, "if he wasn't good for his mommy he'll have to take him to cowboy jail." I got Kaidyn buckled up and he cried all the way home. Yes not a long drive, but nothing I said could calm him down. When we got home he didn't say anything to me, went right up stairs and laid in his bed sobbing. He eventually cried himself to sleep. I had to get ready for his party that was only like an hour and a half away and just let him sleep. He was woken for his party so he was fine then, but when I put him to bed he tells me, " I didn't want to go to cowboy jail, I was just sad. Alyssa was my friend and I didn't want her to leave." How freakin sad? I never though the would be so upset. Since he has mentioned Alyssa and keeps telling me that he wants to go to the beach with her.

Birthday Fun

2011-09-05T17:38:00.000-06:00

On the kids birthday's we typically do something they enjoy or go to their favorite place to spend the day. Kaidyn really wanted to go to the zoo, but I really didn't want to. So I asked him about the botanical gardens and he agreed on that. We invited some friends and had a good time.

Some cool plants.

After the gardens we got home around 4:30 ish. I still had to wrap Kaidyn's gifts, make some sort of cake and order pizza. So I sent Kaidyn upstairs told him if he came downstairs before I told him he could I'll take all his presents back. He actually stayed up stairs, the threat worked lol. After that I let him downstairs. He wanted cupcakes so I started to make those. Next thing I know he is bringing me some of his new toys to show me. Umm you opened your presents? Thank goodness he didn't get to all of them yet. I again threatened that if he opened any more I'll take them back to the store. He listened. Greg was underway so we didn't have to wait for him to get home. Kaidyn's 4th birthday and 3rd one for him not to be home for. I know Greg was bummed about that.

He insisted he had to have Cars cupcakes. I didn't have anything quick and easy to use except for stickers. So I stuck a few stickers on the candles and called it good. He liked them, that's all that matters.

I thought the sparklers might freak him out a bit, but he thought they were cool.

His party was supposed to be on the 13th. I was all ready. House decorated and putting together the cake the night before when Kaidyn came down with the flu. He was puking and crying his tummy and back hurt. He literally came down with whatever it was as I was finishing the cake. I really really didn't want to postpone his party specially after making the cake and knowing Greg was able to be home for the party

The cake we didn't get to use.

So his party ended up being rescheduled for the 19th. He had a great time, but daddy didn't get to participate since they were back out to sea. I made cupcakes this time and was going to make my own little cupcake flag things with Cars characters, but ran out of time. The day of his party ended up being an extremely busy day.

it's hard to see, but we played pin the race car on the finish line.

I forgot to or more like didn't have time to take pictures of everything set up before it started, so here is some of the decorations after.

Kaidyn turns 4

2011-09-05T16:32:00.001-06:00

I really can't believe I have a 4 year old. Four seems so much older than three for some reason. It really isn't, next year will be even worse I'm sure, but for whatever reason it seems it is.

Kaidyn has grown up soooo much. He is constantly saying and doing things and I'm wondering where in the world did you learn that? His new favorite thing is making up knock knock jokes. Where he even learned about them, I really don't know. They typically aren't funny, but sometimes what he puts together can be funny. Some recent ones are. "knock knock", whose there? "Car", car who? "going no where". "Knock knock", whose there? "B", B who? "gettin honey". We laugh and he tells us, "that was a joke, it's funny".

He is very independent. He always has been, but he is constantly proving he doesn't need me for much anymore. He makes his own sandwiches, gets his own drinks, gets his own snacks, takes his own bath/shower, gets dressed and picks out his own close and the list goes on and on.

He really is a good kid. He doesn't get in trouble that often and is pretty good with Tailyn. He has his moments like any kid I'm sure and the fact that he is usually pretty good makes those moment that much worse, but for the most part he is a great kid.

He was 42in and 41lbs at his check up and his dr said he is doing great. His dr never checks development with my kids, I don't know why and I was actually hoping he would ask Kaidyn things, but he didn't. I know he is smart and I know he knows a lot, but I still have the worry of not teaching him enough or him not knowing enough.

He can identify all the uppercase and lower case letters, knows most letter sounds, can identify up to 15 and some other random numbers, can count up to 20, knows all the basic shapes plus some, knows all the basic colors plus some, can spell and write his first name and last name although he insists we have two L's in Lee because we have two ee's, he can write most of his letters without looking at or following something, he can write words as long as I write them down or tell him what letters to write, he can draw most of his basic shapes and he knows tons and tons of random facts. So I don't think he is lacking, but I don't have many kids in real life to base it on either.

August 8, 2007

August 8, 2008

August 4, 2009 (a few days before his birthday)

August 7, 2010

The rest are pictures I took for his 4 year pictures. The beach ones were taken a few days before his birthday and the others were from taken on his birthday. I wanted to get some with his eyes open better since it was so bright at the beach. He picked out his shirt.

July 2011

2011-09-05T15:33:00.000-06:00

The Fourth of July we went on base to take part in all the festivities they had going on. The kids had a blast and it was a good event.

I couldn't get one good picture of them together in their outfits.

horse ride. I knew Kaidyn would love it, but I wasn't to sure about Tailyn.

She loved it

this poor pig. All the kids were chasing it around. He could never find a good enough hiding spot.

Tailyn loved the dog. She wasn't very fond of the other animals. She was fine looking at them, but that was it.

As we walked past this Kaidyn asked if he could go in the "shower"

This is the fit you get when you make your kid wait in line instead of running to the front and hopping on in. Yes very pathetic.

Finally she got to go in and she LOVED it. She wouldn't get out when time was up.

playing games

every picture I took of her on this, she has a great expression on her face.

she loved it

Thank you Dad, who can't say NO to me.

Plain White T's put on a concert

It looks like Kaidyn is choking himself. This was for the national anthem and Greg told him to put his hand over his heart.

Watching fireworks

Fish lips

Making his own sandwich

These pictures were at Bellows. The boat had a family picnic.

Clapping for herself.

Pulling him out of the water. He had to wear Tailyn's vest because his is just getting to small.

June 2011

2011-09-03T16:25:00.000-06:00

I'm not potty training, but letting Tailyn do what she wants. I did the same thing with Kaidyn. Although he was ready to actually be trained way before I did train him, but it was an easy smooth process by the time I finally did. I hope doing it the same way the same will happen with her. She shows a lot of interest. Loves to sit on the toilet and has gone potty on it a bunch of times, but she isn't fully ready. I typically have her running around in underwear in the mornings while we aren't doing much and she'll stay dry for 2-3 hours. She doesn't usually tell me she has to go she starts the potty dance and squeezing her legs together trying to hold it in. So I have to catch her while she is in undies, but at least she knows what she is doing and were slowly introducing her to the process.

I don't now why, but whenever I do laundry she lays in the basket with whatever is in it. It doesn't matter if its clothes or blankets.

Zoo Day

this monkey is hilarious. He loves to show off. Ever time we go he is swinging around. He'll take little breaks to make sure people are watching and then go right back at it.

the zoo has tons of peacocks running around. This one was showing off for us.

you stay over there. She wasn't very fond of the goats this time.

a plant at the zoo. It looks fake to me.

making his own sandwich

You an never leave anything on the counters without Tailyn trying to get it. I was making cupcakes. She knew it was something good and while I stepped out of the kitchen she got the bowl full of batter and went to town

Pool Day

after the pool bath time fun

Making Father's Day cards for daddy

Fishing at Hickam on Father's Day

I kept telling him to open his eyes because he was squinting so much. So this was what he did.

big girl eating at the table with her blanket, dog and bear of course

Beach Day

I thought this was hilarious. She put her dog, bear and blanket in her stroller then hooked a shopping bag with stuff to it. Goin Shoppin

Utah Trip part 2

2011-09-03T11:37:00.000-06:00

Most of our time in Utah the weather wasn't very good. We didn't get out much because when we did have plans the weather sucked or we didn't have a car to use. Kaidyn had been asking to go to a farm to see the animals in Hawaii, well Hawaii doesn't have a farm where you can go see all the typical farm animals. My plan was to take them to the Thanksgiving Point Farm and knew they both would love it. We'll the day we planned on going and actually had a car it was raining/snowing. So we decided to go to Cabela's to see the animals instead. Not exactly a farm or the typical farm animals, but the kids thought it was cool.

feeding the fish

she loved this hat, I would had bought it had I though it would have survived the flight home.

My sister got her this little purse that holds the little horse. She put it right on her arm.

After that we just happened to finish right when our cousins were down the road having lunch. So we went to join them and say hi. These are the the sisters to the cousins I put pictures up of in the last post, but in a much much better situation then them.

Kaidyn was way to excited to be able to play with his new boats in the bath.

We went bowling with Tristan and Katie.

clapping for him

she loved my cat. To bad my cat doesn't exactly love kids.

We went sledding with grandma, Charis and Jared. Kaidyn was so excited to go play in the snow, but said we needed a "snowmobile". LOL

Tailyn wasn't to sure of it. She also had boots on that were 2-3 sizes to big. We had to use what my mom had around at her house.

making a snow man

snow angel

she loved sledding

she would say weee, weee, weee all the way down.

Kaidyn loved it too

she didn't exactly like the snow or cold. What can I say she's a Hawaiian kid

Yes this is me, yes I went sledding too.

our snowman with hair LOL

still not liking it

this was after Charis and Jared opened gifts. They loved playing in this box

Utah Trip part 1

2011-08-30T01:54:00.000-06:00

The kids and I flew out the evening of the 10th. They did great on the flight, for some reason I didn't take any pictures. We had one layover in Arizona and then on to Utah we went. We got into Utah and one of our bags were missing. Of course it had to be the bag with ALL of my stuff and a few misc things. Had it been the kids bag it wouldn't have been as big of a deal because I brought a few extra outfits for them in our carry on. Of course I didn't bring any extra clothes for me in our carry on and what was I wearing? Sweat pants and a big shirt. I was far from dressed to impress, I was all for being comfortable on our 8 or so hour middle of the night flight and out next hour and a half flight.

They tell me my luggage is in GA and they should be able to get it to me that night. Ok cool, not that big of a deal. My mom wants to go shopping on the way home so I go in my sweats lol. That night nothing, next day nothing, I call and ask how long after it says its in process for delivery I should expect it and the guy tells me 8 hours. Ok well it has been longer than that and he wasn't willing to help. The next morning I called again, thankfully I got a nicer guy who tried to figure it out. I told him we were leaving in a couple of hours for a wedding out of town and HAD to have it before we left. He found my bag thrown in storage with other lost unclaimed bags and had the delivery service deliver it to me right away. As soon as that bag got to me I threw together what I needed, put on regular/clean clothes and we were off to do things for the wedding and head down to Manti.

We got down to Manti just in time to check in to the hotel and have dinner before everything closed down for the night. The restaurant we at at was right across from the temple, when we came out and it was dark the temple was all lit up and beautiful. My sister and I decided to go together and take some pictures, her fiance Jared tagged along. My mom wanted to go too, but Tailyn wouldn't have let both my mom and I left and well I had the better camera lol.

We walked around for an hour or so taking pictures. Started on the temple grounds until they kicked us out because they were locking the gate. We could have just hoped the fence, which was hip/tummy height, but we were good and didn't lol. Instead we walked as far around as we could.

Next day was wedding day. I got up early to help my sister get ready. I did her make up and attempted to do her hair lol. My mom and sister left for the temple so they could get sealed for all eternity. While I stayed back with the kids and we all came closer to the time they would be coming out.

my brothers with Kaidyn

just coming out

Tailyn was being so cute, Kaidyn just wasn't having it. He didn't want to be taking pictures.

with Jared's parents and grandparents

My brother is right next to my sister then my other brothers and Kaidyn

Tailyn trying to comfort a upset Kaidyn. He was just DONE

my mom with Jared and Charis

our wonderful young woman's leaders growing up. Charis was much closer to them then I was and I know she was very thankful they were able to come.

my mom and I

my mo rented this for them and she showed up way to early. Kaidyn got to take a ride around with my brother.

after they were dropped off to their hotel room to get changed and then brought over to the park where we had a lunch

Kaidyn really liked the horse. I wish my mom still had horses so when we go home we can enjoy it.

Tailyn was very unsure

The next day we set up for the reception ALL day long. It came out really nice, but I didn't take any pictures of it. I'm sure they got some from the professional photographer.

I really don't remember what she was throwing a fit about, except for the fact that she is laying in the hallway crying lol.

they did a ring ceremony for the ones that weren't able to be in the temple.

Tailyn and her basket, she kept spilling them and then doing her ahhhhhhh which means OH NO in her language and picking them back up.

All three of us siblings had a family friend make our cakes. She did a great time each time and were our gift from her. So thankful for that I know I wasn't paying a butt ton of money for a cake.

I'm not doing anything.

I want some. They did an ice cream bar.

This is Katie my brother's wife. Tailyn loved her.

This makes me so sad. Jamie my cousin, who we were supposed to adopt and is now not in the best of situations.

With Sam and Jamie, both my cousins and siblings. Both in not the best of situations.

she was so funny just cheesin away

My mom and them. They'll never know everything we and more importantly what my mom did for them let alone remember us. It's a long story, ask if you want and aren't familiar with it.

showing off her ballet

compliments of my dad

Kaidyn with my grandmother

my dad with the kids

a neighbor kid, so funny because this is so his personality. He is a hoot.

the car. Just a mess of left over desserts mostly

Now my mom has all her older kids married and out of the house. Two more to go lol.

May 2011

2011-08-29T23:31:00.000-06:00

May we had a busy month. The kids and I flew home to Utah for my sisters wedding and to visit the family. I'll make a few separate posts about our Utah trip. This post is just our day to day things here in Hawaii.

Play time with daddy

she looks scared

mid air

the kids are huge into boxing with Greg

Tailyn is a good sport and takes some pretty good hits

I think this was the first time Bella was OK with Tailyn climbing in her cage. She had done it previously, but Bella would bark and growl at her. Like she was telling her that was her place.

worn out from a busy day, this was at an FRG function

beach day with daddy

I don't know what she was doing, but she just laid her for a few minutes

burying brother

my turn, as soon as he started putting sand on her she wanted up

Family trip to the fair

a rare picture of me, Greg insisted Kaidyn couldn't go alone. If he hadn't been with us Kaidyn would have went alone.

this was so hilarious. Tunnel spinning, Kaidyn climbs in, stands up and goes flying. He was fine and Greg and I got the biggest laugh watching him try to get out.

Tailyn was mad we didn't let her ride and figured out how to climb out of the buckles by herself.

Easter Morning

2011-08-28T21:46:00.000-06:00

Kaidyn was so excited he actually woke up before us OR Tailyn. If you know Kaidyn well that doesn't happen often at all. He loves his sleep and sleeps in way past what the rest of us usually. He got up, got dressed, went downstairs, saw that their baskets were sitting on the floor and ran up sairs to wake us up and tell us that the "Easter Bunny came". Well the Easter Bunny hadn't hid their baskets yet or put out all the eggs yet. So we told him to go to his room and don't come out till we tell him he can. I quickly ran downstairs pulled the eggs out of the fridge and what would ya know? There Kaidyn is standing asking me what I'm doing. I told him I was getting the eggs out for the Easter bunny to hid and sent him back up stairs. I quickly hid them and then went to go get the kids. Thank goodness he is fairly young and gullible so he believed my fibs. Its kind of a family tradition to take pictures of the sleeping kids before you wake them for a big holiday. We'll considering one of my kids up and dressed before me and the other was at her door banging that didn't happen.

Tailyn coming out of her room.

She likes to take of her diaper and pants. Trying to put them back on

One EXTREMELY excited kid and another wondering whats going on.

he was so excited his grin was so funny

Tailyn's basket hiding

Kaidyn's basket hiding

He found his basket right away. Next time it will be harder for sure

and was excited to see the Iron Man monster truck he was asking for.

he was just being a goof was all kinds of excited jumping around

Finally got one open

Taking a break to eat her candy. She hadn't found her basket yet. Kaidyn knew where it was, but I told him he couldn't show her.

finally getting her basket

and baby goes right to her stroller

peak-a

BOO, don't mind my chocolate face.

Easter Fun

2011-08-28T21:19:00.000-06:00

Here are some stuff leading up to Easter. I used to be good at doing crafts and things with Kaidyn leading up to holiday's, but since Tailyn was born I've been really bad at that so we didn't do much.

I took the kids to the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens to get some pictures in their outfits. Tailyn was far from cooperative. We also did an egg hunt with some friends.

Kaidyn trying to make her stay put

Pouting because she didn't want to sit and take pictures.

We took the kids to the base egg hunt. I thought it would be good instead of the one in Groton because they had all the different age groups and different times for each age group. Well it was extremely crazy and crowded. By the time we found parking we were late for Tailyns age group, I figured I'd just take her with us while we took Kaidyn around. We'll then we get their and find out you can't walk around with your kids. So I just had Tailyn play around with her basket, she didn't care much. We sent Kaidyn into the mass of kids when it was his time. They didn't even have enough eggs for every kid to get one egg. Kaidyn didn't get anything it was over in a minute and then all the parents stormed the area to go get their kid. I stayed with Tailyn when Greg went to go get Kaidyn. We both saw him when Greg went to get him, I checked again and Greg was feet from him walking in his direction, but of course people were everywhere. In seconds Kaidyn was gone and no where to be found. We searched and searched. I finally found the people with blow horns to announce him missing (like they were doing for other kids). A few minutes later we found him on the other side of a fence with some guy sobbing. Poor kid. We left, everyone a little upset with what had just happened and of course Kaidyn sad he didn't get even one egg.

This is the only picture I got that day.

Dying Eggs!!! They both had tons of fun.

yes she thought it taste good. He kept drinking spoonfuls and I'd ask her if it was yummy. She would reply with a "mmmm hmmm". I got it on video maybe one day I'll post videos on here lol.

Easter Baskets all ready

Story with these. After the whole base egg hunt fiasco we went to the NEX. Kaidyn kept asking Greg for a spaceship. I had no idea what he was asking for, but I guess Greg did. Greg is a total sucker for Kaidyn asking for things and well after the whole incident and him being so upset over not finding us Greg felt bad and wanted to get it for him. So he sent us around the NEX while he ran and grabbed the spaceship and some candy, put it in the car on Kaidyns seat, filled his basket with candy and then came and got us. Kaidyn was so surprised when we got to the car. I wish I had gotten my camera out. He thought the Easter bunny came early because he knew he was so upset and we still let him think the Easter bunny got it for him.