It's FEBRUARY ALREADY?!

Ahhh....it is FREEEEEEEEEZING in Salt Lake City! As in 12 degrees. Craziness, I tell you! So with this freezing weather, David was 'ono for Portugese Bean Soup. I've never made it before, but I thought, really...how hard could it be? Turns out, not too hard at all! Pretty simple, and it turned out super 'ono!! I absolutely love dishes that don't require too much fussing. Hey, I'm super busy, I don't always have time to fuss with dishes that require strict attention. Here's a photo, and I must say, the photo does not do justice to its taste. It's certifiably delicious.

So it's Valentine's Season. In our house, Valentine's is a Season all its own. We normally start around David's birthday, (Jan. 23rd) with decorating, getting goodies for the girls' Valentine's baskets, and February 1st always kicks it up, we do Valentine's baked goodies, a movie, and crafts. This evening we did Valentine's cupcakes, Winnie The Pooh's Valentine movie and heart wishes as a craft. I'd post pics except the girls got messy making cupcakes, then messy eating them, then add to that the glitter and glue for tonight's craft and well, you get the idea. Monstrous mess. But it's the first night of many, so I'm sure there'll be cute pics shortly. We will even have a Valentine freebie this week, for you to download, print and use! Fabulous! Lucky you! hahahaha

And lastly, here's a "only a parent knows" moment. I was doing laundry and I overhear Kalei saying, "'Kay, Hua, your turn!", followed by Lehua giggling, and saying a few minutes later, "'Kay, Leilei, your turn!" and they're both giggling. I'm thinking to myself, "Awwww.....I love when they play so nicely and politely with each other!!" My heart is turning to mush, and I'm starting (as in just for a nano second) to think, "Maybe my insistence on please, thank you, etc., is paying off!" Only to take the corner and see that while yes, they're taking turns, it happens that they're taking turns at the window, making googly faces at the landscapers who are outside clearing away dead branches. Nice. Yes they get scolded, all thoughts of taking them for a treat fly out of my head, and instead, we go back to the drawing book, and read about Bert and Ernie and the importance of being polite. Crazy kids.

MY side of the family...

From the last post until now has been a constant whirlwind of activity for me. A few times just recently it's started to feel a little overwhelming, but my amazing husband is always there to help relax me. No, not THAT way, but by being my sounding board, my support, my cheering section and my most amazing source of support and comfort. The fact that he "puts me to bed" every night with a massage doesn't hurt either. Not even a little bit.

But there have been a few things that have happened that serve to make me smile in recollection, one of which was having an AMAZING night at the `Ekolu concert!!! We rolled up with a total of like 45 of us that night, from brothers and sisters to nephews and nieces, cousins and friends, and it was so much fun!!! We had a great time listening to great music, surrounded by great people, dancing like I was 19 again....although, funny thing...I don't remember ever having aches and pains after a raging party when I was 19....ah, age, it may as well be a four letter word. hahahaha Mahalo piha to everyone who came out that night, it was a blast! Here's some shots from that night:

One other funny thing was with our 2 and a half year old, Kaleineneke. She comes up to me with her shape sorter and says, "Mommy! This is a pentagon, and it's my faaaaaaaaaaaavorite!!" So of course, daddy chimes in with, "Haha, my side of the family, hon." Wthout missing a beat I reply, "Uh-huh. SPELL pentagon." That reply is met with a blank stare. After a few seconds, which probably felt like minutes to my husband, he says, "Pssshhh....it's because she always sees stop signs when we're driving!" Again, without missing a beat, I respond, "Oh you mean those pretty red OCTAGONS? Uh-huh. MY side of the family." Hubs gives up gracefully and changes the subject. Hahahahahahaha too funny.

Such is life in our household. We lead busy lives, but who doesn't? Everything we do, is done as a family. Today's frustrations will serve as tomorrow's jokes, even if we're the only ones who get it.

Good Intentions

Again, I LOVE the fall season, there's so much fun going on! November, for our 'ohana is filled with birthdays, but the 1st of November is our anniversary! This November 1st will see us together for 19 years. Finally, something I can attach the saying "for more than half my life" to, and it's something beautifully positive.
But for right now, it's Halloween and the kiddies have finally burned off the enormous amounts of sugar they consumed today, and are now sleeping. Kalei, for whatever reason didn't want to wear her costume, so I have zero photos of her in it. Lehua on the other hand, was focused so intently on the candy, it was difficult to get a picture of her, but we managed to snag a few. In fact, I just realized that if you look closely, you'll see Kalei in the background, in her pink princess outfit.


I always have the best of intentions to do a weekly entry, and so far....it hasn't happened. I guess it's better that we're too busy to constantly update, versus too lazy to do so. This month, especially the latter half was so busy!!! We had an awesome time at the Las Vegas Regatta, it was so much fun! I continue to be excited and happy for David and Kaika who get to paddle again after being away from it for so long. KALEA did so well at the regatta!!

We are looking forward to the upcoming month, and while it will definitely find us busy busy busy, it will always find us together.

Where has the summer gone?

Apparently I blinked and missed it. The summer that is. I look outside and already the creeping signs of Fall are making their way across the mountains and the trees. Fall is my favorite season (Whoohoo MAKAHIKI!) but our summer has been so packed with events, activities, and work, it almost seems as though we missed the chance to fully enjoy the sunny weather. So I'm a little sad. My babies will only ever have ONE summer for each of their as yet little lives, and before we know it, our 16 year old will be a bonafide adult. Looks like I've got some catching up to do, and some planning to do for a bunch of Fall activities, specifically for the family. Here are some photos that I DID manage to capture from this summer.

Yes the pics are crooked and not at all aesthetically pleasing (definitely not to ME and my OCD self) BUT. I'm forunate to have snagged the few minutes I did, to post an entry, and I'll have to be happy and appreciative of that.