Keeping It Real

Last night we went to an event called "Keeping It Real" http://www.keepingitrealusatour.com/ with amazing performances from a Cirque du Soleil artist, local celebrities, and dancers. It was very inspring and my favorite, (besides of course my coach Robert's) was Dennis Prager's "Happiness" lecture. He's on a national crusade to rid the world of unhappy people. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, he's awesome, hilarious and right on the mark. I have a few (a few too many, that is) people that I want to give this book to.

It's Luau Time!

This is overdue, but I have been very busy lately and haven't been able to dedicate much time to blogging. I wanted to document the fun birthday party we had last week for Brooke. The invitations we made turned out so cute, and we had fun shopping together for the paper, and also making them.

The luau snacks were fruit on skewers, and cheese on skewers, Goldfish, and lemonade in coconut shaped cupes with palm tree straws.
The craft table.

The birthday girl with her fun beach ice cream cake

Present time!

Christian relaxing on the decorations out front after a long fun-filled party day.

Two of my nieces dance and sing beautifully. They performed 3 numbers for the girls, and then taught them a dance to "The Hukilau"

Our neighbor, Makani, came and danced the "Haka" dressed as a Maori Warrior

John got creative at the last minute with the decorations . . .

We made a couple of crafts: painting windchimes and decorating a mermaid. The kids all had nametags with their Hawaiian names.

Happy Birthday Brookie!

September 21

The birthday fairy (a cousin of the tooth fairy) visits our home on the eve of each child's birthday. In the stealth of night, she creatively decorates the bedroom with streamers, signs and balloons, even making a curtain in the doorway. Unbelievably, this tradition is extremely anticipated, even more than the presents and parties.

What a great treat! I got to help in Brooke's 1st grade classroom on her birthday, thanks to my MIL being in town to watch my other littles. I love helping in the class and seeing them in that environment.

Here are SIX things about YOU:

1. You have an infectious smile and laugh

2. Your energy amazes me

3. You are so smart, witty, quick and completely terrified of all animals, regardless of size

4. You love and are such a good example go your brother and sisters

5. You are a thoughtful, considerate friend, a great missionary, and totally darling

6. You are a great companion to look at model homes with

Happy Birthday Brookie Cookie! I love you!

Meet Blueberry

Today I saw this cute little lizard running across the garage. I caught it, and saved it for the kids. It is so tiny! We always have lizards around the yard, and have caught a baby before, but never this tiny!


They named him Blueberry because these lizards have blue bellies. I wonder how long he'll be a part of our family.

First Day of Preschool

Christian's school didn't start until noon, but he was ready before 8:00 and did not stop asking if it was time to go yet, until we actually left. He put on his new shirt, got all ready and walked down the hallway looking so much older than he did five minutes previously. I nearly lost it. He was so confident and excited to go to school. The program is only 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours. He absolutely loves his new "backpack wumpgunch" that he thinks is the coolest thing ever. It's a lunchbox that you can wear as a backpack! I'm not one for "character" things, so I was more than happy to get this for him.
He went right in to his class room and got busy with playdoh. Barely gave me a second look. I guess that's good. He's confident and mature, right? Luckily when I picked him up at the end he was super excited and bolted for me (thank you!).

Labor Day Weekend

Friday John picked the girls up from school. That's a treat to have Dad at school! I was waiting in the car and saw them walking out all holding hands. It was so cute I had to jump out - but was a little too late. Ashlyn doesn't last too long at anything (except getting into things).

Friday night we got a babysitter and went out with Matt & Kim. We were going to see "Becoming Jane" but missed the last showing (much to the guys' dismay), so we went out for Thai food, then to Borders (have you checked out the new book "The Dangerous Book for Boys"? It's a good one, especially if you have boys) then on to ColdStone. It was such a warm night - we sat outside the Promenade and chatted until 11pm.

Saturday we took the kids to the beach. Madison wanted to learn how to surf. We got a foam board and headed out to a beach. Since we were having a major heat wave (it hit 100 here! yikes!), we were happy to escape to the beach and didn't even think about wetsuits. The water was so unbelievably freezing!!! We were not just used to Hawaii water, either. I checked out the surf report and it said the water is 60 degrees! That's way too cold for comfort, especially this time of year. So we whimped out and went home. We had chores to do, a talk and lessons to prepare anyway!

Monday we went bowling. Another hot day - it was a great activity to beat the heat. The kids loved it. Brooke even got a couple of strikes, and Christian some near-strikes. Gotta love the bumpers!

After bowling, we went swimming and barbequed at Matt & Kim's. We had a great time and are so sad they are moving to Japan!