Happy Father's Day

 

I really have been a bum about posts lately - I feel bad since I know I'll regret it one day.  Usually for mother's and father's day I get a pic of Kyle and I and the kids.  I guess it is because Kyle is always off to meetings long before we are ready and stays late for meetings that they didn't get done this year.  But thanks to Koa we have some kind of visual.  I had the boys draw a picture for their daddy. Kekoa will tell you he spent three days working on this (yes, he is a bit dramatic).  And after a major meltdown at not being able to properly draw our family as superheroes, I did a little photoshop work and saved the day.  

Along with our love, we gave him a tie, reversible belt and a long wanted copy of the Harvard Fiction Classics.  It is a fun 50 volume set that he's displayed in his office.  We can't adequately express how much we love Daddy and how thankful we are for all he does for us.  He truly is our superhero. 

Aloha Girl

I am behind in posting - I need to post Ikaika's birthday party.  But, I couldn't help but put this one up.  My mom and I made the outfit for her.  We love our litle aloha girl.  She comes complete with swaying hips and everything : )

Dragons and Vikings and Cake, Oh My!

 We celebrated Ikaika's birthday today - with a fun How to Train Your Dragon theme.  It gave us a chance to do some fun crafts with the kids - their favorite, the viking helmets.  To create them, we paper mached some milk jugs - they had a blast getting all messy.  They also created shields to complete their attire.  I think another party favorite was dragon practice as they had to avoid the fiery strikes (aka- ping pong balls) of the dragon (aka: daddy) with their shields.  I made the cake and was very pleased with how it turned out - I even made it out of red velvet cake for the full effect - gross, I know.
It was a great party - we were so happy to have grandma and some cousins from AZ.  Here are the pics to remember this marvelous day : )

We love our Ikaika!

Last Day of School

I don't know if the school year went by faster for me or for Kekoa.  He had his last day of kindergarten today.  The other day I drove by his school and remembered that first day and how sad I was to be letting him go.  And now the year is past, amazing.

When he got home, he showed me his final papers which included his grades and a certificate.  I read it out loud to him, "This certifies that Kekoa Reyes has advanced from Kindergarten to First Grade."  And in a very dramatic way both of us cheered loudly (almost as if we weren't sure if he was really going to pass or not).  It was funny.  I told Kekoa I wanted to take a picture and this first posed shot was his idea.  He is such a funny boy. Yay! Kekoa is on to 1st Grade : )

Funnies

Sepa (age 2 ½) telling a story:

One day, we ate ice cream and two sandwiches.

Umm. . . yeah.  And the end.

Ikaika: (we’ve been talking about the blessing of a body lately in Joy School.)

Mom, wouldn’t it be weird if we had no eyes, no body, no legs, no ears, no hand, no head . . . just a stomach?

Sepa- as I cut a pineapple

“Mom, is that knife shark?

“Yes, Sepa it is very sharp.”

Sepa – His version of the Itsy Bitsy Spider: “The itsy ditsy spider went up the water spout. . .”

Kekoa – as a sign of his approval of the dinner I made

“Mom, you should be a chef when you grow up.”

 

Sepa (3/30/11 – age 3) -  he found a set of scriptures on the end table.  He flipped through it.  Without any prompting, he said, “And it came to pass that I beheld the church of Mormon.”

Sepa  - rice crispy treats: Chris Brownies or Crunchy rice

After making some homemade strawberry jam, they had a chance to try some.  Here were their responses to the yummy-ness of it J

Sepa: It’s super, super, super, super super good

Ikaika: It’s two - one hundreds good

Koa: It’s never-ending good

(5/22/11)

All three boys are super silly when it comes to washing their hair.  When they get the least bit of water in their eyes they whine and cry as though they are going to melt – I am always telling them they need to stop being babies about it all.

Today, while I was giving a bath to Ka’imi (who is the exact opposite of the boys), Ikaika watched as I washed her hair.  He was so impressed that she hardly flinched when the water ran all over her face as I rinsed her hair.  He said, “Wow Mom, Ka’imi is a big-boy baby.”  Obviously, to the boys, being called a ‘big-boy’ is a sign of being brave.

Kekoa was being a stinker all morning.  In my frustration I finally said, “Kekoa, you are not my favorite person right now.”  He knew I wasn’t happy and shaped up for a bit.  We were then heading out and getting in the van.  He again did something to irritate Sepa and I said, “You are still not my favorite person right now, Koa.”  He replied, “You’re a b . . . (I knew he almost said a bad mom, but decided against saying something so mean) . . . you’re . . . lady . . . gaga! We all burst out laughing and I told him in my laughter that was the rudest thing he could have ever told me.  How does he know Lady Gaga?  I don’t really know.  I know he heard it once on the radio inside Subway and thought it was such a funny name he remembered it.  I think I also once told him she was not a person who was trying to follow Jesus.  Crazy what they remember.

Hoping for Green Thumbs

It has been cold and rainy for days.  I finally decided that rain or shine we were getting our garden finished.  Last week, Uwe and Kyle created this wonderful area for the garden.  It is perfect and I am so excited to finally have a garden for our family.  I told Kyle that we are defiantely not doing this to save money, but because it is a good experience for the kids.  The boys and I got super muddy planting in the soggy dirt and rain.  But it is in and it feels great! (Nothing like planting in your pjs and snow boots - right, Sepa?)

Happy Birthday Aunty Celeste!

Not sure what caused those funky reflection lights there. . .

 

 We were super lucky to have Celeste with us for her birthday dinner.  It gave us a great excuse to have some yummy comfort food (fried potatoes with homemade tortillas) and a delicious homemade carrot cake.  I was still cooking when Celeste arrived, so she played with the kids for a bit.  Kekoa was so happy - he said, "Yay! The party has started!"  We gave Celeste a cute shirt and tickets to the musical Wicked coming in a couple months.  My only request was I go with her :)  I look forward to it so much - we got amazing seats on the 2nd row! We love Celeste and the beautiful woman she is inside and out  : )

Imagination of a Child

I love the things these boys come up with.  Granted I am not always happy when they tear the living room apart and get the cushions off the couch to build things.  But today they made me smile. 
Here is the double team of horses pulling their carriage.  It was so cute when they first did it.  I had to make them recreate it so I could get a picture (and just for the record, Ikaika is wearing jean shorts - though you can't see them ).  I love their imaginations : )

Getting Ready for Pretty Princess Day . . .

I am looking forward to this weekend.  Since Kyle has meetings to attend on Sunday and then we will be spending dinner with Kyle's mother and other family, we are celebrating my mommy's day on Saturday.
I think it is cute that Kyle wants to include Ka'imi as a someday mommy in the celebration. 
Here are some pics my friend Sarah took of us in my studio - the reigning princess and queen of the family: )