wedding guest

Today we went to Kahala to watch my dad and Sandy get married on the beach. The ceremony was beautiful although it was pretty windy out. The reverend was great and even serenaded the couple during the ceremony. Makaela was so intrigued by the reverend's ukulele. Mostly, she preoccupied herself during the ceremony by picking flowers and playing with the kukui nuts on the beach.

poppy

Today we went to the airport to welcome my dad and Sandy. Makaela and I stopped off at the lei stand and Makaela carried the leis into the airport and gave them to her grandparents. I was worried she wouldn't give them up, but she did. Makaela was in awe at the hotel and was running around checking out the koi and all the mirrors. We went out for a small bite to eat, and since it was a special night, she got to stay up pretty late.

no-no-no

Makaela has a new word or rather phrase and she uses it constantly. Everything is "no-no-no". She has been telling the dogs that and telling us that (especially when we ask her "Do you want to go to time out?") Sometimes she is a little confused though and when we offer her something she wants, she says "No-no-no" and then can't understand why we didn't give it to her.

ouch

Matt and I are utterly exhausted. On top of working everyday, we are in the process of spring cleaning (and organizing, and gardening, and...) We have let our backyard go for so long that we have been chopping down palms, pulling weeds, mowing and laying rocks for the past week. Tuesday, I went to the dump all by myself, lugging 4 cans of green waste. Seriously, I couldn't even lift the garbage can up, so some nice guy helped me dump my clippings. Then today, I was buying rocks and as I was struggling to get the bags into my car, another nice guy offered to help me load them. Gotta love friendly strangers (I must have been a pitiful sight). We also have so much crap, that I wish I was patient enough to have a garage sale, but I'm not. Well, off to bed so I can rest my muscles...wow, I feel old.

Happy B-day Matt!

Today Makaela and I ran around to get an impromptu bday dinner and mini celebration together for Matt. His b-day is tomorrow, but he will not be home (during wake hours) until Friday, so we decided to celebrate it tonight. Matt has been keeping a random photo of him and Makaela propped up on the dining room centerpiece so I decided to put it in a frame as a gift from Makaela. She actually picked the frame out (well sort of...gave her a choice of 3 and she picked the one we bought). Matt was working all afternoon in the yard, so Kaela got to stay up a little late to give her gift and the cake to her dad.

maili day

Today was Shaun McGinty's 30th b-day so we headed to Maili Park for the celebration. Matt was finally off from working, so he got to join us. Makaela entertained everyone and flirted with all the older guys, but once Gavin got there, so was ready for a nap. Unfortunately, she only slept for 20 minutes (instead of her usual 2 hour nap) so she was not so fun for the rest of the afternoon. She did enjoy playing in the sand, although she decided she decided she didn't like the taste of sand after the 2nd helping of it. It is crazy how strong she is though, she was pushing and pulling Gavin and Maliah around on the wagon. It wouldn't be a big deal for adults, but for a 1 1/2 year old, that's a whole lot of weight. All of us passed out pretty early.

choo choo fun

Today, we went to Rylee's 2nd b-day party and it was held at the Oahu Railway right around the corner from our house. We pass it almost everyday, but we have never had an opportunity to actually ride it, so was such a treat and a great b-day party (kid packed!). Makaela was bouncing off my lap during the ride and when we passed the stopped cars, she was yelling and waving at the cars...it was adorable...wish I had it on video. She had fun running around with all the kids and was utterly exhausted by the time we got home. Lucky for me she went to bed right on time and then I had a few friends over to watch Twilight. I love that movie (but the book was better!)

ouwies and the twilight party

I had to take off from work today because daycare was taking off and we needed to catch up on doctor's appts. My appt was 9:45 and Makaela's was 10:30am. I guess she got freaked out by someone poking and prodding me, so she decided to cry the entire time I was getting a check-up. Luckily,I had a female doctor who was a mom, so she totally understood my situation. Then we went off to Makaela's appt and she amused herself in the waiting room with the toys and the other kids. When our name was called, she was not leaving...not at all. She proceeded to scream during her weight and height check and it was quite embarrassing. When we got into the examine room, there were pretty pictures on the walls, so she kind of calmed down and even "made nice" with the doctor when she arrived, but that was short lived. As soon as the doctor tried to remove her diaper, the screams began again...do we see a trend here? So then the doctor proceeds to tell me that Kaela needs 4 shots and a finger prick...again...the trend. She was shooting daggers out of her eyes at the immunization administrator. When we got to the lab for the blood test, her finger got pricked, she got silent (the calm before the storm) and then, she turned into a flopping fish. The lab tech asked me to hold her down because she was bleeding all over the place (she's a bleeder like her dad) and I told him, "once I can catch her arm, believe me, I will". After that traumatic event, she was a doll - probably didn't want me to take her back to the doctor's. We headed over to the Buelow's so the kids could play and then the moms could go out to the Twilight party. The kids were adorable and Makaela had her first co-ed bath (don't tell Dad). The party itself was a drag. I expected some major movie fun, but it was just a bunch of tweeners and some super weird adults (not like we are totally normal for going to a DVD release party). It was just a bunch of people answering trivia being yelled out to a crowd- total chaos, but I did get my movie!

oh, the fun party tomorrow

I am so excited to go to the Twilight party at Border's tomorrow night. The DVD comes out on March 21st, so we (me, Steph, and a few teachers) are heading to Border's to wait for the midnight release! I feel like a little kid, since of course, I am going to be standing there waiting with a bunch of teeny boppers for the movie, my feelings are pretty appropriate.

Happy St. Patty's Day

Today was an interesting day. Makaela's daycare provider was closed because her daughter had a fever, so I had to take off from work to watch Makaela. We spent the morning getting dressed in our green and then headed to Matt's job to join him for a very early lunch. Makaela ran around her dad's job liked she owned the joint. Then off to food shopping and home to nap. The weather was pretty grey, so it should have been nice napping conditions, but Makaela fought it entirely. When she got up, we had some more loud moments until we put on one of my favorites, The Little Mermaid and we snuggled into the recliner to watch it.

Makaela at the kid play area on Saturday.

rainy saturday

Today we woke up to torrential rains. It was great to watch the rain from inside the dry house. While Dad went to work, Kaela and mom made collages out of old magazines and then went to the mall to the kid play area. We usually head to the playground, but considering the rain, we headed to an inside playground inside. She had a ball. Matt and I finished out the night by hanging out in our backyard and talking for hours about the upcoming transfer orders and future plans.

my busy work week

I have been so busy at work lately, but at least it has been on some fun stuff. I have been staying at school late everyday with a bunch of kids to paint a mural on one of the school's walls... you know, trying to instill some school pride. I'm so proud of the kids. This is what it looked like by Friday afternoon.

Sunday sunsets

Tonight Matt, Makaela and I went to Ko'olina to do some family bonding. Makaela brought along her little soccer ball and either carried it or kicked it all the way to the restaurant. People were literally stopping to watch her and commented about her being the next Mia Hamm. We always go to Kolohe's but we decided to try Chuck's instead. It was great because we sat right next to the koi pond. Makaela was definitely intrigued by the fish. After dinner, we stopped and watched a perfect sunset. It was a great reminder that we live in paradise.

a chill weekend

After a very busy week, we deserved to take a break and relax this weekend. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating this Saturday, so Kaela and I explored Lowe's Hardware store so I could buy supplies for the mural my students are creating at our school. When we got home, Makaela took a turn being a mommy and hand fed Bailey his food. I then found her in the pantry, feeding Leila all the doggy snacks. The dogs were well spoiled and living large. Once Matt got home, he collapsed into his recliner and I found Makaela in the exact same position as him. So cute.

weaning

Matt has been working round the clock so Makaela and I have been spending some quality time together...like our 6 mile walk today. I know I say this everytime I write, but she is growing so fast. This week she gave up her nightime bottle. Before, our nighttime routine was a bath, brushing teeth, bottle, rocking to music and sleep...she was usually half passed out before she hit the mattress. We are now bathing, having a sippy cup of formula as we read books (she is soooo into books and make believe reading to me), brush teeth and then straight to bed. What's great is that she is still blowing kisses as I leave the room...as if I just did something great. Kids can really make you feel like superheroes.

Hangin with Dad

This will hopefully be my first of many posts for our blog. So today was a somewhat bad day , I was just told that I will have to work the next 2 or 3 weekends(Navy), Jenn had a girl at school squirt chocolate sauce on her before she had to leave to go to her class at U H and Makaelas stomach has been bothering her...good times right? Well, I go to pick her up from day care and she sees me through the door, says hi and continues to play with her toy, I sign her out, take her bag and start to pick her up, well as anyone with kids knows it is really hard to take a happy kid away from what they are enjoying without pissing them off...I am certainly no exception to that rule...as I am sure you guessed crying baby in the car the entire way home, we get home Makaela still crying, dogs jumping around all over the place...baby still crying, grabbing at my leg, so I go to turn the tv on to her cartoons, baby still crying grabbing at my legs, so I pick her up, go to my recliner, lay down with her. She takes my hand in hers and is petting my hand watching tv for the next half hour and I can't remember for the life of me how bad my day was before then. Goes to show how precious the small things with your family can change your day completely. And of course before I sign off I should let you all know that Makaela is getting really good at throwing her soccer ball at me while I am typing on the computer, so for now I hope that everyone is doing well and we will hopefully talk to you all soon. Matt, Makaela and soccer ball.

Jimmy Buffet Saturday

So Saturday, we all headed to the park to tailgate for the Jimmy Buffet concert. The guys headed there at 7am, but Makaela and I took our time. We were trying to go to swim lessons, but it has been a bit too cold here...it's been in the 60s! Sorry, back to the story...we were told by the swim instructor that the water was too cold, so we headed downtown. I was a little stressed about having Makaela in a park all day with nothing to do other than hang, but she was great. She entertained herself and most of all others. Some of the teachers I work with showed up and she kept these guys busy for hours. She sang, danced, ate, and played. She also has no fear and loves to walk in on an active volleyball games, horseshoe games, and anything with flying projectiles...we need to keep an eye on her that way. We know she has a hard head, but we don't want to find out the hard way :-) We didn't actually go into the concert since she goes to sleep at seven, but we were able to hear most of the concert from outside. By the time she fell asleep, Matt and I were able to enjoy some good music and good friends.