For New Year's Eve, we went up to the Stampfer's house. The adults got to catch up and talk about our mini vacations and news, while the kids played with almost every toy in the house. They all played great together and a few kids made it to ring in the New Year. Unfortunately, the Hoffmans did not. My sleep pattern has been all messed up with the traveling and different time zones that by 11pm, I threw in the towel. We were all in bed by 11:30.
On the day we flew out, I got to hang out with two of my high school friends, Kristin and Steph. Makaela got to invade Liv's playroom and the girls entertained themselves giving each other make-overs, dressing up for tea and making a mess. It gave the moms lots of uninterrupted chat time. When it was time for Liv to take a nap, Liv stood at the top of the stairs, Kaela at the bottom and the two waved bye to eachother, almost forlongingly- so precious. Kaela kept saying "bye friend" after we left.
Luckily we were able to squeeze in some time to meet up with Christy, Marty and Sydney this week for breakfast to let the girls meet. At first Kaela was a grouch (we woke her entirely too early), but soon warmed up to little Syndey. By the end of breakfast, they were holding hands- so cute.
Kaela got to cozy up with her aunt and uncles this week. With it being so cold and icy, no one complained about being indoors. She officially declared Joe's bed as "my bed" probably because he let her watch Dora the Explorer over and over. If she wasn't on Joe's bed, she was cuddling with Kathleen on the loveseat.
The day after Christmas, Makaela got to spend some time with her youngest uncle: Ryan. There is only 10 years difference between them. The two have lots of energy and ran each other ragged around the house. Here they are rough housing.
Makaela woke up before Santa arrived, so it was interesting trying to keep her out of the livingroom until the presents were put under the tree. She ended up getting lots of Little Mermaid gifts- her favorite.
We then headed to Brooklyn to go to Poppy Hammel's house for dinner. Other than the gifts, the biggest attraction for her there was Buddy, a yellow lab, who she got to tuck in for a nap and kiss goodnight.
Here are pictures from some Christmases past:
2007- first Christmas
2008- 2nd Christmas
This year, during the gift opening, Makaela was finally able to appreciate the toys. So much so that once she opened a gift, she would be so enthralled with it, she wouldn't move onto the next one. We were practically forcing her to open the rest of the gifts. 
It was great watching my brother Mike teach Makaela how to dress her new Barbie. Of course she ended up following him around all night, asking him to continually change Barbie's clothes. 
She also had him playing piano duets with her. She definitely had him wrapped around her finger.
Makaela and my mom got a lot of bonding time in and most of that time was spent in the morning preparing breakfast for the whole family. Makaela would set up the kitchen step ladder and set herself up right next to my mom to scramble the eggs, or ice the cinnamon buns. Then she'd call everyone to the table. In the evening, she'd set herself up and prepare the dogs' meals as well. It was so funny hearing her yell, "Come hea ammy (Sammy), come hea andy (Brandy)".
So after a fun night in NYC, we awoke to 26 inches of snow. This was Makaela's first time experiencing snow and she didn't really know what to expect. First of all, getting her bundled up was a battle- Hawaiian girl just didn't want to wear bulky clothes. We only had knit mittens (totally unprepared for a snowstorm) so after a few times of trying to touch the snow, her hands got wet. She got fed up with the wet mittens and decided to lose them, but didn't get the concept that the mittens protected her little fingers from the snow. So what did she do? Barehanded, she went to grab a bunch of snow, froze for a moment and then started crying, shaking her hands like she had just touched a hot stove. She kept her mittens on after that though :-) The video is of aunt Kathleen trying to teach Makaela how to throw snowballs.
On our first day in NY, we decided to meet up with Mel and Shelley in the village at the popular eatery, Ottos. When we got on the train it was flurrying slightly, but when we emerged from the subway, we were greeted with a decent snowfall. Washington Square Park looked majestic in the lights. Once dinner and drinking was done and we left the restaurant, there was a full on snowstorm. Matt and Shelley enjoyed throwing snowballs at each other as we walked to the subway. Matt and I got the last working train out of the city. The train behind us ended up getting stuck on the tracks for over 4 hours with no heat-that would have stunk.
Today was Gavin and Abby's birthday party. Gavin turned 2 and Abby is now 1. How time flies. It was a great party with lots of activities to do. Makaela took a few spills and ended up with a few bumps, but she bounced back like a champ. Of course, I was a paranoid freak for the rest of the day, watching her like a hawk. The kids had great little cakes (made by Kristin) and all the kids got into the icing action.
Tonight Matt, Makaela and I hopped on a trolley and rode down to Honolulu to see all the holiday lights. Kaela loved yelling from the trolley, "All aboard!". She got to take pictures with Santa, eat cookies and milk and stay up way past her bedtime. This will definitely need to be a family holiday tradition.
What was I thinking? Kids hate clothes...even if they do have Ariel on them.
Today we finished the raviolis- yes, it ended up being a two day process. We rolled out the dough and Kaela used the holiday cookie cutters to cut out ravioli shells. They ended up being pretty good.
Our Christmas tree and snowmen raviolis
My Secret Santa: Kristen
