Night out for the adults!!

We used to be a group that went out every week, now with kids, we are lucky just to get out sans kids (not that we don't love them immensely, but...). We decided to get babysitters and party a bit. We started at PF Changs, chatted and then hit up some bars. There was a Jenn and Matt Q and A game to see how much our friends knew about us. Fun times. Definitely going to miss this bunch! Can't wait to come back, visit and "check out our rental" (all for tax purposes, of course)

Family Christmas Photos

Our Hawaii Ohana got together for a collective and then individual family Christmas pictures. It was definitely sad to think that this is the last year we will have Hawaiian scenery for the back drop of our Christmas cards, but always fun to get together with friends.
Here's a photo that didn't make it into our Christmas card this year...

Them be fighting words

My family has some weird phrases that Makaela has picked up on and now uses with Matt. One is "bachagaloop" (not sure if anyone knows how it's spelled) and "knucklehead". Well what do "knuckleheads" eat? Knuck-sandwiches, of course! Here is Makaela threatening to give Matt a "muckle-sandwich".

Mia's New Shoes

Mia has started walking so I thought it was time to try her out in some shoes. She had an interesting time getting used to them.

Matt's Back!

After an entirely too long deployment and a stop over in San Diego, Matt finally got home and in typical Hoffman luck style, his arrival couldn't have been more botched. Unfortunately, I had jury duty selection today and while I was trying my best to get to the airport on time to pick him up, the Hawaii justice system made sure that I missed his landing, so there was no family there to greet him when he got home. I had totally envisioned some exciting reunion moment we see on TV, but no such luck. However, he did get to give Makaela a bit of a surprise.

After we picked the girls up we headed out for a family dinner to welcome Daddy back home. It was great being back in Ko'olina together as one big happy family again.

Crazed Gunman

Matt has been in San Diego while he had to "check back in" and while he is in San Diego, he loves to go to Barona to play poker. While he was in the midst of a poker game, the security guards came in and told everyone to run to the nearest exit (probably not the smartest move on the security guards part). People were taking their time until they heard someone was in the casino with a gun and then pandemonium broke out. I guess a gunman ran in to try to rob their plexiglass case of money and started shooting into the casino. Seriously?? Matt was in Iraq for a year and made it out unscathed, but then he runs into a gunman in a casino- we really have the worst luck. Then in efforts to capture the gunman, they closed the roads in and out of Barona, hoping to trap the gunman, but also stranding casino patrons. Matt was exhausted, so he went to the front desk of the hotel and requested a room. The only good thing that came out of it was that Barona offered Matt a free room for his "inconvenience".

Makaela's Family Tree

Makaela's class is learning about family trees at school, so she had a homework assignment to draw the faces of her family members so they could make it into a tree at school. There were a lot of circles, so she felt she had to fill them. I think our trip to NY made an impression on her because she decided to draw Uncle Mike and Aunt Cate for her family tree. Guess all that time with Uncle Mike and Aunt Cate paid off.

Sweet Caroline

I really needed this time to come to terms with Caroline's situation, however, the more I found out, the more it depressed me.  As soon as I got off the airplane, I headed to the hospital and I expected something different than what I saw.  I expected to see someone near death, but she just looked like she was sleeping. Her color was great and she was still radiant.  Her family was there and it brought back floods of memories.  I really believed she would hear my voice and get up and start cracking jokes again. I have shed more tears in the past week that I have in the entire year.  I know I don't speak to Caroline everyday, but I call weekly and never imagined she wouldn't be part of my life.  She always said she would move to Hawaii, California or wherever I ended up moving, but it never happened and now, it never will.

By the second day I saw her, she made remarkable improvement.  She was moving, her pupils weren't fixed and dilated and she was breathing over the ventilator.  Her family decided not to pursue taking her off life support and I really thought we were making progress.  However, by the weekend, she spiked a fever and once it subsided, didn't maintain those improvements, in fact, she worsed. 

I learned a bit too much during this visit too.  Too many stories came out that I wasn't ready to hear and made me realize I need to keep in touch with my friends more consistently, but at I was glad I got to spend some time with her.  I visited almost everyday, taking a day off for Mia's bday and a day to celebrate my Grandma's bday.  In all that time though, I only saw her husband once and only for about 1/2 hour.  I'm horrified by it and feel betrayed because I loved him and felt he was not the man I thought he was.  He promised to be with her during sickness and health and he was no where to be found.  Perhaps this is not he arena to be airing this, but she deserves better.  It has made me realize how lucky I am to have Matt.  I have also seen Caroline's mom in a whole new light.  When we were together, I was the mess and she was the rock.  It was heartbreaking to see a mom make a decision between life or death for her daughter and I just pray I am never in that situation.  It is amazing how strong mothers are though.  She kept praying and was utterly determined to make sure Brigid (Caroline's daughter) is well cared for in Caroline's absence.  I am in awe of these women who perservere in such dire situations.

As I write this, the family should be taking her off life support tomorrow. Caroline wanted her organs donated and I am happy that her organs will help other people live, but I would give anything right now to have her wake up.   I honestly thought my trip home would give me closure, but it hasn't.  There will be a big part missing from my life when she leaves us and I won't get to go to her funeral, (which is another reminder why I need to move closer to home). It has made me realize that I need pay close attention to my family's health, value my family and friends a bit more, make sure I have a living will and medical directive to spare my family those decisions and make sure I slow down to enjoy everything b/c you never know when it's your time. 

While we were in the hospital, I kept singing "Sweet Caroline" to her, but now I'm not sure I can hear that song anymore.

Celebrating Mia's Birthday

Mia got an impromptu birthday celebration because our family already had planned a Breeder's Cup party (watching the horse races), so we added in a birthday cake :-)  It was great to have everyone already together.  The family hadn't seen Mia since she was 6 weeks old, so everyone got a kick out of her personality.

My baby

The girls loved Uncle Mike and Aunt Cate (as always) and Makaela said she was going to "marry Uncle Mikey". Mia found a lot to bond with him over too :-)


Uncle Mike, Aunt Cate and Makaela

Mia in her usual stance (thumb in mouth, hand down someone's shirt),but she didn't want anyone else but Grandpa.

Mia is 1!

My Mia is 1 already! We hadn't expected to be in NY for her birthday, but this was the first time one of the girls got to spend their birthday with family, so it was so nice. Mia is a total Grandpa's girl, but Sammy (the dog) really loved Mia.

We also headed over to my stepmom's house to see her and my brothers. It was great to get the girls together with their uncles.

Making funny faces with Uncle Bobby

Uncle Ryan, Makaela and Uncle Bobby

The girls and Grandma Teri

Bathtime in Grandma's Sink

I haven been glued to Facebook and my cell phone awaiting updates on Caroline's status, so I decided to fly home when it was decided that she would come off life support.  We flew out and the girls were pretty good on the plane (then again, Makaela is a frequent flyer). However, Mia did poop all over me (thankfully it was at the end of our trip, but gross regardless). It was good for the girls to spend some time with my family while I was up at the hospital. Makaela apparently thinks she can only take sink "baths" at grandma's house, so here she is trying to be a baby in my mom's sink.  Definitely think she is getting too big though.  Mia, however, is a perfect fit.

Flexing with Uncle Joe