The poor man's soccer

In this economy with three kids, two in private school, one paycheck... we have to make do with what we've got. That includes improvising on extracurricular activities.





We are being green by reusing the bottles AND saving money. Nifty, eh?

Here's a video of Taede playing with one of his balls. One of these days Shana's going to get a call from me to take me to the ER because I've broken my leg, stepping on one of them darn things in the kitchen.

The Tea Party

I came upon this picture when I dug around looking for Taede pictures. I don't know why I didn't post it before. I love it.

This was taken during the Tea Party mania, when Malia was hosting hourly tea parties.


It takes a confident Prince to have tea with this Princess.


I love my girl. She cracks me up!

How fast a year goes by.

Wow. I can't believe my baby is one. It seems like not too long ago that I was still pregnant with who I thought was the most stubborn of my three kids because he refused to vacate the womb until exactly 40 weeks. This year has really gone by fast, even with me purposefully enjoying and savoring every second because I know he's my last.

As I hold him now, I marvel at how much he's grown. I used to feel that I had to wrap my arms around him twice, lest he slip through because he was so tiny. Now I have to wrap my arms around him twice because he's so wiggly that he will slip through and konk his noggin on the floor in his efforts to get down and walk.

I refuse to cut his hair despite getting told constantly that my "little girl" is so cute. Once I cut it, then he'll officially step over into the realm of toddlerhood. And I'm just not ready to let go of my baby yet.


One of my favorite pictures, taken hours after birth. (Thanks Shana!)



Age: 3 months (December 2008)



Age: 6.5 months (April 2009)



Age: 9 months (June 2009)



Age: 12 months (September 2009)


Happy Birthday Taede -- we love you.

My how you've grown!

It's almost the size of my hand. I'm having a hard time cleaning out
the cage because she's getting so big. Thien swears they don't eat
people but there's always that one mutant bug, right?

-- sent by iPhone

May The Force Be With You

Kael (and Taede) had their joint birthday party yesterday. It was Star Wars themed so obviously Kael had a lot of input. It was mostly (Ok... all) of Kael's friends and they had a blast. Obi Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper made an appearance and engaged the kids in games and Jedi Training. It was a blazing hot day so I felt really bad for Darth. He was roasting in his outfit but I had to hand it to those guys -- they had 25 kids aged 4 and up completely enthralled.

They tried to bring Kael to the front as it was his special day but he was having none of that. He's very stage shy and refused to be the center of attention. This personality quirk resulted in a couple of very funny moments.

Moment #1:
When Obi Wan first showed up, he asked the kids who was in charge of the group. Immediately a bunch of hands shot up. Obi was looking for Kael but Kael refused to raise his hand, not wanting to be noticed. Obi asked again: "Who's in charge of this group? Who's the reason why we are all gathered here?" Now the kids caught on and they all yelled out Kael's name, pointing at him. Kael, eyes bugged out, started to frantically shake his head "NoNoNoNo!" Obi pointed to him and asked: "Are you in charge of this group?" Kael's response: "No, I'm not in charge. My mom is in charge."

I cracked up. That's my boy!

Moment #2:
Vader made his huge appearance and ominously asked the group something like "Where's Kael?" or "Where's the boy with the strongest Force?" Something that obviously pointed to Kael. Once again, Kael frantically shook his head. Everyone's pointing at Kael, yelling his name. Then I hear a familiar voice, rising above all others, yelling out: "Don't raise your hand Kael! Don't raise your hand!!"

It was Mikayla, watching out for Kael. I about peed in my pants. I love that girl.

It looked like all the kids had a great time, despite pictures of them engaging in all manners of warfare. A party is only as good as the party goers -- and the kids were awesome. I have a ton of pictures posted so take a look. Make sure you read the captions too.

Thank you to everyone for coming and making a special day even more special for my boys.