Halloween Hoop~la

Tonight we decided to take Sammy over to the Blaisdelle for an early trick or treating event they held for the kids....sponsered by the local colleges and universities.

As you can tell by the MANY pictures below we had a blast!!

We had to wait for Kai the little boy I watch to be picked up...his parents were a tad late...and as you can see...my bugs were not happy!....(bugs...hehehe Kayla's a bee)




So to kill some time...Mckayla played with the mailbox keys!




And walked around the lobby!




Here we all are (minus Papa, who is taking the picture) before we get started...



We play some games first....like fishing...





Then we decide to use our "super powers" and go down the BIG slide and obstacle course behind us...(that is apple juice by the way...the kids served them with gummy worms in a "saloon" to the kids)



"wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"................(need I say more?)



and even kayla and i tried it....







Here is Kayla trying the juice.... ;)..see the worm!?! ?:)

(we had to change her out of her costume...it was HOT!)







Awww.....*sigh*......

most girls love dolls....not her! :) She loves her George....adopted him from Sammy heehee





Then we have her and her 'purse'...which is actually Popo's bellybag....








That's all folks! :)~~


P.S The diaper shots are for you mom.....I mean I figured you wouldn't recognize her with the clothes on! :) ar ar

Aloha!~~~~~~~~

A day at the Pumpkin Patch!!!

YAY! What a fun weekend!! We decided on Sunday to visit the pumpkin patch so Sammy and McKayla could pick out pumpkins to carve!

As you can see we took LOTS of pictures!! I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed TAKING them!! ~~

Here is Daddy, Sammy, and McKayla checking out the first of the pumpkins....

Then Mommy, Sammy and McKayla look around some more....

"Here is one for McKayla" Sammy says.... "It's just a baby, like her!"....

"Who are you calling a baby? I like THIS one better...besides I can pick out my own" ....says McKayla to her brother...

Daddy has his picked out.....Sammy helped out!....

"Do you like it Daddy?....I picked it out myself!" She proudly says.... *or so I wish..hehe*

"Look mom.....isn't it PERFECT!"....

Then we enjoyed a great hayride....to the other side of the patch to look for more!....

After we were done, we decided to get a little silly! :) :) :)..........

*sigh* After such a busy day...it was nice to snuggle up with daddy!........

What a great visit! Can't wait for halloween!
Hope your weekend was fun as well!~~

*hugs*

Holy Earthquake Brad-man!!

Yup.....we woke yesterday morning to the building shaking and stuff falling off the walls and out of my closet.

Talk about freaky!

I grabbed McKayla and ran out to the living room where Brad and Sammy were (Sammy is an early bird and it was Brad's turn to get up with him! :) ).

I said "did you feel that?? did you feel it this time??) "

Of course he was jumping up with sammy and his eyes were wide as saucers.
..duhhhhh....of course he felt it.

But what else do you do?!? My adreniline went from "0" (sleeping) to 150 in 1.2 seconds!

Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha Coffee?!

Who needs that!

Just have an earthquake! *rolls her eyes*

Anyway, it registered a 6.6 and the aftershock of 6.3. We actually had about 19 aftershocks...but the biggest was 6.3.

And I couldn't believe how long it lasted.

We shook for a good 6 seconds (try counting to 6 in your head going 1 one thousand...2.one thousand...etc...) It felt like forever. Sammy was excited....he couldn't believe it.

And then when the power went out about 2 minutes later....he was beyond excitment.

I ran out into the hall to see if my parents were o.k.........open the door....

PITCH BLACK.

The emergency lights in our building did NOT work. The emergency stairwells were also completely dark. It was crazy!! It also didn't help that we were under flash flood warnings AND it was raining like crazy so we had this huge dark cloud over the island!!

I ran and grabbed a flashlight......

no batteries.

*insert slight panick mode here*

Light a candle, and go to try and find batteries.

In walks sammy with his little tykes flashlight.

my hero

"i'll help you mommy"





We go to his room and grab his other little tykes workbench light. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE little tykes!

haha....no, really...in the end....thank goodness we had them...i had no batteries! *bad, unprepared mom* (well, to be fair, I DID have them, but we used them in one of McKayla's toys a while back)

O.K so here we are it's only 7:30 in the morning.....no power (which means no t.v *gasp...which means no football..*double gasp)...no water.....we hadnt eaten breakfast yet.....

O.k Now do you REALIZE just how much we rely on electricity???? I couldnt open the fridge or freezer to get waffles, or milk, or anything for that matter. I couldn't COOK anything as a microwave, toaster oven, and oven ALL require.......electricity.

So, we were left with canned goods and some boxed stuff. Canned good consisted of veggies, tuna, spaghetti sauce, etc...NOTHING you could really eat as a meal...let alone serve to a 4 year old! (I can see it now....Hey sammy guess what?? you are so lucky...you get to have sardines for breakfast!! WHAT?? You dont want any?? why not?) The boxed stuff was gummies and sides for meals...stuffing, noodles etc... No bread....*sigh* So for breakfast he had dry cereal.

We (Brad and I) had nothing.

2 hours later he is understandably hungry again! (now there is NO worse feeling in the world then having your child say they are hungry and having NO idea what you can feed them) We finally resorted to boiling water over an oil lantern! I have a picture to prove it! (coming later today after I can get to downloading them)

Hey, desperate times call for despereate measures. We had plenty of bottled water so I put it in a pot, and Brad held it over the flame until it got hot enough for oatmeal (dinosaurs as Sammy calls it). It took about 25 min....but at least Sammy got to eat.....and we got a good laugh. (ignore the beer belly :) tee hee)




Brad and I still hadn't eaten anything, though we check the cupboards and pantry every 15 minutes to see if anything magically appeared that wasnt there the first 100 times we checked.

Sammy is bored.....McKayla doesnt notice anything other than she gets her brothers attention more.....Brad is bored...and I am .....well, bored.

And frankly....

I'll take that ANYDAY!

So the day wears on....still no power....no water....no music.....

just us.

Brad and I are STARVING. We debate weather to walk to the store (they actually open them here with no power... if you have cash...you form a line and they take you in individually with an employee and a flashlight and you "shop") But you are limited to what and how much they let you buy.

I needed bread or SOMETHING to eat and feed the kids (thank goodness McKayla is still nursing and I had baby food) But then we hear on the radio...no one is allowed out. You can be arrested. so, that was out of the question.......NOT......my kids are hungry!!...Brad got in the truck and went anyway....

only to come back and tell me there are about 200 people in line.

So, we wait

and wait

and wait.

Brad builds a fort for the kids to play in. Boy do they have a BLAST!!! It must have entertained them for a good hour....Sammy wanted to keep his room that way....yeah right!

Meanwhile I fret at what to feed them. *getting kinda touchy at this point with no food* Its about 3 pm now.

Well, to make a long story short...the power came back on around 7:30....*gets down on knees and Thanks God*.....Sammy was SO excited i WISH I could have had video of him....he was like "we did it mommy...we did it...the power is back!!" And he ran in circles whoopin and hollerin...it was SOOOOOOOOOO cute!

We also went on the lanai and Sammy and I yelled "thank you" to the power people who left their families to come into work and help us. YOU GUYS ARE SUCH A BLESSING! They waved back....I hope we made them smile....they brought more out (more electricians) so we could yell thank you to them. :) *to explain we live next to hawaiian electric....so we saw them sending people out to help (trucks and such)* After they got our lights on they went outside to call their families on their cell phones and were standing around......so we decided to let them know we appreciated it. And BOY DID WE! I think they appreciated the appreciation! tee hee.

So I whipped up a quick dinner of corn dogs, grapes, chips and mac-n-cheese. It tasted like steak and potatoes we were so hungry! :)

After that....we were exhausted....so Kayla went down, and then Sammy soon followed.

Brad and I stayed up to watch Amazing Race...and then I hit the sack as well.

What day....emotionally....

Guys.....things happen....

things we have NO CONTROL over....

it is SO important that you realize that your life can change AT ANY MOMENT!

And live like it!

Thank the people around you.....
help someone with their groceries....
don't go to bed angry...
or if someone stops to smile at your child....STOP...have a conversation with them....you may make their day.
Hug your child tighter...
have more patience....
call your mom.

Whatever it is that you may take for granted or don't do often enough...do me a favor....when you are done reading this....do something nice for someone else~

You would make my day!

Samuel's 4th Birthday Pictures.....

What a great...BUSY day it was! :)

Sammy woke up, and was insistent that he had to wait at least one more day for his birthday (huh? :) lol )

Finally after a few hints at what the day held....he was off!

We ate french toast sticks....and then Sammy helped put the goodie bags together!

He really enjoyed that...and picking the different colors and things for all the kids.

Then it was off to school. I informed Mrs. May we would be back around 2:30 (their snack time) with the cupcakes and bags. She was delighted.

Brad came home at 1:30 to assemble Sammy's bike......and then it was off to his school!

Here we are passing out the cupcakes..........



And then we passed out the goodie bags....He was truly proud of himself~




Here is the Birthday boy with his teacher Mrs. May


And after school....we went swimming at the pool, and then to dinner at Todais. *yummy*

Here we are after dinner...back at home...opening gifts..



Here is sammy blowing out his candle! heheheh on a cupcake! (he LOVES blowing them out)



"Look at me MEEEEE...I'm 4"



And then I couldn't resist these......

My cute little rugrat! I love her in pigtails!! *sigh*




Me and my girl! :) :) :)




Hugs to all! And to all a great day! :) ~~~~

Happy 4th Birthday bug!!!

Hard to believe you were once like this.......



And grew to this......



to this..........



To my wonderful, bright, sweet, energetic bug!!! I love you!


Happy birthday sweetie!!!!! xoxoxoxox

Sammy's first OPEN HOUSE.....

Well, I had my first experience as a parent that has a child in school!

Ahhhhh! :)

It was OPEN HOUSE at Sammy's pre-school.....I think both Brad and I grinned the whole way through it. hehehe

Wanted to share a few photo's we took~

Here is Brad and I standing outside during the "welcome" for all the parents.




Immedietly after that...Brad and I went to Samuels classroom, and the school director asked Sammy to help her get the snacks ready.....



Here he is enjoying the "fruits" of his labor! (brownies) LOL :) Yeah...like 3 of them! :)hehe



Here is Sammy pointing to a house he colored....with a picture of his family when you open the doors! :)



Here is the grumpy little man next to a drawing he did....hmmmmm "water going down the drain" is the title.......huh?! lol...what the....?




McKayla just played with Popo during the whole thing. Boy is this girl attached to her Popo. :) She is so lucky to have someone that loves her SOOO much!



All in all it was neat to be there and experience.

I am sure in a few years I will be dreading them...but for now i will savor another "first" with Sammy.....after all...I am running out of them! :(

The teacher said he was doing well....that he liked to "help out" a lot, and was particularly attached to another little girl ( I cant remember her name). She said they stick together like glue during the day! hehehe I am glad he has found a friend...though I know he gets along well with the other kids too.

They seem to switch friends like they do underwear! LOL

Another mom and I were comparing "notes' and we couldnt believe how many time we were asked EACH day..."are you my friend mommy?".

Funny (or maybe not..) how it starts so young!

So...I am happy with the school and Sammy seems to LOVE going each day! He even asks to go on weekends...the bugger! :) He comes home every day with a story or a new song he has learned. I enjoy "learning" them through him! :)

SO.....

This weekend we went shopping for Sammys birthday gifts. We got him a spider man bike, a backyardigans Pirate tub adventure toy, and a few other small things.

He has so many toys...I really do need to go through and donate some.

We also spent both days at the pool for a couple hours. It was so beautiful.

Here is McKayla and I .....



And one of my NEW favorite pictures........

Kayla and a doll at Sammys school. She has just started to notice babies...and baby dolls. Its cute to see her drag them around! hehehe

And I have no idea where the red in her hair comes from. I think she looks like her Grandma Darla. Many others agree. All in all she is MY little baby doll! :)



Thats all folks! Ya'all come back now ya hear! (and shoot me an email....I miss hearing from everyone!)

It would make my day! :) :) :) :) :)

Ladies and Gentleman....


Please allow me to introduce Sammy....the singing bug! :)

Here he is doing his version of the ABC's......





And then we have "itsy bitsy spider" and Kayla toddling in the background! *sigh* heheheheheh



I have to catch these moments when I can....it seems everyday they grow a bit more!

I am SO not ready to let go yet! :) :( :)

Have a GREAT weekend! *hugs*