2008 Hilights

Nana's Visit

I guess I haven't gotten to the site lately.  I have to go backwards a bit to report on Nana's visit.  The kids and I just loved having Nana here.  The funny thing was Mark did too and he kept trying to get off work early to come to the beach so he could feel like he was on holiday too.  It made Mark really ready for Thanksgiving.  Mark and I got to have some dates with just the two of us and I loved having Mum around to chat to all day long.  Alex used to cuddle me for a while when he woke from naps, but after a while, he started looking around for Nana when he got up as he knew he'd get a rough up and some fun play.  

Emily and Christopher loved getting picked up from school by Nana as she let them buy icies and they could walk home along the beach with no stroller.  We had a lovely time having Nana with us and everyone is already counting down to the next visit with Grandad too.

An Alligator Pond Afternoon

Kahana With Nana

We just loved having Nana to visit.  We spent a lovely afternoon at Kahana one day splashing in the waves and pretending we were on holiday too.  Nana helped us all slow down and enjoy Hawaii again. 

Alex is a plum fan it seems.

Pipeline Saturday

Mark and I love watching the waves and the surfers.  It's really good entertainment.

We also like watching the kids in the sand.  They all have a lovely time.

Emily and Christopher hardly look up the whole time.  They are really into collecting tiny shells and then taking them home to count them. 

Cheese!

Alex Turns One!

Alex tries chocolate cake for the first time.  It was a hit.  The kids enjoyed watching him almost as much as eating it themselves.  Almost.

Here we are trying to get a nice shot of the kids for Christmas.  This was about the best we could do after a day at church.

Emily and Alex did better by themselves.

Alex wasn't so cooperative for his last Sunday photo (I take a photo each week on the day they were born).

This one will work.

Happy Halloween

Cupid

Harry Potter (minus his cape as he was too sweaty) and the Fall Fairy

Kiffer had to be brought home from school this week as he crashed heads with another student in his class and ended up with another "head" sprouting out of his old one.  

You can see the bruise left behind.

Halloween Faces

The scary part of this picture is . . . that was all my clean washing!  

Alex had a blast climbing in and out of it all.  

Primary Sunday

Happy Sunday! Today was our primary presentation and the kids did very well...especially the biggest kid...Mark.  He had those kids singing beautifully and did a wonderful job.  By the end of church we were all pooped. You should have seen how many photos I had to take to get everyone looking happy.  A passerby took this one so I could be in it and everyone finally smiled for him.

I finally told the kids to just act grouchy and I got some much better pictures.  This was the best.  

ABC = Alex Bowling Cars

In the break I took the kids bowling at BYUH.  Daddy even managed to join us after work.  Alex was determined to play too and kept shifting all the bowling balls around.  Fortunately no little fingers were crushed.


Alex really is climbing all over the place now and I just needed to give him his first birthday present early...a toy car that makes lots of loud obnoxious noises.  Alex just loves noise and music.  I think we have the makings of a drummer like his dad.  

Temple Night

It was pretty exciting to pick up Daddy after his temple session and to walk around the temple at night instead of being in bed!

Kanaha FHE

Want to see where we had dinner last night?
We took the kids off for a Family Home evening adventure at Kahana last night.  It was overcast and windy, but all ours and quite lovely for everyone.  These pictures don't show the meltdown I almost had getting us there with all the stuff and a fussy baby.  Some things are not worth photographing.  Still, here's a little reality check from Alex. Before the tantrum . . .
During the tantrum . . .
Pause to smile at the camera in the middle of the tantrum.  Funny baby.
S'mores over the bonfire after dinner.
"How can I have S'more when I haven't had any yet?"

Cowboys

Kiffer still loves to dress up.  He also likes to project that onto Alex, who isn't fast enough to crawl away yet.

Here's my little monkey resisting his nap again.  

Growing Kids

The are really growing up and these pictures show that I think.  Emily is getting so good at reading and has become a bookworm with her nose in a Magic Treehouse book all the time. She is really looking tall and older lately. It's less than four months until her baptism!
Kiffer is getting longer and skinnier (if that's possible).  He comes home from school and says, "I just love kindergarten!"  He is so interested in everything about the ocean (lucky we live in Hawaii) and will sit through long science readers about icebergs and underwater sealife.  I usually get tired of reading before he's ready to stop.

Alex has gone from a baby who will sit in the radius of a hoolahoop, so a crawling, climbing baby in a week.  We are amazed at the things he can all of sudden get into.  He is having a little trouble getting to sleep now that he can climb up on the crib sides.  When I peek around the corner of the door to check on him, I am greeted by a big cheeky grin behind the binky.  What a monkey.