everyday vacation.

brock said this one was good enough to blog

2012-01-29T12:38:00.003-10:00

"UNCLE BROCK!!!!!" is here.

hair cuts, beach, smoothies,

and an unfortunate last name.

image pile up

2012-01-15T21:08:00.005-10:00

why do these nasty fake teeth never lose their novelty? they just never get old....

lola is in that i need to feed myself my food with a spoon phase. it's awesome and messy. this day i tried the "maybe if i put her yogurt in a cup and give her a straw it won't be as messy" approach. didn't really work.

lil ones

last wednesdays fruit and veggie co-op take homes. yummmmm.

my new primary class. a few were missing too, it's a large group (there are at least 3 that were not there that day) and they are super funny.

how lola looks anytime there is a bathing suit laying around. i love when she dresses herself.

i got some new app that you can edit pictures all fancy like. velz and ivy did these ones their selves. i think they are hysterical. the little things in the corner of velzy's kill me.

@ the park

2012-01-06T10:39:00.001-10:00

i realized the other day that lola has only played at a park playground a handful of times. tragic, right? so after her sisters went to school she and i walked over to the park to play. i think she liked it- she collected 3 cigarette butts, walked through broken glass and slid down the slides. now she is sleeping peacefully and our house is so quite. i should be working on the 57 things i have written down that i need to do but i am slacking. the washing machine is going so at least someone around here is working.

christmas break

2012-01-03T20:23:00.000-10:00

i know there are lots of moms who just want school to start again but i am dreading waking everyone up tomorrow for school, packing lunches and prodding sleepy monsters to get their teeth brushed and get out the door. we have not had the best weather (don't hate me if you have snow on the ground at your house), but it's been nice enough to get to the beach and have some fun. i really don't know what our family would do if we were not able to go to the beach together. i love to be there with my family. taking velzy and ivy out surfing the last few weeks has been some of the funest times ever. and even lola has had some great little bodyboard rides with luke. she sits on the front and laughs as they ride waves in. it's so cute.
velz and ivy like to go out on the soft top with me and play on it. we paddle around, knock each other off, jump off, practice balance and laugh. seriously one of my favorite activities of all time. i love the ages that the girls are at right now. even if they try to say they don't want to go to the beach they have so much fun when we get there. and i am really impressed with how good they are in the water. velz has been catching some waves on her own and also with me riding on the board behind her. the other day she took a wave in and "buttons" was on the inside and he was all stoked on her surfing and told her she was doing awesome. velz- stoking out the old pros. haha. of course i have no pictures of the girls surfing or anything, we need a good waterproof camera so bad. oh, and i failed to mention that on that last wave luke was on it coming in from the inside, so they shared the wave. when she go to the beach she was telling her friends "i shared a wave with my daddy!" so cute. sharing is caring.

christmas

2011-12-30T10:17:00.003-10:00

this post brought to you by phineas and ferb movie on netflix, lola sleeping in like crazy, sourdough toast and a see though toaster.

have i mentioned this taster before? you can watch your toast toast and push a button when it is at it's desired toasty-ness. i won it on my friend's foodie blog, it's awesome. my kids have lived on sourdough toast the last few days.

anyways, on to christmas...

huger than huge surfing santa in front of the PCC. we went on the christmas canoe ride and it was really fun. ivy wanted to go back every night. since we didn't make it to see santa at the mall- lines were toooo long and baby was too tired- this is what we will count as the girls picture with santa this year. and why am i the only one who follows direction and is throwin shaka?

luke and i got to visit with corbin santa. always a treat.

the girls had a christmas party at grandma connies. decorated cookies and played reindeer games. they had a grand old time. they are only slightly obsessed with niki.

they also reallllly enjoyed their 20 days of christmas from grams and papa. everyday they took turns opening their presents. usually first thing in the morning.

christmas mornin was fun- ivy almost cried because i made her wait 5 min to go into the living room but after that it was nice. ivy asked santa for a baby doll- third year in a row. this years model pees, really exciting stuff here. velzy wanted an ipad but settled for a remote control monster truck. and lola was happy to be "suprised" as ivy put it.
i am posting this picture for one reason- velzy looks like a freaking teenager. what is going on?

and now i can't find the rest of the pictures from christmas morning. oh well. we had church and the girls wore their new dresses from grams. they looked quite cute, i even got to do ivy's hair all nice. i love this sequence of pictures. everyones faces in all the pictures make me laugh.

a few other christmas pictures

random check in

2011-12-28T16:17:00.004-10:00

hello hello.

it's christmas vacation and we are enjoying ourselves.

i feel guilty writing that and only posting one picture but that is all i can do for now, it was too good not to share. it seems like every time i look at my blog i feel guilty that i suck at posting. i will try to remedy that soon.

hi. remember me?

2011-12-02T22:36:00.001-10:00

i am on a computer.
a real computer.
it's been weeks.
here is a random idea- how about more phone pictures?
it may do some grandma's some good.

total random moffat mayhem comin at ya...

if lola were to hang on a cross, it may look a lot like this

never ming the mashed potatoes, give me a giant scoop of cool whip

velz caught her first toad in kauai

lola has some growing to do-

hanalei

nervous about the flight

h-bowls

we practice safe swinging

velzy, in her element

one night around halloween lola got attacked by zombies

6:30 am coloring session

lola's first o'douls at our white trash thanksgiving party

late night flight home fron kauai

and i am spent

should have my computer back next week.

until till then, aloha.

another installment of phone pictures

2011-11-04T20:58:00.001-10:00

i need to take my camera in to be looked it, it's sorta funny these days, hence the ridiculous amount of phone pictures. i am not going to lie, i almost like them just as much as nice crisp camera pictures. i owe a halloween post for the grandma's but my computer is also acting sorta crazy so this is just a quick spewing out of pictures...

so happy. love both of their smiles.

it looks like they are being punished but really they are enjoying them selves reading. and since one is only wearing a shirt and the other is only wearing shorts they add up to one dressed little person.

our back yard is having some work done.... new grass comes tomorrow!

i told velz to get some junk clothes on so she could come play in the mud and she came out in a tu-tu. my thoughts exactly.

sometimes i feel like my life could be one of those "circle what is wrong with this picture" pages. they are always doing the funniest things.

i am obsessed with getting pictures of this sleeping baby right now.

and we have been getting lots of rain around these parts, the red dirt bleeds to the sea.

velz has her last soccer game tomorrow and kahuku is playing in the state championships as i type. our neighboors- whose tv's are outside in their carports are keeping me updated on the game status with their drunken yelling "come on kahuku, there you go..." "ohhhh!" "CHE-HOOOOO!" i love it.

2011-10-26T11:01:00.000-10:00

happy wednesday.

a huge plastic tarp

2011-10-23T21:06:00.002-10:00

makes the best slip-n-slide. ever. velzy was really exited to have a combined birthday with lola, so that is what we did. two-for-one parties are the best. and we have the best family and friends ever. ever. we are sooooo lucky to live in such a great place with so many people that we love. (now if i could just get my family to all up and move over....)
since i have lagged so bad at posting pictures of the shindig i just uploaded everything from that day that was on my camera, so enjoy! i need to get the videos of lola sliding on here, she was so funny and charged that hill. not that she had a choice- she was being pushed down. and ivy cried when i made her go down when we first started. a few hours later we could not get her off the slide. she is a funny one that girl. and of course, velzy had a blast. i love the age that she is- starting to do all the fun stuff that we like to do.

2011-10-21T11:18:00.002-10:00

hysterical laughter coming from the bathroom. i turn the corner to find- the tandem pee.

what will these girls come up with next?

and the baby has a pretty good a black eye:

and is still teething and sick and not sleeping well at night, in turn driving me crazy. love her.

pre-school field trip

2011-10-17T13:24:00.001-10:00

ivy had her first field trip last thursday. lola, gena, betsy and i joined the fun too.
on the bus with her partners and best buddies niki and olivia

i get yelled at by the bus driver for standing on her seat to take this picture. the kids rode the bus- i forgot how exciting that is for kids, velzy was so jealous ivy got to go on a bus before she did.
betsy, the little squirts and i drove and meet them there.
outside having a snack

the center has all sorts of stuff, and it is so easy to spend a ton of time there. we were only inside for a little while but the kids had so much fun.
proof:

the little lady turns one!

2011-10-12T11:55:00.002-10:00

i do realize i am biased, but i am convinced that lola is the cutest bestest baby.

anyways, she turned one september 29th and you know the drill i have to write all this down for posterity's sake.

things lola likes:
the bath, bath toys, dogs, sand, her sisters, playing with peoples hair, her blankets, smiling, laughing at her sisters, gathering plumeria flowers and holding on to them for long periods of time, sweets, stroller rides, fruit, smoothies, turkey, musubi (she is local), chocolate milk, playing catch/roll the ball,

things she does not like:
her sisters up in her face, having things taken away that she has decided she is attached to, diaper changes, when her sisters get out of the car and go to school- leaving her alone in the back seat,

she sorta takes a little more interest in walking and will walk a but holding our fingers but for too long.
she actually dug into her birthday cake (my first child to do so)!!! she sleeps from around 7:30 to around 6 and generally takes 2 naps a day, but we usually do something to throw her off. she had her dr appt yesterday and is 21 lbs, 29 inches. although she is getting big i feel like she is still really babish- she loves to be held and cuddled, and she just recently started drinking from a cup. she has 3 teeth on the top and 3 on the bottom and teething is not fun. i am afraid ivy may have rubbed off on her a bit and she is getting to be quite a loud little thing.

her heart is great! we figured it was since- they have not heard her murmur since she was 3 or 4 months old. we had to go back to the heart dr to get the all clear and i love the comparison to when she was 2 days old:

she really liked that crinkly paper on the bed. and she looks huge in these pictures. this is what she looked like when she was 2 days old:

she was soooo tiny!

birthday posts for velz and lola coming soon...

punkin patch

2011-10-10T22:00:00.003-10:00

let me start by saying luke and i entered the modern world and got phones with bells and whistles. and cameras and internet. and maps! they are much smarter than we are and we like them a little too much. in fact, velzy and ivy cheered when we got them. angry birds has been going off non stop- and i have managed to keep it a secret that i have it on my phone, which means the girls can be found being extra nice to luke trying to score a chance to play.

these pictures are brought to you by my new phone. they are so fun. it was nice to take out a phone to take pictures and not have to bring a big bulky camera. i am one of those nerdy parents following around their kids with their phones out. awesome. so, you can expect a whole lot of posts like this in the future. sorry. and your welcome- because maybe i will post more?

pick your own pumpkin and a hayride makes for a morning well spent.
washed down with some wailua bakery and surfing at chuns.
not a bad day.
not at all.

hi.

2011-09-22T21:40:00.002-10:00

(apparently i felt like typing this evening)

tonight we hung out in the laie shopping center. we were going to go to the beach this evening but velzy really wanted to go buy some black halloween hair spray so she can spray her hair for school tomorrow. she paid for it herself, she was so excited she ripped one of her dollar bills. when we finally left foodlandia we ordered a cheese pizza to take to the point- cause there is zero motivation to cook when luke is not around. when i went to pick it up, after terrorizing ace hardware for a while, the guy informed me that my pizza was done but there were too many bubbles in it so he was making me a new one. and i quote "the standard of pizza in hawaii is way low. it's unacceptable. i need to give you a good looking pizza." but i happen to like the bubbles and i just needed the food, lola was sucking on his window and benches, we were hungry. soon enough we were on the point with 2 pizzas and some pineapple orange hawaiian suns. of course, we ate the pizza with the bubbles on it. it was a lovely little dinner date with my ladies. i really like them. they have the most amazing ability to make me crazy (lets not talk about the massive amount of yogurt that came spraying alllll over the kitchen from out of a teny-tiny gogurt when velzy banged it on the counter), but they also make me super happy.

on to the pictures:

i am not going to lie- homework time can be crappy. but we have gotten into a groove- possibly because chocolate chips were introduced to the process. velzy likes to help ivy. ivy doesn't really like that all the time, but sometimes she humors her overly mothering sister, who has decided it's a clothing optional activity.

last time ivy wore these shorts she was a year old. we found them the other day and they are now a part of her wardrobe. and if you know how ivy dresses, if it's something she likes you are going to see a hell of a lot of it. so she has been rockin the booty shorts lately.

same story with this little number. funny enough, when the girls wore this when they were little it was wearing them and now she looks pretty cute in it. oh, and make note of the length of her bangs in this picture, it just may change in the future...

velzy gave herself a nose job.

ya know in the californa gurls video how katy perry's boobs are cupcakes then they start shooting off whip cream in the end?

this is ivy's version.

have i embarrassed her enough this post? she does it to herself. the girl is one of the most entertaining people i have come across. she is NUTS.

bubs. aka the worlds slowest teether. not happy about that. especially when she wakes up and is inconsolable in the night. poor baby.

what i have been doing to stay busy while luke is gone.

and the new do. not as bad as the last time she chopped it off. i was wondering why she was taking out the bathroom trash... at least she cleans up after herself.

now i need to attend to the mess that is my bedroom. luke would die if he saw it right now.

soccer

2011-09-19T09:16:00.000-10:00

this is turning into a soccer mom blog.

last night i read a bunch of old posts from when ivy was lola's age and it made me so happy that i blogged. and i blogged a lot. made me want to blog a lot more.

image pile up

2011-09-11T16:15:00.000-10:00

most of these go with the last post i reckon.

i have not been good with taking pictures lately.

these are the only ones i have of velz @ soccer. action ones next week- promise.

how to move your highchair closer to the table:

(apparently videos uploaded directly to blogger have crappy quality. sorry bout that.)

happy

2011-09-10T12:43:00.000-10:00

just a few things making me happy lately-

-velzy scored 4 goals at her game this morning! it was so fun to watch/coach. all of the sudden she has ball control and is a little attack machine.
-i have been waking up early to work out and i love it. when i get home i sit on my deck and watch the sunrise and read scriptures. there have been the best sunrises lately. it's been dead winds for the last week and the ocean and mountains have been beautiful. so spoiled to live where we do.
-we have been trying to eat healthier = lots of fruit. lots of fruit = lots of smoothies. lots of smoothies = vitamix. oh yeah! i have wanted one of these for forever and got one last weekend. i has been used at least 2 or 3 times daily and it's amazing.
-we have some waves! even if i have only been surfing t-bay or castles the last few weeks it's getting in the water and that makes me a happy girl.
-everyone is finally healthy again. 3 weeks of off and on sickness sucked. glad it's over!
-lola is ticklish and is hysterical.
-ivy thinks she can read her books that she brings home from school and it's so funny to listen to.
-backyard bonfires rule. we collect drift wood durning the week from the beach across the street then burn it on friday or saturday night. it's so fun.

and now the girls have so kindly woken up lola from her nap so i will stop for now.

my 11 month old bebe

2011-09-04T22:53:00.001-10:00

in a month she will be ONE. that is amazing to me.

*it's real cute how she blows bubbles with mouth- often times while humming.
*enter the age of exploration- i love hearing her crawl so fast on the floor and stop suddenly to discover something new
*the girl likes to chew rocks. apparently she swallowed one the other day and i have yet to see it...
*fruit- she loves her fruit, can't get enough of it. i am thinking about going fruitarian and i think she would be real happy about that decision.
*one of her favorite things to do it open the screen and go outside onto the back deck and check out what is going on outside
*cruising a bit more these days, but i don't see her walking anytime soon
*somedays she takes these 9-12 naps and they are amazing. if her sisters are home they don't happen. at all.
*she is a biter. and i have to laugh when she gets one of the girls.
*she is a ball of happiness. luke was just saying how she just waits for you to look at her so she can smile at you. she almost always has a smile on her face. having her around makes life better.
*at the beach she will sit and slowly plant her face in the sand and hold it there for a few seconds. sandy monster!

sick and tired

2011-09-02T11:11:00.001-10:00

beginning of last week it was v.

beginning of this week luke got a sinus infection and pink eye.

and now, end of this week, this is ivy:

boo.

2011-08-21T13:37:00.001-10:00

i don't know where she got this laugh from, it's crazy. crazy funny.

3 of the last 4 days...

2011-08-20T21:33:00.001-10:00

summer

2011-08-17T10:26:00.001-10:00

as much as i love when there are waves on the north shore, i love when it is flat as well.

sunset beach.

some random day after school.

first day of pre-school!

2011-08-09T11:21:00.000-10:00

i think she was a little excited...

i was sure she was going to clam up and be clingy once we got inside but she didn't. it really helps that her best buddy (and cousin) niki is there. they jumped right into playing and never looked back.
she was even pumped for homework!

so now, three days a week it is just me and the lola. which is strange. but great. she doesn't laugh as hard or often when her sisters are not home to entertain her. i think she misses them, but we are going to have lots of fun and be very productive when they are not around.

first day of school!

2011-08-02T10:50:00.000-10:00

my big first grader!

i may be biased but she just might be the cutest little girl in all of Laie school.

the first day was a success. from what i gather she likes her teacher and the kids in her class. she is especially happy that her friends coral and ezekiel are in her class. on the way to school she got some butterflies but by today she was running ahead to go to class on her own.

and, of course she was assigned to sit next to the one person in class she is not fond of. i am sure she will be moved soon!

good morning.

2011-08-01T21:46:00.000-10:00

sometimes i feel like i am interrupting whatever it is these 3 are doing. later this same day i walked into the girls room to find lola in only a diaper and ivy and velz both had on nothing but a pull-up, they were all crawling around and talking baby talk.
i like them.

i am re-naming my blog "LOLA @"

2011-07-31T21:07:00.003-10:00

because the only thing that i can be counted on to blog about is lola's monthly accomplishments... at least for another two months till she is 1.
so, the little lady turned 10 months on friday. she survived her first "last week of summer" and only got a few small kine sunburns- impressive. honestly, not much has changed since i last posted about her... she has these funny super high steps she takes when you hold her hands for her to walk, but she is really still not into the whole cruzing thing. another tooth on the top and a bottom tooth broke through. she thinks it's funny to bite my shoulder. velzy and ivy think it's funny to have her bite their fingers. we will see how long that lasts. she can eat and eat and eat. but she did reject her first food- mashed potatoes. her skin has been really great lately, she has only had one rash break out in a month! she loves her blankets a lot. when you give one to her she just laughs and hugs it. there has to be one in her crib to sleep with- you put her in and she pounces on it and falls asleep. she loves playing with her tongue, discovering her teeth i think. she can be a tad emotional at times, for the silliest reasons- like how whenever gena touches her she cries. she is an early riser. that may or may not have something to do with all the fricken roosters right out side her window. and she has started stying to stand on her own, she will let go of your leg or whatever she is pulled up on and balance for 2 seconds, and she is oh so proud of herself.

and now i am going to post wayyyy too many pictures of her in her highchair. cause i think they are really, really funny and her grandma's will appreciate it.

and yes, yes i do take too many pictures of her in her high chair, but i can't help it she is just so cute sitting there.

till next month.... hopefully not really though.

lola @ 9 months

2011-07-17T21:56:00.004-10:00

the little ball of sunshine turned 9 months in california. that was almost 3 weeks ago.... oh well.
here is what was up in here life:
-she pulls up all over the place. but is not good at moving her feet/bending her legs. she usually pulls up on things that are not too sturdy and falls. but to her credit she is pretty good at lowering herself down when she does pick something sturdy.
-she is a pat-a-cake champion
-as soon as i pick her up there is a hand in my hair.
-she did well on her first plane ride. she loved watching people and making new friends, one lady held her for a good 45 minutes. and when i say good, i mean it was really good for me, my arms were so tired from trying to contain her energy. it's a good thing she is cute and personable.
-she loves all animals. her first "word" is "dog" or "da" as it sounds but she says it whenever she spies a furry friend. she is really into the cat at gunstock ranch and "petting" it- pulling it's tail and grabbing fists full of fur. we are working on being soft.
-when asked, she will give a lovely open mouth kiss.
-her first tooth finally came in- her top left. go snaggletooth!
-she has the cutest little wave that she does. i know this is nothing novel but i really like her little wave- it's like how they wave "come here" in spain.
-her favorite toys are small tubes of sunscreen or lotion, she loves them lots and takes them all over. and is if you happen to take one away from her, watch out.
-she dances to music- swaying back and forth.
-she has really been working on her tan lately and i love the white in her fat folds on her ankles. such a cute little beach baby. and she really likes to sit and bend over so that she does face plant straight into the sand, often with her mouth open. she has sampled a wide variety of sands, seaweeds, and even a really large sand crab made it into her mouth. nasty.
-stats: 20 lb 3 oz and 27.5 inches long

2011-07-13T06:38:00.000-10:00

i totally forgot i have a blog.

and i totally forgot to get pictures off my parents cameras from all the good times in california, and i didn't take all that many pictures... so come back and look for a vacation post next month.

at least i can guarantee a 9 month lola post in the next few days... other than that... don't hold your breath.

2011-06-22T23:21:00.002-10:00

i talked to my grandma the other day. it made me sad to think that she has not seen this little person in person yet.
YET.

because, in 2 days we will be in california.

in CALIFORNIA.

makes me happy just typing it.

yippie!

hooray for: family, friends, mexican food, 4th of july, cold water waves, crescent bay, oreos, hair cuts, trader joe's, 24 hour fitness, flea markets, swimming at the pool, mountains, horse rides, guns, in-n-out, laziness, traffic, family, friends, and hooya... it's been a while since i have been back and i miss it.

p.s. blue steel baby is teething and has a gunky nose. should make for an interesting first plane ride.

and i can't forget...

2011-06-19T14:49:00.001-10:00

my D.O.D. on this day of fathers.

i love my dad.

happy fathers day

2011-06-18T22:03:00.002-10:00

being that it's fathers day tomorrow i thought i may give a shout out to luke and his fathering skillz. cause he is a damn fine father and i hope he knows that i know that. really, he is. has been from the get go. well, there was that time that he slept when i was in labor and felt like i was dying but since our first born was not breathing air yet i guess that doesn't count. luke is great with the midgets. he is always teaching them new things or getting them excited about the things that he likes, which is quite smart because that way they enjoy spending time together doing the same stuff- like playing at the beach (swimming, surfing, snorkeling) and playing/singing/listening to music. i love watching them together and am so glad that he is their dadda.

will photobooth ever get old?

2011-06-12T22:56:00.000-10:00

no. the answer is no.

he was back.

2011-06-12T20:45:00.000-10:00

for a few quick days at least. he left for a quick trip to baltimore last night.

i have not even had a chance to look at his pictures, but i can't wait to see them all and hear the tails he has to tell. one of the guys on his tour sent him these. i was just looking at them on my desk top and had to post them.

this first one has got to be my favorite. i can't look at it and not laugh. luke, soaking it all in. or sending out the vibe. either one, equally entertaining.

and then there is luke the discoverer.

and luke the nat geo photographer in action.

he never ceases to amaze me.

8 months lola

2011-06-02T23:11:00.002-10:00

all of the sudden lil lola is not seeming so lil. when i lay her down she looks so big. she is still very much baby, but something has changed.

she started crawling on her 8 month birthday- which was on sunday. not much else has changed in the last month... she has become more and more into playing with (read:pulling) hair, but because of this she gives really good hugs- to get her arms around your neck to get to your hair. she also pats you on the back when she hugs you, i do that to her so i guess that is where she got it? she does the splits all the time. for a while it was the only way she could sit up- laying down she would push back till her legs were fully spread and do a push up to sitting. i know babies are flexible but she is exceptionally flexible. her hair is starting to grow a bit, its light and fluffy and sticks straight up on the top. she still loves her sisters and food, being heard and laughing, the water and eating sand. and is a pretty happy kid. still no teeth. she pretty much sleeps through the night (around 7:30 pm- 6-ish in the morn) the last week or so- she had to learn it though. she has the cutest little baby talk, squeals and giggles, and if your velzy or ivy she cracks up at pretty much whatever you do.

and of course, we love love love her so much.

(thanks mom for the pictures!)

crafty craft craft

2011-05-31T23:24:00.002-10:00

all finished. this quilt top was completed before ivy was born. it has only taken 4 years to quilt and bind it. not too bad.

i hand quilted with embroidery floss and i love it. it turned out so pretty.

the back is cool too but i don't have a picture for you at this moment.

and then...
for mothers day i got myself a long grey skirt, it's real great. i decided i needed a nice top to wear with it to church the next day, but who am i kidding i have no stylish clothes. sooo, i decided to "dress up a shirt" one night while watching a certain movie featuring johnny knoxville and his friends. apparently i may have been a bit distracted by the movies subject matter... maybe. whatever the reason, my shirt that was copying this one:

(yes, it's a onesie but i thought it may look cool.)

looked like this when i first put it on:

but when worn for longer than 5 seconds it looked like this:

luke laughed at me when i put it on. like, a full on belly laugh at you.
crafting failure. needless to say i didn't wear it to church as planned.

apparently it didn't get me down too bad cause my motha and i just finished a huge, huge radical quilt top for my bed. more to come on that later... but it is going to be shipped out to be quilted first cause it's too big to do with my lil ole machine.

so, i guess i just need to stick to quilts as my craft of choice- which is good cause they get so much use here on a hot humid tropical island.

2011-05-28T22:10:00.001-10:00

front pony, pink jewel necklace, musicians friend magazine, and two adoring aspiring musicians.

the little ladies have been getting really into music lately.

velzy is going to play the drums.

ivy the guitar.

both will sing.

their dad will be their biggest fan.
currently one of my favorite things-
listening to him play the guitar while they sing along.
it's priceless really.

and currently-

luke is in china.

has been for a week, will be there for another.

luckily my mom volunteered to come hang with us.

it's just better for all of us that way.

well, everyone but my love-handles.

image pile up

2011-05-18T20:48:00.001-10:00

apparently, velzy really wants earrings. she invented the bobby-pin-silly-band earring a few weeks back and sports a new variation pretty much everyday.

technology bringing the family together

bathtub safety stance

nerd alert

2011-05-15T22:06:00.002-10:00

a few easter pictures

2011-05-11T21:53:00.000-10:00

i wish i could mix these next two pictures together:

better late than never.

7 month lola

2011-05-07T16:05:00.007-10:00

i have decided everyone needs a lola in their life. she is only 7 months and yet she brings soooo much happiness with her. everything is smile worthy, she is pretty much always happy, and i think i want to clone her. 100 little lola's running around. it may get crazy when she turns 2 but the baby version is awesome.
this last month:
*she has a fake cough, as well as a fake laugh.
*i started clicking my tongue one day and she did it back- it's like the african tongue click language.
*turns out those kisses i talked about at 6 months are more of bites. she's gonna be a biter- ivy may have to learn about "personal space" once lola gets teeth.
*she is too lazy to crawl or work to get things. if something gets away from her she just finds something else to amuse her.
*rocks back and forth all the time. it's funny when she is sitting cause she will get going so much that she tips over. she does it when she is sitting on my lap and head-buts my collar bone or shell necklace often. and even does it when she is laying down- which results in her head bonking the floor. it is pretty funny.
*the girl has found her toes and likes to suck on them- is it funny to anyone else when babies "find parts of their bodies? is it like they just didnt have them before?
*just like the rest of us in this household she is very polite- she crosses her legs when she eats.
*her little feet are always moving. always. yesterday we went for a run and i didn't hear a peep out of her the whole time but her little feet never stopped moving. it looked like she was doing "alphabets" like you do in physical therapy for an ankle injury.
*a few weeks ago she took her first wave with luke at sunset. we will pretend that she loved it, but she might have been crying since luke was sort of laying on her.
*the girl loves stuffed animals
*and she thinks she is one of the gang... i mean she is, but it's so funny that she just joins in with everyone. like in the car when it's really noisy or we are singing she starts singing along too. and with velz and ivy the louder the better, she loves it.

what am i going to do...

2011-05-03T22:43:00.003-10:00

with my little girls?
this is what velzy started to walk downstairs in to go to ivy's birthday party. apparently a few days before there was a girl at the beach with a similar looking suit on and she and luke were talking about it. i guess she liked it?

points for creativity.

and then there is ivy, who runs out into the living room tonight totally naked with a microphone in her hand shouting "what's up my nickers?"
she likes to be naked.
i have no idea were she gets that from.

but seriously, what am i going to do when i have a 16, 15, and 12 year old girls. our house is going to be a battlefield of emotions, hormones, and drama. well, i hope/pray that it's not but i worry. i don't do particularly well with drama and i am not sympathetic to many of the "issues" that come along with girls. after a rather emotion filled bedtime on sunday with both the older girls turning on the waterworks and sobs, i wrote in my journal "i am scared $hitle$$ to raise these little people." now, lets say hello to my over-dramatic girly side. but i am really, truly scared. we have fun together and i love them so much but what happens when i can't fix their problems by asking if they want to jump on the trampoline with me? or give them a popsicle? i guess i will mature as a mom (ha!) as they mature as people but i know i am in for it.

have i mentioned how much i love saturdays?

2011-04-30T22:42:00.000-10:00

sunset beach 4/23/11

the 4 year old

2011-04-30T20:00:00.005-10:00

ivy maluhia. this kid knows how to have a birthday. over a month ago she had a lil un-birthday celebration with my parents.

and yes those are sirloin burgers in plastic wrappers- the chosen diner by the un-birthday girl. we are classy like that. thank you costco samples for making good foods taste great.

on her real birthday we had breakfast at hukilau cafe. tradition.

that weekend we meet up with some of luke's co-workers and went to the zoo for an after hours tour and told her it was for her birthday.
no pictures. sorry. it was cool though.

and then, she had to have a friends party- because your not really a year older untill you have has a party. so we got out the broken slip-n-slide, ate some hot dogs, threw some water balloons, had everyone blow out the candles, jumped on the wet trampoline and demolished 6 lbs of gummy bears. it was a good time.

ivy was so looking forward to her whale party and then when all her friends did come over she got real quite. it's so funny how she loves attention- but when she is given all the attention she doesn't want it. she wouldn't blow out her candles and snuck all her presents inside and opened them all up on her own. she is such a funny little person.

now the month of april and her birthday is officially over. i have taken notes and expect the whole month of november to be dedicated to me and my birthday- which just so happens to be on 11-11-11 this year.

sisters

2011-04-30T07:13:00.002-10:00

i wish i knew what they were talking about.
and i wish they were always such good little buddies.

easter morning

2011-04-25T12:13:00.000-10:00

luke's face= priceless

more to come...

image pile up

2011-04-19T22:37:00.003-10:00

a detour after a run last week, back tracking and forward tracking for 20 minutes to find these weed flowers. so worth it, look how happy the kid was.

our stained glass creations:

our neighbors poor car- parked in front of our house when hit. so sad.

i have no pictures of lola and me (ahem. luke...) so i really like this one. it could be anyone holding her, but it's not, it's me. she looks so peaceful.

lola's new babysitter:

don't tell andy davis that i copied his art for my wall

(i have a shirt with this on it. when i was pregnant with lola, ivy pointed out that it was our family and assigned each girl in our family to one of the girls on the shirt. i wanted to get a print and andy davis said he didn't have a print but would make me one- for $500. i decided to make my own.)

mmmmilk. (grams, you will be happy to know it was chocolate)

crazy little girls

and this is for grandma. this is from a few weeks ago, they are obviously way more advanced now. pretty much almost olympic swimmers.

2011-04-11T14:14:00.000-10:00

monday morning:

(laundry day)

saturday evening:

(picnic at ali'i' with the smiths and some naked bodysurfing for the girls. luke and i would have joined but i am pretty sure out white buns would not have been as cute or appreciated as ivy's were.)

hurry back weekend!

6 months

2011-04-07T23:30:00.003-10:00

look who turned is six months old last week:

sorry for the million pictures, but they make me laugh so why not post em all.
the happenings:
sitting, like a champ. babies have the best posture.
scooting back and around her blanket.
slobber, chew, slobber
sleeping through the night, well, for the most part till 4 or 5-ish.
such a trooper- she is always getting lugged around and woken up but she is such a happy kid and even if she is tired she has smiles for everyone.
ba ba ba- i love when she "talks"
gives kisses to velz and ivy, big open mouth kisses
pinches, a lot and hard and it hurts
wakes up in the morning and hangs out all happy in her crib- screeching, yelling, making happy noises rolling around her crib. it's the best way to start a day.
likes to swim and play in the water- beach, pools at turtle bay, don't matter, she is happy in water.
had her first sandy diaper. handfuls of sand on saturday = sandy poop on sunday.
loves to grab hair
laughs when she eats
her legs are always kicking when you hold her, especially when she gets really excited she kicks super fast.
stats:
weight: 17 lbs 2 oz
height: 26 inches

i can't believe it's been 6 months already. that seems like such a long time, but then again for as quick as it has gone it seems like she has been around forever. we love out little lady.

best day

2011-04-05T07:11:00.003-10:00

lets just say it: "ashley, you suck at blogging." i know. i wish i could say i will do better. maybe.
i started this post a while ago and since i have been too lazy to upload any pictures its only words. i have not been taking many pictures, i think that is what my problem is. i need to take more pictures.
anyways...
last friday it was windy. it had been real windy, for a real long time. and when you live in the windward side of an island that is really windy it means you have salt crusted windows and a layer of salt on your car. it means clouds get stuck on the mountains and it rains or it blocks out the sun. and it means it's cold at the beach. so we have not been beaching it too much. but there is the bay down the road and it just so happens to get these really fun windswells when it's windier than windy. the water is smelly and dark from the river that bleeds into it and it may have leptospirosis in it. however, when there are fun waves, there are fun waves and all that is forgotten. and you definitely don't drink the water. lately, since having #3 i reckon, i don't get to surf as much as i would like to. it sucks to not get in the water all the time BUT it makes it that much better when you do. i went a little crazy on that friday at that bay, on that maroon surfboard with the stripes, on those little waves that broke for a long time. good friends watched the little ladies- who were happy as clams to play in the sand and water while i surfed- and i had soooooo much fun. i found myself paddling as fast as i could, perma-grin attached to my face, catching wave. after wave. after wave. a couple times falling off my board because i was laughing. ah. it was so good. because sometimes- life is hard. having kids is a challenge. i get frustrated with little ears that don't listen. i get annoyed with rashes on pretty little faces. and sometimes i sweat the small stuff. BUT that afternoon was so much fun.

and just so i don't forget- cause it was so funny- velzy was so happy to play in the water that when we got there she ran out and jumped in, best part was that she was fully dressed. sometimes the water is just too inviting. and she also- on her own- took her boogie board out as far as she could touch and caught waves and stood up on her board. made me heart happy.

2011-03-29T23:21:00.002-10:00

no school monday. our to do list:
fide drif wood, feed the horseses, 7-elevlelen

stealing blood

2011-03-14T22:07:00.002-10:00

lets talk about blood. i have never donated blood. it's something i have always wanted to do but anytime i find it would work out to do i have been anemic, growing a baby or nursing a baby, or had babies with me that could not hang around while i got blood taken. while i was pregnant with lola, ivy loved to watch me have my blood drawn. i have real nice veins. or so they say. and i love pregnant veins that are huge cause you have so much extra blood pumping through them.
so now i have this baby named lola and today she had to have her blood drawn:

(my happy laundry helper)

in case you haven't heard, she is about the greatest thing in the world to me (there is a 10 way tie, but we can talk about that later). she is the happiest and cutest thing. she is giggly and fun and i am not joking when i said that she makes me smile so hard it hurts. just thinking about her makes me happy. not many things can do that, so i think she is pretty special.
since her introduction to this world it seems like there is always some little thing wrong with her little body- just little annoyances really. i am reminded daily that they really are little and i am sooooo blessed to have healthy children. the whole eczema think has been increasingly annoying to me and she. i took her to the doctor today who suggested we get some blood tests done to see if she is allergic to any of the big allergens- ya know- eggs, dairy, wheat, soy, peanuts... and then we will go on and see if we need to go to an allergist to figure out the rest. i was on an elimination diet for a few weeks (not fun) and figured out she is allergic to potatoes, but there are some more things that i can't quite pinpoint and don't have the self control or discipline to do it on my own.
we walked down stairs to have blood drawn from their lab and they poked and prodded and couldn't get to a vein in her chubby arm. so we had to go down to kapiolani and they found a vein and were able to steal her blood just fine. she was not so happy about it, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. i really, really want to know what all is bothering her so that i can stop eating it and also so i can avoid feeding it to her in the future- it would suck to have her have a crazy reaction to something at home.
anyways, moral of the story is that although days like today can be a tad annoying and inconvenient (luckily betsy and chandra are radical and each took a child off my hands) i always come home feeling super blessed. i drove home thinking about how lucky i am to have three little monsters who are healthy- who can run and jump and play, smile and laugh, and even kick and hit because it means that they have legs to kick with and arms to hit with.
yep, i am pretty lucky.

super citizen

2011-03-13T21:12:00.000-10:00

is a big deal.
really.

super citizen is an award given to a student or two from every class, each month. they have a big assembly, that the whole school is there for, and it's sort of a party. velzy was chosen last month because she was "the best she could be in all things" or something like that. she was pretty stoked.
(fuzzy picture but i like it too much not to post it)

although at times she can drive me crazy, velzy is a sweetheart. she is a great student, has very nice hand writing (especially for a lefty), and loves school and her teachers. yesterday she really wanted to push the stroller and i asked why, to which she responded "i just really want to help you. you do so much for me all the time i want to help you." oh. ok. she talks like a big person lately, using words that are descriptive and often says things better than i would. the girl is fast. we have been having races- she is pretty quick and really good at getting in your way so you have to slow down. i am sure the day is not too far off when she really can beat me. just like i am sure she will be taller than me next year. she loves to catch bugs and be outside with her friends. she can be a tad emotional and has a new little attitude that comes with eye rolls. not awesome. but we are working on that.

i love my little super citizen!

dinner and a show

2011-03-06T20:04:00.001-10:00

5 months

2011-03-02T14:03:00.007-10:00

5 months?!? time flies! we love lola! the last month has brought some important firsts in a girls life- first pedicure (silver), first tattoo (hearts on each leg from ivy) & first food. all very important things! in typical baby form she: is rolling both ways, is suddenly amazingly grabby, puts everything in her mouth, loves being on her tummy, is obsessed with drinking water out of our cups, discovered the television and has started sitting- a little:

this pretty much sums up life with ivy- a little rough at times but fun!

both of her little mammas are so good to her. velz has taken it upon herself to teach her how to sit and makes sure she practices. she also thinks she is real cool that she can hold her and walk around (scary). ivy loves to make her laugh- sometimes she is a little rough so i love it when lola gets ahold of her hair and gives it back to her. and if she is crying ivy yells "mom! feed her!!!" luke plays guitar for her and i am, well, the milk truck. and we have a lot of fun together making each other laugh too.

a detective game

2011-02-24T22:04:00.000-10:00

hi. i have mentioned that lola has eczema, right? it's annoying. sooo annoying. i have this problem where when i or one of my offspring have a health problem i tend to obsess over it. and i am doing just that right now over lola's poor skin. i have come to the conclusion (and the doc thinks so too) that it's a food allergy setting the eczema off.
last week- all week- she had the prettyist clear smooth baby skin. it was beautiful. there was no bumps, scales, rashes, cuts on her cheeks from scratching... just pretty baby skin. i loved it. i was thinking we may be in the clear! and then she woke up from her nap on sunday with some bumps, which spread to more bumps. this morning when she woke up her cheeks and neck were bright red, with lots of bumps and some scaly dry parts and you could tell it hurt. and it is so so so sad.
then i get obsessed with trying to figure out what is going on and how i can get rid of it. i have spent the last few hours reading up on baby allergies and trying to figure out what it is that i am eating that is effecting her so badly. it's really quite sad. it makes me feel bad that what i am feeding her (milk from my chichi's as ivy puts it and a little bit of poi) is making her feel and look all nasty. but i must say, the internet is home to tons of really interesting information that has helped me a lot and given me hope that i can help lil lola. it's weird though, cause she is getting whatever is making her sick from me but breast milk is still the best thing to give her cause it helps her little body in so many different ways. there are just so many different food things that could be setting off her flare ups. so we are onto the great detective game- is it dairy? is it wheat? is it citrus? tomatoes? onions? berries? potatoes? coconut?.... what is strange to me is that i didn't watch what i ate at all last week and yet her skin was just fine. it's so frustrating. i know this is not the end of the world, it's just so sad to see her face and neck all red and flared up and to watch her try to scratch at it.
anyways, just wanted to take a minute away from my research and say hi to the blogging world. if you need me i will be standing in front of my fridge trying to find something to eat that does not have any possible allergens in it.
and it is good to know that i was eating massive amounts of jelly bellies last week when her skin was clear so the 73 jelly bellies that i have consumed in the last hour or so will not be harming lola's at all. lucky me.

baby meets poi

2011-02-23T12:06:00.000-10:00

luke day 2011

2011-02-18T09:45:00.000-10:00

cafe haleiwa
kaena point
wailua bakery
waimea

everyday should be luke day.

hula

2011-02-18T09:16:00.000-10:00

ivy has wanted to do hula for a while now. so we signed up and started a week ago. i am pretty sure we are quitting this week. rad.
these are from their first day, when they were excited to go- not crying and saying they hate it like they did this week.

after the first day when we were in the car on the way home we asked ivy how she liked it and she replied "it was awful and boring."
so there you have it. hula- awful and boring. although i think ivy is just too young for this group- since there were 8 year olds in the group who are just a tad more mature, focused, and experienced than my almost 4 year old little punk. velz looked like she was hanging better but still she apparently hates it too. it's funny cause they are with niki, addy and a bunch of velzy's friends from school. i thought at least the peer pressure would get them into it. this week we had a huge blow-out just trying to get them there. and i really don't think i want to kill myself getting them to go or killing them trying to make them like it. maybe in a few years...

image pile up

2011-02-17T21:13:00.002-10:00

i have never been so unmotivated to blog, ever (crazy kids, impatient crazy me, lola has bronchitis, i don't like looking at the computer screen...). but these are for you mamma. hope your feeling better soon.

such a novelty.

the happy one.

the happy one's skin. although, it has been really good all this week.

she had to have the burrito, then decided it was disgusting but had to sit till she ate it. this is the first time i have ever had a child fall asleep at the table, i was so happy. silly, but i think it's so funny when this happens. then i tried to move her to her bed. bad decision. very bad decision.

truth be told:

i did 80% of the coloring.

real nice sunrises around here lately.

love them

she is now an amby-roller.
and lauren, you don't even know how much use this blanket has gotten- so much puke has graced it's pretty fabrics. and it has received quite a few compliments.

he got what he deserved.

missing these buns.

lola @ 4 months

2011-02-01T22:13:00.002-10:00

miss lola.

my happy baby.

currently likes to:

watch velzy and ivy

be naked
eat

suck her hands, lips and blankets

tummy time and is getting so strong

singing in her crib when she wakes up

be held
smile and laugh

squirm all the time

wrestle with her blankets

26 inches
15 lbs 8 oz

her left eye's tear duct finally cleared up!

thrush is finally freaking gone.

and now we just have super sensitive skin to worry about :(
(dr yesterday came to the conlusion that it is eczema)

but it doesn't seem to get her down,

if she is happy, i am happy.

and we are usually happy.

i love my little one.

life- january 2011

2011-01-31T19:02:00.003-10:00

life with ivy:
"NO, i want to go surfing, i don't want to stay on the shore!"
"i am the smartest in the family. 5 and 5 is 10. see."
"i wish i was up there with them, cause i want to be next to Heavenly Father" (5 hang gliders in the sky)

we have a new member of our family. his name is "secret ghost brother." he is a silent, sneaky family member. i have not had the pleasure of meeting him yet. he first appeared one day when ivy was out on the deck painting her nails, he came and knocked over a new bottle of nail polish remover. since then he has done all sorts of things. usually he and ivy hang out by themselves. some times she comes and tells me what he has done, others times i see something suspicious and she tells me that secret ghost brother did it. i really wish i could think of some of his recent activities because they are pretty funny, but i can't. i will write them down when i remember.

i got a huli huli chicken from foodland for dinner. the girls were eating drumsticks when ivy said "there is a gross seed in my chicken" it was the bone. chicken seeds taste nasty.

ivy is a great big sister. she loves lola. i keep waiting for the novelty to wear off but it has not. not at all. she kisses her at least 100 times a day and is always up in her face. she loves to get her in the morning and climb in her crib with her and hang out- "lola pulled me into her crib!"

life with velz:
last week velzy said "oh my God!" a few times. we told her we don't say Heavenly Fathers name like that and then came up with all sorts of other things to say. after she wend to bed she yelled for me and asked "is it ok to say oh my heavens? because that is where Heavenly Father lives"

i can't help but wonder what velzy is going to be like when she is all grown up.
after i had lola she asked "do mommies get to choose if they get babies in their bellies?"
"yeah" i told her.
"good, cause i don't want to have kids, i want to have a job."
"really? you don't want to have any kids?"
"no, i want to go to work."

she just might be an activist- a few weeks ago she came in the house crying over butterflies that her buddy hunter had caught and put in a cage. through intense sobs (we are emotional these days) she said she didn't want them to die and that they needed to be free.
the next day she had two in a cage.
also, she is into saving "power" and turing off the lights. i forgot to turn one off the other night when we left- which i usually am good about- and she tried to get me to turn around and go home and turn it off. it's so funny to see what they really take in that you say and decide that it is important to them. i really can't wait to see what she is like when she is older.

"mom, when am i going to get boobs?"
"i don't know. maybe when you are in high school?"
"oh. i want fake boobs"

life with kids (can i vent for a second?):
-they runs around crazy at night- until i say time for prayers, or lets brush teeth. then they both drop to the floor with tummy aches, fevers, or they just turn retarded.
-i have to wake velzy up for school half the time during the week, but on weekends she is up at 6. why?
-doing something "special" for children always backfires and turns into a disaster- again- why?
- bad words:
"i know what the f word is. it's fart."
also:
d word= dumb, duh, and dork
s word= stupid
h word=hate

lets hope those are as bad as it gets for while.

luke "ivy, you want a new surf board for this summer?"
ivy (the surfer) "yeah!"
luke "how 'bout you velz?"
velz (the bodysurfer) "no, i want a hand plane"

i love em.

usually.

image pile up

2011-01-27T22:11:00.000-10:00

everyones favorite mermaids...

2011-01-22T23:01:00.002-10:00

walden surfboards + heather ross

almost makes me want to ride an epoxy.

ok, not really.

not at all.

but how cool is it that "the" mermaids are now on surfboards?

just a quick thought

2011-01-20T22:33:00.002-10:00

on babies. my babies.
it's interesting having a third child. sort of funny. funny that i have had two other babies yet each one has been such an extremely different experience.
velzy, oh you blessed/poor first child. everything was new and confusing and different and urgent- like when we had to go to the dr cause i was sure she had reflux and needed medicine to stop puking all over. it was an eye opener. it was overwhelming. it was wonderful. it was a constant state of confusion- am i doing this right? is she ok? and reading up on every milestone while learning a whole lot about myself and having my heart grow exponentially.

then a quick 18 months later enter ivy. when she was in my belly she would kick velz anytime she sat on my lap. things were chaotic with two oh-so-little ones and i was a tad overwhelmed at times. my arms were always full- full of babies, poopy diapers, sticks and rocks from nature walks and excitement. things were crazy but fun and i wouldn't have it any other way.

three and a half years later lola sling shot us back into baby mode. i still forget to grab diapers when i leave the house. and i don't know how i thought life was going to be when she joined us but i life is definitely better with her in it. i find myself just hangin with her, and throughly enjoying it, enjoying her. although i have seen my fare share of baby smiles and heard many-a baby giggle and coo in the last 5 years, everyone that comes from her is still exciting. i really do just hang and talk and smile with her as much as i can. i think that is the difference. in the past i have been anxious for the days, weeks, months to pass. and although i am wanting her to grow up a bit more- how much longer till she can sit? crawl? walk? swim? i also have taken to enjoying little miss lola and the chunk of baby love that she is.

it also helps that she doesn't hit her sisters, tell me she doesn't have to listen to me, or cry/weep/wail when she is put to bed, or tell me i am old and have wrinkles on my face, or that i have a big butt. and funny enough, recently, she sleeps better at night than ivy does.

suckers

2011-01-17T21:21:00.001-10:00

i don't hate anything more than i hate mosquitos. i hate hate hate them.
is there really a reason for having them on this planet?
i killed one while i was teaching my primary class at church yesterday. after i killed him a little boy said "you just killed a nice creature God made!" i had to tell him that it was not a nice creature and although i know that God doesn't make mistakes i think he may have messed up just a little when he made the mosquito.
not only do they make my skin crawl, and wake me in the middle of the night doing fly bye's around my face making me swat all around in the darkness at 2 am (i have slept a few nights completely hidden under a sheet), but they also prey upon my children. on new years lola got 16 bites on her head- and she was only out for a few minutes and covered with a blanket. last weekend we were at a friends birthday outside and ivy got 16 bites on her face- funny that it was 16 both times. and every time we are out after dusk they attack us all.
and i really hate that their bites itch like crazy and the huge welts that ivy gets. and even more i hate how velz and ivy wake up in the night or way too early in the morning cause they are itching. and then i have to wake up and help them or they yell and wake each other up. or they are awake to early and then are tired and emotional allll day.
seriously, why were they made?
ok, that is all.

flooding

2011-01-12T21:27:00.004-10:00

i am flooding this post with pictures of lola, hoping that it's not flooding water into our downstairs tonight. it's raining a lot right now. and lots of lovely lightning is cracking all over the place, its so pretty.

enjoying her index finger

i love how those long whispy hairs on the top of her hair catch the light in those pictures. ha. they may be getting cut off soon.

i know i say it all the time but i really like her. she is so happy and such a good little one. it's hard to believe that she is only 3 months old, it feels like she has been around forever. i really wish she would preform for the camera cause she has the best laugh, but no matter what anytime i get out the camera she stops. i tried to have ivy get a movie, but apparently 3 year olds only like taking pictures because they come up on the back of the camera.

oh, and does anyone have or have a child with eczema? twice now lola's face, and this last time her face, neck, and ears, has broken out really bad in what i am pretty sure is eczema. not cool. i hear aquaphor is the best thing for it, but if anyone has any other suggestions let me know!

image pile up

2011-01-06T21:01:00.000-10:00

one of my favorite blogs does "image pile up" every day or so, it's a post of lots o cool pictures that he has found around the web. it's one of my favorite things to look at. i have lots o pictures that i like but that i don't want to make a whole post for and am too lazy to write about so, welcome to my first edition of image pile up

(we miss you uncle adam)

sort of proud of myself

2011-01-05T23:06:00.001-10:00

so it might have taken over an hour and a half to figure out and is very amateur but i think i might be hooked...

more of these bad boys to come.
and yes, i am aware of the fact that i need spell check.

three months

2011-01-04T20:00:00.001-10:00

how can you not love this little bucket of chubs?
the girl is so fun- as fun as a squishy three month old can be. as hard as it is to have such a little one who depends on you so much, she is a jem. everyday she gets a little stronger and the bobble head is being phased out. she has got the best laugh ever, these little giggles erupted from her the other day and they are my favorite thing in the world. i have been trying to get video of them but every time she gets to laughing and i get out a device to record her she stops and stairs at it.
she got her three month shots today and only let out a little cry for a second on the second shot.
she and i have been passing thrush back and forth for a good two months now. not awesome. it was super painful and so frustrating. but she loves when she gets her medicine and i rub it all around her mouth and always laughs. wish i could laugh when she would start eating and it feels like razors cutting me from the insides... but we are getting better. i declared an all out war on it last week and we have greatly improved. luckily. it was completely driving me crazy- when my body is not at homeostasis (think biodome) i tend to freak out.
anyways, back to lola. she is great. she is getting better in her car seat and if given a pacifier she will hang there at the beach for a little while. she likes to be held at the hip, facing out to see what is going on around her. her fists are always in her mouth, and she likes to suck on her blankets too. the slobber is in abundance as well as new noises. she likes to try and hold conversations, especially when she is getting her diapers changed, she loves being changed it's quite odd. oh and taking baths too, but who doesn't love splashing around in warm water?

(for those who asked, my brother took these pics.
i feel like she has changed a bunch since we took these,
but they are too cute not to post!)

happy new year!

2011-01-01T10:16:00.030-10:00

luke & lola

you don't get much better than these two.

seriously.

we enjoyed a lovely day at the beach to start our new year off right.

and last night was nothing short of crazy.

we went to grandma and grandpa's to ring in the new year. laie on new years makes the 4th of july look like nothing. velzy said it was the best night of her life if that gives you any indication of how many fireworks there were. people blow up the equivalent of their children's college tuitions, a new car, a years rent... just to have the bragging rights that they had "the best aerials" and when i say aerials i am talking full on legit fireworks blowing up only 100 feet over head in all directions. and this goes on all evening and way past midnight. as we walked around at 12:30 there was a thick smoke fog covering the town and plenty of pops and bangs still ringing in the new year.

awesome.

and what will 2011 bring?

2010 brought with it some pretty big changes-

a new house, v starting school, baby lola...

and i am excited to see what this year has in store.

hopefully i will have stuck with a few of my many many many resolutions.

different

2010-12-30T13:33:00.013-10:00

she likes her sandwich convertible style with cranberries on top

while she likes hers cut into 4 with avocado

one likes to be out catching bugs and frogs

and the other likes to play mommy and put on lip gloss

its funny to me just how different these two can be.

christmas wrap up

2010-12-29T13:32:00.000-10:00

this is the one and only picture i took on christmas day:

i know, i am pathetic.

but we did get some video, so it will not be totally forgotten.

oh, and that video was mostly taken at the beach. cause that's what you do when you live in hawaii, you go to the beach on christmas day. so there.

i did take some pics of before christmas activities though. and those need to be shared with my grandma. i promised.

we loved decorating the huge gingerbread men that gaggy sent us. they did't taste all that great but were a lot of fun to decorate!

and we had a little problem with a mouse infestation...

but it turns out they were friendly little mice and the girls shared them with their friends

oh, and we had cookie baking day too. ivy a.k.a. little chef, is always helping in the kitchen:

and on christmas eve, us girls got dressed and discovered we really like stripes- pretend like lola is looking up.

i really wanted to get some family traditions started this year and i think we stumbled on 2 new ones-
chili cheese dogs on christmas eve and then acting out the nativity with the "little people" while luke read from luke. hope i remember next year.
horray for christmas!

christmas time...

2010-12-19T21:08:00.002-10:00

we attempted to do a nativity the other night with our cousins... it was not as crazy as the billings family nativities of my youth, but we are working on it.

mary riding on the donkey

mary & joseph, baby jesus

joseph, jesus, and a sleeping cow

a shepherd, mary, jesus

wise man giving a gift. ivy knows all the gifts the wise men brought and loves to talk about them, i think she was correcting paka here telling him what gift that was...

the cousins crew

the two chubby babies:

on friday a bunch of friends got together at the beach park to make gingerbread houses. turns out store bought frosting is junk to make graham cracker houses out of, but i was not about to waste precious butter and sugar to make good frosting that would be thrown away. it was sort of a struggle to get out houses to work, but with this much candy around it was still a good time. after a couple minutes the humidity had gotten to velzy's roof of her house and it was totally sagging on the sides. guess it's the price we pay to live in hawaii and make gingerbread houses then play at the beach and get sunburned after... not to rub that in or anything.

2 months and birth story

2010-12-14T21:33:00.013-10:00

the one night i plan on going to bed at 9 lola gets a second wind and won't go to sleep... so here is that long overdue post about her right now- which is more for me to remember than for you, i keep looking at posts from when ivy was her age and wish i would have written more about her. and her birth story, because everyone loves a birth story right?

@ 2 months:
you like to be held/ rocked before you go to sleep. you have started sucking on your fist. your not a huge fan of the car. somedays you take awesome 3 hour naps, others you take 45 min cat naps cause would rather hang out with us alllll day. those days are not my favorite. for the most part you are great sleeper at night, usually waking once around 2 or 3. your grins and little gasping laughs are my favorite, sometimes you make me smile so hard it hurts. your a fan of the football hold. your left leg is always thumping when you lay on your back. finally one of your goopy eyes cleared up, still waiting on the other one. you love to hold my hair when i hold you, just like velz did. and you like to blow bubbles with your spit and play with them on your lips.
23 1/2 inches long and 13 lbs 4 oz

and this video is mainly for the grandmas and grandpa who don't get to see how much the little chunk has changed:
(enjoy the baby talk from ivy and i)

birth story:
where do i start? how about when i was 36 weeks and found out i was dialated to a 3 and the midwife told me to pack my hospital bag. apparently she knew that i am the type that doesn't pack a hospital bag till i am a day past my due date. i kind of sort of freaked out for a few days but then grasped the fact that i was indeed going to have another baby. for the next 3 weeks she was amazed that i had not popped. but i was relieved, i was not ready. babies are so much easier to take care of when they are inside.
september 28th tina- the crazy mid-wife that i love told me she really wanted to break my water and get you borned. i am not a fan of inducing but it crossed my mind- many times and for many reasons.
we live an hour from the hospital. and that is if your not stuck behind a bus or tourist driving 25 miles per hour on the windy road. i didn't want to have her on the side of the road and tina was afraid that would happen. and i was scared of a painful long car ride. and the good possibly of it being a car ride without luke, cause he works 45 minutes away and i might have to leave home when he was at work and have him meet me at the hospital. and what if he missed the whole thing? that would be sad. and i was step b positive and i needed to get to the hospital in time to get some meds in me so that she wouldn't have to have them after she was born. and the last reason that made me think that going in and having my water broken was a good idea was that tina would be able to deliver you, and i wanted that because i feel comfortable with her and i knew that she would go along with whatever i wanted to do and respect me and the decisions that i made.
sooooo, after talking to luke when he got home i called the doc and said i wanted to come in the next morning and have my water broken. but they couldn't take me cause they were full.
at 6 something the next morning the dr called and said they had a cancelation and i could come in. so, guess i am having a baby today. it was really weird to know that i was going to have her that day. luke took the day off and i brought the kids to school and dropped ivy off with betsy. then we drove to the hospital. on the way there we got stuck behind a super slow tour bus and i was sooo happy i was not in labor at that exact moment.
we checked in and eventually tina came in and broke my water. it as weird. she and the nurse said there would be a baby born in a matter of a few hours. and i believed them.
so we waited. but nothing happened.
so i took a stroll around the hospital, but nothing happened. then i had to hang and get the meds for the strep b. (i had to get them every 4 hours.)
then i walked more.
and more.
and more.
contractions were showing on the monitor but i could not feel them at all. i was dilating a bit more- i think i was at a five after a few hours of walking.
my nurse- gail stone- who was rad, offered pitocin. i had to have that with velz and i didn't like it at all. pitocin = pain in my book. and i wanted to go as natural as i could but i was so sick of walking and not much happening and i was already ready for the pain.
she gave me just a tad- thinking it would get things going. but it didn't. well, i guess it did cause i was having regular contractions, but still i could not feel them.
every half hour she came in and bumped up the dosage of pitocin and asked what my pain level was at. "umm, 2 maybe." i would reply and she thought i was crazy. after a few hours of walking with the pitocin and her bumping up the dosage and me being super frustrated- i may have broken down and cried cause of the frustration. a few times. like when everyone else seemed to be poppin babies out in every room that i walked by. yeah, that made me cry. and the fact that i was regretting my decision to come in that day, thinking that maybe i should not have and should have just let nature run it's course like i wanted.
finally after no one could figure out what was happening tina came in and checked me. i was at a 7 and she could feel my bag of waters still. lola's head was stuck on the bag of waters like a hammock and it was holding her up- hence no added pressure and/or pain.
so she broke my water again and 2 minutes later there was the pain i had been waiting for. i feel like i went form 0-60 in 2 minutes. it was amazing. contractions were hard and productive, and within 20 or 30 minutes i had to push. pushing was hard but lucky for me it only lasted maybe 10 minutes and then she was born! so to re-cap- she re-broke my water at 6 and lola was born at 6:40. like i said before, it was amazing.
and there you have it.
i went from the most frustrated person, to extreme pain, to super happy all in the hour.

and... now she is asleep in my arms. good night.

mac and tab

2010-12-07T21:50:00.002-10:00

does anyone else find it strange that tab eats his pal? what are they trying to teach these little children? no wonder ivy tried to bite velzy tonight when she got mad at her, we had just read this book. such young impressionable minds...

the tramp crew

2010-12-06T10:02:00.001-10:00

there is just something about all these bare grimy little hawaiian feet that i love...

as well as the smiling crazy kids that they are attached to.

and even though it brings about crazy velzy/ivy power trips, a few tears from time to time, and makes me have to pee every time i get on, i am so happy that we have a trampoline to play on. (thank you papa!)

she thinks i'm funny

2010-12-06T09:17:00.000-10:00

sometimes the junkest pictures are my favorite.

tis the season

2010-12-02T13:18:00.000-10:00

ivy just watched this 6 times. it's a keeper.

chubs!

2010-12-01T21:38:00.000-10:00

her shirt says it all...

i love me a chubby baby.
and i am a tad embarrassed that she turned 2 months on monday and i didn't even post. and i haven't even written her birth story. and i need to take more pictures cause then i may want to blog. but for now, i stink of baby spit up and want to be productive with sleeping baby time so i am off to go dust off my sewing machine. peace.

if we have to get old...

2010-11-24T20:46:00.000-10:00

i hope we look like this:

*life

2010-11-23T21:52:00.001-10:00

*the temple re-dedication was awesome. i was reminded that i need to re-dedicate myself to doing lots of things.
*it's fun having adam around here.
*did my first coffin on a wave today, it was awesome. thank you castles for being playful.
*i have been trying to do some kickboxing- i am out of shape. working out & boobs don't mix well.
*ivy has had an accident every evening (in the bathroom) for the last 3 nights. what is that about?
*lola's little laughs are sooo cute.
*lola needs to remember how great last week was when she took good naps.
*velzy is learning how to read, it's awesome and i am so proud of her. it is like the light switch as gone on and she is starting to get it all figured out.
*every day i am reminded how much i have to be thankful for. so much.
*i am going to try to get christmas shopping done soon. it sucks having to drive to town to do it though.
*ivy has (hopefully) inherited luke's teeth- no cavities for her yesterday. and velz got a few more fillings. and luke is the best for taking them to their appointments so i didn't have to.
*some random girl loaded all my groceries into the truck today while i changed lola's diaper that had been leaking for the last 20 min. it was soooo nice. it made me want to do more nice things for others.
*for my birthday i got a phil and ted's stroller (thanks craigslist) that i am super pumped on, and i have not even used it yet.
*i have tons on my to do list and yet here i sit with a computer on my lap. i hate how it sucks you in.
*pumpkin cookies are too good. i can't even remember how many i ate today.

and i just found this post from a few weeks ago that i never published, so here it is:

-grambo left this morning. honestly, i woke with knot in my stomach thinking what the day may bring. she had been here 2 1/2 weeks and i was used to being lazy! but it was a good day.

-lola went to her first surf contest- the finals of the sunset HIC pro.

-ivy loves her uncle adam. a lot.

-we feed the horses that are on the side of the road, they were so pretty.

-apple rules for fixing my computer.

-i get to surf next week! it's been too long, i am a whitie.

-lola is so super cute. i love the way velzy and ivy talk to her. they get these sweet little voices and it's so cute what they say.

-luke is one amazing dad. and he is so good with lola. i can't thank him enough for being him. he stayed home for 3 weeks when lola was born to surf and get things done around the house- i mean help me. and he really was a great help.

-velzy's last soccer game was so funny, i think they forgot how to play. but velz is an awesome little defender!

-ivy has a split personality- the girl i hang with all day while the kids are at school the sweet, fun, little buddy ivy. and then there is the bossy hold her own with the big kids don't listen to what anyone says as soon as the kids get home from school ivy. it's amazing how she changes so fast.

-most kids ask to watch cartoons- not ivy. she wants to watch madonna, cindy lauper, and the bangles music videos on youtube. she wants to be madonna from the material girl video when she gets older.

-velzy is getting pretty good at reading "max sits on the cat" she gets so happy when she learns something new. and i need to learn to be more patient. i went to my first parent teacher conference (am i old enough to do that? guess i am, but it's weird). her teacher had so many good things to say about her. i know she is a good kid, but it's so cool to hear other people tell you that, makes me feel good- but i know i can't take any credit, she is just her.

-adam, my kid brother, got here on halloween and will be here for a few months being a surf photog. i can't wait to see the pictures he will take.

2010-11-23T14:07:00.001-10:00

and so it begins...

check out lola's guns.

quite impressive.

2010-11-18T14:16:00.000-10:00

2010-11-17T22:22:00.001-10:00

i am not really on top of my game these days. i do dumb stuff. a lot. well, i always do dumb stuff but i have been doing a lot more dumb stuff since baby entered the picture. turns out having another little human to think about eats up even more of your brian. who knew?

today i decided to try out the cloth diapers i got a few months back. knowing that they are not as absorbent as the diapers i am used to, i forgot to change her before putting her down for a nap. i think i was just so happy that she was so snugly and ready for a nap that i put her down without thinking.

she woke up looking like this:

and i am pretty sure the diaper is a tad too big. it looks like it is eating her.
ivy just saw this picture and said "wow look at that big blow out! she is so cute, i love her!"

either way, lola is rad and today was a good day. last week was a struggle, i won't lie. and although there are lots of moments of chaos around here, i think i am getting her figured out a bit more everyday. she likes to be at home and sleep in her crib- not her car seat. she is a happier baby when she has had lots of good sleep, which makes for a happier ashley. it is hard to stay at home and i find myself not doing lots of things i would normally do because she is sleeping or in need of a nap, but i figure she is only going to be little for a little while and i am willing to put in my time at home for her sake. plus, if she is not rested it's not happy time for anyone. and, luckily luke is rad too and he is willing to hang with the girls so i can get to go surfing a few times a week.

are you sick of pictures from this angle yet? i need to expand my baby photo horizons. i was trying to catch her little smile but was a bit late. i will work on that too.

2010-11-15T10:38:00.002-10:00

i am back to dedicating posts... and this one is for you gaggy, it's a little late but you understand.

thanks for the super cool (non pink) halloween outfit! i am pretty sure if my mom tried to put it on me today it would be too small. i am turing into a super cheeky little chunk! maybe if i decide to start taking naps during the day my mom will put more pictures up. maybe.

and i really do need to take more pictures, these are 2 weeks old and she is so different already! like she said, when she starts napping better in the day, i will post more!

2010-11-14T22:09:00.001-10:00

hi.

if you are a fellow privatized blogger will you please leave me your blog address as a comment (not that i have even had the time to look at all my friends blogs lately, but ya know, just in case.). when my computer got fixed i lost everything that was on it (luckily i back up my photos!) and so i no longer have your addresses saved.

mahalo for your kokua.

2010-11-14T21:53:00.001-10:00

every monday night for the last few months-

soccer practice!
i have to admit, this is the coolest soccer practice location ever- at the beach park across the street from our house.

and somehow, we never kicked a ball into the water.

uncle adam keeping ivy occupied:

sad to say, soccer is now over.

but we had a real good time and can't wait to play again next year!

haloween

2010-11-10T15:11:00.002-10:00

apparently i have a 12 year old:

the girls were "the runaways" for trunk or treat at church. velzy got really into dressing up and all ivy wanted to do was wear a shrit that she wore when she was 1 and have her hair colored.

ivy girl loves to pose. and wear maskera :

halloween:

ivy was alice in wonderland. (her sweet a dress was made by my mom i a matter of hours. she rules.) velz was the white rabbit. and luke was a lumber jack. he looked hot with dirt smeared on his face, that is missing from the picture though... and wish i was cool enough to have seen these guys ham it up for the camera all dressed up in real life but i was down and out with the flu that night. although having the flu sucked, it did help my resolve to not eat any halloween candy. luckily, the pictures are pretty funny and i can pretend i was not curled up in a ball on my bed.

P.S. anyone done babywise? opinions? just ordered the book...

2010-11-07T21:28:00.000-10:00

i have a computer again and oh so much to blog about but i also have a sweet lil bebe who at the moment only wants to sleep like this:

typing with one hand is hard.

2010-10-30T10:41:00.001-10:00

i decided a few weeks ago that i needed cut down my time on the computer. apparetly my computer didn't like the idea cause yesterday it was steaming mad- smoke was coming out the usb port and it was buring on the inside. like really burning.
needless to say, i will not be around here much till until that problem is fixed.... see ya when i see ya.

2010-10-24T19:59:00.002-10:00

and this one is for biny. i am really into dedicating posts these days. basically if you want me to post to my blog you have to email or text me with a request. if you don't, there is a good chance i may not get around to posting because i am really busy forgetting to do everything else i am supposed to do like; the primary program practice, picking up the kids from school (velz and our neighbors), the correct time of soccer games... just a few of my genius moves from this last week.

but to my credit the sprout is getting fed, as you can see by the emerging chubbers on her legs so that is good. and we did have a fun little witch birthday on friday for the 5 year old. and my mom is here and we are going to tackle a lot of home improvement stuff now that our house is pretty much done (!!!!!). and i am sure i will forget a lot of other things that need to be done.

but for now, it's 8:02 and i am going to bed. adios amigos.

photobooth never gets old

2010-10-15T21:32:00.001-10:00

i feel like i have so much to blog about, but no motivation! working on it...

2010-10-13T10:58:00.001-10:00

some more pics of lola for auntie helium... and you too.

yes, she is pretty much the sweetest thing around. i always say newborns are not my favorite but lola is an exception. she is so cute. she has started to wake up a bit more lately and makes the cutest little faces when you hold her. and she likes to fall asleep in your arms and holding a sleeping baby is rad. i don't know why, but i like it. and i like her. a lot. we all do.

5

2010-10-11T22:21:00.001-10:00

my girl velzy turned 5 a week ago. 5!
birthday breakfast with ronald

then she and ivy, luke, and papa went to the zoo and mall and had a grand old time.
the day ended with a mud party at our house!

worms, frogs, rocks, sand. yum!

not a shabby birthday. although she does not think she is 5 yet because she has not had a "friends party." guess i have to get on that...

and you have got to love the silly bands that her super hip great grandma sent.

she has 6 left, she gives them away to everyone she meets. i would have to say, that pretty much sums velzy up. big smile, big heart. she is a jem. i love ya velzy.

sister sass

2010-10-11T21:08:00.000-10:00

ivy. oh, ivy.

when asked to describe ivy the first word that usually comes to mind is crazy. crazy sweet, crazy funny, crazy independent, crazy naughty, and lately crazy bossy and sassy.

whining is public enemy number one in my book but sass comes in a close second. ivy has gotten super sassy and i am determined to rid her of it. the other night i was reminded by my dad of the good old wash your mouth out with soap routine so i threatened her with it. the threat of the soap made her simmer down a bit... but tonight she told me she was the boss with her little smirk. so she got the soap.

and, it was funny. it was not the "this is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you" it was, i am taking great pleasure in sticking a bar of dove soap in that little mouth of yours. and soap got stuck in her teeth. and she was crying. and inside i was laughing. and luke was laughing on the outside. and velzy was saying she will never be sassy.

then we washed out the soap.

and then she threw up in the toilet.

and, being the good, kind, nurturing mother that i am i was still laughing a bit on the inside.

a few minutes later after a little talk about sass and snuggle, she was telling us about her throw up. she had eaten some spinach ravioli earlier and there was some leafage in her throw up. she told us that she had eaten a little ravioli ball and that Jesus made it grow and it came out of her belly a leaf.

and then we were all laughing on the outside.

ivy. oh, ivy.

we love you papa!

2010-10-10T21:31:00.000-10:00

thanks for coming and playing with us this last week!

2010-10-04T14:57:00.000-10:00

it's velzy's 5th birthday today and i should probably post something about how great she is, but i just took a quick picture of lola sleeping and i sort of love it so, that post about velzy will have to wait...

LOLA HAUNANI

2010-10-02T08:20:00.001-10:00

wednesday september 29. 6 lbs, 10 oz. 20 inches.

she is tiny and perfect! don't know how she is going to make it with this group-

stay tuned for more on the little lady!

just wondering...

2010-09-27T14:00:00.000-10:00

how do people who don't have access to a skyjak get their couches upstairs?

uncle zac is so handy to have around.