photography

Jude has been interested in learning how to take pictures. So he had fun taking pictures of Lainey and I out in the front yard. He did pretty well...it's not blurry and we're centered.The photographer and his baby sis.

tree lighting

We headed over to the local hospital to go to our last tree lighting with our friends. This has been a really fun tradition every year, and it's sad to think it will be our last.The night started off as usual with a trolley ride around Kailua Town while singing Christmas carols. We were singing Mele Kalikimaka and when we got to the verse where it says "from the land where palm trees sway...here we know that Christmas will be green and bright" I got a little teary eyed thinking about how this will be our last Christmas where things will be sunny and bright and green. We all counted down and they turned on all the lights. So pretty!




While we were leaving we got stopped by the processional of Santa Claus riding in on an old fashioned fire truck. There were even dancing gingerbread men, toy soldiers and a prince and princess. Fun times!

#5 Flowers

There is a sweetness to the air because of the amazing flowers that grow here. I'm not a perfume person but if I could find scents of some of these flowers in perfume form, I would buy it. Here are my top picks:

Plumeria

Mock Orange

Stephanotis

Jasmine (pikake)
TuberosePua keni keni flower Gardenia

#6 Ocean and Mountains

I remember last summer when we visited the mainland and I kept expecting to see the ocean every time we drove over a hill. It's funny how that is so normal to me now. I still am in awe when I see the ocean and the amazing aquas, greens and blues of the ocean water. I think I will have to paint a room in our new house those colors just to remind me of Hawaii.
The mountains in Hawaii are so unique...they are incredibly steep and green. They are not the type of mountains you hike (unless you hike the "stairway to heaven" trail), they are always green (because the clouds usually get stuck as they float by and dump all the rain on the mountains), they have waterfalls after a good rain and they have the neatest crevices in the volcanic rock from years of erosion....stunning.

an official crawler

Lainey is all over the place these days...and one happy baby. She loves her freedom.

#7 Simplicity of Life

This kind of piggy backs on the casual wear post. I love the simiplicity of life here. Houses are simple (having a laundry room in your house is a perk), cars are simple (you can have a piece of junk for a vehicle but you call it a surfmobile and it's all good), the days are simple (no need for spending all the money on vacations, we just head to the beach), clothing is simple, space is limited (so there's no need to buy a bunch of stuff because there is no place to store it). This may not be the case for everyone here but for us it has been. It's really helped us to see what we really need in life compared to what we want. God has always provided for us and we have never been without the necessities...and we have had a blast living here.

#8 Casual Wear

As a friend of mine once said "This is the only place I know of where you can buy your shoes at the drug store." And that is the truth. I love that no one cares about name brands, the latest trend or trying to impress others with their style. We call it beachwear but to me it's comfortable, cheap and keeps me cool (since homes don't have air conditioning here).

Jason will have some adjusting as well because at his job here he can wear khakis and an aloha shirt to work. Now he's going to have to get used to wearing a tie....and tuck in his shirt again :o)

let the holidays begin

The tree is trimmed and we're ready for the Christmas season.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we did a thankful tree. It wasn't as beautiful as the magazine I saw the idea from but I loved what the kids wrote. Anything from being thankful for our family to being thankful for their Lord...and all three kids were thankful for our little Lainey-bug. I think this will become our new tradition.

Our table...with our welcome bouquet from the school board of Jason's new job.Our after dinner but before pumpkin pie walk. We had to walk off some of that turkey....gotta love my grease stains down the front of my shirt. Forgot those were there until I saw the picture later. Lovely.

UPDATE: I found out that if you use dish soap on grease stains, it takes it right out...even if you have dried the stain in the dryer already. And it works!

#9 Open Windows

A lot of Hawaii homes have these type windows called jalousie windows. They are built for places like Hawaii where the climate is mild and there is no need to insulate a home. Our windows pretty much stay open all day every day and we have a constant breeze flowing through the house. I love the fresh air that is constantly blowing in. The draw back to always having windows open is that whatever noise is outside, you hear it perfectly on the inside. And all that breeze blowing around brings in dust from the outside. Once you dust your house you have about half a day before everything has a nice layer of dust on it again. But this count down is supposed to talk about what I will miss about Hawaii, not about what I won't miss. :o)

#10 The Weather

One thing I have learned about living in Hawaii is that there is no point in looking at the forecast or watching the news for the weather. Everyday is basically the same temperature as the day before and it is either partly cloudy/partly sunny and possibility of a shower. That way they cover all bases. And yes, the forecast above says "chilly" on the days that are 81 and 82 degrees...we are wimps. As much as I miss the changing seasons and the cooler weather of fall, I think I will miss the mild days of Hawaii. I know having little ones it has been a life saver...they can play outside all year long or we can go for walks pretty much every evening (unless it is raining).

And as I hear from my mainland friends the pain of changing out seasonal clothes, I am very thankful that we can pretty much wear summer clothes all year (we do own a jacket and a couple pairs of pants each). I can buy an outfit for the kids a year in advance because I don't have to wonder if it will fit them for the right season.

As you can see by this picture Lainey is in for a shock. This is what we dress her in for our evening walks...sweater, pants and socks. As Ethan used to say, we are going to have to buy a lot of "tall pants" if we are going to survive a winter on the mainland...and coats, boots, socks, sweaters...

"aloha pumehana"

A friend of mine wrote these words in an e-mail to me today. It means "good-bye with sincere affection", which sums up my feelings as we embark on a new adventure for our family. For those of you who are not family but happen to read my blog...Jason got a job on the mainland and we are moving May 2012. How funny that when we first moved to Hawaii all I could think about was how I couldn't wait to move back to the mainland. Everything seemed so strange here...very beautiful...but very different than what I was used to. And now 6 years later this amazing and unique place seems so normal and I'm trying to remember what it was like living on the mainland. So as our move gets closer I will explain more of our new adventure in detail, but for now, I thought it would be fun to do a "top 10" list of what I love and will miss about living in Hawaii.

Stay tuned...

jabong a.k.a Chinese grapefruit

Jude having a snack with his homeschool buddy from next door.

baby food

A friend of mine got me this great baby food processor for my baby shower. I was so excited to use it when Lainey started on solids. I always go through a blender for each kid because of making my own baby food. This processor is great because you can also steam the food before you puree it...so less dishes to wash. Woo hoo!Gotta love Costco pre-cut butternut squash.Turn the button to steam...wait about 10 minutes...turn on the button to puree and wah-lah! Pour it in an ice cube tray and done. Big savings.

6 months old

Lainey is 6 months old today...half a year old! It's amazing how much they change in these next couple of months. She is already starting to scoot all over the place (watch the video below for her scooting/belly flopping moves). She got two teeth just last week. She has learned to scream at a very high decibel. She is sitting up with a little more balance. She does the snort face that all my kids have done...and it's just so stinkin' cute. She actually sits in a stroller now and likes it and she can ride in a car for longer than 10 minutes without crying. So many milestones. As hard as it is going through the baby stage, it's all worth it. We all love this little girl so much and can't wait to see what the next month brings.

matchy-matchy squared

petting zoo

We ventured out to Koolau Ranch to visit the free stuff...one being their very small petting zoo. Koolau Ranch is mainly known for it's tours of the movie sites that have been filmed in this location (Jurrasic Park, LOST, 50 First Dates to name a few) but we had fun looking at the animals, visiting a little museum on the history of the land, and viewing the "ruins" of the old sugar mill. Plus I just found out they sell 100% grass fed beef which was great for our homemade chili that night.

happy halloween

We had a great time trick-or-treating with our friends.


Highlights from Halloween:

• the boys with their musctaches.


• Ansley so excited to wear her Fancy Nancy outfit (with sparkly shoes and a crown) because it had pink in it.


• Jude and Ansley getting over their shyness really quickly...it's amazing what candy can do.


• Ansley loosing her balance while running to the next house (her body out ran her legs) and ended up face-diving into their grass, candy flying everywhere.


• putting our pumpkin in the fridge so that it would last longer than a day.


• Lainey screaming all the way home because she was tired and it was dark...not a good combo for her.


• getting home in the pouring rain with a crowd of people taking cover under our carport.

mario kart

Jason brought home an old Nintendo game cube a few weeks ago and I am sad to say we are no longer a video game free home. The boys quickly caught on and now they are really into Mario Kart (Jason and I stay up after the kids are in bed and play Lego Star Wars...sigh). So when I asked them what they wanted to be for Halloween they quickly said Mario and Luigi. Thankfully we found some already made costumes (since I don't have the free time yet to sew or make anything) and everyday they mention how they can't wait for Halloween. So of course to go along with their costumes they had to make a Mario Kart to go with it.