Uncle Walter

Uncle Walter was the high point of our trip home for Alekisio, snow was second. Every time I left the house I would get a phone call from mom or Naomi and they would hand the phone to a crying Alekisio. I had to reassure him that I was still close and would be home soon. He didn't even want to leave the house with anyone unless I was going. That is until Walter came home. The second he walked in the door Alekisio was attatched and when he left an hour later Alekisio went too. If Walter was going out at night with his friends Alekisio was upset and would keep asking when he was coming home. Isabelle loved him too of course, especially when he let her play with his phone. I hope you like the pics Walt. As I'm looking for pictures I realize that there aren't that many of Walt and Sio....oops.

Christmas

Christmas was great. We missed Aisea of course but it was nice to be home with some extended family. We were all(mom, Naomi, and I) excited to be together so I got the kids matching pjs and mom and Naomi got ours. Dad was left out but I don't think he cared.

The kids were really hard to get to sit still together for pictures. On Christmas Eve my aunt tried to get a few with their outfits and pjs so I knew it would be hard in the morning. There were actually three pictures and you can their disintegration from the above to screaming. If there weren't so many pictures in this blog I would post them. I stood in a really long line on Black friday for those pjs and they looked so cute it was worth it.

Poor Braylen was sick so he wasn't really into his presents and ended up spending most of the day laying on people.

Alekisio made out like a bandit. He's been really into pirates lately so he got a pirate book, hat, and a treasure chest. But his favorite present had to be the Hulk fists from Santa. They say "Hulk smash," and "you're making me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry." He loves them and I of course can do without them, oh and the nerf guns my mom got him. He always loves the toys I could do without. I guess it's a boy thing.


Isabelle liked helping grandpa open his presents. That's her opening his ipod stereo thing. She loved her toys but I think her bracelet is my favorite. Every sunday her friend Bridget steals her and Isabelle becomes one of the young women, and every sunday she takes Bridget's bracelet and eats it. Now she can gnaw on her own, and she did later that day.


Alekisio has been grandma's helper lately. He helps with laundry, cleaning, and cooking. Christmas morning he helped her make the dippy eggs for breakfast. I hope there are breakfasts in bed in my future.

That's dad loving his new sweater. I won't post the pictures of mom crying over her new cooking utensils, bakeware, and kitchen towels. She'll appreciate that I'm sure. And yes she cried over cooking utensils. That's my mom!

Aunt Carol came over for dinner and Alekisio loved every minute of it. He made her wear the pirate hat and dance. Luckily she's a good sport. We had a great Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Before we headed out to Grandma's house for Christmas Eve we had to make Santa cookies, which Alekisio said had to be chocolate chip. Naomi bought some really cute aprons for us to wear, Sio's was super cute. He loved making cookies and wearing his santa hat.


After making cookies we dressed the kids in their christmas outfits and went to our Grandma Levenhagen's house and had our traditional christmas eve with lasagna where we ate two different but equally yummy lasagnas.

Isabelle in her dress

Alekisio and Braylen

Isabelle in a jacket my mom made for me when I was little

Then Santa came. Alekisio LOVED that. When Santa left he tried to follow him outside to see his reindeer. Luckily I was able to stop that so he ran directly to the front window to see if he could see them fly away, that picture is on Aunt Connie's camera. He keeps telling everyone that Santa gave him a football.



After we opened presents Alekisio had tons of fun rough housing with Matt. He also decided to marry Matt's girlfriend Promise. The next night this was our conversation:

Me: Why do you want to marry Promise?
Sio: Because she's pretty.
Me: I thought you wanted to marry me.
Sio: You have to wait in the line.

Boys are so fickle. That's alright, at least he has good taste.

This is Promise, Alekisio's new love,with Isabelle

Matt and Sio
Isabelle was attacking Matt too

At Grandma's everyone also danced on tv with Alekisio's new video camera toy, and enjoyed Isabelle. It was really nice to be home for Christmas Eve. I miss it every year!

Family time

The 23rd was my birthday. I spent the day at home with Sio, Isabelle, Braylen, and my dad. It was bitterly cold and snowing. We decided to take the kids to get pictures with Santa and than go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. The steak melted in my mouth...yummy. And my family decided to tell them it was my birthday. Embarrassing! However there was a family sitting behind us and their son was turning twenty one. When they announced to the whole restaurant that it was our birthdays they did it at the same time and I got to be 21 for the night! It would probably be cooler if I felt 29, but I don't really feel much different. I've learned alot of life lessons in 8 years but I don't know if I'll ever know what it feels like to be an age until my body starts aching. Anyway it was a nice night. Braylen and Isabelle sat by each other and were holding hands, of course we forgot the camera. That night Isabelle was eating an apple whole. She loved it! During the day while we were freezing I needed a shower. When I came out I found this...
I guess Isabelle was fussing and wanted to go back to sleep. When Braylen saw grandpa holding Isabelle he was a little jealous and had to get in on the action. Luckily they both fell asleep. But it was a really cute picture moment.

Homemade Goodness

I haven't been home for winter in about four years and was craving some hot chocolate in the cold. For some reason I thought it would be fun to make homemade hot chocolate mix and marshmallows. Alekisio loves all things chocolate, and marshmallows so of course he was all for the idea. I looked up a recipe that looked good and we whipped some up. The hot chocolate was really good but you have to like dark chocolate. It's not milk chocolatey like store bought packets. It's made with bittersweet chocolate and cocoa. I loved it and the marshmallows melted right in. Yummy!

mixing the chocolate

pouring the marshmallows

Freezing Ohio

We arrived in Ohio on the 17th. It was an overnight flight so luckily the kids slept. I on the other hand arrived with a migraine from no sleep. I made the smart decision to buy Isabelle a seat and not use her car seat so she had some space. Whenever she would nurse and fall asleep she didn't want to be on me so she would get fussy and need room to lay down. Alekisio was a good sport and slept sitting up so Isabelle could stretch out over her seat and parts of ours. The best part of the trip was standing in the back of the plane waiting to get off in Cleveland. There was a steward and stewardess(I think those are the PC terms)standing there so of course Alekisio had to strike up a conversation. "I'm going to see my grandma." "Are you going to see your grandma?" "What's her name?" "I'm going to go sledding with my grandpa." Those were the safe topics, then came, "Look at this," as he reaches down, grabs his pants and starts pulling them down. Both of them started waving their hands going "No, no, no." I immediately stop him, and then explain that he had hernea surgery and has a scar, but that we don't pull our pants down to show people. Just then we started walking off and I could hear them still laughing saying how hilarious that just was. I know their families heard a funny story that night. When we finally made our way through a very cold airport I realized that I forgot to tell Naomi to bring me a coat. Oops. The kids were alright though and Braylen and Isabelle got to share a stroller while I used ours to carry luggage. I couldn't get a good picture of Braylen kissing Isabelle's head.

Mom was happy to finally meet Isabelle. Isabelle was great too, she didn't cry at all!

From there we headed off to surprise my Grandma Isabelle with Little I as my Uncle John calls her. Grandma was really excited to finally have a great granddaughter amongst the boys, and it was a bonus that she was the namesake.

When we got there we were all talking and grandma doubled over in pain. After some convincing from all of us she let mom and dad take her to the hospital. They came home at around 11 saying grandma needed surgery because she had a hernea which was obstructing her bowels. Then the phone rang and my mom had to go back to the hospital because they were doing surgery that night. Grandma is a trooper though because she's out and about with no pain meds.
While mom and dad were gone Alekisio got to finish decorating the tree with candy canes. As you can see they're all strategically placed in the same area. He was tired of doing it after awhile.

The next night they all got to take a bath together. Isabelle was super excited because she's been dying to take another bath. Her first bath with Alekisio was more of a slide fest because she wouldn't stay sitting so I haven't done it again. That's why she's cheesing in all the pictures. Maybe it's also because she could play by Braylen without getting sat on. She's still crawling and he's a new walker so he keeps falling on her. She's getting smart and trying to stand as much as possible.

Santa Pictures

We went out for my birthday last night and stopped to see Santa. There was no crying! Who would have imagined. I need to update with pictures of our trip but I'm here alone with all three so later!

Sick baby!

Poor Isabelle has had a cough for a couple days. I always go to the doctor for them to tell me it's a cold and they can't do anything about it. Well last night her fever was 101.4 so I gave her some motrin, the fever went away, came back in the middle of the night, and was pretty much gone in the morning. However I decided to take her to the doctor. I've never been without insurance so I didn't know where to take her without getting a huge bill. In case you're wondering we don't have insurance at the moment, Aisea got laid off. They didn't have any jobs right now except the one on the Big Island, and they weren't providing living expenses and flights home so we were going to spend a paycheck a month for him to work there. That wasn't worth it. Anyway he is working for a friend doing pools and waterfalls but they don't start insurance until 3 months. We(my friend and I) took her to a clinic across the island and her pulse oxygen was 94 and they like it to be 97. She had some wheezing, congestion, and her ear wasn't looking good. They gave her a steroid, amoxicillin, and albuterol. I also had to get a note that sped up the process to get Quest(govt. insurance). So for this month Isabelle has insurance but no one else does. We had to do the running around and waiting to get insurance coverage and her medicine. After all that we left the house around 9 and got back at almost four. She's still not great but doing better. And it took me three days to get this blog started and finished so this happened on monday. Alekisio's nose is gross too and I keep thinking all the recycled air is going to make them really sick. But Alekisio doesn't care about that he just wants snow! Oh and I know the picture isn't really relevant to the blog but I thought that face was great at explaining how she feels.

My First Black Friday

I was out early last week looking for some matching pajamas for Alekisio, Braylen, and Isabelle for Christmas Eve. Gymboree was passing out flyers for Black Friday sales, and PJs were $5.99. That's a great price for PJs, especially gymboree. So I decided we would go back. The sale was at the outlet mall, which happen to have the best sales from 12-9 am. We left at 10:30 thinking that would be enough time. My friend Cheryl was with me and her sister summed up our experience in one word, "amatuers". I didn't know you should have a detailed plan of how to approach shopping, like one person standing in line while the other one shops. I was completely exhausted because my bedtime is 11 at the latest. So let me start with the drive there. Normally I don't get over to the far right lane until the exit before the outlet mall's exit. HUGE mistake! Traffic was at a dead stop for at least a mile. I was a little nervous since I don't know that side of the island, and hawaii isn't normal. When you get off at an exit there isn't an on ramp close by. Sometimes you have to drive around and ask for directions. We stopped and got directions, which turned out to be a positive. If we would have gotten off at the original exit we would have been sitting there for at least an hour. There isn't a light there so you were at the main traffics mercy, and those people were in a hurry to get a parking spot so there was no way they were letting people merge. When we turned around and came from the other direction we had the light and the right away so we got through much faster. Our next surprise was the parking. They only had one entrance open and were charging five dollars! It was refundable if you had a receipt from Old Navy or Kmart with a time stamp between 1-3 am. The lines were outrageous so if you were there to get to another store first you might not get through kmarts line before 3. The lines in the small stores were an hour minimum wait. I was lucky and gymboree didn't have that big of a line so I was in and through the line in a little under an hour. Aisea couldn't believe we went just to get pjs. I couldn't either, but once I was there and had fought the traffic and won I had to get the pjs no matter how long I was in line. Besides they're normally $15. They're going to look too cute! Cheryl had to get some shirts from a local store since the whole store was $5.99 and it took her 1 1/2 hours to shop and get through the line. I did get my $5 back too. Luckily everyone had already gone through kmart's line by the time we got there. If you subtract the soda I bought I really only got back $3.40 which just bothers me because they've never charged before and there was just no point to it. After seeing the traffic and lines I don't know if I'll do it again, besides I almost fell asleep in line and we got home at 3:30. My kids wake up at 7. I paid for it the whole day!

Thanksgiving at Sio's school

Wednesday I went with Isabelle to Alekisio's school for a thanksgiving performance. He did really well. On the way in I was standing in the back with Isabelle and he got out of line to come and give me a hug and said, "Give me umas(kisses)." When he walked by our things in the aisle he stopped to pick up Isabelle's sippy cup to get a drink. It's not a big school so everyone saw him and laughed. The kids didn't do traditional kiddie thanksgiving songs, they danced and signed to modern Christian music, I was a little disappointed by that. Some of the kids looked bored with their songs. At least Sio's class did an upbeat song. He's the one in the orange shirt and denim shorts. I didn't have much battery left in my camera and of course didn't have anymore tapes for the camera so you can enjoy ten seconds of his performance.

After the songs we went and did a craft and had a thanksgiving meal. Alekisio seemed to think because I was there he could run around and go to the restroom by himself like he was at home. However we did make a nice little craft and the food was super yummy. Alekisio even ate two plates!

Isabelle is always sticking her finger up like that, so it's really funny that we caught it in a picture.

Just a few things

I've been a bad bad blogger lately. I just haven't been able to focus on anything. There have been a few blogs running through my brain I just haven't had the capacity to write them. Even now for some reason I can't type one word without messing up. Alekisio has said some interesting things that I want to get down. The first one is last week when we were in the car. He was asking me about if Jesus is in heaven, and about him being here. I don't remember specifics. I know he kept asking about if Jesus has blood. He's starting to repeat the same questions even when he knows the answer. I think it was a little hard to understand that you go to heaven when you die but Jesus is alive and in heaven. At one point when I was saying how Jesus was alive in heaven he said,"Did Heavenly Father hug Jesus?" Of course I told him he probably did and H.F. is going to hug him too. I thought that was really sweet.

I've been giving Alekisio good listener rocks in a jar and when he gets a certain amount he can choose something to buy. So far we've gotten a, now deceased, beta, and Kung Fu Panda. One night we were driving home in the car and Isabelle had had enough so she was crying. This is what followed:

Alekisio: Isabelle doesn't get any rocks.
Me: Why?
Alekisio: She has a big attitude.
(I had to not laugh)
Me: Why does she have a big attitude?
Alekisio: She's crying!

He's starting to say things that we tell him. Occasionally I tell him to stop his attitude. All I can keep thinking is that we're in trouble. He also never speaks tongan but suddenly he's been telling Isabelle to be quiet in tongan when she's bothering him. I'm going to try and update with a few more blogs, sorry about the lack of new ones Walt.

See my blood

"See my blood." That's what Alekisio was telling everyone after he got blood drawn at the doctor. When he was pregnant I got blood drawn alot and he would always ask to see my blood. The expression stuck. Why were they drawing blood? For the past year maybe he's been waking up a few times a night crying and asking us to massage his foot. It won't happen for awhile, and then all of the sudden he'll wake up two or three times a night. The doctor did x-rays and drew blood in case there was an infection. However since it only happens once in awhile he said it's probably because he's such a big boy that he's having growing pains. In hawaii we wear slippers(flip flops) every day, the doctor said those are BAD! Alekisio needs to wear good shoes for support instead. He's got such wide feet we have to buy him New Balance so at least now we'll be getting some use out of them! Alekisio had fun taking pictures of his bones, but when it was time to take his blood I had to do alot of talking him through it. He sat in my lap and I covered his eyes. He was really nervous and whimpered a little when they put the needle in but then he just watched the tube fill up and was fine. He of course made sure he got a sticker. On the way out when I was paying he started talking to a guy standing next to us. Of course showing him his blood. When I was finished the guy told me Alekisio said, "I'm strong just like my dad." I hadn't told that to him, he made that comparison all on his own, but it's true!

Halloween!

I'm a little late putting up pictures of the kids from halloween. My mom keeps reminding me of that. I looked at Naomi's pictures and realized that the kids would have been a cute trio. Braylen was a dragon, Alekisio Prince Charming(a knight), and Isabelle a fairy. Alekisio had a ton of fun being Prince Charming last weekend. He had originally wanted to be the black spiderman but when we went to buy Isabelle's he saw the knight and wanted to be Prince Charming so he could save Isabelle from the dragon. Be still my heart....I had to buy it. He had already worn his spiderman costume for days on end so I knew he was getting a little tired of it. Isabelle's costume I fell in love with because of the tights. We had the church party last weekend and that was really cool. They really went all out on decorations and games. The next day we went to my friend Cheryl's neighborhood for a community party. It was a great pre-halloween weekend. Alekisio loves a party!

That's Sio shaking his groove thing!

On halloween we went to the Bishop Museum around the corner where they have a family friendly halloween. Upon entering the kids trick or treat on Treat Street which is a chain of decorated facades that have holes where you get candy. As you can see he's wearing his spiderman costume. I guess when he saw all his friends at school Prince Charming wasn't cool anymore. Of course I forgot his spiderman treat bag so I had to dump out the diaper bag. He's not old enough to be embarrassed yet, he just wanted the candy. If the people in front were too slow he would go back to the hole he just got candy from and get more. Since the people can't really see, they didn't know, or care. There was a costume contest and a dance "contest" for the kids. They all got a prize. Alekisio didn't wait for the contest though. As soon as we finished treat street he saw the stage and was up there dancing away to Thriller. We had to make him come down so the MC could get up without him kicking her when he flipped.. This halloween was our best so far and I can't wait until next year!

She turned seven months two weeks ago!

I'm really behind on this post. I'm trying to keep everything updated so when I print this to a book it's in there. As you can see from the picture she's growing really well! Right before she turned seven months a top tooth broke through and just after that the other three came. They're all kind of half there so she's looking pretty cute. As you can see in the picture she pushes her tongue forward all the time! She just crawls around like that. It's not sticking out all the way. I think she's feeling her top teeth but who really knows.
I don't know if you can tell but there's a little divet in the tip of her tongue. It's because the skin under her tongue is shorter than most people's so it makes a heart shape. It was a little problem for nursing when she was new but it's cute now! Isabelle is also starting to try and free stand. In the past two days she's done it four times, and smacked her head three(one was on the bed). She's also been crawling into the bedroom, onto the mat Sio and Aisea sleep on, and laughing to herself? I don't get it but she thinks it's funny!

My little skateboarder

Alekisio has been wanting a skateboard for an extremely long time. He's always into sports that he's not ready for yet. I'm the one who realizes he can wait at least a few more months until christmas. Aisea is so excited because Alekisio wants to do these things that he wants to run out right away and buy whatever Sio needs. I think alot of it is because Aisea is athletic and would have loved to skateboard, surf, BMX, dirtbike....you get it, but because he grew up poor in tonga he couldn't. So it was no surprise that Saturday they went to walmart for a frozen pizza and came home with a spiderman skateboard. Aisea was leaving monday morning for the Big Island(I'll post that later) so sunday night we went to the park to let Sio try it out. We do have pads, but only found one elbow and one knee, so they were useless. He lived. The poor kid has a huge disadvantage since neither of us can skateboard! Here are some pics and videos. Isabelle wouldn't take her eyes off of him. She thinks everything he does is great!

This is him being sad that he keeps falling.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com