Rookie builders

This was our first year doing a gingerbread house. I don't usually do them because when I nannied we made them with the kids and they were really hard to make stay up. This year I found one pre assembled at Costco. Score! So we tried. The pictures speak for themselves but as you can see more candy ended up in bellies than on the house. Alekisio liked putting candy on but was easily distracted by eating, and Isabelle put maybe two candies on. However they were immediately removed and put in her mouth. Then every once in awhile she would climb up on the table when she wanted a candy.






I am happy to report that I have reclaimed my kitchen from all the holiday baking! The poor mini freezer we had to get when our fridge broke came in handy for all the extra baking supplies. Aisea wasn't too happy about that when he needed to get something....oops. But he's happy now, and so am I.

Snow in Hawaii!

My wonderful Aunt Connie knew I was missing snow this Christmas so she sent us some! Alekisio was really excited to get it open and play. It all started really nicely. We were feeling the snow and squishing it. Then Isabelle joined the mix. I left Aisea in charge with instructions to keep it in the pan. He just walked out of the room to do something else and left them....alone....with snow. Since snowball fights are what Alekisio knows about snow guess what happened. Yep. They went at it!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was great this year. I woke up about half of an hour earlier and started making monkey bread for breakfast. We also started a Tongan tradition and delivered some to our neighbors. The kids woke up and found their stockings at the foot of the bed. They loved what was in there this year. Santa did good!
Alekisio has loved yo-yos for a long time, but gets frustrated when he can't get it to roll up after it tries to do it. Santa was lucky enough to find one that always goes back up to your palm! Score one for Santa! They also got ring pops. That was Isabelle's favorite. After she got it in her mouth there was no opening presents. How can you open presents when you're trying to keep your gorgeous ring on!

The yo-yo that always works!


See you just can't open presents with bling that big on your finger!
The shoes were the second present she opened. When she saw them her first words were,"Sammies off." I mean shoes don't fit over footie pjs. After the shoes were on she didn't care about any other presents and she walked around in a diaper, dress up shoes, and a ringpop, for the rest of the morning. I talked her into wearing a princess dress for awhile.




A neighbor gave her an iCarly make up bag and somehow she knew what everything was for! We couldn't get the chapstick out of her hands and daddy ended up painting nails.



The kiddos and their loot. As you can see Isabelle was busy opening another set of shoes so she couldn't be interrupted to take pictures. They made out and have played nicely ever since. Alekisio even shares his huge transformers that talk. There are such things as Christmas miracles!

Santa!

We weren't going to see Santa because of the crazy lines. Thankfully we picked a mall and time with no lines! They rode on the train, which is a super treat since we usually don't let them. However Santa pictures were FREE! So we could handle $3 train ride. Isabelle wasn't so sure about the train as you can see. Alekisio loved it of course. I wasn't sure what she would think about Santa but she loved him too, well maybe you could categorize her as indifferent. Whatever you choose, she didn't scream so it was a success and I didn't feel like a humbug for not taking them to see Santa. He had a curled beard. I don't know how to feel about that but I guess that makes him a little more vintage?

Christmas at the Temple

We took a trip up to Laie on Monday to the visitor's center. We forgot it was Monday so the Distribution Center was closed, but the visitor's center was open and beautifully decorated. I remembered that all the stake's on the island decorated a tree. Our stake did a tree with pictures of all the kids. It was really cute. All the trees were beautiful and showcased alot of talent. We were lucky to have the Blacks along with us to get to know them better, and the Ludovico's too. I only ended up getting a calendar to encourage us to be better at family scripture and prayer. The calendar combined with good company made this a successful trip in my eyes. And the only glitch was when I didn't realize Isabelle lost my keys in the visitor's center until we got to the car. After two trips around the center, which doesn't really have alot of places to hide, I found them under one of the fold up chairs in the movie theater. Would it be a trip if I didn't lose or forget something?

Christmas Dance Program

Alekisio in his conch blowing outfit.

Family picture

Blowing his shell to open the show.

Alekisio started taking fireknife classes about a week before Thanksgiving. They do a Christmas show every year with the whole Halau so Alekisio was in the opening, seeing as he didn't really know how to do the fireknife yet. He did really well. He was the only one who remembered to blow it up high. He was also supposed to blow at the end but I forgot and took it with me so I could tell by his face he was really upset when they all walked out. I felt soooo bad. He can't wait until next year when he can do the knife dance(probably just with his practice stick). This year he was asking every two seconds when he was going to do his dance. He meant the dance they practiced as a group, which I think he could have done, but I guess they didn't think he was ready. I thought he might get a little nervous when he first came out, but really what was I thinking? He was a pro!
Let me tell you a little about his outfit. The first time Aisea went to put it on him he said,"Take off your underwear." Alekisio made a nervous face and said,"WHAT?" We all giggled when he got it on because he was a little unsure about the coverage. I don't think it helped that Isabelle kept lifting up the back(which is twisted and looks like a thong under the flap), laughing, pointing, and saying, "Look, butt!"
Oh and just to put everyone's fears to rest they haven't let him actually twirl fire yet. He uses a stick we made to practice and they watch and learn proper fire etiquette when the older boys practice. They do let him hold the stick to get used to the heat, but the teacher is there holding behind them. So don't worry he's not burning the house down yet!

Oh and Isabelle watched all the dancing very intently from the best seat in the house!

Christmas Sunday

Last Sunday was the church Christmas Choir program. The kids were dressed for Christmas and they were SOOOOOO cute! Isabelle's getting so big and this picture really made me realize how quickly she's grown recently. Alekisio is really turning into a, we'll say bigger boy, so it doesn't sound like he's getting too big. He just gets more handsome as he gets older. Alekisio was hoping that last Sunday was also Christmas so we could open presents. No such luck, sorry buddy, but they looked super Christmasy in Hawaii.

Isabelle's first stitches

Story to come soon

Christmas Treats

For family home evening last monday we made truffles. Alekisio is getting great at measuring ingredients so he helped melt everything and stir it. After it chilled we rolled it in balls and then coconut and sprinkles. I'm pretty sure Alekisio and Isabelle had more fun eating the chocolate than rolling it. Well I know Isabelle did because as soon as she woke up from her nap she got on the floor and shoved one in her mouth. I loved making truffles, fudge, cookies, zucchini bread, and angel sweets(mint chocolate with marshmallows). My favorite thing to make this year was the Honey Butter Caramels. I made a few tiny mistakes but they still turned into caramel and tasted good. Next time they'll be perfect. I realized how much I miss baking all the time and will definitely be doing more. I started to get a little homesick so baking took my mind off that. We passed out ALOT of stuff, and we enjoyed making it all together. It was the best part of the holiday for me.

Flowers in her hair

This was my first attempt at making anything girly, or crafting at all since Alekisio was born. I never have time to finish a whole flower at once but I really like doing it and they look so cute in her hair. She was dressed up for our ward Christmas party. Can you tell she likes her picture taken lately?

Decorating the Tree....or Bouncing Ornaments

We stalked the tree lot at Home Depot at 7:30 in the morning to get a little tree. I forgot my camera but Sio was too cute picking out the tree. All the ones I picked were rejected. I guess I don't know a good tree when I see one. He searched the little trees until he decided we had to get one his size. So our tree is the same height as Sio. He could hardly wait to set it up. I tried my best to get the tree straight but the wood is too soft and the pins keep sinking into it. I even used shims and it's not working so our tree is now leaning. I think it adds character. Anyway Sio was pretty good at decorating the tree. However both kids took a break to eat gyoza dumplings, their favorite. Isabelle thought, and still thinks, that ornaments are for bouncing. The tree is still leaning and half decorated a week later because Isabelle keeps bouncing the ornaments around the house, no amount of hand smacking or time outs keeps her from doing it. She doesn't do it as much recently so tomorrow I'm going to try and redecorate. Both of the kids love the tree, and of course the lights. Isabelle is always telling me to "nook mommy nook" when she sees lights on. I love watching them both get so excited.

I can't remember how to spell their names but this couple helped Aisea after he got baptised in Tonga. Their daughter is graduating from BYU this week so we were lucky enough to get to visit with them.

I'm just going to rent a room at the doctor's office!

Isabelle not wanting to sit on the right side of her butt.
Well I haven't blogged much and this is why. Thanksgiving I spent the evening in the ER. That following Wednesday we returned to the doctor because Alekisio's stitches were infected. They gave us an antibiotic because they were sure it was a staff infection(my doctor wasn't in). That night Isabelle kept saying Ow-ee butt when we put her in the carseat and by the very end of the night she wouldn't let us even hold her. There had been a boil(?) on her butt and it was huge and hard by the end of the night. We returned to see our doctor the next morning(thursday, 3 times in a week if you're counting). That visit was horrible! I'm a tough mom. I don't let my kids see my squirm and I comfort them but encourage them to be tough at the same time when it comes to the doctor. I've held Sio down for many tough procedures and inside was upset but never cried. Well the doctor said her butt was infected and was so bad that it had to be opened. Poor Isabelle. She was laid on her stomach and I had to hold her upper body down while she screamed and the doctor made a small incision and squeezed out the goo. I kept my head down by her ear the whole time while she screamed, "Stop it!". I couldn't help but cry a little in the beginning, my heart was aching for her. I only looked up twice, both times I thought they were done. Once I saw the blade heading to her butt, the next time it was a wooden thing he was using to get stuff out. We had to head back Friday to make sure it was getting better (that's #4). Isabelle wouldn't let me change her diaper without fighting until the other day. Anyway she had a staff infection too so we (meaning I) had to wipe the toilet EVERY time someone used it, give Isabelle a salt bath every time she pooped, and clean the bathtub every time someone used it. Not to mention medicine twice a day, changing bandages on Sio's arm, and normal everyday clean-up. I was pooped. Oh and we went back Saturday to get Sio's stitches out (#5). It was a long week. However we all survived! Isabelle and Sio are still happy and healthy. What more can you ask for?

The Girls

I don't have many pictures of Isabelle and I together so I like this one. I've been a super bad blogger lately, sorry guys. This was from the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving. Isabelle sat by me most of the time which is still weird to me because I'm used to running around after Sio. She's just so cute I always want to squish her and kiss her.