The 1st Van Tress Family Christmas

We've been married 3 years, but this year felt like the first family Christmas because we weren't at family's and we have kids so we felt we wanted to start some kind of traditions. I have to say it was a fun Christmas! So for memory's sake, I have to write all my notes down (and there's a lot of pictures to go along with it too).
CHIRSTMAS EVE Because we were doing a big dinner for Christmas day with company over, Christmas eve dinner was really low key, we just had Olive Garden soup with bread and salad. And because I wasn't doing a lot of baking that day, I thought to start a tradition making Gingerbread men and so the kids would have fun decorating them and then leaving a plate of cookies out for Santa. Well, I like the cookies for Santa, but we're going to have to find a different cookie recipe, because I just don't like gingerbread. After dinner, we of course had to do our Christmas Pageant with costumes and the nativity story. I wanted to read from the Bible, but it was going to be too hard with the kids so we ended up just reading Tomie dePaolo's Little Christmas Pageant Board book (great book!) and acting it out. Lucy LOVED being Mary and getting to hold the "baby" blanket. Daddy was Joseph, Willie was a shepard, and mom was an angel. Then Mary, Joseph and the shepard became the 3 wise men as well. I was happy to see Lucy get real into it. Later our neighbors showed up with an early Christmas present, so it was fun for all of us to get to open one present.







CHIRSTMAS DAY I kept the kids in their room for at least an hour letting Jeremy sleep in a little. We opened presents and then headed to the beach! Hey, what would you do in Hawaii on Christmas day? It had been windy for the past while, so I started making kites with Lucy to take outside. Then they turned into Christmas kites, and it seems like a fun tradition! I loved the Christmas Tree one the best! I painted it and Lucy put on the gem stone ornaments- it was a gorgeous glittery thing, and I loved the 3D looking star topper!









We came back from the beach and hurried to get ready for a big dinner with the missionaries and one friend of ours, Stephanie. The dinner kept getting pushed back, and we finally ate at 7pm. Not everything turned out I'd say, but overall I thought it was a great meal! For my own future reference, the menu was: 9lb. hickory smoked ham with a homemade mustard sauce, Lorraine's potatoes (funeral potatoes), spicy lemon carrots (way too spicy, oops! I was rushed), baked yams with spiced dollop topping, wassil (didn't turn out too good), frog eye salad, and chocolate huapia pie for dessert. Stephanie was awesome and brought rolls, green salad, and cookies. The three elders gave quite varied reactions, one from Salt Lake City seemed to love it and said it reminded him of home, one (from Ponapei) said it was a first experience for a lot of things and loved the yams which also reminded him of home, and the third (from Chuk) didn't say much at all and didn't put much of anything on his plate, so I'm not so sure he liked it all that much. So that was Christmas. I missed some traditions that I'll have to do in coming years, like reading the bible story (we just never got to it) and singing more carols. We're going to Carols and Candlelight. I did not get my fill of Christmas music this year for sure. I was so disappointed with the radio stations, they barely played Christmas songs until like the day of Christmas! What was up with that?! I can see cutting back some because you are usually ready for them to be over by Christmas, but we had to hunt stations just to find a Christmas song! Lame.
Here's a couple last pics from our outing to see the Honolulu Lights display. This is also one of my favorite traditions. I love looking at the tree and wreath display. Lucy and Willie of course loved all the lights and action. Willie hated Santa, if you couldn't tell. :)



sorry these pics were all over the place, I'm too tired to fix. You'd think with my marathon posting, I'd become a little more skilled at all this.

--------------Mele Kalikimaka from Hawaii!-------------

Willie's Bday Revisited

I never actually posted the pics from Willie's 1st birthday, because they were B.C. and I guess the disposable camera pics just didn't really seem post-worthy. But the occasion shouldn't be missed. So here's a stitch back in time.

I was bummed we couldn't plan a big party for Willie's 1st because in Hawaii the first birthday is a traditionally big HUGE party, and Lucy's 1st birthday had some 40 people. But it just wasn't going to happen. I had to keep some things consistent though- like the cake. Lucy's cake was in the shape of our Hale (the dorm we lived in), so I decided Willie's cake could be a building of some sorts as well, fitting to choose a Haunted House.

With his chocolate goatee.

Planet Hollywood

Just being silly when we went out to dinner Friday night. This isn't on our list of places to return, but we wanted the experience so we went.


And to complete the experience we walked the Waikiki strip a little bit, which is quite decked out this time of year.

Happy Holidays!

Ok, so I do know that I missed yesterday's post. I was too busy getting our Cousin Card Exchange ready to get in the mail! So, here's this special treat- a new holiday photo in the header. This picture is going out in our newsletter, so I hate to spoil it. ;) But I'm still a ways off from even sending that out, so I present it to you now...

The news, oh, the NEWS!

Congratulations! You've won a ... Haven't you always wanted to hear those words?! I don't know if I was just too hung up on price is right when I was young or what, but I love winning stuff- like contests and drawings and stuff like that! I don't go out of my way (too much) to play, but definetly do one when I see it. Ok, so here's the exciting news, I won a Leap Frog Didj game system, with one Hannah Montana game and an Indiana Jones game! Isn't that cool?! Ok, never mind that it's for 6-10 year olds, which I am not, nor will my kids be not for another 4 or 5 years, because that is so besides the point! For those super curious, look up the link to see the toy (I didn't even know and had to look it up).
And here's how I won it: Savvysource.com is doing the 12 days of giveaways, where you leave a comment on the article of the day and you're entered in a random drawing. Not too hard. I don't think I've missed a day, and it paid off! ;) It ends Saturday, so the chances are getting slimmer...

Ok, so onto the real news...
My kids had their first dental visit yesterday!! A big thank you to my sister for the awesome dental advice!! I have to say I was nervous that this kind of thing would become a battle with the kids, and become a big frustrating thing...hope I'm not speaking too soon. But it went great!! And I really owe it all to my sister's advice weeks ago that encouraged me and helped me know how to teach tooth brushing skills to my kids and who the dentist is. I actually have been meaning to talk to you about writing a book...I'll call you! It's so nice to be tutored in mothering, ya know?! Anyway, Lucy did great and the Doctor was able to do everything which made it a successful visit! Willie was more hesitant and I layed down with him in the chair, but he did really well. The dentist seems satisfied that she did what she needed to get done. We like the dentist, she seemed quite young, which surprised me, but she's very gentle. They go full throttle with the kids too with a TV monitor and stickers and talking to the kids, stuff like that. Here's there certificates:

Warm and cozy by the fireplace sipping hot cocoa while giant snowflakes are gently falling

Sound good, don't it?! It was good, sipping hot cocoa and enjoying peppermint chocolate by our "fireplace." When we were at BYUH, some friends of ours always made up a jimmyrigged fireplace for Christmas, to protect Santa's story. Lucy doesn't quite follow all the Santa stuff yet, but it just seems like a fun tradition. So we decided to make one this year especially because we're not going to get a tree. After the kids went to bed, we started our FHE wrapping as many empty cracker and cereal boxes as we could round up. Then we stacked to Huggies boxes on top of each other to make a base. The red "bricks" are hot glued to the base, and by the next morning they were already falling off. We knew they were coming down anyway because we didn't have a way to protect them from the kids..but I'm in the process of attaching them more permanently...it's a work in progress as it takes a little work for each box. But we're sure to have a great fireplace up and running by Christmas eve!This is our Christmas tree this year. I made 8 of these little silver trees for centerpieces at our enrichment night, and I kept one. I don't know if this is a good picture, but it's a pretty cute little tree. The little tissue paper oranaments were not used at enrichment, but I added them later. These ornaments are actually pretty fun to make with your pre-schooler. You need metal lids (like from frozen concentrate juice or I used the lids of glass baby food jars), tissue paper in whatever color coordination, thread or string (I like the upholstry thread, it's strong), and glue (tacky glue or elmer's glue, clear drying). Then cut up the tissue paper in tiny squares, uneven is fine b/c it adds dimension. Glue the tissue paper squares in random pattern covering metal lid, you may want to keep the round shape for a snowball/ornament kind of effect. Overlapping is allowed and helps make it stronger; but you don't want to many layers to take away from it being a little see through like stained glass. Using about 1.5 inches thread make a large loop and glue the ends close to the top of the lid so it can hang on the tree, cover the glue dabs with some tissue paper squares. *Let dry completely, then put in freezer until cold. Ornament will peel off lid pretty easily. Dry the lid, and repeat if desired!* (*I forgot to put this part, but you need to know about the freezer part...;) If this all doesn't make sense, email me or you might just be able to google the directions. Directions for the snowflakes in the window can be found in an earlier post, 3D snowflakes. Have fun!

Weekend with Presley and Pre

William, Jeremy, Lucy and Presley in front of the Honolulu Tabernacle
Our friend, Pre (as in Prefontaine, that's his nickname from the running years with Jeremy at BYUH) ran the Honolulu marathon yesterday. Pre and his daughter, Presley stayed with us Saturday night. Poor Pre was kept up all night by whiny kids- it was a really bad night for Lucy, we're not sure if it was an earache, or diaper rash, or she could just have been being naughty. I only got like 4 hours of sleep. Anyway, Presley went to church with us and Pre went to run the marathon. He was pretty sore afterwards.
I still don't even have the slightest peak of interest in running that long for a race. I was happy to just cook away for our company. ;) We had a pasta feast Saturday night, and yummy BBQ beef sandwiches for lunch after church. Cookies, and a new creation: Pumpkin Twinkies. Actually, the twinkies didn't turn out the best. I've made them before and they were great, this time I was trying to put a festive twist on it by making the filling with pumpkin...I took a shortcut and long story short, it wasn't as great as I had hoped. Hope you don't mind me rambling on about my cooking hobby. It's a funny thing, you know, you go all out cooking stuff and people roll their eyes (like Miss Relief Society, right?); say your hobby is knitting or sewing or chess and they think you're boring; but say it's something like surfing and you're cool. We need to create some more respect for the many millions of hobbies out there- afterall the Lord says to multiply your talents. I think he'd count cooking as a great hobby without all the judgements. Cook on, one and all!

Say cheese

Random pic playing in the front room. I can't remember what they were doing to get the cushion so far off the chair, but I remember it was funny and it was cute...hence the picture. I don't remember the date, but it was definetly B.C. (before Canon), so sometime in those couple months we had a disposable camera.

Sweet Sandbox

Oh man, this is harder than I thought trying to post everyday. Awh well. Here's a random day photo. Lucy playing in the "sugar"box. I don't have a container to store sugar in (which you need in hawaii!) and so I've been keeping it in the freezer. Which doesn't work the best if it's still not in a container of sorts. It clumps up, so I don't like to use it in recipes. Anyway, surplus of rocky sugar and so it was time to play! We tinted the sugar a few different colors for excitment.

Honolulu Electric Parade

I couldn't choose just one (that will probably happen a lot). These are pictures from the Electric Light Parade that was last Saturday. It's a night parade of lights on all kinds of floats and fire trucks, etc. I don't know if you can see the lighted sleigh, it was pretty cool, it went up and down like a mini ride. The kids inside were having fun I'm sure. Santa and Mrs. Claus are on the final float, then they come and you can take a picture with Santa- for free! It was crowded, but fun. We enjoyed pizza and cotton candy, meeting Santa, and Lucy got to ride on the mini carousel.
Next in line to meet Santa

Enjoying the big displays in downtown Honolulu

3 days late...

I can't believe I'm already slacking on this! To make up for the days that I missed, I'll add this video of Willie walking in the kitchen.

Click, Click, Awwh...Moms that take pictures

That was kind of a bad rendition on the children's book, click, clack, moo. But anyway, so we finally got a digital camera again! In celebration, I will post one picture each day for the month of december! I need the work out for my finger since I'm so out of practice of taking pictures. Please tell me you can see his red hair... ;)

Turkey Recap

What I learned at school #6...I was in charge of the Mom and Tot group this past week. We met on Wednesday instead of Thursday and had a pretty big group. It started out slow then more and more came. Here's the stats:

Activity: Mom & Tot Turkey Trot and Holiday Recipe Exchange- 9 stations around the gym of different exercises to do with your keiki, with one of the stations being the "Bead Station" where you got beads for completing the lap to make an Indian Corn Necklace. The beads were just dyed salad noodles. I also gave them "Thankful Feathers" to write what they're thankful for and put on their necklace. We also had each mom bring a recipe that is a family favorite used especially during the holidays or special occasions.

Who came: Margaret, Nia, Wesley, Kaelene, Kiara, Maka, Alanna, Salote, Koa, Lia, Lana, Hereti, Melinda, Aislin, Oliver, Mel, KC, Misako, Minochan, Marlise, Joseph, Clara, Nancy, Sage, Courtney, Lucy, William.

The kids/moms didn't really team up like I was planning, we all just ended up going around once as a big group (it got too big toward the end) but it was fun going around together. Then, I guess most everyone was done. I had also brought Wee Sing, so the kids danced around to that as well. Moms brought lots of yummy treats today! It was fun to see all the recipes!

Our Thanksgiving was fun...pretty relaxed, which is exactly what we wanted. We had dinner with our neighbors, the Le family, who have two kids the same age as ours and they're good friends. Rebecca did the turkey which was really good, and mashed potatoes, yellow rice (I need to get the recipe!), garden veggies, and pistacio pudding dessert thing. I made rolls, yams, asparagus, and a pumpkin cheesecake. I really didn't make too much- I forgot the stuffing! It was a really good dinner! I followed this new recipe for the yams, and it was simple and good, I have to say I'm a fan. I doubled the brown sugar and 1.5 times the spices (actually I didn't have pumpkin pie spice so I made my own mix. Pumpkin pie spice is basically nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice...basically. I went heavy on the cinnamon and nutmeg.) We also made muddy buddies and I made some spice cookies with pumpkin dip. Friday morning I unconvinced myself to get up early for the doorbusters. We realized there was nothing we really wanted. We ended up going to Kapolei with Jeremy who had to do some things at work. I did go shopping while we waited, so all in all we did get the good sales- we both got a present I guess you could say: a new flash drive for Jeremy and a Crockpot for me. Hope you all had a great holiday!

3D Paper Snowflakes

So, we had our enrichment holiday social tonight. I was helping with decorations, and wouldn't you know...no pictures! No pictures to show off my work. Not even one for my cute Grandma who should be proud that I used her Christmas gift at this event. Anyway, we did a snowflake/silver and blue frost kind of theme. I made 8 centerpieces of miniature "trees" (branches with the leaves pulled off) and spray painted them silver. The trees were set up in a plantar covered with silver cardstock and a wide blue and white decorative ribbon, complete with cotton ball "snow" around the base of the tree. I was glad they turned out.
Another little treasure I found amongst this work, was this paper snowflake. Isn't it cool?! I was quite impressed with the easiness and how cool this little was (I know that was a bad sentence, btw). The girl in charge of decorations Lana, told me she was having a hard time making a snowflake. And it made me think, hmm, how do you make a cool snowflake? I think this snowflake is pretty cool- check it out! Cheap holiday decorations!

Just an update...

Willie's first tooth is coming in, the bottom right one. He has a few more bumps too.
Lucy had a scary experience yesterday. We were coming out of the elevator in our building. I had Willie in the stroller and was wheeling him out backwards, Lucy was still waiting in the elevator. She usually slips out while I'm pulling out the stroller, but this time the timing was late and the door starting closing with Lucy still inside. I had to jam my arm in the door, hoping it would make it open, but it just jammed with about a 3 inch opening. Lucy started screaming at this point. I think she actually thought I was getting hurt rather than worried about being stuck inside. I kept trying to reassure her and tell her to just wait why I fix the broken door. It took a little while trying to get it unjammed and the door did a few little half-open shut glitches, which freaked Lucy out more. Finally, she was safely able to get out. I paused outside the elevator and gave her hug and asked if that was scary. She nodded her head and said, scaried. It was one of the first times she's ever clearly told me her feelings, which was kind of neat despite the bad experience.

Thankful for the Service Men & Women

Happy Veteran's Day! Of all the parades that my mom was in last year as Mother Of The Year, I thought the Veteran's day was one of the most meaningful, touching, and relevant to a reason for a parade, that it kind of took a soft spot in the "holiday folder" in my heart. Anyway, tucked that in the back of my mind for a year. I didn't take time to think about my graditude for the service men and women today, until we went to Dole Plantation and there happened to be a little historical display of army vechicles in the parking lot. It was really cool. The Armed Forces Perservation Society (or something like that) had been asked by Dole plantation to come over after their parade. They had a dozen vechicals...WW2 and Veitnam era vechicles...motorcyles, supply runners, jeeps, I can't remember the names of all the cool looking army vechicels, but they were fun. And here we had just came for the pineapple ice cream. Only pics on my cell phone...we couldn't resist to put Willie in the drivers seat of these big army tanks, Lucy was asleep.
On top of that, I came home and got an email from a friend with the following pics. A friend from our playgroup at the nearby park invited us to go to the Fire Station with another preschool group who was getting a tour. This was a little while ago, but I'm so glad my friend had a camera and was willing to send me some momento pics. These guys were awesome! Firemen really have a sense of humor! I actually thought it was really thoughtful of them in the way they presented to the little kids. They were all about making the kids have fun and really like firemen so that if the kid was ever in a situation of danger, and a fireman came to rescue them, the kids would recognize the fireman as someone who can help them and not be afraid. "Cause sometimes with all the gear on, firemen can look a little scary." says one of the men. I thought that was a great thing to teach the kids. Anyway, these guys were a lot of fun, Lucy was sad to go when we left.
Thanks firemen!! And all those who serve society in these noble ways!!

Group pose for a special "fireman's eye view" picture! Don't drop the camera! Would you believe it-- he did!! Okay, the first camera was not real, but we all totally bought it and were surprised! He did take a real picture too!

Firing the fireman's hose!


Who let the dogs out...woof, woof, woof, woof, woof....wahoopwhoop!!

100lbs of gear...in about 30 seconds. We'd be happy if our kids could just get their shoes on in 30 seconds, that'd be great! :)jk, my kids don't even really put their shoes on themselves yet. ;) But these guys have to be pretty strong!

What I learned at school today #5

Oh my, am I halloweened out! When I planned today's activity a month ago, I didn't realize I was going to be helping plan two other halloween activities as well! It's safe to say, we are all halloweened out. And Lucy hasn't even got to wear her costume yet. Anyway, I'll recap the other halloween activities on another post, but let me recap today's pre-preschool.

Activity: Scary Stories Brunch! With a panel of momsters, special guests Sis. Conrad, Sis. Okabe, & Sis. Dupont, who shared their "my scariest moment as a mom" stories with us. The kids watched a movie and made Halloween cards with fun stickers. We also had a potluck brunch.

Who came: Lana, Hereti, Marlise, Joseph, Clara, Margaret, Nia, Wesley, Kipa, Koa, Lia, Misako, Minochan, Maggie, Caden, Chelsey, Matthew, Bear, Ruth, Caira, Melinda, Aislin, Oliver, Courtney, Lucy, William.

It was hard to get the moms going today. It's hard when you have an informal group try and do a formal activity sometimes. But with this activity I had to stick to a schedule because the moms on our panel had to get going to other things. So, it felt a little awkward trying to get the moms to not do their normal socializing, or at least save it until later, and get on with the activity. I need to learn better ways of starting up an activity. The Make a Monster game was not a big hit, but overall I thought the idea of everything was way fun, I loved having the "older" moms come and visit with us. I felt like we were honoring them and their knowledge and that's important to me. They were such dears for taking the time to come be with us! And their stories were a riot and touching!
I made way too much crumb cake (I made a triple batch just in case some moms weren't able to bring anything), we're going to be sick of eating it by... um, tonight.
There was a lot of good food-- thank you to everyone who made and brought such yummy dishes to share!

As for a monster moment myself. So as I'm trying to get everything started with the activity, Willie is crying hysterically. I'm going through the checklist: doesn't want bottle, teething?, tired?, diaper is ok.....nothing...I can tell his cry is desparate though, something's hurting him I could tell. But what? Finally, I have to start the activity so I give him to Margaret who decides she's going to try and change his diaper and starts to take off his shoes. Then she sees that his big toe on his left foot, that poor big toe has been all bent backwards up in his shoe. I felt so bad! I had hurried to put on his shoe and had stuffed his toes in quick enough that it was all bent and he'd been that way for over an hour and he was dying! His toe looked sore, red and kind of separated from being bent back so long. Poor kid. He takes a beating and keeps on ticking though, that boy is some tough stuff!

What I learned at school (yesterday) #4

I had the time of my life yesterday at our little "wannabe" preschool! I don't know about everyone else, but I think they did. Here are a few thoughts:

Activity: POPCORN CIRCLE- Each mom brought their child's favorite book and we took turns reading the books to the kids in circle time. I also prepared some fingerplays, songs, and a small craft. The link was a Mix-and-Match Pumpkin Patch game.

Who came: Margaret, Nia, Wes, Rannie, Courtney, Lucy, Willie, Melinda, Aislin, Oliver, Wendi, Pearse, Misako, Michan, Lana, Hereti, Chelsey, Matthew, Bear, Maggie, Caden.

Although the success rate of a circle time is overall pretty high. Most anything you do, is fun for the kids (at least these kids, it is). But there are some things I would think about doing differently a next time. For example, I would have not brought out food right at the beginning, but let them just enjoy the stories... well, thinking about the stories now, maybe I wouldn't have... anyway, read half, then break for snacks, then read the second half, then do songs, or something like that.
The little footstool we had was perfect, it was great! I thought it was a great way to set the tone and give structure to the activity. Wendi pointed out that it also would be great as a time-out chair....hmmm...good idea.
Other cardinal circle time rule that I broke, that I'll be sure to rectify next time is: when you have props for songs, like finger puppets, be sure to not hog all the fun to yourself, but include the kids. Don't worry, they'll scold you if you forget. I can't beieve I forgot this rule, but I obviously did because I got scolded and had to rectify. (PS- I changed the words to some of the songs and didn't tell anyone before we started singing, so sorry about that.)

I've included the lyrics for the songs that we sung, for the moms that came and maybe heard a song for the first time, or for anyone reading and might learn a new song....

Fast/Slow Large Muscle Movement Song:
(sung to the tune of Row, Row Row your boat, appropriate actions throughout)
Clap, clap, clap your hands,
Clap your hands with me.r
Clap them fast and,
Clap them slow.
Clap your hands with me.
-Stomp your feet
-Slap your knees
-Pat your head
-Sway your arms

Loud/Soft Voice:
Itsy Bitsy Spider- I think everyone knows the words, but for a second verse tell the children about the itsy bitsy spider's cousin, the Great Big, Hairy Spider who has a loud and gruff voice. Get really into it... my daughter loves it!

5 Little Ducks (fingerplay, hold out hands to count the ducks)
Five little ducks went out to play
over the hill and far away (move hand up over head and then behind back)
and the Mama duck said, "Quack, Quack, Quack, Quack"
four little ducks came waddling back.
-then, four little ducks went out.....three came waddling back.
-then, three little ducks went out.....two came waddling back.
-then, two little ducks went out.....one came waddling back.
-finally,
one little duck went out to play
over the hill and far away
and the Mama Duck said, "quack, quack, quack, quack"
No little ducks came waddling back.
The Mama Duck said, (in a louder voice) "quack, quack, quack, quack!!!!"
Five little ducks came waddling back (hand comes back with all five fingers waddling.)

5 Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree (fingerplay- with my changed words)
Five little monkeys swinging from a tree (show five fingers swaying)
Teasing Mr. Aligator, "Can't catch Me." (hold hands to sides of head, like a "nana-nana-boo-boo like action)
(A little slower and gradually getting softer)
Along comes Mr. Aligator, quiet as can be....and....
Snapped (loud clap with hands) at the monkey in the tree!
(Hold up 4 fingers)
-Four little monkeys swinging from a tree....
-Three little monkeys swinging from a tree....
-Two little monkeys swinging from a tree....
-One little monkey swinging from a tree....
(Final verse:)
No little monkeys swinging in the tree
All ran home just as fast as can be (hitchhiker thumb motion over shoulder)
There goes Mr. Aligator, HUNGRY as can be (rub tummy like you're hungry)
Look! (loud clap) Here he comes, after you and me (tickle child)

The One and Only...William

Willie hit the big One today*! Happy Birthday little guy! We were going to have a small family party, then our neighbors ended up stoping by so the party got a little more roudy! ;) No pics of the fun times, but in the near future. For now, let me give a recap of Willie as he is at age 1!!

1) Looks like Mommy- yes, I have a red-headed, freckled baby boy! Ok, only 4 freckles (I've counted, and Lucy has more) and I'm still convincing everyone that his hair is red, but it really is. It's getting more and more red every day. And I'm so happy about that! I'll prove it with pictures sometime.
2) New Tricks- big boy means he's getting smarter and smarter. He folds his arms to pray. Always on cue, and he's quiet (mostly) for the prayer...so cute! He brushes his hair- the influence of an older sister. But he's a climber (boy through the core) and has been getting onto higher and higher things...watch out mom.
3) Walking- he took his first couple steps a week ago, walking back and forth between Mom and Dad. So he's close, probably in the next month he'll be running as fast as he is crawling now.
3) Words- I've definetly heard "No!" "Dada" "Mamaaa" and "Uh-oh!" come out. Signs...I've only tried teaching him a few, and I've only really see him say "more."
4) Teeth- No, not yet. He keeps to doing lots of his tongue tricks. But it looks like he'll probably be singing, "All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!"
5) He's into- cars and balls, dancing (usually just a bounce up and down. He likes the Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam song), getting more into books (which makes me happy), growling and noise matches with his sister, lauging, favorite game is Ticklemonster especially on the Papasan chair.
6) The little things- that you just love and can't forget about a one year old- he's a cuddler and kisser! (Not like his sister, so it's a treat for us and really cute!) He's actually super shy and whenever someone says hi or gives him a smile, he immediately throws his cheek to the side and tucks his chin in a ashamed baby innocence. He stands on his tiptoes, even when there doesn't seem a reason. I think he's just excited about life! He has the most contagious laugh ever! I can never get enough of it. I think I haven't been noticing when he tries to say words because they're so hidden inbetween bouds of adorable laughter! He talks in baby giggles with a gushing smile-- you can't help but smile from the inside out when you see him laugh!
7) The woes- he is always constipated, like his sister was at this age, maybe worse. Probaby more than you wanted to hear about, but it breaks my heart. He's been better the last couple days though.
8) First Girlfriend- click here to go to a post with a picture of Willie and his first love, well, it's a love/hate relationship. After this photo was taken, the little girl got mad and bit Willie on the back. He had teeth marks and a bruise for a few days.

We love you Willie!! Thanks for the cards Grandma Connie and Grandma B!
*His birthday was Sunday, Oct. 19th by the way, I wrote this post late at night on Sunday and our computer is stuck on Pacific time so it recorded it even later into the night, or Monday morning.

Addendum #1: November 2, 2008: I just had to write the cute little phrases Willie has added to his vocabulary as of lately- "Gasp, whas zat?" and "Wow" I guess that's all I can think of right now. :)

What I learned at school, #3

Let me just preface this with this thought- I live for holidays. I absolutely love getting decked out for the occasion and coming up with fun festive things to do. Well, halloween has lots of fun things associated with it- possibilities are endless!
The recap:

Activity: Halloween Decorations- I am not original, by the way, so let me just go ahead and include all the links for the decorations we made:
-Mr. Bones (skeleton)
-Spirit Jugs (lighted ghosts)
-Giant Tarantula (Mom & Kid craft)
-Halloween Luminario (Mom & Kid craft)


Who came: Margaret, Wesley, Kipa, Koa, Liahona, Chelsey, Matthew, Bear, Melinda, Aislin, Oliver, Elena, Cate, Lana, Hereti, Wendy, Pearse, Misako, Minochan, Courtney, Lucy, William

Ok, so there was just myself and one other mom who made the Giant Tarantula; and I was the only one who made a Mr. Bones, but the luminarios were a big hit. So simple, yet so cute. I actually discovered that the Spirit Jugs can also easily become "Tye-Dyed Jack-o-lanterns." Crayons work well on milk jugs, I found out, so after I drew a pumpkin face on a milk jug, I let Lucy scribble all over it. What a blast! When lighted it makes a fun little groovy pumpkin. Well, overall I'm probably way overboard on decorations. My porch is starting to look really fun though! And besides, I found out I'm going to be doing a game booth at the church's halloween party, so it's more mileage for my decorations.

What I learned at school today, #2

First the quick recap:

Activity: Art Fantastic- sponge painting, Marble Can painting (w/glitter!), and Markers on Mural, a multi-marker approach. We also made instant sorbet... yummy!

Who came: Kipa, Koa, baby, Margaret, Nia, Wesely, Lana, Hereti, Courtney, Lucy, William, Chelsey, Matthew, Bear, Lilly, Melinda, Eliza, Acelyn, Oliver, Ty, Tyla, Precious, Olivia, Laurie, Cierra, Wes, Kelly.

Hmm, well, I learned (relearned) people are... unpredictable- just as plain as that. Kids are.... hard of hearing. Or some seem to be. I realized I just can't keep up with the kids who just have to do everything themselves. It's such a trial in patience. I really don't have any ideas how to get them to listen because they always just have to do, do, do. If you tell them, "Stop, wait." That only lasts about 1.5 seconds, if that. So you really got to get your instructions out there in no time, literally. Well, I just need to learn how to talk to these kids I guess.
I loved today watching a few of the mommas gather the kids for the biggest game of duck, duck, goose and ring-around-the-rosie!! You guys were great!

What I learned at school today

Ok, so I'm not in school. I'm just trying really hard to keep posts interesting (enough) since I don't have any pictures anymore to add to posts.
Well, last week was our first activity for our little momma's playmorning group. Here's a quick recap.

Activity: Gym Games: Skeetball, Goofy Golf, and Snake in the Grass.

Who came: Margaret, Nia, Wesley, Elena, Kate, Kipa, Koa, Baby, Ty, Tyla, Precious, Olivia, Cierra, Kelly, Laurie, Melinda, Acelyn, Oliver, Chelsey, Matthew, Bear, Maggie, Caden, Misako, Mino-monster, Lucy, Willie, and myself. (Did I miss anyone? I hate to ask that question cause I'm going to feel bad if I did!)

So, trying to plan these little activities is like going to school for me, thus let me share what I learned at school. These are all homemade games, mind you, and look very rag-tag and most don't make it through one play session. I guess there's a lesson in there somewhere. I learned that all of these games were way over the kid's heads. The ages of these kids are 4 and under. But the balls are always fun for any age kid. I learned to utilize skills and techniques learned in childhood: like the sock balls (is that what they're called? If anyone had "sock wars" when you were a kid, you know what I'm talking about...when you roll your sock all the down into a ball.) Another important thing to remember: pixie sticks are not the best treat for toddlers. They don't know how to eat them.

"They Ate It" Recipe

You celebrate when you find a recipe that you don't find yourself picking apart to find a spot that your kid will eat, but the kids will eat the whole thing! And, if it's a great meal for you, what a happy table! Yes, this is that kind of recipe. Given the hefty list of ingredients, I was just so happy when Lucy ate it! Let me share...
Here's why this recipe gets put on my favorites list:
-Hefty ingredients: spinach, bell pepper, garlic, lime (all faves)
-Meaty enough for Dad
-Non-intimidating for kids (looks at first maybe, but quickly overcome by the cheesiness- but it's not too cheesy, I might have put less than it called for. I think it's the sour cream that actually catches the kid's eye.)
-Despite being a casserole, the layered look is fabulous enough to serve to company.
-Stores great!!
-Great as leftovers! It's not the kind of dish that doesn't make it through microwaving, know what I mean? It tastes just as great after microwaving as it did coming out of the oven.
The bad side is:
-Have to bake it (not liking that in Hawaii.)
-Quite a few ingredients, so that might add to the grocery bill and the prep time. I like the variety of ingredients in dishes though.

So here it is; I actually didn't use any olives (don't like them) and I made the mistake of putting the sour cream layer under the second layer of tortillas (instead of on top), I liked it that way, but not sure if it makes a difference. This recipe is from the Corvallis 4th Ward Cookbook, from Lisa Curtis.

PACE ENCHILADA CASSEROLE
1.5 lbs lean ground meat
1 sm. onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained well
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
2 med. tomatoes, chopped
1 lg. red bell pepper, chopped
1 T. lime juice
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 cups Pace Picante Sauce
2 cups sour cream
3/4 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sliced olives

Arrange 6 tortillas on bottom of lightly greased 9x13" pan (tear tortillas to fit pan). Brown meat and drain, then add onion, garlic, tomato sauce, tomatoes, bell pepper, lime juice, Picante Sauce, salt, and spinach. Simmer for 15 minutes. Put half of the meat mixture over tortillas lining pan. cover with 6 more tortillas. Spread sour cream over tortillas. Top with remaining meat mixture. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with cheese and olives. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

Hawaiian Sea Life Park

Labor day weekend, Sea Life Park had a Kama'aina special (discount for residents). We just had to take advantage of the special, but one problem, we didn't have local ID's-- well, Jeremy had a UH student ID card, but I didn't have anything. Regular price is $30, so getting in for the special, only $10, was a big motivation (don't we do just about anything for a discount! ;) Long story short, I ended up so slyly using an old student ID card I had. umm, white lie?...oh well....it was a fun, sunny day.....

Getting Settled

This isn't the best picture of us, but we tried to take a picture in front of our apartment building (not a digital camera, btw). Our apartment is basically right behind the big tree you see in the background. It provides nice shade and keeps our apartment pretty cool and clean.

Around the corner on the left-hand side is where we got to meet the Fire Captain, crew, and policeman the other day. I guess my mind has been out of it trying to settle into a new place (is that a good enough excuse?), because I did a real stupid thing on Wednesday. I was taking the kids to pick up Jeremy and head to dinner at a friend's house. I put Willie in the carseat and he was being fussy so I gave him the keys to play with. I then went and put Lucy in her seat and the stroller in the back, and of course I had closed all the doors while I was going not knowing that little baby had found the lock button on the keychain and locked all the doors! It's bad enough locking your keys in the car, of course, but locking two helpless kids in there as well was one of the most terrible feelings! My cell phone was in my bag that was in the car as well, I didn't have a key to get back into my apartment or anything. Luckily there was a work crew right next to the car and I was able to borrow a cell phone. I called Jeremy and told him to figure something out. In the meantime, I was feeling worse and worse, the on-lookers were all getting worried the kids were going to suffocate soon (they were probably making me worry more than help the situation, but I'm glad they were there nonetheless.) One of the workers let me borrow their cell phone and we decided to just call emergency 911 because we had no idea what Jeremy was going to be able to figure out and how long it would take. The police came and the fire truck who had a professional system for breaking into cars! I am glad they didn't have to break a window. The kids probaby weren't in the car more than 10 minutes, but they were all sweaty and looked fairly uncomfortable, poor things! I hated that feeling looking in through the windows at their cute little faces and just feeling so stupid for doing something totally preventable and potentially threatening to the kids! Well, it could have been a lot worse. I'm just blessed to have had so many people there to help get things solved! Just look at these cute kids-- I love them so much!!


Willie is still getting used to all the changes that come with a new place I think. Look closely and you'll see a bread trail up to his chin. He's still not on a super good nap schedule, and the poor kid has to crawl around on such hard surfaces all the time!


Everyone knows Lucy's shoe fetish. She's extended her shoe thievery to include socks as well. Don't you just love how one sock is down and the other up to her knees!