A Change in......

WEATHER........We went on a last minute trip to Kauai. We had a wonderful time with the kids! I love their sunsets! This time we brought the tripod........what a view!

Our favorite place for smoothies.....Banana Joe's. Frozen pineapple, banana, or papaya blended in a special blender made to look and taste like ice cream.

Kauai is known for their chickens. They are everywhere! Claire loved chasing them whenever she had the chance.

During the "tsunami" we went to Waimea Canyon and went on a gorgeous hike. The arch behind us was spectacular!

This was what we were hiking to...a small waterfall with a swimming area. It was freezing cold but the kids loved it!

We love hiking!

I love lighthouses. So, any chance I get I love to take pictures of them!

Malissa loves to collect rocks. She found coral that looked like the head of a Dinosaur.


Taro Farm



Glass Beach.....one of our favorite spots. The whole beach is covered in sea glass. There weren't too many big pieces of sea glass but it was still fun finding treasures.

Emma's sea glass collection.

Luke, Emma and Malissa were so proud of the dam that they built at Secret Beach. The waves were too rough to play in so they decided to have fun playing in the stream.

Cool sea turtle taking a nap.

This day was really windy to snorkle but Emma and Josh had fun anyways at Poipu Beach.


Claire was afraid of the water. Malissa was such a good big sister and helped her in the little water area.

Puka Dogs.....fancy hotdogs. The kids loved this place! You can put coconut, mango, or pineapple relish on your hotdog. Emma chose to have a plain hotdog with ketchup.

We decided to switch the girls rooms. Emma was in the larger room so it made since to put Claire and Malissa in Emma's old room. The only problem was the colors were all wrong for their bedding so I spent President's Day painting. Emma's new room is now blue and Malissa and Claire's new room is a pretty taupe. Of course I still need to put a few more things up on the wall but here it is for now.

Growing up....

Emma was in a play last week. All the fifth graders put on a Patriotic play. Emma was a narrator and a lady in waiting. It was a great program! We are so blessed to live in a free country! Happy President's Day!

Great job fifth graders!

Claire finally has enough hair to wear piggies. Doesn't she look older?

I made Abraham Lincoln cookies for Emma's class and Luke decided to decorate one to look like Elvis. I thought it turned out pretty good.

Heidi Celebration at School

Malissa loves her teacher Mrs. Carver! After her second grade class read the book Heidi they had a celebration on Friday with food, games, and lots of fun! Malissa also loved dressing up as Heidi!

Three legged race with friends.
Malissa participated in a wheel chair race. She said it was harder then she thought!
Emma and Malissa went to a Valentine cooking class with their friends on Saturday. They had fun making cupcakes, cookies and Valentine cards.

Broken Arm

Luke broke his arm yesterday snowboarding in our park. (He went off a jump) He is in a lot of pain! Unfortunately it's his writing arm. This morning Luke put legos together on his wii controller so that he could play games with his other hand. Very clever! It will be a very long winter for Luke but we are glad he only broke his arm and nothing else!

Winter Wonderland

On Saturday morning we woke up to a winter wonderland! We decided to go sledding in the morning. (9:00 AM) It was really nice because we were the only ones at the park! The kids liked going sledding and snow skating. Claire didn't like the snow in her face as she sledded down the hill but she did enjoy swinging on the swing. It was such a beautiful morning especially since we really haven't had much snow this winter! What a beautiful snow day!

Klondike Campout & Mi Mi

Claire's lastest attachment is her bunny (Mi Mi) She has to sleep with it every day and we love when she calls it Mi Mi because it sounds so cute. Great memories!

Luke and his scout troop made a sled to compete against other troops at a Klondike campout. The sled was made out of plywood and a pair of skies. On Saturday their troop raced against other troops to see who had the fastest sled. Their sled came in seventh. Luke was very excited about the whole campout and especially liked sledding until midnight. I can't imagine having a fun time freezing to death. But we're glad Luke had a good time!

My helper

Over the weekend when Josh was out of town, Emma was my big helper! She made a big breakfast for dinner including fried eggs, pancakes and yogurt with fruit. She also took Claire outside to play in the snow, and made everyone hot choclate. She is growing up so fast! I can't believe she will be 12 this year! We are so blessed to have such a good helper!

I can only laugh at these moments when we find Claire doing things we never thought she would do. She thought that it would be fun to climb in Luke's sink and try out his toothbrush.(Luke was not too happy about that) She also tried climbing out of the crib but got stuck instead. This was the second time she had tried. Luckily Emma grabbed the camera and took a picture. She looked pretty scared so hopefully it scared her enough to not try again.