Moments in our months

I was going to call this 'Moments in my daze...'
That's what it feels like sometimes.

Time just flies with all these little ones.
Little ones becoming big ones.

Even though we make great efforts to place boundaries on our time - to not sign up for too many activities - to keep our evenings for our family.

Still......time flies.

Still.....I feel so busy.

There is always so much that needs to be done. 
Another load of laundry...another meal to be made....
another diaper to be changed....another attitude to be dealt with....

I am purposing to capture more moments. 
Not just on camera.
In my mind...in my heart.....

Kawika (3)

Koa (9) who is laying little eggs?

Kili (5)

'Mom, what happened?'

Little ones baking with Kainoa (11), our resident baker!

Keoni (seven weeks)

Everyone got awarded their new belts

Lunch time!

Self directed nap time

Kaleo (17) with Keoni

Keoni joins us for evening family devotions.

Moments in our Day

Since I have started taking pictures with my phone, the quality of the photos has gone downhill.  

The tradeoff, though, is that I take a lot more pictures... and can capture a lot more moments...usually one-handed ...while nursing the baby or changing a diaper : )

These are some random moments of our day.....

4 weeks

Not sure about that Superhero on the right

Kapena likes to 'climb' up doorways

5 weeks

Roasted marshmallows - always a good way to end the day!

Advent Activities

Kaleo working on our Jesse Tree ornaments

We love to gather with friends for any occasion.  Here, before Christmas, we had a couple of great things going on.  

Painting pots for our Jesse Trees

We made our first attempt at making a family Jesse Tree.  I have had this project in my back pocket for years. Somehow, we never got to it.  The Jesse Tree is a wonderful way to celebrate Advent.  This year I came across a beautiful version at www.aholyexperience.com.  There are many versions online.  I was inspired to carve out time for our family to make one this year.  

Koa on the shofar, announcing the beginning of the play

Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem

I think this is when they got the bad news about 'no vacancy'

Somehow Mary ended up in the manger

After lunch we had an impromptu Christmas play with lots of improvisation, several donkeys and camels, and an authentic shofar.  Then we headed off to the park!

 

Family Amusement

We don’t frequent amusement parks.  We’d rather head to the beach, or go for a hike.  

Pix we took in the parking lot - we'd know what they were wearing if anyone got lost!

This past December,  though, we surprised the kids by taking them to one...it was a combo family Christmas present, and an early birthday celebration for our 5 year old.

We decided to do it because 1) I got 1/2 price tix  2) this park has lots of animals – from tigers to sharks  3) we never normally do this.

On our way to the Tiger Show

We saw both Asian and African elephants

We like to do activities that can include the whole family.  This was something that all the kids enjoyed.  For some, it was their first time on a roller coaster.  Keith captured the faces of the little ones on the roller coaster, filming them on his phone, hoping he didn’t drop the phone!

The favorites were the dolphin and killer whale shows.  The place was decorated for Christmas, and even had a small sledding hill.  The one bummer was that the food in the park was outrageously expensive.  We survived on snacks, and the PB&J’s I had in my purse for this pregnant mama!

It was a little unnerving getting so close to this guy!

 



















It was challenging for me because the park is a bit hilly.  I was far enough along in my pregnancy that walking all day around the park just about did me in.  In the end, it was worth it to see the kids enjoy themselves so much.  All in all a fun family day!