A friend's birthday

Brennen and Chyler were invited to their friend Anna's 5th birthday party! Happy Birthday Anna!

It was exciting because number 1, it was Chyler's very first birthday invite! And number 2, they both have never been to Gymboree before. They were in heaven!

Thanks to Anna (and her Mommy & Daddy) for inviting Brennen & Chyler to her party! They had such a great time!!

Easter 2011

Today was Easter Sunday and we had a nice family day! We went to church and had great services and lessons. Then, we came home to a small family dinner.

While I am pretty neurotic about anything that can leave a stain, I allowed egg coloring in the house while my Mom and Dad hid easter eggs outside. Talk about stretching the comfort zone! Dye! On carpet! What a nightmare! But, the kiddos did a good job of keeping it on their newspaper although Austen stuck his hands in the dye (green and blue, no less) instead of using the spoon I gave him and he ended up with some nice blue-green fingertips that lasted a few days past Easter.



Then, it was the running of the bulls! Uh...no...I mean the Easter egg hunt! But when they first came out of the house...it did resemble some bull running! They had a blast finding all the PLASTIC eggs around the house. Some with ingenious hiding spots and some not so much.



Here's their loot! It was too funny because while I didn't fill my plastic eggs with anything...my Mom and Dad filled theirs with candy and cash. While opening up the eggs on the grass, the two older ones threw the candy on the side and grabbed the cash while the younger two did just the opposite. We adults found that hilarious! Then, the kids wanted to hide eggs so the adults could find them. That was pretty fun as each of us got a child to "help" us find the eggs. Some of us got more "help" than the others - as Brennen and Chyler quickly found eggs to put in Grandpa and Grandma's bucket.



Dallen found a great hiding place for a carrot-shaped egg. He put it in the ground only to have Brennen grab it for Grandpa!

That night, Aunty Bea brought some cupcakes for the kids to decorate. They had such a good time and decorated them all with icing and candies galore! Thanks Aunty Bea! In between the festivities, we ate WAY too much food! And some of us could not handle.

We hope your Easter was special as well!

Aiea Pirates attend a UH baseball game!

Austen's baseball team went to a UH baseball game tonight! It was Little League day...or something like that...where all the LL teams could go on the field and meet the players before the game started. Here they are at Les Murakami Stadium. Brennen got to go too! Maybe one day they can play there for real!

They also met Colton Wong (bottom left photo) who, Lad assures me, is a first round draft pick in the upcoming MLB draft. Which means, a signing bonus that could get him $20 million, even before actually playing a major league game. Which is ridiculous to me...but he's from the Big Island - could have gotten drafted out of high school but opted to go to college - and was gracious and nice to our boys. So, good luck to him in all his future endeavors!

The boys had a good time with their team especially since Coach Lad treated the team to ice cream malts! My boys had a GREAT time because they got to play their DS for a bit during the game. Go figure!

Haircuts...and what to do on a holiday?

So, it was haircut time. Sometimes, the need for haircuts all converge onto one day where I have to spend $45 for 3 kids cuts. This week was that time. All 3 boys needed haircuts as they were sporting the shaggy look. While Austen is the most dramatic because he usually only gets a haircut semi-annually...if not, annually. He decided to go with the short, spikey look after seeing both his brothers get that cut. As soon as he finished though, he told me he wished his hair went back to what it was. He likes his long-look so I promised him that we would only get a trim next time. Let's see how long it takes for his hair to grow out! I took some other photos of the other 2 but their hair is usually short and spikey anyway so there's not much change. Brennen's was getting a bit long and you might be able to tell from behind Sugar's head.



Haircuts were yesterday and today (yippee!!?) was a holiday...Good Friday. While I was deciding what I should do with my kids for the whole day, I found myself taking out the waterslide because it was a really nice day. After all, we have a yard and a slide and it's free fun!

Austen opted to go to work with Lad for a half-day so he went on the slide during Round 2 - which, unfortunately, wasn't photographed. But he had fun too...believe me!

Aiea Little League Opening Ceremony 2011

Today was the opening ceremony for the Aiea Little League. Which means, you take your team photo, individual photo, and then your team gets introduced while you walk in a big circle while waving to your parents in the stands.

Here are the Pirates - walking to the front - but they did something different. They lined up in the front, stopped, took a bow while tipping their caps to the crowd. Leave it to my husband to come up with something different with sparks of pizazz.

Road Show 2011

Our Stake had a Road Show activity and Lad and Dallen were both participants in our ward's show...THE MAKAHIKI GAMES!

It pitted the "Tutus" (oldies but goodies) against the "Keikis" (young 'uns) in a tug-o-war match. Both my guys did a really great job! Lad surprised me as he had the role of the "Hawaiian Superman" and had to run through the crowd flexing his muscles (complete with entrance music like a WWE superstar) before jumping up onto the stage to show that the "Tutus" had this one in the bag.

Super fun and super cute! Great job by our Road Show coordinators, Bro. & Sis. Akana!



The cultural hall was packed and the PA system wasn't that great as we couldn't hear most of the acts. But, my kids seemed to keep themselves busy doing goofy dances in the aisle and making goofy faces at my camera.

Didn't I tell you?!

I just had to! I knew I would! School pictures, round 2.

There is no way this can be possible!!

Brennen is not five years old! Impossible! He was born yesterday! But alas...'tis true. My baby boy is now five years old and getting ready to start Kindergarten in August. I cannot believe this! Where was I when he grew up? Well...I KNOW where I was...somewhere between yelling at unreal decibels and pulling my hair out...but, you know what I mean! He grew up so fast! (Mind you...that's hindsight talking...)

So, this year April 3rd was on Sunday. General Conference Sunday to be exact. So, in keeping with the Sabbath...we chose to do a low-key mini celebration for Brennen which included some present opening and most importantly, ICE CREAM CAKE for dessert! Dallen saw me furiously wrapping presents, trying desperately to be stealthy about it because I procrastinated and failed to wrap the items the night before. He said that he got Brennen a present too and asked if he could wrap it. Of course! Turns out, he got Brennen a $5 gift card from Jamba Juice which I think he shopped for in his wallet - but it was very nice of him to make the sacrifice for his brother. He said he'd like to wrap it in a big box. So he did. Then, he found some goggles in the closet and I asked if he'd like to give those to Brennen too. He did and went searching for an even bigger box. He wrapped them both by himself and he was so excited when Brennen was opening his present! Super cute! May my boys always love each other this way!



Brennen's other "loot" from us included a Leapfrog Scribble & Write, a remote control car, a table-top pinball machine, Spiderman books from Aunty Dorothy & Uncle Eric, and a REAL tool set from Grandpa & Grandma. Grandpa & Grandma joined us for birthday cake as we sang a rousing Panis rendition of Happy Birthday! Sadly, "rousing" is probably too much of an adjective for us...

Since his birthday was on Sunday, we promised that we'd stretch it out to include SPIDERMAN cupcakes to share with his preschool class, going to the store to pick out his very own present and a visit to Chuck E. Cheese. On Monday, he had his well child check-up so I picked him up early from school. We went to his appointment - where he got his 2nd chicken pox vax and a TB test for school...not a happy birthday boy at this point - but then, we went to Toys R Us so he could pick out a present of his choosing. Since December, he's wanted a "remote control monster" and being the very one-track minded and/or determined little boy that he is...he headed straight for this, picked it up and wanted to go to the checkout. I told him he should look around but he is, after all, a guy and they don't shop, do they?



He got a cute headband with his name on it and ribbon from his teacher, both of which he wore all day long. To the doctor's office, to Austen's baseball game & to Shiro's for dinner that night.

On to the final culmination of celebratory events, Chuck E. Cheese. Tonight we went to the City Square Chuck E. Cheese, which is considerably cleaner than the Pearl City one since it just recently opened. Being a school night, it wasn't packed too! Yay! They had a blast! Brennen and Chyler "hung out" for the most part while Dallen & Austen worked this Pirate video game almost all night long. 100 tokens does not go very far. Note the look of intensity on both of their eyes...they didn't even notice Chuck E. Cheese behind them in the flesh/fur. But, Brennen did and gave him a high-five. Chyler clung to Daddy as she is deathly afraid of Chuck E. Cheese. It's super funny to me that my most scaredy-cat child LOVES those larger than life characters. You would think that he would be afraid to approach them but no...he high fives them, gives them hugs...no fear!



So, as I was posting on the events of the last few days I began looking at photographs of Brennen. He has grown so much in the last 5 years! See age 3? That's my black shirt that he was SUPER attached to...would carry it around wherever he went...along with his binky. We took both away cold turkey soon after that picture was taken...poor thing, we might have scarred him for a bit there!



Some things about Brennen:

1. He was my most opihi child. Would cry and cry when he was a baby if I wasn't holding him. Coincidentally, he was my heaviest child too. Lucky me! From 1 - 2 months of age, he gained 5 pounds. Doctor said YIKES! So did I!

2. He enjoys sports - wants to play everything! I was amazed at how well he took to baseball - he has a great swing for a little guy!

3. He's always loved to eat - but recently, he would rather play. Although he does love his snacks. He loves nori and rice - he will sit there making his own little mini musubis. If there is no nori, he does not eat rice.

4. He is pretty competitive as are his brothers - which makes for a lot of whining and fighting when playing ANYTHING!

5. He has a GREAT smile! And knows it because when he wants to get out of something or butter me up, he will smile his big smile and tell me he loves me.

6. He is probably the brother that takes care of Chyler the most. He is her provider...if he gets a snack, he'll get one for her. If he only has one snack, he will give her a piece. He's always making sure she's following us while walking. He'll tell me if Chyler is crying and lead me to her. I'm not sure it's because they go to school together but they both seem very conscious and aware of the other.

7. He is Sugar's nemesis.

8. He loves to cuddle. He will rub his lips on my arm when he sits by me...not sure why...but he gets embarassed when I ask him what he is doing.

I love my little boy. He will always be my baby, I think. LOVE YOU BRENNEN!