Family Time

Like Father Like Son

Merry Go Round

Family Time

On the way to our Anniversary Lunch

Wacky Wednesday

Scooby Doo Band aid mustache 

 Keenan's school holds a Dr. Seuss' Wacky Wednesday every year. This year, Keenan capitalized on his band aid mustache for some comic relief.  To be clear, he is wearing the band aid because he fails to understand the concept of kleenex and when he has a runny nose, insists on fiercely wiping his nose with his hand or sleeve.  Leaving his upper lip, raw and red.  The only remedy has been to slap a band aid to remind him to leave it alone.

Backwards jeans, mismatched socks, pink oversized shirt and a band aid mustache made up Wacky Wednesday

Looking Snazzy in Aunt Larissa and Uncle Doug's coat/ hat combo, pay no mind to the boy in the t-rex pjs and band aid mustache.  

Easter

Pretty in Pink

Ready to Hunt Eggs

Daddy is ready too!

What a Haul!

Ready for Hunt #3

I am WAY ready for the next hunt!

And I mean ready!

I mean really, really ready!

Seriously Sophia, no time for smiles

Come on Sophia, put your game face on

Because I am going to collect some Candy, lots of it!

Easter Egg Fun

Mr. Don and Ms. Marti open their yard for Easter Egg Hunt

Keenan takes his egg hunting VERY seriously!!!

On Easter, the kids were lucky enough to have not one, but THREE, Easter Egg hunts!  One of them was provided by our lovely neighbors, Marti and Don.  On this particular day, Keenan was extremely focused on the job at hand.  Apparently, finding candy is some very serious stuff!

Judith and Kat have a serious game of 'cornhole'

Must Build Log Cabin!

Cheese!

Okay, maybe not that serious

Sophia's Photos

Sophia loves taking her camera on every family 

outing possible.  Whether it is a visit with Aunt

Sara's family, a new skirt for me, or a trip to

Hawaii, Sophia is ready to document the 

moment.  Not bad for a soon to be 7 year old.

Aunt Sara's Kids and Keenan

Keenan contemplates a butterfly

It is hard to believe that this year marks Sophia's sixth annual visit to a butterfly garden, and Keenan's fifth.  Darn did that go fast!

Still, at least the kids are no longer terrified of the fickle fluttering insects that flit from here to there. It would have been an even better day if Daddy had been able to join us, Nanny too, as she was present for the first several years of Butterfly Exploration. Still, a good day was had by all.

p.s. I am very happy to report that our family did not cause nor was in any way responsible for a single butterfly fatality this year...(let's not talk about last year, shall we, a far too traumatic memory.)

Hamming it up

Butterfly Keenan

Caterpillar Sophia

Caterpillar Keenan

Less Hair, Less teeth, More Gaps, More Charming...

Both top front teeth out now

Sophia keeps losing teeth. As of two days ago, she is up to six now! Her little toothless smile is so sweet but there are some BIG teeth growing in those gaps and I have no idea how her little mouth is going to handle them.  Oh well, I guess we had better start setting money aside for braces.

Sweet Sophia

What Gaps?

Time to cut some hair!

Voila!

36 Hours in Paradise

Last month, Colin had a Honolulu layover and we were feeling intrepid.  We found ourselves boarding a plane bound for Hawaii.  Well, that is, only after we spent 8 hours in LAX trying to get on a HNL bound plane.  United and Continental recently merged their pass travel systems.  Needless to say, it needs some work, and traveling space available in this newly merged airline is a whole new world and I do not mean that in a good way.  

We finally made it to Honolulu (very late) but managed to have a nice dinner and get some much needed rest before Colin arrived the next day.  We had a wonderful 24 hours together but had a very stressful journey back.  I don't think we will be attempting this trip again for quite some time.  Still, it was lovely having some fun in the sun, just the four of us.

Pretty girl with a pretty view

Family Teamwork

Turtle building

Time for Mommy and Sophia

Diamond Head in the background

Some new cool sunglasses

That is one cold little giraffe.

And Away They Flew......

The hummingbird babies grew, as babies do.  Our kids named Sweetie Pie's kids "Daffodil" and "Tweetie Pie." Mom gradually became used to my daily treks up the ladder to check out her babies.  She would patiently watch from an adjacent tree and didn't really seem to mind my continued curiosity. 

At first the babies seemed so vulnerable, it was sometimes difficult even to see if they were alive, their eyes tightly shut, featherless and rather pathetic, I could barely make out the subtle rise and fall of their sides.  As the days went by, feathers emerged, eyes opened, bodies steadily became bigger and they started getting visibly restless to get out of their ever shrinking nest.  During the last week, Sweetie Pie no longer shared the nest, but would spend her time on adjacent branch or nearby tree.  Only stopping by to feed them and encourage them to stretch their strengthening wings. 

One morning, after Colin had checked on our extended brood, he told me "they are going to fly soon, maybe today." Turned out, he was only off by a day.  The next morning, Tweetie Pie, the slightly larger hatchling, took flight, much to Daffodil's chagrin.  We only saw him (my interpretation) a couple of more times and then he was gone and has never returned.  Daffodil took flight the following day but she returned to her nest that night.  She stuck around our yard for another week or so, with Sweetie Pie supplementing her food. Every night Daffodil took refuge in our Orange Jubilee bush. Then one day, she too was gone.  

I'm am so happy for the little family, they did what nature dictates. They left the nest and became independent. Still, every time I pass their little empty nest, I think of them and miss them. I'm so grateful we had the opportunity to experience the evolution of a hummingbird family. But then I have to turn my mind away from how closely it hits to home. One day, we will experience an empty nest, I hope it is a day filled with joy for our kids, proud that they are making their way in the world.  But there is no avoiding the inevitable sadness that will come along with it.  I just hope that our two hatchlings will want to pay frequent visits to the nest that they were raised in and that we have adequately prepared them for the world.  I guess only time will tell.......

The Tooth Fairy

As of late, Sophia is nearly busting the Tooth Fairy's budget.

In the past two weeks, she lost two teeth in rapid succession (one of which she pulled out a little too early and it bled profusely for over an hour). Now there is a third pending (the last top front tooth dangling by a thread) and the poor girl is looking an awful lot like Nanny McPhee (when she first arrives) these days.

Cost of a visit from the Tooth Fairy these days? $2.50...cost of photos with big gaps and crazy grins????

Priceless.