Moving

No posts recently as we have been moving! Our family survived a six hour flight to LA, an 8 hour layover, and an overnight flight into mom and dad land. We are now at my parents' house on the mainland and trying to find a house near D's work. He came down earlier this week and saw 23 houses in a day and narrowed it down to 4 that he really liked. Now we are currently back here and will have another day tomorrow full of looking at houses. Grandpa and Grandma are watching the boys and we are here with just the baby. What a vacation! It's almost boring, though. We figure we will be able to concentrate and look at houses much easier without bringing everyone. Pray that we will find something tomorrow.
If I have not been in touch it is because my parents' Internet is S.L.O.W. We have WiFi at the hotel and I'm excited to be able to check in on my email and blog for a minute.
God's blessings to you all as this Christmas season approaches!

A new season...

We are leaving. Tomorrow the packers will come and pack our things and the movers will put them on the truck and take them away. The house will be empty and another chapter in our lives will be over. I am sad. Part of me is very excited about moving back to the mainland and being closer to family, getting away from the bugs and having a Target, but tonight I am only thinking about what we will be missing. As we walked in our summer clothes today, I looked up at the blue sky, felt the warm sun and took in the beautiful green palm trees. I said good-bye to my next door neighbor and packed winter clothes for the children. We have been so blessed to be stationed here in paradise. Wearing flip flops, going outside whenever we want and enjoying good health have been such gifts. There is a playground in our backyard and wonderful Christian neighbors next door, we have a wonderful church and good friends. Now we have to start over...settle into a new house, find our way around a new town, church hunt, build new relationships and wear winter coats. Please pray for us as we make this transition.

Good-bye to paradise.

Daddy's home!!!!

Dan returned from a 2 month deployment yesterday. We are thrilled to have him back. The children and I went to the pier to meet the ship and bring him home. Homecomings are so much fun. All the women are dressed up for their hubbies and the children all look nice and as you walk past the crowd you hear the word "daddy" from all over. As the ship is pulling in we all look to find our man up there on the deck. We spotted Dan and my 3 little men were waving and yelling to their daddy. You can hear the shouts as each family spots their sailor. It's just so fun. The hardest part is waiting. Once the ship docks it seems to take hours before they are able to come off of the ship. We wait and wait and finally we see sailors heading down the bridge. Then finally Dan is off and we have to keep the kids from attacking him in their excitement.

We are so thankful to have him home.

2 year olds

After several incidents with my 2 year old son I have decided to make a shirt. It will read...
Pray for me...I have a 2 year old boy.

My Landon is just adorable, but he's as curious and michevious as he is cute. This combination can be dangerous! Take for instance a normal thursday...
Landon's doing great wearing undies. No accidents! Our mother's helper comes over and takes the littles to the park for an hour. She constantly asks Landon if he needs to use the potty. Immdiately after she asks (for the 10th time) he poops in his pants. Lindsay brings him into me. We manage to get poop everywhere...ugh. A bath and change of clothes later we're ready to go. Now to after naptime...
We're outside playing until dark in our beautiful weather. When we get back in the 2 year old is hungry so in the time it takes me to shut the door he's pushed a chair to the stove, uncovered the foil on diiner and is grabbing for it. I get him just in time and my neighbor comes to the door. In the time it takes me to answer the door Landon has gotten ahold of my pin cushion and is throwing pins at Q!! I run over to see pins all over the kitchen floor. As I'm cleaning up the pins Landon climbs on the counter and is about to eat an apple which is in his reach ONLY because he had pulled down my produce hanger the day before. The hook even came out of the ceiling!

Fast forward a couple of days. We're at the BK playland. I smell poop. Great...poop has busted out of the sides of his diaper and is on his shorts, shirt, leg and shoes....not to mention all down the big purple slide. We get cleaned up and somehow make it home.
After naptime....
Landon fills up a little pot with dirt and dumps it out on Thea's head while she's sitting in her stroller. I frantically brush the dirt away from her eyes. Thea smiles at Landon....

Pray for me...I have a 2 year old boy.

And the winner is....

Yogurt! Thea's bum looks to be 98% healed. The yogurt side was healed yesterday and the coconut oil side healed today. I'm going to continue with the yogurt for the next 2 weeks to make sure it is completely kicked. What a relief for poor Thea!
I also got a little tiny spray bottle from the health food's store and mixed water, a T of distilled white vinegar and 1-2 drops TTO in it. I sprayed that on her at each diaper change. I also quit using disposable wipes which can feed yeast. All that mixed with Thea and I both taking acidophilus supplements cured her. Hooray!

She's crawling!

Today was the day for T to get mobile. She's been going backwards for a couple of weeks and even forward for a second, but not like today. She's getting from one end of the rug to another with no problem. I'm wondering how soon it will be before I have to gate off my kitchen again.

Home-maker's Science

Thea has a terrible yeast diaper rash. It looked so painful. I got rid of the last one with a tea tree oil(TTO)/olive oil combo. This time it just seemed to irritate it more. I even broke down and put nystatin on it. Also made it much, much worse. I let her go without a diaper all day (for the most part) and it looked a tiny bit better, but still a huge red raised welt looking rash. So I did some scientific research for another option. I decided to try organic coconut oil and organic plain yogurt. To determine which works best, I'm putting one on each side of her bum. We started last night and she is already looking better. I think possibly that the yogurt is winning. It looks less dried out than the coconut oil side.
Another thing that might be complicating matters is that I was using pampers baby dry diapers at night and I think she may be allergic to those. So I am using only my cloth diapers. I used the nystatin overnight with a pampers dipe so that may have been why it seemed to make it worse. Now that I think of it, when I used the TTO was right before bed and using the pampers. hmmm...However, I hate to use chemicals and even a topical anti-biotic so I'm happy to find an alternate way to treat yeast. It's a new thing to me. None of the boys ever had yeast rashes (yes, boys get them, too) so I'm learning.

uhhh...

I just wanted to drop in and mention how many areas of the house are little messy/clutter spots. Right now I'm sitting at the computer and I can see...
4 areas on my desk
1 shelf on the entertainment center
1 corner with diapers askew
the top of the pantry

that all need to be straitened...I have really let this go too long. Well, Thea is 8 months now...it's about time I get back into the swing of things.

Picking up and cleaning out

Our move is quickly sneaking up on us and I really need to clear out. Today I did the toys and stuffed animals. It was a little difficult due to my small children taking everything I put into the goodwill box OUT. They all of the sudden found ways to play with the long forgotten/broken toys. Here's how it went...Me -"put that back in the box!" Child,"can i look at it mama?" Me-"ok, but put it in the box when you're done." Child, "Can I put this in my room?" Me-"No!"

I am also trying to get back into the habit of picking up. When I only had 2 children my house was clean and tidy. Lately, I've just kind of given up. There are little toys in corners and behind things and often there is a mess of papers on the counter. After reading The Preacher's Daughter, by Beverly Lewis, I got motivated again. The book was about an Amish family and they often talk of "redding up" (cleaning up) and I got to thinking how little I do that. My house is not a mess or dirty (most of the time), but it's just not neat and tidy as it should be! I've pretty much been taking 5 minute blocks of time and tidying an area that needs it. Such as...the laundry room, my dresser, the living room floor, etc. Little areas and corners that I've put off forever are looking much better and making the house look better in general. I want the house to look simple, not cluttered.

Maybe this will lead to a motivation to get the laundry put away more quickly and the dinner planned before 6pm...

A fun day

We had so much fun on Ashton's birthday. Although it wasn't as planned out as I would have liked, he still had a great time. Here are some pictures...baking the cake...the cake...our friends and Ashton's "A" sign.

Ashton is 4!!!!

I cannot believe how fast the time is going by. As I put him to bed tonight, I told Ashton that tomorrow it would not be his birthday anymore, but he would still be 4. He was so excited. Then I told him he would never be 3 again. Words to bring tears to a mama's eyes, but more excitment to a little boy's. We had a great day. A special lunch and dinner, a birthday sign, presents and our dear neighbors over for cake and ice cream. The only thing more we could have asked for would have been for Daddy to be here.

I love that little man so much.

We're back

The forest fires made for an eventful...or maybe I should say uneventful finish to our vacation. We just feel blessed that we were safe and our hearts go out to all those effected. Here are some pictures. We had such a good time visiting with our daddy.

San Diego

We're having a great time here in San Diego. The weather is cooler than I've felt since we've moved to Hawaii and I really like it. The plane ride here with the kids was quite an adventure. We were blessed with an on time and uneventful flight here. The pilot was actually one of our church members so that was fun. Yesterday was our first day. We went to the zoo, the outlet mall and then came back to try and nap. It didn't happen. We headed back out to a beautiful park called Mission Trails and hiked for a little bit. Today was a very full day. After getting dressed we went to Target! I was amazed at the things for sale there. It's all so nice! I looked at clothes for Thea, but Dan and I didn't agree on anything:) We went to Balboa Park to eat In and Out burgers and then we visited the model railway museum. It was so much fun. The boys loved watching the trains and waiting for them to come past the window on the tracks. I really enjoyed it also. It's a small museum, but we stayed for quite awhile. Right from the railway museum we went to see Ratatoille (spelling??) for free at the base theater. What a cute movie! Thea and Landon fell asleep during the middle part. Landon was scared when the sound got really loud. He cried, but still wanted to watch it. The movie inspired us to eat so we went to the Olive Garden for dinner...another place we don't have at home. We were stuffed. We headed back to Balboa park to walk off the effects of dinner. It was beautiful as always. The boys loved the waterfall and playing on the dragon sculpture. I will post pictures after we get home.
Tomorrow we are planning on getting to the zoo as soon as it opens to avoid the crowds and heat. It's sure to be another big day. Hopefully tonight will be a better sleep...Thea has not been sleeping so well here in the hotel.

Family Vacation

I am so excited! We are going to be taking a vacation. The kids and I are going to fly up to San Diego and meet Dan there for a week. I've already made plane, hotel and car reservations. The San Diego Zoo is free for kids in the month of October and Active duty military is also free. Sea World lets military and their families come once for free, also. Dan and I are already planning what other things to do and want to spend time just walking around Balboa park. I cannot wait. I've already started a packing list and am holding myself back from dragging out the suitcase. We're leaving soon, but not that soon! October was going to be such a long month, but now I have a feeling it's going to fly by.
At first I was very worried about money and the plane ride with all the kids, but Dan insisted that he wanted us to come and I am so glad. It will be worth it. Another one of my friends will be flying on the same flight as us to meet her husband as well. It will be great to have another adult along to help out and for company.
I wish we were leaving tomorrow!

I made a skirt!

I got a pattern from walmart and made my first piece of clothing for myself. It's really comfortable and didn't turn out too awful. I also made a harvest themed skirt for Thea. She seemed really comfortable in it and I think it's pretty cute, too. Not to mention they were pretty easy to make!

My baby

A is getting so big. I looked at him today and almost cried. He has completely lost his "baby" look and is looking more like a big boy every day. It shocked me to realize that if he were to attend public school in Hawaii he would start kindergarten next July. He is such a blessing. Lately he has been such a good helper and so obedient. His feelings get hurt if I get frustrated with him so I know he is trying so hard to please me. Today as I looked at how big he was getting he ran to me with a yellow flower he had picked with a big smile on his face and said, "here mama!" and I knew that even though he may grow, he will be my baby forever. Praise God for healthy, happy children.

Here are some pictures from our beach trip today. We had a wonderful time!

Parenting

Someone posted this on MOMYS.com and I thought they were so good. The title is "changing the heart of a rebel", but I got so much out of it...and hopefully some help in avoiding teenage rebellion. This is great for parents or those who hope to be parents one day. Hope others can be blessed by this.

Changing the Heart of a Rebel Part 1: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/6905/ Changing the Heart of a Rebel Part 2: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/6904/ Changing the Heart of a Rebel Part 3: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/6903/ Changing the Heart of a Rebel Part 4: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CBerry/6902/

Beachy Friday

My dad is coming to visit! Hooray! The kids and I are so excited. I am already working on what to cook for him since his diet has to be carefully managed since his procedure and I want to make sure we stick to it while he's visiting.

Yesterday, Brenda and I started our "fridays at the beach". We went to the lagoons and it was beautiful. The water was perfect. Thea went in and didn't cry at all. She really loves the water. The boys mostly played in the sand, but liked to get their feet wet, too. I'm glad they are afraid of the water. I was able to teach A about the undertow while we were out. He could feel it and I explained that it can be dangerous.

This trip was not stressful at all. Brenda and her children helped out so much with carrying stuff and watching the little ones. I can't wait to go back next friday!

My evening routine and laundry tip

Being a navy wife means that more often than not I find myself doing all the chores around the house on my own. It's forced me to come up with a system so that I don't constantly find myself out of cups, no dinner ready, gross counters, etc. Here is what I do as soon as I put the kids to bed.
1. Take out the trash
2.empty the dishwasher
3. prep dinner for the following night (take out meat to defrost, put out crock pot w/ non perishable ingredients next to it and the recipe book open to the corresponding page, chop vegetables, etc.)
4. prep laundry for the following morning

I want to start adding a number 5...organize lesson plans for following day...onto the list. I know that would be a HUGE help for making my day run smoothly.

Prepping laundry = put powder soap in bottom of washer, put clothes in (pretreat stains with shout), set dials to correct setting. If dh is home I put a note on the door for him to press start when he leaves for work. If not I can just press one button in the morning and my wash is started. It saves me so much time in the mornings.

Getting better

Landon recovered pretty quickly after his ER trip, but T and A got sick a few days after. They were coughing and barking when they cried so we went to the doctor Monday morning. Dr. felt like they had all gotten sick at the same time, but Landon just got it the worst. Thankfully, A and T did not need to be treated. While they still cough randomly, they seem to be over the worst of it. Praise God.
Q is off visiting his mom. They flew to CA last night to see Mimi and Q's new baby cousin. I am trying to use the time when he is gone to really work on A and L's behavior. They had gotten a little wild and were being quite mean to each other. Now that Q is away I can really focus on them. It's only been 2 days and it's already getting better. I'm enjoying being able to spend more time with them reading books and playing outside. We even played Hi Ho Cherry-O together...and got through the game without anyone throwing the cherries.

A trip to the zoo

We went to the zoo this morning. It was such a beautiful day for it! Unlike most days in Waikiki, the sky was a little cloudy and we had a perfect breeze. The boys really enjoyed looking at all the animals. Landon liked looking at the digger making a hole to plant a palm tree.
This evening we rented Swiss Family Robinson and ate pizza. The boys LOVED the movie. I scared Landon in the kitchen roaring like a tiger in the movie and he went into the cabinet, got out my rolling pin and said, "you a tiger, I shoot you with this!" It was so funny. Then he pretended it was was a clarinet. Later as he walked off to the kitchen again I heard him saying, "I put this away, I not shoot you anymore."
A has caught the bug that Landon had. He has had a fever for about 24 hours now and is saying his throat hurts. I pray he feels better tomorrow. He was feeling well enough to play pirates with Q not too long ago so hopefully he's getting better.

Thea got a new hat

Today has been so wonderful! Dan is on leave until Sunday and today he took the boys hiking while Thea and I got to go shopping. We hit the Goodwill first where we found some great books and then we went to Waikele, the outlet mall. I didn't buy much (just did a return), but I found this cute hat on clearance at the gymboree outlet and couldn't pass it up. When we got home the boys were still gone and the house was SO wonderfully quiet. We went outside and had a mini photo shoot and got these cute pictures.

Thea woke up about 4 hours early to nurse last night. As I was feeding her I thought I heard something coming from Ashton and Landon's room. I listened for a little while longer and then woke up Dan and told him that I thought Landon was crying. I thought he would come right back and tell me I was hearing things but he didn't. After I finished feeding the baby I went into their room and could hear Landon's breathing from out in the hall. He had been crying and Dan was calming him down. He was still struggling to breath so Dan told me to call the doctor. I put the phone to Landon's face so the doctor could hear him. After asking who was home with me, Dr. said, "Go to the ER immediately, don't waste any time. " That freaked me out! I quickly changed his diaper and got into the car. I thanked God that we have a hospital very close to our house. On the way Landon would try to talk and kept choking. It was awful. My doctor had called ahead to the ER so they were expecting us. As soon as the nurse heard him she said it was croup. When the doctor came in and listened he said the same thing. Apparently they get kids in all the time with it. Croup causes the airway to constrict making it hard to breath and causing the seal type bark. Landon sneezed and instead of ah-choo, it was bark-choo, bark-choo. I really liked the doctor. He was very kind to Landon. Right away they gave him a breathing treatment. When that didn't seem to do much they gave him a steroid shot. That wasn't seeming to work so they wanted to do a chest x-ray to make sure he hadn't swallowed something. I was so glad for all the reading we do because I was able to rub his back and recite his favorite books and sing his favorite songs to him and it seemed to calm him down. All of the sudden, he perked up. He started talking without choking and when the doctor came in Landon informed him that "our God awesome God" which is one of the songs we'd been singing. The doctor agreed and said, "Praise God for Tylenol and steroid shots". (they gave him Tylenol because his fever was getting higher while we were there). They decided not to do the x-ray because he was looking so much better and sent us home.
Landon slept until 11 this morning and after having some oatmeal he's watching Rescue Hero's. He feels like he has a low fever so I'm going to try and get him back down for a nap soon. He's also very horse and I can hear his breathing a little.
I thank God that our visit went so well. I prayed the whole way there that we would get a good doctor and that they'd be able to help him. Don't you just love answered prayer?? Praise God!! oh...and thank you God, for Thea waking up early. Who knows when I would have heard Landon if she hadn't.

Quiverfull and co-teaching

This article briefly addresses FAQ's about the quiverfull movement for anyone who wonders what it is.

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=2767898&page=1

I am so excited! My next door neighbor (who also homeschools) and I are going to be teaching each other's children. Brenda is going to teach history and I am going to teach Science. The first history unit is going to cover explorers. Quintin is going to have a blast. There are projects with knot tying and dehydrating foods that he will really get into. I am going to use the Jonathan Park study guides that go along with the radio dramas for my first unit. www.jonathanpark.com
All our boys just love to listen to them and the pro-creation science is very interesting. I think I will be learning a lot myself. However, it's scary thinking that I will be teaching other children. Hopefully I won't be too boring or unable to explain the material.

No pictures today. My camera batteries are currently serviceing our new bubble machine.

Mama's Curriculum

Yesterday I realized that it's been a long time since I read anything! I actually don't even have any desire to read which is very strange, because normally I love to read. Perhaps it's because every time I sit down and try to read (or sew, or scrapbook, etc.) I get interrupted and it's so frustrating! However, I decided to start reading again anyway. The past several mornings I've gotten up early and done my bible reading which has really been a blessing. Today I sat down and read a chapter of 2 different books- "Don't Make Me Count to 3" by Ginger Plowman and "Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit" by Teri Maxwell. I was shocked to discover that I actually really enjoyed reading them!!
Now my plan is to make a curriculum for myself to finish this semester. Subjects included will be...
relationship with God
Loving my hubby
Raising my children
and perhaps some fun fiction.

Now I just have to decide which books!

Thea's 6 month pictures

Here are some that I really like. If you want to see all of them they're at http://web.mac.com/ritasfotos/iWeb/Rita%20Lawrence%20Photography/Lil%20Ms%20Bond.html

Got a lot on my mind today, but I'm not quite sure how to write it down. It's about family planning and family size. However, I suppose it doesn't especially matter how I feel about it if my hubby doesn't feel the same way! Guess I should let my brain think on things that are more prevalent.

Edited to add...

PICTURES!!! I posted below this, but wanted to add these. We went to the botanical gardens in Kailua last weekend and have been having fun taking pictures of these cute kids.

Our Day

We are working hard to get our master schedule up and going with the MOTH system. It's no easy task and really takes awhile to complete. After spending an hour on it last night I woke up this morning and decided while brushing my teeth that I wanted our day to go quite different than I had planned the night before. Instead of spreading out school throughout the day and inserting recess 3 times I decided we should try to start school at 8 and be done by 11:30, which is when I begin lunch prep. It actually worked out well this morning. This is how it went.

7:00 -mama wake up and get ready(should have been 6:30, but we're easing into this whole thing)

7:10 -7:40 -Prayer and bible reading

7:40 - Check email and various business on the computer while eating breakfast - Have Q get up and start getting ready

8:00 Wake A, L and T, Get them dressed and make breakfast. Q does his morning chores

8:30 Breakfast. I read a book about Native Americans while they ate and then clean up.

9:00 Read to A, L and T while Q does his writing assignment

9:30 - Dance to a few songs to get the blood moving and sing some preschool songs such as ABCs, days of the week/months of the year and counting songs. Then Q reads aloud to me while I nurse Thea, A colors and L plays with blocks on the floor

10:00 - Bible lesson at the table with all boys, T napping

10:30 - Q does his math lesson on the computer (we're using Switched on Schoolhouse) while I play trains/blocks/Lincoln logs with A and L on the floor and help Q as needed.

11:00 - Wake Thea, have A and L pick up and get ready to leave, fix snack. Q is still working on math

11:30 - Get in the car with snacks in hand. I chat with a neighbor for several minutes and then we're on our way to the Goodwill. Q reads "The Pilgrim Fathers" while in the car.

1:00 -Lunch and cleanup

1:30 - nap

I feel like we've managed to mix things up enough that they're not feeling bored or overworked. Q loves doing his math lesson on the computer and feels like it's a game. It's a big relief to me to know that he can do it almost independently. I'm planning to wake Q up from nap around 3 to do some "homework". Writing his spelling words, finishing coloring a picture for his grandpa and doing a drill sheet for addition facts. I'm hoping that if we can get the core subjects out of the way in the morning we can use the afternoons and evenings for fun science projects and history read alouds.

One cute story...we were doing our bible lesson at the table (I let them color a picture related to what we were learning) and was reading from the bible to "love one another." I started to go on talking, but Landon was singing. When I listed to what song it was I was so happy. He was singing "This is my commandment that you love one another that your joy may be full". I was amazed because I really didn't think he was paying attention to what I was reading. It sure is great that they can pick up so much from just listening and being close by. However, that does warn me how careful we have to be about the radio and TV and what they hear when we think they're "not paying attention".

Thea didn't cry when she went to bed for her second nap. PTL!!! We've had to let her cry a little (or a lot) at nap time because for two days she did not nap...AT ALL...and then crashed when I was holding her at dinner time. Talk about a fussy baby! I'm trying to be consistant with nap time and I pray that it's paying off. She's doing great at night time. Except for last night, she's slept until 6am every morning and then gone back to sleep until 7:30 or 8.

If anyone has any Christian book suggestions for studying the Native American/Pilgrim/Mayflower/Colonial life subjects please let me know! Q loves this topic and I'm hoping to do a lot with it.

Baby Radar

It's nap time. Hooray! That means mama has some quiet time to herself. PTL!! I get out my new fabric and patterns I got yesterday on a crazy trip to Walmart with all the kiddos. I pick what I want to make, find the fabric, iron it and start to pin. This is getting exciting...but wait...oh no...Thea starts to cry. Why is she crying?? She just went to bed! I try to ignore it, maybe she'll go back to sleep (yeah, right). The crying continues and gets louder. Finally, I put down my pins and go pick her up. So much for sewing. These babies have radar. They sense my excitement and it wakes them up. What's that? Mama's doing something for herself? I need to put a stop to that right now! And as soon as I get Thea back to sleep...i mean the SECOND I tip toe out of her room. I will either 1. hear Landon asking to get out of his crib or 2. see Ashton walk out of my room ready to get on with his day. How do they know??
OK...Thea's back to sleep...for now.

Thea is 6 months!

I cannot believe that my baby is already 1/2 way to a year. It is just flying by. Yesterday we went to her well baby check and she weighed 17 lbs. and was 27 inches. Landon was 19 lbs. 10 oz. at 6 months and 27 inches...I didn't remember him being so huge, but he must have been! No wonder he wasn't sitting up at 6 months. That's a lot of weight to hold. Ashton was 16 lbs. 13 oz. at 5 months, I guess he didn't have a 6 month appointment. The doctor says her growth is great. Rita came and took pictures of her on Thursday. Thea was fussy, though, so we weren't able to get very many. There are a few great shots though! I'll post some when I get the CD.

Thea is also sitting up on her own. It seemed to happen overnight. I still have to sit close to her just in case she decides to take a dive for the floor, but for the most part she has great control for just turning 6 months.

Quintin is visiting with his mom for labor day weekend and Dan has to work today and tomorrow..YUCK! At least he will have Monday off.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Another week

It seems like the weeks just fly by! I can't believe it's tuesday already. We were supposed to have pictures made on Sunday of the family and Thea at 6 months, but it didn't work out because Ko Olina isn't being very vistor friendly lately. She's going to come out on Thursday morning to the house and just take pics of Thea. I'm excited to see how they turn out. It will be sort of a western theme and hopefully will be really cute.
This morning and yesterday I have just been exhausted! I don't know what my deal is. It drives me crazy because it's so hard to get everything done and be a nice, patient mama when I'm so tired. Dan and I even went to bed at 9 pm last night...and I slept till 7. Maybe it was too much sleep.
Now my baby is asleep. I'm praying for a good nap.

Kole Kole Pass

We did this hike again today. It's our favorite. Close to the house, not too long and a breath-taking view at the end! Landon walked the entire thing for the first time. The last time I did that hike was the day before Thea was born. Since this was her first hike we took some pictures at the top. It's great to get out with the boys for some free entertainment. They love it so much and we get to see God's creation at it's best (well, in my opionion!).