a beach weekend...

thank you kerrie for the sending the pictures of the girls from our weekend at bellows. such a lovely weekend of family and friends!

just before the portuguese man-of-war sting

silly faces for aunty kerrie

i am not sure how she did not fall off this. (por-ta-gee horseshoes game for all you non-local folks). i'm guessing she was trying to get the horseshoe in there.

such a cutie-pie!

a new venture

When we were in Mexico this year, Holly and her friend Rachel had the most amazing jewelry. Night after night there were new pieces, some coordinating, some statement pieces, all very wear-able and current, so I had to ask where it was from. They replied, Stella & Dot so matter of fact that I wondered why on earth I, who likes to think I am for the most part on the up and up with trends, and had never heard of them. They explained that their girlfriend sold it, and it was one of those party-type marketing/home business companies. I guess you can look at it as similar to Tupperware, but oh so much better (and don't get me wrong, I love my tupperware)!

Upon arriving back home, I went to the website with the intention of looking at some of the items I loved, and maybe purchasing them. What I found was that I LOVED everything, and more exciting, the prices were so reasonable! I kept going back and looking, and checked out the info about perhaps becoming involved. So, to make a long story short, Holly hooked me up with her friend, and I am now a Stella & Dot "stylist." For those that know me well, I am not a jewelry person (nor am I anything close to being a good salesperson. I don't like to bug/harass people). Daily, I wear my wedding rings and an old watch, and for fancy occasions, may throw on a pair of earrings. The process of going to a store to buy jewelry is often overwhelming, and I can never decide what to get. Or, once I've decided, it ends up being too price-y, so I put it all back. In spite of this, I recognize and embrace the value and importance of accessorizing, and how it can really make an impact on something as simple as jeans and a t-shirt. I've just never been able to organize myself to do it before now.

Stella and Dot is stylish, affordable and makes it so easy to select and purchase items that work together. They have been featured in many magazines such as In Style and Lucky, and their jewelry are made with a similar material mix (sterling silver & 14K gold vermeil) that you see in high-end store jewelry lines such as Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Barney's and Bergdorf's. They are also manufactured in the same high-end factories as these stores. The founder, Jessica Herrin, was the co-founder of weddingchannel.com (at age 24!), and calls herself a "mom-working," putting the "mom" first in the equation that most of us mothers face each day.

I'm hoping to share a "great find" with my girlfriends, and maybe be a little help to my family at the same time! Happy looking!

new baby

Those of you that know Makena, know that she has a huge obsession with baby. She loves ALL babies, real and not, but there is 1 in particular that she cannot live without. When I saw her becoming attached to this one (a new experience since Nanea never had that special something, but just adapted to what was available), I told Noa that we should get another one, just in case. He thought this was ridiculous, until leaving baby behind at the sitter caused a last minute drive to retrieve her because a certain little girl could not go to bed. But, of course, the same baby was no where to be found, so we have had to be very baby-conscious, and seem to constantly be searching for her when it's bed-time, nap-time, just need a snuggle-time.

Well, this week I found a similar baby. Not the exact, but pretty close. She's the "big girl" version, but the important thing was that she was all plush/stuffed (meaning soft all over) and had a HAT. The hat is the key. Makena sucks her thumb and flicks the hat. Sometimes she frantically waves baby back and forth so that flicks the hat on her face. Ya, it's weird, but it's her thing. So, I gave her the new baby (which she has dubbed "new baby" versus "baby"), and it was hilarious to watch as she tested her out. She actually went through the steps...sucking thumb and flicking the hat, then settled in with both to watch a show.

testing new baby with "old" baby on the bottom

showing her babies (baby on left, new baby on right)

The verdict: original baby still wins on all counts. Makena doesn't leave her bed without bringing her with her, however I think new baby will still be a good substitute in dire straits.

first day of school

Nanea started her 2nd year of preschool last Thursday. She was excited and nervous at the same time, since she would have a new classroom, new teachers, and not very many of the same kids there from last year. Luckily when we arrived, her friend Macy was there and they had a great reunion. Since they slowly phase in the number of kids in school over a week and a half period, there were only 10 kids in school that day (she went the first day), so she got a lot of attention and a great introduction to her new teachers (4 teachers for 48 kids total once they all start coming!). When I picked her up that afternoon and asked how school was, she replied "GREAT!"

a weekend at the beach

well, not exactly a weekend, but a sunday - tuesday. we went and stayed at the beach cabins at bellow's air force station, an air force and marine "rest" area on the south shore of oahu. this picture is actually not from this weekend, but i didn't bring my camera, so i'm substituting. although i had to work on monday, the girls had a great time with daddy and our friends who also rented cabins. there ended up being quite a large group there. the only hiccup in the fun was nanea getting stung by a portuguese man-of-war.

It happened just before I got there after work Monday. Luckily, she was with Auntie Kerrie who knew how to get it off of her because it wrapped itself around her leg from her foot up to her thigh. I would not have known and would have grabbed at it and gotten myself stung. Kerrie scraped it off with sand and then carried her to the lifeguard station where they sprayed a lidocaine spray on it to relieve some of the sting. Kerrie said she was so amazed and proud of Nanea because she did not cry at all! She was sad and sore, but not a tear. And, they had seen a teenage boy earlier who cried and made a really big deal out of being stung. After a warm bath, the stinging subsided and she only had a few red marks to show for the ordeal. Luckily she was not allergic and she was back to having fun with the kids a couple of hours later. Though, she is now refusing to go back in the ocean, any ocean. I'm sure that will change eventually.

water slide!

Holly shot this video of the girls going down the water slide at Hilton. First is Nanea, then Tess, then Makena.

Makena insisted on being like the big girls and sliding down the big slide. No baby slide for her! She had to wear floaties, and since they don't allow 2 people to go at once, Noa had to wait at the bottom and I had to literally shove her down from the top (she thought I would go with her). Of course, being the dare devil that she is, she LOVED it and then proceeded to want to slide over, and over, and over again. Note she comes down side-ways/backwards. It was too fast for her to stay straight.

let them eat cake!

never one to miss out on anything sweet, miss kenken thoroughly enjoyed her strawberry shortcake birthday cake

having fun with daddy

thank you to the amazing Holly for these fabulous images, and for hosting makena's birthday party. what a treat to celebrate with family!

waikiki with the mcmullens

such a beach girl

Nanea, daddy and cousin Sophie hamming it up for the camera

silly faces with uncle liko

a little morning jammie snuggle

consolidation

Well, after 5+ years of blogging (Nanea Leah), and 2+ years of maintaining two blogs for both kids (add Baby Allen Two), I've decided to consolidate into 1 blog. I think this will allow me to post more often and not feel so overwhelmed with the thought of editing/re-sizing and separating photos of both girls.

Although I knew eventually I would do this, the problem has been trying to decide on a name. What would work for both girls? For general posts about whatever comes to mind? And not be so generic as just their names? It's been in and out of my mind for a really, really long time! And this morning, it came to me. Nicknames. Although both girls have many nicknames (love, lovey, lovebug, bug, buggy, bug bug, ne, nea, nene, ken, kenny, kenna, kensie to name just some), I wanted something that was cute and catchy together to make a good blog title.

I've always called Nanea "goose" or "goosie." It derived from calling her ne (nay), then nene (nay-nay) which turned into nene goose (coincidentally the Hawaii state "bird" - is a goose a bird?) and then shortened to goose or goosie. The funny (?) thing is that she totally answers to goose. As for Makena, when we chose the name I said to Noa, "we can call her Ken, or Kenny," to which he replied, "I will NOT call her that." Lo and behold, she is mostly Kenny, or KenKen. Hence, a blog name is born!

Thanks for switching over, and the old blogs will still be up indefinitely in case anyone ever wants to re-live the past 5 years with us!