cowgirls

i worked 14+ hours both saturday and sunday this weekend, so the girls spent quality time with daddy. on sunday they went to a cowboy-themed birthday party and came home with lots of fun accessories. noa texted me these pictures while i was working:

little cowgirls

noa said makena kept shouting "i'm a cow bell!"

and we THOUGHT she was in her bed...

i check on the girls every night before i go to bed. turn off their fans, re-tuck them in. the other night i headed up the stairs at about 10:30pm, and saw light coming from under makena's door. i thought, oh no, she's up and playing in there (which she has been known to do). however when i peeked in the door, i came across this sight (and quickly had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing out loud):

fast asleep in her chair with two of her three favorite babies. you can't see the book tucked away on the side of the chair. she must have decided her babies needed a story so thought she'd go to the reading spot. if you look closely at the big picture, you can see that she also thought she needed some accessories and put on a nice jade and gold bracelet. she is just too funny for words most of the time!

makena

photos from nanea's headshot photo shoot. we were lucky that tracy took a few of makena too!

valentine from aunty mikie and uncle mark

after almost two months, aunty mikie and uncle mark's valentine's package arrived for the girls (thanks mikie & mark!). makena especially liked her card with the magnetic strawberries, which she has been bringing along with her everywhere we go...car, babysitter, gymnastics. once we get home, they go on to the refrigerator. the minute we leave, she runs to grab them. another item added to her "do not leave home without it" list. and, unlike her older sister, she does not forget to bring what she wants with her.

glamour girls

some oldies, but goodies...

hula girls

posing in their new pa'u from aunty sharyl and uncle bo

practicing their hula (with a break in the middle & at the end by miss goosie). she is very easily distracted...

dance recitals

two dance classes, two different recitals. both girls were excited to dress up and had not a lick of stage fright. they got right up there in front of all the people and cameras and did their thing!

nanea loved her "crinky" hair

makena waiting to go on stage; miss vivienne with her little ballerinas

a little reindeer

tutu spectacular!

rewind: christmas morning

SO thrilled with her new dora doll from aunty julie. when she opened it she yelled "yay! yay! yay! yay!!!"

trying on her new hat (with gloved still attached to the top) from tutu & grandpa

checking out their new kitchen from santa

nanea's princess doll collection & testing out her apron collection

the big santa present

the girls' big santa present this year was a kitchen (thank you ikea!). it's surprisingly well-constructed (real wood!) and compact and pretty enough to not ugli-fy my living room. they both love it and have been "cooking" up a storm since christmas morning. with lots of wooden food from tutu and grandpa, and lots of accessories from many friends and family, they were all set! check out nanea's chef hat made by aunty norma. she also made a matching apron, pot holder and hand towel. i'm taking orders for her etsy shop that i'm going to make her start. hee hee.

a visit from nonda

my cousin nonda came to visit hawaii for the first time and stayed with us for a few days. he was on the design team for the new arizona memorial visitor center, so came out for the official opening and dedication. we didn't have a lot of time to show him oahu, but took a half-day driving tour of the island. we made it to most of it! we even visited the famous shrimp trucks on the north shore, which i've never been to. a bit price-y for something that you can make yourself, but still yummy and worth a try once in your life!

the girls and nonda in front of the shrimp truck

makena trying to copy sissy's pose

thank you tutu!

tutu sent twinkle toes...

jumping and showing the twinkles...

posing with their twinkles...

running with their twinkles...

nanea could not get over the fact that everything she did made her shoes light up. hence, all the action shots of twinkle toes.

happy halloween!

well, i didn't get nanea to wear her "witch queen" costume. in spite of my hemming efforts, it was still too big, so she refused to wear it. i then talked into being a clown, and she was SO excited to paint her face. i made her a make-shift wig out of a pink grass hula skirt, painted her face and she was all set. the next thing i know, she's downstairs, face scrubbed clean and in her snow white costume from last year. once a princess...

as for makena, she needed a little convincing to wear her adorable witch costume (which I somehow managed to NOT get a picture of the cute cut-out tulle tutu bottom of the dress) since she decided yesterday that she was going to be snow white. luckily her obsession with dora paid off and her dora halloween book has dora dressed as a witch. crisis averted. unfortunately, she ended up throwing up her dinner all over herself and me, so she ended the night in last year's costume as well. the combo of being too excited and shoveling food into her mouth without chewing so she could go trick or treating, as well as being completely terrified of a lot of the kid's costumes (i.e. the scream ghost), did not bode well for her digestive system. or my shoulder.

i tired

tonight after dinner the girls were eating dessert (peaches) on the couch and watching a show as i finished up the dishes. when i walked over to survey the damage and wipe hands, makena, who was sucking her thumb and clutching old baby and blankie by this point, looked at me and calmly stated, "i tired." so, I asked her if she wanted to go upstairs to which she nodded and said emphatically "yes," and then wanted me to carry her up (she normally wants to walk herself, or rather, be chased by a monster - a game we do every night to get the girls excited about going upstairs). bath, short story, lights out and in to bed she went. no snuggling, nothing. as soon as the lights went out, she climbed out of my lap, into bed and said "i love you too. goodnight."

who would think?

that these funny, happy littles were actually little monsters tonight when i took these. kids are funny...

you just can't beat this...

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.