last minute update

it's finished!! and i. love. it. i want one. i think i'll make them for the whole family... um.... next year. it's not too early to start next year's list, right?

merry christmas!!!

better late than never

saturday we finally got around to decorating the house for christmas. sure, we're leaving in two days (TWO DAYS!!! I'M NOT READY!!), but we wanted to have a little something of our own to look at till we leave. the kids had fun making the ornaments and paper chain for our little silver tree:

the shepherd (above) is the new addition to our nativity this year.

the kids also had fun with the angels and the santas for the mantle. yes, we are missing one stocking, and i'm supposed to be working on that right now, as a matter of fact. so, i'd better head off and be productive for a bit. merry christmas, everyone!!!

movin' on up!

i totally invited myself up to "help" josh & kim move into their beautiful new house - i really wanted to see the kids, and especially meet daniel, who is 10 months old and mobile and loves to bounce and dance and loves me, too, by the way. thanks, guys, for accomodating me!! we are SO EXCITED that you are SO CLOSE!!!!! love you!!!!!!

December Fun

So Bess decided to leave for the weekend (OK, so Josh and Kim and the kids are moving back to the midwest and she's helping them out). Kawelo has been sick, but is showing signs of life recently. He started dropping toys behind the entertainment unit, and I pulled it out to find a treasure-trove of lost toys ... I made the comment to Koa that it's like getting new toys (there were cars, a Power Ranger, plastic animals, and all of the pegs that go into one of those blocks that you hammer down - among other things). A little while later I heard him saying that Santa brought him new toys and left them behind the TV...

Tonight the WKU bookstore did a promotion where if you donate a new or gently used book, you get 30% off of your purchase. I've been an employee for almost 3 years and still don't have a hoodie, so after talking with the kids about how it would be nice to help out children who don't have as many books as we do, we chose a few and headed over to campus. The holiday openhouse also included face-painting (Koa got a turtle and a butterfly - he's secure in his manhood, while Kalei got a cat in a Santa hat that said Meowy Christmas and a snowflake), story time, and a visit with Big Red (Koa actually went with Kalei and gave him a high five, which is a big step if you remember his Build-A-Bear experience).

We grabbed Little Cesear's on the way home, and during dinner Kalei lost a tooth! We stuck it in a baggie, and the Tooth Fairy needs to remember to leave her something special. (The last tooth Kalei lost, he kind of forgot to make the swap and she was a little disappointed upon waking, so we had her go to the bathroom while we frantically searched for something to exchange. Unfortunately we had no cash in the house at the time, so I grabbed a Chinese dollar and slipped it under her pillow just in time ... we played it off by telling her that the Tooth Fairy had to travel all the way from China, and that's why it wasn't there when she woke up. Kalei is pretty proud of her Chinese dollar, but I'm not sure how many times that trick will work!).