koa quotes

this morning, kawelo was having loads of fun looking me intently in the eyes and babbling away at top volume. i would anwer with "yes?", "wow!", etc.

at one point, i told koa i couldn't understand kawelo and asked if he did. koa looked at me and literally spoke to me as if i were the 4-year-old and he the parent: he shook his head and laughed and gently said, "i can't understand his baby words."

our girl

our girl is now 7! she had a great birthday yesterday, complete with cupcakes at school (which had flower decorations on them, but the boys liked them, anyway, because the bright green icing gave them green teeth), shave ice (it was 60 degrees - a heat wave!), dinner of her choice, family home evening featuring a lesson prepared by her (on the Atonement - very sweet), more cupcakes, dancing with the stars (okay, maybe that was for me), skyping with family, and finishing off with presents. a full day! when asked to describer her birthday, kalei summed it up with one word: fun. happy birthday, kalei!!! we love you!!!

thank you, easter bunny!

the kids have had an exciting easter weekend! some friends hosted an easter egg hunt on saturday, complete with a treasure map and yummy treats.

this was my favorite photo of the day - collecting eggs was fun for a while, but then it was time to run and play!

that rascally easter bunny always leaves a note asking james & i to hide the eggs for the kids. i made them wait in our room (with the un-made bed) while i hid the eggs. the kids were ready to go! (as evidenced by their "ready-to-go" poses.) i like the bottom right photo where they are each a blur - they wouldn't hold still for my photo-taking - shocking. it was nice to get the egg hunt out of the way and the kids munching on jelly beans to start our discussion of the true meaning of easter and the resurrection. kalei totally gets it and was able to help with the story and make it a bit less lecture-like for koa. it's always such a treat to see the kids begin to understand the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

here are our munchkins in their easter finery. what can i say? adorable!

happy easter!!!

sorry for the flood...

... of posts today. i got a little behind and wanted to post what i had before it got too backlogged. i'm going to try to be better about posting here a few times a week and posting on naptime craftiness once a week.... hopefully. :) to be posting there once a week, i need to actually be crafting something post-worthy once a week. we'll see how it goes. i hope everyone is enjoying the high and low temps of spring and getting out in the sunshine when they can dodge the snow flurries!

tae kwon do

we've enrolled kalei in tae kwon do and she LOVES it. she finally got her uniform and was super excited to wear it to class for the first time yesterday. she and another girl (who was in her kindergarten class) started at about the same time, so they're equally adorable in their white belts and often work together during class and alternate giggling and following instructions. this seems to suit kalei perfectly and we're so excited for her!

springish

springly. spring-a-ding-ding. spring has sprung, people!

p.s. i'm so happy to see that my bleeding heart plant reappeared - apparently, it's a spring-only plant that just looks like it's dying from lack of attention come summer. whew! what a relief!

p.p.s. the double-bloomed daffodils have a divine scent - a fun discovery!

birthday bash

we went up to josh & kim's this past weekend to celebrate spencer & kalei's birthdays. i can't believe they're turning 7!! where does the time go?!

anyhoo, we went to the children's museum and the kids enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit, the lego exhibit, the carousel, etc. (note koa's fingers in/over his ears on the carousel - hilarious!) kim made a fabulous cake for the birthday party and chocolate fondue for the adults when we played "settlers of catan" - i finally won! woohoo!!! apparently, though, i wasn't the only one waiting for me to win - kim said we're going to find another game to play together from now on. i've already eliminated "risk" and "monopoly" from the possibilities - sorry, josh!

we had such a great time with everyone - next time, we'll make it a little longer. thanks, flora family!