snaggletooth

just the word snaggletooth makes me laugh! kawelo is our current snaggletooth since he has his bottom two teeth...

... and his top canine (eyeteeth?) teeth. just a little snaggly. my heart aches for him, though, because he is mr. lowgrade-fever-drooling-congested-incredibly-sore-gums baby because of these two front top teeth that are moving slower than glaciers to break through his gums! you can see them there! this poor little guy is just ouchy and i keep wondering why the sheer strength of my love and force of my will is not taking all this pain away? since that's not working, i'm happy to hold him and kiss him and let him pull my hair and drool on my clothes and whack me (repeatedly) in the face with his little rock-like skull. i hope it makes him feel at least a little better.

kalei also has a tooth situation: she has lost another tooth! we are wondering if she will lose all her teeth while eating "a" foods since the first came out while eating apple slices and the second came out during a snack of animal crackers. what's next? asparagus? arugula? alligator burger? only time will tell.

over the river and through the woods

two weekends ago, we headed up to the frozen north to visit grandma and all the aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. that we could round up. we had a great time!!! it was SO wonderful to see everyone and their families! here is kawelo and grandma enjoying some quality time....


koa loved grandma's rocking horse, and was very gentle with it. he also loved grandma's cat, cat, who, unlike josie, has not learned to run away from the sight of him. koa was very gentle with cat, also.

here is a little beacon of winter that i saw the morning we left. did i mention that it was freezing up there? we have quickly become wienie-fied by our mild winters in kentucky. i dearly loved seeing all of our family in the frozen tundra, but i think we'll wait till late spring or summer before we venture that way again. thanks to all the fam that made it to the get-together - we LOVED seeing you!!!!

consumer nation

has anyone seen http://storyofstuff.com? it's pretty enlightening. i know, i know, this woman's presentation is not completely objective, but i'm inclined to be sympathetic to her position. planned obsolescence is believable and completely disgusting. watching the world stock markets take a dive this morning reaffirmed to me that i need some deprogramming. in my mind, i know that repurposing and buying used is totally the way to go. however, not thirty minutes ago, i was looking online at pottery barn kids and anthropologie and delighting in their wares. with this country's savvy advertising, i've been targeted since infancy to find happiness in consumption. even my fave magazine is suspiciously using products from the same few companies to highlight in their pages, or they'll showcase homes from execs who work for those companies and outfit their homes with, you guessed it, products from their employers. just thinking about all the ways companies attempt to manipulate us is rather sickening. what am i going to do about it, you ask? well, first i'll give thanks for a functioning brain that i can use to decipher between wants and needs. then, i'll give thanks for healthy hands that can make toys for my children and can maintain and beautify the inside and outside of our home. finally, i'll kiss my voice of reason (james) and thank him for helping me remember to be happy with what we have - the gospel to ground and edify us and happy children to delight us. nourishing food for thought! :)!

word up

curious from malia's post, i checked out ali edwards ' blog. what a great read! i love her blog about painting canvases. i got some fun ideas from it. :)! so, i, too, composed my own list of resolution possibilities from her list of words. i selected:

accept
act
appreciate
attitude
aware
brighten
celebrate
cherish
commit
control
delight
discipline
enrich
flourish
gratitude
humility
less
moderation
peace
perspective
present
reduce
respect
savor
simplify
sparkle

i love sparkle!! the word i have chosen for this year is: commit. i'll post when i make a "commit" canvas to hang as motivation and reminder. thanks, malia, for the inspiration!

new year's day

our kiddos are still too young to want to try to stay up till midnight on new year's eve (i was the only one to see the ball drop at our house), so we had a little party on new year's day with some friends. the kids got to wear these fabulous headbands and necklaces and we had a "countdown to dinner" with noisemakers and horns. we also had a scavenger hunt for pictures of lucky things (four-leaf clover, horseshoe, penny, etc.) to bring the kids luck this year. the kids had a lot of fun - what better way to welcome the new year than with good friends and good food? we are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends! we want to wish everyone all the happiness they can stand in 2008!!!

cheeser

this is kawelo's new gummy grin. he screws up his face and grins, showing all his gums. he's such a happy guy! however, to be fair, his grin is not exclusively gums - he's cut two teeth! one of his bottom front teeth and one of his "fang" (canine? eyeteeth?) teeth have popped through since last weekend. time is just flying!!!

christmas toys for girls and boys

last year, we started the tradition that we don't put any presents under the tree until christmas eve after the kidlets are in bed. this effectively cuts down on the poking and prodding of wrapped gifts and the constantly asking to open one (just one!). so, this is what the children have been looking at for three weeks:



and this is what they woke up to on christmas morning:



the bikes were the highlight of the show. in fact, we should've waited to bring them out until the other gifts were opened. once the kids saw the bikes, we had to cajole them into opening their other presents - they just wanted to sit on their bikes, try to ride them on the carpet, etc. we did eventually get them to open everything else and they seem pleased with what they received. they were also pleased with what kawelo received - koa and kalei had a few squabbles over who got to play with his toys. kawelo just enjoyed chewing on whatever he could reach.



it warmed up to 50 degrees, so the kids got to ride their new bikes in the driveway.





it has been a great day!