where old becomes new again...

james & i thought that our deck required a complete re-do: tear it down and rebuild. however, james busted out the power washer over his spring break and lo, and behold....
viola!

can you believe the difference?!
whenever i walk into the kitchen, i stop at the windows and stare at the deck - it looks new!!! now, it just needs new hand rails and some stain - money saved - i love it!!!

little dragon

here is our newest tae kwon do student!

koa & i swapped as tae kwon do students - meaning he's in and i'm out (don't worry - i'm totally okay with it - sparring 6 ft. men is not my thing). he is totally loving his class and we couldn't be happier for him! can't you see the excitement in those beautiful eyes?!

celebrity look-a-likes

the 2nd grade classes at kalei's school are all doing a "wax museum" event where each child selects a famous person from history and then dresses like him/her and gives a short speech about their life. kalei chose pocahontas, which i thought conveniently suited her coloring. here she is giving her speech:

and admiring her costume:
(i asked her which costume she liked the best - some of them were quite elaborate - and she said, "mine, of course!" i love you, girl!)

the boys enjoyed their snacks:
(shhhhhh! don't tell the librarian!)

a quick look at a few of the other celebrities:

kalei did a great job - we're so proud of you!

happy st. patrick's day!

happy st. patty's day to you all!

may your house always have indoor plumbing,
may your children clean their rooms,
may your cars never make a weird clunking,
may your roses never cease to bloom.

well, that's the best i can come up with on the fly. in a nutshell, we wish you the best!
the kids had fun dressing in green (even though kawelo had no idea why he was dressed totally in green - he was cool with it, though - according to koa, green is kawelo's favorite color), and we attempted an all-green dinner. below is my attempt at green eggs:

disclaimer: i have only paste food coloring now-a-days. it's AWESOME for icing, but not so great with eggs. the kids & i agreed that they looked kinda gross, so we just dined on yellow scrambled eggs, lime jell-o, broccoli, kiwi, and a donut for luck. we hope you all have had a wonderfully lucky day - we're sure lucky to know you!

deja vu

remember this photo (from way back in 2007)?

we recently rearranged and someone found the same fun playspace:

which of course led to:

who was then spied by a certain someone else:

and that led to:

and no one likes to be left out, you know:

the kids had tons of fun with this, even though we could hear them cracking their heads in the tight space from time to time. silly monkeys!

koa quotes

mama (as she's wiping koa's face): you got pizza all over your face!

koa: even on my brain?!

mama: well, your brain is on the inside, so we can't get pizza on your brain, but it is on your forehead.

koa: let's call it a fivehead since i'm five now.

our boy is 5!

it was an action-packed birthday for koa, made especially sweet since kalei's school was canceled. we started with the breakfast of champions: chocolate donuts, and moved onto gift opening - koa was pleasantly surprised by the lego duplo sets (thanks, grandmas & grandpas!) and a new leapster game.... that he likes to watch kalei play. (he's the same way with the wii - he likes to watch james and/or kalei play the games. i think he's just biding his time and letting them figure out all the inner workings of the games before he puts the smack down on them.) james had to leave for a conference (boo), but the kids and i put on our game faces and enjoyed riding the carousel and playing on the coin-operated rides at the mall, going to the library, and shopping for balloons at the dollar store (only a dollar!! what a bargain!!!). we played the afternoon away and finished up the evening with cupcakes. i heard koa tell kalei that this was a great birthday, so i'm counting this one a success. we sure love our boy! happy birthday, koa!!