Birthday Bash

 The birthday celebration came and went. And now I am older. I really wouldn't do much, but the kids love a good party. They got together with Nana and after a shopping spree at the local party store I had a really fun/silly/memorable birthday.

There were 2 pinata's, party blowers, leis, party poppers, leap frog games, pez, cake, and more. I'm so old I can't remember what else there was :)

I was totally spoiled. I'm lucky to have such a fun and sweet family.

May Day 2012

May Day is kind of a big deal here. The schools statewide have elaborite celebrations where usually the student learn dances from cultures around the world and perform them. I have fond memories of May Day from when I was little and loved watching Taj participate in it this year.

Taj's grade represented China and killed it! I was super emotional watching him and all his friends. It was obvious all the time and love that went into these little peoples performance, and from the music, to costumes, to props, it was amazing.

Taj did a great job. He wasn't nervous at all. He showed us bits he was learning every night for weeks and was super into it.

The video wouldn't upload... I'll keep working on that one. It was incredible though. I am already looking forward to next year when Eden will be in it too.

Random Pictures and their Stories

Livi found a new hiding spot. Thanks Costco for the hours of fun. Cute girl is becoming so much fun all the time.

Micah painted this for the kids. It makes me happy every time I see it. The song reminds me of my Dad for some reason. That adds to the sweetness of it for me.

Our beaches got dosed with driftwood this year, and where I found a mess, Micah found inspiration. It looks awesome against the blue of the wall.

Eden got worked by a really bad strain of the flu. I've never seen any of my kids like this. She fell asleep all day long and was burning up. Poor baby.

Can you make out the scorpion? Yikes. The kids said the lolipops were good, but stopped licking as soon as it got close to the scorpion. Yuck.

Easter Fun

Easter is a favorite of mine, for all the reasons you can imagine. It gets more meaningful to me each year as I miss my Dad more and more, and grow more grateful for the eternity with my growing family I've been promised. This picture is one of the Dads at the Laie cemetary where we had the final Easter egg hunt. In the rain. Pouring rain. The kids didn't mind. Livi insisted on carrying her really really full basket all the way home.

The traditional Turtle Bay Easter party was a hit, as usual. The activities were fun, the kids were sweet and excited, and the hunt did not discapoint. We realized that it would have been smart to get the kids smaller baskets. Olivia was a natural at finding eggs and loved the game. Some of the older kids were so sweet- too sweet- and gave here some of their eggs, and even lifted her up to reach some of the harder ones. We live among some amazing and generous people.

Our family Easter tradition is to have the kids find their basket on Easter morning. This year the rabbit left hints. Livi was very confused why she couldn't find hers and we finally had to just get hers out of the diaper bin to calm her down. We had hunts with empty eggs for a month. Might have to incorperate some kind of hunt for Edens birthday party... she loooves a good hunt.