HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

On the 30th we got together with some friends and had a fun Halloween party for all the kids. We played some fun games and made "mummy" hotdogs (like pigs in a blanket). The kids all had a blast.
On Halloween, (we're slackers I know), we took the kids to find some pumpkins to carve. Not even one store had pumpkins!!! Luckily we'd heard about a pumpkin patch that had been open weekends during October. We decided to give it a try. After walking around in the dust for 30 minutes, we gave up on the finding a pumpkin idea. All of the ones left were rotten or smashed or bug infested. So instead some of the girls went on a hay ride and we tried to get Addie to go on a pony ride but she was too scared. Isabelle got to go in her place. Then we bought some shaved ice and went home to get ready for trick-or-treating. (I was thinking about how it was funny that we were having shaved ice while most people were sipping hot chocolate and eating chili).
Trick-or-treating was tons of fun and the girls, once again, got quite the loot. I loved that some people were sitting out in their lawn chairs, on the grass, passing out their candy. One of the things I love about Hawaii is warm holidays. The kids didn't have to bundle up to go out and could wear their flip flops instead of snow boots!
The first thing the girls did was dump out their candy and start sorting, trading and eating all the goods. Too fun! We love Halloween.

Two Weeks

My good friend Katie took some pictures of Malia for us. Here are just a few. She is now two weeks old and Justin and I think she's growing faster than any of the other girls did. Maybe because she's the last? (NO COMMENT MEGAN!)

Dressed for the weather

When I dressed Malia I realized how crazy it is that I'm putting her in a tank top shirt and shorts.....in OCTOBER! Its kinda nice not having to worry about the cold... she doesn't need socks, or hats, or heavy blankets.... its great!

Baby Malia is here!!!!!

After a record short labor and a record long delivery Malia Marie was born at 4:14am on Friday, October 9th, weighing 7lbs. 5.8oz. and measuring 20.75in. She has short dark hair that looks like its already had its first man cut and, of course, a stork bite on the forehead... which we like to think of as "good-bye-for-now kisses" from loved ones in Heaven.
We wanted to give her a Hawaiian name that could also pass as a Haoli (harder than you think), and her middle name is from her great grandma, who's birthday she was born on.
We are so excited to have her here and the girls all are fascinated by her and every move and noise she makes. We already don't know what we did without her.

New pictures

We decided to get the girls pictures done before the baby comes, and thanks to my great friend Katie and her amazing photography skills, they turned out beautiful. Thank you Katie for creating a lifetime memory for us, we love you!

And its..... another girl!

We found out that everything measured great in the first ultrasound and that we wouldn't be having another so we finally decided to go to one of those places like you see in the mall and pay them to tell us, (wait, I mean confirm for us), what we are having.
We went Friday night and took all the girls with us, they were all voting it was a boy. Nope. Girl. Big Shocker, eh? The girls were all still excited anyway and another one will even things out nicely. Justin and I are glad she is healthy and fine- she even tried to do a back sommersault but it ended like one of mine, a little sideways.

Preggers

Someone, I think it was Mindy, said she didn't believe I was really pregnant and wanted to see pictures. Shelley and I took a picture of our bellys together to make a postcard announcing she is pregnant too. We are due only 5 days apart. Here are some of the only pics I have of myself since I'm always the one with the camera.

Student Teacher

Sometimes over the last year in home school I've felt frustrated when the girls don't seem interested or don't seem to care about what we're doing or learning. I could have the funnest thing planned and they would act like it was a chore.
While Shelley was here she planned several lessons for the girls and put in a lot of time preparing and coming up with fun things for them to do. She taught them about Greek mythology and Ancient China. They put on plays, made an awesome Chinese dragon, made togas and crowns of leaves, put together projects and presented them to each other, and told each other stories. It was a GREAT couple weeks in home school. Unfortunately, the girls missed out on a couple things like holding their own Olympics all because of their stinky attitudes. I think I'm used to it and just ignore them when they do that- they have to learn no matter what and I figure they pull that stuff with me because I'm their mom and not their public school teacher. Shelley felt bad though because of all the effort she put into school and making it fun for them. I know how she felt. I used to get so mad and complain to Justin about it all the time.
The funny thing is, they really do care, and remember everything they're taught. That's one thing I've learned about kids. They can act like they aren't paying attention or don't care and the next thing you know, they are quoting exactly what you taught them and acting all proud about knowing it. Not long after the girls had learned about Ancient China, we were at the beach and Lilly came running over to tell Shelley and I to look at the Forbidden City she had made out of sand, complete with all the walls and inside stores. Haley now acts like an expert in Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Rachel and Bella make The Great Wall out of blocks when they play....... Thanks Shelley for planning, preparing, teaching, and making learning last! You were a GREAT student teacher!

Maui fun

Me, Abby and the ladies in front of one of the largest replicas of buddah outside of Japan. Shelley taught the girls about Ancient China while she was here, which included Haley giving a report on some of the Chinese religions. It was fun for the girls to see a real Buddah statue.

The boat picture was taken after Justin tried to sail us to shore- this is what happened...... see the tipped and half sunken boat? I'll never know why we "just can't have nice things!"
Just kidding Babe! We saw this old, rusty boat sticking out and thought it was a cool picture.

We also got to visit the Iao Needle which was so gorgeous. I don't know exactly what Lilly's trying to practice for in that picture but I have a few ideas....... The Iao Needle is where the Maui warriors retreated during the last fight for control of the island with King Kamehameha.

JINXED-Ultrasound news

So, a while ago I told my friend Megan that when we found out our babies gender that we were going to say that they couldn't tell, and make everyone wait till the end to see if indeed, it is another girl.
Last Thursday we went in for an ultrasound and the baby's legs were crossed the whole time. The ultrasound tech tried for a long time to get a good peek at the gender, but no luck. I think the baby turned the joke around on me or I jinxed myself. Everything else looked good and the head is measuring a week bigger than everything else, so it looks like it's inheriting the Wray head like all the other girls. Lucky for me- I have to get that thing out!
We're headed to Maui tomorrow for a week to party and hang with Shelley and Jeff and their families. The girls are excited for the plane. I'm excited to be with family and be able to go somewhere. Anywhere that's at least more than 2 hours from home is a great getaway when you're on an island.
I'll try and post a bunch of current pictures of our new house, the kids, and our Maui trip when we get back, as for now..... I need to find my camera!

Moving Day

Today is the beginning of a busy weekend moving. Justin says he's going to clean the whole new house himself, pack all by himself, and clean the old house himself while me and Shelley take the kids to the beach. WHAT?! Maybe he feels guilty from the last move when he was out of town and I did all, okay- most, of the moving, or maybe its the fact that once again I'm preggo during a move. I think I've either been preggo or just had a baby for every move we've had. I think I should stop moving. No wonder we're working on number 6!
Shelley's here visiting and we've been giving the end of the year CAT tests to the girls. The weather has been a little overcast with a slight chill in the air so we havn't spent too much time at the beach yet, (we've only gone twice in a week). Because Shelley's already done all the tourist stuff here, she says she's here to get a tan, live the "real Hawaii life", and improve my life (aka. shopping at Ross for Kitchen gadgets and other odd items that we left in Utah and have learned to live without). A friend of mine said I sound happier now that Shelley's here. It's not only her pressence here but the fact that my morning sickness is gone and those chocolate marshmallo bunnies we bought at Target for $0.19 that make me feel so much BETTER!!! We should have bought more Shelley!

Oh my goodness, we have had so much fun in the last month or so and we are completely wiped out! We had three sets of company in just a few short weeks and loved every minute with them. By the time they all left we were all content to just stay home and do absolutely nothing. We actually just went to the beach for the first time in almost two weeks. (that's a long time for us)
One of the funnest things we did with our company is go to the Sea Life Park on the North East side of the island. We saw a dolphin and sea lion show and were able to feed (and touch, shhhhh) some sea turtles. The girls also loved watching the fish and shark in the giant aquarium and seeing the penguins. It rained on us pretty good at the sea lion show but in true Hawaiian fashion, we sat and enjoyed the show anyway. Ten minutes later we were dry.
Nana, just so you know.... yesterday Addie said, "here Mom, here's Elmo. He's a red boy." It only took a month to set in but she finally got it.

Thursday was Isabelle's birthday and we decided that since she has been talking about it for a month and obviously wants a lot of birthday attention, that we'd have a surprise party for her the night before. We invited friends over and while Justin was gone taking her out for ice cream, we hurry and set up the decorations. When she got back we had all the lights turned out and we were hiding behind the couch. As soon as she came in and saw the decorations she said, "Whaaaatttt???" and we all jumped up and yelled, "SURPRISE!!!" I think she was a little embarrassed but definitely loved the attention. We had dinner and cake with ice cream and played games. She especially loved that she got to have her real birthday the next day. It was like having TWO birthdays!
On her birthday she and I spent a few hours together doing what she wanted to do and going to lunch. I told her she could pick any restaurant she wanted and she could order anything she wanted. We ended up at McDonald's. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. After that she wanted to spend the birthday money her grandmas had sent. I think she learned a good lesson that day about how money never goes as far as you want it to.
Isabelle is a fun, sweet, and happy little girl, still pretty naive and innocent. She still loves to cuddle and have individual attention. She is very good at entertaining herself and makes us laugh every day. We love you Bella! Happy Birthday!

The girls talked Justin into taking them to the new pet store on Saturday. He caved in and bought them a small fish tank and five fish. By the time we got them home, one was dead and another was on the way. By Sunday morning we only had three surviving fish. Justin was nice though and bought two more replacements on Monday. We now have 5 new family members; Pebbles, Boo, Guppy, Frank, and Scaly.
While we were at the pet store, I took Addie over to watch the dogs being groomed. There was a nice, clean looking dog that they were blowing and brushing. They started brushing its legs and I said to Addie, "that's kinda funny, huh?" She squished up her nose and said, "that's gross!" I have to say, I agree. What a job.

Yesterday the girls and I and our friends Katie and Addalyn tried to go see the ancient temple ruins here on the island. We were all excited and prepped the girls to be respectful when we were there, and Katie was planning on teaching them all about it when we arrived. I was glad I'd have new pictures to post that weren't taken at the beach. When we got up there, we were told that the ruins were closed due to heavy rainfall a couple months ago. BUMMER! We spent the rest of the morning- guess where?- checking out a new beach we hadn't been to yet. We didn't have our suits on so we just climbed around the rocks and tried to find some fun sea life. The best thing we saw were some pretty cool crabs crawling around the black volcanic rocks. Haley found some good shells too. The lesson we learned was to always be flexible and have a plan B. (I think the B stands for beach).

Crazy busy

It's been a month or so since I updated and still don't have the time to do a good post but the last month has been full of adventure.
We went up to the North Shore one day with our friends Katie and Addy to see the
30ft. waves. On the way we were able to stop at a different beach and see the endangered monk seal and green sea turtle. They were both basking in the sun for the afternoon and some volunteers had them roped off so no one could get too close. The monk seal we saw was believed to be pregnant they told us. What a great day! Two endangered animals in one day! We've seen the turtles swimming near us but never out on the sand before. They are such beautiful and amazing animals.
This month is full of visitors (which we love and never tire of), so we'll be able to do all the fun "tourist" stuff with them. This weekend we'll be heading to Pearl Harbor and the PCC. The PCC we've been to but Pearl Harbor we havn't been able to spend much time at. We havn't had the chance to go out to any of the memorials yet so we are all looking forward to that.
The girls have been busy learning about the American Revolution- making crafts that go along with it and also starting a time line for our History lessons. We read how people used to think it was harmful to their health to bathe too often and only did so once every month. They were a little surprised about that, and I don't think Lilly thought it was too cool that they wore the same clothes day in and day out for lack of a good wardrobe. I'm sure she said a silent prayer of thanks that she was born in the days of malls and internet shopping.
Isabelle was so proud to be the first to finish her math book (she didn't realize it was the shortest), and we have been doing math work on the computer until she gets the next one.
One of the nice things about having visitors is that I call them my "student teachers" and make them teach our kids something. This week they will be learning about music from their Nana. Its such a nice break for them to have someone else teach them in a different style and about things that I wouldn't do justice to. Any "student teacher" volunteers? Book your spot now- our openings are limited

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDALIE!

Addalie is two years old today and I can't believe the time has gone so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that we were waiting her arrival. She is so funny and such a quick learner. She loves to pretend she is a puppy or try to act scary and "get us". She loves hide and seek and to play that she is "going to Costco". Lately her favorite game is to play library. She stands all her library books up on the stairs and asks everyone if they want to "go to the li-berry" Then after we play along she says "okay, bye, c-ya!" and waves. She really is "too cute."
Lately she really enjoys drawing and writing (sometimes on the walls), I will usually help her write her name on her paper and she gets all excited and says "ADDALIE!" Because she has done this so many times, she is starting to try and write her own name. She'll draw some circles on her page, hold it up to me and say "look Mom, A-D-D!" It would be so awesome that she knew the first three letters of her name except for the fact that they ARE A-D-D. Hmmmmmm. I better hurry and teach her the rest.
We have been teaching her how to make a two with her fingers but its really hard for her to hold down the right fingers so it ends up looking different every time but its always two fingers.
She has been teaching herself to use the bathroom and will tell me she has to "go bathroom." It reminds me of a time when Susie was changing Landon's diaper and he said he didn't want a diaper, he wanted big boy pants, and she looked at him and said "LAY DOWN!!!" Sometimes its the MOM thats not ready for the potty training! I'm guilty of that this time around. I never thought I would be but its true.
We like to call Addie our little firecracker because even though she is small, she is full of surprises, laughs and energy. I also call her a velociraptor because sometimes she spreads her legs a little, hunches over a little, holds her hands up in claw like fashion and starts going after someone. She's a small little dinosaur that is scarier than it looks.
We love her so much and we are so glad she is part of our family. Her older sisters adore her and naturally she gets all the attention which she loves and expects.
Happy Birthday Addalie!!!! WE LOVE YOU!

To hike or mud wrestle..... THAT is the question

New Years Day we decided to go on a hike with the Rasmussen's. We decided the description of Maunawili Falls sounded nice and do-able, (with 6 kids under the age of 10 you have to consider these things). The review of it said that it was a nice, leisurely hike about 1 1/2 miles. Perfect.
Several minutes into the hike we realized it was a little muddier than we planned on but still didn't seem too bad and so far it was a nice and easy trail. After hiking for about a mile we ran into some hikers on their way down. Katie asked them how the rest of the hike was. They went into a huge thing about how horrible and muddy it was and how there were really tough spots where the trail was steep and they had to cross the river about six times and ...... blah, blah, blah........ The guy said, "I'm an "experienced hiker" and even I thought it was horrible." After watching him cross the river I came to the conclusion that "experienced hiker" was a loose term.
We all voted to keep going and see for ourselves how bad it really was. About a half mile later we came to a sign that told us we had 1 1/2 miles to go to the falls, (wasn't that how long it was to begin with?). We were already muddy up to our calves and the girls were having a blast so we decided to keep going. In my opinion, once you start something you have to finish it. The mud got deeper and gooier and we DID have to cross the stream several more times before we reached the top, but I hardly noticed any of that. I was watching Addie. She was holding my hand and walking all on her own and was strutting and singing and if I'd slip a little in the mud she'd ask, "otay, Mom?" I kept waiting for her to ask me to pick her up but she didn't. She kept going and going and going. At one point Justin was holding her hand, and as they reached the top of a hill she said, "I DID IT!!!" It was so cute. She was such a great example that day of attitude and how our lives are affected by the attitudes we choose. I kept thinking of the couple we met that was saying how terrible the hike was and then looking at Addie and watching this little two year old conquer what they barely could. We made it up and down- a total of about 5-6 miles, and she walked all but maybe 1/4 of a mile of it, and that was because we were trying to go faster and not because she asked to be held.
By the time we were done I told Katie if we mud wrestled we still wouldn't look any dirtier. We were covered in mud. Haley and Rachel took their shoes off and walked the last part of it because they were sinking in so much. Our pants were wet because of crossing the river so much and we were tired but all in all we had a great time. Haley said it was one of the funnest days of her life. I'm glad we didn't listen to the negative perspective of someone else and instead chose to make a positive experience of our own.
HAO'OLI MAKAHIKI HOU- HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Holidays

Christmas seemed to be a really busy season this year. We were thinking that we would have a quiet month with less parties to attend and no family to visit. Man, were we wrong! Between the work and ward parties there were achievement activities for the girls, wrapping and shipping gifts (I had no idea what a process that can be), home school, ward callings (I got a new one as a counselor in the primary), trying to do some service to remember the real reason for the season, and getting out a Christmas card for the first time in our lives, (I hope you enjoyed yours Mindy). There just didn't seem to be enough time for it all. In the end it all turned out nicely though- as it always seems to, and we had a fantastic Christmas.
Justin decided to go all out and gave me a video camera AND and ipod touch- both of which I LOVE!!! I tried to find a wii for him but everyone on the island was out of stock, and believe me..... I checked EVERYWHERE!!! I ended up getting him Guitar Hero- the complete band, because I knew we could find a wii just a few days after Christmas. We got one the Saturday after and we have had a blast rockin' out, punchin' each other, and tryin' out our best backhands.


For New Years Eve we went to the beach and had a bonfire, roasted marshmallows and made s'mores with our friends, the Rasmussen's. We knew that it was illegal to have fires on the beach in most places but we didn't know it was everywhere until an officer showed up and told us we couldn't be there. He was really good about it though and said that once we were done we needed to make sure to soak the fire and scatter the remains. It probably helped that we were all haoli's and "didn't know better". The beach was so beautiful, the sunset perfect, and we even had a sea turtle and a seal checking things out nearby. We finished just as it started getting dark so we packed up and went back to our house for fireworks and more of the wii. The Estes family joined us and we played until midnight when we were more than amazed and overwhelmed by the amount of fireworks going off in the area.

Okay, let me tell you about Hawaii and New Years. I went to Costco right before New Years and almost everyone had one of those huge boxes full of fireworks in their cart. You know, those ones that cost $200 plus? I was thinking, "man, they sure are serious about their fireworks here". For several days before New Years Eve there were fireworks going off now and again. The morning of, there were fireworks going off and I think they pretty much went all day long. Our neighbors were doing fireworks from the time we got home around seven, until past midnight. Now we're not talking screaming bees and ground flowers, even though there are those too, but we're talking more of the big illegal kind that are Stadium of Fire worthy. The air was so thick with smoke that you couldn't see more than twenty feet up in the air, it was a huge fog covering our house and from what I hear, the whole island.
The missionaries came over and told us about a guy they talked to who was a police officer. He would confiscate illegal fireworks and bring them home for his kids to light. That right there describes Hawaii perfectly. Needless to say if you want a good New Year's celebration, Oahu is the place to come.