Four Little Monkey's Jumpin' on the Bed...

I just have to take a second and say how cool it is to watch Nadia play with Leo, Lia, and Levu. It is like a realization of a long time dream to watch her play with the children of long time friends. Back in the early days Pre-Nadia I remember talking to Monica about how cool it would be to have our future kids play together... now it's a reality. I love it! Lia and Levu are six weeks older than Nadia, and Leo is six weeks younger.... the four of them together = total chaos; but in a good way.

Martha Skills...

I have been on a quest of late to "organize" and manage our home... it is a continual project and I have been taking things one closet at a time (sometimes one drawer at a time). It never ceases to amaze me how much "stuff" accumulates when you live in a place for a couple years. We finished Nadia's room first moving out the crib (she has refused to sleep in the crib since she was about seven months old) replacing that with a big girl bed and new decore. Her nursery was rather overwhelming with pepto bismal pink (I have no idea what I was thinking back then) so it is now toned down with greens and browns and Nadia LOVES her room. I found this cool old bookshelf in the storage shed behind our house. I guess you could call it "shabby chic" or "rustic charm" I just thought it would be a great for storing all my books in my future office. So this past weekend Loren and Kitione helped me refurbish the bookshelf. It was fun for all and cost me a big old $2.99 for the paint brush. (I used the paint samples that were getting tossed out at work and kinda mixed a few in a bucket to get enough to coat the whole thing so it is a very unique one of a kind color, but I love it). Now I am hooked... I want to do more home projects...

Not to shabby for a half days work and $2.99...

FAMILY PICTURES...

I am slacking on the blog of late... lots to catch up on. First we finally had family pictures taken. I am so excited to have our first family photos with Nadia. The amazingly talented Natalie Norton shot them for us; she is awesome. Not only gifted in the area of photography but to get Inoke to relax and even laugh... well that is true TALENT. We have known Natalie for several years, she and her husband were in our married student ward back in the day. If you remember I had booked our pictures back in November of last year. Due to tragic and unforseen events (Natalie lost her infant son to pertussis in January) we ended up rescheduling a few times. I am so glad she was able to get us in and the pictures were totally worth the wait.
So here are a few of my favorite ones:

I'm allowed a little bit of vanity... right?

Move over Julia Child...

Last night Kitione came up to the screen door and asked me if Nadia was going to be eating dinner soon... and what she was having for dinner. I gladly played along and told him that we were making Roti and Curry for dinner. He ever so kindly volunteered to come "help" play with Nadia while I cooked dinner. (Gotta love that little guy!) Both Kiti and Nadia decided that it was no fun watching me make dinner... they wanted to help too. Kiti is very skilled with a rolling pin and Nadia bless her heart just couldn't keep her cute little fingers away from the roti's... it was entertaining for all three of us and dinner was so good! I told Kiti he can come "help play" with Nadia any time...

The Zoo...

Last weekend continuing on with the idea of getting out more and enjoying the paradise that surrounds us here in Hawaii; we decided to check out the Honolulu Zoo. I really don't know how I have lived here so long and yet not once made it down to check out the local zoo... especially to go see Inoke's cousins down in the gorilla cage... (HAHA, it's only fair he teased me all weekend telling Nadia we were going to see "mommy's family the albino monkeys"). It was a great day. The weather was perfect and Nadia was totally and completely thrilled with the opportunity to roam around exploring and seeing live animals. We will definitely have to make another trip down to check out the Keiki Petting Zoo in the not too distant future.

A Couple of Beach Bums...

All too often I am on such a tight schedule to squeeze in "all" that needs to be done on the weekends that I forget how awesome it is to live in paradise. When I was in college I was the queen of the beach, serious I scheduled my classes around peak tanning hours and only would work in the evenings leaving every afternoon from 12-4pm FREE for tanning and sunshine (Don't worry I still graduated Magna Cum Laude; even with sand in every textbook I owned). Ahh how I miss those days. So lately I have been doing some reflection and decided that no matter what laundry gets left undone or what dishes get left in the sink, etc. Nadia and I are going to get out and ENJOY the beautiful surroundings at least once a week. This weekend I took baby girl on her first outing to Sunset Beach... Ahh that is one of my all time favorite spots on the North Shore, the sand is wide, the water is clear and blue, and Ted's Bakery is just a hop skip and a jump down the road... Nadia LOVED it. So here is to making new traditions... going to the beach can be a tradition right? Or at least a Mama/Daughter bonding thing right???

18 Months!

Nadia is officially 18 months old today... Holy smokes where has the time gone? Her personality keeps us smiling and very entertained daily. Some favorites of late... blowing kisses to everyone when she leaves, KISSING boys. Uh, yep she LOVES to give hugs and kisses to her little friends. She is very good with following instructions and extremely helpful around the house. You will often find her with the broom or dust pan sweeping up the floor; or with a baby wipe wiping up her face and the faces of all her friends too. Nadia is quite a little mama, I love it. Some words of late are "stopit" (not my favorite), "naka nana" (Vinaka (Thanks) Mommy), "dua" (one), and Inoke's all time favorite "TATA!!!" (Daddy). Whenever she hears the horn beep on the car, she knows daddy is home and she immediately drops whatever she is doing and jumps up to go to the door arms stretched up and big smile on her face to say "TATA!" She loves to run around singing to herself and often will pick up a book and "read" it by making wispy sounds and flipping the pages. So that is a quick update on the little princess. Here are a couple pictures we took this morning. She is quite the accessory diva!