11.13.17

Thankful for spiritual parenting reminders.
{Yes, we see areas where our kiddos need to make progress, but the model for them has been off lately, so praying for these truths to stick in my heart 1st!}

Thankful for our Koko buddy being such a well behaved pet.
Thankful for our kids demonstrating responsibility and ownership with Koko and our chickens so well.
Thankful for long distance friendships. Hannah getting penpal mail from her bestie in IL made her week! We really have enjoyed so much of Hawaiian life, but our heart aches for certain pieces of IL too.
Thankful for Hannah having a happy heart, even though the rain cancelled our woulda-been 1st parade in Hawaii! She loves all the hoopla, just like her momma, and she was able to be strong even though severe disappointment was there. I love when I see strength during hard times for our kids- sometimes I feel that we try to bubble wrap them- but I want the reality way of life to help them grow too... so in those hard times... when they show grace and strength ... I am so thankful.


Thankful for Hudson working hard in school and on track for mainstream Kinder next fall! We have seen such growth in speech and behavior, and now the teacher just sent us a link of him decoding "dog" and reading it. Melt my heart.
Thankful for encouragement in our assembly. Although we are a small group, God gives us all help to blend and connect so well. We are thankful for Tom being such a good encouragement to Matt. They strengthen each other in biblical things, and always are there to build each other up. With just 4 brothers in a small gathering, they need each other in pretty powerful ways.
Thankful for our Christmas cards being made as we speak at Costco. Hooray for Jovina, our long time AZ creative genius. She takes blurry iphone pics and somehow makes them look cute and card ready!
Thankful for our winter weather. We loved our soggy, gray Saturday. Although Matty and Harr did not appreciate the pelting rain on Harley, they did survive the drive to Waianae's play-off game. Since Harrison switched schools and said a sad goodbye to his football team, we felt it only right to support their playoffs, and the amazing coach K, gave "Chicago" some props, and let him be the muddy water boy! Harrison's heart burst.
(Please pray as we transition schools again in the near future- January-, God willing. Matt will student teach at my school & Harrison will attend Waianae again, until the end of the year. We are excited and thankful for being able to be so productive out here!)

 Hannah LOVES baby Calius ( I know I butchered his spelling! Kate's grandbaby)

 We are obsessed with Kroc!

 Thankful for Harrison loving all things Hawaiian. He loves the local fave of Musubi. We bought a rice cooker, and viola, can whip this up! It's pretty tasty, just don't look at the SPAM before it's cooked ;) Thankful for our friend 2 houses down, that heard we were attempting homemade Musubi, and ran to the store to get us our very own Musubi press! The aloha vibe here is so beautiful.

 Matt captured my heart so full. Watching a friend's wedding video, at sunset, kidfree. Insert every single heart emoji. 

 

Thankful for Matt and Harrison having the entire month of Nov off!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are adventuring, but also working! Matt is such a good sub, and my friends love when he can help in their class! I love having Harrison lead my centers too. My class just loves him!

  Thankful for my team. 1st grade teachers are literally the bomb.com.  Thursday before the long weekend was our school's fun fair. Each grade level had to run a booth to make some moola. Ours was hair spray and ice cream/waters. Clearly I wanted to model some hairspray stencils! Not a flattering pic of me, but Shae - in the plaid and Crish spraying, are just amazing peeps. Love love love them!

 Thankful for our fun Friday in Waikiki! And for free parking at the meters all day!

 We left the beach just famished, and couldn't be happier to have found a parking spot at our fave taco place. Eating outside. Beach breeze. Fresh guac. Mango lemonade and a crazy surfer server, made for the best lunch/dinner!

Then..... we were like let's go across the street from the taco joint for sunset. And we did. And we loved the low tide, and lots of fishies and met another Hudson! The other Hudson was not a good listener, and the dude from the luau had to RESCUE him from almost drowning!! The kid was unattended and gurgling water. Made my heart so thankful that our Hudson is almost always in a life vest, no matter the depth of water, and for our Hudson listening and staying close to momma! His fake smile just kills me.

 That sunset glow, on that handsome fella.

 There's the luau! We loved watching it, for free! We have yet to attend an authentic luau, but this made us feel like we had!

Hugs to you all as your begin the Thanksgiving countdown!

www.swtblessings.com has a great November devotion on Strength!

 The verses she uses have been very encouraging! Enjoy!

XO

11.6.17

Thankful this week for good friends that we can call at all hours! We live in an older house... and that brings a new set of living experiences that we have had yet to enjoy 😔
One night we heard something above us, that we thought for sure was an intruder. The ceilings seem flimsy as they are, but with the pressure of what seemed like a human up there, we thought like Chicken Little :the sky is falling:... no joke! So after a few minutes ... we called our friend down the road who thought it was birds... somehow that gave us peace for a bit... but then at midnight we had had it!
 911 to the rescue! These 3 cops came, and were so chill and so friendly and so brave! They popped that attic opened .... to see nothing but did assure us that there was no space for a human to fit, so it was most likely an animal....next day we were running on lots of starbucks... but we heard the same noise that night too... thankfully our friend is a home inspector and has some serious courage to go up into the attic and hunt for us... he found.... rats... two of them... gross...yuck... blahhhh... but at least he saw what it was and threw some serious poison... and we have been rat free all week... oh.my.word. Who woulda thought!?!

Thankful for Fellowship Friday Part 4. We took the party to the beach across the street and it was my fave event yet! It was not too smart for me to have Hudson wear a black hoody...next time we will have a huge bucket of glow sticks! But the adults seemed to really mesh, connect and bond and the kiddos were loving the huge grassy area to run and be silly on! We are very thankful for our assembly and for getting to know them all better!

 

 

 Harr and Madix dabbin', Auntie Margaret the best brownie baker and teri chicken griller!

 Our new friends, Kenji and Kim

 Fellowship under the best full moon!

 Kim's son Kage & Hudson

Thankful for a fun Halloween! Hannah and I entered the Dunkin contest, and although we didn't win, we loved the crafting and planning and got a few adorable pics to treasure! It was our fave costume yet!






Thankful for Auntie T and her servant heart.
Thankful that we were able to help her and be apart of that amazing outreach!
Also, if you have never done a Trick or Treat at the mall- you should!!🎃 I was like blown away! It was the EASIEST and safest trick or treat time yet.... no doors to knock on ( although that can be super fun!) walking from store to store, and getting handfuls of junk, made our kids' night! Then we were able to pass the candy out with bible book marks to the guests that came past Auntie's store. She is so generous! She gave away Bibles and lots of sushi too! It was such a fun night.









We were totally exhausted when we got home at a measly 730! But  then had to party hop to the neighborhood party! Thankful that the huge car crash directly in front of our house before the party, had no fatalities.

 Harrison loved getting dunked!

Thankful for our friend Becs, our sitter, and pet extraordinare. She heard a meowing under our car on Halloween night and found us a little black kitty. Hannah had her dream come true. Momma had her worst nightmare🙅 I am NOT AN ANIMAL person... at ... all.... However, we did feel the need for some sort of hunter to join our family out of necessity of lizard and mice/rat control.... so with much...much hesitation, and with the fact that Becs brought all kitty related items to our house to help us, we adopted little Kokoleka (meaning Chocolate in Hawaiian) and we lovingly call him Koko.
Koko is the easiest pet that I could ever imagined.  Koko is chill. He is mellow and we are trying to teach him his own space... for nights he is in our guest bathroom and for the days he is roaming in the guest room ( don't worry potential guests, your space will be totally de-Koko-ed before you come!)
 I think it's easier knowing he is not roaming free at all hours, and although that does hinder his hunting ability, we are ok with it - for now 😻 Hudson has made progress and will enter the same room with it and wave to him.

Thankful for my mom always being ready to listen during stressful times and always ready to help! Even though many miles separate, it doesn't feel that way!

Thankful for family recharge dates... North Shore is one of our fave places, and we had a fab time there Saturday. The waves & weather were perfect.

Thankful for our littlest bud. This boy literally makes us beyond crazy many moments of each day, especially lately since there has been too much sugar available  🙊. But.... he has our hearts completely smitten too... Especially at bedtime.... out he comes for hugs during our movie date...and then just rolls the yoga mat on the floor, grabs a throw pillow and blanket, and falls promptly asleep. 

PS check out that mop!  That surfer hair is growing! 👍