Thankful

I wanted to let my family members know how grateful I am for all their love and support. The weekend of Maddy's pageant was so stressful and without the help of my family, it wouldn't have been as fun and exciting for us. Grandma and Kieth helped so much. They just did everything to keep my house running....alot of work!! They also kept the kids happy and laughing all the time. Malak had his first taste of coke in a sippy cup!! Who does that?? Liz and JaNae were so much help with the kids. My children love their aunts so much. We all fight about who is Kai's favorite when they are here, but we all know JaNae is his favorite when it comes down to it. I think Liz is building beautiful relationships with my kids and I am so grateful for her. I know she really loves them.

Grandpa and Richard always help out so much as well. Richard is our personal computer guy and we really put him to work over the weekend. Everything has broken since he moved- so he definetly put in over time for us and we are grateful. Grandpa just helps wherever is needed...mostly holding babies and playing with the kids. He tells great stories and they love his imaginary characters. He takes them to the world of make believe and they love that!

Carl and Danielle are always so good to support us in everything we do. It's wonderful to have family that we know we can call anytime and they will be there no matter what is happening in their lives. I am grateful to them for their unconditional love and support and hope to be able to return the love always. I missed the siblings that couldn't make it and realize how important it is to take advantage of any time that we can spend with them. I love you all and am so grateful to be your sister and daughter. Thank you all for your love!!

Kai's Buzz

Well I think Jamie inspired this new look for Kai. He wants to be like his brother and do everything that he does. After Jamie cut his hair off, Kai wanted his buzzed too. His best friend Tony has a really short haircut as well so I think it was Kai's fate to get one as well.

I can't believe how much hair actually came off this kid...I just kept cutting and cutting and the floor was covered! He looks a lot like I did when I buzzed my head. I could actually see the resemblance of him being my child. He is so much cooler now without all his hair. It's perfect for summer!

Madelyn's Pageant

This weekend was quite eventful! We have been busy busy busy. It started on Thursday when James picked up Maddy from school so they could go and deliver all of her books that she collected for Child Haven. She was able to collect over 100 books for them. She had a lot of fun doing it and learning about service.

After they finished that, they came to my salon so Maddy could get her nails and toes done. When she showed up she was a mess so I decided to cut her hair and give her a deep conditioner. James was quite the proud daddy and was just snapping pictures all over the place. I was kinda jealous because he was paying more attention to his daughter than me.....I guess I should get used to it!:)

After the salon we rushed down to Palace Station to try and check in early for the pageant, but missed it by 5 minutes. We stayed for the workshop where they gave the girls some tips for the weekend and then they had a fun pajama party for the girls without mom and dad. Maddy was able to make some friends and get to know some of the girls. It still amazes me how shy she really is. It takes a long time for her to get comfortable enough to approach somebody. She learned a lot about being more outgoing this weekend.

Friday morning started early. We got there at 8:00 to register her. Daddy got in line so she could practice her talent on the stage and mommy checked her in and paid all the money. After check-in we got her ready for her talent performance. I was so nervous for her first talent competition. We had practiced so much but it doesn't come real natural for her. She had to work real hard to get her feet and mouth to do different things. It was hard to sing and dance at the same time. But all her hard work paid off because she won 1st place in talent!!! When she went up on stage she didn't even realize she had won first place . When she came back down to sit on my lap she started laughing when I told her. We are so proud of her. It added a different dimension for her pageants and one that is really important, because it developed her confidence level.

After talent, we got ready for her Formal Wear competition. James got to be her escort and they were so cute together! I think daddy was more nervous than Madelyn. She did really well except for covering up her number at the very beginning. But she had big smiles for us.

After that we changed her clothes for Introduction. This is where she has to get in front of everybody and introduce herself in the microphone. Public speaking is very scary for most adults and I am so proud that she can get up there and do this because it is really hard! She did great at this part of the competition but I screwed her up because I thought she had to say her name and number before she said what she had practiced at home and her little brain went a little blank when she was up there but she recovered. I was a wreck in the audience while she was pausing but it all worked out. I think my family got a kick out of watching me freak out...

Anyway after Introduction we all went to go get pizza for dinner and it was so nice to spend time with Grandma, Keith, Liz, Abuela and JaNae. I wouldn't have survived the week without my mom and Keith helping me so much! Thanks guys!

Saturday morning we woke up early because Maddy wanted her hair straight for the interview portion, so I got her up early so we could get it done. We went down for the interviews where she meets with all the judges in a job interview setting and they ask her all kinds of questions. She's judged on eye contact and how she sits in the chair and her overall poise in holding a conversation with an adult. She said it went well, but couldn't remember all the questions they asked her...:)

Then the final pageant was later on in the day. We got her ready for that and they got to learn a cute little dance that they performed in the beginning of the final pageant. I can see how much she had progressed in the last 2 years. Her overall coordination is getting a lot better. She can at least hear the beat now and stay on it.:)

She placed in the top 10 of about 35 contestants and we are extremely proud of her! I thought she would do a little better than that, but realize that the judges are different every year and you never know what they are looking for. I learned a valuable lesson of just being proud no matter what and loving her unconditionally. She worked so hard that no matter what place she took, she amazed me! We are going to go back next year and take with us what we learned from this year. I will post judges results when I get them in a few weeks. Thanks for all your support for our daughter!

Jamie's Rebellion...

Not really...he's not really rebelling, he actually freaked out when he realized how short his hair was going to be on the sides. It was quite traumatic for him. (hee hee) He decided he wanted to do something crazy for the end of school. So as crazy as he is, he decided to get a mohawk!! Little did he know I would really do it for him and not be upset that he wanted to! Bring it on!! I wanted to bleach it out and get really crazy but he's a chicken! After our little stressful episode of creating the mohawk, he actually liked it. All of his friends at school started calling him Mr. T...I didn't think there was much resemblence but I guess that's the only other brown person they've ever seen wear a mohawk. Whatever. He didn't want to cut it off today before church...he had grown attached to it. But he leaves for EFY tonight and I couldn't let him be at BYU with a mohawk. What kind of mother would I be?? :)

Part 2 of these pictures are all the nasty owies on the side of his face. He was riding his bike and somehow totally crashed!! He is so banged up. His shoulder took the worst of it. I almost got sick as I was cleaning it- and I don't have a weak stomach at all. I felt so bad for him. The funny part of it is that he has matured quite a bit because he used to be the biggest pansy when I would try to clean a wound or give him medicine or anything, and I wasn't here when he had his fall, so I couldn't help him. He had to do it all by himself and it was really hard for him, but he didn't cry and told me later that it was payback for all the years he was difficult with me. My baby is growing into a man...it's seriously hard to learn how to let go.

Kai's Preschool Graduation

Well my big boy has finished his first year of preschool. I've decided he's ready for kindergarten next year, but he's not old enough yet...so we will have one more year of preschool with a new teacher. He was so cute at his graduation.

They did a whole little program for the parents and he just smiled the whole time. He has had so much fun at preschool with his "best friends". He loves having play group on thursday with all of his classmates. In fact Miss Andrea his teacher loved this class so much, she is doing summer school. They will meet on tuesdays for 4 hours and just have fun doing experiments and cooking and things like that. Thank goodness for good teachers!! Kai always talks about Miss Andrea, in fact, he dreams about her too. He says her name alot when he's sleeping...could it be his first crush??? It cracks me up!!

Not Yet!!

Maddy came home from school today and handed me an envelope....keeping a very straight face and not saying a word. I thought it was empty, so I just held it up in the light and saw a small tiny square inside it. Recognition slowly set in...it was her front tooth! We've all been making a joke about her keeping it in her mouth until after her pageant. I've been teasing her alot to not lose it for another 3 weeks, but it was hanging on by threads. I didn't think she would make it, but I was hoping! She's going to be the toothless wonder at her pageant, and she's still going to knock them dead.

Malak's Birthday

On to the cake......he wasn't sure at first what to do, but once he tasted that sweet frosting, there was no stopping this kid! He went to town eating ALL of his little cake and throwing as much as he could all over the floor and grandma's walls. He devoured the entire cake! But he paid for it later. He spent the whole night throwing up! I guess his little body couldn't handle all the sugar. I felt so bad for him! Other than getting sick, I think he had a great birthday! I can't believe he's 1 already. It's going by way too fast for me!

We went up to Grandma's house to celebrate Malak's 1st Birthday. We thought it would be easier to take our tribe up there than expect everybody to come for his birthday so we spent the weekend with Kieth and Hariella. We were opening presents and Malak was bored....he wasn't sure what to do, but his siblings kept opening everything for him. He loved his presents once they were out of the paper, but wasn't sure what to do with them when they were wrapped. We had a lot of family members there and it was fun to spend time with everyone.

Malak's Walking!

I know I am really late with this because he's actually been walking since he was 11 months, but better late than never! He has been our soonest walker...and the hardest to contain. His favorite thing to do is play on the stairs! He used to just sit there on that bottom step and clap and play and then get up to try and walk, but now we're lucky if he's not up the whole flight of steps before we can catch him!! He is so fast, but hasn't learned to come down. He just sits on the landing and sceams at me to come get him.....! We're working on getting him to turn around and come down safely, but he thinks he's big and tries to step down with his feet. We've had a few falls. James makes fun of him walking. He says he looks like the alien from "Men in Black", you know the exterminator that gets possessed by the alien and looks totally drunk every time he walks? That's my son!! He's getting better on his feet, but he sure is cute!

Oahu Day 1-3

This is the first day that we were in Oahu. We woke up early and went to the base first to check things out and get our tickets for the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was fun to just drive around on the island and look at everything. It is such a beautiful place to try to absorb it all is hard. The PCC was alot of fun. We went in the afternoon for the Luau and the big show so we didn't wear the kids out in one day. We decided to go back the next day to visit the villages. The evening show was amazing. One of the best fire dancers I have ever seen. I enjoyed watching the kids try the poi poi balls and the stick games from New Zealand. I think it's exciting to learn about the beautiful culture from Polynesia and my kids thought it was very interesting. I think Jamie just liked all the half naked girls!!