Hawaii

Hawaii is really suiting Matt well.

Okay...just kidding! I much prefer him with NO Hair! Del took a picture of Matt and I and then he took a picture of me and his son (the hair) and combined the two together. Pretty funny. The kids laughed hard.

Del Benson Photography

Our friend Del Benson is on island this week from Saipan. He is an amazing international photographer and we feel so lucky to have been shot by him. He did a great one of Matt and I and Isaac 10 years ago (almost exactly) when we lived on Saipan. He travels to the state often so if you are in need of a great family portrait let me know and I will let you know when he's traveling your way. You can check out his website at www.delbenson.com or you can even become facebook friends with him. He's not only an amazing photographer but a great person. He's trying to talk us into moving back to Saipan. Maybe someday but for now we're content right where we are.

Our Dog

Notice our dog in the picture from my previous post. Isaac is panting like a puppy. He's always pretended to be a dog but seriously... now his smile has become a dog's smile...just great! He is almost as fast on all fours as he is running. He's convinced he must be part animal. In other Isaac news...he is officially no longer a vegetarian (Thank goodness..it was hard finding food for a hungry growing boy) He came to the conclusion all on his own that he wasn't feeling as good at school and maybe he needed meat (really it was because my mom cooked some awesome hamburgers one night and that is his favorite food and it had been a month with no meat so I'm sure he really was feeling like he needed some) I owe her big time!Thanks Mom!

Omnitrix

Adam thinks he is Ben 10 (cartoon network) He is seriously obsessed. He got the Omnitrix for christmas and you would have thought he won the lottery. It ishow ben 10 turns into aliens. Anyway, about a month ago he lost his Omnitrix and he's been looking everywhere for it. Well, can I just say my kids are amazing?? Isaac had the idea and he talked to Olivia and Dawson and they all decided to pool their money and they would have just enough to buy adam the Omnitrix. It was completely their idea and they had it all planned out before I knew they were even thinking of it! So last Saturday when we were in town they made a plan. I detained adam to help me in the store while the 3 of them and Matt went on a mission for the Omnitrix. when we all got in the car, Isaac presented it to Adam. He said "Adam, we put all of our money together to buy you This..." I SO wish we had the camera ready. Adam was STUNNED. He almost started crying. He just kept starring in disbelief and then immediately started hugging them all. He kept saying "I think I must be dreaming". we put in a little extra $ so they could get him the ULTIMATE OMNITRIX. even cooler than the original one he got for Christmas.
Adam knows he is loved by his siblings. I was so proud!

Field Day

The kids had Field Day this week. Dawson and Isaac's grades had it today and we forgot the camera. Adam and Olivia had it on Tuesday and so I've got a few pictures of each of them. The kids had been working on the different events in PE the past few weeks. They were really looking forward to it and had a blast. I liked how each grade had their own hour and did one event at a time and then went back to class. Our other schools have had a "field day" where it's the entire school all day..long and exausting and hard to see everything going on.Olivia and her best friend Mia wouldn't turn around for a picture.
Finally after 10 pictures of their backs I finally got one of their pretty faces.
(above) Olivia doing the "egg on the spoon" race. She's so graceful. (below) Olivia's class.
Adam getting lined up with his class (he's in a the green shirt).

Adam did a couple of relay races..the Gunny sack and the batton hand off. His team didn't do so good with the gunny sacks but they won the other race.

Dawson VIP & T-ball

Dawson had a big week last week! It was his turn to be the VIP in his classroom. On Monday he brought in a poster of pictures that he got to share with the class. On tuesday he got to bring in his favorite toy and I had some inspiration monday night to video him at home telling his class about the toy and he was so excited to share it with them. He did a great job telling them all about it (on the TV) Wednesday was his turn to bring in his favorite book and so tuesday night it was his idea to do another "movie" so he could tell them all about his favorite book. The video was the first chance his class got to hear his voice! I was so proud of him that he shared the video. He was really proud too.

Last week he also started t-ball! Dawson has waited for YEARS to finally get to play t-ball. He has had plenty of time watching his siblings in their sports (t-ball, soccer, basketball, football, dance) and he has always wanted to play baseball! The first day he was a little nervous and thought maybe he wanted to wait until he next year. With some encouragement we signed him up and he has done GREAT! He practices twice a week and has 2 games a week (a lot if you ask me) He is very focused when he's on the field and gives it his all! We are proud of you Dawson!

Vegetarian

Isaac is a vegetarian. He decided about 3 weeks ago that he was never going to eat animals again. I thought it would last a few days but we are in week 3 and he is still going strong. We have supported him and are cool with it. He has always loved animals and I'm not sure what gave him the idea to become a vegetarian but even a McDonald's hamburger doesn't tempt him. I need to do some research and figure out what he needs to be eating. We aren't huge carnivores around here anyways but he has already missed lots of good protein. He doesn't like cheese or hard boiled eggs. He does like edamame. If you have any ideas or vegetarian experience let me know. One time I was in subway and there was a grandpa and his 2 grandsons behind me, the grandpa ordered a veggie sandwich and the grandson explained to the lady "He's a Veterinarian"
I laughed.

Weekend at the Hilton Resort

We spent friday night and all day Saturday at the Hilton Resort nearby. We had an amazing time! We had ocean view rooms and we saw lots n lots of whales from our lanai. It is Whale season here in Hawaii. They come from Alaska to the warm water. Mom and I are going to try to go on a whale tour boat ride sometime in the next week. The Whales are Everywhere right now!

The rooms were beautiful but we spent most of our time at the pools! Can you say AMAZING?
They have some fun water slides, awesome waterfalls, a pool with a beach & sandy bottom, and a lagoon with ocean water that we toured in a paddle boat and saw lots of sea creatures. It was such a relaxing getaway! It felt like we had been away for more than 24 hours. I've decided we are going to have to do it more often! If you ever come to visit us, you have to splurge and spend at least a night at the Hilton Resort!

Isaac is 10!!

Isaac went into double digits this week!! The big One Zero 10 !!! He is so grown up and has acted 10 for quite a while. We had a great day celebrating! Grandma made her delicious (from scrath) pancakes for breakfast. He took some killer (made by me) brownies to class, He got out of doing chores for the day and we all went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. We came home and had birthday cake and icecream. It was a simple yet fun day. He didn't want to have a party with friends, just wanted to have fun as a family. He wanted to go to the beach for his b-day so we had gone the Saturday before and counted that since it was a school day (he's easy) . He had been excited all year that he could have his first non-winter birthday!! Adam always has summer b-days and has been able to do water things. Isaac has loved the sunny weather for January!