say cheese!

gwen is in a little mommy-and-me preschool called Tiny Tots. it's a fun little program focused for a little bit of a younger age than gwennie, but since she's basically glued to my hip, i'm hoping it'll help her to transtition to big-kid preschool where mom won't be there the whole time. baby steps, you know.

a few weeks ago they got their pictures, and we just got them back... ok so, well i was the photographer, haha! so i guess i've had them the whole time, but you know what i mean...

i think she's looks so adorable and scholastic!

at the ripe ol' age of 3
(oh gosh, did i even mention gwen's birthday last week?? oh dear... i'll get on that.)
gwen can recognize her written name (and deli's...)
kindofsortof write her name
recite the alphabet
can identify letter in the alphabet and knows most of their sounds
can count to 20
she loves to play the piano
she absolutely, positively LOVES dancing
she's big on make-believe games... she's pretty much always in her own little world
she still wears size 18-24 mos.
and she has so much lovey, cuddly, compassion in that little body it's a surprise she doesn't just burst!


and i promise i'll post about her birthday ASAP...
in my defense, she was sick so we still haven't gotten to celebrate (AHHH!!)
but we will... this saturday! i just decided...

STORY TIME SATURDAY! 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed

this week's storytime saturday is brought to you by Gweneth.

she picked Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

by Eileen Christelow

she says, "i like this book... um... i want to read it to you.

cuz, cuz the monkeys aren't ok to jumping on their mommy's bed....

and cuz i no jumping on mommy's bed eider."

slumber

naptime is a special time.

halloween

inspiration:

final product:

yes, it was tons of work. i don't know why... pretty simple and straight forward. the girls were super duper excited, and my dad was visiting from texas and was the coolest grandpa ever for playing along!

on saturday when we were trick-or-treating people kept stopping us in the street, or yelling across long distances, "THE CAT IN THE HAT!! MOOOOMMMMM!! LOOOOOK!! IT'S HIM, andandand those THINGS!"

it was pure awesomeness... for about 27 minutes. my girlies are early birds, so we made it a 1/3 way up one street and deli says, "k guys, 3 more houses k. just 3 more houses."

then she kept counting.
"only 2 more, k? just  2."

and after the last house she grabbed our hands and dragged us back to the car.

FAQs:

hair: wigs. blue bob wigs that i teased and sprayed and teased and sprayed and teased and sprayed until they looked like crazy messiness.

clothes: cheap-o at walmart... just painted the "thing 1" and "thing 2" circles, etc. on. when i washed them, all the paint came off. :( sad day.

the cat: bought feaux fur at a local fabric store and sewed a huge chunk of that shedding beast onto a black turtle neck (not available in HI... had to buy that on the mainland. true story.) didn't get around to tail or bowtie... but grandpa worked it.

what were case and i dressed as?: um, we were supposed to be the boy and girl from the story. "sally and brother", i think. and we were gonna walk around holding a fish in a bowl. a.DOR.a.ble! well, it was a busy weekend. and the sally dress never got sewn. just use your imagination...

HAPPY belated HALLOWEEN!!

cheer. dance.

i like to camp

we went camping a couple times this summer. we're gonna go a couple more times before rainy season really hits. i really really really like camping... a lot. more specifically, i really really really like hawaiian style camping. basically you take your house to the beach and stay close to a grocery store.

this was our set-up:

 an ez corner that was eventually surrounded by 8 tents...

this was ward camp #2.

ward camp.

think girls' camp, or scout camp, but bigger. the whole ward comes! and their cousins. and aunties. and friends. people bring their couches and TVs, inflatable pools, beds, and kitchen sinks even! (true story.)

this summer we went to 2 ward camps: our current ward and our old ward. all i wanted for my birthday was to go camping... and whadya know our old ward was camping on my birthday weekend!! how perfect is that!!

why i love camping...

no schedule

play at the beach all day, don't have to wash off the sand afterwards

addi gets to run around and do her thang 24/7

the mornings

no chores

loads of friend time

late nights

card games

singing and playing the uke

campfires

tin foil dinners

having a cooler as a fridge

just being outside...

we found gwen's twin at camp... she's 1/2 hawaiian, believe it or not.

(i know you won't.)

the other 1/2 is swedish.

we had loads of beach time... and with daddy!

the girls and i go beach it quite a bit, but we hardly ever get daddy-O too!

and like i said, plenty of friend time and kajillions of kiddos

  

and then the last day there was a carnival for the kids...

i was so proud of little gwenner for actually hitting stuff with the bean bags toss games!

and addi...

well, addi was always gone.

riding her bike.

running around the field with friends.

telling me to leave her alone cause she was a big girl.

eating other people's food.

dancing.

playing soccer.

swimming.

i really never knew where she was.

true story.

and that's camping.

in a nutshell.

i like to camp.

maid services

free

three day weekends are awesome.

for this 4th we worshipped at the church of our choosing

then donned our country's colors

and celebrated freedom

               

"for what avail the plow or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail?"
ralph waldo emerson

hair

recently i've been using this:



and i'd have to recommend it.

my hair is short and pretty easily manageable... but this little woman has oodles and bundles of gorgeous locks.

and they tangle and snarl a lot...

now we wash with wen, and use a dab as leave-in conditioner.

life is much happier during hair brushing time.

in other hair-related news, i'm growing mine out.

yes, it grows fast.

i'm going for something like this, only less... abrasive.

basically a choppy, chunky, multi-colored A-line.

and i'm trying to learn how to do addi's hair... i'm just working on braiding for now.

obviously it's a work in progress.

and since all women of our household have been represented but one,

gwen is fluffy.

gwen grew

back in april gwen turned 2.

it all happened so fast.

just seconds ago i was the sleep-deprived nursing mother,

and she was the completely dependent little squeaker.

now she uses a toilet and opens her yogurt cups all by herself.

gwen grew.

needless to say, we threw a party. a BIRDday party, because gwen likes birds, or bir-DEEEz as we affectionately call them in these parts.

we played a couple bird games, like duck duck goose...

and we had a bird-egg hunt

and an over-abundance of bird-themed decor

this amazing cake was made by my friend michelle.

not only is it GORGEOUS and perfect, is was ohsodelicious!

and here is the exact moment gwen turned 2...

i need to get us some tickets to neverland...