Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Thank you to all the people that fed us so much my belly hurt.
Our friends Rachel and Abby made us a Thankful Tree a few weeks ago, in celebration of the upcoming season. Abby put reasons she is thankful for each of the members of my family. "...thankful for Aurelie because she jumps in the pile of leaves with me." She brought extra leaves to add to our tree as we remembered things we were thankful for. I'm not sure Alison and Stuart ever got the idea perfectly but Alison is very thankful for dinner, piggy tails, and big hugs. Stuart, for Popsicles and hair. They loved writing their own little messages and putting them on the tree. When you ask Alison what she's written she says, "Fank you for dinnuuurr!" We enjoyed our family home evenings so much with our tree and the opportunity to remember how abundantly we've been blessed. I've been knitting a bit for my own kids lately. I closed down shop for a month to actually enjoy my creations, and make diapers for Nicole. More projects in the queue. Now, onto all other serious business. Painting the other day. Also, Alison's become quite attached to the boo shirt I made her. She falls deeply in love with most holidays and doesn't want to let them pass. I guess it is time to make a shirt with a Turkey--oh wait, I already missed that--a Christmas tree. A silly little story to end with. The other day I was getting the tangles from Alison's hair. I asked her, "Where do these tangles come from?" She answered, "Mommy, jumping on jumpoline." She hasn't been on a trampoline in several weeks (yeah, we need to come play at your house Abby!). We haven't even talked about trampolines in weeks. I asked again this morning as I brushed out her hair, not even paying attention to our dialogue, "Where do you get these tangles?" She answers, "Jumpoline. I tangles jumping on jumpoline." Of course. Apparently, that is where tangles come from. Or at least Alison thinks so, adamantly.

Martin Robert

Congratulations to my sister Nicole for having the cutest baby born on the face of the earth.

I'm so excited to have a new nephew. Welcome Baby Martin.

Baby Gavin

I'm so excited to announce that I am an Aunt. This is my first nephew, Mr. Gavin Adler. He is a few weeks old here but because I was sick right after his birth, this is the first time I've been able to hold him.

This is his angry face.
I asked him to make his happiest face. This is what a got.
Daddy and GavinThe family.
Mommy and Gavin
Alison has been very excited about babies lately. She comes up and says, "Wash hands. Hold baby?"

Fun Fort

This morning, I woke up and decided to make a fort for the kids. I remembered that I had some extra material that I had no intention of using and of course, my handy dandy snap press (and to think that Ryan thought it was an unnecessary and frivolous expense). We made the top but decided it needed doors. So we made some. We played in it awhile, and then we ate a much delayed breakfast. We had friends over, who also played in our fort. Shameless plug ahead: come to knitting group and you too can play in the fort! However, just in case you think this display of productivity is unnatural, I want to let you know that it is 1:30 and we're still working on getting dressed.

I have to ask permission to come in, otherwise, Stuart points and says, "Get OUT! Mommy!" Here is a view from the inside. I asked the kids if they wanted to give each other a hug for the camera. This is what they did. Goofies.

Then they hugged each other so hard they both fell over--this actually happens most times they hug. We talked about little hugs, and voila. Success.

Hawaii

Ryan recently took a new job. A new job, that isn't working for the federal government. We knew it would be an adjustment for our family and thought we better take a family vacation before he started. We went to Hawaii and took our brother Aric, who recently returned from serving in Brazil, with us. He was awesome to have along. Our own bagboy (as Ryan affectionately referred to him). Plus he swings from trees.
We went to the aquarium near Waikiki. Stuart and Alison LOVED it. They even saw a big BIG fish poop, which of course, if you are a loyal reader, know they went wild for.

They also were very impressed with the ocean. The first day we arrived we went down to the beach. We were tired and they had been troopers on the long flight. Alison gasped and said, "Mommy, big BIG sandbox!" followed quickly by, "big BIG water!" We went to the beach every day. Everyday, when we first arrived to the sand, Stuart would lean down and let it sift through his hands.
This is where we spent a lot of time. It was protected from waves and shallow. They kids could actually walk all the way to the sandbar nestled in the corner.

One day we decided to take a hike. We had to take buses to get there since we didn't have a car at this point. That was Stuart's and Alison's favorite part. They cried when we got off the first bus. Luckily we had a transfer. Here we are waiting for our number.

Where are those buses?

Oh look, here it comes.
There it is! There it is! Big BIG BUS!!!

Alison was too cold so we bundled her up in her stroller next to a palm tree at the beach. I think the real problem was that she was too tired but too happy to take a nap.
Stuart aka The Destroyer. Loved to destroy castles.
Building castles with Uncle Aric.
We made a big hole to bury Aric in. Stuart declared it his. When Aric tried to get in it he would shout, "OUT!" It made a great slide.

Alison resting.
We did finally get Aric buried.
This is along our drive to the North Shore where we stayed for part of our trip.
We went to Waimea Bay for a day, which is where Ryan proposed to me 6 1/2 years ago. It was special to be back with our kids. The sand was perfect but the waves were a little scary for our dudes. A nice lifeguard gave Alison this tube. She thought it was a bed for the beach.

It kept raining for little spells. We'd just wait it out.

Because most of the day it was gorgeous.
Sometimes when it rained we'd sing songs under our blanket. It really was perfect.
This is the beach across from our hotel on the North Shore. It was always quite windy but clear and beautiful.

This is the Temple in Laie.




Stuart doing some reflecting.

Hawaii wears us out. Really. See you later! Thanks for watching.