random pics

I had been avoiding taking the kids to the mall because malls are just not my favorite place to begin with, all the I want that, oh no, I need that, no thanks. Plus our mall has a bounce house place. And I really don't want to go there much, I mean, we live in Hawaii, we can do something else way more fun... But, the kids got invited to a birthday party there, for their friend Able. It was really nice, and the kids of course had a blast. I told them though that we're only going to the bounce house place for birthdays, which was fun. Happy birthday Able.

The mechanic called us when the Dortch truck was fixed, and when we went to get it, it wouldn't start. Ha ha ha. Even Hollie agreed and said that truck is such a nuisance. So we left it there again and they kept working on it.

Solace prefers to play his math games outside at the top of the stairs. I would too if I had this nice view.

I love watching the kids play. They really get along well together for the most part.  Plus they're all so close in age, it makes for a fun little crew.

Matix and Hawken have made some great friends here. In our neighborhood they have two best friends, William and Maluhia. Their other friend Oakley came over one morning to play and then they walked over to Malu's house for some more play time. Such a great childhood. I never had friends who lived close, and I'm happy they have this.

I made fancy treats for my church class. I teach the 11, 12 and 13 year olds. It's a hard group, but I'm winning them over with treats.

The kids got cookies from some of their friends at church. They get treats every Sunday, it's just a thing, but these cookies were very special.

We found a clementine tree in our yard! It makes perfect little juicy clementines and the kids were super excited to find it! It only produced for 2 months, but we loved it!

Winter was good to us in the fruit department and we got tons of oranges, lemons, clementines and starfruit! So many starfruit!

Puzzle time with the boys is always fun.

Lullaby loves finding creatures big and small and is never afraid to pick anything up. She is my go-to girl for catching creepy crawlies. Check out this tiny praying mantis she found.

Hawken built a tractor out of Legos, of course, because he still wants to be a farmer when he grows up.

We both got to working on the bathroom. We worked together to get the last of the tile in the bathroom and the two small areas in the kitchen and living room. I put in the sink and Paul put up the sides of the shower and got the faucet and shower head ready to go. Yes please!

We got a school supply box from Auntie Robin.  She is planning to move and is getting rid of lots of stuff, so we got some things she had in storage.  Lullaby got one of Liesl's old school notebooks (not used, other than Liesl's name on the front) which Lullaby freaked out over. She loves everything do to with Liesl. Thank you Robin.

Snow loves her life here at this jungle house.

The kids were invited to be a part of the Christmas performances at our church. They were invited to be in the Maori Haka (Matix and Hawken), the Maori poi ball dance (Lullaby) and the Tahitian hula (Solace).  Our kids were pretty much the only kids with no Polynesian heritage (with a couple exceptions), so it was wonderful to be asked and included and welcomed. This church ward has been nothing but welcoming to us, it's so nice. This is a picture from their first practice, there are lots more to come.