shoes

Matix has taught Hawken all kinds of things... Here's Hawken wearing Paul's shoes.

Who knew a love for shoes would transcend generations (Paul loves shoes too, although you wouldn't know it here), and from sibling to sibling... :) Also, when Hawken wants to go outside, he will bring me his shoes and nod his head "yes". Smart boy, right?

jammies

It has been cool enough the past couple nights to let the boys sleep with their long sleeved jammies. I don't know what it is about them, but I think the boys look SO cute in them. Hooray for cooler weather here AND for moving to even cooler weather soon (for more excuses to wear these cute jammies)! :)

crayons for dessert.

This post is dedicated to Emmy, another crayon eater. :) Hawken, unlike Matix, likes to eat CRAYONS! Yuck! Hawken only has 4 teeth, but he somehow manages to chew the crayons until they become a liquidy paint-like substance. Day 1, he ate a purple crayon (as told by the purple beard he now has), and he had already started in on a blue one when I caught him.

Day 2, caught red, or rather, BLACK-handed. He first colored on the floor, and then ate the evidence... or so he thought. :)

pizza

After his long day working at the hospital in Roseau, Paul came home with PIZZA HUT!!! Yes, there is a Pizza Hut here now, but only down in Roseau. Rumor is, there will be one up here in the next month or so... but we will see. Anyway, I LOVE pizza, especially Pizza Hut pizza. YUM! Thanks hubby!

Purple Turtle

Purple Turtle is really one of my favorite beaches. It is fairly close to campus, which is nice. That means only a 5 minute drive rather than 30 minutes to the Atlantic side.

It is SO beautiful. These pictures are old, but it may have been my last time there, so I don't want to skip posting them altogether. :) Hopefully we can make it there 1 last time, but we will have to wait and see.

Hawken, playing with some of the ladies... Yes, we have another little flirty boy.

Matix was getting brave in the water (as usual) and making me nervous. :) He is quite the little fish now. Sometimes he lays on his belly in the shallow waves and kicks his legs out and pretends to swim, splashing about and laughing...

Hawken conducted his own taste testing experiment with different kinds of sands... :) Of course.

Matix wanted to try out the rope swing after seeing a few of the adults do it. Surprisingly (or not), he actually held on tight enough to do it by himself... But I was too chicken to let go of him all the way. He was happy just dangling there though.

Happy guy!

So pretty. From every angle... just gorgeous. :)

princess margaret hospital

Today, Paul is going to go to Roseau to the hospital there for one of his classes. He got all dressed up, shirt, tie, white coat, stethoscope... :) I love it when he looks all doctor-y. :) When they go to the hospital, they are gone ALL day though. We will miss him. Last time he got home after the boys had already gone to bed for the night. Hopefully he will be able to make it back to at least say good night to the boys. The highlight of our days are always when we see Paul.

Walking home with daddy from school to have lunch together.

Matix got all snuggled up to Paul one afternoon and fell asleep in his arms. Not a very common thing for this very energetic little boy. But he loves his daddy! :)

We will miss you today Paul! Hope you have fun! :)

fun with Lexi

Matix's friend Lexi comes over to play sometimes. They go on lots of adventures together. At the pool.

Having a picnic.

Exploring in the jungle.

And, my favorite, holding hands on a walk together. Lexi tells stories about her "Prince Matix" all the time... Cute! Don't get jealous Emmy, Matix will be back in your arms soon! :)

last man standing

I was cleaning up after lunch and talking to the boys, when I noticed that no one was answering me... All I heard was Hawken babbling, "ma ma ma ma". This is what I saw.

Paul and Matix had both passed out laying on the floor. :) Hawken, my ever wakeful baby, was the last man standing.

IGA

So, the date for the new IGA grocery store building to be finished is November 21st... BUT, that is just for the outside to be done... Waaaaaaaa! The inside is to finished and stocked and ready to be shopped in on December 15th. I am leaving on the 18th of December and am DYING to go grocery shopping there!

This may sound silly to those of you who don't live here, but it will be a HUGE luxury to be able to shop for the things I need at a store that is not an hour drive away. Yes, I have traveled an hour in a transport on roads littered with potholes, mostly paved, no speed limits, squished next to perfect strangers listening to Peter Tosh ad nauseam, just to get to a real grocery store... Come on December 15th! :) Hawken is sad this is as far as they have gotten. :) Here they are putting in the freezers. Hooray!

anchor

Out for a walk on a rainy day.

Even with the rain, the weather here is still hot, although not as bad as a few months ago. I am excited for it too cool off... And by cool off, I mean, get down to the low 80's... Ah, Dominica. :) Looking forward to buying a new sweater, and actually needing to wear it!

good bye Cook!

Matix's first nursery teacher, Kristy Cook has left the island. :( We love her and we will miss her terribly. She and Matix had a special relationship and when we said our good-byes, Matix said, "Bye Cook! Wuv woo!"...

I don't like all these good-byes... We are really going to miss this place, the life we have lived here, the friends we have made... What a wonderful adventure it has been for us.

videos

Here are the last 2 videos that I needed to post to be caught up... But of course, now I have more AGAIN! :) So there will be more. First is Matix "playing" with Hawken.

Second is Hawken being afraid of a cat, and Matix eating the cat's food. Oh, how I love these little boys! :)

What I Am

Inspired by my new favorite song, Matix and Hawken have officially made their first music video! This is Will.I.Am's song that he made for Sesame Street called "What I Am"... Listen to the words, very inspiring. I love everything about this song and the video we made for it. Enjoy! :)

fun with Rianna

Rianna, our neighbor was outside playing with Matix and all I heard was this CRAZY laughter... I went outside and this is what I saw. :) We love you Rianna!

Hawken videos... old.

I just went through some of my old pictures and videos and realized I STILL hadn't uploaded these to youtube and the blog... So here are 2 of Hawken. They were taken in September (9 months old). First, he is cleaning up. What a smart baby, right?

Second video, he is waving and trying to say "bye-bye". Again... I think he is SO smart! :)

little gentleman.

Tonight at dinner Matix said "wah-ah gink mom?" (water drink mom). I told him that he already had some in his cup, to which he replied, "no. mom gink? yeah, mom gink wah-ah!" (no. mom drink? yeah, mom drink water!) Then I figured it out. My sweet little guy realized that I didn't have a glass of water for myself. He takes such good care of his momma! :)

big boy bed

For the past week, Matix has been sleeping in a Dominican big boy bed! Which means, we took apart his crib, and now he sleeps on his mattress on the floor.

He LOVES his new bed! He sometimes tries to get back up after laying there for a few minutes. He tells us "I ache now!" (I'm awake now), as if he has been in bed all night already... :) So while working on getting Matix to stay in bed when I put him there, I am also in the process of getting Hawken weaned, especially through the night so the boys can share a room. Right now Hawken is still in our room... He is SUCH a momma's boy, and is NOT excited about me weaning him.

I need to get everything done by the time we leave Dominica on December 18th... Since I am going to Arizona to pack up some clothes, toys, a REAL big boy bed for Matix, some household stuff and drive our car to Florida. Luckily, Paul's dad and sister will be driving with me, but it will still take us a couple days to make the 2,400 mile trip! The boys will go directly to Miami with Paul and his mom will meet them there to help with the boys so that Paul can study. I want there to be as few changes for the boys as possible, since I won't be there. So I want them to be used to sharing a room soon! Wish me luck! :)

good night kisses

These boys crack me up. After bath, jammies, stories, scriptures and prayers, the boys give good night kisses, and then it's off to bed. This is a video of what started out as kisses.

Hawken is the happiest baby, and SO patient to have his little face squeezed like that, and Matix... Always in search of a good laugh. He finds comedy in even the most mundane things... :)

trick or treat

Trick-or-treating around campus was SO much fun. Last year was Matix's first time going, and this year was Hawken's. There were TONS of kids there this year. Here is a group shot of the boys with some of their favorite friends. Cinderella (Lexi), Dr. Keira, and future BYU linebacker (Shane).

Last year, Matix and his best friend Shane were just babies!

Halloween 2009

Shane and Matix

Halloween 2010

Matix and Shane

Not the happiest picture of either boy because the sun was in their eyes. :) How cute are they though? And SO much bigger!

I caught Hawken's little friend Caleb (a train conductor), giving him a hug. So cute. :)

A video of the day. Keep in mind, trick-or-treating happened right during nap time, so both boys were half sleeping... Not as many smiles, until they started eating the candy, then they were sticky, and happy, and ready for MORE. :)

Yeah, Hawken figured out the candy thing right away. What a lucky little 10 month old!

Family picture. Of course, Hawken is working on another piece of candy. :) Happy Halloween!

Semester 4, Exam 2

Hooray! Paul is DONE with mini #2 for 4th semester! Half way done... it's hard to believe. The boys made the congrats sign for Paul, as usual, and we hung it on the door. :)

We really are so proud of Paul for working hard as hard as he does and still always making time for us. As soon as he got home from his exam, we went for a little walk. Checked out some rocks and little holes in the road along the way.

And of course, splashed in as many puddles as possible. :)

This afternoon is "Movie Monday" and we will be watching Shrek. Then afterward we are having a potluck dinner to celebrate with everyone. We are all so happy that the student in our lives is one step closer to becoming a doctor. Hooray hooray!