Maui favorites!

These are 10 of our favorite things from our Maui vacation but not necessarily in that order...

1. Shave ice--Yum!

2. The Beach, of course

3. Hyatt Regency luau--it's the best show and the food?Yummy......

4. Going for an early morning run along the beach when the moon is still high and all you hear is the ocean and the birds--then running back, the horizon to the east is all shades of pink while the sun is rising..love it! Makes the treadmill at home seem soooo droll!!!

5. Being with family! Nothing beats a great vacation with cousins

6. Not knowing or caring what time it is or day of the week...We really adopt the aloha spirit. Our only concern each day was 'should we start at the pool or the beach?'

7. Surf lessons--I didn't this time but next time me, Maddy and Alex are all doing it! Josh rented a board and got to ride a few.

8. Paia, a cool town with some great surfing ( we only watched, the waves were too big) and even greater food!

9. Marriott oceanclub resort (where we stayed) amazing pools and a bonus pirate wading pool area for the little ones. There were kids activities everyday.

10. The Gazebo, Jake and Tas told us about this cool little beachside breakfast place the banana/macadamia pancakes and omelets were insane! I highly recommend

What are the chances?

So We are at my nephew Tommy's baptism a few weeks ago and Teagan is trying to wrestle out of Josh's arms during the talk and throws his back and hits the hard armrest of the bench and totally jacks his ear--it started swelling and bleeding and of course he is in a lot of pain and crying really hard. Poor little thing....then two weeks later we are at his cousin Gracies baptism and again during the talk he does the exact same thing to the same ear( It is still black and blue from the previous bonk) and reopens the same wound and comes completely unglued (I don't blame him!). I felt his pain..anyway here is a photo--I hope the poor little thing has learned his lesson!  

Poor Teagan

I decided to write this post while it is fresh on my mind because the reason I became a blogger was because I am terrible at journaling and I want to remember all of our precious moments vividly as soon as they happen. This incident, however was not very precious, in fact it was a nightmare! We just got home from a really great vacation to Maui with Josh's family and I am so grateful that my father-in-law treats us to these fun trips ( I will be be posting more about the trip later) but when I found out that the only flight that we could arrange to come home on was a red-eye to L.A. I got really scared. 

If it had been just Josh and I or Josh, I and the older two it would have been ok but my Teagan does not take a binky and will only take a bottle if the mood suits him.  He is also a finnicky sleeper and needs to be in a crib of some type to fall asleep otherwise he doesn't know what to do with himself and just comes unglued! So when he is in the middle of a tantrum there is nothing to do but let him throw it and hope for the best. At home this is no problem because we can use distraction or a little crib time but on an airplane with passengers who are trying to sleep? Anyway for the first hour and a half of the flight Josh and I shuffled him back and forth to each other while he squirmed and cried (Meanwhile Josh and Maddy are each sitting split up from me, Alex and Sadie). For the next 45 minutes I take my screaming baby into the bathroom and let him play (GROSS!!) so he won't wake up more people and I won't have to see the dirty looks being thrown our way. There was an older couple sitting next to Josh who were really hating their lives. I finally come out of the bathroom to a line of people that suddenly formed and they were all just staring me down and now Teagan has started crying again! I am feeling more helpless than I have ever felt and then a sweet woman asks me if she thought Teagan would let her hold him for a bit. I knew he would freak so I told her thank you but no. She then told me that she had babies who did the same thing on airplanes and not to worry it is OK. So now I just start bawling, I didn't realize how much I needed some compassion just then. I took Teagan to Josh and sat in my seat and just sobbed and said a small prayer for my baby( I knew the only one with a real problem to deal with was him) for a good 10 minutes. Within moments Teagan was asleep and my Sadie woke up uncomfortable and crying but we got her comfy again and she went right back to sleep. Meanwhile Maddy is sleeping on a strange mans shoulder and doesn't even realize it! I don't think he appreciated it very much, I know he was uncomfortable but there was nothing I could do.  But on a positive note, the flight from L.A. was only an hour and twenty min. and both my babies slept soundly! Josh and I... not much at all, but we are hoping for a nap  but not for a while because all four of the kids are wired and running all over the house as we speak! 

Sadie's bottle battle!

My silly Sadie has finally reached a major milestone (at least as far as I'm concerned) and has decided to be potty-trained. I say SHE decided because it really was ALL her, I just stood by and refused to hope that I might be one child less in diapers. 

Now we have a new battle with Sadie. ...the bottle! It is more of a problem for Josh than it is for me. I know she is too old for it and I NEVER would have allowed Maddy to have a bottle at this age (she actually never had a bottle, we went straight to sippy cups) but I feel like we finally kicked the binky and diapers (neither one an easy task) so I'll let this slide for just a little longer.

My weapon!

So  I took a picture of my vacuum because I thought it was a funny insight into my day to day.  It is pretty much plugged into the wall all day long because I know that when I roll it up and put it away Sadie will spill beads all over the the family room or Teagan will dump out a box of cereal in the kitchen, it never fails. It's like having my weapon drawn at all times and not nestled useless in my holster! Whenever Josh gets home he lets out a big sigh and winds it back up and puts it away and then I smile when I hear "uh-oh" ........ 

Pumpkin Patch!

For family night this week we took the kids to a cute little pumpkin patch near our house. the kids each got to pick any pumpkin that they wanted. Alex and Maddy decided to go all the way to the opposite end of the patch,(even thought there were plenty right by us) to find theirs. Alex could only carry his for a few paces and then he had to stop and roll it for a while. Sadie was happy filling the wheelbarrow with  a bunch of "babies". There was also a mini corn maze for the kids. We had so much fun!

I still haven't decided if we are going to carve them or paint them next family night so for now they will just sit on our porch until some vandal decides to smash them across the street..... 

Maddy's first piano recital!

So Maddy had her first piano recital yesterday and we are so proud of her, she did such a great job. Sadly, however, she thought that she did a terrible job and spent the rest of the recital out in the hall sobbing. I blame myself for riding her all afternoon to slow down on her piece because I didn't want her to race through it and then get nervous  and then really get lost. She also had her piece memorized but decided at the last minute that she wanted to take her music up with her as a comfort. When she got done she was mad at herself for taking her music up because she wanted everyone to know that she had worked hard to memorize it. Also when we got to the recital she learned that she would have to introduce herself and the name of the piece she was playing, now she was really horrified which really surprised me because she isn't one to get that nervous if she is performing for a crowd. She was the third to play and she spent the first 15 min. shaking. Then it was her turn and she did  a fantastic job! I didn't hear one mistake neither did her teacher or anyone else. I just made her an emotional mess so bad mom award goes to me! Thank goodness for her grandma Pam and grandpa Dale! They knew just what to say to console her and they really helped her to feel so special. And of course they thought that she was the most beautiful, talented one in the room...Thanks so much mom and dad you saved the day!