Category Archives: Holidays!

Valentine’s Day!

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First off, can I state that sitting with your kindergartner while he writes out 25 cards is not the best time ever. I was very, very tempted to drink at multiple times. But we got all of them done. (Also please note the “I dazzled at school today” wristband! Stellar student!
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Here is the breakfast set up, some fun goodies and balloons. I got the plates in the Target dollar section and I love them! I love divided plates!!
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And breakfast was pink heart pancakes, pink milk and the weirdest color watermelon I’ve ever seen. But hey, it fit the decor.
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Mckenna was all dudded up in her $5 Target tee, (Omar declined a Valentine tee… boys.) Cute heart shaped hairstyle is super easy to do and looks great. And of course her Valentine to me… So adorable!

mckennaI was spoiled by my mom (pretty flowers! I’ll take a picture when they open!) and my husband (VS gift card and a new Coach purse! Whoohoo!) It’s great to have one more holiday done and over with, that much closer to homecoming!

 

Mustaches and Bacon

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I don’t get it. I really don’t. And thankfully she has a mimi who indulges in her every desire.

Cue the best birthday presents EVER…

(realize I didn’t get a picture of the knee high mustache-sporting bacon socks. Will update!)

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It’s a Zebra Birthday!

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Well I have finally recovered from Mckenna’s epic sleepover this weekend. Really though we had a great bunch of girls over, thank goodness my daughter makes great friends!

Decorated down to the very last minute but had fun with all of the zebra and purple. I could have spend another $200 at Party City on decorations but we were good with this… I also had a bunch of balloons out front tied to my shepard’s hook that someone stole! Mckenna was so mad because there was a zebra mylar one in there. Who does that?!

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DSC_0147The girls even brought some beautiful coordinating gifts! I was kinda irritated because a lot of the Party City stuff was zebra and pink instead of the requested zebra and PURPLE. But we made it work.

DSC_0146Dinner was a taco bar. Easy peasy. And lots of leftovers for taco salad for me.

DSC_0166Mckenna and her friends doing the ‘Charlie’s Angels’ pose. Are they not the cutest girls you have ever seen?!?!

DSC_0185The cake turned out great, the frosting was weird. I added candy food coloring instead of regular food coloring and it got super runny. Still tasted good but I was not a happy camper and had no time to fix it.

The zebra inside was awesome and I’ll post a tutorial on how to do it because it’s super easy and the next time I do it, it will be even better.

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Also? Games were played. I did the old “Put a bunch of random objects on a tray then cover them up and try to write down how many you remember” game, chubby bunny which NO one had heard of. Sorry Mckenna but this picture makes me giggle every time I see it!

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Then we stole a game from a recent baby shower we had been too… Looks simple, is actually REALLY hard! Try to scoop cotton balls and balance as many on your head as you can. (Ahem, I did in fact WIN this game at said baby shower…)

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Mckenna had a GREAT party, the girls all had fun. What more could you ask for?!

 

 

 

 

NYE with no plans

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So we had no plans this New Year’s Eve. We just wanted to hang out at home, no parties, no big deal.

It was actually not too bad. I made bbq pork sandwiches, corn on the cob and we had pecan pie for dessert. Quite the southern meal for a New Year’s in Hawaii!

At around 11pm Mckenna reminded me to do our yearly interview. I’ve done this for the past few years, asked the kids some questions about the past year, about themselves and what they would like to happen in the new year. Its a cute way to document the new year with the kids.

Finally at 11:30 I said you know what? Let’s drive up to Camp Smith and watch the fireworks from there. There had been fireworks going off for the past SIX hours, it was very exciting. Hawaiians love them some fireworks! We aren’t allowed to set them off in Navy housing, not that that was stopping people but I wasn’t trying to get into trouble!

So we grab some blankets, the dog and hop into the car.

Camp Smith is a small Marine base up on top of a hill with an absolutely stunning panorama from Waikiki to Ewa Beach. You can see the entire southern half of the island. I’ve played football up there and we always get a beautiful sunset to watch during practice. We got really lucky because we got to watch about 6 sets of fireworks going off at the same time. I don’t even know where they were all coming from, Waikiki, Ala Moana, Ewa, Pearl Harbor, I really am not sure. But it made for a great show.

DSC_0006Watching the show…

We also had the added bonus of all of the neighborhoods around the base and the base itself setting off fireworks. It was awesome. Especially since there is a pretty steep hill right in front of the kids with houses down there, and they were sending up fireworks that would go off right at our eye level.

DSC_0011I am pretty mad that I forgot to take my camera’s tripod so I couldn’t get any good flash off/long exposure fireworks pictures. Guess I’ll have to try it around the corner in July!

 

 

Out with the old…

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So. 2012.

Really you weren’t so bad. Or at least you didn’t start off that way.

January we stayed busy in Spain with Three King’s Day, Puerto Sherry, and eating at my favorite 100 Montaditos.

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February was Mckenna’s Rainbow Birthday which was SO much fun to do and a day trip to Vejer de la Frontera.

The 'new' part of the town.

The ‘new’ part of the town.

March brought basketball, homemade hot sauce and a scrapbooking getaway for me.

The girls!

April was a super busy month for us with an ER visit, beach days, Easter, zoo trips, children’s theater, goat farm, hosting my first bunco and FERIA!

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May was even MORE feria, Mother’s Day, a trip to the bee farm and a photo session from one of friends!

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In June Omar reenlisted in the Navy, I had my going away lunch at work, we celebrated Father’s Day, took a day trip to Portugal, I graduated, and we had our last week in Spain.

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July, oh July. We left Spain (and left part of my heart there), moved to Hawaii, saw tragedy in Colorado, went to Hanauma Bay for the first time (of many!), and the kids started school!

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In August we finally got to move into our new house, hit up the North Shore, snorkled, got a Harley, and swam with a sea turtle for the first time!

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September. My month of woe. We spent some time at Kaneohe Bay, Omar turned 5, and we found out daddy was deploying. Daddy deployed.

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October saw more beach days, bird rescues, the end of my football season, a month down of deployment, a port call in Malaysia for Omar, and a great Halloween for the kids.

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In November we hit our four month mark of living in Hawaii, Mckenna made it to regionals with her robotics club, we elected Barack Obama for a second term, my husband got older, I got older, I hit my one year blogging anniversary, we hit our 11th wedding anniversary, and the kids and I spent Thanksgiving in California.

One. More. Bite. Of. Pie!

In December we lived through another tragedy, I baked WAY too much, took a million pictures of the kids at the beach, threw a party, and had a wonderful Christmas.

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2012 it’s been real. Peace out.

Happy Christmas!

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Surprise! We spent Christmas Day the exact same way as everyone else, but I am going to throw some pictures up here anyways!

stockingsChristmas morning, kids were up at 7am (two hours earlier than they have been up all Christmas break!) We do things a little crazy here… Stockings are at the breakfast table and the kids sit and open stockings and we eat breakfast before diving into the present opening. This makes sure mommy has coffee, we aren’t starving and we can relax and enjoy the gift opening. Bowser even got a stocking this year and was very happy with it!

We then had a bunch of this action:

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Gift opening is such a traditional family thing. I’ve been talking to some friends this year and it’s really amazing all the different ways that families open their gifts on Christmas morning! I keep all of the gifts hidden, including the ones sent from family, the only gifts under the tree before Christmas were some I had received. Then on Christmas morning there is the big surprise reveal with a mass of gifts all mixed together. Then everyone opens one at a time so we can all ooh and aah over each gift. It can take awhile, especially when we have a big group of our family together. One Christmas it was my mom and dad, two brothers, my sister, my aunt and her two boys, and the four of us. You couldn’t see the floor in my moms living room and we were opening presents for HOURS. But I love it. We get to relax and it isn’t a mad rush of tearing through the gifts in 10 minutes.

Anyways, all of this eventually led up to my gift that Omar had sent me that I was saving for last. I really thought it was a pair of shoes because the box was just the right size:

cameraNope, it’s my new baby girl! I was SO surprised and wish he was here to give it to me in person! I am in LOVE with this camera. Although I am still such a sentimental baby that I can’t give up my Canon quite yet. I have had that camera for FIVE years, we have been, literally, all over the world together! It’s like an extension of my hand! Switching from Canon to Nikon is a little crazy, got to figure this new one out but so far I am having a blast!

We spent some time the rest of the day doing some cookie business, well the kids did anyways while I made a big ol’ dinner just for us.

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Dinner was great, well that mac and cheese could have been better. Mckenna got all dressed up and put on some of her new makeup courtesy of Mimi! I got a huge kick out of this dumb little Lego figure I had picked up for Omar’s stocking. You didn’t know which one it was going to be and it ended up being good ol’ Hamlet with poor Yorick. Perfectly suited for a five year old, right? I, however, love it!

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We had a really good day with just the three of us. We were missing daddy BIG time though. Glad that this is one more big holiday over and done with and we can cross it off the list! Just counting down the days!