Merry Christmas!

HMH-463 Christmas Party

Two weekends ago we had Edmond's work Christmas party! It was alot of fun and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. The highlight was Santa arriving in one of their helicopters! It was pretty awesome! Here are some pictures...

You see Santa waving out of the window??

Riley was beyond excited.

Poor Santa and Elves....I'm sure they were LOVING their costumes!

Riley ran straight to Santa and started talking his ear off about all that he wanted for Christmas! We died laughing!!

And the pony ride was a hit as well.

And this went pretty much as I'd expected...

I love this picture of my family!

Riley is Three!!!

Earlier this month we celebrated Riley's 3rd birthday. My oh my...where has the time gone??!!! We decided to wait until later in November to have his party because we had to move (just houses...not out of Hawaii) and then had family visiting. I'm glad we waited because it was extra special to have my parents, brother and niece there with us to celebrate (although I really wish my sister and the rest of her family could have been there too...as well as Edmond's family of course!!). My mom came up with the idea of a "Super Hero" party. One of her friends' grandson's had a super-hero party and made these cute capes. My mom worked herself to death making these!!! But it was worth it. The kids loved them and they were so cute. They also had little black masks to go with them. We had the party at a little gymnastics place in town called My Gym. They really did a good job with the kids. It was very nice not to have to clean up afterwards! And I think the kids enjoyed themselves! Here are a few pics!

I thought they were going to get sick spinning around in the tire swing! Seriously...we were all saying "not me" as to who would have to clean up their mess!

Sweet Evelyn and Rowan!

And my brother showing off his manliness with his "No Shave November" facial hair!

And Karleigh seemed to have fun too!

My friend Michelle made his cute cake!! She does such a good job!

And here is the crew! I LOVE that Straton still had his mask and cape on! He was hard core!

We waited and opened gifts at home. I liked this because he could really take his time and play with things after he opened them. We have some very generous friends!

Sweet Riley....you are so very precious to me! I cannot imagine life without you. You have such a sweet spirit and are the most friendly child I know. You never meet a stranger and have conversations with just about everyone you see. You love animals and always ask to pet them. I'm loving this age as I watch you learn how to share with your sister/friends, take turns and have compassion for others. You soak up everything you hear and are learning new things everyday! I am so very thankful that the Lord saw it fit for me to be your mom. I pray everyday that He gives me the wisdom and discernment I need to raise you His way! I love you so much and can't wait to see all the Lord has in store for you!

Pitty Pat and Gaga Visit!

Here are a few pictures from our visit with Edmond's parents. The kids had a BLAST! One day we rented a boat from the Marina here on base and went out in the bay. It was such a cool experience! We drove out to the sandbar where it was very shallow and everyone could walk around. It really was neat.

Aubrey was not loving it at first!!!

Riley of course was all smiles for this adventure!!

This is a picture of one of our most favorite little islands...Chinaman's Hat.

The boat with mountains (and raincloud) in the background.

We also celebrated Riley's birthday with them (one of his 3 birthday celebrations!).

He was so excited about his "rescue pack". If you watch Diego, you know what I'm talking about!!

And we had to get one picture with kids and grandparents! I thought it turned out pretty good considering there is a 3 year old and 15 month old in the picture!! Ha!

We loved our visit with them and are looking forward to the day when we are not quite so far away!!!

Our Maui Get-Away!!

A couple of weeks ago while Edmond's parents were in town visiting, we were able to take a trip to Maui for several days while they kept the kids. It was an AMAZING trip and I am beyond thankful for their willingness to "babysit" so that we could get away together. The view from our hotel was just amazing. This is the other side of Maui.

We did ALOT of relaxing while there....right up my alley!
And we did a little hiking (actually...I probably wouldn't even call this hiking, but it was cool). I think it was called Iao National Park.


We also watched the sunrise one morning from on top of a mountain. Apparently we were 8,000 feet above sea level. It was absolutely breathtaking, but a VERY early morning (we had to leave our hotel by 4:30 am). But we are very glad that we did it!

And we did MORE relaxing!!!
And the other thing we did ALOT of...EATING!! I seriously think I gained 10 pounds in just 4 days. But the food sure was good!!

Thank you Pitty Pat and Gaga for making this trip possible!!! We love you!