Christmas

Christmas Eve was a bit crazy...I think I had too high of expectations.  I was trying to get my kids to act out the nativity but really it was a disaster.  Lots of fighting and whining, by the time half the kids had gotten on their costumes the other half had taken them off.  I think having the baby the day before kinda put me out, also. Wasn't in the best of moods, probably from sleep deprivation and my body aching.  But we carried on!

Our very own baby Jesus (he was busy nursing when we were filming our nativity, and by the time he was done the kids had already changed...oh well :)

For the last couple of years I've gotten the kids pajamas to open Christmas Eve.  I know that's nothing new, but I liked it so they would jump into some cute new clothes and be excited to go to bed, instead of up playing with a new toy.  However.... Zeya opened up his PJ's and immediately was upset.  He wanted a TOY!  Never again will I do pj's Christmas Eve...

Christmas morning, let the fun begin!!  The strings tradition continues.

Anjuli got a camera, which she absolutely loves.  Between her snapping pictures and her new joke book she was set.

Ezekiel opened up all the presents from my piano students.

Jazzy got a box of cookies, which she was plenty happy with eating away.

Can't say enough good stuff about this man.  He had a string for me that led to the TV.  He made me a "Best of 2014" video--all our best pics set to music.  It was exactly what I wanted (I literally told him that's what I wanted :) but I wasn't sure if he would..  Cheers to Zui for being the man, helping me through labor, delivery, and newborn baby blues and managing to pull off Christmas with a new family of six kids!!

Ezra's Birth

From this...

to this!

Baby Ezra was born December 23rd, 2014 at 7:01am.  He weighed 9lb. 4oz. and was 22 1/2in long.  The night before I was having mild contractions but didn't think much of it since most of my babies have come several days late (EDD was 12/25).  At 12:50am my contractions woke me up.  I was monitoring them a bit when at 1am I felt a *pop* and gush, my water broke!  I've never had that happen before so I was excited and nervous.  I called the midwife and she came over about 2am. Zui set up the birthing tub. Labored all night, kept hoping the baby would come before the kids woke up so we wouldn't have to worry about childcare when... heard Ezekiel stirring at 6:30am.  I was trying to hurry and get this baby out so we could rescue him and I wouldn't have to hear him cry in his crib!  But after a couple of minutes I told the midwife to go get him, at which point he joined us.  It's funny, once he came into the room I could almost relax a bit more.  He lightened the mood a bit, with us trying to entertain him by playing peek a boo and feeding him m&m's inbetween contractions.  A half hour later this cutie-boy joined our family.  It was exhilarating and there were lots of tears of joy.

The kids were of course ecstatic to wake up (about ten minutes later) and find a new baby brother.

Ezekiel just loves Ezra, it is so funny to watch him.  But you really have to watch him!  He is not all that gentle just yet...

We are all so happy to have this little angel in our lives.  Never easy, but always worth it.  Welcome to earth, baby Ezra!!

December play and parties

December has been a busy month!!  Christmas parties galore, love this Season :)

Ward Christmas party pic

Kim ohana Christmas party.  Grandpa dressed up as Santa and handed out presents!

Niki Hugo is my dear friend who has been coming every Tuesday for a couple of hours to give me a hand.  She takes the kids to the park, watches the kids, and helps with sewing projects!  The kids just love her and I so appreciate the relief I get.

Dec 19, Ice Palace fun!  The kids school, MBTA, had a school party here.  It's the closest we get to snow!

Dec. 20, my students played in "Maiaohe Wonderland," in the highly decorated Kim garage. 

 Dec 21, beach trip with our friends the Fenn's.

 Zion was so excited he got to go surfing.  That's him riding the wave!!

Anjuli turns 8!!

I can't believe my baby girl is eight!!  Such a fun, special day for Anjuli.  We spent the day going to Waikele to ride the trolley, and got some icecream.

The next day Anjuli had a birthday party.  Including ours, we had 16 kids!!  It was busy, but fun.  Zui kept making up all these games on the spot.

Do you see this ghetto birthday cake?  The more kids I have the simpler their cakes get.  Plain Jane cake mix cake, then after we dished it into the kids bowls I squirted some whipped cream on top.  Surprisingly the kids all loved it and were crazy about the canned whipped cream!

What a fun day.  I sure love my Anjuli!