Happy Birthday, Zion!

Zion turned 3 on St. Patrick's Day. He was so excited for his birthday to come months before, so I was relieved when we finally made it to his big day. All the kids loved these streamers hanging above the stairs. They kept going through them over and over again.

We always have some green St. Patty's decorations for his birthday. These glasses were a hit.

Present time! Zion loved his blue flashlight that I bought for $1 at Walmart, batteries included. He had a great time playing with it all day looking under all sorts of things. And big surprise, the batteries were dead by the end of the day!

Buzz Lightyear! Zion is Really into Buzz right now. So I found him this puzzle and a few other Buzz things. He even got a birthday card from Aunty Cindy with Buzz stickers on it that he was completely ecstatic about! Thanks Cinds!

Other favorite gifts were: a box of fruit snacks, a box of Capri Suns, and a few small trucks and cars we picked up at a garage sale. I think the food was his favorite though :)

Then we headed to Chuck E Cheese.

Zion loved every minute.

Chuck E even came to wish Zion a happy birthday!

Afterwards we went home and sang to Zion. We ate cupcakes with little Buzz toothpicks sticking out. Zion loved having the day be all about him.

I can't believe my little boy is 3 already! I feel like my kids are soo old! haha...

Things I love about Zion:

I love his laugh, it's so adorable and very contagious.

I love how he loves "Big Jet" (from little einsteins) and is always "catching" him.

I love that he can sleep anywhere. He fell asleep on my knee just today.

I love it when he says, "a-course!!" to any question I ask him.

I love his giddy giddy (cowlick) in his hair

I love watching him and Anjuli play together.

I love his hugs, he is such a cuddler.

We sure love you ZyZy! You bring lots of joy to our family :)

Our Little Garden

We have finally planted a little garden! It has been so much fun to watch things grow. The kids especially love joining in the gardening. Here is Zion showing his squash.
We only have about 4 feet by 2 feet of room, so I had to choose carefully what to plant. I decided to do all peas since I LOVE peas! I have lots of good memories of me and my mom planting and eating peas in the garden.
I had 2 rows of peas already growing that you can kinda see, and then we just added a third row in the middle. The more the better, right? Zion and Anjuli had a great time watering the peas using their little teapots.
Now every morning the kids run outside to see how the peas are doing. We also have green onions growing great, and have started seeds for tomatoes, lettuce, and zucchini. The jalapeno peppers and banana peppers didn't exactly take off.


Here's the rest of our "garden." Red ginger, a papaya tree, some impatients, and a few more Hawaiian trees I don't know the names of.
More watering fun. The kids love watering, so Zui turned on the water just a bit and the kids went to town going back and forth to water the plants.

Does Zeya look excited or what?!

We've also planted two plumeria trees that a friend gave us. So fun! We have a yellow one and a pink one. The yellow just started blossoming last week and every time I see them it makes me smile. Plus they smell so good.
Gardening is fun. I love it when things grow :)

Kids Update

Anjuli at age 4 is lots of fun and easy to get along with (most of the time). She loves princesses and always wants to play dress up. Recently Grandma sent in the mail some new princess jammies and a new valentines dress. Anjuli was ecstatic! She loved modeling them for me. Anjuli loves preschool and playing with her 2 brothers.

Anjuli loves the sleeves on this princess dress. She calls them bells and loves to "ring" them :)

She made quite a cute valentine at church on Sunday!
Anjuli loves art and has learned to write her name. At preschool her 2 favorite things to do is read books and paint.
I know this is an unusual picture, but we just thought it was so funny Zion would fall asleep in the bathtub! I was gone when this happened, but apparently Zui had finished bathing Zion and went downstairs to get Zeya. By the time he came back upstairs Zion was completely knocked out and wouldn't wake up for anything.
Zion turns 3 next month and is SO excited to get a balloon on his birthday and go to Chuck E Cheese. He talks about it everyday. Zion loves to tease his big sister and take her toys away. But when she's gone (at preschool) he always asks where she is and when she's coming home.
Zion loves to have his picture taken right now. Such a ham. Other favorite activities include playing outside, playing with water, and anything with wheels. Zion also loves to cook with me. He is always pulling out the stool and saying, "Mommy, we use the mix-it?" (mixer). He loves our new Kitchenaid more than anything!
Zeya also loves water, as can be seen here :) Oh boy, we have found him not only in the bathroom sink, but also in places such as inside the toilet bowl (eww!) and inside Grandpa's koi pond trying to catch the fish! We really have to be careful to close all the doors to the bathrooms, he is quick.
Zeya loves to make messes!! Every meal is a huge mess and usually requires some kind of full-body rinse or a bath. He loves to throw things on the floor. We call him "Zeya ba-beya" and often sing about him to the tune of Fiddler on the Roof "Mess-maker, mess-maker make me a mess..."
Zeya has a really fun-loving personality, and loves people. He is always waving at strangers and saying "hi" to them. His two other words he knows is "Mommy" and "bu" for bus. The older kids love and adore him, and I can always count on them to help entertain when I'm busy.

All Aboard!

The kids have been enthralled with a short train movie about 10 minutes long. Ever since, they've been asking me when they could ride on the train. I didn't even think there was a train on Oahu. But I looked it up, and sure enough there is an Oahu Railway Society that restores old trains and offers rides. I was so excited, the kids were even moreso.
They had some really neat locomotives we could look at.
The kids matching shirts are from Grandma (thanks!).

Here's the passenger train we rode. The kids couldn't wait to get on.
The 45 minute tour was just long enough. Pretty slow and bumpy at 15 miles/hr. The kids loved it. Especially since the train passed by construction sites with lots of diggers and bulldozers--two shows in one!
Afterwards Lorinda's family bought all the kids train whistles. Wow! The kids have had tons of fun making ear-shattering noises with these :)
Afterwards we took the kids to McDonald's. The play center was a plus.



Chuck E Cheese was right around the corner. The kids begged to go, so we spent $2 and gave them each 4 tokens. They had a lot of fun in 20 minutes :)


What a fun day. The kids were exhausted by the time we left. I love it when my kids are happy.

Ko'olina

My college roomate Melissa came into town with her husband. We took them to our favorite beach, Ko'olina.
Anjuli loves boogie boarding. Zui gives her a little push when the "wave" comes and she rides onto shore.
Zeya loves the beach. It's so nice to have everyone entertained (for free!)

It's pretty hard to get 3 kids to look at the same time when they're all enthralled with sand toys.

Beach days make me happy, because my family is happy :)