Halloween 2011: Maximus

I have an idea.  I think that Halloween should be on the last Friday of October.  Kind of like the Thanksgiving thing.  That way, the kids celebrate at school, go to the parties, and do trick or treating all in one night.  

What do you think?

Instead, it has been like Halloween/Hanukah, Hallonukuh, or Hanukween.  In the sense that it has lasted for DAYS.  And the thing is, it still isn't even over.  Today our family busted out in  an impromptu Halloween version of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  

But it is all fun stuff. 

I had no idea one little costume could be so fun.  And when I say little, I mean just about as little as it gets.  I had this idea for months and I have been so excited because it was just perfect for him and his squishy/sturdy little body and his waddling/ walking ways.

Baby Sumo.  

Here is a close up of his top knot.  Made from grosgrain ribbon.

 Here is the front view, complete

And the best view.

 And the proper sumo stance.

 Another shot of the stance.

 Little Baby Moosey lit up the room when he entered.  People started pulling out their cameras, some would fake wrestle with him, feeding him (no, really, people were giving him food right and left) and he was just cracking us up how he wandered around and waddled in true sumo fashion.  At our church, he got the prize and got a $5 gift card to McD's...

And then the next night we went to the church next door because that is where Samuel goes to Tiger Cubs.  And Maximus may have taken the prize there, too.  $10 cash.  I was a little embarrassed to be taking the prize.  Again.  

 If you look closely, you can see he is sporting his big money.

 I felt kind of like a pageant mom.  I can see how they can get hooked.  I was ready to hit some more costume contests, hee hee.  And isn't it going to be a great story that we can tell Maximus that we started his college fund with money that he won at a costume contest?

big stuff in ten short days

Tired.  If life allowed, I would sleep for days.  

Just ten days ago we were in the company of lots of doting grandparents, fun cousins, great shopping, yummy favorite restaurants, dear old friends, and a touch of a true fall season.

Then we hopped back on a plane and headed back to another kind of paradise.  It amazes me how both kind of paradises make it worth it to go through the trouble of packing, loading, getting rides, going through security (my least favorite part when I have kids with me), almost missing our plane (because it seems like we almost always do), hauling our circus down the narrow isle (where the tiny space and my big family suddenly makes me feel like Duggars), somehow surviving the ten plus hour journey (where kids that are incapable of sitting anywhere for longer than five minutes are required to sit for five hours)...

A little star (anyone that has anything to do with SYTYCD is a star to me) sighting helps make the trip a little more exciting.  Can't help but laugh at how we were trying to be discreet while taking a photo.  

 Not too long after we landed, we were joined by my in-laws.  And once again, my kids were in the company of doting grandparents.  

and great-grandparents.

 We had to get some beach time. 

We also had parent teacher conferences.  And there it was crazy how much Karl and I's strengths and weaknesses were magnified and shown through our kids.  

Along the way, Baby Maximus turned one.

And since we already did a big Maximus celebration in UT, we kept it simple with dinner at Bubba Burger and our favorite pie (Lilikoi chiffon from Hamura's).

And it just may be Maximus's favorite pie, too.

There were also church meetings, hula lessons and soccer practice.

 

We also decided not to buy a fixer upper.  We will call this one Husband's Hawaiian Jungle Farm Dream.  It was too much work.  One of the many projects that we would have to tackle is to get some cupboards that I could see into.  They were hung way above my head and the fact that I would be using a ladder or a periscope and a grabby thing to get my dishes every time I needed them was not the only reason why we pulled out.  There were many.  

Just as soon as we decided not to buy the Jungle Farm Dream, we found a house on sale.  I love sales.  This was the first time that we have found a move in ready house that was in our budget.  I have started calling this My House.  This is so different from the Husband's Jungle Dream.  But we take turns.  The last one was his and the next one can be his.  This one is mine.  So, to add to our crazy week, we dropped a house (I still feel so rude about that), found a house and made an offer on it.  Two other people made offers on the house, too.  Because it was on sale :).  But we were the first.

 And after we stopped over and bought a house, it was time to get ready for Eva's ho'ike (hula recital).  The preparation was INSANE.  We had to pick enough yellow plumeria (which are hard to find) for two leis, two wrist bands, two ankle bands, and three rosettes.  This meant driving around calling to find the right trees.  This meant climbing trees, being bombed with poisonous white stuff that oozes from the flowers, breaking branches, and then driving around for more trees.  Whenever I think about it, I chuckle at what we went through.

And then we had/got to make all the stuff.

 It took about 120 flowers per girl.  

After all the flower nonsense, grandparents were so nice and took the kids and we had our first nice dinner our with just the two of us, in months.  These two ravioli were amazing.  

Early the next morning Samuel had his last soccer game.  He is wearing the goalie uniform here.  I get all immature when he wears it because it is so stinkin' cute.  When he is goalie, I keep thinking, "He looks so cute in his little striped costume."  And Eva had school choir practice.

Come ho'ike time, turns out all that work was so the the girls on first row would look good.  We got a couple of glimpses of Eva.  She is in the very middle of this photo.  She is dancing to Puka Puka Pants.  Puka means hole.  That's what the patches on their pant are for.

There she is!  

 Look carefully enough and you can see here in this one, too.  The girls in front have danced for years.  Eva has only danced for 9 months.  I wonder how long it will be before we feel like we actually got to see Eva dance.  With all this complaining, I do have to say it was a lot of fun.  And Eva was adorable.  

The day following the big performance was an even bigger day for Eva.  For that big day she wanted to make chocolate dipped bananas.  And when I had agreed to this, I had no idea how crazy the week would be.  But with two grandmas here, we pulled it off.  

Here is princess Eva, freshly baptized, well celebrated on quite possible the biggest day in her life so far.

 Here is the crew that enjoyed and experienced and survived this week together.

 All of this in ten days. Ten days!  So many great things in so few days.  

Good night.  

moosey baby, you're one!

Not so long ago, it felt like our family was getting a tiny itty bitty bit calm.  And, well, it's not on purpose, but we don't choose calm.  

So, we decided it was time for you to join our family. 

You were fuzzy and sweet and you looked like this (at least when the photographer posed you that way).

 You were tiny but sturdy.  

And one year later, you have over tripled in size.  25 pounds and a head in the 98th percentile.  

 And while you did seem to add some excitement to our family...

lot's and lot's of excitement.  First with your smile, then your laughs, then rolling, then sitting, then standing, then walking then dancing, and maybe even when you just sit there and make everyone happy.  

I would say that you brought even more calm to this world.  You are content and you bring peace and smiles.  Maximus Moosey, for one year you have been making our world better.  


Thank you, thank you, thank you so much.  

pierced ears, ready to surf, door shutting, cute in his floatie, parent prom...

... you know, all the usual goings on.

Eva has been wanting her ears pierced but was afraid of the pain. She held off for a few years and then all of the sudden she decided she could do it.

Baby Maximus was standing on the surf board in just the right stance. No steps yet.

His latest (and not so greatest) form of entertainment is to go into a room shut the door, cry to be let out, and then whoever rescues him is greeted with a massive cheesy smile.

This little floatie cracks us up every time. Maybe it's because it's a little bit cartoony, maybe because it's a tiny bit girly, or maybe... okay, okay, it's probably just because we are completely enamored with every thing Maximus.

Parent prom? Yes. Parent prom at the church. They set up babysitting, they arranged the potluck, they decorated the place to the nines, all we had to do is dress up a little and show up. Awesome, right? I had an idea in mind for my outfit for a couple weeks. Seriously, four hours before the dance I went and bought the Chuck Taylors and got home in time to rip apart my bed sheet and sew my skirt. We had a blast. It was general consensus that parent prom was better than real prom, the one that took place ages ago for most of us. No self consciousness, no worries about who your date will be, no worries.

And after all that work and excitement, this is the only photo we got before the big event.  Baby formula in Karl's hand, messy house in the back ground, scary eyes, bad lighting... I guess that's what really makes the difference between parent prom and real prom.