La Purisima Mission

We had a fun time roaming the many rooms of the La Purisima Mission near Lompoc yesterday with my mom and my and sister and her family.

The girls had lots of fun running around with their cousin Lance.

Kawai wants to camp inside this Chumash house.

And she enjoys sleeping by the fountain.

Alani loved running from room to room.

So many places to climb and sit.


Alani loved having MorMor and Auntie Kelly hold her.

Mana's really been into Mary this Christmas season, so she was pleased to pose in front of some Mary paintings.

Happy Christmas Eve

Can the kids wait any longer for opening presents??? No. But they must wait until tomorrow morning. They rode the merry go round at the Mission today and they talked with Santa. Santa asked if they have a chimney and that was smart, because we do not, but Santa assured them he has other ways of getting in.

Mana told Alani today "Alani I want you to be a Hello Kitty".

Also when we were downtown today, every time we saw a UPS truck Alani would yell "Daddy?" Of course it never was him, but he was driving a UPS truck in north county. And riding his bike.

Thanks Walmart

Check it out. I just picked up Kawai from school tonight, and I asked her who's jacket she was wearing, since I didn't recognize it. The Sun 'n Fun teacher told me, "it's hers." I was thinking that was odd, who would have given her such a big, nice jacket. Well, turns out Walmart donated a new jacket to each Pacheco student today. They even got to pick out which one they wanted. Kawai's is so nice, it has a liner that zips inside, and a really nice, furry hood. She is sooo excited, she only had sweatshirt jackets. And with the cold we've been experiencing in SLO, this was good timing!

Nutcrackers

While I'm on a roll about Mana: The other day when auntie Kelly and Uncle D. and Lance were over, and the kids were playing with the mini nutcrackers, Mana suddenly asked, very concerned, "Do Nutcrackers have ears?" We all looked at the hairy headed wooden men, and told Mana, "No they do not."

Mana hasn't been that much into nutcrackers since. Do you know why?

Because Mana has the craziest ear fettish ever. She loves ears (of all kinds - even animal ears)!!!!!!She calls ears "laulaus" and "jockos". She needs to hold ears in the night, preferably Daddy's. You hear her in the night, calling out in a worried whisper, "I need ear!!!"

Last week at the park

My honey wearing a jean jacket for the 1st time since he bought it at least a year ago. It fits him much better now!


Does this remind you of Dr. Seuss's Daisey Head Maisey?

A few more from my Xmas shoot

I had to put a few more on. These are the best pictures of the girls that I've gotten of them in a while.

I like this one because it shows big sister Kawai's talent at helping sister get ready for the photo.

This one shows the cute side of Alani. Many of the photos we get show her "stink eye" expression, but I promise, she can be a sweet, silly girl at times.

This one shows that they really all do get along so well.

Can you tell Alani thinks her big sister Kawai is her mom at times?

Christmas songs

For those of you who know Mana, you wouldn't be surprised at her version of "Jingle Bells". She's a "spritely" girl, who's language has always been very unique. This is the way she sings the song..."Flashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh..."

Another Mana thing she had me laughing about. She touched my eyelashes the other day and said "these things look like creepy spider legs". She's our crack-up child, very much an Aquarius, doing things her own way...

This photo is an example of her wacky personality. She thinks this is a pretty pose.

Today at church they made a Christmas craft, putting together foam angels. There was a shiny gold halo you glue on the head. Then there was a long gold staff that you glue in her hand. Well, what did Mana decide to do? She glued the long staff to the top of the angel's head, coming out of her head like a horn. Only Mana would come up with that.

Xmas pics

I had a fun time trying to get some shots of the girls for my Xmas photo. Boy was it a struggle to get Mana to match Alani and Kawai's pink/brown/black combination. This was the best we could get her to put on, since she refused to put on the cute long sleeve shirt that matched better. Also, I was planning on getting them on the bear fountain at the mission on Sat. morning, only to discover it was surrounded by a craft faire. But the front door of the mission served a good background, it turned out. This was the best I could do, considering I was all by myself. Robb was busy driving for UPS and couldn't help me and I realized that I don't have much time left...

All gone in one big snip....

After growing it for 1.5 years, last night Robb asked me to cut it off - all in one big snip. Wow, how many times have I thought how fun it would be to snip off a huge amount of hair. After I did it I felt like I was counting coup as I held his scalp in my hand.....Kawai photoed the event, with our NEW camera!! Thank you mom for the early Christmas present!!!!

I feel sneaky when...

OK, I just thought this was too cute not to share. Kawai feels sneaky when she sneaks a cookie. And she feels excited when she goes camping in Santa Cruz - see the nice tent in the redwoods?

You know you're a mom when

You know you're a mom when you can't find a comb as you are hurrying out the door to drop 3 girls off at the busstop and school, so you use the next best thing to part your hair: a screwdriver! Works great!!

Thanksgiving minus 60 lbs

This was Robb (and Alani) last Thanksgiving.

And 60 pounds less, this year (Robb on the right, his brother Kawika on left):

And here's us.

water fairy, hairdresser sister, photographer sister

Mana is the Water Fairy, she says.

Kawai wants to be a hairdresser. Mana was her first customer yesterday. Note that the rainbow assortment of clips match the rainbow nail polish she just had done.

This is what happens when a 3 year old takes a picture of her one year old sister with a REALLY slow digital camera. I thought it was cute though.

Poison oak

OK, Mana found Uncle's camera and wanted to take a picture of my disgusting poison oak arm. So, here it is:

I miss you mommy

Mana's precious artwork she brought home from preschool. "I miss you mommy". She said this is me. I told her I really look like a mermaid in that picture. Doesn't the hair look like algae?

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Robb!!!!

He is 33 today. Such a young guy (:-).

The girls were very excited this morning to give him his present that they made for him. Kawai signed all their names on the card, and they traced all their handprints on the card too. It was precious.

Here's his 1st grade photo. Compare to Kawai's below. Like daddy like daughter.

School Photos Fall 2008

Kawailani - First Grade (6 years)

Kaimana - Preschool (3.5 years)

Photos at last - fairies, horses, beach

Yay, Dave just shared with us some of the photos he's taken of the girls lately. Thank you Dave!!!

Mana, the tie die fairy:

The Goose (Alani) giving her "look" on a 90 degree day in SLO On November 15 (that's why we live here...)

Kawai and Mana on a ride on Kari. Boy did they think that was cool!

Me and my girls watching Kari:

The Winner

We're so proud of him. He won the weight loss challenge (42 lbs). This was payoff day on Halloween. He watched the losers run up and down the dunes at Montana De Oro 5 times. He ran with them for support and a good workout. Here's one of the contenders on his way up, with help from a rope.

Kawai' and Mana's hula performance

This was a few weeks ago. Here's Kawai and Mana on their way onto the stage for their dances.

We' ve got Sol

Since we haven't had a camera since June, when Alani broke it on our trip to the Carnate's in Phoenix, I am posting an older picture, since I'm tired of not having any pictures to post (that's why you've seen scanned artworks from the kids lately). We couldn't resist a matching set of clothes from Old Navy on the clearance rack, since it fit all 3 girls...

In Memory of R.K.H. Jr.

On this Veteran's Day, 2008, we remember Robert Kirby Howard Jr., Robb dad, who died just 4 years ago on this day, at the young age of 49.

Alani speak

We remembered that Mana's language seemed to improve shortly after starting preschool at 18 months old. Well now it's Alani's turn. This week she seems to really hve started talking more. She calls her sisters by name: Vai for Kawai and Mama for Mana. When she wakes up in the morning the first thing she does is call for Vai and Mama, who of course are still fast asleep. She named her binky "BeeBee". She says "Mulk" for milk", can say "more" when wants more. We are happy we can really start to understand what she wants now.

all is well except I can't wait for this horrible poison oak to heal. I got it during work, and it covered my left forearm. It's so gross, weeping all over the place and looks pretty horrible. I try to hard to keep it out of the girl's way, but especially Alani bumps it all the time.

Kawai's First Vote

Kawai wrote this in her journal yesterday:

I've been tagged

Vanessa tagged me, so I now I have to put 7 things about myself that some people wouldn't know.
1. Berkeley, CA is my hometown
2. I've lived in CA, UT, ID, MT and HI
3. We've been married for 10 years - we were married in the Laie Temple (Hawaii)
4. I never wanted to be married or have kids until I met Robb
5. I wanted to be a photographer for a living, but somehow found archaeology instead
6. I have 3 sisters, one of them is my identical twin
7. Kiaha means "the Big dipper" and I've always known that I had a "big dipper" on my leg formed by moles....I was born to be a Kiaha?

The 7 people that I am tagging are:
Alice S., Tami Z., Jenn K., Rhian, Amy V., Monica D., Sarah M.. Now it's your turn to let us know about you...

Mana's vampire girl mermaid

Mana's adorable vampire girl mermaid. Couldn't you tell???

Random Name Generator

Gotta try this, it's so much fun!! You can pick the origin of the names..http://www.behindthename.com/random/

Preschool girl

Alani started preschool 2 weeks ago. She's a good sport. Apparently she liked the water table. She's the girl on the left in pink and green.

Three sisters

I'm not sure when Kawai drew this, I just found it on the floor today and thought it was cute. It's Kawai, Mana and Alani dressed the same.

I love Pacheco

Can you tell Kawai loves school? I snuck this out of her bag, I saw her writing it a church today.

Happy 18 months old!

Alani is 18 months!!! Yay. She starts preschool on Monday, and now is officially in nursery too.