Chili winner

When Robb told me he entered the Ward's annual chili contest, I thought, "oh dear, he hasn't even made chili before." But later that week I got excited when I found out he was looking up the Zippy's Chili recipe online. Zippy's in a chain in Hawaii that makes really ono (good) chili. Well, he found 3 variations of the recipe, so he printed them all out, and mixed them all up somehow, and voila, a wonderful chili emerged, complete with tiny bacon bits, cream of mushroom soup, ketchup, etc. Of the 16 contestants, Robb got 3rd place!!! Contrats to my honey. He's the greatest cook. No challenge is too small for him.....Luckily for us, he's got some more ingredients, and we're going to get some more tonight. You have to eat it with rice though, that makes it even better!!

Alani's size

Alani had her 9-month checkup today (although she's almost 10 months now).
weight: 20.0 lbs (70%)
height: 28 inches (70%)
head circumference: 46 3/4 cm (over 100%z0

finally I caught my monkey

I finally had a camera to capture Alani as a monkey, climbing the tree.

Eyes

In case nobody believed me, Robb really does have hazel eyes. And as for Alani, the flash always seems to close hers...

For TLJ

Here's Kawai in her new t-shirt, and Mana in her new t-shirt. Kawai is helping Mana to write!

Thanks TLJ and Amy!

Gimme that!

Alani and Lance are so cute playing together. The funniest thing is that Lance always ends up in Alani's lap. No matter where they are in the room, they end up right next to each other, and I hate to say the "fight" word, but they do fight over the same toys now. I guess 9 months old is when babies start understanding that whatever someone else has is better than what they have.

Fairy princess

Mana is my little fairy princess. Several people have commented on her fairy-like behavior and/or looks. There is something about her that seems like she's from another land. Last night she was trying on Kawai's hairpiece, which is a few shades darker than her own hair - but I think she pulled it off just fine, especially after Kawai helped her add the purple wings (upsidedown, nonetheless).

Puddle jumping

It was back to school day for Kawai after 2 long weeks off. As I stood at the busstop watching her standing in line as the bus pulled up, I noted that there was a large puddle between the curb and the bus, and all the older kids ahead of her in line easily jumped the puddle and hopped on the bus. I started to worry when I realized how much bigger these kids are than she is, and would she be able to jump the puddle completely, or would she get wet on her first day back to school? I felt a lot was at stake. But I was so proud of her, as she stepped back and gave it her all, just making it across the puddle, and then on to the bus. Not once did she look at me for help, she did it all by herself.

Mana was waiting for us in the car, so she didn't get to see Kawai's puddle jump. But I told Mana about how great Kawai did at jumping the puddle as I drove to Mana's preschool. When I got her out of the car, she asked if she could jump the puddle like Kawai did. So at the top of the stairs I found a little puddle just her size, and showed her where to jump it. She stood for quite a while, and then at last, did a big leap and made it across her puddle. Then she asked me if I would tell Kawai that she jumped a puddle too.

As I continued on my way to work, I felt proud of them both. It's these little things that somehow mean more to you as an adult than you ever would have imagined.

9 months already?

Alani is 9 months old today!! She finally got her own cup and is determined to use it.