it's a reading rainbow

Since Malia was a like, 6 months old, I've read to her every day before bed. Since her first birthday she has been making weekly visits to the library with her Grandma Vai to attend storytime and check out library books. Still, you're never completely positive that your child has actually learned something until she can demonstrate it on her own with no prompting. This morning I put Kina on Malia's bed and left to do laundry. I came back to this. . .

A few thoughts in my head - I need to make the cardboard paged books more readily available, I wonder if Kina was enjoying herself and lastly, I guess she's been paying at least a little attention:)

the many faces of kina

"heelllooooo" face

"eww. what's that smell?" face


"huh. . . I wonder who's so stinky?" face

"what the heck? You think it's ME?" face


"uh. . well. . .umm. . ." face


"he he. my bad!" face

take TWO of these and call me in the morning

ONE of the benefits of having your children almost exactly a year apart is they are due to have well-child checkups at the same time and you can schedule one appointment instead of two for the both of them. (K, that's my attempt at being positive. lol) This week we had Malia's 18 month checkup and Kina's 6 month checkup. I've learned from experience that Malia HATES seeing the doctor. She will kick and scream and cry as soon as he comes near her (I think she remembers the shot part of the appointments). Our doctor, Dr. Lauret, is from Hawaii and very cool. We've learned that if he checks Kina first while Malia watches she is totally okay and even anxious to get checked out. It's so funny to watch - almost like she wants to show us that she is brave too, just like Kina.

Stripped down to their daipers

Getting checked out by Dr. Lauret

Anyway, they both had successful appointments - Malia is in the 98% for height and 56% for her weight. Kina is in the 48% for height and 52% for her wieght. They remind me of me and Tali when we were little. Tali was always tall and thin and I was always short and fat. lol. I'm just glad they're healthy!

savalivali means go for a walk. . .

AsI've mentioned in a previous post, Malia got a doll and doll stroller for Christmas. She likes to walk her doll around the house in it. . . but she likes to walk KINA around the house in it even more. I've tried several times to videotape this happening because it looks so funny, but every time Malia sees me with the camera she'll stop pushing the stroller and come to me to see pictures. Well, last night I was finally successful in my attempt. You'll notice the stroller is slightly difficult to maneuver because it was made for the weight of a doll and not the weight of a baby . . . but I think Malia does a pretty good job.

Please pay no attention to the dirty clothes pile, the sheetless bed, the toys strewn everywhere AND the one socked child.:)

last minute fhe

We were feeling a little spontaneous yesterday so we invited some friends over and had a last minute FHE. It was so nice! Wayne gave the lesson then we played some games while munching on Line's yummy homemade oreos. I think the guys won the games. . .but who's counting, right? lol. Thanks for a fun night!

Wayne and Malia, Mark, Jenn and Kaylee, Saia, Line and Spencer, James and Camille, Matt and Nicole

***Note to James: You can now ease your anxiety. Seee! I told you I'd post your guys picture on my blog! lol. K, now will you please update yours so we can have something new to read when we stalk it? :)

thursday threes

Some new things Kina likes to do. . .

1. Bite on things. She's teething and
EVERYTHING is going in the mouth.

2. Make raspberries with her mouth.
She'll stick out her tongue and blow
and spit all at the same time.

3. SMILE! SMILE! SMILE!
Nuff said

(By the way, this new toy is from Marilyn Snow. She is Malia and Kina's "Meme". We absolutely LOVE her and love IT!! It has made my life oh-so-much easier. Thank you Meme Marilyn!)

happy valentines day!

I've never been a huge fan or hater of Valentines Day. It's usually a nice, simple, mostly uneventful and enjoyable day for me. Sometimes we do something special and sometimes we don't - small kine. This year, however was pretty memorable.

Wayne gave me the BEST present ever. He cleaned the house!! Honestly, it made my day! I slept in and woke up to a dozen roses and a clean house - aaah! why can't every day be Valentines Day?

If I had a before picture to show just how messy the kitchen was the night before this picture would be more impressive ... take my word for it, it was bad!:) Thank you Wayne!

After hanging out for a bit at the house we headed up to Alpine for a Valentines Day Brunch at Isaac and Stephanie Taylor's BEAUTIFUL mansion. . I mean, house. Isaac is another running back on the BYU football team and he and Wayne were usually roommates on away games. We love the Taylors! . . and we love their house! My goodness, I wish we took a picture! It's gorgeous!

Wayne, Kina and Isaac

The brunch was sooo nice. Stephanie went all out with the decorations. My favorite? the cute heart shaped plates. I swear it made the food yummier. Every detail had been thought of and Stephanie was a wonderful hostess.

On the menu was spinach/bacon quiche, salad, vanilla yogurt parfaits with berries, raspberry muffins, red punch and hot chocolate. YUMM!!! It was Wayne's first time EVER eating quiche - he talked about it the whole way home (ie "Mary why don't you ever make quiche?" "Can we have quiche for dinner tommorrow?" and "Man, that Quiche was so good!") yeah, I think he kinda liked it. lol. While the food was good, the company was even better - it was so fun getting to know the Taylors' friends! They were all so funny and nice. We had a great time!

Why are we the only couple wearing BLACK on Valentine's Day? Good think Kina happened to be wearing pink:)
Thank you Taylors! We loved it!

After the brunch, we headed to a movie with PREVIOUSLY bought tickets. I know, I know, I was like, "Okay, who are you and what did you do with my husband?" lol. Wayne had heard me talking about this movie and had bought tickets for it so we could watch it together. I was very impressed.

Final verdict on the movie? Uh, not that into it. Which is sad because I LOVED the cast - all great actors, but the movie was not the bomb. It was a good idea for a film, but I think they went about it in the wrong way. We actually walked out of it a little early, but EVEN STILL it was nice to do an activity together. Movies these days are very few and far between so while we didn't enjoy the movie that much, we enjoyed our time together:)


After a few errands and Valentines day deliveries, we headed to Wayne's dads house for a Valentines Dinner. Every year Waynes sister, Kalo, throws a big dinner/party for all the widows and widowers in their stake. She invites her mega talented musical friends and they provide the entertainment for the evening AND act as dates for the older guests (This lady below in the red commented, "My goodnes! I can't even REMEMBER the last date I went on!"). It was seriously one of the coolest things I've ever seen. . . and it's all "just for fun" as Kalo says. Man, she has GOTTA be getting some major blessings in heaven - we all LOVED it.



Kalo and her friend, Megan did all the decorations and food. Wasn't it gorgeous?



Yes, those are name cards on the plates - they thought of everything. It was SOO pretty!

The hired help was very impressive as well:). They kept the glasses and plates full and everyone smiling.

Danny, Kalo, friend, Sili, friend, friend, Eddie, Melba, Kina, Megan, Kika and friends:)

Thank you, Kalo, for letting us be a part of such a lovely night. It was beautiful to see so many smiles on so many peoples faces.

It was a beautiful day of love to be with people I love.
Happy Valentines Day!

happy birthday vai!

So I know this is waaaaay late, but I just wanted to post these pics to document the event. . .you know, for posterity's sake. lol


January 20 was Wayne's mom, Vai's BIRTHDAY!
We went over for a nice dinner and cake
(which Nia made).

Sili gave some cute workout/yoga pants.
Man, I wish I could look this good after
having 9 CHILDREN!!!

Ti and Vai with Kina

Happy Birthday Vai!! Love you!

Aaargh

Camera is broken again. Taking it back to Walmart.

Malia and Kina

I took this video a couple months ago. Malia used to do this all the time. She would want to be as close as possible to Kina, but was seemingly afraid to be too close to her because she knew she was somewhat fragile. She could just never find the right position. lol. My girls. . .

Miss Kina

I've been realizing how little pictures I have of Kina. People always told me your second would have a lot less pictures, but I'm trying hard to level that field. She has been getting so big and so cute. Her face is filling out and her eyes are getting darker. Her hair is finally starting to grow back after falling out completely a couple months ago. She laughs out loud and smiles a LOT, like whenever anybody looks at her. She can roll over from the front or back and dislikes being on her tummy. Her stiffness is giong down a little - I'm happy about that - they said it's pretty common for premature babies. She is still VERY small for her age - like the 15th percentile. . . but she still seems huge to me because she has grown so much from her starting weight. She likes to feel Wayne and mines skin when we hold her close - she'll move her little hand around in uncoordinated motions in an effort to sort of tickle us. She stuffs her hand or thumb into he mouth often - either she is teething or starving - I'm not sure. She loves to be held and is very, VERY, VERY calm. She is seriously, like, the most perfect baby - sooooo different from Malia at her age. Malia would cry and cry ALL the time. Kina just chills. I love my little baby!

Orem 8th Ward Conference

We love our ward! Even though we don't speak a lick of Tongan Wayne and I attend the Tongan ward. Of course, the church is true where ever you worship, but in this ward. . . but this ward is very special to us. I think it's because of it's members. We know a lot of people from way back when, but we've also been able to make new relationships with new friends and we love this. All are caring and fun and great examples to us. Because of the great camaraderie the spirit is a constant in our meetings and classes. I look forward to church and leave feeling rejuvenated and determined to be better.

We had a wonderful, wonderful ward conference this past weekend. We tried to participate in as much as possible. During the week we had a stake temple night, a dinner and a dance, a gym night at the local rec center and WONDERFUL Sunday meetings and talks. We felt inspired, uplifted and motivated. At the dinner and dance on Friday night I performed a small number with other members of the Relief Society. It was way last minute, but it was a blast. You can never go wrong with "Rollin down the River"! Mata played Miss Tina and she rocked it. You hit it sis! Another highlight of the night was the Indian number the bishoprics wives preformed. I was so impressed!!! They looked great.

All in all, a beautiful ward conference. Made us grateful for our ward, the church and the gospel.

to talk or not to talk. . . that is the question

While Malia doesn't really TALK yet, per say, she babbles a LOT and has her own version of several words that she uses often. For posterity's sake, here's the list in no particular order.

• ba = ball
• pees = please (she only uses this one if it's something she normally wouldn't get with just the usual hand gesture ie candy, chocolate, soda etc.)
• kees = keys (she knows which buttons on my key less entry key chain make the car honk - we can hear it from our house)
• go = let's go (usually accompanies the "kees" - she always wants to go somewhere)
• da da = daddy
• kika = kina
• ma ma = mommy (she doesn't say this one NEARLY as much as she says "dada" or "kika")
• beby = baby (referring to Kina or to her baby doll)
• uh-oh = uh oh (for when something bad happens OR for when she is singing along to Beyonce's Single Ladies. . . thanks Tali and Sili for teaching my child such uplifting music)
• buk = book
• wa wa = water
• hi = hi
• buh biyee = bye bye
• dis = this
• dun, too, eeee = one, two, three
• ow = ouch (she'll go bonk her head on purpose sometimes just to be able to say this)
• tinty = stinky
• ka-kone = popcorn (the only reason why I know it means popcorn is because she says it when we sing the popping on the apricot tree song)
• NO = no! (by FAR her most favorite word. often accompanied by a swat at the air. She will say it at any given moment whether being asked a question or not. Quite embarrasing for mommy when she does it to strangers trying to say how cute she is.)

Animal noises Malia makes. . .

• dog
• lion (or any animal that goes "raaaaaah!)
• horse
• sheep
• bird
• cow
• mouse
• whale (my favorite. she goes "mmmmmmmmmmmmm" all throaty and deep. it's hilarious)

Things she likes to point to on herself . . .

• nose
• foot
• hand
• hair
• eyes
• ear

I feel like my little baby is growing up so fast. She is trying so hard to talk and to communicate with us. She'll whisper and giggle and shout all while she is babbling. It's so funny to see and listen to.

Alisa Family Calendar

Since I was little my family has made calendars every year for our extended family as Christmas gifts. All us kids were assigned a couple months which we would draw a picture for and my dad would draw a picture for the cover. It was a fun tradition and an easy solution for family presents. Over the past several years this family tradition has turned into a yearly project for Tali (she's the one that apparently took all the good art genes from my parents). Last year, she made a "movie themed" calendar and painted scenes from our favorite family movies and put in photos of our faces in place of the characters'. This year she made a "fine art" theme. Here are some of the finished products. Do you recognize any of these famous works of art?

This last one is my favorite. My little angel Kina.
Great job Tali!

****

1. Campbell's Soup Can Andy Warhol
2. Girl with a Pear Earring Johannes Vermeer
3. American Gothic Grant Wood
4. The Scream Edvard Munch
5. Triple Self-Portrait Norman Rockwell
6. The Creation of Adam Michelangelo
7. Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird Frida Kahlo
8. Turquoise Marilyn Andy Warhol
9. Vitruvian Man Leonardo da Vinci
10. Portrait of Jacqueline Roque with Flowers Pablo Picasso
11. Mona Lisa Leonardo da Vinci
12. Little Angels (detail of Sistine Madonna) Raphael Sanzio