st-st-stuttering

For as long as I can remember, Kina has had a stutter.  It's just always been there.  She stutters with every sentance and any sound. At the beginning of this year, Kina started going to speech therapy.  We meet once a week for an hour and have homework and exercises we do at home.  Kina loves going to her "school" and her teacher is wonderful. Already I can see an improvement, and the goal of the therapy is to completely cure it.  I'm excited and very optimistic!

happy heart day

Like I've said before, I'm not a huge lover or hater of Valentine's Day. To me it's just another day that I have to worry about my husband spending too much money (money that we don't have) on a gift haha.  Having said that, I have to give Wayne a big A PLUS on Valentine's Day.  I believe his goal was to make me feel special and loved and he did both those things.  He left for work early in the morning, but I woke up to a decorated house and this candy bar poster . . .

Then, I found this little sign with a ribbon that led me to. . . .

. . . this little set-up downstairs.  It was roses and Cheat Day cupcakes (my favorite!)

At night Wayne took me on a fun group date with some friends. Thank you Wayne! It was perfect!  Hope everyone had a very happy Valentines Day!

viva las vegas

 Wayne and his rugby team have gone to Vegas for the USA 7's Invitational for two years in a row. After a bad experience last year, I swore I'd never go again.  I have to be honest - I don't love that my husband plays rugby (for many reasons but that is a whole 'nother post!) BUT he does, so I decided to support him and we went together. AND I have to be honest again - I had SO much fun on this trip.  It was just a weekend, but it was a blast.  

The night we arrived our friend, Jaymz Tuaileva called and said he had tickets for us for the show he dances in, The Donny and Marie Show.  These tickets are sold on-line for over a hundred bucks, so we were very excited. Wayne couldn't go with me because of a team meeting, so I called my dear friend, Mary Ah Mu and we went together.  It was SO fun! I love watching shows and this one just enough entertainingly tackiness to have a fun and silly time.  Afterwards, we took a picture with Jaymz and one of the dancers in the group.

Marie and Mary - a lot of people mix us up.

After the show, we watched the Bellagio fountains (Mary had no idea they actually went with music) and then ended the night with frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity's (it's something I've heard about for YEARS and seriously, it did not disappoint. It was SO delicious!). It was such a fun night.

And this was the reason we were there! The Humless 7's rugby team. Wayne actually put the team together and organized the sponsors.  It was a great group of guys.  The team came complete with a tent, a food table, a sound system and a DJ - it made the whole experience very enjoyable for us. It was easy and FUN to cheer our little hearts out the WHOLE time.  It was like a party all day everyday.

Wayne with the ball.  The athleticism and teamwork of our team amazed me.  They were all so good and worked so well together. It really was beautiful to watch.

We had Humless gear and posters to go along with our awesome Humless cheers. . . okay, maybe they weren't totally AWESOME, but at least they were loud!

Me and Wayne

Kika and the tall Asian (with an English accent!) rugby player that all the girls were admiring the whole day.  After I took this picture he walked back to his hooting and hollering team with his arms all up and flexed.  I think Kika made his day.

Our tent was so popular, even Erykah Badu stopped by to cheer. Oh - KAY! hahaha

Aaaand . . . (drumroll please). . . after two days of tough competition, Humless WON!  Horaay! 

the FAM

Yes - we were the Best. Cheerleaders. Ever.

It was a fun, short trip!  I had such a blast with all my sister-in-laws and friends I met up with there.  Seriously, the weather - PERFECT! the people - PERFECT! the trip - PEERFECT!!
Viva Las Vegas!

flo's funeral

Last week, my cousin Flo passed away.  Our fathers are brothers but we are over twenty years apart.  Of course, like all funerals, it was very sad, but like all funerals it was wonderful to see and visit with family.

Some of Alisa Toelupe family at the funeral

The four siblings (Uncle Harvey, Aunty Ireen, Uncle Lafi, Uncle Pupi) at the after-party at Aunty Ireens house

Me and my cousins.  Love them!

superbowl sunday

Superbowl Sunday wouldn't be complete without a Superbowl party! Luckily David and Shan threw an awesome one (complete with BBQ ribs and BBQ wings. Woohoo!) and we got together with the whole family.  

Oh. . . and it was also fun to watch the football game.

Hosts to the mosts - David and Shan

Wayne and Inoke enjoying the Hawaiian Sun drinks.

Joe and his famous fall-off-the-bone ribs

Me and cute baby Madison

Malia and the giant football

The group

Ending outcome? The NY Giants won! It was a great game, but honestly I wasn't there for football - it was just fun to enjoy good food and be with the family.  Love Superbowl Sunday!

floooorida

A couple weeks ago, my sister Melba asked if I'd like to accompany her on an all-expense paid trip to Florida that she was taking to attend a conference for her job. I had to think about it for maybe a second. 

The conference was in Tampa and we stayed in a beautiful hotel right on the beach.  It was gorgeous. I spent the weekend reading, eating and tanning by the pool. It was incredibly relaxing and sooo fun for me.  It's the first trip I've taken by myself since I started having children four years ago.  It was so wonderful to spend my days doing WHATEVER I wanted - I can't remember the last time I did that.  I also loved kicking it with Melba - when she was in classes during the day I kicked it on my own (being by myself . . .something I don't get to do very often - it was beautiful!) and when she was free we had fun together.  Seriously, it was an awesome weekend. I loved it. Here are some highlights. . . .

Our beautiful room - loved the down pillows and comforters. 

Melba and the hotel overlooking the Gulf of Mexico

The hotel had several restaurants on the grounds - we tried most of them. This one gave us each roses when we finished our meals. Nice touch.

This is how I spent most of my days - by the pool or on the beach reading. Ah! It was heaven! (A little side note - I started the first book in the Hunger Games series on the plane there and finished the last one on the plane back. I was hooked and it was awesome.)

The hotel was like a little community with tons of activities for it's guests. One day we took a water tour on these little paddlers.  

At another restaurant - enjoying my Diet Coke.

The weather was beautiful and so was the white sand beach.

Playing pool at the resort - we are both pretty bad so it was a looong game. . . but I came out victorious. Yup, yup. Went DOWN like Charlie Brown! Haha! Rematch Melba?

Enjoying the warm Florida night weather on the boulevard.

That's me. Reading in my hammock. On the beach. While sipping my Diet Coke. . . . Seriously? I know.

DEFINITELY one of the biggest highlights of my trip - eating at Bahama Breeze.  It a very popular restaurant that is only located in Florida and Las Vegas.  I had the Guava BBQ ribs - they were AMAZING.

Florida is one of those places I would probably never visit if it weren't for something like this.  I'm so happy I got to experience it in this way - THANK YOU MELBA! It was awesome! It was one of the most relaxing and fun weekends EVER! And big shout out to Wayne and my mother in law, Vai for taking over at home with the girls while I was gone. THANK YOU!

crazy hair day

Malia and Avery

**Quick story of the week - We pick up little Avery for carpool once a week.  One day Kina accompanied me and Malia to pick her up and met her for the first time.

Kina - "Hi. I'm Kina. I'm Malia's sister. We're brown." 

Avery - "I'm Avery. I'm. . .clear."

s'mores anyone?

After I got home, it took me a few days to get back in the mode of things.  Wayne stepped up and made dinner for us a few nights. One of those nights he thought it'd be fun to roast hot dogs outside.  We borrowed the fire pit from our neighbor, invited the family over and had a yummy dinner.  Of course, we had s'mores for dessert.  The kids (and adults) had a blast. 

hawaii hilites

WARNING: This is a very very long post.


We went home for a couple weeks.
We had SO much fun.
I took a lot of pictures.
This is about a fourth of them.

We went to the beach EVERY SINGLE day we were there.  I became a pro at packing up and spraying on sunscreen and the girls became pros at handling the waves and playing in the sand. They LOVE the beach - everything about it.  On this day, I found these cute mermaids washed up on shore.

Love the slippers, Kina.

Malia in the little circle. I love this school.

A little Hizzouse Reunion/Girls Night In/Baby Shower for Titi at Leimana's house. I love/miss my girls so much! Highlight of the night was Vance's spaghetti (soooo delish) and doing our music video to OUR song "Best of My Love".  Low point of the night was when one of us (I won't mention any names in case she reads this haha) was trying on Leimanas' Mrs. Hawaii crown and it dropped. Leimana (who is now Mrs. America) was like, "Small kine. At least it was just the Hawaii one" . . . but we still felt really bad.

I love seeing Tali's face like this - pure joy.

Malia in the muumuu she wore to church.

The beach was THE highlight of this trip. We got to spend time with lots of different friends and enjoy the beautiful Hawaiian sunshine everyday. Uncle Ali'i and Uncle Inoke buried the girls this day . . . Tali was jealous.

Papa is planting a few new papaya trees in the backyard, so he had the girls help him get the seeds started. They were so excited to help.  I'm looking forward to showing them their little trees on our next visit.

A few days after we got there Inoke, Tali and Amalani came. I love being home at the same time as Tali - takes me right back. And the girls love playing with Amalani.  They all had so much fun.

Grammy got the girls matching swimsuits and we thought it'd make such a cute picture with all four of them together.  Yeah, this is the best we got.

We didn't eat out too much while we were there - no budget and trying to eat a little healthy (keyword trying). But of course I had to get my carrot cake fix at Ted's. I have so many memories of driving there with my girlfriends during my college years to get slice. It has a lot to live up to and it didn't disappoint.

My little brown Malia

One morning we side-busted on Kamehameha Preschool with Ame and Hazel.  The girls had a blast playing dress-up, painting, singing, crafting, playing and eating snacks. Makes me wish I was a little bit Hawaiian.

 

"Malia"

One night we made puppets with Grammy.  Malia wanted a dragon (of course) and Kina, who has been wanting EVERYTHING Malia has lately (a whole other post), wanted a princess dragon.  

 Best friends

My mom is trying to sort through some of her stuff and found a box of old clothes she's saved since my childhood.  That's me, Tali and Joseph on the right and Malia and Kina on the left wearing the same dresses. I love it!

It was an awesome trip.  I love being in Hawaii, but even more I love watching my kids in Hawaii.  Thank you Wayne for making these travels possible.  I am so grateful. Thank you Mom and Dad for ALL you do to make our trip so enjoyable.  We love you so much and miss you already.

 Me and my girls