Ice Princess

We went to the skating rink to celebrate Lahrissa's 6th birthday today. This was Ella's first time on the ice and she loved it... at first. She eventually got frustrated that she couldn't move herself and cried until I took her off the ice. The crappy rec skates that hurt your feet made it a short adventure for both of us.

Hip-Hop Train

Here are Ella's overalls that finally fit her... a birthday present from Jeff, Sara and Wyatt, and her hat from Grandma. Ella was running around the house and wouldn't take the hat off for anything... not even to put on a shirt. Ron was trying to teach her some new dance moves... our little hip-hop star in the making:)

33rd Birthday

Here is a picture of Ella from sometime this week, pretending to be Daddy. It's been a pretty uneventful week for Ella but a great birthday week for me! We had a BBQ last Saturday for all our friends complete with a fabulous cake I made.

For my actual birthday on Wednesday, Ron got me a spa package and we had dinner at our friends house, they even had cake... yummm. Thank you everyone for all the messages and cards.

Dear Grandpa L. and Grandma B.,
Thank you for my birthday gift. I did a bit of browsing and finally settled on the garden canopy I've always wanted. It's iron with mosquito netting, so during the day I'm protected from the sun and in the evenings we can sit out to have dinner without the mosquitoes. Surprisingly, even Ron likes it :) Thank you for thinking of me. Here are some pictures from our lunch today. As you can see, it's goes great in our backyard alongside my growing sunflowers.
Love, T.

Honolulu Zoo

Christina and I took the girls and Emmi to the zoo today. It was hot and muggy but the kids enjoyed themselves. Ella's never seen animals (aside from dogs and cats) up close and it was so much fun watching her amazement at some of the things the world has to offer.

Upon first entering the zoo, there is an area of flamingos and Ella shrieked out loud at such a sight! And they move too! When we tried to get her to walk with us, she had a bit of a melt down having to leave such a spectacle... until she realized that the more she walked, the bigger the animals got.

The zoo itself isn't all that impressive, we saw a rhino, elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebras, tortoises, chimps, monkeys, and birds and lizards galore. Ella chased a peacock across a grass picnic area and into some bushes - wish I had some video of that. And at the playground where we had lunch chased pigeons. This girl is not afraid of anything. It was a great day.

Sugar High

Yesterday, we decorated sugar cookies and the girls had them for breakfast... after toast, fruit and orange juice. Needless to say it was a spastic morning with the girls on a sugar high. :)

Hickam Beach

Ron had duty last night so he was home this morning at 7 and I headed out to renew my driver's license. After almost failing the eye exam and deliberating over an awkwardly-worded written exam, I officially have a Hawaii driver's license complete with a rainbow. :)


We met up with Christina and Emmi and headed to Hickam Beach in Pearl Harbor and enjoyed playing in the surf. The water is so beautiful at this beach!





Here are some pictures from yesterday afternoon. Carrie dropped off Lukas to play in the swimming pool while she ran errands.

Happy Mother's Day

Indeed! I have everything I could ask for in my life. A wonderful, loving husband and an amazing daughter who is the love of my life. Ron took Ella for a drive this morning so I could sleep in, uninterrupted - ahhhhhhhhh heaven! I woke up to flowers and Ron cooking me breakfast - could I be luckier?? Just being at home, on a quiet morning with Ron and Ella, relaxing is all the gift I need.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms.

And to our Mom, we love you and we miss you. Thank you for being the support and light we cherish in our lives. We hope you had a wonderful day. xoxo

Cinco De Mayo

I'm getting behind on this. So happy Cinco De Mayo - belated, oh well.

Sunday night we had dinner with Manuel, Christina and their little boy, Emmi. Christina cooked us a wonderful Mexican spread: homemade salsa, guacamole, rice, beans, grilled meat and tortillas - so yummy! It was so good and we ate so much that Ron and I drove home with our belt buckles loose. I don't know how Manny does it, if we lived with Christina we'd be 400 pounds... she's a great cook.

Emmi and Ella are great friends - cute boyfriend for Ella, don't you think?? :) Emmi even asked if Ella could live with them, and Ella's always asking "Play with Emmi?" It's a great bribe, I tell her if she goes to bed or takes a nap, she can go play with Emmi - she'll lay right down and doesn't give me any trouble! They are adorable together, Emmi is 3 almost 4 and looks out for Ella who adores him...

Blog and Facebook Relationships

Blogging is addictive.

I blog to keep in touch with everyone and I love posting Ella's news for our family and friends (it's a good way to journal too). I get to read, post and share comments among my blogger friends and family. I am finding that after almost 2 years of it, I am not posting as much - not because of having little time, but because there doesn't seem to be anything new to say. I used to be able to take pictures every day, but now I find a week goes by and there are no pictures because it hasn't been all that exciting. And without pictures the blog can be pretty boring. :)

I'm also addicted to Facebook. All my friends from home and abroad are on and I get to catch up with everyone through little notes. Most of my friends are good with pictures and little updates so I get to spend a few minutes a day seeing what everyone is up to - it really makes me feel connected because I know what's going on in their day-to-day lives. I guess it's the delusional way of the internet world and I would think it's weird if I lived in the same town as my girlfriends (unless we were stuck at work and could get away with this as opposed to chatting on the phone - at least typing looks like real work).

I love checking the blog or Facebook and seeing new comments or updates. Just a quick "Have fun at the park" or so-and-so "is going shopping / taking the kids for ice cream, etc, etc." brightens my day. Given that many of my closest friends and family live oceans and continents away, there isn't anything better than a little note to say "I'm thinking of you" or an update that someone I love is "happy and enjoying the sunshine". Well, of course there is something better, living in the same city or talking on the phone. But let's face it, with everyone in different time zones and with a million things going on, I'll take my few minutes on the computer to reach out and say I am grateful for all the wonderful people in my life. No matter how far away you are physically or geographically, I get to spend a little time with you all, here at my desk and usually while Ella is asleep. :)

Lessons Learned

Here is Ella dancing to Disney Channel's Choo-Choo Soul. We have been watching Dancing with the Stars and Ella will imitate the dances so well. It's hilarious and I'll try to get some video of it, but this will do for now.

This morning at breakfast, Ella decided to climb on the table (she gets in and out of her highchair herself now). I warned her to get down into her seat or she would fall and sure enough, she slipped off as she was hanging from the table trying to touch the floor with her toes. It was such a short little fall but sure enough she busted her lip, blood everywhere. She had a bit of a moment but the bleeding stopped quickly as most lip cuts do and Ella is fine. Since she's been climbing on things, I warn her of the dangers and then let her figure out the consequences herself (nothing too dangerous of course!). So far we've tumbled off the bed, the couch, the crib, the highchair, the coffee table, and now the dining table... I'm all about letting her learn the hard way and she either never does it again, or figures out how to do it safely. So it's all good. Here's a video of her busted lip...

(Just a director's note: Ron accidentally scratched her eyebrow once with his nail when he was getting her dressed, and I have scratched her leg accidentally with my nails too - apparently this is cause enough to blame every "boo-boo" on Mommy or Daddy - she still points to her eyebrow and says "Daddy boo-boo". Nice try Ella, you can't get off that easy, we all know you have half my genes and it's more than apparent you did get the clumsy one from me! )