Koa is Walking!!!

A video for my mother of Koa walking around the living room.  He's a tiny tank (only in the 3% for length!) but he is now on the move so maybe that will thin him out a little!

A word of advice: if you don't put clothes on your kids it helps cut down the amount of laundry at the end of the week!

A Long Weekend

Friday was Statehood Day, which means no school!  We spent a perfect morning at 69s near Puako.  Picnic lunch, playing on the sand, swimming in the ocean.
Today we again have our pick of the litter - farmers market, Obon festival at the town temple, Green Living festival in Waikoloa, maybe even a Kona run/Costco samples!  This is shaping up to be a pretty amazing weekend.

In Marriage, the Small Things Make the Biggest Difference

This is what I get when I open a pint of ice cream that's been in the freezer for longer than 2 hours.  And this is exactly why I love being married.

Happy 1st Birthday, Kekoa!

My lil makamae (precious) is 1 year old today.  We had a lu'au at our house and capped off the evening with a trip to the ER, because what birthday party would be complete with some medical emergency!

Koa began crying right when the party started and appeared to be in a lot of pain. I put him down for a nap and the party continued - Ikaika was having a blast with all his little friends and the adults were chowing down on food.  When he woke up, we sang and had cake and everything was fine...but then 10 minutes later he was crying (not normal crying - super painful crying) again.  I finally called the doctor and then took him to the ER where they gave him tylenol and checked him out.  He perked up and 2 hours later, we walked out of the hospital into the cold, dark rainy night. 

As Mr A and I were leaving, I commented how it was almost a nice feeling - at this exact moment last year we were entering the ER, ready to meet Koa for the first time and now, here we are a year later, in the same place being parents to our wonderfully sweet, amazing little boy. 

Here are some pictures from the party:

 Playing Hanafuda.  GAJI MAN!

 The spread was awesome.  We had BBQ chicken, chicken pumpkin soup, sweet & sour meatballs, Jerusalem salad, hummus, Thai red curry, white and brown rice, poi, fruit salad, dilly dip, rice krispie treats, mamaki tea, coffee, (beer - duh), coconut mochi and, of course, birthday cupcakes (with pumpkin and carrot sneaked into the recipe)

 We had the kids playing, somewhat unsupervised, in the living room.  That's just how we do in this house.

 He woke up from his nap and seemed fine.  Even smiling for the camera and song.  What a trooper!

 Recognize this shirt?  It's now "the first birthday shirt".  Mr A grew out of his and it has since become a diaper wipe case & travel bag.

Husband!  Why did you shut your eyes?!  Oh well, this is the only picture I got of all of us so it's going in the baby book either way ;)

And a little video of the main event:

Koa's First Steps

My friend came over this morning and as I was getting ready in the bathroom she says "Oh, so Koa's walking" 
And I said, quite matter-of-factly, "no he's not!"

Apparently he is.  Just not for me.  So here's a video of Koa's first legit step - the day before his first birthday.