our three year old is reading!

As a former Kinder/1st grade teacher, it is with great pride that I post this video...

What I love about this, is that she is actually decoding the words and not just memorizing them! She has known all her sounds for over a year now and kept thinking okay, it's time to build on that. I had grandiose plans of going through all of my old teaching material and putting together elaborate lesson plans. But frankly, I was lazy and bought a book I had seen some of my homeschooling moms use. And to boot, it is one of the most hated curriculums amongst my colleagues. But...she's reading!!! I'll add the fun, enriching stuff again, I promise!

What I also don't love about this, is how hard she can be on herself! I'm constantly telling her how great she's doing, how smart she is, how proud we are of her! Even when she's making a simple craft, she can get so upset if she thinks she's messed up. This is definitely something I want to work with her on, and hopefully we can corral that little perfectionistic side! I can remember another little girl who was the same way...ME!

Look who else is taking an interest in books! I have a very similar picture of his sister, the very same age, just quietly looking through books in the living room. Click here to see the pictures of her.

a day to celebrate love!

What a sweet little Valentine's Day we had! Here's what my little loves woke up to...

 After enjoying her mailbox of gifts, brother woke up and Addie brought him his Valentine gifts. 

I didn't whip out heart shaped pancakes, waffles or cinnamon roles this year. Nope. I knew better! So it was heart shaped toast, strawberries and yogurt! 

After breakfast she got ready and took all of her Valentine's to school for a Valentine's party!

She has 31 other kids in her class and I kind of figured I would at least write her name on the inside of her Valentines for her. But she wanted to write her name on the inside and outside all by herself! Sometimes even including a heart! So Addie wrote her name over 62 times!

After I picked her up from school, we grabbed a little lunch, played at the park and came home to check the mail. What a great surprise! Addie and Liam had all sorts of Valentines from friends and family waiting in our mailbox!

When Liam went down for his afternoon nap, Addie and I made our family's traditional shortbread cookies!

That night I fixed a special dinner and when the kids went to bed, Kevin and I had dessert and exchanged cards and gifts. Much love in our home on February 14th, 2013. 

the zoo, aquarium, pineapple plantation and the north shore

I think Addie got hit with the stomach flu the worst while in Hawaii. Liam did amazing, not a single cry, even through the dry heaving. And Kevin and I have been through much worse strands of the norovirus. All in all, we had it pretty good and if there was ever a silver lining, it was that we weren't sick on the plane. We even managed to see some of the sights on our list of things to do. Here's the rest of our Hawaii 2013 pics!

The Honolulu Zoo 

Tickle session in front of the elephants. 

And again in front of the giraffes. She was still not feeling well and was such a little trooper!

The Honolulu Aquarium

Bravely holding a hermit crab.

The Dole Pineapple Plantation

Riding on the Pineapple Express. 

 The North Shore

bearing down for the flu

I called Kevin and had him bring back some cleaning supplies, saltine crackers and ginger ale. We gave a toast to Addie's "barking" and prayed it wasn't contagious!

After a saltine cracker and ginger ale party, she did a lot of this and just when I thought we might be safe...it hit the rest of us. 

the beach

That second day, after Kevin had gone off to work, the kids and I had a picnic lunch on the beach! Little did I know that same lunch wouldn't stay down for Addie-girl. 

our hotel on waikiki beach

Kevin and I have stayed at this hotel at least twice before and although it's nothing too fancy, it is in a great location for both the kids and I and it's close to where Kevin needs to be for work. The zoo and aquarium are within walking distance and the beach is right across the street. Every morning there's free breakfast accompanied by live Hawaiian music and a hula dancer. When we'd go downstairs for breakfast Addie would say, "Mom we are at a party!" There is also a restaurant with live music every night overlooking Waikiki beach! And we must not forget the pool! 

However, sadly all of this didn't matter much after lunch on our second day. The stomach flu hit and began it's journey through our family. 

One happy girl in the pool! The life jacket she is wearing is amazing! I wish we had known about it sooner!

Liam enjoyed the pool too but he didn't love his floaty as much as me just holding him. 

Watching the hula dancer and contemplating joining in. 

Eating breakfast at the "party!"

Having some dinner our first night in Hawaii at the hotel restaurant.

Checking out the view of Diamond Head and to the right the ocean!

traveling to hawaii!

I must say that traveling by plane, with two children under the age of four gave us some anxiety but they were great! Kevin and I streamlined all of our "stuff" and were quite the team as we navigated through parking, security, seating, getting the rental car and getting settled in to our hotel room! Phew! And if compliments from complete strangers, about how well-behaved our kids were doesn't impress you, then next time you'll just have to join us, so you can see first-hand!

Liam's first airplane ride!

Are we there yet!?!

addie's first magazine debut

Addie's preschool was featured in the local magazine this month and her little face was in one of the pics! Kind of fun!

It was a neat article written by the mom of the little boy you see in the picture. (His name's Liam too!) She wrote about how long PEP has been around and that she herself had attended PEP and now she was bringing her son!

There's our girl! (Middle row to the right!)