Christmas 2011

Tis the Season....right? Well, I didn't get a single picture of the kids opening gifts this year. All we got was video! I can't believe it! I guess I will just have to get pictures of them playing with all of their toys that they got for Christmas. They have been going non-stop since Christmas morning until I yell at them to clean up.

We had our gathering Christmas Eve with Cliff's family, so I didn't do any cooking on Christmas day. I tried Chef Brad's way of cooking the turkey and ham. I think this is the first time ever that the turkey had more gone than the ham. The turkey tasted so yummy and way really juicy!

Leilani didn't sleep much at all Christmas Eve and ended up getting really congested, so church didn't happen that day either. She fell asleep about an hour before church was supposed to start and I wasn't about ready to wake her up to go. She needed to sleep, so we stayed home while Cliff and his parents went.

Later that evening Cliff's family came over and hung out. We had cocoa rice and homemade bread. And this was the extent of our Christmas this year.

I'm Free (3)!

Lavea'i turned 3 on Dec. 10, so only a couple of weeks late at posting. It was probably the most relaxing birthday out of the kids (minus the cake decorating). I continue to ask myself why I even started decorating their cakes in the first place. But, none the less, I will continue on.

We didn't go anywhere for his birthday. We stayed home and the kids just played their little hearts out. It started out with cocoa rice for breakfast. Afterwards, we let him open presents throughout the day. It was Grandma Bandmann's gift first because I knew she would be calling and saying happy birthday, but we beat her to it this time. We didn't get a picture of all of the gifts, but he enjoyed every single one of them. I even stayed up the night before working on his own Super Lavea'i cape with red aloha print material. Cliff's parents and sister, Milla, were here celebrating it with us. It was a pretty special day for him and he loved every moment of it.



He kept changing his mind on what he wanted his cake to be, but finally ended with "Lightening D'Queen." I decorated it that day while he took very late nap on the couch.





At age 3, Lavea'i is definitely the child that tries my patience. He CAN NOT sit still for the life of him. There is never a dull moment when he is around. He doesn't like to listen at all, so when he does, it is a treat for Cliff and I. He has sooo much personality and is always talking. He usually plays by himself and does really well with it. He will always let Cliff and I know when he doesn't love us anymore, which is quite a bit lately. But, with all of this, he continues to tug at my heart strings.

Funny faces!

This little girl is so hilarious when she makes her faces. LOVE IT!!!! She makes me smile when she does them.

This one is when she is playing around with you while you hold her and make her laugh. She will make it amidst the laughing.


I turned on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse one morning for Tula'i and Lavea'i and this was her facial reaction:

Happy Holidays!!!

I am so horribly, bad at getting family pictures taken, let alone Christmas cards each year. I finally decided to go and get pictures of the kids yesterday morning with a little snow coming down. IT WAS COLD and they were TROOPERS!!!! They hadn't eaten yet and by the time they did eat breakfast it was 11:00a.m. What wonderful kids! I took the three pictures I liked the most (not one picture of all of them looking at the camera so the personality one won) and just cropped and darkened the edges. No more photoshopping for me...that was it! And this was the result.







So, I decided to turn these pictures into this:

Go BYU! Go Cougars!

Cliff and I bought season tickets to the BYU football games. I only was able to go to one and we didn't even stay the whole game because Leilani would cry every time the crowd cheered...next year I will be able to leave her with a babysitter. Anyway, All the boys went on a "date" with dad to a game by themselves a little BYU memoir. Lavea'i lasted the longest at the game. Cliff said he would cheer and clap whenever anyone else did. Cliff also said it would be pretty quiet and out of nowhere he would cheer for BYU. That's my boy!

Maika and Tula'i wanted to go for the hats that they wanted...not really caring for the games. But, they enjoyed their time with Dad.
I didn't get any pictures of Lavea'i, but I did of the other two. So excited and ready to go and happy when they got back with their hats.







Kalena went out with Dad, but not to a football game. He took her to watch Cars 2 and then out for ice cream and then to eat. What a lucky girl! She absolutely LOVES to go out with her dad.

The funny thing is that none of them want to go out with their mom...Who wants to go out with Mom? They see me all the time! But, I do admit...it would be nice to go out with them one on one as well to spend that time with them and not have to worry about the other kids being around to interrupt. These are the types of memories that I know will last a while.

Hats, hats and more hats!

I have taken pictures of the kids in hats and thought that Maika should be the next Nike model. Eat your heart out Under Armor! This girl makes your hat look good! Okay...maybe I am just being a biased parent again.



Then again the real boy that loves to wear hats is Mr. Lavi Lavi...



AND I think he looks pretty cute too!

Late Happy Birthday!

So I posted about going to see my mom for her birthday, but completely skipped over Cliff's! What in the world was I thinking?!

It was on a Saturday and he chose what to do for the day. It was filled with watching "Cars 2," eating at Dickey's (yummy BBQ), listening to the BYU football game and of course to end it all chocolate molten lava cake (Cliff's favorite dessert at Chili's).

I am SO GRATEFUL to have this man as my husband. He is AMAZING! Yes we have our moments, but who doesn't? The kids love him to death and always run to greet him at the door when they hear the garage door opening up. He plays with the kids a ton and is always thinking of them first. He is definitely the one to say sorry first even if it isn't his fault. He will help out around the house and do his share in cleaning (I haven't figured out if that is because he thinks I am a slacker). Enough of that, so here are a couple of pictures...