Christmas at the Fano's 2012

This is how the Christmas season started off this year. The kids helped with the tree, of course. The older ones put on the ornaments and Leilani just kept taking them all off. She even managed to get a couple of candy canes shoved in her mouth before I caught her eating them. I tell you...life is NEVER dull with six kids.

When we are out with 6 kids, it seems like a lot to handle. But looking at the picture of all of them, it seems like there isn't a lot at all. 

Christmas was pretty chill this year. Both outside, as you can see from the above picture, and inside considering that we all got sick the week before. Kalena was first and then it trickled through all of us, Cliff and myself being the last ones to get it. We made it Christmas day without being sick and ended up having Cliff's family over for some fun. We played Pictionary. Of course it was girls+Tautai (my Nephew) against boys and the girls+Tautai took the win. One of the pictures drawn by Cliff's dad was hilarious. Can any of you guess what it is? Us ladies could, but it took the boys a while.

Anyway, we woke up around 7 a.m. and let the kids open up their gifts. I got a couple of pictures, but not too many. As the kids opened up their gifts, Leilani went around and hoarded all the candy. The only day I would let that fly without taking it away.

Kalena got a play kitchen with a bunch of gadgets that came with it. I bought it used, but it worked out great. I just wiped all of the gadgets clean and wrapped them up in the diaper box.

The boys all wanted "mote catrol" cars. I left Cliff up to that and he got them all the same brand. Well being that they are the same brand and not different frequencies, you can imagine what happened. We tried to even send Maika downstairs to play with his, but it kept controlling Tula'i's upstairs in the kitchen. Needless to say, the two little boys were patient and we took their cars back about a week later and let them pick anything they wanted that was the same price. Maika was the only one that ended up keeping his because he was the one who really asked for it by not being swayed into it.

I took a chance on buying a rocking horse for Leilani and I think I hit the jackpot the most with this one. Not only does she like to play with it, but all her siblings do as well. It was homemade and is very sturdy. She has fallen over on her face from rocking to hard. I never thought I would have to worry about that, but that is what I get for thinking. She is CRAZY!!!

While they were opening their stockings and gifts, Tunoa was chillin' on the couch. He is such a great baby and will chill for a couple of hours before beginning to cry and want to be held.

After we opened gifts, we had breakfast and just played the rest of the day until Cliff's family came over around 6p.m.

We ate lots of yummy food. Cliff fried a turkey for the first time and I cooked a ham. The side dishes were all done by my sisters-in-law.

The kids wrestled and and a blast just playing around. They all stayed out of our hair and messed up the basement with all of the toys. We finally called it a night around 11:30p.m. And then we hit the sack.

Happy 4th, Lavea'i!

This kid makes me so frustrated and yet life would be so DULL without him. He definitely acts and talks like boys do. I tend to forget he is still so little because he speaks so well and knows way too much for his age. He knew his alphabet and there sounds from watching a Leap Frog video with Tula'i by the middle of September. He is now starting to put the sounds of the letters together to read words. When he doesn't get his way, he pouts and runs to his room or hides. Because he associates correction or just a bit of sternness with us being mad at him, when we try to get him to come out he won't until we reassure him several times we aren't mad at him. If I ask him to do more than one thing, he always asks me "Why do I have to do everything?" or he states "I ALWAYS have to do everything." But, he likes to help out on his own time and schedule. Poor guy gets lonely at home until Tula'i comes home from kindergarten. He loves to play the iPad and will drive us crazy by always asking to play it or if he gets to play again. He is always hard to get to bed at night and most nights will start off sleeping in his bed, but ends up in ours. Since Cliff and I are too lazy to take him back to his bed, one of us ends up going to his bed to sleep for the rest of the night. When he kisses, he puckers up like a fish...love it!!! Anyway, he is so fun and is such a talker!!!!

This year was kind of crazy on his birthday. The kids had school but as soon as the kids were out we were supposed to go to Trafalga (a place to play games and win prizes), but he ended up falling asleep and I didn't want to wake him up. So, Cliff finally took him out last night to make up for it. While he slept, I finished decorating his cake. After him waking up, we went to Chuck-o-rama for his dinner. Cliff's parents came with us. On the way home Cliff stopped off at the store to buy his gift, a Thor helmet. None were in the store so he bought him a play machine gun that lit up. He LOVED it! He got a Thor hammer from Grandma Bandmann that shoots out a "bulldet." Cliff's parents got him a police car that sounded like sirens.

The request for another Thor cake!

 Kalena always likes to read their cards to them. This one must have been entertaining.

A Video Worthy of the Blog

This child of ours, Leilani, is a never-ending source of making us laugh. When we laugh, of course, she only does whatever she is doing even more until we stop. She is pretty funny and doesn't mean to be. But, here is a video clip of her when Cliff was filming her with his phone to keep her entertained for at least a couple of minutes talking to herself and kissing herself cause that is what she sees.

Randomness from the Iphone

This is how attached this girl is to her pacifier. The one that I couldn't get her to take one the first 8 months she was born.

Tunoa smiling at Dad when he was a few weeks old. How precious is that?

    

This girl and her new tights from her Grandma. Now she can wear dresses during the winter to keep her legs warm because I am too lazy to go to the store and rummage through the tights to buy them.

    

The first time she had pony tails in her hair. They are a little messy because she just woke up from a nap.

    

She is really a monkey!!! I was putting her clothes away and turned around to see her on top of the diaper changing station. How did she get up there? Well, like I said, she is a monkey and climbed up herself. 18 months old.

    

Type-a-Riser

Do you remember when you would jump rope to the little riddles when you were a kid? I do. And this cracked me up to hear Kalena singing one while we were grocery shopping. She kept singing to Lavea'i "Type-a-riser, type-a-riser, type in your first name....K-A-L-E-N-A. Type-a-riser, type-a-riser, type in your second name....M-A-Y-L-A-N-I. Type-a-riser, type-a-riser, type in your last name....F-A-N-O." After hearing this throughout the whole hour and a half of grocery shopping I finally corrected her and said "Don't you mean typewriter?" She proceeded and asked me what a typewriter was, so I explained quickly and then went on hearing her continue to sing, but this time is was "Type-a-writer...." I just chuckled and then simply corrected her one more time. Don't they say the 3rd time's the charm because that is when she finally started singing "Typewriter...."

Happy Thanksgiving Break

The kids were so excited for their cousins to come and play with them. My sisters, Shara and Nezhone (with her husband), and my mom came for the holiday gathering. It was nice to hang out with them and see them. The kids just played and played with their cousins, Jakai and Tahlia. They were so worn down by the time they all left to go back home.

Thanksgiving morning wasn't too much work. It was nice to have the help in making all of the food. My mom made her oh so yummy orange rolls which didn't last too long. Then we had turkey, ham, yams, green beens, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and the choice of apple crumble, pumpkin or key-lime pie. All of which were eaten with not a crumb left.

Nezhone's daughter, Tahlia, and Leilani had to be sent to different homes. They are so much trouble, but cute enough that they get away with things. Tahlia never gives me a nice look as you can see in her amazing get up, I would be dead if looks killed.

Nezhone's son, Adrick. He is such a good baby. Often sits by himself until he is hungry and wants to eat.

 Finally a picture of my mom with Tunoa Olaus. Olaus was my grandpa's name, my mom's dad.

Well, we ended up going to look at the lights at Salt Lake Temple Square. It was CRAZY!!!! The tracks ride up wasn't bad at all, but the hustle and bustle of thousands of people there was a reminder why not to take little kids. We worried more about keeping the kids safe instead of being able to enjoy all the lights. But, it was an experience that the kids will probably remember. They liked riding the "train" the best. We did get some cute pictures of the kids. How precious they all are even though many times we get frustrated and impatient.

Dad's & Donuts

Already posted Dad's and Donuts with Maika, but now it was Kalena's turn. Last year Cliff was out of town for work and so her Uncle Jethro stepped in and filled that void for Cliff. But then this year she was worried that Cliff wouldn't make it. She even asked me, "Mom, what if Dad doesn't come?" I had to reassure her that he would be there and not to worry about it. He was there on time and one read the book while the other one ate their donut, then switched. She was so excited to have him there and he loves going to these things to be with his kids.

As you can see, I am quite the slacker with doing my daughter's hair. Poor girl!

My Handsome 2 Monther

 I know that "monther" isn't even a word, but he isn't old. Anyway, I had taken some pictures and completely forgot about them until I was sitting here trying to clean up the desktop and noticed I had a bunch of pictures to post. So I am going to begin with Tunoa being 2 months and his sister trying to hold him and loving all over him.

Love his precious smile in this one.

I don't know if she is eating his finger or kissing it. Most likely kissing it because she doesn't bite and she loves him way too much to be mean.

I love this picture of Cliff kissing him on his cheek. Such a tender moment. And then this last picture is just stinking cute of him. Can't get enough of this little boy as he lies in my room crying to be fed so this is the end of this post.

Dad's and Donuts

Maika was STOKED about having Dad in his class for donuts in the morning. Cliff actually leaves for work at 6:40a.m. and drives back to read and spend time with him by 9:15a.m., then heads back to work for the rest of the day. But it is worth it because of the memories that are made by the kids. Maika still talks about it to this day. He discussed the book they read together and the glazed donuts they ate. I tell you, they are so lucky to have a dad like Cliff. They love and adore him to pieces.

Maika loves his desk and Cliff said it was pretty cool that Maika knew all the shapes that were on it and even taught him about a rhombus. It is amazing how much these kids know by the time they leave kindergarten let alone the beginning of the school year in 1st grade.

Experimenting with our Camera

We have a pretty nice Nikon and I know I don't use it to its fullest potential, so one day when I was giving Leilani a bath, I noticed how beautiful her eyes were in the sunlit bathtub against the whiteness of the bath. So, I decided to see if I could capture the beauty of them and I think I got the closest in this one picture.

These were also some cute ones of  her saying "dees" and just laughing.

Trick-or-Treat, Smell My Feet

I actually have time to sit here at 11:09p.m. to be exact and blog a bit. So, Halloween will be posted first. The kids decided they wanted to be the "Avengers." A week before Halloween, I went out looking for costumes and thought that I could just go to the second hand store and get most of their costumes for dirt cheap. Well, it didn't pan out the way I planned it to be and ended up spending a TON  more than I wanted and needed. When Cliff got home and I told him how much I spent, his jaw dropped. All I have to say is that it is a LOT cheaper buying the already made costumes from the stores even if you are spending $20 bucks a pop. PLUS, it saves on time from running around from store to store to find all of the props to go with the outfit.

Tula'i's was the cheapest and it came out to roughly $10. But, I must say that they looked pretty darn cute. 

And then there is my little cute pumpkin. I wasn't going to take her out with us, but decided that I would to get her out of Dad's hair so he could get some studying done. So, she was a good sport and sat in the stroller the whole night (thank goodness for warmer weather again). We were out for about 2 hours and the kids had fun. I end it when they are ready because I know we have many more years of this.