Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas this year. I think it's by far the best Christmas that the kids have had. I'm so thankful that Andre was home this year. He's missed 2 Christmas's with AJ and Ronde's first Christmas because he either in Japan or Iraq on deployment. We woke up and brought the kids into the living room. AJ started rubbing his eyes and said "My eyes are dreaming". The perfect reaction to seeing all his gifts under the tree. They were so excited. Ronde loves his new bike! The basketball hoop was a big hit as well as the tool bench. Andre gave me a new gold necklace and I gave him a pair of Air Force 1 shoes.

Ronde is in to action figures, transformers, GI Joes.

AJ still loves his Cars and sports stuff. They are so opposite but I'm glad that I get the best of both worlds. After presents, we all got dressed and went to our friend's Arycca and Trevor's house for Christmas dinner. Her mother was in town so it was nice to meet her. The Chandler's came over as well and we all ate, had a drink, and played cards. The food was wonderful! I couldn't stop eating. I'm really going to have to start working out to the 30 Day Shred! I hope everyone else had a great Christmas!

The North Shore

We went to the North Shore to look at the big waves that occur every winter. Since this is our last winter in Hawaii, we wanted to experience it so we finally went (Thanks to my mom who called me from Florida to tell me to go). The waves were huge but I could not get my camera to work quick enough to get a good picture of the waves. It is something that you have to be there to really appreciate it.

This picture is so beautiful of the beach and the waves.This was a huge wave. It was in the middle of crashing so it looks like a lot of spray. Andre said he thought it was about 30 feet. My mom said that she saw on the news that there were reports of 50 foot waves!

Family Portraits

4 Year Wedding Anniversary

Today, November 18, 2009, is our 4 year wedding anniversary. This is the first year that we've celebrated it though. Last year on our anniversary, Andre left to Iraq at 2am. That was such a sad day. My neighbor babysat the kids for us. We went to a really nice restaurant called Helawa Joes. The scenery was just amazing!!! Very romantic. They serve a lot of seafood. I ordered Spicy shrimp over noodles with a Caesar salad and Andre ordered Salmon with vegetables and a Caesar salad as well. We both ordered wine. I'm not a big wine drinker but it was a special occasion. Andre gave a toast to us. He really surprised me :)

This is where we sat to eat dinner. Isn't it beautiful?!

After dinner we went to a movie. We saw the 4th Kind while drinking hot cocoa. The movie was okay. I think Paranormal Activity was a better movie.

PS. I went to the salon this morning and got a whole new hair style and color. I love it!

Bizarre Foods

Andre likes watching a show called Bizarre Foods. He always likes to try new foods. I remember once he ordered frog legs at a Thai restaurant just to say he's tried them. One of the episodes he watched was about Creole cooking and it made him crave fish. He wanted to season it with Creole seasoning but cook it like how his family cooks fish in Jamaica. He called his mom to get cooking directions and then got started.

We went to the store together(which is rare) to get all the ingredients. We came home and turned the TV off. I helped prep some vegetables. The weather was so nice yesterday. Nice, cool, and windy. It was kinda romantic to be in the kitchen together. The fish came out wonderful!!! Very flavorful. Andre really knows how to cook. He ate everything including the eyes :P

Here he is scaling and gutting the fish.
and this was the end result. Looks great! It was served with red beans and rice.

AJ's 3rd Birthday Party

We had AJ's birthday party at a playground that had a big pavilion. There was another playground not pictured to the left. Lots of kids showed up and had a lot of fun. They were well entertained with the playground. As the children arrived, I put Cars tattoos on them. Cars was the theme of his party this year.We did the pull string pinata. The kids had a lot of fun picking up all the candy and small toys.

This was the first year that I didn't make AJ's birthday cake but it was well worth it because I loved his Cars cake.

We opened presents. AJ got lots of dvd's, trucks, bowling set, transformers, toy guns, and Nike shoes. The party was a little stressful but I heard one of AJ's friends say "This was the best birthday party ever!" That made my day because I felt like everything was going wrong that day from our pizza arriving an hour and a half late to my camera blinking "memory card full" in the middle of taking pictures of AJ opening his presents. I'm just glad the children had a lot of fun!

Happy 3rd Birthday AJ *Nov.6.09*

Today was AJ's birthday. We woke up this morning and made him pancakes and sausage. After breakfast we let him open his present from us, his Grandma and Great Grandma who sent his presents in the mail. He was so excited to open presents.

We bought him a camera. He always takes my camera and takes a million pictures of the funniest things. I will have to post some of those pictures one day for every one's entertainment. He is happy to finally have his own camera.My mom (his Grandma) gave AJ about 7 books for his birthday gift. He loves when I read him stories before bed. His Great Grandma bought him a Hot Wheels monster truck.

Andre had to work today so when he left, the kids and I left to go for a walk. Ronde sits in a stroller while AJ rides his bike. We walked up to the Exchange to get a few more items for his Birthday Party that we are having for him this Sunday at a playground on base.

I took him to Dairy Queen to get ice cream but he chose a Cherry flavored slushy instead which he shared with his brother Ronde. I picked up some Taco Bell for dinner. The kids always get 2 cheese roll ups and I get the Volcano Nachos. Yum!

On the way home with our food, we stopped at the playground next to our house and let the boys play. The weather was a little breezy and it was dusk. It was really peaceful and relaxing.

We came home and the boys ate their dinner. Ronde went to bed and I read AJ some of his new books then put him to bed as well. He's really looking forward to his birthday party on Sunday.

I can't believe my baby boy is 3. He's not really my baby anymore :(

Trick or Treat

AJ was a Hot Wheels race car driver. Very fitting for him since he loves Hot Wheels cars.
Ronde was a vampire! I was so excited about painting his face and the fake blood. This was his first year trick or treating. He did very well! Arycca and Malakai went trick or treating with us as well. Malakai was a motor cross racer. AJ and Malakai held hands. This kept them from running down the street from excitement haha.

Pumpkin Patch

Ronde kept trying to pick up all the big pumpkins. This was the first year that he got to walk through the patch. Last year, he didn't know how to walk yet.

Boy was it hard picking out pumpkins this year. They were all really odd shaped. I guess all the good ones got picked already. We carved them the night before Halloween. The first pumpkin was our "scary" pumpkin as AJ said. The second pumpkin was suppose to be our "funny" pumpkin but when I cut it open, there was maggots! Gross!


We roasted pumpkin seeds for the first time this year. AJ helped me stir the seeds, butter, and seasonings.

Playing in the sand..

This was pretty much a failed attempt of taking portraits at the beach. As you can see, the boys had a lot of fun running around, throwing sand, and not looking at my camera..lol. It was so hot outside, I thought I was going to faint so we only stayed for about 30 mins. Next time I will try this at a park with less distractions. I'm just glad they had fun!

Photoshop #2

Bowling on Labor Day

We went bowling with our friends for Labor Day. It was AJ's first time bowling. Andre helped him out with his first turn but after that, he was non stop. He had a whole lane to himself and just kept on rolling the balls down the lane. We had the gutter bumpers up and the ball did take a couple minutes before it actually reached the pins but I'm proud of him. He had a great time and was so sad to leave the bowling alley when we were done!