Waded and swam in the water...
looked at coral reefs, fish, and even a sea turtle...
With lots of other folks...
enjoyed a beautiful day...
and ate cake! Not bad. 
Olivia yelling at me because she guessed it was a lava lamp about a week ago and I swore it wasn't! HOW did she guess that? I didn't even think she had ever seen a lava lamp!
Santa brought Emily a "fur real" kitty. This cat is SO real (including purring, meowing, and licking.) Next best thing when your sister is allergic I guess!
Santa also brought new scooters! Emily's is solid pink with streamers of course!
The look on her face coming down the stairs in the morning!
Christmas Eve...the girls!
Emily at school getting ready to sing Jolly Old St. Nicholas for her adoring fans
Olivia's new scooter...motorized for a top speed of 15 mph. THIS is cool!
I had to do something about her being a Redskins fan!!
Christmas Dinner
All worn out!
Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Happy Birthday today to our cousin Nick, can't believe you are 13! Emily turns 5 tomorrow, that is even harder to believe. We are taking her out on a boat in Kaneohe Bay to the sandbar for a picnic in the ocean. Don't worry...on Wednesday we head to the salon with her peeps for a makeover, dress up gig complete with glitter hair and nails! Pictures to follow (with my new SLR camera if I can find 5 minutes to learn how to use it!)
Seems I am the only one with no snow this week! I am happy to report we picked up my Mom on Tuesday night and have been jutting around in our shorts and t-shirts ever since! It's been a busy week of Christmas programs, cookie baking, shopping, wrapping, and touring. I have a ton of photos to share so I will make a slide show later and let you see some shots of the girls in their shows and our great tour of the Arizona Memorial. Olivia also graduated from her Starbase Atlantis program last week and the ceremony concluded with a rocket launch on Ford Island. Here is a short video of Olivia's Ukulele concert at her school. I couldn't get a great shot of her (she is in the middle row - very hard to see) but I was really impressed with their playing after only a few months!
Emily is going at mach 10 with excitement... Christmas and a birthday. She may just explode!
We are gearing up for Emma to come visit and both the girls have holiday programs at school next week
I hosted a neighborhood coffee on Tuesday and the girls were invited to a gingerbread house decorating party yesterday. 
So, basically it's all good. Except when it isn't. When it's stressful and there are boxes and tissue papers all over the house, pine needles everywhere, mid-terms looming, and Emily plays "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" for the 100th time. Then I look around and don't see Olivia. I look out the window and find her where? On top of the carport of course with a cool drink and a book. Looks like a good time out spot huh? I may have to steal it!
Emily's school celebrates birthdays once a month and on your month you are considered a "star keiki" (keiki is the Hawaiian word for child). Emily was honored as a star today during the flag ceremony (you know, where they say the "pledge of the legions") She was very excited and Daddy even got to attend which made it even better!!
This is Emily's house, clearly she is going for the minimalist look. No windows, no doors, no excessive trim...way to go Em...just like your Mama. What does the inside of Emily's house look like you ask? Is it full of fine Ethan Allen furniture, happy Mom's with aprons in the kitchen making delicious meals, toys galore? Nope. Not Em's house. Hers is full of....
Makeup. Yup, that's all, just makeup. This is a girl who knows what is important and is sticking with it!Usually after a busy weekend I am ready to get everyone out of the house on Monday and back to school and work but I am sad to see this one go. We had a great traditional meal on Thursday, went sailing on Friday and Saturday (Friday was just David and I and Saturday was the whole family), got tons of household chores done, braved Toys R Us on Black Friday (at 5 pm...not am) ate more than I care to write about and drove to the North Shore for our annual Christmas card shoot. Although that photo opp is usually my least favorite part about Christmas we had fun and maybe even got some usable shots. I've shared a few below but you will have to wait for your card to see the winners!
Here is a medley of random images from the weekend and a few more I hadn't shared yet (including my new kitchen cabinets!)
I was asked to accompany them last Thursday and all I can say is WOW! What a neat experience. The instructors were full of zest and it was so fun to see them teaching in such a hands-on way. The day I was there we learned about lift, drag, thrust, G-forces, created a mini space module on a CAD imaging system and continued working on the rockets. 
The class completed 3 of their 5 days and will finish up in December. I wish all of our schools had the budget to teach every subject this way - learning is so fun when you do it right! Olivia is just loving it and came home each night so excited to tell us everything!
The rest of our week/weekend was filled with the usual shenanigans! Emily was off on Friday due to conferences (straight A pre-schooler might I add. Ahem, this is serious stuff you know) but ended up with such a fever by the end of the day that I took her to the ER on Saturday. Strep and an ear infection. Double bonus! She is already much better but Olivia woke up today complaining of a sore throat. I am figuring I will wake up on Thanksgiving Day with the whole mess!
Normally I post the positive side of things on the blog - who wants to hear about every door slam from Olivia or whine from Emily? Although we have our share of those moments, they are certainly not the parts I care to look back and reflect upon (plus I would be too busy typing to do anything else some days.) This particular meltdown was just too good to pass up, so right in the middle of it I grabbed my camera.
Act 1, Scene 1: Emily went home from school with a friend to play. She was supposed to come home at 3 but the mom called and said they were having too good a time and was keeping her until 5! When she got home the mom informed me they had some lunch and about 3 pieces of candy each and played mostly outside on the playground. Emily went straight out to our playground for a while and came home and grabbed a piece of candy. This was her reaction to me telling her "no more candy."
Today I was treated to a royal makeover Emily style! Here I am at the "Salon" receiving the very finest in Hello Kitty and Princess makeup. You can be sure I smelled like cotton candy and strawberries!
This is a photo of my old dance teacher who just passed away at the age of 94. A friend of mine posted this on Facebook and I was shocked - I had assumed she left us long ago as she was an "old lady" when I was in first grade! Ginny Lathrop was a spunky, beautiful, former Broadway dancer who taught just about every single little girl in my hometown to tap dance for 58 years! I just love this photo of her - she was glam until the end. Rest in peace Mrs. Lathrop and thanks for the memories.
At least we caught the coaches so they could give her the trophy and take a rushed iPhone shot! Anyone want some grapes and pineapple...I've got lots left over! A crew then rushed in stripping me of my title and handed it promptly to the "miss organization" runner up because clearly I am unable to fulfill my duties. (sniff, sniff, good-bye crown) 
That's her way in the background on the left!
She was awesome!
