Elder Blake Smithing is Cameron's cousin from Layton, Utah.  He returned on Dec 9th from serving 2 years in the Apia, Samoa Mission. He arranged his return home through Hawaii (on his way back to Utah)  so that we all had a chance to see him.

Me, Loli'i and Na'u were the only Tuiteles that were able to make it to the welcoming at the airport. Poor Cameron and Iwi Boy were stuck at home SICK. No fun! 

Blake was suppose to come in at 7am. I got a call at 6:30am saying that they were already in...so of course we were late.  Instead of us waiting for him, he was waiting for us.  It was really nice to see him.  It seemed like those 2 years flew by.

Blake's mom, Aunty Sonya, organized a potluck at the park the next day. Alot of the family came and it was so much fun. 

The kids LOVE Blake!  We calculated that in those two years that he was gone, 7 babies in the family were born...pretty cool!

 It was nice seeing all the cousins play together.

Love this kid!

 The boys, Koa and Iwi Boy, getting an early start on their sports careers :).

1st Generation

Cameron's mom's brothers and sister and their spouses.



 2nd Generation-The Cousins

3rd Generation-The Grandkids

These were the grandkids that came. This is probably not even half of the total grandchildren.

I think that this was the highlight of the day...all the kids trying to catch fish in the stream.  I'm not sure if anyone actually caught anything but it was sure fun to try.

There's nothing like family time--talking story, reminising, playing games, eating, and watching the kids run around. Welcome back Blake!

Have you ever watched 19 kids & counting?  I really like that show.  Whenever I watch it, I'm inspired and I want to be better.  In one particular show, I remember the mom and dad (Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar) talking about how every night they go around the room and each person will say one nice thing about everyone else there.  After each compliment made, everyone would clap.  They said that clapping after, multiplies that compliment by the times however many people are there.  For example, for the Duggers, a kid would compliment their sibling and everyone else clapping, making that 1 compliment 20xs (2 parents + 18 kids) more powerful.  I thought that was pretty amazing.

  

Receiving compliments are fun to get.  It makes you feel good about yourself AND it boosts your confidence.  Giving compliments are also fun to give.  It makes you focus on what you admire about the other person (and maybe not so much on the bad stuff :) and it makes you feel good that you made that other person happy.

I thought that this was a VERY awesome thing to start with my own family.  We decided to do it at the end of the day, right before saying family prayer.  Me and Cam thought that that would be a perfect time to do it because sometimes, we get overwhelmed with the kids.  Seems like they're not listening and not doing what we want them to do and everyone ends up being upset.  This should NOT be the feeling while saying family prayer.  Instead of it being a time to actually talk to Heavenly Father, it ends up being just a check off the "things-we're-suppose-to-be-doing" list.  I figure that saying something nice about everyone in the room would break whatever bad feeling or anger that is being felt and we would have a nice family prayer.

I've been wanting to do this for a while but actually just started doing it about 2 weeks ago.  I have already been seeing a difference.  Na'u LOVES it!   The very first time we did it, it was just me, Cameron, and Na'u.  Iwi was on Moloka'i.  I went first and we all clapped.  Then Cam went and everyone clapped.  When it was Na'u's turn, she was a little shy and didn't know what to say.  So, I whispered to her something about Cameron for her to say and then Cameron did the same thing for me.  She was HAPPY that she contributed.

Here are some different comments that have been made thus far-

Daddy-I like your smile.
I like when you drop me off at school-Na'u 
I like how you take care of Na'u when she's sick.
I like going on dates with you.-Mom

Mommy-I like that you cook for us.
I like that you play movies for us in the car.-Na'u 
I like your long hair.-Dad

Na'ulei-I like how you share your toys.-Mom 
I like how you help with Loli'i.-Na'u
I like when mommy and daddy go out and you're
ok and you act like a big girl.-Dad

Iwi Boy-I like how you are learning your colors.-Na'u 
I like it when you're nice to your sister.-Mom
I like when you gave me a hug out of nowhere.-Dad 

Loli'i-I like your gummy smile.-Dad 
I like that you are eating all of your food and vegetables.-Na'u
I like that you are a calm and easy-going baby.-Mom

Now, after doing this everyday for the past 2 weeks, I have already seen a difference.  Just yesterday, Na'u at breakfast, asked if she could say something nice about everyone.  I told her sure and she did.  Last night, she wanted to go first AND again after everyone had a turn.  You can tell that she likes to say nice things about everyone else.  She is even the one to remember to say something about Loli'i because most of the time he is already sleeping in his crib by the time we do it.  Iwi doesn't quite take part in it just yet.  We try to whisper something for him to say but with his limited speech, the compliment doesn't make out :).  I'm sure though that one day soon he will.

I know that there are things that we need to work on but I know that doing this, pushes us in the right direction of being kind to one another and recognizing how special the other members of our family are.  I think that you all should start this.  I am sure that this will only strengthen our family relationships because family is what matters most.

My Na'ulei turned 4 on November 26th. She has been counting down the days especially since throughout the year she had to watch everyone elses birthday come and go. Earlier in the month I said to her,  "Na'u, I don't want you to grow up. I want you to stay my baby forever!"

Na'u with a serious look, "Mom, you want me to wear diapers and drink chichi again like Loli'i?"

I just had to laugh. 

 She wanted a Hello Kitty themed party.

These were the invitations.

When the day finally arrived, Na'u was SUPER excited!  She kept on asking when her cousins were coming over.  She didn't even want to take a nap because she was scared that the party was going to start.  I assured her that it was HER party and that we wouldn't start without her.

We are so happy for the turn out.  It's so much fun to have lots of people over.

We had some coloring pages, pens and crayons out for people to get their creative juices flowing.

 It was kinda fun watching all the grown-ups coloring Hello Kitty especially the guys.  They were really into it.

Cameron got a bouncer (aka the babysitter) for the kiddies.  It was a HUGE hit!

A big thank you to Mama for the fabulous meal.  We had rice, ribs, shoyu chicken, potato salad, green pasta salad, and noodles. 

The best part was the leftovers :).

The day that we had the party, was the worst weather day that we've had in a while.  It was raining and very windy.  At times when a big gust of wind would come, the tent felt as if it was going to fly away. Just to be safe, all the guys would stand up and literally hold down the fort :).  It was hard to keep the kids from getting all wet and muddy.  For the most part, they weren't too bad....except one.

My Iwi Boy was loving the rain! He was SOAKED and had to take another bath.

The birthday girl requested (of course) a Hello Kitty cake.  I tried to make a 3D Hello Kitty figurine cake topper but that was an epic failure.  I did this instead--a flat Hello Kitty made from fondant--and I LOVED it!

The surprise was inside....it was a rainbow cake.

It took a LONG time to dye and bake each layer when I only had 2 pans to work with. I had to wait for each layer to cook and cool before doing the next. You might not notice but I need to document the REAL story.  My cake is actually crooked.  It looked REALLY sad before putting on all the decorations.  I tried to make each layer even by cutting off the cake tops but apparently they weren't even AND my frosting was way to soft.  My mother-in-law did the best she could frosting the cake (thank you so much) but it was practically sliding off the sides.  I knew it couldn't be helped so i just put the cat and flowers on.  If you didn't know what was going on underneath, you couldn't even tell :). I'm so glad it turned out though.  My girl was happy that she got her Hello Kitty Rainbow cake and that's all that matters.

Na'u was spoiled with gifts from her cousins.  As you can see, she was quite tickled because she got exactly what she wanted....barbies and Hello Kitty stuff.

Flowers are her specialty.

 Iwi got into it too.

How-to-Blow-Bubbles

1.  Dip  2.  Blow Carefully...

...3.  Watch in awe.

My kids could blow bubbles ALL day!

I love my happy, chubby baby!

 Playing outside, giggles & laughs, keikis playing nicely, chalk, bubbles, and cute & gummy smiles are some of the simple things that make us happy.

Last week we fed Loli'i some rice cereal for the first time. 

"Hmmm...I'm not sure how I feel about this."

  "Which tastes better? Food or fist?" 

 "I like this stuff."

I just wanted to throw this picture in because you can see how long his eye lashes are.  I love them!

 By the end of the feeding, it seemed as if Loli'i couldn't get enough.  When he saw that spoon coming, he grabbed it and shoved it in his mouth.

We were so excited to start feeding Loli'i food and he really started getting the hang of it.  

By the 2nd time feeding him, I would say "ah" for him to open up and he did.  I think this boy was soooo ready to eat. 

But then....

 ....my poor baby broke out in hives a day later.

On Halloween day, Na'u's school had some holiday activities.  Parents were invited to come so I packed the boys up and headed out. 

The classroom tables were decorated for their party.

 My pretty butterfly showing off her wings!

Every kid was wearing a costume, most of which were store bought.  Some were homemade but I was most impressed with this helicopter.  Isn't it cool?!

 Out in the courtyard, everyone (about 5 different classes and parents) formed a LARGE circle. Each class went one-by-one singing their favorite Halloween song.  They were all excited to share.  Na'u's class, Aloha Kamali'i, did a wonderful job.

...or in this case an alien :). She made it really easy for me.

After, we got a $10 card ready for some fun.

The kids got to play some games and eat some shave ice.

The game in the top left picture was plinko.  The kids needed to place the ball in the tube, let it roll down, and watch it fall into a space below. Whichever slot the ball went into determined how many tickets they won.  I thought this was an easy enough game for Iwi Boy so I let him out of his stroller.  Not a bright idea.  As soon as he had a ball in his hand, he threw it across the room.  I just about wanted to die :).  I was already sweating cause I was still holding Loli'i, trying to help Na'u, and trying to keep Iwi from running away.  I couldn't add one more thing on my to-do list.  One of the other parents was kind enough to help me out :) and retrieved the ball.  Iwi eventually got the hang of it but that was it...back in the stroller he went.

The highlight of the day were these airbrushed tattoos.  A spider for my obsessed bug boy and a butterfly for the princess.

We actually got a family shot.

I have the best baby ever!

Most times when I wait to do things, I always wait for Cameron to come with me but there are sometimes when a moms got to do what a moms got to do.  I <3 my job!