Happy Thanksgiving! Etc...

Tyson being a nerd

Ruby being cute

Being cute again

Tyson being a nerd again, which he does a lot

Tickle monster strikes

We had the wonderful pleasure of spending an afternoon and evening with some friends of my mom's, which are also our friends, from England.  Jeff and Lindsey are so fun.  We had a great time and the kids LOVED them.  We went to Kailua beach.  Since moving into a smaller place, Tyson's Tonka truck has become an outside toy.  Note to all: the wheels fill with water and yet, it floats.  Tyson really liked that.  I'm not sure who had the most fun, the men or the kids!

Ruby tried on her angel costume during the final fitting for the Nutcracker Ballet.

Thanksgiving Day!  Geoff took the kids to hike Diamondhead so I could get an extra hour of sleep.  Love this guy!  Then he washed the cars with the kids while I cleaned the up the apartment.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at our friends' the Wardell's house.  It was WONDERFUL!  We had a great time and then had pie at the Holbrook's house.  It was soooo fun.  This is my plate.  And this doesn't even represent all the food that was there.

The kids' table

The grown up kids' table

The after math on the kids' table

The kids- and Geoff- watching Toy Story 3 while the grown ups chat and clean up.  It's always good to have an adult to provide supervision.  It was a wonderful day.  We love you all and have been thinking about you.  Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Halloween and New Things...

As an aforenote we made an AWESOME frenchbread pizza one night that my absolutely fabulously brilliant wife came up with out of what she could find in the fridge (we hadn't been shopping in a while).  It was amazing, and I can't wait until we make it again...

This Halloween Ruby couldn't decide what she wanted to be until right before.  It was always something different but in the end she decided she wanted to be a Princess (Shocking, I know).  Her best friend from school (Katerina) was dressed as a Russian Princess - complete with authentic Russian headdress - and that clinched the deal for her. 

We went trick-or-treating with Katerina, her dad, and a bunch of friends from the ward.  Andrea caught this picture of me holding Jojo's hand.  She is just a bit older than Tyson and the little golden curls always get me.  In fact, I once made a deal with her father to trade Tyson for Jojo.  To say the least, the mothers of both children objected vehemently (although Andrea did say she would take both...).

Tyson, on the other hand, knew exactly what he wanted to be- "a bee with a stinger on my bum."  An awesome woman in the ward made an adorable "Bee" outfit for him we just attached a stinger!  Because we were in transition we could only find a purple head band for him though.

The church had a Halloween party the night before  (because Halloween fell on a Sunday this year) so Ruby and Tyson went together and were so excited they wore their outfits for a while before we even left for the party.  Mega Cute! The party was chaos, so we don't have many good pictures of the action there.  Tyson loved the penny drop game where you tried to get the penny in a cup at the bottom of a fish tank.  He had to go back 4 times!  Ruby...  I don't know what she liked because as soon as we walked in the door she was gone with her friends off gathering hoards of candy.   She is a very independent little girl...

 

I think for a kid the candy afterwards is really the best part of Halloween.  Tyson was so busy knawing on this "Candy Ka-Bob" from Aunt Gail that he had a hard time taking a moment to smile for the camera!

Aunt Gail and Uncle Brian finally sold their house at the end of October.  We are very grateful for them letting us stay there and are very happy that they get to go back and be with their new grandbaby, Jacob.  Luckly, we found a great apartment in our old neighborhood (a stones-throw from both our old apartments in this neighborhood) and were able to move in before the buyers took possession of the house.  The sleeping arrangements for the kids was unique for the first few days!

We're still sorting everything out but the apartment is a mess.  Andrea would probably disapprove of me publishing pictures of the place in this state but this is how we are living for the time being until we get everything in it's place.  A little difficult considering we came from a 1500 sq/ft 3 bedroom apartment with plenty of storage and a yard to a 600 sq/ft 2 bedroom with a small lanai.  Can't complain though, the carpets and tile are new, the cabinets freshly painted and new fixtures in the bathroom, and it's pretty big for a honolulu apartment.  The price is unbelievably low for this neighborhood and for an apartment in this condition, but maybe "the catch" will surface after we've lived here a while.

In any case we are settling in and life is stabilizing.  It's nice to feel like after the great unknown of joblessness we have landed sqaurly on our feet, mostly.  Until next time...

When Ruby was a Toddler

We were going through some of our older pictures and found a bunch of digital photos of Ruby we had from Tanzania.  We have more pictures that are on film (Shock!  That STILL exists!?!?) but they are in the black hole of storage at the moment.  Here are some of Ruby when she first joined our family in Tanzania.

 Ruby didn't smile much when we first brought her home.

Her hat was hand made by a Peace Corps friend of ours. She was still getting used to the idea of having a family.

 It really didn't take her long to become the happy kid that she is.

Sorry there is no sound.  This was the first video we took of Ruby.  Not very long, but SUPER CUTE!

 Ruby got this outfit from Bibi Judy.

 She was always adorable!  I love the hat.

 Andrea walked into the house one day and found Ruby reading one of her exercise science manuals.  Think we did much of that?  ;)

She loves to laugh!

Ruby and daddy opening presents during her "Baby Shower".  We still use some of the things we got that day (e.g. The blue booster chair in the background).

These photos were taken in our village (Wangama).  We lived there for one month with Ruby before being "Evacuated".

This week only...

Tyson has a certain knack for getting into mischief.   I think that he and Maka tend to set each other off sometimes too.  The two are inseparable and if you see one the other is almost always nearby.

 

 

They are really cute together but like I said before the mischief begins when Tyson or Maka are awake.

For instance, Tyson LOVES to play outside, and LOVES when Maka goes tearing through the yard at top speed.  He also loves the water, and if there isn't a swimming pool, beach or bathtub nearby he'll invent one from scratch.  Take this innocent bucket, for example.  It was minding its own business when all of a sudden a little boy climbs in for a dip. 

 

 

Thinking this might be a safety hazard we removed the bucket from the yard.  He had a great time while it lasted though.  He truly emanates the meaning of Carpe Diem in his daily life!

(Ruby comes up with some of the most interesting outfits...)

The other day I was cooking dinner and had been watching Tyson play happily outside.  He and Maka were having a grand old time and it seemed very regular so I didn't really pay much attention to their shenanigans.  After a while I heard Tyson yelling for me at the top of his lungs, not in hysterics, but as if he were calling me to see something cool that he had found in the yard.  I looked out the back window and couldn't see him from that angle, so I started calling him and still couldn't find him.  Eventually I looked on the other side of the car port where he has not ventured before and there he was, perched on top of an old pile of bricks.  Apparently he could climb up, but could not get down.  The look on his face when I rounded the corner was classic...

Tyson is NEVER bored!  Even when there is not much going on he can find joy in the simplest things.  Take this box for example.  We were all sitting around and he walks in the room with the box on his head like a helmet.

Here was a scene that had me rolling on the floor (Andrea thinks I am deprived of entertainment).  When I saw Tyson concentrating so hard on popping the little bubbles on this wrap I had to get a shot of it.  I ended up tearing a small piece off so he didn't ruin the entire roll of Aunt Gail's bubble wrap. 

I have to also admit that I started popping bubbles with him.  I guess he and I are on the level...

This morning Tyson sniffed out, like a bloodhound, a hidden sharpie. 

He is a repeat offender when it comes to sharpies.  Lucky for us he mostly drew on himself this time.  I'm also glad that I was the one that found him because it made me laugh to see him covered in black marker ink!  Andrea was upstairs putting all of Tyson's clothes back into his drawer because he had removed EVERY item looking for his sweatshirt.  The sweatshirt was hanging in the closet not two feet away.  I also forgot to mention that the goose-egg you see on his forehead was from when Tyson's face met the pavement in the front yard.  He hit his head at least 4 times that day.

We really do keep an eye (two or more if possible) on him constantly, but he is a mastermind at getting into mischief.  High energy and curiosity combined embodied in this small cute and cuddly package. 

We love you Tyson! You're EXHAUSTING!!!

P.S.  These are only the things we were able to capture on film.  Imagine the fun we have been having!!! :)