we miss alligators

the te'o family in footprints =)

so we moved to our new house in july and we do love it but it isn't a few minute walk to the best beach on the island. today we went to alligators and remembered why we loved our old house so much. we love alligators. it is the best beach ever. we had so much fun. lennon got his feet wet for the first time, in the same spot that his big brother got his feet wet for the first time. both boys had a good time and both parents had a good time. today was a good day. then we went to our neighbors house for a homemade pizza night and they made the most amazing pizza ever and i made the most amazing cupcakes ever and then we remembered why we love our new house so much.

L & L

doesn't even take his superman gear off for the beach

lennon 2 months old.

2 1/2- 3 months

2 1/2 to 3 months old

i like this picture because it looks like lennon is talking to daddy

luka LOVES building blocks.

lennon just 3 months

lennon 3 months, luka 2 yr 3 months

at cafe haleiwa for dinner

lennon, 3 months old. at Eowyn's bday party

tiger =) at Eowyn's 4th birthday party

at kahuku farms, our new favorite weekend lunch spot

brotherly love! <3 very grateful

lennon at his 4 month check up

lennon at his 4 month check up

Here's a little update on my boys...

Luka

Luka loves, cars, trains, trucks, reading, puzzles, and building blocks, art, especially clay and paint, his daddy, his brother. YES he loves his brother!! yay! he just recently took a liking to lennon which we are stoked about! He now wants to help him all the time and even says, "i love brother" which is awesome and heart melting. Poata said "Luka gave us the best Christmas present, he loves his brother." Luka loves playing with our neighbors, 2 little adorable girls. they usually play pretend dragons and princesses where luka is always the bad dragon. Luka doesn't really like food much but we are working on that. he will eat any kind of fruit without hesitation though, especially berries of any sort. above all else though luka loves superman! he is definitely going through a little superman obsession! he needs to be wearing a cape at all times! if he doesn't have it on he pouts and says "mommy, i can't fly, i have no cape." for a while he was wearing his superman costume from his 1st halloween!! he was 3 months old!! we cut the bottom off and took the elastic out of the arms haha. but now he has a few superman t-shirts to wear instead. he is almost always in a superman costume! luka is tall for his age and just above average for his weight at around 29 pounds or so. he is advanced with his communication skills and can pretty much say any word and is starting to pronounce things perfectly. he can identify his entire alphabet and knows all of his shapes and colors. i think he is just the smartest sweetest little boy! he doesn't really take naps anymore which is a bummer but he does sleep very well at night, on his own, and just rarely wakes up to go potty but then he goes right back to bed. he definitely has a little attitude/ temper though. he gets pretty grouchy sometimes but is still a happy and funny little toddler. we love him with everything we have and are so proud of his development.
Lennon
Lennon is such a sweetheart. he is a cuddly little one and doesn't mind who he is with as long as they are holding him and giving him love. poata says "he is the ultimate scam artist" because he makes whoever is holding him think that they are his favorite so that they will continue to hold him. everybody mentions how much lennon likes them and they always say, "i think i'm his favorite." there is a long list of relatives that believe this. lennon smiles at everyone, even the nurse that gives him his vaccinations! after he gets them! he is less of a high maintenance baby than luka was. he is content when he is sitting up because he can grab his toys now and play with himself. he loves his little rattles and blankies. he also loves his brother! he watches luka do everything and smiles at him constantly! he is such a chunker! at his 4 month checkup he weighed in at 22.8 pounds! he is over the 110th percentile for height and weight. the doctor said that he's the size of a one year old and that he is the biggest four month old that he's seen in a while. haha. he sleeps pretty well at night just waking up about 2 times per night and takes pretty good naps. i think he would take better naps if luka wasn't banging things around all day but oh well. we love him so much and thinks he is such a handsome sweet baby.

the holidays

thanksgiving dinner

in my moms yard on thanksgivng

our family and my mom's friends family on thanksgiving

honolulu city lights

luka's favorite display at honolulu city lights, the surfing snowmen

honolulu city lights christmas tree

us <3

luka and daddy

hawaiian mr and mrs. clause

winter pj's

just starting to decorate our tree

as a tradition each year we collect one of the "le bien" ornaments, which are glass ornaments painted from the inside of the glass ball through the small hole at the top. they are so beautiful! each year after we pick out our tree we go straight to pick out our new le bien ornament. each year they make about 8 or so in the collection and we just pick our favorite one. this year we got one with the three wise men on it and i'm in love with it.

last years le bien ornament

this years le bien ornament

a little closer look at some of the ornaments on our tree. the heart is 2008's le bien ornament

big boy lennon

he looks like he is totally posing here

lennon's bubble toes

lennon the santa and luka the reindeer at our ward party

on christmas eve on our way to cheesecake factory

christmas morning

santa came

 

i think he likes his piano =)

so I haven't blogged since before thanksgiving but luckily I didn't really take any pictures at thanksgiving so I won't overload you with pics in that category. we did have a great thanksgiving though. we spent it at my moms house and she also had a high school friend and her family join us. (the husband of my moms friend is a photographer and he did take a few pictures so i'll share a couple of those) everything was delicious and it was a beautiful sunny day so we ate our thanksgiving in my mom's beautiful yard. Christmas and all the festivities leading up to it were amazing. we had a blessed month of december and we are really humbled and thankful for everything in our lives! To kick off the Christmas spirit we visited the Honolulu city lights which was beautiful as usual but this time around we had a lot more fun because Luka is at a perfect age to enjoy it. When we drove past the lights on our way to park luka said "I'm excited!!! My FAVORITE lights!" Poata and I cracked up, it was so funny and cute! we also had a good time at our ward christmas party! we love our bishop so much, he is such an awesome person! he dressed up as santa and shook his big booty around and luka was so excited! luka got a goody bag from him and talked about how santa gave it to him for days. on Christmas Eve we have a funny tradition of going to eat at the cheesecake factory. Obviously this started before we had the boys and also my parents lived on the big island but nonetheless it is a yummy tradition. When I was younger and visited California for Christmas each year we had Christmas at my grandmothers house and she traditionally makes tamales for christmas dinner so at cheesecake factory I order the sweet corn tamale cakes to have somewhat of a taste of my grandmothers amazing tamales. We might have to change our tradition next year though because the boys get tired and fall asleep on the way home and then we can't put out cookies for santa together and read "twas the night before christmas." Poata worked so hard to make sure our Christmas was amazing and that luka especially had a memorable Christmas. we bought Luka a baby grand piano and it's so cute! we have wanted it for him for some time now and we were really happy that we finally got it for him. he loves to sing jingle bells accompanied by the piano. he looks so cute sitting on the tiny bench made perfectly for him. i can't wait till lennon gets to enjoy it too. on Christmas morning my parents, younger sister and grandpa came over and we had piles of presents for each person and had fun opening them all together. Luka would get so excited for each present that it took him forever to finish opening all of his gifts because he would play with each one for a while before he wanted to open another one. I made french toast for everyone and we had a great morning. I made a small christmas dinner that night and we had a sweet and mellow night together. I love my little family so much and I'm so thankful for a hardworking and loving husband. both boys are so in love with their daddy and it melts my heart. we are so thankful for the church in our lives and the humility and love it teaches us.