Aiden's fashion statement.

Gotta love the pantless wonder with his Thomas boots!! He was prompty
tol we don't wear shoes in the house. He then asks, "but what about
boots? These aren't shoes!?" tricky tricky lil stinker!

Ave's 4 month Stats

Our little princess is 4 months old! Where the time went I have no idea! She's now a WHOPPING 14 lbs. 7 oz., is 24.5 inches long. She went from the 10th percentile at birth to the 50th for weight and height. She's more than doubled her birth weight as well...which makes the parents happy!

She's mastered rolling from her back to her tummy and is getting pretty fast at it. She can do a mini push up now...and I'm starting to wonder if she will crawl before she sits up! Her new favorite thing to do is hang out in her Jumperoo. Aiden calls it her "dancer." He loves standing next to her and watching her "dance." He usually joins in too. :)

Ave is also very chatty ( i have no clue where she got that from ;) ) She loves to squeal and almost laughs when you tickle her. She's such a joy and I love her pieces. She also is a super pro at spitting up. And when I say pro I mean totally pro...the Michael Jordan of spit up. It seems no matter what I do she will still find a way to christen everything with the contents of her tummy. She's happy regardless, I just hope she can outgrow it eventually. It's frustrating sometimes. It's been a good way to learn patience, and to know that I'll probably have to change my clothes at least twice each day. ;)

We love her so much and are so grateful for her to be a part of our family. Her sweet disposition is infectious!

Vegas baby...

The kids and I flew home for the holidays since our Daddy is away. It was nothing less of fabulous. The extra help from everyone was sooooooooo appreciated! I don't think Averie touched the ground! AND, as predicted, Aiden was over the moon about being with his Magga. I get demoted everytime she's around...Aiden is completely smitten. I wasn't allowed to do anything, make his breakfast, draw his bath, not even help clean him up after the bathroom! When I asked if I could help, Aiden would always reply with..."No sanks mommy, how bout Magga?" He's lucky to have such a great Grandma.

Averie wasn't missing out on the Magga fun either. The girl could barely make a peep and she would be picked up and snuggled. My sisters would have her in a different outfit, complete with a matching bow every time I turned around. We have a little fashionista on our hands!

It was so fun to be able to spend such a long time in Vegas with family. It definitely made the holiday season go by without too much sadness.

On the flip side...it's great to be HOME in Hawaii. I missed our house, and all of our stuff, and seeing Jon's things again wasn't too bad either ;)

2010....wow

Happy New Year! The kids and I will be back in Hawaii very soon....stay tuned for an update from our extended trip to Las Vegas!

"the Iraq"

My sweet Jonny left for Iraq a couple weeks ago. Thankfully, I have been able to talk to him everyday, and even see short glimpses of him on webcam. The internet connection is a little rough, so its rare we can actually see him.

Life is just not the same. I just feel like half of me is missing and I can't find it. We just hope the time can fly and have our daddy home safe and sound! I'm coping, some days it seems like it will never end, and all I want to do is cry myself to sleep. But the majority of the time has been just fine. The kids are doing well and for that I am grateful.

Aiden refers to Iraq as "THE Iraq." Daddy Jonny is in the Iraq getting bad guys. Daddy Jonny has to fly his helicopter to the doctor but he can't get a pokey. Does daddy Jonny have a gun? When does he shoot bad guys? Ahh....the questions keep coming. We go through this almost daily. When Aiden said his prayers the other night, he asked that Jonny be kept safe and that the bad guys didn't get him and that Jon could help the hurt people in the helicopter. It was his first REAL prayer that didn't consist of poptarts and Thomas the train and Buzz Lightyear :0) I just cried my eyes out. It was the most tender thing I have ever heard. Although it's so sad to say the least is that Jon is away, I love the fact that Aiden misses him so much. They've really gotten close, and I know the bond that have created will last through this deployment.

This is Jon and Averie just before we left him....I love this picture. It makes my heart is full yet still breaks every time I look at it.
One last shot of us...

Just another day at the Sim.... Blackhawk simulator that is!

Jon took us to the blackhawk simulator yesterday. We have been meaning to go for some time, but life gets in the way ;) It was SOOOO COOL! It's about as close as I will ever get to being in a real army helicopter...and to have Jon as my IP (instructor pilot) made it extra special. I had absolutely NO idea how much you had to be managing all at once! You've got your pedals, collective, several gauges and your cyclic (probably spelled that wrong!) Oh, and don't forget to look out the window! I kept looking at everything in front of me...it was almost too much to look out the window AND fly. It was a really fun experience and I'm glad Jon got to take us. I have always had respect for pilots...but after doing the simulator, I have TONS MORE! To fly in real life in real combat situations is something truly remarkable!
When Aiden came in....he was all ready to go. Told Jon he was here at the helicopter and was ready to fly "way up high in the clouds." He sat down in the seat, put on the headset and was all business. It was too cute. He put his hand on the collective and said he needs to get some power and pull up on it. Guess he had been listening to his Daddy Jonny!
PJ and Tom are the guys that run the simulator...and they said we are welcome back anytime there is a spot open. So I'm thinking as a special treat...Aiden will have to log some more flight hours while Jon is away :)

Bannnnnzaii!! and a couple other adventures

Jon's parents arrived here 9/17, and so we have been doing our share of "exploring" around the island. The first weekend that they got here, we rode the old Oahu Railway train up to Waianae on Sunday afternoon. How fun! Aiden was more than excited, and he even got to blow the train whistle after the ride was finished. He jumped from it being so loud, but he loved it!
We also went out to the Pali lookout, which I had yet to see. It was beautiful and soooo windy! The was absolutely no point in combing my hair that day! That was actually my birthday and we celebrated by eating dinner at the Shorebird downtown (one of my favs)

Miss Averie did a lot of this on our adventures.......

We headed up to North shore since there was a high surf warning. The waves were expected to be around 12-15 feet. I haven't seen big waves here yet, so I was excited to go out and see what we could. We chose Banzai pipeline as our viewpoint. It was soooo cool!! I loved watching the surfers out there trying to catch a big one. I could have camped out there all day just watching. I can't wait until winter when the waves get HUGE...I'll be toting my camera as well as the munchkins for those :)