Learning about service

I can't even count all the different times mom had us practicing "Yankee Doodle" or some other group number to sing at one event or another...sometimes for money, and sometimes for service. A good friend of ours in our ward was having a surprise 50th birthday party for her sister-in-law with a theme of Hawaii 5-0 and asked if the girlies would dance for it. I of course said yes, and couldn't wait for the girls to have another opportunity to serve others, while at the same time, practicing their dancing. Now, we only know 2 numbers, and realized that for the Tahitian number they know we can no longer perform it because all the costumes are way too small. So, it's time to update the costumes and I think it's time to learn a new number. Anyone out there know a tradional Tongan one? The girls are ready!

Wordless Wednesday

Go Cougs!!

I remember as a kid getting to take my turns going with Dad to the Penn State Basketball games. I was always so excited when it was my turn. Naki got some tickets recently and this time took Malia with him. She had such a great time.

And of course, she and Naki couldn't be in the Mariott Center without taking a trip to visit Grandfather Davis on his famous basketball team photo. Go Grandfather!! and Go Cougs!!

Sneaking In

All of our kids have done this to some extent, but with Eva, the baby holds some magnetic pull for her. She literally can not resist her. I struggle with knowing exactly how to handle this. This house is so strange as far as sound...if doors are shut it is REALLY hard to hear what's going in there, or, if I am upstairs you literally can not hear what is going on downstairs, and vice versa. So if I put the baby in bed and then pull the door shut all the way I can be in the room next to hers and never hear her cry. So, I tend to leave the door open a crack. This is the reason that Eva continues to sneak in Ane's bed. This may not be a big deal to some, but if you've seen Eva's interaction with babies, she tries to get as close to them as she possibly can, and this sometimes means cheek to cheek, stomach to stomach, toes to toes. In other words, completely smooshing them. She's such a tank, she'd smother Ane for sure! However, every time I've caught her in there she is always laying side by side with Ane, and Ane is completely happy to have her there. Hmmm...I'm not sure how to handle this.

Ballroom Superstars

Naki is the sweetest. He knew that I was seconds away from losing my mind and that I desperately needed some time away from a cute but seriously time consuming 6 month baby girl. So he arranged for Line, Malia, and I to attend the most fun thing ever! He found out that BYU was hosting this years United States National Amateur DanceSport Championships. Ballroom! Now, we've never danced ballroom and neither have our girls . . . yet. That's a yet for ALL of us. Naki and I will some day be taking lessons. Mark my words. And we'll be dang good, too! But since we're such huge Dancing With the Stars fans, he thought that the big girls and I would really appreciate watching it. It was such a blast.

After watching them for a while you start to take for granted just how fast they're able to move their feet. They were incredible. They would compete in heats, starting with all the couples in the first heat. Then they would only bring 24 back, then 12 back, and then the final 6. We had such fun picking our favorite couple in each heat, and then watching to see if they made it through the cuts on to the next heat. Both girls really liked this particular girl, and were taking pictures of her.
We were amazed how much energy everyone there had. We finally had to leave at 11:15 pm because we were just too tired and they were still going strong! I asked the girls if they would prefer taking this kind of dance lessons or the one their currently in, and they both still prefer to stay in their current classes, but we'll see what the future holds. I don't know, they look pretty good to me, don't ya think?

Wordless Wednesday

What in the WORLD, Malia!

Naki and I are not huge fans of our girls and makeup at their young age. We don't believe in buying it for our girls yet, but also know that there will come the time when it is appropriate for the girlies to use. But, for Christmas, Malia won some makeup and some press on nails at the Maile Christmas auction that Uncle Rex and Auntie Misty so lovingly finance and run for all the Maile cousins. Simply put, Malia went a little crazy. In addition to having no makeup experience, it didn't help her efforts that the color palette was in the range that no normal human being would ever wear.
We have a lot of work cut out for us, I think.