December 2019

December.  This is how I feel after December, too, Brady.  The kids said they wished Christmas was twice a year.  I do not agree but I love the holidays.  I still feel like I need to learn how to balance the chaos of gift-giving and expectations of holiday traditions.  I would not mind if it was dialed down a few notches.  What would I give up, though?  The class Christmas parties?  12 Days of Christmas service?  Christmas concerts and recitals and music firesides?  The food (so, so much food)?  No easy answer.

We started Christmas season brainstorming what was most important to us and then calendaring it out.  For next year, we know we need more flexibility.  One of our kids has a hard time when plans unexpectedly change.  Must be like her mama.

The elves never forgot to move this year!  I'm so impressed with their ingenuity.  Zip lining, snowman-building, hot cocoa drinking elves were told early on not to hide in Kate's bedroom or anywhere upstairs to prevent nightmares.

They moved into this position after Zachary's band concert.  They must know he is in the percussion pit.

PJ and a Christmas movie kicked it off!  Of course we chose "Elf" again.  Instead of new jammies, each kid received an Advent Calendar: Zachary with a Harry Potter Lego calendar, Kate with a Friends Lego Christmas calendar, and Owen with a Hot Wheels calendar.  PJs from last year worked just fine.

 Lights on Rice was enhanced with Avocado Curry and Panang Curry and every year, I am glad we went.  Brady and I laughed and joked together while our kids collected mounds of candy canes and hung out with friends.

 December 7th, the kids and Brady went to the ward Christmas party while I attended Mahjinka's orchestra ensemble concert with Megan, Heidi, and Robert.  Listening to excellence at that level was a unique experience for me in Kauai.

 We attended Brady's work party that week, too, and I was the only person to land the toilet ring on a cone and win 20 whole dollars.

 Heidi saved us all by doing a sugar cookie party at her house.

Christmas crafts were in full swing at Owen's preschool and at home.  I was a little sad not all the kids were interested in crafts this year--it was really an Owen and Mommy effort.

Santa and Mayor Kawakami joined us on our walk-to-school day.

Hot cocoa party with Ghiradelli mix and peppermint marshmallows!

Owen and Ivy are fast friends, although like all 3-year-old pals, in limited quantities.  We had fun playdates together.

Owen and Kate stuffed 100 bags of peppermint treats for me to hand out at church.  Funny enough, Brady forgot to read serving sizes and bought me 17 Costco-sized bags of them.  Love that he does the Costco runs now and was willing to pick them up, and return them.

Gingerbread house time!  Our house was more independently decorated by the kids this year.  Owen ate more than he decorated, but got in on the action.  We heard the crunch-crunch-crunch of hard, packaged candies for a straight hour.

Kate was more detailed in her creations.  She and Zachary both had a side to decorate, and she added the snow.  Zac ate it almost as fast as she put it on.

Owen loves tea parties and through several for himself. You can see the chair does not quite support his body anymore.  He almost always serves homemade lemon water and carrots.

We get rodents in the garage from time to time, and I panicked one morning when I walked into the pantry and spotted these wrappers.  I'm still relieved it was Owen and not a rat, even if it means he binges sugar in the closet.

Book Club Party--an event I look forward to every Christmas!  We played book trivia games, rounds of charades, and had a book exchange and pupu potluck.  This year, we voted "Educated" by Tara Westover as the best discussion and "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens as the favorite book.

Going strong since 2007!  12 year anniversary!

Owen caught sleep where he could but December was a rough month for him.  So many big emotions when there is not enough zzz and too much sugar.

Kate is her class representative for Student Council and loved picking the daily themes for Holiday Spirit Week.  This was her choice for "Sparkly Day," and she bought it herself.

Yay for Heidi and haircuts!

...and more awkward naps.

We look like an Amazon shipping factory at this time of year.

Yay for holiday concerts!  Kate's class sang the "Reindeer Rap"--describing the woes of all the work and no credit for their contributions: "You know it's not easy, pulling Santa Clause!" and "Every year he gets bigger and bigger...Don't you think he should watch his figure?"  Owen sang along with the Kinders, who sang a Christmas rendition of "Old Town Road": "I'm gonna take my sleigh to the Old Town Road, I'm gonna fly till I can't no more....Everybody start behaving, Santa is coming!"

Kate has been dancing with Hilary again since October and I cannot believe the progress she has made in a few short months.  The class ended up being just her for now as the studio and class times adjusted with Hilary taking over the business.  I'm happy Kate wants to invest in this.  I have only ever wanted Kate to enjoy dance and do it for fun but I have to say that watching her work at it is inspiring.

Two of my favorite humans:

Free Lappert's Ice Cream Day:

Winter Break involved the beach and friends every day.  Owen does not love the beach but he sure loves to climb trees and play tag with friends.

Zachary renewed his love for surfing and caught 100+ waves over break.

Brady took Zachary to Star Wars with the Stebbedlark crew and since I cannot stay awake during any Star Wars/Star Trek/Star anything movie, I stayed back with Kate and Owen and we spent the evening at Brick Oven pizza followed by hunting for Christmas lights and taking a walk on Santa Lane.

We were disappointed to discover Santa Lane has only a few houses this year, but the few houses holding out worked hard to make up for it with homemade snow and candy canes.  Keeping up with island expectations must be exhausting and I do not blame people for turning off lights after a decade.

Another day, another awkwardly timed nap leading to a 10:30pm bedtime.  No nap leads to nightmare Owen and nap leads to late night Owen.

Christmas Eve surf with Zachary after everyone else left due to heavy rain.  There is nothing I enjoy more than water time with my kids.

My Christmas post is separate and includes Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Christmas Day, we ate leftovers at the Clarks and played games after a satisfying day at the beach (despite gnarly, grimy water).  Owen started panicking and crying about getting home and we realized after pulling in it was all so he could play with his mini remote-controlled car.

Another day, same beach, no waves.  At least the water was clean this time and we found plenty of other ways to play.

Shave ice outing after the beach.  The longer I live here, the more I like it.  The slushy sugar is ono.

Brady had a work trip to Oahu and extended the stay to visit with Scott and his family on vacation with the Castletons.  He was stuck in traffic to get there, but made it and he played for hours at the beach with them.

We were skeptical with all the brown water adversaries, constant rain, and wind that Hanalei would be a joke, but Nic and Robert assured us that the weather was good after 2pm that day.  We went up and were rained on for almost 80% of the time.  However, the 20% sunshine was gorgeous and the kids claim the day at Hanalei was their favorite of the entire winter break.  Kate surfed for hours with Shay. Zac surfed and boogie boarded for hours.  I surfed a few waves and mostly got tossed around in close-outs.  Brady surfed and boogie boarded.  Owen ran around in the sand with Ivy and had a blast. 5 for 5.  It was a good day, despite the uncooperative weather.

Zac and Kate:  "Mom, seriously?!?  We already took a family picture this year!"

See another post for highlights on Owen's Sunday birthday...

We had playdates and beach time on New Year's Eve.  Kate and Shay independently found a recipe and make cookies.  They forgot about the part where they promised to clean up but I was happy to pitch in after tasting their work of chocolate art.

Owen "helped" a lot with the process, too.

I love having portrait mode on my new phone!

Nic turned 40 and we celebrated him and 2020's arrival at the Clarks that night.  The waves were so good and the party started at 5pm, but Nic said I should stay out surfing late after he called Heidi from the water.  I love birthday waves.  I love friends.  I do not like fireworks that last until 5am, but I do not think I am allowed to whine about loud parties until I'm at least 40.

Birthday hug from a bro.

After the ideal waves on New Year's Eve, we braved the Sheratons crowds and headed there again with a few other families.  The waves were not as great, but still plenty of fun for several hours, plus lovely sunlight.

Zac powering through the crowds to snag his wave.

Kate and Tate tear it up on waves now, too.

Brady went out and caught waves with the kids using his new fins.

Brady sent me out with Robert and Nic for some New Year's Waves, and each time I slid down the face of the wave with my Papa Sau board, all I could think was, "Happy. New. Year."  2019 was hard for so many of my friends.  I almost feel guilty that it was so ideal for me.  I know challenges will come, though, and I will soak up the moments every chance I get.

Wind and rain shut down Poipu the next day and we escaped with the Stebbins to Kekaha the next day, at least before heading to soccer practice for both Zachary and Kate.

Jake and Owen=TWINNING!

Taking pictures at noon=terrible quality.  Kate, Shay, and Linnaea.

Zac riding the face left, and Caleb right.

Groan.  Soccer practice for both kids.  They handled it well.  We dropped off Shay and found a one-stop-cleanup-shop: she bathed Owen while I vacuumed out gallons of sand and Kate used the outdoor shower--all in 12 minutes!

There are plenty of things I do not do well as a mother but I am getting better at putting aside tasks for moments.  Kate wants me to note that during this game, I was "too aggressive and cheating."  I want to note that I won.  Just kidding, of course.

Oh, I jumped on the tramp with this kid so much in 2019.

I can only hope 2020 will be as fulfilling as 2019.  Happy New Year!

p.s.  Also, to be fair to my first picture of Brady, this is me on Sunday after church.  I was too tired to get the pillow case out of the dryer, or go upstairs to get Owen a t-shirt.