Waiting for Member #5

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our 5th family member.  Sam has been praying every night for our family of 5 since we found out we were expecting.  This is such an exciting time as we wait with such excitement to meet this little on and to see the little on that God has created to make us a family of 5.  I have hit full nesting mode and have focused on getting the house organized and getting ahead with our school lessons.  This blog has been on my to-do list for months now.  Finally I am getting to it.

We are expecting a baby girl, although we know there is a small chance that the ultrasound tec misread the ultrasound.  Our home is ready for a baby girl, but mostly we pray that this baby is healthy and happy.  Hans built the crib for the baby.  He has quite the skills.  After having hand-me-down cribs for the boys, I really wanted one that we would keep and cherish.  The bedding is all custom made by me.  Sewing is something I enjoy, it's that being patient and cutting straight lines that is testing.  I am so glad I took on this task, but I think I may give sewing a rest for a while.  This Hawaiian born baby is destined to love the ocean and the beach, thus I felt the island themed room was appropriate.  Our very talented and sweet neighbor painted the adorable mermaid print to match the room and Hans' mom and I worked on stringing beads and shells to complete the mobile. Sam and Zeke picked out the bunny lovie for their sister.  It's all ready and waiting for the arrival of our little one. 

Soccer Fun

The last time we tried soccer for Sam it did not go so well.  The program was so disorganized and Sam did not have any fun.  We decided to give it another try with a new program and enrolled both boys.  It has been a great experience for them both so far.  They are still working on mastering the rules of soccer, but we see improvement every week.  Zeke's age group is hilarious to watch.  It's like watching a heard of little cows running around, and then randomly you will see Zeke go off in his own direction just smiling and waving at us.  He has fun and has no problem taking a seat on the ball when he feels the need for a break.  The highlight for Zeke is the snacks provided after the game.  Sam enjoys playing  and it is amazing how much better he is doing with soccer since trying it less than a year ago.  Great coaches make such a difference. 

School Days

I realized that I do not have a lot of pictures of our school days.  Homeschooling keeps us busy every morning and it seems I should slow down one of these days and document in pictures just how hard we have been working.  Teaching our children is a blessing in so many ways.  There are challenging days, days when none of us are motivated, but the sense of accomplishment and the joy in learning far outweigh those moments.  We have been beyond blessed to find a Classical Conversations community here and with that have met so many wonderful friends.  The boys love going to our community each week and learning the new material with their friends.  Zeke comes with to Sam's class and joins in at times or just sits in the back and soaks in the information.  Each week we learn a new history sentence, timeline points of the history of the world, math, English grammar, Latin, Science, Geography, and either music or art.  It's a lot of information and our brains fill full after our class day with our community, but we enjoy working our way through all this information and mastering it together throughout the week at home.  I love our relaxed afternoons together and the that the boys get so much time to play and be creative together.  Here are a few pictures of the boys working hard.

Hiking The Island

We have checked off a few new hikes from our list since the year began.  One was a sunrise hike without the kiddos and the other a sunset hike with the kiddos.

I Need to Shave

One of Zeke's favorite presents he received for Christmas is a shaving kit he got from his Nana and Papa.  This boy insists on doing anything and everything that his daddy does...including shaving.  He cracks us up. 

Our 6 Year Old

It is hard for me to type that Sam is 6 even almost two months after his birthday.  When he turned 5 that was hard on this mama.  Then he lost two teeth in November and that was difficult.  Turning 6 was a moment for choking back tears.  He is a young boy and growing more and more independent each day.  It is a bittersweet time and I am trying to soak up every minute.  Sam has a very special birthday and he loves that he shares his birthday with Jesus.  It's hard to find the right balance of celebrating Jesus and then celebrating Sam's birthday, so we have found doing another birthday celebration on another day helps Sam feel loved and gives us all the opportunity to focus on Christmas.  He is lucky, he gets a cake on his birthday on Christmas and then he ends up with another cake or special treat on another day.  We don't complain because we all enjoy sharing in this time with him.  He requested apple pie for his "cake" on his birthday and then he asked if we could all go to the Cheesecake Factory another day to celebrate.  The whole island and all the tourists love the Cheesecake Factory, so after waiting an hour and a half to get it, we were all ready to enjoy some yummy food and cheesecake.  This boy loves his curls and has no intentions of cutting them off and he continues to bless us each day.

Christmas In Rewind

Spending Christmas with just our little family is such a blessing.  Though we greatly missed being back in Iowa with all our family, it is such a gift to be able to just be present together with just our children.  We spent Christmas day at home enjoying the company of one another and relishing in the magic of this time of year.

The boys received a few presents under the tree and then from mom and dad they got a trampoline.  Hans and I have been waiting to get them one until we had the right size yard and what a better place than here where they can jump in the sunshine every day.  They love it.  

Meeting Santa

There is no snow on the island, the weather is eternal summer.  But Hawaiian's bring in truck loads of "snow" to kick off the Christmas season.  We thought it would be fun to take the kids to on of these events.  The line was so long, we never made it to the "snow", which was really just a puddle of slush and water.  However, we did make it through the line to meet Santa and Ana and Elsa from Frozen.  Not sure if we'll try this event again next year, but it is something that the kids didn't forget.  Zeke is always reminding me that there is snow in Hawaii on "snow day".  We so missed the snow over Christmas and longed for cooler weather, a cuddly sweater, and hot cocoa by the fire.  The weather here is beautiful and sunny almost every day, but it's hard to get into the Christmas spirit in a tank top and shorts.  This, too, is just another adjustment to island life.  So instead of sledding we go to the beach.  Instead of hot cocoa, it might be ice cream.  Whatever it is, Christmas is such a special time of year.

 

Much to be Thankful For

I love making our own big Thanksgiving meal.  Cooking is therapeutic for me and I love having left overs to pick at for days.  The last few years it has just been our own little family at Thanksgiving.  This time is special because in the scope of a lifetime we will only have a few of these Thanksgivings where all our children are gathered around the Thanksgiving table.  We know we were blessed to have our health and to be able to be together as a family when so many military families are not this time of year.  Here's a glimpse of our Thankful table:

Fall Family Pics

Taking pictures of your own family always increases the stress level.  Add in a 3 year old who likes to goof off and your picture taking that you had all planned out just turns into a ball of frustration.  Luckily we all survived and came out with a few pictures that were worthy of our Christmas card.  Life's not perfect, so I guess our family pictures should not be expected to be perfect either.  Here are the winners:

Our First Visitor in Hawaii

The week before Thanksgiving Hans' mom came to visit.  She was our first visitor since moving to the island.  The boys loved having some one-on-one time with Grandma and she loved it just as much.  She couldn't soak up enough sun, but got every minute she could.  Sam and Zeke just took their toys outside to play in the sun so Grandma could catch as many rays as possible.  We took her to a few different beaches and a few tourist spots, but, mostly, we just enjoyed having time together.