shane

here are a few pictures of shane, born on sunday, november 29th at 9:15am at home. the midwife's scale said he weighed 9lbs, but that was probably a little off because at the dr. today he weighed 8lbs 4oz. He is 21 in long and his head is 14 in. around. he's nursing well and doing great!

hallowe'en

here are some pictures of halloween. ivy was a fairy and aidan was dash from the movie the incredibles. since we were already running late, i didn't get a chance to paint aidan's mask on or slick his hair back, and i didn't get black shoes or boots for him to wear-- but he didn't mind too much. and ivy pulled out the ribbons that were the shoulder straps for her shirt. i didn't have any way to feed them back through the casings, so her shirt was falling down all night. oh well. everyone had fun, and aidan was totally in character the whole evening.

trying things on, last minute

dash's underwear were too tight, i had to remake them.

ivy wasn't sure what was going on, but she liked putting things in that ginormous bag. and she liked jack-o'-lanterns. that's our friend miles the pony behind her.

aidan was running around the entire time, 'cause that's what dash does. he wouldn't hold his bag or say trick or treat--i had to do that--he was mostly interested in examining everyone's decor.

for some reason ivy decided this fake bone looked tasty.

aidan did a lot of rolling on the ground and other action moves, like super heroes do.

i ended up having to put ivy's wings on upside down so they wouldn't flop over, but i think they still looked cute. she was a trooper and kept most of her costume on the whole time.

the wing straps were holding up her shirt.

hope you all had a spooky-fun halloween!

a few nature outings and a sewing project

this was a gorgeous afternoon spent on a well-shaded waimanalo beach. i took lots of adorable pics of the kids and scott playing in this big hole, but the kids were in their birthday suits as usual... i'm starting to feel like i shouldn't be putting my kids' nakey bums on the internet so much.

even my crapola camera can sort of convey the perfection of this day:

the following four pictures were at the lyon arboretum, where i take the kids for a walk sometimes. having a little non-stressful interaction with nature seems to put us all in a better mood. at the arboretum it is nice and cool-ish, there are groomed paths, and of course lots of beautiful trees, flowers and plants that we all enjoy.

the kids love this gazebo and pond with its amazing water lillies that mommy can't stop taking closeups of... and sometimes there are frogs!

awww...

and here's a little gift i made for a small friend's birthday. usually i make all the birthday gifts we give away to friends. they'd probably enjoy something from the toystore a lot more, but oh well... i just like doing it.


this here's a toolbelt. i made a similar one for aidan as a test run. they both turned out pretty satisfactory. we kept the hammer for aidan so that ryan's parents wouldn't hate me too much.


the other tools i think are fairly harmless: phillips and flat head screwdrivers, plyers, measuring tape, a tiny clamp, and iddy-biddy adjustable wrench.

that's all for now folks.

a dress for ivy

i'd been eyeing this fabric at the fabric store for some time, and it finally got the better of me. i like the little yellow rebel ducks going the wrong way. the colors are great, despite what my lame camera would have you believe. i bought a half a yard which was the perfect amount to make this little dress for ivy. this was one of those sewing projects where the stars aligned, i winged it with no pattern, and everything turned out peachy. a very rare occurence for me.

front

back

it's a simple drawstring design. the drawstring acts as the straps and also creates cute gathers around the top of the dress. the string ties at the front where there's a small slit (finished with a little placket). sorry if you don't give a hoot about sewing but i was rather pleased with how this turned out. i'm hoping this design will allow the dress to function as a top as she gets bigger, as it's very roomy and the straps can be made as long as you please by loosening the drawstring.

the model shots:

and the funny faces:

(my favorite)

"helping" around the house

recently i ordered some stuff from this montessori online store as sort of a birthday present for aidan. it's hard to find good quality, child-sized household items that aren't simply toys, y'know? a kid can feel good about himself when he has the proper-sized tools for the job-- that actually work. and my kids like to "help" with housework (which usually means more work for me). anyway, we're so happy with the things we ordered (oh the excitement of receiving something in the mail!), which include a sturdy broom, dustpan and whisk broom, gardening gloves (sword-fighting gloves if you're aidan), a window cleaning set, small pitchers and glasses, a tiny glass juicer, a vegetable chopper, an apple slicer... i believe that's the bulk of it.

anyway, in the catalogue aidan saw this clothesline stand and proclaimed that he needed one. i remembered that i had a folding stool from the olden days that never got used anymore-- it now has a new life as a clothesline. ivy wanted to use it too, so fighting ensued-- good thing there were two of those old stools. since that was too easy, i had to make a couple goofy little bags to house the mini clothespins previously purchased at the craftstore (when you see them, you really just buy them without a second thought because that's how cute they are). so here are some pics of the kids helping with some of the daily work--hanging out the diapers--and enjoying it.

deep concentration.

ivy, always watching her brother.

ivy puts the clothespins on upside-down. and takes them all off. and takes the items off the clothesline. and puts it back. etc.

the quickly-made clothespin bags. they tie on to the wooden frame of the reincarnated stools. ah, there's nothing like an easy, pleasing, home-made thingamabob for which you have all the materials right at home. my only regret is the hideous florescent yellow twine i had to use for the clotheslines.

update: i started this post like six weeks ago and it took me until now to publish it! i do finally have a new camera but it takes crappy pictures, i'm very disappointed to say. you'll get to see the poor quality in all its glory soon, i hope. or maybe in another six months.

hmm, another six-month lag in blogging. it seems i'm not very good at this. in my lame defense, my camera's been broken, so i've had no recent pictures to post. the ones here are all several months old. at least there are a few videos at the end of this post that are from our recent trip to california.
these first few are of a little hike we do sometimes -- this time our friends shannon and collin came with us.

the next two are at the contemporary museum.

a st. patrick's day hui (playgroup date)-- who dresses this kid?

at the honolulu zoo

the wonders of toilet paper

and some video...

a day at the beach

aidan's first "real" surfing experience. scott paddled out with him and caught a couple white-water waves, then aidan got unbearably cold. winter is tough here, i tell you.

ivy was sleeping in the backpack most of the time, so no pictures of her. but later, she found a cozy spot in the closet: