Universal Elements

To find the universal elements enough;
to find the air and the water exhilarating;
to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter;
to be thrilled by the stars at night:
to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring...
these are some of the rewards of the simple life.

John Burroughs, 1837-1921

Snow Ball Fight!

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The Week Before Thanksgiving

Hello All,

It's about time I caught ya'll up on what we have been up to. The Sunday before Turkey Day we had a great get together at my Mommy's house with dear family friends. It was fantastic to have us all together(minus one, Matras). It's been a very long time since we have all been able to get together like that. Our lives are all in very different directions. It was a wonderful to be able to sit around and catch up while all the little kids played. With all the grand kids there were ten kids all under age seven. My mom has never had so many high chairs in her house before. It was a blast to see all the kids together. They have all grown up and changed so much! Two I was meeting for the first time. I am so thankful that they braved the snow to be with us. It was a great evening! Thank so much to the Behunin Family! You are all amazing and I'm so lucky to have you in my life. I'm looking forward to getting together again soon!












A couple days before Turkey day the girls were playing dress up with the gifts we brought them home from Hawaii. I finally busted out the camera and got some cute pictures of them playing Hula Girls. Stinking Cute!

Sick...again.

The plague hit our house last week. Well, mostly it just hit me. The girls got a little itty bitty cold, that hardly even counts. Jorja still has a bit of a snotty nose, but she is also getting teeth. Who's to say if she was really sick, cuz she is acting completely fine! Just when I thought I was getting better, we had a mellow weekend which was very nice. Then Monday night things went down the toilet again. Just me. I've been drinking tons of water, taking my vitamins, resting as needed, hibernating to stop the spread of disease. I am grateful to say... I'm finally starting to feel better. I sound like a frog is stuck in my throat. But, I feel lots better! I would like to express my appreciation for Josh venturing out in sub-zero temperatures to get me more cold medicine. I am very grateful for the comfort of soft tissues on a sore nose and the soothing feeling of a cough drop on a scratchy throat. Now if I could just stay warm!

I still haven't gotten pictures from Thanksgiving of Jorja blowing out her candles. I can't wait to share with everyone the amazing cake that my cousin made! She had a great 2nd Birthday and it was a fantastic Thanksgiving! Since we didn't really have a party for Jorja she has been having an extended celebration as we see people. She is a very spoiled little girl! Thank you everyone who made it so special!











Pie night was very exciting this year! We had a great time as usual and made 52 pies! But, that counts the four shells that we burnt and had to re-do. Those ladies are amazing and it was fun to have the kids together. Love it! Can hardly wait to do it again next year! Thanks girls for all the amazing memories!








Josh spent last weekend in California working. It's never fun to have him away, especially when I'm home sick with the kids. Talk about never getting a break. We are happy to have him back home.


Just in time for him to fix the lights on the Christmas tree. The girls hung all the ornaments this week. It's starting to look like Christmas at out house. Even if we don't have a tree topper or a tree skirt.


I'm very excited for the Christmas Season this year. I'm excited to have some fun at the end of this crazy year. I'm very much looking forward to 2010 and leaving this roller coaster of a year behind us. We are kicking off the Christmas Season this Saturday with the amazing Kurt Bestor concert! I'm so excited! It's always a great show and it completely ushers in the Holiday Season!

Hope everyone is enjoying this time of year and is feeling the love of this amazing season. Much Love!

Jorja has been throwing more fits lately. They are pretty funny. I have been trying to get a good video of one with not much luck. This one was kinda funny. I told her "No" for something silly and she started her little pouting. She's been putting herself on the floor like this a lot. But, then she got distracted by the TV and it's over that fast.

Gotta get video of one of her big ones. They are very original.

Some pictures of my Girls

I tried to do a little photo shoot with Jorja the other day. Hoping to get a good picture of my big two year old. But, it was too close to nap time. She had a melt down. Only roof roof could comfort her.


Olivia at her corner of the counter. She does all her homework and drawing projects here. She loves to draw and do art projects. She is even excited to do her homework every week. I'm such a lucky mom to have such a good girl.



Liv and Jorja were in the tub last week. When she said she had to poop... so on the toilet we went. I thought this was so funny. A monkey on a toilet. She was making monkey-ooh ooh sounds too. So funny!

Not Prepared

Jorja's 2nd Birthday is next Thursday. I'm completely in awe that she is almost two and I'm dreading it. I just want time to move slower. I don't want her or Olivia to grow up so fast. I'm totally putting off planning anything for two reasons. One, the holiday is screwing with any chance of having a normal family get together for her moment in the spotlight and I don't want Turkey Day to turn into all about her. Two, I'm not ready for her to be so grown up yet. Subconsciously I think I'm procrastinating hoping time might slow down and I wont miss anything. But, it's moving just as fast and now I'm going to be unprepared for whatever I do decided to do. Makes me feel like a bad mom. But, I do have a week... to throw some little thing together that will make her smile.

Random Hawaii Pictures

Some picture Lindz took that I took off of her Facebook page. Can't wait to see them all! These are all along the Hana Highway
I did update some pictures to my original Hawaii post if anyone is interested.


One of our MANY stops along the Hana Highway


Can you find Josh and Blake?


A great picture of the curvy road of Hana highway with the bamboo forest falling into the road. So crazy!


Such a pretty tree!


This is the biggest leaf I think I have ever seen.


On a little hike to see the Falls the boys hiked up above the falls. The water was just raging down!


One of the many bridges we were on.




Old Keanae Landing and a very cool old Church in the middle of this very small town.

Halloween PIcture and Fun

BOO!
Hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween. I would say ours was pretty spectacular. We had a fun get together at my Mommies house. Mom and I started cooking the night before. It was great fun to spend some silly fun with my mom as we made these spooky creations. I hope Olivia enjoyed everything the most. I hope she remembers all the silly things we did for Halloween and that she helped make.


Our yummy bones, spider cookies and ghost cupcakes


We didn't have any red, so we made rainbow brains.


We made two kinds of mummies, these are the pizza mummies. Yummy yummy.


Monster fingers


The delicious spread. We had so much food we had to have leftovers for Sunday dinner. The smoking juice and floating eyeball in the hot chocolate put things over the edge. It was a fun dinner!




Blake actually came dressed up this year. He made a great Shaggy!


His little Devil was pretty darn cute also!


Jaye and Jorja were getting along pretty well.


Grandpa and Sherry came bearing gifts. One for Jorja and one for Jaye. Too cute!



Jorja eating the goods. She was a sticky mess.


My little Garden Gnome


Grandpa and his girls.


Olivia was a very pretty Fairy and Jorja my silly Garden Gnome. Grandma helped us make the costumes. We spent the whole Saturday before Halloween making costumes! Thanks Grandma Launi!


Showing off her new goodie bag.


The gang heading out to Trick-or-treat. The babies got cold and noses running about half way up the second block. Josh ended up taking Olivia the rest of the way. Jorja was so fun to watch. She carried her bag the whole way on her arm, taking the candy from everyone and putting it carefully in her bag. Olivia was an old pro this year. The kids came home with loads of yummy candy that we are trying to ration. Jorja is saying and asking for "cany" very well. We spent the evening visiting with friends and family. Great Grandma Taylor even stayed the day with us. It was so much fun! I spent most of Sunday recovering after staying up talking with Brandy till four am. Though, I still didn't get a game of Settlers in. Maybe next time. Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us. Looking forward to next year!


Jorja enjoying her spoils!