I'll Take It Easy On You

Over Spring Break, I had a lot of one on one time with Emma. There were limited gymnastics practices because her coaches were on a cruise and Dave, Alyssa and Rebekah were busy with nightly rehearsals for the Easter musical, so that left just the two us. She was my sweet and constant shadow for the week.

When I went for a jog, so did she...eventually leaving me in her dust.

When I needed to grocery shop, I had an extra set of hands putting sweets in the cart.

When my van got a flat tire, we fixed it together {and when I say "we fixed it" I mean that we went to Tires Plus together to pay for them to fix it}.

When I was on a seemingly endless quest to find the right shade of pink leggings for Alyssa to wear with one of her choreography costumes, she was by my side comparing magenta to cherry blossom to cotton candy.

She read to me as I did my usually solo chores around the house, and she was more than happy to help me select a birthday cake for us to have on Easter when we would celebrate both hers, and my mom's birthdays.

Not that I had forgotten, but I was reminded of what wonderful company she is! Such a hard working helper, always laughing and full of joy, driven to please.

We were at the park and when she asked if we could play tag, she caught my hesitation to agree to be chased up, down and around the playground equipment. "Don't worry," she told me, "I'll take it easy on you." She is the kind of girl I would hope to have as a best friend if I were a little kid all over again.

And yes, she almost always dresses as if she is headed to the gym. This is just part of her charm. She wondered out loud the other morning why she had to wear jeans to school again because it had been two whole days since she had clean yoga pants in her drawer, which is a really looong time to not wear yoga pants :-).

Happy Birthday to Grandma and Emma on Easter!

Happy 11th birthday, Precious Kahiwalani, 

 We love you and are so proud of you!!

Rollerskating Fun!

I got so excited to post about Alyssa qualifying for Nationals that I accidentally skipped over a couple posts I had in mind to write up. So here, from the weekend before Mother's Day are some pics from when Emma invited some girls to go roller skating as a late birthday celebration...

My favorite girls!


Whoa, Em, don't fall!

Photo 125 of 365, taken May 4th:

Emma's friend Willow brought bff socks that have now become Emma's absolute favorite pair of socks. Emma has the strawberries, Willow has the apples and Dara has the peaches. Poor Emma looks like she needs some longer jeans...both she and Alyssa seem to be getting super tall, super fast. I can't seem to keep them in jeans that fit right.

The girls had so much fun! Emma got a turn in the cash cube to grab all the tickets, coupons and real cash that she could {it's harder than it looks according to Em} and just look at all the tickets the baby earned on her favorite game {I think Alyssa had something to do with Rebekah's big score}.

The sweetest card from Natalie and the coolest pink bouncy ball with a sharpie drawn pig from Ada. Emma sure does love cute pink piggies and her thoughtful friends know it!!

Photo 126 of 365, also taken May 4th:

After roller skating we went back to the house and roasted some marshmallows. From the looks of it, no one was having any fun at all. Nothing better than sugar filled, happy kids running around the yard on a beautiful Spring evening.

Cookies and a Haircut Idea

Photo 107 of 365, taken April 22nd:

Yesterday, we stopped at the bakery after Alyssa's orthodontist appointment. The two younger girls were so happy to see these Brewer cookies on the shelves...definitely an indication that Summer is on it's way!!

Photo 108 of 365, also taken April 22nd:

The traffic was so terrible on our way back, that I broke down and gave into the requests to stop and get a frosty. At first, Rebekah was so frustrated with Alyssa for trying to put this bib on her, then she realized by tucking her hair into the straps, it was just the right opportunity for her to model the haircut she has been trying to talk me into for months. She keeps asking if I can cut her hair up to her ears. She later saw this photo and told me it was perfect!

Birthday Cake Fun

By the time we got home from gymnastics practice on Emma's birthday, the unbelievable had occurred...Emma was all cupcaked out! Poor Dave had taken the time to set out the beautiful cake, but she couldn't stomach any more cake for the day. She had several cupcakes earlier in the day and then more at the end of practice, so we decided to put off singing to her until Saturday.

It was worth the wait though!! Here's the perfectly pink cake Emma loved so much!


Happy Birthday laughter as we sing to her.

Thinking so hard about the all important birthday wish.


This picture looks worse than the situation actually was. Thankfully, while it was close, none of her hair ever got caught in the flame.

Very happy to be celebrating the day after her birthday...as it turns out, her tummy may have needed a little rest, but she would never tell you she had too much cake for her birthday!!

April 13th

Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister in law, Ku'ulei! We hope you had a beautiful birthday!!

April 13th was a busy day...we had the German Immersion Foundation Dinner and Auction, so our day began with running to the Italian Community Center to set up.

Photo 100 of 365, taken April 13th:

All the goodie bags of cookies being set up for the guests.

This was the invite for the auction. Our theme celebrated the 200th anniversary of The Brothers Grimm fairy tales. My friend Barb designed them and I thought she did a great job, the silhouettes were just beautiful! They fold out and there is a whole section not seen here. It was a fun auction.

After helping with set up, we came home for a while to relax before having to get ready for the event. Emma got to open presents and have birthday cake. She loved this football stuff she picked out back in March...I think she wore it the rest of the day.

Photo 101 of 365, taken April 13th:

Dad's little football player.

This photo made me wonder if she knows what football players do though. Dancing with ribbons in one hand, and balloons in the other, outfit complete with helmet. She's something else :-)

Happy 10th Birthday, Emma!

Photo 98 of 365 taken April 12th:

Ten years old...an entire decade of life. Wow is just about all I can say!

10 facts about Emma on her 10th birthday:

1. Emma's favorite colors are bubble gum pink and pastel yellow.
2. Emma is not a morning person.
3. Emma loves everyone. EVERYONE. One of the things I marvel at about her the most is how quickly she makes friends, how special she makes everyone feel, and how it seems like she's never met someone she couldn't get along with or that she didn't want to get to know better.
4. Emma loves to eat tofu, watermelon, vanilla yogurt, cheese, plain pizza, chicken nuggets, macaroni and rice. Other than those on the list, I cannot think of any healthy foods that she eats. Feeding her stresses me out sometimes.
5. Emma loves to read, run, roller skate, and draw. She loves playing games and seeing tv shows that make you think. Her favorite show recently is Brain Games on the National Geographic Network.
6. Emma is a helper. She'll help with any task, any time. She works very hard at anything set before her.
7. Emma's favorite day of the week is Monday {weird, huh?}. They re-fill the candy bowl on the front desk at the gym on Mondays.
8. While Emma's favorite animals are pigs, elephants and dogs {in this order}, I would have to say that Emma is more like a cat...drop her and she'll find her feet.
9. Emma is very girly, but definitely has a tom-boyish side. She'll race the boys at school on the playground {she usually wins}, and she's really strong!
10. Emma is famous in our house for walking up during the last ten seconds of a conversation or tv show and wanting to be filled in on every detail she missed. She is very funny, most of the time easy going, and smart.


Alyssa on cupcake guard. After gymnastics practice, the girls weren't allowed into the kitchen to get a birthday cupcake until their jobs were done.

I think this one got out of her job a bit early :-)

Photo 99 of 365, taken April 12th:

An after-practice birthday photo.

When we got home from the gym the girls had to try out the rhythmic gymnastics ribbons.

The face of concentration on the birthday girl.

We Love You, Precious Emma!!
Happy Birthday, to our Sweet 10 year old!

Photos 94 and 95

I can't believe we have gotten this close to 100 pictures, I'm still running behind but working on it...

Photo 94 of 365, taken April 5th:

We met my Uncle Ted for breakfast one morning over Spring Break. It was great to see him. The girls love him and call him Uncle Teddy Bear.
Photo 95 of 365, also taken April 5th:

Rebekah and her friend Isabel had fun peeling bark of the tree that holds up the girls' tree house. Rebekah held up this long piece to pretend it was a huge beard.

It's All About the Hair!

Photo 89 of 365, taken March 3rd:

While the girls were at my parents' house, my mom had a hair appointment and the two older girls went with her. My mom's hair dresser did each of their hair in a French braid that wrapped around to a curly side pony tail. Based upon all the photos they tried to take of themselves with Emma's kindle, I would say they were pretty excited about the fancy hair-dos. I wish I could do nice hair styles like this for them myself! I never been able to do much beyond a standard ponytail and regular braids.

Please Read to me, Emma

Photo 83 of 365, taken March 30th.

Emma's Level 7 State Meet

Sunday was Emma's level 7 State Meet. She did a great job, scoring her second highest all around of the season.


I'm not sure what I am saying to Emma here, but it looks serious. Because of the timing of the sessions, I needed to be the coach on the floor for Emma's group. I think it made me more nervous than her, she seemed completely un-phased by my presence. She just did what she always does while my mind raced like crazy trying to keep up :-)

Photo 80 of 365, taken March 24th:

Great meet, Little Em! We are very proud of you!!

Game Night "Shedule"

Emma planned a family fun night schedule for us one night last weekend while Alyssa was busy with a youth group activity at church. I think Emma enjoyed being the kid-leader of the family for the night. She was extremely punctual, making sure we moved from item to item on her list in the exact time frame she planned out for us.

Photo 71 of 365, taken March 9th.

Her phonetic spelling makes me smile. She wrote the word schedule like she-dule, but was pronouncing it the way that English people do. I think this is a bit of her German sneaking up on her without her even knowing/realizing the error she's making. It happens to all the girls at different times, that they either say something not quite right, or it's too proper to be "Proper American English," and it makes me laugh knowing it's a just a little something they picked up at school. Oh... and make sure you don't forget to RSP!

Festival of Nations

One night last week, Alyssa's school held their annual Festival of Nations. I forgot to bring a camera, and did not even have my cell phone on me, so I missed getting a picture of her spring time haiku in Japan, and I completely missed even seeing the homemade board game she made as we walked through South America {it was just one of those nights}. We did manage to stop and get face painting done.
Photo 69 of 365, taken March 7th:

The girls loved the way their face paint looked, but if you ask Rebekah, she'll tell you it was awfully sticky. She was equal parts sad and excited to wash it off, and I was scrubbing flecks of that blue paint out of the bath tub for two days afterwards. I'm not sure where it was coming from after the initial time I washed it out...it just kept magically re-appearing.

Wow, Gymnastics!

The gymnastics meet in Iowa was super intense, some of the highest scores I have seen at a USAG meet ever. They started the meet in a very different way than I have ever seen as well. After marching in and announcing the participating teams, they had the teams gather at the middle of the floor.

Photo 65 of 365, taken March 2nd. The announcer had some words of advice for all the gymnasts, then they began cheering as they huddled together. Even though they give team awards at meets, gymnastics tends to be a very individual sport. It was kind of neat to see them encourage unity among the competitors.

Overall, it was a good meet for Emma. She had her highest vault, beam and all around scores of the season, setting the level 7 club record on beam and all around for her gym. There were girls in her age group scoring 9.6-9.7 on every event, and she wasn't quite scoring that, but she kept a positive attitude about it, and it is good for her to see that such a high level of competition is out there.

Photo 66 of 365, taken March 2nd. Her team ended up in 3rd place.

Photo 67 of 365, taken March 2nd. A highlight of the day was meeting 2012 Olympic Team alternate, Anna Li. Anna was there coaching for her family's gym. She is probably one of the best female uneven bar workers in the world.

Fox 6 Wake Up

Photo 46 of 365, taken February 20th:

This morning, Fox 6 Wake Up News came to our gym. They feature a segment called Learn With Laura, in which one of their reporters visits area attractions and learns what they specialize in there. She came to try out her gymnastics skills and I was pretty impressed! Laura did great and all our gymnasts had a lot of fun with a camera crew in the gym. Emma looks like she took a bath in the chalk for this photo.

There are a couple of video clips below where Emma is in the background as Laura learns gymnastics.

Here she is on beam.

And vaulting here.

Cruise Classic

I'm jumping a bit out of order here, but these are some gymnastics pictures from our home meet last weekend.

Alyssa in action. She is not officially competing again, she just wanted to jump in since it was our home meet. She loves the sport but because of other activities that she loves even more, she only gets the chance to work out about once once a week {sometimes not even that often} when I coach. It was so much fun for her to pick out music for floor, she chose a song from Les Miserables, and we choreographed a routine in our living room. She was so proud of it!!

Some of Emma's pics from the meet.

I loved this photo of Emma running down the vault runway. When she first started gymnastics she used to bolt down the runway with a huge, silly grin on her face ~ something she still does quite frequently, but she's also gotten more serious in her vault technique as well. One of the boys on team was watching Emma vault recently and he told Alyssa, wow, your sister is really intense! Vault is probably not her best event, but she sure does attack it!

Photo 41 of 365, taken February 10th:

Oddly enough the girls, although competing in different levels, had the same exact all around score on the day: 34.55. Alyssa was 1st in her age division and level and Emma was 5th. It was a fun meet!

Winter Window View

Photo 38 of 365, taken February 9th:

On a snowy afternoon there's nothing better than bundling up and going outside to play...if your a kid, that is! It was a bit too chilly for me to venture out, so all these photos were taken out the living room window. Rebekah and Skyler stayed busy wiping snow off tree branches or any kind of ledge where the snow had piled up, while Emma and Jaydon dug a snow tunnel next to the driveway and threw snow at each other.

Fasching Party!

I mentioned a very exciting Fasching party last week in Emma's class. They {loudly} sang festive songs and played two hilarious games ~ Emma could not even believe she was at school. She kept looking over at me, I think trying to get my approval that it was okay to be this wild at school.

After singing, the first game the kids played was a eating contest, here is a short video clip:


Everyone was having so much fun watching and cheering each other on!


The second game began with a pile of Winter clothes and a wrapped chocolate bar.

The kids were split into groups and each student had a turn to roll a die. The die kept going around the circle and each time a student rolled a 6 they had to frantically put on all the winter gear and try to unwrap the chocolate bar. This wasn't easy because of the big mittens they were wearing.

Once they were finally successful in getting the bar unwrapped, everytime a 6 was rolled it became time for the lucky child who just rolled the 6 to eat as much chocolate as they could. I have never seen such a loud, excited group of kids before ~ the prinicpal had to stop by the room with a friendly reminder to quiet down.

This is what it looked like outside during our crazy celebration to welcome Spring. Almost without fail, there is a snowstorm every year on the day we have Fasching. I am beginning to think that Winter isn't scared of us at all!!