Afternoon Artists

The girls received an easel and paint set from their cousins for Christmas; today is the first day I felt brave enough to let them use it (;p) and I'm glad they did:

Malia's piece is an abstract work of art, popping with her brilliant use of primary colors. Her medium was poster paints, applied in long, sweeping strokes, and then filled in with generous "blobs."

C'est Magnifique!

Mikela initially chose to showcase her extensive knowledge of Dr. Seuss's "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas"; she then switched over to a more mature "Twilight" theme, after peeking at her sister's work. (And, no, I don't let them read Twilight.) Her combined use of colors adds great interest to this piece; I find the vampire quite charming. :D

Kiana started her piece with a beautiful red apple, and then continued to add elements from "Twilight," despite her lack of knowledge of said theme. She has dedicated this piece to her parents, as her mother has read the entire Twilight series, and her dad reminds her of a werewolf.

Yikes. I had text and pictures aligned differently in the previous post, but blogger doesn't seem to agree. Oh, well. You get the gist.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

And I'm not just speaking as a warm-weather native.

Front Yard

More Front Yard.

Steps to lower deck.

Snow on shed roof.

View from kitchen

Hawaiian snow shoes

Girls decorated-cute, no?

Girls with Uncle Harry!

Daniel measured yesterday--7.5 inches, before it started snowing again. He promises that once he returns home from a failed attempt to get Josh on a plane to Hawaii (flight cancelled! :( ), he and the girls are going to tear up the front yard! I'll post on their snowy fun later!

Happy Winter!

Tiny Dancer

Maybe It's In The Genes?

The songwriting, at least. Gotta work on the music-making, I guess. :)

Letters From A 1st-Grader

Well, envelopes, really.

As timeless as I may seem, I have been known to have a birthday every so often-about once a year, or so. I'd not mention this otherwise, but for the fact that my husband goes to painful lengths to plan "surprise" parties every year. Which, as you can imagine, are no longer a surprise. ;-p

So, my 2nd 30th birthday was a lovely evening spent in good company, gorging on delicious food, and receiving thoughtful gifts. When my sweet Mikela handed me her card, I was beside myself with laughter:

Aren't 6-year-olds "aosom!"? *

*For those not in the know, this word is from another Miki masterpiece, declaring

"Girls Rule, Boys Moo. Aosom!"

Let's Change Things Up A Little Bit Here...

So it seems that there may be something in Vicodin that triggers some unexplainable need in me to post to my otherwise neglected blog; what do you think brings me here today? Hmmm...

That's right, folks; I'm home, and recovering from surgery #3--whoohoo! :-9 As you can tell, I'm in good spirits; could be the painkillers, or it could be the very minor nature of the surgery. Today's procedure was just about removing scar tissue, and exposing the 2 posts that my ear prosthetic will be attached to in a few months (they've been osseointegrating into my bone under the skin.). Anyhow, 'nuff about me.

It looks like my disappearance from Blogville coincided with the beginning of school, which makes sense--it's been an incredibly busy time. Kiana & Mikela are settling into the 3rd & 1st grades nicely, while Malia patiently bides her final year at home with Mommy--wah! :)

(Oops--looks like this will be a words-only post; Blogger is having trouble uploading my files...)

Anyway, very quick run-down:

• Kiana & Miki started school
• September 7th: Aunty Heather came to stay with us.
• September 17th: Malia turned 4!
• September 20th: Uncle Josh turned 23.
• September 23rd: Daniel turned 34.
• September 25th: Aunty Heather turned 31.
• September 27th: We threw a "Welcome, Baby" shower for Jennifer & Finn.
• September 29th: Aunty Keala turned 26.
• October 9th: Miki turned 6!
• October 17th: Uncle Kale is 21! (Can you believe it!?!? 21!!!)
• October 21st: The Campbells are coming!!!!! YAY!!!!!! Check out my sister's blog for your Calista & Kawena fix; she's finally updated! ;-9

Wow. I'm glad that looks as crazy as it felt.

I've also been trying to fill my duties as this year's secretary for Pearson's PTA--keeps me on my toes. We're tying up loose ends as we prepare for our 2nd annual Pearson Pride Auction, on November 1st; I hope some of you will be able to join us that night! For those of you who don't know, it will be held at the Sons of Norway in Poulsbo, at 6:30 p.m. If you're interested, give me a call, or drop me a line--we've got some pretty cool stuff again this year!

All right, well, I've had to go back and re-spell about 15 words, so I think I'd better call it quits. Pictures to come, once I figure out what's going on with that. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Cupcake Cuties

Around here, there are a few traditions we try nobly to uphold, the most important one being: Dessert Night! It only happens twice a week, on Tuesdays & Fridays, though during some weeks, we've been known to add a night or two, or seven--you know, in the interest of strengthening traditions, and all.

Another thing we try to do regularly(and regularly fail in, unfortunately), is set aside some time each night to do something fun as a family. I have had the good fortune of bearing children who love to cook, and love to create, so tonight's family time choice was cupcake-decorating!

(Malia had the sad fortune of throwing a fit right before the cupcakes were done, and then falling asleep during her THREE MINUTE quiet time--you'd think she was exhausted, or something... :p So, she's not in these shots, but, rest assured, we saved her some cupcakes to frost tomorrow.)

The Artists' Pallettes

Chef de Cuisine

Sous Chef

Tower O' Cupcakes

My sweet girls, with their sweet treats. :)

A Post Only A Mother (Or Grandmother, Or Aunty) Could Love...But I Post It Anyway. :)

And Baby Makes Five...

In the (modified) words of Stevie Wonder, "Isn't he loooovely/isn't he won-der-ful?"

This is (one of the things) I was bursting about on the last post!

Introducing (sort of; I had to let his parents do it on their blog first)

Finn Xavier Leon (Moczarny, when Adrian is tired)!

If you want all the details, be sure to check out Adrian & Jennifer's blog; I'm wondering how often we'll see them around blogville, now that they have another beautiful time-taker-upper.

And let me just say, I get dibs on being favorite non-blood-related aunty, since I got to be there the moment he was born--thanks, Jen & Adrian, for letting me be a part of that. (I'll pretend that you didn't just use me for my webcam broadcasting abilities. Or lack thereof. :p)

I'll close with a shot of the family;

Congratulations, family!

(By the way, I stole these pictures off their blog. :p)