Hungry?

Nick and I took the two babies with us this morning to run a few errands in preparation for our move... Then we hit the commissary before heading home.  Nick and I split a deli sandwich. We had no idea the sandwiches were so big, so we shared with Addison.  Here she is helping me eat my HALF.  Needless to say... we all ate on this and were very full.  The other half sits in the fridge for a later date to possibly feed a small country.

Daddy's Little Helpers

Today was a successful work day for Nick.  He had lots of helpers today.Yesterday he started working on trimming out the entire house.  He hadn't been able to finish that since we've put in the new flooring last summer.  He did have a couple bedrooms started... but got a lot more done yesterday.  Today, he got ALL but the living room done!!! 

 
It helps that he had a daughter who enjoyed caulking the nail holes and top seams.  And, it helped HER that she had a paper towel assistant to help wipe up any extra spills.

Another little helper, who may not have been quite so productive:

She got ahold of a roller and was going all over the house "painting" the walls, floors, toys, chairs, you name it. She was very proud of her work. (Thank goodness there was nothing actually on the roller, or Daddy's To-Do list would have gotten a lot longer.)

 

A quick peak for the camera during some closet work. And NO, Trevor does NOT have 3 legs. Kenzie is in there too!!!

I got to sneak in a little nap, and this is what happens when mommy is asleep, and Daddy is in charge:

Even the dog got in on the 'fun'.

And here is a peak of Tyler... who at this moment actually sat in the swing.  Most of today he has been fussing and demanded to be held by mommy.

He looks so cute and innocent in this shot though, huh? (Did I mention he was cute?!)

Muffins

I was up early again with Tyler this morning so I whipped up some (box) muffins for breakfast.  Trevor and Addison were up before they were done, so they set up their little wooden chairs in front of the oven to watch them bake...

Almost done!

Mmmmm!!!! Cinnamon Struesal Muffins

Photos by McKenzie

So of course when Nick replaced the front jalousies, he found that one of the boards trimming the front window was so rotted, he could have ripped the board off with is bare hands with no problem. It had to be replaced.

So, this afternoon, he and Sid suction cupped the huge window out and ripped out the trim and redid it all! Talk about nerve wracking watching them pull the window out. I could just SEE it shattering... but they did a great job and had it done in no time! Now we just have to paint the new trim.

In the meantime, McKenzie snuck the camera outside with Trevor and Addison and had a little photo shoot of her own.

This is my absolute FAVORITE!!!

Smooshing their faces in our travelers palm.

There was a 'slight' breeze today.

And I have to sneak in a couple of Tyler. Here he is taking a quick nap before his bedtime bath...

All fresh and clean...

Whatcha Been Working On...

Flash back 3 years ago to see what the front of the house looked like when we first bought it (I'll try not to get sick)... Take a closer look at the old weathered wooden jalousies under the windows...One of Nick's first projects this past week was to replace them. They were too worn and deteriorated to sand down and stain them, so Nick went and bought some wood and made some custom cuts to fit the new hardware. This skill of his saved us HUNDREDS of dollars. Yay Nick.

And... since my mom was still here, he wasn't shy about putting her to work. And she was more than willing to help out!

Mom's lovely staining skillz! (Thanks Mom!)

While we waited for the stain to dry that night, Mom, Nick and I sat out on the back lanai and had a great time talking.

We also had the pleasure of watching a mutated Frog/Toad/Lizard CRAWL across our yard with his 4 legs. I thought frogs hopped, but not this one. He literally CRAWLED. It was quite freaky. Nick was brave enough to get close enough to take some pictures of this freak of nature.

Anyways... here are some pictures of the results.


And from the inside... they look a little red in the picture, but they match the floor and the blinds quite nicely!
Moments before this picture was taken, Addison took off out the front door, through the garage, down the driveway and then took a spill right on the sidewalk. That's what happens when you run from Mommy!!! Lucky for her, she was running with her baby dolls. They saved her face from the impact of the concrete, and probably a few teeth from being knocked out too!

Playing with Daddy

Daddy took a break this afternoon to play with Trevor's new Airplane Kit he got for his birthday from the Ladners'! Poor Tyler just couldn't stay awake!
Painting his airplane...

Hail & Farewell

This past week has been super busy. We had a squadron event called a Hail & Farewell where the squadron says "Goodbye" to the families who are leaving and "Hello" to the new families coming into the squadron.

The XO and his wife (my friend Kim, and mother of Little Richie) hosted the event at their beautiful Kailua home. Here are some members of the squadron gathering for the CO's speech.
We were the first family they said "Farewell" to. They joked at the number of kids we had... the other half of our clan (the girls) were running around elsewhere.

After the CO made his remarks, Nick was able to say a few words about how much he has enjoyed being a part of such an amazing squadron. I tried my best to hold back tears.
We have been in Hawaii for nearly 6 years now and most of that with the Ugly Angel family. We have made the most amazing friends, and I can't imagine what it will be like once we move on to Virginia in just a few short weeks from now.

"Smoochies"

We also said "Goodbye" to the Rashman's who flew out yesterday on their way to North Carolina. Zach is going to be an instructor at HMT-302, the training squadron for the 53 helicopters. We will miss them!!! But we will definitely run into them along the East Coast at some point!
The XO and his wife are leaving and headed to Korea. His wife Kim is so brave! I don't know that I could handle going any further away from "home" then Hawaii. I'm as far away as I'd like to be. What a great experience that most will never get to do, though!

We also said "Goodbye" to the CO. He and his family are headed to Okinawa to be the 1stMAW G1 (Don't ask me what that is) We have all enjoyed his wife. She has been a lot of fun this deployment and the last 18 months as the CO's wife.

Here is Tyler sporting his Ugly Angel onesie (handed down from Addison)

"My Daddy May Be Ugly, But I'm A Cutie"

Julie, Me & Alaina writing our love notes to the wives who are leaving the squadron! The spouses got a beautiful coffee table book about the Hawaiian Islands. I will cherish mine with all the sweet messages from my fellow "Ugly" spouses!
We should be out of here in about 6 weeks!!! So much to do, and so little time. I know the last few weeks here will fly so quickly! I'm very excited to be moving to Virginia, and starting a new chapter in our lives... but will really miss living in Hawaii.