Grandpa Mathias' 85th Birthday Luau Videos

Auntie Ellen and her crew

 Tom Tom

Auntie Ellen again

Grandpa Mathias' 85th Birthday Luau

The last weekend we were in Cali, we were able to go up to Fresno to celebrate Matt's Grandpa Mathias' 85th birthday. We love him and his sweet spirit and ukulele playing. I also love to hear his stories of growing up in Hawaii and memories of his sweet wife Carrie.

Cynthia was able to make a surprise visit as well. She was supposed to fly in the night before the party, but after it was delayed, and then cancelled, she was able to fly in the next day. We picked her up at LAX and then drove up to Fresno with her and surprised her sisters and dad. It was fun, and it made me teary watching her surprise them.

Aunt Ellen put together a fabulous luau to celebrate Grandpa's big day. We had a Hawaiian feast and music and dancing. I have tons of pictures, and since I have so many pictures to catch up on I'm just posting what I edited. :)

Grandpa helping out Carrie's (Matt's cousin) girls Kaylin, Chelsi and Breena open there drinking with Carrie in the background

My boys enjoying the swing in Aunt Ellen's yard.

Kaylin and Grandpa. Grandpa seems to really enjoy the kids.

Carrie's youngest David, finally a boy. I took full advantage of having a newborn around and held him many times. He sure was a doll.

Tom Tom (Matt's cousin)

Quinn and Winston enjoying the hammock together. I love how they covered themselves up with it, and Quinn continues to suck his thumb. The stinker!

Grandpa singing and playing the ukulele during dinner. I don't know why, but almost every picture I have of him, his eyes are closed, so I'm posting them anyways.

I'm also very talented at closing my eyes in pictures, in this one, half way closed. Notice me cuddling that sweet little boy. I like boys, and babies! :)

Matt's cousins, Kyle and Kenny, Aunt Mimi's sons. 

Dinner in Aunt Ellen's beautiful yard. 

Uncle Jordan (Grandpa's brother) and Grandpa. 

Grandpa doing more singing. 

All my boys.

Winston enjoying himself in the hammock. 

Aunt Ellen's beautiful yard. 

The little Hawaiian band. 

Let the luau begin!

Aunt Ellen in the middle doing some dancing as well. 

Grandpa front and center enjoying himself. Cynthia getting videos with her iPad.

Beautiful Aunt Ellen.

Aunt Ellen in the middle.

Tom Tom, Matt's cousin, learned a dance for the luau as well. He was pretty excited about it.

Emily, Matt's cousin, on the right. 

Love this one!

This one is so pretty too. 

Uncle Jordan and Matt talking after the dancing. The lights were very blinding and bright. We love Uncle Jordan. Matt was able to live with him for a few weeks until he found a place for us to live. They lived in Chino, right next to us. We thought we'd be able to spend lots of time with them, but with Matt's busy schedule, it just didn't happen as much as we wished we could have.

Grandpa singing himself happy birthday. 

Love these pictures of Chelsi sneaking a finger into the cake frosting. She was so proud of herself in the end. 

Beautiful Auntie Mimi showing off Grandpa's cute cake. 

Another cute picture of Grandpa, though his eyes are closed. 

Uncle Jordan, who really reminds Matt and I of Jeff. There's something in his looks and mannerisms that Jeff has also. It's so weird.

Oh sweet baby David, I could have taken him home!

My sweet Winston enjoying his yummy cake. 

It was a fabulous day with family, celebrating a wonderful Man. Auntie Ellen put together a video of pictures and videos for Grandpa. He sure enjoyed it. When the video of the boys singing "Coconut Willie" came on, he got a big grin, so I take it he really liked it. I'm so glad Cynthia was able to make the trip, and we were able to have one last visitor in Cali. We miss our warm home so much!

I was going to upload some videos, but I can't get them to work right now, so I'll have to try again later.

Bubble Day

Last week the first graders at Malcolm's school had a bubble day and BBQ. We thought we'd go see him for a little bit since he kept begging us to come. I worked in his kindergarten class a lot, but I didn't have the opportunity to go help out this year with Matt's schedule and all. Malcolm really missed having me come in, help out and see him at school, and I missed feeling involved, so it was fun to go see him.

They had different stations with different ways of blowing bubbles. The first one they just blew bubbles through their fingers.

The second station they had whisks to blow bubbles through, but they didn't work too well, so they just used their hands again.

The next couple stations they used straws. They blew bubbles with the straw on a plate. Then they had a cup they blew bubbles in. Malcolm and his friend from class put their cups together and made lots of bubbles that were overflowing.

Malcolm and his friend Isaac from his class, just blowing some bubbles!

The next station they used produce baskets to make the bubbles. I love Malcolm's natural smile in the second picture!

The boys tried to be entertained by watching Malcolm, but it didn't last long. They did like the pine cones, but Quinn decided to start throwing them at the tree. He's such a boy and I told him to not do it, which he stopped, but then I got distracted taking pics of Mack and Matt was on the phone (though right next to him), and apparently he was doing it again and Malcolm's teacher had to tell him to stop. That was embarrassing!

Malcolm showing me one of the bubbles. 

There were several other stations, but we had to leave after that, and Malcolm was so disappointed and wanted us to stay. But we felt like we needed to leave, as we felt unwelcome. I'd called the office that morning to see if it was okay that I take the kids, the lady told me they aren't technically suppose to be on campus, but that I could take them and they just can't participate or play on the toys. She was very nice and I totally didn't think my kids could do that stuff anyways. Well they had little paper cups of water for the kids, and though I'd told the boys they couldn't have any, as I'd brought water for them, I finally gave in, thinking whats the big deal, they aren't playing. Well one of the teachers came up to me and just seemed very rude and intolerant of us being there. She told me it was campus policy that siblings can't be on campus and they can't participate and if they are going to be there they need to be RIGHT by my side. I was going to tell her I had talked to the office, but she just went right on talking right over me. So after I told Matt to get the boys away from the water and they can't have any, we decided we would just leave. She made me feel so stupid for being there, and so unwelcome, and she was so unfriendly (and it just hurt my feeling and made me mad). I wouldn't have taken the boys if I would have known I would be treated like I was such a problem. I've never loved how his school functioned here, although a very good school, and I'm glad I won't have to deal with their lack of communication and unfriendliness next year. Just had to vent!

From Beasts to Beauties

Last night at dinnertime I decided I was cutting some much neglected hair. Not the greatest time to do it, but although we had a very late dinner (and easy waffles), I didn't regret it. I HATE cutting their hair, therefore I put it off until they all look like very unkept rag muffins. Malcolm is always the most willing to cut his hair, Winston will tell me yes sometime and no other times when I ask him if he wants it cut. Quinn always tells me he doesn't want it cut, he likes his long hair. In reality, he'd just rather that I never touch his hair, as he never wants it combed either. He wears his hat a lot, but then takes it off when we're in the public places. 

I decided to do some before and after pictures.

Quinn is eating his apple in both before pictures, and I love Winston's smile in both of them. Quinn's hair is like a helmet he has so much body and it get so thick.

They look so much better. Though I don't love it RIGHT after it's cut, I like it better as it grows out for a few weeks. I love Malcolm's natural smile in the top picture, though he's leaning his head back. Winston "rock on" fingers in the second picture are adorable. He was so cute and had to come see them on the camera right afterwords. It's funny how we communicate with him, since he doesn't really talk. He starts coming toward me and I tell him to go stand back so we can take a couple more pictures and then flashes his "rock on" fingers and does a few grunts, and I understand that he wants to see the picture of his "rock on".

Of course they wanted a funny face picture as well. I like how Quinn just puts his fingers in his mouth and it's his funny face! Haha! Winston's hair was the easiest to cut, as he never complained or got antsy to be done. He just had to say "nose" a few times to tell me he had nose in his hair. Now Malcolm was the worst. He complains the most, it's taking to0 long, he can't see his movie, I'm hurting him. On and on with him. Quinn is in between, does complain, but not like Malcolm. 

Whenever I cut their hair, they get to pick out their own movie and watch it on the portable DVD player as I cut it. This is to help them sit still, and I always hope they won't complain as much. Winston picked out "Monster House", which Quinn is so afraid of, but both Winston and Malcolm like. When he brought it to me he told me it was scary, and then brought his arms to his chest and started shaking. So I had to have him do it again so I could get it on video. I'm glad I have video on my phone for quick moments like these. Love this silly boy, but sorry about my annoying voice!

Goodbyes Already

A few weeks ago, I already had to say goodbye to one of my great friends, Melissa. Her husband, Craig, was going to be starting rotations and not going to be home, so she decided to go home for the time he was going to be gone. It was so sad to say goodbye to her and her daughter Ruthie already, knowing I wouldn't see her and Ruthie again before we move. It just wasn't right really! We've never really taken any pictures of all the times we've hung out, so I decided to take my camera with me to snap a few pics of the kids, even though Malcolm was in school at the time. They aren't the best pictures, but at least some memories of our good friends. 

Winston and Quinn giving Ruthie a hug. Quinn sure loved Ruthie and would always hug her and talk to her.

Sweet Ruthie, Miss Blue Eyes! Love this sweet girl. I was able to watch her every so often when Melissa worked once a week. It was fun to have a little baby around that I could love on and hold for a day. I'm going to miss watching her grow.

 Cute Winston and Ruthie. I liked how they were both looking opposite ways. 

The three of them, Winston, Quinn and Ruthie. It's a pretty terrible picture, as I wasn't paying attention and it turned out really dark, but oh well. It's for the memories.

A not so great picture of any of us, but me with Ruthie and Melissa. Melissa is so sweet and such a great friend.

I will miss Melissa and her friendship. She was there for me when I needed someone and had no family around. She would watch all the boys and bring them treats and they just loved her. We love you Udall's and will miss you forever! I had to hold back tears saying goodbye, but have cried a few tears since thinking about how much I'm going to miss it here!

 Before Melissa left, she took time out of her busy life to make me a few things. She's always so sweet and thoughtful. Since we were never good at getting pictures of us all as we hung out, she gave me this photo album to fill up with all the fun people we meet along the way. She knows how I love zebra, so when she saw this she knew it had to be mine. She's so cute!

She started my book out with a picture I took of cute Ruthie and a note from her.

 She also made us a gigantic card, and filled it all with things we are going to miss. 

She also had several of our friends sign it for us. Thank you all so much! I'm going to miss everyone!