Go Bows!

A Sunday afternoon baseball game.

Happy Birthday Edwin

This past Saturday we went to the Jones' house to celebrate their son's Edwin's 9th birthday.  The kids had a blast playing with all the new toys, jumping in the jumping castle, and playing relay games.  The video below shows the little kids attempting the relay game where they had to fill a cup with water by squeezing water from a sponge.  They didn't come close to finishing, but all had fun trying ;) 

Army Crawling

Dylan has perfected the army crawl - he scoots all over the house.  His clothes are usually pretty dirty by the end of the day, but the floors are staying pretty clean ;)

Superhero!

We went to Target on Saturday to pick out a birthday gift for Edwin's party and Gavin wanted to try on these masks. 

Spring Break 2011~Island Style

This year we spent our spring break enjoying the beach, the kids, and spending time with Joan.  Mark and I  started the week off with a double date with the Martins to celebrate Matt's birthday.  We took advantage of their new place in KoOlina and decided to just walk from their house to Roy's for a drink and then to Just Tacos for dinner.  It was nice to be able to enjoy dinner and conversation without the "bosses" around demanding so much of us ;)

 Cheers! 

Joan arrived on Monday afternoon so we spent all day on Tuesday on the East side of the island.  We went a new beach, which is always fun when we can experience something new here - it was in Waiamanalo Bay and had these rock walls that made a perfect lagoon for Gavin to swim and play.  After the beach, we drove around the East side to see the sights and then went to an early dinner at the Kona Brewing Company in Hawaii Kai.

Mark left Wednesday afternoon to go to the NCAA wrestling tournament in Philadelphia so Joan and I had the rest of the week to shop and hit the beaches.  We just kept all the beach stuff in the car and each morning she would pack lunches while I got the kids ready to go.  We pretty much made it around the entire island - going to the East side (Waiamanalo) on Tuesday, out on the West side (Ka'ena Point) on Wednesday, KoOlina on Thursday, took a beach break to go shopping on Friday, North shore on Saturday, and back to KoOlina on Sunday.   It was a busy week, but it is always fun go to different parts of the island that we usually don't go.   Most of all, it was great to spend time with Joan - and for the boys to spend some quality time with Grandma.  

Spring Break 2011~ Saint Patrick's Day

This year Saint Patrick Day fell over our spring break so we were able to enjoy the entire day.  Joan and I packed up the kids and headed to KoOlina for a few hours to meet up with the Weida's, Martin's, the Shinsky's, and Trish and baby Alex.  After going home to regroup, we headed down to Aloha Tower for dinner at Gordon Biersch.

As you can see, I got a little carried away with the fun editing tools here ;)

Dylan & Makenzie at the beach

Gavin and Uncle Brian

What an interesting site we were at dinner.  4 adults and 6 kids made for quite a show ;)  At one point I looked at Katie and asked her why we continue to subject ourselves to this and she reminded me, "Because it's fun" ;)

Gavin was in meltdown mode by the time dinner was over. . . As Mark would say here - "Smile and just pretend you are happy"

A New Toy

Gavin said to me today that Mommies don't have any toys to play with they only have work.  After I thought about it I told him that my camera, phone, and computer were my toys.  Tonight, I guess you could say I got a new toy.  I downloaded a web-based photo editing tool and started "playing".  Here are a couple of my creations...more to come ;)

Keen observation

On Friday when I went to pick up Dylan from his Nanny, we were talking about the boys and the differences between them.  She has only met Gavin a few times, but made an interesting observation.  She said, "Gavin seems to be an intellectual person- like he observes and takes things in.  Dylan, on the other hand....well, he is just looking to have a good time."  I'd say she has got them figured out ;)

Growing up too fast

Our Gavin is really growing up fast!  In this past year, he went from a toddler to a little boy.  He went from watching Diego and Dora to Spiderman and Superman.  He loves to pretend that he is a superhero and jump, run, and "fly" around the house.  I am really starting to get a glimpse of life with boys because he likes to wrestle around on the floor and prefers physical play over playing with toys. 

This past week was a milestone in his "growing up"- we got him a twin sized bed and took down his toddler bed/crib.  He loves his new bed and he loves being a "big boy"!

He loves chocolate!  This is after eating a chocolate ice cream bar.

He likes to wear this costume all the time

First night in his big boy bed!

Who's Who? (part III)

I haven't posted any look-alike pictures in a while, but seeing this one below of Dylan reminded me of a similar one I had of Gavin around the same age.  Although Dylan is starting to take on his own looks, at times they still look so much alike.  

My blue-eyed boys 

 This is a picture of each of them on their first day of daycare. Yes, I remembered the outfit Gavin wore and dressed Dylan in the same one when he went.  Both of them look really happy to wear this outfit ;)

Buelow's B&B

Although I am making light of the fact that for two years in a row (within weeks from each other) Hawaii has been under threat of a tsunami - or I guess you could say that we have had a tsunami for two years in a row.  Thankfully we have been spared the destruction and devastation that others were not - for that I am thankful.  My thoughts and prayers go out to those in Japan that have endured so much in the past few weeks.

When there has been a tsunami warning the past two years  it has been in the middle of the night so we were safe at home up in Makakilo (about 500 feet above sea level).  Because we live at a "tsunami safe" elevation, many of our friends have come up to our house.  And that is how the Buelow B&B began ;)  Nothing like an impromptu house party that begins at 2 am.  This year the Buelow B&B opened its doors to the Hoffman girls (and dogs) and the Martin family.

Just like last year, all the kiddos were put to bed in pack and plays in all the rooms of the house while the adults sat up most of the night to watch the news.  The next morning we had breakfast together... this year Mark made pancakes. Luckily, everyone got to go home once the roads were re-opened around 8am.

 The big kids eating breakfast while Dylan played on his blanket.

To read about our B&B tsunami evacuation party last year, click here.

Dylan is 6 months!

Dylan turned 6 months old on March 10 - it is hard to believe he has been here for half a year already!  This little guy has a smile that can light up a room and he flashes it freely to everyone.  His nanny (the woman that takes care of him) says, "He's a charmer with that smile".    

At his 6 month checkup he weighed 16 pounds -14 ounces (between the 25th and 50th percentile) and measured 28 inches long (97th percentile).  He is such a wiggle worm that changing his diaper or getting him to lay still is almost impossible.  I usually keep a toy on hand to give him something to do while changing him.  When the nurse tried to weigh him at his appointment, he didn't want to sit or lay still even for the few seconds it took for her to adjust the scale.  She ended up letting him go to his belly and giving him her tape measure to play with.  She kept saying, "Oh my" and "Wow, he's busy." 

His eyes have turned to a bright blue.  He always has them wide open so he doesn't miss anything!

 He loves to eat!  We recently gave him rice crackers to try and he is doing great feeding himself.  So far, he seems to like all the food we have given him to try (except green beans).  His menu consists of avacado, banana, papaya, plums, prunes, pears, apples, carrots, sweet potato, squash, peas, rice cereal, and oatmeal.

He has been army crawling around the house now for about 2 months, but has recently perfected his army crawling, using his left arm/elbow to pull him self forward while keeping his right hand free to get into trouble.  In the past two weeks he has been coming up to all fours and rocking - he'll be crawling soon!

Dylan loves Marley!  When we come home he watches her and laughs as she runs around excited that we are home.  She is so good with him- she just lays there as he "pets" her and he doesn't seem to mind an occasional lick from her either ;)

Here are a few video snippets from the past month.  The "blowing bubbles" has no sound...first day with my new iPhone.

Beach Day

Last weekend we finally had a nice day for the beach - it has been too long since we've spent the day playing and lounging at the beach. After spending all day Saturday with the Martins, we thought we needed a little more time with them, so we all met up at the lagoons at Ko Olina ;)

Gavin was in the middle of saying "CHEESE" in this picture, but I wanted to put it on here because of what he was wearing. Like I've mentioned before Gavin likes to pick out his own clothes - on this day, he chose pajama top with shorts. (The pajama top belongs to Abby- he wore it the night before and has wanted to wear it every night since then....we will give it back....eventually).

Mister Mom

Mark has always teased that he would gladly be a stay-at-home dad....I can just picture what his day would look like - drop kids off, surf, golf, happy hour, pick the kids up and head home ;) Well, this past weekend he got to play Mister Mom for two days and I would have to say, he proved me wrong ;) On Friday, school was cancelled in his complex because of power outages (I wasn't so lucky) so he spent the day cleaning our house, doing laundry, and getting groceries. Then, on Saturday he took the boys to the Bishop Museum with Matt and Abby to give me time to work on my paper. I would have to say that if every weekend could start off with no laundry, a clean house, groceries bought, and time for me to work on my dissertation, my life would be a lot easier!

The boys watching Spiderman (first thing Gavin asks for as soon as he gets home from school)

Eyes wide open so he doesn't miss anything at the museum.

After the Bishop Museum, I met the boys back at the Martin's new place in Ko Olina for a couple hours at the pool and dinner.

We finished the evening with a walk with all the kids to the ice cream shop in KoOlina.

I would have to say that having my husband back full time is such a nice change from how much he is gone during wrestling season. Love you, Mister Mom ;)