Christmas, Take 1

Ben had the week off before Christmas this year, so our good friends, Rob and Mollie brought their adorable 9 month old little boy, Benjamin, to visit us on Oahu. We had a lot of fun hanging out at the beach, we took the kids swimming at the Hale Koa, and we had a great day on the North Shore exploring the tide pools and eating at the shrimp truck. When the kids were in bed, we enjoyed some adult time with Champagne and Mexican Train! It was so much fun seeing them and getting to meet little Ben. He's adorable and Alaina had a fun time playing with him. I'm sure they all enjoyed their time away from the cold Boston winter too!

Who is this cute boy playing on my mat with me?

Their first picture together
(The parents have already decided on their arranged marriage)

Cole was, of course, a huge fan of Auntie Mollie

On Tuesday, we flew over to Maui to see Tutu, Gpaw, Auntie Katie, Uncle Wade and Tilly. I enjoyed a massage and Ben enjoyed a dive with Jim, Katie and Wade. We also took Cole on his first (of I'm sure many) whale watch. We didn't see too much activity with the whales that morning, but he loved being on the boat. Then there was Christmas...Cole was our official present opener for the day and he loved every minute. Today he asked me if tomorrow could be Christmas again! I'm afraid he's going to be going through serious withdrawals after his birthday.

Alaina's first Christmas present

Cole Jabara, official present opener Christmas 2011

This is something we don't see often!

Whale watch

Just being cute!

7 Months

December 13th 2011

I'm just going to start this off by saying, Holy Cow, this girl is going to (actually she already is) giving me a run for my money! I'm not sure if it's because she's trying to keep up with Cole or what, but she is constantly amazing me by what she has already accomplished and the new things she does every day.
At 7 months, she has 2 teeth, is "army crawling" and, you'd think this would be slow so it wouldn't be an issue, but this girl is FAST, she can get herself back up to a sitting position after she's been crawling, and her latest lovely trick is pulling herself up to stand. Seriously, I went into her room yesterday because she was crying and she was standing up in her crib holding on to the rail. I have no idea how old Cole was when he started doing this, but I'm pretty sure he was older than 7 months. All day long, all she wants to do is practice going from sitting to standing. If you try to sit her down on the floor she locks her knees so she can stand instead of sit. She's one very cute, but determined little girl.

Standing big girl

This is my, "Ain't I cute?" look

Dear Santa,

Tonight we braved the mall to meet with Santa Claus. Cole walked right up to him and just snuggled right into his jacket and was completely happy. Alaina had no idea what to think. She was quite impressed with his beard. I'm just happy we got both of them looking at the camera! We can check that off of our holiday 'to do' list.

Picture with Santa~2011

Oh, and, according to Cole, Alaina wants cars for Christmas! I find this hard to believe.

Meet Sparky

Sparky is the elf Santa sent to Cole to watch over him and make sure Cole's being a good boy. Every night Sparky goes up to the North Pole and reports back to Santa and then comes back and is in a new spot to watch Cole during the day. Well, this morning we woke up and found Sparky on the kitchen counter and he had made a huge mess. I asked Cole to come in the kitchen to take a look and he walked in and said, "Oh, it's Sparky" and I said, "yes, look, he made a mess of your cereal, do you think he was hungry?" and to that Cole replied "no, mom, his mouth doesn't open." Seriously?! Way to ruin all of mommy's fun my logical child!