Kaka'ako Park :D

 Last Saturday we met up with some very good friends of ours at Kaka'ako Waterfront Park and had a BLAST bar-b-queing and sliding down the hills on our picnic mat and small pieces of cardboard that we scrapped up :D  The weather was beautifully sunny with a nice breeze too!  Ahhhh... just another day in paRaDiSE!!

Birthday Girl!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Following tradition, we had a 2 day celebration for Elia's 3rd birthday. On the real date we go and do something fun as a family and then on the following Saturday we party! This year we took Elia to Sea Life Park, which was perfect because they were running a Kama'aina Special that weekend :D I also happened to have the day off for Good Friday! Sam couldn't join us :(, but my parent & siblings did :) It was a FUN 3 day weekend!

Happy Birthday My Love!

Tomorrow is Sam's 28th birthday, and in honor of my special guy I decided to share with the world the Top 10 reasons why I love him...

1.  We have a true partnership in our marriage.  We help each other out with anything and everything!

2.  He is a GREAT daddy...he can always get Elia to smile and laugh during those rough moments when she doesn't want to brush her teeth or take a bath!  He also never complains when I tell him it's his turn to get Mika a bottle in the wee hours of the morning :)

3.  He misses me just as much as I miss him when we're not together (even if it's only for a day, an hour, or less).

4.  He has the corniest sense of humor!  Very silly and innocent :)

5.  He is so handy and talented!  From carpentry work to plumbing, electrical, locks, computers, and everything in between, he does it all!  Not to mention that he's a musician and takes beautiful photos!

6.     He is an "outside of the box" kind of thinker.  He always has an unique perspective on things, which opens my eyes to new things.

7.  He is a person of integrity.  With big and small things, he is always honest.

8.  For all the big things, we see eye to eye.  I love that he respects me and values my opinion about everything :)

9.   He is one handsome guy :D

10.  He believes in giving back and giving big!

There are so many other things I could add, but I'll just sum it all up by saying "I love you babe, U DA BES"!!  Happy Birthday and I look forward to sharing many more with you...

M.I.A.

Yes, the Cheney Ohana has been "Missing In Action" on the blogging scene for a few weeks now... for good reason!  Lethe was sick with a sinus infection for a week, then the stomach flu bug decided to pay the girls a visit...first Elia, then Mika!  They both threw-up for a few hours, but then the diarrhea set in and for Mika it lasted for more than a week!  On our worst day Mika had about 30 dirty diapers (I'm not exaggerating)!!  The good thing is that neither girls got dehydrated, so we just had to ride it out and stocked up on Pedialyte and cornstarch (for Mika's bum).  It's been 24 hours of only wet diapers, and I tell you, I couldn't be more happy to see shi-shi!  :D

Caught!  Mika playing with her crib bumper

In happier news, Mika is now 6 months old and her 2 favorite things are paper and buttons... specifically calculators, the keyboard, and remote controls.  It is so good to see her back to her happy, smiley self!  Right before she got sick we started trying to feed her solids, rice cereal and carrots were the first attempt.  Boy, I wish I got pictures of the face she made!  Yeah, I'm finding that it is gonna be a bit tricker to get this little one to eat... we've also tried bananas and apples with about the same response- gagging and spitting her food out.  This will be our next project I guess ;)   

Matching dresses...I love having 2 girls :)

Elia continues to be the great big sister!  She and Mika play together and it is the cutest thing!  They both crack up together over the silliest things.  Last night Elia was playing with a beach ball, throwing it into a laundry basket, and Mika starts laughing loud and putting on a big smile.  So of course Elia repeated the same actions over and over to get her sister's same reaction :D  Elia makes Sam and I smile because of the new words she's learning (and repeating- watch out!).  She'll be 3 years old in less than a month and we're planning on having a "Cat in the Hat" birthday party for her on April 11.  We hope the weather will be nice that day!

P.S.  Here's a sample of Mika's typing:

.-0-;-09-

Tie-Dye flowers

On Sunday night we had a fun FHE... we made these simple paper flowers that brought out each of our "artistic" sides.  Sam's was really cool!  I've always admired his creativeness...  Elia got into it to, and the markers got all over her!  Oh well, definitely worth the fun memories :)

P.S.  I learned how to do this little art project at one of our preschool workshops.  All you need is coffee filters, markers, water, and pipe cleaners (actually making it into flowers was my friend's idea).  

LOVE-ly Day

Yesterday was a beautiful day!   In celebration of Valentine's Day, Sam got me the traditional roses and he also got V-Day balloons for the girls, clipped to Elia's favorite... Goldfish.  But, because it was so windy, Mika's balloon flew away :(  (it got yanked right off of the string by the wind).  That's okay, she still enjoyed her sister's one :)

My good friend Liz invited Sam and I to the opening of her brother's new resturant, "The Counter" at Kahala Mall and I found out when we got there that we wouldn't have to pay for this meal because it was a "practice party"!  The food was delicious build your own burgers with the best "sweet fries" (sweet potato fries) that I've tasted yet!  Not to mention the yummy banana chocolate shake!  Yes, I practically had to roll myself out of there!  Muchas Gracias Liz!

AND we got to make it a real "date" because my other good friend Isabel volunteered to watch the girls (we watched their two boys later that evening)!  While at Kahala Mall Sam surprised me with another V-Day gift... the iPOD Nano I've been eyeing!!  Really, it was a beautiful day :) :)  Thank you babe for making is such a memorable Valentine's for us!  The best gift is you...

Kahana Update

Yesterday was one of the Senate committee hearings for the 4 bills that we are trying to pass to keep the families in Kahana and make sure that future generations will be there also!  There were many testimonies given (unfortunately I got there at the tail end because I had to work), some in support, and some against (by our own family I might add- sad, right?), and some with ideas on ammending the bills.  I even got up the courage to share a short and sweet testimony of my own :) In the end the bills were pushed forward to the next stage in the process!  I am very grateful for the power of prayer and the support of good people!