Grandma Malo - October

We took a long weekend to go down to Las Vegas to meet up with Seuao's mom, who came up with his sister from LA. It was a pretty low-key trip, but so fun to get to spend more time with them!

Wow's cousin Manu just bought a gorgeous new house in North Las Vegas, and we just loved staying there with them!

The weather was gorgeous, so we spent some time at an awesome nearby park.

Of course - we went to a buffet (if you know polys, you know buffets...)

The girls have LOVED playing with their cousins down there, and especially getting to spend time with Grandma Malo!

And Lily was officially introduced to Rock Band. She's a natural!

It was so sad to say goodbye to Grandma Malo. We will miss her so much!

Overheard on Aisle 13 - Octoberish...

"Yes! That's what you're supposed to do! Good Job!"

Frazzled mom, deciding between the convenience of the steam-in-the-bag frozen green beans and the price of the dump-and-nuke frozen green beans turns around to see her precious toddler seated perfectly on her brand new froggy potty in the back of the shopping cart - with her pants around her ankles.

Asking nicely and sweetly for precious toddler to pull up her pants, and flashing a half-smile to the comentators now down the aisle pretending to look at the Hungry Man dinners, frazzled mom attempts to help precious toddler off the potty and back into the realms of modesty.

"NOOOO!!!!!!!!! No No No Mommy!!!! Lily do it ALL BY LILY'S SELF!!!"

And so it begins....

Stay tuned....

Becca's Birthday Bash - October 3, 2009

For our official last adult sibling birthday party, we decided to go big for Beck's birthday!

Beck always requests carrot cake - yum!  And because "someONE" was pretty cheesed she didn't win the pretty apothecary jar at Tessa's party, she got her very own for her birthday (sans the deliciousness inside...)
So, in addition to the usual cake, goodies, gifts, we splurged this year and had a cute gal come over and give us all GLITTER TOES!!!!!!!! Awesome - on so many levels (the most important to me the fact that this stuff is on for GOOD! No pretty toe pressure for weeks - or months!!! You so can't beat that!)

So fun huh!  (And for the record, yes, near the end of February I DO still have hula pink glitter on at least 2 toes!)
 
We stayed up late chatting, playing games and having a WONDERFUL time!  I adore each of my sisters, and am so blessed that they are part of my life.  Love you girls!
 

Tsunami - September 29, 2009

There really aren't words to describe the tragedy that hit Seuao's homeland. Thankfully none of his family was affected, but given how small this island nation really is, everyone feels the effect.
These pictures do the talking:

***I wish I knew who to credit with these pictures - I just got them on an email, but thought they were so poignant, I had to share them.  The beach pictured in these pictures is one we spent a day at on our trip to Samoa in 2008.  So sad.

(I think if you click on the picutres, they will enlarge, and you can see them better...)

Tessa's Party - September 21, 2009

We had such a fun party for our Miss Tess! This girl has ALWAYS had a thing for shoes, so it was a pretty obvious theme for her first birthday party! We really don't know why she's so into shoes - seriously - it's not like we really have cute shoes in this house - unless you consider Wow's Adidas collection "cute" - anywho...

Happy Birthday Tess!

The invite:

The cause:

We had everyone bring their gently used shoes to donate, and yes - they did eventually even make it to the donation drop (although the picture proof is on the other *broken* computer - I'll try to add it later!)

The deco:

A few games:
A shoe matching relay game for the littles...

And a trivia game for the bigs (and a couple of littles too...)

The prizes and favors:

Lots of yummy food:

(Not pictured - delicious barbeque a'la Wow)

Awesome gifts:

A delicious birthday cake:

A messy (and then slightly grumpy) birthday girl!

Happy Birthday Sweet Tess!