Haunted House coming soon....

Carlos has spent about 40 hours thus far....building our Haunted house for all the kids to enjoy! He's lost about 4-5 lbs in the last few weeks! New pics coming soon...

My kid's

Zak testing out the waterstrip on our window. (Not very good...had some leakage into the house)



Best friends and worst enemies! ha

Bella's Princess Tea Party

Bella definitely in her element.



Do you know how hard it was to round up the princesses for a group picture? They were a rowdy bunch!



Bella enjoying her "tea."



So most of you heard about my burnt cupcakes. Carlos took matters into his own hands (literally.) He helped roll out the cookie dough and did all the cutting. They came out really cute! (and I didn't burn them but my first batch was undercooked...)



Princess Bella, Princess Chaney, and our only prince invited...Prince Carter!

Bella and her friends had a blast. What little girl doesn't like getting their hair curled and dressing up?

Madison's 7th Birthday Wish

Maddie...right after she got her ears pierced!

So all month, we've been asking Maddie what she wanted for her 7th birthday. She tells us, "I WANT MY EARS PIERCED!" Huh? No, you're too young. "BUT ALL MY FRIENDS HAVE IT!" So what, if your friends jump off a cliff, are you going to jump off a cliff too? How many times did our parents tell us that? Ha!

So anyway, Carlos tries to scare her and describes the blood and gore of getting ears pierced (yeah, what does he know...) and that they have to use a shot needle to poke it through. (CRUEL, I KNOW!) For a few days she was scared, but surprised us by deciding that she still wants to go through with it. Her determination impressed us, so we had to backpedal and tell her how it doesn't hurt at all...it's just a little pinch (what do we know?) and we reluctantly agreed to let her get "it" done.

Let me just remind you all that I faint when I get shots (yes, it's called Post Traumatic Syndrome) so I was already feeling lightheaded when we got to Claires at Ala Moana. Incidentally, I scoped out the place the day before and made sure somebody "good" was working on Maddie's birthday. (They were probably making jokes behind my back after I left.)

One, two, three...POKE! It was done in a second. Maddie got both ears done at the same time. Carlos filmed it in a macabre-like fashion. My palms were sweating for her, but she was so brave. She was actually singing to the store music while she sat there! Right after it was done, she was a little shocked, but she had no tears and I could tell that she was trying to be brave in front of daddy by saying, "Mommy, I'm okay. It only hurts a little. I'm fine."

I had a headache afterward.

Carlos our professional photographer!

Carlos took this picture of a gecko in Maui. Isn't a cool pic!?

Maui Trip

Here are a few pix from our Maui Trip!



We spent every waking hour at the sand pool or beach. We went through 2 bottles of sunscreen in 4 days!



More swimming...



Waiting for the Sunday brunch! "We're looking forward to eating all the desserts!"



Met up with Madison's classmate, Anna! They spent the whole day together and even got their hair braided when their mean mommy pulled them out of the pool during the peak sun hours. Literally had to drag them out...



Zak has NO FEAR of water. The little fish was on his own floating and kicking around. He is scary, really.

Maui is our favorite place to go when we want to really kick back and chill! We always stay at The Grand Wailea and literally don't even leave the hotel! I think we spent 25 hours at the pool! Carlos rented a cabana this year so it was nice for the kids to get out of the sun and take naps at the pool. It was such a rare treat to get up and go (yeah, planning took all of 1 week!)

New School Year

The kid's first day of school was exciting! Of course, my accident-prone Bella bumped her face and got a slight cut on the classroom door. Nurse Marianne said, "HI BELLA! So happy that you are officially my first patient of the year!" What's scary...that she was the first student(?) or that she knew Bella by her first name already (?)

Introducing Surfing into our Family

Zak trying to be cool like daddy.



Maddie's turn! She's got skill!

So, Carlos has been bitten by the surfing bug! He started to surf in July and has been going every Sunday morning at 6am! He loves it and is getting much better each time he goes out.

"I'm Sorry, Daddy!"

Zak said, "How did that get in there?!"



Group Hug

4th of July

Zak having fun with sparklers until...



He stepped on a spark and it burned his foot. Ouch! "daddy, it's right here!"



Kid's chillin' in back of car. We stayed home this year (kid's had colds) and Carlos burned fireworks in the street while the kid's did sparklers. Zak was afraid of the loud noises and would hide behind Maddie (while managing to peek over her shoulder at the street!)

Zak Potty Training

He's trying! Ms Rae at Kuaapa said he's doing really well! He started preschool end of May and he loves it! Ms Rae and Ms Gwenie are awesome!

Zak's Mexican Fiesta - 2 years old!

Who's the cool decorator? Looks like we're in Tijuana!



Grampa (Abuelito!) Campos, Tia Rosa, Tia Raquel, Gramma Francis - All flew in from New Mexico! Later, Gramma Francis danced with the Mariachi's!



Mexican Food Bar - Delicioso!



Zak with Grandma Francis and Aunty Marisa! Ole!



Can't get enough of this merry go round! Hmmmm I think I've seen this view before!



and again...



Zak's party favors - these cute little gumball machines!


Zak's fiesta was a blast! He loved the merry-go-round and all the bouncers. The homemade Mexican food was to die for! Thank you Frank and Marisa!

Zak in the groove

My Zak can jam! He loves to dance and sing. Okaaaayyy but sometimes he scares us with all the showtunes he knows (ie: Hairpray, Mamma Mia, High School Musical.) Hmmmmm.

Terrible Ordeal - Zak

Thanks for your prayers. Zak spent 7 days in the hospital due to a terrible virus. He lost 5 lbs and threw up for 5 of the 7 days. IV was impossible after 6 hours(long story and too painful to retell) so the Director of Pediatrics had to come to ER and perform a surgery to insert into Zak's groin. So far, this was one of the scariest times of our lives. I lived at the hospital while Carlos struggled to take care of work, the girls, and the hospital visits.

Zak is doing well now and we are glad to have him home.

Christmas Day 2008

Uncle Skip played Santa this year! He was a great Santa with a local pidgen accent!



Poor Bella had to wear a mask at Nana's house. She had the stomach flu


Nana's present to the kids...a jumper in her playroom! Zak having a ball!

Madison jumped out of bed at 6am and ran downstairs to see if Santa came! The first thing she noticed was the cookies and milk gone! Then, her eyes were so wide when she saw the presents under the tree! Sadly, Bella woke up very sick. We knew something was wrong because she wouldn't get out of bed. Poor thing, she got the stomach flu and threw-up a few times. Of all days!!!! She was a trooper and opened up a few presents. After her stomach was empty, we gave her medicine from the doctor that helps nausea and went to Nana and Granpa's house. She felt so much better but we made her wear a little mask so she didn't get anyone else sick. My poor Bellz!

It was such a nice Christmas! So fun to see all the kids (including my niece and nephew - Chaney and Carter) getting SO excited this year!

Christmas Eve

We baked cookies for Santa and left out one glass of milk! The girl's made their Christmas list for Santa (Maddie helped Bella a little.)


Listening to Christmas stories read by Nana. Nana still upholds tradition and cries every year. Funny!

Sea World and More Disneyland

Mommy and Zak sat out on this ride. Maddie and Bella got so wet, we had to buy them new jackets to wear in the park!




Kid's loved Sea World and the sea life was amazing. We miss San Diego!

Disneyland Trip 2009

Rides...



Rides...



And more rides...!



Bella in her element. Look at how she looks at the princess with such adoration!




Our annual Disney trip was a whirlwind! Whew...5 straight days of Disney turned into one gigantic long day! It was SO much fun and this year, Zak really had such a wonderful time. He was dancing in the courtyard with the Highschool Musical crew and some of the people came up to us to tell us that they enjoyed watching Zak instead of the performance! He doesn't just bob up and down, he shakes his shoulders and wiggles his booty! So cute!

Obama Wins!

Girls had fun participating in the presidential election! We had them vote all week for things that affect them (dinner choices, dessert choices...tv choices....) I don't know if it really worked out since they are so opposite. One night I had to make two different meals. Carlos had to be the tie-breaker vote (saimin) on another night.

Our 3rd Annual Halloween Party

Madison (witch), Bella (Southern Belle), and Zak (Kung Fu Panda)



Carlos got crazy and built a Haunted House(yes construction!) Thanks to Bert, Ben, and Amber for helping with the painting. The party was so much fun and the kid's liked the Witch's Broom Scavenger Hunt.





The brave ones who kept running through the Haunted House!



Helen, Ashley, Hunter eyeing the dessert table. Check out the Haunted House cake made by Cori.