Growing up with a little of both and the lessons learned along the way
From the monthly archives:
Maile is becoming quite the expert photo bomber. I imagine it is going to get increasingly difficult to get a picture of Lauren solo…
Profile shot of Lauren + Maile Photo Bomb
First Birthday Bomb
First taste of ice cream bomb
Now you've done it, bombing the birthday cupcake
Birthday present from Auntie photo bomb (+ sunglasses stolen - not getting those back!)
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
For Hanukkah, we got Maile the latest installment of Just Dance – Just Dance 2014. In the new year, we’ve been having a lot of fun playing the new songs. Maile has really improved as well – she routinely gets 2-3 stars on the Easy and some Medium levels. Lauren can’t play yet, but Christine and I have a blast playing along with Maile.
One of the songs we played tonight was YMCA by the Village People and I noticed that Maile didn’t quite get the “Y-M-C-A” part, so we practiced a bit afterwards and I think it’s safe to say she has it nailed now…
(Be sure to stay until the end for Maile’s surprise booty dance too 
(Click here for the video.)
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
This week it was back to work and school and trying to get settled in back home.
But still plenty of fun memories from our time in Hawaii…
(Click here for the video.)
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Lauren here. I have a confession to make. We were in Hawaii for so long, that I forgot what home was like. And I definitely forgot about my best buddy, Elena.
Here’s us on our first day back together:
Who are you? What are you doing here? Ahhhhhhhhhh!
And here we are today:
And we're friends. Again.
All is well again 
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Just like her big sister, Lauren was introduced to ice cream for the first time on her birthday by Papa Cal (it’s in his contract that he gets to introduce the girls to ice cream). We threw in a cupcake (which she loved) for good measure too!
In comparison to Maile, Lauren was certainly a bigger fan of ice cream. She ate up everything Papa threw at her!
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...
Maile Girl showing Lauren how the whole candles thing works...
This pink thing? Delicious!
This food is pretty different from my normal food. Can we work this in to the routine more?
(Click here for the video.)
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Incredibly, it’s been a year.
Lauren at 1
I just looked through all our pictures from the past year and put together a short video that captures how our little girl has grown. It was a fun way to reflect on everywhere this year has taken us.
Lauren is an amazing little girl – slowly, but surely developing her very own personality (no small feat given her very outgoing sister who has no problem dominating the conversation!) But Lauren finds her spots and has carved her own place in our family. She’s easy going, but not a pushover. She has a mischievous streak and it’s already clear she’s not going to let her big sister leave her very far behind. She has a smile, that while different from her sister’s, still is able to light up a room. When she puts her head on your shoulder, you can feel her love. It’s the best.
Happy Birthday, baby girl – we all love you so much!
(Click here for the video.)
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Maile Girl here – aloha from Hawaii! We’re still visiting with Grandma and Papa, but I’m very sad to report that Katie and Emily already went home to Japan. I miss them so much already! I had so much fun playing with them – check out all the fun things we did…
First things first, I showed them my new baby Lauren - they hadn't met her before - they hit it right off with her. I knew they would!
We attempted many times to take pictures all in the same purple dresses that Grandma got us - they didn't all work out, but we still had fun trying...
Grandma and Papa taught us Pokeeno - which is kind of like Bingo. None of liked losing, so that made things interesting.
We did LOTS and LOTS of art projects with Grandma and Mommy...
Grandma Gail read us stories and let us play the puzzle game on her iPad...
Katie, Emily and I decorated the whole back patio with chalk!
And we pretended we were Hawaiian warriors with the toys Uncle Steve got for Katie and Emily...
I love you Katie and Emily! Lauren and I can’t wait to see you again next year!
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
When Maile was 6 months old we came to Hawaii for the holidays and took a picture of her in front of the kadomatsu (a traditional Japanese New Year’s decoration):
Don't I look pretty in my jimbe posing in front of the kadomatsu?
This morning, Christine decided to recreate the scene this year with Maile and Lauren – and even better, they had a chance to show off the new kimonos that Grandma asked Uncle Steve to bring all the way from Japan. (And yes, if you look close you can see that they have Hello Kitty on them, which pretty much make them the best kimonos ever!)
First Mommy tried to take a picture of the girls together ... that proved difficult.
This appears to be a beautiful picture of Maile Girl, but Lauren is hogging the camera
Okay, solo this time - incredible how much Maile has grown, the kadomatsu dwarfed her in the first picture!
Lauren's turn - let's get this thing fixed up first...
Lauren hamming it up for the camera...
We good?
Cause I'm out of here...
We hope everyone had a wonderful new year’s – 2013 was quite the year for us and we’re looking forward to even more adventures and fun in 2014! Thank you for following along – we’ve enjoyed sharing a little bit of our girls as they grow up.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
