Kaiu 9-12months

Kaiu was living life with no teeth and still didn't know how to walk at this stage of his life, but boy he bit hard with those gums of his and he could get around the house so fast it was like he was run crawling LOL. He was a professional riding the tricycle and could walk holding onto things, but he just loves the attention he gets by holding onto people. He was always singing and dancing even sitting on his bottom he could still groove his little behind. Kaiu is so fun to watch and has a completely differently personality from the other kids. He'll dance and doesn't care who's watching, but then he'll realize someone is watching and he'll take his two little hands and covers his mouth while he laughs so loud. He is hilarious!!!

Kaiu turned 1yr old on Monday May 9th, we didn't do much that day just let him chow down on a large cupcake in the backyard and we all got to enjoy miniature cupcakes. It was a lazy relaxing day, we wanted it that way because we knew the following weekend would be full of tons of excitement in celebration of his birthday with all our family/friends. We had his 1st birthday party at Lions Park in Lemoore, it was an odd day... it had been sunny for the longest time and then the day of his party there was a thunderstorm. Well the party still went on and we still had the bounce house obstacle course setup, it was huge and all kids big and small had a blast on that thing. We enjoyed BBQ and of course our usual Filipino Cuisine, friends joined us from here and from afar and we are so grateful to the people that showed up in the really bad weather. We partied outside in the rain and then when we had our moments of calmness we ran through the obstacle course. Kaiu loved watching everyone have a blast while he was kept warm because someone was always holding him bundled in his blanket. He's such a happy boy and hardly complains, well as long as he's getting the food he wants :-)

Makai's 4th year

Makai turned 4years old on October 3rd, I cannot believe how fast time flies. We went all out celebrating this change in his life. We took him to Millerton Lake with a bunch of friends in Sept, he got to enjoy riding on the boat and playing in the lake with his spider man life jacket. The best part of the lake for him besides the wind blowing in his hair on the boat was skipping rocks... he absolutely loves the simple things in life and those small things put a huge smile on his face :-) We also took Makai to Vossler Farms Pumpkin Patch in Visalia which is so much fun, they have a petting zoo, a mini corn maze even a huge corn maze, a train ride for the little ones, a hay ride for all and tons of pumpkins for everyone to pick from. The only rule I have for the kids is that they can only choose a pumpkin that is not too big for them to carry to the car on their own! It was fun, especially checking out all of the beautiful horses while on the hay ride which for some reason Makai was freaked out by. Maybe he thought they were there to scare him because you know it is Halloween time and all LOL.

We had Makai's 4th birthday party at our house on Oct 2nd, it was a very very small dinner gathering just a few family members and Mike's best friend w/kids... it was perfect. He got so many gifts with wheels things he can ride on I can even ride a couple too :-) he also got a couple super hero toys for some fun indoors or in the car, since we do spend most of our day driving around. He chose an ice cream cake this year, he's old enough to choose his own so I took him to Baskin Robbins for his free birthday ice cream and he chose a Frog Cake to take home to his party the ice cream he chose to eat for their was Strawberry, he told the lady "May I have pink ice cream please" LOL so there you go, he's a boy that loves pink. His birthday was on a Monday and it was exciting to wake up to "Great Day News" Makai's famous, well so he says because they aired his picture on their birthday segment which you'll see a copy below. After all that excitement away to school Makai went feeling absolutely great. Schools are so strict now a days here in Central Valley so they weren't aloud to celebrate his special day; however he got a big "Happy Birthday Greeting" from his teacher when he walked through the door that morning. It wasn't a very exciting day, school all day and then Makai chose to play in the backyard on his brand new quad for a couple hours after school. Then it was off to get Kaila from school and take her to cheer, which was fine for Makai too because he got to spend the evening of his birthday with the other cheer siblings at the indoor play gym that looks in at the girls cheer practice. Makai is a very thankful boy, he doesn't ask for much and totally just goes with the flow of things... he just appreciates life and that's what I love about my middle child ;-)

Kaila's 4th year

Kaila's 4th year was full of learning, she had completed Pre-School in Clovis at Kiddie Kountry and was ready to begin Pre-K at Monroe Elementary in Hanford. She's such a smart little girl; always top of her class. Having her begin schooling in Clovis was a great idea, they taught her so much there. By the time she started schooling in Hanford she was well above her class mates, which was awesome, but at times not because she got bored real fast and had to have special assignments to keep her from bothering the other kids trying to learn. Her baby brother Makai was born just 2months before her 4th birthday and she was extremely happy to not be the only child anymore. She loved holding her little brother and is such a great little helper.

Kaila's 4th birthday party was held at our old house we rented in Hanford on Palm Dr, it was the cutest little house with a nice backyard and had a cool tree that Kaila loved to climb. I'll never forget her first attempt in climbing that big tree, I was inside the house and heard her yelling "mommyyy" well go figure... she climbed so high that she was afraid to come down. Of course I told her she climbed up so she better figure out how to climb down 'as I stood below and watched' Well she did it 'all by herself' & that is when her tree climbing began :-) . Her 4th birthday party was a double party she shared with her friend Mia, they had a bounce house and all of their friends were there to play... they each even had their own birthday cakes to enjoy and share with all their guests. Although it was cold that day and sprinkled a little bit, everyone still had a blast as always. I think that was the first party ever that there wasn't a cake fight LOL still tons of fun to say the least!

Kaiu 6-9months

When Kaiu was 6months old he started being more mobile and crawling around, I knew shortly after I'd be chasing him everywhere. It seemed like he was constantly teething even though he had no teeth at all, because he was always chewing on his ring finger. He loved all the attention he got from all the family, but he just doesn't like to be held by others. It's kind of like, he can move around so he just wants to be free, maybe I held him too much and he doesn't want to feel trapped anymore LOL! Kaiu was like a little model, by this time period he had so many different photo shots done. Even his 1yr birthday pictures were done during this time YES he was only 10months old in those professional shots (pic attached above). It's never too early and always good to plan ahead LOL, but he did a great job standing up holding onto the number 1(he had never even stood on his own before that day) and even sitting patiently for over an hour being photographed, such a good baby. During this stage in Kaiu's life, he got to celebrate his first everything. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years... We always celebrate the holidays a few times, with each side of the family and even our own little celebration at home. Kaiu just started eating baby food at 6months old, so he didn't get to enjoy any of the holiday feast but you can tell he sure did want some. Although Kaiu was such a little guy, he has the biggest personality. He loves being goofy and making funny sounds, he laughs so hard & loud at the littlest things and he just loves making goofy faces :-)

Makai's 3rd year

Makai's 3rd year was full of changes, we were in our new house that we bought and absolutely loved it. He started pre-school, the neat thing was it was home base pre-school so his teacher Miss Melissa came to our house & taught him either in our dining room or outside if the weather was nice. He learned so much from her. He talked very clear; however struggled with just a few sounds... such as "K" & "S" because of that he did 4months of speech therapy in Fresno. His one on one Speech Pathologist was Miss Jessica and she was wonderful, she got him saying the sounds correctly just after a couple weeks but it did take a lot of practice at home each night before bed to perfect it too. He did his 12weeks one on one and did 4weeks of Group Speech, he had so much fun spending a couple hours with his teachers & friends while learning the correct pronunciation of specific letters. Makai was always the only kid that didn't cry each morning and all of the kids looked to Makai for motivation. He began actual full day pre-school here in Lemoore at LBJ behind Lemoore Elementary and even there he's practically the only kid that doesn't cry in the morning. He picks out the job he's going to do for the day, washes his hands, gives me a hug and sits down at the breakfast table while he waves bye to me as I walk out the classroom door. He is a very good boy and his teacher Mrs. Doreen raves about him.

Makai is so special he had two birthday parties his 3rd year. We had a big party for him at our house that was Mickey Mouse theme, he had an awesome pinata and got the coolest presents ever. Tons of our friends and a few family members joined us for this fun event & everyone enjoyed a Filipino Cuisine which is Makai's absolute favorite food. We also took him to Chuck E Cheese on the day of his actual birthday with his Nanny & Grandpa, we had pizza & cake, it was a mini party that was tons of fun. He played so many games and rode all the rides, but the thing he played on most was the picture machine and had so many pictures taken of himself on his birthday which he thought was awesome; he's my little model. Makai is an absolute joy to have around, he's such a clown (which is funny because I don't like clowns LOL) but he's so respectful and full of more then enough energy for all the kids around him :-)