Veda's tom boy stage

This is her chosen prize for completing her reward chart.
Travis was psyched.

Monique took the girls to the beach one day and I spent the ENTIRE day sewing! Uninterrupted sewing?? Unimaginable! I could get used to this nanny thing. I completed this project I had on the back burner for a long time. I love how they turned out. I couldn't get away with having these on my couch anywhere but Hawaii. I love it.

We have a lot of creepy crawlies that hang out around our place. Here are some of the ones we actually enjoy. We call Veda "The Gecko Whisperer" because she can catch any gecko no matter how small or fast.

This is our bedtime alarm: when the geckos come out on the lanai window! The girls love shouting "The geckos are out! Time for bed!"

Gecko eggs in a door frame at our play house

Jam session

We are a talented family indeed!Veda is doing great on the violin. She is playing all the twinkle variations WELL. Just the two of us are going over to Oahu for the Honolulu Suzuki Institute in a couple weeks. We will attend violin, music, and art classes and a lot of other fun stuff.

I have started teaching Eve Suzuki violin. We use this cardboard violin until she has learned proper posture and how to hold it without dropping it. I had to take this picture of my little virtuoso in diapers. Someday this will be worth big money. I see great potential in this one. She has amazing focus for a 2 year old.

God Bless America

I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July! We decided to throw a party together last minute and didn't know if many people would come with short notice. Well, we had a huge turnout and it ended up being a lot of fun. Our lanai decorated before the guests arrived.
The water slide bouncer was a HUGE hit. The kids were all totally pickled by the end of the party. This is Monique (more about her later) and Veda going down together. Eve is wading in the pool part.

This is Monique and Eve watching the fireworks together. Monique is my cousin from Utah. We invited her to live with us for the summer and be our "nanny", "mother's helper", "au pair" "my saving grace" ....whatever you want to call her. She has been awesome and I don't know how I ever lived without her. I keep telling her that we aren't going to let her go home. She laughs like she thinks I'm kidding!
The guys did an awesome job on the fireworks show! My friend and talented cellist, Paul and I accompanied the fireworks by playing duets. The crowd pleaser was "Suite from the Royal Fireworks" by Handel.