Our Hawai'i connection...

We finally found some way to connect ourselves back to Hawai'i. Just so happens there is an aunty in the area, Aunty Erme, who is originally from O'ahu, but has been living here for 44 years. We got in touch with her and in true Hawaiian fashion she invited us over to her house for dinner. We had a great time and even met another Islander, Kaika, who went to the same high school & is from the same town as me...who woulda thought?! It really is a small world after all.

Here is his daughter, Kalehua, and his nephew, Ka'imi, with Kaila & Kenna...

She did it!

Kenna was able to pull herself up using the stool, all by herself! It was so neat to watch her as she slowly & carefully lifted her body up. It was also cute to see her reaction...you could tell she was SO proud of herself because she was all smiles afterward :)

I did it! Why?...
...because I wanted to look at the princesses!

Sassarella!

Kaila wanted to dress up like this and dance, but we ended up taking pictures instead because at the moment this sight was just too cute to not get on camera.

And they call her....SASSARELLA!

In anticipation of Father's Day...

Kaila wanted to sit next to her daddy & sissy on this table and being very intuitive & observant, she instantly saw it as a great opportunity to get a nice picture. She was actually the one who prompted me to get the camera and "take a picture mommy." Oh how perfect the moment was looking back on it because now I have a wonderful picture of the girls with their daddy for Father's Day :)

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers, step-fathers, & father-figures!

And on behalf of the girls, thank you daddy for being the greatest daddy ever...

Project Gardening continued...

The fruits, veggies, & herbs are now germinating...check out the 2nd part of our gardening project on Kaui's Kreations!

Going for a bike ride thanks to Freecycle...

We were finally able to find Kaila a bike seat through a great group we are a part of called Freecycle (<---I've linked it for you). For those of you who have not heard of Freecycle, it's exactly what it sounds like: free recycling. It's a non-profit organization (therefore, things you freecycle are tax deductible) that operates virtually through yahoo groups where people post things they are wanting to get rid of in hopes that someone else can use it, and therefore keep it out of the landfills. We've seen everything from empty egg cartons & milk jugs to washers/dryers & cars being freecycled! It's recycling at it's greatest because you not only can offer things up for grabs that's free for the taking (and always free, that is one of their rules), but if you are looking for a particular item, you can post a wanted ad, which is how we got this bike seat. Thank you so much to the person who freecycled this bike seat on to us, we intend to do the same when we are done with it :)

Now on to the priceless picture of daddy & Kaila going for a bike ride...

Come join the tea party!

We finally brought out Kaila's tea set she got this past Christmas and let's just say we've been drinking a lot of tea lately...she absolutely LOVES it!

Welcoming 'Little Bear' to the tea party...
Serving 'Little Bear'...
Bottoms up...
Even mommy was able to join the tea party...
and daddy...

Kaila's own little dolly...

Kaila always asks to feed Kenna, so here we let her. I think she really enjoyed it because she was able to feed a real live dolly, her sister. How cute is that!

"Open your mouth sissy."
"YUM!"
"Look at what she did mom."
"Don't worry, I'll wipe it."
"Here sissy, have a drink."

Our newest kreation...

I updated Kaui's Kreations with a project that Cisco & I have been wanting to take on for a while now : Gardening. We planted some flowers in the front dirt area...check it out!

Jimmy's graduation party...

This past Saturday we were invited to a graduation party in Carpentersville. Jimmy Engracia graduated from high school last week and we had the opportunity to celebrate with him. Jimmy's dad, Mario, and my dad (also a Mario) grew up together in the Philippines. The Engracia's actually helped us in our transition here to Illinois: they picked us up from the airport during our visit to look for a place to live before we actually moved here, and they were so nice enough to give us their old dining table and couch as a way to help start our new life here in Illinois. It is so nice to know that we actually do have "family" close by.

The get-together was fun: nice people to visit with and of course, good food! The had lechon (with Mang Tomas sauce too!), leche flan, lumpia, and all sorts of Filipino food that we haven't had in awhile. I felt like I had a bottom-less stomach. Sarap!!

One of the first guests we met there was a man named Glenn Acoba, whose family used to be the Engracia's neighbor awhile ago in Hanover Park. We got to talking and found out that he and Kaui had a special connection: they were both from Hawai'i! Glenn said he was from Maui and immediately starting throwing out some pidgen to Kaui, which made Kaui "feel at home." Another connection is that his daughter just recently graduated from NIU, so they made many trips to DeKalb. Glenn also told Kaui that his daughter dances hula at a halau in Elk Grove and that they have many Hawaiian gatherings. He advised us to look it up so that Kaui can get back into dancing hula again, and also get Kaila and Kenna involved as they get older. So Kaui enjoyed finally having someone to relate to here in Illinois when it comes to the Islands. They talked more and come to find out that Glenn graduated from the same high school as Kaui's step-family (Punahou High). Glenn actually knows of the Reppun brothers and played football with Kaui's uncle, Uncle Josh Reppun. What a small world! Obviously, we exchanged information and hope to keep in touch with Glenn and his wife Minda in the future.

Overall, it was a great visit. It was so nice to catch up with Tito Mario, Tita Zeny, PJ (who's going to Chiropractic school in Lombard), and Jimmy (who'll be a freshman at Southern Illinois in the fall).

Us with the Graduate

Rain, rain...lets go play!

Kaila always asks us when it rains if she can go outside to play, so today we let her since Cisco needed to work on our front dirt area that definitely needs A LOT of work to become a garden.

All prepared to play in the rain...
Singing in the rain...Marching in the rain...

"Mommy, can I play with the water?"Rinsing her boots was as close as she got...

Bieber fever...

So, Kaila has Bieber fever already...daddy's not too happy ;)

Kenna is 6 months old!

Yes, Kenna is 6 months old already! That is half a year gone by and in another 6 months she will be 1 year...time is definitely going by faster this time around. At her 6 month check-up she weighed 15 lbs. 8 oz. & was 25 inches long. This makes her 45% heavier than girls her age & 85% taller. She's quite the rolly-polly when we put her on the floor. She'll sit up until she reaches for something, falls over, and starts her slow rolling to where she wants to go. She lunges at the spoon with her mouth wide open when we feed her and is sure to savor every bite we give her (she sucks her food down instead of just swallowing it).

Happy 6 months!

Mean face...
Ouch Sissy!
Two sisters, one dark, one white, who look nothing alike...

Play hard or go to sleep...

Good morning sunshine! Ready to take on the day...

And that she did. One minute she was playing and the next thing you know, she made herself comfortable and was out cold!
Still holding on to her toy...
Big smile for the camera...

Discovery Children's Museum

Today we "practiced" for our upcoming big Disney World road trip by taking a drive down to Normal, Illinois, which is about 1.75 hours south of DeKalb. So we packed up the Pilot and made the drive down to Normal, which actually was a really nice college town. Illinois State University is located there and they had a nice campus. The town kind of reminded us of good ol' Moscow, because of it's college-town feel, it being rural and in the middle of nowhere ;)

Kaila making an imprint of her hand in the needle-art.

They had a really neat station where kids could paint on Plexi-Glass. When they were done, just spray the glass, squeegee it, and the paint was gone. So the kids could paint something, squeegee it, and start again. Kaila really enjoyed this station.

Another neat station were the musical tubes. Just take a pair of slippers and hit the open parts of the tube and they represented notes. Here Kaila is playing "I'm a Little Teapot."

Building "Cinderella's Castle" with Legos.

Mommy showing the girls different types of flowers.

Kenna greeting the Recycle Robot.

Kaila was fascinated with the air station. Here we put a ball in the airway and it floated. Kaila loved it.

She was so proud that she was able to get one to float all by herself......

.......while Kenna just liked having air blown in her face.

Driving the tractor.

Playing with the train toys...."choo-choo"

This station she spent by far the most time at. It was a small main street area where kids can go to a pizza parlor and make pizza. She was cooking up a storm in there! She was cooking so much, we ended up getting pizza on the way home.

Here she is getting a pie together.....

........then delivering it in the pizza car.......

.......then sitting and enjoying the taste of a good pizza.

Doctor Kaila!

It was an awesome visit. The museum, while small, had a lot to offer for someone like Kaila. Kenna was enjoying herself too. She would kick and kick and reach as far as she could at certain exhibits, as if she wanted to play with it too. The place was crowded at first; it looked like there was a field trip going on. But once they left, the place was empty, so Kaila could just roam around and do what she wanted.

The girls did OK in the car. They both slept going down, so the car was quiet. On the way back, Kaila was still excited from the museum, she was wide awake and got a bit obnoxious (yelling). We popped in the iPod with her Disney songs, and she was good to go. Kenna on the other hand was tired of being in her car seat. She cried pretty much the whole way home. We may have to strategize better and practice more before the real-deal in July.