Here comes Santa Claus

All month long everytime I mention to Ana "Lets go see Santa" she almost bursts into tears. She has loved watching movies about Santa and talking about Santa but the thought of going to SEE Santa just scared her to death. At our family Christmas party Santa came and of course as sooon as he entered the room Ana sought me out and clinged. I would step closer to Santa and she would say "NO I want to see Santa from far away" So I talked to her for a little bit and told her to be a brave girl, I told her "If you can be brave for the doctor you can be brave for Santa" That seem to work she got off my lap and sat with the other kids at Santa's feet and when he called her name she got up and sat on his lap! As you can see from her body language in the picture she was still a little scared but so brave. When she got off his lap she had a big grin on her face and told me "I was so brave mommy!" After she opened her gift she cheered on her cousins standing on the side saying "Be brave Ashli!"
It was a fun party and Mr and Mrs Claus were so cute.


I posted this picture of my niece Sha for the Alumni of the 3rd ward so they can see how cute the Lindstroms were as Mr and Mrs Santa. This was the first year we've hired them and I hope we continue to do so in the future they were great with the kids!!

Kiddie Kandids

I took the girls to get their pictures taken in their Christmas dresses

This is before we left!



This is after we got home!

Stitches AGAIN!!

I am once again behind on my blog, I have a few pictures and moments to share first one I'll start with happened last week, Ana got stitches AGAIN!!!! This girl is my warrior, this time she was out playing on the swing set and was swinging on the monkey bar and slipped off and fell face down bit her lip so hard she needed stitches or i guess I should say a stitch. We took her to the emergency room and the doctor only put in one stitch to keep it from filling with scar tissue but the stitch ended up coming out somehow but all is well as of today it’s almost completely healed. Because this is her third time to get stitches in 6 months she was really brave this time around and didn't fight the doctors or nurse I was really proud of her and she was pretty proud of herself as well, when the nurse left the room she exclaimed "I WAS SO BRAVE!"

Blessing Day

Yesterday we blessed Peninaolemoana, it also happened to be Pearl Harbor Day. I thought that was kind of neat because her name means Pearl of the Sea!



Ana and Penina have be blessing in the same dress I was blessed in. I'm so glad my mom saved my blessing dress and most importantly I'm glad its still in good shape after 29 years!
Penina
Me
Ana





Not only was yesterday a special day for Penina but also for her cousin Sailiata who was blessed as well. I think its neat that they were able to be blessed on the same day.

Winter Hula Recital

Another Hula recital! Ana did such a good job I'm so proud of her. She loves to go to hula and dance. One of the songs they danced to was "Pearly Shells" and they sang it as well, I practiced that song with Ana all day and I told her she had to sing it nice and loud and she did, she sang it LOUD it was sooo cute!! She loves to sing that song and sings it to Penina.




Jethro and the boys sang.


Jethro's parents were so happy to be able to see the boys perform and see the grandkids dance.



Penina sporting her Aloha!!

Thanksgiving was a big family reunion!


We got together with families we don't get to see all that often and had over 60 people for Thanksgiving dinner! It was a big feast and lots of fun. We had to reserve a chaple and spent all day and night hanging out, we didn't get home until 12:30am. The day started out with dinner and then because we knew the kids would be restless while the adults hung out and talked me and my sister in-laws planned crafts for the kids.


Maria had the kids paint their hands and make turkeys.

I had pictures for the kids to color.

Lori had the kids write or draw a picture of what they were thankful for and we make a big turkey.
Jethro threw the football around with some of the tweens.




After that we had a simple program and Jethro and his brothers played guitars. One of the songs they sang was a Samoan song that the older adults got up and danced a "Taualuga".





The kids also did a hula number and sang songs. Afterwards we cleaned up and set up the volleyball net and played and hung out until midnight! It was a great Thanksgiving and as always fun to be with family!

I have been slacking big time on my blog, here is an update as to why and what we've been up to. Jethro's parents for the past 3 years have been serving in the Samoan Temple presidency and were release on Oct 31 of this year. Out of 16 grandkids they have 6 grandkids all here in Utah they haven't met yet and they arrived Nov 22. We have been spending as much time with them as possible and making up for lost time. Ana was a little shy at first but has warmed up to them and even has asked Grandma and Grandpa Fano when they are going to sleep at her house lol. She can't wait to see them everyday and runs to them when she see's them. Its been so much fun for her to see them and have them get to know Ana and Penina! Penina on the other hand is 3 months now and knows her mama. She crys if I leave her site so I put her in the bouncer or the bumbo next to me so I can get my chores done. Penina is getting use to Grandma and Grandpa Fano and they love to hold her.




Ana took this picture of Jethro's parents. They thought it was the funniest thing that Ana knew how to use the camera

Oh happy day!

Holy cow I paid $25 to fill up my car today! I couldn't believe it, I'm use to paying $40 sometimes $50 to fill it up and we have a small car too.

My new addiction...

I love to play video games but since my husband bought an Xbox 360 there hasn't been a game I love to play until now.....Lego's has come out with some awesome video games all three are soo much fun. My personal favorite is Legos Batman. Whoever decided that when you die you don't have to exit the game was a genius!! In these games if you die you come right back to where you left off and it reduces a lot of rage for me I get so mad when I'm so close to finishing a level and I die and have to start over again, in these games you just die and come right back to life and continue on! Also there is so much to this game you never get tired of playing it there is always something new to a level, you can play it 50 times and still not unlock all its mysteries. AND best of all its great for all ages I love it and Ana loves it. Even tho she doesn't know how to play it she can move the characters around and still have fun as she gains her gaming skills hehehehe lol. Like I said the Batman one is my favorite but they are all fun to play. If you get a chance to rent one today do it but be careful its very addicting so make sure you have all your chores done and kids fed before you sit down and play you'll never want to stop!!

In the mood...

I don't know what it is about cold overcast days and being sick with a cold but I'm in the mood to sit on the couch and wrap up in a blanket and watch Anne of Green Gables. I love that show thats one show I will never ever get sick of watching!!

You do what it takes....

As with all kids I'm sure this is the same ol' story in every household. When Ana is interested in playing and not eating I usually try to get her to eat by saying "Ana, you can't have any treats unless you eat" up till now that has worked, now her response is "OK Mom, no treats" Little stink, now I've gone to threatening to throw away her toys and I have...... but they were just happy meal toys, but it works!!

Family Photos

Our friend Maka and his wife Jeane took our family pictures on Saturday we are really happy with how they turned out. I hope those two make it big cuz they are so talented and fun to work with!! Check 'em out here

Halloween Fun

Some of our traditions we like to do for Halloween is go to Vineyard Gardens Pumpkinland and go thru their fun tour of the pumpkin patch and farm and pick out our pumpkins.

We take our pumpkins home and clean 'em up and carve them. We got four pumpkins, one for each member of the family. Jethro hurt his finger the night before playing volleyball so I had to do all the work, I cleaned 'em out and carved all the pumpkins with some help from Ana! Its was alot of work but it was fun I love Halloween its one of my favorite holidays!!