My Elf

My Little Elf turned 3 almost 2 weeks ago.  (Yep, running behind)  So here is my mommy elf.  She loves playing with babies.

 I used fondant for her birthday cake this time, and LOVE working with it.  So my Uncle James joined in and did a couple flowers too.  I still have a few kinks to figure out.  But I really enjoyed working with it.  This year for Ileana's birthday everytime I asked her what kind of anything she wanted for her birthday she would reply, "Pink"....ok.  So she got a cake with pink flowers.  It worked, she was stoked!

 My happy elf :)  She was sooo excited that for her presents.  Here she got some pajamas.  As soon as she finished the picture she ran upstairs to go put them away.  She was so excited over everything.  It was so fun to watch.

 I had to sneak this in.  Napela put his bandana on Ikaia.  The boys were all laughing hysterically.  It was sooo cute.

 My ballerina Elf

 Winding up for her turn....

And my helper elf.....See the help me look in Ikaia's eyes.  Thank heavens he just rolls with it.  Ileana wants to be involved in everything I do, including feeding her brother.  This was the last time she was allowed to even hold the spoon to feed him though.  Poor kid.

Accomplished

Mychaila had an appendectomy this past weekend.  We were very fortunate and truly blessed that it was caught early.  So early that her blood work came back with no infection. BUT while waiting for the bloodwork she got a fever.  So even though the bloodwork came back clean, she was sent for a CTscan due to the fever and belly pain.  The CT scan caught that she had appendicitis.  Ironically, after receiving tylenol the fever never came back even after it had the tylenol had wore off.  So grateful for our angels watching over her this past weekend.

She has 3 little cuts.  That will be unnoticable once healed.   As she was coming out of her anesthesia she said, "I feel.....accomplished."  She was sooo terrified of this surgery.  I am sure if she could have run away she would have. So yes, huge accomplishment and mountain that she faced and climbed over.  She was such a trooper, and despite her fears stayed respectful to all that came in.  Even barely aware after surgery she said, "Yes Ma'm" to all the nurses.
 The nurses were all so kind as to help her and talk to her about what was going to be happening during surgery.  They were so patient.  She even got 2 stuffed animals, from the NURSES.  One was an automatic, just for getting surgery she got a giraffe.  The other was from a very thoughtful nurse that saw she was struggling, and even showed Mychaila her own scar from her appendectomy.  She is recovering well, and we are excited for when she will be all better.

Statue of Liberty

She cracks us up!

Fearless

Ileana jumping off the diving board.

And Another

Ikaia playing in the water.

Let's try again....

I'm gonna put a video per post, so they will all show...

Here is Napela swimming

Monumental

Today I took videos of almost all the kids.  Mychaila was too busy having fun with Uncle....  Ani is doing flips off the diving board.  And, drum roll....Napela finally tried to swim without his floaty.  Yes, one floaty. (we took one floaty away a little while ago, and he has been swimming everywhere with just the one )  And today, he finally did it.  It was such a huge thing for him, I am so proud of him for overcoming his fear.

Here is Ani doing his flip.  (I'm actually quite shocked he learned this.  He is usually  my cautious boy, but this summer he has gone off a high dive and learned how to flip and dive off the board.  I'm so proud of him for trying these new things!)