Princess Anna

Have you ever seen anything so girlie in your life?!  She rode her bike all the way to the grocery store like this.  I can not get her to take her new dress up clothes off and have chosen not to fight it.  This ballerina outfit is her new favorite and she puts it on the second she wakes up, insists on wearing a bib at all meals so she doesn't get it dirty, and cries at bath time because she has to take it off.  She always has accessories on as well.  She even wore this to the dentist yesterday.  It gets her lots of giggles and smiles which she of course LOVES!

Mele Kalikimaka

Christmas is so much more fun once you add kids into the picture!  We had such a great time this year.  I was as bad as the kids, hardly getting any sleep on Christmas Eve because I was so excited.  We had some friends over on Christmas Eve for dinner and then enjoyed chocolate fondue together-a tradition that we decided to start last year.  One of the dipping items was an angel food cake which the kids helped me make-it was a birthday cake for Jesus.  We sang Happy Birthday and blew out some candles before we enjoyed the cake along with bananas, strawberries, and marshmellows.  Asher was very concerned about how old Jesus was...why do they always ask the hard questions!  

Asher and Anna made this card to leave for Santa along with milk and cookies.  It was too adorable!  They were so excited to find crumbs and a thank note from Santa.

Here is Asher after he found his stocking...Thorson tradition is you have to find your stocking on Christmas morning.  It is a fun tradition that keeps the kids busy while we get breakfast (and coffee) going.  For some reason, I am always the last to find mine?!

Jesse's favorite part was the wrapping paper of course.  He mainly liked eating it and would get upset when we actually upwrapped the paper.  He got some great toys that he is enjoying now though.

Asher and Anna were a ton of fun.  They were so patient and excited to see others opening their presents.  Asher got a pirate ship, castle, and a remote control race car that actually drives on the walls.  Anna got a new bike, dress up clothes, and a princess castle tent.  She put her clothes on and disappeared inside her castle right away.  We didn't see her for almost an hour!

This is Anna dancing in some of her dress up clothes.

They had such a great Christmas.  The best one so far in my book.  We loved everything.  I only wish we had more family and friends to spend it with!  We love you guys.  Thank you for all the well wishes, cards, a gifts.  

Christmas is in the Air

What a great time of year!!  We have recovered from the marathon (Joel still hates me) and we have had so much fun preparing to celebrate Jesus's birthday.  Anna and Asher, now obsessed with birthdays, are super excited for this one with an understanding of what Christmas is really about.  I do think we might have a hard time getting them to sleep on Christmas eve.  It has been a busy month with decorating, parties, cookie swaps, and admiring the lights in the neighborhood.  This past weekend we even took a boat cruise from the Navy Base to see all the military ships and subs decorated with lights.  Tomorrow we are going to see a play about Christmas in Hawaii during which, so we hear, it actually snows on the audience.  So that is how desparate we are to see snow!!!  On Saturday I asked Asher "What do you want to do today?" and he says "build a snowman".  He just doesn't understand why we don't have snow here.  Even still, we are really enjoying the season and can't wait to see their faces on Christmas morning as we embark on starting some of our own traditions as we are away from family for our first Christmas ever.  We hope this Christmas is a special one for you, with new memories, and celebrating the greatest gift of Jesus Christ.

The dishwasher has been run a lot with all the baking we have been doing...it is one of Jesse's favorite places to play.

I love baking cookies with the kids.  We love eating them too!  The kitchen was a mess of flour and icing but it was well worth it.

This is Asher singing his heart out at his preschool's Christmas program.  I just have to say that during this program, Joel leans over and says to me "Did you fix Asher's hair today?".  Yes, I fixed it!  I cut his hair as soon as we got home.

Here is Anna singing "the Little Bell' song during her class's part in the preschool program.  The girl next to her is her best buddy at school, Emmie.  Anna loves school and was great in the show.  Her teacher tells us we have a little actress on our hands.  I have already realized that since she practices making different faces in the mirror while I do her hair in the mornings...scared, surprised, mad...she does them all.  It is quite comical.

We Did It!

We are marathoners now!! This morning, Joel and I completed the Honolulu marathon in 5 hours and 6 minutes. There was no way for us to carry a camera with us for this experience so this is the only picture I have...we took this when we got home after we had time to recooperate a little bit so that is why we are smiling so big! It was an awesome experience. The race started at 5am with a fireworks display right after the gun fired. 25,000 people ran this race. I have never experienced anything quite like it. It was a sea of people as far as we could see and it took us 11 minutes just to get to the starting line. We spent the first 6 miles just dodging people but even so, we were completely surrounded for the entire race. We kind of felt like we were in a foreign country because the majority of people who run the Honolulu marathon are Japenese (13ooo of the 25000) so all the signs are in Japenese, the announcements are in Japanese, all the spectators are yelling in Japenese. It was quite odd. There were crazy outfits...Darth Vader, Anime characters, a guy in moonboots and wig, 2 brides and grooms (when I wonder were they getting married?-during the race, after?), guys dressed like women, santa costumes, and a guy wearing a tent....sadly, most of those dressed like that were going faster than us! I even saw an old man's behind because he was wearing a sumo wrestler outfit. We also saw Hideli Okajima (Red Sox pitcher) running the race with his police escort and news camera in his face. We saw him as we ran by him..woo hoo...we finished before a professional athlete! It poured for about the first hour and a half of the race, which wasn't as bad as I thought. It kept us cool but our feet got drenched resulting in a few blisters. We did well until we hit a wall around mile 19 and had to slow up a bit, but still finished right at our goal time of 5 hours. The scenery was beautiful...the ocean and mountains. I wanted to jump in the ocean at the finish line but didn't have the energy to make it there. There were some nice cool showers that we could stand under though that felt just as nice. and the most important thing is we finished together! I really had a great time but Joel says he never ever doing it again. I think I might be hooked on these things now. Now we are having a movie afternoon with the kids while Joel and I nurse our wounds.

Race Live Tracking

It is still raining here. I guess we are bringing are floaties to the race tomorrow!! We are gearing up for the big day. But for those that are interested, you can track us LIVE during the run. Go to www.honolulumarathon.org and click on the Live box on the left. Click on find a runner. Type in my name and the bib number is 6393. The race starts at 5am (5 hours ahead of the east coast and I think 4 hours ahead of the midwest). We should have some good stories to share!

Reflections on a Rainy Day

Godzilla on the attack

After crawling for 2 months, he finally decided to sit up!

Jesse is pulling up on everything now. It has made naptime quite hard since he pulls up in the crib and doesn't know how to get back down. We find him stranded all over the house. He is quite the mover.

Today is a stormy day in Hawaii and I LOVE it!! It is somewhat chilly with winds and heavy rain. It was a preschool day which is when I normally do a jog with Jesse. But today, while Jesse napped, I curled up with a blanket, a hot cup of coffee, watched the storm, and enjoyed a book. It actually FELT like winter. Now I should have been taking that jog and do feel a bit perturbed by the rain due to the fact that the marathon is THIS Sunday...December 14th...yes in 3 days!! Joel and I drove a bit of the route yesterday and my stomach was in knots. Did I really sign up to do this?! again?! Joel is excited. That is good because I really am nervous about it. The race starts at 5am which means we have to be out the door by 3am. Have I ever told you that I am not a morning person? Not to mention that Jesse refuses a bottle so I am quite worried about how our dear friend is going to survive babysitting him from the time he wakes up at her house until noon that day. So I find myself saying, yet again, did I really sign up to do this?! again?! I am looking foward to accomplishing this with Joel. Training has been enjoyable and running with someone is quite an encourager. The goal is somewhere between 4 1/2 and 5 hours. There are 2 hills, one being at mile 25! We didn't train on hills. We will do it together and it will be a great memory :). The training has also brought me 5 pounds away from my prepregnancy weight...WOO HOO!! So if you happen to think of us on Sunday, please say a quick prayer. I am sure I will have plenty to blog about after the race.

Breakfast with Santa

Our family had breakfast with Santa this morning. The Air Force base puts on this event every year and it was such a lovely time. The food was delicious. Plus there was a magic show, crafts for the kids, face painting, and of course time with Santa (including a present of a book for each kid). Asher is so inthralled with Santa this year and kept asking if we were going to the North Pole this morning. He was disappointed because Santa arrived on a fire truck instead of his sled and reigndeer...that was a hard thing to explain! Asher couldn't wait to sit on Santa's lap and listed about 5 things he wanted...a car, pirate ship, light saber. Anna had a breakdown and wouldn't go near him. She finally let me hold her and while standing next to him, she told him she wanted "dress up clothes" and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Jesse just kept trying to take his hat off and pull his beard. That poor Santa sure is a good sport!!

Holiday Season

Here we are enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Joel deep fried an absolutely fabulous turkey and we had a great day together watching the parade, football, cooking, and eating dessert with friends. Joel also laid out his game plan for Black Friday. Yes, Joel is a Black Friday freak and goes regardless of whether he wants something or not. He loves it. He got up a 3:30 am and hit 4 stores, and still came home smiling.

We also put up our tree of Thanksgiving day. I love putting up Christmas decorations and the kids had fun helping us. It was especially nice since we missed decorating last year due to our move and it helps it feel more wintery here in the tropics. However, I couldn't help moving a few ornaments around when they weren't looking. I know, I am terrible!

Holiday time here in Hawaii is also the major surfing season and all the big competitions are held. The weather was calling for 18-20 foot waves on weekend after Thanksgiving so we headed down to the North Shore to see a competition and the waves that only the serious surfers attempt. It was amazing to watch. The waves are a little ways out so they don't look as big until you see how tiny the surfers look in comparison. We saw some major wipe outs, amazing surfing, and kite surfers fly 40 feet into the air. It was also a very cold and rainy day...OK about 68 degrees and yes I was cold! I guess I have acclimated. Anyways, we were not dressed appropriately and got caught in a downpour so here we are taking cover under a tree freezing together.

and here are the kids posing with some friends in front of the rough ocean. I only wish the picture could capture it but the waves don't look near as impressive here. I guess you will just have to take my word for it.

And wait a second...isn't it a little too early for this man to be doing this?!?! Jesse is now 7 months old, has been army crawling for 2 months, has had 4 teeth come in in 2 days, and is now pulling up on whatever he can. The other 2 didn't start this until around 9 months. I guess this is what he has to do to keep up with his brother and sister.

Pie in the Face

The kids and I were able to join Joel for a Thanksgiving lunch celebration at work today. Six lucky people were chosen to receive pies in the face based on votes by their coworkers. Joel received the most number of votes because of a voting war that he got into and lost. People then got to bid on who got to put the pie in their face and Asher won that bid! Well, I don't think anyone was about to bid against a 4 year old. Asher got to make the pie which consisted of mustard, syrup, ranch dressing, ketchup, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. A coworker helped him throw it in Daddy's face while I snapped some lovely photos. Asher LOVED it! Anna was a wreck crying on the sidelines...she was so upset for him. Everyone thought that was so cute. It was disgusting but Joel was such a good sport. Even after a shower and good nose blowing, Joel says he still smells mustard.

We are enjoying a nice Thanksgiving to ourselves tomorrow which we are really looking foward to. It took me awhile to get over my grumpiness of being so far from those we love but we are still going to have a great holiday. We are so thankful that we have each other and for all that God has given us. We are going to celebrate with some parade watching, Joel is deep frying a turkey...YUM, and dessert with friends. and we plan to start decorating for Christmas on Friday! We hope you all have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

7 Random Things About Me

I was "tagged" on a friend's blog to list 7 random things about myself. I have just learned what "tagged" meant...must be a blogging term. I thought it would be fun so here it goes.

1. I have a gumball obsession. I cannot pass a gumball machine without putting a quarter in. I don't know how or why this started but having kids makes this a difficult habit because they always want quarters for the machine now.

2. I can't stand the sound of people popping their knuckles. It gives me the willies and makes me want to gag.

3. I could sleep until noon if my life allowed it. I was always told that as I got older that my body wouldn't let me sleep in anymore but oh I can still do it.

4. I LOVE popcorn. I can eat a whole large popcorn at the movies by myself. Some have learned that I get my own popcorn bag from the microwave because there won't be much left for anyone else (sorry Dave!).

5. I have long hair right now because my husband loves it. Ever since he has known me, I have had short hair and he never really had an opinion on it. I grew my hair out after Anna was born after laziness and now he has an opinion :).

6. I really really miss Dunkin Donuts. They say America runs on Dunkin but Hawaii does not because it isn't here!! Maybe I should open my own? There is no place here to find a good cheap cup of coffee. French Vanilla with skim milk only please...

7. I miss college because I miss studying, taking tests, learning, and being challenged. Yes, I am a complete nerd. Of course I miss the fun stuff too but I love studying!! I am jealous of Joel and his online classes right now. I am thinking about maybe taking some classes once Jesse gets a little older.

I hope you have enjoyed learning more about me. I now "tag" Laura Beth Rhodes, Sandra Libby, and Hillery Gaiser.

The Thorsons vs the Volcano

Hello again!! I know it has been awhile. Life without a computer is killing us. Our computer was shipped off, "fixed", sent back and still didn't work, so now it is shipped off again while we use a computer on loan from Joel's work. Anyway, we are back now from an absolutely fabulous vacation!! We had such a wonderful time on the Big Island. The things we saw and experienced were so different from anything I have ever seen. I hope the pictures allow you to grasp some of it.

Anna and Asher heading off to the airplane for our trip. They did not go to sleep until around 10pm the night before because they were so excited. We heard them in their room giggling and whispering. It was cute.

A black sand beach. This was my favorite experience. The black sand is created when hot lava hits the ocean and is shattered. The sand is really just as soft as regular sand, but a regular beach doesn't have the cool lava cliffs.

Making smores in our cabin. We loved having some cold weather and made a fire every night.

Jesse spent a lot of time in the backpack for our hikes but he didn't seem to mind.

Next to Asher is a "petroglyph"...images and stories carved into the lava.

Here is some lava pouring into the ocean. This was about as close as we could get but it was still pretty cool. Far off we could also see the river of lava flowing down the moutain.

Behind this beautiful family is the crater that used to be a lava lake (in the 1980s). We did a 4 mile hike down into the crater and across it where we got to see the actual vent that spewed lava. Anna and Asher did the whole hike by themselves and we had such a great time. It is amazing to walk on land younger than you?! Weird, huh? The smoke way off behind is another crater erupting at the present time but most of the lava is travelling underground.

Hiking through a "lava tube" which is a cave or tube created by the lava flowing under the ground which we learned is how it most often travels. We were able to hike down into this tube and turn off our flashlights to experience the darkest dark we have ever seen. Asher was so brave-you really couldn't even see your hand. Anna refused to go down but that's OK.

More black sand. This beach was created by a new eruption in the 1990s...again, land younger than us.

Swimming in a hot lava pool. It was like being in a hot tub. Ocean water was flowing in one side so you could hear the sound of the waves as you relaxed. I could have stayed here all day.

It was a great trip but Anna and Asher were sooooo excited to go back to our house with toys. The whole time they kept asking where their toys were. However they are still talking about all the cool volcano stuff. Maybe it will be their earliest memory.

Another one bites the dust

You may have noticed that I haven't been keeping up with the blog as much as normal. That is because our computer has officially crashed after giving us problems for 2 weeks. I am now sitting at my neighbor's computer...do you realize how much we (I mean me) depend on the internet!? Our computer's warranty expires on Nov. 14 so Joel has frantically been working with Sony to determine if it is a virus or hardware issue. As of now, it looks like a hardware (woo hoo) so we are shipping the computer in and keeping our fingers crossed that a new one will be coming back to us for FREE!! In the meantime, you might not be hearing from me very much. This is very sad because I am in picture overload!!! So I will just to explain the week's happenings as best I can for your imaginations. Buckle your seatbelts because this is going to be a long one!

MONDAY: Joel took the day off since it was Anna's actual birthday and we had a family day at the beach. We had such a good time. Asher snorkeled for the first time and Jesse went into the ocean for the first time...both thoroughly enjoyed their experiences. Jesse would splash the water into his face, suck his breath in from the cold, and do it again over and over.

TUESDAY: We carved our pumpkin and toasted pumpkin seeds. A word of wisdom to those who may be carving pumpkins in Hawaii in the future-DO NOT carve your pumpkin until the day before Halloween. As the week progressed, the fruit flies, mold, and smell grew...it was disgusting. Then I figured out that we never experienced this before because it is normally cold when we carve pumpkins. Our neighbor got a good chuckle when he told us he learned this lesson last year.
PLUS Jesse turned 6 months old. He is not sitting up yet but he is crawling. Yes, the boy is a mover, we can't believe it and nothing is out of his reach much to Anna's dimsay. Oh, we new she would get payback for messing up Asher's detailed car lines.

FRIDAY: Threw the moldy smelly pumpkin in the trash (in he morning) candle and all. Halloween is an issue for Joel and I in that we still have not figured out our footing on how to handle this holiday. We both grew up not celebrating so we don't think about it until it is on top of us...then we tend to avoid it until the next year. And soon we discovered it is impossible to avoid while living on base...the trick or treating and invitations to kids parties is mass mania. We had already decided to let the kids dress up and walk to a nearby carnival for the evening. So off we went with Spiderman and Sleeping Beauty, but it turned out to be trick or treat time so we let them hit a few houses on the way to the carnival and decided we will figure this out next year. The carnival was a blast. Asher rode everything and Anna only got brave at the end and rode a race car ride with Asher, which they both loved. I have a GREAT picture of then laughing and screaming as the race car whips them around the corner. We also got to see a flying trapeze act. The kids were mesmorized-it was awesome. And I love carnivals for one thing...FUNNEL CAKES!! We let them play a few games and Asher actually won a stuffed animal. We couldn't believe it.

SATURDAY: Asher's last soccer game and he scored 2 goals...WOO HOO!! Then coach Joel gave the boys trophies. I have a great picture of him with the team and their trophies. Asher carries his around and tried to sleep with it last night. He was so proud of himself. We also ran 17 miles as part of our marathon training. It was supposed to be 18 but Anna started screaming potty and we had to cut the last mile out. We were still pretty pleased with the accomplishment. We are over halfway through our training and have one super long run left (20 miles). Believe it or not-the kids do awesome on the run. We have all enjoyed the time together (and crashing afterwards). Asher and Anna took turns playing "Sleeping Booty" and kissing each other to wake up for an hour. It was adorable.

And lastly...we leave for the Big Island on Wednesday. Asher and Anna can't wait to go on the plane and see the volcano. We are staying for 4 nights. While planning this trip we realized that we have never been on a family vacation together-just us. It is usually spent visiting family or doing the trip with friends. We are all really looking foward to the trip. Plus it is supposed to be cold there this time of year. Yeah!! Break out the jeans and sweatshirts...it might actually feel like fall for a little while :).

So I hope you enjoyed the ride. I don't know when I will be back...probably sometime after the 9th and still without a computer. Boy, will I have a ton of pictures to post once we get there!!

A few more party pictures...

Read the blog below for details. I just had to post more pictures!


Anna in the middle of all the wrapping paper. Her face says it all.

Spiderman Asher and his friend Garrett the knight. Asher didn't understand why her couldn't dress up in his costume since Anna was in hers so we let him go for it. I was a little scared spiderman would be chasing around a bunch of screaming princesses but her behaved himself. We asked his friend Garrett to come hang over to give him some boy company.

Another tea party picture.

Jesse and Daddy exhausted after a hard day of partying.

Anna's Princess Tea

Anna celebrated turning 3 today with a Princess Tea Party. She has been counting down to this day for months and this morning I heard her exclaim "ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!" the minute she woke up. Her birthday really isn't until Monday but we didn't bother explaining that since her party was today. This princess tea party idea sprung in our heads months ago because Anna is such a girlie girl obsessed with princesses and babies. Including Anna, we had 8 little princesses over for the celebration. They had their nails painted, got tattoos, made tiaras, played pin the shoe on cinderella, and of course had a tea party. Thankfully our patio is covered because it rained buckets all day. That never happens in Hawaii but I have this rainy day birthday party curse that hangs over my head :). We all had a great time and Anna was in heaven. It was adorable watching all the little princesses running around (and Asher as spiderman with his friend the knight). Anna loved her presents, having her friends over, and wearing her beautiful dress. Her favorite thing to do in her dress in dance with her Daddy-it is so special to watch! So Happy Birthday to our litte princess!!


8 little princessess all in a row.

Princess Anna getting her nails painted.

"Happy birthday to Anna..." a lady on base made us this beautiful cupcake cake. However Anna wanted nothing to do with blowing out the candles. The icing on this cake is divine...I can't stop eating it.

The girls enjoying their tea party.

A Great Weekend

It is so sad to see long weekends disappear. Joel had Monday off due to Columbus day and we had a 3 day weekend packed with fun. We had soccer, running 16 miles (not a ton of fun!), a beach birthday party, AWANA, a get together in order to watch the Red Sox lose, and cookies and ice cream for dinner. oh, and sleeping in!! But the best part about the weekend was Asher scored his FIRST soccer goal!!!!! YIPEE!!!! We have come a long way from his first game when he just sat on the ground and cried. He was so proud of himself. He is really having fun with soccer now and that is all we care about, but it was still pretty exciting to watch him get that goal.