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.