Grandpa Jack

It's almost Thanksgiving again, and every year about this time,

I think a lot about my Grandfather "Grandpa Jack".

When I was young all of my family lived in one city, we had holidays together, birthday parties, barbecues and such, but my grandfather lived in Oregon which was a state away. But every year without fail he would come right after my birthday and just before Thanksgiving and spend about three weeks with the family.

He died of Congestive heart failure after having three open heart surgeries to repair his heart.

I was 11 & 1/2 years old and although he's always with me in my memories and in my heart,

I miss him dearly during this time of year!

So I dedicate this entry to my Grandpa, the strongest man I have ever known!Grandpa Jack and my brother Barry when he was a baby

Old pic's... fun project

So I got these adorable pictures from my sister, they are from back in May when my family and I went to California for a visit with my siblings, so we got the kids together and took some pics for my mom's mother's day gift... here are the pics

Left to Right: John, Nofo Jr, Joseph, Jason, Josh, Myleeah, Lili, and Marisela

Top Row: Joseph, John (pouty face hahaha), Jason
Middle Row: Myleeah, Liliana, Josh
Bottom Row: My cute babies Nofo jr and Marisela



Joseph, Nofo Jr. Jason
Please don't squish me!




WAAAAAAAAA

Apparently Nofo jr. thought they were preparing for a pyrimad war so he put on his game face!

We had so many camera's going those boys didn't know which one to look at!

Fun at The Puyallup Fair 2008!

We did it! We went to the Fair had a great time and didn't lose a kid!

...well not permanently anyway :)

Nofo, Me, Marisela, A.J., Aime, Armand

Sione, Liliana

Nofo Jr., Ayden & Ashten

Future Firefighters???

Left to Right: Nofo Jr., A.J. (in the stroller), Ashten, Liliana,

Sione, Ayden & Marisela (in the stroller)

The kids LOVED the canoe ride!

Here's Nofo Jr. & Ayden, don't they look cozy?

They were actually making room for Ashten to hop in

and the guy who was in charge sent them off without him... Oops!

Here he is! Ashten got to ride with Liliana!

say CHEESE!

Here's Sione (john) all by himself... just chillin like a villian :)

We had the best time on Saturday, it was our very first time at the Puyallup fair, and I think the crowd was pretty reasonable. There were a lot of people but not too many, comparatively speaking anyway, the fair in Sacramento, Ca. is always unreasonably jam packed with people.

So I thought this was nice. The kids had a great time, we lost one for a minute, it was Ashten, but everyone stayed calm (KUDO's Aime, I wouldv'e lost it) and we found him just fine!

My favorite part was the train ride and the kids loved every ride they went on! We caught a puppet show, some mutton bustin, even a hypnotist show (which was hilarious). I have to say I would do it again every weekend until it's over, but it's kinda pricey when you got a million kids!

I guess we'll just have to wait for next year!

Thanks to the Nicolas Family for going with we had a great time!

Check these boys out!

These are my nephews (left to right) Joseph, Joshua & Jason.

Off to their first day school at their new private school!

I love those cardigan's...

Joseph and Jason are twins, they are in eigth grade and they are playing football this year for the Jr. Trojans GO TROJANS!

Football is the perfect sport for these giants!

Joshua is a year younger and he is currently winning his second fight with cancer, he is a brilliant eighth grader and says when he grows up he will become a lawyer, a perfect job for this boy, he loves to argue!

Happy Birthday Sione & Liliana!

Nofo firing up the grill!

The first to arrive were Wes & Kristin, so we let the kids open their gifts since they weren't going to be there the whole afternoon.

John's (sione) toy was awesome, the kids played with it all afternoon!

Look at all that excitement! I'm pretty sure she's thinking "Holy cow, HANNAH MONTANA"

Red light, Green light!

Musical Mats!

left to right: Landon, Gabe & Luisa

Wes was all tired out from playing with the kids.

The Cakes & Presents!
The bbq had a rough start but turned out fantastic
We got to the park around ten in the morning, only to find that there were no tables left! I could've reserved an area but wasn't sure how big it should be, plus I really thought that there would be plenty of tables floating around the park, big mistake :)

We had to send my father in-law to get tables and it took a little while. When our tables got there, we all got to eat and the food was really good, thanks to that good looking chef :)

Close to the end of the party we did the Pinata! Boy oh boy that thing was sturdy. All the kids got their chance at it, most Pinata's bust open after a few kids hit it, not this one, each kid got to take two turns! That was a finely crafted Mexican Pinata that only cost me $18 and we sure got our money's worth just ask all the kids! They all loved it! Little Ashten (Aimee's son) was a little nervous the first time around, I think he was probably wondering why we would give him a stick and tell him to beat something til it burst' open! I tell ya what though, that boy needs to play baseball, he's got a swing on 'em like nobody knows :)

All in all the day was great! The kids got to swim, play and see some friends, I was a little stressed out in the morning but by the end of the day, knowing how happy my kids were made it all worth it! And all though I said I would never do it again, I think I would!
Thank You Everyone!

THE PINATA

SIONE

LILIANANOFO JR (BOOGEY)MARISELA (TADA)

THANKS FOR THE PICTURES

KRISTIN & AIME

The Birthday Jitters

Tomorrow is the big day!
What day is that you ask? Well it's Sione and Liliana's first birthday party. Don't get confused they aren't babies! They are turning six and seven.
But for the last six years we have always had birthdays at church or just family dinner.
Ya see my husband is Tongan, and his church is: "Siasi O' Tonga Tau'a'taina" (which translates to "The Free Church Of Tonga") when you have a birthday at his church(for our family anyway) it's basically just a big feast. We have to prepare all the food and serve it up, a hymn is sung, then a special prayer is said for the birthday child and everyone eats and goes on like it's a normal day.
So that has been our big celebration.
We have had small "parties" where our kids got to have a nice bbq on the actual day of their birthday or special dinner made and presents were given at that time (from immediate family members i.e.:mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, bro.& sis.).

So with all that said I am totally pumped and freaked out all at the same time about tomorrow. I feel like it's the first day of school, I don't know if I should be scared or excited. What if the other kids don't like me kinda feeling! (I know it's wierd right?)
It's almost as if I am questioning myself as a mother, not that party planner has to go on my "mother resume" as I like to call it, I have all the other mother qualifications like: I got them into the world, I hug em, I kiss em, I clothe & feed them, get them to school, change diapers tell them I love em... etc.
But i'm wondering how do I measure up in this world of party planning and such. Like, if I don't get it right this time does that mean we won't do it again? Are my children doomed for life to never have another birthday party... okay okay okay time to slow down! Deep breath. Oh how my mind wanders. See I told you pumped and freaked out!
I guess we will have to see how it goes tomorrow!
Don't worry I'll be back around Monday to either option 1:gush of the fun and games or option 2:cry my eyes out about how terribly it went...
let's hope for sanity's sake that it's the first option!

First Blogging Experience

Well here it is my first blog, let me just tell you up front I am an inexperienced blogger and have no idea what I am doing, with all that said THIS SHOULD BE FUN!!!
I have heard of blogging but have never been sure of what it is, I'm still not sure! I think it's like an online diary or maybe a way of letting people know how truly crazy you and your life are, so I'm think I'm gonna love it!
It's gonna take a while for me to get pics up, I am too lazy, that's right I said it, oh yeah and my camera is broken sorta, well maybe it's me I'm not really sure.
I hope you'll come back soon, when I actually have something cool to blog about :)

All in all I think i'm liking this blogging thing a lot!