coen graduates!

this morning coen graduated from hiilani's parent-child preschool program. ahhhh, he is growing up so stinking fast :) wes got to come with us and all the little graduates got a hat, certificate, and gift. coen was not shy at all, he was very much excited to graduate. i have loved every second of this program and am excited to start baby2 in their program this winter. (no, we aren't sending the baby to preschool right away. their program starts a 2 months with a baby massage class, and goes up to age 3!) 

congrats coen, you rock!  

merrie monarch parade

hilo's claim to fame is the merrie monarch festival. it is a huge hula competition that brings dancers from all over the world to compete. the town goes crazy and there are a million craft fairs and booths, it's chaos. we didn't do any of it. except, the festival ends with a big parade...and we love a good parade! so we set out to the streets of downtown hilo to enjoy a good 'ol hawaiin parade. 

we were warned to get there really early to save a spot. instead we showed up 15 minutes early, grabbed starbucks and plopped down on the street. it was really busy, but we are okay with sitting in the street and not bringing a tent, chairs, cooler, and pizzas (yes, pizzas). wes already told me next year the only thing i can add is a baby in a moby. anyway, i took a million pictures but then realized that parades are so much better in person. lesson learned, put the camera down. here are a few so you can feel like you were there too. oh and the best float (in my opinion) was the mac nut float, they handed out mac nuts! 

easter!

we had quite the easter weekend this year. each year coen is more and more into the traditions of holidays and i totally dig it (and him). on saturday the hilo coffee mill put on an easter egg hunt. it was brutal. we missed the 2-4 age group (as did a million others) so they let us go with the next group. coen was all set to go, and i was just going to hang back and see if he needed me. right after i took this picture, i was pulling him out of kid-mob totally fighting for his little life. no joke. 

being that he totally needed me and was screaming, "this is scary!" i got no pictures of the actual hunt. in fact i even cheated and broke the "only kids can pick up the eggs" rule. i had to, those 7 year old are intense. once i got a couple eggs into his basket, he stopped crying and managed to get about 7 total eggs. next year we will not miss the 2-4 age group hunt. 

before coen went to bed that night he left his easter basket out on the front steps. he woke up easter morning yelling, "mama! is the easter bunny here?!" he totally thought that the bunny would be eating breakfast with us (i guess actually he was, ha!). anyway, he was okay with the bunny being gone after he saw the bunny prints and his basket stuffed with goodies. 

after some breakfast and a wardrobe change (into last years easter pj's) we headed outside with our neighbors for an easter egg hunt. this was much more rewarding than the hunt at the coffee mill, and no one almost died. 

we spent the rest of the day in our pj's dying more eggs and cooking lots of yummy food. after naps our neighbors came back over to enjoy easter dinner with us. it was all SO good, but i forgot to take food pictures. except for these nest cookies i made...adorable! i did make the most amazing three cheese scallop potatoes. i pinned the recipe to pinterest one evening and by the next morning it was re-pinned over 400 times! i guess i should share it with you, maybe later. 

our neighbor brought over his mini four wheeler and coen thought it was so cool and fun. these 2 boys are such cracks ups...and mess makers. 

whew...what a fun easter weekend. i am a little delayed, but i hope all of you enjoyed yourselves and remembered Him on such a blessed easter day. 

eggs!

dying eggs with playgroup friends is just sooooo fun! 

gami and pop pop!

i am pretty behind on blog posts. i blame the first trimester for that. growing a brain is a lot of work, not to mention trying to take care of the brain i previously grew (aka, coen). the plus side is that time flies by when you have no choice but to keep going, and i am excited to almost have the first trimester behind me annnnnd i am hopeful my energy level will increase. it has too. 

anyway, a couple weeks ago gami and pop pop came to visit. we had so much fun and i didn't take nearly enough pictures but here is a look at some of the ones that i did take. thanks for the visit, com back soon!