Happy Holidays From The Shih Family

Ho ho ho!  Happy Holidays!

And here we are at the end of another year!  I can’t say it went fast and it didn’t go slow either. We’ve

had a lot of transitions and changes but in looking back they’ve all made for a great year overall.  Feel

free to scroll through all the blog posts but here's a quick run down on everyone in the meantime:

Esme is now 7 ½ and in the 2nd grade at Waiakea Elementary.  She’s very motivated and likes

learning in school. Hopefully she keeps that up!  Esme also continues to grow so well into her big

sister role. She’s so responsible and caring with her little sisters, and sometimes Chan ;)  She’s also

getting pretty good at managing two year old tantrums better than mom and dad. Ha! She finally

broke from gymnastics this year and decided to try some new sports.  She played fall AYSO soccer

and started tennis, both of which she enjoys and wants to keep playing. She’s also continuing with

swimming, piano and Kumon. She’s a busy girl! She loves playing with her dolls/trinkets, building

things, reading chapter books, writing in her notebooks, and getting dressed up.  She has continued

to be our fancy little girl, who’s not so little anymore!

Chan is 5 ½ and started kindergarten at the same school as Esme this year.  This meant only 2 drop

offs (the biggies at school and the littles at the sitter) for mom and dad now.  Woohoo! This was a big

transition for Chan but it helped to have big sister there. He’s not as nervous anymore now that this

routine is the new normal for him.  When he’s not in school he’s enjoying t-ball, swimming and Kumon.

He decided soccer wasn't the sport for him so we didn't continue that one this year. Chan loves

projects, gardening, building things, playing with his trucks and cars, and of course bugging all of his

sisters ;)

Poppy and Even are now 2 ½ and they went from babies to little big girls this year.  They’re growing

up so fast! They can hold a conversation and let their needs be known...sometimes too much.  Ha ha!

They want to pick their own clothes and tell us how to do things. They love to talk and sing to each

other at night when they’re supposed to be falling asleep.  The world of twins is so interesting! Poppy

is bossy and confident, loves pink and tutus, and also eating. Eve is more sensitive and shy, loves

princesses and holding onto things.  She has this really strong sense of possession. They’re so

different yet complement each other well I guess.

Allen is still working as a clinical professor at the UH-Hilo College of Pharmacy which keeps him

super busy.  Students are always emailing him and he’s always working on new projects or exam or

lectures. And after four years of doing school based health, Zoe changed jobs this past summer.  

She’s working part time in a pediatric primary care office closer to home that’s very similar to her

last job in Washington. It's nice to have more time to spend with family again!

All in all things are well here with us! We miss all our friends and family on the mainland and

encourage everyone to come visit sometime! We're still not sure we're ready to travel as a whole

family yet so it might be awhile before we visit any of you guys ;) We figure the twins have to be at

least 4 or 5 before we attempt it. Ha ha!

Happy Thanksgiving

It seems like a busy month and it's not even over yet!

We started off with a cool visit to the airport to see these military fighter jets that were passing through. They allowed the public to come down and see them and talk to the pilots.  It poured rain right before we got there which totally cleared out the crowd so that worked in our favor.  

In the end though, what the kids loved most was being on the tarmac and watching the Hawaiian Airlines flight pull back from the gate, taxi down the runway and take off right before them.  Ha ha! 

We also finished up Esme's first soccer season.  The twins love to eat all Esme's snacks during half time.  Here Eve has her grapes in her cheeks.

Just another potty run at the soccer fields ;)

For the long Veteran's day weekend we decided to head to Kings Land in Waikoloa.  It was nice to have a change of scenery and also to celebrate our anniversary and Allen's birthday.

It's shocking how we're able to get decent family photos these days :)  Anyways we took the kids out to dinner both nights and they amazed us with such good behavior.  It's been awhile since we've done that with all 6 of us!

The waterslide in the kiddie area was a family favorite.  Esme said the favorite part of her weekend was just going down the slide with Chan.  Awww!

Dinner at Lava Lava

On their best behavior

And best of all is the early morning snuggles with all the kids!  Watching cartoons in bed is such a treat for them.  Ha ha!

Happy birthday to our Allen!!!  He was so lucky we celebrated throughout the week!

Learning about the solar system at Imiloa Planetarium.

Poppy sneaking Chan's baseball cap.  Go Andrews (the team Chan plays for)!

And we've ended up at Thanksgiving.  So thankful for all these adorable faces!

Thanksgiving lunch ended up at our house so we had to whip together some last minute decorations.

And Black Friday we opted to go outside instead of in.  The kids had a blast at Spencer's Beach Park.

Sun, sand and water therapy do wonders for the soul! Now we're ready for the holidays to begin!

Happy Halloween

The littles had their first ever trick or treating experience and of course, they loved it!  Poppy quickly caught on that if she said "trick or treat" then she would get something.  Eve knew what she had to do but was too shy and wouldn't look anyone in the face...and she still got something.  Ha ha!  We took them to 3 houses which was perfect cause their little buckets were filled up and they were ready to go home and check it all out.  The biggies continued on with daddy and the Lindsey clan to circle the whole neighborhood. 

They walked to the top of our street and back and as you can see they were all smiles!

There was some serious candy trading/sharing going on when they got home.

Our little unicorn

We actually had a few Halloween festivities the weekend prior to Halloween so Esme had a few costume changes.  Chan got good use out of his costume and wore it out this year!

Kids party at the Yacht Club - the twins intro to Halloween and costumes and scary.

I begged Esme to wear her bumblebee costume so they could be two bees together.  They were cracking up when I wanted them to bump butts.

Fall Festival at Waiakea High School where we picked out our pumpkins

And because we ran out of time to paint them, we pulled out the Mr Potato Head kits and everyone was happy!

And Now It's October

I can already feel the year just slipping out from under us.  We've made it to October and pretty soon it'll be Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and then 2019!  We're currently on fall break so no school for the biggies.  Esme's doing a Haunted House Camp (where they construct a haunted house) at the East HI Cultural Center.  And Chan's doing a 4H gardening camp that's just 1.5 hours a day.  Something different to break up all the other stuff they do :)

The girls first train ride at the St Joe's Country Fair.   They were so excited!

It's scary how much this girl loves shoes.  Or just likes making her own decisions and turns out we have soooooooo many shoes so she has lots of choices.  After this pic we finally decided we need to get her hair trimmed.  Ha ha!  See below.

Poppy got her first official haircut.  I've trimmed the bottoms but wasn't confident I could do the sides so off we went and she did great!

We attempted a little back yard photo shoot in their Merrie Monarch outfits from Nana but Poppy wasn't in the mood.  Ha ha!

Chan comes home in the afternoon and always has these big idea or projects he wants to do.  This was his impromptu lemonade stand he made for us at Nana's house one day.

This was another project Chan made with cousin Tosh - little dog houses.

The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park finally reopened so we visited on the second weekend!  We loaded the big kids bikes and the stroller for the littles and ventured out to the new Halemaumau lookout.  It's amazing how much the crater has grown with all the recent activity.  It was all new for the kids really but still fun to share with them.  

Welcome Fall

Well since the last update I think we had another hurricane fly by us and thankfully wasn't as bad as Lane.  We really didn't even notice it which was nice.  No cancelled school days with everyone stuck inside.  We've actually been pretty busy this fall as we start new activities and figure out our routine.  Esme has turned a new leaf and is branching out into all sorts of new activities this year - tennis, soccer and piano.  And she loves them all...so far :)  Her and Chan are continuing with Kumon and also swimming too.  Chan is trying out a yoga class right now while we wait for t-ball to start in the winter.  He's actually begging to try tennis too since he's always watching Esme.  Hopefully we get it all figured out before it's time to start enrolling Poppy and Eve in their own activities.  Ha ha!  They're actually doing just great as they are.  They keep each other busy and us too. 

Poppy eats almost anything.  While prepping roasted veggies she just grabbed a raw zucchini round (covered with some olive oil and garlic salt :) and started munching on it.  She finished two pieces!

She also loves avocado!  She could eat a whole one by herself!

They rarely get juice so it's definitely a treat!

They're so goofy!  Poppy loves to ham it up with her cheeses and Eve thinks it's pretty cool to wink since she just learned how ;)

All this humidity with the hurricane weather has made Eve have some incredibly boingy hair.  She calls her curls "my boings"

Poppy had to borrow clothes at the sitter one day and it shocked us at what a cute little boy she makes.  Ha ha!  We'd never know since she's otherwise such a girly-girl and only wants pink and purple and skirts and such.

Nana has now taught both Esme and Chan how to blow bubbles with their gum.  This is what Chan works on while Esme plays tennis.

And we were so lucky to hang out in Kona for Labor Day weekend.  The kids loved exploring somewhere new!