May your days be Merry and Bright!

How do we delight in Christmas cheer here in Hawaii? Well why not play at the beach? Nothing brings me more joy than watching my little Ezra brighten as he plays and learns. Here we are burying his feet in the sand. Each time, he would allow me to bury his feet, then kick them out from under the sand, and laugh and laugh. What a little joy. He is just overflowing with happiness all the time!

We then played in the waves, Chris, Katie, Grandma, and Liam in the water, and Ezra and I on the sand. We are having a delightful time, making family memories here all together. Hope you enjoy the pics!

Scrapbook customized with Smilebox

My son is amazing!

Ezra loves to mimick everything we do. When I fold laundry, he picks up clothes, shakes them out, and piles them. He loves to have his own bowl and spoon to stir in the kitchen while I am cooking, and the other day, he started doing sit ups with me on his own little towel on the floor. In this video he demostrates his door knocking and opening skills.

First Steps

Ezra is starting to try out walking with assistance! He has already improved his balance a lot since this video was taken last week. We are so proud of him!

More Peekaboo

Uncle Chris can really get Ezra giggling. Here they are at the diner table playing more peekaboo.

Leading the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and his own shadow.

Ezra loves to lead music, and loves his shadow or reflection. He could seriously do this for hours!

My little virtuoso

Ezra is the most amazing 19 mo musician I have ever seen. Here he is playing the uke, while I finger chords and sing.

Ezra Standing Up!

Ezra has had some very exciting developments these last couple weeks. Among the most exciting is his pulling to stand! Here is a video of one of the first times he stood up in his crib! He is also pulling his knees under himself to combat crawl (one step closer to crawling!). And he is now signing about 20 signs in addition to his 6 spoken words.

He says: Ball Dada Mama Kiddie Dog Boo

He Signs: Dada Mama Grandpa Grandma Chris hi and bye Boat Eat Dog Kiddie Bird Fish Pray Love You Music More Up Hat Hair No all done milk thank you shoes

He has even started combining signs, like up Dada, or More music! We will have to see if we can get video of him signing for you! This litle boy is such a joy!!!

--=ghh/

Time flies when your having fun!

We must be having a lot of fun, because the time is sure flying! We are having a ball in our new ohana style living home, Ezra is learning new things every day, and life is joyful. Here is a slideshow of our recent activities.

Happy Valentines Day!

Its a great day to love someone! And Ezra loves everyone, so he decided to share his box of chocolates and his rose. And his itchy little cherubum too! Hope you enjoy the pics.

Is January over already?

Alright well, there goes January! And what a fun month it was. We went to the zoo with April and Edison. We enjoyed a vist from Grandma Marcia! Ezra got his first hair cut. We played in the pool. Went on a date to the Cheesecake Factory (one of our most favorites! Thanks for the gift Jared!) Fell in love with the Kahuku Grill. and Liam worked super hard as usual at work and school. Hope you enjoy the pics!

Christmas Eve on the Beach

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We are here! We are here! We are here!

So the bad people at Go Daddy deleted our blog, and our website because we owed them like 8 bucks. Bummer. But don't worry Ezra fans! We will use this blog for now to get back in business. What have we been up to? So much!

We had a lovely break and enjoyed Ezra's first Christmas thoroughly! He got some delightful toys from his loving family! Our most treasured is the wooden cricket xylophone handcrafted by Great-Grandpa Clay! It has mallets for antenae, and its legs move up and down when rolled along on his wheels. What a master woodworker he is, as evidenced by the photos. We hear that it takes more time and expertice to make a children's toy, than it does an entire house full of furniture. Thank you so much Grandpa and Grandma!
Ezra also loves his musical car keys and Big Hungry Bear Book from Grandma and Grandpa Cornelison. He takes them in the car on our trips. He also enjoyed his Christmas Lullaby's. He gets a huge smile on his face when we put him on the scooter from Aunt Jaque. And he shakes his shoulders to the music when he plays his drums from Grandma and Papa Jacobs. Our dear neighbors also gave him a baby MP3 player, which he loves! Thank you so much everyone for your generous gifts to Ezra (and his Mom and Dad too!).
Liam has determined that Christmas is for parents, not kids. I think he is right. We loved watching Ezra crinkle paper, smile, and play with all his new toys. Liam felt very Fatherly as he anxiously assembled and added batteries to various items for Ezra to play with.

We also had a lovely thanksgiving, going back, with Katie and Thomas and Pat and Annie and Family. Good food, and good times.

Halloween was spent at various trunk or treats where Ezra learned to Grab candies, and drop them in his bag. We all got so excited when he did this that he got overwhelmed and began to cry! Sweet Boy! We also went to Bishop Museums Treat Street with April and Nate and little Edison!

And life in general? Crazy! Liam is working very hard at both work and school! He is beginning his last semester towards his Masters, which is supposed to be even crazier than the one before (I can't imagine! I hardly ever saw him!) We are training for the Great Aloha run, an 8 mile race that I entered us in for Liams Birthday Present. Some Present huh?! Not sure what I was thinking.

Our 2010 goals?
-Better Budgeting
-Healthier Lifestyles
-More time on the Beach!
-More Compasion

We are still adding to the list, but this sums it up pretty well. Perhaps I should add blogging? Haha.

Well, now I have rambled and rambled making you all read a very long post. So I will end it here, and give you what you really want...Ezra pictures! So much love to you all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

New Blog

Hey everyone! Guess what?! We have a new blog! Check us out at blog.shoeboxofphotographs.com for our most up to date posts. Don't forget to update your links and bookmarks! Love you all!

Save the Princess!!!

If you haven't seen this, you need to. It brings me happy "slaying the rocking-chair dragon" thoughts.

Click and Enjoy!

Welcoming Ezra William Kai!

Our sweet little bundle suprised us with his arrival on Febuary 24th at 5:26 am. He was 6 lbs 5 oz and 19 and 1/3 inches long. His favorite actvities are looking cute and eating, but he is also really good at sleeping (which makes mom and dad very happy!) We so much appreciate everyones prayers and faith in Ezra's behalf. He was born with several congenital heart defects for which he will likely undergo surgery in 2 or 3 months. We are however, happy to report that Ezra is doing very well and seems to get better everyday. We have truly seen the hand of God in our lives and know that he has truly blessed us.

Ezra means Heaven's Light. We have certainly felt the added measure of light which he has brought into our home. He has a very sweet temperment and spirit about him and we are so greatful for the blessing he is to our home, and the eternal perspective that he has brought us. Thank you again to everyone for your love and support especially to Ezra's Grandparents for all of your service.

A few Maternity Pics

Hi Everyone! Sorry it has been so long! I am trying to do about a million and one things before the baby arrives, and I'm keeping Liam hoppin too.

We had a great holiday, on which I will have to up-date you all (of course many of our readers were enjoying the holidays with us!) but for now I just wanted to do a quick post so that I could check blogging off of the list of things to do.

Here are some belly shots Liam took the other day. Baby Boy is due in less than 5 weeks! Can you believe it! If someone wants to make the time pass slower, it would be greatly appreciated. I can't wait to meet our baby, but I want to have the world all ready for him before he arrives. Wish me luck. Love you all!

Happy day

Fun in Washington!

We had so much fun with my family in Washington! Liam and my Dad worked like crazy, but still managed to fit in lots of family time! We went to a fun corn maze and pumpkin patch, at which Darek won a giant prize pumpkin. It was an awesome place for the kids, with farm animals, an activity barn, and a free corn maze with slides and fun stuff.

We also celebrated Jaque's birthday and took the kids trick or treating. We went to the Jackson's family Halloween party too, which was lots of fun. Liam was Prince Charming, and I was the Princess, and Baby was a little prince...we made fun t-shirts. We also had Glinda (Morgan) Dorothy (Adrienne) Scarecrow (James) The Wicked Witch of the West (Jenn) Harry Potter (Mason), a lovely Ghost (Jaque), and the Phantom and Christine (my parents). It was a blast.

Before we left we celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas too! It was a great trip! We can't wait to spend more family time this Holiday Season!

Smile

:)










































:)

Jim and Dawn

Rehearsal

Getting Ready

Formal Photographs

Ceremony

Reception

Baby's First Cloth Diaper!

Here are some pics of our sons first cloth diaper! Liam was kind enough to make me a replica of our son (by stuffing one of his outfits, and adding kitchen towels for legs) so that I could try it on him. Liam also helped by wiggling the legs while I proceded to change the baby. I hope real baby legs are more durable, because the towels kept falling off!
Isn't it so cute! This one is his swim diaper, because it is covered in a little ocean scene of sea turtles, searhorses, and fishies! Liam can't wait to take him swimming at the pool and start teaching him how to surf...Haha.
I can't wait to put it on the real baby! (Until he poops in it that is, my excitment my wane a little at that point). I could not have done this without the help and supplies of my friend Dawn who has helped me so much to get started in my cloth diapering adventure! Thanks so much!
I also had some other sewing fun yesterday. I patched a pair of stained maternity shorts that were attacked by black ink (devastating story, glad that this is the happy ending), shortened the sleeves on one maternity shirt, and took two in. I love altering clothes. It feels so great to buy something for a buck and make it look like 20 bucks!

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!

Our Christmas Tree is up! Liam and I had so much fun decorating our Christmas Tree! I love Christmas and have been know for being a bit ahead of the game when it comes to decorating, and Christmas music, and gift making...and pretty much anything else that goes with Christmas fun. So this little beauty went up the day after we got back from Washington (Nov. 6th) and we have really been enjoying it! Its just the right size for our little house.

Fully Customizable Christmas Cards for Order!

Please see my fully customizable Christmas Card examples below. I can use any photos, any wording, and any colors. Also, if you don't see a design here you like, I can create one just for you. The cards are only $12.50 for 10 and they come with envelopes! They will ship straight to your home, ready for addressing and sending out! How easy is that! Its a great way to simplify your holiday season, and show your loved ones you care. To order, just e-mail me at jessica@shoeboxofphotographs.com
with the card number, your photo choices, and anything you would like customized. Thanks so much and Happy Holidays!
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Fully Customizable Christmas Cards for Order!