Christmas Year Round

I've been wanting to blog about Ezias and his love of Christmas for a while now. He is such a funny kid. We go to the library often so he can pick out movies to rent. I let him get 3-4 movies per week. Most of the time he throws a Christmas movie in there with his Super Hero choices. Lately he's been picking How the Grinch stole Christmas....and not the new version but the older one. This past week he finally chose the new version with Jim Carey and he actually sat down and watched the whole thing. I was amazed because he never sits still! I finally asked him, why do you always get Christmas movies when it's not Christmas time...he said "because I wish it was always Christmas!" This morning as we were driving to Auntie Ruby's house it was raining/snowing. He asked what that stuff was coming down, and I told him it was snow. He excitedly said "yes, it's snowing! That means it's Christmas time!" I just laughed and said first is Halloween, then Thanksgiving and then it will be Christmas. Ezias has always associated snow with Christmas no matter when it falls. I want to cherish these years while he still looks forward to it and believes. He was grilling me with a lot of Santa questions like why are there so many and which one is the real one. Currently Ezias has a movie called Gotta Catch Santa Clause where he's learning some new xmas tunes. He was singing this song tonight and we could not stop laughing. According to him the song is called "Dick the Halls" I hope no one takes offense, but I haven't corrected him just yet. I will when it stops being funny.  So here is Ezias singing his xmas song in his Power Rangers Halloween costume.

Before.....

After...

Chloe born 6/3/12, Iosua 7/12/12, Eliana 6/7/12. 

Iosua and Levi who was born on 7/17/12.
Iosua doesn't know this yet...but these will be his future play date buddies. Life will be a bit more exciting when these guys start being mobile. Sounds like trouble to me!

The Best Birthday Ever!

I can't believe I have a five year old! Time flies when you have kids. Since Iosua has gotten a lot of attention these past couple months we wanted to make sure Ezias had a special bday party this year. I let Ezias play a big part in planning his party. It was fun hearing his ideas and such for the party. He asked me if we could surprise him for his party. I told him that wouldn't work because he already knows about it. He replied I really want everyone to yell surprise for my birthday...so I told him we'll plan that for next year. His actual birthday landed on a Sunday so we had his party a day before on Saturday so it was a fun-filled weekend for him. He took a few friends to Jungle Jim's Playland. The party started at 6pm and of course we were there until they closed at 10pm. Ezias got some great presents at his party and couldn't wait to open them. I told him he would have to wait until Sunday to get them out and play with them. On the drive home from his party he kept saying he had so much fun. He was running around like a wild child the whole day and just soaked in all of the attention. Sunday morning he wakes up and asks me "Mom, are you sure I'm 5"? I tell him yes and then he says, "but I still look 4"! He's such a funny kid. I guess he thought when he turned 5 his body would transform into the big kid version. I assured him that he's 5 and told him he just grows a little everyday. He had one last present to open that morning from his parents and he was so excited. He kept saying this is the best birthday ever and kept thanking me for his birthday. He took his extra bday cake to church so he could share with his class and was beaming while the primary sang the birthday song to him....twice...per his request. It was nice to see him so excited and really appreciate everything. After opening most of his new toys and putting everything together it looked like christmas morning around the house. It was a fun weekend and one to remember. This time next year Ezias will be going to school. I love my son. He brings so much joy, laughter and non-stop chatter to our lives. I'm excited to see what his future holds.



Family Pictures

Taima is on a roll! It was a perfect day to take family pictures. We went to International Peace Gardens. I finally have some family pictures to put up on the walls at home! Here are just some of my favs....

 

My Boys

My amazing sister-in-law Taima has taken up the hobby of photography. She wanted to put her learning to practice so I gladly volunteered the kids! She did such a great job. Iosua was a great sport as he was being moved around to various positions.

I really enjoy being a mother of 2. Ezias is such a great help around the house and with his little brother. Iosua is a good baby and lets me get sufficient rest to function each day. I'm glad Taima was able to capture some great pics of my boys.

Iosua's Baby Blessing

Iosua was blessed this past Sunday. Josh gave a beautiful blessing. He will be 2 months this week...can you believe it? We're grateful to all the family that came to show their love and support. I am also in my last week of maternity leave. Got to make money to pay all the doctor bills now. : ) I took the kids out to Missouri so they could meet the family there, but I have no pictures to show for it! Shame on me. I've really enjoyed my time off with the kids and am sad to go back to work. Here are some more pics from Sunday. 

Josh is fired as the camera man!

Ezias is such a good helper when it comes to his brother. He loves him and is anxiously waiting for him to be big enough so he can wrestle and play basketball and football...cause daddy's getting old. Ha!

Ezias on the BIG stage!

For the past 3 months Ezias has been practicing to perform for the Samoan Flag Day Festival that is celebrated in Utah every year. He actually tried to practice with the group last year but it was a little too early because he wouldn't sit down long enough to learn any of the dances. This year he was ready! He went to practice twice a week and learned Samoan dances and some Samoan songs. I'm not sure how much the pregnancy hormones effected me but often times at his practices I found myself tearing up and getting emotional. I was filled with pride as I watched him take part in his culture. It also reminded me how much I love the culture too. I know I don't speak the language but I got to practice so many other things growing up. The dancing, food, cooking, sports and family aspects. I'm grateful for Ezias' insrtuctor Bernadine who had the patience to work with 92 kids! She is brave, but the end result was awesome. It was a great experience not only for Ezias but for us as parents. It was definitely a proud parent moment to watch our son on stage and just soak in all of the attention. He saw the fire knife dance at the festival and now he goes around the house twirling his clothes around like a knife. : ) I'm glad he had a good time performing and I hope you enjoy his videos. In case you can't tell Ezias is on the front row 2nd little boy from your left. 

and here are some pics of the event...

Mormon, Ezias' favorite Auntie Ruby and Baby Girl

Some of the boys all oiled up and ready to dance!

Pretty scary, right?

Life is pretty good these days. I love being off work so I can stay at home with my babies. Iosua is such a good baby. He eats and sleeps a lot. He sleeps 6 hours at night so I feel pretty rested these days. My parents have been here since the last week of June. They have been such a great help along w/my husband and Ezias. We have ventured out a few times as a family already....I love it! 

IOSUA AOMALU POLI

Iosua was born on July 12, 2012, 10:19am. Weighing in at 9 lbs 2oz. This big boy came out screaming! He was not happy to leave the womb but we are so happy that he's finally here!

After the doctors were done suctioning and poking and cleaning he was finally able to enjoy his first slumber.

Big brother Ezias excited to hold his baby brother. 

And this is Ezias really excited to hold his baby brother! Love being a family of four.

Pre-Baby #2

We're just going to pretend like I'm not so behind on blogging. We'll just let a lot of pictures do the talking. So my due date was July 8th and this kid decides he doesn't want to come out like Ezias. Luckily they didn't let me go over 9 days though. I just went 4 days over my due date. We had to schedule a c-section for July 12th. If anyone things a c-section is the easy way to go you're wrong! Sure there is no contractions and no laboring for hours, but the recovery part is the hardest and takes a lot longer. I had to have blood drawn the day before my surgery so I ran around a whole day w/those hospital bracelets on.

Ready to go to the hospital at 7am! Notice the Missouri representing pillow pets in hand. One of the nurses thought it was U of U and BYU pillow pets...haha. 

One last pic of the pregnant belly.

Ready to scrub in!

To be continued....

This is what I did all day on Saturday...seriously, all day! I finally got the baby clothes out of the storage closet to wash, fold and put in the drawers. This is only the 0-3 month old pile (don't be fooled, there are piles behind the front piles). It feels more official now...there IS about to be a new baby. Josh and I made a deal a while ago that I am in charge of laundry and he does the dishes for our household. I'm beginning to think we may need to re-negotiate our deal. 

I had my 39 week check up yesterday and unfortunately baby boy is not trying to make his appearance soon. It was a little depressing leaving the doctors but I'm hanging in there. My parents should get into town tomorrow so I'm excited about that. I love the 4th of July, but I'm having mixed feelings as a pregnant lady. Me and heat do not mix so well these days. So we'll see how we can celebrate the holiday and keep cool. Maybe we'll go on a bumpy drive to encourage baby boy to come out.