"My help you?"

Mark is my big helper these days.

Anytime he sees me busy doing anything, he runs to get his stool and asks, "My help you, Mama?" 

How can I resist?

He's the kind of helper that makes everything twice as long as it should take, but also makes it twice as entertaining.

He especially loves helping in the kitchen. He's becoming my little sous chef.

My friend gave me this great kid's knife from Pampered Chef, so that he can "cut" food without cutting himself (or me!)

He also loves "helping" me get ready in the morning.

Soaking in these toddler moments! He's growing up so fast!

Candyland Smackdown

This is what talking Candyland smack sounds like: 

 "I think I'm gonna draw the cinnamon roll!" 

 "Oh yeah? well I hope you draw the cupcake!"

 

"Well, I hope you get stuck on the licorice!" 

  

"Oh, yeah? Well, I hope you LOOOOOSEEEE!" 

Just doing my part to instill great sportsmanship in my son. 

President's Day

"Hey, Boys! You wanna go to the park to play with your balls?!" 

(Uproarious laughter from boys young and old)

"Wait, that came out wrong." 

"Football! Ready? 1 2 3 Go!"

Practicing with his camera.

I am Chinaman's Hat.

Keaton, that's not a real smile!

On Monday, we headed downtown to escape the wind! 

We checked out the Waikiki Aquarium...

We took a little stroll down the beach...

And of course, we couldn't leave town without a visit to Keaton's favorite place...

I love long weekends!

Valentines Day (and a lot of sugar)

I'm convinced that Valentines Day was invented because there needed to be a holiday in between Christmas and Easter to eat some excess sugar. As you can see from this post, we take advantage of this opportunity to the fullest.

Decorating Valentines cookies! 

 Enjoying some Valentines doughnuts!

 Am I obsessed with food?

We call him Valentino.

I got the sweetest valentine from Keaton!

Speaking of excess sugar... I love them so much.

On Saturday, our friends watched the boys all afternoon, so that Scott and I could escape to the North Shore for a Valentines date.

Lunch at Zane's shrimp truck. My favorite!

We spent the afternoon walking around Haleiwa town, lingering in all the cute shops we always WISH we could stop in and browse around. It was great! 

And another food pic...

Everyone raves that Matsumoto's has the BEST Shave Ice on the North Shore, but we've never wanted to wait in the long line with the boys to see if it was really THAT much better than any other place. Since it was just the two of us, we decided to see what all the hype was about. Verdict: good shave ice, but not worth the long line. We will stick to the Aloha General Store from now on! I felt so guilty enjoying this yummy treat without my boys. Actually, no I didn't. Not really.

Then we went to Costco. I think it's a sign of a good relationship when you genuinely love going to Costco together, like on a date.

9 1/2 years and counting with my Valentine!

Get a room!

Love is certainly in the air at the House of Anderson...

Even the geckos are at it! 

Happy Valentines Day, Everyone!

The many faces of Keaton Ray

 

for goodness' snakes...

Week one of sick boys? I can handle some extra snuggles and octopus hot dogs.

Week two? boo! We are restless, grumpy, and getting on each others nerves - big time! 

 When all else fails, time to break out the craft supplies.

Keaton and I have been patiently saving up our toilet paper rolls for weeks after seeing this activity in Family Fun magazine.

get a subscription to Family Fun if you don't already have one! They have the best activities and ideas!

So Keaton planned his color scheme...

And painted each roll oh so carefully...

Looking good...

After they dried, we assembled them with pipe cleaners (don't worry, I let Mark help with this part, Mom) , attached some googly eyes and a paper tongue, and...

Voila!

15 straight minutes of pure entertainment!

Here's my favorite part: I expected the snake to slither around hissing and biting people's ankles. 

But, you wanna know the first thing the snake said? 

"Hey you! Eat this fruit..."
Can you tell we are studying Genesis at BSF?