Thankful, Thankful, Thankful

Today was a solemn but good day. We miss our family and friends but overall I am proud of my outcome of cooking! I actually pulled it all of without a hitch! Some changes I will keep making to the menu as the years go on, but I am so grateful for a family who supports and loves me through the thick and thin. We have A LOT to be thankful for, and above all us, we have each other, so there really is not much to complain about. I hope everyone had a blessed day and plenty of leftovers, so all the ladies of the house do not have to cook for a couple of days!=-)

Going to see the Prophet..

So we had the privilege of ALMOST having President Thomas S. Monson come and visit us here in Hawaii. Only 3 stakes were invited and the Mililani Stake (which we are in) was one of them. Anyway, about two days before, unfortunately, Sister Monson fell and broke her hip this past week, so he had a couple people come in his place. It was fabulous! We had L. Tom Perry from the Quorum of the Twelve, President McConkie from the Sunday School General Presidnecy, R. Maynes from the Quorum of the Seventy, Scott D. Whiting from the Area Seventy, and President Monson did a special broadcast from Utah just for us. It was very spiritually uplifting! It was held at the BYU Hawaii Canon Center and it was seriously an experience I will always treasure. I was able to take a TON of notes and actually pay attention because my three younger ones were at home with Daddy due to Audrey having croup. I am so grateful that David let me go, and experience something so special. It is the closest I will get to being at General Conference for a long time!!
It also makes me more appreciative of this time of year, even though my family and friends are not nearby, we love you guys, and I know in my heart you will always be a part of our lives. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

Birds and the Bees

So Josh came in early to my bedroom this week and he lays down next to me and says, "Mom, I need to talk to you about the birds and the bees." I sat up quickly and said "what about the birds and the bees?" I tried to buy myself some time to figure out what to say to my informative 5 year old. He proceeds to say "Did you know that they both live in trees? Birds live in Nests, and Bees live in hives?" I seriously laughed and let out a sigh of relief at the same time! My little guy was just trying to tell me his new found information, all the while Mommy was worried to death thinking where did he come up with this!
I hope my Joshy never stops making his mommy have a good laugh!

BTW this is FINALLY his school picture..he looks like a young man doesn't he???

My ONLY little guy..

So my Joshua turns the BIG 5 on Thursday, and I thought I would recap all of his BIG achievements throughout the year...He took swimming lessons for the first time, and of course as many of you know, it was no big surprise how much he LOVES the water, that they actually said he was a "natural" he even got up on a surfboard!! He also started soccer, on good days he did great, the best little defender, but on bad days, he would stand and watch everybody else run for the ball. He started Kindergarten and we are taking it day by day, but he got to pick from the "treasure chest" in class this past week for all green lights so that is definitely a good sign! His latest sayings consist of "Hailey hit me, or pushed me, or kicked me , etc.", "Mom, is that a cold prickly or a warm fuzzy?" (something he learned in Kindergarten.) He likes to help out around the house when he can see what the reward will be, and slowly he is becoming a young boy not a little guy anymore! (tears are running down my face right now).

These pictures are from when he was my "chunky-monkey" until now. I unfortunately still have not received his school picture back, but there is still quite a collection. He is definitely becoming more independent in his own right, and he will tell you when he's sad or upset but for the most part he is one happy/smiley little guy! (as you can tell by most of his pictures). I hope you all enjoy taking a trip down memory lane and we will look forward to all of your updates (hint, hint) on your blogs!

This is Joshua Neil Sobek born 2:06a.m. on November 12, 2004, weighing in at 7lbs. 4 oz...

This is on his blessing day on January 1st 2005

This and the big one on top of my blog were his 9 month photos with Net..isn't he soo cute?

This is one of my favorite photos of Josh and Daddy right before he turned 1...

Doesn't the costume look familiar? This was his first Halloween....

This was when Hailey had a performance at school for Kindergarten...

This was Halloween Number 2, October 06'

This is at Disneyworld March of 07'

This was October of 07' during a family get together for the twins....

This was summer of 08'..he is not liking the"rules"of swimming in the pool..

Josh watching the waves at the beach...

This was right before we moved to Hawaii at the Aquarium of the Pacific..

This is Josh showing extra enthusiasm during a whale watching tour when the grandparents came in January to visit...

This is from our latest family photo shoot with Net in Sept. 09'..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSHUA..WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Trick-or-Treating

I LOVE the fact that we got back 3x the amount of candy we gave out because of my 4 little pumpkins! The girls' costumes were a BIG hit and I can't help but be biased..of course they looked sooo cute as little Dumbo's. Avery caught on REAL QUICK to the whole say"Trick or Treat" thing..she was soon grabbing for candy if the person wasn't putting it in her bag fast enough!! It was really neat to see how they took it all in with their eyes for the first time. If someone looked too scary they hesitated and grasped their candy bags even tighter, afraid that it would be taken from them. Here is what we captured as we walked our candy filled streets...




Avery's bag was starting to get heavy but she was not going to let anyone help her carry it...



I was trying to stop her in mid grab, as the candy giver was obviously too slow at giving her candy.....


Hailey and Josh went with Daddy to the "Generals loop" area of the post to get "better" candy...