Below is the Dagupion Ohana together at Japengo for Marissa's birthday.
Below: School pictures. Aren't they awesome? HEHEHE
Halloween! Kai was Ironman, Ry an Egyptian, and Cruz Bumblebee. We went trick or treating in Kehalani, but Peter got a sore stomach so we had to head home early. I let the kids eat as much candy as they wanted, but they were naughty the next day so I threw it all away.
Family Updates:
RYENNE - Ry is doing great at her new school. She is starting to make a couple of friends and loves the positivity of her new teacher. She is having an issue with enlarged adenoids and after a pretty bad infection over the last couple of weeks, we have a surgery scheduled in February to remove them. She is really looking forward to being able to breathe through her nose! Her biggest hobby is reading and we will often find her reading books in bed late into the night.
KAI BOY - Boy has Kai been excelling in the past couple of months. Turning 6 was a turning point for him as he now says that since he's 6 he has more control over his thoughts. We just had his school conference and his improvement over last year is remarkable. He now knows all his letters upper and lower case and is starting to read. But numbers are what he really loves and he likes talking about multiplication even though they are doing addition only right now. He seems to have jumped onto that concept really quick and it's interesting to see how Ry loves reading and language and Kai is totally opposite. Kai Boy is loving positive reinforcement and is really flourishing right now.
CRUZ - Cruz is coming into a really cool moment in his life. He's totally expressing himself more often and talking about his feelings. He is very easily embarrased and does "the face" which is this lip puckering type face that my brother Koa does and my dad does as well. It's hilarious how a trait like that passes through the genes. Cruz still doesn't realize that he's bigger than Kai and so he takes the brunt of any tantrums that Kai has. I'm just waiting for the day Cruz knows he can clobber Kai. Cruz is extremely sweet and still sneaks in at night to snuggle with me. I wake up to his face just about daily.
PETER - Peter is doing great on the day shift at Andaz. It is SO NICE to have him home for evenings. We have probably been going out to dinner way more than we should, but it is really nice family time. He totally picks up the slack on dirty dishes and has been helping me carry dirty laundry baskets and anything heavy around the house. He's been helping the kids body board and they love jumping into big waves together.
MARIAH - The past few months have been somewhat of a blur. Photography Holiday season is in full swing and I've been shooting/editing 7 days a week while trying to balance both businesses and family life. I think a date night is needed soon. I photographed a proposal down the beach in October but the couple was gone by the time I could get over there - I put it out on social media and it ended up being broadcast on Hawaii News Now and then Huffington Post picked up the story as well as Cosmo magazine. We ended up finding the couple and it was a really neat experience! Shoulders still hurt all the time but I've now been getting the massage to put the tendons back where they belong 1 - 2 times per month. It's been helping quite a bit.
There have been several child abuse cases that have been in the news lately and it's really bothered me. Caused me to not sleep well and dwell and I have to figure out a way to let it go because there is nothing that I can do but love on my kids and be thankful that they have a good home with parents who love them.
Ah sleep.... sleep has been terrible for the past 2 weeks or so. My brain just won't shut off. Totally get that from my dad.
In a couple weeks we'll be spending three days on Kauai and I can't wait. I need the break so badly!
