That's the sound of sunshine comin' down on me

10 December

Dave and Mimi during one of Dave's study breaks. Dave thinks he's Bruce Lee. From Mia's view, he is.

[Yummy Brunch]

11 December

Saturday made us super aware that we are seriously leaving this month and we're not coming back after break. We got out early to head to the semester sales to sell more of our junk. Then our gooooood friends from Nevis were heading through the airport in St. Kitts for their break, and wanted to meet for brunch. It was so good to see them, and it made us remember just how far we've already come as we reminisced about Nevis and about how much we missed living by each other.

Michelle and Amr moved into the pink palace right after us. Since we only moved up the hill, we were close, and spent a lot of time together, even though it was only for a few months. They were one of the few reasons we tried to initially stay in Nevis after transferring schools. They are fun, good people that are the definition of hospitality.

[Trying to coerce the kids to fall back asleep]

12 December

Sunday I wanted to sleep in. Bad. The kids had other plans. Dave didn't help me out with my plan. He sided with the kids and took pictures instead.

[Mia playing "fix it"]

13 December

Since we gave about 90% of Mia’s toys away, we’ve gotten a little creative with how we spend our time around here. She can literally sit for hours and unlace my running shoes if I leave them out. After about 5 minutes, she’ll come to me and ask me to “Fix It!” (meaning…relace the shoes so she can do it all over again).

It’s a fun game. Sort of. Actually, it’s kind of annoying on my part. Who likes to lace up shoes the first time you buy them…let alone over and over again in the same hour? But, for Mia, it’s great because:

1. She thinks it's fun.

2. Hey, it’s free, man

3. It’s nice and quiet

4. She invented it…now that’s creativity!

5. It doesn’t involve the TV in any way.

Oh well. It makes her happy, and since the cleaning lady threw all of her wooden lacing beads away that Milo and Pearl gave her (sorry Abby), I guess this will have to do as far as working on her hand-eye-coordination.

(No, I’m not complaining that we have a cleaning lady. I’m taking advantage of the last few times someone besides me gets to be the maid around here because our contract includes this service as “compulsory.” Like the cleaning…still want my beads back)

[Mia and Dave taking a morning dip]

14 December

Tuesday I woke up to a very quiet house. Kainoa was still sleeping, and Dave and Mimi were no where to be found. I headed outside to see if the van was still here and heard splashing in the pool. Man does it feel good to go swimming in December!

[Mimi and Kainoa at Bedtime]

15 December

Mia decided that she was going to read to Kainoa Bear before bed tonight. There are about a million and one things I love about this picture and the cuteness that is in it.