Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes

My mother-in-law sent me the cutest dessert pan the other day. It's a mini-cheesecake pan that yields 12 mini cheesecakes. I was so excited that I had to make something with it right then. Being the chocoholic that I am, I decided to do a chocolate cheesecake. I made a fresh raspberry sauce to drizzle on top and garnished them with fresh raspberries and a sprig of mint. Aren't they adorable!! (Thanks again Grammy Pegs)

Homeowners

Yep, that's the new word to describe us...homeowners! (well almost) We've been behind on our blog partly due to the fact that we've been looking for a house. We've spent lots of our free time lately at the sales office at Sea Country in Waianae. We've purchased a lot with a beautiful ocean/sunset view. It's a 5 bedroom/3 bath house with 2 car garage. There is a nice beach park across the street from the entrance to the communicty. Construction is still underway and we should be able to move in around August. Exciting huh? And a little scary too. So if any of you would like to move to Hawaii in a couple of years, we'll have a really nice rental for ya! We'll have pictures later.

So, back to the important stuff. What has Andrew been up to lately? It's more like what has Andrew NOT been up to! He's still enjoying the baby pool. He especially likes it when Daddy gets in too. He got to go to the Honolulu Zoo with Trevor, Hudson, Addison, and Hannah last Wednesday. He had a great time. They all did! Also on Wednesday, our friends Jenna and Jesse Payne(from Albertville) came to Oahu, via Maui, on their honeymoon. They spent most of the day with us. Andrew and I drove them around the south shore and we hiked down to the blow hole. Andrew posed in a few pictures with Aunty Jenna and he took up with Uncle Jesse in the backseat because Uncle Jesse kept feeding him the goldfish! After Drew got off work, we ate at Zia's in Kaneohe. Yummm! It was so good to see them. I still can't believe little Jenna Duckett is married. (Now I refer to her as Nurse Payne).

Other things that's Andrew has been up to...

He says "uh oh" now instead of "oh no!" He covers his mouth when he coughs and he has learned to say "please" and "thank-you" and is getting pretty good at using them! He loves to read and has started "reading" books to me. (lots of jabbering and hand gestures) At night when we sing our songs before bed, he insists that I sing the itsy bitsy spider in the "Great big gorilla" version. And the other day while we were playing outside, Andrew spotted a bettle running across the lanai and he squatted down, pointed to it, and said "bug."

Now you're pretty much caught up with all the happenings in the Ladner life right now. It's crazy around here, but Andrew keeps it fun!

First Haircut

Today was a really big day. Andrew had his first haircut. He handled it a lot better than I did. We went to a place in Aiea called "Auntie Denise's Kiddie Kuts." Drew and I were a little nervous because Andrew doesn't normally like it when strangers touch him in any way, shape, or form. We were expecting the worst.

When it was his turn, he sat in the race car chair and immediately starting "driving." Aunty Denise talked to him about the haircut and squirted his hand with the water bottle so he wouldn't be scared. He was actually ok with her. She got started and he was fine until the very end when she brought out the clippers to trim around his ear. He didn't really like the noise so he started to fuss.

As far as the results: It's shorter than what we told her we wanted, but I think that was partly due to the fact that Andrew was a little wiggly. It looks good except for his ear area. It's too high above his ears and too narrow down the back. He still looks cute. His long curls are gone, but luckily his hair is going to be curly, so this is not the end for the curls. As for now the only ones he has left are two ringlets in a plastic bag. It broke my heart to see them go and yes, I cried. But hey, it's just hair right? It'll grow back. (He's still the cutest lil boy I've ever seen!)

Splashin' in the pool

Drew and I had been talking about getting Andrew some yard toys since he likes to spend so much time out there. And since it's so hot we thought a baby pool would be a good idea. Especially since our window unit isn't quite working these days. The thermostat said it was 84 degrees in here today. YUK!

So we went to Walmart and bought a baby pool. They sure didn't make baby pools like this when I was little. All we had were the hard plastic ones. This one has two pools with 6 different games, a sprinkler, and a slide! Hello?! How fun is that!

After blowing the monster up with a foot pump, we filled it up and went for a swim. Andrew LOVES that pool. He was having so much fun that it was nearly impossible to get him to look up at me and smile for a picture. I'm afraid we'll never be able to go into the backyard again without Andrew wanting in the pool, or "poo" as he says.

Another good thing: maybe I'll actually get a tan staying outside all the time! I might finally look like I live in Hawaii rather than Antarctica!

Back in Paradise

Well, we're back in Hawaii and it only took me a week to get back in the swing of things. Andrew adjusted really well, but it took Chiquita a few days to return to normal. When we got home from the airport at 10:20 pm (that's 3:30 am for you southerners) Andrew was wide awake and totally excited to see his all his toys. He played until midnight and I finally made him go to sleep. At that point I had been awake for over 24 hrs. I was pooped!

So here's what we've been up to this past week:

He has this new routine: He goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 and gets up at 5 or 5:30 EVERY morning. It's still DARK at that wee hour! We're more than likely outside before sunup. We feed the birds and watch them enjoy their breakfast. (Sometimes our neighbor's cat comes over to stalk them) Chiquita is not a fan of this feline! In fact she's quite terrified of her.

He's really into books lately. We read all the time especially at night. After he gets into his pj's he immediately starts saying, "book book book book" until I have a stack for us to read. Andrea if you're reading this: Peekaboo Baby is still one of his favorites. I swear I have to read that book 100 times a day.

Also, he's practicing his independence more and more. He loves to feed himself, which he has been doing for a while, but sometimes he handles it better than others, as you'll see in the picture. Yes, those are mashed potatoes EVERYWHERE!

He likes to sing. Granna taught him the Itsy Bitsy Spider before we left Alabama and we sing it every day. He calls it "the itsy busy busy." He does his little fingers like the spider and then just leaves his hands raised up in the air like the "rain." It's cute.

Drew finally came home on Sunday. His plane came in pretty late, so Andrew didn't get to see him until he woke up on Monday morning. He was so excited to see his Daddy. He has been chasing Drew around the house nonstop "Daddy daddy daddy daddy." (And you know Drew loves it!) Today we were at Walmart. Andrew was in the buggy and he'd look at me and say "Mama" then look at Drew and say "Daddy." Then it was "Mama, Daddy, Mama Daddy" over and over again. I think he's really glad things are back to normal. I know I am!

More Raegan Jae

On Sunday, April 27 (yes I'm still behind in my blogging) Jason and Traci brought Raegan to Albertville. The whole family got together to see the precious little one and oh, she is just a doll!

Paw-paw took lil man outside so I actually got to hold her! Then he came back inside and we took some pictures of him admiring her. We have several pictures of me when I was a baby looking at Jason, so it's neat to have some of our children doing the same.

Erin even brought Maggie over for a visit. We laid the two little ladies up on the table together and let them "play." Aren't they cute?

Day at the Zoo

Last Friday, Annah took off work and went to the zoo with us. It was Andrew's first trip and he loved it. We started with the reptiles and birds, then made our way to the monkeys. Andrew wasn't a fan of the creepy crawlies, but he LOVED the monkeys! (Me too)

His favorite stop of the day was the butterfly encounter. There were hundreds of them! We sat on a bench and just watched them fly for the longest time. Andrew was amazed. He would smile and say "Hi butter-by!" One even landed on his arm. He was ok with it until the lady that worked there grabbed his arm so we could get a picture.

My favorite moment of the day was definetly when the baby camel was "talking" to Andrew. It sticks out its tongue and makes a "blah" sound. He opened his mouth and made the sound right back at the little camel.

The whole day was a blast! I loved watching Andrew's face light up every time he saw a new animal. He practiced all of his animal sounds and even tried saying the name of all the animals that we saw. My favorite was "flamingo." We finished up our fun day at the zoo by playing in the sprinklers in the children's area.