Breebs and Teej

Christmas pictures

2009-12-16T17:06:00.000-08:00

Thank you Uncle Eric!

2009-12-16T17:00:00.001-08:00

Thank you uncle Eric for the Pack and Play.
this is Kailee enjoying it!!!

Kailee is here

2009-12-04T22:18:00.000-08:00

Kailee Carol Kazuko Arakawa was born on November 24, 2009.
She was 7 lbs 5 ozs and 20 inchs long!

2009-09-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

The kids had their primary program today! Here are a few of the songs I made them sing again when we got home. The primary asked all the kids to dress in white. The did an excellant job and looked so angelic in their white clothes.

Untitled from Megan Arakawa on Vimeo.

The words are a little lost here.

Untitled from Megan Arakawa on Vimeo.

And here!

We are back!!

2009-09-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

Things have been super crazy around here but we are back in the blogging world again! I feel bad it has been so long. Most recently we have been living at the park. Breana and T.J. are both doing soccer this year and parctice on oppostite days. So, 4 days out of the week we are at the park for practices with games on Saturdays. It has been crazy but fun and the kids are doing really well. They really enjoy it!

Clayton got to ref one of Breana's games. He didn't want to but felt bad when the coach was having to ref so he stepped up and did it.
T.J. is so funny to watch the are all bunched around the ball. He has scored 6 goals already in 2 games! Of course they don't have goalies or keep score but we are proud of him. He is a fast little buggar. Now we just have to work on his shotting skills. He gets out on a break away often with nothing but him and the goal
but 9 times out of ten he fall, trips, misses, or can't stop him self and he misses. It is so cute to watch.
Breana is learning quickly and is a bit behind as this is her first year playing. She loves to go to the park with Clay and have him help her with her passing and shooting.

Breana's Birthday

2009-06-16T21:17:00.001-07:00

So after T.J.'s graduation Grandma Arakawa came over and picked him up and took him back to Oahu with her for a week. Breana's birthday was June 3rd and she had been planning a sleepover at the Grand Wailea. Unfortunately, Clayton was unable to get a room as the entire month of June was blocked. Instead, we had a few of the girls get together for a mini spa day birthday. It was a school day but they get out early on Weds so it wasn't too bad. We met at our house and then went over to our good friend Diana's, as she is much better at the girlieness than I am. Auntie Diana did all of the girls' nails and hair. I contributed some by helping to scrub toes and applying a facial of avacado and yougurt complete with cucumbers for the eyes. They loved it and couldn't stop giggling. It was so much fun to see the girls so happy!! Thank you soooo much Diana!!! You are the best!!! We would have been lost with out you!!! So after they were all decked out we went down to the Grand Wailea for dinner. They had a table waiting for us in the patio area. The girls were so excited and enjoyed "toasting" with their water glasses.
The girls enjoyed their calamari appetizers and most of them had cheese pizza for dinner. Surprise, surprise. Isabelle was so cute waiting for her chicken fingers. she kept asking if they were ready and was so excited when she saw them coming. Man that girl loves chicken fingers!!!
One of the desserts on Clay's menu is named Breana's Brulee after the birthday girl!! They sent out one for all the girls to try and they loved it! Side note: T.J.'s fish tacos are also available on the menu.
After dinner Clayton was off and wanted to get some icecream. So we stopped by Dairy Queen on the way home. We got home pretty late and I was so nervous the parents might be uspet. But all was well and we finally got home around 10 o'clock.
Breana had so such fun!!! Thank you again Diana for all of your help and for driving us all to dinner!!!

T.J.'s graduation

2009-06-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from T.J.'s preschool graduation. I know I am way behind but at least I'm trying. They had a wonderful little program with all of their favorite songs from the year. I couldn't get over how adorable he was in that little cap and gown. Especially once he was lei-ed by all of his friends. So cute!
I also couldn't get over how much he looks like Clay. I did tape the entire program but unfortuantely I am not so good at the editing thing and they are really long. I may get to it someday but don't count on it!!

Breana's Ohana Day Dance!!

2009-05-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

Surf from Megan Arakawa on Vimeo.

Here is Breana's Ohana Day dance. Sorry that it gets pretty shaky near the end. There were several people in chairs right in front of us and people kept standing up. My arm was in the air with the camera pointed down the whole time. I think you can hear me when it gets shaky say, "My arm is getting tired Clay".
Anyway, She did a great job and we are so proud of her.

What happens when you give a 7 year old and a 5 year old a camera?

2009-05-14T18:51:00.001-07:00

You get pictures of toys, butterflies, and bugs.

Grandma's Birthday!

2009-05-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

So we went to the beach to take some pictures for Grandma Mecham's Birthday back in march. I started early and we used the pictures to make some homemade gifts for Grandma (that have yet to be mailed). I thought I would share some of them seeing as Grandma has not seen any of them yet. What can I say I am the queen of slackers.
Sorry if some of them are tilted I had to scan our prints.

T.J.'s birthday!!

2009-03-09T23:46:00.000-07:00

I'm a slacker mom! I missed posting about T.J.'s birthday. We had a fun week. Cake at school, a birthday pie on February 18th, his actual birthday, and a fun barbeque with friends on the 19th. Unfortunately my camera is still having problems and I didn't get any pics:(
So these are just two of my favorite T.J. pictures!

My birthday was good. I played and my school sang to me and my mom made me a chocolate cake for everyone at school. I got a toy from my teachers. Then we had a barbeque with my friends. Thank you everybody that came. Can you please come again for my next birthday when I turn 6? That would be fun! Thanks for the presents and for the birthday cards from my grandma's and grandpa's!

Thank you, T.J.

I Love you Heidi!

2009-03-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

This was my old dog Heidi. We left her in Montana with some very nice people who were our friends. She was a cute dog. She was a good runner and she was potty trained when we got her.
We saved her from the Humane Society. I wished I could play with her again. I miss her alot.
I hope someday we can get another dog just like her. My favorite things about her were that she was fun to play with, she was patient and this is how I know it she didn't bite T.J. . She would only lick him. She was like a circus dog when we fed her popcorn it was so fun to watch. We would throw the popcorn in the air and she would jump up and catch it. She sheded alot so I had to sweep alot. I love you Heidi and hope you are enjoying your new home! Love, Breana

T.J.'s love page

2009-02-22T11:49:00.000-08:00

This is T.J.'s love page. I've been meaning to post it for awhile but couldn't find the scanned image on my computer. T.J.'s school does a project every year where every family creates a page about their preschooler. They compile them in a large book and then all the students get a chance to take it home and see everyones pages. The picture of him with the corndog is from Disneyland and fell out of a box while I was moving some things. It was too cute not to add! The star fish has to be one of my all time favorite T.J. pics. Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Back to work.

2009-02-15T11:51:00.000-08:00

This was my first week back at work after a month off. I was excited to get back to work and our normal life and routine. So, Monday morning I was feeling like this...

After 2 10 hour days and the usual drama that accompanies any job I felt a little more like this...

All I could think about the rest of the week is this opening scene from Joe verses the Volcano where all of the workers are filling into work overly enthused be there. Pretty sad huh?

Oh well, things are back to normal!!

Thank You Auntie Manda and Uncle Scott!!

2009-01-22T18:05:00.000-08:00

Thank you for coming to visit us we had so much fun with you guys!!!!

Thanks for taking the kids around with you guys everywhere you went. They had so much fun and can't wait to see you guys again!! Come back any time!!! We miss you already!

Merry Christmas to the Mecham Household!!!

2008-12-25T11:16:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas Card Photos

2008-12-23T14:41:00.001-08:00

Here are some of the pictures that were taken for our Christmas card. Notice that most of these are NOT blurry. I'm having problems with the camera. GRRR.

There were a couple like this I finally had to inform here that she was not a swim suit model.

The session isn't complete until T.J. has had a good cry.

I'll try and get some prints for you mom. But you know me I can't make any promises!

We have been busy!

2008-12-23T14:08:00.000-08:00

This season has been extremely busy for us and I apologize for not posting more often.
Clay's parents came over for thanksgiving, as we both had to work, and since then it feels like we have been going non-stop. Here is a small sampling of what we have been up to. In no particular order.
Gingerbread houses with friends(made out of rice krispie treats.) I made the mistake of making real ones last year thinking we are much drier here on Maui and they all collapsed within days.

Taking pictures for Christmas cards(that I have yet to send).

Making ornaments. We make the ornaments for our tree every year. It all started because my husband is a scrooge and he wouldn't let me spend too much on Christmas. And now it has become a fun activity that the kids look forward to and they keep their eye out for things that would make good ornaments.

More gingerbread houses with friends.

We had two separate gingerbread house parties for our friends.

Clayton's Christmas party for the kids at the grand Wailea.

T.J.'s Christmas program and party at his preschool.

Making treats for teachers and friends.

Add to that the usual shopping, Christmas parties, wrapping presents, packaging and mailing gifts. And then add the everyday chaos of school,work and errands and it's a miracle that I was even able to post this. Sorry for the gap in between posts grandma and grandpa I'll make it a resolution for next year! HA HA HA!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Conversations with Tyrus.

2008-11-12T17:09:00.000-08:00

So...Last night at dinner Breana and T.J. were indulging in some red powerade.

Breana: Mom, why do they call it Powerade?
T.J.: Because it's ade and it has the power.
Mom: The power of what?
T.J.: The power to turn your tongue red!!

Okay I'm not so good at this.

2008-11-11T14:46:00.001-08:00

There are 4 posts from today and I apologize for being terrible at this blogging thing. I am trying to play catch up from Halloween until now. For the most part they are in order so you can start with the 4th post down if you're concerned about the timeline. This post is some of the pictures from our trip to Oahu.

As we drove past this Chevron Clay said, "Quick take a picture." I did because we haven't seen gas under 3 dollars since we moved to Maui. Sadly when we returned home it is still 3.50.

Clayton took me to Nobu for our anniversary and it was amazing. Clay had high expectations and had them met which is rare. I however judge by dessert. The most important course, right? Well dessert was awesome and Clayton agreed. We have been to several nice places that just didn't cut the mustard when dessert came but Nobu was wonderful from start to finish.

Clayton doesn't let me take his picture often and when he does it usually looks like this. But I thought this one turned out pretty well and it captures the inner Clayton rather well. He was mad when he saw me posting this.

You should be jealous you don't live here!

T.J. on the Supper ferry cuddling Breana's dog Amy. Again the obsession with stuffed animals that I don't quite understand.

This is the kids' cousin C.J. at her soccer game. I asked Clay to take pictures as I wasn't feeling well, and I got these 2.

This was the first birthday party we went over for. Clay's mom's cousin's first grandbaby turned one(try saying that again) and we went to help Kaely celebrate. This is the kids making stuffed animals as part of the entertainment.

Dylan helping the girls stuff their animals.

Breana and her panda she named Cuddles. More stuffed animals!

Breana with Meghan and Bethany playing on our last day. The dog is Bethany's new puppy Leihua. Breana was in love. In this picture left to right Meghan is 8, Bethany is 9 and our giant Breana is 7.

Grandpa with Bethany and Breana holding Leihua

The 3 girls again with Lauren being goofy in the back.

Bethany and Leihua.

This is Clayton and Emily-3. He was trying to get her to smile for me as she refused as I was trying to take her picture.

This one was taken by a cousin NOT me.

T.J. playing on the slide.

T.J. and Emily the two youngest Grand kids.

Emily smiling again for a cousin taking the picture NOT me.

Lauren and Breana acting sassy.

We had so much fun and were glad for the vacation from work and school. I am sorry I am so terrible at this but we all know how technologically challenged I am and should be glad I am even able to upload pictures. I think someone should come up with some sort of rehab for people like me who just checked out as technology advanced. We could enroll together Mom! Any way there it is in all it's unorganized glory and I believe that I am up to date so we'll see when the next post comes. Any one wanna take bets?

Halloween fun!

2008-11-11T14:27:00.000-08:00

T.J.'s preschool had an open house for all the kids and thier families. It was alot of fun and the teachers really went all out decorating their areas.
This is T.J. and his good friends and neighbor. T.J. is a ninja if you can't tell. (he didn't like wearing the mask)

This is T.J.'s teacher. Teahcer Iris.

This is the schools director, teacher Lei.

T.J. as a scarecrow and witch.

Tyrus deccked out as a ninja for the ward trunk-or-treat. This didn't last long.

Breana as tinkerbell.

T.J. hated the mask but wore it when I told him he had to wear it for trick or treating or noone would know he was a ninja.

Breana's homemade wings. A little lopsided but we had fun decorating them. Can you say house full of green glitter?

Blury pic of the way T.J. wore the mask when he had it on.

Sorry I didn't take any pictures of actual trick or treating but by the time Halloween rolled around we were glad to have found our costumes at all.

I hope you all will stop hounding me now!! You know who you are !! Ha Ha. Just kididng,

sorry it took so long.

Halloween Pumpkins!!

2008-11-11T14:13:00.001-08:00

This is Breana and T.J. Making their Halloween pumpkins. I made the mistake last year of carving real pumpkins 2 days before our Halloween party at church and they were moldy by the time we got there. That's the casualties of living in Maui. I think we'll cope. So this year we made papier mache ones courtesy of Martha. I was advised once by an ever so wise teacher in Culinary school, "If you are ever in doubt just think to your self, WWMD, What would Martha do?"

T.J. playing with his paint brush like a sword. Really, anything can be a weapon right?

Breana was so careful when adding her layers.

T.J. 2 weeks later with the finished product.

Breana decided to turn hers into a pirate.

And here are all 3. Mine is the black one-we ran out of orange crepe paper. All in all the kids had a good time and they didn't even miss carving real ones. T.J. is excited to pick out his real one for pumpkin pie in a couple of weeks!!

Girls night/Boys day!

2008-11-11T13:52:00.000-08:00

This is T.J. hanging out with his buddies on his boys day. On Sat Nov 1st he had a bunch of his friends over for an afternoon of movies, sushi, and games. He was upset because Breana had a girls night a while back(pics to follow) and he wanted his boys night. Breana had a play date that afternoon so we turned it into a boys day instead. This is all of them taking a break from playing out side for a juice pack.

This is T.J. and his good buddy from preschool. This is his friend that comes over to play after school sometimes. I'm so glad he has found a buddy to pal around with at school.

This was Breana's Girls night that took place earlier in the month. These are her two good friends from primary. Breana was upset that T.J. had a friend over to play after school and wanted her friends to come over. So... we planned a girls night and had her friends over for pizza, movies, and dress up!

Strike a pose!

Breana with her fabulous make over!

They had so much fun!! It was so funny to hear these girls talk about school, boys, friends, clothes, and all of the other things little girls talk about. It made me smile and remember the countless sleepovers I attended through out my child hood and teen years. It was also funny to compare the boys' conversation with the girls. The boys were obsessed with weapons and soldiers and fighting the bad guys. I loved watching them run around and fight them off!!

I am so glad they have been able to make such good friends. That is always one of my main concerns every time we move but this time there was no need to worry. This ward is awesome and their good kids prove it!!

Mini Golf

2008-10-19T00:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long Grandma and Grandpa but you guys know how crazy its been the last couple of weeks with all of our ER visits so I'm a little back logged. These pictures are from Maui Golf where Clay took us to play mini golf on his day off about 2 weeks ago.

Breana and T.J. taking a break.
I loved his picture! I always laugh that T.J. and Clayton have the same pigeon toed walk and strut.
Breana using one of the holes as a runway. The kids kept walking through and disturbing Claytons shots. There were a few that came close to the hole in one but every time a little foot got right in the way.
Dad giving T.J. pointers. He doesn't know his own strength. Mom had to fish his ball out of several water traps.

Breana decided she wanted to try the rock wall. Everything was fine until she looked down and started freaking out. It was a very traumatic experience for all. Oh how soon we forget, by the time we left she was begging for another chance,
Dad and T.J. with his signature smile.

Gotta have the picture by the sign so mom can remember where the heck we were.
T.J. putting. This is favorite part because he loves popping the ball out when he is done.

I must mention that T.J. is the reason we made the mini golf trip. Clay went golfing about 3-4 weeks ago with a friend from work while the rest of us were at school and work. When I picked up T.J. he was annoyed it was me and asked where his dad was. When I told him he went golfing he freaked out. Screaming and crying and yelling about how he wanted to go. When Clay got home it happened all over again. I guess he got used to golfing with dad in Montana. Breana loved to drive the cart and T.J. would always be allowed to putt (after everyone was finished of course). Good times! Good times!

Those were the days when a round of golf for the whole family was affordable! Oh well,

the price you pay to live in paradise! At least that's what I am told.

After Golf dad took us to Tommy Bahamas for dinner. The restaurant has an awesome ambiance and excellent decor but the food wasn't anything to write home about. It was okay but probably the most we have ever paid for mediocre food. Not to mention our arugula salad had old slimy arugula in it and I just cringed when Clay told me cause we all know how he can be a restaurants. Surprisingly he was very kind and courteous to the waiter. Note to self(and Mands): Tommy Bahama not worth the money.

Happy Birthday Auntie Heather!!!

2008-10-03T19:51:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday auntie Heather!!!! Wish we were there.. no, wish you were here!!!!!

If auntie Heather was here for her bithrday I would give her a present. Breana

If auntie Heather was here for her birthday I would give her a cake and a present and a movie. T.J.

If auntie Heather were here we would have spent all day at the beach body boarding and laying on the beach. Then the kids and I would have made her dinner and a big fat cake(vegetarian if she wanted).

WE MISS YOU AUNTIE HEATHER!! HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT BIRTHDAY!!!!!