Super Bowl

Alright, so we are coming on a brand new season with the Cards and what better way to start out than to relive this great game. Yes we lost but hey, there's alway this year right??





We had a fun Super Bowl party at our house with lots of good food and fun.

The kids all wore their #76 jersies to support Tusi.


I just had to take a picture of the score when we thought we had this in the bag

The kids were so excited and were jumping all over each other when we scored. It was a mad-house!!

Who would have guessed that those dang Steelers would score in those last remaining moments. Nobody in this house was happy

Well, almost nobody. Stinky, injured Mike gloated all the way to the end. (sorry to post this picture Mike, since you have lost like 60 pounds-or more)

Heres to another Super Bowl season!!!

Avery is 2!!!

I cannot believe that I offically dont have a baby anymore. What a strange thing. I am usually pregnant and ready to pop anyday when my babies have turned 2. This is my first experience with no baby in the belly and I must say it feels good!



Avery turned 2 in Feburary-just a few weeks after we had moved home. I had just received my first chemo treatment a few days before and I had just started to get sick. I was in my pjs and in bed most of the party, but thanks to everyones help, it turned out to be a fun day!



Avery is the funniest kid. She is ALL GIRL. She likes to call herself a princess and demands to be treated like one too.

This is Avery getting her hair done before the party. She loves to get pretty and she will sit for however long it takes. She is a bit vain and could stare at herself for hours

We had a great spread. Nothin better than a bbq. We came from snow and it had been a while since we had a good bbq.

Avery picked out her cake all by herself a few days before at Costco. Already she has an opinion.

I did it!!!

I came out of the dungeon long enough for the princess to open her presents. Finally, some of her own pretty's!

Ohhhh-a pretty tutu! "I wanna wear it now"

The girl didnt want to finish opening her presents-she had all the prettys she needed! Pretty shoes, pretty dress, pretty "neckase" and my princess crown.

Now its finally time to eat the cake. I love this picture of Maile behind Avery. She kept trying to eat everyones cake-she is such a sweetie!

Leila, Ana, Sophie and Ave eatin some cake

"Just because im a princess doesnt mean I can get down and dirty like the boys-even if I am in a tutu"!!

Avery is all girl, but she is pretty sporty too. She likes to do anything her brothers do because she likes to show them that she can do it better.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVERY. WE LOVE YOU!!!

Things we love about Avery!

She sucks her thumb

She doesnt go anywhere without her green blankie

She is sweet, and spunky and spoiled.

If given the option, she will wear dresses everyday of the week.

She LOVES getting her hair cut

She loves, loves shoes

She wants her nails painted everyday

She loves to talk and talk and talk. (Most of the time we can understand her!)

She loves to follow her brothers everywhere they go

She can hit a baseball when its pitched to her

She loves her mommy the most!! (By this age, Dad is the favorite, so im savoring every second)

She eats anything and everything

Her nicknames are Bops, lala, and monkey

She is OBSESSED with Dora

She loves to play babies

She loves to read books

She loves animals-especially doggies

She is an awesome sleeper. She can climb in and out of her crib. (Im not ready for the transition)

She still loves to cuddle

She has the cutest little lisp

Avery, you are the highlight of our days. You make us laugh and we could watch you for hours.

Happy Birthday Monkey

New Blog

Yea!! I finally did it! My new blog is up and running. I can FINALLY start posting again. I am so, so far behind. I havent really posted since Feburary and I have so much to blog about. This is gonna take me a while to get caught up, but I am determined.

Welcome to the new Lomu Family Blog!!!

Yesterday

Yesterday was one of those days. One of those days when you take a good, hard look at your kids and wonder "where have i gone wrong?" How did I get to this point, and when can I leave!! Oh my goodness, how aware am I that my kids are completly out of control. Its like a bad episode of supernanny where anyone watching is saying "this mom has lost it". That would be me-losing it. I ask my kids to do something and its as if I was on mute. I ask again...nothing. I yell. Oh mom did you say something? How long does it take to get to the point where your kids only listen if your voice is 10 decimals above shrieking? I think im at about a 12-shrieking AND voice cracking. I have one little spoiled monkey who thinks the world revolves around her, one fit throwing 4 year old who doesnt quite understand the meaning of no, a sensitive 5 year old who's only goal in life is to please and when he doesnt do something perfect he breaks down in tears-oh, he also thinks he's nacho. A smart alecy(sp?) pre-teen 7 year old who thinks life is just not fair because she has homework and chores and cant play with her equally pre-teen friend 24-7, and finally a know-it-all who's ears are plugged with something that doesnt allow him to listen to requests and makes him forget just about anything that doesnt involve computers or video games. Days like these require only one thing: a trip to the bookstore for a book on how to get my crap together so my kids can get their crap together!
I remember a while back reading on one of my friends blogs about a book that she had read and was in the process of trying some new methods. I know that im probably the last one in the world to have heard about this book, but it has always stuck in my head since reading her blog and I thought it was about time I read it. Last night I got the book and started reading it. I was the classic "what not to do" parent. Every scenario they presented, i was on the negative side of it. I never really thought that by asking a kid "what did you do that for" could cause them to feel bad about themselves. Yikes!! Im the classic threat yelling parent. "Stop that", "Dont do that or your gonna be grounded". I never realized that secretly, my kids were always thinking "oh yea, what are you gonna do about it?" To my credit, I am pretty good with the time outs and sticking to some threats, but sometimes its just too much to deal with. Bill is a bigger threat yeller than me by like 20 times. The kids know that when mom says no, they can go to dad and he almost always says yes. What has that done?? It has turned our bunch into a bunch of whiny, no listening, unappreciative, disrespectful kids. I think a change is in order.
Ok, so maybe im exagerating a bit, but you get the jist. I really do have good kids who are loving and sweet and love to help out, but boy do we need help.
The book is Parenting with Love and Logic. Im excited to try this out. Ill let you know how it goes!!

Lani Lu

Oh goodness, my sweet Lani Lu. Lani loves to raise her hand and offer any bit of anything that is asked. This past weekend we were at a ward campout and we had a little devotional around the campfire. The Bishop was talking about Aprils conference and wanted a few people to share what they had got out of conference. Lanis hand shot up. She was on the other side of the fire from me, so I couldnt tell her to put her hand down. I saw the Bishop eye her and then he called on her. I closed my eyes and waited. This is what came out of that sweet little girl. "I got out of conference by saying I had to get a drink." Oh Lani-you make me laugh everyday!!!

Randomness

It has been sooo long since I have updated this blog and its time to catch up. Here are just a few posts and hopefully I will get more this week.
I had a bunch of random pictures, so here goes.

Caleb learned to ride a bike with no training wheels. He taught himself when we moved here. He saw the other kids riding fast and he just told himself he could do that too. He jumped on the bike and immediatly started riding. He is such a stud!!! He was so proud of himself.

Lani's class threw her a little going away party, and they gave her balloons and each kid wrote her a letter. It was so cute.

A few families in the neighborhood were emptying their pools so there was tons of water in the gutters. The kids thought it would be fun to go "swimming". Oh my heck, they thought they were so funny and cool. They were dancing and waving at all the cars that would drive by.

These 2 have some serious moves!!

Its been a while since we had seen the sun-so they thought they would catch some rays.

Yikes!! Thats some pasty skin.

I have so many pictures of this little monkey. She loves the camera and always wants her picture taken. But seriously, I couldnt resist anyway-she is just too cute!

She got a new "shim shoop" and decided to go outside and play in the mud. Mmm, nothing like a mouthful of dirt!

What a sweet little face-mud and all.

I thought this was such a cute picture of her-and then I noticed the nice, yellow snot filled nose. Yummy

We had just gotten home from somewhere and Avery decided she didnt want to go home yet. She layed down on the sidewalk in protest.

She seriously was not about to budge for anything. The kids thought it was so funny-caleb almost peed his pants!

Oh goodness, I cant wait for the teenage years. She's gonna be a dream!!

With the Cardinals going all the way this year, there were a lot of fun things to support our team. The kids were so excited to wear their Lutui jerseys and show their team spirit.

Cards day at the kids school


We also went to the Zoo. If you wore Cards gear, you got in for half price. So we met Barb and Mary and had a fun day!!
Taking a lunch break!

My super cute neices and nephew, Maile, Kate and Drew. Oh, and Mary-she's cute too!!

This was also Averys first trip to the phoenix zoo. She about had a heart attack looking at the elephants.

We stopped and took a "hanging" break. Avery out hanged us all

3 little monkeys

Averys favorite-the monkeys.

My poser. She actually asked me to take her picture-silly girl

Avery doesnt like to be told she cant do something, and aint no fence gonna hold her back. She saw the rhinos and wanted to touch them. She kept climbing the fence and was so dang persistant.

Bill just let go of her hand and she thought she was free...

Until she ran into the second fence. Sorry bops, no playing with the Rhinos today. (That picture looks like she is so close, but its just a good camera angle)

I hate pictures, but I couldnt pass it up in all the Cardinals gear.

The kids were in heaven with this great weather. It had been a long winter with no bike riding and they were all out in full force with the bikes every day.

This little guy hadnt learned how to ride a bike without training wheels yet, but he just decided that he could do it on his own. He hopped on his bike and took of. It was that fast. Now he is a bike riding machine!!

Tyson is learning how to do the ramp thing. He got a bit cocky.

He didnt get enough speed

And crashed.

The gang!!

We love no snow and we really love the neighborhood!!!