Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

I can't believe we're already five days away from Christmas and we soon welcome in 2009!

Because of some mild scoldings from my oldest brother Clarence, and since I don't want to be hypocritical after calling out my other older brother Andrew for failing to post ANY pictures of his new son, I must correct my folly and update our blog, just a warning, this is going to be a long one! (Sorry Clare, no time to edit video)

It's been quite the adjustment for us to have two kids instead of one. We now have to play man on man defense, and can no longer double team. Sometimes, Heather has to play zone defense when I'm at work, but it looks like she does a good job don't you think?

Right after the Thanksgiving holiday it was time to focus in on Christmas. Without a doubt this is Heather's favorite time of year. She always wants to listen to Christmas music and set up the tree before Turkey Day, but I tell her she can't till after. Seems like we'd be ungrateful Americans to not give the Pilgrims their due respect. (The next two pics are on T-Day)

For those of you who know Adam Rich, don't you think Jax resembles him here in the pic below? You know I love you Adam. And I can assure everyone he is not the father... or the mother.

Our little Jaxon will be 7 weeks on Tuesday and he's growing leaps and bounds.

He's definitely eating more, and is already up to almost 10lbs. This is him on December 18th.

And here he is on the 14th looking all studly in his church threads.

Little Ashlyn is still little, but she's growing so fast. We can hardly believe what a chatter box she is and how quickly she picks up on everything! Almost nothing gets by her, especially if you're trying to sneak some candy or any kind of food for that matter. She'll bust you every time. This is her today downing a giant brownie from Uncle Jared and Auntie Leslie Keo.

We also recently had our ward Christmas party, it was lots of fun and even though we tried to prep Ashlyn for Santa Claus for an entire month, she was still scared of him when she met him. No picture there. Jaxon was pretty good though.

The Nursery and primary did a song together, and it was so crazy to see my little baby on a stage "singing." Where has time gone? That's her good friend and pretty much her sister Kiera Nitahara next to her. They're trouble together.... but so cute.

The Relief Society also sang a carol in Hawaiian. I wish I had video of Heather, or even a picture to show you. I think she just kept mouthing "watermelon" over and over. The Elders did the 12 Days of Christmas Hawaiian style. I was assigned the fifth day and the verse said "On the fifth day of Christmas my bishop gave to me, Five big fat pigs..." So I drew pigs on a poster board and Ashlyn modeled a few of them for me.

I must confess, with 99% surety we won't be sending out Christmas cards. Time just ran away before we knew it, but we are grateful for this time of year. We are so thankful for the Gospel in our lives, thankful for our little family, and thankful for the knowledge that we will be together forever. We miss our beloved mom and "MaMa" but we are comforted to know she's in a better place and we'll see her again.

Here's a quick update on all of us though:

Jason has been working at KHNL news 8 for over a year now. Highlights from work include covering the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, traveling to American Samoa twice, and covering and meeting some of our Olympic stars like Bryan Clay. He loves living in Hawaii though misses his family. His contract ends in October 2009, so we'll see where life takes us next or if we re-sign. His new year's resolution is to be more cardiovascularly fit, and be more patient.

Heather retired from the workforce in September. She's now a bona fied full time mother, functioning on less sleep than humanly possible. She loves spending time with her babies, though she is both sad and excited that they grow up so fast. She loves going on walks 12 months out of the year and taking friends and family to all the beaches on O'ahu. She loves the Aloha state, but is also sad family is an ocean away.

Her new year's resolution is to keep on NOT making resolutions.

Ashlyn is two. Enough said. She's actually very sweet but full of attitude when she wants to be. She is a very smart girl. Her accomplishments this year include getting potty trained and getting her ABC's and 123's down. She loves to sing and dance, and has the calf muscles to prove it. She loves chocolate, dino-sours and meat. Luckily she'll still eat veggies every now and then.

Her new year's resolution is to learn how to swim.

Jaxon is the newest addition to the Tang Ohana. He's our chunky buddy and is pretty much an exact duplicate of what Ashlyn looked like when she was born. He's learning to hold his head up and is starting to smile. He's also learning how to survive an over-loving and sometimes jealous sister.

His new year's resolution is to take his first step to becoming the first Asian American President of the United States.

(He was born on election day, Nov.4th)

On Tuesday we're leaving for California for a nice break, we plan to eat a lot, sleep a little, go to Disneyland and enjoy time with family and friends. We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and wish everyone a prosperous and happy 2009!