Dec- the madness


So the first half of December wasn't too bad.....second half is a whole different story (so dramatic lol). 
Dec 21
Got word that all our paperwork went through and that we could close on the house the following day. YAY!

 Dec 22

 8:30am
Aljay and Mom and Dad went to close on the house. I got the day off from work and stayed home with the babies to start packing things up. We had planned a nice and easy take-your-sweet-time kind of move. The main thing we needed to set up was everything for our Christmas party. 
10:00am
They get home and right as we start packing up things, we get a call from Rachel about LaPreal's passing. We were hit with shock, grief, and sorrow...and then immediately went numb and into action mode. We knew that we had to get moved into the house so that we can help host all the Hawaii crew that would be coming up. So now instead of taking it slow, we were anxious to pack up and get the house ready. 

Dec 22-24

 We are busy moving into the house, moving out of the apartment, selling our apartment lease, cleaning the apartment, getting the utilities transferred over, prepping for the Christmas party and all that. 

 Mom and Dad had also purchased mattresses and bed frames from IKEA and so we made a trip to IKEA to get the delivery times situated. 

 We also had to do a little bit of Christmas shopping for the party and decided that we wanted to also get a tree two days before Christmas. lol


On Christmas Eve, around 5pm Aljay decided that he wanted to make baked goods and take it to a few families. The kids were on board so we started baking and then packed up the kids and made out deliveries. 


 A little after midnight I woke to go to the bathroom and saw that it had started snowing!! It was so magical!!! A little bit of snow just for Christmas day :)
I tried to take a picture from the bed #lazy but you get the point. It was really pretty. 
Dec 25

We had our Christmas devotional in the morning before opening presents.


After presents, we finished making food and prepping for the party. The tables we set and the games were prepped. Everyone arrived by 3pm. It was good day!
Dec 26

 Dad's actual birthday! I'm not going to lie...I was so exhausted from all the moving and Christmas party that I didn't even wake up and make him a nice breakfast (terrible daughter). Candace even sent me an email of easy decoration ideas I could do lol...Bless her thoughtful heart. 

 We instead spent the day getting a washer and dryer, putting blinds up in the bedrooms, and getting the house ready for team Hawaii. 

 Dec 27-29

 Aloha Team Hawaii! 
The Hawaii Tafiti's was rollin deep with 22 people! 11 Adults and 11 kids. Some stayed with us and some stayed with Rachel, which worked out so well since we are only a few minutes of each other.
Dec 30th- LaPreal's Life Celebration

The family service was first in the morning, followed by a light lunch. Then the main service, burial, and an afternoon lunch. 

 Hooiii I couldn't handle the family service. I was such a cry baby. It was much needed though. I think we all needed to grieve and mourn. 

 Aljay and I didn't even make it through the main service though. We were exhausted #teamnosleep and ended up crashing out in the car. We woke up and saw them putting the casket in the hurst. Good thing cause then we made it to the burial. 









Dec 31st- New Years Eve

 We ate a lot. We played games. We danced and partied and popped a ton of fireworks. Lucky we don't have a ton of neighbors yet. Andddd lucky thing we didn't set anything on fire. John and Aljay had bought 2 large boxes of fireworks and put on quite the show. It was good fun!

Jan 1st- New Years Day

We did it all over again lol BBQ, games, and good laughs with all the fam. It was one last hurraah with some of the other Tafiti's that couldn't make it the night before. 



And then we went back to reality. Back to work. Back to adult-ing. Then on the 10th the Hawaii team headed back to Hawaii. Annnd now our house feels super empty. 

 Since they've all left, we've been recovering slowly. Trying to get the kids back on some sort of schedule. Tui's now moved up and is living with us. Mom and Dad are prepping for their trip back to Samoa. The kids are missing their cousins, but are getting back to their routines. 

 And now we're almost hitting February and will have to start really prepping for our Bebe girl. 

 Okkaaaaaa...the year just started and yet it already feels like it's already flying by. 

 Well here goes to the next two months!

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