Saturday, December 29, 2007
SWEET!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Merry Christmas
Sunday sacrament meeting was so good! The ward choir director is our own Nat Kamau'u (who was awarded Hawaii's 2006 Na Hoku Hano Hano Female Vocalist of the Year). She and her extremely talented family joined our ward choir in putting on the Christmas presentation this year. It was really beautiful. I had chicken skin the entire time!
On Monday it was up and running ALL DAY! First, I had to baby-sit for YOGA (I do child care for my friend in our ward who owns YOGA4EWA). After that I was baking and putting together food for our dinner with the Wheelers at their new house up at Schoffield Barracks (the army base). That was really fun, but short lived, since I hadn't even started wrapping yet.
Will and I were up until about 2:30 am wrapping and getting everything straightened out. Mariah was the 1st up at 7 am and shortly followed by Brinlee and then Asia and Tatum. I went down and turned on the tree lights and started some Christmas music and got the computer up and running because we used the web cam with my parents so they could watch the kids open gifts and stuff.
It was MADNESS!!! They all had a BLAST! It was so much fun, though. My parents got a kick out of watching everything and the kids would run back and forth to the computer desk (just across the room) and show Grandma and Grandpa what they got. Tatum was actually into this year. She was happy to open 2 or 3 and then hold her new baby and new care bears. They all got what they wanted and were very happy and content all morning.
They had gotten movie tickets from the cousins that had drawn their names, so we took them at 1:30 to see "Enchanted". It was really good. Even Will thought it was "cute" (he needs a boy!! lol).
After that we were gonna go to the beach, but the girls wanted to go home and play, so that's what we did. Mariah hadn't been feeling well, she had been fevering off and on since Monday morning. It looked like a Barbie and Polly Pocket whirlwind had struck inside the house!!! There were tiny pieces and hairbrushes and dolls of all sorts and sizes lying around.
Later that night, the Kai's came over for a gift exchange and they brought Will's gift from me. It was the Wii that he'd been so desperately seeking for weeks and weeks. I had gotten it in the beginning of December and he had no idea!! He was all sad on Christmas Eve when he went to WalMart to do his last minute shopping and he went to the electronics counter to ask and they told him they had just sold the last one!!!!
He's been happily playing Wii Sports with the girls. And he got this need for speed racing game too that he really likes. I wanted to update on the Wii "saga" as it unfolded over the last month, but I was afraid he'd see it on here, so sometime I'll put up, because it's really quite comical!
Will just put Tatum to bed, but I wanted to put in a side note about that silly girl. It seemed like in the last hour or so, she has all of a sudden learned to talk. She said so many things that we had never heard her say before and she even counted to 3!! I was doing my new Sudoku book that MaryLou gave me for Christmas and she was sitting on my lap pointing to all the numbers, so I started counting out loud to her "one.." and she immediately piped in with "teewoo, feeee..." I was shocked! Then she noticed that Will and I were paying attention to her (and she got embarrased) so she takes her little water bottle and kind of put it on my face and says "BOK!" (bonk). She hopped down and went over to her car and she turned to look at me and held out her hand and said "cuh, cuh" (come). Like she wanted me to go for a drive with her in her little cozy coupe car! THEN, a few minutes later she pointed to the downstairs bathroom and said "see-see" (shi shi, which is pee pee in Hawaiian) and so Will took her in there and she went!! She has had dry undies all day, including her two naps. So far, she is still doing GREAT! She has had a few accidents here and there, but never poop, only "see-see"!! (She turned 16 mos on the 24th)
We only have one of the pullups left that our neighbor gave us and then we are going to try for all night. I really don't want to have buy any more diapers.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Hula
Asia was so funny! I was worried that she might get stage fright or something and not do it, but she was TOTALLY in to it. Only she was turned around looking at everyone else behind her most of the time or she was dancing to the beat of her own drum, but other than that she did great! LOL
Brinlee was totally gung ho! She is a little showboat anyway, but she really got in to it too. She doesn't like to dance the tahitian style (wild hip shaking), but she is pretty good at it, being her first year in. She is definitely not afraid to get up and perform in front of people. She hamms it up!
Mariah is the very graceful (most of the time) one. She looked so grown up out there! I got a little misty through the whole thing. It was so beautiful!
Then on Wednesday (the 19th), they go the opportunity to dance at the Polynesian Cultural Center over in La'ie. That was a truly awesome experience. The spirit over there is already amazing by itself and getting to participate in something so deeply cultural and such a cultural place was inexpressible.
Here are some video clips and pictures from both nights.
Asia, Mariah and Brinlee
Brinlee getting ready for the Tahitian number
Asia and Aleena Kai (DOUBLE TROUBLE!!)
Mariah (in background wearing solid black) dancing the Maori number with Poi Balls
Brinlee and Asia performing "Sweet Singing Bamboo" (sorry it's so dark! It's a kind of outdoor mall)
Mariah (in the background on the right end) performing "Nani Hanalei" (next to her on the right is her friend Taylin Kai)
Friday, December 14, 2007
The long and short of potty training
So after about a week or two of that, I broke down and went to Wal-Mart to buy a potty chair. Will was at work that evening, so I brought it home and set it up in her (carpeted, I might add) bathroom. Right before bed, I showed it to her and got her all excited about it, and then put her on it so she could get used to it. I put her on there and then went to the bedroom or kitchen for a second to do something and when I came back she had already pooped in it and was standing there looking at it! I was so excited and so full of dread at the same time. I did NOT want to clean out that poop. If I remember right, I dumped it in the toilet and then left the tray sitting in the tub till the next day so that my loving husband could take care of it. (I know, I know). Anyway, a few days later at nap time, we put her down with no diaper, since it had been a long time since she had a wet diaper. A few minutes later we heard her kind of whining and fussing and I told Will to just leave her that she would fall asleep in a few minutes. Well, the fussing got louder and by the time we got in there, she was laying in bed with a mortified look on her face and was trying to hold it in, but just couldn't. It wasn't a huge mess, but she was so sad that it had happened. I felt really bad thinking that she was trying to tell us and we ignored her, poor baby! Anyway, that was THE ONLY poop accident she ever had and by about late October, early November, she was sleeping all night in undies at 21 months. She NEVER had a single accident in her bed. I think she really only ever had a few accidents in her pants at all.
So with Brinlee; it was a completely different story. From the day she was born, she would get these horrendous, blistering diaper rashes on her bottom. We tried everything and she would scream when we'd have to change her. When she was about 8 months old, we were visiting my sister, Paula, in Las Vegas and she was having one of those rashes. One of the nights, she woke up crying and crying in pain, so finally at about 2 or 3 am, we took off her diaper and piled a bunch of towels under her on the floor and she slept the rest of the morning until about 7 am. When I got up to get her, she was still completely dry! So I pulled out Paula's potty seat and put her on the toilet where she promptly pee'd. I decided to quickly bathe her before giving her a bottle and while I was drawing the bath, she pooped! So from then on, she would only poop on the potty. Every once in a while, she would poop in her diaper and would immediately start getting a rash. I think she knew that if she pooped on the potty that her bum wouldn't hurt.
When she was 14 months old (2003), we moved to Vancouver, WA from Orem, UT and we started full potty training with undies in the day. By 16 months, she was fully done over night and everything. She would have accidents every great once in a while in her bed, but nothing to complain about. In fact, I think she had more accidents while awake than she ever did in her bed.
Then we have little miss Asia. SHE WAS THE WORST!!! We moved here to Hawai'i when she was 8 months old (2005). From the time she could sit up on her own (between about 5 and 7 months) we had been putting her on the potty each morning before her shower and she would poop pretty much every time. When she was right around a year (in Oct) she started throwing a fit anytime we'd put her on the potty, so we quit doing it because we didn't want to force it. That Christmas, while we were on the mainland, I found out I was pregnant with Tatum. So when we returned home, I said again that I would NOT buy 2 sets of diapers. Asia was around 15 months old by then, so I figured she should be ready. Well, not only was I sick and dealing with be newly pregnant, but she was NOT ready. She would hold it and hold it and hold it some more. I would set the timer for every 15 minutes and then I'd put her on the toilet. She would sit and fuss and whine the whole time, but the minute I'd take her off, she would go in the other room and have an accident! GRR!!! After about 3 weeks, I had HAD IT! I gave up. I was tired and cranky and didn't want to deal with it. When she was about 19 months old (around June) I decided to try again because I was due in Aug and really DID NOT want to buy 2 sets of diapers. It took about 6 full weeks o
f agony, but she was fully done, overnight and all, by the time Tatum was born at the end of August.
Asia 4/20/2005 (6 mos old)
Now we are here with Tatum....... So far (somebody, please, knock on wood), I almost don't want to think it, but she is a dream!! She always has been, since she was born. She will take it or leave it with almost anything. She eats anything you put in front of her. She sleeps 12 hours at night and takes 2, 2 hour naps in the day. Two days ago (on the 12th), Will called to me from her room asking if we had any more diapers that she was down to her last 3. When I had bought that box last month, I swore that it would be the last, that I am going to potty train her. I have been trying to get motivated to do so since my family left at the end of October. Well, she was really sick a couple weeks ago and it's been crazy with the holidays, so I just keep putting it off. When Will said she only had 3 diapers left, I said "Well, I guess it's panties for her today". So she wore panties all day that day and had maybe 3 (pee) accidents.
She has actually been pooping on the potty since about June or July (about 9 or 10 months old). She was doing this thing where she would poop in her diaper just a tiny bit like 12 times a day, so I decided to try putting her on the potty right after breakfast before her shower each day and she would poop a TON and then be done for the entire day. She's had maybe 2 dirty diapers a week since then.
Yesterday, she only had one pee accident. It was kinda my fault, because I ignored her timer for a few minutes and she pee'd while standing in my bathroom. Poor thing was probably trying to tell me she needed to go.
So far today, she has been dry all day and had a dry diaper when she woke up from her nap!!! I went to Wal-Mart last night to buy a small package of diapers, but we haven't had to open it yet. She wore one of her 3 diapers from the old package to bed last night and it was mildly wet this morning. I need to dig through all my old purses and diaper bags and beach bags to see if I can dig up some more diapers and then I might not have to open this package!!! *fingers crossed*
Monday, December 10, 2007
Cleaning the Toilet
Anyone who knows me really well knows that I DON'T DO TOILETS! I have never cleaned a single solitary toilet in 9 years of marriage and I can't remember that I have ever cleaned one EVER! When we first got married I would pay Will to do it and now he lovingly and faithfully cleans all 3 once a week.
About 2 months ago, we decided that it is time for Mariah and Brinlee to clean their own bathroom. So Will showed them how to properly clean the sink and tub. He uses a sponge and cleaning gloves to clean the toilet, but I couldn't bear to think of them doing that (plus I couldn't find gloves small enough), so I broke down and bought one of those brushes that has the flushable disposable brush head things. Anyway, every single week it is the same fight. And it's not what you think, they fight over which one of them "gets" to clean the toilet and which one "has" to clean the sink and tub. They FIGHT over who gets the privilege of cleaning the T~O~I~L~E~T!!!!! When Brinlee was throwing a fit over it earlier, I said to Will..."These are NOT my children!!"
Sunday, December 9, 2007
SURPRISE!!!!!
We came home around 1:30-ish and just sat around. I decided to work on some sewing and the kids were playing outside. Around 4:30 Mariah came in to ask something and I heard Will tell her to stay close because we were leaving soon???? I was trying to think if I forgot we had somewhere to go.
At 6 we all loaded up in the car and ran to Foodland. I waited in the car with the girls and he went in (I kinda thought he was probably getting the Andes mint chocolate ice cream cake I'd been craving). Then we headed back into our neighborhood. All kinds of speculations were flying through my head and I figured we were probably headed to Kai's for dinner (since we hadn't eaten yet). When we turned the opposite way toward Allens, Will said.."Oh, we're gonna dump the kids off first..."
When we got to Allen's he asked me if I wanted to help him get the kids inside, I was highly suspicious. When I walked in I saw Kauwe Kai and Andy Wheeler sitting inside and all the kids were playing. The girls (Kapua, May and Andrea) were in the kitchen cooking. I was TOTALLY surprised. It was really casual. We all ate and sat around talking while the kids pretty much destroyed the bedrooms upstairs. May made some super YUM Hmong food and Kapua and Andrea made chicken salads and coconut shrimp. It was all so good!
Kai's gave me a foot spa massaging tub and some pedicure products. I was like YEEEeeeSSS! I need a pedi! ha ha ha!
I love surprises! Thanks honey!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Brinlee's crush
Ammon, Brinlee, Liahona (at Tatum's 1st birthday party in August)
Things have been SUPER busy around here. I have been sewing like mad trying to get these hula costumes ready for their first performance next week. We had their first fitting tonight and every single one fit great. Only 2 needed to have the bust taken in because they are only 11-13 year olds, so, of course most of the 13 year olds fill it out, while the 11 year olds don't. I was SO glad that I wouldn't have to do a ton of taking in and letting out. I have also been sewing mine and the girls pa'u for our Christmas pics and our stockings.
Yesterday, I went on Brinlee's Kindergarten field trip to the Honolulu Art Academy. We were supposed to go to the Honolulu Hale Christmas display, too, but it has been raining so much and so hard here that it was just too muddy and wet to go. So we went to the art academy and it was FANTASTIC!! I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think the kids did, too. They have a display there that is from 15th and 16th century Italy that depicts the virgin Mary and baby Jesus. There are several paintings, sculptures and tapestries. The little old lady that was our tour guide was so sweet and so GREAT with the kids. She really knew how to hold their interest.
After the art tour, they took us to the basement where another cute lady, dressed as one of Santa's elves, did a puppet show and some magic tricks. She was SO GOOD! The kids absolutely LOVED her! I was really pleased with how the whole thing went.
After the field trip, I went to the Young Shoppers Club store that they have set up at the school for the holidays for the kids to shop at for presents for family and friends. I was there until 2 and then came straight home to sew until dinner. Then I sewed until just before midnight, when I was too blurry-eyed to see. I got up at 6:30 this morning to get ready to go back and volunteer at Young Shoppers Club again from 8 to 12. I came straight home from that and sewed until 3:30, which is when we had to be at the hula rehearsal.
Needless to say, I am ready for the weekend! Tomorrow morning, I am going to the Aloha Stadium swap meet to finish up some shopping. I don't think we have any plans for my birthday tomorrow. When Will asked me what I wanted, I reminded him that I got an awesome trip to Kaua'i for our anniversary that I said (after I accidentally saw his NRA credit card bill) would have to be for our birthdays this year, as well. 
Friday, November 30, 2007
THANKSGIVING!
Brinlee in her pilgrim hat she made at school :D
I know I posted a blog already after Thanksgiving, but I realized that I didn't make mention of anything about what we did.
I had already been planning on making our traditional Thanksgiving dinner like I have done in the past. I always prepare a turkey and everything. The first year we were on island, we had Ame Frank and one of her friends from the singles ward and our missionaries over. Last year, we were in the middle of moving to our new place, so we had it here with Jason and Jeanette Johns (and Hannah) and Colby and Trisha McGary (and Noah). We hadn't moved any furnitre in, but the old place was full of boxes and all torn apart (plus this place has central air :-}) . So we decided to have it here and the Johns brought a folding table and chairs.
Well, this year we didn't have any big plans, so we decided to invite the missionaries again. The Sunday before Thanksgiving, Kapua (Kai) says to me at church that her parents are off island and her sibs are going with their in-laws and she wanted to take advantage of being able to have Thanksgiving with us since they always get together with family. So we decided to go to their place and since I had already bought 90% of the stuff I needed to make everything, I just made it here and took it there.
Keli, Kapua (background) Kauwe and Keli's husband.
There turned out to be a pretty good size bunch there. It was the 6 Kai's and our 6. Then Kauwe's Dad and sister, Noweo, came (his mom was outer island), then one of Kapua's sisters, Keli, and her husband came after they went to his family's house. She claimed she wanted a "real" Thanksgiving dinner because her in-laws always have a bunch of "wierd Filipino food". HA HA HA!!! She was being so funny! It was so fun to see her too, because she had just given birth on October 24-ish to their first baby, a TINY little boy with massive amounts of thick black hair!!! He is so precious! They named him Desi.
Taylin, Noweo, and Naysa/Kauwe's Dad/Kristy, Desi, Tatum, Will, and Aleena
Anyway, we were all excited for Tatum to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner, being the little "garbage gut" that she is, but she was so miserable from having had something with dairy in it the day before Thanksgiving, that she didn't want to eat anything. 
. Plus she just whined and fussed the ENTIRE time.
One of Tatum's (very) short lived happy moments... CHEESE!
The food was great and the company was excellent and I couldn't have planned it better myself!
You'd have thought they were settled in to watch some football (NOPE, just posing)
Monday, November 26, 2007
stuff
stuff
Current mood: content
Category: Life
I keep meaning to sit down and post a new blog, especially when one of the kids says or does something funny that I want to remember later on down the road. I think it would have been really fun to read a journal that one of my parents kept that talked about cute or funny stuff that I did as kid/baby. Especially now that I am a parent, I could have compared the similarities and differences between myself and my kids.
Tatum hasn't been feeling well for the last several days. It started when she was caught carrying one of Asia's milk cups around that still had milk inside. I don't know if she actually drank any, but that same day we had company over and we popped popcorn and she got some when the bowl was left down. So I don't know if it was the butter on the popcorn or if she actually drank Asia's milk, but nevertheless, she has been wheezing and coughing up a storm since then. We have been giving her treatments on the nebulizer, which helps, but she is miserable. She hasn't been eating well at all either. Plus, on top of that, I think she is teething. About 3 weeks ago, she finally cut the 4th tooth in the front, and then last week, I noticed one of her molars (the top right one) poking through! (???) She barely had 3.5 teeth in the front and already cut a molar?! That's a first for my kids. They are all really slow to get teeth, but never a molar this early.
A couple of nights ago, Tatum was sitting in her high chair, picking at her food and she belched the loudest man-belch, I've ever heard from such a little thing. Then she just sat there staring blankly at us for a few seconds like "What was that?!" We all started BUSTING up and she looked up and pointed out the window like, that came from outside, not from me! The girls were in stitches! They thought that was hilarious!
Asia is starting to communicate like a little girl now instead of a toddler and she says the funniest stuff! She got the movie "The Little Rascals" for her birthday in October and so now she goes around saying to everyone "You little Wascals" and "You DOINK!" Her favorite movies right now (besides Little Rascals) are "Snow White" (her favorite princess), "Anastasia", and "Barbie in the Nutcracker". She watches them every single day. She also loves to get into the play makeup. She always goes for the lipstick first and will sit forever just rubbing it around and around and around her lips (she does this with chapstick too). FUNNY GIRL!
We suspect that Brinlee has her first crush. She won't admit it, but she talks an awful lot about this boy in her Kindergarten class, Ammon Olayan. He is also in her class at church. Two nights ago, she was begging to have a sleepover with one of her friends, but all of them were busy with one thing or another. So she was desperately trying to think of other friends and then she asked if Ammon could have a sleepover (in all innocence, of course). I had to explain to her that it is not appropriate for her to have a boy for a sleepover, she could not understand why, but I assured her that someday she would understand. OH BOY! It's staring already!!! *sigh* (I remember having a crush on Tyler Doman pretty much since we had pre-school with his mom at their house when we were 4. I chased that poor boy until we were in 6th grade!!!)
A lot of Mariah's friends are getting baptized lately. We have one this afternoon for Liana Kai. We drove to La'ie last Sunday for Abby Shumway's one. Mariah is very anxious about her own and already wants to decide on the program and such. She is still deciding whether or not she wants to get baptized at Temple Beach or at the church building. She turns 8 in February, but we are waiting until Will graduates in May to baptize her since most of the family is coming from the mainland then and can be here for both. Her 2 closest friends at school (and church) both just moved over this past week (Trinity Wheeler and London Price). She hasn't been back to school since they both left. It's going to be a little shock for her.
I am busy sewing, sewing, sewing right now. I made the mistake of telling someone at the girls' Hula Studio that I made the girls Halloween costumes. So I got roped into helping sew performance costumes for Hula. *SIGH*!!! I am also making the girls pa'u (Hawaiian skirts) for our Christmas pictures this year. I hope I can get everything done in time.
Will got called into the bishopric 3 weeks ago. It's not entirely what you think…he is the executive secretary, but right now is starting tithing settlement time and so he has been extra busy trying to balance that and study for finals. Only one more semester to go!!!!!! He graduates May 13. The girls finish their school year on June 5, so we will be flying home on the 6th. YAY!!!!
((DON"T SEE)) The Golden Compass
((DON’T SEE)) The Golden Compass
Current mood: frustrated
Category: Religion and Philosophy
If haven't heard anything (except having seen the not too detailed trailers) about the new movie the Golden Compass coming out soon, you need to read what snopes has to say about it.
What I have heard is that the author of the trilogy is a devout atheist from Britain and has been said by many British critics that he is one of the most dangerous authors in all of Britain. People have said that his strong Atheist teachings WILL influence many young minds. He is a strong ANTI-advocate of the Narnia movie, which has strong Christian undertones. His movie is all undertones of Atheism and at the end all of the children kill God.
For more info, please do some research of your own on the internet. Someone said that this could be the push that some wondering kid needs to turn away from God.
Here is the link to snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp
my family
my family
Current mood: loved
Category: Life
Well, it's back to boring normalcy for a while. My parents and my sister, Megan (and her family) just left. They flew in on the 26th of Oct. Adam (Megan's husband) is in the Air Force and so they were able to catch a "hop" and come for free. They were anxious to get straight to the beach, so we took them to Ko'Olina. Everyone loved it! They were just so happy to be in the warm sun in October.
We went to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet on the 27th, then that night we had our ward Trunk or Treat. It was SO LAME! The Primary didn't have anything prepared at all. It started at 5 pm, which, it's not even dark then, and then didn't have any activities or any kind of anything for refreshments. We looked cute in our Flintstones costumes though. There were a lot of really cute costumes there too.
They came to church with us on Sunday, which they found to be really interesting and unique since we start every meeting with a big ALOHA! I made a roast and mashed potatoes (as per usual) for dinner and then we played LIFE. It is always interesting playing games with my Dad. He isn't a real big game player to begin with, but he watched whatever movie the kids were watching the whole time except when it was his turn. I think he even ended up winning! LOL
Monday, I wasn't planning to go, but they had planned to do the North Shore thing all morning and then come back and go surfing at White Plains beach here on the Leeward side. Well, when they were planning their day that morning, Dad said he thought I should just go with (1/2 jokingly). So I decided to go and then mom decided to go. BIG MISTAKE! Everything took twice as long because we had all the kids and we didn't get back in time for my kids to come home from school. We started out by going to BYU Hawai'i in La'ie and to the bookstore. Then went to the Temple and wandered around and took pictures. Then we stopped at the McDonald's next to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Then we headed up over the north shore. We stopped in Kahuku to get shrimp from a roadside truck. It was good, but not worth the 15 minute wait to get it. Then we went into Waimea Falls where I couldn't get cell service to let Mariah know on her cell phone to stay with Aunty May until we get home. The falls was LAME! It was a 20 minute hill-y winding walking path "hike" (which the lady we asked at the info center at the entrance said it was completely flat. We asked since Mom's ankles are up for much walking these days) into a gorgeous lush jungle. Half way into the "hike" mom had to sit on a bench and wait because her body just couldn't finish it. The gorgeous trail ended up at a tiny waterfall. I was disappointed with it. Maybe I was a little annoyed too which clouded my enjoyment of it. Then my Dad insisted that Adam needed to jump off "the rock" at Waimea Bay, but I was too irritated to pile myself and the kids out of the van AGAIN. So we stayed in the parking lot while Megan Adam and Dad went down to watch Adam jump. He got a thrill and really enjoyed himself, but then it was off to find "turtle beach" at Lani's akea. On the way we stopped at the famed Ted's Bakery, but were all very disappointed with that as there were only a few pastries left to choose from, so we left empty handed. We couldn't find turtle beach and so we decided to head toward Dole Plantation. It was about 3 pm by this time and my kids had been out of school, and unexpectedly at May's, for an hour. The original plan was to stop at the famed Matsumoto's Shave Ice in Haleiwa, but when we got near, Will went to veer off the road to it and I shook my head N-O!! We needed to head on down the road and get the kids. Plus we were going to get Pineapple whip at Dole anyway. Dad was disappointed that we didn't stop at Matsumoto's, but by this time mom was EXTREMELY irritated with the entire day. I think her ankles were hurting her and she was annoyed with having been crammed into the van ALL DAY. So we stopped at Dole which is always fun. The Pineapple whip is always DELICIOUS! And it's dairy free, which is great for Tatum. After we'd all had our fill, we headed down toward home again. We got there at around 4:45 and the girls were fine, but I felt bad that May had to have them for so long on short notice (or no notice, really). We had spaghetti for dinner and then everyone except mom and I went swimming at the pool.
Tuesday dawned a new and fresh day. Dad, Adam and Megan (and baby Ellie) left really early in the morning to go to the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. My girls had the day off school for teacher inservice, so we hung around at home and let them relax and watch tv while mom and I cleaned up a little. Then we went and met them at Kmart in Waikele because they had a coupon out for a free bag of Halloween candy. So we each cut a coupon or 2 and got a bunch of free candy (mom style). That night we left Megan home with Adalyn, Ellie, Brinlee and Asia (Mariah and Tatum went to May's) and we went to the Temple for a session. It was FANTASTIC! I got a kick out of watching mom's and dad's reaction to the way our temple is set up. We made it to the 5 o'clock session and then headed for home. We stopped at 7 Eleven in Ewa to get the Bento plates for dinner and brought some to Megan.
The girls had a 1/2 day at school on Wednesday since it was Halloween and the day before Parent Teacher Conferences started. Mom, Dad and I went to watch the girls in their little costume parade at the school. It was really cute. My favorite costume was a little kindergartener dressed up as Dog the Bounty Hunter and his twin sister dressed as Dog's wife!! SO CUTE! That afternoon after Mariah and Brinlee got out of school, we went to White Plains beach to let the guys try surfing.
Mom stayed home with Adalyn and Tatum so they could nap. There was a Hawaiian Monk Seal sunbathing on the beach there and the girls got a real kick out of watching it lay there. They thought that was pretty cool. When we got home we got ready to go trick or treating, but in the mean time it started to rain . I was really stressing out for some reason. The hair color spray ran out and their hair was only half done, then our new camera didn't have a big enough memory for me to take any pictures so I had to use my Dad's to get some pics and I didn't take as many as I normally would have because I was irritated and in a hurry. Mom, Dad, and Adam (and Ellie) stayed home while we took the kids trick or treating in our neighborhood with May and her girls and Andrea Allen and her kids. It was SO FUN!! Once the trick or treating started everyone relaxed and got into it. The kids came home with at least 15 lbs of candy (cumulatively). CRAZY! We got caught in a couple of down pours in the rain. It made it feel like we were in OR, only it was still warm and humid. The girls hair color kind of ran onto their faces and costumes, but it was dark so no one could tell. Several people asked me where I got our costumes. I saw a lot of spidermans and princesses, but I didn't see ANY other Flintstones!!
Thursday we pretty much ate candy all day....JUST KIDDING! Well, we took it to the beach and ate it there! We went to my most favoritest beach on the entire island...Kalama Beach Park in Kailua. The boogie boarding was OFF THE HOOK! I can honestly say that we have not had better boogie boarding waves ever. Everyone got in the water (except the 2 babies). My dad is a glutton for punishment. He was out there forever and he was getting POUNDED! We all got dusted a couple times. Poor Brinlee got stung by a jellyfish twice. The Portuguese Man of War were out with a vengeance. I ended up getting stung on the top of my right leg and on my ribs. My mom got it on her ankle and we found a bunch of them washed ashore. It was crazy! We were there all day. We got there around 11:00 and didn't leave until 3:30. I think we may have stayed a little longer, but my girls had hula practice that afternoon. We came straight home and mom and dad came with me to watch them dance. Then we ordered in from Zippy's. It was actually really good. The only other time we had eaten there was when we first moved to the island and we tried it and thought is was NASTY! Then we went to Dave's Ice Cream for the best shave ice on the island!! Very satisfying!
Mom and Dad had a flight out on Friday morning and Megan and Adam started trying to get a "hop" out that morning. They didn't catch one on Friday or Saturday. I was actually really glad they got to stay a few days extra. We got to have some good down time just chatting and hanging out. It was really fun. The kids played and argued and teased as usual and we got to play games and shoot the breeze. They finally got on a flight on Sunday afternoon.
It was so great to see everyone! My parents are planning to come back for Will's graduation in May. I think Jackie and Mike and Jay and Chelsea are going to try and come then too. CRAZY TIMES!!
pooped!
pooped!
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Life
Well, Tatum finally got another tooth, so she has 3 now **WOOT!** ha ha ha LOL. Yeah, she'll get 'um soon enough. Her hair is still orange. Looks like she is a perma strawberry blonde till it grows out. Poor girl.
Asia is still loving her hula classes. She is pretty bored during the day while the girls are in school, but I try to find things to keep us busy together. She like to help me around the house too. She is a particular little thing. Every last thing is sorted by color and she gets very upset if the colors are interrupted!
Brinlee loves her class so much. She spends about 2 hours after school recounting just about everthing that Ms. Uytingco (pronounced like YOU-TINK-CO) says. She is so very literal with everything. Like the other week, the teacher sent home a PE reminder and suggested that the children wear shorts and tennis shoes rather than a skirt or dress. Brinlee insisted that she had to wear shorts. I could not convince her that some YOGA capris or sweat capris would be fine. So I had to dig around in Mariahs clothes and in the laundry to find shorts! UGH!
Mariah loves her teacher, Ms. Maloney, as well. She moved here from Brooklyn, NY this past summer. She gave the kids a very interesting insight into the 9/11 attacks as she was only blocks from ground zero when it happened. She was able to explain it to the kids in a way that no one else could. She had a couple of friends that were in the tower and a cousin. All made it out, but one friend. Mariah seemed really touched by her account of the event.
I have been exhausted these past few days. I have no idea why. I think I am just stressed with getting my house cleaned and in order for our company. My mom and dad are coming this Friday. I CAN'T WAIT!! Adam and Megan (and Adalyn and Ellie) are trying to catch a "space saver" flight from Travis AFB to Hickam this Sat. We are crossing all fingers and toes that they will be able to get a flight. It's going to be so much fun! They will be here for Halloween, so they will get to see what it's like to trick or treat island style!! LOL
blog
blog
Current mood: bored
Category: Blogging
Asia's bday came and went. She had so much fun! That was all I cared about. All she wanted was a party and party to her is cake and balloons and friends. So several friends from church came and we had mini ice cream cone cup-cakes. They were a hit. I was going to blow up the balloons and hang them around the pool area, but I knew the kids would just want to play with them anyway, so I put a little water in them before blowing them up and then just tossed them all on the pool. The water inside weighed them down just enough to keep them from blowing away with the trade winds. They LOVED it!
My friend in the ward, Shelley Detton, came with her brand new little baby girl (Hazel Fern) and their other 2 kids Eliza and Hyrum. Her sister is in town from OR and it just so happens that her sister, Trisha (Mendenhall) and I went to stake dances and girls camp and such together when we were younger. (I had never met Shelley till we moved here and didn't realize that Trish was her sister until I was at her house and saw a family picture ~ CRAZY!) It was good to see her. She has visited once before (while I was pregnant with Tatum), but we didn't really get to chat. So yesterday, she and I went to the beach together. She has 2 darling little girls named Riley and Ruby and then I took Asia while Will stayed home with Tatum. It was so fun!! We caught up on old times and she mentioned names that I had not heard in YEARS! It was such a trip! It was really nice to get out of the house and go to the beach and with only 1 kid. I didn't have to LUG a bunch of stuff. It was weird! I kept feeling like I was forgetting something. ha ha ha 
I just got back from working out with May Wheeler at the Iroquois Point gym. It was great! I need a shower LOL........
Back online!!
Back online!!
Current mood: happy
Category: Life
Well, we have been back online since last Wednesday! THANKS DELL! They got us all fixed up in a jiffy! They even had someone come the day we received the new hard drive and install it for us. How nice. The thing that I am sick about is that Tatum's 1st birthday party pics were on that old hard drive and not backed up yet on discs . We had taken about 150 or so pictures that day. The only semi-comforting thing is that I had already created her bday slide at slide.com, but the bad news about that is that all the pictures on that slide show are only 40% of the original resolution. So we are looking into ways right now that we can get the data recovered from the hard drive.
Tomorrow is Asia's 3rd birthday (or gurpbay as she calls it). We are having a little party for her at the pool with a few of her friends from the ward. Nothing fancy, just swimming and cupcakes. She really wanted balloons too, so I dug out the leftovers from Tatum's party for her. She is thrilled! I can't believe she is 3 already! Before we know it, she'll be starting Kindergarten!
This past weekend was General Conference. I always look so forward to this semi-annual event. I love to get the fulfilling enrichment from our church leaders. The only talk that really stood out to me from the Sunday sessions (I missed the Saturday ones because I was selling our junk at Kai's yard sale) was Elder Claudio R.M. Costa. His talk was on families. More specifically on "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" document_ It must have stood out to me because that is the subject that I will be teaching in Relief Society next Sunday. I also really liked Sister Beck right after him. Of course, I always love to hear the voice of our Prophet (Gordon B. Hinckley). He is getting old. He is 97! He looks pretty good, but he is starting to "sound" old. His words are slightly slurred. It is exciting to see him each conference time to see that he is still getting on quite well.
Well, the kids are all in bed and I am going to try and catch up on a few things before we turn in.
no computer
no computer
Current mood: annoyed
Category: Life
I am so annoyed!! This will have to be semi-quick since I am using my friends computer.
Last Sat night I went to turn on the comp at about 10pm and it wouldn't load, then I got a blue screen and it wouldn't turn back on. (We have had this computer since we moved here in June 05). So we called Dell and we were on the phone for over 2 hours (until well after midnight) trying to figure it out. Well long story short, the hard drive is suddenly bad. Just like that! Will had used it for a paper earlier in the day with no problems at all. GRR! Lucky it's under warranty and they will just send us a new one.
It's amazing how dependent we can be on the internet. I use it for recipes and everything! Some of my friends I only keep in touch with via internet. I HATE not being able to just sit down and go to the internet for stuff. Luckily, my friend and neighbor, May Wheeler is letting me use hers a couple times a day to check my email and eBay auctions that I have listed right now. She just lives a few buildings down from us and I am so grateful to her!!
We should have our new hard drive in a couple days. I will post another update then.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
hula
Hula
Current mood: hopeful
Category: Life
*I'll start with a side note: Last night after I posted my last blog, I was playing with Tatum and noticed she cut a new tooth sometime yesterday! Poor thing has been so fussy since last Sat. I took she and Brinlee to Dr. Torres on Mon and they both have a double ear infection. So the "One Tooth Wonder" is no more! She has the one on the top right and now one on the bottom left! (She still looks pretty silly! LOL)
Mariah and Brinlee started taking Hula lessons in Aug. at Kulani Dance Studio with Sue Eldridge from the Ewa Beach 1st Ward.
They have been loving every minute and got Asia begging to "go hula" too. So 3 weeks ago tomorrow I talked to Sue and she said that Asia could join the 3-5 year class with Brinlee, even though she won't be 3 until Oct. At Asia's first class, she was ELATED . I didn't think for one minute that she would stay in the 45 minute class and pay attention. But, all in all she did pretty well. She was so excited she could hardly sit still and get the moves right, but HEY, it was her first time!
Last week, she was a little bit restless, but still did alright, but I talked to Sue and she said that Asia is doing OK, but that maybe in the next few weeks the excitement will wear off and she won't want to participate anymore, so she said maybe next year would be better . Sadly, we won't be around here next year and so I was really hoping they could all get the experience for this one last year.
In the car on the way home last week, I told Asia that she would not be going to Hula anymore and she started panicking and I told her that she couldn't go because she wasn't listening very well to Aunty Sue. She was begging, "No Mommy, I pwomise, I do it...I WILL DO IT, puh-lease MOMMY!"
So I decided to let her try it one more week. They didn't charge me for this month anyway, so I figure, I might as well see if she'll really do it.
orange
Orange
Current mood: amused
Category: Blogging
7:29pm
Two weeks ago today (on Tue, Sept. 11), I went to Wal-Mart to pick up the material and supplies that I would need to get started on making the girls Halloween costumes. I had decided to undertake the task of making their costumes this year and knew that with my lacking knowledge and skills in sewing, that I would need to get a head start. Along with the fabric and thread, I picked up the accessories, too, which included a can of orange color hair spray.
That night I was being goofy and trying to make the kids laugh, so I shook up the can of orange spray and said "Hey girls look!" (and sprayed a fine mist on the the top of poor tiny Tatum's head). HA HA HA!! We all laughed and the girls got a kick out of it. Well....ha ha ha.... Yeah, it will not come out. I took some pictures of her today and it is still as orange as orange can be. I have literally washed her hair day and night since then and it has hardly even lightened if at all. The last 2 Sundays at church and other places, I have had more people come up to me and say "Gosh, I never noticed how strawberry blonde her hair is!" (How embarrasing!!) Then of course I have to take 5 minutes to explain it...
The other thing that I was noticing is that Tatum still has only cut the one tooth on top. That other one has been on the verge for at least 3 weeks now. Today is exactly one month since she cut the first one and still no others. We have been calling her the "one tooth wonder". She looks so silly with her one white tooth sticking out in front. A true jack-o-lantern, just in time for Halloween! Little pumpkin head!
a quickie
a quickie
Current mood: rushed
Category: Life
We don't use our air conditioning very much. We usually wait until about 11 am or until we are absolutely suffocating in our house to turn on the a/c. We were told about a month ago that by doing this the unit actually uses more energy to cool the house down from such a high temp than if we just kept it at a constant temp all the time.
So we set it at our normal temp of 80 degrees and left it on 24/7. Well I got our electric bill last week and the bill went up almost $75. Which doesn't seem like a lot, but when you are already paying around $200 a month...it's a lot! Anyway, so to try and recoup some of that money we aren't using the a/c at all and we are not running the dishwasher (which was being run AT LEAST once a day) either.
I would say that in the 3 full summers that we have lived here, August, Sept and October have proved to be some of the hottest months of the year. BOO!!!!
I am not that mad. I know it was a dumb thing not to think the whole thing through before turning on the a/c 24/7, but I was talking to several of our neighbors and they keep their air at around 73-77 degrees and their bills didn't seem that much higher than mine??? So I figured if we kept ours around 80, then we should be fine! Oh well...I guess I'll just sweat off that last 10 lbs I've been trying to lose!!! ha ha ha
So since it has been so hot in our house, every time we turn on the computer, the fan in the tower starts to race like the whole thing is gonna blow up, so that is why I haven't been on the computer lately. This is just a quickie to say I am still alive. =D
teaching
teaching
Current mood: calm
Category: Life
Yesterday I taught my first class in Relief Society. I was released from my calling in Young Womens a couple of weeks ago. They called me teach the 2nd Sunday lesson in Relief Society now.
So the first topic that I was asked to speak on was The Law of Chastity. I was very nervous to take on such a big subject on my first time, but it went off ok. There was a lot more class participation than I could have hoped for. It was great!
The interesting thing is that the sub-topic that got the most response was about pornography. I was talking about how society's definition of pornography has changed over the years, but that the church's stance on it remains steady and constant. The dictionary definition of pornography (from dictionary.com) is this:
obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, esp. those having little or no artistic merit
It seems that we have become so desensitized to seeing such obsenities everywhere that it just doesn't have the same shock value that it did when we first saw it.
Having children that are out there in this society now has really brought the seriousness of it to the forefront. Mariah and Brinlee are very vulnerable and all I can do is teach them at home and hope they will make their own good choices. I trust them, I have no reason not too. It's everyone else's kids that I don't trust (no offense). Being a parent is so rewarding, yet so stressful!!! (on so many levels).
On another subject, Will started his new semester last week and is loving it so far. He is doing his peds/O.B. rotation this semester. He is doing peds at Kapiolani Women and Childrens hospital right now. Next month he will do his OB/Gyn rotation at Queen's Hospital (where I delivered Tatum). He was in some surgery on a 4 month old baby today. He called me at lunch to tell me all about it. He is so funny...like a kid in a candy store. He loves that kind of stuff!
The kids are out of school again today for a teacher work day so we are just cruisin at home. Might go to the pool later. It's been hot and the kids are getting cabin fever!
dah~daaah
dah~daaah
Current mood: blank
Category: Life
Tatum just started saying "ta-da!" (like dah~daaah) yesterday. It is so cute...Asia keeps saying it over and over just to get Tatum to repeat it.
Last night we threw together a last minute girls night and 6 of us went to Chili's for food and gab. It was Nagmai Keli'i, Arlene Colon, Jean Miller, Kapua Kai, May Wheeler, and I. We had a really good time, except for the extremely bad customer service that we received. It all started with a floatie in my water and when I (politely, I might add) called the waitress' attention over, she picked up my glass and stood there examining it before she was like "Oh, sorry" and walked away with it. I really didn't give it a 3rd thought, but in the back of my mind I was thinking "what, you don't believe me that there's a floatie in there?".
After everyone had arrived, they ordered what they wanted and service went downhill from there. The black beans were cold for Jean and Arlene, so they heated some more and brought it out separately, then the manager came to apologize. That was nice. Then Kapua's brownie mountain volcano thing-y didn't "ooze" like it was supposed to and there were hard spots in the brownie. Then Jean and Arlene got one too and same thing only the "hard things" were harder in theirs. So when the waitress came, they mentioned it and she was standing there examining it like she needed proof that there was something wrong with it. Oh, I'm sorry, did the rules of customer service change and I wasn't made aware? What happened to the customer is always right?? She should have been like "Oh! I am so sorry, I will take care of this for you right away". Instead she stood there and looked at it like they were just being melodramatic! By the time all was said and done, everyone was a little irritated and embarrassed (why we were the ones embarrassed, I'm not sure). That manager should have seen the situation and been like, "I'm so sorry for all this, let me take care of it for you", This was the Chili's in Kapolei. We said we would go to the Waikele one next time, but 2 of the 6 said they had worse experiences down there! So I guess it's Wendy's next time?!! HA HA HA!!