Another Busy Day, Love It!

Well, another busy Saturday come and gone. This time I did have some sleep. Tyler's game was canceled this morning, unfortunately, we didn't find this out until after Randy left with Leigh. So Kara and Tyler and I hopped on the bus again, headed for the same place, King Intermediate to support Leigh. This time it was for volleyball. Leigh has been doing volleyball since she was eight. Since moving here, we signed her up for a little more serious play. She has just loved every minute of doing volleyball on the club level, two hours a day, three days a week. Leigh had a tournament today. She was nervous and excited. We arrived in time to catch the end of a game. She played well, being consistent with her plays. During the tournament, the girls take turns being the referee for other games going on. It was kind of cool. Leigh was the head ref during her turn, so she was the one standing up high at the net blowing the whistle. It took her a while to be confident in her calls, but by the end she was good. That whistle though is trickier than it looks. LOL.

Ready to dig.

Snack break!
Leigh played from 8am-1pm, when she was done she said she had so much fun.




For some more family time, we hit Zippy's before heading home. Most of the family was in a saimin mood. Of course we hit the bakery section before leaving.

We were exhausted when we got home. We took naps and woke up groggy for dinner. Later that night, Leigh and I snuck away to BYUH. They were having a 9:30pm showing of Twilight. It was such a fun mommy-daughter time. BYUH just happened to be doing extra stuff that night. They held the movie showing in the CAC, and were giving out free popcorn and other movie snacks. She and I watched the movie. She enjoyed seeing it. We headed home even more tired and ready to hit the hay. I feel so blessed right now for many things, particularly for my family and the time we get to spend with each other.

There's a Bear in the House

Tonight we had our Blue & Gold Banquet. Seeing as I am a den leader, it was more nerve-racking being part of those behind the scenes. Everything went well. To celebrate the theme of "America ABC's", we ordered hamburgers from McDonald's. Nothing more American than McD's. During the award's portion, Tyler was given his Bear Badge. He was very excited to be receiving it a couple months before his birthday. Tyler did work hard to achieve this rank. I can't believe he almost be a Webelos. My kids are growing too fast.

Congratulations Tyler!!!

(pictures will be posted later).

More Super Raiders!

Kara and Micah were both chosen to be Super Raider for the months of December and January. As soon as we read the letter confirming this honor, the orders for leis, balloons, and noodles (don't ask), were in.




Why a noodle? I was under the impression from my children who requested this that it was just something other parents gave. Ok, maybe to be fun and different. Alright. So I'm standing there with balloons, leis and noodles in tow, waiting for their names to be called. I scan the crowd to see if there are any other noodles around, perhaps a life-preserver maybe. Nope. Nada. So when we get home, I ask Kara why she wanted a noodle. Her reply was simple. "Because I wanted one." There you have it.

Good job Micah and Kara. Congratulations! Mommy and Daddy are proud of both of you.

Busy Day but FUN!!!

Okay, so all week, I have been trying to figure out our game plan for this extremely busy day. Randy and I finally came up with an idea on Friday to make this work. One of our dilemma's is that we only have one vehicle (by choice), and have been surviving well with it, but on a day like today's, two cars would have come in handy. Sometimes though, you gotta do whatcha gotta do. So here goes.

It's a Saturday morning, so of course I'm finishing up my shift at work. Randy dropped off three of the kids, and Randy drove off with Leigh to King Intermediate. Today was the District Level of competition for History Day, and she had to be there by 8am to set up her board. As soon as I was done with report, I changed out of my scrubs and the kids and I headed for the bus stop. That's right. Public transportation was our friend today. The kids were actually excited about riding the bus. It was the first time to do so. After 10mins of waiting we hopped on the bus and headed for our 1st stop ---- Laie.






Tyler had a basketball game at 9:15am. We got there in plenty of time for the kids to run around the park and for Tyler to practice and warm up. Tyler's team had only 5 kids show up which meant poor Tyler didn't get much of a break. Considering his team did not have subs, they played a good game even though they lost, by 1 point only though.

Kara and Micah entertaining themselves while I watched Tyler's game.

Kara's masterpiece.

After his game, we walked back up to the bus stop to go on to our 2nd destination for the day ----King Intermediate in Kaneohe. We got on the bus and settled in our seats for the 1hr long ride. I thought the kids would be restless, but they were pretty enthralled with the ride that I didn't need to bust out the activities I had brought along. We were dropped off right in front of the school and headed to the cafeteria.


Leigh had just finished interviewing with the judges. We walked and looked at her board as well as all the other students there. We were joined by Randy's parents who came to see Leigh and support her. I wished I had remembered to take a picture of them (sleep depravation, what can I say). Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for coming. The kids LOVE it when they get to be with them. Leigh was really happy they were able to come.

To kill time, Randy and the kids were outside playing and taking pictures.




Leigh and her board. It was on George Washington Carver. If you don't know who that is, he's the guy who invented peanut butter, among many other things.

Leigh's focus of her board was on GW Carver's discovery of cotton production and crop rotation.


After lunch, 4 jamba juice smoothies and 2 hrs of waiting, the winners were finally announced. Unfortunately, Leigh was not selected to go onto states. We are still proud of you Leigh. She had done her board all by herself, which I thought was a great accomplishment. I was worried that after all that hard work Leigh would be upset. Not once did she seem sad. She was happy for her friends who made to state. Later she shared with me that she was happy it was all over with and that she was actually glad she didn't make it through. I don't blame her. The last 2 weeks have been long with all the preparations. We packed up, said our good-byes and headed for home. I crashed for about 2hrs.

We got up, ate and headed back out to BYUH. We were joined by Jan and her family to go watch the play "Seussical the Muscial".

The kids posing before going in to watch the play.

Jan and her family after watching the play. Thanks for joining us.

The play was GREAT!!! BYUH plays never disappoint. They did an excellent job! We had 7 kids with us between the two families ranging from 3 to 11. Everyone of them just sat and watched the whole thing. It was a great production! The price was great too ($2 for kids and $5 for the adults). After our good-byes, we went home. Had something to eat, then hit the sack. I for one was ready for my bed! I know many people always call me crazy when I do things like this (going without sleep for 24+ hr, which isn't often, and no I'm not superwoman), but I just couldn't miss out on all this fun with my family.

Time For A Change!

One of the things that I miss about AZ is my friend who cut my hair. With that said, the last time I cut my hair was right before I moved. That was, ummm, 9 months ago! I was long overdue for a cut.
Me before.

Me after.






Part of my problem was trying to figure out who to go to. I finally decided to take the plunge and just go for it and get it done. The person I went to I loved, and will probably keep going back to her again. What do you think?

Conversations with Kara

Kara: "Ugh, I HATE subtraction! I would rather do partial-sum algorithms."
(mom laughing)
Kara:"Why are you laughing?"
Mom: "Because partial-sum algorithms sounds harder to do."
Kara: "That's because you don't know how to do it. I thought moms are supposed to be the smart ones."

This is true. I don't know how to do "partial-sum algorithms". What happened to good old fashioned addition? I know, it is sassy, but I know my Kara didn't intentionally mean to be.
I love you too Kara.

Valentine's Day

My Valentine's started out like one I've never had before. I was finishing up my shift at work when I heard a ringing noise. Someone was stuck in one of the elevator's at work. Long story short, I called 911 and had firemen at the hospital helping to get our employee out of the elevator. I went home exhausted and went down for my usual Saturday morning nap. I woke up to flowers and chocolate from Randy and the kids. They were so sweet. Things have been so crazy around here lately with everyone's schedules that I wasn't really expecting anything. Randy did get me roses, but he bought me a mini-rose plant, which I was excited to get. I've been wanting to start growing things and so this was a great gift I thought.
Later on we all hopped in the van and headed to Manoa to treat ourselves to some manapua from the Manapua Factory. The kids really enjoyed that. I wished I taken some pictures of our outing. It's always so nice to do stuff with the kids like that. Happy Valentine's!

Sweetheart Luncheon

At Kahuku Elementary, it is a tradition that they have a "SweetHeart Luncheon". The parents get to join their kids for lunch. I signed up to eat with my kids. Randy was able to be with us which made it all the more sweet.





The cafeteria was decorated with hearts and balloons. We even had a DJ going with music so loud, you could barely hear the person next to you (hehe). The kids were divided by grade, so we were there for the whole lunch break. It was fun to see the kids break out in a big smile when each one of them saw us. Happy Valentine's Day!

We Love Family

Yesterday, we took a trip down to visit my in-laws and to pick up Tyler's pinewood derby car. My father-in-law cut out the shape for Tyler. Can I just say, that we are so spoiled by my in-laws. I called my mother-in-law to see if maybe we could pick something up for dinner to bring and she had everything done including dessert! It was great. We got there, and my mother-in-law was in the kitchen finishing up her cooking. We had chicken, pork wontons, salmon poke (broke-da-mout kine! Was definitely ono!), and other good stuff. It was such a nice meal, I think to because we were surrounded by family. We haven't seen Randy's family in about a month now and we were itching to visit. Randy's brother was there and his family. It was Randy's brother's birthday as well. The kids played with their cousins, while the adults talked about all the new things going on with each other. Dessert was definitely a hit. Grandma and Grandpa provided all the fixings for ice-cream sundaes. The kids were in heaven, choosing from 5 different syrups to put on their ice-creams. Even us adults were having fun with the toppings. And if that wasn't enough, there were apple-turnovers to make our own version of apple-pie a la mode. Can we say STUFFED?! We played games at the end and were slow to leave. We had so much fun. Hopefully, the rest of the family will be there.

Happy Monday!

For those of you reading, this post is not meant to brag, but a happy memory for our family to read about later when I turn this year's blog into a book.

Today's Monday was a happy one. Randy stayed home sick today. While I don't cherish the thought of my loved ones feeling ill, it was nice to have his company all day today, while the kids were at school (is it wrong to call that a date. LOL). I found myself smiling at the store while buying some juice. Why, well, because it was for my husband. I just enjoy taking care of my family, and it's those little things that make me happy.

I was able to accomplish quite a bit in the way of cleaning, laundry, and even those miscellaneous "office duties" we have. When my children came home, my two younger ones were excited. Both had been chosen to be "Super Raider" for the class for this month's "Super Raider Assembly". Kara was a little miffed that she has to share the spotlight with Micah. "Why did he have to get super raider for this month?!" LOL. Micah has put in his order of candylei's and balloons. Hmmmm. We'll see.

Wait now, it doesn't stop there.

Leigh called from school to tell me that she had been chosen to go to district level for the History Day Project. She worked hard on her display board, all on her own. She chose to do her subject on "G.W. Carver". Let me just say, I grew up in Tonga, where I learned Tongan History. I had no idea who G.W. Carver was until Leigh told me. It was a great choice I thought, someone I wouldn't have thought of. Then again, I didn't even know the guy existed (haha). She is nervous. Districts will be held at King Intermediate, where she said she will be interviewed by the judges. Congratulations Leigh, Kara, and Micah!

Go Cardinals!

Okay, while we have never been remotely interested in watching any superbowl games (at least my children and I), we were glued to the TV set cheering on the Cardinals like we were lifelong fans. The fact that we lived in AZ for the last 6 years, caused us to have some sense of loyalty to the state we had called home. My husband, children and I were proud to defend our Cardinals to any Steeler fan who laughed at us (Leigh was the only one in her class rooting for them). I had to scold a couple of patients for putting them down. Hehe. We were all on our bed, laying over each other, screaming at the TV when touchdowns were made, and moaning when there were fumbles. Probably not the best Sunday activity, but we had fun together as a family. And although they did not win, the Cardinals still put up a good fight. Go Cardinals!