Diary of a Busy Mom

Here was my day:

5:15 am - Alarm went off.
5:30 am - Rolled out of bed.
6:30 am - Went for my morning run.
9:30 am - Out the door with 4 kids in tow to pick up my 7th graders school schedule and get an ID 9i can't believe I have a child this old).
10:00 am - Swim lessons for all 4 kids (last day. YAY!)
11:00 am - Rush home to change all 4 kids & feed them lunch.
11:30 am - Out the door with the same 4 kids for an hour's drive into Honolulu at UH for Leigh's Volleyball Camp (last day. YAY!).
1:00 pm - Drop Leigh off and head to Bishop's Museum to entertain my other 3 kids for a couple of hours while we wait for Leigh.
3:30 pm - Done at Bishop Museum, head to McD's for a treat, then back to UH to watch Leigh play (BTW, we spent 20 mins going from gym to gym trying to find which one Leigh was playing in. Of course it was the last one that we looked in.)
5:30 pm - Get all 4 kids back in the van for another 1 hour drive back home (catching a little rush hr traffic as well).
6:30 pm - Finally reach home (after being in the car with loud children).

Can we say "busy"?!

Here are the pictures to prove it:


Swim lessons. Micah getting instructions. He loved swim lessons.

Due to Kara's shyness, we put her in private lessons. She came out of her shell and now swims like a fish. You'd be proud Aunty Sara.

Tyler learned what swimming was all about. He did have fun doing it.

Leigh loved swim lessons as well. She did great and improved on her skills.

Bishop Museum. The kids trying to pump the volcano display.

Kara trying to go down a not-so-slippery slide.

So cute!

Where's Arizona?! That's what the kids always ask when they see a map or globe.

He's one of those mutant 5 animals rolled into one creature.

Insect exhibit.


Tyler and Micah looking on at their Tongan heritage. The Bishop museum has many polynesian artifacts on display.

Leigh waiting for the serve.

Phew! All done! Leigh had fun though. Four days of volleyball camp. Each day was 4 hours long. I knew she had worked hard when I would pick her up and she was demanding to eat meat! LOL!


These two girls were her coaches. They both play for UH's volleyball team.

Micah posing for one last shot.

Busy? ---- Yes. I'll tell you a secret though (come close). I didn't mind at all and would do it again, because I love being a mom.



I think I'm gonna go to bed now.

Buyer's Remorse

*Some of you may have read this on my FB status.

Depending on my money situation, I experience 'buyer's remorse' from time to time, and then I get over it. Yesterday, Micah (my 6 y.o.) had his first experience with this phenomenon. While the ordeal was on the humourous side, it was also one of those "Aaaawwwwh. So cute." moments for me.
I had promised my kids that I would take them to get a game from Gamestop. Yesterday, I was able to take them. With plenty of time to spare, I let my kids browse and take their time selecting the games they wanted. After carefully deciding which lucky games got to come home with us, we stood in line to pay for our items. While in line, Micah went to check out the items they had close to the counter. There he saw this cool-looking "Ghostbusters" wallet (it was actually kind of cool). It was $15 and he wanted to buy it. I explained to him that he wouldn't have much money left to put in the wallet if he bought it. He didn't care, he wanted to buy that wallet. Are you sure? Yes mom. Ok. So I stood by as I watched my son make his proud purchase. They took his money, gave him 30 cents change and handed him his bag with the wallet in it. He smile as he joined me to walk out of the store. We walked 5 feet from the counter. He stopped in his tracks and hung his head down. I asked him what was wrong. He said, "I don't want the wallet any more." I tried to reassure him that it was ok that he bought the wallet if that's what he wanted. He said, "No. I don't want it." I asked him why. He said, "I feel like I wasted my money." Do you want to return it. He nodded. So I walked back to the counter and explained to the clerk that my son had "buyer's remorse." He chuckled and gladly took back the item and gave my son his money. He was happy.


P.S.
Later in another store, he found a rubber snake for $5 and felt good about that purchase.

New Posts

There are a couple of new posts below from 4th of July. Still trying to catch up.

Constant Sports

If you are into sports or your husband is, check out my husband's blog. I didn't realize he had a lot to say about sports until he started his own blog. Here's the address:

constantsports.wordpress.com

Lighting it up on the 4th!

Every year we usually find a fireworks show and attend that as our 4th of July tradition. Well, this year, our kids wanted to have their own fireworks show. I gave in at the last minute and ran to the store and bought what fireworks were left. The kids couldn't wait. When it got dark we went out and fun doing our pyrotechnic activities.

I know, he looks a little shady here.

Kara having more fun lighting the fireworks than watching them.

We were getting kind of bored just watching them go off one at a time, so we began to get creative and putting together different combinations of fireworks together. It probably says on the package some where that we shouldn't do this.

Guess who was having fun doing this.

That tank was fun. You light it and it moves and then shoots out more fireworks. Randy lit it and it lit the ones in front of it.


Another creation by Randy.

After popping ours, we headed out to Micah's best friend's house to do more. We must have popped fireworks for 2 hrs. Micah's friend's father is currently serving our country in Iraq and will be home soon. We are grateful for all who serve our country and help make it safe and free. Happy Independence Day!!

Celebrating the 4th on the 3rd

It was nice that even though the 4th of July was on a Saturday, everyone could get the 3rd off to start celebrating. This whole concept however, totally confused my 8 y.o.
We took advantage of the day off and headed for Waimea Bay. Waimea Bay is a very popular beach destination, so we were out the door early. We arrived at 9am which proved to be too late to get a parking spot. Fortunately, we found a place close by that offered parking. We couldn't get to the beach fast enough.


The day was BEAUTIFUL!!!! The sun was out and the water was calm and clear. It was awesome! Orginially, our plan was to go paddlesurfing there, but we couldn't figure out the logistics of transporting these huge boards, so we just opted for swimming. All around us though, people were paddlesuring. I was jealous. Next time.

I was trying to get different angles from where I was swimming. At one spot, a big turtle swam up to Tyler while he was in the water. It freaked him out a little. Later, we could see about 30 dolphins swimming with their babies out in the bay. It was so fun to watch. The babies kept jumping out of the water.

Randy and I enjoying ourselves. Not the best picture, but eh, it shows we were having a good time. Afterwards, we packed up and headed to Aunty Jan's for lunch and a good time with family.

Jan made a great spread with potato bar, hot dogs, hamburgers and all kinds of other stuff. The kids played in the yard ALL day! The adults just enjoyed being together and chatting. It had been a while since we were all together. We had such a great day!