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The Hawaii photos and stories are coming…I promise. I am about halfway through MY photos – around #600 or so – and haven’t started with J’s yet. Sheesh. But later today I’ll post about week one.
You Lookin’ At Me? ~ Wordless Wednesday
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Monthly Archives: February 2008
Crafty Tuesday ~ The Hawaiian Way
Obviously we have not had many crafty things going on the past two weeks, unless you count learning how to tie a sarong over a bathing suit.
We did however partake in a lot of lei-making while we were in Hawaii.
The girls and I made leis and bracelets at the luau –
And made these cool wreaths on the boat after we went whale watching –
Addie wasn’t crazy about the leis, I think because they are a little “itchy” after awhile.
And, of course, since they are made from fresh orchids, we were not able to bring them back with us. But, Em and I can whip one up for you, if you ever need one. And we also have lots of photographic proof of our craft, like these – two of my favorites of Em from the past week.
Man, the lighting on that boat was really great.
Do you have any craftiness to share today?
Whole Family ~ Best Shot Monday
If I wasn’t so lazy I would go find the photo that J. and I had taken on Waimea Bay ten years ago when we first visited Hawaii. I really wanted to “re-create” the photo, with the sun setting, in the same spot with our “whole family” – as Em calls us.
So I’m clearly not taking these photos today, my bro-in-law, Jeff took them (thanks, Jeff!).
This is the typical shot of the four of us…
But Jeff managed to get a good one for me and today’s Best Shot Monday.
That first photo from ten years ago was fun – but I am so in love with this one and our “whole” little family.
I’m working on the other vacation photos and stories. I promise, they are on their way.
But make sure to stop over to Mother May I for other great photos this fine President’s Day.
Here we go, Here we go, Here we go again…
I can’t believe I am even about to write this because, well…I am tempting fate here. But, while we were on vacation our “baby” decided that she is “a big girl.” Seriously, if you even just call her “baby” affectionately she will stop dead in her tracks and screech “I’m not a baby, Mama! I’m a big girl!”
So, she slept in “big” beds the entire time we were on vacation. These photos were shot after our exhausting first day of travel to Hawaii and a luau. She fell asleep in my arms at the luau, (Sigh. That was so arm-breakingly lovely. It has been a long time since she has done that.) she remained crashed through the entire bus ride back to the hotel where I deposited her on the bed and changed her into her pjs. And then she continued to sleep through until morning. It was crazy…
…but I loved getting a lot of opportunities to watch both of the girls sleep this past week. So peaceful. Sweet, little, angelic sleeping faces.
Fast forward to our first night back. Last night.
“I dohwanna sleep in my crib, Mama. I will sleep with Emma? I will sleep with you?”
So I promised her last night that we would make her crib into a big girl bed today, if she slept in the crib last night. It sorta worked. She was up early and ended up sleeping with me, anyhow. But we did move her to the big girl bed tonight.
Again.
But, didn’t we just go through this a few month’s ago? And didn’t it fail miserably?
Yes. And yes.
All day Addie kept saying, “I am so exciting for my kitties and my new bed, Mama.” (I found a really sweet “kitty” quilt a few weeks ago for her big girl bed.) And she kept saying we were “breaking” her crib. “Thank you for breaking my crib, Daddy!”
So how did bedtime go you ask?
All right…again, I know I’m tempting fate…but it went really, really well. It is only 11pm, so we’ll see how the rest of the night goes, but she climbed into bed and was very insistent that I keep the door open and the closet light on (ala what Emma always asks for) and was also adamant that I NOT put the gate up in her doorway. So I told her that if she stayed in bed and went to sleep, I would not put the gate up. I went in to put some clothes away and she was already asleep when I started downstairs.
It is such a bittersweet milestone. But I think this time we are ready.
Fingers crossed.
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Edited for update:
It is 8:10am – she is still in there sound asleep. Didn’t make a peep all night. This is really too good to be true, right??
Aloha!
We have returned. I fully intended to write once or twice while we were away, but, well…I didn’t. I barely checked my email, and it felt amazingly good.
We had a great vacation but now we have to re-acclimate back into the real world.
Addie is putting up a good fight for not sleeping tonight, I have a pile of laundry the size of a small mountain waiting for me, a few thousand photos to edit, stories to compose, and a pile of email and bills to address this weekend. Not to mention catching up on all my blog reading!
So I shall return, soon…but give me a few days to get everyone and everything sorted back out. Mahalo, makamakas!
We Rocked The Vote!
How very cool is it that our nearly five year old is already excited about voting?
Somebody left some literature on our front gate yesterday and since Em is all about “what does this spell” lately, she asked what the flyer said. So I read it to her and told her that we have to go vote tomorrow over at the school.
E: What does “vote” mean, Mama?
M: Well, you can vote for lots of things, tomorrow we are going to vote for who we want to run for president.
E: What’s a president?
M: He is kind of like the boss. Of the whole country. He helps make rules and laws to keep our country running and safe.
E: Oh.
M: Yeah, it is a pretty big job and so everyone gets to vote, or pick, who they think they will do the best job.
E: Do I get to vote, too?
M: You can go with me and Daddy, but you have to be 18, a grown-up, to vote.
E: But I get to go with you?
M: Yep.
So I figured that was that. Then she wandered downstairs all bleary-eyed this morning looking for Daddy and I told her that he had to leave for work early so he could go to the school and vote.
E: HEY! Mom! (suddenly not sleepy at all anymore) We get to vote today, too! You and me, right? Well, I have to wait til I am 18, but I get to go, right? (First of all…she remembered that she needs to be 18?)
M: Yep. You need to eat some breakfast first, though.
The breakfast was inhaled. She completely cleaned her plate while I was getting ready. AND, she put her clothes on without a peep, had her shoes on and was sitting on the step, ready to go.
Kind of made me wish we got to vote every day.
So we walked over (our voting poll was across the street – handy!) and she watched the whole process with great interest. She asked what I was doing and why I was “voting” more than once. “I thought you only got to vote for one person, Mama?” And basically chattered the entire time we were in the poll.
And then…they got a sticker! My goodness they give out stickers when you vote! Did you know this? She so proudly wore her “I voted” sticker all day. And kept asking “Do people know I went to vote today because I have this sticker on, Mama?”
This could be an incredible history-making election, with either a black or woman being elected to President. And as excited as I am to witness that, I am even more excited to witness my little girl, who is years away from being able to vote, realize what a privilege it is to be able to vote.
Crafty Tuesday
Em and I were crafty this past weekend. She wanted to do Valentine’s for her classmates, and I wanted to do a few for the cousins and some of our friends…so our house is currently covered in glitter, but they turned out pretty cute. Addie made a huge mess helped with the glittering, of course.
I got these little “kits” for Em’s Valentine cards in the $1 bin at Target. God love Target!
What craftiness do you have going on this week. I’m anxious to get back to scrapbooking – hopefully when things calm down at the end of the month.
Also, I really need some takers for the Craft It Forward. Anyone?
The Worrisome Park? ~ Best Shot Monday
We are at a beautiful, sunny park running all of our “ya-yas” out. So what could this girl possibly be so worried about?
She is going to get worry lines on her forehead at the ripe old age of 2 if this furrowing of the eyebrows continues…
This one is my favorite and my Best Shot for this fine Monday.
It is fine, of course, because J. comes home today – Hallelujah!
And what could make this week even better? We are headed to Hawaii for the ProBowl and a little R&R on Wednesday. It’s a rough life, I know. I haven’t said anything about our impending vacation because I have been, ah…burned, a few times on some of the other scheduled trips. But we are going. For sure. We leave this Wednesday and we’ll return the day after Valentine’s Day. And my laptop is taking a trip to the genius bar for a little TLC, so it will not be accompanying me. I will maybe hop on J.’s laptop for a quick post here and there…but I may not. We’ll just have to see how all of those the mai tais affect me.
Make sure to stop in for other BSMs over at Tracey’s though! Next week, too…even if I can’t tear myself away from the beach to post one, there will be some great ones, I’m sure!
This One’s For The Boys…
…mostly Daddy because he misses his girls so much. But also for Papa because he is apparently unhappy that I have not posted anything in the past two days.
So here you go guys, photos of the girlies from our park expedition yesterday –
I have been tirelessly trying to keep our days filled while J. has been gone this week, so that (1) the days go by a little more quickly and (2) it keeps the girls busy – both of which will inevitably keep all of us happy.
Ah, who am I kidding? I’m just trying to wear them out as much as possible so I can put them to bed by 7:30pm and they’ll be so exhausted they won’t think of getting up before 8am.
Which I must say has been the case this week, so my evil plan is working. Mwa ha ha ha ha!
We have had a pretty uneventful week, pretty routine stuff. The girls have been a good mix of “pulling-my-hair-out” frustrating and “cavity-inducing” sweet. Which means they give me plenty to be thankful for and remind me that J. and I are very blessed, while at the same time not allowing me to get too complacent and lulled into thinking I have perfect children.
They have been C-H-A-T-T-E-R-B-O-X-E-S lately, though.
Em keeps asking random questions. Persistent questions. And I guarantee that we are not done discussing this topic. It will come up again, probably tomorrow.
E: Mama, what would you say to an alien if you met one in outer space?
M: Well, I don’t think there really are “aliens” like you think of aliens, honey. They are kind of just make-believe, like on cartoons and such. (Sorry to offend any of you E.T. believers out there…but I was trying to figure out the easiest way out of this without inciting any sort of nightmares of possible extra-terrestial life!)
E: Oh, I know. But if you could go up in a rocket ship to outer space and you did find an alien? What would you say to him?
M: Hmm…well, I think that if I did find one, he would be so scared because he had never seen a human before, he would run away before I could even ask him anything.
E: Oh. Yeah, he probably wouldn’t want to talk to you anyway.
And Addie…the girl just doesn’t quit with the funny stuff that comes out of her mouth. Yesterday they both came up to me and wanted me to open something –
Em: Mama, can you open this for us?
M: Just a sec, babe. I’m cleaning the cat poop box out.
Ad: Ewwww! UCK! Let’s get outta here, Emma!
And this morning as she was trying to sneak out of eating her bagel, she leaned over and whispers…“Emma, let’s get out of here!”
She has impeccable timing, too. The minute I am about ready to lose it, she will get this goofy grin, look at me out of the corner of my eye and say something that has me cracking up. The other day she was being…well, a two-year old, again, and Em said to me, “Mama? Is Addie pushing your buttons right now?” And before I could even respond, mostly because I was laughing at Em and her assessment of the situation, Addie looked up at me with her big, puppy dog eyes and said in her little sing-songy voice, “But I love you, too, Mama!”
Who can argue with that?!