our kauai life: may day 2012

The morning starts out lovely.  Then a giant cloud rolls in.  Samuel notices the giant cloud.  

Most people seem to know that this would happen.  We do live in Kauai, after all.  They pull out their umbrellas, the kids head back to their classrooms, and the rest of us just run for cover.  Nice people let me squeeze into the dug out with them.  They don't like seeing a drenched baby.  Not me.  Maximus.  Hehe.  

As soon as the rain lets up a little, the show continues.

Maximus loves this guy.  Uncle Mike.  Uncle Mike show Maximus how to do knuckles.  And that means for the next ten minutes, Uncle Mike has to do do knuckles.  Double knuckles, even. 

Eva's class...

Samuel, gets ready to dance.  Once upon a time, Samuel would dance.  Then he turned about four and quit.  These days we have to bribe him to dance.  It was so fun to see him dance without any bribery at all.  I guess if his entire grade will do it, he will too.  

Here is the video of his dance.  His discomfort is so charming to me.  He ripped off his bottom two buttons on his shirt when he tried to cover his head from the rain.  He seems rip buttons off his shirts a lot.

Here is Eva getting ready to dance.  This is pretty much her thing.  Her grade used poi, the ball things that you spin around.  They had to wear white, black, or red.

Here is the video.  I apologize for my video skills. 

After the performance, sporting fruit snack leis.

Eva and her besties.  Her other bestie was the princess for her grade and wasn't around for a photo opp.  Eva has made some really good friends this year.  It's super cute.  

It is so fun to be a part of something that is unique to Hawaii.  Another May Day means that we have been here over a year.  I still feel like a visitor.  Maybe that will change.  In the mean time... this is a great day to be a visitor.

senile

You hear people say it all the time.  Kids know more about technology than we do.  

There is that time in their lives when we know more than they do.  

And mine is over. 

We were sitting in the car and I was trying to charge my iphone that was completely dead.  

Me to the kids: What does is mean when you can see the little lightning symbol?

Kids: That means it's charging.

Me: So how come there is sometimes a little picture of the fork thing in the battery?

Kids:  That means you are using it and it's charging. 

or something like that.  You see, when they started talking technology, my brain started turning off.  

And at that very moment I realized I just got old.

My computer is making me feel old.

I don't understand where all my files are going when I upload my stuff.  I fill it up the hard drive all that time and then have to move stuff onto an external hard drive and then delete it so I have space to work with new photos.  And I know there has to be a good system out there but for now, my computer is the equivalent of the desk of that one kid in every class that has stuff falling out as old papers and broken art supplies are filling it up.  

I feel like I'm confessing. I have an unorganized computer and I don't know how to manage it. I used to think that I was at least above average but now I am starting to question.    

There is a plus side.  Sometimes I find little gems like these two videos.  And it's so much more exciting to feel lucky to find these where ever they are than a boring organized system where I know exactly where they are.  Actually, it gives me anxiety.  But I did seize the moment and watch a bunch of video clips of Eva and Samuel's younger years and I loved every second of it.  

Here is Eva when she is almost 4.  So stinkin' positive. I totally remember when Samuel was in the phase where he carried those two toy screwdrivers everywhere.

And Samuel.  He has always loved vegetables.  Oh gosh, and I have always loved him.  I don't know how I even caught this moment on video.  It is so Samuel.

I hope I can find these videos again someday.  And when I do it will be another mini video Christmas.  Hooray!  At least I will be able to find them on my blog, right?

how to make a plumeria rosette

This summer has flown by but when I think of how much we have packed in so far, it feels like we haven't been in Hawaii for such a long time. 

So, a long long time ago, Eva was in her school talent show with her hula halau (school).  To perform with the group, there were strict instructions on how the hair was supposed to worn... tight low bun (hair too short, whoops!), with two yellow plumeria rosettes.  I thought it was super picky especially since we had so many white plumeria growing around us.  Turns out yellow are the strongest and waxiest so stay fresh the longest.

And these are the crazy things a mom does for a daughter's dance performance...

I start putting yellow plumerias on my radar for the weeks leading up to big day, looking where ever we go, asking around, yellow plumeria on the brain.

Spot some at a park while house hunting in the neighboring town.

The day before (they have to be fresh so we can't get them too soon) the big day, friend picks me up and we drive to the park.  

Turns out the tree is in someone's yard, so we go find the homeowner and get permission.  

Together we pick over 40 plumeria.

We put them in our coolers with ice to keep them fresh.

We meet an experienced mom at the school where she shows us how to make them.  

 Keep your flowers in a baggie in the fridge.

 Each rosette takes one tooth pick and seven flowers.  Line up the flowers with the biggest and fullest in the middle.

 Skewer the flowers onto the toothpick.  The center flower will keep all its petals.  Peel on petal off each of the side flowers so it can be super snug next to the other flowers.

 It will look like this underneath.

 Two rosettes.

 She had to have them pinned to the left side of her bun.  

All of this for a 70 second dance that I couldn't even see because I was on the wrong side of the stage.  

may day 101

We moved her almost four months ago and almost right away the kids started talking about how they are learning a hula dance at school.  Eva also said that she was making a turtle necklace in class.  I thought it was great but I had no idea what they were for.  Come to find out, the May Day production at school is a huge deal in HI (okay, and at risk of sharing how, um, special I can be, I was picturing a May pole and kids holding ribbons and dancing around it).  Luckily, the last few weeks I started following the tweets of two girls that used to live in HI, Salty Pineapple and Simply Modern Mom.  I say luckily because at the beginning of the month they started posting about May Day traditions.  Thanks to them, when the note came home two days before the program saying that they would need aloha wear and leis, I was prepared. 

Friends all said to arrive early.  So we did. That's kind of a miracle for us.  We chatted with friends and snapped a few photos while we waited for the program.

 Sweet Samuel in his aloha shirt.  Karl put him in this shirt a couple of weeks ago for church.  I said that we needed to save it for May Day.  That comment sounded dumb, even to me.  But they humored my bossiness and put a different shirt on him.   Samuel came home from church with his shirt ripped all the way up the front.  I hate it when my being controlling pays off.  Look at his hair.  I am glad my mom isn't here with her scissors.  

 Here he is with is with his classmates.  I had to laugh when I saw this photo.  Look at the boy behind Samuel.  You might say, "How does a kid rip his shirt all the way up the front?"  This might be one way.

 To start the program, this girl did a hula dance.  She is some sort of hula champion.  Did you know they have hula champions?  Me neither.  Good thing I'm here to enlighten you on these matters.

 Then these boys ran out and blew conches (and reminded me of Lord of the Flies, but then I tried to shake the thought out of my head because that book is gross), to announce the royalty.

 A girl and boy with good citizenship and grades were chosen from each grade.  It used to be a popularity contest, but now it is just randomly picked out of all that qualified.  The kindergarteners were so cute.

 Each couple represented a Hawaiian Island.  Then there was a king and queen.

 After they were all announced.  Each grade performed.  First, they would bow to the royalty, then they would let parents take photos, and then they would dance.  I was so glad that they got Samuel to dance.  He has the hardest time performing.  Samuel was quite proud of his uli uli with red feathers, his favorite color.

 Here is his dad giving him a thumbs up.  Seriously, we always hold our breath and when we know it is time for Samuel to do stuff like this.  Samuel did an awesome job.  No arm crossing, no scowls, no sitting on the floor, no tears.  He actually seemed to be enjoying it.  I couldn't get a video of him, he was in the very back.  I will try and get a copy from a friend.

 Here is Eva's class bowing to the royalty

 Eva held her beginning position the whole time we took photos.  Even when her dad was giving her encouragement.

 She amazed us with her hula skills.  Hula really seems to suit Eva's personality.

So today, I experienced something that I didn't even know existed.  I like that.  My kids LOVED it.  Thanks to garage sales, I spent about $4 to gear up the kids in aloha wear, including Maximus.  I wore a shirty dress thing, too.  Even though the lady that sold it to me was probably there.  Karl talked me into it, then agreed with me when I made fun of myself.  Which is just as bad as making fun of me.  I don't really like dressing up (looking in my closet, it looks like that means wearing anything that isn't plain, gray, or orange) and I don't like performing.  Maybe Samuel gets it from me.

May Day appealed to my crafty self.  Eva's dress was actually a size 10 so I brought the sides in a little.  I also made a couple of different kinds of leis.  A candy one and a ribbon one.  They sell tube-y netting specially made for leis.  I filled them with Hi-Chews (I remember when we could only get these in Japan, now Costco has them.  Hooray!) and lemon head candy (um, recycled from Easter, or maybe even v-day).  To tie them, I used red netting to make a bow and some yellow ribbon.  I was going for the hibiscus with a yellow pistol look.  The kids didn't care, though.  They just saw candy.  Karl said, "Samuel is in his room singing, 'Hi-Chew lei, Lemonhead lei, Hi-Chew lei...'" The ribbon leis, I saw in the museum gift shop, did the google, and before I knew it, Eva was finishing one up.  My friend was so kind to give Eva a flower lei because at the last minute she decided she wanted one.

This May Day program was so awesome, it almost made up for some of these rainy days.  Almost.

cute faces mean good parenting, right?

 I had one of those days.  One of those days where I kept asking Karl, "Why do they just let people have kids?"  And let me be clear.  It wasn't because of what my kids were doing.  It was because of my parenting skills.  Or I should say, lack of parenting skills.  The morning starting with, amidst the usual chaos, overhearing Samuel ask loudly (most questions he asks are loud.  It's an unfortunate fact that the louder you say something in this family, the higher the chance of you getting any sort of response), "When is Easter Egg day?"  In his six year old honesty, his single question let me know how well I had taught my son the meaning of Easter.  Not much more than days of coloring eggs, eating egg-shaped candy, and chucking eggs down big hills. Awesome parenting.

So then, the day goes on and and we go with a realtor to look at houses.  Phone rings around 1:15.  Instead of, "Hi Mom," sweet little Eva greets me with, "Mom, it's Wednesday."  Which means it's short day and I am 45 minutes late.  We rush to pick them up.  I send Karl into the office because the last time I went in, they scolded me for not having a local phone number.  We still don't.  It's on our list. 

Oh, just so no one tries to tell me that forgetting to pick your kids up early on early day doesn't make you a bad mom... how about the fact that this is the second time.  The last time this happened, I made sure to be on time the next day.  And the cute little Japanese crossing guard that always has the kids "give him five" when they cross, says to my kids, "Mommy no forget you today?"  

So, back to this bad parenting day...

Samuel starts to tell us about his awesome day on his field trip to the fire station.  That is when I remember the note that they sent home telling us about it.  And the mental note (which is as good as, well, I might as well write it on an Etch A Sketch.  And as soon as I start walking, it starts to disappear) I made to myself to remember to send Samuel in shoes.  Seriously, they put it in bold to send the kids in shoes on field trip days.  But my Etch-A-Sketch head sent Samuel to school in flip flops (or "slippers" as they call them here) as usual.  Poor Samuel was the ONLY kid with slippers on.  He said he was embarrassed.  Bad parenting.

On top of that, Eva had to pull a card.  She never has to pull cards.  She didn't do her homework.  I take the blame.  Maybe just because I was already having a bad parenting day but I think the real reason was because I scheduled the day super heavy (Japanese class, Hula class, and then a church activity) and Eva had zero down time that day.  Um, teacher?  Eva couldn't do her homework because her mom was too busy overscheduling her.

I wish I had an excuse.  Like, we are trying to figure out where we are going to live in August and that means a lot of decisions and decisions exhaust me.  I have some sort of self diagnosed decision induced narcolepsy or something.  But, I am afraid that this might me kind of normal for me and this day I cared that I am this way.  

As to not make this post entirely negative, I inserted a few photos that have been making me smile, lately.  Samuel, with his mouth wide open for the photo?  Normal.  Maximus with his mouth wide open for the photo?  This was a first.  Samuel taught him well, right?  We laughed pretty hard at this one.  And the last one?  This was taken with my phone.  My phone!  I stuck matching T-shirts in Eva and Samuel's Wednesday slot (they don't have much matchy stuff, Eva's is from our Chicago trip years ago and Samuel's is from Dillard's awesome clearance sale) and they came bouncing in after they got dressed.  We hurried and dressed Max in his (this one is from my awesome sister in law) and snapped a shot.  Bed head, puffy sleepy eyes, sitting on my bed, camera phone, and they look like a million bucks.  

Please judge my parenting skills by how cute my kids are.  Thanks.  

every once in a while i get a great idea: giant white board

I spent a lot of time wishing I didn't do things.  Just the way I am.  But sometimes I come up with something that I am really glad I did.  It's time I share...

We came to the island two weeks before Eva's birthday.  I was trying to think of something that would make it special and make up for the fact that she would be away from friends, family, and any toys that didn't make the nine suitcase cut.

I actually planned ahead on this one.

Back when I was getting my teaching degree, I remember some experienced elementary teachers giving us some pointers on how to come up with teaching materials on a very very small budget (insert speech on how it is dumb how little that budget is).  One of the ideas was to go to Home Depot and get what they call shower wall and cut it up into small boards to make a small white board for each student.  Fact is, white boards are fun for kids and it makes math, spelling, writing all that more exciting.  So I thought, if small is good, big is better, right?  

I figured we would have hardly any toys and lots of blank wall space and so I started thinking...

I made sure there was a Home Depot in Kauai.  Then I made three dry erase markers out of old socks and packed a set of markers that I have had since my teaching days.  

A few days before Eva's birthday we went to Home Depot and picked up the shower wall.  They knew what I was talking about but turns out it is called white panel board.  Thrifty white panel board, even better.  We also picked up some things to put around the edges.  It was right by the board.  It took two of those.  

Karl and the Home Depot guy loading it in our 1998 mini van.  It was a miracle, like the van was built to carry thrifty white panel board.  See that gecko?  Cute, huh?  Don't get attached.  I'll tell you why later.

And for just over $20, Eva got a giant white board for her birthday.  The ideal kind of present to me, no batteries, uses her imagination, isn't a big plastic eyesore...

She woke up on her birthday, saw it, and got started right away.

I would love to mount it, but we are in a month to month rental and so it's not worth it right now.  Eva just bought a big set of dry erase markers at Costco for $10 to use on the board.  

I do feel a pang of guilt every time I see the board because when we first got it, I was moving it   to get to just the right position to project  movie onto it.  After the movie, we moved it back to see that I totally squished a little gecko into the wall.  So sad, right?  

The giant white board, easy on the budget (ahem, if we had one), useful, and encourages creativity, and weeks later is still being played with (because we all know that isn't always the case with a lot of birthday gifts), this one was a winner.

eva is eight

So many great memories in those short eight years.  So much to celebrate with this little girl...

the family (minus maximus): snowboarding

Karl has been taking the kids up snowboarding and I finally joined them.  The last time I went was about a year ago and I didn't know that I was pregnant yet.  Whoops.  I have been dying to see the progress that they have made.  

New Years Eve, I wake up and Karl says, "Let's go snowboarding."  By the time Karl finishes work, we all get dressed, the baby fed, the boards, gear and everything ready, it is already 2:30.  So we decide we to do night skiing.  We get to the place where we get discount lift tickets to find out that they don't have night skiing on New Years Eve.  Boo.  So we went to a park with a big hill and made the best of it.  

But yesterday, we actually made it up the ski resort.  And it was open.  What an accomplishment.  Seriously.

This is actually where Karl and I met for the first time.  I never ever would have thought that one day we would be bringing our kids here.

I tried to take videos and my snowboarding skills aren't good enough that I can move and video at the same time.  Karl shot these after it got dark.  So, even though it is hard to see in places, it is still fun for me to watch.  The video is 2 min and 30 seconds (which for me is long because I have about a 30 second attention span).  The first part is Eva and then Samuel starts at about 1 min and 50 seconds.  

Both of them are most comfortable riding their heel edges.  We took them over to the bunny heel to practice their toe edges and this is how Samuel handled it:

It was making me laugh so hard.  He would bend over and look through his legs to see where he was going.

Karl and I were getting so tired but our kids had so much energy.  We got off the lift and before we knew it, Samuel and Eva are climbing in the snow.  With their snowboards hooked on and all.

Riding with Eva and Samuel was seriously so much fun.  They look so tiny on the hill and it seems like people are always yelling down at Samuel from the lifts about being a little guy.  I had a hard time keeping up with Samuel and Eva and I were just perfect for each other.  

Oh, and it also happened to be Eva's lucky day.  We were getting on the lifts and look who we saw:

David Archuleta, who happens to be Eva's crush.  On the way up Eva said, "I just had one of those things happen, you know, the thing that you wanted your whole life."  I said, "Your dream come true?"  She said her dream had come true to see David Archuleta in real life.  So, when we got to the top we waited for him, he boarded past us, Karl stopped him and he was so nice and let us take a picture.   

On the way home Eva whispered, "Mom, it's not every day that you get to see the person of your dreams."  She is right.  What a charmed life she lives.  And, well, as parents it seems like we are happy to go out of our way to make all of our kids wildest dreams come true.

sweet faces in december

This day started a little early for us.  We didn't quite make it to the 9:00 start time. 

But we did make it in time for the magician, who called Eva up on the stage.  And that look on Eva's face?  The magician said, "Pretend like you are excited!"  But she was.  That is as crazy as she gets.  Not shown: Samuel's face as he is rolling on the floor laughing at the magicians silly jokes.

Santa was there, too.  That look on Samuel's face?  He is excited, too.  Totally excited to see Santa and tell him that he wanted a remote control helicopter and a remote control "triantula." But he is in the stage where when there is a camera, he suddenly is unable to smile.  

 That look on Maximus' face?  Another one of  those that make me want to kiss the computer screen.  Looks like he liked Santa.  

 That look on my dad's face?  The one where he is adoring his littlest grandson?  This photo makes my day.

 And from the look on his face, it looks like his grandson adores him back.

 Can't quite see their faces but the two snowboarders are Eva and Samuel.  Eva is technically better and Samuel can go fast.  Surprise surprise.  I stayed home with the baby while Karl took them up.  I want to see them on the hill so bad.  

I look at these photos and I can't help but get sad that these faces will inevitably change.  The kids will mature, the baby will no longer be a baby, and sad to say, my dad will get older.  But I have these photos to help me remember these days and I am happy about that.    

family photo time

Being a mom who is obsessed with preserving memories of her family is a big job.  At least I make it one.  I've learned a few lessons.  I got a card for a free newborn sitting and a digital 8x10 so I took Maximus because I thought, "Hey, it's free.  What could go wrong?"  Well, we enter the "studio," which happens to be in the lady's basement, and the scene from Napoleon Dynamite comes to my mind where Deb is taking Pedro's photo and needs something soft and billowy.  The process was long and slow.  The photos were fine.  Of course I thought they were cute.  They were my newborn.  But I didn't really like her style, and I won't even say how much they were because it is embarrassing that I paid that much for photos that I don't LOVE.  I am a wimp, and didn't have the guts to just walk out with the free one.  So, when Maximus is 18, he will say, "Well, I can't go to college because my parents spent the money on a photo shoot.  But, hey, I have these sweet pictures of me as an infant sleeping and for whatever reason I am butt naked on a soft and billowy blanket."  Just kidding, I didn't spend that much.  And maybe when I am not so bitter about the whole experience, I will post the photos. 

Fast forward a month and it is time to think about Christmas cards.  

There are reasons why we haven't had a family photo taken since Samuel was 10 months old.  The biggest one is that it is a pain.  Thinking up outfits, getting everyone dressed, getting to the appointment on time.  All of this while trying to keep everyone happy enough to smile for a photo.  And, well, for the reason that I wrote about above, our photo budget was just about spent. 

I'll admit, a certain six year old made a few of my photos really really hard to smile for but we got one.  ONE.  One photo good enough for a Christmas card.  That was all I was asking for.  So the rest of these are just a bonus.  What a more than pleasant surprise.  

I got a photo that I love of each of my kids (that I love, too :)).  Merry Christmas to me (in my head, I sing it to the tune of the Happy Birthday song).  All for a mega reasonable price.  And that, in my mind, makes things even more beautiful.

The photographer started off with some individuals of the older kids...

She was the gem of the family.  Agreeable and helpful.  Thank you, Eva.

 I think he doesn't know how to fake smile or be happy on demand or whatever it takes to get a natural shot.  But this one works for me.  

 I want to kiss those creases on that forehead.  

 Can you believe this shot?  He was so fussy and somehow she got this one.  I need to blow it up and hang it on my wall.  Automatic smile on my face every time I see it. 

 I wanted to show off the "Big Bro" and "Big Sis" t-shirts that I bought for Eva and Samuel but they didn't really show.  But I guess it doesn't really matter, my eyes go right to their faces.  Yeah, and we kind of thought that Maximus might have the Lisa Ling eye thing going on (and if you don't know what I am talking about that is because you are nice and those things don't matter to you) and this photo kind of confirms that thought.  Figure he will outgrow it.  

 Can't speak for Karl, but it turns out the experience wasn't all that bad.  It only took an hour.  And when I saw the photos, it was totally worth it.  I swear the kids have already grown since these were taken.  And it has only been three days.  

Lessons learned:  All photo shoots are not created equal.  A crappy photo shoot can, if anything, make you really really appreciate a non crappy photo shoot.