Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

helping

My kids love to help out on a project.  I guess, unless I really need them and I make the mistake of advertising it as work.  Then they don't like to help.

Sometimes I let them help when they actually want to.  And when I do, sometimes it takes longer.  But I do it because I feel like I should.  Like I am making deposits into the "I did something good for my kids today" bucket.  

My parents are in town for a long visit.  After extensive research mostly just observation and listening to people complain/brag about their parents, I have learned that not all parents are the same.  Mine are the helping kind of parents.  And the kind that likes to try new stuff.  And eat/make yummy food.  I love having them around.  I feel lucky.

So, my dad went right to work and started putting this step stool for me.  Because I really need step stools.  

He let Maximus help.
Or should I say, "help."
At one point the "help" looked like this.  And for some reason this makes me laugh.
 But what really makes me laugh...
You know how it's somehow easier to get mascara on if you open your mouth?

Apparently, the same goes for using a screwdriver.  
 At least for Baby Maximus, anyway.
 So, I was cracking up, watching all the helping going on...
The kids and my dad.
The open mouth and getting the screw in.  And I know that is three photos of almost the same thing but to me they are all different kinds of funny.  And I didn't want any of the funnies to feel left out.
 And I was just so very grateful that I had so much help.

{BTW, I can't believe I am posting about Baby Moosey using a screwdriver.  That feels so grown up and unbaby-like.  *Sigh*.  Yes, he is growing.  Just like he is supposed to. As far as communication goes, he signs and says, "more."  Today he said, "hi" and we think he said, "yes."  He shakes his head and nods to get his point across.  As far as dancing goes, he has added the, "She's a Maniac" jog in place to his repertoire along with waving his arms like a conductor and turning. Cute little Moosey, growing up, saying more, dancing more, making more people more happy...}

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

skipping to now... salt pond beach

I almost can't remember the whirlwind summer that we had.  Catching up is feeling like work.  So I keep avoiding it.  The now is so much more fun.

I just ordered a gigantic canvas of this photo of Samuel.  It is so very very Samuel.
 And so is this one.  He's showing me a crab.  I have to play it cool with these things and say, "That is awesome Samuel" instead of, "That is so gross."  If I show any alarm, I run the risk of him chasing me with it.  When that happens I have this involuntary laugh that makes it hard for him to know that I am really really serious that I want him to stop.


And this one just might be the most Samuel.  Feet not even on the ground, happy as can be, a million miles an hour.
Okay, okay, maybe this one is the most Samuel.  Total monkey, right?  He is using his feet to play in the sand.

This is Eva.  And this photo is very much her.  Pondering on the shore, light ocean breeze, soft billow clouds in the back ground... definitely Eva.  I love this one.  

But Iordered this one gigantic because she is looking at the camera.  I kind of regret it.  But regretting is kind of an annoying hobby of mine (but not as annoying as the involuntary laugh when I am really scared.)
 This one is also Eva.  Relaxing in the water with her dad.  Kicking back, not a care in the world.

 Little Moosey loves the beach.  He crawls around, tastes things, crawls around some more, sits, tastes some more, and crawls around.
 Here he is sampling what the beach sand has to offer.  Can you believe the scenery?

 Just another of him really feasting.  Don't worry, he usually just spits it out after a while.
 And in every stage I think to myself, "This is the cutest stage.  I love it.  I don't want him to change."  I always miss the stage once he moves on, but I seem to fall in love with the one that comes next soon enough.  
 The beach.  Bringing out the best in all the kiddos.  Letting them roam and not having to worry about the messes.  Because at the beach, you're supposed to get messy.  


Tuesday, April 5, 2011

beach camping beginners


 And let me start off this post with a photo of Maximus because, well, that is just what I do.
Picked up this hiking backpack at a garage sale (they have awesome garage sales here) and though we are not hikers it makes the perfect spot to set a non sitting up yet, non sleepy baby on the beach.  

When I hear the word camping I think of 1) mosquito bites 2) cold at night 3) dirty everything 4) good times.  Well, it just so happens that numbers 1-3 are from my days of MOUNTAIN camping.  That is all I have done, really.  But on the beach it was different.  Loved it.  Yes, there was the massive amounts of preparing and packing (and it seems like one more kid means we need 6 times more stuff).  Yes, I did stress out because my idea of getting ready (planning for days ahead) and the husband's idea of getting ready (throwing stuff in the car 10 minutes after we were supposed to leave).  Those things weren't any different.  And neither were the good times that we had.

Kids happily playing in the sand, beautiful ocean scenery, and a rainbow.  
A sunset so pretty, I had to post two shots of it.

Splashing and boogie boarding until it's time to grill some dinner (why does food taste so good when you're camping?), roasting marshmallows, figuring out how to get the baby to sleep in a tent, sitting around the campfire and getting to know your friends a little better, playing some games, the kids running around until they are exhausted and crawl in the tent and fall asleep (without us telling them to go to bed!)... serious happy times.  
So let me tell you how the five of us ended up in this two man tent.  Remember how I said that the husband and I prepare differently?  One of those ways, I won't say which, is totally lame and stressful and ends up forgetting important things like tents.  So then a cute young couple was so sweet and slept under a tarp so we could use their tent.  The tent forgetter, I won't say who it is, wanted to sleep under the stars anyway.  One of us fell asleep as the tent forgetter was telling his findings on Google Sky (or something like that).  And it worked out that tent forgetter is the heaviest sleeper ever because he didn't even noticed when it rained on him.

So, here's the thing.  We lived minutes away from the mouth of two awesome canyons for FIVE years and camped up there once.  ONCE.  Lame.  

Let's hope we don't be that lame with beach camping.  Ha, and then maybe we'll have a chance to use our tent.  

Thursday, March 3, 2011

so long, survival mode



Maybe it's a conversation starter.  Maybe it's because they genuinely want to know.  Maybe it's because we have an eight year old, a six year old, and a 4 month old.  But the first thing they ask is why we are in Kauai.  
Our answer is always a version of the same thing.  We sold our house, didn't know where to go next, thought Hawaii sounded like fun...
To some it makes perfect sense.  To some it doesn't make sense at all.

To be honest, some days it makes perfect sense to me.  And some days it doesn't make sense at all.

The days it makes sense go like this:
The view of the sunrise from the back porch, or lanai as they call it here, is breathtaking.  
Karl gets done with work (he starts and finishes earlier here since we are in a different time zone than most of his clients), we load up the car with boogie boards, swimsuits and towels, and a few snacks, and we pick the kids up from school at two.  They hop in and do their homework while we drive to the beach.  There we have a few hours of beach time.  The kids play in the sand, splash, boogie board, dig, run, all the things that kids love to do.  Baby and I sit on the blanket, sit on the chair, eat, nap, all the things that mommies and babies like to do.  Karl switches between activities.  When the sun goes down, we pack up, grab some dinner and head home.  Those are the days that I know that it makes so much sense that we moved here.


The days that it doesn't make sense go like this:

I wake up on the futon (not the couch kind, the real kind on the floor, because that is what we have chosen to sleep on until we figure out a more permanent living situation.  Moving mattresses is the biggest pain ever) and I get to choose from one of the few outfits that I am already sick of.  I spend the morning vacuuming ants and every crumb that could possible attract ants (one mass e-mail to everyone I know on the island about what I should do about unwanted creatures, one trip from Expert Exterminators and $175 later those are taken care of).  On top of that, I jump at anything that moves, there are a lot more creatures here in Kauai and I am afraid of most of them.  Then Maximus does something adorable and I start to feel sad that my family at home is missing it (sometimes taking a video and sending it helps).  Then I start missing my family.  Then I start wishing I could go to lunch with my friends that I miss.  Then the counselor from the school calls to let me know that Samuel got sent to the office again and while they ask me if I have gotten a local phone number yet.  I kind of didn't want to and they scold me and I feel like I am Samuel, in trouble by the school.  Then I start feeling like our minimalist ways are more like camping and I start resenting it and I start missing my stuff that we left behind.  Then I feel bad for resenting and missing.  And you know how when you get back from a family vacation, you are somehow exhausted?  

And, well, you get the picture.  Cry me a river (in paradise), I know.

The good thing is that things are starting to settle down.  I am getting more organized and silly necessities like registering our car, getting local drivers licenses, getting dishes, kitchen knives, and things like that have been taken care of.  

And that is why I say, "So long, survival mode!"

Maybe that's wishful thinking.  Maybe our chaotic, spontaneous ways will always keep me in survival mode.  But tonight, I am going to pretend like I planned all this out.  


We have had more family time than ever, the people here are seriously so so so nice, sunshine is so good for me, and Eva is adorable in her hula class.  Those are not words of someone in survival mode, now, are they?   And look, this is a real blog post, not from my phone.  Though easier and faster, a real post looks so much better and SOOO not survival mode...

Sunday, January 9, 2011

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.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

starting off the new year

Be more patient with my family, clean more, spend more one on one time with the kids...
I had some great ideas. Then I got out of bed.


I was already bugged that everything that I was cleaning up was not mine. I fell asleep on the couch while holding Maximus (I don't regret that part) for longer than I should have. The kids fended for themselves which translates into getting all their toys out and moving them to random spots in the house. Basically everything that I resolved to do, went to pot.


And the worst part? The very very worst part of my first day of 2011?
See this sweet kid?
His fingernails were getting a little long and it makes me so sad to see those little scratches on baby faces. I bet where you can guess where this story is going.


This trusting little boy. Sigh.


And look what I did. I cringe as I type. I was so flustered. It bled. I had to cut a bandaid in half, his hands are still so tiny. Add to that being all flustered and then my kids want to hold him and instead of helping husband is taking pictures. I was a mess.


I think I may have lost my job as the nail trimmer in this family.


But look, he is still a happy kid, modeling his wound.
The day wasn't all bad. It's just that my resolutions only lasted for about 7 minutes. But that's okay. Lot's of great things happened too. I had an amazing meal with my family. And Maximus slept through the whole thing (maybe because he was exhausted from crying after having his finger clipped).


And from the look of this picture. It looks like he has forgiven me.
Happy 1-1-11! It's all up from here.
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Monday, December 27, 2010

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.    

Monday, November 29, 2010

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.  

Thursday, July 1, 2010

the great salt lake

The Great Salt Lake...
I have never been out to Antelope Island.  If I had, I would have known how far it was, or cold, or that the brine flies were bad.  
On the positive note, we made some great memories and got some pictures to remember it by.
Eva is so lucky to have so many cousins that she loves to play with.


This picture of the brothers with the binoculars cracked us up.
The kids enjoying nature.
Eva and Katie in the sheep pen.
I think the kids' favorite part was the horse stable.
One of the park guys asked the horse guy to let our kids get on the horse for a picture.  Nice, huh?
The horse guy was so nice and obliging.  
This horse was less fun to sit on.  You can tell by the look on Eva's face.
My dad loves outings like this. 
Uh, I guess I didn't get this gene. 
Do you remember those posters from the book order or on the ceiling of the dentist office of the kitten hanging from a branch that had the caption, "just hangin' around?"  I do.
I can't remember how many times we said, "Where is Samuel?" or "Where is Eva?"  They were having a blast exploring the place.  

The Great Salt Lake excursion... posted.

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