Homesick for Sisters

Is this possible? My heart aches.

Nia went home today. It was so nice to have her here. I didn't want her to go. There is nothing like having a sister. The trip was full of fun moments my favorite though is the hour of laughing about jingle bells ( I know that means nothing to you but the truth is we were laughing about nothing anyway). I was so impressed at how much Nia had grown up. I know, I know, she grew up a long long time ago but I have had the hardest time getting to know the grown up Nia. Poor thing, I was her 2nd mother for so much of her life and then I went to college and moved away and unfortunately I kept being her 2nd mother instead of her sister. But both of us have worked at it slowly and I felt like this trip I got to see so much of the grown up Nia. What an amazing person and so insightful. She listened and understood like only a sister can. She was lovely with my children (Pomai just came in crying all over again because she misses her). Children need aunties and uncles. Moms and Dads and even Grandparents can't do what a good aunty and/or uncle can do. My heart aches to have her near. She reminded me how lovely it is to have sisters near and made me ache to have any of them near but preferably ALL of them near. But lest I leave this post in such a negative light I will remember to be grateful. Grateful for the time I had with her, grateful for 4 sisters, grateful that I have my parents near and grateful for FREE mobile to mobile minutes. :0)

Tahitian 2

Great job Nalia!

Tahitian 1

The Samoan blood comes out

Nalia's Performanace at HTA

Don't you love when you see your child LOVE what she is doing. Nalia loves to dance and was very upset with me this quarter because I did not let her come in as much to take classes because it didn't match my schedule. Anyway this is the result of 2 maybe 3 classes this quarter. I love her confidence (even when she doesn't know what she is supposed to be doing). Proud of you!

I will get to it later when I have time . . .

Unfortunately this has been my excuse for every journal I have ever started (and there have been many). I don't know why I feel the need to catch up on everything (this blog) and then it gets worse and worse and then I become paralyzed by the mere idea. Thus I have not written a blog since April. Isn't it ridiculous. All the things I missed because I kept wanting to catch up. It is just silly.

So anyway here I am. I may catch up on a few things but not too many because I might stop typing. The good news is I am writing through contractions. Yes today is the due day. I have learned that "due date" really doesn't mean anything for me (usually late) so it is kinda fun to have a few "ouch" contractions on the actual day. Hooray! We have no name for our new boy though and I really don't have any ideas -- suggestions anyone? We are so excited to have a brother for Helaman - who got a haircut on Monday. It is short and I will have to put up pictures later.

So here are a few things that have been fun and exciting at our home lately:

Building - Mom and Dad are going to build downstairs and we are going to fix the upstairs. We are so excited to have a place to call our own. The top half is in desperate need of repairs but it is really nice to feel like we have something to invest in and to call our own. I got a little crazy and bought a dishwasher. Only to find out that means we need a new sink, countertop and disposal. So it was fun to go to Home Depot and look at colors and get some pricing done. At least we have a start. We are also trying to get rid of our week stay in Maui and use that money for wood floors so that is exciting too.

Hawaii Tech Academy - I am sure most of you know that I quit Kahuku Elem. in the middle of the school year (Jan) and moved to HTA. It was the best thing for me. It has helped me have the time to put my priorities back in line and remind myself what matters most to me. This year we moved Nalia to HTA with me. It is an online school and I have to be there to monitor and teach the curriculum so only one at a time. This has been the best and hardest thing I have ever done but so worth every moment and Nalia is so much happier.

There is so much more but I must get shut eye.

thank goodness for the DVR!

Well I was looking forward to conference for so many reasons. BUT it did not work out for me so well because of the football game going on Sat. and Helaman being very sick today.  So share with me  your favorite talks so I can go back and listen to them.  I am soooooo grateful for the DVR so I can go back and listen to the talks.  OK and I will just say that I am also grateful for 6 am conference because I was able to listen to some of the talks in the morning session because the keiki were still sleeping.  Tell me your favorites . . . thanks.

Announcing . . .

Happiness everywhere! We are so excited! Gotta love Nalia!

Anela

Today Namu took Pomai and Nalia to Haleiwa Surf Center for a day of fun with Parks and Recs and Helaman magically slept for four hours. That allowed me to spend some quality time with Anela.  FUN! She grows everyday and is getting so smart.  Preschool has been such a blessing for her (and us). She has grown leaps and bounds in such a short time. It was so much fun just to hang out with her and watch her trace her hand, color,  glue, and pretend cook.  After that decided to "write words" and started asking how to spell different family members names. 

"Mom how do you spell your name?" 

"M-O-M" As she is writing it out -  

"Pomai has a M." "How do you spell Grandma?" Again as she is writing G-R-A- . . . "I have an A. No, two A's and Pomai has and A and Nalia has an A . . . " 

It is just so fun to see how smart she is becoming and I loved being able to spend time with just her (for more than a 3 minute stretch).  Thanks for playing with me today Anela - I LOVE YOU!

Grateful for. . .

After many months of not blogging I realized I have been avoiding blogging (my journal) just because I felt there was too much to catch up on and where would I start.  So I resigned that I will just catch up later. But for now I want to talk about the things my family and I are grateful for.  We have again resumed our weekly family council.  I have missed it desperately and realized that we slowly got off track as a family without it.  But anyway one of the components is what each of us is grateful for so here is the list - Anela - Mommy - why?  because I love you.  Nalia - my family why? because I love them.  Pomai - my cousins and playing with them at the family reunion.  Mom - all the support I got during the family reunion especially from Namu who took care of the children and cooked while I took care of business.  Dad - being able to be a missionary.  Kena (a volunteer from his work) will be taking the discussions next week.  There are so many things everyday to be grateful for . . . seek and ye shall find.