Hawaii Fi-Do

What fun we had yesterday! Pomai had a project on animal and human teams and since Grandma works with a company, Hawaii Fi-do, that trains service dogs - she called in a favor. Susan Luehrs, the owner, was so kind to let us come last minute. She had Marie, a caretaker and service dog owner show us around. Marie was awesome and so patient. She answered all of Pomai's questions and showed her around. Nalia and Anela both have a fear of dogs (Nalia has gotten chased on more than one occassion) but it was fun to watch them go from stark fear to playing with the dogs.

These dogs are amazing and it was cool to learn the ins and outs of selecting the dogs to training them. We heard some amazing stories of the independence these dogs are able to provide for their owners. Everything from retrieving to warning them of possible seizures or food burning on the stove. You name they can do it. It was a wonderful way for Pomai to learn and as much as I love the internet - you just can't beat the real stuff. Please check out their website http://www.hawaiifido.org/ and see all the great things this non-profit organization is doing. I hear they are always looking for puppy raisers and donations. Thank you Susan and Marie.

MAYBE

So I was modeling, for my family, the new shirts I bought. We were deciding whether to keep all of them. Nalia was assisting me by making a list and writing down what decisions were being made. I was just about done when she had to go and rinse the dishes - so she handed me the list with the following instructions:
Nalia: Mom just finish marking the list. If it is Yes (keep) then put a check; if it is no (return) then mark an X; and if it is a maybe mark it with a "P".
Me: Why am I marking a "p" for the maybe ones
Nalia: You know Mom, mayPee (sounding it out for me) don't you hear it? mayPee

10 years of happiness

Today is our anniversary. Ten years have flown by! I am still in awe of the man that I married. What an amazing man he is. He is still my best friend and loves me unconditionally. He is an amazing father and works diligently to connect with each child. I love his insight about each of our girls. Here are the top ten things I love about Namu:

10. I love the way he rubs his feet back and forth between the sheets when he first gets into bed. His snore.

9. His cooking - Namu is the best cook I know. I LOVE everything he makes. Even before we started dating he made dinner for my roommate and I - peanut butter thai chicken and fruit pie. I distinctly remember how yummy it was and thinking man this guy is a good catch.

8. His confidence in himself. I love that Namu sticks to and does what he feels is right. He does not waiver from what he knows to be true and does not worry about what others think about him.

7. I love that any comment can bring on a song. Namu loves to take a word from what someone has said and break into song that uses the word. I love his voice. I remember when I made my list of what I wanted in a husband singing was in the category of "would be great if". I love that he is always willing to share his talent.

6. That we still go on "dates". We love movies and curling up to a good movie with mochi crunch, popcorn and m & m's is one of our favorite things

5. Namu is also the BEST listener. He is attentive and has great insight in every situation.

4. All the little things that he does to take care of me. Namu has always been a DOER. I learned while dating that this is how Namu shows his love for me. It is in making sure the car is safe, washing the dishes, folding the clothes, taking the kids out to give me a break, the list goes on and on.

3. His ability to make me laugh all the time. There is not a day that he has not made me laugh. Even in a disagreement Namu is able to difuse the situation with a joke. I don't know how he does it but I am so grateful for it. Namu also has this ability to give the punch line with straight face. I remember the night we first met after he left Colette said what did you do. I have never heard him say more than two or three words and yet the two of you laughed and talked. I remember even that first night thinking how funny he was. The rule is that 90% of what comes out of Namu's mouth is some sort of joke.

2. The father he is. When Namu and I were dating he told me he might not be able to have children. I remember being worried for 1/2 a second and then realizing that if that was the Lord's plan for us it would be ok. Well 4 children later we have been blessed in so many ways. Namu is a wonderful father. He takes time to know each of them personally and I love his insight about each of them. The girls love the many times that he takes them out to play with them. He makes them laugh too and they know that he is always joking too. They love that he is fair and kind and unconditional with his love.

1.His unconditional love for me. Namu is loyal and loves me despite my MANY idiosyncracies he still loves me. He always makes me feel like I can do anything! Sometimes he has more confidence in me than I have in myself. He always encourages me to do what I feel is right. He trusts me explicitly and he will do anything for me.

Namu I love you more today than yesterday. I am grateful everyday that you are my eternal companion and that the Lord put us together. I will be forever grateful for "the thousand tiny miracles". I love ya!!

Back Bending

Pomai's new favorite thing is backbends. She practices every moment. She is not in gymnastics right now but has been determined to learn how to do it anyway. She almost has it down but wants to learn walk over too. Needless to say gymnastics will be on the docket in Jan.

Spaghetti anyone?!

I love the spaghetti dinner picture. Helaman sure loved it.

Last night . . .

So after a week of sick children (Helaman and Anela) Namu and I finally made it to our bed last night (mainly because we have had to sleep sitting up on the couch with the sick children so they could breathe. But this is how the night progressed:
10:30 - We started a movie- Helaman woke up. We put him in bed with us
about 10:45 -
Anela came into the room crying. Added her into the bed with Helaman.
Few minutes later Namu stood up to sway Helaman to sleep.
Anela falls asleep. Put her in Helaman's co-sleeper so she won't kick Helaman and wake him up.
Minutes later Nalia comes in crying hysterically because of a bad dream. (Pomai was swirling the bunkbed and she almost fell off) Calmed her down. Add her to the bed
5 minutes later - Pomai comes in. She has been bitten by a mosquito and has 3 very large bites on her leg. She wants to sleep in our room but since there is no room I put medicine on it, have her to put on pants and send her back to her room.
Back in our room. I set a bed up for Nalia on the floor so she will sleep and not watch the movie.
Namu climbed into bed with Helaman sleeping in his arms.(so adorable because Helaman is laying next to him hanging onto to Namu's ear)
12:30 - just before the movie finishes we have to pause the movie to give Helaman his medicine. (he hates the medicine and spits it up or gargles it as long as he can BUT tonight he took it easily as long as he was holding onto Namu's ear)
Movie is done. Lights out. (all except for mine; can't stop thinking about my big project at school and all the things I have to do.)
1:18 - I am still up and can't get my mind to slow down
1:38 -STILL UP. Pomai comes in. She has 3 more bites on her arm. (mean mosquito - it must be huge by now). Make a small spot on the floor on the other side of the bed (mind you there is a little more than two and a half feet on either side of our bed). Spray her bedroom and hall for mosquitos and close the door to our little room.

I climbed into bed. I was so tired BUT I had to smile that I managed to fit everyone into our little room and the people that are most precious to me are all right here. At least I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

LOSING AND GAINING

No it is not about my weight. Right now it is all about the teeth. Helaman now has 7 teeth (just turned 8 months) and for some reason they just keep coming! It has been non-stop teething for the last month. I am grateful for EVERYDAY that he is so good natured because when he does get fussy it is not that bad. Bad for him but not for me : ) Meanwhile Nalia has lost 4 teeth and with no new teeth in sight . . . she just might be singing all I want for Christmas is . . .

Back to blogging

So after a 3 month hiatus I am back to blogging. I have missed blogging and reading others blogs BUT I didn't dare get started because I often get "lost" in the blog land. However I have realized (as I am sure most of you already know) that blogging gets me to focus on all the "little things" and the FUN in life. The act of writing and sharing my gratitude and JOY for these things changes me. So I am super happy that life has settled down enough that I can squeeze this in.

There are so many fun things to share but since catching up is kind of like catching up on scrapbooking - I will take it slowly. I did want to share my new mommy organizing tricks. I found the ideas on http://www.meckmom.com/ (thanks pua). These 3 ideas not only kept me sane, during all the changes with my job, BUT it changed the tone in our home too. YEAH!

"Job" Charts -

So I took her idea and tweeked it a bit. I made one chart for each girl with their daily routine (prayer, making bed, packing backpack, setting out clothes, homework - you get the idea). I just felt like if I called this "the job chart" my girls would hate doing the necessities. We just use it as a checklist. Then I made a seperate chore chart. They are made on foam board and with velcro. The girls move the icons from one side to the other. Most of the icons are on Meck Mom but I made a few of my own just by dropping my image in her chart. It was so easy and the girls enjoyed helping me making them and personalizing their chart.

Stacking Baskets -

So everyday either before or after dinner (depending on the hunger level of my family) I call "stacking baskets". My girls get the baskets (everyone has one except for Helaman) and spread them out in the living room. Then we run around the house and pick up anything that is not where is should be and it gets put into the basket of the person that left it out. When everything is picked up we count up the number of items in each basket. We keep track of each person's amount each day and at the end of the week the person with the fewest amount of items gets 1 dollar (totally worth it). I love this because the cleanup is less and less, it holds each person accountable for what they left out and it is a FAST and FUN way to get the house clean. I found these baskets at Walmart for about $2.15. (called stash box on meck mom)

Sticker Rewards -

This is the BEST idea of all. I can not tell you the number of "reward systems" I have tried. However it always seems to fizzle mainly because stickers get lost or the chart gets played with or it is too much work. This has eliminated all of that and still allows me to focus on all the great and wonderful things my girls do. I reward them for anything and everything - assisting a sibling or me, random acts of kindness, etc . . . I also use it to break bad habits. Here's how it works - I got a book of stickers from Walmart and then took one sheet and cut it into three parts. In the cupboard, I taped one part for each child and then let each child select a reward (extra play time, pick family fun, Book club book, etc. . . ). The ingenius part is that I pull off the sticker and then give it to them - where it ends up does not matter (as long as it is not on the walls or furniture). When the stickers are all gone they have earned their reward. No more lost stickers.