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.

Recycle, Repurpose, Renew, Repair

What do you get with an old tire, an old table, and a free umbrella . . .

Namu took all this stuff (that I was ready to take to the dump) and made a lovely backyard oasis for the kids and I. Before this we rarely used the backyard but not anymore! It makes me SMILE everyday and somehow that it didn't cost a thing makes it even better. My favorite thing- that Namu drilled a bigger hole in the table so the umbrella could fit. He also fixed the bikes that were also headed to the trash as well as the two strollers that were broken. So here's to saving money and using what you have. Good job Namu!

Halloween Pictures

HOLY SMOKES BATMAN how did you get that LOLLIPOP?

GLAMOUR GIRL and CINDERELLA

Check out HANNAH MONTANA!

(more pictures later)

My LOVE/HATE relationship with costumes

(this is the long version) Every year I resolve to make Halloween fun. Honestly, I dread it but don't want my kids to dread it so I put on a brave face and do my best. I try so hard to do anything to make it fun including hosting the annual "get together" and buying decorations to fill both the outside and inside BUT I always get stuck on the costumes. Sadly, this year was extra crazy so I let someone else host the party and never got around to doing decorations (so sad) but the cosume dilema was still hanging over my head. Pomai wanted to be Hannah Montana (all I could think of is YES! I don't have to buy a wig) but then Nalia wanted to be Hannah too. I tried to convince her to be Miley but she didn't like that because she is all about the GLITTER. Anela wanted to be a princess but I had a BYU cheerleading costume so I worked at convincing her that a cheerleader would be more fun.
So last Saturday we hit Saver's to find something, I kept telling myself I could make the costumes myself instead of buying them (the last two years I have left the costume shopping to Hanu and my girls did ask what they were going to get from Aunty Hanu this year). We quickly found a princess costume that Anela had to have - so much for cheerleading. We searched for all things sequined for Pomai's outfit but not much luck in her size. We did find a cute jeans jacket, a purple and black short skirt, fish net stockings, a glitter microphone and a bedazzled cap - ok that might work for Pomai. I could not find shoes for her but thought maybe we could figure something out later. Meanwhile Nalia was still whining that she couldn't be Hannah. But then she found a "dog house purse" (see pic) and I had found a pink sequin vest that matched the house and thought Paris Hilton (not the role model I want for my child) which led me to MOVIE STAR/GLAMOUR GIRL. Nalia LOVED the idea!
I was still uneasy about Pomai's costume (always listen to your gut) so I showed Mike and Kahi the pieces via the video phone. Mike hit the nail on the head when he said "Man if you just add leggings, Pomai could be Debbie Gibson" AAAAAHHHHH it was true that was the costume I had. I desperately tried to figure out how to get to town with everything else goin on. Luckily, Mari came to the rescue! She was going to town and found a pair of black boots, bracelets and makeup . They worked perfectly.
I was so happy with all the finishing touches I was able to make despite being costume challenged. I cut Pomai bangs (Yep - thanks to You tube) and took apart a pair of earrings to make her a pair of clip-ons, cut up a old onsie to cover Anela's pink headband and make it blue, and bent my earrings so they clipped on Nalia's ears. I got great satisfaction creating costumes this year instead of buying them all so surprisingly I hope I get to do it again next year.

Haunted Houses

I have a very vivid memory of the haunted house at the Lua's. I must have been 8 and I was dressed as a princess (yellow holoku) for the 3rd or 4th year in a row. I also remember being so excited to go in the haunted house. The next memory is STARK FEAR! I remember screaming and crying so much that everyone was taking their masks off for me -- no offense but it did not help. Mom walked me slowly through (past the trolls, and the coffin and the vampire but it did not help) Hated it.
FAST FORWARD - Junior or sophmore year in high school - Haunted Lagoon. I went with some of my friends because if I didn't I would be lame. I remember being scared but making it through.
FAST FORWARD 1996 - Namu and Ikuna invite Collettey and I to go to Haunted houses with them. (Can I just say I suddenly felt 8 again). Despite my protests no one seemed to think I was really serious about being scared. (I even asked to wait outside-right at the door. The real problem was that I had only met Namu and Kuna a few days before that and I felt silly trying to explain to them how scared I was.)

It started with the Haunted Forest, then the Haunted Hay Maze, and finally the Nightmare on 13th. The next night it was the Park City Haunted Mine. I must say going to one haunted house after another actually made my fear disapate and just resigned to the fact that I was not going to get out of going. The BEST thing that came out of the haunted house experience -- MY HUBBY. Well I needed someone to hide behind and claw and when Colette wanted to share Ikuna's arm I drew the line there and grabbed Namu's arm (no sharing for me). (This was the beginning of a beautiful relationship). Haunted Houses became an annual event until . . . Hawaii.

It was a drought until 2008 with the Haunted Lagoon. What fun we had! PCC pulled out all the stops - walking on water, chainsaws, skeletons popping out of nowhere, monsters in the bushes and in the water. We took our 3 girls the other night. And even though I didn't get to claw at my husband this time it was still a blast. Pomai buried her face in my legs and cried hysterically when I would scream, Nalia sat on the floor of the canoe (in between all the big people so no one would know she was there), and sweet Anela took a nap halfway through (she was no phased at all). The girls loved it after the fact but I told them of my history with Haunted Houses and they felt a little better. I must say it was so fun to be scared again - whoevever thought I would say that?!!!!