So Long For Now

I truly thought I could return to blogging, but life has a different idea in mind. For friends and family close enough to me you know why I must leave blogging behind for now.

This place that I have escaped to for three years has been a great place for me to share happy moments and memories. Now that my life has less to celebrate, I will be leaving this space for now.

Thank you to those who stop by to read. Thank you to those who stop by to share. Thank you for indulging me. I hope to return and share with you all again.

Kathleen

Dusting Off the Cobwebs

I think my blogging mojo may be returning. Well, I hope it is. I've been so involved with reading other blogs and admiring their craft projects that I've neglected mine and haven't crafted a thing... not a single one!

So, what's the update on my end you ask? Well, Aiden graduated from Preschool! Yaaay! I have him enrolled in a Japanese Summer program at the school where he'll be attending Kindergarten. He seems to really enjoy it, but don't ask him what he learned. He'll just tell you, "I don't know." I do know that he's learned at least three Japanese words so there is some progress :)

Evan is EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING! I understand that he's attached to me being there, but I can't go to the bathroom with out him crying in front of the door! He's climbing up the sofa now and it only took one time falling off to learn the proper way to get down. He's picked up a couple of signs. He can sign for milk and finished. Although lately he's been using the sign for "milk" for "want" as in "I want everything." He gets upset at me for not understanding and handing him milk... go figure :) He's trying to talk now, too. He's been trying to say "all gone" but it sounds more like "ah ga." So cute!

Our excitement over hubby's work schedule returning to two weeks on-one week off was short lived. The new captain received another job offer that was too good to pass up. Who could pass up a job working on a yacht taking the rich around the Caribbean? I couldn't argue with that. So, it's back to working those crazy schedules and spending less time at home. It's stressful when he's not home, but it's the nature of the tugboat business. So, I will endure.

I found a new blog that I can't stop looking at! The Modern Cottage Company! Alison does the most amazing work! She takes second hand furniture and makes them Modern Cottage treasures! I want her to teach me how to do it! It was one of my dreams to revamp furniture and give it a second life. She does it so well! I was just reading her latest entry and learned that her husband works on Seattle's Evening Magazine. That is where I did my college internship! I loved it and really wished they had offered me a position, but it wasn't to be. After checking out her husband's segment I looked around the EM site and saw it had a new host... sayonara John Curley. The only person I did recognized was Jim Dever. I just thought it was so interesting how both of my dreams (revamping furniture and working in TV) were represented on her recent post. Well, the tv career was fulfilled working for PBS Hawaii. I just need to work on the other one. After all that was one of my reasons for going back to school to learn carpentry. I don't think the market for second hand furniture is very strong here in Hawaii... I may be wrong, though. If I ever return to Seattle maybe I could work with you, Alison :) Hee Hee Hee.

Well, I have a couple projects that need to be started so I hope to get to them this coming week. I will post pictures. Finger's crossed that they turn out.

Monthly Post

I haven't completely abandoned this space. I promise.

I do, however, feel like I should at least post a monthly update of some sort.

In my last post over a month ago, I mentioned that I was having a hard time with my oldest son. I hate to use the word "brat," but that is how he was behaving some days. I don't like to yell at my children, but I feel that if I have asked you calmly three times and you still haven't moved your butt in gear then expect to get an earful and at a much higher decibel than before.

Well, thank goodness, we seem to have finally passed that difficult hump and reached a better place in our relationship. We still have our moments, but they are less frequent and he now knows how serious I am.

At some point between my last post and this one a little parallel event occurred. One that happened in my childhood and one that has occurred in his (Aiden). I remember when I was in the second grade and I had my first twenty dollar bill. My father's birthday was coming up and my mother asked if I wanted to chip in on a gift. I really didn't understand money very well and asked if I would get any of my $20 back. Well, the obvious answer was no. In my selfish ways I refused to part with my money and insisted on making a "handmade" birthday gift for my father instead. Well... what could I make at that age but a card? That was it... a card. I was a little embarrassed and ashamed of my behavior and felt terrible when my sister and mother presented him with this large box (a dart board). My mother and sister were kind enough to include my name on the card, but there was no doubt that a BIG FAT lesson was learned that day. Well played Mama, love you!

A few weeks ago, Aiden wanted to spend his Easter money on a toy, but also wanted an Icee. I told him that he didn't have a lot of money, but if he spent it wisely he could have both. So I took him to Walmart to look for a toy. He picked out toys that were beyond his price range and I tried to explain that he didn't have enough money for it. Then I found a toy (some boomerang thingy) and told him he could get that, but that would use all his money. I thought he understood, but when we went to check out I told him he needed to give me what he had and that's when he said he would only give me half as he still wanted the Icee. Well, he cried and cried as I explained he didn't have enough for both and had to pick one. Needless to say the toy stayed behind and the cashier didn't look thrilled and I left the store with a crying five year old. I felt terrible, but somewhere along the way I let him think that money was free flowing in this household and it certainly is NOT.

I do feel like he was a little young to learn that lesson, but I find that greed & selfishness fuels a lot of our arguments.

Easter

There was an Easter egg hunt at Aiden's school and I actually made a craft! What!?! Yup... I actually sat down at night and made these paper mache eggs for all 12 kiddos! I just placed them in their cubbies to pick up as they left the classroom, but none of them could wait to open them.

They aren't as lovely as the one from Not Martha and they were a lot more work than I thought (I almost gave up after the first two), but I pushed myself to finish since I ran out an purchased all the supplies to make them. I'm glad I did because the kids seemed really excited to have these large eggs to open.

The Saturday before Easter we headed up to Gunstock Ranch where they have an Annual Easter Egg Hunt. We had never gone before, but since some of the eggs had cash prizes I thought it might be fun. They had a section where you could pet the animals and for horseback riding. It seemed like a good idea. It wasn't busy when we arrived 15 minutes before the hunt was to start, but man o' man the cars came rushing in the closer it got to 10 a.m.. Since it's a working ranch there was a lot of manure on the ground. Some genius thought it would be funny to put 4 of the yellow eggs (worth a buck each) in a pile of manure in Aiden's age range. Um... gross. Anyway, we didn't get any of those, but I couldn't tell Aiden enough... DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE!

Aiden only found 2 eggs on his own and grandpa found another 2. Unfortunately they were real eggs and couldn't be consumed. At least he got to enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

 Evan enjoyed walking around

The petting section was fun although the little lambs looked terrified by all the kids trying to pet them. Aiden looked at them from afar and stayed by the ponies instead. He also decided to skip the horseback riding (thank goodness since the line was very long)

I invited my parents and my father agreed to join us. I don't know if my father knows just how much it means to me that he participates and takes part in events like these. Thanks, Dad. I love you!

Since Aiden and Evan didn't get much of a chance to look for eggs we had a little egg hunt of our own on Easter day. We colored some eggs and enjoyed them in our egg salad sandwiches at lunch time. Then, I scattered eggs around the lawn in front of our place. Aiden and Evan each had a chance to find some goodies.

I see this post is getting rather long... so I'll just say... Evan turned 1 in April. He's walking like a champ! He's sticking way too many things in his mouth! Frightening! He doesn't like to chew his food and would rather swallow things whole... again... scary!  He cries after waking up (after a good nights rest, a nice nap... it doesn't matter). He doesn't like you to leave his sight. Cries when I have to go to the bathroom. Doesn't like to be left out during dinner even though he's already eaten... so he snacks in his chair while we dine. He's happy when you are sitting on the floor while he plays around you. Is enjoying Aiden's company much more now that he's upright and mobile. Follows Aiden around (adorable). Is able to fall asleep on his own both at night and during the day. Seems awfully cranky, but only at home. He's lost his baby fat. Seems tall, but is in only the 35 percentile for his age. Much like his brother he has a very large noggin.

Here is one last photo of my boys next to the Boy's Day display.

Ahem...

I don't know what's come over me, but I seem to have lost my blogging mojo. I don't have a lot going on these days and my husband is back to working his old hours so I don't have a lot of craft time either.

I won't go into great detail, but my five year old and I are going through a very rough time. There is a lot of arguing and it is causing me great stress. Forget the terrible twos, this is MUCH worse! Although I am trying I don't think I am being the best mother to him right now. He knows how to set me off and it seems that we are having an argument daily.

I think my posts will be very limited until I am able to regain my motivation. I'll be taking a  blog break of sorts.

In the meantime, get ready for picture overload and as I update you since my last post.

We had Spring Break a couple weeks back. I tried to plan something almost every day for Aiden to keep him busy. We went bowling. We had park play dates. We went to the beach. We even went to the movies (Mars Needs Moms) and hiking with some of his classmates. I'm really finding that getting Aiden in preschool was the best thing for both him and I!

Kawai Nui Marsh, Kailua, Oahu

Cattails in Hawaii... who knew?

I think he learned this "turned up collar" from oba-chan.

My sister invited us to the Bishop Museum where they have the new "Dinosaurs Unearthed: Feathered Discoveries" exhibit on the 27th. The kids loved it!

Animatronic Dinosaurs are so cool!

Today we had a school field trip to Waimea Falls. I hadn't been there since I was a child myself, so it was good to revisit. Aiden and his classmates learned about taking care of the land (Malama Aina)...how to make natural pest repellent; the role worms play in agriculture; planting a garden. We all hiked up to the waterfall afterwards.

Listening to our guide, Kekai.

This guy was kind enough to sleep almost the entire time. Unfortunately it wasn't in the stroller, rather strapped to my chest. He's 23-24 pounds and it's not easy to walk let alone hike and push a stroller!

This peacock was beautiful, but aggressive. The children missed a little mating action by just a few seconds... thankfully :)

 

My dear friends, the Culvers, sent Aiden the Lego City Wind Turbine Transport set for his birthday (they work on a wind farm in California). I've been meaning to take hip up to North Shore so I could take pictures of him with his wind turbine and the actual wind farm in the background. Today was the best time to do it since we were already up there for the field trip.

So, here is where I say, "I'll see you later." Most of my readers are family and we connect via Facebook, but for my other blog friends I promise to return with a better spirit and attitude. It just needs a little adjusting I think ;P

Honest Opinion

What do you think of the above item?

I have seen several craft auctions created to raise money for donations to various organizations aiding in Japan's recovery. I was thinking of putting an item like the one above up in one, but I'm not sure if anyone would bid on it. I am also planning to donate my usual handmade items, but thought this might be an opportunity to try something new.

Can I have your honest opinion?

Tsunami

I'm sure I'm not alone here. Have you been glued to the tv? Watching coverage of the devastation that has ravaged Japan? I can't stop watching.

I mentioned in the past that I spent about 7-8 years of my childhood there. My mother is Japanese. I have a strong connection to the country and I love it so much. It's such a beautiful place and the people are friendly and polite. It's truly special.

I was watching something Thursday night and wasn't paying much attention to the crawl at the bottom of the screen. I caught the tail end of what looked like "tsunami" and turn to my husband and said, "what did it say?" He said, "You weren't reading it!?! There was an earthquake off of Japan and it generated a tsunami."  WHAT!?! flip... flip... change... change... where's the news!?! Not only was I worried about the wave that was consuming the coast of Sendai, but I had to be concerned about the tsunami that was heading our way!

My husband is a tugboat captain and so he is required by the company to take the tugboat out to sea during such threats. I have some negative feelings about this, but will keep them to myself. So, since he was scheduled for an early morning job he headed to the boat to catch some shut eye, but was told to tow another tug out to sea... like... NOW! So off he went. Meanwhile, we have friends who live rather close to the ocean so I called them up and asked if they wanted to come stay with the kids and I. I live in the middle of the island and at a higher elevation. They joined me for the evening and left early in the morning. I gave them the bed and stayed up as long as I could watching the news in the living room. The emergency sirens were going off hourly and luckily Aiden slept through every single one of them, but Evan kept waking up until he was too tired to bother with the final two. I awoke to my friends standing in the living room about 4:30a.m. watching the news as I had left it on all night. It looked like we were extremely lucky on our island, but some of the neighbor islands had some structural damage.

I hate to admit that we were not prepared. I filled a 2 gal. beverage cooler with water and hoped that that would be enough... but really.... it wouldn't have lasted very long. I see on the news these poor citizens of Japan standing in line outside the super market told they could only purchase 10 items and think to myself, "why do they have to PAY for food!?!" They've lost everything and that damn store still wants their money! UGH! They are running out of water, food, and gas. There is a growing threat of a nuclear explosion. What are these people still doing there! Buses should be loaded and these people should be moved! 12 miles? Is that really far enough should something happen? REALLY? I feel sad for them... then I feel angry about their situation... then it comes back to... I really need to be more prepared!

I just read that Melaleuca (a company that I purchase products from) will donate $2 for every $1 I donate. I haven't seen another offer like this, so I think I will donate through them to get the most bang for the dollar.

I know that there was great discussion during the Haiti quake that celebrities were using their star power to raise money for another country while the homeless population in the US continues to grow and suffer. I'm sure that there will be similar discussion during this crisis, but I hope that if this thought crosses your mind that you will remember that we are all human. Just because we are of different ethnicity/nationalities does not make them less deserving of our aide. If you can help... if you can donate... please do. I beg you!

I do want to close by reporting that our family and friends in Japan are okay. Though there is limited communication between us and them, we were able to connect. Thank you modern technology!

Monthly Update... Waimea... Dole Plantation

A few weeks ago I attempted to take the boys to Waimea Falls, but had to turn around because we started late in the day and the traffic to North Shore was really bad. To reduce the risk of having a screaming five year old, I told my son that we'd turn around and go have ice cream at the pineapple place (aka Dole Plantation). That went over really well and he was happy to skip the falls.

When we got there he said he wasn't hungry yet and that he wanted to look at the pineapples, but what he was really doing was heading for the big fish pond in the back. I didn't have any quarters on hand to get fish food, but he was happy to walk me ALL the way back to the car to get some. So we did. The Koi pond is quite big, but there is only one section of the pond where you can feed them. This presents a big problem as the fish all gather toward this one section and fight for food. They fight so much that some are being pushed out of the water... it's gross! I tried to get him to throw the food out further, but well he just can't throw that far.

Someone should redesign this pond.

After we worked our way back to the gift shop we stood in line for some Dole Whip. I hate to complain, but these places just don't take into consideration that people might be pushing strollers around.... anyway... we finally worked out way up to the counter, got our Dole Whip and headed outside to enjoy it. Well... enjoy it as much as we could with this lovely thing following us around.

Aiden thought she wanted his ice cream, but I didn't think so.

I think she wanted something a little more at her eye level... something in the stroller...

Evan's puffs!

I had to throw a couple off to the side to distract her. I told Aiden that we needed to move, but she just followed us around. To our luck other patrons wanted to take pictures of it and with it so she went on her way.

Your ice cream's safe, Buddy!