4/26/2009

Lost a whole week

Wow, it's been a long time since I updated the blog. I got busy with stuff and also was taking an online digital scrapbooking class so I hadn't gotten around to updating the thing. Then over a week ago I got a stomach virus and was laid out on the couch for 7 days straight. This was the nastiest bug I've had in a lot of years. I'm on day 9 and still now trying to recover after not eating much for a week. To add insult to it all, right now Dan is out biking the Haleiwa metric century with our neighbor and his son since I'm not up to going and Adam is still getting over the bug too. So I had to miss what is touted as one of 'the 50 best rides in the US' by bicycling magazine. Well, I hope they are having a good time!

4/10/2009

Happy Birthday to You

Cole was 3 years old on Monday! We had a low-key birthday celebration. The night before, I blew up a bunch of balloons to decorate the stairway from the bedrooms and then I piled a bunch on the table. They got a kick out of that (I think I nearly passed out from blowing up balloons though...). I told Cole he could pick what kind of cake he wanted, so I gave him a book of kids cakes that I had and he picked out a rocket cake. Thank goodness, that one wasn't too hard, some of those cakes would have been a real pain to frost! It turned out pretty good, he thought it was really cool.

We had Wakana and Taiyo over for dinner and cake. Steve stayed home with TeAnna because she was still getting over a stomach bug. She was very disappointed to have to miss Cole's birthday. I think Cole's favorite part of his whole birthday is that it was his turn to have his special day and he didn't have to share his birthday presents with Adam (at least not on his birthday). Cole was very patient on Adam's birthday and understood that each kid gets his special day, and he was going to take full advantage of his now that it was here! Especially by withholding his brand new firetruck from his brother...






Here's a quick photo history of Cole's first 3 years:

4/09/2009

Hike from Wahiawa

We took a hike on some government property that our friends had gotten permission to hike on. We had a trail guide from a hike book to go by but noone had been on that particular trail before. Had we known what the trail was like we probably would have picked a different trail (since we had a total of 5 kids in the group 5 years and younger) or at least I would have worn hiking boots instead of tennis shoes. But in the end, everyone was glad we went and even though we only hiked probably less than a mile or mile and a half, we had a good time.

The trail started out wide open in a gorgeous (and very fragrant) eucalyptus grove.
We were optimistic, even starting out our trek with strollers, which we quickly ditched by the side of the trail as soon as we got past the eucalyptus grove. Soon we were crawling over logs and hiking along some pretty narrow trails right along the ridge with a steep drop to our left.
(just to the left of the log at the left side of the trail is a very steep embankment, we kept a
There was a steep descent down off the ridge where we had to pass the kids down in some places.
There was a lot of mud, lots of gorgeous thick moss and beautiful tall trees. It was very slow going getting the kids along the trail, but they were all troopers. I really didn't hear any complaints out of any of them. I kind of thought they would start whining to be carried or to turn around, but I think they were all so fascinated by the woods and mystery of where the trail would lead next that they just kept going and going. Sometimes your kids will surprise you!

Class material

Well I've been taking another online digi scrapbooking class. Already I'm two days behind on the material and we're only on day 4 (sigh). If I could get some of my to-do list knocked off I could spend more time on the class. This one focuses on writing and typography (another Jessica Sprague class, she's awesome!). Well here is the first layout from the class anyways...


On another note, today I registered Adam for Kindergarten. I can't believe it. In about 4 months he will be an official kindergartener. The packet of information they gave me was a little mind-boggling, between huge supply lists, an 8 page school bus info/application packet (?!), along with information on parent orientation (do I need orienting?? maybe I do)... It's a good thing we still have 4 months left to get ready :) They may be offering a school orientation during July for kids who haven't been in preschool, so I may sign up Adam for that. Otherwise when I drop him off the first day (which is assessment day), he will probably hang on my leg and bawl (which of course will make me cry too!) By the end of the first couple days he'll be an old pro, of course.

4/06/2009

Time is free...

Tonight I put Cole to bed as my two year old baby and tomorrow he will be three. Time certainly does slip through your fingers when you're not even looking. We've already been in Hawaii almost 9 months. I think time is in hyper-drive!

"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't
own it, but you can use it. You can't keep
it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it
you can never get it back."
--Harvey MacKay