The darndest things

We were driving to Waikele and were passing the Century Park Plaza buildings at the edge of Pearl City. Austen asked, "Mommy, is that the airplane's house?" At first, I didn't understand him but he asked again. Then, I understood. I went through a lot of emotion all at the same time. I love that he is aware of his surroundings and that he can relate things he sees on TV to things in real life. I love that he doesn't know what tragedy is and how horrific 9/11 was. But at the same time, I really hate that he has to try to organize such a thing into his realm of reality such that airplanes must live in high rise buildings. We talked about airplanes that fly in the sky, WAY above buildings, right through the clouds. He didn't ask about the airplanes he must have seen flying into the WTC - thankfully - and seemed to accept that airplanes fly high in the sky and don't live in buildings. He moved on to "can I get candy?" soon after that.

I hope and pray that all of my kids can keep that innocence about the things happening in the world around them for as long as possible.

More, more, more

MORE SKILLS

Chyler's getting really good at her crawling thing...much to my chagrin. She gets across the room now but I haven't gotten a good video of that yet. Here's a sampling of her crawling with a lot of coaxing from Mommy.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books



MORE FROM THE FAMILY BED

More of Brennen and Chyler in the morning. And lucky you, more singing from me...SORRY!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books



MORE EVIDENCE THAT SHE LIVES IN A CRAZY HOUSE

Her Daddy has her oldest brother jumping on his back while her 2 other crazy brothers are running around playing chase (when inevitably one gets hurt). She's just minding her own business...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

My babies are growing up

Chyler has been sitting up like a pro for awhile now and she could do a 360 circle in place for a few weeks now. Lately, we've been noticing that she will stretch out on her hands to reach for things but has usually flopped over onto her tummy in the process. After being on her tummy, she would usually scoot backwards until there was no room left to move. We thought that she would start crawling soon and yes, it's happened. Yesterday and the day before she was getting up on her hands and knees and swaying front to back. Today, she actually moved forward a few paces to get to items out of her reach with great success. Even Dallen noticed that - he came home today and said, "Look Mommy, Chyler's crawling!" She can even get from her tummy back to a sitting position. Wow, she's great even though she can't roll over yet...go figure!

One thing that concerns me is her teeth. She has her two bottoms out already and I noticed about 3 more cutting through. Her top left front, a bottom right second to the middle, and one of her incisors. Do you notice that she will have no top right front before one of the incisors comes out?? She'll look like a Jack-O-Lantern just in time for Halloween! No costume needed! YIKES!

Brennen is reaching that age where you want to ship them off somewhere and wait until they've passed the 2 & 3 year old stage. He is a little (or rather big) bugger! Man! He knows how to push everyone's buttons and does it with a little grin. He's always getting into some sort of trouble and all I hear all day is "BRENNEN!!!" from either Austen or Dallen. He knows just how to use his baby age to get what he wants and will also try to do everything his older brothers do - doesn't matter what. If they go outside, he goes outside. If they are playing with a toy, he wants it. If they talk back, he talks back. If they want something to eat, so does he. It never ends! And to think, we've got another one that needs to go through this horrible 2 & 3 year old stage!

On the other hand, Austen - our previous bugger child - has done a lot of growing up. He still whines but when you call him on it, he will usually smile at you and stop. He can be reasoned with now. He is toilet trained like a pro now (but still announces just what he needs to do in the bathroom). He goes to school with no problems and is apparently now, a great, enjoyable student! He likes to do his homework (yes, we have homework every weekend) and it's fun to talk with him. His speech has improved and his vocabulary usage is so much better now! This happened before I knew it and now I have 2 big boys in the house. He has his moments but don't we all?

Dallen is still hating on being the big brother but still does it very well. He'll do anything for or give anything to his baby sister but is getting to understand that Austen and even Brennen are old enough to know better, to share, and to have responsibilities so he doesn't give in to them too often now. He still hates homework but does it diligently. If I look at him in the grand scheme of our family, he really is an obedient child (SURPRISE!). He handles responsibility well and is a good example MOST of the time. He asks me why he needed to be the oldest when in frustrating situations with his siblings - I tell him that it's just the way it is...but really, he was destined to be the oldest because he has all those good qualities that the oldest sibling needs.

When I look at our family, I just know that our family here on earth is the same as it was in the pre-existence because everyone just fits so perfectly in their role.

Weekend getaway

Lad and I got to go off to Portland Oregon for the UH vs. Oregon State football game this past weekend. The game was a bust due to the shellacking that the Warriors received and despite other zany incidents, we both thought that Oregon was a very nice, beautiful city.

On Friday, we went on a tour of Mt. Hood, the Columbia River Gorge, and its surrounding areas - supposedly. The tour was supposed to be a 9-5 day tour. The tour driver's name was Ramona and she was a native of Germany. She has, apparently, lived in various places including Hawaii but has been in Portland for about 12 years now. She showed at almost 10am but promised the tour would go for the allotted amount of time - little did we know that by the end, we'd be begging her to get back to Portland. I don't know how long she's been a tour guide but for most of the tour, she chatted about gas prices, politics (went off about Sarah Palin), and when asked about things...her response was usually "You know, I really don't know" but in a nice way. Note to any tour guides out there - the people in the van aren't from around here, so whatever you say - whether truth or not - will sound good to them...MAKE IT UP! To top it off, after lunch there was a fire on the highway so we had to go across the bridge into Washington where she had to ask for directions at the 7-11. We must have aimlessly driven for an hour or two because she was bound and determined to take us past the fire area to the waterfalls of Oregon. Finally, we reached the Bridge of the Gods and went back to Oregon. By this time, all of us in the van were a bit stir-crazy and after 2 waterfalls, we really wanted to get back. So, we started back to Portland and the first road sign we saw said Portland 87 miles. YIKES!! It was a long day...

We went up to Timberline Lodge - took some pictures of what I think is Mt. Hood (because Ramona didn't really tell us) and caught a picture of a chipmunk looking for food. You know you're from Hawaii when you MUST get a photo of the chipmunk or squirrel. From the van, I took a lot of pictures of various bridges, trains, and train paraphernalia because I thought "Austen would love this". Then, there's Lad and I with Chyler at Horsetail Falls. Lad didn't even get out of the car at Multnomah Falls.



I could tell you about a guy on the van from Argentina named Carlos who kept us all in stitches with his dry wit - but "you had to be there" to appreciate it. I think it seemed funnier at the time because we all felt so trapped on an endlessly bad tour. Thinking back, it probably wasn't THAT funny.

We got a chance to visit Lad's cousin Terry and his family after that long tour day - had HUGE steaks which were delicious. Thanks Terry! So nice to see your girls and Lad's Uncle and Aunty as well.

Saturday was the game. Another long day but much more organized. We were in the "heavenly" seats about 10 rows from the top and although the weather in Portland was nice and cool, we were in the direct sun without a cloud in the sky - so it felt really, really, really hot. Chyler made it through almost the 2nd quarter before letting us know she had HAD it! Me too, it was HOT!



Chyler was a great traveler - rarely crying, never fussed - just going with the flow...even through the long days of the tour and the game. But, I was carrying her for most of the trip and now that we're home - she doesn't understand why I keep putting her down. She's been expressing dismay at that for the past few days.

Thanks to Mom and Dad for taking care of the boys who said they LOVED being with Grandma and Grandpa. Mom says that they were REALLY good too. Thanks again to Nei for watching Brennen while giving my parents some relief time.

Labor Day

Our ward had a Labor Day picnic at Ala Moana Beach on Monday. We had fun - the boys love the annual picnic. This year, someone put Airheads on the food table so they had SO many. I swear I kept saying "this is the last one" but inevitably they (meaning Austen and Brennen) found a good soul to open yet another one.

This was Chyler's first time to spend any kind of time at the beach. There were a lot of firsts: she went in the water for the first time and also ate some sand for the first time. I don't know what it is about sand and my kids - they always sit on the beach and think that "Wow, this stuff looks yummy. I think I'll try a handful!" Never fails with every kid. Chyler liked the water when I was carrying her but just hated being put in the floater, thus the crying picture. She has the cutest little swimsuit but I bought it awhile ago and it's 3-6 months and clearly, she needs a larger size.

All the boys love the beach. They can spend all day there. A big part of the fun is playing with sand on the beach. Most of the time you can find them on the sand. Brennen was making "castles", albeit one-story units, for a really long time by himself. He had a small shovel and a small "sand castle thing-a-ma-jigger" (that orange thing) and sat there making mounds all around him. Then, he practiced his baseball throw with some sand. Luckily, there wasn't anyone around to aim at. Austen played with his trucks emulating Bob the Builder for most of the day and then went about shoveling and yelling into the wind for the rest of the time. He is just a free spirit - you notice it a lot with him - he just does what he feels and a lot of times, what he feels is loud and big. On a side note, we noticed with SuperFerry a couple of times that day and on it's second pass, Dallen posed in front of it.

It was a good, L-O-N-G day! One of my favorite parts of the day was watching Brennen chase birds by himself. I think that he is just SO cute! Excuse the wind and the shakes.

Big Bad Bird Bully from Mari Panis on Vimeo.

Lastly, what happens when you leave your cute, cuddly, clean, and well-dressed baby girl in the hands of her Daddy whose past experience with little girl babies is nil?

She's still cute and cuddly, right?

ABC Tag - a very new thing for me

I didn't know such things existed...

When I was reading Yumi's, I found that we have very similar answers - I could have written your U.

ABC's "getting to know you" TAG. ABC's of you. Each player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then go to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

A- Attached or single: attached when he's home

B- Best Friend: I keep telling Lad that it's SUPPOSED to be him.

C-Cake or Pie: Cake especially Peach Barvarian from Napoleon's

D-Day: Friday, I get some relief because Lad's home...not much, but some...most times I get more irked because I THINK I should be getting relieved only to find him snoring, upstairs, or "working" outside leaving me to tend to the kids by myself again...so maybe not Friday. Hmmmm???

E- Essential Item: Television

F- Favorite Color: Green

G-Gummi Bears or Worms: Bears, the Black Forest kind in the brown wrapping, especially the green ones.

H-Home town: Aiea

I- Indulgences: Using the air conditioner at night as of late

J- January or July?: January, it's cooler

K-Kids: 4

L-Life is incomplete without: my family and the gospel

M- Marriage Date: June 12 1999

N- Number of Siblings: 0, I'm a lonely only

O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges, those little clementines to be exact

P- Phobias or Fears: I fear having no control over situations - I dream about that occasionally. I think it may involve having something bad happening to me or my family and there isn't anything I can do to stop it, avoid it, or get out of it. Maybe the fear is being trapped?

Q- Quote: "This too shall pass"

R- Reason To Smile: Time by myself

S- Season: We only have 1 season here but I think I like winter best because it's cooler

T- Tag Three: I don't know alot of people who blog so the only ones are Airi and Starr

U- Unknown fact about me: I am a licensed social worker. I not only have my MSW, but I also passed my licensing exam so I can technically place an LSW behind my name. Not that it does me any good now!

V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: An oppressor of animals?? Yikes! My husband is the world's foremost carnivore so had I even attempted to veg out on him, we probably would have a hard time being together.

W- Worst Habit: Yelling and rolling my eyes

X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I've had both but prefer neither. I guess X was a hard one to come up with.

Y-Your favorite food: Any kind of Japanese food since I don't get it too often. The husband does not like Japanese portioning so he refuses to pay for it most of the time. So, taking me to a Japanese restaurant for my birthday or other "special" occasions is a real act of love on his part.

Z: Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Seriously late!

Dallen started 2nd grade on July 29th (or was it the 28th??) and I totally forgot to post! I'm telling you...my old brain!

Lad took him to school on his first day along with all of his supplies...I asked him to take a picture but of course, he forgot. So, these are pictures of his Open House. I'm happy to report that Dallen is again 'very smart' and 'a really enjoyable child' according to his teacher but that he 'can get distracted' which is why he is front row center. I like that he's positioned there because I think that he'll maximize his learning! I can just see him rolling his eyes at me when I say things like that out loud.

His homework is more challenging this year which is a really good thing and he still does it with minimal grumbles. He still enjoys math a lot more than reading or the dreaded...sentences...but he does both with good skill. This year he is having to read at last 20 minutes a day as part of his homework assignment. So, we went off to Borders (and ordered through Scholastic) to get some chapter books that would be of interest to him. He likes the Ready Freddy series a lot.


I don't think you can read his little "Guess Who" page that I have a picture of but it says...

• My favorite color is blue.
• I like to eat Sushi.
• I have 8 people in my family - he's including Grandpa & Grandma - or he has other siblings I forgot about...
• On the weekends I like to play video games.

Dallen also painted that dinosaur and drew that picture of himself. He's always been a very neat color-er although his handwriting can be atrocious. Dallen, what does atrocious mean?? I've been using it alot lately!