"Wii"re in March Madness!

Luckily - or rather unluckily - Lad is finally done with basketball. Being the basketball announcer for BYU-Hawaii, he's pretty busy throughout the season which usually begins in November and ends with the Madness in March. This year, the team was really good and were in line to go to the championships in Massachusetts. They hosted the Western Regionals in Laie and got to the championship game only to lose at the last second by 1 point. How heartbreaking! So, Lad's home for now.

At work every March, Lad offers $100 to the person who successfully picks the national champion in NCAA Division I basketball. It's not really a pool, rather a fun way to earn some extra cash. Since I wasn't there, Lad picked Memphis for me. He picked Pitt. They are both out.

But, since I didn't really make a pick - I told Lad that I unofficially picked UConn. So, we'll see how I do.

Why, you may ask? I was watching TV and they did a spot on one of their players Hasheem Thabeet who is originally from Tanzania. He was orphaned and was taken in by a family here in the US while still in high school. Anyway, because I saw his spot - I decided on UConn. Lad laughed at me when I told him I was choosing UConn and he asked if it was because I enjoyed watching Thabeet's story. I said 'yes'. I'm really not a sports person, can you tell?

I finally broke out the Wii that I purchased about a year ago since it's spring break but the kids are sick and we've been pretty much stuck at home and they are driving me mad. So, I thought they could do something fun but it's a little bit too difficult for Austen and Brennen, although they really WANT to play - so Dallen's been begging for Wii time everyday. Most times, you'll see Dallen playing while his brothers eagerly watch and cheer from the "sidelines".

I keep telling myself...only a few more days!

Fish gotta swim...

Here's the scenario. The kids are on break, we're all a bit stir crazy from being homebound for much of the week. So, I did an adventurous thing and took ALL the kids Diamond Head-side...by myself! Our original plan was to go to the zoo but we had no luck finding parking...again! (2nd time!)

So, they decided they wanted to play at the park so I circled around Kapiolani Park looking for an opening. Lo and behold (!) there was an open stall right across the Aquarium. We decided to do the aquarium instead.

The aquarium was packed but we managed. Once inside, all the boys spoke about was going outside. They weren't really interested in looking at the exhibits for long but this was Chyler's first time and she was so fascinated. I'm learning that another way she's a bit different from her brothers is that she really loves animals. She is so attentive to any animal she sees - in real life and even on the TV.

She loved the fish and I'm sure she could have spent more time looking around but alas, there were other 'forces' involved.



The boys took care of her - between running around and running off, Austen and Brennen took turns holding her hand and helping her up to see more closely.

Dallen loved the tidepool area where you can get a hands on experience with sea life. He held a hermit crab. So did our resident chicken, Brennen. Austen, although very interested, didn't want to touch the crab.

We were in and out in an hour. At least they slept on the way home!

Is a nap too much to ask?

All Sugar wants to do is take a nap. Very hard to come by in this house - take it from me!


He's a very tolerant cat, as you can see - he's even trying to continue his nap while being hung up. We're in the midst of a family-wide cold so excuse Austen's grosser than gross "hana butta" nose. Yeecch!

I'm a Mom of boys

Up until a year ago, I've been a mother to boys. I never had to do this!!



And yes, I know I stink at it! Although I think she's so cute with a look sort of "Shrek"-like. Austen calls her a "cute moose" when her hair is like that. Lad just hates when I do this - he says he sees no other girls that have their hair like this. I tell him that lots of girls have pins and rubber bands in their hair - it's just that Chyler doesn't have a lot of hair to work with!!

And inevitably, she always pulls her little rubber bands out and her hair just does not go down!!

Poor thing...who is her mother?!! Man, oh man!!

Owwweeeeee!

Okay, I know I'm getting older and today cinched it! I had my annual GYN appointment a few days ago. He wants me to go get a mammogram for baseline screening so that when I need to get regular mammograms - starting at about 40 years old - they'll know if anything is changing for the worst.

So, I go to Queen's today - their Women's Health and Wellness Center is really beautiful by the way (had my Ultrasound there too) - to get my mammogram done.

The machine is pretty non-threatening looking but man!! Basically, you have two ~ 8" x 10" plexiglas looking slabs on the bottom and top. You go in between. They took 4 pictures and since I'm smack against the machine I can see the pressure being placed on me. Each was about 45-49 pounds of squeezing pressure. It was OUCHIE!

Not looking forward to doing that again!

Two funny anecdotes that I want to remember...

1st one: Dallen had baseball practice today and he just hates it. It was a bit overcast today so he kept saying, "oh please, let it RAIN! RAIN! RAIN! RAIN!!!" Then he said, "I think I'll do a raindance!" Mind you, we were in the car so dancing space is limited so he began to move his torso up and down and slap his thighs in a faux-Indian chant of "RAIN! RAIN! RAIN!" Chyler, who sits next to him in the car, immediately starts to jerk up and down in her car seat while slapping her hands on her thighs and laughing profusely, joining her big brother in his Baseball Practice Cancelling Raindance.

Note: It didn't rain and Dallen went to practice.

2nd one: A few days ago we were at my Mom's house and Austen wanted something or was unhappy about something and started to whine and cry. During his episode my Mom was trying to explain something about the situation to him - basically trying to reason with him. In the middle of her "speech", he stopped crying long enough to shout, "I can't hear you...I'm crying!!" and went back to his crying. My Mom and I just burst out laughing. He stopped soon after but we thought that was the most hilarious thing!

And...he's done!

Austen is done with preschool...a bit early...but we think it's for the best. I think that we both felt that the environment was starting to be too tense and negative for him because it seemed that either a suspension or a disenrollment was always the "next step". So, Lad and I were talking about pulling him out of school before he gets "kicked out" so that on top of everything else he was apparently doing "wrong", he wouldn't have to deal with that rejection. Although we were still in the talking phase - it kind of came to a head on Friday, March 13th.

The crazy thing was that we thought that he was doing better. During his parent conferencein February, I spoke to his teacher about the tantrums. She said that they were happening on fewer occasions and that she could read him a lot better so that she could 'nip it in the bud' so to speak. And since being back at school full-time (a few weeks since coming off suspension and a fevered week), he only had 2 accidents.

But last Friday, we were called to pick him up because he was having a tantrum and we found out that #1) he was having tantrums almost everyday since being back and #2) that he would have to go on another suspension starting Monday.

Lad picked Austen up that day and upon walking into the classroom, the director (to remain unnamed) immediately told Lad that Austen will be put on suspension. They had a short discussion where she also made comments to him that Austen was a guinea pig in their newly instituted program and that in her 30 years in education, she couldn't remember another child so angry and disturbed as Austen. Needless to say, this ticked Lad off.

I don't think that she meant it maliciously but always seems to speak before thinking - when talking to us anyway.

We felt that these sentiments were only hers - not his teachers or aides - but you know, she's the one in charge and can make decisions that everyone else needs to comply with. So the decision we made to pull him out now - was heavily influenced on our past and present communications with her and the fact that we felt that she had given up on Austen and really seemed to want to eliminate a problem child in her school.

I really feel that Austen was acting up because he sensed that people felt he was a "problem" or the "bad kid" and he self-fulfilled because he didn't know how else to handle the pressure. Austen has always been very perceptive of people and their feelings so he knows when you are mad or frustrated - he definitely knows when you're not happy with him.

So for these few months before kindergarten (OH BOY!) starts, I am planning on doing things that will bring him success. I think we really need to build his self-esteem. I need to get the notion out of his head that he's a bad kid.

Austen, the photographer

I was downloading my pictures and lo and behold, what do I find??



These were taken by Austen - not bad, right??!!

Strange chicken noises...

By now, you know we've kind of adopted a chicken in our backyard. I think it's living in our "brush" of a backyard because it's always around. Ever since it's come into our yard, I've noticed that it doesn't make regular chicken noises...you know, "bock-bock-bock". Instead it makes a very annoying screeching noise; which is probably why I started to feed it because it's the only way to make it stop. To hear the chicken sound, check out this short clip - but please excuse our mess!

So anyway, I've been feeding her and she "kind of" comes close to me if I come out into the yard - probably because she knows that I'm the hand that feeds her. But, Lad called me today and told me he was talking to one of our techs at work who happens to be a chicken guy - loves big, bad roosters (if you know what I mean). I guess they were discussing the noise this chicken makes - immediately Ray mimicked the sound and told Lad that this chicken was in heat. He said that if we continue to feed it, the hen will stick around and we will have a bunch (maybe even 20!) of chicks running around pretty soon. He also said that having so many chicks around may attract.........RATS! Okay, I think that is enough to make me stop.

This afternoon, I really tried - but that chicken walked up to me and started to do a regular "bock-bock" in such a pathetic way - I caved. I am such a sucker.

So, if we do end up getting chicks - I'll have to take Ray up on his offer to come by and collect them. I do not want lots of chickens running around and most definitely do not want to attract any rodents. Ugh!

Soccer Superstar!

Soccer is finished. Today was Dallen's last soccer game of the season and his final game in the U8 division. (U8 is for those 6-8 years of age)



His team, the Green Giants, had a very successful season winning most of their games despite the "kolohe"ness of the team. With all the clowning around this season, I'm surprised their coach still has hair - I would have pulled mine out a long time ago! But, we thank Coach Derrick for his infinite patience and for teaching the boys the skills needed for the game.



Dallen really enjoys soccer but I don't know if he's ready for the "big" field in U10 - a lot more field to run. Whew!

One more week of basketball and baseball is just starting up - no rest for Dallen or the rest of us!

Dallen's Baptism Day

Our son Dallen made the decision to be baptized and our stake, Honolulu West, has all child of record baptisms on a stake level on the last Saturday's of every month. So, since he missed the date in January - his birth month - he was baptized on February 29, 2009.

He was baptized with 4 other children, one of whom is his classmate Marques Sakuma. That was nice to share a special day with his friend.

Aunty Yumi Seavey gave the talk on Baptism and the Holy Ghost - she did a wonderful job. It was especially nice to have someone he knew giving the talk along with Aunty Kehau Lee-Riley and Aunty Monisha Santiago doing the music. At least the faces were familiar to him.

He was baptized by his Dad and even though the water in the font was "very, very icy cold", it was a special day. He was confirmed with a blessing given by his Dad with Grandpa, Bishop Stewart Bell Jr., Bro. Minoru Yamaguchi, Bro. Raymond Nakasone, and Bro. VJ Nakasone joining the circle. Some of the things that stood out for me when I was listening to the blessing was that he should always choose the right and was encouraged to respect and take care of his mother (that's me!) and his sister.

He was also asked to share his testimony and he got a bit stuck - my fault, I should have helped him with his thoughts more beforehand - but I know that in his heart, he knows why he got baptized. For awhile, he said that he wasn't sure he was ready but I know Dallen - he takes responsibility quite seriously so he recognized that baptism was a big step and didn't want to make that decision without really being sure he was ready for it.

After being baptized, I see him trying to do more things without being told. Which was a nice surprise to me but like I said, he takes his promises very seriously and I know he is trying his very best to be a good member of the church.


Our pictures didn't come out that great but you can see that Dallen is all smiles.

Earlier this week, Lad's Uncle Devere Payne passed away and his funeral was on the same day as the baptism. There was a difficult decision for Lad to either go to the funeral in Arizona and postpone Dallen's baptism or go forward with the baptism. Lad felt that if he was able to speak to Uncle Dee, he would have told him to go and baptize his son; so after much thought, Lad decided to go forward with the baptism.

Our family expresses our sincerest thoughts of sympathy and love to Aunty Vi and her family at the passing of Uncle. We'll miss him.