Meet our preschool playgroup.  James has a few friends his age in the neighborhood and the mom's all take turns having a little preschool playgroup.  They boys usually get along and we are enjoying the experience.  This week, we talked about fire fighters.  We made fire hats and colored firefighter's badges.  Than we practiced STOP, DROP, and ROLL.  They loved that!  We practiced for a while!

James and Everick practicing STOP, DROP, and ROLL.

Charlie, Everick and James still rolling!

Emma wants a turn!

Cutest fire fighters on the block!

A morning adventure..

Once upon a time, a queen was taking her morning shower when she heard a knock on her bathroom door.  So quickly wrapping a towel around herself, the Queen opened the door.  To her surprise, it was the oldest Princess.  The Princess informed the Queen that while she was eating her breakfast, she saw a gray mouse.  Extremely dismayed at this piece of information, the Queen asked why the Princess had not told the King since the Queen was showering.  The Princess' reply was that the "King was sleeping."  To which the queen replied, "But I'm naked!"

So the King had woken up by this time and accompanied the Princess downstairs to see the mouse while the Queen quickly dressed and put on sneakers as an extra protection!  The mouse was no where to be seen when they arrived.  The king discovered that the mouse had feasted on two loaves of bread, plastic bag and all.  He also discovered where the mouse had eaten his way into the house through the window screen.  The Queen quickly came downstairs and went and got brooms.  Then the oldest Prince was woken up to help with the search.

Armed with flashlights and brooms, the furniture was moved and shined under very gingerly.  Success!  The mouse was under the piano. At this piece of news, the oldest princess decided that she was needed to get the younger kids dressed upstairs and vanished.   The piano was moved, but the mouse moved with it.  Finally, the mouse was shooed out the back.  The mouse ran toward the Queen and she boldly whacked at it with the broom all while shrieking and trembling visibly!  She succeeded in keeping it from leaving the room.  It next ran under the couch and then ran under the computer armoire.  The next younger prince had woken up from the Queen's shrieks and came out to see what was all the tumult.  He was handed a dustpan and told to shoo the mouse toward the back door if it came his way.

The flashlight did not disclose the mouse under the armoire, but undetered, the armoire was moved and the mouse took off.  It ran toward the younger prince who instead of blocking its way, leaped onto the table.  The Queen chased it around the dining room and off the walls and finally suceeded in pinning it under her broom.  The mouse was terrified and squeaked very loudly as it tried to escape.  The Queen was unmoved by the squeaking and kept the mouse firmly pinned.  The oldest Prince, ran and got a rubbermaid container and placed it over the mouse on the floor to keep it contained.  Than the King got a piece of cardboard and we slid it under the container so the mouse did not escape.  After showing it to the younger siblings who wanted to know what the excitement was about, a merciful release was granted.

So the King drove the oldest prince to a good spot a few blocks away and the mouse was released to find a new home and never more visit the castle.  Later that morning, the King went to the hardware store and bought some new screening and the Queen replaced the screen, threw away the bread, and got her heart rate back down to normal!

And this my friends is a true narrative of all that expired today!  I hope you enjoyed!

President Uctdorf!

Greeting President Uctdorf!

It was so exciting!  President Uctdorf was vacationing with his family in Oahu and took a day to drop into BYUH to see the new exhibit in the McKay foyer and also to see an artifact that he had donated to the BYUH Archives.  It was a quick little visit and we couldn't tell anyone he was coming to protect his privacy on his family vacation. (We didn't tell our kids until after we got home.)   Michael and I got to meet him and some of his family.  Sister Uctdorf is a fun lady and translated for her grandkids who didn't speak English.   President Uctdorf is very friendly and engaging and we were thrilled to meet an Apostle in person!  It was a very special treat for us!

Michael looking on while Sister Uctdorf translates for the grandkids

Chatting with President Uctdorf outside and McKay foyer

President and Sister Uctdorf talking with us.

Group Picture with President Uctdorf!

Malasadas

Michael and I have discovered a delicious treat here.  It is called Malasadas!  They are sold on food trucks and one was in Laie for a few days.  Malasadas are a portugese doughnut.  You can get them filled with various fillings.  They are soo good.  I bought a box and dropped one off at work for Michael than took the rest home.  As you can see we enjoyed every drop of hot, sugary goodness!

Kathleen

Emma

Mama

Carina

Annie

Peter

Jared

David

Back to School!

High school and intermediate school group!

Morning yawns from Carina and Kathleen 

School started on August 1, 2011!  It was a fun hectic morning as we got the last minute details off and took back to school pictures!  I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves!

Kathleen - 7th grade (she was fighting a stye)

David- 10th grade

Carina--12th grade

Elementary School kids

Jared--1st grade

Annie--3rd grade

Peter --6th grade 

Stay at home bunch- James and Emma

Emma

James at his little preschool

Emma

As I was uploading pictures I found this one from last year when we were waiting for Jared to get off the bus.  It's amazing how much bigger the kids are this year!  Wow!!

Ward Camp

We went to ward camp this year at Kakelas beach park.  We were only able to camp for one night instead of all 5 due to a nasty stomach virus that hit my hubby.   But I drove everyone back and forth to camp to participate in the activities that the ward hosted.  

It was lots of fun.  We tie died t-shirt and ran obstacle races, played volleyball, ate good meals, etc..

We are looking forward to camping next year with the ward again!

Sweetheart Picnic

Laie Elementary School holds an annual Sweetheart picnic.  The parents come and eat lunch with their kids.  It was a beautiful sunshiny day and we had a good time.  We ate indivually with each kid because their classes aren't dismissed for lunch all at the same time.  So we were having a picnic for over 2 hours by the time we ate lunch with everyone.

Emma loved this water bottle

Michael

Annie and Emma playing on the playground

Jared and his friend Landon

 

James eating his sandwich at the picnic

Peter squinting in the sunshine

Super Citizen Award

Super Citizen Jared

Super Citizens Annie and Jared

Super Citizen Kathleen and Peter

It was a banner assembly this month for our family.  Annie, Jared, Kathleen and Peter all earned the super citizen award!  The tradition in Hawaii is to give out leis when there is a good achievement.  So Michael and I had the opportunity to hand out candy leis to the kids.  That was lots of fun! 

MaleKahana Beach

We have gone to this beach twice now.  It is beautiful.  Riley gave us a couple of boogie boards so we have taken those out and had a fun time with them.  James has been timid with the water, but this last time, he was happy to go in as long as we held his hand.  That lasted until the waves went over his head, than he fled for the beach mat and dried off.  Emma likes to play also, but really enjoyed eating snacks the most. 

A big update

So, I am way behind on the blog.  Between moving and waiting for our stuff to arrive, than getting settled, I have not updated the blog since the job interview in Hawaii.  So I'm just going to give an overview and then start fresh. 

We moved to Hawaii on December 30.  We had a nice 10 hour flight that went really well.  The kids were great and behaved well.  We were picked up at the airport by Riley and Rose and given shell leis. That was fun.  They had brought 2 vans, to fit our luggage and all of us!  They drove us to our new townhouse.  We ordered pizza for dinner that night and then crashed on the beds that BYU had let us borrow until our things arrived.

The next few days were spent shopping for essentials like groceries and household items.  We only were able to borrow a regular mini van from BYU for a week, so we were in a rush to get settled and to buy enough groceries to last for a while.  Our neighbors are super nice and lent us toys, books, household goods, pots and pans, etc. to help tide us over till our things arrived.

Michael started worked at BYU Hawaii as the library director on January 4th.  They gave him a nice welcome breakfast and had made a lovely sign for his office.  (I don't have a picture of it on this computer, it is on the laptop).  While he went to work, I got the kids settled into school.  Jared, Annie, Peter, and Kathleen are attending Laie Elementary School and Carina and David are attending Kahuku High and Intermediate school.  James and Emma are home with me.  They all have nice teachers and are settling in nicely. 

The neighborhood has lots of kids and my children have made lots of friends.  We are now having the conflict of them wanting to play with their friends all the time.  I have had to declare Sunday as a family day so that we have time to reconnect as a family.  We are very grateful for their friends since they have helped our kids make a smooth transition.

Our things finally arrived on January 25 and our van on January 26th.  The unloading went smoothly.  Yay movers!  We have only discovered one box missing.  It is the Wii, so the the kids were very distressed at this discovery.   Having a van again is great.  Filling it up with gas at Hawaii prices, not so much..

We like our ward.  We are in the Laie 8th ward and the Laie North Stake.   I love attending church here.  Every talk, testimony, etc.. all start with, "Brothers and Sisters, ALOHA!" to which everyone replies, "ALOHA!"   I have gotten a calling as the sunbeam co-teacher.  James is thrilled since that is his class.  We have had the opportunity to attend the Laie Temple.  We really like it.   James now looks at our picture of the Atlanta temple and informs me that it is a church not a TEMPLE.  To him, all temples should look like the one he sees daily!

 So that is the synopsis of our move.  I'll update with pictures now since I feel more caught up.  ALOHA!