Why does Sio love Costco?

Reason #1

Reason #2

Yesterday I told Alekisio we were on our way to costco. His first comment was,"Let's go eat pizza!" The last time we went he became the shopper, "oh mommy we need eggs", or "oh we need ice cream". This time it was a roasted chicken, propel water, m&ms, and pudding. We only got the chicken and the pudding. He's become addicted to the skin of the chicken. If you've ever eaten one you know the skin is the BEST part! That picture was a few months ago. At that point he would go get the chicken out of the fridge himself and sit down and eat it. Since then he eats the skin not the chicken....grrrrr. He gets more and more picky everyday. The highlights of the trip for me were slamming my own pinky in the door on the way in and paying the huge bill on the way out. At least we get pizza on the way out, who wouldn't love that? It's super big super cheesy slice, and Sio always looks like an oomp loompa when he's finished. That always puts a smile on my face!

Marriage proposal

I just remembered this and needed to write it down because I keep forgetting to tell my mom. I also don't want it to become one of those memories I try to remember but gets lost in the unaccessable part of my brain. We went to a beach at a really nice hotel where they have a chapel and people get married there like an assembly line all day. I was telling Alekisio about how the people are in love and get married like mommy and daddy. I asked him if he was going to get married to a girl he loves when he gets big after his mission. He said yes, and then after playing a little bit he said,"Wait mommy, I go be a missionary." Then he came back, grabbed my hand, and said,"Ok, now lets go be married." That's the best compliment ever.

Our Memorial Day

We've been to the beach FOUR times in one week! I'm pooped and our house looks like a tornado went through it. I was going to clean the house today since Aisea was here to watch Sio, but our friends called and so we had a bbq and went to the beach. Aisea plays rugby with Uncle Walter, which is how we met them. They have a son named Mordecai and Stella is pregnant with another boy. I enjoy hanging out with them. It's nice to be around someone my age who understands basicly being a mom. You would think that a holiday in hawaii would be great family fun. Which it was. But in hawaii you can never get a parking spot at the beach you want. We looked for parking at two different parks before we settled on a park not connected to a beach, and then walked to a beach behind some houses. It was down a hill, and then we had to walk along the beach to get to a good swimming area. Let me tell you how out of shape I am. It was fine until I had to carry Isabelle back and my arm felt like it was going to fall off! The kids had fun and so did we which was the important part. I also got to spend the day on Saturday at a hotel pool with my friends. Isabelle was the cutest baby there with her sunglasses! They're a little cheesy but they were hilarious!

...and be healthy

As an adult I notice sometimes my prayers can seem monotonous. I get lazy and have to snap myself out of it and remember to put thought into my prayers. Nighttime prayers aren't hard to change up but mealtimes....how many different ways can you be thankful for and bless your food? This has become very apparent to me as we're teaching Alekisio to pray. He will willingly say mealtime prayers, but bedtime prayers are a struggle. There was a period where he would say bedtime prayers out loud. At that time I was pregnant and so was Naomi. The doctors were having some concerns about Braylen so we were asking for alot of people to be healthy. Now every time we pray we hear,"and be healthy" in the background until whoever is saying the prayer remembers to say,"and be healthy". I have to of course be the grown up and not laugh, but he's too funny sometimes. I try to remind him not to talk during prayers, but at least I know he's paying attention!

What?! I have to pee.

Life must be great when you're a boy. You never have to feel that pain in your bladder when the nearest bathroom is ten miles away. Alekisio has figured out the high points of boyhood early, and he has no problem peeing wherever and whenever. In the past week he's peed in the backyard, out of the fence behind our car in the parking garage, next to the car in a parking lot, in the ocean, and on the beach. Every time I hear water running,"Alekisio what are you doing?" is the first thing I say. He doesn't pull his pants down all the way, thank goodness, so the few people that have been around haven't noticed. I can't blame him though, there are plenty of times I wish that peeing anywhere was a perk of being a girl. Especially during pregnancy. You can't tell he's peeing in this picture but if you look closely at the sand about a foot in front of him you can see the sand is disturbed. We've been pretty lucky lately that a friend of mine Auntie Julia hasn't started work yet and can help me take the rugrats to the beach. We had alot of fun this day chasing the crabs on the beach. Alekisio kept poking holes in the sand with his fingers making "crabholes" and running from the waves. It was fun to be able to spend time playing with him one on one for a change.

Volcano Butt

Warning: If you can't stomach poop talk this blog is not for you!

Little boys will pee on you, but my daughter will poop on you. It has become official, Isabelle has a volcanic rear. In her short life she has christened a few of the people who love her. I thought I had mastered changing her diaper without getting hit. The other night I found out you can't prepare for every situation. She has been sleeping for about 8-9 hours straight and waking up around 5a.m. to eat. She woke up to eat and I thought she smelled. I opened her diaper and there was nothing there so I lifted her butt and waited a second. Again nothing. I removed that diaper and lifted her butt to put the new one underneath when she got me. I feed her on the couch so she was laying on the couch in front of me. Somehow poop ended up all over me from my collarbone all the way down to the couch and even on the pillow that was behind my back! I haven't been so grossed out in a long time. I had to laugh though. She just stared at me and let me know she wanted to eat again before she fell back asleep. I know she was laughing inside! Wouldn't you? It's amazing what babies get away with isn't it?

A Vogless Day!

Aisea has been working alot lately so yesterday we decided to have a bbq with some of our friends who have become our family here in hawaii. It was a perfect day because the VOG that has been covering our state was missing for the day. What is vog? I'm not sure what it is but it's spewing out of the volcano on the Big Island and blowing across the islands. It's pretty much fog only it's a health hazard if you have lung problems. I'm glad we had our day out because today the sky is voggy again. I bought a big umbrella for the beach so Isabelle hung out under there the whole time. Part of the time with me and then she fell asleep with Auntie Nise. Her name is Denise but Alekisio doesn't say her whole name. Alekisio spent his time in the water of course. He's a fish, minus the swimming. We're working on that though, he starts lesson in June. Aisea had fun playing catch in the water and swimming with Sio. I on the other hand squeezed myself into my much smaller bathing suit, and tried to forget that I look like a tourist because my legs haven't seen sun for about a year. It was nice to be in the water, but of course I spent most of the time taking pictures. I'm obsessed with trying to get professional looking pictures of our kids. I drive Aisea crazy. I probably drive Sio crazy too because he kept turning his back to me and ignoring me when I called his name. Although ignoring me is something he practices daily. I hope you enjoy the pictures from our day as much as I loved spending time with my family and friends.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sweet moments

Alekisio is so sweet to Isabelle when he's not squeezing her cheeks and drumming on her head. When her arms flail around and he's close(like he usually is) she smacks him in the face. He thinks it's funny. I tried to get it on film. Here's what I got instead. Oh and just so you don't think we let him "knock her out" he thinks it's funny when I poke his belly and he falls over very dramatically on the bed saying I knocked him out, that's what he's doing to her.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Just as my camera ran out of memory he put his hand on her tummy and said, "Don't worry, I take care you." My heart melted. Oh and if you want to put up videos without everyone on youtube watching them I found Onetruemedia.com

Going Green!

Ever since I was little I've been concerned about the environment. When I was in sixth grade the neighborhood kids and I started a recycling club called the Dynamic Dinos that collected recycling from the neighbors. I even made a little newsletter for the neighborhood! Well this time I'm not collecting recycling from the neighbors, I've decided to start at home. I had a period where I was up late with Isabelle and couldn't fall asleep so I was watching some green shows on HGTV. At the time Alekisio was still in diapers, although he was potty trained I was afraid to leave the house without one. The shows combined with the amount of diapers we were throwing away made me feel guilty. I decided we were going to do our part to help save our planet, well as much as we can with a gas guzzling SUV. Here's what we're doing.

1. I bought some CFLs for our lights, I haven't replaced them all yet though.
2. We don't have curbside recycling so I collect everything we have and drop it off at the big containers they have at the local schools.
here's alekisio throwing the plastics in the container, he has really good aim
3. I try to unplug things that charge when they don't need to be. Like my laptop, even if I'm not using it and it's plugged in the little glowing lights are consuming energy.
4. Just by coincidence our toilet got clogged and we got a low flow to replace it.
5. I've replaced my laundry soap with Charlie's Soap. It's all natural and is better for your clothes than tide or wisk. It's cheap too, you should look it up.
6. I've also looked up natural cleaning supplies. Not only is it better for the environment but I won't have to worry about Alekisio helping me clean anymore.
7. We switched to cloth diapers.

I know you're having flashes of me wringing out diapers in the toilet. I remember my mom doing that and if I had to do that there's no way I would have switched. Diapers were the first thing I changed. I did ALOT of research before I did it too. I bought Bumgenius diapers that have a pocket and microfiber inserts. They grow with the baby too. They close with velcro in the front just like a regular diaper. When they're dirty you take out the insert put the whole diaper in a waterproof zip up nylon bag and wash them every other day. You don't ever have to hand wash anything. I was terrified to put the first diaper on her because I didn't know what to expect but I find them as easy as disposables. The best part is that I initially spent about $250 for twelve diapers and the nylon bags (one for the diaper bag) and I never have to buy diapers again. I figured if I was to buy one box of costco diapers a month until she's 2 1/2 I'll be saving about $1,000. You should try them out!! Oh and I haven't had one leak, I don't even have to change them in the middle of the night when she's sleeping! Here's food for thought, a disposable takes 500 years to break down, so every diaper ever used is still in a landfill. Gross.

here's Isabelle in her pink diaper, aren't they cute? check out http://www.bumgenius.com/

Aisea thought I was weird, as he does frequently, when I first told him what we were going to do. I had loaded some recycling in the car and was so excited to take it. The day I went it was raining so I decided to wait. In the meantime he cleaned the car and threw it all away. When he saw how upset I was he must have realized I was really serious because this morning the empty milk carton was on the recycling bag, not rinsed out, but I'm not going to push my luck! It put a smile on my face!

Thank heaven for washable paint!

Today I was feeling like the house was overwhelmingly messy. My effort to find Alekisio a preschool combined with wanting to let him get his endless energy out has resulted in us not being home lately to clean. Today I finally got Isabelle down for a nap and decided to put Alekisio outside with his favorite new box and some paint. This box was from our new toilet and because a toilet is so heavy it's made of really sturdy cardboard. I cut holes for windows and some slots in the "doors" so he can close them all the way. I put an old sheet down and let him go at it while I cleaned the kitchen. I could see him out of the little side window in the kitchen but I also checked on him every few minutes. He was doing well until he got paint on his hands. Sidenote: For a little boy who is so mischievious he does not like to be dirty. He gets up to wash his face after every bite of pasta! Weird, I know. Aisea calls him Mr. Monk.

Anyway I told him he was done if he was going to start washing his hands then he was finished. Of course he would rather wash his hands, so I had to make him stay out there. I checked on him a few more times and then the last time I waited about five minutes and it had gone from this



to painting without a brush


after which he snuck into the house to wash his hands so there was paint dripped along the floor, on the wall, and all over the sink, so I made him go back outside still covered in paint. He must have been really mad because this is what came next

What you don't see is the paint in the grass, splattered all over the floor, and sprayed on the lanai doors. AAAAAAAHHHHH. I thought I was going to explode so this was a good test of my patience. I made him stay outside while I finished the dishes, which was a huge punishment because he was covered in paint and started screaming, "Mommy my chin." It was covered in paint and must have felt weird because he was really upset about it. After I brought in the sheet and cleaned up the paint and brushes he had to clean the walls.

But of course since I hadn't let him wash up yet he washed himself first
After the whole process of getting Isabelle asleep, laying out his paint area, and mixing his paints for him, I think his favorite part was when I showered him clean afterward!

2 months

Isabelle is getting so big! It happens so fast. She loves to smile and even laughs a little recently. She's getting a little demanding however. Isabelle is getting to the point that she has to be held a certain way or nursing to go to sleep. In the car if she's tired every time the car stops she cries until she falls asleep. I can't stop staring at her, and I love when she smiles and her gums show. The picture is a little goofy, when I took it she started talking. She does that alot lately!

Toys in the toilet!

alekisio making sure daddy's doing it right


Poor Aisea had a tiring weekend. It starts friday. His aunt and uncle came over with their two kids, Huni who is five and Paea(Pie-uh) who just turned two. They were playing and Hifo (the aunt) and I decided to run to the drugstore. An hour later we returned to a trashed house and Aisea and his uncle staring at the TV. While we were gone Aisea had let Alekisio play in the bathtub, and Paea was wet from playing in the bathroom with him. I had to really hold my tongue when he told me to relax they're just kids. He can say that because he knows I'm the one cleaning up and not him.

Skip to Saturday morning when Alekisio wakes up and goes to the bathroom while I'm feeding Isabelle. He says, "Mommy, you have to come clean the toilet." What? I was thinking, "What is he talking about, doesn't he mean wipe his bottom?" I put Isabelle down and walked in to find a flooded toilet. I plunged that sucker for almost half an hour. Nothing. It was so gross. I closed the lid and we left to go to a garage sale and walmart. We came back later,equipped with a heavy duty black plunger I got at walmart, and it had drained but you can tell it was very slowly, so I flushed it. What was I thinking? I have no idea. It just flooded again. I tried with to plunge again with the same result. So I called Aisea and he said, "It was broken this morning before I left for work but I fixed it." Well it obviously wasn't fixed. He came home at around six and plunged again. What is it with men thinking they can do the same thing as a woman with a different result? I know how to plunge a toilet! That of course didn't work so he got out the snake. Nothing. It was blocked. He proceeded to take the whole toilet outside and push out whatever it was with the hose. That blue thing is about five inches long and is what came out. He thought that was it so he put the toilet back on. Paea has a history of flushing things in the toilet. That blue piece was part of a broken bath toy. That's what he gets for not watching the kids properly.


the piece stuck in the toilet
Oh but the story doesn't end there! Hehehe. I woke up for church on Sunday, late of course, and when I flushed the toilet it didn't flush right. I kept flushing and eventually it filled all the way up again. Aisea decided he was going to just take the toilet to the street and buy a new one. Paea had obviously flushed more than one toy down and he was tired of dealing with it. I guarantee thought that he hasn't learned his lesson about watching kids more closely. He's always telling me I worry too much. But toilets don't get clogged on my watch:).


alekisio spent the night playing with the drill

Four

Four jobs I've had:

1. a cashier at Convenient
2. buttonmaker
3. cutting potatoes for seed (one day, it was horrible!)
4. a nanny

Four places I lived:

1. Cleveland, Ohio
2. Lorain, Ohio
3. Rexburg, Idaho
4. Hawaii (Kauai and Oahu)

Four movies I've watched over and over:

1. Pride and Prejudice
2. Sweet Home Alabama
3. The Harry Potter movies
4. The Lord of the Rings movies

Four shows I watch:

1. Project Runway
2. Top Chef
3. Ugly Betty
4. Lost

Four places I've been:

1. London
2. Paris
3. Florence, Italy
4. Senegal, Africa

Four things I like to eat:

1. Mom's lasagna
2. Mom's macaroni salad
3. cheesecake
4. spaghetti

Four places I'd rather be:

1. a larger apartment
2. the beach (alone!)
3. getting my hair cut
4. visiting family

Video Fun

Alekisio loved making little videos today for grandma so there's a lot. I also got a little carried away taping Isabelle, but she laughed for the first time of course when I wasn't filming so I was trying to get her to do it again unsuccessfully. Isn't that how it always is?

Little update

Here's an update about what's been going on in our house this week.

We went to the fourth bday party for a friend. I can't believe I was his nanny when I was pregnant with Alekisio and now he's four, time flies! We arrived at 10 when it started and left at 4:30. He spent the whole 6 1/2 hours playing in the pool and waterslide! I turned around at one point and he had pulled down his swimming shorts just enough to pee in the grass! Luckily we were in the back yard and there weren't alot of people. Isabelle spent her day sleeping on the lanai in the backyard. It's right on the ocean so the view and the breeze are amazing.

Alekisio has sports stickers on the wall by his bed. One day he took some down and put them random places like on my leg, and on Isabelle's head. He's a funny little guy.

We've been looking for a preschool for Alekisio. All the preschools on this island are private and the cheapest ones aren't that great and cost over $500 a month. I would love to hold off until he's in kindergarten but the schools here are pretty bad so he'd have to be in a private school anyway and those are $700 and up! I'd have to say these sorts of things definitely outway the pros of living here. At this point I feel like screaming,"Get me off this island!" all the time.

We might be going to Tonga in june, minus Aisea. Aisea's aunts and some cousins are going. I don't want to fly by myself with two kids, well Alekisio at least. His parents have also never seen the kids, and the grandpa that raised Aisea for years is sick all the time so I feel like we should go. If the aunts decide they aren't going at the moment, I'm not doing this trip on my own!