My First Black Friday

I was out early last week looking for some matching pajamas for Alekisio, Braylen, and Isabelle for Christmas Eve. Gymboree was passing out flyers for Black Friday sales, and PJs were $5.99. That's a great price for PJs, especially gymboree. So I decided we would go back. The sale was at the outlet mall, which happen to have the best sales from 12-9 am. We left at 10:30 thinking that would be enough time. My friend Cheryl was with me and her sister summed up our experience in one word, "amatuers". I didn't know you should have a detailed plan of how to approach shopping, like one person standing in line while the other one shops. I was completely exhausted because my bedtime is 11 at the latest. So let me start with the drive there. Normally I don't get over to the far right lane until the exit before the outlet mall's exit. HUGE mistake! Traffic was at a dead stop for at least a mile. I was a little nervous since I don't know that side of the island, and hawaii isn't normal. When you get off at an exit there isn't an on ramp close by. Sometimes you have to drive around and ask for directions. We stopped and got directions, which turned out to be a positive. If we would have gotten off at the original exit we would have been sitting there for at least an hour. There isn't a light there so you were at the main traffics mercy, and those people were in a hurry to get a parking spot so there was no way they were letting people merge. When we turned around and came from the other direction we had the light and the right away so we got through much faster. Our next surprise was the parking. They only had one entrance open and were charging five dollars! It was refundable if you had a receipt from Old Navy or Kmart with a time stamp between 1-3 am. The lines were outrageous so if you were there to get to another store first you might not get through kmarts line before 3. The lines in the small stores were an hour minimum wait. I was lucky and gymboree didn't have that big of a line so I was in and through the line in a little under an hour. Aisea couldn't believe we went just to get pjs. I couldn't either, but once I was there and had fought the traffic and won I had to get the pjs no matter how long I was in line. Besides they're normally $15. They're going to look too cute! Cheryl had to get some shirts from a local store since the whole store was $5.99 and it took her 1 1/2 hours to shop and get through the line. I did get my $5 back too. Luckily everyone had already gone through kmart's line by the time we got there. If you subtract the soda I bought I really only got back $3.40 which just bothers me because they've never charged before and there was just no point to it. After seeing the traffic and lines I don't know if I'll do it again, besides I almost fell asleep in line and we got home at 3:30. My kids wake up at 7. I paid for it the whole day!

Thanksgiving at Sio's school

Wednesday I went with Isabelle to Alekisio's school for a thanksgiving performance. He did really well. On the way in I was standing in the back with Isabelle and he got out of line to come and give me a hug and said, "Give me umas(kisses)." When he walked by our things in the aisle he stopped to pick up Isabelle's sippy cup to get a drink. It's not a big school so everyone saw him and laughed. The kids didn't do traditional kiddie thanksgiving songs, they danced and signed to modern Christian music, I was a little disappointed by that. Some of the kids looked bored with their songs. At least Sio's class did an upbeat song. He's the one in the orange shirt and denim shorts. I didn't have much battery left in my camera and of course didn't have anymore tapes for the camera so you can enjoy ten seconds of his performance.

After the songs we went and did a craft and had a thanksgiving meal. Alekisio seemed to think because I was there he could run around and go to the restroom by himself like he was at home. However we did make a nice little craft and the food was super yummy. Alekisio even ate two plates!

Isabelle is always sticking her finger up like that, so it's really funny that we caught it in a picture.

Just a few things

I've been a bad bad blogger lately. I just haven't been able to focus on anything. There have been a few blogs running through my brain I just haven't had the capacity to write them. Even now for some reason I can't type one word without messing up. Alekisio has said some interesting things that I want to get down. The first one is last week when we were in the car. He was asking me about if Jesus is in heaven, and about him being here. I don't remember specifics. I know he kept asking about if Jesus has blood. He's starting to repeat the same questions even when he knows the answer. I think it was a little hard to understand that you go to heaven when you die but Jesus is alive and in heaven. At one point when I was saying how Jesus was alive in heaven he said,"Did Heavenly Father hug Jesus?" Of course I told him he probably did and H.F. is going to hug him too. I thought that was really sweet.

I've been giving Alekisio good listener rocks in a jar and when he gets a certain amount he can choose something to buy. So far we've gotten a, now deceased, beta, and Kung Fu Panda. One night we were driving home in the car and Isabelle had had enough so she was crying. This is what followed:

Alekisio: Isabelle doesn't get any rocks.
Me: Why?
Alekisio: She has a big attitude.
(I had to not laugh)
Me: Why does she have a big attitude?
Alekisio: She's crying!

He's starting to say things that we tell him. Occasionally I tell him to stop his attitude. All I can keep thinking is that we're in trouble. He also never speaks tongan but suddenly he's been telling Isabelle to be quiet in tongan when she's bothering him. I'm going to try and update with a few more blogs, sorry about the lack of new ones Walt.

See my blood

"See my blood." That's what Alekisio was telling everyone after he got blood drawn at the doctor. When he was pregnant I got blood drawn alot and he would always ask to see my blood. The expression stuck. Why were they drawing blood? For the past year maybe he's been waking up a few times a night crying and asking us to massage his foot. It won't happen for awhile, and then all of the sudden he'll wake up two or three times a night. The doctor did x-rays and drew blood in case there was an infection. However since it only happens once in awhile he said it's probably because he's such a big boy that he's having growing pains. In hawaii we wear slippers(flip flops) every day, the doctor said those are BAD! Alekisio needs to wear good shoes for support instead. He's got such wide feet we have to buy him New Balance so at least now we'll be getting some use out of them! Alekisio had fun taking pictures of his bones, but when it was time to take his blood I had to do alot of talking him through it. He sat in my lap and I covered his eyes. He was really nervous and whimpered a little when they put the needle in but then he just watched the tube fill up and was fine. He of course made sure he got a sticker. On the way out when I was paying he started talking to a guy standing next to us. Of course showing him his blood. When I was finished the guy told me Alekisio said, "I'm strong just like my dad." I hadn't told that to him, he made that comparison all on his own, but it's true!

Halloween!

I'm a little late putting up pictures of the kids from halloween. My mom keeps reminding me of that. I looked at Naomi's pictures and realized that the kids would have been a cute trio. Braylen was a dragon, Alekisio Prince Charming(a knight), and Isabelle a fairy. Alekisio had a ton of fun being Prince Charming last weekend. He had originally wanted to be the black spiderman but when we went to buy Isabelle's he saw the knight and wanted to be Prince Charming so he could save Isabelle from the dragon. Be still my heart....I had to buy it. He had already worn his spiderman costume for days on end so I knew he was getting a little tired of it. Isabelle's costume I fell in love with because of the tights. We had the church party last weekend and that was really cool. They really went all out on decorations and games. The next day we went to my friend Cheryl's neighborhood for a community party. It was a great pre-halloween weekend. Alekisio loves a party!

That's Sio shaking his groove thing!

On halloween we went to the Bishop Museum around the corner where they have a family friendly halloween. Upon entering the kids trick or treat on Treat Street which is a chain of decorated facades that have holes where you get candy. As you can see he's wearing his spiderman costume. I guess when he saw all his friends at school Prince Charming wasn't cool anymore. Of course I forgot his spiderman treat bag so I had to dump out the diaper bag. He's not old enough to be embarrassed yet, he just wanted the candy. If the people in front were too slow he would go back to the hole he just got candy from and get more. Since the people can't really see, they didn't know, or care. There was a costume contest and a dance "contest" for the kids. They all got a prize. Alekisio didn't wait for the contest though. As soon as we finished treat street he saw the stage and was up there dancing away to Thriller. We had to make him come down so the MC could get up without him kicking her when he flipped.. This halloween was our best so far and I can't wait until next year!