isms that lead to life lessons

Owen in the car today playing "let's pretend" with Hazel:

"It's like you're really rich and you always have 5 dollars in your car every day and you have all the famous cd's to listen to, and someone else only has a penny in his car and just really dumb cd's and he's really jealous of you."


_____________

Hazel said to me the other day "This is how moms and dads kiss." And proceeded to close her eyes, tilt her head and stick out her tongue.

I gave her a weird look and said "Where did you see that?"

"On tv"

"What show are you watching that shows people kissing with their tongues?"

"iCarly"

"Was it a mom and dad kissing that way?"

"yep"

"Well you aren't allowed to kiss like that until you are married....and even then you don't have to. Daddy and I don't always kiss with our tongues out. I think that's kind of gross."

"No- I'm a kid. I don't kiss like that."

long pause

"But kids can pick their nose!"

out of order

I have so many pictures. I'm just having a really hard time filtering through them and deciding what to put on here! I'm sure at this point, everyone has lost interest, but I will eventually do it anyway and you will be like "Oh yeah! They went to Hawaii!"

Some of the good and bad parts of our trip:

The great- watching this old white dude take pictures of his little Asian wife frolicking in the tide. He was a proud, proud man.

The horrible- watching our plane leave the island:

about to take off

going...

going....

gone. sniff sniff.

The best- coming home to these crazy little munchkins and watching them get excited over all the touristy crap we bought them.

What I miss- seeing a rainbow literally every single day.

Disturbia

Looking for a gymnast picture for a school project. These are a couple that I found that really shook me up. Which one disturbs you more? Let's vote.





1.

2.

Just a teaser...

I promise we really did go to Hawaii! I have just been insanely busy playing catch-up since we got home. I haven't exactly had the time to sit down and spend the crazy amount of time that it takes to upload all these pictures and videos!!!

Aaaaaand- I still don't have the time. But I will take a moment to share some things I learned during my visit to Waikiki:

*Lots of thick brown hair does not prevent one's scalp from getting seriously sunburned (and subsequently filling said thick brown hair with giant flakes of peeling skin....yum).

*No matter how much I hate my body right now, there are way worse ones tromping across the beach in string bikinis.

*Everything in the world should be flavored with fresh pineapple. Seriously. I put it in my coke, on my foods, in my water, in my mouth. I love it.

*Even though my kids drain my of every ounce of emotional and physical energy, I reaaaally miss them when I'm away from them.

*Convertibles are so fun...until you have to brush your hair for 30 minutes afterward. Plus I almost fell asleep twice while driving- I guess the breeze relaxes me a little too much.

*I like to hold my husband's hand.

*Even if you pay lots of money to stay in a super nice resort, you ultimately have no control over the water temperature in your shower.

*Hawaii is the ideal place to be a bum. This was the "cloaked marauder" that we passed several times throughout the week. I considered paying her to let me take her picture- she was SUPER creepy...in an awesome way- but I settled for capturing her while she napped @ the bus stop.

*When you wander around in a swimsuit all day, there is some inevitable chafing. Come on...I'm sure I'm not the only one who's experienced this.

*There's a reason I've never had room service. That reason is an additional $12 'room service charge' and an added 17% gratuity to the already outrageous price of $8 for a bowl of oatmeal. I don't know if my math is right, but I'm pretty sure that comes out to like $75 for breakfast mush.

*When you go to a vacation spot like Hawaii, there are people from all over the world and they are all on different time zones....which means you can plan to hear those heavy, metal, fire-safe doors slamming at all hours of the night..and day.

*I don't hate the beach as much as I thought I did....especially when I'm not dragging sandy, whiny kids along.



I think the Polynesian Cultural Center was the coolest part of our trip- I LOVED the show at the end of the night. It just felt like such an "authentic" Hawaiian experience. I wanted to record every moment of it, but this was definitely my favorite part. I just loved that there was this beautiful singing accented by an occasional screech. And the men are dancing with big, joyous movements while the women are smooth and controlled and beautiful. I even get chills watching this crappy recording of it! I'll try to get more pictures up soon!!!!

Lazy Hag

Hazel's getting so good lately at sounding out words and figuring out how they are spelled. Apparently my name is a bit difficult, though. Before Nathan corrected her "hug and kiss" portion of this family portrait, it said "hag and kiss." Soooo- it looked a lot like my label said "Lazy hag." I see what you think of me, Hazel. Thanks.

help a brotha out...

I need as many suggestions as you can give me. I need to think of something creative to put in my kids' lunches that doesn't involve sandwiches or lunchables. I already thought of soup- I'm going to start that one as soon as it's under 100 degrees outside.
Any other ideas?!?!?!

There's a hair in my bed

Let me just sing my husband's praises for a minute here. I have the best husband. He is such a hard worker. He is beautiful. He is passionate and sensitive. He is the first person I want to tell everything to. Nobody can make me laugh like he does. He is patient beyond belief. He does more for me and the kids than most husbands I know. He is so above and beyond what I deserve!

That being said, sometimes I get sooo grossed out by him. Is this just me? Living with a man is so disgusting. I could list all kinds of things...don't get me started. But the worst is his curly hair. I LOVE my husband's thick, dark, curly hair. The problem is, finding little black curly hairs everywhere can be kind of disturbing. You never know if they came from his head...or other places. I pulled the sheets off our bed to wash them today, and there were HUNDREDS of little, black, curly hairs on his side...all pushed down to the foot of the bed. ?????

Am I the only one who has these issues?

Guilty Pleasures

In one short month, I will be here. I can hardly believe it. Nathan and I have never been....well...anywhere. I told him I am totally counting this as our first "out of the country" adventure together. It counts, okay?





I don't even know what to think. It totally hasn't sunk in. I have looked at the pictures and listened as Nathan tells me of volcano tours, and surf lessons,but all I am thinking about is cleaning the house, shopping trips to find the right kind of clothes, cleaning out my car, shopping for groceries, organizing all the kids' activities, and GUILT!!!!! I don't mean the regular kind of mom guilt. This is worse than I have ever felt. I can't believe we are leaving our kids for an entire week. They have never been away from both of us like this. We are leaving them with amazing friends who I know will treat them as their own, but it doesn't help my guilt even the tiniest bit. I get stomach pains thinking about it. My kids are pretty old. Are they going to remember this and resent me for it forever?! They both felt very betrayed when they found out we were taking such an awesome trip without them...



WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!?



I should be jumping for joy! No 2 am wake-up calls from Hazel. No homework. No fighting traffic @ the school. No fights over who is touching who or who did something the fastest or who is going to sit where. No yelling, no headaches, no crying, no whining....



The problem is, this also means no sweet little kisses. No listening to Hazel rattle off the entire day's events in 2 minutes. No wrapping my arms around those warm little bodies and sneaking in a good bum squeeze whenever I want. No hearing Owen's overly mature insights. I won't get to see their excited little faces for a whole week.



Will they be okay?



Will I be okay?



I literally get choked up thinking about it. I guess skype will become my best friend.

sniffle sniffle

But seriously...can you believe this?! He's so giant! And he led the whole pack in the Cub Scout promise tonight. He is such a sweet boy.

PS- I was literally sewing his patches on while I drove him home from school today. And you thought TEXTING and driving was dangerous! This involved a needle.

Remember Me?

Nope- not the Rob Pattinson movie. I was just wondering if anyone even remembers who I am. You know how you forget someone's birthday so then you rush out and get a belated card, maybe you even write in it and address it, but you can't find a stamp so you set it on the kitchen counter and it quickly gets covered with mail and school papers and broken toys that need to be fixed (am I the only one who has this spot on my kitchen counter?).....so the card sits on your counter for 5 weeks before you find it again and then it just feels really awkward to send it because it's been so long and you can't decide which makes you look more flaky- sending the card this late or not sending one at all? Sorry, like everyone I know.

Anyway- I'm not going to make any kind of a commitment here, because my life is kind of all over the place, but I think I might try to blog every once in a while. Maybe.

Here are some first day of school pics to try to get back into the swing of things. Does it matter that we are already through a month of school? I don't personally think so. And since this is my blog, I guess my opinion is the only one that matters. :)

3rd GRADE?! When did he become such a giant?

And here's my little Kindergartner. She is also a little too big for my liking.

@ school

This was the most sniffly picture for me. Hazel getting in line to go in the classroom and taking a minute to straighten her nametag.

It's probably a good thing I'm doing this after the fact, so you don't have to hear me whine and complain about Hazel's stress. I guess I can count myself lucky that it only took three weeks for her to adjust to school. She is now a happy little Kindergartner that comes home with happy reports, and as her teacher told me "Oh, she doesn't cry anymore! In fact, I've even had to yell at her to be quiet a couple of times." Oh! Thanks! That warms my heart. Ha.

Belated

Hazel had a great Somewhere Over the Rainbow 5th birthday party!!!

Decorations and the infamous airbrushed shirt courtesy of Daddy.

Her bff from school, Violet, came to join in the fun.

Alex helped us eat cupcakes.

Really good cupcakes

Hazel fed her sweet cousin, Tyler some rainbow colored snacks.

Gracie just sat around looking precious

We pinned the cloud on the rainbow

And painted rainbow pictures

And opened presents, of course.

I just can't believe Hazel is five and starting Kindergarten this year. She is getting so much taller and has the cutest little smattering of freckles across her nose. She still crawls into bed with us almost every night and I try to convince myself that I will someday miss that. She has the best giggle in the entire world. She has a beautiful voice and uses it non-stop all day long to chatter and sing sweet little songs. She loves school, is a loyal friend, and adores her big brother. She is even more strong-willed than her brother, which i never thought possible. She is so inquisitive and loves to learn. She is just figuring out how to sounds out words and gets so excited when she can read a small word. She loves to make us proud, and does so every day. We love that little hazelnut nugget-face.

"It sounded a bit karaoke..."

Watch out American Idol. Hazel got a karaoke machine for her birthday.

frustrated....

Only 7 pounds so far. Let's all hope I lose at least 10 more this next week or I will be REALLY mad that I tortured myself like this.

Share and share alike

Got this from a blog that got it from another blog. It totally reflects my feelings after seeing all our pictures from GA:

Wonder Woman
Yesterday we had our family pictures taken. I was a little surprised to see the out come. It seems that my inner view of myself has been skewed for quite some time. This is how I envision myself...

It turns out I actually look a little more like...

It's funny how a few innocent pictures take the wind out of your oh so confident sails.

So I have officially started a diet today. Expect me to be grumpy for the next month at least.

What's your definition of a good day?

Let me just rant for a minute. I know Georgia isn't THAT far away...I mean- at least it's in the same country. The jet lag shouldn't be that bad, but I am suuuuuffering. I can't sleep. I have been wide awake at about 4:00 in the morning. I know every one of you is aware of how much worse everything seems when you are extremely tired.

So- in my fatigued haze, I have felt like everything is falling apart around me for the past few days. The main thing (while sparing you all the details) is that I feel like this crap-hole of a house is falling apart around me and I have to deal with a property-management company who doesn't care and doesn't take me seriously and does crappy work.

Also, my kids have been crazed lunatics since we got home and I just feel like I have been yelling at them non-stop for the past two days.

Well, today I didn't have to work and Hazel didn't have school, so I just decided we would take it easy. We went to visit my "Phoenix Grandma" who I haven't seen for a while. We picked some grapefruits off her tree, gathered some fallen pecans, chatted with her a little bit, and then headed to the library. I let Hazel pick as many books as she wanted and then we came home and sat in the hammock reading them.

I know this sounds so simple. I know lots of you moms probably do something like this with your kids every week, or even every day. But guess what. I don't. I have been so busy. I have been working every day, plus I have a demanding job at church. So between piano lessons and meetings and homework and keeping up with my house and all that other daily grind, I haven't really gotten the chance to have any quality time with my kids. And I have felt like such a failure. So this felt darn good. Baby steps, right?

An even bigger deal? Tonight Owen got through a practice session without us hating each other. Tonight ended without yelling and spankings. Tonight ended with stories and giggles and extra hugs and kisses and "I love you"s, and two kids feeling loved and protected enough to fall asleep without any fights. And for me, that's a good day. A really good day. Thanks to Nicole's post I am trying to focus on these ordinary moments and cherish them while they last.

And now a couple of Hazelisms:

While in GA, my mom was watching her color and looked up at my dad to say "She is definitely left-handed" (not sure why there was ever any doubt...we've known this since she was two) and Hazel responded with "Oh yeah! I'm left handed at home, too!" It was like she was saying "Yeah- this isn't a one-time thing. It's not just while I'm here visiting. I'm left-handed ALL the time."

Today Hazel was playing a game on the computer where you dress Michael Jackson up in different costumes while he sings "You Are Not Alone." As if the game itself wasn't random and awkward enough, she spent about 10 minutes dressing him and changing her mind about what he should have on, then looked at the finished product adoringly and said "Awwww- she's so pretty!"

Have you ever read about Flat Stanley? Well Hazel's school did a project where they made a little flat Stanley and sent it to another place to visit, had someone take pictures of his visit and send them back. We sent Flat Stanley to Aunt Meredith and cousin Avery. I was on the phone with Meredith today talking about it and she told me to tell Hazel that they took a picture of Flat Stanley making a snow angel. Hazel gasped in excitement, but her joyous face quickly changed to a confused one and she said in an amazed voice "Flat Stanley's REAL!?!?!" Because how could he make a snow angel if he wasn't? Right?! Man- the mind of a 4 yr old.

Speaking of angels.....I have a totally random thing to share that is sooo irreverant of me, but totally hilarious (in a sad way). I read an obituary today that started out "On March 13th, our precious Sheri became an angle....." Isn't that so sad!? What a horrible place for a typo.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jog...

Our last couple of days were spent at Ghee's house just enjoying the peace and beauty....and fishing!!!

Zoe joined us for some fishing. She was SO stressed out the whole time. She thought the bobbers were balls that she needed to fetch and she was just dying for one of us to catch a fish so she could attack it.

Which of course eventually happened. And unfortunately it was a little brim that completely swalloed the hook. Since he was injured (and stuck), it took a while to get him out of sight and Zoe was getting antsy.

After putting her in the house, Nathan caught a little bass

Ghee watched from a comfortable distance

Dad got a little cocky

Hazel tried to figure out how to get that stinking string to move

and a good time was had by all.

Hazel fell in love with Ghee's doggy on this trip and wore her out daily.

I was so glad I got to see Summer a few times on this trip. We celebrated old times by eating some CB and comparing body parts that we are unhappy with.

And now we are home. It feels gooooood to be home.