The Race

Today was Shawn's first official canoe regatta. And his team came in second place!!!! Yay!! Napili Canoe Club!!! I can't even begin to tell anyone, how great paddling canoe has been for his self esteem. He truly loves it. It gets him to the ocean, outside and a sense of being a part of a team. The club is run by the Tihada family who has been a big part of the club for years and let me tell you, I cannot be more happier with what they try to instill in the children. Everyone is a part of the team, the team means family and everyone is to be respected as family. I love that!!! The only thing I regret is that I didn't let him paddle sooner, well unfortunately with him going back and forth from here to Oahu, it didn't really fit into his schedule. I guess I'm realizing that the happier he is in his social life, the more he tries to do better in school. What a turn around year for him. They had a food booth and asked us to make spam musubi's. No problem, but I was a little loopy around 1pm at work today from being up so early. Heehee!! All in all, he had a wonderful day and a great memory. Thank-you and congratulations to the Napili canoe club!!!!

Wrong.....Again!!!!

Yesterday, Shawn comes home with another spelling test. Guess what???? Another 100%. What??!!! So I asked him what test he brought home the other day and he said that it was his practical test first and then he had the "real test". Right on Shawn, awesome job!!!

The end of the streak!!

After 3 weeks of bringing home 100% on his spelling test, Shawn came home with a 93%. What an awesome streak he had!! The 93% is still awesome too, because his teacher upped his words from 10 words to 15 words. Only one letter got away from him!!! Good job Shawn!!!! We are so proud of all your hardwork!!! I think this is an awesome way for him to end the school year!!!

Humidity!!! Argggghhh!!!!

Unbelievable!!!!!! Its been so hot and humid lately, I can't stand it. Poor Megan is really rashy and a little bit grouchy. She hasn't been sleeping too well lately, because she's too hot. Plus the crazy vog!!!! Yuck, you know its bad when you can't even see Lahaina from Kaanapali. Today is a little better. There is a bit of breeze, plus right now you can see some blue sky, hooray. Hopefully the trade winds come back soon!!!
Sorry just had to complain a bit!!! :(

Jon and Kate plus 8

Most of you know that this is one of our favorite shows. Gev got me hooked back in January, I had heard of the show and was reluctant about watching it. I felt at the time why would someone do that??? Now I know how near impossible it would be to document 8 lives. I sometimes can barely keep up with 3. Anyway Gev said we had to watch it together for a good laugh. Boy...was he right. I could not contain the hysterical laughter......
It was like watching ourselves we just crack up the whole time. Its just amazes me how similar our situations are to theirs however I do realize we have 5 less children. Plus Kate and I have very similar personalities and so does Jon and Gev. Its very much like watching ourselves, how uncanny. Plus how do you not just fall in love with those kids. They are too adorable. I just very much hope they'll be able to work out their problems. I know things are all about their children, but I hope soon they'll realize they need each other too, to make things work. My DVR cut off the last part of the show so I didn't get to see what happened, but keep your fingers crossed. On a side note. I sure wish the paparazzi would leave them alone.

whoops.....here's the pictures!!!

Daddy's making me laugh
Whoa!! Crazy hair smiley girl

Isn't she the cutest??

Megan at 3 months

MAPA'S Spring Extravaganza (Starring Mia)

We had to practice her make-up and hair the night before
The perfect ballerina stance

Mia's famous arabesque

Monkey's in the tree at the MACC

Megan and Mia

Mommy and Mia

Da Utrillo's (What is Gev doing??)

Uncle Hener, Shawn, Megan, Aulani, Mia and Quelsy

The cousins

Mia on her way into the MACC for her performance

Backstage

Mia our superstar



Yesterday was Mia's debut as a baby butterfly in MAPA's spring receital. It was awesome. The ballet students performed A Midsummer Night's Dream. And it was everything we could have hoped for our baby's first receital. It was wonderful and the costumes were adorable. Unfortunately as all of the parents felt, that we wanted more dancing from her. But she was so cute!!! It was hilarious that we had to put so much make-up on her, but in theatre that's what needs to be done. She looked very grown up. My mom kept teasing me and telling me to put her in some beauty pagents. I told her I probably end up one of those crazy stage mom's and I don't think we should subject Mia to that. Heehee!!

She had the biggest fan club to waiting for her during intermission. Uncle Hener, Aunty Raquel, Quelsy, Uncle Jojo, Aunty Tyrene, Grandma Lori, Kaimana, Aulani, Gev, Shawn, Megan and myself were waiting with lei's, ballons, flowers, crown's, wands. Thank-you so much everyone for your support and gifts for her. Special thanks to Aunty Karla, who sent a dozen roses for Mia, even though she couldn't be there. They were so beautiful. People must have wondered if it was a graduation or something. Heehee!! Next will be hip hop this summer and we're going to let her decide in the fall if she would like to continue ballet or hip hop. Maybe she'll do both.......

Another one bites the dust!!!!

We've seen a lot of our friends leave the islands in a year's time. Well on Saturday we said good-bye to another set of friends as they venture to the mainland. With my best friend moving to Arizona, geez, that's a hard one still, to swallow, as we talk all the time like she lives right down the road from me . To our friends who moved to Texas just before the birth of their second child. And now our friends Shan and Mano leave Maui. What makes me wonder is where...... I mean I have a group of friends that now live in Austin, Texas. What's the lure to that place?? And they all love it. My friend Nikki who's been there for a number of years, I've gotten our Maui friends to meet her and her husband Marc who I think are amazing and so much fun. I think one day Gev and I will have to take a trip down to Austin to see what all the hoopla is all about. Good Luck Shannon and Mano!!! Peter and Mariah, you'll have another set of friends near you as their thinking of moving to S. Austin near you, so I'll have to get you both together. And Nikki and Marc have fun with all of our friends. We miss you all so much!! XOXO's !!!

Happy 3 month Birthday Megan!!!!!!

Wow!!! Can you believe it our baby is 3 months old???!!! It seems like its only yesterday I had Megan. Its gone so fast, filled with many wonderful memories of our ever growing family. She is still an amazing baby. She's so happy all the time, well she cries when she's hungry or she needs to be burped. How did we get so lucky??? I wonder about that question all the time. I love that she's so responsive to Gev, the kids and me. I love the fact that when we talked to her, even when its nonsense, she has a huge smile on her face. We cherish every moment we get to spend with her and our family. Happy Birthday Baby Girl!! We love you!!

Would you believe it??

Shawn came home with another 100% on his spelling test!! Yay!!!!! He was rewarded last week with dinner of his choice, Genki Sushi of course!! And an extra $10.00 to spend at fun factory last week with my mom. Good Job Shawn!!! Keep up the excellent work!! I wonder what he'll choose this week??........

New pics!!

Megan's 2 month birthday!!
You lookin' at me??

Shawn, Mia, and Megan....EasterWhat do you mean I have to bring the eggs and hide them???

Happy belated Mother's day!!!

To all the special mom's, grandma's, aunties, friends and to who ever else who has children out there!! Happy Mother's Day!! Hope you all had a wonderful day!!

I had to work but ended the day with my mom and the kids at Outback!! Yum!!

The Results Are.......

Good grief!! With all that happened last week you would think I would remember getting the results to Megan's condition.....

So we had our video conference scheduled for last week Thursday, unfortunately Gev had to work and I went alone with the kids. They were extremely well behaved. I was shocked and pleased all at the same time. So the video on Oahu couldn't work so we had our results on the speaker phone and I had Gev on my phone on speaker. How hilarious is that???!!!

We discovered that Megan has the Alpha Thalassemia trait. What that means is that she'll be normal. Maybe a mild case of anemia, but highly unlikely. She'll only need to worry later on when she decides to have children. We'll have a very serious discussion with her when the time comes. She'll need to find someone who doesn't have it, but if she finds someone who does then the doctors will have to monitor her baby, because complications may arise, then again she could have normal children without the trait.

This type of blood abnormality is passed on genetically. So we also discovered that Gevin also has the same condition. He has the Alpha Thalassemia trait and we all know he's normal. Well as normal as normal can be!! Heehee!! The doctor had charts and everything set up for us on how it was passed on and that Mia may not even have the condition. Its very possible, but the doctor said it was no rush to check her just yet since we have an idea of what we're dealing with.

On a last note the doctor asked us if we were planning on having more children I said no and Gev said maybe??? What????!!!!!!

The 1st week back!!

Wow!! I thought life was busy enough trying to juggle around schedules but throw in a 40 hour work week?? Yikes!! Things have been so crazy for us the last week, I finally had time to update the blog!!

So right before I went back to work Gev and I found out that his grandpa Felix passed away in the Philippines. The kids and I have never met him but we've heard lots of stories (funny, serious, and some down right tender loving moments). Its been extremely hard on his mom and their family we've tried to cheer her up with having the kids and us more often. It was unexpected though he wasn't feeling well lately. So Mama Linda left for the Philippines on Saturday, we miss her already!! She won't be back for a month. I think they are hoping to bring grandma back to Maui. Wouldn't that be wonderful??!! We've never met her either and I think it would be wonderful for the kids to meet their great grandmother!!

My first day back to work was hilarious. I forgot everything. I usually have a system to my day, but all that went out the window, when I couldn't remember my code for the computer. I kept forgetting to bring things out and I was very disorganized. Something I just hate, I feel very incompetent when things go according to my system. But with the hotel being slow I still made some money and the rest of the work week got better as my brain triggered the autopilot at work switch. I am still nursing, the crew at work has been so great getting me off the floor so I can pump milk for Megan, because she hates formula so much!! Heehee!! I did ruin my manual pump by falling asleep while I was sterilizing it!! Boo!! But I broke down and bought a plug in/battery operated one. Why was I avoiding this all these years??? I love my new one, and it comes in a very handy backpack!! And guess what everyone?? Keiki Time is back, the previous owners sold their company to a new owner. I loved the old owner as we wish him well in his political career, but the new owner LeeAnn is a doll. I think her family helps her with the store, they are so amazingly helpful and friendly!! They have some stuff right now but more is coming in as time goes on, please stop by and see them!!

So last week was teacher's appreciation week and Mia wanted to make cookies for all the teachers at school, so we made them some cookies with the hershey's kissables in them, I love that candy!! Yumm!! We had a mom's day pancake breakfast on Friday at the school, we had pink pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream!! Delicious!! Mia made me a flower pot with cutout hand prints that was to be the flowers and beautiful picture of her. So sweet, where do these teacher's come up with these ideas?? We later went to the Sacred Hearts May day at Ulalena theater to watch Quelsy. She did an amazing job!! She had to memorize a little speech and she was terrific. Mia and I screamed and cheered for her after she was done. Megan was passed out from it being dark in the theater. Heehee!!

The week before we had spirit week at Mia's school, it was hilarious!! Gev and I went off. They had crazy hair day, the kids at school said Mia's hair looked like a mermaids hair. I twisted, pinned, and sprayed pink and glitter spray on her head, she loved it. They had pajama day when she wore her most beautiful nightgown. Look like your mom or dad day, who do you think she picked?? Me of course!! I gave her one of my pink shirts and we styled her hair just like mine, guess what she still looked like Gevin!! Heehee!! Mismatched day, I had the most fun with that one. I put her in capri's, her ballet leotard over her pants, a pink long sleeve glove, 2 different socks and shoes, a scarf as a belt, one pigtail, one ponytail, and two hats. OMG she looked crazy!! Finally an aloha day, she didn't have a mu'umu'u but we dressed her in one of her dresses with an aloha print and I put plumerias in her hair.

Shawn has been struggling a bit in school lately, I don't know if its because I went back to work and the same week his tutor couldn't make her sessions with him. He looks forward to her coming over and gets very disappointed when she can't make it. But he was getting in lots of trouble, plus one night he had so much homework and we were getting so frustrated and I mean all of us frustrated. I told him he needed to concentrate and do better in school or we would punish him. So what does he do??????? He proves to us just how well he can do!! He brought home his first ever 100% spelling test!! We are so proud of him and his teacher did call me to tell me how great he's doing and for us not to push him so much because he is really improving and we don't want to put too much pressure so that he slides backward. Good job Shawn!!

He also has his first canoe race in Hana this Saturday and I have to admit I'm nervous. He has never been away overnight somewhere where his dad or I were not there to watch him. I know I have to cut the cord and let him being an adult, but I can't help feeling nervous about it already.

So I believe that wraps up the week!! More later!!

The Last Day!!

Well, its the last day to my maternity leave and I'm so bummed. I have to go back to work! :(
I really enjoyed all the time I got to spend with Megan and the kids, I wish I could be a stay at home mom. It's a pain in the butt trying to get my schedule to fit the kids schedule. One day I'll find something that let's me work when I want to work, heehee, that's working a casual position!! Been there, done that, unfortunately with the extremely bad economic times I do feel lucky just to have a job. I know Gev's excited for me to be going back to work, I think that the months of bad housekeeping has gotten to him!! :)

A Correction

Sorry everyone,
I just realized that the last picture I posted of Megan was at a month and 1/2, not 2 months. I'll get some updated photo's up soon!!