week 6: feb 5 – feb 11 (project 365)

feb. 5 (sunday)

kawena loves to do “homework”.  she is in her second year of preschool and she looks forward to going to school everyday!  she is doing very well with her letters and numbers and sounds.  she has started sounding out words on her own.  she has such a strong desire to be able to read like her two older sisters!

 

i registered her for kindergarten at the girls school last month and she can’t wait!  in this picture she is doing exercises in a workbook that the school gave me upon registration.  i love the look of concentration on her face.  this is a very common sight… kawena sitting at the kitchen table, crayon box open, with a workbook of some sort or just a blank piece of paper.

feb. 6 (monday)

nani is in the gifted program in her school.  since moving from albuquerque, which had a pull-out gifted class twice a week, she has been in a full-time gifted class.  it has been a hard transition.  in albuquerque, her gifted class was her favorite day of school, she loved the fun projects they did and the ways that they had to think outside of the box.

 

here in chandler, it has been much different.  the teacher gives the class A LOT of homework.  they are do 6th and 7th grade work in all areas… she is only in 5th grade.  she is doing awesome and her grades are amazing, but she is stressed out most of the time.  she isn’t enjoying it as much as she did in her albuquerque school.  with the amount of work she is given she is usually up very late every night trying to get it all done! 

 

this was another “late capture”  photo.  mitch was up late helping nani with her reading work and i snapped this photo.

 

feb. 7  (tuesday)

this is our cute little maui boy.  this is the funny face he likes to make ALL THE TIME!!  he scrunches up his brow and pouts out his full lips!  it just makes us laugh.  this was after he made a mess of his oreo cookie after dinner! 

 

i just want to eat him up!!

 

feb 8 (wednesday)

our girls are creative.  nani likes to be creative with her “workspace”.  her she is doing her homework on the middle landing of the stairs sitting on a folded out futon chair.  :)

 

feb 9 (thursday)

 

the photo for today didn’t make the cut!  mitch saw it and said i couldn’t post it on the internet.  mae mae had been potty training, unsuccessfully.  she was sitting on the toilet completely naked and i grabbed my camera.  so, that is the photo that you will not see on this post!  :(

 

feb 10 (friday)

this picture makes me laugh!  mae mae with her messy hair, no clothes, and her blank stare!!  some days are just like that!  some days i just don’t get around to fixing her hair and even when i dress her she takes her clothes off!!  something’s i just have to let go!! obviously, on this day i did! :)

 

feb 11 (saturday)

nani made maui a little bed in the laundry basket this day!  as you can tell, he really quite liked it!!  she was pushing him around and hauling him all over the house!!

 

theses boys sure are spoiled with from their sisters!!   

 

week 5: jan 29 – feb 4 (projest 365)

jan 29 (sunday)

these boys look so smart in their sunday slacks, red tie, and blazer (thanks darbie and barbmom)!

 

kai kai is getting really good at walking down the stairs! maui is just barely getting good at walking!  it is funny how different these two are!  maui is always a bit behind his brother when it comes to milestones.  kai kai has been walking since his 1st birthday back in november and it took maui another 2 months before he started walking.  maui just seems content to let his brother do things first and he will just sit back and watch him!

 

 

 

jan 30 (monday)

kawena was taking pictures with my point and shoot after scripture study when i realized i hadn’t taken a picture yet.  so, i grabbed her and snapped a self photo of us! 

 

jan 31 (tuesday)

for her birthday, mae mae got this water table… it was the best purchase!  she loves this table and will play with it for hours almost daily!  this photo was taken in the late afternoon at the time which is after naps and just before dinner.  it was starting to cool off so these boys were shivering in their nakedness, but it didn’t stop them from having fun!!  they were loving the water table and splashing together!!  by the time we brought them in their lips were turning blue and they were shivering, but they were lovin’ it!!

 

feb 1 (wednesday)

as i was about to go to bed i realized, again, “oh shoot!  i haven’t taken a picture!”  so, i grabbed the camera a took a picture of my bodyrock.tv workout set up!  this is where i bodyrock every morning at 6:00 a.m.  i kinda like the lighting in this coming in from the side!  it cast some cool shadows and contrast.

 

feb 2 (thursday)

kawena is super photogenic, i think!  she has such beautiful, clear eyes, full, pink lips, and soft, smooth skin!  she is usually pretty easy to photograph and willing to be photographed!  i love her eyes in this one!

 

feb 3 (friday)

 

love the bubbles maui was blowing in this one!  you will notice that i tend to take a lot of pictures of the boys while they are sitting in their highchairs.  there are several reasons for this;  1) they can’t move very much because they are strapped into their chairs, 2) they will actually look at me and be still long enough for me to snap a few photos, 3) their chairs are sitting right next to the big sliding glass door to the backyard, which means the lighting is usually very good, 4) i like to take pictures of their messy faces!!

 

feb 4 (saturday)

mitch and i had gone out on a date this night.  when we got home all of the kids were in bed.  then we heard kawena’s door open slowly and she came out.  she had fallen asleep earlier that day which always means she will be up late, unable to get to sleep.  in true kawena fashion she said she was hungry and that she wanted a bowl of cereal (i blame mitch for this).  of course, i hadn’t taken a picture, yet, that day, so i took one of her just as she finished her bowl of cereal.  

 

this week i started playing around with different editing and actions.  i am hoping that i will be able to find some different editing options that will become my “signature” look in the future.

 

note:  all photos were taken with the 24-70 f/2.8, unless indicated.

week 4: jan 22 – jan 28 (project 365)

jan 22 (sunday)

mae mae is really into dressing up!  this is probably one of my favorite of the dress up dresses that the girls own. thanks to tutu lady they have many of the really nice disney store dresses, you know the ones that are so nice you just want to hang them up and not let them wear because you are afraid they are going to ruin them!  ;-)  well, i used to do that when nani was little, but mae mae is the fourth daughter and let’s face it, by the fourth child you just kind of relax… or you are just to worn out to care!!

 

jan 23 (monday)

these little boys LOVE to play in laundry baskets (which works out well because with all of the laundry i have to do, there is always a laundry basket sitting around for them to play in!)!!  it is the cutest thing!  they climb in and just sit there!  sometimes i will hear laughter coming from the family room and i will go investigate and this is what i will see… the boys sitting in the laundry basket just laughing with each other!!  twins are awesome that way!

 

jan 24 (tuesday)

this was a multiply photo day and i couldn’t just pick one, but i narrowed it down to a series of three…

kawena’s freshly painted toes

 

kawena’s pretty little face (i love that she put on her sisters apron to protect her clothes)

 

kawena’s “art work” on hers and her sisters toes and fingers.  kawena is on the right side while mae mae is on the left.  can you tell she has a harder time doing her own nails??  the girls love to paint their nails and i am totally fine with it!!  the only rule i have is that they have to be outside to do it!!

 

jan 25 (wednesday)

another one of those pictures that was taken as the last thing i did before turning of the lights and going to bed.  everyone was already in bed so, i took a picture of my bodyrock.tv workout for the next morning!  that is my nightly routine.  i record the workout that i will be doing the next morning at 6:00 a.m. so that all i have to do is wake up, get changed, and go downstairs to workout!  i have been doing this since the beginning of the year and i have actually surprised myself by being consistent and still have not missed a day in the 6 weeks since i started!!  also, i have been seeing awesome results!!  love that!

 

jan 26 (thursday)

photo just before retiring to bed, yet again!!  this was a bad week for pictures, i guess!  i kept forgetting, so now you have lame pictures to look at.  this is our family room, aka “the cage”.  it is enclosed by a gate spanning the entire entryway. it is filled with toddler toys in all 8 of those canvas drawers. it is where the boys spend most of their waking moments! it is my sanity saver!  i clean it more times than i would like to in any given day!  i almost NEVER go to sleep at night unless it is all straightened up and looking nice… except this day!!  i was too exhausted!

 

jan 27 (friday)

today was mae mae’s 3rd birthday!  i love that i captured her in mid-blow on this photo!  earlier this day i took her to fry’s grocery store to let her pick out her cake.  she picked a mint chocolate cake… bright, minty green!!  i was a little nervous, but it was surprisingly good! she also picked the candles!!  the ones she picked… were trick candles! haha!  she kept blowing and blowing!  then she said, “mama, these candles are broken!!”  haha!  i love our mae mae!!

 

for her birthday we redboxed kung fu panda 2 (loved it) and watched it as a family with her choice of movie theater candy!  mae mae made up one of the laundry baskets as her “theater chair”, complete with pillows and blankets.  we must have worn her out because she didn’t last through the movie!

 

 

 

jan 28 (saturday)

kawena was playing with her food today!  scrabble chez-its are awesome for a preschooler who is learning to spell!

 

note: all photos were taken with the 24-70 f/2.8

week 3: playing catch up…jan 18 –21 (project 365)

so, i have been really bad about posting pics from my project, but i HAVE been taking pictures everyday!  so, here is the beginning of my backlog posts:

 

jan 18 (wednesday)

 

this was one of those, “ahhh, i haven’t taken a picture yet” days. when i saw nani making dinner i thought, i had better capture this moment because it doesn’t happen very often!!  haha!  it was late in the day and indoors, so the lighting was bad. i think it is too orange.

 

jan 19 (thursday)

 

we were walking to the school science fair when i snapped this shot.  the sun was going down.  the girls went out in front of me so i could capture a shot of them together.  i am always amazed when i see nani standing next to kale’a because it emphasizes the huge height difference… nani is so tall and kale’a is so short for their respective ages.  i like the leading lines. i think it is underexposed.

 

jan 20 (friday)

 

this was another late night photo because i forgot to take a picture! haha!  mae mae had lined up these cars on the half wall between our kitchen and family room!  i thought it was cute and a great exercise in depth of field!  white balance is orange again.

 

jan 21 (saturday)

 

this was at polar ice after kale’a’s ice skating lesson.  not the best picture, i know, but it was one of a few pictures i took that day.  this was taken with my canon point and shoot with the flash, obviously, since the reflective material on their coats are illuminated!!

 

i will post more as i have time this week…

note:  these were all taken with the 24-70 f/2.8, with the exception of the last one.

jan 15 – jan 17 (project 365)

jan 15 (sunday)

 

as i was writing my last post i was breathing this:

f/2.8, 1/40, iso 640, 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

mitch, along with nani and kale’a made a loaf of whole wheat bread, and two loafs of macaroni grill bread!  the house was full of delicious smells!  we call the macoroni bread “mitch’s special bread” and it is amazing!  ask anyone who has tried it!!

 

jan 16 (monday)

f/2.8, 1/30, iso 640, 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

kawena and mae mae started swim lessons on monday.  this was their first swim lesson with the new swim school.  this is kawena doing her back float with the noodle to get ready for the back float without the noodle.  she is doing awesome!!  i don’t know how to get a good picture in this condition! everything looked very blue.  this was the best i could get. anyone know how to get it right without a flash? malia?

 

jan 17 (tuesday)

f/2.8, 1/30, iso 200, 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

i may be biased, but this is one beautiful girl!!  i think this is my new favorite picture!  i love the natural smile, as opposed to the “fake” one i get so often with my kids!  i took this is our front room with natural light coming in the front window.  she, of course ,was wearing her ballet outfit and dancing around the room with mae mae to music from the keyboard!  it is a favorite thing for our girls to do… dress up and dance!

 

i LOVE this shot of my pretty kawena!

jan 12 – jan 14 (project 365)

jan 12 (thursday)

f/2.8, 1/20, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

can you guess what i did this day? i typically go to costco on saturday because i refuse to go with 1 year old twin boys and a 2 year old. call me crazy!  so, i always go when i can leave them home with mitch, which saturday is the only day.  sucks, but that’s where we are right now! 

 

anyway, obviously the events of the previous saturday did not leave time for my weekly costco run!  by thursday we were out of milk, cheese, bread, eggs, yogurt, you get the idea!  there really was no option… i HAD to go.  so, i put the boys down for their nap and the minute nani and kale’a walked in the door i loaded kawena and mae mae into the truck and we took off for costco.  it was a bit liberating to leave nani home with the boys, to see a light at the end of the tunnel! woot!

 

i made the costco run and loaded up the fridge and nani and kale’a and the boys were fine! 

 

whenever i go to costco this is the traditional dinner, rice, veggies, and this:

f/2.8, 1/15, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

jan 13 (friday)

f/2.8, 1/10, iso 400, 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

remember in my last post how i said i even used this project to get my girls to clean their room? well, here’s the proof.  they weren’t cleaning their room, so i whipped out the camera and started threatening posting pictures of their dirty room on my blog! hah!!  it got clean!

 

i love this picture!  as i was snapping a shot of this pile of shoes and clothes nani attempted to cover it up by throwing a blanket over it. i captured it just as the blanket was crossing the path of the shot! pretty cool, right?

 

jan 14 (saturday)

   f/2.8, 1/40, iso 500, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

through the “glass” at the ice skating rink.  this was kale’a’s second ice skating lesson.  she is doing awesome!  she is very steady on her skates and she is always one of the first two students to make it across the rink when they “race”.  ever since the 2010 winter olympics this girl has wanted to do hockey.  i thought she might grow out of it, but she still wants to do it, so for christmas we gave her ice skating lessons in preparation to start hockey. we will just have to wait and see where this takes us!

 

this love of hockey also was the reason for the hockey tickets that she got for christmas that kale’a and got to enjoy the saturday before!  and we sure did enjoy it!

jan 8 – jan11 (project 365)

this week has been a pretty good week, as far as this project goes.  i am getting better at remembering to get the camera out.  i am becoming more familiar with the settings on my camera, which is exciting for me!  i am remembering to check my iso!  i am beginning to use this project to chronicle some of the mundane, some of the traditions, some of the daily hum drum of life.  i even used this project to motivate my children to clean their room this week (check jan 13, friday)!  who knew?!  so, some of the pictures might be a bit “boring”, but this is all about the photography experience!

 

jan 8 (sunday)

f/2.8, shutter 1/20, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

we have a fast sunday tradition in our family.  each fast sunday we have breakfast for dinner.  last sunday was fast sunday and for dinner we had sticky buns, eggs, bacon, and breakfast potatoes. oh, and we can’t forget the fresh fruit smoothies!  YUM!  fast sunday’s seem to be a family favorite for dinner. in fact, it is one of the few nights when there isn’t a complaint mumbled from the lips of any of my children!!  hmmm, maybe we should have breakfast for dinner every night!!

 

jan 9 (monday)

f/2.8, shutter 1/15, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

have i ever told you what awesome manners our kids have?  no? well, probably because they don’t!  this is mae mae eating her spaghetti on monday night. i actually didn’t grab my camera fast enough!  if i had ,you would have seen her head tilted back, her big hand of spaghetti perched high above her mouth, dropping noodles in!!  but because the camera wasn’t sitting next to me at that moment, this is what i captured!

 

jan 10 (tuesday)

f/2.8, 1/15, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

i find the boys giggling and babbling in this spot several times a day. it seems to be a favorite spot for them.  there is a treadmill below this window which makes it the perfect height for them to be able to look out.  i don’t know what they find so fascinating about this spot, but it sure is fun to hear them playing and laughing together as they stand there together!

 

i got several pictures this day of the kids.  i will share one more cute one of the boys:

f/2.8, 1/25, iso 200, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

maui is in front and kaio is standing in back (for those who don’t know which is which!)

 

these boys L.O.V.E. to play in laundry baskets!  it’s another “favorite place!  sometimes i walk into the room and maui is just sitting in a laundry basket smiling! no toys, no books, nothing… just him sitting in the basket smiling! it cracks me up!  when both of the boys are playing in it together it is hilarious to watch them climb in and sit there together. then they will tip it over and coming spilling out!  i love that these boys love each other and are best buds!

 

jan 11 (wednesday)

f/2.8, 1/15, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

this was maui thursday morning, cursted snot under his nose from his cold, tear coming from his crying eyes that are begging me to pick him up and feed him!  such a sad boy!

 

we have a room in our house that is two steps lower then the other rooms on the first floor.  a couple months back the boys were driving me crazy with how suddenly mobile they became.  we had a gate in front of the stairs to the second floor, but they figured out how to weasel their way onto the stairs, despite the gate.  with the gate at the bottom of the stairs it only kept them from going upstairs, sort of, but they still had access to the kitchen and ALL the cabinets.  my life was NOT fun!  i spent most of my day trying to keep them from careening to their death onto the tile floor at the bottom of the stairs or pulling big, heavy pots on themselves.

 

until my brilliant husband had a great idea!! he put the gate at the entrance to the family room which has the 2 steps down!  ever since that day my life has gotten SOOOO much better!  i toss the boys in their “cage”, as i lovingly call it, and they have a whole room to play in.  their toys were already in that room, so it is perfect!!  however, they are beginning to catch on and sometimes are not exactly happy to be in the “cage”, but at least i know they are safe!  most of the time they DO love it!

 

this photo just happens to be one of the times when they DIDN’T love it!  kaio was somewhere sprawled on the floor equally as sad!

 

===================

that’s all i have time for right now.  i will finish the rest of the week tomorrow!  i am off to bed!

Jan 1 – Jan 7 (project 365)

i am trying to become re-familiarized with my camera after such a long hiatus from photography.  the good part is that photography is somewhat like riding a bike, once you learn to ride you can pretty much can pick up where you left off and still know how to ride.  the bad part is that photography is much, MUCH more complex than riding a bike… like a hundred times over. this is why i am excited about doing this project right now… the improvement will be like night and day, at least i hope it will!! haha

 

a couple of years ago my sister, malia, who, by the way, is an amazing destination wedding photographer in fiji, told me briefly (very briefly) about how she learned how to take the white balance off of auto to use kelvin/temperature to set white balance.  back then i was busy with a new baby and wasn’t able to try it out and, frankly, it seemed way too complicated, not to mention intimidating, at the time (i already had too much to adjust with aperture/shutter speed/light meter/etc.).  but now i am finally ready to look it square in the face and conquer it! i have decided that i want to learn to use kelvin to set white balance and take myself out of the auto wb setting. i know that my photos will be so much richer and the colors more true to what they truly are.

 

this means that much of my photos may be off for awhile, as i figure it out so bear that in mind as i learn by trial and error!  i’ve been told and have read everywhere, and totally agree, that to become a better photographer the best thing to do is to take pictures… and that is what i am doing!

 

jan 1 (sunday)

 

f/2.8, shutter 1/30, iso 320, lens 24-70 f/2.8, exposure manual

 

on sunday, we left in such a hurry to church that no one grabbed the church bag which contained the cups, snacks, and toys.  so, after sacrament meeting we had to go home and grab the food and cups for the boys because they NEVER would have lasted through church without those things. however, we are in that stage in the boys life when i can’t stay in relief society because they are way too busy.  on top of that, mitch was teaching in his deacons class that day …which meant i had both boys for the last hour… which meant i wasn’t going to actually be able to stay in class.  don’t judge, but we decided since we had to go home anyway, that i might as well stay home and put the boys down for their nap (the joys of 11 o’clock church).  so, that is exactly what we did!

 

kaio and maui were looking so sharp and adorable in their cute blazers and ties (thank you barbmom and darbie), that i wanted to get a picture.  it was impossible to get both of them in the same shot (i know because i tried), but i got this cute one of kaio. 

 

i opened the shutters in our family room to let in the natural light.

 

jan 2 (monday)

 

f/2.8, shutter 1/25, iso 320, lens 24-70 f/2.8, exposure manual

 

monday, mitch went to work and came home at lunchtime (after going to the gym) and decided to stay home.  we played a game of ticket to ride with nani and kale’a.  phoenix was the hot spot of the game and just happens to be where we live. so, i snapped a shot of the game board. mitch won this game!

 

today has two pictures:

 

f/2.8, shutter 1/25, iso 320, lens 24-70 f/2.8, exposure manual

 

nani taught our family home evening lesson.  she gave each of us a new piece of foil and told us to crumpled it into to a loose ball… mine is the one on the left, kawena’s is the one on the right.  i don’t think she listened very well to the instructions!! haha!  then, nani told us the story of saul who had been persecuting the church of God until he repented and instead, began to serve God.  though he repented and changed his ways the damage he did to the church was hard to repair, if not impossible. 

 

nani asked us to straighten out our foil balls and return them to what they looked like before we crumpled them. of course it was impossible to get them to look as perfect as they did when she first gave them to us. 

 

she reminded us that we need to be careful about what we do and say because we can’t always repair the damage we can do by our actions and words!  ii thought it was a great object lesson and a great reminder for our family.

 

jan 3 (tuesday)

 

f/2.8, shutter 1/400, iso 320, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

i should have paid attention to the iso

 

this girl is a candy hog!  if anyone leaves candy within her sight, she will get to it and eat it!  it has been the source of many tears of lost candy on her sisters part and on mae mae’s part because we will take away whatever she hasn’t already ingested! 

 

the girls were outside riding their bikes.  when i got outside mae mae was riding her bike while holding this bag of reese’s and sour straws!  she asked me to open it for her. i told her no because she had already had her piece of candy.

 

i went to take a shower.  before i got in she came to me with this same bag of reese’s and asked me to open it for her. again i told her no because she had already had her candy.  she bursts into tears and runs out of the bathroom.  the second i turn the shower off, she is right outside the shower with the same bag of reese’s in her hand and says, “are you done? can you open this for me?”  again, i tell her no and she bursts into tears and runs out of the bathroom!!

 

she IS persistent, i will give her that much!  i know that some day that persistence will be a great asset for her to have!!

 

jan 4 (wednesday)

f/2.8, shutter, shutter 1/10, iso 320, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

again, i should have paid attention to iso

 

ok, this was my, “oh crap i forgot to take a picture” day. kale’a wanted me to take a picture of her with kaio because they “matched”.  she asked me earlier in the day, but i was doing something else and totally forgot to take the picture until it was bedtime and the sun was long gone.  my indoor/nighttime photography stinks!  so, this is what i got!  i am embarrassed to post it, but it’s all i got…

 

let’s move on!!

 

jan 5 (thursday)

f/2.8, shutter, 1/1000, iso 100, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

this day i got up early and exercised before the kids were up so we could get out of the house and have some fun.  there is this awesome park a block away from our house, right next to the elementary school.  the girls hoped on their bikes and i put the boys in the bob jogger and we headed to the park. parks are great places for photo ops. i snapped away as the kids played and monkeyed  around. 

 

nani and kale’a had brought a beach ball so we could play volleyball at the sand court.  the only problem was that there was a light breeze!  the ball had a mind of its own and the game was anything but predictable, but we had fun just the same! 

 

as nani was letting the air out of the ball, just before we headed home, i got this photo. 

 

jan 6 (friday)

f/2.8, shutter 1/10, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

we had so much fun at the park the day before, so i planned to take the girls again the next day.  unfortunately, kaio woke up in the middle of the night with the croupe.  so, we hunkered down and had a house day. 

 

for Christmas, we got our very first tv in our 12 years of marriage!  wow!  it’s a pretty big deal around here!  friday morning a package arrived and it was the just dance kids for the wii!  we were excited to try it out.  we had a ton of fun and got a good workout!  i was breathing heavy and sweating from dancing! it was a blast!

 

i had to get a picture of how cute the girls looked doing the dance!  they were doing great! look how in sync they are!!  our girls are so much fun!!

 

jan 7 (saturday)

f/2.8, shutter 1/1250, iso 400, lens 24-70 f/2.8, manual

 

not the most exciting picture, but this pretty much threw a wrench in our whole day, so i had to use this picture!  i took many more pictures that were more fun, cute, and not nearly as dull, but this is the one that says so much more about this day! i will post the other ones, as i said i would, but tomorrow.

 

so, there you have it! my first week of my project 365!

not at all what i planned

what i planned to do today (saturday):

• get kale’a ready for her first ice skating lesson
• send kale’a off to her first skating lesson with mitch
• hangout with the other 5 kids at home having a leisurely saturday morning
• go to costco
• exercise
• shower
• send mitch and kale’a off to enjoy her christmas present of going to a coyotes hockey game
• get the kids bathed for church tomorrow
• have a movie/wii night with the other kids at home
• start my very first project 365 post with pictures
• go to bed at a decent hour

what ACTUALLY happened:

• woke up a little late (about 9:30) because i stayed up late blogging last night :)
• noticed mitch wasn’t home, the girls were playing wii and kale’a wasn’t ready for ice skating which they were supposed to be leaving for in a half hour
• turned into a crazy woman trying to find kale’a’s “snow” gear for ice skating
• mitch walked in the door covered in grass and limping worse than i’ve every seen him limp before asking for me to help pull his shoe off and saying, “ i think you’re going to have to take kale’a to ice skating today.”
• run upstairs throw on some clothes
• run downstairs and inhale some greek yogurt
• leave 15 minutes late to take kale’a to her first ice skating lesson
• come home to hungry children and my stomach is growling, too
• mitch says he needs to go to urgent care because he thinks he tore a tendon playing football
• we all pile into the car after getting everyone out of pj’s and into clothes (it is almost 1 pm), still hungry, and head to the urgent care
• drop mitch off and take all the kids to in n’ out and bring it back to the urgent care so mitch can eat while he waits his turn
• realize that in all the craziness that was this morning no one changed mae mae’s diaper and she is still in the diaper that we put on her last night before bed!! ack!!
• corral 6 kids who are running around like a bunch of crazies outside the urgent care, while trying not to GO crazy myself (took some pictures while there, though)
• over two hours later mitch comes out with the news that he tore his achilles tendon and needs an mri. oh man!!
• the hockey game starts in less than 3 hours and is 45 minutes away which wouldn’t be a problem except that we bought the tickets on groupon under mitch’s name because he was supposed to take kale’a but now couldn't because of his newly acquired football injury.

this is when things REALLY get annoying… according to the groupon deal the tickets could only be picked up at the box office by the person whose name was on the groupon, which is mitch, the injured, unable to go dad!

• we all pile into the car and make the 45 minute drive to the arena so mitch can hobble to the box office window and flash his id to acquire the tickets that will now be used by me and kale’a
• the game now starts in less than 2 hours, so we turn back around and head home so i can drop everyone off just to turn back around to make it to the game on time
• 15 minutes into the drive home mitch says, “we should have just left you there so you wouldn’t miss the beginning of the game.”
• we get off at the next off-ramp and head back to the arena
• we park the car so i can nurse the boys
• kale’a and i wave goodbye as the family heads back home, again

this is where things got better for kale’a and i

• the arena is next to an outdoor mall and there is 45 minutes before the game starts. on the way we walked by a coldstone and decide to make that our dinner
• we finish our ice cream dinner and sit down in our seats just as the game begins
• the game was awesome!!  we had a great time watching the coyotes beat the new york islanders
• in the last half second of the final period, no joke, doan the team captain for the coyotes, scored his third goal of the game. those of you who don’t know hockey that is called a “hat trick”.  the crowd, including us, went crazy!  according to the guy sitting next to us ,this has not happened in 12 years for this team! wow!  and we were there when it happened!
• mitch drives back to pick us up, leaving nani home with all of the kids, except maui, still awake (her first babysitting for longer than 30 minutes)
• we get home just before 10:00
• none of the children have bathed
• the house is a DISASTER (only because mitch couldn’t do anything with his bum ankle)
• i nurse makaio (who, i forgot to mention, has croup), put him to bed
• the girls all jump into the shower TOGETHER
• i start cleaning the house
• nani puts the 2 and 5 year olds to bed
• meltdown ensues with the 2 year old who wants to play the leapster in her bed, but mean ole’ mommy won’t let her because it is now 11:30
• everyone is in bed by midnight… except me

instead, i am blogging about this crazy day because if i hadn’t lived it i wouldn’t believe that we could have survived it!  and because it will all be a big blur tomorrow, or i guess i should say today because it is now more than an hour into sunday, if i waited to write it down!  i will have to add the pictures of the day later after i get some sleep because i am way to exhausted to go through them and add them now!

 

let’s see:

• no shower
• no costco
• no exercise, not to mention the horrid things i ate all day
• no sleep
• nothing leisurely about the day… i woke up and hit the ground running, not because i wanted to, but because i HAD to

some days just don’t turn out to be what you plan them to be!!  GOOD NIGHT!

Project 365

ok, i know it has been a horribly LOOOOOONG time since i blogged, but i have a great excuse… 6 kids, the last 2 twins. nuf said!

 

well, those twins are now 13 months old and i lament at the goobs of stuff that i have not documented of our small little lives since they entered the picture.  if i think about it too long it makes me sick to my stomach… so i won’t dwell on that.  instead, i look to the future…

 

i have embarked on a HUGE undertaking, well, it is huge for this busy mom of 6.  this busy mom who used to take pictures like they were going out of style. this little mom who once started a very teeny, tiny photography business only to be brought to an abrupt halt at the news of twins growing in her soon to be large tummy.  this mom who has not wielded her camera near enough in the last 13 months (i’m getting that sick feeling in my tummy right now)! 

 

all of this has been mulling around in my brain;  how i need to document our lives like i used to, how i have missed so much of what we have done (and believe me there have been HUGE changes since i last posted, HUGE), how i have forgotten how to use my camera, how much i love taking pictures, how i used be an awesome photographer (hehe), how much i love to go back and read my blog and laugh at all the stuff that i otherwise would have forgotten had i not written it down, how this all needs to change!

 

i found the solution in Project 365!  i’m sure you have heard of it before! it’s been around for some time now.  in short, i will take at least one photo a day, plain and simple!  no themes, no restrictions, no rules.  just pure photography of whatever!

 

i am excited and scared. it is a big deal!  i will be carrying my camera just about everywhere with me.  capturing whatever i want to.  then i will share, at least, one of these photos from each day here on my blog.  i will add little tidbits, or big tidbits, of my life.  in this way, i will solve many of my concern that i mentioned above.  i will NOT be blogging everyday, but i will blog at least once a week the pictures from each day of that week.  it may be more often than that, but i hope to blog at least once a week so i don’t get too behind. of course, things happen, so i will be flexible.

 

so, there you have it!  i started on january 1st and so far i am 6 for 6!  not bad for a girl who was gotten VERY rusty and out of the habit of taking pictures!

i am excited to see what happens to my photographic abilities in the next year, but i am even more excited to start writing my history… AGAIN!

 

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and while i am at it i think i should update my blog header to include my other 3 children and the photos on my sidebar to include a current family photo with our twins…

ya think??!!

 

i’ll work on that…