other people's wishes

our weekend was pretty crazy, so my mom took us to baja fresh (oh so tasty) to get some take out. at this particular baja fresh, they have a water feature/fountain in the front entrance. so, while my mom got the food and i got the salsa from the salsa bar (yum yum), nani and lala wanted to play by the fountain.

i was about halfway through my salsa getting, when lala comes in and says to me, "mommie, we need a bag!"

"well, why do you need a bag?", i asked.

"so we can put all of this money in it!"

at this point, i actually turn around and look at her and she what she has in her dripping wet hands. proudly, she holds out her hands, face beaming with excitement (for all she knew she had struck it rich!), to show me her spoils. "mommie we got all of this money from the fountain and we need a bag to put them in! there's so many!" i wish i could have just pulled a bag out of my pocket and said, "have at it girl!" because of the look on her cute, little, innocent face, but my mommie side took over.

"oh, sweetie, you can't have those! they aren't yours. i need you to go put them back and tell nani she needs to put hers back, too!"

her face fell and she turned around to break the bad news to her big sister. "wow, that went surprisingly well," i thought.

i finished getting the salsa and met my mom at the front door to leave. as we walked out to the foyer of the restaurant, the first thing i saw was a very wet lala. second, my eyes came upon nani, who was reaching into the fountain bringing out handfuls of coins and adding them to the already enormous pile of extracted coins on the table. the last thing i saw, was the bottom of lala's pucci pups purse lined with coins.

"girls you can't take those, they are other people's wishes!" reluctantly, they threw all of the money back and we were able to get home and enjoy our baja fresh!

who let the dogs out?!!

last friday, lala had a puppy party for her birthday. she invited 10 puppies to her party and 8 showed up for a total of ten puppies (nani and lala included). we had a full house...of puppies. and boy did they play the part well!

when they arrived to our "doggie day care" to the sounds of "who let the dogs out", each puppy was asked to choose their puppy name, which we wrote on a dog tag for them. we had a fifi, a fluffy, a nana, an ally, a nathan (which was actually this puppies dad's name), a seahawk, a kukui, a sally, an ethan, and an aidan. after getting their dog tags and a puppy treat, they picked out ears. once they were outfitted with their puppy dog ears, they went to the table to make a dog collar for their name tag, which they wore around their necks. as they were making their doggie collars they were also getting their "spots". here are our two puppies, nana, the birthday puppy and ally, her sister:

we played "trainer says" and rewarded the puppies who obeyed the trainer with a doggie treat. we also played "doggie, doggie where's your bone?" after lala blew out her birthday candles:

each of the puppies were given a pup-cake in their very own doggie bowl:

some of our puppies really enjoyed eating their pup-cake chow:

it was so fun to witness imaginations run wild at the puppy party. what child doesn't like to pretend to be a four legged creature?!

happy birthday "nana"! what a great party! we love you!

what do you do???

okay, ladies and gents, i have a question to put out to you. how do you deal with lying children? i mean, i know that children lie. i know i did my fair share of lying as a child. i know it is something that all children go through, so what do you do?

why do i ask?

i got home from running errands this evening, sans children (ahhhh, it is amazing how much you can get done without children!), and my mom tells me that lala had to spend some time in her room for biting her sister. great!! apparently, lala bit nani "really hard" on her finger, so nani bit lala on her leg. and i thought we were past all the biting a long time ago! i guess i was wrong!

so, wanting to know what happened, i asked lala to tell me her story (miracle of miracles there was no yelling. it was discussed rather calmly, for once! nani did shed some tears, however):

lala: "nani started it."
me: "how did she start it?"
lala: "she pushed me."
me: "what happened right before she pushed you?"
lala: "nothing."
me: "really? you did nothing and then nani pushed you."
lala: "yeah."
me: "are you telling the truth? it's more important that you tell the truth. it will be better for you if you tell the truth. what really happened?"
lala: "i don't remember."
me: "you don't remember?"
lala: "no."
me: "okay, i am going to ask nani to tell me her story."
lala: "she bit me right here (pointing to her shoulder)."
me: "nani bit you on your shoulder, so you bit her really hard on the finger. then she bit you on the leg? is that right?"

now comes nani's story:
nani: "i did not! she wouldn't get off the blanket."
me: "so then you bit her on the shoulder?"
nani: "no i didn't!"
me: "well, then what happened? you'll be a lot better off if you tell me the truth!""
nani: "i didn't bite her on the shoulder!"
me: "okay, then what did you do?"
nani: "i accidentally scratched her."
me: "with what?"
nani: "i accidentally scratched her with my teeth."
uh-huh??!! seems suspiciously like a bite.
me: "why did you 'scratch' her with your teeth?"
nani: (looking down under her lashes with a sad face) "she wouldn't get off the blanket."
me: "so you bit her?"
nani: "but then she bit me super hard on my finger. i didn't bite her that hard!"
me: "well, do you think she would have bit you if you didn't bite her?"
nani: looking down at the ground, shaking her head, "no."
me: "i think you're right. so what do you think you could do differently next time?"
nani: "i don't know?"
me: "can i make a suggestion?"
nani: "yes."
me: "maybe next time you could ask for help from someone else. then nobody will get hurt and we all will be happier. what do you think?"
nani: "yeah."
me: "and lala, if your sister asks you to do something, do you think you could do it?"
lala: yea."

so, after the punishment was given and carried out, we find out that it was really nani that should have been sent to her room, not lala. it was nani that made the first strike.

how do you parents deal with the not knowing who did what and who did or didn't do it first? if you think you see the whole thing, but in reality missed the first strike, then how do you know if you are dishing out the right consequence to the right person? when there are two different stories, who do you believe?

should they both get punished for not getting along and working it out? would that help them learn to work things out on their own. should they both get punished if one of them is lying? would that make it less tempting to lie? or should i just hope that i pick the right daughter to punish. then, like tonight, when you find out that the wrong one got in trouble, what do you do then? it's so hard to know!! so, you wonderful bloggers, this is where you come in.....

what do you do in your home???

beautiful prayers

sometimes lala says the sweetest things in her prayers. yesterday, she said the dinner prayer and the bedtime prayer. here are some of the things she said:

*thank you for this beautiful woold (world)
*thank you for all the wonderful things that Heavenly Father and Jesus made for us
*thank you that tutu man and tutu lady could be here
*thank you for everything that Heavenly Father and Jesus did for us
*please bless tutu man that he will get back home safely, and tutu lady, also
*please bless the food that it will give us nourishment and strengthness

ahhhh, the prayers of little children!!

stop

on thursday lala was helping mitch make cupcakes for her "puppy party" (more to come on that later). she was helping pour the batter into the cupcake tins. as the batter got closer to the top of the tin, this is the conversation that occured:

mitch: "okay kale'a stop."

she keeps pouring...

mitch: "kale'a, stop."

she keeps pouring...

mitch: "kale'a stop!....Stop!...STOP!!!"

she finally stops.

mitch: "kale'a, what part of stop don't you understand?"

kale'a, after a lengthy, thoughtful pause: "the stop part."

eyeshadow or superhero???

this is what i found this afternoon when i picked lala up from bridget's house....

i wasn't sure if it was eyeshadow on her face or if she was playing superheros! what do you think?

boys will be boys, i mean.... men will be men

on saturday we spent the afternoon at the wilde's. while the kids were having a great time playing, us adults were catching up on each other's lives.

that is until the husbands went out back and saw a huge spider hungerly waiting for a meal. so, mitch and gordon decided to aid the spider in his patient quest for food. gordon, spotting a fly in the house, the perfect dinner specimen, ever so gently "injured" the innocent fly only enough to debilitate his flying capabilities.

with their first objective accomplished, mitch set out to toss the fly into the web of the spider. the first attempt was foiled by a "large" hole in the web which, lucky for the fly, he escaped the dinner menu. however, the boys, errr i mean, the men, were not put off that easily. they went in search of the fly in the grass. the poor fly was discovered.

finally, after several mishaps, the men were triumphant in their quest!

yummy! hungry anyone?

happy birthday mom!

this is a picture of my lovely mom when she was in high school. i found it on my dad's bedside table while we were visiting this summer and i knew i needed a copy of it. isn't she beautiful?

today is my mom's birthday. so, i thought of 64 reasons why i celebrate her life:

1. you let me eat snails in the backyard
2. you laid me out in the nude in the front yard so i could get a tan

3. you weren't offended when that rude lady asked you, "how old was she when you got her?" when i was just a tiny newborn

4. you would wait up for me at night when i was out with friends
5. you put those pink foam curlers in my hair at night so i could have pretty curls in the morning
6. you made lunches for me everyday while i was in school

7. you kept your opinion to yourself when i was dating a not so great guy (if you had said anything i would have wanted to be with him more!)

8. you came to all of my swim meets
9. you were always so encouraging with the things that i wanted to do
10. you took us on family walks down to the beach every sunday
11. when i walked in the door everyday after school you were there waiting for me, i loved to hear your voice and felt comforted to know you would be there
12. when i burned a hole in the carpet in our bedroom you didn't kill me
13. when i fell asleep with gum in my mouth you used peanut butter to get the gum out of my hair so we didn't have to chop it all off, sadly my blankie wasn't so lucky
14. when katarina got the chicken pox you took me over there so i could get them from her. then you let us play until they were gone
15. you got me into swim lessons and swim team when i was young so i developed a great love of swimming
16. you would let me sleep in your room when i was sick, that always made me feel better
17. you wouldn't let me watch tv or play computer games all day, you limited us to 1 hour
18. you took us trick or treating. when we got home you would let us keep 25 pieces of our favorite candy. half of those we could put in the freezer for later and the other half we could keep out to eat when we wanted. all the rest of the candy we gave to less fortunate children
19. when gavan purposely locked me out of the house and i got so mad that i broke the glass door you didn't kill me, again
20. you cared enough to give me a curfew
21. you were married in the temple
22. you taught me and showed me the importance of a temple marriage
23. you "gave" me a baby brother and sister after much persistence from me
24. we had a family garden that we worked on together
25. you shared your testimony of the gospel with me
26. you never gave up on me even when i treated you so rottenly
27. you told me that you couldn't wait til i had a daughter just like me. i still worry about that now, especially with three daughters of my own
28. you were understanding when i had a missionary companion who treated me the same way i treated you as a teenager. i was grateful i was able to see it and apologize for my rotten behavior and even more grateful that you forgave me
29. when we were out playing with our friends you would make the coolest whistling sound with your fingers when you needed us to come home. i still wish i could do that
30. you flew out to hawaii with me to help me get settled into the dorms at byu-hawaii my first year there
31. whenever i came home from hawaii you would take me shopping and send me back with as much food as i could carry because the food was so stinkin' expensive back at school
32. you didn't send me the "little brown paper bag in the back of my bottom drawer" that i asked you not to look in, though you already knew what was inside of it. and you didn't get mad at me
33. you encouraged me to go to byu-provo "just to try it out", before i went on my mission
34. when i was "disappointed" by my mission call, you were so positive and upbeat
35. you kept telling me that i didn't want to get married til i was 25. i kept saying, "no way! that is too old!" sure enough i was 25 when i got married
36. you loved mitch the moment you met him and later told me that he was a keeper
37. you didn't throw a fit when mitch and i wanted a very short 2 month engagement, even though i'm sure that inside you wanted to
38. you helped me make our wedding announcements
39. you drove me all the way out to who knows where (it was a long drive) to a hair salon so i could chop off 19 inches of my hair and donate it to locks off love
40. you came out when nani was born
41. it was beacuse of you that i wanted to try a natural childbirth. i haven't wanted to do it any other way since
42. you gladly got up with a crying nani every two hours in the middle of the night, to relieve an over-exhausted new mommie
43. you were sad when tutu lady died 2 days after nani was born and had to leave us to go to the funeral. that was one of the hardest things for me. i only had you for 3 days.
44. whenever i am in town you let me crash your "lady's nights out" and join in with your friends
45. you came out when lala was born
46. you've given me so many wonderful recipes
47. you took our girls to disneyland
48. i know i can go to you for great parenting advice and you will give it to me without judgment
49. you came out when kawena was born
50. you cook for us everytime you come out when i have a new baby
51. you are the best tutu lady to our girls and they love you
52. you stay up late with me every time you visit so we can talk
53. you watched all three girls when "baby" #3 was only a couple weeks old so mitch and i could go to the temple to figure out what to name our nameless baby
54. you come to visit every few months. we all look forward to those visits
55. you made it possible for us to stay close to you in our fifth wheel this summer
56. you came down to sea world with us in august and didn't complain about sleeping on the uncomfortable pull-out couch in the fifth wheel
57. you video taped me while boggie boarding for the first time
58. you are so talented and creative and always make the best cards for us whenever we have a birthday
59. you've given our girls the funnest stickers, papers, rubber stamps and sizzix machine that they absolutely love. it helps them tap into their creative side
60. you've spent 2 wonderful christmases up here in oregon with our family
61. you always take time off work when we come visit you in california
62. you've helped shape me into the person and mother that i am
63. i love that we talk weekly
64. you're not only my mother, but you have become my great friend

happy birthday mom! you're the greatest! i love you!

the day after

yesterday was a wonderful day! why was it wonderful? i turned 33! it wasn't wonderful because i turned 33 (in fact, that was one of the few non-wonderful things about yesterday), it was wonderful because of the people in my life who made my day so special!

i don't know about you, but as i have gotten older birthdays have kind of come and gone without much hurrah. it isn't the highly anticipated day that it once was of my youth. there rarely is a party or a big to do. many times it is just another day and as much as i try not to, i usually feel a bit of disappointment at the end of the day.

when i went to sleep last night, there wasn't even a hint of disappointment. instead, there was a sense of that childhood giddiness after a wonderful birthday celebration. i went to sleep happy and exhausted...

this is why:

• i woke up to mitch and the girls singing happy birthday to me in bed


• we enjoyed a pancake breakfast that mitch made while we listened to general conference


• i played "photographer" for my first photo shoot


• we went to the wilde's for pizza and the most beautiful birthday cupcakes i've ever had made for me


• we spent the whole afternoon with the wilde's and the girls had the best time playing with their boys


• bridget brought over a beautiful handmade card and some birthday grapes, a wonderful change from all the sugar laden treats i had the rest of the day


• my brother kawika called to wish me a happy birthday and told me that for my birthday present he bought a ticket for him to fly out to see us this friday. that was the BEST present he could have given me!


• i talked to my mom


• gavan, my older brother called and left me a message while his family popped a birthday balloon for me in the background


• after the priesthood session of conference elizabeth and alexis came over to wish me a happy birthday


• 5 minutes later the sumsions came over, i thought, "wow, what are the odds that they would come over at the same time to wish me a happy birthday?! that's so cool!"


• .....then mitch brings in a baskin robbins surf's up ice cream cake from the freezer in the garage


• suddenly i realize what is happening. mitch had arranged a small little surprise get together to celebrate my birthday


• dustin provided hours of "loot" playin' fun and we all saw a side of brian (or was it steve, or leslie, or... i couldn't keep up with all the names) that we had never experienced before!

as we crawled into bed at 1:00 this morning, i was one happy birthday girl! i didn't expect much for my birthday and i was greatly surprised at how richly i was blessed by family and friends.

i was a little bit sad that i didn't talk to my sister, but when i woke up this morning i found this on her blog.

thank you everyone for making this birthday the best i've had in a while!

someones tired!

so, i am sitting here at my computer getting a bunch of things done and waiting for kawena to wake up! that's right! she is still asleep. she went to bed last night at her normal bedtime of 7:30 and hasn't woken up yet!

i was talking to mitch around 10:30 this morning and told him that she was still asleep. he asked, "have you checked on her?" "no, but the monitor is on and i can hear her breathing. so, if your wondering if she's still alive. she is!" you know, when something like this happens your first parental instinct is "are they still alive?" i can hear her breathing!

poor thing must get wiped out from being ripped out of her bed at 7:40am to take lala to school! well, i'm glad she has wednesdays to catch up!

awww! there she is just waking up! better go get her!