Playing School

When the babies were still taking two naps, Hailey and Gavin would have time to themselves where we could do a craft or something without worrying about the little ones. Now everyone naps at the same time (which is GREAT for me), but it's hard to do "big kid" things without the little ones wanting to participate. So, I let them, but it isn't long before playdoh and crayons start to go missing (in their mouths!)

Playdoh

Coloring/School (as Hailey calls it)Counting their dinosaurs!

She was quite productive with her scribbles

And how "school" ended....Hailey deligently finishing up her worksheet, the other babies over it and down playing, and Kailee being a monster!

And when we aren't "playing school" this is a favorite pasttime of the babies...I like to refer to it as "Hide and Scream". They hide behind the island and run out screaming!

Mental Exhaustion

I was waiting to know more before I made a post about this, but just thought everyone could play along in the mind game with us. About two weeks ago we learned that the job that Leevi was going to in Alaska was pulled. Not only in the email did it say that the job doesn't exist anymore, but that our replacement assignment was Korea! That didn't exactly go over too well with us and after a bit of whining we got a response of "I'm not making any promises, but I'll see what I can do for a job in the Continental US...give me a week" Over the next two days, we prepped for Korea (just in case) and then got an email from left field, "How do you feel about Germany?" Wow, how do we feel about Germany? It definitely wasn't closer to home, but it did give us a once in a lifetime experience to tour Europe. We wrote back that we liked that option and then prepped for Germany knowing in the back of our minds that she might have more choices on Monday. On Monday, we had another email, but this time not from his Branch Officer. It was an email asking Leevi if he'd be interested in being a candidate for ACS (Advanced Civil Schooling) where he could earn a graduate degree in the field of his choice and while doing so, this would be his only job. He replied that he was interested and the response was, "Great. I'll put your name in a hat and let you know by next week." We have no idea how many people he is up against and if the guy literally meant that he was putting names in a hat. So, we wait....

If he gets this ACS program, then we think our plan will be to stay in Hawaii and Leevi will go to UH or one of the private colleges here. Technically we could go anywhere we want, but finanically our best option is to stay put. If he doesn't get picked for ACS, then we will go to Germany this summer. Either way we are excited! I'll keep you updated!

The Tidbit of All Tidbits!

Yesterday Hailey told me that she couldn't pick up her toys because the energy she got from her food had already turned to poop!!

And just a random picture of my babies with their babies!

Four Day Weekend!

Thanks to the good ole Hawaiian school system (cough, cough) we had an extra long weekend starting with a Furlough Friday and ending with Martin Luther King Day. It was soooooooo nice to have a break as long as my work week! :) Friday I shopped, Saturday we went to the beach and later that night I had a Girls Night dinner, Sunday I golfed (and mourned the loss of the Cowboys), and Monday I cleaned (sort of) while Leevi golfed...one day the girls will be old enough to join us and we will not have to flip flop who is watching them :) The girls played outside a ton, swam in the hot tub mutiple times, and slept in for us! :) Some pics of the weekend...

Breakfast on the couch...I was too lazy!
And then on to a morning of PlaydohEven Leila was feeling lazy (she has to catch up on sleep during the weekends without all the babes around!)A neighbor was painting all the kids in the neighborhood...she did a great job! I think she's only in the 4th grade!

Not exactly sure what was going on here except for the fact that she likes to waste my tape!

Our Girl's Night dinner (minus Tiff and Jaimi) Happy Birthday to Trish, Jenn, and Kristen!

"Mom's Little Island Girls"...soon they will be "Mom's Little Arctic Girls"

Tidbits from Hailey Part XIV

I know I just had a post about this recently, but here are some more that she's said or that I remembered...

*Hailey asked me "why are some teeth triangles and some are squares?"

*Over Christmas during some of the Christmas specials on T.V., Hailey kept seeing the Kay Jewelers commerical for a diamond anniversary ring. She always said that she wanted to buy that ring for me (Ha!) and one time she repeated from the ad, "Mom!! It will take your breath away!!" :)

*Sometimes when she plays "store", this painting is her vending machine!*A rare occasion that she let me put her hair up...she calls it "Pony Hair"
*Both girls are obsessed with Bandaids...Hailey always puts it on Kailee wrist and calls her a hospital baby

*One day Hailey was begging me to let her swim in the hottub. I told her that I wasn't able to watch her right then and she replied, "I can watch myself"

*The route we walk Leila on takes us past an elementary school. Hailey knew it was the weekend & the kids didn't have school, but she asked me, "are all the teachers locked up in there?!"

*Hailey was telling me about something she and Leevi did while I was at one of our Girl's Nights so she said, "when you were at dinner with your friends where no boys are allowed..."

*The oldest joke in the book....

Hailey: Mom, are dinosaurs real?

Me: They were a long time ago

Hailey: Like when you were a little girl?

*And my favorite from this set...I was using the bathroom after Leevi had stunk the place up (sorry, Babe) and Hailey came in (of course you get no privacy) and she told me that I stunk. I replied that it wasn't me and she said, "well, sometimes you can be a little stinky too" :)

Back with the babies...

We are starting our third week back with the babies since the holidays and I thought I'd add some recent pics compared to when I started with them a year ago.

Then NowThenNow

And now just a few random ones of our typical day

Kailee saying "Cheese"

We watched Abby one day when her sitter was sick and Kailee, Brooke and Hailey were obsessed with her! Hailey was very disappointed when Abby didn't come the next day...she was under the impression that we were always going to watch her!

Snack time

Furlough Friday Finds! Part II

I left the kiddos at home with Leevi all day Friday and snuck out to both Targets and the commissary for a day of "alone shopping" with the freedom to browse at my leisure!!! I've decided that I'm going to continue to look at Target for our winter wardrobe because I can find things for all 4 of us in one store. I hit the lottery at Target on Friday for Hailey, found a few more things for Leevi and I and maybe one or two things for Kailee (although I went through Hailey's old clothes and Kailee will actually have quite a bit of winter clothes from when Hailey and I were in Seattle for a month in 2007) Anyway, I'm a math nerd and I totalled up the original prices of the 25 winter items I bought and I came home with $290 of merchandise for a mere $75!!!!!!!!!!!! Insane! We are getting pretty set on the basics, but I still need winter coats for both girls and snowboots and Hailey needs a few more pants. p.s. And if you look at my original Furlough Friday Finds Post it was about the $2 Old Navy Halloween Costumes I bought before we knew we were going to Alaska...they are going to be PERFECT!!

Dancing in Your Underwear

Oh to be young again without a care in the world...

Tidbits from Hailey Part XIII

I am usually pretty good about jotting these down somewhere, so I can remember all of them to post, but I didn't this time....maybe some more will come to me at a later date, but here are a few...

A few days after Christmas I started taking down the decorations and Hailey wanted nothing to do with it. As fast as I was collecting them on the kitchen table, Hailey was placing them back where they came from and she told me, "You are ruining Christmas!!!"

Hailey was pretty grumpy one night last week at bedtime (I apparently was grumpy too from a long day!) :) And she told me, "When you are being a mean mommy I want to leave!" I said, "You want to go live by yourself?" And she replied, "No, Kailee and Daddy can come."

Leevi had a rare zit (stress, maybe?!) :) Hailey asked him why he had a "polka dot" on his face?

We were talking Leila on her daily walk and a woman jogged passed us and Hailey asked me "why is her bum shaking?" Thankfully the woman had headphones on!

Alaska Prep

As we've been researching about Alaska and our upcoming move I came across a neat website that listed "things you need to know before you move to Alaska" Despite the obvious climate change factor, we are curious to see how much Alaska is like Hawaii...the isolation, the expense, the same weather all year, the outdoor activities/sports. We are so excited to snowboard and sled. There is even a ski lodge on post!!!! Obviously, not a resort, but it even has a lift and sledding hills and ice skating! The website listed some Alaskan Slang you should know, so you don't stick out like a sore thumb. It, ironically, is very similar to Hawaiian Slang:

• In Hawaii: A mainlander is a Hao'le; vs. a Local
• In Alaska: A newcomer is a Cheechako vs. a Sourdough
• In Hawaii: when we travel to the continental U.S. we say, "going to the mainland"
• In Alaska: when they travel to the continental U.S. they say, "going outside"
• In Hawaii: flip flops are called "slippahs"
• In Alaska: their snow/fur boots is called a "Mukluk"
• In Hawaii: locals always end their sentences with "yeah?" i.e. "The ski is blue, yeah?"
• In Alaska: locals end their sentences with "don't you know?" i.e. "The ski is blue, don't you know?"
• In Hawaii: getting homesick is called having "rock fever"
• In Alaska: getting homesick is called having "cabin fever"
• In Hawaii: we have the famous Eddie Aikau surfing competition
• In Alaska: they have the famous Iditarod dog sled race

Other things I've found out...

Moose Nuggets is moose poop!!! And apparently is EVERYWHERE and they even sell it as novelty gifts (earrings, ornaments, paper weights!) Ha! Guess what everyone will be getting for Christmas next year?! :)

Termination Dust is the first snow of the year which sends everyone into a panic and provokes a huge shopping spree to hunker down for the winter! Ughh!!!

Artic Entry is a concept of a mud room where you can declothe and leave all your soppy snow gear before you enter the main part of the house. It will be nice if our place has one considering a certain 2 yr old and 4 yr old will probably be playing in the snow everyday! :)

Most houses have heated garages or heater plugs to plug your car grill in to keep it from freezing

On a U.S. map, Alaska is always cut and pasted (just like Hawaii) so it can fit. When you put it where is belongs, it's crazy to realize how far away it really is! But, thankfully for us, it is directly North of Hawaii, so our flight there to move is non-stop and only about 6 hours!

I've started my hunt for our new winter wardrobe and hope I can hit up all the winter clearance. I went out on Friday and found a couple of things, but most of the stuff for the girls wasn't discounted enough yet for me to stock up! I did find a winter coat for Leila! Her fur is so thin (and her belly is bare!). She wore a sweater when we lived in Missouri! She actually LOVED it because she knew when I brought it out that is was walk time!!!

Nothing exciting for the girls, but I did find $5 sweaters for Leevi and I at Target!!

My only splurge was on pajamas for the girls. I couldn't pass them up...they have Eskimos and a moose that is PINK! Hailey is going to flip! :) I will keep my eye on them at Target to see if they go on clearance and maybe I can get a price adjustment. ???

The Monkey's Lastest Feat

Monkey Kailee has learned how to climb up into the play kitchen sink without standing on anything! I didn't think she'd be able to do it, so I let her try....Ha!

Soooooooooooo proud of herself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She actually is very sturdy and navigates up and down on many things without ANY fear! She climbed up onto the bathroom sink today to get the toothpaste. She got herself just far enough up on her belly to make the grab and then scooted back down!
Showing that she's not all physical and can be intellectual too! :)

Back at it again!

I always check on the girls before I head to bed for the night and 9 times out of 10 this is how I find Kailee!!!! She even dreams about being a monkey!