No Gold for the US Hockey Team, but Gold for the Hoffmans

Today we had a few friends over to watch the US/Canada gold medal hockey game. We ended up cooking a brunch (from all the defrosted food left over from the tsunami warning), and cheering on team USA. It was such a close game, and with only seconds left to the game, USA came back to tie up the score. Unfortunately, in overtime, they lost and while Team USA didn't see gold, everyone in the Hoffman house was covered in it...gold glitter that is. Makaela is going through a princess stage and she has a gorgeous puffy pink princess skirt from the Disney store. Boy- did that skirt make a lasting impression. What we failed to notice was that it rains gold glitter...seriously, our entire house is covered in gold glitter now. Mopping has proved only to spread it around further. It was so embedded in Makaela's head that I literally gave up during bathtime. Oh well, it's just a good reminder of how much fun Makaela had dancing around in that skirt.

Doing the dishes in her princess skirt

Climbing the "mountain" in our backyard in her pretty pink skirt

Tsunami Saturday

We were woken at 4am by a phone call from Matt's work telling us to prepare for a tsunami. At first, Matt thought someone was messing with him, but when we turned on the TV, we found out that yes, Hawaii was in fact preparing for a tsunami.

How does one prepare for a tsunami? Well, first we texted everyone we knew and found friends up in Makakilo to take us in (thanks again Buelows and the MacDonalds for offering). Then Matt headed to work...on Ford Island...an island with only 1 bridge, wedged between the ocean and the loch...sometimes the Navy is not the brightest. Alone, I started wondering what to do next so I grabbed the many photo albums we have and brought them all upstairs to our bedroom (higher ground right?) Realized on my 11th trip up the stairs that I really need to convert everything to disc. Great exercise, but not something I need to do when an impending tsunami is upon us. Finally got around to packing clothes, grabbed some food out of the freezer, threw every nonperishable I could find into bags, got flashlights, batteries, water, my UH dissertation stuff and a case of beer. All set, now just need to wake up the little one. I thought waking Makaela would be tough, but she got up and when I told her who we were going to see, she said "oh, I want to party"- atta girl!

The party consisted of 10 adults, 4 toddlers under the age of 3, 4 rambunctious dogs and lots of great food. While the kids played, the adults were glued to the oh-so-captivating news cast of Hilo Bay, waiting, and waiting, and waiting (well you get the picture) for something to happen. The weatherman was hysterical and should probably get a job in a soap opera or a Lifetime movie- everything was so dramatic. Oh well, they need their ratings regardless of how anti-climatic the tsunami was.

When we were in the clear, we packed up and headed home for a 4 hour nap. We were exhausted from the stress, but learned a few lessons:

1- Need to convert our old photos to digital versions

2-Bringing research articles to a tsumani party is a waste of time

3-I'm pretty good at packing for natural disasters (still amazed that I had water and batteries)

4-In times of crisis, one 2 cans of SPAM per person are allowed

5-Hawaii is really good at following crisis directions- overall a great job by the state

and

6-It's great to have such good friends to wait out in impending disaster with.

2nd haircut

Kaela doesn't have that much hair, but unfortunately, she inherited my hair- wacky curls that go wherever they want to. In the morning, I try what I can to smooth them down and capture them in a clips, but she rips any ponytail or clip I put in her hair out only hours after. So, today, I picked her up from daycare and her hair was more wild than ever. I got her home and Matt looks at me and says, "We need to do something about this", almost like it was a medical condition of some sort. So, we all hopped in the car and headed to Fantastic Sams. We had no time to head to the kiddie salon- she needed serious help and fast. Luckily, she was really well behaved (we were prepared for water works). The stylist gave her a small trim (remember, she doesn't have that much hair to start with), and layered the back of her hair to give her curls someplace to go.

Daycare Graduation

Today was Makaela's last day at the daycare she has been going to for 2 1/2 years. It was a bittersweet day. On one hand, we are excited to get Makaela into preschool and interacting with more kids her own age, but on the other hand, Leanda (her daycare provider) has been so good to Makaela, it's hard to leave. As we were driving away, Makaela said, "I want auntie". Especially in the past few months, Makaela has been learning so much at Leanda's, the growth has been amazing. Makaela has learned how to draw straight lines (which take some practice with little toddler hands), learned how to hold scizzors and cut strips of paper, knows all her shapes, colors, numbers up to 20 (although she does love the #39- she can't count that high, but just likes the number, especially when used to get something "I want dirty-nine cookies mama") and has started writing her M's. I can't believe she is ready for preschool. I am in awe of how fast she is growing and even as I celebrate her writing an M, I know that the years will fly by before I find myself celebrating her first research paper grade.

Bed buddy

Bailey has gotten into a routine every morning. After we wake up, I find him outside Makaela's room, waiting to wake her up. He seems to get a lot of joy in doing that. This morning, I didn't find him outside her room, but when I peeked in, I found that he was actually up in bed with her and was gently rubbing up against her to wake her up. Usually she is terrible to wake up (lots of groaning, rolling around, diving back into the pillow- just like Mom), but this morning she woke up with a smile on her face and I heard her say, "Morning Bailey...love you, mwa" and planted a big one on his nose. When she looked over and saw me, she said, "Bailey silly". It was such a great moment. She was pleasant all morning. Guess she woke up on the right side of the bed and Bailey has a new morning chore.

Tonight when I put her to bed, Bailey was right next to her again and stayed there with her for a good 15 minutes or so. Who needs teddy bears when you have a fluffy white dog?

Daddy- Fix it!

Today Makaela and I were trying to get to daycare and work when I realized that my car wouldn't start. The battery has been getting weaker so I figured it was that. Immediately Makaela was going, "Waz wrong mama? Waz wrong?" I told her the car wouldn't start and that we were going to have to go wake up Matt. Makaela walks in the house, stamps upstair in a huff and says very nonchalantly, "Dada, car bro-ten. You come fix...NOW". Don't know where she got the idea Matt was a mechanic, but basically she gave him his "honey do" list today.

earrings

Makaela lost one of earring this past weekend. Her Aunt Debbie bought them for her when she first got her ears pierced at 3 months. She was a bit upset about the missing earring and talked about it all day. I told her that I would let her borrow a pair of my earrings. She was so excited to dig through my jewelry box. We picked out a pair and for the remainder of the night, I kept catching Makaela staring at herself in the mirror and each time I asked her what she was up to, she told me, "pity fincess earrings". Crazy that I'm not a jewelry person, but I get a daughter who is all about the bling :-)

Makaela the first day she got her ears pierced. Mom and Dad went out for a night in Vegas and the grandmas got her all dolled up.