Halloween 2011

My entire team got into the spirit of Halloween today for our students. We all dressed up as puns, literary characters or idioms and the kids had to guess what we were. We got pretty clever. We had two costume changes and some examples were Russ taping a quarter on his back (Quarterback), Trish dressing in black with a stamp on her (blackmail), Terry's shirt that had ears sewn on it (I'm all ears), Desiree with hair coming out of her tank top and wearing a flower pot on her head (Harry Potter) and me wearing peppers on my shirt (Dr. Pepper). No one guess that costume, but they did my first costume. I wore a pig mask Makaela had made in school and wrapped myself in a blanket (Pig in a Blanket).

After school I got the girls dressed (Makaela was Rapunzel and Mia was a ladybug) and we headed over to the Weidas for the second annual Treat or Treating Gala. This year our group grew considerably with the addition of the 2010 babies.

 Some costumes were shared so we had a replay of the Little Mermaid, the Strawberry Fairy, and the Ladybug and all the kids looked adorable. This year the parents didn't dress up, but we were pretty busy chasing after little ones.The kids really were lazy trick or treaters. They rode most of the way in the wagons and it was more of a work out for the parents. Mia got the royal treatment the entire time (of course she can't walk so we had no choice :-)

Our entire gang

Fall Festival at the Park

A new park opened up recently, but they just added a dog park (just in time for us to move...great), so they had an animal themed fall festival. Makaela got to ride the pony, pet goats, a pig, rabbits and bounce in the bouncy house with her friends. It was nice to get out for a bit and have some adult conversation too.

Makaela in the mini petting zoo



Makaela looked a bit unsure getting on the pony

But she warmed up really quickly

Need Some Prayers

A friend of mine is very sick. She is one of my best friends and perhaps my "oldest" friendship. Caroline and I have been friends since before I can remember. Our moms used to bowl together so by age 2, we were meeting up at the bowling alley's babysitting room and soon after, her mom starting babysitting me. Her home was my second home, her family, my second family. Right now she is in a coma after suffering a cardiac arrest and it is very difficult to be so far away from her right now. She has an amazing little 3 year old daughter and for the past 36 hours, I have been praying that she will wake up fine and be reunited with her daughter and her family. It makes me realize how grateful I am for my family's health and realized how precious life is. Caroline is only 33 and she has so much more to experience. I'm not sure I could have been the person I am today if I hadn't had her in my life. Please say a prayer for her.

Here are some oldies, but goodies- This one is from a party we went to. The cardigan I was wearing was a "borrow" from her sister's closet (we were constantly getting into trouble from "borrowing" from her sister's closet). This one was from our second skiing trip. We took the gondola up but didn't get off on the right stop so ended up on a black diamond. We had to shimmy down on our butts b/c we couldn't handle the slope. At one point the ice was so bad we started spinning (even though we were on our butts) and couldn't claw into the hill fast enough. Ski patrol helped us down, but we were already to a point that we didn't really need them. Just love Caroline's blue outfit . She was also in my wedding party, and really stepped up to do the maid of honor duties (my sister was only 16 and was sick the night of my wedding). Caroline carried my make-up, was constantly fixing my dress and even held up my dress when I needed to go to the bathroom (yes, TMI, but that was how close we are).

And here are our girls together:

Top Ten Reasons I Am Ready For Matt Hoffman to Be Home

I got to have a nice long Skype session with Matt today and found out he only has three more days in Iraq! Problem is, the closer we get to his homecoming, the longer the days seem to drag out. Meanwhile, I have come up with my top ten reasons why I am ready for Matt Hoffman to come home.

10-I want to be able to sleep past 5:30am at least once per month.
9- I want to be able to work on my own work (grading, lesson planning, research, etc) without feeling like I am neglecting my children.
8- I want to be able to close the door when using the bathroom.
7- I want to have a glass of wine (or 2) with my husband so I don't feel like a pathetic loser for having a glass by myself.
6- I want to be cook a meal for someone whose tastebuds extend beyond chicken nuggets and peas (well, at least I should be happy my kids eat peas).
5- I want someone to regard my chest for more than its nutritional value
4- Can't wait to pass off some of my role of exterminator and handyman- I will gladly resume my chef and maid roles as long as I don't have to deal with bugs or nails anymore.
3- So I can say "Tag- you're it" when Mia has a particularly foul diaper :-S
2- To resume date nights on the couch with brownie sundaes watching "Grey's"
1- So my girls can give their dad real kisses without a computer screen and 11,000 miles getting in the way.

Can't wait Matt!!

Uncle Mikey- Superhero

Makaela had a field trip today to the Kapolei Fire Station and I guess the teachers were prepping the students for the trip because this morning before going to school, she was telling me she didn't want to "stop, dop and roll" and kept repeating it over and over. She was also repeating, "Uncle Mikey- firefighter-superhero!!" It was so cute that I texted my brother, dad and mom this. Dad replied, "Did you video it?" At 6:30am, that was not going to happen, but I made it a point to videotape our conversation about the field trip when she got home.

Picnic Dinner at Ko'olina

Now that I'm officially done with my dissertation, I feel like I can actually do things again, so we met up with Katie and the kids for a picnic dinner at Ko'olina. We were a bit worried it was going to rain, but luckily, the rain stayed away so we could enjoy our night. It was kind of hard to wrangle the kids to eat an entire meal, but they had lots of fun running around (or in Mia's case, crawling around) which made the moms quite happy because that made bedtime that much more easy.

Zack was adorable with his sunglasses at dusk.

As we were leaving we got a glimpse at the new Disney hotel all lit up, but it was nothing compared to how beautiful the lagoon was. Made me think about how lucky I am to live here and how sad I am to be leaving.

Making the Most of Season Passes

Headed to the waterpark once again- I am determined to get my money's worth. Needless to say Makaela had a great time and Mia is getting a bit too brave. She kept crawling deeper and deeper and then looking all shocked when she was choking on water. Of course she looks adorable doing it though.
And of course, we got to hang out with our friends who always help make the day brighter.