- I cut my hair SHORT, very, very short. And cute. If I do say so myself.

- Went to Peru for vacation. very fun.

- Also went to Iquitos. more fun.

- We all got sick at different stages in the vacation to make it more fun.

- Did 3 days of laundry and putting away of laundry from vacation.

- Am still tired. I don't know why.

- Am SO glad it's friday since i just worked 3 days in a row. very long days.

- I am hitting a new challenging point with Diego. They come and go and each time I get frustrated with myself.

- Loved that every minute of everyday on vacation was spent with my boys. I miss that now that I am back to work.

- can only think in short bullet pointed sentences right now.

I'm listening to Eddie telling the boys "once upon a time" stories in bed. Only these "once upon a time" stories include aliens, arth Vader, Luke Skywalker. No mention of princess Leia. I cannot imagine him telling a story like this to a girl, you know a real one with the proper princesses and all.

A sweet moment to be remembered.

I was successful at baking/making cupcakes for the kids school valentine's parties tomorrow!!! Normally this ordeal starts with me having great ideas of some neat little treat to take, I bake it, it becomes a complete disaster and I throw it all in the trash, then get up extra early to stop at the grocery store on the way to school to bring a way better store bought treat. I've done AT LEAST four times now over the past few years. This year I did good. I BOUGHT cake mix, made it, made teeny tiny chocolate chip cupcakes, end of story. No fancy icing because I'm not allowed to bring icing (in other words the icing is usually the disastrous part). They hate icing and I can totally understand why. Anyways, the kids made their valentine cards, cupcakes made, laundry going , homework done, all is well in this house tonight. Oh and I ate about 10 miniature cupcakes, you know to make sure they didn't totally SUCK.

We had Diego's parent/teacher conference today. With his first REAL teacher since the teacher issues. She is still cold, and just hard to figure out. She had wonderful things to say about Diego which I knew she would because he just is a dreamy kid when he isn't home with me. He just likes to push my buttons and push me to the edge of me losing my patience. So he is at a 1st grade level for reading, but gets distracted easily by other kids being silly around him. He is really good at math, he loves numbers and math concepts. He just gets it. thankfully so, because I suck at math, so he got some math genes from Eddie. whew. He needs help with writing. He also need some more work with vowel sounds, long and short. He is OK, just not great.

He showed me around his classroom and his favorite centers, and did some of them with me, and I almost cried watching how smart and independent and how out in the big world he is without me. Good thing Eddie didn't go, he would have been a sobbing mess.

I didn't get to address some of the social issues he has with some of the other boys. I need to schedule a meeting with her especially for that when Diego isn't there to hear it. I did say a few things that he isn't quite sure yet how to stand up for himself to the other boys all the time and is working on it. I mostly wanted to hear her observations of what is really going on there.

i also asked for him to get a speech screening. After calling the lady twice and not getting a call back, I went down to the office and spoke to her in person.

We went to the Punahou Carnival. I can't believe I did that, It was such a nightmare. Truly a nightmare, very crowded, hot, and expensive. I dropped 50 $$ in 2 hours. On silly rides. I have never gone specifically for this reason, I don't DO crowds well, I am so paranoid that I'm going to lose a kid. But I did and NEVER AGAIN. At least I can say I did it once and tried it out, but waste of time, waste of money, we should have gone to the beach. Or Disney World!!!

I seem to be learning slowly the concept of when my kids hurt, I hurt worse. Or maybe it is just that this is something Mom's will always feel, its just how we deal with it. I want to do anything to make them feel better, even when they don't know why they are upset, I want to make it better. I DO realize though that it IS my job to teach them how to deal with it, and this is what I do. mostly. or sometimes. or depends on what the situation is.


I just don't like to see them let down by something/people/life. All I'm sayin' really is that I think I do the right thing most of the time, I just ALWAYS have a hurt deeper than they will know until they are parents.

Ah life. I am so blessed with two spectacular kids, they truly are a dream.

I'm back to having a serious dilemna with Diego's school. It all started out with the lack of a steady, real teacher for 5 months. they got a new one, she started in January when they went back to school, she is the daughter of the principal. I decided a steady teacher who was the principal's daughter was better than constant change of sub's so I gave her a chance. The impression I've gotten from her is that she is very COLD. I thought she was just maybe cold to parents and if she was NOT to the kids than that was ok. Turns out she's cold to the kids too. Like Diego says he is scared to ask her for help if he doesn't understand something.

I'm totally bummed. I don't really want to switch him now, but I do. I don't because he may run into the same trouble somewhere else, worse even maybe. Plus I don't like to bail on difficult situations, I like to make it better if I can first. So, I plan on meeting with the teacher sometime in the next week, so talk about what is going on, if in fact he is asking her for help and she is blowing him off. Also there are some pretty nasty bully's in his class and he has said he doesn't like to have to be around them all day.

I knew this was going to happen, I just wasn't ready for it, for my baby to have to go through this. He is such a good kid, I'm so happy with the way he has handled all the bullying and teacher stuff. He is such a responsible kid, and always does the right thing at school, when we are home??? different story, much different.


I've told him about 20 times now to "EAT YOUR DINNER".

I have committed myself to:

be thankful everyday for something, anything, but remember to be thankful

hug and kiss my little boys as much as they will let me.

snuggle with the little ones.

read more books to the little ones.

laugh everyday

take a nap every once in awhile, or as often as I get the opportunity to. I love naps.

surf more.

run more.

worry less about exercising and just do it for fun.

eat better.

feed my kids better food.

take my vitamins, give my kids their vitamins ( I ALWAYS forget this).

spend less time on the computer and more time reading books.

listen more.

be patient.

remember this list and refer to it often.

So, I'm not so sure where to start, and this will probably be all over the place, but I really need to get better at this and a jumbled start is better than no start so here it goes......


Christmas vacation in florida was wonderful, great, splendid, everything nice. the boys were super easy and nice to travel with, they were excited about it and I even found myself reading my own magazine on the airplane. that hasn't happened in oh..... EONS. Hanging with family was great, the kids loved it, Cho & Tami and kids arrived a few days after Christmas and we did Christmas all over with them. This is a good concept, Christmas just goes on and on, the kids were a fan. Diego learned to ride his bike without training wheels, got really confident on his bike. He lost his first tooth, (front bottom-for future mind blanks). Noah got some weird rashes and bites and what I think may have been impetigo. I got strep throat, took a trip to a urgent care that was so incredibly weird that I have no words to describe, I walked out after an hour and a half without antibiotics. I was saved my a nice Dr at my work who called in antibiotics for me.

Christmas- the kids were ecstatic that Santa found them in Florida and delivered their presents there. Noah was all about Wall E, Diego all about Bakugan and Transformers. Then we Netflixed a Star Wars movie, and now they are STAR WARS- light sabers are flying about the house knocking over things, occasionally hitting me square in the nose.

The kids didn't even speak to me for about 5 or 6 days while their cousins were at Nana & Pop-Pop's house. they were thrilled to be playing ALL DAY LONG. We did a lot of beaching, swimming in the pool, bike riding, canoeing, diego braved the tube. New year's eve we went down to the beach for fireworks, we did some sparklers and watched the big fireworks, we all just about froze to death, but had a good time in the end.

We are slowly getting back into our routine and schedule here. Diego starts school next week, Noah too. I start working tomorrow, I got an extra day off today. We are slightly off time zone and waking up at 3 am, today 6 am.

I have yet to write down some New Year's resolutions, but have thought of them, and will eventually write them down. One of them is STOP MAKING LISTS, I just lose them and don't usually accomplish them all. Yes, I am keeping my expectations of myself somewhat LOW, at first this seemed kinda bad to me, but hey it is something I can DO and LIVE WITH. I DO however have some expectations of myself that ARE high, or just somewhat high, something I can accomplish.

I hope this all makes sense beyond today, this moment when my mind is all over the place and in a time zone 5 hours ahead and still in vacation mode.

I haven't posted in oh, MONTHS and the best I can come up with is.....

DIEGO HAS HIS FIRST LOOSE TOOTH!!!! How exciting right??? Well it's ok, but to him it is the the most exciting thing. More exciting than the fact that we are leaving for a real Christmas vacation in 9 days. Or more exciting than, well nothing is really beating it right now.

Things have been good though, Diego is LOVING school now, he has had a whirlwind or substitute teachers, but he could care less he loves his friends there, he says he wants to go to school forever with them. Sure we've had some issues with a kindergarten bully, but it appears that has been handled by Diego who got tired of this kid hurting him daily and he punched him in the stomach. Yup, we told him to do it, we are good parents that way, and the school basically sucks that they still after 5 months haven't dealt with it. moving on.

We/ I kinda went half heartedly at the Christmas decoration 'round here since we are leaving the 17th and all, and was about to do NOTHING. BUT... the kids saw some house with a Christmas tree in it, and well, now we have a little, fake one up in the living room. We are also doing our usual traditions... Candy Cane Train, Honolulu City Lights/Hale, Gingerbread House making, and general good feelings around here. We started a new one, and Advent Calendar, made by us, everyday opening up a little stocking with a memory or treat in it. Diego also made a chain one at school he cuts off everyday, they love it, I think we'll keep that tradition for awhile. The Handprints too(for the Christmas skirt in case I forget some year). We are saving Christmas cookie making for nana and pop pops house though, so we can all get in on that fun, and someone else will be around to eat them and clean up the mess!!!

that's all I can do

First the cuteness: While having a 104 degree fever last night, Noah said to me: Mommy, I just really, really Like you. Yes, I really, really Like you too. I'm pretty sure he has an ear infection (oh yes, again) his ears are really, really red inside and he is complaining about them hurting. The Dr.'s office is also conveniently closed today.

It is 1:30 PM and I am still in my PJ's. I think the last time this happened I was like 9 months pregnant with Diego. I am in such a lazy mood, and it doesn't help that Noah kept me up all night with his sweetness and on fire fevers.

I have accomplished 2 loads of laundry, eating some icing off the chocolate cake that sits in the fridge eyeing me up with every opening, backed up the computer. accomplished.

loving these guys.







fixing up owies



watching this guy play soccer wondering how he got so big. so fast.

I can't believe it is already October, we are in full Halloween prep here, and gearing up for our big christmas vacation this year, so excited.

This LONG, LONG weekend was a total BOY, all boy weekend, and there was I stuck in the middle of it. First, yesterday the boys decided that they wanted to go to Makapuu to body surf. This is not your average shore break first of all, it is the kind that if you are lucky it just paralyzes you from the neck down, if you are not so lucky, well then you are not lucky to make it at all. In fact one time, the last time I had been there, I recall a man being pulled out of the water unconscious, and well he wasn't so lucky to just be paralyzed. So, my boys apparently like to go there, like they have been going there secretly with Eddie for months and "just playing" in the shore break. So, because I got guilted into it, I went and I bit all my nails off, and nearly peed my bathing suit bottoms (i also had to pee so bad and there was NO WAY I was going in the water. They DID only play in the very shore break, but still there were some moments when I was all prepared to just call 911 because there was no way I was going in the water. They actually were very safe and only went knee deep in the water and did not get carried out by the current, but I could deal with never having to watch that again. EVER. I told them maybe, MAYBE when they are 18 years old. maybe.

Today, we went surfing at Diamond Head, my pick. We all surfed, had a great time playing in the water, waves. Then...... a dead eel washed up. That was it. That was the most fun my 3 boys had all year I think. Carrying it around by a string tied to its razor sharp teeth. Then they got a great idea from Eddie to chase me with it, or sneak up on me with it. yeah, that was the next 2 hours worth of fun. gross. Then Noah decided he wanted to bring that stinky, slimy thing home with him and wouldn't let go of it, and was the most insistent I've ever seen him be about anything, over bringing that thing home.

I told them tonight at dinner that those 2 things were like going shopping with me ALL DAY while I go to every store and try on everything, then shop some more, then get my nails done all the while they were watching me very quietly and patiently. That what this weekend was like to me. jokingly of course, they are babies and they don't understand. Then I realized that in about 10 years, which will fly, I will be dropping them off at that scary beach and letting them hang out all day with their friends, and they won't want me to be around, not even from the top watching with binoculars peeing my pants.

Diego seems(?) to be having some trouble adjusting to Kindergarten. or what? i dunno. Kindergarten is the only reasonable thing I can think of. Since he started he starting peeing the bed at night, frequently, like 3 times a week. Also, and most annoyingly has been waking up 2-3 times at night, crying, asking if I'm still here, am I going to work today. He has never been a fan of me going to work, but it's not like he's not used to it. He seems to be stuck on the thing of, do I have to work or not. Who will take him to school. Will he see me in the morning before he goes to school(which is always of course not, I go to work too early).

I've asked him about school, he says he likes it, anytime I take him he is happy to go, happy when I pick him up, he likes all his friends at school, likes his teacher, likes being at school. Nobody is mean to him, I've asked. So what then? What is the problem? I don't know, but its driving me crazy. The kid seems to instinctually feel when I get up to get ready for work, so he can also get up to start crying about how much he is going to miss me. If that doesn't kill me, I don't know what would.

It's driving me crazy.

We (the boys and I) just had a great night, dinner with no fighting and watching WIPEOUT and laughing SO HARD.
We also had a nice afternoon at the beach after school, they had a melona bar to cool them off and we headed to the beach for a few hours. A perfect day.

Noah's baby ness is slipping away from me faster than I can handle. He now talks about "remember when I was little" and he will either make up a story or tell in his own words some story he has heard about him as a baby. He also tries to argue, or "discuss" with me, or rationalize things with me. Like "no, you can't have candy before dinner", well mommy IF I eat a little bit right now, then I can have candy, then I can eat real dinner later. Everything is LATER to that boy. It also works to my advantage, LATER we will go to the zoo, aquarium, beach, whatever just LATER.

He still has sweet, soft little skin though, and chubby, dimply hands. I will just hang on to that for now.

He LOVES just hanging out while Diego is in school, he never really had much of that one on one time, and he is taking full advantage of it now. the 2 days I'm off during the week, and Diego is at school, we go running and he thinks up all sorts of "good ideas" of what we can do. He is oh so sweet!!

Today was our second birthday party at Ice Palace, after the first one, I told Diego that "honey, I love you, but if we ever get invited to another party here, WE ARE NOT COMING". end of story. Only his second best friend in the whole world invited him to hers today. Thankfully I only got the invitation 2 days ago, so I only had 2 days to obsess and obsess about how awful today was going to be. I couldn't sleep last night thinking of the possible nightmare and all the "what -ifs" of today, like what if I couldn't find Diego in the see of little kids ice skating around with walkers, maybe I should dress him in a bright green outfit. What if some weirdo walked out with him, because there are a lot of weirdo's there and it seems to be a complete "free for all". What if someone sliced my toe off with their razor blade sharp ice skates.

Last time, Noah and I ate it HARD immediately, as soon as we stepped on the ice, me on my well padded butt, Noah straight on his face. So then I tried to carry his screaming, flailing body, which landed us.... back on my back on the ice. so we spent the next 3 hours watching Diego, oh and getting my foot sliced open, bleeding all over the place by an ice skate. Diego did a superb job of figuring those skates out, and was off. He loved it, every painful second of it.

So today, I went prepared with bandaids and ear plugs for Noah(he is so weird about loud noises). And Diego went SO excited and he had the time of his life. His old classmates from preschool were there, and they were just too cute for words, they were so excited to see each other and kept hugging each other and looking at each other as if they hadn't seen them in, oh 2 weeks. They just love each other, and the parents are all cool and fun to hang out with, the kids NEVER fight with each other and always have so much fun, I really miss them too.

Anyways back to the nightmare, I mean really what could possibly go wrong when you have 1000 kids in an arena with razor blades strapped to their feet? really, what could go wrong? well today, exactly NOTHING BUT FUN TIMES.

(but Diego will never be having his party there)

Yesterday Noah started a new class at his preschool, this is the class Diego had been in for 2 years, it is the "big boy" school. Noah has never in the year he has been going to Wesley been a lover of school, he has had the MOST patient, care and loving teachers, they are awesome, BUT he never would let us know that he actually didn't LOATHE going to school. We've been amping up this new class, saying all the cool things about that class, better toys, better playground, better bathrooms, and FIELD TRIPS on a SCHOOL BUS, a real SCHOOL BUS. He had one day up there in a combined class with Diego so he was well prepared. I was all ready to wake up yesterday to CONVINCE two kids that school is FUN and yes, they DO have to go. Well, yesterday morning Noah woke up, asked if he had Mrs. Jean and Christy school, yes he did, and boy was he on it. Got himself dressed in record time, no whining and complaining, no wardrobe issues about which shorts or shirt to wear cuz it is all that important to a 3 year old. He was ready with shoes on waiting at the door with his new lunch box and show and tell toy 30 minutes before we were ready to leave. Then he kept asking "time to go?"

He strutted himself into school, walked into his old classroom to say hi to his old teachers and gave them hugs, then was off to his new classroom.

I called them from work after he was done school and he told me in a very sad, sad voice that he DID NOT GO ON THE BIG SCHOOL BUS ON A FIELD TRIP TO THE ZOO. the horror. When he was done being mad at me, he told me he LOVED Mrs. Jean and Christy school because he got to use scissors.

Weird thing about Noah, he is very opposed to actually learning letters, he just jokes around when we try to identify letters. He knows his numbers though. I found this out while playing Uno with them the other night, he actually knew about 5 numbers- i know, i know he's a genius. But sadly enough, I have NO CLUE how he knows these numbers, I'm not the quizzing, flashcarding super mom, but yeah, he's not a total slacker!!!

So far Diego has come home from Kindergarten and puked and gotten a fever 3 days in a row. Hmmmm.
I took him to the Dr finally to check out his right ear which was draining some infectious looking fluid. He has a right ear infection, no the red , sore type, just a gross, nasty, icky, green drainage type, and also a virus that includes puking daily, coughing, fevers, and many hours of restless sleep at night. I thought he wasn't supposed to get ear infections with tubes. guess I'm wrong. Not a fun way to start off Kindergarten.

So today I sent my biggest baby off to kindergarten, off to the world. It seemed like he may as well have been going off to college! Diego did great, I love his school, love his teacher, his classmates are very cute. It was all anti-climatic though, we've been talking and talking and prepping for this day, and we walked him to his door, his teacher came out to get him and showed him where to go/do, we kissed him goodbye and that was IT. All that talk for that moment. He was feeling sick though poor little guy, on his very first day of big school, he has had fevers and coughing, so I loaded him up with all the medicine in the cabinet and sent him on his way to the big world of school. We all survived, he made it through without a fever ( until we got home, then he puked and got a fever) I'm also pretty sure he will not want to eat his favorite lunch anymore-corn dogs. I also made it through without stalking him in the cafeteria, walking to the playground, walking to his classroom - he's just a baby!!!!
here's how it went...

spending time with mom and dad who were visiting for 2 weeks.
lots and lots of beach time.
surfing with the kids.
surfing by myself.
watching sunsets and fireworks.
picnics.
camping.
BBQ's with family.
getting Diego ready for kindergarten-getting him up early and MOVING, he's a slow poke in the morning.
eating too much of the all the wrong foods. (I'm obviously not "cleansing" yet. I thought I'd get really junked up first!!!)
catching up with friends I didn't see much of or talk to much while parents were here.
doing house work again, mom did it ALL while she was here. YUCK.
trying to get back into shape, 2 weeks of pretty much not exercising created a bit of a problem, I'm paying dearly now.
working.


that pretty much sums it up. now for a few pics...

I believe I have hit a lull here, blog-wise.
what's new. Eddie is back, I feel bad for not missing him more (or even a little bit). It's good to have him back though.
Kids are well, no more sickies. Me too.
I'm back at work.
Little sister is here for the summer.
Parents are coming next week for a visit.
Summer is full of beaching and picnics, BBQ's and outside fun. This is kinda weird for me to say since it is ALWAYS summer here, but we are just inside a lot more in the winter due to windier weather, rain every once in a while, we Think the ocean water is cold, it gets dark by 5:30.
Totally Random:
I ordered my new camera, since I gave away my little P&S. I'm excited to get it and start playing around and taking pictures. I sent it to my Sis in law one month ago, I haven't been able to take a single photo, I think the kids are happy about it though.

Things are getting darn expensive 'round here, a neighbor island trip is as expensive as a quicky mainland trip to Cali. So no "mini vacations" this summer or EVER!!! Looking forward to Christmas though.

I'm seriously considering, well mostly decided to do a total body/mind/spirit cleanse (21 day cleanse Oprah did because well, I'm a copycat) I have already started to implement a few things and have noticed a difference in how I react to stress, and feel overall. I'm not looking forward to the dietary cleanse, not so much the food I will have to eat or not eat, but the exercise of will power to not eat sugar. I guess I will be cheating and not be doing a TOTAL cleanse since it bans caffeine, and well, I just don't exist without my caffeine to jolt me into alertness in the morning, but I will cut it down to 1 cup in the morning.