Shut the front door

I'm not sure where kids learn it but after the age of 2 they all freak out when anyone says "shut up". Someone is teaching them this and it certainly wasn't me. Not that I condone it, but come on, it's the least insulting S word I can't think of.

I never told my girls it was a bad word, and I have never used it towards them, but that doesn't stop them from verbally reprimanding me when I bust out a Cali girl-esque "shut up!!". I immediately have to apologize and pinky promise to never say it again. I always say it again. And they never miss a slip up.

It's getting old.

Dang kids watch me like a hawk.

Yesterday, the girls were watching some cartoon while I zoned out on the couch in a magical world of werewolves courtesy of some smut novel I am currently reading.

Mother-of-the-year I know.

One character shouted for someone to "shut up" and of course the girls freaked out.

B: "Mom!!! She said shut up!"

A: "Momma!!! She's a bad girl! She said shut up!"

Me: "Ok girls. She's bad. Life will go on."

B: "Yeah Alex, it's ok."

A: "No! It's a BAD word!"

B: "But it's only bad sometimes."

A: "Yeah, like, Mommys can say it. But you can't Beau. And I can't say it eiber (either).

B: (giggling) "Yeah cause Mom says it all the time."

A: (giggling) "Yeah. She's a stinker. Daddy should spank her."

B: "Yeah. Daddy saids mom likes spankings"

Me: "Ok! Who wants a Popsicle?!"



I really should stop saying "shut up".

Ahh Spring Break

The sun is shining.

Temperature is perfect.

Sitting by the side of the pool with my kindle while Beau is kicking butt at swim lessons.

Pretty much perfect.

Barnes, Noble and Me

Hubster gave me a few hours to myself and I did something I haven't been able to do in YEARS.


Went to the bookstore by myself!


It may not sound like much but I can't really remember the last time I got to just peruse the aisles. The pleasure I get from an unhurried trip; flipping through the crisp clean pages, judging books by their covers, cracking bindings for the first time (robbing their future owners from that privilege but I can't help myself) is an often underrated delight.


I found several new books that I will buy on my kindle, a new beach/bathtub book and this little beauty

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship :)


Also I am dying to read Mindy Kalings book "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?", because I heart her and her weird sense of humor.  I think we would be friends.  And not in that weird "I'm an obsessive fan and just know if she would give me a chance it would be cosmic" way, but in that actual "she reminds me of my real friends and it really would be cosmic" way.  There is a difference.




P.S.  Funny little anecdote, I was perusing the discount paperbacks and without really paying attention I started straightening a stack so that all the bindings were in perfect alignment. It wasn't until they were exactly perfect that I took a moment to look at the book.

Well played B&N book stacker who obviously had an agenda when stacking these particular books in such a haphazard way, well played.

Whale Watching Catamaran Cruise

We had an adventure of a lifetime!  I had bought these tickets on Living Social for a sunset cruise on the north shore way back in July.  Fast forward to February and the tickets are about to expire!  Well I am so glad we waited as long as we did because had we gone in July it would have been a completely different cruise.

We got to see whales!!!  When I went on the shark dive I got to see the back of 2 whales but they were very far away.  Not the case this day, we saw dozens!!!  The closest ones were just 30 yards or so away!!

Posing before the cruise

Aww, aren't we adorable :)

 The captain let Beau and Ali help "steer"

Sitting on daddy shoulder

Beau was looking for whales

Managed to catch one on film!

The sunset was amazing

Its safe to say Beau had a fabulous time!

Alex found the snacks

But we didn't just see them, we got to listen to them too!  The captain had a nifty microphone that he placed in the water and we listened for about 10 minutes to the amazing sounds they make.  Here's a video :)

The Whales migrate down here every winter to have their adorable babies, its estimated that close to 30,000 make Hawaii home over the winter months!  You would think with those numbers I wouldn't feel so special getting to see a few...you would be wrong!  It was amazing!

Once the sun set we brought the girls in and the captain turned on the "super duper bright red light" (that's a quote from Beau, not the captain)

Heres a special little clip of our awesome captain blowing the conch shell.

Trip of a lifetime!

Just the 3 of us...

Sam had to go on a last minute trip for the week so it is just the 3 girls!

When my whole family is together its hard to find the time to keep this blog updated...but when the hubby is away I have no one to talk to after the girls go to bed, perfect opportunity to keep family, friends and Sam updated.

Today the girls let me sleep in (wonderful gift since we were out late for St. Patty's day last night), but we were up and running in time to watch Daddy's plane taxi away by 9.  I like to treat the girls (and myself) a bit when Sam leaves so we went out to breakfast at a restaurant here on base.  Its just a grille with not great food but the location is awesome.

You can't tell from this picture since that dang sun is always out in Hawaii ruining my pictures ;), but the ocean is right over that grass hill.

Then we fed the fish and waited until it was time for our photo session with a new photographer I found here.  While feeding the fish I received an email that the photog had to cancel because she was sick (sounds to me like she had a case of the "I partied too hard for St. Patty's Day and now I have a hangover".

The girls were already dressed pretty so I decided to take the photos myself :)

Here are a few of my favorites, though these have yet to be photoshopped so they aren't great yet.

Alex is running after the plane saying "that's daddys plane"...its a Hawaiian Airlines jet...I'm sure daddy wishes it was his plane sweetheart.

Hurry home babe :)

I took January off, so sue me.

I know its been over a month since I last updated but I really have been spending all my extra time with my family.  After updating 28 times in the month of december I thought I deserved a month off :)

Here's what you missed...

Dec 31st-Jan 1st - Sam and I attended a New Years Eve Party with a - wait for it... 80's Aerobics Instructor Theme!  And Yes we both dressed up.  Sam rolled his shorts up super high, wore a tank top, pulled his socks up to his knees, rocked some high tops and completed the ensemble with a sweat band on his head.  It was awesome, no I don't have pics and yes I have kicked myself daily for that.  I wore leggings with puffy slouch socks, my bathing suit bottoms over the leggings, a short off the shoulder shirt, with suspenders, a high side braid and sweat band on my head.

I'd like to think we looked like Jane Fonda and Lyle Alzado, but I'm sure we looked more like Richard Simmons and who ever this chick is.  We had a fabulous time and that's all that matters :)

January 8th-9th - Sam took his CrossFit Certification class and passed.  He is now officially allowed to say, "Trust me, I know what I'm talking about".  We are so proud of him and he is quite proud of himself :)  Plus his picture was up on the main crossfit website so he was a bit of a celebrity amongst his fellow box heads.  That's what I'm calling them since a crossfit gym is called a "box" and the "box" occupies 82% of their thoughts.  He is well on his way to retiring and becoming an instructor and eventually opening his own box.

January 22nd - I swam with the sharks!!!  It was fabulous!  The spouses in Sams squadron try to get together once a month and it was my turn to plan an outing, I chose swimming with sharks :)  Unfortunately it was January on the North Shore of Hawaii and thats when the waves are particularly large, the boat ride was an interesting adventure.  After we got out of the shark cage 2 ladies puked off the side of the boat, 1 tried her hardest to keep it down and 1 other just felt a little nauseous.  I'm proud to say another lady and I were fine.  It was sooo fun and I highly recommend!  I thought it would be scary but it really wasnt.  In fact, I wish it had been just a *little scary.

January 31st - Sam and I celebrated 8 years of marriage!  Since we try and eat healthy most of the time our big splurge was pizza and ice cream...ok and some chips.   ... and candy.   ....   and cookies too.  Are you happy?!  We didnt want to get a babysitter so we just stayed home with our smorgasbord and watched Moneyball.  I was a fabulous way to celebrate!

The girls were adorable as always!  Its best to show that in photos so I will follow this up with some from my phone (that seems to be how I take most of my pictures now)...but Ali is holding it hostage until I pour her some milk so that will be coming soon.

Thanks for still checking in

Watching Daddy Leave

Daddy was taxiing away from his parking spot at 7pm so I ran the girls outside before scooting them off to bed. Gotta love living on base, we just had to walk across the street!

Aww, let's pretend I didn't have to force them to stand like this. 

They waved goodbye and shouted things like...
"I love you Daddy"-Beau
"I wuv you Danny"-Ali

and...

"Be safe"-Beau
"Don't be safe"-Ali
"No Alex! BE safe!"- Beau
"Ouch! DON HIT ME"-Ali


 It was bed time after all.

Have a fun weekend in Alaska babe! Muah! 

 - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam

Day 13

Buy a Present for Someone!

Time to get in the spirit of giving!  We made a trip to the store for them both to pick out a gift for another kid.  It was very important that they didnt get anything for themselves on this trip and they did great!  I think they had more fun hanging out in the toy aisle than anything else (since they had to test everything before deciding)

Beau picked out a Book :)  "Oh Say Can You Say" by Dr. Seuss!  This really surprised me.  I thought for sure she would pick out a bike or something insane and I would be telling her no for 2 hours.

Alex picked out a doll that giggles :)  But it was on sale so I was stoked, until trying to get it to the car and realizing it had a motion sensor and it giggled the whole way to the car and over every bump home.



No pictures of this, trying to control 2 kids in the toy aisle was all my two hands could handle :)

I'll post a cute video for you though!

Day 12

Write a Letter to Santa!

This was far more entertaining than I thought it would be.  I pictured the girls naming off a few cute things like, a doll, or a new dress, and writing a few pictures or words on paper and we would send it off to the north pole...I ended up with the craziest list ever and they didnt want to mail it!  (I'm still going to try to convince them to mail it.)

Beau's List:

Christmas Toothbrush

New Clock That She Can Read Better "because this clock has a little hand and a big hand and its just a little bit easier for me with just numbers, like I can say 4 and 2 and 7."

Elevator Coffee (WTH is elevator coffee you may be asking, we have NO idea)

Mommy To Just Drive Faster Like Daddy

A Red Race Car So She Can Go Faster To See Her Friends "and it has 3 keys!" (I MAY have given her this idea since that MAY be what she's getting :))

Some New Movies

Alex's List:

Boots

Pants

A Super New Car ( as opposed to just a new car, it has to be super new )

Cookies

Marshmallows

Pants

A PackPack 

Milk

Daddy's List:

New Drivers

A Rescue Hybrid (some golf thing)

52 degree Lob Wedge (some other golf thing)

A Grid Foam Roller (some crossfit thing)

A Flying Dragon-Silver (because flying planes for a living isnt enough) Beau immediately wanted to add this to her list but Daddy explained that we dont have room for 2 dragons...yes because SPACE is the reason she wont be getting one for christmas)

A New Goalie Jersey (Alex now wants a Goat Jerfey too)

They may all be a little crazy but at least my family is fun!

Day 11

Eat Christmas Popcorn and Watch a Christmas Movie!


The girls LOVE popcorn and I just wanted to sit down and relax after the previous days 2 parties we attended.  Daddy had a soccer game that morning, so being a good wife and daughters we cheered loudly from our blanket on the grass.  BTW, he won the game so now we are on to the finals!!!  After a full day at the park the evening was all about pjs and a movie.

I popped some popcorn in my beloved whirly pop (no microwave popcorn in this house!) and made it special by adding red and green M&M's.  I have to say it was fantastic!  The light butter, light salt and warm chocolate M&M's was just the after dinner treat we needed :)

We cuddled up on the couch with our 4 bowls and watched Santa Claus is Coming to Town!  Daddy's favorite :)


And the fabulous day ended in this...

O.M.G. I love them!

Makapuu Lighthouse hike--FAIL

I have started enforcing M.andatory F.amily F.un D.ays in my house.  My master plan is to venture out on a hike or walk or exploration to a new spot on the island every weekend.  What better way to get the most out of our time here and catch all the best spots.

Well 3 weeks ago we tried start MFFD by taking the girls on their first hike.  I scoped out a location that sounded great.  Makapuu Lighthouse Hike is a costal trek along a paved road with breathtaking views of both the south and north shores.  It ends at the Makapuu Lighthouse with cool coastal breezes to cool off your 1 1/2 mile hike.  It didnt sound too steep so I thought the girls would have no problem keeping up.  So off we went.

We woke the girls early so we could get there and start before it got too hot.  Not a great idea, they both woke grumpy but we decided to go anyway.  Mommy packed a light snack for the hike but in my excitement to leave the house didnt really feed anyone before we left, I just rushed them out the door.  Again, not a great idea.  I have been a mother to Beau for over 4 years, a mother to Alex for 2 1/2 years and a wife to Sam for 8 years . . . I should know by now that these people need to eat.  We didn't even make it out the driveway before the whining and crying started, by the time we pulled into the parking lot a temper tantrum was in full swing . . . and that was just Sam.

What would a normal person do at this point?  Probably just go and get some food, and put everyone back to sleep.

What would a crazy "I've already planned this day out and turning around isn't on the itinerary"person, do? That's right I pushed everyone up that hill.  Well, metaphorically.  In actuality I bribed with promises of food and ice cream.  Alex, isn't quite old enough for bribes, she is more of an instant gratification kind of girl, so she wasn't having any of it.  I pulled out and quickly ran out of the snack I packed.  What was I thinking with 2 string cheeses, 2 mandarin oranges, apple slices and handful of almonds I packed, Beau uses that as an appetizer most days.  Once I ran out of food Alex plopped herself down and refused to budge.  We may or may not have actually dragged her up parts of that hill.

When were weren't dragging her or carrying her she was dragging her own feet a good 20 feet behind us.

We reached the 1/2 mile point after about 35 minutes, gallons of tears and snot had been shed, yet still I pressed on.  I calmed the girls with a plaque of whales since we had reached a prime whale watching site, and we rested.  I managed to snap a few deceivingly calm pics.

The girls taking in the view

The waves crashing below

But all too quickly Alex got bored of looking at the amazingly beautiful view and protested that she was going home and headed back down the mountain.

Daddy, who was tired, hungry and grumpy himself had had enough, he finally flung alex over his shoulder and headed back to the car.  I realized he had the keys and just might leave me there, so I grabbed Beaus hand and tried to keep up.  After about 1/4 mile he slowed down to wait for us.  He had somehow managed to calm Ali and they both seemed to be in a better mood.  

We made it to the car together, left together and ate breakfast and ice cream together.  It was a colossal failure as far as the hike was concerned but Mandatory Family Fun Day had a new rule: Eat Breakfast together after a well rested nights sleep.

Stay Tuned:  Makapuu Lighthouse Hike Part II, did we make it to the top???

Beauism of the week

There is an epic game of tug of war going on in my house right now.

My oldest firecracker has declared war with Daddy over a stick.  

Daddy isn't aware the situation has escalated from playful keep away to full on war because, even though Beau is pulling with all her might, Daddy is absently holding the stick with one hand while also watching TV.

Her grip is weakening and her strength is faltering.  She knows the end is near.  She looks him in the eye and through gritted teeth she summons the remainder of her strength to utter a single threat...

"I get stronger everyday.  And I get older every year"

Well, she's not wrong.

Swim Lessons

Beau just finished swim lessons.  These were her first set without me being in the water with her.  The first day it wasn't looking so good.   All the other kids in her class were so much more confident in the water and my little munchkins was like a sucker fish, stuck to the wall or the instructor.

She was so tense her shoulders didnt even get wet the first day.  But she still kept that big smile.

Ali was a trooper, she just sat there feeding the birds her snack and waited for the lessons to end.  How cute is this kid?

After the end of the 2 weeks she was a completely different kid in the water.  She went from too afraid to put her face in the water, to diving in to see how long she can hold her breath.  I was so impressed.

Here she is floating, the first day she never relaxed enough to float and here she was putting her head all the way back and floating.

At the end of the first week they let them go down the slide and caught them at the bottom.  Beau was too afraid to even go down.  One week later she was begging to go down the slide and had NO FEAR.  

Of course she still needs to work on some things, like keeping her head above water.

And that is how Beau tried to drown herself.

Beau-ism of the week

Putting the girls to bed is never an easy task.  Some nights it takes a few minutes, others it takes about 20, but it never happens without one of them at least pouting about it.  Tonight was no different.

Beau was having a particularly bad day.  She received her 4 year shots in the morning (4 of them!), didn't take a nap so I could cuddle her while she regaled me with every horrifying detail of the experience (even though I was there the whole time), then her big toe nail lost a battle to the vacuum (resulting in a blood gushing few moments).  Like I said, she was having a particularly bad day.

When bed time came she made sure that everyone knew she was NOT happy about it.  After a few minutes of crying and whining I had had enough and told her simply "you have to go to bed because I am your mommy and I said its bed time.  I don't want to hear another word from you about it."

Well, she is a 4 year old so of course she cant just stop there.

She wiped her tears off her cheek, sat tall and said,

"Mom, you better stop talkin to me like that.  Some day I will gonna be bigger than you and you will cry"

Then she laid down with her back to me.

Rootin Tootin Indeed.

A few weeks before her birthday I asked B what kind of a party she wanted.  She thought about it for a while, threw out a few ideas, squashed a few ideas, and got really excited for a Jessie from Toy Story 2 & 3 theme.  Well, I may have been the one who got really excited, but she was totally on board.

Jessie is a cowgirl who wears cow print chaps, the possibilities are endless.  So a country theme it is!  I started scouring the internet for ideas, and thanks to my new obsession, Pinterest, found oodles of them.  

Sorry these pics are in a weird order, I cant be bothered to change it now.

The Star of the Party

I made this cake myself and got so many compliments.  In all honesty it was the easiest cake I have ever made.  In an attempt to make things a little easier I just used a box cake mix with store bought icing, pre-made fondant that I dyed black, Beau already had the Jessie and Bullseye Characters and the "rope" is tootsie rolls that I rolled, twisted and used to cover my sloppy icing job.  But it tasted great and I was really happy with the end result.

 The flatware

The colors were black and white (for the cow hide chaps she wears), red (for her hat) and yellow (for her shirt).  I loved the bandana print napkins I found.

The appetizers 

Veggie tray with ranch, BBQ meatballs, and chips and salsa (because Sam is incapable of having people over with out chip and salsa out.  It didn't go with my theme but I decided Daddy could make one decision).

I neglected to get a picture of the main meal but it was...

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Coleslaw

Cornbread Muffins

Watermelon

Applesauce

 The Dessert Table

Jessie and Bullseye Cake

S'more Pops

Jessie's Hat Cookies

 The Goodie Bag Table

The goody bags were filled with 

Toy story fruit snacks

Water Guns

Parachuting GI Joes (from Toy story)

Plus kid cowboy hats and bandanas

PS, notice my new chalkboard that I made!

 Beau's life in Pictures

I loved this idea, pictures of the birthday girl from birth to 4 years.  It was super hard to pic what pictures made the cut but it may have been my favorite part of the party.  The twine and clothespins added to the theme (thanks for the idea Karly!)

 The Watering Hole

I covered my buffet with craft paper, used bandanas, and the barn door effect was a cheap plastic table cloth.

 Happy Birthday Beau

It was handmade (obviously) but seeing the look on Beau's face when I told her what it said and I that I made it for her was worth the paper cuts.

Ribbon was the perfect addition to the drink labels.

 The Giddy-Up Tea

Sweet Tea flavored Vodka with Lemonade.  It was a crowd pleaser.

 Mason Jars

Whats not to love about Mason Jars???

"The Bawoons" 

I knew we HAD to have cow print balloons.  The kids all loved them!

There it is.  Beau's Rootin Tootin 4th Birthday was a huge success and everyone had a great time.  I had a blast decorating and being crafty and Beau made all the hard work worth it when she gasped, held her face, and said 

"Mommy is this for my birthday?!  Oh, you make me so happy!"

I love you Baby Girl!  Don't grow up any more, ok?