Giddy Up Pupukea style

The girls like the horses around here, just a bit. : ) Actually we have horse pastures everywhere we look around the North Shore and often have riders trot by the house so the kids can wave from our fence. These were taken at our friend's house in Pupukea. Thanks Nakelli!

We love our school!

Our Big Girl has been going and loving her school for the past 6 months. Her school is an amazing environmentally conscience indoor and outdoor pre-school. Jacque teaches her students as humans with value and purpose and offers many opportunities for her. Little talks about going to Aunty's school when she's "Free" aka three.  She is learning far more than just shapes and colors and we all are so happy to be apart of the Nursery Garden Family. Here are some pictures of a day in the life that her teacher and dear friend Aunty Jacque took of her and the class. Enjoy!

Sewing their own finger puppets.

Going through compost.

Searching for morning snack with Uncle and Grandpa John. 

No more snaggle

HIs third tooth lost and first top tooth. We encouraged many different techniques to get it out, even Quin thought of the apple trick (she saw him try that over the weekend) At last the tooth came out, then showed it to the girls. As you can see Little doesn't want to lose a tooth anytime soon.

A red dresser

The picture above has been an inspiration room for me for years. We tried to bring these colors into our home as well. With the manual help of my sister, I picked up a dresser from Craigslist that we put in the house last night. When we opened the paint it looked fuchsia, like Barbie pink. We just kept out loud reassuring ourselves it would change to the color on the top of the can. Eventually I confessed it looked like something in a brothel and Richard said he was thinking the exact same thing!

All we did was add some no-voc Olympia paint and it looks like a custom piece. It was important for us to still see the age and detail of the grain so we used a painting style which is uneven and light. I still need to touch up the bottom corner, it had several layers of white paint on it. I took one of our white chairs from the bedroom and place it next to it for additional seating. Such an easy and inexpensive way to revamp a room. Below is the Craigslist add photo and through our process.

HAL and AL

This weekend we laid low and celebrated Our Boy's birthday and Alyssa almost turning twenty tomorrow! Having a seven year old doesn't make me feel as old as my sister starting her twenties. Being around my son everyday allows it to be a natural process for me to see him getting older but for my sister I can imagine her watching Rugrats with her pigtails. It's almost like I want to keep checking the math and thinking I'm miscalculating. But the math is correct, if I had any doubts these little people I love are not so little anymore I needed this weekend to confirm it.

We played all day with the kids favorite Syssa. She re-assured me she is exhausted after every trip to the North Shore. Alyssa had a long day and passed out of the temporary couch/outdoor cushions on the floor mid day. We decided the photo looks somewhat like a crime scene, but no joke this was exactly how she fell asleep.

Seven Already?

All this Valentines I smiled to myself, not for reasons everyone else was. Not because I was brought flowers, not because of a romantic note, because I was reflecting on the last day I was pregnant with my son. We had only been married 2 months and I was doing laundry and snacking on intensely delicious garlic rolls from a local italian restaurant. Then while Richard was upstairs playing guitar and my mother in law and her current fiance were more than likely watching the show 24 in the room next to me my water breaks. I calmly and casually walked upstairs with a towel over my jeans and told Richard I was in labor. I was two weeks early, and it was Valentines 2005.

The next morning our son was born. Seven yeas later our boy is here and bursting with life everyday since he's been created. I love him, I'm so thankful for him. I am a mother to a beautiful son, a beautiful boy. Yesterday, Richard and I were able to celebrate becoming parents again, this time with our seven year old! We baked "Dirt Cupcakes" picture below he is with his amazing teacher and family friend. He also got his 3DS but is still working to pay it off with field work on the pineapple plantation... kidding, just chores. Also Little loves cream cheese lately and Big Girl doesn't love wearing shirts.

Being a voice that is heard

You might know I have a love for many things. Two of those things, people and talking with them. Everyone has energy, and I am somewhat of an open book. I see things in a black and white view most of the time, I want to find beauty in everything yet expect the truth of natural failure. In most situations I shy away from being shy. I think it's because I'm very interested and extremely observant. Through most of my life I've recalled being so into a conversation, you know one of those where you're looking away so you can recall what happened more accurately, making grand hand gestures, etc. Yes, I am one of those people.

My sister and I have a very similar voices. Richard can't tell who he's on the phone with, nor can our parents. Both of our parents have very animated voices that I recall listening to them go over a presentation. Our Dad likes to say we are good storytellers because we sing with our voices(talking). But despite my appealing way of telling a story I seem to lose people's interest even good old Dad. Because I am a person who sees in black and white and cannot deny the realness of what life shows you I have to assume the problems lies with me. Do I not have a voice that is heard, do I simply have a voice that just sings? Maybe, which leads me to a self challenge. Yes I'm one of those people who creates challenges for themselves for no reason (other than personal entertainment).

Look at that you are learning all sorts of things about me in this post and you get an old photo... shoot! : ) In all seriousness I have been invited to a Valentine's dinner tomorrow with some of our close friends and a clothing swap this Sunday with many women I don't know. More importantly these are all mom's that I will be around for many years to come. For that reason I want to change my approach and simply observe this week. Don't get me wrong I love the personality I have, it hasn't been a burden in my life.  Conversations tend to become a bit Courtney heavy when it comes to the vass knowledge being shared in social settings. I was actually told out of these friends we are having dinner with tomorrow I am known as "The Factual One".  It is good for the soul to have reflection of others more than yourself at times, let's do some reflecting.

For all you fashionistas, look out

The girls decided to surprise us again with their outfits and pick up there brother in these attires today. Sunset Beach Elementary students, faculty and parents you are welcome. It's Friday, and we are in weekend wear. Because it's a Saturday we'll be at the baseball field in the morning, sleep in for us will you? Happy weekend everyone!

                                   I had to come to a happy medium with them so...

we kept the patch and the cowgirl/sombrero hat in the car. ; )

Sun Burn Weekend

We had our first experience with Coach Pitch Baseball this morning, and boy was it... new. Of course the boys had a blast, cheering, playing, drinking Capri Suns like there was no tomorrow and getting more sun than we planned. We were there from 8:20 am to 12:00 pm and it was a hot day. Thankfully we had a beautiful view and the beach was footsteps behind us so we played in the water when the girls were getting bored. Alyssa came out early just to cheer The Boy on, it was so nice to have her support. Richard stepped in as first base coach, which was adorable to see him giving the boys tips and high fives when they got to the plate. They won there game but it really didn't matter as long as he got a Capri Sun and was allowed to play on the tree stump he was a happy boy.

I also went out last Thursday for a girls night with Corinne, Marissa, and Christine. It was so needed. But as you can see in the picture of the babes from earlier that day I got a lot of sun.Too much actually, I need to find a daily moisturizer that is at least a 40 for my face. For reals. Corinne's daughter and Little are the last on the right. So glad to have such a good friend to spend time with.