Mommy Tips

Tip #1 When you are bored or tired of your kids fighting, help them each make a bag kite.
Yesterday, Aaron came home from school with this bag (plastic shopping bag like from walmart) decorated with stickers, tied to together with yarn wrapped around a popsicle stick. (His teachers told me he flew it all recess long). He thought it was the coolest and Ian of course wanted one. It was a five minute project that has given us hours of entertainment and not to mention exercise. It doesn't have to be a windy day because they think they have to run back and forth to make it fly anyway. My mom would say this is a great lesson for them on aerodynamics. I just like that I have to do very little.
Tip #2 Stairs are a means of punishment.
A mom of one of Aaron's schoolmates yelled at her 5 year old daughter "You'd better not do that or you'll be running stairs when you get home." This interested me so I inquired further and learned that her kids 5 and up run up and down the stairs when they get in trouble. Since this definitely would tire my kids out I am going to try it out and I'll update you on our success/failure.

Those are all the tips I have now, but when I come across any more interesting tidbits I will share and hope you will too!!

Vacation is Over

Well, vacation is officially over. As I look out my window at yet another snowstorm, I wonder...why did we come back? Oh, right, I really missed my kids. I would've updated sooner, but Lani is teething (she cut her first tooth the day before we left) and I've been up a lot and now we're sick with this head cold again. So, Hawaii was wonderful. As much as we missed the kids I was grateful they were in good hands (my parents' who spoiled them a ton) and they actually were fine without us. I wondered if Lani would cry a lot since she is basically always with me, but she didn't. My mom was with us for four days before we left to help with the change. Lani was really confused when I came home. It took her a few minutes to trust me again, I guess.

So, here's a visual recap:

The view from our room (the 19th floor) Lanikai Beach

Kayaking with my brothers at Kailua Beach Meeting my cousins at cousin Alette's

Polynesian Cultural Center Korean BBQ with family Back home

...too heavy... My kids

So, I have reconnected with my roots now and hope to go back again soon to build on my family ties. Little by little I am learning about where I am from and what that means to me now. I am happy to be home with my kids, but you would think I'd have more patience after a week off. That is just not the case:)

Sock Puppets

We got through Sunday morning Conference okay. Cars and Color Wonder entertained the boys and even Lani for a good portion of the morning. Light lunch and some time outside later, we started the afternoon session. I knew by then the boys needed some kind of structured activity (this usually occurs to me around mid-afternoon of a regular day when every other second fighting ensues). So, we decided to make sock puppets. It turned out really cute. We just used buttons and felt scraps and some old socks plus the glue gun. The funniest was when Ian wrapped two sock puppets up in a "blanket" (piece of scrap material) and put them over his shoulder to "pat" them to sleep. I wish I'd gotten that picture, but as quickly as it came, the moment was gone.

Lani Milestones

Lani is 9 months now and it's pretty exciting for us. About a week ago, Aaron taught her to say uh-oh. She has added that to her usual blabber. (She really likes her voice.) She is 18 lbs. 11 oz, 48 percentile, not overweight, but chunky for her shorter size, 26.5" (17 percentile). And, yesterday she started crawling. I knew it was going to happen anyday, so I was actually discouraging it, but little by little she figured it out. Time for the gate again. Of course her overprotective brothers are doing everything in their power to protect her, like scaring her with their yelling when she ventures anywhere near the stairs. Just thought you guys would enjoy a video of my baby girl crawling. Mema and Grandpa are going to have their hands full while Brad and I are in Hawaii:) Sorry-I've waited a week and this video would not upload. Good thing Brad was able to help me out. (He might have written that.)