too cool for school...

angry birds fruit snacks and new sunnies from uncle t...

playing "busy town".  such a cool game!!!

who me?

playing "backgammon".  or her version!

reading with grammie...

the three of us...

my hibiscus!!  so pretty...

my gardenia have started blooming periodically!!!  love it!!!

father's day weekend.... a little late!

one of the "stand in dads"...  

letting the kids "decorate" them!

we went to see a movie...

kid couldn't get his popcorn in fast enough!!

my daddy and me.  so thankful for this man in my life!!!

playing "catch" with an egg...

the keiki...

we have been so blessed here by so many good friends and neighbors taking care of us!!!  

some new things...

chris watching daddy read a story...

brothers don't shake hands... brothers gotta hug!!!

riding the train at the mall....  they inherited their smiles from their daddy!

playing super heroes with a friend!

driving the neighbor's jeep.  and, yes, she's throwing a shaka!  my hawaiian girl!  oh, and puppy... stayed on his head the whole ride.  and in the bounce house.  all the moms were going nuts over it!!

my little boy is getting quite brave!  so proud of him!

new things...

a new haircut.  our pastor's wife kept asking to watch our kids.  so i let her, and tried out a new hair salon!  when i actually do it, i am loving it... (most days, it's up for boot camp or a run, and then i don't shower till the afternoon, and i am not necessarily going to see anyone, anyway!)

i SO WISH i could remember where i saw these printables.  if they are yours, or you know where, i want to give credit!  but, they are in the kids' bathroom!!!

studly jammies....

pipe cleaner fun... 

since my kids will invariably need glasses anyway!!!

fun with grammie...

i hope these are new pics, not repeats!  i finally connected my phone to the laptop, and these were all on the "new pictures" list...

had to take the car in today...  why does it always seem like it's an arm and a leg (and sometimes a right lung) to get it fixed?  so not a fan!!  but, there are worse things in life...

got the kids haircuts.  pictures to come.  it's sad that they know that i wait for "double stamp day".  cause, i'm thrifty like that...  double stamps for 50% off a haircut.  seriously?  can't even give me a WHOLE haircut?  but the kids like it!!  

life as we know it...

my sweet keiki...

james is getting to be quite the fish!  loving him!

check out the new toes... courtesy of my mother in law and the freedom i had to go get them done with c...

sweet girl...

ohh... all that sand!

that boy.  

look at him go!

and this one.  

he was not the fan!  but, he was such a good boy!

grammie and her grand-keiki!

so, a few links for you to check out!

traffic- in case you missed it...we have the worst traffic in the us.  yeah.  don't have to tell me twice!  but seriously, it's just like every other place.  it's busy, but you figure out how to manage.  but, i keep getting comments on it!

lanai- one of our islands was just bought... super interesting.  made the front page of our newspaper last week!  fun times.

it was an interesting weekend.  it was the first time since my birthday that we didn't have weekend plans.  and i was thankful for that.  but it lent itself to a longer weekend.  and me missing david more.  we had a pretty good weekend, but i felt like the kids and i weren't on the same page (meaning, i wanted obedience, and they wanted to be 3 and 4 years old...).

they were playing in the shower while i got ready.  i heard nora asking why jamey's lip was bleeding, but i hadn't heard anything happen.  i asked what happened, and they didn't know.  at church, i saw it looking a little big and bleedy.  i asked again (they were sitting in time out cause they hadn't obeyed there, either!), and jamey told me that nora put chapstick on him in the shower and it burned.

now, there is NO chapstick in the shower.  i use rosemary mint shampoo, so that might burn.  so i ask, what did you use?  umm... yeah.  my razor.  as chapstick.  and the nicks on his lip tell me it was the razor end.  sweeeeet.  (i don't remember what she was in time out for, he was in time out for pulling down his pants to show me his unders on the playground.  cause he was mad at me.  cause i told him he couldn't spit.  or something.)

i put my head in my hands, and felt like the best mom in the world.  (sense my sarcasm!?)

and wonderfully, someone came out, and asked me to share my testimony at our fellowship group this week.  it was so perfectly timed, because it totally redirected my focus.

we went out to lunch with some friends, whom i am really enjoying after church.  the beginning of a beautiful friendship!  and, someone else at church asked what they could come do for me at the house.  what guy stuff...  get a box from the attic, mow the lawn, do the things that david does.  i just wanted to cry.  and hug him!  again...  feeling so blessed!

surfing...

this boy was ALL about the body board the other day...  trying to ride some waves in... mostly on his tummy, but occasionally trying the standing position!

if he weren't so cute!!

playing with friends...

swinging my boy in the water!

yes, that is christopher "helping" grammie take the picture!!

my bathing beauty!

we spent today with our neighbors.  it was so much fun!  new girls moved in next door, and my kids love playing with them.  and the boy across the street.  we are having a blast!  there is a friend for everyone, and it feels like how it should be.  i totally remember just running up and down the street, playing with all the neighbors when i was growing up.  and hopefully, my kids will have that memory, too!  

whenever we pass one of the two houses now, my kids BEG to go play with the new friends.  and i am the worst mother in the world when i don't let them (because it's meal time/nap time/bed time..."

we are three months in to deployment now!  whoo too!  reaching the most time david and i have ever spent apart!  not sure why i put an exclamation point with that...  it's not exciting news...  anyway.  

upside down...

playing on the playground at church...

swinging.  

waiting for me to park the car!

silly faces...

who me??

kiddos...

nora told me today, after i said i felt bad about something, to "not be sad, God has a plan and will take care of me".  so sweet!!!  love that girl...

and later, she asked me if i had seen the movie, "pollyanna".  i told her i had.  my mom rented it for me when i was little.  she said, "you mean on the apple tv"?  nope... WAAAAYYYY before that sweet girl.  when we walked uphill both ways in the snow to school.  my poor child won't know what a movie store is!

james has taken to wanting his hair "spiky".  it's the only thing i'll let him do.  i won't let him paint his nails.  or wear make-up.  it's the only "bathroom thing" i do that he can copy!  he needs another boy in this house!!  good thing dd is coming soon!!!

smiles...

a hair bow that she made with grammie... a gift from grammie's sister!

chilling on the couch!

snack poolside...

her new "maine" t-shirt... and her greek yogurt popsicle!  (i forget the name, but they were great!)

little boy...  

just playing with grammie...

snuggling my boy!

looking up at grammie...

today, i got my toes did... and worked out.  and took my middle child for some fun errands.  it's going to be sad to see grammie go!  we have had a blast with her here.  the kids LOVE having her around, and i have been doing things i couldn't otherwise do!  and, she and i enjoyed a few movies this week... ("safe house" was tonight's choice...  ryan reynolds and denzel... a lovely combo!)