SOME traditions

Well this year Mom was really slacking on

the Halloween Traditions.

With the craziness of my schedule, we did manage

to get some TrEaTs made...

CaNdIeD aPpLeS and CoOkIeS
(great picture taken by Ame, her feet and all)
we shared with our friends and enjoyed some ourselves!
But I felt bad we never made it out to the pumpkin patch
for a hayride and pumpkin picking, nor did we even
decorate pumpkins this year. I know, I know, lame mom!!
Better luck next year!

I told Ame maybe we would decorate pumpkins for

thanksgiving instead of Halloween?!?

BuSy....

It has been soo busy lately! I have subbed twice this week, in addition to continuing to speed through my master's program, which I am half done with the 10 modules to complete my first course (18 units). My goal is to finish this course before thanksgiving, and take a break until the Holidays are over. I am grateful that Quinn works from home so we don't have to worry about who is going to watch the kids when I am gone subbing, but things just don't get done quite the same when mom is not around all day. But I should just be happy they are safe, loved and fed, right?! Who cares about the mounds of laundry, dishes, dinner to be thought about and home work to be done when mom arrives home?! right??? It does show me that I have a lot more time during the day when I DON"T work, but when I do....I am wiped out!!! I know I can't complain because some moms have to do it every day! I know I won't be in school forever, but there will come a time when I work full time again, and I will somehow have to juggle it all. For now I am grateful for the flexibility I am blessed with, and the time I get to spend with my kids at home (in my PJ's all day if I choose)!

TRUNK or treat

The kids got to try out their Halloween Costumes early this year.

Our ward had the annual canival and trunk or treat on Tuesday evening.

The original plan for costumes didn't quite work out,

so this is how it turned out... the boys were

all basketball players (even Nalu, but he was taking

a nap until we left so he missed the pictures).

Mom even dressed up as a football player, in dads

old High school uniform. Its too bad grandma

did away with all moms cheer costumes, it would have

been fun for Ame AND mom to dress up in them :)

But thanks to aunt LeAnne she still

got to be wht she wanted...a cheerleader.

enjoying some chilli, corn bread and breadsticks

the weather was very cooperative

and it was quite pleasant outside

(thank goodness for all our bare legs)

then it was carnival time-lots of games, face painting

and a donut eating contest

(Ash didn't really get the right idea of the game,

but he sure tried to eat that donut fast)
We got a really good video of Ame chowing down,

but it was too long to post.

followed by the trunk or treat,which mom (and Nalu) got stuck passing out candy at the car and dad was off somewhere talking so no pictures got taken of the kids getting their treats. But this was only round 1, so I am sure there will get more pictures at round 2 (including Nalu).

2010 Reflections entry

Since she had such a great experience with Reflections last year,

Ame was insistant she do it again this year!

She made this clay lei

to represent the theme which was,

Together we can...

Make a Circle of Beauty I hope her expectations aren't set to high

after winning at the district level last year

with her Hula performance.

Not that she didn't do a beautiful job with

her creation this year, but I just don't want

her to get too disappointed if she

doesn't make it as far again?!
I am just happy that she wants to share

her creative talents and be involved,

that is so important for kids to discover

and learn early on in life, win or lose.

JUST HAVE FUN WHILE DOING IT!!

I am also glad she has friends that want to do the same!

Just some things that made me smile today

I swore after being up late last night doing school work, that I would get to bed early tonight. And here it is 11:00 and I am STILL up blogging. But as crazy as my schedule is I don't know when I will have free time again to do this, and I didn't want to forget to blog about these

things that just made me smile today...

I was doing the dishes after dinner and looked over and saw this.

Amidst her brothers loud, fighting, craziness,

Ame was writing in her journal and working on her Faith in God.

What a jewel this girl is.

It was a definite proud moment for this mom

and one that just MADE ME SMILE!!

that and her beautiful singing with the Senior Primary Choir

in Stake Conference Today, that just brought tears to my eyes.

She was right in front and sang with such pride,

conviction and love for her Savior.

And this boy, just makes me smile every

minute of the day (well almost).

I was a little slow to get the video and didn't

quite catch him when he was histerically laughing.

He became a little too mesmorized by the camera

to laugh much more after I started filming.

But still such a cutie!

Joy School

I have never participated in Joy School b4.

Mostly because I have always wanted my kids

to have experiences away from me, and lets

face it I do need a break sometimes.

But for economic sake, I thought why not give it

a try and if anything safe us some $$ every month.

This past week , amidst starting school myself,

it was MY TURN to teach joy school.

Lets back up a bit.

Ash has not had such a smooth start with this

whole preschool thing. WIth joy school we are

rotating between 7 homes, and I don't think that

is Ash's ideal environment. He missed 3 straight

classes because he just wouldn't stay when MOM

took him. So I thought lets have DAD take him

and sure enough, it worked!

SO I think he is liking it a bit more, or maybe

just because it was with mom this week.

We have a really cute bunch of kids.

All pretty low key and they get along very well.

(Porter, Hyrum, Abram, Ash, Abby, Jacob and Jaylee)

My 2 lessons included:
Joys of the Earth-seasons/seeds and animals
We planted seeds, talked about the seasons, sang songs,
ate apples, applesause, apple juice.
Then we made bird feeders out of pinecones,
brought pets to share, and much, much more!
These are quite detailed/interactive lessons, but a lot of fun!
After a whirlwind week, I am glad to have a break
for 7 weeks! Although this week we are taking
a fieldtrip to Great Harvest Bread
(that's if I don't get a sub teaching job, which
is always a possibility...oh yes one of the other
things on my list of busyness).

I hope I don't have to miss this one, I LOVE GHB!

It was a JOY to spend time with my Ashy Boy this week
and see him interacting with his peers!

its gotten CRAZY!

Life has gotten CRAZY around the Hanamaikai home since the past post.

Mostly because mom has started school!

I am getting my Master's in Math Education, k-6.

I started on October 1st and since then I can hardly keep

my head on straight. I still don't know what I think about

getting an online degree. I am just such a hands on, interactive

learner, it is definitely enlightening as to my abilities as a learner.

We have had to make some adjustments around here so mom

can study a few hours during the day,

but also mom is just getting less sleep and

doing a few hours of school work

at night after the kids are in bed.

My R & R time is gone for the time being.

I used to love that time after the kids were

all in bed and I could sit down with a bowl

of ice cream and enjoy one of my favorite shows!

These late nights are kickin' my butt, I must say.

Staying up until 11:30 or later, just doesn't work

well when I SHOULD be up at 6:30 the next morning

(if I want any chance of getting in a work out b4 the craziness

of getting kids ready for school begins).

As part of WGU we commit to at least 20 hours a week,

and I am trying to stick somewhat close to that,

at least for the next 6-8 weeks.

My main goal is to finish my first course, which is

18 units. I am trying to get my teaching license current

again. It expired since I haven't taught for over 4 years.

And the quickest way to renew it is with college courses.

Once I get enough credits to get my license renewed,

I will slow things down a bit with schooling

and not feel so pressured to work so hard and so fast.

Amidst teaching Joy School, volunteering in my kids classes,

trying to figure out Halloween costume, think about

my baby turning 1 and just BE A MOM, I

am now a student again.

This is one WILD ride!!

It's GREAT to be 8

(thanks to Jamie for these simply perfect invitations)

This day has been anticipated by us all for quite some time now.

WOW was it a special day!

We were waiting for all to arrive...

We shared this baptism daywith our next door neighbor,

Summer and her family. Her grandma gave the baptism talk,

and Grandma Asplund gave the Holy Ghost talk.
She shared the importance of following the

promptings of the spirit, just like Lehi

followed the Liahona and was guided in the

right direction.

Grandma Frankie gave a beautiful opening

prayer, took LOTS of picture for us

(thank you) and brought ALL the

GIANT sandwhiches to feed our large

crowd afterwards. She is amazing and we soo

appreciate her love and support!

Our beautiful girl SOO clean and pure

She got her very own engraved scriptures (from mom/dad),

a beautiful bracelet & journal (thanks gma and gpa)

and this VERY cute scripture bag (thanks AUntie Karli).

She also got several other fun gifts, since this was

a baptism/birthday family party.

we really appreciated all the support from our families,

to travel the distance and help out in so many ways
to make this day soo special for OUR girl!

all the cousins who were able to come show their

excitment for Ame's BIG day!

Ame's 2 primary teachers were wonderful to come

and support her as well, and one of them brought

this AWESOME scripture cake.

(it was much better looking than mom's #8 cake)

Sunday Ame got introduced as the

NEWEST member by the Bishop, got

to sit on the stand and she even

CHOSE to be the very first

to share her testimony.
What an amazing girl!

We LOVE you & are so PROUD of you

*Ame'lia*

We are excited to see your beautiful spirit

continue to blossom and grow!

MY turn...

Kaipo is ALWAYS complaining that Ame gets invited to do SOO many more things than him, including birthday parties. So needless to say he was VERY excited to get HIS turn and invited to a birthday party. This little boy is Hunter and he has a twin sister, they are in Kaipo's primary class, YES Kaipo's! Even though he is the same size as Ash!! The party was at LITTLE GYM and the

kids had a blast!

I told Kaipo since he was starting school this year and

would be making lots of new friends, if HE is a good friend

he just might get invited to more parties?!

The Birthday Girl turns the BIG 8!

Thursday was Ame's big day, one she

has anticipated for a very long time!

She started her day off just as she requested,

with breakfast in bed

(hot cocoa and Einstein Bagels) She had fun opening gifts from

her family. Kaipo was soo excited

to give her the musical card he picked

out all by himself, just for his sister!

Then it was off to school where

there was MORE celebrating

and Happy Wishes!

Because she is in the spanish program

and has 2 classes, she celebrates with

her home room teacher, which is

her morning class.

So instead of bringing ice cream bars

at the end of the day to share with her

class, they got them at 10 am.

She got her happy birthday song

in Spanish and a fun sign,

that all of her classmates signed.

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS!

Dad surprised Ame by joining her for

a lunch date and enjoyed

the 'oh soo yummy" school lunch.

She got to play with her birthday gifts after school,

then we went out to dinner that evening

to finish off the first day of celebrations for Ame.

Friday after school was round 2 of the fun!

We hosted a

GLAMOUR PARTY

for 9 of her friends and

WOW was that a house of

craziness!!

The girls got to decorate a frame

to put their GLAMOUR picture in,

as a keepsake of the festivities.

In addition, there were 3 stations:

hair, makeup and nails.

I invited some of the Young WOmen

to be my expert sylists and they did

a FABULOUS job!

After everyone was GLAMORIZED,

we played musical nail polish

(like musical chairs, but they pass a

bottle of nail polish and when the music

stops they paint one toe nail with that color).

We had a few spills on dresses and some CRAZY looking

toes, but I think they had fun with the game.

We opened presents, and each gift giver

got their picture taken.

We ate LOTS of snacks and enjoyed

the oh so easy ice cream cake.

And of course what is a

GLAMOUR party

without a toast to the birthday girl?!

CHEERS!

I hope it was a

PARTY to REMEMBER

(cuz boy was it a lot of work for this mama)!
But what more would I want

for my one and only super SASSY,

BEAUTIFUL 8 year old girl.

We sure love you Ame...

attitude and all!!

And to top off our day, we enjoyed a visit

from the RObinson Family.

Since Savannah came up for the party

we decided to have all the gang join

us afterwards for pizza and some more fun!

And it sure was FUN!!

Thanks for coming up guys.

We hope we can do it again soon!

***************

Now its onto the next BIG event...

2nd grade fieldtrip

On MOnday I got to join Ame on their

fieldtrip to Utah Botanical Center in Kaysville.

I actually found it quite interesting, fun and

informative. I think the kids did as well.

They learned about lifecycles and got to have a popcorn relay.

We also learned about all sorts of insects
and plant life.

The kids got to explore life from the pond

and PLAY with bugs!

As you can see Ame was lovin' this...

and proud of the things she captured (and then let go)!

This is Ame new friend, Layla.

She is a really cute girl, and her mom

is the 4th grade English teacher in

the spanish immersion program, so

Ame will have her in a few years.

I can already tell they are going to be

best pals! I am so glad, cuz those first few days

were hard for Ame. Joining a class where

everyone already knew eachother.

After exploring at the center for a few hours

we headed to the park to enjoy more of the

beautiful weather and have a picnic.

I am so glad I got to join Ame for a fun day

before things gets crazy next month, and my life

is A LOT busier!!
These times together are so special.