Shopping

The past few months grocery shopping has been extra suckey (the only word that really captures the emotion for me)! Both grocery stores that I normally go to are being remodeled right now. This means that every time I go, things are in completely different locations then they were a few days before! I've tried to be ambitious and go early in the morning after I've dropped Logan off at school so I can be home in time to feed lunch to Maika and get her to kindergarten on time. Since I feel like I'm on a scavenger hunt the whole time, shopping takes a lot longer than it used to. *If* I see an employee to inquire about the new location of a certain product, usually even they don't know where to find it. So I go up and down the aisles and up and down again until I finally find it, just as I glance at my watch to see that I have 15 minutes until Maika has to be at school and she still hasn't eaten lunch. So I rush to the check-out stand and cross my fingers that I'm not behind someone that has the whole Sunday's paper worth of coupons to scan, grab a Snickers for Maika's lunch (you know they satisfy hunger), pay for and load the bags and race to the school. Once at the school I search for something to wipe the chocolate off Maiks's face and give her a kiss goodbye, then hurry home and hope things aren't melted all over the car before I can get them put away. I can't wait until November when the remodels are complete and I can learn where things will be for awhile!

My Two Minute Poem

My crazy friend Merilee timed herself for two minutes and wrote a poem. Then she challenged us to do it. It was pretty fun to see what you can come up with. Guess what was on my counter when I wrote mine? Now you guys try it!

Cheerios

Cheerios are great
they are the perfect snack.
You can tell where we sat in church,
just look at all the tracks.

I like the big yellow box.
They are easier to find,
the commercials say they help your heart.
Does it still count with all the sugar poured on top?

Can I Get a Hallelujah?

Seriously. . .I need one! Nalani is finally potty-trained! (except for naps and nights) After many bribes, threats, and accidents we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. She even goes to the bathroom by herself and if I try to follow her in, she shuts the door and tells me to go away. I guess the girl likes her privacy! She's done fairly well in the peeing department for awhile, but the poop was another story (that I won't go into, you can all breathe a sigh of relief). I've been telling her that as soon as she poops in the toilet I will take her to the store to buy her a prize. So this weekend we let her pick out her "farkely" (Nalani for sparkly) dress. She chose a Tinker Bell costume and it was the best bribe money I've spent since I potty-trained Maika and Logan:) So, three down, one to go! HALLELUJAH!!

Why can't their parents just take care of 'em?

(Maika, pulling one of her classic funny faces)

So, we have "The Wonder Pets" on in the background while I'm making lunch for Maika before she has to go to school. It's towards the end of the program when they have actually saved the baby penguin, when I'm thinking to myself, "Where are these baby's parents, why do they rely on the Wonder Pets to rescue their babies?" (Random thoughts just pop into my head sometimes) As soon as these thoughts leave my mind, Maika asks, "Why can't their parents just take care of 'em?" I cracked-up and told her I was just wondering the same thing.

I love this boy!

I can't believe how many nicknames we've already come up with for Bronson. Here are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head: Bronsie-Boo, Brother Brown-Eyes, Mr. Muggles, Mr. Miyagi, Bubbas, Blondie-Boy, The Bronster, Bug. Like I said, there are more I just can't think of 'em all right now. I just know I love this boy! I love his smile, his blond hair, his big brown eyes, his little grin, his fake cry when someone tells him "NO!", his easy-going nature, his belly-laugh when his sisters are playing with him. Did I mention I love this boy??

First Days of School

It was a crazy week! Logan and Maika both started school. Logan started 4th grade on Tuesday, although it was iffy that she would go. She had been battling a fever for a few days and had some seriously swollen glands in her neck. Just looking at her you could tell she was swollen! She didn't want to miss the first day however, so we let her go. In the meantime I called our Dr's. office and spoke to the advice nurse, she told me we should probably bring her in, so I checked Logan out of school early and took her to the Dr. They did the strep test which came back negative, so he thought it could be a sinus infection, Mono, or just a virus. He gave her some antibiotics just to be safe. That night she had a fever of 104 and the next morning she still had one so she missed school that day. I went and talked to her teacher and got her homework and other assignments so she wouldn't get behind. On Thursday she was feeling better and went to school and now she's ready to be back on schedule! She doesn't like that when she stays home from school she can't play when everyone in the neighborhood gets home:)

Maika was so excited to start kindergarten this year! She's been asking since last year when she got to go to "real" school. She's an October birthday and I think two years of preschool was almost more than she could take! She has a very nice teacher and there are only 17 kids in her class since she is in the afternoon session. She got to go on a tour of the school and got to go "fishing" in her neighborhood. Her teacher had arranged for the other classes to have some sort of snack for them. All in all I think we are going to have a good year!

Labor Day Weekend

Our Labor Day weekend started out with a bang! Kelly and I decided to take Logan and Maika out for dinner to Benihana's. It was mostly an excuse to take them there, (we thought they would think it was so cool to see the chef cook dinner at your table) so we called it a "Back to School" dinner. We even let them (finally) wear a new school outfit. It turns out they would have been happier with Wendy's, but oh well. Kelly and I thought it was fun! After dinner we went to the Starbuck's in Barnes and Noble to see our friend and neighbor, Dana, sing in a band. We had a great time and there was some good music. Dana has an amazing voice, especially for just singing back-up! It was so much fun spending a night out with just the older girls for a change!

On Saturday, our friends Jared and Chelsea came out with their boys for a fun-filled day on the boat. We packed lunches and snacks and ate on the beach. The kids had a great time playing in the sand and water. After lunch we spent the rest of the day on the boat. Chelsea and Jared absolutely SCHOOLED us in wakeboarding. They were jumping from wake to wake and Jared almost pulled off a 360! Kelly had fun teaching them how to surf, and even I got up on the wakeboard for more than just a few seconds. I still had some pretty spectacular crashes though!

Logan and Maika tried to wakeboard again too. Kelly stayed in the water with them while I drove the boat. They both managed to get up for a few seconds, but quickly let go of the rope when they realized daddy wasn't right behind them any longer:)

Sunday was nice and relaxing since I didn't have to teach my lesson because of Fast Sunday. I can't wait until our time changes to 9 am! Bronson is a beast at church and Kelly and I take turns sitting out in the hall with him all Sunday. We are counting down the months until he is old enough for the nursery! Only 5 months to go!!We just relaxed after church, I think I was asleep by 8 o'clock which NEVER happens!

Monday was another hot day so we headed to the river again. This was a relatively short trip, but fun nonetheless! The kid's friends Taylor and Noah came along and they all had a blast on the tube, and fun just swimming around. There were some scary moments when we heard some "pops" and then some "whizzes" through the air. Some bozos on shore were shooting guns, never mind there is a river full of boats and people playing down the hill! Idiots!

We are all still alive,so all in all our Labor Day weekend was packed and filled with fun memories! We hope yours was fun too!

*Please be patient with me while I try to figure out this whole blogging lay-out thing with adding pictures. Like I said in my first post I am a tech-idiot!*