New bikes

New bikes, almost, for everybody!

Kawai's new Specialized Hotrock -has handbrakes and gears-thanks to Freecycle!

Mana's new bike with training wheels, thanks to Kawai for outgrowing it.

And Alani on her trike, thanks to Mana for outgrowing it.

Robb's new cruiser, thanks to Craigslist.

May 30, 1998

We were married at the Hawaii Temple, Laie Hawaii

Finally the preschool pictures are in

It's about time....I think these are from March and we just got them. Good thing we decided to order Alani's pictures, since we've pulled her from preschool, these might be her only ones for like 3 more years when she enters kindergarten.

Kawai's photo shoot of Mana

Last weekend Kawai set up a photo shoot for Mana in the back grass area. Here's one of my favorites of Mana. And another one of Mana with Kona (who is a very small kitty, but doesn't look that tiny in Mana's arms).

My star quilt

I finally got done with my first boy quilt. It doesn't really show well in the photos, but you can see I have a star theme on it. This was using my 99 cent per yard fabric from Solvang.

Alani sings Twinkle Twinkle

capture that sentence

I don't usually have funny things to write down about Kawai's sentences anymore (kinda sad). But today's was a good one and I still remember it. We had went to the Labyrinth by Sycamore Hot Springs and the girls decided to collect nature for a collage. Kawai got sap from her leaf all over her hands and it was strong smelling. In the car on the way home I gave her a baby wipe to clean her hands. After many minutes she told me "Mom my hand still stinks so bad and I've wiped them 100 times in Spanish and English!!"

I had to ask: "how do you wipe your hands in Spanish and English?" and then I realized what she meant. She had counted to 100 in both Spanish and English while wiping her hands.

And on the subject of cute phrases, I wish I could capture Alani's sentences but I just cannot. She says so much that I cannot remember all the cute things. Dang.

99 cent fabric in Solvang!!!!!!

I was so excited to take Robb with me yesterday, since he's great at cutting and folding large items, (it makes you feel like a light failure as a mom when your husband can fold anything like it's on the shelf at the Gap) to the crazy 99 cent Fabric Barrel in Solvang. If you like sewing and you live on the Central Coast, it's worth the hour drive. They sell all their fabric for 99 cents a yard, and they have four rooms full of loads of fabric, and they do get new fabric in weekly. All the proceeds go to charity. You actually cut the fabric yourself and then pay at the cafe, all on the honor system.

If you want to check it out, it's located at 435 1st st. in Solvang, phone number 693-5000, right next to the Rabobank. The fabric store is located in the rooms next to the Shelbi Ranch Cafe which are owned by the same folks(http://www.shelbiranch.com/fammushis.html). They are only open Friday through Sunday 9-5. I found that a Friday was better than a Saturday because parking was no problem.

This time we decided to try the cafe food as well. Wow, definitely worth it. Burgers, hotdogs, grilled cheese, egg salad sandwiches, all are $1.00 and were quite tasty. And their homemade icecream shakes are only $2.00. Definitely worth the price!

Check out the fabric I scored. This was 24 yards. Should last me a while. I was focusing on fabrics for boy blankets this time, but couldn't resist a few girls fabrics that they had. Several of these are Robert Kaufman material.

Eye color?

So, there's no question about the color of Kawai's eyes. Brown.

There's no question about the color of Mana's eyes. Blue.

But what did Alani end up with? Brown or Hazel? I say brown, and the pediatrician agrees. Robb says because there is a ring of green and a ring of brown, then they are hazel. Anyone know how to define hazel?

My Mother's Day gift

This is what Kawai made for me in her first grade class. I must be very helpful if she put "helper" and "helpful" on it! I think it's just precious.

Hawaiian music tonight

Robb's show tonight. It's free Hawaiian music at the Slo Down pub in Arroyo Grande, 7-10 pm. Kids can come, so I'll be there for a while with the kids too.

Alani's 2 year old stats

As we suspected, Alani is a heavy girl, weighing in at 28 lbs, 3 oz (75%) and she also grew to 35 inches (75%). She no longer needs whole milk, the Dr. says. Of our 3 girls, she is the heaviest yet at 2 years. Man, Mana's 4 and only weighs 4 more lbs than Alani. We also found out that the strange circles on her tongue are a genetic condition which Robb also has called "geographic tongue". It's not a harmful condition, but it could cause your tongue to be sensitive to certain foods. It makes your tongue look like a map with topography on it, and the topography moves around a lot.

No I didn't make these dresses

But they all happened to match!

My hula girls

Kawai and Mana and all the other girls were well-received tonight at the Lantern Festival at Cal Poly. They danced 2 numbers, My Plumeria Lei and Little Brown Gal. The musicians did great too.

Surfboards and Ukuleles

I had promised the girls that I would make them pandas like we gave out at their party. But since I was so panda-ed out, I offered to make different shapes. Thank goodness they were excited to try something else (that doesn't have ears either!). Mana got a surfboard pillow, and I just finished Kawai's ukulele pillow today. They are pretty pleased, and I am relieved to have this done. Alani hasn't asked for one yet, but Kawai suggested I make her a heart pillow. That sounds easy enough.

Kawai's photo session - lessons learned

After I showed Kawai how to get closer to the subject, and try not to get the rest of the room in the photo, she got some great ones of Mana. She also changed her background to match her princess-loving sister. Can you tell Mana doesn't mind posing either. Check these out.

So long, preschool

Yesterday was Mana and Alani's last day of preschool. We really weren't expecting it to go this way. Mana has been at this preschool since she was 18 months old, and having just turned 4 in Feb, she has to wait another year for kindergarten. Alani has been attending for the last 6 months as well, and has learned so much there, and made good friends. So why take them out of preschool now, when Mana is ripe for learning?

Well, with the rising price of the preschool, (since they have to make ends meet too), coupled with my furlough (10% paycut) and the slow-down of work at UPS, it no longer made sense financially. So, while it is sad to have to pull them out, we are excited to get our old babysitter back! And Alani still remembers her. So, a new chapter begins for the kids, and now Robb will be back to being almost full-time dad. Thanks Robb, you're the greatest!!!

The greatest dad