The Garden

We have been counseled and taught the importance of growing a garden, but is was not until Troy became inspired that we got to it. It helped that he got to build something to garden in. He likes the building part. So here is the story of our garden:


Here we are mixing the dirt.....those are banana plants in the background. We are also lucky enough to have guava trees, lime, lilikoi vines and starfruit, but luckly they do not need much attention.



Almost Done.

5x5 Square with a 5x5 grid. The kids made little signs for their seeds.


Radishes are the fastest growing vegetable in our garden, only 28 days to maturity!










They were beautiful, hot, red and oh so fun to pull out of the garden. We have been enjoying the lettuce and peas too! There are peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, kale, carrots and beets too...waiting for their big day!

May Review

Truly one of the greatest pleasures in life is to remember.
We sure have a lot of good things to remember.
So glad for cameras and computers so we can share good memories with you.
Hugs

Amy Got to go out on a Girls Night to Letters to Juliette - Great Movie - Scarves were the Dress Up Flare!

Ember still loves Ballet and Violin.

Ethan and Dad made a Hawaiian Canoe for his 4th grade project.

Ember Longstocking for crazy hair day!

Ethan Volcano Top for Crazy hair day!

Troy and Zack got muddy in the Forest.

Sydney and Ethan both had a Piano Recital You can see Ethan play his piece on my last post.

The Girls are always dressing up as princesses. What fun to have sisters!

Grammy Came for a Visit! Captain came too and Sophie is still asking me where my Dad is.

School ended...so we went to the Beach! See you in June.

Ethan's First Piano Recital

He played Bamboo Leaves. This is only after about a month of lessons.

Wizard of Oz

We have had a whirl wind month. The highlights were having Grammy here with us for 3 weeks and a short visit with Captain! They both came over for the performance of the Wizard of Oz.

Sydney was a forest and vine, Ethan was a yellow brick road munchkin and Ember was a lollypop munchkin!

Having three kids in the show was so fun! The theater sold out as there was only one performance, so there was great energy and lots of smiles.

Spring Break - Monday

Sand Monkeys

Good day. It was raining at our house this morning, so we decided to head to the beach. The sun was shining and although the waves were very little, we had a fun time catching what we could and just enjoying the water. We even saw a few Humpback Whales! Sydney has not been interested in Surfing for a few years, but on the last two trips to the beach, she has been back on the board. It is so fun to watch my kids surf and enjoy their accomplishments! Now Ember and Sophie have to get hooked. How will I fit all those boards on my van?

Sydney is so sweet and such a big help to me.

Ember loves to play, talk to animals and be with her friends!

These two are fine siblings, occasionally poor foe's, but gratefully, good friends.

My little Angels, what joy! What fun! Is found in these, our little ones.

*****❖*****

Here are some quick video clips of Sydney and Ethan Surfing.
Sydney still has the same stance she had when she was 4 years old...pretty cute.
Ethan is just...cute.

No Shoes

Today at church I went into the nursery to pick up Sophie.
She was very excited to show me the big tummy on my friend who is expecting.
I asked Sophie what was in there and she said "A BABY!"
I asked, Can it come out?
She answered, "No, it doesn't have any shoes on."

Ember

I took a trip to town with Ember yesterday. I pointed out a passing limousine to Ember, and she enthusiastically responded: "When I grow up and become a vet, I am going to have a limo with a jacuzzi in it and all the animals can ride around with me and go in the jacuzzi if they want to!"

Later the same day...

We went into Borders Books and I bought her a field guide about butterflies and moths. She studied the pictures for a long time and then on the way home she asked if I could roll down her window. I rolled it down and then watched as she opened her butterfly book and wiggled it. While she wiggled it she said, "fly, fly, fly!" She then looked at me and explained that they just wanted to go for a little fly.

I want to live in Embers world. I love that kid!

Twilight and all that it Encompasses

After much hesitation, apprehension, denial, and internal debate. I declare that I am now a fan of Twilight. I think Edward is a hunk and in real life Bella surfs, so she must really be okay. Did I mention that Edward is cute...is it normal for a married woman to feel this juvenile?

The Hover Board

It all started with a Saturday morning shopping trip to Home depot.
Troy with his helpers: Ethan, Sydney and Ember.
They were shopping for all the supplies needed to build a HOVERBOARD!!!
The girls were a big help with the shopping and Ethan and Troy had so much fun building it.

The 200 horse power yard blower and some PVC and lots of duct tape and some pond liner and staples........ will magically become the HoverPower!

Boys do love power tools!

Stapling on the heavy duty pond liner made from recycled tires.

It's done!

Hovering!

Now it is time for the science fair! Talk about being King for the day.
He had the biggest grin ever.
Thanks Troy!

Where do I Start?

It has been along time since my last blog entry. I have gone to the dark side...facebook, and I check in occasionally over there to see whats going on. I loose my blogging connections and don't get over here to add in our new adventures...of which there are always many.
Since I missed October completely, I want to start with the pumpkin patch.



I love going to the pumpkin patch. The only thing that is missing is cool weather. Did you know that October is the hottest most miserable month in Hawaii? The trade winds die off and without them the air is hot, muggy and we stay hot, sticky and sweaty. The only cure is to get wet, stay wet and then shower if too dry. COLD showers are wonderful. Thankfully the tap water stays cool and refreshing. Even our dog loved getting sprayed off. Sophie loves to shower Zack.



We hiked in the bamboo forest. I'll take anyone who comes to visit! We were lucky enough to have Meg and Lily come out and play for a week. It was wonderful!

My wet Monkeys needed Sock Monkeys...

So we made Sock Monkeys! Everyone has one now. Meg brought the socks for me and the kids helped make and decorate their own Monkeys. Lily turned 3 while she was here so she got a Monkey too. Each one we made got better and better. It was a fun and fairly easy project. I found the instructions online and away we went. Sophie didn't have one for this picture, but she has one now and calls it her socky monkey. Sydney is getting pretty fancy with her sewing and stuffing skills. Ethan made hair and shorts for his monkey!



We went to visit Troy while he was working at the Hyatt. Ember saw some funny birds: An African Crowned Crane. It was pecking away at the window while the kids got down at eye level with it. We pool hopped in their very fun pool. Found some of our friends there and they were nice enough to get Ethan and Sydney bracelets for the slides. A great time was had all who were in the wet water. Poor Troy was slaving away in jeans. Thanks for working so hard honey!




Ethan turned NINE! He woke up to a toilet papered room. I perfected this art with my friend MaryAnn when we were around 9 or 10. (You can ask her why we started doing this.) Ethan got a big knife and ate at Casanovas, his favorite Italian restaurant.


Just a note about Ethan. He is a great mellow kid. He is easy going, thinks he is awesome, loves his sisters and adores his dad. He has big plans. There is a science fair coming up and he has talked his dad into building a hover board. Yes, other kids will be soaking eggs in vinegar and the like, but my Ethan can not think small. He does the "little" science experiments after school for fun. Science fairs are for the BIG stuff. So we now have the wood, pond liner, a blower (motor) and pvc pipe ready for assembly in the garage. That will be a blog entry very soon!
I love this kid. He is upbeat and always ready for adventure.


Halloween was fun...Sydney won a costume contest at school. She was Juliette. Ethan was Mut from Indiana Jones. Ember was a LadyBug. Sophie was a Bunny and Troy, well, speak of the Devil - I actually got him to wear that into the Halloween party at church. It didn't last long but I got a kick out of it. I was a pumpkin, but for some reason no one took my picture. I must be a camera hog.





Well that is about all for October...It was hot and fun!