Hair Affair

As most of you know, one of my very best friends in the world, Andrea, is in my opinion one of the best hair stylists in the world. In fact, she was voted as the "Best Hair Dresser" by the Missoula Independent last year, and she definitely deserves the title. She is awesome. As a result of her awesomeness, I have been receiving world class hair styling for the past several years, and every time I try someone new wherever I'm living at the time, I'm completely disappointed. Basically, Andrea has turned me into a complete hair snob. So, historically you would not see pictures of my newest hair do, unless it was done by Andrea of course.

In February, when I showed up for my girls' weekend in Montana, I had a full blown mullet. No joke. Short in the front, long in the back. And the reason for this travesty? Because I was stupid and tried someone new in Hawaii. As I'm sure most of you can understand, it's very difficult to wait once a year, when I see Andrea, to get my hair done. That's just too long . . . so I always venture out to someone new with the faint hope that I will strike gold, and each time I'm disappointed and end up growing it out until I see Andrea next. So, Andrea was kind, and once again fixed my hair for me again while I was in Montana. This was the result:



As usual, I loved it. But as nature would have it, before too long the beautiful color faded and the layers grew out, and once again I was itching to get my hair done. But I had no good recommendations of someone to go to out here in Hawaii. Well, as luck would have it, a few weeks ago I went to a luau at Brian's work and noticed a girl there with VERY cute hair. So, I approached her and asked her if she had gotten her hair done on the island. I swear to you, the last ten times I've done this same thing, asking someone here that I don't know where they got their hair done, I've always received the same answer: at home on the mainland. But THIS time, the girl responded that she HAD gotten her hair done here, by a girl that lives all the way up on the North Shore and works out of her housee. She was glad to share the hair stylist's information with me, and by the next day I had made an appointment. I won't go into the details of my appointment, but suffice it to say, I was pretty happy with the result.





Now I would never go so far as to say that my new stylist can take the place of Andrea, because no matter how hard anyone tries, nobody is quite THAT good. But for now, I'm pretty excited that I found someone to get me by for the next few years, because the thousands of miles between Andrea and I doesn't exactly make it easy for me to stay completely faithful to her. However, Andrea's probably just thrilled that she doesn't have to hear me complain like she's had to for the last four years. :) Am I right Andrea?

Here's a picture of the kids that I threw in just for good measure, as they were dying to get their picture taken this morning. Look at those little blondies . . . where did they come from? Hopefully with my new blonde highlights, people will quit asking me where the heck my kids got blonde hair, because Lord knows I have no idea.

Subtleties

Walmart check-out lady #1: (to Charley, as she's ringing up our items) "Hi sweetie. Are you helping your mommy shop today?"

Charley: "Yes . . . " (points to the item in the woman's hand) . . . "My mommy was all out of pads, so we had to buy some more."

Walmart check-out lady #1 and #2 burst out laughing, while Walmart lady #1 simultaneously rings up my maxi pads.

Danielle: (to Charley) "I guess it's a good thing we have two nice ladies checking us out today instead of boys."

Walmart check-out lady #2: (still laughing) "Very true! Boy, kids sure do say the darnedest things!"

Danielle: "Yes . . . yes they do."

I might give it a few days before I go back to Walmart again.

It's About Time

It's so hard for me to believe that June is almost here. Where does time go?

As of August, we will have been here a year already. In some ways, it feels like we just got here a few days ago. In other ways, it feels like this has been our home much longer, probably because of how much we've packed in this past year. On a daily basis, it doesn't necessarily feel like our lives are that busy . . . but then I sit down on this blog to chronicle our time, and it seems to amplify how much we fit in to each day. Now that I stay at home with the kids, I finally have time to do all the stuff that I only wished I could do when I was working. Time sure is a weird creature.

Sometimes there is so much going on that it's difficult for me to sit down, like today, and remember what we've been doing the past few days. I know there was some yard work, watching a DVD with Brian, a BBQ at the beach with friends, a trip to get some ice cream at Baskin Robbins, a hair appointment, and dinner at Heather's . . . but it all just sort of blurs together in one big mass. Half the time I'm not even sure of the day of the week, and I can almost guarantee you that I don't know the date (unless it's an important one, like a birthday). Don't they say that you know you are having fun when you lose track of time?

Despite the whirlwind of the past year with tons of guests, outings, meeting new friends, hanging out with old friends, settling into a new home, getting used to a new routine, and most importantly, learning how to be a stay-at-home mom as best as I can, despite all these blurry lines of months passed and things done, there is one thing at the end of every day that I do know for sure, even if I can't remember how we spent the last few weeks, days, or even hours: I'm loving this new life that I've been blessed with.

A Picture is Worth a Million Words

If you can believe it, I don't have a whole lot to say today.

It's not that we haven't been doing anything . . . on the contrary, we've been doing a ton as usual . . . I don't know if it's that the day is winding down, or because I'm a little tired, or it might be because I found out today that an uncle, whom I've always kept very close to my heart, passed away . . . but regardless of the reason, I'm going to post in pictures instead. I'm sure you won't mind. :)~

Zander was a little wiped out from watching us do yard work today . . . so he fell asleep on the couch watching T.V . . . except every time we came back, he was in a different position.




Here are a few pictures from the birthday party that we went to last week, where the kids had a blast.

Cake monsters . . .
A few days ago, the kids tried cotton candy for the first time . . . overall, I think they could take it or leave it, nothing too exciting.

Here is the ONE picture I took at our Zoo outing with friends this past week.

Boy, those sure are some BIG shoes to fill!

Creativity

Tonight we had steak, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob for dinner. Charley got to use corn holders for the first time. She was beyond excited . . . ecstatic might be the best word.

And her name for these wonderful tools?

Corn horns.

Personally, I think that's way cooler than "corn holders."

Time and Money

Another busy week, a few less dollars. First I'll get to the busy week part . . .

Brian was launched to America Samoa for a law enforcement mission on Wednesday, and he didn't get home until very late on Friday night. In the meantime, the kids and I continued our daily park/swimming lessons routine, as well as a bunch of other activities. On Wednesday we tried out a new group called "Mom's Club," which as the name implies, is a group of stay-at-home moms that get together with their kids for several monthly activities. I have to admit, after trying out several of these mommy-type groups here over the past nine months, I wasn't sure if this group would really be my speed. But I was pleasantly surprised and met some really nice people there, so we will probably try it out again. On Thursday was the ever painful task of grocery shopping, which was about as torturous as usual. On Friday, the Air Station had its annual Farewell luau, so despite Brian's absence, I decided to take the kids anyway. They had several bounce houses set up, live music, catered Hawaiian food, tons of people, and all our friends were there, so that was fun. The kids (especially Zander) were beside themselves with excitement when they spotted Brian's Jeep at the Air Station, right where Brian had parked it before he left on his mission. It wasn't so much that they thought Brian was around, but rather they were just so excited to see the JEEP that had been missing from their garage for two days. Kinda funny.

On Saturday we attended a kids' birthday party that one of our Coastie friends threw. The kids had a blast, and the hosts served up some pretty yummy food, so a good time was had by all. This morning Brian was very kind to me and got up with the kids, which allowed me to sleep in until 7:20 a.m. What a treat! I don't remember the last time I got to sleep that late. When we finally all got ready for the morning, we headed to Lowe's for a little shopping, and there we found some drapes that I have been looking for . . . so we splurged and bought the drapes and a rod to hang above our patio door (where we currently have some pretty cheap vertical blinds). So, Brian is installing those as we speak, while I keep the kids away from the action. I'll let you know how they turn out. Tonight I will be heading over to my friend Andre's house for a girls' night (where we get to eat left-over homemade birthday cake from yesterday), so I'm excited for that. I guess that covers all our happenings lately.

And now to the "few less dollars" part . . . a lot of people have been asking me what the price of things cost around here lately, since most items tend to be higher here than other places. So let's see . . . gas is up to $3.83 per gallon in our area, but I know it's higher in other areas of the island. Milk costs about $5.00 per gallon, which is painful for us considering that the kids easily drink two gallons a milk a week just by themselves. I spend about $300 every two weeks on groceries for the entire family, which is a whole lot cheaper than many people around here pay because we get to shop at the military commissaries (which coast less and don't charge tax). Pineapples only cost about $2.50 a piece, but red peppers cost about $5 per pound. We spend about $350 a month for our electric bill (which to me is an outrageous cost), and movie rentals are about $4.50 a piece (which is why we started using Netflix). I definitely see costs of EVERYTHING climbing at an astronomical rate lately, especially groceries, as I know all you do too. Pretty soon we may have to buy our own milk cow and start our own pineapple farm. :)

Guess that's about it from our end. What's new on your end?

Coast Guard Gets Lost

For those of you out there who watch the ABC show "Lost," I'm sure that you noticed in Thursday's episode that the Coast Guard was involved in the rescue of the people stuck on the island. Those scenes were in fact filmed right here where Brian works, at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point. They spent an entire day filming the plane that Brian flies, the C-130, with a couple of Brian's buddies at the wheel, and several Coasties were even used as extras in the film. In fact, when we watch this clip, Brian recognizes several of his co-workers in the background . . . and one of the babies used in several of the scenes (they use several different babies believe it or not) is even one of Brian's co-workers daughters.

Even if you don't watch the show, check out the clip because it's kind of cool. Oh, and FYI, the two pilots shown in the first part of the clip are actors, not real Coast Guard guys (Brian says that real Coasties aren't that cheesy:)).

More Charley-isms

Danielle: "Hey Charley, how come you decided that the big monkey was the mama monkey and the medium sized monkey was the daddy monkey?"

Charley: "Because Mommy, mamas are always bigger than daddies."







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Brian: "Charley, I have to go to Samoa tomorrow, so I want you to be a very good girl for mommy while I'm gone."

Charley: "But Dadddyyyy, I want to mow with you too!!!!!"

Brian: (looking a bit confused) "No Charley, I said I'm going to Samoa tomorrow."

Charley: "I know, and I really really want to mow with you tomorrow, but I don't have a mower, so you and mommy are going to have to go buy me a small mower, a kid mower, so I can mow with you tomorrow."

My Little Bull

Amazingly, not a whole heck of a lot is new in these parts.

Saturday I met some friends at the local library, while Brian did some yard work. Although this library is very kid-friendly, the library is still not the best place in the world to take Zander. He is like a bull in a china shop.

We decided to spend Sunday at the beach, so I took some time on Saturday evening packing up all our gear . . . which is a lot of stuff when you are talking two toddlers at the beach all day. We got to the beach VERY early knowing that parking is limited and that it would crowded since it was a holiday (yes, even Mother's day). We arrived at 7:40 a.m. (which sounds super early I'm sure except that it's already in the 70's by that time here), and can you believe that there were NO parking spots left?!? So Brian waited in the car for a spot to open up (there are a lot of beach walkers/runners down there so we knew a spot would open eventually), while I took the kids down to the beach, got them all greased up with sun screen, and unpacked our gear. By this time, about twenty minutes had passed, and fortunately for us a huge black cloud quickly approached, which sent a couple families fleeing for their cars. So, Brian finally snagged a spot and then joined us down at the beach just as the rain was starting to fall. We all went and hid under a tree for ten minutes or so, and sure enough, the one dark cloud passed and the rest of the morning was clear and beautiful. Heather and her boys hit the beach that morning as well, so we all met up for awhile and snuck over to the hotel area to look at some hammer head sharks and sting rays that they have swimming around in a lagoon at the hotel. Zander was in absolute heaven since his newest obsession is sharks. It was a pretty fun day.

Yesterday we started back up with swimming lessons, so every day around 2:30 we head to the park for an hour and then head over to Charley's lesson for 30 minutes. Nothing too exciting, but the kids seem to enjoy the park routine quite a bit. Plus, it seems to wear them out a little, so they are more calm come lesson time . . . which basically means I spend less time chasing Zander around.

Speaking of Zander, we are suffering through a not-so-fun phase with Zander right now. I don't know what it is. I'm thinking a lot, if not all, of it has to do with taking the pacifier away. Or maybe the pacifier ordeal coincided with the beginning of a nasty phase anyway, I don't know. Either way, it's not fun. Charley was a pacifier baby too, so when it was time for the paci to go, we simply cut the nipple off and told her it was broken . . . and this method seemed to work pretty well because she seemed to get over it in a day or two and never really asked for it again. We employed the same method with Zander, and we thought things were going to go okay because when he realized his pacifier was "broken" he really didn't want to have anything to do with it and never really asked about it again. But slowly his overall attitude has been going downhill. My laid back, happy-go-lucky child has become crabby, moody, obstinate, and often just plain old unpleasant to be around. My only guess is that he was a lot more dependent on the pacifier for comfort then we ever realized. Or maybe this is just a nasty phase that hit at the same time as paci removal (two is right around the corner?). I don't know. But let's just all pray that this is simply a PHASE and nothing more . . . otherwise I really AM getting my paybacks. :)

Friends Think Alike

Okay, this story was too good to pass up . . . Heather just sent this to me, and it cracks me up not only because I can totally visualize this conversation between Heather and her sons, but also because it reminds me of a conversation I might have with Charley. Kids really do say the darnedest things. So here are Heather's words . . .

"We went to Safeway yesterday and bought our neighbor Buffy some flowers for mother's day since her mom just passed away last week. . . Here's how the conversation went . . .

Lane: "Where's Buffy's mom anyway?"
Quinn: "Buffy's mom is at work Lanie..."
Heather: "She's in heaven now."
Lane: "Oh with Jesus..."
Heather: "Yep Lane."
Lane: "Huh... she better watch out then... "
Heather: "For what?"
Lane: "For the bad guys...."
Heather: "There's no bad guys in heaven..."
Lane: "Why . . . the bad guys that chased Jesus down and nailed him to the cross.... Buffy's mom better watch out for them ..."

Can't wait to start him in CCD!"

Happy Mother's Day Mamas!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! You should be proud of yourself, so make sure to take some time today to do something fun because you deserve it. :)

I was surprised this morning with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a nice card, and a gift card for my favorite place in the whole world, the book store! Oh, and Charley wished me a Happy Birthday as well (no, it's not my birthday, she was just a little confused), so that made for a good laugh. We are on our way to the beach for the day, so that will be a good time.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

A Whole Lot of New (but not too much)

As the title suggests, there are a few new things going on here . . . but nothing bad or stressful, thank goodness. Let me elaborate.

First we have a new attitude. If you look close, you will notice in this picture, taken exactly one month ago, that Charley is not too happy. In fact, truth be told, she is panicked and crying, even with a life vest on.

Here is Charley one month (eight classes) later, and she is actually smiling, because she is doing very well and truly enjoying herself. She has gained an immense amount of confidence, and while I would have been ecstatic for her to reach Level 2 by the end of the summer, her teacher thinks she only needs one more (two-week) session to reach this level. Yeah Charley!

Next we have a new Cubs fan. While we admittedly try very hard to influence our children's decision of team preference (go Cubs!), we know that in the end, it is there personal choice to pick a favorite team. Thankfully, without much resistance, Zander made the right choice.

Perhaps least exciting to anyone else but me are these new shoes that I bought today. I have not owned a pair of Chucks since I was 10 years old, so I'm very excited for the chance to flash back to the old days . . . except this time they aren't pink, they aren't high top, they have two shoe tongues instead of one (one of which has flowers on it . . . Hawaiian style), and they are a huge size 10. But they are still awesome.

Perhaps most exciting is that Brian has decided to pursue his Master's degree in Information Technology online, which should keep him busier than he already is for quite awhile. But now is as good as time as any, and I am extremely proud of him for taking this step.

So, in celebration of his new decision, we HAD to go buy him a new laptop computer (of course!) to help him survive the next couple years of classes (if you recall, our ancient laptop that helped me through law school died a couple weeks ago). And not only did he buy a new computer, but he bought a Mac . . . how exciting is that? I couldn't take a picture of the actual computer because Brian HAD to take it to work today to "get familiar with it" before he starts classes in a couple weeks. So, I had to settle for a picture of the box, which has a picture of the computer on it. You get the idea.

Next we have our two lovely children . . . not much new here, except the realization that I need to get Zander some new dress-up clothes of his own VERY SOON. The purple princess heels and pink butterfly headband are just not very flattering on him.

Last, but not least, we have our new pacifier-less son, who can finally function (and sleep) without that stupid plug in his mouth. Yes, the pacifier is gone (thanks to a pair of scissors that cut the nipple off and "broke" them all at the same time). On the other hand, he has decided at only 20 months old that he is pretty much done with naps. How lovely is that? This picture, this is an aberration, as this is the first time he's fallen asleep during the daytime in WEEKS. Everyday I try and put him down around 1:00 p.m., and everyday he screams until I pick him up (I've lasted up to 90 minutes, at which point I couldn't stand it anymore). He does NOT want to nap and his is completely stubborn. Hmmm, wonder where he gets that from?

Missing the Point

On Saturday, our friend's daughter was participating in her First Communion ceremony at a local church, and I decided that I would like to attend. However, I did not really want to take the kids, so we decided that I would take Charley with me (since we figured she was old enough to behave herself) and Zander would stay home with Brian. We showed up right when Mass started, so we had to sit in the very back row of the church. Charley was very well behaved during the service, but at one point she she started to get a little restless. So I lifted her up in my arms and whispered in her ear . . .

Danielle: "Look at the beautiful candles that are lit at the front. Can you see them?"

Charley: (whispering back very excitedly) "Ooooooo, candles!!!!! Are they having a party? Is there going to be cake?"

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On weekend mornings, the kids will come in bed with us and snuggle and play until we all decide it's time to get up. This past Sunday, Charley and Zander were chatting when Zander noticed Charley's nightgown.

Zander: "Princess?"

Charley: "Yes Zander, those are princesses."

Zander: (pointing at one of the princesses) "Belle?"

Charley: "Yes, that's Belle. And this one is Cinderella. Can you say 'Cinderella'?"

Zander: "Rella."

Charley: "Yes, and this other one is Sleeping Beauty. Can you say 'Sleeping Beauty'?"

Zander: "Eepen Booey . . . booty . . . . (thinks for a second) . . . butt . . . . butt."

Charley: (annoyed) "No Zander, it's not 'booty' or 'butt' . . . it's Sleeping Beauty."

Aunt "Argie"

As you know, my Aunt Margie (my mom's sister) came to visit last week. Margie and I have not lived in the same town for many years, and we've only had the opportunity to see each other a couple times in the past few years. In fact, this was only the second time that Margie had seen either one of my kids, so it was great to spend some time with her.

Both kids took to her right away. Zander couldn't quite say "Margie" so he called her "Argie" all week. Here they are on their very first day hanging out with her. First she tried to teach Zander some golfing techniques (her husband Mike is a golf pro). As you can see, he sort of developed his own method after awhile . . . not so much like golfing, but more like chopping at the ball.

Then they settled in for a story . . .

During one of our driving tours, we stopped at Turtle Beach and we FINALLY got to see a sea turtle up on the shore (we had only seen turtles there once before, back in August, but haven't seen any in the many times we've been there since). Thankfully there are what we call "turtle police" in the area who are volunteers that make sure people don't harass the turtles (which unfortunately happens quite a bit).

These next pictures are from a drive we took through Kolekole Pass on the west side of the island, which shows quite a different landscape than the east side of the island . . . this side gets much less rain, and as a result is not very lush compared to the other side.

In fact, it's so dry on this side of the island that these enormous cactus plants are all over the place.

We stopped at the top of the pass to take some of these pictures, and a fellow member of the military stopped to take pictures as well. He was driving a Jeep, so of course Zander went nuts and was totally climbing all over this stranger's vehicle. The gentleman was really nice and said that Zander could drive his Jeep. Thus, you are witnessing Zander's first auto theft.

And Aunt Margie is helping . . . (thanks Marge)

Once we got to the bottom of the pass, we stopped at a beautiful beach to take some more pictures.

We had a great time with Marge here, and we got to seem some pretty cool new stuff that we hadn't seen before. So thanks for a great visit Aunt Argie!