Costume party

Last night we attended the church Halloween party. This year we decided to go for a "sea" theme. George and I were big waves. Lu was a jellyfish, Elise an octopus, and Austin a shark.

The party started off with a yummy spaghetti dinner. Everyone could tell where Austin sat. He is our messy child and lining up "snakes" never helps. :) There were lots of fun activities: a haunted house (we were amazed that Lucy wanted to visit), musical chairs, limbo, a parade around the gym and the hokey pokey. Afterwards they had the big trunk-or-treat in the parking lot. Lots of people decorated their trunks and one family brought a hearse. That was a bit creepy! Of course, the kids came home with a major haul. I pulled out a package of sweedish fish for Austin and he said, "Candy. Its a fish. Its a CANDY FISH! CANDY FISH!!!" (all while shaking with excitement). Ha! Just like his uncles!

As always, there were some great costumes. They didn't have a contest, but these two families would have been my vote! Here we have the "dragon trainers" and the "Dr. Seuss fam". Maybe I'm a bit partial to our San Antonio buddies, but don't they look great?!?
Today we went to church. The primary kids were crazy. I'm not sure if it was a sugar high, exhaustion from last night's activities, or anticipation for tonight's fun... but it was nuts! :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

A bit of Halloween fun!

No, we do not beat our children. This is Elise after she applied her own eye make-up... with red lipstick.



On Thursday, the two toddlers and I went to Halloween story time at the library. This is what they look like "pre-costume." Even though its blurry, its my favorite of all the Halloween photos."Hey, where did my brother go?"


When we got to the library, the librarian looked at Elise and said, "Cute.... um..... cute!" That's the problem with homemade costumes and the mother who has great ideas, but not quite the skills to pull it off. Wait... if "gluegunning" counts as a talent, maybe I have a dose of that. :) I must say its easier to tell what they are when they are all together. Here... I'll help you. Austin is a shark. Elise is a "purpa octopus" and Lucy is a jellyfish.

Shark checking out the octopus tentacles
Painting pumpkins. I think Elise liked to paint the paper towel best. And Austin lost interest after about 1 1/2 minutes. Lucy mixed colors to her hearts delight.

We went out for breakfast on Friday morning before school. IHOP was having a "free scary face pancake" day so I had to go. That meant Lucy was a little bit late for school. I told the teacher the day before that she probably would be. Is it bad to choose free stuff over being on time for school? That is a rhetorical question. Don't answer. Obviously, I decided "no." And I learned a good lesson: my children are much better behaved at restaurants in the morning. But they are still just as messy.

Friday was the Halloween parade for the K-3 kids at the school. They prance through all the "upper level" classrooms and then have a big party.

The faithful supporting parade watchers

One of Lucy's classmates has a brother who works at Jamba Juice. The brother came to the party dressed as a gorilla and handed out orange jamba juice to everyone. Cool!

First time for BOOK IT!

Tonight we celebrated Lucy's first Book it! pizza award. She couldn't wait to give the paper to the waitress. She even carted it along as we went to the fountain drink station (just in case the lady came back and someone else tried to turn it in for her. :) To earn it, she had to read four books by herself and four could be read to her. Her favorite (and mine too) was "Ramona, the Pest!" We read a chapter a night. I could tell by the end that she was following along because she started to correct me when I read words in the wrong order (like a list of things). Gotta love that. Its been fun helping Lucy learn to read. Although she could read some before she started school, there has been definite improvement in both skill and confidence. Mrs. Gundermann is a great teacher!

While we were eating, Lucy asked me and George which books we read for Book it! so we tried to remember some of our favorites as elementary school kids. George said he read "The Great Brain" series at least three times. I remember reading the Beverly Cleary books and also the "Baby-sitters Club" and "Sweet Valley Twins" series'. Ah, the memories! And what brilliant business strategy by Pizza Hut!

Nice job Lu!

Nothing

Just a few random things ...



This is a Halloween picture Lucy drew for me. At school, they've been talking a lot about how leaves fall off trees lots of places in the Mainland. I miss that.
Kids lookin cute after church.

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It is a normal thing around this place to hear the girls screaming as Austin grins and chases them. They are always saying he's a monster as he prances around with a big grin without a clue of what is going on. So when we heard them yelling outside, I didn't think a thing of it. Then here came Austin around the corner with a dead bird lovingly cradled in his hands, yelling, "Its a BIRD! Its a BIRD!"

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I took Austin and Elise to a place that required closed-toed shoes. It has been a long time since anyone has worn anything but flipflops or sandles. Austin kept pulling at his shoes saying, "Its a shoe. Its stuck on there."

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We made pumpkin pancakes on Saturday. Elise ate the chocolate chunks (supposed to be a face) and nothing else. Smart kid!

On Friday, Lucy said with enthusiasm, "Guess what, mom?!? I am the ONLY yellow-haired girl in my whole class!" (It cracked me up that it took 3 months for her to notice this. With this thought fresh on my mind, we attended the school program and I noticed that she is one of two blonde girls in grades K-3. Can you find them?)

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Elise knocking at the front door, "Litta pig, litta pig. Let me pum in." When I opened the door, she laughed her head off and said, "I the beeeg bad WOOOOF!"

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(while we were driving along the coast) Austin: "Whoa. Its a big wata (water). Its a BIG wata."

Elise burst out singing "You are my sunshine" on the way to Costco. It made me smile. :)
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The whole family was in the car driving home from the beach and the kids were doing their best to drive each other crazy. Lacey called. I passed the phone back to Elise to talk. When Lacey asked what she was doing, Elise replied: "Oh, just buggin each u-th-a (other)."
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While giving my talk in church, I was trying to relate an experience we had when we were newly married. I either meant to say "At this point, we had been married a couple months" or "we had been married a short time" and ended up combining the two and saying "At this point, we had been married a couple times." I didn't even catch it, but moved right along. However, George said he looked up and saw a few in the congregation look up and raise their eyebrows. :)
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(while cuddling her purple baby) Elise said, "My baby loves me cuz cuz cuz cuz cuz cuz I read her stories."

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"No" has been a favorite word for Elise for a long time. But now she is more sophisticated and says "Nothing" to preface whatever she has to say. So a conversation will go like this:

Me: "Elise, what do you want for breakfast?"

Elise: "Nothing. Cereal."

Me: "Do you want cheerios or golden grahams?"

Elise: "Nothing. Cheerios."

Me: "Are you still hungry?"

Elise: "Nothing. No, I not."

She has passed this to Austin. There's a whole lot of "nothing" going on at our house.

Another of Elise's favorite phrases is "Apta Lata" (After Later). It is starting to replace the "nothing" phrase and even though it doesn't make sense either, it is nice to hear something different.

Temple joy

On Friday, the open house for the Laie Hawaii temple began. It has been closed for almost two years for renovations. When there are large changes to the buildings, the public is invited to tour it before the temple is dedicated as the house of the Lord. I had volunteered to help for one of the days and then later they asked me to be a tour guide and lead groups through, explaining the different rooms and what happens there. It was a wonderful experience! It brought back many memories... the wonderful years of being a tour guide missionary in New York, my own temple wedding, and the special day when Elise was bound to our family forever. And mostly, I loved to again feel the sweet peace of a temple.

The Laie temple is small, compared to many. It was the 5th temple built and the first outside the continental US. It was originally dedicated 16 years before the creation of a stake in Oahu. That is something that doesn't happen these days. (If you are curious for more Laie temple facts, click here.) Our tour guide training took place on Tuesday evening on the BYU-Hawaii campus. I guess I was expecting a full meeting on what to say and temple facts, but instead we received a half page outline of the rooms we'd take people through at the door and were given instructions on where to park. We had a few reminders not to talk too much and let people just feel the peace of the temple. About 10 minutes of the meeting was spent on logistics type stuff and the rest of the time was local church leaders and general church priesthood leaders teaching about the Savior, listening to the Holy Ghost, and being spiritually prepared to go to the temple. It was an inspiring meeting and again reminded me of those type of meetings I attended as a missionary. We were also asked to give talks in sacrament meeting on Sunday. So this week brought a lot more gospel studying than normal and was a good reminder of the happiness and perspective that comes with consistent prayer and scripture study. Let's just say... it was a WONDERFUL week!

Pumpkin Pineapple Bread

One thing I love about fall is the abundance of pumpkin recipes. I told the little ones we were going to make some bread and Elise replied (while jumping), "Yay! Its fun! I so so cited (excited)!" I kept that comment in mind as ingredients were dumped all over the kitchen. Here's the recipe (orginally from Gemmie). This pumpkin bread is deliciously moist. Normally I add chocolate chips or craisins or nuts to pumpkin bread. I did that once when I made this recipe and it was sort of nasty (parts were too gooey or something), so don't do that. Also, if you are a "texture person" (you know... the kind who can't stand pulp in their orange juice), then blend up the pineapple before you add it. Honestly, I can't taste the pineapple flavor, but I can see the little chunks. However, I think it is the key to the moist bread, so don't skip it. Enjoy!

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Pumpkin-Pineapple Bread

1 c oil
2 ¾ c sugar
4 eggs
2 c pumpkin
1 ½ c crushed pineapple, with juice
½ Tbsp vanilla
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cloves (or less if preferred)
3 ½ c flour


Combine wet ingredients in large bowl. In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients and then add to the wet mixture. Pour into 2 - 3 greased and lightly floured loaf pans. I sprinkle my pans with cinnamon and sugar mix rather than flour...yum! Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 40-50 minutes, or until the center is set. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove to cooling rack. Wrap in foil and store in refrigerator. This bread freezes well.

Monday, Monday

ah... Monday. I woke up this morning and saw that not ONE room in my house was clean. This couldn't be true, could it? I had to check. So I scurried around opening doors... no. no. no. and on it went. What a way to start the week! How did it get this way? WELL... (here come the excuses).... Lucy has been off school for fall break for two weeks. Its been great. I thought we should both have a little break from chores, so we only did the minimum amount of work and instead went to the beach, library story time, park, and just messed around the house. Nothing major, just whatever we wanted. It was great to have that kid home again. She painted a birdhouse that a classmate gave her. We worked on putting together some Halloween costumes and did a little shopping. We read lots of books. I had some "headache days" and didn't want to get out of bed. It was nice to have someone to work the DVD player and yell at me when the younger two were doing something REALLY naughty. She also knows where the snacks are and that was even more helpful. Food keeps my kids entertained long past the shows. I kept repeating in my mind, "School is important. School is important. I have to send her back." But being a kid is important too.

Digging holes

Jumping holes

Lucy, however, was ready to get back to real life. At 6:55am, she was at my bedside. I opened one eye to see her fully dressed with a big grin - telling me her bed was made and asking me to check if her teeth were clean. As I was making her lunch, I said, "Lu, we are really going to miss you around here." To which she replied, "You should probably leave that message on a little note so I can read it when I get back. Maybe tape it to the door or something?"

And I must admit, it was nice to have a clean kitchen again, even if it only lasted 20 minutes. (That happened during lunch time... Austin and Elise said all the spaghetti "worms" were crawling away... and so they did.)

A little Columbus day exploration

George had Columbus day off work (there ARE advantages to working for the military :) so we went on a little family hike to a lighthouse. Our kids aren't all "hiking age" so George found one with a paved trail and we brought the wagon along. Austin rode in it the whole time, but Elise was adamant to walk some of the time (I wasn't really thinking this would be the case, so she's in flip flops. oops!). I thought she did quite well even though the wind made some parts a little tricky.

She and Lucy were climbing up a rocky part at the very end and I noticed that Elise chose to climb over the big 'ol rocks rather than take the easier (smooth) route. Lucy asked me about it and Elise must have been listening to my response because as she climbed the next rock (and several afterwards) she said, "Mom, I take-a the high-a road."

Austin spent most of his time looking for the "heli-copa-ters" flying overhead.

We ended the outing with pizza and hotdogs at Costco. Perfect!

White Boat Tour and being part of the tour

We did a lot of other fun things with the Tripp's, but I wanted to note two memorable things. One was a "white boat tour" of Pearl Harbor. When you are new at Hickam/Pearl Harbor, you are invited to go on this little private water tour. A navy admiral took us around the harbor, Ford Island and then ended with the Arizona Memorial. It was really interesting as he told us about the buildings that were around on Dec 7, 1941, where ships were sunk, how the navy runs things today, etc. We were joined by the other service men/women (and their families) who were new to the base and also in uniform, which always kindles the fire of patriotism.

U.S.S. Utah
I think they are looking at the oil still leaking
Air Force hottie

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The other memorable thing was a walking tour of some of the old buildings in downtown Honolulu.

King Kamehameha statue

Lucy was particularly excited to see him (remember the hat?)

The queens with Queen Lili'uokalani

So... are you wondering why this made the blog cut? Well, as we exited the building behind the King, a tour bus approached. A couple people asked about my wagon, then wanted to take a picture of the kids riding inside. Not a big deal. But before I was half way around the circle, more came.



And then more.

And then MORE!!!

Funny, huh? This has never happened to us and it really cracked me up. I think it was the blondish hair, not sure. Several asked if they were twins, but no one could understand my reply. Lots asked for pictures with the kids (saying "Dolla for a picture" ha, ha!) and Austin and Elise sat there with the most confused looks on their faces. I chuckle just thinking about it. Finally, I said, "Ok. Say goodbye to our new friends." and the kids waved. That got the cameras going again. :) Now, I am not dumb enough to think that my kids are the only "random people" in these tourist's vacation shots of HI, but it really was quite comical to be "celebrities" for five minutes.

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Come again, Tripps! We miss you already!

Lots of time at the beach

Geo's fam are fans of the water. So much vacation time was spent at various beaches snorkeling, boogie boarding and playing in the sand. For sanity purposes, the kids and I didn't attend early morning activities. One afternoon the whole group played together at Kailua Beach. It was a cloudy day and we had the beach to ourselves. Here are some pictures (the cool artsy ones courtesy of Jake).

Austin loved pushing his truck down the "mountain" (over and over and over again). Watch his hands shake with excitement in this video. This kid is one happy child and it is contagious.

Driving trucks down the slope of dad is fun too.
Lucy wasn't thrilled to boogie board. Her dad convinced her to go out to the water for a lesson, but when he turned his back...

... his subject disappeared.

After an hour of watching other people, she decided to wanted to try it out after all and got in a good ride.

And that was enough.