our "new" car

We have joined the land of mini-vans. We were searching for a car with more space but still okay gas-mileage and the Lord brought us to this great car. It has many perks that we weren't looking for but we got such a great deal on it, and they paid off our other car, that we couldn't pass it up. So after a week of frustration working with the dealer (we waited for them to fix it up and clean it out...which still wasn't done very well) we are now mini-van owners. We spent yesterday cleaning it out (which is what promted my last entry on the amazing spot remover) and because of the lack of professionalism on the dealers part they also gave us a 1 year warranty to cover anything and everything (even though it's a 7 year old car). So we are thankful. Ethan's favorite thing is the DVD player (which will probably never get used because we aren't on the road any longer than 30 minutes...road trips don't usually happen in Hawaii) but is still nice to have just in case. I like the sun roof and the two sliding doors which also have windows that roll-down (only in a Mazda). So the color wasn't what we would have picked but everyone will definitely be able to spot us on the road.

amazing stuff

I had to share this amazing product. It is a stain spot remover for carpet and upholstery. The oxygenated action actually does dissolve the stain right before your eyes. We used a carpet cleaner first, which didn't work so well, and then sprayed Woolite Oxy Deep spray on and...boom...gone! I feel like a commercial but the other day Ethan spilled his blueberry/pomegranate juice onto our off-white carpet, so I ran to get this spray and it took it right out. The same thing with a marker stain that Jude put on the same carpet....and I have so many other stories. It's a control freak mom's dream come true. :o)

missing his cousins

In a previous post I talked about Ethan spelling his name and his cousins names a lot. Well now he has moved on to the Leap Frog refrigerator magnets letters (which I highly recommend for your kids if they're preschool age or younger...it has a great song that sings each letters sounds). So it made me laugh when I saw his name and his cousin, Kyle's, name on our deep-freeze freezer spelled out in refrigerator magnets. I think he misses family as much as I do.

girls night out

Candid didn't work so we thought we would pose a "candid" shot.

I love the times I get to have a girls night out...food, fun and laughter! A bunch of us got together to celebrate a birthday and say good-bye to a good friend. As I was sitting their last night with these ladies from my church, I was thinking about how good God is to give me such great friends in a place so far from everything I know. I love that it's a mixture of ladies of different ages, different stages and different walks of life.

hanging out with friends

We met up at the playground with our friends, the Powers and I was trying to get some pictures of all the kiddo's while they were running around and playing together. Most of them turned out blurry but I did catch a few good ones...except I didn't get any of Lily (their oldest). We are going to miss our friends and are trying to get in as much time with them as we can. We hope their plans work out to move back here in a few years because we will miss them terribly.

big accomplishment

The "E" looks a little feathered but you get the idea.

It's weird to think that I have a child that is old enough to start writing his letters. Ever since Ethan hung out with his cousin Kyle (who loves writing "letters" and putting them in envelopes to give out), Ethan has enjoyed learning how to spell his name and his cousins name and now my name (MOM). But just today he actually spelled every letter in his name without me helping. So I wanted to share his great accomplishment.

My cute little 3 year old.

happy father's day!

To my wonderful husband and father of our boys...we love you!

no personal space

It's funny how the every day things turn into the biggest ordeals with small children. Jude likes to be wherever I am...at all times...bathroom, doing dishes, e-mailing, etc. He's become a little needy lately. So while I thought that it wouldn't be a big deal to catch a shower really quick (while the boys were both awake)...it turned into Jude trying to figure out how to climb into the shower with me...getting completely soaked. So after I got out of the shower he followed me around, still wanting me to pick him up (which is what he wanted all along)...and then when I pulled out the camera to take a picture of how wet he was, he decided he had enough and started crying. It's so hard being a 1 year old.

day at the zoo

We had a fun day at the zoo with our friends. The Honolulu zoo is great because it's small and yet has every animal you would want to see...and even then we still didn't make it to half of the animals before we get hot, tired and hungry. This was Jude's first trip to the zoo here in Hawaii. Now that he doesn't take his morning nap...adventures to the other side of the island are possible. And in Hawaii many tourist places have kamaina (Hawaii residents) rates which make things very affordable...it's nice to have a price break when it comes to anything in Hawaii.

This is the great big banyan tree outside the zoo that has little pathways through the roots growing down from the branches....such a fun place for kids and a great place for shade.

These are the giraffes that Ethan and I got to feed last time we were at the zoo. It was a special program you could go to where you go behind the scenes and feed the animals apples. We also got up close to a Rhino...it's truly amazing how big these animals are and yet we were able to feed them from our hands.

weird picture

I was having a control-freak moment and spot cleaning our rug in the family room...which gets quite the wear and tear. When I went to hang up the towel to dry out I noticed that the dirt marks made a face like picture (at least I thought so). Now I'm not one of those people that sends the picture into the news and says it's mother Mary, but it's more like a man in the moon type thing to me. Just thought it was weird that the dirt marks made a picture...and a little embarrassed that there was that much dirt on my rug.

new look

You probably noticed my blog looks different. I decided to "customize" it but I didn't know how to really change anything. So it's basically the same thing with a different layout. I hope it didn't throw any of you off.

visiting with family

We're back! What a whirl-wind trip it was. So I will give you the highlights...
While Jason was here for his short vacation time, his family came up to St. Louis to visit us while we were in town. We were so glad that they were able to come up and look forward to their visit with us later this summer.

I got to meet my one and only niece, Anna...and Tara got to finally meet Jude. It was so fun getting together and having all the cousins play together. Ethan asked every day when Tyler and Kyle and baby Anna were coming over.

Here is the infamous trio. Tyler and Kyle's Papa Joe took them to the pond down the street to throw rocks...every boys dream...anytime they all got together they were usually covered from head to toe in dirt, chalk or water. Ethan was very sad to leave his cousins behind.

We made a trip up to Omaha for a few days with my mom. We got to see the Gigi's (great grandmas) and a bunch of our extended family. We had a great time and were so glad we were able to see everyone.

I was trying to figure out how a managed to miss getting the rest of my family in pictures but then I remembered that my mom has our whole month documented well with her new camera. So I can get the copies from her. We heard many times while we were there, quote: "I just love my new camera".

We're all adjusting to the new schedule of being home. I got really used to having everyone around all the time...making dinner together, going shopping together, having girls nights in with my mom and sister, tee-peeing with my little sister and mom (long story, if you want to hear about it just ask me and I would be glad to fill you in), taking road trips, going to Target (way to many times...yet not enough) and hanging out with my sister and her boys. Fun times...

visiting with friends

Ethan had fun meeting his new friend Cade, Scott's girlfriends son. They had fun going to the zoo, the arch and running around with the cousins too.

I had a roommate reunion while we were there. Everyone met up in St. Louis and stayed at Stephanie's parents house. It was fun catching up, laughing and even making a Krispy Kreme run at midnight...like the good ole days. It was so fun to see everyone again and meet all the kiddo's. I think our next reunion will be here in Hawaii....without the kids this time.

My good friends Jocelyn and Ryan came up from Chattanooga and we hung out for a weekend. It was so fun to catch up and pick up right where we left off. I miss them.

I also got to catch up with my friend Amy and family. It happened to be her 30th birthday while I was there so it was fun being able to celebrate with her.

I am so thankful for the friendships God has blessed me with over the years. I know there were other friends that I wanted to see while I was home too but ran out of time...you would think a month would be plenty of time to get everything squeezed in, but it went by way too quickly.

snow in may

Yes, it is actually real snow. My mom saved some snowballs for the boys from a snow they had this past winter, since neither of my boys has seen actual snow yet. They weren't really snow balls anymore but more like ice balls. But none-the-less the boys had a blast throwing them on the ground, making a small snowman and eating it.

my nieces birthday

Happy Birthday Anna! We were so glad to celebrate your 1st birthday with you. We had so much fun.