Daily Life These Days

As always the last few days have been super busy with volunteering at school, swimming, Cub Scouts, a playdate and after school activities. On Monday I spent the majority of the day going through and reading old journal and blog entries. I got absolutely nothing accomplished, but I just got sucked in and lost all sense of time. Before I knew it, it was time to go and pick up the children from school, get dinner started and then attend a PTA meeting while Michael took the children to their swim lessons.

The rest of the day I felt like I was in a funny fog, half in the past and yet in the present as well. I had forgotten about SO much of what I had written in my journals. After all, I started my journal in August of 2000, when Michael and I were still newlyweds and before we even purchased our house. I managed to write regularly all the way through 2005 and then semi-regularly through 2008. So much happened in those years. So many ups and downs. And man, we had a LOT of downs those first 4 years. It made me even more appreciative of our life now. Life is so plain NORMAL and there was a time when that's what I wanted more than anything. I've learned that "normal" and "boring" are GOOD things. But really, when is life ever really normal and boring, especially once children arrive?

So the last few days have been normal, but certainly not boring. I try to always find joy in those little moments throughout the day that bring laughter and a sense of well being. On Tuesday I spent the morning at the school volunteering in my son's classroom and then in the school library. It's been so long since I taught myself, it seems amazing to me that I ever was able to handle a classroom full of 2nd graders. When I watch Tristan's amazing teacher I'm in awe of her classroom management skills. When I consider going back to substitute teaching, it's the classroom management aspect that frightens me the most. But in working with the children, I remember why I loved 2nd grade so much. It's a great age.

Later in the library I enjoyed helping the children find books and I love the excitement on their faces when they find just the one they were looking for. I also looked around for some non-fiction books that I thought might spark an interest for Alyssa, as she is an avid reader but not a non-fiction reader. I found a few biographies that I thought she would enjoy and the librarian allowed me to check them out for her. I chose a biography about J.K. Rowling, "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" and "Boy" an autobiography of Roald Dahl which I have read before and thoroughly enjoyed.

So later that evening, while Michael and Tristan were off at their cub scout meeting, I sat down with Alyssa and showed her the books I had brought home. She seemed interested in "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Crane," a book about a young girl who was born around the time that the US dropped the Atom Bomb on Hiroshima. The book touched a bit on that and the Peace Day celebrations that are held in Hiroshima every August 6th. We talked a bit about the events and she wanted to read about Sadako even though the prologue mentions that she dies of leukemia. I wasn't sure if reading this might be too much for Alyssa to handle at her age, but she was eager to read it. In retrospect perhaps it wasn't a good choice on my part. It's a fairly short book, only 64 pages with 9 short chapters. I read the first few and checked to see how Alyssa was feeling about the book, and she kept begging me to read another chapter and then another chapter, until we completed the entire book. She seemed to be handling the content well until the very end when Sadako dies. I got choked up and the tears started rolling out of my eyes and then she, likewise, started crying. But I didn't realize just HOW upset she was until I mentioned taking the AR test on the book and she emphatically refused to ever take the test or even look at the book again. She was so upset we had to read a chapter from another book, "The Saturdays" by Elizabeth Enright, to get her mind off the other book so she could go to sleep. Yeah, probably not one of my better decisions as a parent.

Despite the bad ending, I have to say I enjoyed our time together reading that evening. We sometimes get so busy in our evenings that Alyssa often does her 30 minutes of reading time reading to herself in bed before we come in and say good night and turn out the lights, though we do still try to read together when we can. I'm hoping to read "Boy" with her next and maybe give her non-fiction reading requirement a bit of a happier note, though maybe I should re-read it first as I recall there might be a few sad stories in that book as well. Anyone have some other good non-fiction book suggestions for a 9 year old girl?

Wednesday, the next day, was just as busy at school with first the school's Veteran's Day assembly and then working the "snack table" through all 5 lunches.

The Veteran's Day assembly was well done as always. Our school makes a huge effort with this assembly and invites any Veterans of family members or in the community to come and be guests of honor for the morning. It's always touching to see how proud the children are of family members who come and all the Veteran's names are read out during one of the songs. But what was particularly adorable this year, was as they had the Veteran's march down the aisle to exit the assembly and go to the reception which is held for them in our school library, the children were holding up their hands for the Veterans to shake or "high 5" as they walked by. It was like they were rock stars and you could tell they were just so tickled by this.

The rest of the day was just the typical daily business. Tristan had a playdate with his best buddy, then we had to eat dinner and get to swimming lessons. Alyssa was in near hysterics because she was afraid we might be a minute or two late (that girl is loving her swim lessons). After swim lessons it was hot showers and stories and then to bed.

Today was my first day all week that I wasn't going to be busy with something at the school, but still started out the morning at the school with the children for "Moms and Muffins." It was nice to see just how popular this new event was. We could hardly find a place to sit down. Then I came home, got out my "to do" list and got busy with a bunch of things I've been putting off the last few days. It's a gorgeous fall day outside today and so tempting to go out and enjoy it, but I really needed to get some things done. So now that I've finished my lunch, it's time for me to go and continue working on those pesky "to do" items before it's time to pick the kids up from school.

I Need a Little Help from my Friends

For some reason I've been itching to blog again, though to be honest, I'm not really sure that anything I have to blog would be of interest to anyone other than myself. Yet, the awareness that time is flying by and I have been so bad about keeping notes about the children's activities and cute things they say and simply recording daily life, makes me want to get back into that habit again. I remark to myself and others so often about how quickly my children are growing and how big they are getting, but I know that in a few years I'll be looking back at this time and remarking at how little they still were and how much bigger they are currently. It makes me want to record the now, no matter how mundane, so that I can look back and remember and appreciate the joys and struggles, ups and downs of these days.

Indeed, in thinking back to my old journal, I'm wondering how to go back and "fix" my old blog/journal. I can't even remember what blog format it's in (Greymatter, I think), nor how to make any changes to it or anything. It's been so long. I still have the webhost space as well as the domain name (starrbyrd.com), but since I'm useless in regard to setting up any kind of blog software, I don't know how to "redo" that site. If there is anyone out there who could help me, I'd love to chat with them. Granted, I can't afford to pay someone much to help me with it either, but if they could get me started or explain what I'd need to do, I'd be so appreciative. I'd love to create an archived blog for my "Reach for the Stars" journal entries and some kind of new blog for current entries. I'm so bad that I never even completely copied over my old journal entries from back in the old "Diaryland" days. Not sure if they are all gone now or if I can still access them somehow. There too, I could use some help.

How I'd love to go through and fix up my old blog into a format from which I could actually get a bound book of all those old entries. I think I'd still like to go through and clean some of them up, even delete a few, but for the most part let them stand as a testament to those days. There are just so many memories, both good and bad, in those old entries and it pains me that I've let so many years go by without maintaining those snippets of life with my kidlets as they've grown. But then, it's never too late to start again, I suppose. I just have to remember to do a little at a time and be glad for what I have.

Kihei arrival

Ahhhhhhhh. We've landed back in Heaven, we'll as close to Heaven as you can get on earth, at least in our minds. And which, by the way reminds me of the title of a very enjoyable book, titled "Born in Paradise". Sorry, I can't remember the author's name and am too lazy to look it up at the moment. Interesting read and autobiographical account of growing up on Maui at the turn of the century on one of the big cattle ranches on Haleakela.

But I digress. Yesterday, after a long and somewhat bumpy flight we landed on our beloved Maui once again after 3 long years! We've returned to the Hale Pau Hana which feels like home after so many visits. The kids were wild to get their swimsuits on and jump into the pool, so that's what we did, followed by our first walk on the beach, which turned into the first romp in the waves. Alyssa was truly loving every minute of it and I'm so sorry I didn't have my camera or phone with me. She was running into the waves with her arms stretched out above her head screaming at the waves "You love me!!! You love me!!" and then throwing herself into them. She even declared it "awesome" when a big wave swamped her and went right over her head! It was like she was a crazy water sprite and couldn't get enough of the waves. We just watched her utter joy and laughed. It was a great, happy moment I just wanted to ingrain in my mind.

At the same time Tristan was digging in the sand like a little puppy wallowing in mud and water. He would dig in one spot, then run down the beach amd start digging in another spot. And then he would just run and run and run. He'd run away from us down the beach, turn around and run back right along the water line splashing and kicking up sand. Then turn around and do it again. Then go dig somemore in the sand. More precious memories I wish I could just hold forever in my mind.

We checked out the tidal pools (which Tristan gave a special name that I can't recall at the moment) and just thoroughly enjoyed just being in the moment and finally back in Hawaii again.

For dinner we just walked across the road for Thai take-out and had dinner with my parents and sister. The kids just wanted some cereal and ran around on the lawn playing hide-and-seek and then making hideouts with the lawn chairs and tables. Not long after 8:00, they had already crashed and we crashed ourselves shortly thereafter.

Where has the summer gone?

I can't believe that summer is almost over for us! I keep trying to remind myself that really we have 3 more weeks before school starts (yes, we start the Wednesday after Labor Day), but it seems like the time is winding down much too quickly. Even worse, I feel like we haven't done any of the things I had hoped to do during this time. We've never gone to the zoo yet (will try to fit that one in soon - maybe Friday?), we haven't gone on the ferry ride we talked about, we haven't ridden "The Duck", we haven't gone to one of our favorite parks to play, and we haven't even been to the beach! I also owe Alyssa a ride on the local public bus, something she's so eager to do. We did go to the splash pad at the local park for the first time yesterday, but that was completely spur of the moment.

I'm not sure why we haven't done as much this summer. To be honest, I think the weather has had a lot to do with it. (Or maybe I'm just a lame mom?) It seems like it's been either cold (in the 50's and low-60's) or too hot (upper-80's to 90's). We don't do "hot" well in this house. I guess those would have been perfect days for the ferry ride or the beach, but for whatever reason those things didn't happen. Now, we are faced with the end of the summer looming and we still haven't even camped out in our backyard or gone to Jetty Island, both things we were determined to do this summer. I guess I still have a few weeks to get those in.

What have we done? Well, we've had some playdates, had swimming lessons, T-ball ran into July this year, we went to Lake Chelan for a few nights, both kids were sick for a few days which slowed us down, and we've had a few neighborhood gatherings as well as some friends come to visit from out of town. Not much and yet it's felt busy to me. Still, not at all like last summer when we seemed to be discovering so many new things each week.

It just makes me rather sorry that school is starting so soon again. I guess we just have to make the most of the next few weeks and cram a lot of fun in!

A Great Start to Summer

Yesterday was one of those rare days that you wish the day would never end. It was also our first full day of summer vacation and a perfect way to start the summer!

We started the day with a breakfast playdate, with our good friends and neighbors coming over and joining us for breakfast. Our children happen to be the same ages and Tristan and their son, N, were in the same Kindergarten class. Best of all, our children play wonderfully together and really enjoy one another and so do the moms! We enjoyed some homemade blueberry pancakes and play/chit-chat time until they had to leave to run errands.

Then our sweet teen-aged neighbor girls came over and played kickball with Alyssa and Tristan in the back yard. My kids adore the girls and had so much fun. They also ran around so much that they were pretty warm despite the overcast, cool day, so the kidlets insisted that I turn on the sprinklers so they could jump through them. They had a good time getting wet while I made them some lunch.

After drying off and eating lunch, we headed over to the library to pick up books Alyssa had put on hold (she can do that all by herself now). We picked up all her books (she had a stack!) and then played on the new play structure in the library park for a while. (All day the kidlets had been playing so nicely together, so that alone helped make the day a good one for me.) Then we headed to the Central Market and bought our first flat of local strawberries, fresh local corn and then the kids were allowed to pick out some ice cream for dessert.

When we got home, Michael was already home from work, so while I unloaded the groceries, put them away and started dinner, Michael mowed the lawn and the kids sat at the patio table and colored. We had our first dinner outside on the patio and told Michael all about our day, then we finished off the day with some ice cream and watching Wipeout and laughing together.

All in all it doesn't sound like an extraordinary day, but all the small enjoyable moments added up to a wonderful day and a great way to start the summer.

My Little Philosopher

In line with what I wrote about earlier today in regards to recording even the little vignettes of every day life, this morning before going off to Kindergarten, Tristan asked me some pretty heavy questions. I was preparing our lunch when Tristan said, "Mommy, sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be dead. I don't want to be dead, but I do wonder what it would be like." We talked a bit about death and what that means and what he thought about it. Then after a few moments of silence he asked me, "Mommy, what is life? Why are we alive?" I was just kind of stunned by these questions and to be honest, even with some thought, I'm not sure I have an answer. I told him that that is a question people have been wondering since the beginning of time and that it is something each person has to answer for themselves. I talked about being a good person and living a good and helpful life -- doing something to make the world a better place with your life. As he always does he listened and took it in and then went back to playing with his Legos. It's moments like these that I'm so incredibly grateful that I get to stay home with my children and spend as much time with them as I do.

Then this afternoon, I was able to go on Tristan's class field trip to Mukilteo Beach. The Kindergartens study fish, oceans and marine life as one unit in the school year and the trip to the beach is a highlight. Tristan heard about it last year from Alyssa so he was really excited about it. I was in charge of Tristan and 3 of his classmates, although we all stayed together as a big group. The kids had a ball turning over rocks and finding little crabs, hermit crabs, mussels, barnacles and whatever else you can find on our beaches. One of the kids in Tristan's class has a mom who dives so she met us there and went in the water and brought some things up from the bottom of the sound like a huge sea star, some sea urchins and a few other things for the kids to see. I think everyone had a really good time and I was happy it didn't rain! It wasn't great beach weather but here in the Pacific Northwest it's not unusual to bundle up for the beach.

We also filled out the afternoon with a trip to the dentist for both kidlets. Other than huge overbites thanks to their thumbsucking habits that we are still trying hard to break, both kidlets had no cavities and great check-ups.

All in all, a good day!

Not Sure Where or How to Start

I've been so bad about this blogging thing and I'm actually really very sorry about that. When I go back and read entries from my first online journal and blog (started back in 2000), I'm so grateful I have those entries to read. I recorded so many experiences and moments that I have completely forgotten about until I read them again then the memory comes flying back -- precious moments when my children were babies and sad moments when we were trying so desperately to conceive. Sometimes, however, the best entries are just those little vignettes about every day life back then. I realize just how much I love those simple, insightful entries of days gone by. It makes me realize that I don't need to write a journal that is stunningly written or of great interest to everyone, but ultimately just need to write for myself, so I can remember these little daily moments in the years to come.

So with that, I hope to post more frequently and make my journal more of a record of our days. I won't win any journaling awards. I can't promise that my grammar and sentence structure will be perfect, or even my spelling for that matter (I really stink at spelling). But I do hope that I can capture moments and feelings that are important to me at that moment so that when I look back on these posts in the years to come I can once again transport myself back to these days and really remember those simple little moments that are sometimes the best of all.