My baby started school!

I have many excuses as to why it has taken me nearly a month to blog, again, but I wont bore any readers I might have with the reasons. Life is just life, busy, fun, and speeding on along. My sweet Sadie started Kindergarten this week! I feel like I have been preparing myself for her first day for a year now...I held back tears at Open House as she found her little desk with her name on it, I had a hard time sleeping the night before, and I jumped out of bed at 6:30 to get her ready. She was excited, Steven and I walked her to her room, she did great. Me too, I was emotional but didn't lose it, battle won! But later that day I was fixing lunch and realizing we had a lot of cheese, and the boys just like PB&J, so I thought to myself "I'll make grilled cheese sandwiches one day this week, Sadie likes those..." then realized that I wouldn't be able to do that. I was prepared for her FIRST day of school, but not for the rest of them. She's going to be there, most Mondays-Fridays, for like, forever! I'm going to cry as I write this but at least I'm by myself, and not in public. I'm so proud of her - which is a little silly because she hasn't done much yet, but those feelings are there regardless. She's growing up and I can't stop it, so I guess I'll cry a little and mostly try to enjoy it. I will definitely cherish our afternoons, weekends, and holidays a little more. Oh, I sound like those annoying strangers that always stop you in Walmart and say "enjoy this time, it's going to go by way too fast!". At the time I'm always like "really? this day has lasted forever already, but whatever"....THEY ARE RIGHT!
In other news, Eli starts preschool next week! He will go two days a week and he is excited, already familiar with the school since Sadie was just there a few months ago. Hopefully he'll make some new friends, he's already got one good one but he's not nearly the social butterfly Sadie is. I am also hoping he'll improve some on his fine motor skills - as of now he has NO interest. One day this summer I was showing Sadie how to sharpen pencils and I gave Eli some crayons and a coloring book and left them alone for a little while. Was Eli coloring when I got back? No, he was "dwordfighting" with 2 freshly sharpened pencils. What a boy. A sweet one, though.
My little D is coming into his own, too, with a fiesty little personality. I don't remember my other 2 throwing all out temper tantrums at this age, but I don't know what else to call it. He is one demanding 15month old! He finally said his first word besides "dada" the other day when he dropped his toy in Wal-mart...you guessed it - "Uh-oh". Now the big kid's favorite activity is to drop something just to get him to say it. Tonight he made an incredible mess at a Mexican restaurant (dragging his sippy cup through the refried beans at one point and dipping his own chips into the cheese dip), I stood him up to brush off his clothes and he looked down at the floor and said "uh-oh". You got that right buddy - that's why this Mama likes to go out to eat!
I think that's a good August update, although Sadie also learned to ride her bike a couple weeks ago without training wheels (her older cousin taught her - awesome) and she has been loving it. Her arms and legs are all scraped up... I should probably explain to her teachers that she isn't that clumsy she's just flying around on her bike and occasionally crashes into things (like the ground). I'm sure it is fun to be able to go that fast on something all by yourself. Hopefully she'll be a little more cautious when she gets her driver's license!
That's it for now. Go kiss your loved ones and have a good night!

Shaved ice and chickens

Steven took a trip to Hawaii in 1999 with his Mom and Grandma, about a month before we started dating. Since it's such a big trip (far away and expensive) I just assumed I might not ever get to go since he had already been....but the Lord often has other plans for us! Steven worked very hard last year in order to make this trip with Lincoln Financial....to the beautiful island of Kauai. The first 4 nights we stayed at the Grand Hyatt Resort in Poipu, it was indeed grand.  Below is a picture of our room.

Our 2nd day in Hawaii was my 33rd birthday, what a great way to spend a birthday! We slept late, according to our time (Hawaii time it was a little hard to sleep past 4am). We enjoyed the saltwater pools and ocean and a night out to the Beach House Restaurant (with Lincoln). The co-workers we ate with had quite a few glasses of wine before discovering it was my birthday, so needless to say I got sung to quite a bit. My favorite was the local guy driving the bus, his tune was very original. Despite much pressure I declined going up to the front for a solo, for me to do that I would have had to drink an entire bottle of wine (and for the record, I didn't drink any). The only negative part of my birthday was not seeing my kids, so I decided to Skype with them before they went to bed. It was a sweet time until I noticed Eli was crying in the corner of the screen, which made me sad. Thankfully he recovered pretty quickly, or so I was told. We didn't Skype anymore after that, I think it was too hard on my sensitive little guy.

The next day we got to pick our activity and I signed us up for a zipline tour, which was really fun. We went on 7 different ziplines that got faster and higher as we went. The last one we went down next to each other over the valley of a mountain, it was really cool. 

The last night at the Grand Hyatt Lincoln had a farewell party that included a concert by the Bacon Brothers...and yes that is Kevin Bacon in the picture below. Apparently acting is just his day job, he was in his element on that stage and has a great voice. We didn't get to meet him but it was fun to see him in person for over an hour!  

 The next day we checked out of the hotel and rented a jeep to drive around the last couple of days. We drove to see the Waimai Canyon which is the "Grand Canyon of Hawaii" and it was great, everywhere you look is a gorgeous view, either mountain or ocean, or chicken (for some reason there are a lot of chickens in Kauai, literally, on the side of the road everywhere). From the top of the Waimai Canyon we got a glimpse of the Napali Coast, which is possibly the prettiest view I have ever seen. That afternoon we checked into this quaint little cottage I found on Homeaway.com.  

 The cottage wasn't nearly as elegant as the resort but we loved the nature all around us, there were horses and roosters and this pretty peacock right in our backyard. There was a bathtub indoors but an outdoor shower, which Steven enjoyed more than me. One day he was showering outside and I heard a yell, apparently a rooster got a little too close for his comfort. 

 Steven quickly discovered another special thing about Kauai, they are famous for their shaved ice. It really is good, and I don't like that kind of thing nearly as much as him. He pretty much planned his day and meals around the next shaved ice encounter. :)

 While the resort was toward the south side of the island, our cottage was on the North Shore and really near Hannalei Bay (from "Puff the Magic Dragon"). It was our favorite little spot and this picture really doesn't do it justice. We found great little local dives to eat at and a shop with cheap t-shirts for the kids, a great beach to swim in, and of course shaved ice and ice cream for dessert. Steven even picked up a local real estate book....but quickly put it back down when he saw the prices. 

 It was a great vacation. I missed my kiddos and was soooo ready to see them after a week, but it was a great time for Steven and I to just be us, no interruptions, no daily life stress. Every couple needs that now and then, especially when you have kids and busy lives. 

 Thank you baby for our wonderful trip! I will always treasure it.