New Years Eve "Ro-Ro's"!

After today, this year will be over. It was good year. It had it's ups and downs. It had it's smiles and tears. It has held so much emotion, feelings, and happiness. I went on many adventures and met so many people this year. And I am glad that I was able to spend this last day with my family.

We did something different for the kids this year. We had CINNAMON ROLLS for DINNER! How cool is that?! And I love my sister's cinnamon rolls! :)

The house smelled super yummy! The company was loving and fun! It was a wonderful way to end this year. Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas!

This is another holiday party where I failed to take any pictures! But I would much rather live in the moment than trying to find moments to take a picture of. :) Today we had our family Christmas party at my brother's house, and his wife (my sister-IL) cooked an amazing meal and I loved it! I had a lot of fun...and the food was amazing...and the company was even better! :)

This picture was taking a few minutes before we left to go home. My brother-IL and my sister had to take KaiBoy home since he was getting sleepy, and so they left my DollGirl here so that we could finish the Gingerbread house that we were making and decorating sugar cookies....and then we had a little bit of SUPER yummy, homemade apple pie and cranberry cider!

I love my family. I know that no matter what happens in the years to come, we will always have each other. My prayer is that I will find someone that I can spend the rest of my life with that my sister and brother can be happy that he is their "in-law." I love my brother-IL and sister-IL...and I want my sister and brother to be able to say that about the person that I will marry into the family. But for right now, my family, is my family and I love them.

Merry Christmas Eve!

I have a confession. I did not take a lot of pictures of our Christmas Eve party at my sister's house. But that does NOT mean I did not have fun. In fact, I was having TOO MUCH fun that I didn't have time to take pictures. These two pictures I took in the beginning when I first got to the house and the last pictures was when everyone had left already and there were only a few of us. It was a fun night. And I am tired. But it was a SUPER fun night! :)

I honestly thought that my anxiety of lots of people was going to kick in, but I was okay. There were a few times where I had to step out and take a breather...but other than that, I could NOT stop laughing nearly the whole time!

My good, good friend had made tamales and a lot of other yummy Mexican food. I love authentic Mexican food! :) But her and my sister slaved away in the kitchen and when everyone arrived we all sat around the table and ate and talked, and laughed and just had a really good time stuffing ourselves! Then came the games! My other sister had planned out all the games and they were a lot of fun! We were all laughing and having a very, very good time! It was fun. :)

See, like I said, I didn't take a lot of pictures because I was having way too much fun! This last picture was my friends prize that he had left behind. He said that we can have and so my friend Tracy and I wanted to eat one, but we didn't know what was inside of them, so we "opened" all of them. That was fun...and we did get to eat a "good" one. :)

It was a good Christmas Eve filled with lots of good food, good friends, and happy moments. I loved tonight...and I had a lot of fun. :) Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! Have an awesome Christmas tomorrow! :)

Honolulu City Lights 2016.

Today was a ridiculously exhausting day, but it was SO worth it! I really was contemplating whether or not I wanted to go to the city with my family to go see the city lights. I really didn't want to, but then because I like spending time with family, I really wanted to go. I love spending time with my DollGirl and KaiBoy and I love going on adventures with them...but today was a real rough day at the preschool! It was crazy! The kids were crazy! If ever I forgot that we had a break coming up, I just needed to look at my kids and their behavior would remind me. *laughs*

I decided to go. It didn't take much convincing really, just I needed the energy to go...but anytime I think of my little ones, I somehow muster enough energy to LOOK like I have energy. *laughs*

Even though it was still light out, I'm glad that we went early. There wasn't that many people there yet, and we had really good parking! That was what I was worried about...the whole parking dealio! It can get pretty crazy...and sometimes you can spend a lot time trying to look for a place to park. But not this time, we drove up and got real good parking!

"Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say, on a bright Hawai'ian Christmas day!" I couldn't leave without taking a picture of this! (Keep in mind, a lot of these pictures were taking one handed since KaiBoy decided that he wanted to stay with me. I like to think it's because I don't ever believe rushing kids if they don't need to be rushed. So we took our time walking around. I would only carry him if there was a huge group, or you could tell he was tired...but for the most, he loved walking everywhere. But yes, I would be holding his hand...so one handed pictures here! :))

It was funny because it looked like KaiBoys head was going to fall off while we walked under the trees with the lights because he couldn't stop looking at the lights! :)

And there is the official sign of the Honolulu City Lights!:)

Every year they would have a Christmas Wreath contest...and there were some really awesome wreaths! SUPER creative! I really liked that Dream Catcher wreath!

This one was my favorite wreath this year! I love how everything was made from the beach!

These wreaths always make me laugh! I swear that we can make one, or two, or three! at the the preschool, because the kids always leave their slippers at the school and then forget which one is theirs!

Christmas trees all decorated with lights just makes me smile! I love it! I makes me so happy to see this!

This little guy could not stop looking at the tree! The lights would change colors and KaiBoy LOVED it! I love watching his face when he is super interested in something! :)

And here is Santa and Mrs. Clause just chilling...:)

See, even Santa likes to go barefoot! :)

I love my family. I super love my family. And I am so glad that I can call them mine. :)

Right when we got to the cars, DollGirl said that she needed to go to the bathroom...and so while Papa took her to the bathroom, my sisters and I stayed with KaiBoy in the car...he's so cute. I love him. :)

They are my world. I love them. My DollGirl and my KaiBoy. I'm glad that I went. Any time spent with them is so worth it. :)

Random Family Beach TIme.

I usually go to the beach early on the weekends. I like going to the ocean in the mornings when there aren't that many people out and I can have the beach sort of to myself. It's nice going out to the ocean. I love the ocean. The problem with going so early is sometimes my family will text me and ask me if I want to join them at the beach...when I just got back! Today was one of those days. It was good that I still have my beach attire on so I told them to part at my place and we can walk over.

They didn't really go into the water, KaiBoy and I walked the shore some and DollGirl just played in the sand. It was pretty cold out and there were a lot of people at the beach already. (Another reason why I like to go early. When the crowds start to come, I leave.)

I love the fact that I live so near to the beach. I honestly believe that it's my soul place and I can't fathom the idea of leaving it. Thinking about it just makes me go blank.

Although it sprinkled some, the day was gorgeous. I love the weather here in Hawai'i. It's perfect weather! Look how beautiful it is! Hey, a random thing I learned today! When I come here early in the morning, I always see that boat! (The one in the in the left of the picture in the middle.) I ALWAYS see it there...and I never really thought about it...until I saw one of my preschool parents run past me and jump in the water and get on the boat! Well, now I know who the boat belongs to! :0

I hope I never take this beautiful place for granted. I wish that my family would come here more. I love the beach and I love being near it. I love it so much...and I know that my DollGirl and KaiBoy love it too. I hope we stay here for a long time.

Dirty Thirty

My brother turned 30 today and so his wife threw him a surprise mustache bash! She had asked me to help her a few weeks ago and I agreed so today I only worked half day and went over to their house to set up the place to get it ready for the fun "dirty thirty" bash. I didn't take much pictures, because I was living in the moment and left my phone in the house while we had fun outside in the back yard.

Mandy told everyone that my brother would be home at 6pm and so everyone had to be there at least by 5:30pm. When it got closer to the time, most everyone had called us to tell us that they were running late, so that was a great disappointment, but then it ended up being a different kind of surprise. My brother was kept wondering who was going to show up as the night went on. :)

One of my favorite things that we made were the mini apple pie's that are my brother's favorite! It made the house smell amazing! I love the smell of "fall"...and the baking apple pies is a smell of "fall" to me. :)

I am so proud of my "baby" brother. I am so glad to call him MY brother. We have had our ups and downs, but without a doubt in my mind, I know that he will always be there for me when I need him. I am glad that he is here in Hawai'i with us...and even though I know that it won't be "forever", for now, I am glad that I have my brother with me.

Happy 30th birthday, my brother. I love you. I love you. I love you.

Too early!

Yesterday one of my sisters' said that she was craving s'mores, so we all decided to go over to her house to make s'mores. My brother ended up marinating some meat and we had a on-the-spur bbq gathering. Which I am not complaining about! I love my family so much and I was happy to spend my day off with my family. I told them all about Kaua'i (since I am STILL on a high about how amazing that day trip was!) and I was able to give my little DollGirl the shell that I bought for her!

I can't believe how big girl she looks with her new haircut! I miss her long hair, but she wanted to donate her hair to "those people who can't grow their own." (Those were her words when she told me why she cut her hair). But she loved the shell that I got her. I told her it was her mermaid phone, because if she puts the shell to her ear, she can hear the waves calling her home if she was a mermaid. She said that she heard the waves...I guess she is like me, mermaids at heart. :)

And yes, we were able to make our s'mores! It was so funny though because since we didn't have a fire pit, we just toasted our marshmallows over the BBQ! But I'm kind of excited because my family (both of whom have their houses' now! I can't wait until I live in a house!), both of them want to make a fire pit in their backyard! S'mores here we come!

It was a lot harder to cook it over the grill coals because it was warm enough, but there was no fire...and the marshmallows would slower melt off the stick...so you had to make sure you had your graham cracker and chocolate right there with you! But it was so yummy and just as I remembered it! I can't even remember the last time I had made s'mores...and I LOVE s'mores! We just don't have fireplaces here in Hawai'i, that's why! :)

Anyways, that was yesterday. Today, I had to make a decison EARLY this morning...and I just couldn't. It was just way too early! You see, yesterday when I left my sister's house, she gave me a cinnamon swirly wheat bread...which I will never complain about! BUT my OTHER sister gave me a loaf of pumpkin bread...and we all know how much I love pumpkin anything!! So this morning, I had to make the extremely hard (first world problem!!) decision, which bread should I toast and eat for breakfast. It was so early, but I decided to....

...eat BOTH! :) Both nicely toasted, slathered in butter. And yes, it was super yummy and put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. I love my sisters. And I love how they spoil me. :) I think, maybe, tomorrow I might make the same choice. :)

Around lunch time I got the email notice that one of my postcards made it to it's destination in France and so  I was eager to come home to receive another address to send another postcard to. Little did I know that I also had a postcard waiting for me when I got home! But not only that! I also received my Pipsticks's subscription! It was definitely a good day mail-wise! :)

I was thinking that this envelope felt a lot thicker than the last one that I got and then I remembered that this was a "super mega pack" since this is the 2nd birthday of  Pipsticks! How cool! :) But I'll do a review of the "unboxing" (can you call it an "unboxing" if it's not a box?!?) in a separate post.

This fun postcard is from Irina from Russia. It took 49 long days to get to me, but I am so glad that it made it to me! :) The postcard is of a fairy tale hero named Emelya. It also shows some "traditional Russian dishes, such as cakes, pancakes, Baranki, suskki and cereal in the pot." I will look up this fairy tale at a later date. It would be fun to know about Emelya. :) I also really love the stamps! So colorful and beautiful! :)

This postcard will be on it's way to the mainland tomorrow to a young lady named Lucy. New Jersey to be exact. All the postcards she wants were postcards "of anywhere you have been, whether it is somewhere colse to where you live, or somewhere ou have traveled to." So I decided to send her a postcard of the beautiful sunrise of Lanikai, since I have definitely been there a few times for the sun rise...and I even told her that. :) She also asked to recommend a book, so I recommended my favorite series of The Poison Study series by Maria V. Snyder. She also said, "If you would like, I would love it if you tell me about where you are sriting from. DO you write your postcards at your kitchen table, in a cafe, at your local library? What is the weather like? What is the view from your window? Are there buildings, or trees, or other houses?" So I took the time to answer all her questions. I like it when people give you specifics about what they want you write about. It makes it a lot easier. :) I hope she enjoys the postcard! :)

Ice Cream.

I love ice cream. I absolutely LOOOOVE ice cream! It is a staple in my little corner, and I don't think that I'll ever get tired of ice cream. Especially if it's loaded with chocolate...and NO NUTS! But my absolute favorite is mint chocolate chip ice cream. But if you do go to Safeway, you should try the Safeway Select brand ice cream the Mint Crumble is basically like cookies and cream (another favorite of mine) but it's mint instead of vanilla and it's absoLUTEly exquisite.

But today, I think I might have found a favorite...and it's not mint flavored. *Dun dun dun* How is that possible...well, it's because it's loaded with lots and lots of chocolate yumminess! Today I had dinner at my brother's house. We had my yummy vegetable lasagna and the best garlic Parmesan breadsticks...and then for dessert, I had a choice of what ice cream I wanted...and I don't even remember what the other options were but have you ever tried this one?



"The Tonight Dough: Caramel & Chocolate Ice Creams with Chocolate Cookie Swirls & Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Peanut Butter Cookie Dough." It was amazing! If I had to make any change to it, though, I would make the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough into Chocolate Mint Cookie Dough. I'm not too fond of peanut butter, but in this case it wasn't over powering and it didn't taste bad, but this ice cream was SOOO yummy! I so recommend it if you are not allergic to nuts and you are looking for a cold sweet treat. :) So thank you to my sister-in-law, Mandy, for introducing to me this amazing ice cream.

Verdict? I still love my mint chocolate chip...but wow, this one almost almost took the favorite spot. :)

 

Day 12 of 30 Days of Gratitude.

Day #12: What texture are you grateful for?

Oooh, any Faux Fur/Microfiber throw blanket. You can't go wrong with that amazing softness as you are cuddled on your couch or on your bed. Living in Hawai'i you don't really need a blanket when you sleep, but since I grew up in a place where it's good to have a blanket all my life until I moved here, one thing I can't do without is a blanket. No matter how hot it will get. So I love the blanket that I do have. I love that feeling (almost as much as I love the feeling of new sweaters when you first put them on. :)

Lazy, relaxing day!

I honestly was NOT in the mood to go to church today, but my niece had asked me yesterday, so very kindly, mind you, if I could go to church with her. So, of course, I can't say no to my lil' DollGirl! It was good though. My parents usually go to the Fil-Am church, however there is a Men's Retreat in Waianae and so my dad went to that for the weekend. So, my mom ended up going to church with my sister, and I caught a ride with Amanda to go to church and we all met up in Kailua SDA Church. It was good to go to be in church again with my mom.

I found out a few days ago that my parents bit the bullet and bought a one-way ticket to the Philippines on August 18. Whenever I think about it I just want to cry all over again. I hate knowing that the date is coming closer and closer to when I have to be without my parents again. Here I am, an almost 30 year old woman crying for her mommy and daddy...but this time around, my heart isn't breaking for myself. My heart aches for my niece and nephew. DollGirl is my dad's personal shadow. Yeah, I can't write about it right now... I can feel myself tearing up. Change subject!

Well, after church, I ended up coming over to town to be here and spend time with my mom and my niece. I ADORE spending time with my niece...and I also equally adore spending time with my lil nephew! I can't believe that he is almost 4 months old! In four days he will be 4 months old...my lil KaiBoy is growing SO fast!

He is such a happy baby! And he has the cutest laughing eyes ever! And he laughs...really laughs out loud when you tickle him! It's the cutest thing ever! These are a few pictures that I can't take credit for. My lil DollGirl took them! She loves taking pictures, that one! :)

I love how DollGirl is super protective of KaiBoy. She loves to cuddle with him and tell him stories and you should hear her when she hears him crying..."No need cry, baby, I'm here. Ate is here!" It is SO heart warming!

My brother and Amanda are here right now to. Right now, Neal, Jeremy, and Amanda are doing a 1000 piece puzzle. That is their thing...they love doing puzzles and they do them like its nothing. I can't sit still that long. This puzzle I gave to Amanda for Christmas...I gave Neal a 3000 piece puzzle...they gave up on that one in a few days! *laughs*

I was trying to wait for them to be tired of the puzzle, but it doesn't look like they are going to be finished anytime soon, so I will say goodnight and just get ready for bed now. :)

Happy Birthday, Kuya Neal!

Today is my amazing brother-in-law's birthday! On Wednesday, I had talked to Amanda about what we were going to do for him...and this is what we decided. Since him and my sister are always SO giving with their time and they are always thinking of others that they sometimes forget to spoil themselves, we had decided to give them time. Meaning to say, since Amanda had taken today and yesterday off, she was going to go to their house and watch the kids for them to be able to get away for a few hours. Since today I had only a half day since we had our preschool graduation, I told her that I would go with her. So, that is what we did. We gave them time.

My morning started out very good, thank you very much!

I took my sister's advise and cut two thick slices of her amazing Honey Oat Wheat bread and toasted it. I like my toast crunchy, but not burnt. So that's what I did, then I smeared on a good amount of butter, but not too much and wow! That totally made my day all happy! I ended up cutting two more thick slices and toasting and buttering them and bringing them to school to share some with Mrs. A. She is the teacher that I join with in the morning to watch the early morning kids. :)

Mrs. A had already had breakfast so she ate one [she was SO happy to have ordered one cinnamon bread loaf for her family after tasting this one!] and we shared the other one with two other children that were there and wanted a taste of the wonderful smelling bread. :)

It was pretty chaotic short day at school. I am so proud of our graduates! They are on their way up to kindergarten...and this is one of the reason I LOVE LOVE my job! In these early stages of life, the children learn SO much and SO fast! And they are all smart cookies that I know will go far in life!

After school, I went home. I have a friend that we send a least a picture a day to. We miss each other so much...and I know that she is lonely at the moment since her husband went abroad for a month for school. And so, I decided to wear a flower in my hair for her...so I sent her the picture of the flower I wore...the background you can see the wonderful front yard that I am blessed to have. :)

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I am so blessed to have this place that I'm living at. It's a beautiful place and my landlady is amazing wonderful as well! She is so sweet and I know that I am safe here. :)

Since it was my brother-in-laws birthday, I got him a birthday balloon to go with the present that I got him.

It's always fun to have balloons for your birthday, at least I think that it is. :) So, I had driven over to Amanda's house and we went together to my sister's house so that she can take her husband out for his birthday. They ended up seeing the new Avenger's movie. I wanted to see it...so hopefully I'll be able to go and see it, if not, hopefully it gets on Netflix so I can watch it when it comes out! :)

But before Amanda and I got to the house we stopped at our favorite Boba tea place.

Taste Tea is so yummy! My favorite order is: Winter Melon with Lemonade, 70% sweetened, Less Ice, and Big Boba! It's so yummy! My sister and Amanda usually get the same. Milk Tea...but I like my Winter Melon. :)

When we got to my sister's house, they had just left and my parents just waiting for Amanda and I so that they can leave to go meet their friends. I knew that my sister was already going to be gone...but I'm bummed that we missed them by just a few minutes, so we just put her Iced Tea in the refrigerator and Amanda and I enjoyed our tea while we were waiting for my lil' DollGirl (2 years old) to wake up from her afternoon nap. Lil' KaiBoy (3 months old) was also sleeping...but he woke up when we got there so we got to play with his little cuteness for a bit before sister woke up and demanded our attention to play with her.

Amanada stayed with KaiBoy in the house while I went outside to play with DollGirl.

She loves cars...just like her daddy! :) While I was taking her picture, she told me that she wanted to take pictures to...so I let her take a picture...and I had a million pictures of the garden that her and her grandpa (my daddy) had made for her mom.

She loves to garden! She is going to have a green thumb just like her grandpa! I love watching them together! My dad is an out-doorsy person...and so is DollGirl...she loves going outside! She loves running...for what seems like NO REASON...but she LOVES LOVES to be outside!

Well, I am getting tired now, but before I end this post, I wanted to post up some of the pictures that I got from the wedding that we did today! My brother-in-law was able to go with Passion Roots to help put up those ridiculously heavy chandeliers! And wow! I so admire and him and Amber (my co-worker)...they had to do some quick thinking with how to put them up!

My other co-worker and friend, Ivy, sent me these pictures earlier today...and I couldn't be more proud of my Passion Roots team! They look amazing! Ivy said that they had a lot of people come up to them to compliment the arrangements and The Modern were amazed by them as well! Yay for Passion Roots! We rock! I love working with them and being part of the team. :)

"Happy birthday, Kuya Neal! I hope you had an amazing day! I love you!"