May the "Fourth" be with you.

May the “fourth” be with you. Haha! I had to say it! I mean, it is the day, right?! I’m not even a fan of Star Wars…but I know it…so that is there for all my Star War fans out there. Not that I’m saying that I even have any fans. *laughs*

Well, we have opened up the preschool again for essential worker’s children. But so few are coming in that we have scheduled times to come into school to watch the two children who come in. Today is not my day, but I am here at the school right now, sitting in my classroom, because there is internet here…and I need the internet. Plus, we have decided that in two weeks, since we are closed for the rest of the school year to our school ohana (basically those who are not essential worker’s children), we will do a drive by goodbye. Where our school ohana will drive by in the parking lot, and we will give them their belongings that they have left in the classroom and end of the year gifts and what not and say goodbye.

It makes my heart hurt. And I am not even lying about it…it really does. I miss “my” preschool keiki. I miss them so much. They have been the constant in my life for the last 9 years and this is the longest that I have gone without them. Yeah, I have taken vacation time - 3 weeks at the most when I went to the Philippines for Christmas/New Years a few years back, but this is going on longer than three weeks now.

I will be the first to admit, I do not know what it is like to be a parent. I only know what it’s like to be a teacher and an auntie (a kicka$$ auntie, if I do say so myself!) And as a teacher and an auntie, I miss my littles so much. Like, I mentioned, they have been a constant in my life and I worry and think and love and everything them. They are not mine…but they are “mine.” One thing that I like about living and teaching here in Hawai’i, is that you are “auntie” to everyone younger than you. My keiki have the chose to call me Ms. Charity or Auntie Charity…and no one bats an eye at it. And for the most part my preschool family treat ME like family…hence the term “school ohana”. Not only that, but my co-workers…yeah, I work at one of the best schools ever (am I biased, not really…maybe a little), but I am not joking…we are all like family here. We watch out for each other and have each other’s back. We have this thing that we are always saying, “Family first”….and we live by it. And we are all family. We are all ohana. And I miss them all.

I had…no I HAVE a real awesome group of kids this year. Well, every year I do…and every year I feel like I can’t love any group of kids that I love “this” group of kids…and every year I am wrong. Happily wrong. I love every child that walks through my door. That walks through the gates of my school. Who am I kidding…I have a soft spot with it comes to the early childhood years. I adore the 2 year-olds. One of my pet peeves is when I hear the term “terrible twos”; I hate that term…I lovingly say “terrific twos.” Again, I am saying this with a teacher/auntie point of view. As a parents, I might see things a little bit more different. But for now that that is how I see it.

I personally think it’s because I CHOOSE to be with that age. If I HAD to choose an age group to work with it would be the older 3-younger 4’s…but I do have love the 2 year-old age. Don’t get me wrong…they are at that “I want my independence!” stage and they will test your every boundary and push your every button you have and/or didn’t realize you had. They will cry for no apparent reason and they will stubbornly tune you out…ever heard of selective hearing?! Yes, try saying, “do you want candy” to a child who chooses to “hear” you and watch how fast they come running. You can accurately compare their attention span to that of a goldfish and get ready for one volume and one volume only. All day long. All 14 little ones. And in that one volume…oh, did I mention that volume is loud. Just loud…not soft loud, not medium loud, not extremely loud….just loud. But yes, in that loud volume of voice they will ALL talk to you at the same time. And they act as if they can’t hear each other talking…they just talk and except you to hear them. All. At. The. Same. Time. And you know what? You learn how to do that. You learn how to make each child feel like they are listened to and you slowly teach them to stop and listen to each other by echoing what each child says and asking that child what they thought of that. And you slowly realize that in the middle of all the noise, the mess, the constant stories, the cries…and the potty training…you love what you do.

I mean, at least I did. I do. I miss it. It’s been so long since I was in the middle of that “glorious” chaos. Did I think that it was “glorious” at that time, no. Do I miss the random cries, the sudden tantrums, the constant sound of loud, no…and yet, yes. What I miss the most is the hugs, and yes, the stories. I miss the cuddles and the random checking in from my littles. I miss the little hand that grabs onto mine and the arms that encircle my leg. I miss the rarity of an empty lap and the random “bop” on the nose. I miss the yells of excitement when a child’s favorite song comes up on the playlist (yes, I have music CONSTATNLY playing in my classroom), the random “epic dance parties” we would have, and how when they heard a specific song they knew to lay down and have a quiet moment. I miss doing my laundry and finding a random rock, dried flower, browning leaf or some trinket in my pocket, gift by a little one. I miss all the flowers the children would pick (we are blessed to have our preschool located where there are several plumeria trees and flowers everywhere!) and I miss the feel of a child pulling my hand to an open area of the playground so we can dance to whatever song that is playing. I miss hearing the children’s voices as they sing “Into the Unknoooooown! Into the unknooooooown!” for the millionth time. I miss having the children run up to me and spin in circles to show of their beautiful outfits and them yelling out, “watch this! Watch how fast I can run! Watch this!” I miss it all.

I miss when my littles would excitedly wait their turn to call out an animal for me to sing about so they can dance. I miss the little voice that says, “lavish me, aunty” (what they say when they want a cuddle). I miss looking over to the multiple fishtanks I have in my classroom to see the children talking to the fish and telling them stories. I miss how they have their own table to eat lunch at, but they still want to eat at the “big table” where their feet can’t even touch the ground, just so they can have lunch next to me. I miss the “torpedo” hugs…(you know that hug, that hug where the child locks in on you from across the way and nothing can get in his/her way as they barrel past everything and everyone just to explode into you for that hug that just so wanted at that very specific time.), and shockingly enough, I miss the fact that whenever I had to go to the bathroom I had an entourage that I would MAKE stay at the door and I had to talk to them and sing to them the whole time least they check under the stall to make sure I was still there.

I miss them. I miss my littles. I miss my keiki.

And I hope and pray that they are okay. I hope and pray that they know that I miss them. I hope and pray that they know that I love them.

Aloha!

A piece I created to remind myself that "Good things will happen, love is real, and WE WILL BE OKAY."

Adventure Art Journal: Zoo Day.

Last Thursday, Tutu A and a friend of mine went and took my DollGirl on a fun day. I love going out to explore...but I love how my DollGirl is at that age that she can come with me as well and enjoy exploring as well! I love taking her places and I love seeing her face light us when she sees things that only going ON an adventure can do!

We had taken her to the Honolulu Zoo, and so this is my first entry in my Adventure Art Journal. I had taken the map that they had given us at the zoo and used it to make a collage of what we did! I think that I might save up to buy a Instax Camera...or a Polaroid camera so that I can add pictures of us as well to the collage. I think that that would be fun...but I like how this turned out.

 I think that that is what I should be doing. Using the paraphernalia that they give me whenever I go traveling around to make collages...it's recycling and it's a good memory keeper, that's for sure!

Exhausted Pigeon.

One of the things that I love about this month is all the fun, festive artwork that my kids do! They helped with the stocking and helping me with the white and blue paper chain. :) They also helped me with the candy canes and we made reindeer hand prints! The kids LOVE art...the two things that my keikis' love are art and music. Two things that I absolutely love myself. I am constantly playing music, and I am all up for all different kinds of art projects for my keikis. I love my class. I love being a teacher. I love my job. :)

I had to place this here because I couldn't stop laughing when I read this quote! I feel like this is me! I am a "permanently exhausted pigeon!" :)

Honolulu Museum of Art & Shangri-La House.

Today I finally was able to visit Doris Duke's Shangri-La house here on Oahu...and wow, I was blown away! Not only with how amazingly beautiful the house was but how hands-on and down-to-earth the "richest girl in the world" was! Her house on it's annual restoration and only opened to the public again on October 4 and the personal tour guides sold out fast...and today was the earliest that I could make a reservation for my friend and I. And, goodness, I was so glad that I did. I was a little bit worried because the weather did not look to promising, but I dressed to get wet in-case it did continue to rain.

Our tour time was 9am...and we had to be there at 8:45am. So we left at 8 to be there early. We did get there early so we were able to grab some of our favorite cookies that the Honolulu Museum of Arts. We took a short bus ride to Ms. Duke's house...and one the ride over, they played a short film about the "richest girl in the world." She became the tobacco heiress at the age of 12. When she got married, she went on her honeymoon around the world and that was when she fell in-love with Islamic art. On her way home from their honeymoon, they stopped by Hawai'i where they fell in-love with this place and decided make a home here. And that is where we get the Shangri-La home of Doris Duke.

We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside of her house, however we were able to take pictures when we were outside. Although we weren't able to take pictures of the inside when you experience something that beautiful, it is something hard to forget. I loved that she didn't care...if she wanted it, she had to have it and so she bought it. Her house looked super comfy, yet elegant and well put together. I loved how she was super hands-on with everything. She knew what she wanted and so she did it.

This is the front door. I was actually really shocked when I saw the front door. Looking at it, you couldn't even dream of how the inside was. She actually wanted REAL camels, but then the ones that she was planning on bringing over got sick and so when she came back to Hawai'i, she got these two at a department store! I think they work well. :)

Like I mentioned, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside of the house. I can't even decide which room was my favorite room! Each room was different and it showed just how much she didn't care what the world said about what went and what didn't go...if she wanted it, she did it. And I think that she did make it work out. I think one of my top favorite rooms was what I like to call the dining room. It had a low table and you sat on little stools that were about a foot off the ground...and above the table was this amazingly ginormous chandelier! It was GORGEOUS! At first there was salt water tanks that were built into the wall, but then she decided to change that out and put some intricate Islamic tile art. And it was a gorgeous room. Another thing that I loved about this room was that when it was weather permitting, she could press a button...and [get this!!] the walls would go down facing the ocean so that you can get the ocean breeze!! Forget just opening the window! Just lower the WHOLE WALL! That was pretty cool! Another room that was like that was what i liked to call the living room. Another gorgeous room with super interesting decor...and another wall that would go down into the basement at the push of a button so that you can get the fresh air. Amazing...!

Going back to the dining room, it lead out to a lanai..and since we were able to stop outside, we were able to take this picture. This was the kind of tile and decor that the house was filled with. So gorgeous! I wouldn't mind eating out here everyday! Rain or shine...and this was my most favorite place in the whole house! Because check out her view!

Yep! This was her view from her lanai! No wonder she wanted a wall that was able to go down so that she can get the breeze from this! I would love it here...!! She was also rich enough to build her own boat harbor. She had property in Kailua...and so she talk to someone (I'm not too sure who...but someone who had a say in whether or not she could!), and she traded her property in Kailua for the permit to build her own boat harbor. And the cool part is I pass that Kailua property that she traded everyday! It is now what we call the Kailua Beach Park! How cool is that?!

And there is part of her boat harbor with a rock pier. You can't really see it from this picture...but at the end of the pier, it looks like there is a place that is flat that you can just sit...and I would LOVE to have a place like that! I would go there all the time! How peaceful is that! You can see Diamond Head in the far right corner. And since all the beaches are public...you can actually swim here! :)

And here is the rock stairway down to the ocean. I would love to have something like that. I don't care what the house would be like...as long as I had something like this, I would be SO happy! :) The water is so beautiful and clear and it didn't look to bad out there. Yep, this was my favorite place on Doris Duke's estate.

This outside place also over looks the ocean. And she also build a sunning area for herself on top of the roof. :)

This over looks her pool, which is is 17 feet deep! Wow! And something our docent told us was that she would swim laps twice a day with all her dogs. Guess how many dogs she had?! NINETEEN! She had NINETEEN dogs! And they all would swim with her twice a day! :) And that building you see in the back is what she liked to call her "playhouse." That's cool. :)

This is a picture of her personal garden that leads to her marble made room. I have to say that this was another room that I really loved. It looked real spacious and even though it didn't have any of her personal things anymore....I can just imagine how it would have looked. The bathroom was plain...but it had amazing acoustics! I couldn't help but to sing a few notes to see how it sounded...and yes, I can just imagine her singing in there as she took a bath...the acoustics was amazing. :)

I was really sad to leave, but I know that I'd come back. Plus, the docent mentioned that they do night tours...because everything looks different when it's night out and the lights were on! And that is something that I would LOVE to see! There are a lot of stained-glass, chandeliers, and Islamic lamps decorating the whole place! Can you just imagine the beauty of it!

When we got back to the museum, my friend and I decided to have another one of their delicious chocolate chip cookies and their flavored sodas. My friend got the berry/vanilla soda. I had originally asked asked for berry/lavender soda...but was given a lavender/vanilla soda...but I said that it was okay. It was still yummy. It was two flavors that I wouldn't normally put together...but it went down tasting like lavender and had an after taste of vanilla. The fans were giving to us for free from the Shangri-la house. That was one thing about Doris's house, she didn't have any fans...and so the rooms could get stuffy in them. No wonder she had a several of her rooms where she can roll down the walls!

I love Honolulu Museum of Art because there is always something new that we can see! So we took some time to go around some of the exhibits that we wanted to see. My favorite piece this time was in the Pop Art exhibit. 

This piece was huge, but I wouldn't mind something like that in my home! I love the textures! And just the color! You can't really see it, but he does use one accent color...and it just says so much. I love this piece!

It was a beautiful day; a gorgeous day spent exploring with a friend. And I will end this with a quote I saw at the museum that I fell in-love with.

Exploring.

There are times where I feel like I am on the verge of suffering from "island fever" and I just want to get off the island...but I can't. But whenever I start feeling like that, I just go out and explore this beautiful island that I live on. I have almost lived here for 6 years, and there are things that I have not yet done because...I live here. Since today was a holiday (Statehood day for Hawai'i)...I decided that I wanted to go to two museums that I have always wanted to go to...but just never really did.

It just so happened that my landlady is a docent at the Honolulu Museum of Art and she had mention a while back that if ever I wanted to go, she could always walk me around to the different places. I asked two of my friends to come along and that made 4 of us total, and we were all excited to go on our adventure.

Honolulu Museum of Art is like 3 museums put together. The Spalding House, the actual Museum of Art and the Shangri La. Today we went to the Spalding House and the Museum of Art. (And yes, I am already planning to go on the Shangri La tour!)

We first went to the Spalding house where we were able to see the exhibit Plastic Fantastic.

 

It was a pretty cool exhibit posing the question, is plastic "fantastic" or not? We can use plastic for a lot of things...but then it is also something that is harmful for the environment. But without plastic we wouldn't have the medium to produce such beautiful art...but also in excess and used irresponsibly it is more harm. This exhibit used plastic that was "garbage" to show people that there are uses for plastic and you don't have to throw it away.

 

These amazing pieces were made with different colored plastic bottles that were cut up and used to make art.

 

 These "geos" were made from paper and plastic. (I can see my class doing something like this as a project in our class!)

We also participated in an art masterpiece....

So all the plastic pieces that you see here were found on the beaches of Hawai'i. So sad. :(

These were the instructions of what you could do to participate in a large-scale public installation that someone will put together next month.

It was actually a lot harder to find pieces to match up to 1 ounce! It took me a while to get it just right...but I finally did...and

 

I strung all the pieces together with a little metal wire...

 

 ...and placed my 1 ounce of plastic on the wall of nails where a plenty other 1 ounce pieces were hung. My landlady (the docent) said that this project has been going on since April (I think that's what she said!) and so this wall has been filled up so many times already! At least twice a week they had to take down the little one ounce pieces to make room for the new pieces! But it was pretty cool to be a part of that!

We also were able to walk the beautiful grounds of the Spalding House...

 

I could not get over just how beautiful the outdoor grounds were! This garden was amazing and so gorgeous! I feel as if I would be so inspired to do a painting here! If only I could sketch! I feel like I can stay here for a long time....

 This tree was begging to be climbed...and I could so see myself climbing this tree with a book in my  mouth (or in a backpack) and just reading balanced on one of the branches. It was so beautiful!

I was super bummed because we could have had a picnic on the lawn...however, when we were ready to eat lunch...there was a downpour. Which I wouldn't have mind eating in...but I didn't think my friends would have liked it the way that I did. But as soon as we had our amazing, yummy, tummy-filling lunch...we headed over to the Honolulu Museum of Art. But not before my friend and I played with this art piece!

It was actually a lot of fun and challenging trying to take a selfie in this mirrored art piece! 

This was the closest that I got to trying to get myself in all the little mirrors! :)

 

 Thank you James Seawright for this...it was very entertaining. :)

Before making our way to the Honolulu Museum of Art, my landlady warned us that we wouldn't be able to go through everything because of how big the place was. So I have decided that I would like to go back again one day. :)

The first exhibit that we went to was the art of the Philippines. I was ashamed to say that I didn't know about a lot of the art pieces that I saw...but in my defense, I did not grow up learning about the Philippine Art...I did notice though that I really liked a lot of the jewelry that they made!

I really liked a lot of the earrings! I can't really see myself wearing the necklaces...but I do like them as well! Their bracelets were pretty impressive as well!

This art piece caught my attention...but when I got close to it...it kind of freaked me out!

When you looked closely at this piece...you can see why I quickly jumped back. 

There are EYEBALLS all over this totem thingy! It reminds me of something from Jeepers Creepers! Yeah, it took me awhile to be able to have the balls to take this picture...because it was really nerve wrecking...eyeballs. Staring at you. *shivers* No, thank you.

Well this piece is called "Assemblage of miscellaneous objects." I guess the person just had eyeballs just laying around to add. Hm....

I don't really remember the room that this tea collection was in...but I really like it...I like teapots, teacups, tea anything...I want to have a huge collection myself! :)

One of the last things that we did was rest at the Shangri La Cafe...and have these amazing cookies!

And then I also had the hibiscus soda...and that was super refreshing as well! But the company was amazing, the day was filled with informational fun...and I had a lot of....fun. :)

I can't wait until my next excursion to cross off my bucket list. :)

Distraction, please.

I need a lot of distraction...please. I don't normally ask or even want distractions in my life, there are enough already that I don't go looking for them; they are usually constantly right there, like SQUIRREL!!! :) In less than a week my parents will be returning to the mission field in the Philippines for who knows how long...I don't even know when I will be talking to them after they leave! I don't want them to go, but I am not going to beg them to stay. They already know that I want them to stay without me asking/telling/convincing them to stay. I am not going to go against what God is impressing them in their hearts to do.

That being said, I am trying to distract myself from this empty feeling in my heart. I am painting my nails right now...

...the first part is a shimmery blue/green color. I think that I'm going to do my nails in somewhat ocean-y theme...but for right now (tonight) I will leave it like this (still need to put a clear coat onto it!) I used two colors to get it this shade. The first color was from Avon.

The second color was the Color Club 3 polish that I got from one of subscription boxes that I have and I love this shiny, shimmery color to it! I have so much nailpolish that I sometimes forget the ones that I don't use as often but I like...and this one is one of those!

So, I know that it looks pretty plain...and I don't normally do just a one color type nail...but for now, it works. I need to let it dry a bit before I attempt to go to sleep. Yes, I move around a lot...but if I tell myself NOT to move for the first 30 mins, I'm okay nail-wise....So I have to wait for a bit....

Tomorrow, IF I have time I will add more design to my nails, but for now, this is it. :)

My classroom is getting along...today we were learning about our "feeling/touch" sense and so we did bubble painting with bubble wrap. I just added the primary colors (red, blue, yellow) and told the kids to mix it around on the bubble wrap and then when they were done we pressed a white sheet of paper on it and got a print of what they did. They LOVED doing that...so that will be a project that we can do again in the future. I've done this project several times with former classes and they loved it as well...so it is a loved project. I think they turned out pretty amazing to.

Since it will be Open House for the parents tomorrow, I'm glad that I have several art pieces that I can put up that the kids did. It's always a challenge when Open House is in the beginning of the school year. But it was good though because originally we were going to have Open House a week earlier...so the 1st week of school...but it is good that we are having it tomorrow, during the 2nd week of school...so that parents can get a feel of what is happening and then ask question from there.

Speaking of Open House, I have been trying to get my classroom ready for Open House...for the most part, it is ready...it was ready the first day of school, but that there are "projects" that I have been wanting to do in my room to make it "my" room and how I want it. One thing that I was able to do was....wait. First, let me say that it was decided that a refrigerator would be put in my room. I didn't want it in my room...but it had to be in my room and so I took full advantage of it...that being said this is what I had done. 

I like how it turned out. I plan on using this several different ways...since this was the first time, I used the "Question of the Week"....and then during Circle Time I asked the what they liked...my original question was, "What are your favorite things to see?" But I changed it to something more simple...and these were their answers! I like the little magnet people because in the future I can ask question like "Who went to the beach this weekend?" and they can place their little people on either "I did not" or "I did!"....like a chart bar chart or something, but with people...so yes... I was able to get this up for Open House tomorrow.

Another thing that I have been working on was Binder Organization. I bought the 1.5" colored binders from Costco and I am going to use them for the organization of my curriculum units and the children's portfolios....I think that I've pretty good so far...but I have a lot more to do. Slowly I have been adding different activities/artwork in each binder....and I will always continue to do so...I also need to make cover pages and side titles for the binders...because right now it looks like this...

 

...so it is getting there. :) I love an organized classroom. :) 

 Well, I think that my nails are dry enough to attempt to go to sleep now...at least lay down. Goodnight!