PlayDate with DollGirl.

Today, my DollGirl came home with me after school. I had planned that we were going to go to the beach, since she is a little girl after my own heart and loves the beach just as much, if not more, than I do! However, it was raining...and we got home later than I thought.

After school, I also have the job of cleaning the school (every extra bit of money helps when you are living in Hawai'i!)...and she so desperately wanted to help me clean. I had told her that if she stayed in my classroom and played while I cleaned, it would get done faster and we would have time to go to the beach...but she really wanted to help me and who am I to deny the help of child wanting to help me clean?! So I let her help me clean. And lets just say, that we did have a lot of fun cleaning...there were a lot of laughs, giggles, and teaching moments...but it also took an hour and fifteen minutes longer for me to finish cleaning. To be fair, I did clock out my normal cleaning time...and just had fun with cleaning with my DollGirl. She loves to clean...more like, she loves to be helpful in any way that she can. I mean, I did get her her own tool set and tool belt so that she can help her dad build and fix things! I also know that she likes being with people she loves and cares for and she loves to learn new things...and so I love that about her. One of the million things I love about her.

Her mom already told me that she was going to come by my house to pick her up at around 6:30ishy after giving the little brother a bath. DollGirl and I got to my house at 5:30. Her mom had sent Mac and Cheese for dinner...and we had to cook it and eat it fast since the little brother is severely allergic to cheese. She wanted to eat dinner at the beach...but I already knew that there was no way that we could have made it without rushing...and so I told her that while the mac and cheese was cooking, we could make berry/mango smoothies and drink it out on the roof top (another place that she enjoys going) as dessert...so we had to eat fast!

As the mac and cheese was cooking I had turned on the music...and I do have a microphone that I am guilty of dancing and lipsyncing to! And DollGirl and I danced and sang to "Five Little Monkeys" and "The Wheels on the Bus" and other kid songs! It was so fun and we laughed and laughed and laughed. While the smoothies were staying cool in the fridge awaiting for our excursion to the roof top, we ate the mac and cheese. I love having conversations with my DollGirl. She is so much fun to talk to. The memories that she remembers is amazing for someone who has only lived 4 years! She recalls so vividly!

On Monday, she had come with me to my favorite pet store and helped me pick out another Betta fish, since my BamBam Jr. died a month ago. I've had him for about 3 years and I was really sad to see him go...so I waited a month to get another one...but when I went to go out to get another one, DollGirl came with me and chose a 1/2 Moon Betta fish. Very gorgeous one...that we are still trying to pick a name for it! (When we decide on the name, he will have his own introducing post!) But she was telling me all the fish in detail that she saw at the fish store...and she was even able to point out the fish that I had!

But while we were eating our Mac and Cheese, she really wanted her smoothie too, and so I told her that if we drink it now, we couldn't go out on the rooftop to drink it...and she said that that was okay...and so we ate our mac and cheese and drank our smoothies...all the while laughing, talking, and singing to the music.

I love that girl, and I always have fun with her. I pray for her everyday. And I love her. I love her. I love her.

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!"

Smells Yummy.

I am getting anxious because my time at my current school is coming to an end soon and I know that when I leave I will also leave a piece of myself there. I know that I have had ups and down at this place...but I have also spent a lot of my teaching time there and I have learned a lot, met a lot of people, and made several life long friends. So I will miss this place.

I do know the number one thing...or things that I will be missing...and that would be my keikis. Each child that has come through my doors hold a piece of my heart. I give so much to my kids that I feel so much for them. And I will miss them something fierce. I am glad through that I will be able to visit them...one thing that I really do appreciate about this school is that it is at this place that I've had opportunities to make really good friends...and so the director at this school is my mentor and friend.

Anyway, when one of my lil keiki walked into my classroom, he had a humongous smile on his face as he told me that he brought me a pineapple and it "smells so yummy!"...his words. :) And it really did smell so yummy...but it also tasted SUPER yummy as well. :) I love my keikis and I only hope and pray that I get along with my new keikis. But for now I will enjoy my last few moments with my kids now. :)

Porcupine Mango.

I love mangos! And at my sister's place they have a Mango Grove...DollGirl LOVES taking a walks there and when we get there, she loves running around and just being "free" there...but oh mandate...I love mangos.

Kaleo has a mango picker...and so when it is mango season, we all go up to the Mango Grove and pick us plenty of mango's to enjoy. You know my favorite?! I love peach&mango smoothies! And so with this mango season and peaches...I love it. I get one of my favorite flavor smoothie. :)

DollGirl wanted her berry compote with her pancakes...but afterwards, she had a LOT of mangos to eat! But look at her smile while eating her pancakes.

She makes me smile...and she makes my day go better.

Day Seven: Running.

One thing that makes me sad is that I don't have a camera to document the amazing views when I go running in the morning. Even in the evening when I go running, the sunsets are amazing...but the sunrise...oh wow it's beautiful. I do run with my iPod, but unfortunately it doesn't have a camera.

Another thing that I want to say is I had forgotten how wonderfully nice the people are here! Every since I started running, the people that go running have remembered me and they give me encouragement. There is not a single day that has passed that someone, if not several of them, have encouraged me one way or another. We don't ignore each other when we run...they look me in the eye and greet me and give some encouraging words. I love the Aloha spirit here.

After I run, I like having my daily smoothie and pot of tea. Today, I was able to have some nectarine in my smoothie! I LOVE nectarines! They are soo expensive here, but it is so worth it. White nectarines are my favorite though.

So today, I used two yellow nectarines, two apple bananas, one acai packet, a scoop of Matcha Ginger powder, a handful of granola, a dribble of honey and, of course, my favorite coconut water.

I wasn't able to fit everything in the first go, so I filled it as much as I could, an then I blended it and then added the last nectarine.

Today, I chose my Peach Ginger tea with honey. One of the top 5 favorite flavors of tea!

As you can see, I couldn't wait until going downstairs to start on my yummy, yummy smoothie. :) But now that I am down stairs I need to start getting ready for my day. But here's to a wonderful, beautiful, Sabbath day.

"Let prayer be your first response, not your last resort."-Joyce Meyers

Day One: Running.

I just got out of the shower...and I thought that I was going to take a nap, but actually, I feel good. I haven't run in such a long time. Well, I take that back, I have run...but not proper run. I woke up at 6:00AM to get ready to run. I made sure the charge my nano iPod, because I find it hard to exercise without music. Well, actually, I have a hard time getting through my day without music...but I hate running and music is a good distraction.

See, just looking at the fun socks that I bought yesterday makes me happy. Yes, it's the little things that make me smile. :)

So, here I am ready to go. I decided to just run the Lanikai Loop, which is just two miles long and shouldn't take too long for me to run. It was as lot harder than I thought to go back into running...but I have decided to do it...and so I will. I have confident that I can...and I did. I thought that I was going to stop...but then the different things that was going through my mind were things like:

--Just. One. More. Step.

--You're not tired! Your body is...but not your mind.

--You've ran 8 miles straight before...you can do just 2!

--Hurry! You have things to do!

--The end is just around the corner.

--Just keep going.

--Your feet do NOT hurt.

...and things like that. Part of me was laughing at myself, and another part of me was trying to block out everything. And most definitely, the music helped a lot.

Before I start to do my school related things that I need to get done, I made myself some yummies to consume. I made a smoothie made out of acai, strawberries, bananas, a handful of granola, honey, and Matcha powder. And it was yummy as anything! And then my pot of Irish Breakfast with honey. It was a good start of a day. And now to get my day rolling...

"She who leaves a trail of glitter is never forgotten."-anonymous