koa quotes

mama (as she's wiping koa's face): you got pizza all over your face!

koa: even on my brain?!

mama: well, your brain is on the inside, so we can't get pizza on your brain, but it is on your forehead.

koa: let's call it a fivehead since i'm five now.

our boy is 5!

it was an action-packed birthday for koa, made especially sweet since kalei's school was canceled. we started with the breakfast of champions: chocolate donuts, and moved onto gift opening - koa was pleasantly surprised by the lego duplo sets (thanks, grandmas & grandpas!) and a new leapster game.... that he likes to watch kalei play. (he's the same way with the wii - he likes to watch james and/or kalei play the games. i think he's just biding his time and letting them figure out all the inner workings of the games before he puts the smack down on them.) james had to leave for a conference (boo), but the kids and i put on our game faces and enjoyed riding the carousel and playing on the coin-operated rides at the mall, going to the library, and shopping for balloons at the dollar store (only a dollar!! what a bargain!!!). we played the afternoon away and finished up the evening with cupcakes. i heard koa tell kalei that this was a great birthday, so i'm counting this one a success. we sure love our boy! happy birthday, koa!!

Another Snow Day

The kids enjoyed another bout of snow recently (you may notice a theme ... don't know who taught them how to make snowballs?)

i feel a haiku coming on!

cookies will be made
tonight to prepare for the
snowed-in band of crazies.

you know, cause what's better to help ease the time of homeboundness than a sugar rush? that's right - nothing! cookies are the perfect snowed-in food - they're bribes for good behavior, currency for some mama alone-time, and rewards for a whole hour of not hitting, squishing, poking, or crowding anyone. long live the cookie!

cacophony is the word of the day...

...which i totally had to look up to make sure it meant what i thought it meant (it does, but i had spelled it wrong). cacophony means "harsh discordance of sound" as well as "frequent use of discords of a harshness and relationship difficult to understand" - both are appropriate to describe the hacking coughs resounding off our walls. and who is the crazed woman chasing children with tissues in hand to prevent the unthinkable (someone wiping their nose with their hand and then getting it somewhere near their eyes)? oh, yeah, that's me. do you wish you were here? not so much.

prayers and thankfulness

i read this post today, and it totally sums up my feelings about what's happening in haiti. it hurts my heart to think of the families who are grieving or searching. i'm also immensely grateful to be a part of this church and its ongoing efforts to help. excuse me for a minute, i feel the need to go smother my children with kisses and look them in the eyes and say "love you," and hope they know just how much i mean it.

back to normal-ish

hey, there, peeps!
sorry to have been in absentia for so long, but james took off for the tropics! for almost a whole week! and, while james was enjoying this:

the kids and i were "enjoying" this:

but, don't worry, we had provisions:

actually, said provisions were distributed to a few other families, since me + cookies + snowstorm = no sharing + lots more junk in the trunk. seriously. anyhoo, we got 2 inches of snow and the kids had 4 days off of school! with a weekend in the middle! so really 6 days off of school! for 2 inches of snow! so weird, but the kids did pretty well at getting along and rolling with an early-ish bedtime every night. (gotta keep my sanity!) so, now james is home (yay!) and we're getting back into the 40's (double yay!), so everything is good all around. happy day!