Guerrilla art

As a young art student at a tiny university, I was responsible for quite a few acts of guerrilla art around the campus. It gave my friend and me quite a thrill. We'd have these great ideas or some kind of message to convey, break into buildings (we mostly knew the night student security workers- nothing too illegal- we weren't THAT hardcore) and install our artworks. It was really cool because we'd do these huge scale projects and no one really knew who was doing it.

Flash forward half a decade....

Lately I have been perusing a plethora of craft blogs, gleaning inspiration for my own life and I ran into this : Knitta Please

It makes me wish I knew how to knit back then... or even now. I'm imagining the quad wrapped in wool....

Sneaky polar bear.

Here are some pictures Aunt Kaylani had on her Facebook from several months back when we all went to the zoo. I thought I would share them with all you non-Facebookers. The other kid is Jaxon, a friend. If you've never been to the Memphis zoo, you should sometime. The polar bears are especially cool.

Easter Photos

Here are some photos from Easter. We took several as a family to document our matching outfits. Here's one that turned out okay:

...but I like this next one because it's probably a more accurate picture of our family. I really wanted to make a cute caption of what everyone was thinking, but it wouldn't be very cute if I included what John's thoughts probably were.

The rest of these are from the Turner Easter Extravaganza 09 edition. Here's Leilea and her cousin in a wagon:


"Hey- where's that chocolate Aunt Krissy mentioned?"

Daddy helped Iwa hunt for eggs- or was it the other way around???

Updates

My blogging has been a little sporadic so here's a few things we're up to:

1. Kawika has had hives. At first we thought it might be a drug allergy, but after two weeks of Benedryl and no relief, I think he might be like me. I have enjoyed most of Spring's blossoming majesty through swollen oozing eyes since we have moved to Tennessee. This wonderful Easter package (it usually happens for the few weeks around this holiday) comes with hives for me as well. We went to the doctor yesterday to check on his eternal ear infections and she gave us some meds for allergies as well. We'll see how that goes.

2. We also went to the doc yesterday for Leilea's 6month check up. She's dropped from super-fat to only kinda super fat, so that's good. She's also pretty tall for her age. What can I say, we grow them big. The little roly-poly doesn't really roll over, but the doc was impressed with how well she sits up and stands up when you hold her hands, so she figures she's probably just not that interested. Don't get the idea that this baby is laid-back- at all. I think she just sees Iwa and Kawika running around and so that's what she's focusing on. When she finally figures that out, I think we'll probably making fewer public appearances than we do now. She's strong, healthy, and her lungs are perfect.

3. John and I started selling Pampered Chef. John's cousin, Jennifer, sells it and we thought we would give it a whirl. We had our first show a few weeks back and it was fun. John is much more of a salesperson than I am so I was glad to have him, but I enjoyed cooking and showing people how the stuff works. So far it seems pretty easy and fun.

4. Just because I didn't feel like I had enough to do, I joined an adult co-ed soccer team. I played intramural soccer in college and always felt like I really missed out in high school by not doing it then. We had our first game last Saturday and John had taken me around to every cheap little store in Millington to find a yellow shirt- because that's our team color. We couldn't find one so I just wore a grey shirt thinking, "What are the chances the team we play will be grey?" When I got there, of course, I saw that our opposing team was grey. They kept thinking about passing me the ball and my own teammates were warning my other teammates that I was behind them, until they realized that I was on their team. Awesome. I already knew this was going to be different than the last time I played, because it's almost 10 years and three pregnancies later, but also because apparently, when you're not teamed up against sorority girls, elbowing, tripping, and hair pulling are not allowed! How else am I supposed to play, I ask you?! I'll update more on that later.

5. Easter was great. I'll have to post pictures as I get them from other people. We all matched at church, but it was a little nauseating so John and I changed and just the kids matched for the big party at the Turner's. My camera (and my cupboard stash) was out of batteries so we don't have any photo proof yet. **Aunt Krissy, thanks for the kids' cards- and the wish for the Easter Bunny to bring Leilea some chocolate to suck on. You can lose all the weight you want, but you'll always be a fat kid at heart! :) **

Coming to terms.

I have spent much of my life denying something, and I think I'm finally at a place in my life to accept it. I'm a southerner. Yeesh, it just stings to type that.

I have nothing at all against the South, or living here. I can't explain why I feel this way but since my family moved here when I was 10, and people ask where I grew up, I always say that I grew up several places, never wanting to commit to one region. I never wanted to be considered from the South, but in reality, I have lived the VAST majority of my life below the Mason-Dixon (although I consider the stint in Texas to be out of country).

Well, those days are no more. I realize now that my children are undeniably Southerners. Have you ever heard the saying about people born in the South: If a cat has kittens in the oven, would you call them biscuits? Well, either I gave birth to biscuits, or I'm a biscuit myself but it's a done deal. You can tell by listening to Iwa speak, by their culinary tendencies, and by the embarrassingly wide array of camouflage in their wardrobes (past pictures from this blog can testify to that).

See, I was raised by mid-westerners. When we moved here, I remember picking up little pieces of the dialect very soon. The first time I asked my mom, "Why?", pronouncing it, "Wha?" I do remember being corrected. Ya'll was a word that stuck out in a sentence like a sore thumb.

Iwalani, however, knows this word well and uses it often. I also have to admit that I have been known to use it in class ("Do ya'll all have pencils?"- Is that related to a double-negative?!). It is just a convenient word!

Iwa also adds syllables to words all over the place. Did you know that car actually can have up to three syllables in it? There are all kinds of words like this including but not limited to: dog (also pronounced dowg), man, can't, and door.

Kawika's southern pride shows in his eating. My son will turn his nose up at pizza- the ultimate kid food- when given the choice between that and fried chicken with bacon-infused green beans and cornbread. Now this, I think, is just good taste. If you can't stand the South, then you've never eaten here. I mean, where else in the world is macaroni and cheese considered a vegetable?!

Interestingly enough, I went to St.Louis with some friends one time and we were somewhere hanging out and I was making conversation with some people there. They were from East St.Louis. When the guy asked me where I was from, I told him and he exclaimed with joy, "Aw naw!! You from da DIRTY south!!"

I don't think John or I would have chosen to grow up in the southern United States. Again, it's not that bad- just not a first choice. With John's grandpa from Hawaii choosing to retire here, as well as my dad, who was in the Coast Guard (We never actually lived on any coast) there was definitely potential for cooler places. Who knows, though. Maybe they wouldn't have been that much cooler.

I may not be ready for that rebel flag tattoo or for that crisp pair of Wranglers, but I am here to say that I am from the South- the Dirty South- and I like it, ya'll.

Clean bill of health.... for one at least.

Monday I took Iwalani to the doctor for her Pre-school physical. Wow. I can't believe that it's already time for that! We have a pre-k class at the school where I teach and while it's not a sure thing that she'll get in, I can't help but be excited to start taking her to school with me.

She was a very good girl at the doctor's office. She weights 42lbs, is 40inches tall and has perfect vision and hearing (the jig is up- now I KNOW you can hear me). She also got three shots.

The nurse asked her if she could draw a circle on a piece of paper, which she did. She wasn't comfortable trying a triangle or a square, but we have been working on writing her name, and she's pretty good so she felt good about that. It really amazed me how shyly compliant she was with the doctors and nurses. It was so sweet. Anyway, not only did she write her name on that pad of paper, but she wrote it upside down and backwards. They said, "Great, she's learning." I thought, "My goodness- she's the next Di Vinci."

The other two have been to the see doctors in the last week, too, but with much less entertaining outcomes. Drug allergies, bronchiolitis, pink eye, and repeated ear infections, to keep it short.

I'll be so glad when the cold weather is over, and school is out so that the majority of the germs we share are our own!

Randomness

Last night Leilea was in bed and Kawika, Iwalani, John and I were playing with this cool toy garage thing that I had as a kid. I think I had one, or maybe all of my friends did, but it's a Little People toy and Martha got it at a garage sale. Anyway, it's the current family favorite.

There's this little part that has a parking lot chopper thing. Iwa was driving her little car up to the chopper and said, "beep beep, let me in!!" John said, "Why? Who are you?" to which Iwa replied in a 'no duh' tone: "I'm Don Knotts."