Back to school

Wow! What a short, unproductive Summer. We had fun wearing jammies all day, visiting the library, getting tonsils removed, seeing family, swimming... but before we knew it, it came time for us to emerge from the comfort of the Love Sac and face the next 180 days.

This year, I'm not on my own on my drive to school. I can't believe my first baby is a big Kindergartener. Her first day wasn't a day of tears (at least for some of us... ahem... daddy). No, for me it was a day I've looked forward to for the last five years. She was with me almost my entire first year here at Rivercrest and I'm so glad it's finally hers (this time outside the womb).

She LOVES it, of course.
We took one last picture in my classroom before we walked her to class.

She's a sucker for structure and learning. Monday night, she had homework. She was SO excited about it. We just had to go over some letters and her lunch number and she had a worksheet with dotted shapes on it that she had to trace and practice to draw. I let her trace the shapes with glitter glue (hey- she's the art teacher's kid!). Then we studied her letters.

It's a key ring with a bunch of strips of paper. On each strip is a capital letter. When she recognizes all of those, the teacher gives us a set of lower case. Then will be combinations and eventually words.

She wanted to do them over and over and over... after dinner... after bath... before bed... The next morning I woke up and opened my bedroom door. Usually, General is asleep there. That morning Iwa was sitting in front of him with the key ring and her lunch number, drilling him on both.

I have always loved school. I think my kids will too.

Sheering the sheep

All of the kids were born with heads full of hair. Iwa's grew like crazy into a thick mane by the time she was 1 1/2. Kawika's grew so fast too, that he had his first haircut around a year. Leilea's hair... well, she's been rockin' a mullet for a while now. I've waited patiently, putting it up and what-not, but she's the third baby, so I wasn't too sentimental about cutting it.

Nani came over one night and trimmed us all up.

Before:

After:
It's not much different- just straight across the back.

I wish we could let Iwa's hair grow out but I'm not willing to do that until she has a tougher scalp or is willing to take care of it herself. Her hair is CRAZY thick and no matter how straight and brushed we get it before bed...

...this is what it looks like when she wakes up:

Kawika also got sheered but boy haircuts are same ol' same ol'.

Pink Palace and sibling ridicule

We went to the Pink Palace Museum a few weeks ago. I have to say, I'm glad it was a free trial membership. While everyone thought the museum was pretty darn cool, I think a repeat visit wouldn't be quite as enthusiastically received.

On a side note, Iwa chose her own outfit for the day. Apparently the dress was supposed to be business casual and no one else got the memo. She looked very nice.

In the background you can see a Triceratops. It didn't move or anything, but the kids still thought it was neat.

Iwa loved the stuffed baby deer.
This is Kawika looking down on a giant Velociraptor or something. Too bad you can't see it. Pretty sure this was his favorite part.
Most of the stuff was over their heads, but enough stuff flashed and moved and looked interesting for them to occupy themselves.Afterwards, Nani bought the kids ice cream and we drove home. Kawika didn't quite make it. He fell asleep with his unfinished ice cream cone melting in his hand. We didn't know he had fallen asleep, as everyone was so intent on their ice cream cones at the time.

We only knew when we heard Leilea's guttural laughter. Nani looked back (because L was obviously up to no good) and Leilea was laughing and pointing at Kawika while getting Iwa's attention. He was so fast asleep, had white ice cream drool dripping from his mouth onto his seat belt. She's not even two years old and she knows when to point and laugh?! Poor Kawika.

Random favorites

Here is a random smattering of my favorite photos from the summer, in no particular order:

...yet another picture of Leilea eating. She's lovin' the Mexican cheese dip.

Iwalani loves these kitties. This is Jack. I like this photo for two reasons: 1- Obviously, it's a sweet picture. 2- Catching Iwa asleep during the day is a rare occurrence. This photo is as good as catching Big Foot in a family photo.This is truly what we've been doing all summer.

This happened on May 1st, but I never posted it. It's what our front yard looked like during the Great Millington Flood. Nani's car along with the neighbor's blue car across the street were totaled out. That was John going to inspect. You can see it was still raining. Crazy. Before the water reached the front porch, they receded. We were lucky.

This is just so typical Leilea. Iwa gave her a princess crown to wear and pretend they were princesses. She turned it into a mask. Leilea: warrior princess.

Happy 5th of July!!

The end of June/beginning of July was a pretty busy/weird/sad time around the Frisky house but there's a bright side to everything. To us, the bright side of losing a much loved family member was being able to visit with other loved family members from out of town who we almost never see.

This day, the 5th of July, was the day I found my camera. It was also the day we spent with Lani and Nani and Nani's house.

Tim bought ice cream just for Leilea (or at least he might as well have).
Iwalani was excited about her two piece swimsuit. Can you tell she recovered from her Tonsillectomy nicely? This was a week post-op. The surgeon said to let her engage in activities as she felt like it. She took more naps than usual but except for a few days of laying around sprinkled in, she was up and running in no time. This summer, they've gotten much more comfortable in the water. They've never been scared to swim- they've always loved it- but none of them would put their heads under the water. now.... Someday Leilea's going to kill me for taking so many pictures of her eating but really... the girl can eat! I just pray she inherits her metabolism from some far of distant thin relative. (I try to keep it healthy, though)

We slept. (I kept looking at this picture trying to figure out what was so weird about his feet- I let him put his own shoes on and they're on the wrong feet. If it doesn't bother him, it doesn't bother me.)
Our big reason for getting together on the 5th was to do some heavily discounted fireworks. We didn't get around to a fireworks display this year. Lani lives in California and hasn't been able to do fireworks for years. This way, the kids could see some fireworks and Lani could set some stuff on fire without being responsible for torching the southern portion of an entire state. Way to be green, Lani!

Oh happy days

I just wanted to share this one. We went to an outdoor concert and Leilea was really frustrated because she wanted the camera. She's so excitable but it's kinda cute.
Iwa got invited to a Princess party by one of my co-workers' daughters. I am not a Princess party kinda mom so I thought we'd take advantage of the experience while someone else was offering. The experience was complete with cupcake scented hairspray, plenty of glitter and feathers, and lessons on how to curtsey, use a wand and wear a crown.

I think I've developed a cavity from the nauseating sweetness of it all. It was sorta cute.
Yes, Iwalani graduated... from Preschool. It was a sweet ceremony. This is her teacher, Ms.Latashia, and Grandma Martha in the background announcing the graduates. Martha was sad to see her go, but I keep telling her there's two more where she came from.
Iwa said the Pledge of Allegiance to the Christian Flag at the beginning of the ceremony.
...and this is my favorite part. They sang a bunch of songs but I love this one the most. It's that song the nuns sung in Sister Act, Oh, Happy Day! It's a great, great song and made even better by this gaggle of enthusiastic four and five year olds. Enjoy!

Swimmin' pools and birthday cake

I think for the next few posts, I will just take you on a visual journey through our summer. This is Kawika's birthday party at Grandma Ann's.

Typical Leilea.
Blowin' out the candles.