Gingerbread Jesus

So, one of the things I love about our new place is the kitchen, and it's showing with an increase in cooking and baking again! The kids and I had a great time making a Gingerbread Nativity for the dessert table at my ladies' Bible study program on Tuesday and I just had to share 'cause I think "Gingerbread Jesus" is pretty adorable:



and the three wise guys travelling from the East:



the Holy Family with their donkey, OK so it looks a little like a unicorn, but gingerbread is not quite as easy as clay...




and the best part is that it tasted pretty good too!



and I get to do it again later this week with a couple of ladies who expressed an interest in learning how to make one! I did get the recipe from a Martha Stewart Living magazine a few years ago, but the design was for a house not a stable...

Thank you!

I love November and seeing everyone's lists of things they are thankful for and I also like writing one so on those days when I feel like complaining, I have something to come back to and remind myself of all that I have to be grateful for! So here's a list of my thank you's for this year.

Thank you God for:

getting us through this past year of transitions and moves and school changes and living together as a family again.

my husband, who despite his deep seated need for 'peace and quiet' loves us enough to keep up with our loud, rowdy bunch and a wife who likes to talk.

my Big Boy, who is mature beyond his years, still sweet and a great big brother even to other little kids. I'm thankful for his sense of humor that gets him through the tough spots.

my Big Girl, who is smart and funny and creative and can belch like a man and then laugh hysterically.

my Little Girl, who is a ray of sunshine from the moment she wakes up until the moment she doesn't get her way! Sunshine is a force to be reckoned with when it doesn't take "No" for an answer!

my Little Boy, who tries so hard to please and cannot tell a lie. Sometimes this gets him in trouble too as he hasn't yet learned that the truth hurts, but I love his candor and his imagination.

teachers who show a real interest in our children and a desire to see them succeed.

old friends I miss so much. I am thankful to have a means of communicating with through facebook and email and phone calls and an occasional letter. I'm thankful for the memories and the impact they have made in my life.

new friends and the chance to get to know more people who will become old friends!

my health improving this past year. I'm no longer on blood thinners and have been cancer free for 3 years!

my ladies Bible study group. I love getting together with 'real' ladies who aren't afraid to show who they are in Christ.

parents who had a concern and love for my eternal salvation and taught us about God's love and forgiveness.

for our recent safe travels and time spent and memories made with our family in New Jersey.

the kindness of strangers to offer us a rental home when we were visiting family for a much reduced rate!

a comfortable home and plenty of food and the means to share with others.

my family cookbook with Uncle Russ's amazing pumpkin pie recipe. I just made 6 pies, 4 ramekins and a bread pudding with what I thought would make 4 pies!

my Cuisinart and my dishwasher and an oven big enough to bake 4 pies at once! I'm thankful that the joy I get from cooking and feeding people has reappeared after a year long hiatus.

my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and aunties and uncles and cousins.

for Your beauty and splendor and wonderful climate to enjoy it here in Hawaii!

so much more...

Love is a Four Letter Word?

So far, LB has had a pretty rough start to his public school education. First week of school he had an 'encounter' with the counselor because he made his 'angry' face in class when his teacher wouldn't let him sit next to a little girl he wanted to be friends with. I talked to the counselor and told her, yeah, he doesn't have much of a filter, but we're working on it... Anyway, by the third week, we had a meeting with the Special Services Counselor to get him evaluated for speech therapy as his teacher and other classmates are having a hard time understanding him. However, Mrs. T has no problem understanding when he uses the word "love" and has taken exception to that and told him not to say it anymore. Kid can't catch a break! I'm not sure what the exact context was but 'love' happens to be his favorite word right now and he 'loves' everything and everyone! It's a sad world that twists an innocent 5 year old's view of liking something a whole bunch into something ugly and dirty because they have a narrow-minded view of love! Sooo, how much can we confuse a kid? No, don't show your anger and don't be too loving either! I know it's going to be a challenge teaching him honesty while still maintaining respectfulness and love towards others. I had a long discussion with him after he went up to a little kid in the dentist's waiting room the other day and pointed at him and said "I don't like you and you can't play with my toys" completely unprovoked! So I know the frustration his teacher is faced with but it still made me sad that he was told he can't use the word 'love.' It's times like this that I consider homeschooling... But, obviously I didn't do too great a job prior to this or he wouldn't be having some of these issues! I'm praying that it will work out to have a new teacher next week when we change schools. LB seemed fine with that, but wanted to take Jordan and 'Brosario' and Max with him to his new school, so at least a few kids put up with his quirks...

Back to the Blog

...maybe! Facebook has a feature on it now with updates from this day in 2010 or 2009 and I realized how much I am missing by not writing stuff down here instead. I'm not great at, ok really not good at scrapbooking or journaling or even printing many of the pictures I take, so this blog was a good source of archiving our lives for a while and I'm missing a lot! So, maybe it's time to start writing more regularly again...

So, this time last year I wrote about moving into a house and being on the housing waiting list just in case we couldn't hack it 'off post' and I'm not too proud to say we couldn't do it! We're signing for a brand new, five bedroom house on Fort Shafter on Monday morning and I'm pretty excited! Here's a few reasons why we're really looking forward to a new house and neighborhood:

1. A dishwasher! I can't express how much I have missed having one and I think the eczema on my hands will be a thing of the past also!
2. Central air conditioning. I love the climate here, but paying $500 a month to run two little window units just so we have a couple of cool rooms to hang out in when the rest of the house is a sauna is a bit crazy. And it would be nice to actually hang out as a family all in the same room on our...
3. Sofa in the living room! I've been disappointed since we discovered when our stuff arrived that we could not fit our sofa into the living room and it's been in the boys' bedroom for the last 10 months. It will be nice to not feel like I'm walking into a college student's house with a beanbag and futon in the living room.
4. Some space to spread out and a garage!
5. No more nasty white carpet that doesn't come clean!
6. Neigbor kids to play with and adult neighbors for us grown ups too! We live in a decent neighborhood, but there are not a lot of kids close by and the kids have really missed running around outside with friends. I've noticed also, that even the adults when they are home around here tend to not come outdoors much.
7. Our own driveway and outdoor space. While it's been nice having our landlords to interact with and they are great people it will also be nice to feel like we're in our 'own' house and not have to worry if we don't shut the 'compound' gate, etc...

and so that brings me to the things we will miss about living here:

1. Our lovely landlords who are really great people and really seem to enjoy our children.
2. Our outdoor planting space and all the lovely fruit trees especially the yummy lemons! I'm going to have to buy lemons again and the kids will miss their swing on the mango tree.
3. The location to the kids school and J's work has been pretty ideal. We're going to have to walk a bit further to school or maybe even pay for the bus and J will have to commute about 10 minutes but with parking will be missing his coming home for lunch that he's enjoyed this past year.
4. The kids will be leaving a pretty good school and starting at another good school, but changing schools is never easy and as BB put it the other day "I was just getting used to this school." This will be his 6th school since kindergarten and he's only in 5th grade!

There's been ups and downs to our first year in Hawaii and I will say that the transition here has been harder than any other move in the past. Maybe it's a good thing I haven't written much this past year so we can forget the hard parts and move on to enjoying the next two years here!

Random kid updates...

Riding in the car today, LG pipes up from the back seat, "Daddy, I will miss you when I grow up." J asked why and she said "because I will have my own house." She was relieved to know that she could still visit even when she has her own house and babies and 2 dogs named "Jenny and Jenny Tuesday, who is a boy dog, but Jenny is just a regular girl dog with spots." She is growing up way too fast! She wanted me to straighten her hair last night, so I obliged and this morning when she woke up she came in our room crying because her hair was curly again.

LB is keeping us BUSY! I think I've lost much of the gray hair grown when he was a two year old! We went to the zoo last week and he had a great time climbing on the rocks next to the trail through the African Savannah exhibits. So, LG asked me to take her picture on one of them and the other 3 kids went ahead to look at the baboons. In the 20 seconds that took, LB had climbed on the rocks between the baboon and lion enclosures and was spotted by a zoo official. I got him down rather quickly and he was in no real danger as he wasn't even close to the top and there was a high fence on the other side of the rocks. But as the zookeeper said when she came and yelled at me, "we don't want to tempt the lions and give them any ideas that there is something better outside their enclosure." I said, "yes, ma'am" and took a firm grip on LB's backpack harness that I had the forsight to put on him but obviously not use! Why is it that the most impulsive kids are also the fastest. It's like he has a thought and in the same moment is executing! Thankfully, his favorite part of the zoo was the koi pond with the tunnel through the middle of it, with one way out and one way in...

BB and BG had a pretty decent spring break between the pool, the zoo, the movies and lots of lazing around. They're currently tied together with a rope and working 'together' on the daily chores because they've also spent a lot of time bickering and being mean to each other! Anybody else have any ideas for getting siblings to work together? We went and watched "Rango" the other day and both of them complained about going to see what they thought was a baby movie. It was nice to see BB glued to the screen the whole time and BG enjoying it too between the bathroom breaks! When am I going to learn that they don't need drinks at the movies?

I also enjoyed "Rango" but could have done without the lizard's suicidal walk across the highway, because of course that is what LB picks up on! He asked me, "why he walking by the cars and trucks" and after he falls over unconsious "why he dead?" But at least he knows you're not supposed to walk across a highway full of cars and trucks!

The Move

I started this post before we moved back in August and it was a big complaint about how I hate moving, but couldn't really complain about it because, hello! we're moving to Hawaii and who can complain about that? Anyway, I still hate moving, but have to say that the whole experience was filled with a lot more good times than bad. Once we finally got our orders after a delay because I had to enroll in the Exceptional Family Member Program due to my health issues, things moved pretty quickly. I know, you already knew I was exceptional, right? So, we got all of our junk packed up, said some goodbyes, drove to Newark, NJ, dropped off the van and flew to Portland, spent a day at my sister's and left the kiddos with her, while J and I flew on to Hawaii. Spent a lovely 5 days on our own there driving around, looked at two houses and rented the second one. Then I flew back and spent too little time with family and brought the kids back with me. They had such a great time with all their cousins this summer! So glad to have found a house in a good neighborhood, very close to the school (BB can see our house from his classroom) and J's work as well. We haven't even bought a second car yet as he is so close he can walk home when needed. Our landlords are a very sweet, elderly Japanese couple who live behind us in the 'second' house. Mr. E was part of the 442nd Infantry Regiment and has two purple hearts and other decorations. J had a great time talking to him about being a part of history and his wife was so impressed that he was talking to someone about it! They love having the kids around although LB likes to show off for them and I think worries them a bit with his antics... Mr. E is also a great gardener and has many fruit trees around our house and a veggie garden on his little plot and a couple of prepared beds for me too, so we've got stuff planted and it's growing fast! Love having an endless growing season! Not loving the lack of central air conditioning and the cockroaches (took care of those buggers already!) So, the big kids are settling into school after a bit of a rocky start for both of them. BG didn't like feeling like she was behind at all, but seems to be caught up already and BB is saying school was 'good' when he comes home instead of 'I hate it!' They are both really missing their friends and school and neighborhood in New York and I guess that has been the biggest adjustment so far. We've been pretty sheltered, living on post for so long and just used to jumping into a neighborhood where there are lots of kids and families in the same circumstances as us. It's almost an instant bond and pretty easy to find a few people you click with. It's going to be more challenging to get out and meet people but we're working on it... I went to PWOC this week and will soon get the littles into hourly care for some socializing. I'm doing some pre-school at home with them for the time being. LG likes to take her 'homework' out when the big kids are doing their's. Also getting them all enrolled in Child and Youth Services on post so at least they'll have some activities to go to after school. And we've gone to the beach every weekend so far and trying to find our favorite. We are on the housing list for the new housing they're building near Pearl Harbor, so if we fail miserably at living 'off-post' we do have a back up plan! So we're still waiting on our stuff but I'll save the rustic living conditions for another post! In the meantime, I am sooooo missing my friends and neighbors in New York and around the world! I've mentioned before how blessed we've been to have friends move with us the last couple of moves and I am really feeling that void right now! We would love visitors, but you might want to wait until our stuff gets here...

Jersey Shore

We had such a great time last year in Ocean City, NJ, that we decided to go again this year, but for two weeks this time! It was wonderful to be able to relax and go to the beach almost every day and spend time with the Adams side of the family. Our condo was located over an ice cream shop about two blocks from the beach and boardwalk and was a really nice place with an outdoor shower for rinsing off the sand and a nice deck with a hot tub too! If you're ever looking for a great, relaxing family vacation, we highly recommend OC! Vacationrentals.com is a good resource for finding homes for rent by owners. Anyway, the kids (and J and I) loved the beach. I used to think I was more a mountain girl than a beach girl, but I think I've changed my mind. A beach cruiser is so much more my speed than a mountain bike (although I would still do that too!) and where in the mountains can you stop and get fresh bagels after your morning run? I loved running on the boardwalk with the ocean in sight. BG took a morning bike ride with me one morning and did a great job! We also rented a family surry one morning for a ride on the boardwalk down to the yummy apple cider donut shop, so good when they're fresh and hot! The kids loved hanging out with their cousins and BB and J went fishing with Pop-pop Adams out on his boat one day while the rest of us visited with Mom-mom and ran in the sprinkler. The kids also stayed at Aunt V and Uncle B's while J and I had a couple of nights out together in Atlantic City! The kids and I checked out the Cape May Zoo on a very hot Sunday afternoon while J relaxed at 'home' (he doesn't do zoos) and we got to spend Father's Day with Pop-pop, Mom-mom and the rest of the family! As usual, Pop-pop's steamed clams were great and the kids had a great time getting reacquainted with their cousins and moving Mom-mom's yard sculptures around. Overall, we had a great time, but decided two weeks is a long time to be away from home and we came back a day early! Also, learned early that it just works better for us with the ages of our kiddos to not cram too much into one day (more for our sake than the kids!). So, now we're waiting for our next adventure in Army life, which is a move to Hawaii sometime soon! Still waiting for our orders but should be moving sometime in August. I'm excited to get there and get settled, but not looking forward to the moving part and leaving our Army family here. The last couple of moves, we've been spoiled with friends moving with us and it's going to be really hard to leave them behind! Anyway, I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking if you have the time to look at them! I tend to get a little camera happy...