Fun Times

Just wanted to post a couple of pictures. Tonight Ezra's cubscout pack had their Raingutter Regatta at the church. It was sooo fun cheering and chanting the names of the boys racing their boats--I think the spectators had more fun than they did! Ez didn't win either of his races, but we thought his "pirate ship" looked totally awesome. He looks so animated in this picture and that's how he is whenever he's in front of a crowd...not the least bit shy.



Sam's still breakdancing. Casey took this picture of him practicing a move in the livingroom. He likes to go downtown once a week and dance. Will ALL of my boys want to be in the limelight?

Walking with Eden

"Can I go? Please..."
"I don't need help. I walk fast. I can walk a long ways."
"C'mon Mom. Mom's slower than us, isn't she Dad?"
"A dead rat. Yuck."
"A dead toad. That's a toad, it's not a frog."
"I wish we could stop and visit the Steyskals."
"I wish we could stop and rest."
"I wanna stop and rest."
"I'm tired."
"My legs are killing me!"
"I want to to go see that dog."
"I wish I could go see that dog and pet him."

Ahhh...walking with Eden. I wish I could remember everything she said. We only walked about 1.5 miles, but coming back to the house is all uphill. She asks to go every morning and usually we tell her that we're walking for exercise so we're not going to take her because she'd get too tired. This morning we let her go along. I think I'm just going to forget the exercise...after all, a mile is a mile no matter how long it takes, but a little girl, well....

A Beautiful Woman

I actually read this for the first time when Audrey Hepburn died, but my niece sent it to me today and I thought I would post it here.

Below is a wonderful poem Audrey Hepburn wrote when asked to share her "beauty tips." It was read at her funeral years later.
For attractive lips , speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair , let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.
For poise , walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands ; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.

Happy Birthday Sweet 15!

A New Look

My "newest" daughter.

The Tooth Dude Is Coming!

We had a bit of a hard time getting her to smile so we could see her teeth!

In our house you get either the Tooth Fairy, which means you get whatever can be scrounged up in loose change (if she remembers at all), or the Tooth Dude, which means you get a dollar.

(For those of you who might check, yes, I changed the photo. I like this one better.)

Cinco de Mayo!

It was a fun party. Case and a friend of ours decided a while ago that it would be fun to have a "theme" pot-luck--Italian, Mexican, etc., so we thought we'd go ahead and do it. When we were deciding on the date for the party we realized that the day we had chosen was Cinco de Mayo! Of course we went with the Mexican pot-luck and it was a really fun way for us to get together with our friends before many of them leave island for summer vacations. Many of the people here from the states and Canada go home at this time to attend graduations, weddings, check out new grandchildren, or just generally touch base with stateside family and friends.

Thank goodness for evites! That made it so easy to keep track of everything. The kids helped clean the house and made lots of big, colorful paper flowers that we put up around the main floor. We made a cd of mariachi (etc.) music and one of our friends and her kids made a piñata. Casey had some plants--some quite big--he had "inherited" when a friend of his passed so we put them out on the deck along with some of our colored Christmas lights. I made guacamole and quesadillas (we seal the edges of the tortillas and deep fry them--I think anything tastes good in a deep fried flour tortilla. Yum!). Anyway, everybody brought a dish--there was some incredible fresh salsa...

Jake's band played a few numbers out on the deck, that's always fun. After they were done, our little trio did a reprise of the tune we did for the Cultural Night at the church. Half way through the evening, some friends came in that have been in Hawaii for the last couple of weeks for their daughter's wedding, so we looked at the wedding photos on the tv. All in all it was a really fun time. I think we had about 50 people. We started early, 5:30, so that people wouldn't need to keep their kids up too late--the last guests left at 10. What a great group of people. We're so blessed.

Laundry

the living mountain
ever grows ever changes
on fridays it dies