The New Mayor Lives in Our Home!!!

Trenton Lowe is the new MAYOR of Wizardville! 

Last week Trent came home from school and was going on and on and on about running for Mayor.  He showed me papers from his teacher explaining the activity.    The kids were learning about government and elections in class, and were to have a class election of their own.  The kids were told they could run for city council or mayor or just vote.  Of course Trent, being the "shoot for the moon" kinda kid insisted on running for mayor.  He was to make a poster, have a slogan that rhymed, and prepare and present a speech on Monday.  

Trent was very specific on what his poster was to look like.  He said he wanted it to be red, white, and blue, look like an American flag, have a big #1 and lots of stars.  So on Saturday, we got to work.  Donald helped Trent design his poster while I helped with his speech.

Monday he went to school, all ready and nervous yet excited to meet the mayor of our city.  Sadly, the mayor was not coming till Wednesday.  Nonetheless, there were 7 children running for mayor, so they presented their speeches to the class and had a class vote, narrowing it down to 4 candidates.  After Trent's speech, he handed out laffy taffy's with his picture and slogan on them (what a politician right - bribery).  He made it into the top 4.

Tuesday night Trent was feeling kinda sick, and we found that he was running a low temp.  He was shattered.  He begged to go to school on Wednesday because he wanted to meet the mayor.  I told him that we will see how he feels thru the night, and in the morning, and decide then.  He had a very long personal prayer that evening.  When he woke up this morning, he was fever free, and feeling like his normal energetic self.  He practices his speech over breakfast and was all ready to meet the mayor of our city.  

I got a phone call around 10:30 a.m. today, it was Trent.  He just said hello at first, so of course I was thinking that he must be running a fever again and the poor boy was going to be devastated.  Instead, I heard him say "mom, I am the new mayor of our class"  and then he just laughed.  I could his his teacher in the background, she was so proud of him.  Trent is really excited, he even gets to go visit the mayor in his office one day  (not sure when, I will find out details later this week, I am sure).  

Nonetheless, I am so proud of my young man.  I find myself looking up to him more than I ever knew was possible.  He is just so amazing!  So, I say, "way to go Trent, I knew you could do it!"

(btw, Wizardwille is what they call their class, they are "White's wizards of Wizardville".)

The tricks of a 3 year old.

So we all know how a 3 year old can really "work one over" on you.  We all know the tricks:  running to the bathroom at bedtime, needing a glass of water after being put to bed, the tummy hurts so he can't finish his dinner.  The list goes on and on and on.

Well, tonight, Tanner came up with a NEW way of getting out of cleaning up the toys.  Instead of giving us a bunch of excuses, he just goes and WACKES his head on the ledge of the brick on the fireplace.

(by the way, these pictures are taken about 25 minutes after the fall.  

The swelling went down quite a bit with ice and medicine.)

So, does this look like a good excuse for him NOT to have to clean up his toys?  I mean seriously, just look at that smile - he looks fine to me!  

Wheels of Fun

With all the wonderful weather we have been having, we have been spending plenty of time outside playing.  Tanner and Brooklyne love to play on all the ride on toys in the front yard, driveway, and garage.  Of course Tanner prefers the UNconventional way of riding on the car.

Tanner loves to ride Kolby's old bike.  He also likes to fix/fiddle with the training wheels.

Although it is hard to tell from the pictures, Brook was having a lot of fun in the black truck.  She is just being a stinker and wouldn't let me take a decent picture.

"Ahhhh, what a sweet older brother."  Tanner kept trying to push her in the truck so she could go down the hill.  She wanted NOTHING to do with his help.

Soccer Boys!

For the last 2 months, we have been busy with the first half of soccer season.  Sadly, I did not even bring my camera until the last 2 games for each child.  

Here's Kolby playing a game this past Thursday night.  They lost, but it did not seem to matter because the kids had fun anyway.

Here is a picture of Kolby and Colby I "think" shooting spider webs at the other team.
Here we have Trent playing.  I can not remember if they won this game or not - but at least I remembered my camera and did not loose any children that day.

Don't you just love Brooklyne's big orange bow???  

OH where did you hide it sweet little girl?

Communicating with a little girl who is 20 months old and rarely uses words is quite the challenge.  Yesterday I went in to get Brook after her nap, and I found her shirtless.  I quickly scanned the room and then asked her: 

Mom: "Brooklyne, you are not wearing a shirt, where did it go?"

Brooklyne:

 

Mom: "Brooklyne, what did you do with your shirt?  Where did it go?"

Brooklyne:  

Mom:  " you threw it out the door?"  Of course not, it wasn't there when I looked.  So I turned her room upside down for the next 5 minutes looking for her shirt.   I am completely flabbergasted because I can not find her shirt ANYWHERE!  So I ask her one more time.

Mom:  "Brooklyne, I need to find your shirt so we can go play outside, where is it?  Can you show me where your shirt is?"

Brooklyne:

So all that time I was looking all over her crib and room she was hiding it all along!  Who knew that she would already be hiding things under her skirt.

We have been having loads of fun!

For the past few weeks we have been trying to do fun things with the kids here at the house.  One evening, Trent wanted to have a haunted house downstairs.  He and Kolby worked on it for a while and then told Donald and I that we had to dress up for the haunted house.  I told Don he should dress as a girl, and I would dress as a boy!  He was game!!!!   So I went and grabbed some basketball clothes, his shoes and a ball cap.  I found a dress for Donald, some flip flops, and a red wig.  I tried to get him to wear lipstick but he refused.  

When we came downstairs, Trent just stared at us for a few seconds and then just busted out laughing.  He ran and got Kolby and Tanner and they came over to see Donald as well.  (they all could careless about me!)  Kolby kept asking me if he was daddy or not.

Donald refused having his picture taken and nearly threatened my life if I took one.  I finally convinced him that I would just take a picture of his feet wearing my flip flops.  Just check out my mans legs!!!!  

Another fun thing we have done lately is made one of our creative obstacle courses.  The kids love when we do them and it is always different every time.  

We have also been doing cool movie nights where we put a sheet on the wall and use a projector.  Also, we have been trying to spend time outside because our weather is just fantastic lately.  

So as you can see, we have been rather busy having fun.  Tonight we have some cool stuff planned for our FHE.  I am hoping to take pictures so I can post about it later in the week.  

A Special Thank You

I just wanted to do a public thank you to my parents, who were kind enough to watch our kids while we were vacationing for 2 weeks.   My mom and dad were amazing troopers at taking care of all 4 little ones. They got them off to school each day - dressed, clean, fed, and on time. They helped the kids with homework, making sure they had everything they needed for class.  They got the kids to their soccer games and practices at two different fields across town.  They even took the time to do Brooklyne's hair almost every day and did not shy away from taking them to church both Sundays.  So,,, MOM, DAD,,, Thank you so much for giving of your time, attention, patience, and everything else that you had to give in order to survive those 2 hard weeks.  You both deserve a big pat on the back and a hot chocolate chip cookie - heck, even 2!!!

Last tid bits from our Hawaii trip (part 8)

I swear, this is the last post I am doing on Maui and then I am DONE!  I have several things I am wanting to post dealing with our family life that I need the Maui section to be DONE DONE DONE!  (by the way, the reason for so many pictures is for ME, not so much for torturing everyone else.)

So here are some tid bits that are left from our trip.

On several occasions, Donald and I would get some shaved ice and sit in front of this store next door.  We always got two flavors on our shaved ice, pineapple and something else.  We loved it and wish we had a place like that here.

This is a boat that became ship wrecked off the shore in Lahania about 4 years ago.  We were told there was a big store late October 4  years prior, and this ship was not taken out of the harbor and got stuck in some coral.  They left the boat there because they would be destroying so much natural coral that it is not worth destroying the ocean coral.  We thought the boys would think this ship was might cool, hence the pictures!

Donald threatened that if I was not nice to him, this is how I would end up looking!

Donald after riding some waves at Big Beach.

Here we are at dinner at a fancy smantsy place.  We split our meal and it was perfect.  I love eating out at nice places and walking away paying less than $45.  They split our meals onto 2 different plates, so what you see in the picture is my portion, which was just the right amount of food.  We also enjoyed some delicious dessert as well.

Here is a lame video clip of Donald jumping into our car!  We are so lame I tell ya!!!

Sunset (part 7)

I am seriously going to try and only post a handful of sunset pictures, but it will be very difficult.  These pictures are taken on 3 different evenings, but I am not going to take the time to divide them and lump them together explaining each one.

Snorkeling (part 6)

(Aren't these photo's beautiful?  We discovered this local photographer on Maui and those two pictures are from their collection.)

We were lucky enough to go snorkeling several times.  As I have mentioned in the first post in Maui, we went on a kayaking snorkel trip.  We were able to do 3 snorkel swims on that day and we had a great time.

We went snorkeling a few times at a spot about 30 minutes from our condo, just south of Big Beach that was a natural reserve.   Our first attempt to snorkel on our own, my mask kept fogging up and I was just really nervous in the water.  So, that afternoon we went and go some defog for masks and tried again the next day.  I did much better this day, however, the water was not nearly as clear, so that was a bummer.  We went back a few days later and the water was absolutely breathtaking and clear.  

Wednesday, the day before we left the island we did a couple more snorkel swims.  The first one was at Black Rock and it was GORGEOUS!  Donald also did some cliff diving here - this is his claim to the island adventure fame!  He climbed the rocks and dove down into the crystal clear water where there were snorkelers everywhere.  Not only were there people scattered about the water, but when looking down from the top of the rocks, the boulders underneath looked to be about 4 feet below the surface, so that really worked on Don's nerves as he tried to swallow hard and do the dive.  He did it twice and loved it!  Of course we had to get it on video, so I volunteered my services on the nice hot, dry, soft sand as he proceeded to risk his life.  Anyway, I digress, the fish were beautiful here and we got to see couple turtles as well.  

(video clips at the bottom of the post)

After Black Rock beach to the blowhole and then to Honolua Bay for some more snorkeling.  It was a rather large cove that is tucked away on the northern shore just a couple miles from Slaughterhouse Beach.  By the time we made it to the Bay, it was already late afternoon and I was exhausted.  We had been hiking and swimming and snorkeling and in the sun all day long.  You can tell from these pictures that I do not look all that thrilled.    By the time we got home that evening all I wanted to do was sleep.

We had a fantastic time snorkeling, and I loved how with each location there were different fish to swim with.