The Birthday Girl

Celebrating 5 Years!


Presenting pictures from her life to her class at school today.

And last weekend, a birthday party with friends at home:

Birthday Parties...oh My!

I may be crazy, but I am inviting every child in my daughter's preschool class to her birthday party. I don't think they'll all come; but what if they did? We have a small townhouse. I figure if I just have a schedule with all the activities well sychronized....maybe things won't be too chaotic? It's a Strawberry Shortcake party. I'm giving out the invitations tomorrow. We'll see what happens. We'll have a pinata, games, prizes. If they are out of line, I'll just line them all up against the fence outside and squirt them down with a hose! That's a joke, by the way.

At least she's really looking forward to it. She's turning 5 and I figure I have to do something grand for her. She deserves it. I really want her to have a fun and memorable party for her fifth birthday. I still have a while to get ready for it!

Oh, one question.... If I'm inviting them all to the house for a party, do I still have to do a party during classtime at school?

Not So Bright

"Storm surge family fun!"

Now does this not exemplify stupidity? Could it constitute a charge of child endangerment? What if her son got swept out to sea? Would it be worth that picture that they're taking. I think the photographer's t-shirt says it all!

Purple and Red Majesty

It was dark and cloudy and little rainy earlier this evening. Just at the time of sunset, the darkness broke-open and showed the glory of a stormy Atlantic sunset (looking West of course! These are clouds being pushed over us by Tropical Storm Hanna out there somewhere passing by.) Liam was in his jammies, brushing his teeth getting ready for bed but came outside with me to see the sky.

Ignoring My Own Blog

My poor neglected blog. Sometimes during the day I get an inspiration for a story; that is precisely when I should sit down and do some blogging, because if I wait until I "have time" to do it, it's usually after I am semi-conscious and ready for bed. Of course, it's because for the other parts of the day, I have two small children demanding, I mean, DEMANDING, my attention. It starts at around 6:45 a.m. on a weekend morning.

Let's take this past Saturday for example, my dear husband got up early with the kids, with the intent of letting me sleep a couple of more hours. He left the air purifier (white noise) going, closed the door, and told the kids to keep out. He proceeded downstairs to prepare something for breakfast. Obviously, there was some selective hearing on the part of the kids.

First Isabella comes into my room, "Mommy, can I sleep next to you." "Okay, but you must sleep!" was my reply as I reached-out my arm to give her a hug half-asleep.

"Mommy, can we get up now?" "Isabella, you may go downstairs and have some breakfast. Let mommy sleep a little more and I'll be down." "O.K." and she leaves. She also leaves the door open. I get up to close it. I finally doze off again.

Just then, Liam comes in. "Mommy, can you play with me?" "Play with you? I'm sleeping. I haven't even gone to the bathroom. I haven't even had breakfast. I haven't even woken-up!" (which is usually the order in which I do things). He leaves me to fall back asleep. I ask him to please close the door behind him.

Isabella comes back another time. Then Liam comes back another time. Then they both go downstairs. I doze-off again.

Just then, there's a subtle kind of knock on the door. I hear it again. Then I hear a couple of meows. It's the cat. I ignore her. She persists. I decide to get up and let her in because she won't give up. She comes in and plops herself onto the foot of the bed. She's tired having been outside for the past few hours (she always wakes-up Edilberto at around 3-4 a.m. and he has to let her out. The alternative would be a cat marching on his head and brushing her body noisely along the blinds on the window at the head of the bed.) The cat was cozy and asleep now. I gave-up and got up for the day!

Well, the whole thing played-out again this morning. Mommy was kind of sleep-deprived and grouchy for the rest of the day. The kids have been spoken to about letting mommy sleep!

Just a Little Storm

Fay didn't become a hurricane, but a tropical storm that has brought a lot of rain to Florida; which was needed in some places. The kids' school was cancelled for two days, but I went to work as usual. It was interesting as some had a hard time getting out in the wind and rain; but for me, I am quite used to driving in these conditions. It was nice not to have cold and ice thrown into the mix as I'd be used to in Washington State. There also, you have to worry about Evergreen trees falling over on the electrical lines or, on your car or home! I can't say I'd be as brave and at ease if it'd been a hurricane though! That I have no experience with. I'm glad it didn't.

I also remember a time when I was in a tropical storm when I lived in Hawaii. We had been staying for three weeks in tents on the island of Molokai. We took showers behind big blue tarps and we had to have someone there to hold the tarp down during the high winds! Our tents blew down. We were leaving for a trip to the Philippines. Our plane leaving Molokai had to wait for our team to get to the airport because the road had washed-out on the way there. We didn't even go through security. They rushed us all straight onto the plane!

When we arrived in Honolulu, our flight to Manila had been cancelled due to the storm. We had to go to our base in Honolulu without our belongings because our luggage had already gone off to the airport and onto our connecting plane. We all got sick days later because we had been in wet clothes and had to spend the night in Honolulu without our change of clothes. We did make it out to Manila the next day. But what a trip it was just to get there!

First Day of School!

The List

From reading this list, can you guess what these items are for?

Q-Tips
Kleenex
Baby Wipes
Shaving Cream
Paper plates
Paper towels
Hand Sanitizer
Plastic Forks
Plastic Spoons
Ziploc Bags
Paper Towels

If you haven't guessed yet, the rest of the list might give it away...

Box of crayons
Washable Markers
Scissors
3 ring binders
pocket folders (colors specified)

Pencils
1 Red Pen (try and find just ONE red pen. Red pens come by the ones only inside a packet of 10 black pens!!!)


Ruler with inches and centimeters
Erasers
Glue Sticks

Bottle of Glue
Play Doh 4-pack
Nap Mat
Composition Book
etc. etc.

This was part of the shopping list from school for Pre-K and Second Grade! What a preschooler is going to do with shaving cream is beyond me! I did tell Isabella that the Play Doh was a good sign though (fun stuff).

I didn't find a "nap mat." Of course, there are always such specific specifications! It has to be VINYL only and 1 inch thick. I will continue the hunt with all the free time I have (yeah right!) Besides, I'm sure Isabella will think she has no use at all for a nap mat. What's a nap?

Oh what fun to go back to school shopping. My head was spinning when I left Target trying to track everything done. All the while Miss Isabella was interrupting my concentration in the search with having to tell me every item she saw that she wanted for her birthday! Didn't she hear me say she couldn't have everything?


She was quite amusing in her princess crown with shiny colorful carnival beads hanging off that she had draped across her head, and her plastic purse full of her lip glosses. Topped off with red polka dotted sunglasses. The girl is hilarious!

Meditation of My Heart (follow-up)

I had to come and follow-up on a recent blog entry I made regarding our dear friend's CD, "Meditation of My Heart." (See entry on next page for more info.) It arrived in the mail two days ago and we have been listening to it ever since. It is even more beautiful than we could have imagined. The instrumentals, vocals, arrangements....all so beautifully done. It is such a wonderful work to listen to. It is serene, soothing, and uplifting. It provokes deep emotion and, like the title suggests, meditation. I highly recommend it. It is one of those types of CDs that one likes to have playing to bring a calmness, but also, the way the music is blended with the instrumentals causes one to become deeply moved with emotion.

Thank you, Jo and Kris, for sending it to us. What a gift!

Happy Birthday to Me?!

Here's what I got for my birthday today:

I have asked for this for as long as I can remember. My kids were thrilled to carry-out my desire to have a chocolate cream pie thrown in my face. Of course, the whole family had to share in the fun! Aren't we just yummy?

Breezy Moments Caught in a Camera

Some recent pictures from the calmer side of life....

A Nice Evening

O.K. so I cracked the whip and got everyone out for an early evening walk. It didn't matter that it was early evening, it was still 90 degrees outside (varying because there was sort of a "breeze" as we got closer to the water. But still, we were all quite sticky when we got home.) The kids and Edil were already tired from having swam earlier. I was determined we'd get out and walk to the park. The park along the causeway is only 3 blocks from home. I must admit, it was a bit too hot. But we had a great time just getting out together for a while. On the walk home, the sun went behind some menacing looking clouds. It was perfect timing because we were heading West with the sun setting. Can you guess who dressed Liam? Liam of course. I must hide that shirt. I'll bet when it's time to make a rag out of it, he'll ask me to make it into a pillow for him! We BBQ'd some chicken and watched a movie together. It was a nice evening.

Watching the bridge go up for boats to go by.