May Day

May Day at the kid's school. These are the Radford High School Fijian Dancers.

May Day

Damian at his May Day celebration. He is in a green shirt and blue long pants in the back. The long pants are another story.

May Day

Jr. at his May day celebration. He is wearing the red shirt with white flowers in the back.

May Day at Pearl Harbor Kai

May day is Lei day here in Hawaii. It is a huge celebration. At the kids school on Friday they had theirs. It is always a great day. One of our state senators showed up and a bunch of other important people. This day is always a lot of fun and the kids work real hard on it.

Damian at May Day celebraton in green shirt blue striped long pants

Jr. at his May Day Celebration in red shirt white flowers

Radford High Fijian dancers

Radford High Fijian dancers

Shame on you Alec

I just had to comment on the Alec Baldwin incident. I was so mad when I heard he called his daughter a "rude, little pig" that I would of liked to give Mr. Baldwin a piece of my mind. I was pondering why this incensed me so. It's not like I have never said anything offensive to my children, just not that. I figured out that it was the word pig that really threw me over the edge. Pig is a word that used as slang has a highly offensive connotation. Websters defines pig as a dirty, glutenous, or repulsive person. Usually when someone wants to insult an overweight person they don't resort to using fat, because fat just means, large, or big, or obese. Pig on the other hand takes it to a new level. When someone calls an overweight person fat is just doesn't hold the weight of Pig. If he had called her a rude, little brat, then it would not have bothered me so much. But when a person uses a slur, and don't get me wrong, pig used in this context is most definitely a slur, then I have to wonder how he could not of censored himself. There are certain words, that no matter how mad I get, I just would not say. They are so repulsive to me and this is one of them. He did not use the word pig as in slob, he used it at it's lowest form of insult. Basically meaning repulsive. To me this is strong language indeed. It is the kind of language that people almost never forget. From now on when Mr. Baldwin says something even a little bit insulting people will think almost without a doubt, that he used this word as a weapon.

Virginia Tech

My friend Sandra wrote such a touching post that I wanted you all to get a chance to see it. I could not of said these things any better. Please check it out.

CLICK HERE

This was supposed to be easy

Everyone knows that the Crockpot can save you a lot of time in the kitchen. The other day I decided to make a quick recipe because I had a lot of errands. The recipe was called sweet and sour beef and it called for 2 Cups of pearl onions. I have never used pearl onions before. When I opened the package I realized there were about 100 little onions that I have to peel. So much for easy. I started to peal them and soon realized pearl onions don't peel easily. It takes some effort to get the thin skin off the little buggers. This took me about 1/2 an hour. Next time I want to save time in the kitchen, I will make sure the recipe does not call for pearl onions.

Promotion

Brandon was promoted from Seaman apprentice to Seaman. The picture is a little blurry because I had it set wrong. This is what happens when you let a 3 year old help you hold your camera.

Me not so crafty

This is what I have learned to knit after 3 months. I only knit about 1 row every other day. I can't seem to knit and watch tv at the same time, and I wouldn't want to miss Sanjaya. My sister, check her out at me so crafty, on the other hand has learned to knit and can knit some really cool stuff. Stuff like a bag that turns into felt, either after you wash it or dry it, I can't remember which one. By the time I can make the felt bag I should be about 70 years old, or someone who knows how to make one (hint, hint) can make one for me. One look at this pathetic piece of knitting and it will tell you just how long it will probably take for me to learn. At least I finally have the rhyme right...In through the front door/once around the back/peek through the window/and off jumps Jack. Now If I only could remember to go clockwise around the back, and who the hell is Jack anyway!

Happy Easter.....Late

It was a very busy day. We went to morning service which was awesome then when we got home we had to drive my daughter to the next service. After that I had to drive my son somewhere else and then go outside with the kids to play for awhile. At night I just crashed on the couch and watched tv. Today was more running around. I did have to drop some books off at the library and while I was there I picked up Barbara Delinsky's book Family Tree. I have finally gotten around to wishing you all a late Happy Easter.

Youth group big island "Go Nuts" retreat

thief

This is Brandon's old quilt
This is the new quilt my mom made Brandon for his birthday

The kid on the left is the quilt thief

Every time my mom makes someone in the house a new quilt Damian says "can I have it?" I asked him why he always wants the quilts and he said they feel cool and soft. Good reason. I guess he better take lessons, then he can make his own quilt.

Part 1-Such is life

Darrian in his rash guard. He can't wait until surfs up

I almost feel bad just posting these. Most people are waiting for summer to take a vacation, maybe even to a tropical island, and I live on one. I feel like a spoiled lady. For Spring Break I spent my time at the beach reading. I have read 2 complete books, part of a third, and at least 10 magazines. Oh poor me. Next week it will be back to business. I can't wait for summer break.

Part 2

Happy Birthday Brandon

My son Brandon turned 15 on March 21. We didn't have a big party, but his friend spent the night and they had a great time. Here he is having his cake and also going over the hurtle at his first track meet. This is late because the kids are keeping me very busy for Spring Break. Today I have to bring my van into the shop because the front end is making a weird vibration noise upon turning. Hopefully it will be fixed by Monday. Luckily church is in walking distance because I don't want to miss the Easter trilogy they put on every year starting this week. Next week is the last week of Spring Break so my life will return to normal sometime in April.

Spring Break

The schools are out once again for spring break and that means 2 weeks off for the kids. We will frequent the water park and that should keep them pretty busy. Today we have a good friend coming for a visit. We met Mr. Jack when they were stationed in Hawaii and we lived across the field from them. His sub will be coming in to Pearl Harb0r sometime today and then he will give us a call. It should be a fun visit.

My daughter leaves for a youth group convention on the Big Island on Monday. This should keep the teens busy. They are all very excited.

The bad news is my Jacuzzi pump broke and it will be about $400. to fix it so I have emptied it and winterized it until I can buy the new pump. We are concentrating all our money on sending my daughter to Bali for a mission. She belongs to a youth group called Surfing the Nations and every year this group takes the teen missionaries to Bali and they do an awesome work. The also have other mission trips, but this is the one she would like to go on. So for now I am putting our efforts into this. It's kind of funny though that these are missionaries who surf, and my daughter does not, although they are wanting to teach her. This group has evolved and become so big that you don't have to be a surfer to belong to it. Saturday night the Surfing the Nations van pulled up to drop my daughter off and there were 6 surf boards on a surf rack strapped on the top. I didn't even know they had surf racks for cars and vans. Anyway this group has many chapters and she belongs to the Honolulu one.

Tonight I am making a chili recipe that I got off allrecipes.com a few years ago and have loved it ever since. I will let you all know how it comes out.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/20/il/il01a.html
Cool article on Surfing the Nations