Category Archives: Family Matters

Already Six

I have no memory of my 6th birthday.  It probably involved cake, ice cream and presents.  I don’t know if Leina will remember her 6th birthday today but I know I sure will.  How many little girls get to celebrate 6 by eating mochi ice cream, spending the day snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, and blowing out candles on a Ted’s chocolate haupia pie?  Not too many I’m thinking.  Add to that a pile of craft supplies, games, Plumeria Princess goodies and Hello Kitty supplies and you have one very happy 6 year old on your hands.  Us adults are exhausted but Leina is all smiles and energy.  Perhaps it was that last chocolate mochi ice cream that pushed her over the edge but that’s ok.  She was a real trooper today hiking down to the bay and swimming way far out to squeal over all the huge fish swimming through the  coral.  I hope she remembers some of this special day.

Happy Birthday Leina!  I can’t wait to see what 6 has in store for us….

Totally Making Out With 106

The tempurature continues to rise.  My A/C has been going since 8am and it can’t get the house below 80.  That could be because was 116 outside in the sun.  Minor details really.

Fed the girls ice cream for their 10am snack and it made perfect sense.  We haven’t left the house today which also seems perfectly reasonable but cabin fever is beginning to set in for me.  Good thing I have our big trip coming up!  I have finished washing and am now trying to get everything packed and checked off my list.  It’s slow going in this heat but I’m determined.

My survival instict really slows me down.  You know the saying “fight or flight”?  Well, that doesn’t quite cover me.  I’m more “fight or flight or sleep”.  In times of intense stress on my system, my default setting is snooze.  This can be a bit of a handicap when things need to get done.  Today, at 2pm, when you could see the heat shimmering in the air in my room, I found myself getting sleepy.  Sleepy.  Sleepy.  My children tiptoed away and did who knows what for the next three hours while I slept and sweated away the hotest part of the day.  So here it is, 6pm and still 100 outside and I can hardly keep my eyes open.  A cup of hot coffee seems so very wrong but I’m thinking it’s my only hope.

And dinner.  Hmmm.  This might be too much for my overtaxed system.  Ice cream for dinner is totally do-able, right?  Right?

Flirting With 100

It is hot here.  Hot.  Hot.  Hot.  We have been steadily climbing up the mercury and should hit 100 on Monday.  And Tuesday.  And Wednesday.

Hello?  When did I move to Phoenix?  This is Oregon.  O-R-E-G-O-N.  Land of the grey skies and constant downpour.  We do not do 100.  Please take it away.

Of course, it is hard to maintain my suffering when Hawaii is right around the corner.  Sure all my potted plants will die but, eh, they’re practically dead already.  When the sweating gets too much I try and channel cool ocean  breezes and sugary shave ice in my mind’s eye.  Bring it baby!

I did break out the clothes line today so right now the neighbors are getting a view of Kev’s tidy white-ies blowing in the breeze.  I have dried 4 loads of laundry on the line since 2pm  that’s how hot it is right now.  Thank goodness for the AC.

Now if I could just teach those darn kids to close the door after them all would be well…

Stiches

Leina got her first set of stitches yesterday.  Don’t worry, she didn’t get hurt or anything.  No, these stitches were  purely preventative but also totally unexpected.

Leina has had this very dark mole on her knee for a while.  I thought it was a blood blister but at her last check up, her doctor saw it.  Not a blood blister but a suspicious mole.  So we were referred to a specialist and yesterday was our appointment.  The doctor took one look at it and said it had to go.  No problem, I thought.  I’ll just make an appointment and we’ll come back and have it removed.  Yeah, no.  The doctor laughed at me and said, we’ll just take it off right now.

Now, if you have ever met Leina, you will know she is the world’s biggest chicken.  She has a melt down over a flu shot.  The idea of having a mole cut out of her knee?  With no warning or preparation?  Can we say major melt down?  The doctor and nurse were a bit out of their league I think.  I’m guessing most of their patients are adults because the nurse sat Leina down and said, “I don’t lie to children.  I’m going to be honest with you.  I have to give you a shot and it will…..”  That’s about all I heard because at this point, Leina started screaming.  Shot = screams with my kid.  I was fluttering behind Leina trying to catch the nurse’s eye and mouthing “LIE TO HER!  LIE TO HER!”  Instead, I had to grab Leina and hold her down when the nurse gave her the tiny and painless shot.  Once done, she left the room so I could calm my crazy shot-phobic kid.  As usual, Leina caught her breath, looked at me and said, “hey, that didn’t hurt very much at all!”

The mole removal was easy right until Leina looked down and saw the stitches across her knee.  Then she got a bit pale and fainty looking so the Doctor slapped a band-aid on it which helped.  Leina is doing ok now so long as you don’t say “stitches”.  Instead, we call it her “scrape” or “strawberry”.

How this child will ever give birth I have no idea.  Clearly, she has her father’s tolerance for pain.  When we go back to get her stitches removed, I’m going to sit that nurse down and tell her to lie her head off to my kid.  Please.

Really.

The girls loved their week of zoo camp and I survived as well.  Drop off was easy but pickup? Beyond crazy.  I had  no idea so many people try to go to the zoo in the summer.  It was unreal.  Even worse was the fashion disaster I saw on the last day.

I dropped off the girls at this little side gate, not the main entrance to the zoo.  It’s down the hill a bit and around a corner which is nice because you avoid the chaos at the ticket counter.  I had just waved so long to my little ones and turned around to hike back up the hill when I noticed the girl in front of me.  Now, remember, we were walking up the hill so I had a pretty good view of what was going on here.  Namely, she was wearing her underwear.  This is good, right?  Nope.   Because that’s all she was wearing on her bottom half.  A pair of very small, very faded, very tight cotton underwear.

Now, before you get too excited, let me modify your mental image.  Take away the Victoria Secret’s model and replace it with a 18 to 20 something girl pushing her kid in a stroller.  Add a nice juicy roll of tummy and back fat spilling out of the top, a spectacular collection of stretch marks and you’d be seeing what I saw.  Scary huh?  I, personally, was mesmerized.  I mean, underwear?  Really?  But the farther up that hill we walked the more sure if it I was.  They were made out of cotton with a thick elastic white waistband and were boy short cut.  Not loose boxers but skin tights tidy whites.  She spent most of the walk uphill trying to dig them out of her behind and pull them down as they rode up between her thighs with no luck.  They were skin tight and so I  can say with quite some degree of confidence that she was not wearing anything under them.  But then, why would she?  ‘Cause that’s just crazy to wear underwear under underwear.   Right?  I’m so confused.

But the truely horrifying part?  The thing that tipped me over the edge?  She was walking into the zoo, pushing her stroller, and talking to her mom and dad!!!!  Yes, her parents let her out of the house wearing only underwear!!  I have no idea what my mom would do if I showed up in public with her wearing only my underwear but I’m pretty  sure walking calmly beside me would not be one of her reactions.

Come on people.  Pull it together.  Put some clothes over your undergarments when you head for the zoo.  Really.

Perfect Duo

As Liza often teases me, I don’t venture far out of Sherwood.  I’d say a 10 mile radius from my house is where I roam for most of my days.  But every now and then I do venture forth into the big world and when I do, I like to take my time.  A little shopping plus some place yummy to fuel up is what I like to aim for.  Today, after picking up the girls from zoo camp, I was feeling a bit adventurous so we pulled over for a little detour on the drive home.

First, we tried a tiny little eatery called The Spicy Pickle.  Great name, right?  It was also packed which is always a good sign.  I had a panini which was so fresh and crispy.  Leina has some thick and rich soup while Kulia went for a Sicilian style pizza- very very thin crust.  It was so tasty!  And yes, the pickle was deliciously spicy.

After we chowed down, we headed next door to one of my favorite stores, The Paper Zone.  Any store dedicated to paper is ok in my book.  The girls were tickled pink when I let them pick out any two sheets of paper and a roll of stickers.  We wandered the aisle considering each color and texture.   It’s funny to see what they gravitate toward.  Kulia loves bold color and crisp design while Leina is a pastel girl.  After about 30 minutes, we walked out the store for under $10 and the girls were thrilled with their new-found treasures.  Right now they are sticking and drawing and cutting away.  Which is an added bonus!

I’m going to have to add this to my list of places I’m willing to leave Sherwood for.  Spicy pickles….yum.