Mama On The Move

Emily is a highly requested baby sitter in these parts. She often comes home with amusing tales of kids who won't comply, or dogs that threw up, or moms that never came home. But this was probably her best story yet: A little while ago, as we were getting ready to leave church, one of the moms ran up and asked if she could "borrow me for the next six hours or so." I was kind of looking forward to a nap, but six hours or more equals much moolah, and who am I to say no to what is obviously fate? It turned out she and her husband were going to take their six-year-old daughter out to see a movie for Valentine's Day. The two boys ("T"is three years old and "U"is one) were going to go to their dad's parent's house for the day. However, for some unknown reason (alien abduction? The Bermuda Triangle?) their grandparents had to cancel their plans. Which left them scrambling for a babysitter, and, lo and behold, there just happened to be ...

Thinking more about Illinois.  Yesterday I was really excited, today I cried.  Then I watched this and laughed a lot at the overacting.  

I'm trying to get my mind wrapped around the thought of life in Illinois.

Kerry and I got a new camera today.  There was a phenomenal deal for military members and we jumped on it. On the way home, Kerry drove while I set the camera up and played with it for a few minutes.  I had a little trouble figuring out the focus.  So I handed it to Emily while I read the instruction book.  Big mistake. Not only does she take tons of random photos, but she got fingerprints on it because she was eating Salt and Vinegar potato chips.   I took it back, cleaned it off, and started figuring out how it worked somewhat! I realized it can take one photo and give you three images, with each one zoomed in a little more.  Cool! I figured out how to take a panoramic shot.  I thought I did a good job until I got home and realized Kerry has no hands in this photo.   I did a better job on this one, although a chunk of Kerry's shoulder is missing.  I thought it was cool that I could get...

Yesterday brought some interesting news.  Kerry called me and blurted out, "We're not moving to Virginia, we're moving to Illinois ."  I didn't say anything for a minute.  The words wandered around in my brain for a minute looking for a place to stick. "Wow, I've rendered you speechless," said Kerry. I really thought there was more to the story.  I was expecting him to add something along the lines of, "But then I called someone important and they did something magical and yes, we are moving to Virginia still, but for a minute there I was quite alarmed." But he wasn't joking.  And there isn't more to the story. We are moving to Illinois.  They come to pack up our house in ten days.  And we are moving to Illinois. Illinois. I didn't have my heart set on Virginia; I had my concerns about it.  There was no housing available on post and we were going to have to rent.  Renters aren't often open to the idea of a huge d...

After we presented Ben with his diploma, we had about an hour of dancing.  We mostly did line dances, but some of Ben's ballroom dancing companions were there and so we threw in a swing dance.  We also played "Thriller" because one of the younger kids can dance just like Michael Jackson and he got up and put on a show for everyone (I was busy, and completely missed getting a video of that!).  Last but not least, we did the Virginia Reel, because it is so much fun and everyone can do it.  We had someone teach everyone how to do it, then ran through it one time, then had each group race to see who could finish it the fastest.  It's a LOT of fun!

One of the best things about being a homeschool graduate is that as the only member of your class, you win all the top honors!  (You also win all the worst awards too, but that's another story)   At Ben's party, I made a wall of the honors he has received in his senior class. I just used photos we already had of him and had them blown up for the occasion. Valedictorian Class President Prom King Most Likely To Succeed Most Adventurous Most Chill Most Glamorous Most Likely To Be A Supermodel Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award (5 Time Winner!) Most Ninja Most Likely to DANCE!   Most Athletic Most Likely To Cuddle      Most Likely To Be Injured Most Likely To Be Seen On The News Someday

One of the most fun things about a Hawaiian graduation......... .......Is the leis! Graduates are covered with leis and toy floats and it's hilarious to see them all decked out! As Ben can tell you though, those leis get heavy and they make you hot and sweaty! Most of the people we know make their own leis rather than buying them.  At almost any time, you see women sitting around weaving leis, especially during graduation season.  Leis can be made to be beautiful, or to be humorous. Ben's leis were made from ribbon, yarn, paper, and even real leaves and vines.  He received a pink and white polka dot one with a plastic spoon and fork attached to it and one made out of folded styrofoam plates!  One thing that many folks do is to buy netting and wrap up items in it.  Candy is usually in those, but lots of leis will have other random items in them.  Ben's favorite this year was one made with pickles and cheese wrapped up in it. ...

 The cake arrived in pieces and had to be assembled on location. There's a wonderful woman at our church who makes cakes and she came up with the idea of a mountain of books.  Originally she was going to make a figure of Ben climbing the books, but she ran out of time.  The cake was very wobbly because it was so tall.  The cake maker had to wedge drinking straws through it to hold it together!  She was worried it was going to topple over.  Every time a kid bumped into the table (which happened quite often!) the whole thing would look like it was going to fall over! Behind the cake is a digital photo frame which had pictures of Ben throughout his life playing on it.  While we did have a slideshow for the guests, I didn't want them to have to sit through a bazillion pictures while they tried not to nod off.  So we made the slideshow short, and put all the extra pictures on the frame.  That way, if people wanted to look at th...

Okay, I started to write about Ben's graduation celebration, but it was TOO MUCH!  This was the biggest party I've ever hosted, and when I think about writing one post about it, I'm overwhelmed and I quit.  So I'm going to break it down into bits and maybe I'll get it all done eventually.   Ben's youth pastor when we lived in Kansas is amazingly also our youth pastor now that we live in Hawaii.  Ben and Kevin have a pretty tight bond since they have known each other for so many years.  As luck would have it, Kevin also is a master BBQer.  He actually teaches classes on how to grill and smoke your food.  When he uncovered the pig all the kids went, "EW!"  Then they all stepped in for a closer look.  They were mainly fascinated with the butt and found it hilarious.  There were two chickens inside this pig!  We speculated that maybe that was how it died.  Eating two whole chickens will do that to you, you ...