2012 Week 10 - March 4 - March 10

Week 10: March 4 - March 10, 2012:

Another fun week! Sunday Tutu took Dean to see the musical Grease at Iao Theater while Joel got a little work done and Jen did a little cleaning in preparation for Grandma Jo's upcoming visit later in the week. On Monday, Dean received the Pillar of the Month Award at school. This month's Pillar was "Respect". Mrs. Smith texted me a photo from the morning broadcast of Dean receiving his award from his Principal, Ms. Yamafuji. Mrs. Smith said Dean "consistently does what he is supposed to do and always respects the school rules". His award certificate said she "can always count on Dean to be a quiet listener on the carpet and during line up time". Way to go Dean!

On Tuesday, we attended Pomaika'i Elementary School's Artist In Me event (Tutu came with us) and we learned more about Pomaika'i's Arts Integration Curriculum and got to see some of Dean's artwork, some of the other grades' artwork and performances from the Ukulele Band.

On Wednesday Dean was super excited that his friend Rylee from across the street finally got back to Maui after spending almost 2 years living in Costa Rica! They had a fun playdate after school and got re-acquainted.

Thursday was the last day of school before Spring Break! And also, Grandma Jo arrived for a nice long visit!! Lots of fun Spring Break stuff started happening after that, like sushi eating, watching Taiko drumming performance at Maui Mall, sidewalk chalking, dancing hula in the driveway with yardwork clippings, and helping Daddy do yardwork.

 

And here's a look at my Project Life layout for Week 10:

2012 Week 9: February 26 - March 3

I have a few blog posts scheduled for this week while we're on our trip, so by the time you get this, we should be having a blast at The Happiest Place on Earth!!!

Week 9: February 26 - March 3, 2012:

Week 9 was a super full week that started with a Sunday morning at Keawakapu Beach. I did some Stand-Up Paddling with Tutu, we buried Joel in the sand, and played in the waves. It was a pretty perfect beach day followed by a yummy lunch at 808 Deli (one of our favorite after-beach treats) before driving back to Kahului and resting and then watching the Oscars at home.

 

Wednesday was Leap Day and I was super excited to figure out that I just happened to have a cute photo of Dean taken on the last Leap Day in 2008 and I started a new tradition of Leap Day photos of Dean (I think I actually did post this on the blog back in February).

Thursday after work I met Joel and Dean at the park in Wailuku for a little playground fun. This is one of Dean's favorite parks and it has a beautiful view of the West Maui Mountains. We picked up a nice healthy dinner of KFC and came home to discover we had an island-wide power outage. We enjoyed our dinner by Coleman Lantern, and tried to keep Dean calm - he seemed very anxious about the power outage and asked lots of questions that we couldn't answer (about how they make electricity and how it gets to our house and how did they run out, etc).

Friday was Dr. Seuss' Birthday! I was the Mystery Reader in Dean's class at school and read the Lorax, one of our favorite books! After school, Dean and I made a few Dr. Seuss themed treats while babysitting Brooklyn for a few hours while Aunty Sarah worked. We planned to watch Horton Hears a Who, but I was too tired from juggling 2 kids all afternoon - Dean being the more difficult of the two for sure. (reconfirmed our decision to be a single child family!).

 

Here's a look at our Green Eggs and Ham treats:

On Saturday Dean's friend Cole came over for a playdate and the boys had fun playing marble works for a few hours. After the playdate Joel, Dean and I went to see the movie The Lorax and LOVED it! Great end to a really fun week!!

 

And here's a look at my Project Life layouts for Week 9:

 

2012 Week 8 - February 19 - February 25

Week 8: February 19 - February 25, 2012:

This was a pretty fun week. Sunday Dean spent the day and night with Tutu while Joel and I celebrated a late Valentine's Day dinner at Ruth's Chris in Wailea. Monday was President's Day, so there was no school or work. Dean and Tutu went to the beach while Joel and I discovered our new love for the TV show 30 Rock (how have we never watched this before!? Thank goodness for Netflix!). Joel and Dean worked on some Magic School Bus Science Kit magnet experiments in the evening on Monday.

 

 
Wednesday after school, Dean spent a good deal of time entertaining himself with his Appleletters (still one of the best "toys" we've bought him, he plays with those more than anything else he owns!) and making up his own games after homework.

In the evening on Wednesday, Dean and I headed out for a walk around the neighborhood and ran into friends and neighbors Lorly and her daughter Sienna, who is also in Kindergarten at Pomaika'i (and you may remember that we met Lorly and her husband Jojo when we were taking childbirth classes together just before Sienna and Dean were born. Sienna is exactly 1 week older than Dean, both born almost a month before their due dates - so cool that they now live just right around the corner from us!). Dean and Sienna had fun playing and chasing each other around the grassy park in our neighborhood while Lorly and I caught up.

Friday after school Dean spent some quality time with his Legos. 

Friday evening we headed to the South Side for sunset at Keawakapu Beach while Joel played his ukulele and Dean played in the sand and surf.

 

 

And here's a look at my Project Life Layout for Week 8:

 

2012 Week 7 - February 12 - February 18

Week 7: February 12 - February 18, 2012:

The majority of this week was consumed with Valentine's Day happenings - making Valentines for Dean's classmates, Valentine's crafts, and receiving adorable Valentines that Dean created at school.

On Friday, I volunteered at Dean's school - giving "Healthy Heart" talks to several classes (In honor of Heart Health Month, I talked about basic heart anatomy and function, as well as ways kids can keep their heart healthy, focusing on nutrition and exercise). Tutu picked Dean up after school and he spent the night at her house so they could go to the Whale Day Parade and festivities at Kalama Park on Saturday with Tutu's friend Denise.

Also on Saturday, Joel played in a co-ed Kickball Tournament with Uncle Vince, Aunty Tina, and lots of others. It was fun watching him play a couple of games.

Saturday night, all on his own, Dean decided he wanted to do a "Sink or Float" experiment. He asked me to make him a chart on the computer and was very specific about how many rows and columns the chart should have. Then he searched his room and other parts of the house for about half an hour for things to use in his experiment. I was EXTREMELY impressed. On his chart, he had a What I think will happen column and a What Happened column where he marked each item "sink" or "float". Before he did the experiment, he marked off if he thought each item would sink or float (he didn't realize it at the time, but he was forming a hypothesis! Go Dean!), then he did his experiment and marked off what actually did happen. It was so cool!!

A funny thing Dean said this week: "Daddy's car is a swimming pool of dirty stuff" - February 16, 2012.

And my Project Life layout for Week 7:

Some of the extra stuff included in this week's layout - a photo of my shopping basket from Whole Foods along with the total ($59.31) for that basket of food - a visual that might be interesting in the future; the tag from the new children's luggage we bought for Dean from Pottery Barn Kids; a funny story about past Valentines exchanged by Joel and I; the tag attached to my Valentine gift from Joel; and a close-up of some Valentine chocolates that Joel gave me.

2012 Week 6 - February 5 - February 11

Moving right along...

Week 6: February 5 - February 11, 2012:

We kicked off week 6 of 2012 by watching the Superbowl on Sunday afternoon in our PJs. Joel enjoyed the exciting game, Jen especially enjoyed the David Beckham commercial, and Dean said he wanted the New York Giants to win because of the Statue of Liberty. Ha! We finished and filed our taxes on Monday, which is always a big relief. Tuesday evening we met Tutu in Kihei for dinner and then booked our Disneyland vacation!! (which is actually happening really soon now! YAY). We'll be enjoying 6 nights at the Disney Grand Californian Resort with a 4-day Park Hopper pass. We are so excited! There was also lots of everyday life happening this week.

Monday was the 100th Day of School and Dean's kindergarten class had a little celebration - they each brought 100 pieces of a snack to share, did lots of "100"-themed learning activities, and even did 10 each of 10 different physical challenges during P.E. However, Dean said he only got to do 3 running laps at the orange cone "because I got a sticker in my shorts. You can't run very good with a sticker in your shorts Mommy". Well, that's certainly true. They also made cute hats to celebrate the day:

 

I wonder how many pictures on this blog have Dean in his underwear? Oh well. It is how he seems to be most comfortable still. He made a list on his easel this week of "alternate names" for his cat:

We made our weekly trip to the Kahului Library this week. The only book Dean wanted was a book about Uranium and Other Radioactive Elements. I picked out and insisted on a handful of story books too.

Joel has been stopping on Friday mornings and buying tropical flowers from some old local ladies at a roadside stand for $16 - much cheaper than the swap meet!

Saturday morning we took a trip to the Maui Tropical Plantation and fed the ducks and fish and then did a little exploring.

Dean and I worked some more on his Periodic Table puzzle on Saturday afternoon and evening - it was a nice end to a fun week!

And here's a quick look at my Project Life layout for Week 6: