art school exhibit

This summer, we signed up our girls for art classes at the Honolulu Museum of Art.

They loved it last year, so I thought, why not again?

Well, they DID enjoy it for the the most part...but since they had so many cousins here during the summer, they were also bummed that they had to miss out on some quality family time while they were in school during the weekdays (even though it was only 2 hours).

We are going to have to rethink signing them up for art classes next summer...especially if their cousins will be coming back for another visit.

But that's for next year's worry.  As for this year, we finally made it to their art exhibit!  And got to see some of the artwork they worked on during the summer.

Anna was at soccer camp this week so I just brought Jojo and Kela with me to take a look at all their hard work.

Here's Jolee and her self portrait.  This was her very first time attending art class and she had a hard time at the beginning.  She cried at drop-off a couple of times, but by the end of the first week, she was a champ and went to her class all by herself.  Or, with the help of her sister whose class was right across the hall.  Jolee is our little artist.  She loves to draw, paint and create anything!  

 I know she enjoyed these classes and the projects she made were really fun!

Kela and her self portrait in block printing, I think...

Jojo's 3-D collage.  Or, something...not quite sure what it is, but she was super proud of it and wanted to take a picture of her with it.  

Where we will display this at home, I have no idea...

These last 2 are Anna's.   She wasn't with us, but I saw a couple of her artwork on display and so had to document it by taking a picture  The bottom is her own self portrait made with tissue paper.

I am so proud of my girls.  They all LOVE art and creating things.  I don't know where they get this artistic personality from, but I don't think it comes from either Mitch or myself.  

Despite their grumbling for having to go to school during the summer, I am glad that they got to participate in the art program here at the Honolulu Museum of Art!

sendai mission reunion

As I've mentioned before, I have a great husband.  One who allows me to travel by myself now and again to various events and take a break from my usual Mommy duties.  

I found out recently that my first Mission President was going to be visiting his daughter in Seattle, and was planning a small reunion with several Sendai returned missionaries.  With the blessing of my fabulous husband, I had the opportunity to go.  I've never been to a mission reunion before, and with this one being in Seattle...it was the perfect place for me to attend.

As I was heading out, look who I ran in to?  I dropped off the kids with Mitch's parents, and they helped watch the kids until Mitch finished work...which happened to be right when I arrived at my gate!  What coincidence! I rarely get to see him all dressed in uniform, so this was a treat for me.  :)

I had only a short 2 day stay in Seattle this time, but on the first day of my trip, I hooked up with Rachel for a nice little run in the Snohomish area.  It was a fun and short 5 mile run and I'm so glad Rachel looked it up & convinced me to participate!

And lookie!  I even finished 3rd place in my old lady age group! :)

Rachel placed 2nd in our age group, but also ranked 3rd in Women's Overall!  Good Job, Rachel!  She got a painted rock as a reward.  Totally worth it, I think!  

And then it was off to the reunion!

President Yoshino was my first mission president, and only for one short month before he finished his service and was released.  I was a little worried that they wouldn't remember me!  But thankfully, he did...and even claimed he thought we had served together longer!  He he...maybe I left quite an impression on him?  (for good or bad, I wonder?)

Anyway, I hadn't seen President or Sister Yoshino in over 15 years!  They hadn't aged a bit, and looked exactly the same!  I still remember the first time I met them in the mission home in Sendai like it was yesterday.  I am amazed at how much time has passed...and yet how short it feels that I was a missionary in Sendai.  Such wonderful memories that I will forever cherish!  

Getting to see my mission president once again brought all those memories back, and I was thankful for it!

And then I got to see my good friend Conrad and Christina!  Never served with Conrad since he was a tad before my time...but through family we are connected and I was so happy to get the opportunity to see them once again too!

I realized, rather belatedly, that I neglected to take pictures with some of the individual missionaries here...but it was such a fun and memorable reunion!  Getting to see once again some missionaries I served along side ...and getting to meet a couple of missionaries that I had only heard about but never met...words cannot express how grateful I am for having the opportunity to serve as a missionary.  And for the countless memories and experiences I had while in Sendai and Fukushima as well. 

Seeing everyone bring their families made me a little homesick and miss my own family back home...but since I was gone for only a couple of days, I did take the time to enjoy every last minute of my solo trip to Seattle.  This is definitely one of the BEST solo trips I have ever taken.  

Since my stay was such a short one, we didn't get to do any fancy dinner with Makoto and his family, but they DID come over and we did feast on some yummy food together.

We facetimed my girls with Makoto's kids and they were laughing and chatting and I can tell my girls miss their Seattle cousins terribly.  Hopefully we can all get together soon!!

happy birthday jojo!

My little Jolee has turned 6 years old!

I was very sad that I had to miss her birthday this year (since I was in Seattle for a mission reunion), but was very happy that Jolee had so many people to help her celebrate this special day.

Mitch took the kids to Grandma and Grandpa Seavey's hotel and they had a nice dinner with their cousins.  I'm pretty sure dinner was pizza...and fruits and cake was the dessert.

According to Mitch, Jolee picked the cake mix she wanted and then had her help make the cake!  What a fun idea!  She chose a rainbow cake mix with bright pink frosting.  No surprise there, really.

I was just glad that she was surrounded by family and loved ones for this special day.

Jojo isour most girly, emotional, and silly child.  She is quick to crack jokes and try to make you laugh, but is also very sensitive and caring.  Despite her tiny body, she's got a big personality and is not afraid to express herself.  She often gives us the runaround and keeps us on our toes, but we love her dearly and are so grateful to have this bright sunshine in our lives. 

Happy Birthday, Jolee!!

birthday beauty bash for kela

For her birthday, Kela wanted to do something different than the usual party...so I suggested a pamper party with a few friends.  We invited one cousin and a couple of friends for a relaxing day getting nails done.  

Each girl chose the color polish they wanted and had their fingers soaked, massaged, buffed and painted.  They even got some fancy decorations added to their polish.   

The pampered crew...waiting for their nails to dry.  

Not pictured was my own toes...I got a pedicure while the girls got their nails done.  

The fancy fingernails!!  Each with special flowers decorating their thumbs.

I think this was a hit with every one of them!

We finished off the afternoon with some ice cream and snacks at Farrell's & we all sang Happy Birthday to Kela.  

So happy that Kela has been able to keep in touch with these dear friends of hers from our old area...and that they got to join in on her special party to celebrate her birthday.

7-11

Did you know that July 11th is 7-11 day?  

And on this special day, everyone gets a free small slurpee?

We make it a point to hit up 7-11 on this day...because our kids LOVE slurpees.

And did you know, that slurpees actually taste better when shared with cousins?

It's true.

kela turns 10

Hard to believe that this girl has been in our lives for 10 years!

She often acts like she's the Mom and has the memory of an elephant...but despite her sometimes bossiness and overprotective nature, she's a great big sister to her siblings. 

When we were gone traveling, she took extra care of Kaden and made sure that he wasn't sad or lonely. I can always count on her to be responsible and helpful.

We are lucky to have this girl in our family.

We celebrated her birthday with Grandma and Grandpa at their hotel with her cousins.

Kaden loves Kela...and was very helpful in blowing out all those candles.

Happy Birthday, Kela!

I know I tend to be extra hard on her at times because I often find myself relying on her to help out so much.  She will usually take these extra responsibilities gladly and does what she can to go the extra mile in helping me around the house and with her younger siblings.  I know Heavenly Father blessed me with this special person in our family, to compensate for those things I lack, and couldn't ask for a better daughter.  I love you, Kela! 

summer with the seaveys

It's difficult to wrap up an entire month of activities in one blog post, but I shall endeavor to try.

This summer was especially fun for our kids because we had the company of the ENTIRE Seavey family here.  

Grandma and Grandpa always come for the Summer, but it's a rare thing to have Mitch's sister and brother here as well-and all at the same time!

Here's Grandma and Grandpa with most of the Seavey grandkids...before Lynn and her family arrived.

And then AFTER they arrived, we had a BBQ at the beach (of course!) and snapped some fun family pictures of everyone.  Poor Kaden wasn't feeling too great, but he was a trooper and kept to Mitch's side the entire evening.  

One of several (or, many, I should say) beach trips with everyone.  Our good friends the Okimotos also came out to say Hi and swim in the ocean.  

Mitch brought out the paddle board (which technically is Brian's board, but we've been storing at our place for the past couple of years) and the kids all took turns going for a spin.  They all loved it!  And I got a good workout trailing behind them as they paddled aimlessly towards the deep.  Pulling them back to the safety of the shallows is actually hard work!

  

Jojo and I out in the lagoon.  She's smiling here...but make no mistake, she was small kine freaking out every time the board rocked.  She was very brave, though, and we were rewarded with a turtle sighting or two!  

All too soon, it was time to say goodbye to the Brian and his family.  Kela and Brielle were best buds this trip and Kela was pretty sad to say Aloha Oe to her Ohio cousins.

These two were finally reunited...they may look alike, but their personalities couldn't be more different.  But despite their differences and the distance separating them, they are as close as brothers can be, and we will sure miss having them near!  It's so hard when families are spread far away across oceans and thousands of miles...but hopefully we can see them every year when they visit (or if our girls have their way, when we visit them in Ohio!).

And then it was goodbye to the Hikichis as well...one last picnic at the beach to mark the end of summer.  We made stew, which wasn't the most ideal beach food...but we made it work and the kids enjoyed another sunset picnic together with their cousins.

We sure are going to miss having so much family near to play with!  

Sure, they have the Sakuma side of the family here as always, but since they rarely get to visit their mainland cousins, this was particularly fun for them.