for those who were interested in sewing class

i got this email today so here's your chance. i'm gonna call her now and pay/register- hooray!

Aloha!

We're now processing registration & payment today for the Beginning Sewing class which will start next week Tuesday, May 5th, 6-8 pm in the School of Education building, Room #117. Be sure to bring your own machine. Fabrics for practice purpose will be provided. DEADLINE REGISTRATION: Friday, May 1st. You will definitely enjoy this class and learn much!

All payment transactions are made between 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. during the Cashier's hours. Payments can be made via telephone if paying with credit card. Checks or cash MUST be made in person. Please call Educational Outreach for further information at 675-3780/3788.



Mavis L. Loo, Coordinator
Community Programs
Educational Outreach, #1963
BYU-Hawaii
55-220 Kulanui Street
Laie, HI 96762
(808) 675-3788; FAX: 675-3789
Email: loom@byuh.edu
Website: http://outreach.byuh.edu

MAY aloha friday beach days

in case you havent already heard we are going to Ke Iki beach for may's beach days.

look over to the top right side of my blog for details. liko's got a master plan so i just put up a link to her blog where she talks about it.

i'm excited! i love this beach!

me and ambrose will have to miss out tomorrow because we need to go to may day for a preschool assignment, but we will be there next week for sure!

ok, click on that link and i'll let liko take over from here.

two year olds are delicious

an excellent surprise

i didnt want to have a baby shower for this second baby because i am just having another boy and i didnt want people to go to a lot of trouble...etc. blah blah blah.

so, what do my excellent friends do?

they have thomas take me for a long walk/playground family excursion saturday morning and when we get back we find this waiting for us.

it was PERFECT. delicious food, minimal to no shower games, and some great people to hang out with.

thanks taylor and dee for organizing it and to everyone who came.

i felt loved. :)

ambrose's room (for now)

here's a little something thomas put together of the room ambrose inhabits. thomas' two older brothers painted it in high school. it is a masterpiece and kinda crazy. ambrose loves it. sometimes i go in to get him when he has woken up from a nap and hear him listing off the colors he sees on the ceiling. he's pretty great at identifying colors and we can probably credit his environment for that skill. :)

and yes, he has a big boy bed and a flowery crib. truth be told, i tried to get him to sleep in the big boy bed a time or two, but he just thinks it is a fun game and then begs to be put in his "prib." fine by me. that boy goes to sleep at 7PM (sometimes a little earlier) without argument each night and doesnt wake up until 6:30 or 7AM and hardly fights nap time either. i know i have it good and he likes the boundaries so we will just enjoy this as long as we can.

sewing class info

a bunch of you were interested and here is what i found out when i went to sign up this morning:

call BYUH (293-3211 and ask to be transferred to CITO) or go by the CITO office (across from registrar in admin buldg.) and have them put your name on the list

if enough people sign up then they will ask you to pay at that time, but they want to make sure they have enough people sign up. so far there are like 6 and i think they need 10.

i think the deadline to sign up is april 30th and the class should start on may 5th but they are not positive on the day yet- but it will probably start next week so sign up ASAP.

it will be once a week for two hours and i forgot to ask her for how many weeks.

it is $60 for the class (this is an AMAZING DEAL- Bernina is a good deal and is $50 for FOUR weeks- this class is longer and is not all the way in Honolulu).

so, yeah, go sign up if you want to otherwise there may not even be a class.

i can hardly believe it myself

after talking and thinking about it for forever i just decided to get it done already.

so here she is:

the top of ambrose's bedspread all perfectly cut out and neatly sewn.

I MADE THIS Y'ALL.

(i'm kinda pleased if you couldn't tell.)

if I can do it ANYONE can.

email me if you want the links to tutorials i used.

HOORAY!

now i just have to figure out how to quilt it up...........

2 little monkeys jumping on a couch

by the way

image borrowed from my new idol

BYUH is offering their beginning sewing class through CITO again and it starts on May 5th i believe.

i will be having this baby during the term, but i signed up anyway.

they need a certain amount of people for the class to take and so go sign up!

let me tell you, it is a REALLY GOOD DEAL.

any other class on this island that would offer similar or even lesser instruction would be all the way in town and would cost like three times as much if not more.

sign up. (in the admin. buldg. by the registrar. i am going in monday morn. to pay.)

see you there.

i made these last week

for two of amby's little friends. their birthdays were a while ago, but i finally did it. i didnt have access to a computer to look up a tutorial (remember when you sent me one like a year ago AJ?) so i looked at one my friend meg made for ambrose and guessed. i am happy with how they turned out. i think i could do better next time too. hooray for sewing.

i made a dress too, but i dont have a picture of that. i stopped going down to bernina to sew on saturdays because it was just too much time away during my weekend family time. i am happy that i figured out how to finish that dress. i seriously studied over each step in the pattern and stressed, but it was really fun too.

oliofolio time

whether you remember it or not- you have most likely read the poem "this is just to say" by william carlos williams in one of your english classes at some point in your life. it is sassy and subtle and awesome and many, many poets have tried their hand at their own version. this week i really enjoyed creating mine with my own brand of sass.

Click here to read it! and feel free to browse any other entries and let us know what you think!

enjoy. :)

in over my head

as we start to see plans for the major renovations to the apartment upstairs we are having fun thinking of ways to make the new space our own. i woke up one saturday morning to thomas painting a dresser for the boys room. he just felt like it (i like thomas for many reasons and this is one of them).

i have been thinking about the boys room too.

so much so that i have gone and bought some fabric:






and all the other things you need to quilt (boy did that fabricmart lady work me. she knew she was working with a novice!) in an attempt to make the boy's bedspreads.

WHY????????

now that i have spent all this money i feel like it HAS to be GOOD! haha oh well.

i have basic designs to go off of and have looked at a few tutorials that have been extremely helpful:

this is probably one of the best from my happy little life (thanks ash!) it's on the right column- a couple of items down.

i really liked this rotary cutter tutorial from purl bee (thanks meg!)

and

a quilt is nice has given me some great tips and ideas too.

sooooo, i hope that they turn out.

i am just starting on ambrose's this weeekend and then if that goes well and i end up not only finishing it but liking it too then the other baby gets one as well.

isnt that always the way with the poor second child? so, here goes nothin.

routine

new pjs, cheeky boy, pretty precious.

you would be proud dad

i didnt ignore easter this year. you told me years ago that i was the easter bunny now but it was too much work for me. :) i like holidays. i dont know why i can never get my act together for this one. so, this is what foodland had to offer at 8PM the night before and so this is what we got!



and here's big mama in her thrift shop easter dress. look out!

gone gone gone

i dropped these loves of my life off at the airport today. sad.

anna is a pal from back in high school. we endured womens choir and even a dinner theater performance together, a sugar ray concert when we were 14 (hahahahaha), she was a bridesmaid at my wedding, she introduced me to many a friend when i joined her at byu-hawaii, oh yeah- she introduced me to thomas!!!! (thank you thank you- he was her home teacher), we started surfing together (she continued however and is awesome and i met thomas and stopped and am not awesome), we saw mates of state together for the first time, we've been on many adventures, and having her here was like having a cousin here and now she is gone.

we will miss you kessies! see you in july and get delmer ready to swim in my parents pool everyday! yahoo!

well this was last weekend, but,

i really like these shots taken by one of my all-time favorite photographers marina miller. remember when i was pregnant with ambrose and she took these and these and these ? well, that was sort of in the beginning of her business and now she is in demand and busy. she is also a mom of three boys and you all know i love a mom who can make things happen and be awesome.

so anyway, she documented the hawaii music awards for us and here are some of my favorites:




and here is one of all of us sitting around. see if you can find me and t.

i love it when we are all together. we are family.

getting my act together

ambrose is better. a runny nose lingers on, but he is happy and healthy for the most part and i am having to scold myself a little for how frustrated i allow myself to get sometimes. i know i have been complaining a lot lately about ambrose's "spirited" disposition and now that he is well and i can step back... i am realizing that he was just being a sick, energetic toddler! no kids are perfect and he certainly has his good and bad moments, but most kids do and truthfully i love everything about him.

anyway, i have been thinking about the future a lot. what will ours be like? how and when will we get through this shaky time for our little family and what do i need to do to help us stay afloat? sometimes it is hard to realize that even though other options seem more attractive or even more effective, you are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing. why is this hard? maybe because sometimes what you are supposed to be doing is not always the most fun, attractive, exciting or easy.

at the end of this week i felt tired, out of patience, sad, discouraged, and guilty for losing my temper so much.

so what do you do with a mess like that?

i'll tell you some choices i realized i had:

resentfully throwing a meal together is normal from time to time, but happily cooking for your family is more fun

shrugging off your persistent toddler while you're on the computer is not the end of the world, but scooping him up and asking him what he wants and then getting on your hands and knees to play with him is more exciting

ignoring all the crap that piles up on the kitchen counter and turning a blind eye to the crumbs on the carpet is just necessary sometimes, but taking a good 20 minutes to power through and get it all straightened up will clear your head and allow the spirit in your home

watching junk tv can be a good way to unwind occasionally, but planning a quilt with your new cool fabric is a better use of time

yelling at your son when you are really frustrated with yourself because you aren't being the kind of mom you want to be happens sometimes, but taking a deep breath and remembering that he is a two year old and you are the mother will create a better bond

stressing out over finances is inevitable, but when you accept the things you cant control, live within your means, and move forward with faith no matter what then fear and worry cant take over

driving to honolulu every saturday to sew is fun, but today reserving that time to cuddle up with my husband, read to and go for a walk with my son, and relaxing with my family at the beach was better

i think that i was letting circumstances that i can't control get in my way and take over. this helped:

"Count your blessings; name them one by one. You don’t need a great big mansion of a house with an all-consuming mortgage that goes on forever. You do need a comfortable and pleasant home where love abides. Someone has said that there is no more beautiful picture than that of a good woman cooking a meal for those she loves. Weigh carefully that which you do. You do not need some of the extravagances that working outside the home might bring. Weigh carefully the importance of your being in the home when your children come from school." -Gordon B. Hinckley

here's the rest if you want

hanging around home

as much as we want/need to get out and run around today- amby boy is sick, sick, sick. not only would being at a potentially coldish beach day make him more sick, but i dont want him to infect his friends. we already went to a big, huge egg hunt two days ago when i was wondering why he was so very fussy and then soon found out it was because he was totally sick... so sorry if we infected someone from that... he wasnt teething like i was thinking... it was a bad cold/cough. :(

so here we are at home for another day of running out of things to do, whining (him or me? guess you'll never know), and going crazy.

let's hope things look better all around this weekend. until then... it looks like another round of dragon tales (this is me pulling my hair out). :)

i wrote a poem called: the lasting shock

see if you can figure out who im talking about... (dont worry, it's obvious)

guess what i just found on my front doorstep??

a brown paper bag that said-

for: amby boy
love: the sneaky sneakster

and this is what was inside!!!

WOW!

i think i know who you are.... but this sneakiness is fun. you are the best! this will match the octopi/seahorse fabric i went ahead and bought from fabric worm this morning to use in the boys new room someday. oh man. thank you!!!!!!

who/what is flat stanley you ask?

i guess he is from a book and then my nephew jackson drew him in class and sent him to me to have a vacation. we were supposed to take pictures of our adventures and send him back to class with the pictures. so we took him for a walk around laie and here's what we did:
we started off on our street showing him the plant life of laie. ambrose got a big kick out of flat stanley trying to hitch a ride on my belly.



then we showed him temple beach, buried him in the sand, and let him hike in the surrounding greenery.



he insisted upon a tour of the byu-hawaii campus:


and took a little breather in a nearby bush upon arriving:

having rested up- he ran around the many surrounding fields:


we asked him where he wanted to explore next: the polynesian cultural center, laie falls, hukilau cafe, the shopping center...etc. feeling overwhelmed by the options, he decided to consult ambrose who told him scornfully that some of those places were kinda touristy. ambrose decided to show him where all the cool kids in laie hang:


he even found a friend there:

i hope they'll keep in touch. flat stanley heads back to las vegas today.

let me catch my breath here

friday night it was his birthday:

(image stolen from his facebook- ha!) and he had another legendary bbq. ambrose nearly lost it over that pool. and all that food and the miller boys. i dont blame him.

saturday we enjoyed general conference and then upstanding youth attended the hawaii music awards and although it was an honor to be there and get some awards it was looooong and we were all like a bunch of twelve year old boys in a health class- everything made us laugh and for all the wrong reasons... that was the best part. that and all the awkward moments, the texting, the threats to leave, and the fact that it was supposed to end at 6:30 and we didnt get out of there until 9PM. awesome.

i just mostly enjoyed being there with this lover boy. holding his hand. being out and carefree and cracking up at all the shameless self-promotion that was going on. oh and i haven't seen him play his drums in a while so that was fun too- i was crushing like a teeny bopper at a jonas brothers concert.

ambrose did well with the babysitter. she said he didnt even cry when she put him to bed. good job my boy.
sunday, more general conference:
and then a birthday lunch for this little woman:
gwen is now one! after her party we headed home to get ready for the big farewell potluck for the huish family and the kessie family that was at our house. i dont have pictures of that but it was fun. these people were there (minus one): and about fifty thousand others. i had a good time. ambrose did this: for most of sunday though. i think he had had it with the weekend.

so today we had two of his buddies over:


and went to the playground to meet other pals and have done lots of bike riding:
now he's napping and i am looking forward to going to the beach to take some "flat stanley" pictures (it's a project for my nephew in las vegas) for family home evening tonight. it's nice to fill up your life with happy and positive things. it's also nice to do nothing at all. have a good week!