The Choice is Yours

I had a very grouchy day on Thursday. The little kids and I had to wait around after school for about an hour to help Hannah with a crazy recycling project. (What's with all the end-of-school silly projects?) It was raining. It was hot. The kids were hungry and tired and bored. And they picked and picked at each other. And it made me crazy!

When we got home I sent Emily and John to their room and I went to my bed, and I kind of forgot about them. After about a half hour John came downstairs, then ran back up the stairs.

I got up to see what he needed and found a little note by my bedroom door.

I cannot find the actual note, but the drawing at the top of this blog is another note he wrote that day. What did I do with that note? I know I put it somewhere very safe....

Here's what he wrote:

Mom, I know that your mad. Esept (except) make it a great day or not. The choice is yours. John

Waaaaa!

Every morning at school they have a little Character Education message. The 5th grade students take turns reading the message (be nice, don't be a bully, etc) and end each message with "Make it a great day. Or not. The Choice is yours."


Thank you John! I'm going to make it a great day!



Em and John, makin' it a great day. Box optional.

All Hail the Queen

May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii
Garlands of Flowers everywhere
All the colors in the rainbow
Maidens with blossoms in their hair.

Sydney and King Miles, wait to enter the May Day Celebration.

The King and Queen enter,

Parade around,

Bow to the people,

and sit to review all the performers.


The Royal Court performs Kawika

John is a little Myna Bird



Sassy Little Myna Bird!

Shoo!

Emily performs Pearly Shells



Shining in the Sun


My heart tells me that I love you, more than all the little pearly shells!


Each grade level performs a dance. Even the teachers dance! The ladies perform Milolii,


and the gentelmen perform Kuu Hoa.

Sydney performs the last hula of the day, Kawaipunahele.

Sydney - Noi Ka Oi

(Sydney's the Best!)

Sydney said she was so nervous her leg was twitching.

She is a lovely dancer!

All Hail the King and Queen of May Day!

Coming Soon -

Tomorrow is May Day Celebration at our elementary school. In Hawaii, May Day is a chance to celebrate Hawaiian culture and tradition. A Hawaiian King and Queen are crowned, Princesses and Princes from each island come to court, and each grade level presents a Hula.



I blogged about our first May Day in Hawaii two years ago - May Day 2007. We had been in Hawaii for just a few months. Sydney was in 3rd grade and Emily was in Kindergarten. John wasn't in school yet. The girls had just started hula classes. I remember being curious about the 5th graders in the May Day court and thinking how cute the Queen was in her white dress.

Fast forward to today, Sydney is in 5th grade now, Emily is in 2nd grade and John is in Kindergarten and they will all be performing in tomorrow's May Day Celebration! What makes it even more special is that Sydney is queen for May Day! Congratulations Sydney!

We found a lovely white dress (with a little train) and she has been practicing her hula. Tomorrow is her big day!

In case you want to study up on what May Day celebrations are all about, here are a couple of examples of other schools' May Day Programs:

Priory May Day Court

Ka Beauté o Nu`uanu


To Do for tomorrow -

buy leis

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(This is not May Day. This is from earlier this spring. Sydney wants me to tell you that is NOT her shirt. Just before the performance Sydney realized she didn't have her white t-shirt. It was too late to run home for it. Luckily, I was wearing a white undershirt. Sydney didn't think it was lucky, but it was better than the striped pink shirt she had on...don't forget white dress tomorrow...)

More ROC

365 bells? on each dress

Aztec Dance



Samoan Sasa



Marcus



African Dance
Did I mention that Maybelline and Marcus are newlyweds?



Native American Hoop Dancing



I tried to google more about Hoop Dancing, but I didn't find much information, so I'm still wondering: How many hoops do they use? What are the different forms that they make? Is it a competition dance? How do you win? How old are you when you learn how to do that?



I am totally fascinated by this. How does that work?



Here's a close up of her hands and all those hoops.



Beautiful!



The hoop-girls were amazing. Did I already say that? They really were. It's not like they were just standing there on stage braiding hoops together. They were hopping and dancing around the hoops the whole time and then - shazam! - another hoop hops up and - voila! - she is an Eagle.

It makes our hula-hooping-on-the-wave-board trick look a little shabby. oh well. I can't do that either...

I wonder if they do hoop dancing in South Dakota?

I still have more pictures from the ROC performance, but it's mostly a Maybelline-Show from here on out (she is just so darn cute, and she danced in most everything), so I'll post them if she wants me to.

ROC - Remembering Our Culture

Maybelline and Co


Abe


Senoritas


Fan Dance


Abraham vs. Jefferson


Bravo! Hana Ho!


Uwe - Sound Man and hoop dancer extraordinaire


John and Jefferson



Hannah and Muchachos


ROC at home

Last week we had the chance to host some kids from the performing group ROC - Remembering our Culture. ROC is made up of students attending school in the Provo area. They are from South America, Asia, Polynesia, and all over the US. The group encourages the students to get an education as well as learn a little more about their culture. We were totally blown away by their show where they performed songs and dances from around the world.

The biggest surprise of the week is that we knew one of the perfomers, Maybelline! Hi Maybelline! We met her when she was in High School back when we lived in Texas. And there she was last week, riding along in our car, asking if we had ever lived in Abeline, TX.... small world....

The show was great, but having the group stay in our home was even more fun. They kept us up late, got up early, and ate all the food in our house (only joking), but we loved it! They felt like family!

We have more pictures of the show to post later* - hoop dancing and the Aztec dance and more....

*hopefully sooner rather than later. sorry poor neglected blog-o.

Has This Ever Happened to You?

I've been running in the dark lately. I just can't seem to catch a run in the day time, so I've been running early in the morning, or later in the evening. It is a peaceful time to run.

No army guys counting loudly ... 7 .... 8 ....9 .... one ZERO!

No troops taking over the sidewalks.

Just me and a few other people out walking or running or biking, too.

But something weird seems to happen each day.

The lights go out.

I'm just jogging along, thinking about my to do list or my shoes or singing along to Sydney's iPod, when all of the sudden a street light goes out. Bling. Right as I run under it. And it gets really dark. And then another street light goes out as I pass by.

Scary!

It makes me wonder if Dumbledore is hanging around, with his put-outer.




Does that ever happen to you?

Johnny Lingo Had a Cow

Last night Hannah was babysitting at Enrichment Meeting. One of the kids bit her on the hand. I was imagining it was a toddler, but it turned out to be a big kid, maybe 8 years old. Great.


Also at Enrichment, we had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner. I have never actually eaten Hawaiian Haystacks IN Hawaii. I have had them in the past. They seem to be another favorite Mormon food item, along the lines of green jello with shredded carrots. A "Hawaiian Haystack" is a scoop of rice, a scoop of chicken in a kind of creamy sauce, some crushed pineapple, some green onions, and some fried crunchy noodle things. All us haoles in the group knew what Hawaiian Haystacks were. All the locals had no idea what to think of it...


Along with the Hawaiian Haystacks, we watched Johnny Lingo and talked about how to be an 8 Cow Wife. It was a really cute night.


Did you know there is a new Johnny Lingomovie?

Before I Forget...

tap. tap. tap. is this thing on?

We hiked out to Kaena Point this weekend. Kaena Point is as far west as you can go on Oahu. It was hot and sunny and far. But it was fun. And we saw whales!

I carried the snacks and water, Nathan carried his newest Uke and the camera. I'll be posting up some photos from our hike this week. Did I mention we saw whales? and albatross?

My favorite photo of the hike, though is this:

Go ahead and click it and see it bigger. Isn't Hannah lovely? And the misty mountains and the white sand, and the ukulele on the beach. Ahhhh. I love Hawaii!

Did I tell you Hannah got her hair cut? It is a really cute little cut. At first I missed her long hair, but then a minute later, I remembered that I actually love short hair. Cute, Cute, Cute! I have to say that this is not the finest example of her hair-do (or hair-dude as John likes to say) but it is still a fun photo.

One day after track practice she told me that one of the older boys on the team (a senior, ooh la la) told her her hair looked really cute.

The next day she pointed out to me the boy who complimented her hair.

It turns out they have the exact same hair cut!

Longish hair on boys seems to be the thing around here lately.

It looks cuter on Hannah!

*************

before I forget, here's some running log updates:

last week of January, I ran a grand total of 6 miles.

January running total: 51.5 miles

Today's run: 3 miles

This week: 6.5 miles

This month:19.5 miles

This year: 71 miles

not bad!

Kung Hay Fat Choy

People born in the Year of the Ox are patient, speak little, and inspire confidence in others. They tend, however, to be eccentric, and bigoted, and they anger easily. They have fierce tempers and although they speak little, when they do they are quite eloquent. Ox people are mentally and physically alert. Generally easy-going, they can be remarkably stubborn, and they hate to fail or be opposed. They are most compatible with Snake, Rooster, and Rat people.


1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009


Chinese New Year is a big-dang deal in Hawaii. Unfortunately we did not go downtown for the parade or fireworks. Boo.

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Here's some more stuff I Didn't/ Don't Want To Do


I really should be working on the school year book. I just don't want to.

I could go running, as it is 11 am and I am still in my short-shorts and tennis shoes. But it's a little chilly and drizzly out. I think it may warm up in a bit. Putting on a long sleeve shirt would be too much work.

Mopping is also on my list. But I need some ammonia. And mop and glow. My neighbor just gave me a recipe for stripping the ugly high-school-tiles that make up the floor of all the twin homes in our military housing area. These tiles are dull and dirty. If I had one of those awesome spinning floor polishers usually found at hospitals, I would totally use it. ("Don't fight it, Don't fight it" - Mary) Maybe tomorrow. I promise not to mix with bleach.

The month is almost over and I should go Visiting Teaching. But I never made appointments. Friday might work...

I'm not sewing. I bought some cute red fabric to make this apron. But my sewing area is bombed out. And I don't want to have to clean up the craft supplies to get to my sewing machine.

And I'm not taking the stinkin' Beginning Ukulele Class, either. I found out yesterday that it is cancelled due to lack of interest. Maybe more people will be interested in June...

+++++++

That was a downer of a list. To end on an up-note...

Emily is making a list of homophones for homework this week. Words like

two

&

to

&

too.

or

hear

&

here.

While we were looking up the spelling of hoarse (not to be confused with horse), I thought of a funny thing John said a few months ago. John has a friend named Will. He loves Will. He would play at Will's house every day, if he could. Will is a good sport and plays well with John, even though he is a bit older than John. He also plays well with Emily. He's just a great kid to have around.

Anyway, one day John learned about Whales in school.

After school, John told me that there are two Whales:

Whales in the ocean.

and his friend Will !!!



John really does pronounce Will's name like Whale.

Will doesn't seem to mind.

He's cute like that.


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Happy Chinese New Year!


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