aloha

hello. finally getting caught up on things after spring break. can you guess where we went? ;) i vowed that on this trip, we would eat-a-shave-ice-everyday-while-in-hawaii. that was our challenge!
Day 1:

Day 2:bryan....future iron man?!

i was eating so much good food the 1st 2 days we were there that i loaded up on fruits. had lots of papya. i had beef stew, beef curry, ox tail soup, portugese sausage, and rice almost every meal of the day.

Day 3:

i had the fantastic idea to take the boys out on a whale watching excursion. exciting, right?

it was a breakfast whale watching cruise. 2 hours long. as the boat took off and we were eating. bryan started "not feeling good". then it was eddie. then brandon had to sit out. and then it hit me too. there was sighting of a whale or 2 but by that time, the whole family was sitting inside trying to keep our breakfast down. they had a guarantee that if you didn't see a whale, they'll give you a voucher good for a year to come back on the cruise. don't worry, we won't take them up on that offer! i coudn't believe how sea sick we were!

back on land but you can see bry bry still looking a little green!

we weren't too sick to have our shave ice though!!

the valet at our hotel was such a good resource! one of the guys told us to take our boys to this little lagoon that not too many people know about. there are often seals & sea turtles. after our long day, we stopped over there to see if it was worth it to go back. and there it was, a monk seal basking in the sand. the boys have no respect for endangered species and were clowning around as usual. we met a man named robert over on the beach there who voluteeers to keep the seal & turtles safe when they come to shore to rest. he told us to come back early in the morning and the sea turtles would be around. he even helped the boys dig for some sea shells. you can see brandon with his hand in his pocket, full of shells. and bryan has a handful too.

Day 4:

back to the small lagoon early in the morning and sure enough---sea turtles!! what a chance of a lifetime to swim with sea turtles!

the monk seal was back on shore to rest. i'll have to find the picture of the boys feeding the sea turtles. what a treat! and one point, there were 4 sea turtles!

Day 5:

made leis with brandon in the morning at the hotel. i was sad to leave it there and didn't bring it home.

shave ice. yum yum!

Day 6:

Easter!

the egg hunt was great! bryan found more eggs than he knew what to do with! next, year, he'll be with brandon's age group & it'll be more challenging!

they loved the beach!

our last day of shave ice

dinner at roy's. bryan and his fine dining talent! LOL

we had a fabulous time! thanks donna for meeting us again and for putting up with the boys! i'll post pictures of that next time!

embroidery hoop flower

i had embroidery hoops sitting around for a while and i finally got around to making something with them. i stamped a flower image from hero arts on the fabric and started stitching away.
took less than an hour and that was with interruptions catering to a 5 year old ("can i have a snack, can you change my batteries on this toy, can i have a drink, can you sew up the ripped leg on my stuffed animal?")

all finished! i'll be making more!

question...... how do you hang these things??!! :)

i'm due to have a bloggie give away/RAK so when i reach 100 followers, i'll do one! thanks to all who has followed me without my asking. it means a lot to have supportive feedback & your comments! i know i blog sporactically & i appreciate you checking in now & then on me! :)

MIA

hello! it's been a while since i last posted. so many things have been going on. my aunt recently passed away. she had a heart attack and within a week, she passed away. it was so fast....i regret not going home (SF) to visit her in the hospital. she's was more of a grandmother to me than an aunt. i will miss her dearly........the above card was made with hero arts.

the 2 below are cards made with new lawn fawn paper & stamps.

brandon's 2nd grade homework has been kicking us in the butt. we had the whole month of february to complete a biography of someone who made a difference. we chose rosa parks. he had to submit the subject for approval, then a rought draft and then a final draft in addition to making this can (trader joes tomato sauce). ok, so it doesn't exactly look like her but it's a lot different when it's not flat! oh, and did i mention he had to present this in front of his class? man, being 7 is hard nowadays!

here is his write up. (sorry the pages are reversed)

ok, so i am going back a month! yes, it's been THAT long!

this is what i made for brandon's 2 teachers for valentines. a starbucks gift card and a trader joes choco bar. it all fit into the coffee cup perfectly.

i prettied up the cups with a hero arts heart and some red crochet thread.

wrapped the choco bar with 2 doilies & tied it up

as always, i made some for the support staff & the crossing guard.

brandon's monday & tuesday and sometimes wednesday teacher

his valentines

we went home to SF to attend my aunt's funeral beginning of the month. not easy but seeing this cute face kept me busy. can you believe my niece jadeyn is 16 months old now?? such a big girl and such a cutie! she'll be a big sister in JULY!! so excited for my sister & BIL!

she held her own with the boys. except she was trying to get her iPad back---the boys were hogging it!

we took advantage of the nice SF weather and made some playground time.

as you all may know, i hardly cook & we go out to eat often. so ever since bryan can read, we make him order his own food at restaurants. when the waitress came by to take our order, he said, "i'll have the mini hot dogs but i don't want the all beef ones. just plain hot dogs". she looked at him weird and just laughed. i whispered to her that he'll have the hot dogs.

saw this and thought it was pretty. i'm sure it has a name. anyone know?

a card i made for stamp fever's card of the month. it has lawn fawn stamps & papers. i love those butterflies!

a hero arts card

lawn fawn recently celebrated their 2nd anniversary with a celebration at stamp fever. i would have taken more pictures but i was busy with the make-and-take table. i didn't even get to take a picture of the cute card kelly designed. but you can see it here.

i am lucky enough to have local flickr friends tiffany & nancy near. and i was excited to meet annette, another gal from flickr! she is local too! (from L-R: tiffany, nancy, me, annette)

i have a project for the beauties in the near future!

last friday, i spent 3 hours at the pool with bryan. it was so hot already at 8:30am that i told him that he can go to the kiddie pool. a friend and her son met us a little bit later. i had time to read the newspaper & relax.

went to ikea and saw lots of pretty things. a sure sign spring is near!

can you believe all these pictures in this post were taken with my iPhone? pretty good quality, no?

sorry for the long post! one last thing, does anyone have recommendations and links to any place that sells good wool felt? i'd like to have a variety of colors. thanks!