Annie Auditions at Tuacahn

Leapin' lizards we had a great time! In February the girls and I took a trip to St. George. We had a fabulous time visiting with family, meeting the adorable addition to our family, playing with cousins, and auditioning for Annie.

The excuse that I used to justify the trip was for Keola's audition, but the real reason was that baby, of course! Boy does Maile make cute kids! C was still so little that it was like holding a newborn babe! We had a blast playing with Super Why and Missy Blastoff, although I think she's more of a Miss Hollywood! (She takes after KO for sure!)

After holding that baby for as long as I could, we trekked up to St. George to visit with Granny Smith and Grandpa Bob. As always, we had a fabulous visit with them...our only regret is that it was still February and the pool wasn't quite ready for swimmers yet, unless the swimmers sported wetsuits! KO even talked AJ into sticking her foot in the pool to test the water. AJ said that she thought her foot was going to fall off after that adventure...it was cold! I wonder though, if it was colder than our Pacific Ocean up here...probably not, which means the girls are total wimps for not jumping right in! (me, too!)

On to auditions... KO came prepared to knock the socks off of those Tuacahn people! Thanks to Granny Smith for helping her perfect her song and actions a little bit more, without her help we probably wouldn't have made it past that first audition. Keola "wowed" them and then was asked to come back and shake her groove thing in the dance callbacks. After scrubbing the orphanage floors in "It's a Hard Knock Life" they asked her to stay for an acting callback...I knew all those days scrubbing the kitchen floor would pay off! She went into the acting call very confident and came out feeling great!

But alas, the story does not end there...3 1/2 weeks later and we are still waiting for some kind of word about casting... We've made a phone call, done some google research, and found out that some of the kids were notified via email that they didn't make it. Is there still hope? We truly don't know.

What we do know is that KO had an amazing experience auditioning. There were SO many girls there and to make it through two callbacks was beyond amazing. So while our Sour Kangaroo may not play the role of Pepper, she still rocks in our eyes (and ears)!

Chain of Love

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make for you!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a song. It may be a self portrait or maybe even some creation I haven't yet dreamed up. I may draw. I may bake you something and mail it to you. It may not be big or impressive. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! But lets be honest here. This is me and I will likely do something amazing. =) So come on, sign up!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to post this same blog on their blog and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Let's keep the chain of love going around!!

New talents...

I did it...I finally figured out how to make my own blog background, with a little bit of help from cutestblogontheblock.com and some fabulous kits from scrapartist.com. What a fabulous resource they have been! I have to admit, it has truly brought out the OCD in me! I made five versions of my first background, before I finally made things line up evenly! Terrible, I know...I blame it on my Mom! Anyhoo...it has been an adventure and I have loved the process of this whole digital scrapbooking thing. What a fun new skill! I must say, I LOVE Maile's background more than the ones I created for myself...guess it's just the inspiration for hers...can't wait to meet that little guy! So while Maile is content with hers, mine is a work in progress. Any guesses as to how many I'll make before I find one that I LOVE? (The count so far is two, in 5 days...)

By the way, this post is so that I can put some space between the current post and the blog header...two pics of the same thing so close together...it must not be done! (Again with the OCD!)

Love to all, I hope this "meaningless" post finds you all happy and well. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family and such fabulous friends. Much Aloha...Tree

Update?

Okay, for those of you who think it's time for an update, I totally agree! The holidays have been crazy, stormy, "floody", freezing, etc. I guess I just haven't made it out of the post-holiday funk...that and I've been a little stuck on Facebook! TeeHee!

So for the sake of updating...Hello to all of our family and friends! We love you all and are so happy to see you safe and well! Much love and Aloha to all!

Suds 102: Like Mother, Like Daughter

Some of you may remember a post we had earlier this year in which we highlighted a funny moment of Keola's... Well, there comes a time in a person's life when it is necessary to humble oneself for the sake of another.

Funny thing happened last night... I loaded the dishwasher and added the dish soap, thinking that all was well, and walked away. We left for basketball and when Ana and I got home, she said, "Mom! It happened again!" I'm thinking, what happened? Much to my chagrin, we discovered suds all over the floor. In my haste to finish the dishes and get out the door, I used dish soap rather than dish detergent. They were right next to each other...it was an easy mistake to make!

Desiring to teach my daughters about good sportsmanship...I took some pics to document my mistake. Needless to say, after three rinse cycles and several wet towels, the dishes are clean and the soap is safely away from the detergent! What is that saying...Turn around is fair play? Seems quite appropriate right about now!

No longer a tween...

Wow, to think that thirteen years ago, yesterday, I was in the hospital anxiously awaiting our ke'Ola, "first breath of life". Oh how time has flown by! It amazes me that the sweet baby I held in my arms is now almost as tall as me and can hold me in her arms...almost! She still loves pretty things, singing, dancing, and laughing until her stomach hurts. Some things never change. The new desire for make-up, pretty hair, and boyfriends is new though! Well...at least the boy thing is new!

What a beautiful, smart, talented, spiritual girl she has grown up to be. She keeps me laughing, causes me worry, challenges me constantly, makes me cry with her singing, and astounds me with her wisdom. I am so blessed to have Keola in my life. I am so thankful that Keo was sent to us, to care for, and nurture. What an amazing blessing came into our lives thirteen years ago.

Thank you, ke'Ola, for choosing us! "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be!" Happy Birthday, sweetheart!

All hallows eve...

I've seen some cute pics of costumes from everyone and thought I'd share ours. I have to say, we had various costume parties throughout the week and I think the kids donned a new costume at every one! We ended up with a couple of rockers and it was actually pretty fun doing the hair and make-up. Of course, it's always fun doing hair or make-up on my girls!