All In A Week's Work...

Recently, I visited The Material Girls quilt shop on a trip to Utah. They had a wall quilt with the vintage "Jobs for Each Day of the Week" stitched in: Monday is Wash Day, Tuesday is Ironing Day, Wednesday is Sewing Day, etc. I went home thinking it was a great idea to modernize. One major housekeeping focus a day. If it worked 80 years ago, it should work today, right?

So Saturday, I wanted to wash the car. Didn't get to it. I'm really good about Sunday Rest Day, which meant that Monday became wash the car day. Instead, it went like this:

Monday: Wash the insides of car windows because the fingerprints, mouth marks, and foggy streaks from the last wash job make me feel slovenly. It's the bare minimum to boost spirits.

Tuesday: Vacuum the car. It has needed it for months. Bum vacuum does mediocre job.

Wednesday: Wash the layer of sea breeze scum from all surfaces of car interior.

Thursday: Wash exterior of car, good thing I had to get gas.

Friday: Re-vacuum car because really need to shampoo rugs.

Saturday: Shampoo rugs.

Sunday: Drive impeccable-looking car to Sabbath worship.


My foremothers would shun me. Sadly...the interior windows need attention again...wonder how long it will take this time.

The First Days of School

Summer was a short 7 weeks here in Hawaii. The kids are all starting at new schools this year. Here are the kids' take on their first impressions of the new school year:

TREVOR: Kailua Baptist Preschool

Kissing Goodbye

"I talked to my teachers!" was Trevor's report, which means he must love it there, or he'd be sullen and cautious, taking his time to warm up.

JAMON: Aikahi Elementary School--5th Grade

"Everyone in the class is going to have a job. We can apply for 2 jobs and we have to have references. I am applying to be the Banker or the Oops Manager. They both make $950. We have to pay rent for our desks, and if we want to buy someone else's desk, they have to pay us the rent."

AEDAN: Kailua Intermediate School--7th Grade

DR. Hughes....Oh My Gosh. He is the most INSANE teacher I have EVER met. He's like 65 or so and he's the math teacher...here's a couple quotes for you: (yes, he said all of these things)1:"WHAT is three? Yes I know that you are like 'well three is three' but the more you think about it, when you're walking home from school a lightning bolt will zap you and you'll be like 'Oh My Gosh. What is three?? OH MY GOSH, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THREE IS!!' and then you'll start thinking about all the numbers and so on."

As for Mother Hen, I love how different each school is in their expectations for the child:

Preschool Teacher: "Please be sure to bring in a photo of your family, it really helps the child to see their family is right there with us in the room."

Elementary Counselor: "We have a support group for children whose parents are deployed, and we'll also have a special lunch for all the new kids to our school this year."

Intermediate Principal: "What is going on here? I've never seen so many parents on the first day of school! This is NOT Kindergarten. These kids need to figure this out for themselves."

More Than I Bargained For

So I asked Aedan to take a picture of me to replace my blurry picture-of-a-picture on my Facebook account. "Just a headshot." She waxed creative and was directing me on how to pose this way and that just like Napoleon's friend, Deb. When all was said and done, I was surprised by how many great angles she came up with, so although I feel a little self-conscious putting all these photos of myself up, it's mostly to brag about her skills. Bow-hunting skills, nunchuck skills, photography skills...

Newport Beach

We just returned from a fantastic trip to California and Utah to spend time with family. We flew on the military space available flights--our first, and we had great luck with the venture. Lots of fun memories to relish back home.

Smith Family Reunion at Newport Beach

Jex Family Reunited before going separate ways.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

Park Play with Boyles

All the Jex cousins

New Biker in the Family

Aedan's 6th Grade Graduation

This is Aedan's second "graduation" from elementary school...moving from state to state has its perks, I guess. This year it was quite the celebration. They performed a graduation dance and went on a cruise in Waikiki where they ate, snorkeled, swam, kayaked and jumped on a sea trampoline. Lots of fun memories! One tradition they have at Lanikai is giving the graduates their "Hawaiian name" based upon character traits their peers used to describe them. This is demonstrated on the video.