Our Princess Problem

Recently, McKenna and her BFF put on a play for us entitled, "The Life of a Princess," which amounted to "a princess is pretty and doesn't have to do anything for herself."

I'm sure Disney is to blame. I mean, have you ever seen an ugly princess? Only the wicked step-sisters have some facial disfigurements. And Cinderella...she was completely wronged by having to cook and clean. You never saw her do any of that after she married the prince.

So, of course it couldn't be that she's our youngest. Or that she's too darn cute that she gets away with everything. Or that she has the sweetest temperament and anyone would do anything for her. I'm sure it's not that fact that her older brother carried her...on his back...through all of Rome. And anywhere else she doesn't want to walk. To. This. Day.

And I could probably be on board with the whole princess thing if we didn't have one little problem (because did I mention she's nearly perfectly adorable?)...this princess has a princess room...lots of pink...lots of toys....lots of pretty dresses and shoes. What the princess doesn't have, is a maid. She has completely taken to heart her views that a princess has everything done for her, and we can't get her to clean her room.

I read a post today that described various methods of getting an end-goal with her daughter. I've tried them. I have offered rewards. I have withheld playtime. I have tried, "You can't come out til it's done." Eventually she does have to go to school. Or, "Do one section at a time." I think it just shifts from area to the next. I have gone in and helped and directed. I have offered siblings to help. They end up frustrated and leave. What finally takes a week or more to do, is undone in one afternoon.

The thing is, I'm an organized person. She has bins, and shelves, and baskets. Everything in her room has a place. She is content that the new place is on the floor. I've considered taking away toys, putting them in a tote until she asks for them back. But we tried that with the oldest. Didn't work.

I know some that ignore it...treating their kids' rooms as "their" space. And I try to keep the complaining about it to a minimum. But, day after day, it's getting old. And this morning, when she couldn't find her shoes, which were in the midst of her dress-up clothes, I hit my limit. Any suggestions for getting a princess-in-training to at least pick up her room?

Another year older, and another year cuter!

Six years ago, this enchanting ray of sunshine entered our family. Happy birthday McKenna!!

McKenna is known for her cheeks and her radiating smile that lights up the room. She is the baby of the family and is treated like a princess. You can't help but give her whatever she wants when you look at you with that baby face! Luckily, she hasn't figured out how to use that for evil....yet.

McKenna is full of personality. She makes friends easily and loves to giggle. She is always ready to make us laugh.

This year, she has embraced living in Hawaii. She loves the beach and is always on the prowl for beautiful flowers to pick for her mommy. Being 5 has been an eventful year...

McKenna learned to ride her bike in the spring. It took only a few tries, and she was ready to go! Hayden was a big help, taking her down the street and giving her instruction so that I could take important pictures.

She also learned to swim this summer...two sessions, and she's a fish! She has stood on a surfboard, and her favorite is jumping off the diving board. For her birthday, she was torn between having a party at the beach (where else will she get a birthday party in October at the beach?) and at the pool. The lack of sand at the pool won her over. She still doesn't like to get dirty.

She played her first real season of soccer recently, and she LOVED it. She is ready to do it again.

She has moved up to a mixed-age intermediate gymnastics and, I think, would rather tumble than walk. Back bends, cartwheels, round offs...

She is learning to read and is a wonderful student. She still listens well, and thinks her parents are the cat's meow. (If only that would last forever!) I love this "obedient" and innocent age. She looks up to Hayden and Sabrina, absorbing all she can from them. She is truly a joy to our family.

On her birthday, I took her after school to the beach to take pictures. Then we went to dinner at her favorite: McDonalds. For a small party, she had some friends to the pool after school on Friday, where she picked a cake made of cupcakes. She ended up so pooped from the week, she fell asleep for the last 1/2 hour at her own party. Such a cutie! We can only hope that being 6 is as good to her and us, as being 5 was. WE LOVE YOU!

Hawaiian Summer 2010...a drive-by...take 2!

It seems so strange to be wrapping up our summer by the end of July, but with the kids starting school at the beginning of August, the carefree days of summer definitely had come to an end.

When we last left off, we had celebrated the 4th of July, and were preparing for Sabrina's birthday. We are lucky enough to live in a place where everyone wants to come on vacation... This month we were able to see our friends, the Blevins, from Virginia. We got to know their family while living in Germany. They were celebrating her oldest's graduation. We met them for a day at the Polynesian Cultural Center....a must see for anyone visiting Oahu for the first time.

It was our first time to the center. My favorite part of the day was the Rainbow Parade on the river. Each polynesian village gave a short display of their unique styles in dance and song as they floated by. During the rest of the time, you can visit each village and learn something individual about each Island and people.

There are hands-on crafts and activities...lots of fun for the kids. McKenna tried her hand at the activities at New Zealand's village. They are a warrior people and these balls on the ropes double as weapons and props in their dance. It's not as easy as you might think to swing these around without hitting yourself! We had a great time and look forward to many more visits from friends and family.

That next week, Dennis left for the wedding of his niece, Amber Sipes to Stephen Via in Virginia. He was able to spend a week with his family there and celebrate with them. We wish we all could have gone, but wish them the most happiness in their futures together.


If April is Month of the Military Child, then July was "Month of McKenna". She was hopping around here making the most of her waning summer days. Which means I was driving....driving...driving....

She still has been taking gymnastics, and moved up to the intermediate class. But, she had been begging since last fall to play soccer. They started their 10 week season in June. She has enjoyed every minute of it. Plus, Hayden and Sabrina get to see what it was like when they were that age...watching the ball roll by...twirling your hair...picking up ladybugs in the grass...

We also took an opportunity to put her in a round of swimming lessons. She has been resistant to putting her head in the water, but she made more progress in this session than she had in the previous four she took last year. She is now swimming without any flotation, jumping off the diving board, and sliding down the slide. The last day of class they got to play on a surfboard...totally Hawaii!

And, YAY FOR ME, I finally got to a late-night crop with some friends for the first time in a year and a half. It got me motivated to document more of these fun, fabulous memories we are making as a family. So, it's ok that I have, like, 10,000 pictures, right? That I'll never get caught up...I keep scrapping, and the pictures keep coming. (I take NO responsibility for it, either! these kids are just so dang cute!) It reminds me of that Doritos commercial, telling you it's ok, "go ahead, we'll make more."

Playing catch up, once again...

Ok, so last you heard from the Terry family, we were getting ready to celebrate Hayden's 11th birthday. I asked him where he wanted to go for dinner, and all he really wanted was gnocchi. Thus began my search for an authentic italian restaurant on the island. We ended up at a quaint little restaurant downtown Honolulu with red check table cloths, decent pizza and pasta, but soggy gnocchi. Oh, well, we had fun and tried something new. I guess it's a little overreaching to think we can find authentic italian food as yummy as what we've been lucky enough to enjoy. But, here are the happy results:

During May, my friend, Stacey, took me kayaking. It was a nice smooth day, and we spent about an hour stalking some sea turtles that we saw moving under water, but wouldn't poke their heads up.

She's also got a hiking group going. We have taken 3 hikes, each different in the views and difficulty. She's been so great for getting my to try all these new outdoor things and enjoy the beautiful island we live on.

Also, Hayden has found his first pet. He caught his own gecko, which he promptly named Zack. (I think he has a preoccupation with Zack Efron). He lost him after about a week..."I don't know why he wouldn't stay on your scooter, Hayden..." But, then again found another a couple of days later (which he owned for two hours, which he named Zach II) and the next day found another one (that he still has) named Zach III. I know, he's pretty creative, that one...

Last month, I signed Hayden up for an after school sailing program. Twice a week he went out and learned the basics of sailing, getting certified to take us out on a sailboat as the responsible sailor. I tell you, it was the best $65 I ever spent. He was reluctant to try it, but ended up loving it. He was such a natural, and being Captain of his boat is very much in line with his personality.

In May, we also took Dennis to the beach for the first time, snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. I was able to try out my friend's waterproof camera, and can't believe how much fun it was! 12" fish about 2 feet from our faces!

On Memorial Day we went to the Sea Life park. It was a fun morning, but definitely not what we are used to for a sea park. Thankfully we got discount tickets for Military appreciation month, so the shows were worth it.

During all of this, we were busy wrapping up school. Unfortunately, neither of the kids' schools did anything really special for their prospective "graduations". To celebrate the end of kindergarten, McKennas class participated in a water fun day with slip and slides and sprinklers. For the middle school, they had a closed 8th grade dance during school, with no celebrations for family. Two photo opportunities I'm disappointed to not have. But, we are glad to be done and enjoying summer...the 8 weeks we have anyway...the kids will start school again on August 2nd.

So, while they are out, they've gone kite flying, spent time at the pool and beach, and I took them kayaking. This day was much rougher waters, but they had a fun taste of it.

Then last week, a friend from Germany, 14 years ago came to Hawaii for a business trip and brought her 2 daughters. We had fun showing them around and being tourists, ourselves. They went kayaking with us, and spent a day at the north shore, snorkeling with schools of fish at Shark's Cove, getting shaved ice, and stopping by the Dole plantation for yummy pineapple whip ice cream! After an hour in the Pineapple Maze I had hit my frustration limit, though.

On top of all that, McKenna started soccer last week, complete with all pink gear, and said goodbye to her BFF, Ellie that leaves for Texas this week. You wouldn't think two 1st graders could stay up til 1am, but they did, and swore they still weren't tired!

Lastly, I've started a successful summer outings group like we had in Germany. Next week we are visiting the Ho'omaluhia Gardens. Whew! No wonder I'm so tired! Having it all in one place really makes me realize how much we've been doing. This is a lot to absorb in a 6 week period. I'm going to need a vacation from my summer vacation!

Our own March Madness...

Following my last post, some crazy stuff came up...my computer locked up and would only open up in safe mode, so I had to back it all up and Dennis wiped it back to start. It took a few days to get back up and running and even longer to make it feel like my trusty old computer again.

Then, we had Spring break...yes, we already had spring break. Never mind that spring just started...ha ha. I guess when it's warm year round they can schedule breaks whenever... I took the kids to the beach a couple of times, although this day at Bellows Beach was so windy and chilly that I had to buy this cute swim shirt at the shoppette. Sabrina was at Girls' Camp at the beach. She had a great time and bonded with some of the younger girls. Yes, that's my goofy girl in the background with the crooked hat.

We have also been spending a lot of time at Tripler with the patient educator getting the training we didn't receive in Germany. In a couple of weeks we are expecting Dr. Chase from the Barbara Davis Center in Denver for a conference. We get a one-on-one with him to assess where's Sabrina's at and make improvements. I'm really happy we are getting so much care here, but it's time consuming and exhausting.

Also before Spring Break we were called into a meeting at the school for Sabrina's English teacher. It didn't start out too positively, but ended up agreeing to re-assess her with a different test. She didn't finish all the questions, but what she did finish she did really well, so now they are looking at the time it takes her to process things. They have agreed to make adjustments to how they grade her, breaking things down and giving her more time for things. All of a sudden, this english teacher is Sabrina's best friend. Odd how judgements will affect the effort they (teachers) put in...I'm hopeful, though that it really helps pick up her grades this final quarter and eases the workload, because as much work and frustration as it is for her, added worry makes it is moreso for us...

Hayden earned his Arrow of Light, the highest cub scout badge, this week at the Blue & Gold Banquet. He will move up to boy scouts when he turns 11 next month. We're so happy with the work he's done to get here.

Today, I spent the morning at the beach with 2 girlfriends playing "hooky" from being a SAHM while the kids were in school. It was relaxing to sit there and "talk story" as they say here in Hawaii. Plus, no lugging boogie boards and sand toys...bonus!

I'm going to sign McKenna up for soccer next month. She has been asking for 6 months now, and they have the base soccer starts in June. The AYSO doesn't start until August, and I'll put Hayden and Sabrina in that one...it is really well run, and with them being older, I think they need that. Plus, having them all 3 have games on a Saturday could pose a problem with only 2 parents...conceivably 3 locations. McKenna will be finishing around the time they are starting, so it works out well.

So, now the kids are back in school, back to routine, and I'm trying out new things...I'm trying a hiking group next week and plan to work in some kayaking sometime in April. What fun Hawaii can be!

What's up?

The past few weeks have been focused on the upcoming spring break, when Sabrina will have YW camp at Bellows beach, and the end of the school quarter. We plan to take in a movie, hit the beach a couple of times, and maybe visit the Discovery Center for hands-on fun.

Hayden finished his 5 week Starbase field trip to Pearl Harbor complete with successful rocket launch! Dennis and I each spent a day chaperoning. He had a "blast" and got a ton of flight and space education, including CAD engineering design.

We have started weekly appointments to get the training we should have received when Sabrina got her pump in Germany. We have a FAB.U.LOUS. patient educator here at Tripler Hospital that has really taken a caring interest in getting Sabrina's pump therapy running smoothly. We have lots of fun "homework" like going out for a burger, french fries and milkshake, and using a square-wave bolus. Next time we get to try pizza with a dual-wave bolus. Sabrina's thrilled!

McKenna ate an entire appetizer platter of shrimp last week. She has a strange pallet for a 5 year old.

Sabrina had an etiquette night at church, complete with a fake date and a fancy dinner. Hopefully she took it all in. Have you seen her eat? I told her no date would take out an animal like that a second time!

We also finally replaced Sabrina's glasses with a new style she's excited about. Maybe they'll help her be more studious?

We had our dental checkups this month...found a dream of a dental office. Everyone passed with flying colors...but poor little McKenna, those dang baby teeth are no good!

Sabrina and school-- She. is. not. organized. Period. I, however, THRIVE on being organized. So, each quarter it boils down to me working to get her caught up with semi-decent grades. This quarter has been no exception. Her teachers just have not been helping. Dennis and I met with her English teacher (who, by the way, teaches from behind her desk...always) and got a rundown of how she thought Sabrina may have a 1st grade reading level. Really? Last year she was in the average range for 7th grade in the Terra Nova. She backtracked 5 grades?

So, we stood up for her, discussed her medical conditions, looked for possible reasons she wasn't producing grade-level work and testing well. She gave her a different kind of assessment, and lo and behold...she scored mid-senior and post high school on her vocabulary and comprehension. All of a sudden this teacher, that thought Sabrina was a slacking loser, is her best friend...in her corner...helping to prepare an education plan that takes into account her medical needs and focuses on the main rubriks to help her succeed. I'm so hopeful that it will turn around for her...and us. It has been an exhausting year! This next quarter will be the real test to see if it works.

Hayden earned his Webelos badge last week, and he is set to earn the Arrow of Light at the upcoming Blue and Gold banquet this month. We are so proud of all of his hard work...he is doing his 3rd hike this Saturday...just for fun, he doesn't need to fill a requirement. He'll be moving to the 11 year old scouts on his birthday in April.

Dennis has been acting superintendent this past month--a job he'll gladly relinquish when someone else comes in soon. He can't get ahead of the volume of email.

Me? I just can't wait to sleep in on Friday...and every day next week! That's the best part of the school breaks for me...Yay!