My new mantra...

So I had a moment of inspiration at the end of summer as to a possible way for me to finally get to exercise. I've never been comfortable leaving the kids at the gym's daycare...the building isn't connected to the gym, and well, I'm just not comfortable with it. No slam to those who are. I wish I was, but just am not. Over the years when I have worked out consistently I've had to do it before Naki goes to work and while the kiddos are still sleeping. Which means some really early mornings for me...really early. I've pulled it off in the past. But something changed this summer. I'm still not sure what it is. But I am completely unable to wake up early. And I love being up early. I didn't hear my alarm, I didn't hear the kids, I didn't hear Naki up, showering and getting ready for and leaving to work, I didn't hear anything. It was really quite frustrating, waking up and knowing that I'd missed another opportunity to get to the gym and reach the goals I so badly wanted to achieve. It would leave me in a funk for the entire day, and quite frankly I felt like a failure day after day. It was more frustrating than words can describe. I found myself looking at Ane's 1st birthday approaching rather rapidly, and felt such utter disappointment at not reaching a goal that I knew I could have easily done if I had only perservered and been disciplined and just WOKEN UP! And that's when I had a great idea. I would have 3 of the kids in school this year. If I could just bring the other 3 somewhere for an hour and a half each morning while I worked out it would be perfect. So here's our new summer schedule.

6:00 Wake up
6:15 Everyone rolls out for scriptures with beds made
6:30 Everyone gets dressed, does their chore, puts jammies away, gets school bag, does hair, etc. to be ready for the day. Oh, they put their laundry away, too. Mom waters the plants outside and inside, starts the laundry, and cleans one room. Dad gets ready for work.
7:00 Breakfast
7:30 Everyone loads in the car and we head to Grandma and Grandpa Maile's house
7:45 Drop off the three littles, Eli, Eva, and Ane
8:00 Back to the school to drop off the three big littles, Line, Malia, and Lose
8:05 ME AT THE GYM!!!
9:15 Pick up the littles from Grandpa and Grandma's and thank them profusely...

Can you believe it? I'm trying, I'm really trying. And I would be no where without Grandma and Grandpa Maile. There isn't enough thanks in the world. I've tried to convey it to them, but I don't know if they realize how much it truly means to me that they're doing this. THANK YOU!!! And THANK YOU!!! And THANK YOU!!! again. I can't wait to reach some of the goals I've been aspiring to for my entire life. I'm determined to be in a healthy place as a mother and as a woman. I just cannot wait to get there and then to stay there.

Anyone else just DYING from excitement?!!!!

Third time's the charm

Some may know that we've attempted to let Lose have pierced ears two times now. I guess she's been just a bit rambunctious for earrings. The first time around I noticed that her one earring was sitting at the bottom of her earlobe. It had slit from the hole and healed with a new hole just barely dangling off of the bottom of her lobe. So, we let those holes close up and she anxiously awaited when they'd heal so that she could try again. And try again, we did. Only to have the new earrings eventually find their way to the scar tissue where once there the earring slid all the way to the bottom of her lobe, again. So, time to let them close up. At this point I was thinking that perhaps it just wouldn't work for her...there didn't seem to be any more space on that lobe for earrings. Well, it seems that since she's grown, there seemed to be a bit more space after all! She decided that she wanted to try again so that she could have her ears pierced in time for school to start.



It seems that, at least so far, the third time's the charm. She instantly looked more grown up and ready to be one of the big girls with her big sisters already at school. I love all this growing up stuff.

Young love

Yesterday when I picked Lose up from Kindergarten...

Mom: Lose, did anything fun, scary, or different happen today? ( You can't just ask how was your day, they always respond with an answer that really tells you nothing!)

Lose: Uuughh...you're not going to believe it. Remember Tessa and Hunter? (I think that's their names) Well...(a dramatic pause and then a slightly disgusted noise) They fell in love today.

Mom: They fell in love? How do you know?

Lose: She had her head on his shoulder and then he held her hand and let her get in line with him before anyone else. Uuuughh...

Ane-Boo is 1!

We can't even believe that Meleane's 1st Birthday is here. The girls were so so excited to wake her up singing Happy Birthday this morning. Boo apparently was anticipating her big day, too...she woke up a whole hour earlier than she normally does! And as if she doesn't run the house on any given day, today the girls said Boo gets anything she wants...oh boy. Good thing she's only one and doesn't really have major ideas about what she wants. But if this is a trend, we're going to have to make sure her big sisters don't spoil her too much come future birthdays!

She is going up and down stairs all by herself and is freaking all of us out in the process. She is walking everywhere, and still refuses to let anyone put on a single pair of shoes...reality is coming soon, Boo. Winter is coming and those toes will get cold! We adore her and she makes us laugh every day. Having her might not have been our original idea, but we're sure glad Someone else had the idea. We just wouldn't be the same without her. Happy Birthday, Boo.

Grandparent Retreat

I'm a bit behind in my journaling. Most of the posts I'll be doing have happened what seems like an eternity ago. This year was the first annual grandparent retreat. Not sure, but I think I blogged about Line leaving. I'll have to look back at my past posts to check...but Naki and I were lucky enough to be the ones to pick up Line and Addison. We met up with all the crazies from the retreat (and a bit exhausted crazies, I might add) at the Boise Temple. It was hilarious. They were truly dead on their feet. But before we left to get them, I was in charge of the Primary Activity Day. We met at the park. During a very hot week we had an unexpectedly cool day. Fine with me! We talked a bit about the pioneers and the seagulls and that whole very amazing experience that they had. We then played some fun pioneer games. This was by far the most favorite game, a pioneer journey bean bag toss. We mapped out the pioneers' journey and put holes at some of their stops, ending up in Utah. In this pic you can't really see the trail, but you get the idea.

We enjoyed some fudge popsicles at the end, some a little bit more than others...


Every time I think of fudge popsicles I think of eating them by the pool as a kid. I have a memory of a photograph of Cass as a baby covered in fudge popsicle sitting on the diving board at the pool. Just can't beat a yummy fudge popsicle. After the activity was over Naki and I dropped Malia, Lose and Eli at Uncle Junior and Auntie Mona's house for safe keeping until we returned from our whirlwind trip to Boise and back. Thank you guys for watching them...they had such fun and we felt so much better leaving them knowing that they would be kept safe for us.

After dropping off the girls, instead of getting on the road we ended up turning around and heading back home. Ane was already screaming a fit just in the few minutes we'd been in the car, and we realized that there was no one sitting in the back for her to look at or talk to and she was absolutely not going to make an entire road trip with sane parents at the end. So we decided that it was time to make the big car seat switch. We'd been talking about doing it for a little while, but just hadn't done it yet. It's crazy...they still seem my little baby as long as I'm still putting them in their little baby car seat. But as soon as I switch them to forward facing it's so bittersweet...where did my little baby go? She totally enjoyed it. I won't say that she was thrilled to be in the car all day, but she was definitely happier to be able to see signs of life throughout the day.

Here they are starting out the drive. May I add that it was so so weird to only be driving with 2 children in the car, and on top of that 2 children that really didn't talk that much..But I think Boo made up for that with the strongly opinionated crying. Mostly she cried because she wasn't sure how to put herself to sleep sitting up, but she eventually figured it out.


Eventually, we did have some peace and quiet. It was a bit strange to be "alone", so to speak, for such an extended amount of time. It was wonderful for Naki and I to spend that time together.

At one point I turned around to take a peek and found this.

I just love baby footsies. They're still cute at this point! And they don't smell, either. Just love 'em. Later in the drive, can't remember if it was on the way there or on the way back, Naki looked back and told me that I had to get a picture of Eva's lip. It was sticking way out. By the time that I got the picture, she'd adjusted it a bit and so this isn't quite the way it was, but we adore her little bottom lip.


Here was the last group photo of the retreat. If the kids were tired, how did the Grandparents feel?


We're so used to our Polynesian ways, Addie included. She spends such a large amount of time with the girls and their Maile cousins here in Utah that the Brousseau kiddos are hugged and kissed so much by all the Maile Aunties and Uncles just as much as my own kiddos are. So when it was time to leave, I told Line and Addie to give hugs and umas. Ummm...apparently I hadn't introduced the concept to the boys in time to clear a bit of the awkwardness...they'll get the hang of it. We hug, squeeze, kiss, knuckle, embrace, uma, mwwa, and all other terms involved with such actions so much around here that it is second nature to the kids to give 'em as much as they receive 'em.

This is Line's and Sheldon's "hug"... notice all the observing going on? So silly...


This is Line and Kaden's "hug"... Again...Sheldon's observing makes me laugh. I think he was enjoying Kaden's awkardness as much as Kaden enjoyed Sheldon's.


And then this is Paige's hug.


The girls weren't sure that they wanted to come back! Apparently they've got some pretty great grandparents. Thanks for making the retreat so memorable, Mom and Dad. The kids had such fun. I know that Line had fun, but she enjoyed all the more because she was able to spend that special time with both of you. Umas to you all!!

Wordless Wednesday - Paper Shoe Designer