End of School Year - May 2022

Lily and Emma just finished school for the year. Lily second and Emma kinder. We celebrated with ice cream at Baskin Robbins! They had great teachers and learned a whole lot this year. Emma learned to read and Lily made great leaps and bounds in her reading skills as well. They are barely on par for math, but I'm hoping it will click this next year as we move back toward a more traditional approach with our homeschool curriculum. 

We recently finished up AWANA and hosted pool parties for their classes. Not a ton of families came, but it was neat (at least for me) to see them interact with their classmates outside of school!

We went camping at Malaekahana the beginning of the month with our bestie families. We had Lily's piano recital at church and attended Prisma's Dance and Acro spring recital in Waimanalo. We soaked up time with the Olson's as we'll have to say Aloha when they move this week. We had Tucker, Logan, Alex and Jordan over to help us with house stuff. Lily's baking skills improved as she made treats for Family Group on Wednesday nights. Emma continued with gymnastics in Aiea. I bought a table for the back lanai and refinished it. I messed it up, then kinda fixed it again... I also found outdoor chairs at Marshalls and TJ Maxx. We celebrated Quinn, Lyla and Etta Rae's birthdays early in the month and several baptisms at KoOlina! And finally, I attended the annual MOMS Club banquet with the ladies at the Hideaway.

Mike just came out of a long and tiring month of shift work at the ship yard. Working around the clock for almost the entire month of May. He didn't have many days off and there were a couple of weeks when he worked twelves. I know it was hard for him, but he didn't make it a habit of complaining at all. I love that about him.  He does what he needs to do and tries to honor the Lord in everything, even when it's not easy. 

For both myself and Mike it has been a little depressing health-wise these last few weeks/months. It seems we have had various sicknesses plaguing our house on rotation. Also, because of feeling unwell and working a ton, neither of us have been very diligent about focusing on exercise. It's just a domino effect really, when those endorphins aren't flowing it seems to trickle down to mood and other physical issues like back and shoulder pain, etc. All that to say that we are looking forward to a summer of fun! Less strenuous work for Mike at the shipyard and more focus on exercise and eating healthier and working on the house plus family time together.

Here are some recent pictures to remind us of the end of the year:

Oh, and we got our first family pet:  Meet Cupcake in the second picture :)

 

House Extension Update: March 2022 (The Roof!)

The beginning of March started strong! I actually took a trip by myself to Florida for a college reunion with my girlfriends. During my trip, Mike Sr. and Sue came out from Augusta. It was amazing having them both here to help with the house and the girls. Mike's dad is a workhorse! He worked super hard and was an amazing help to what my Mike thought was the hardest part--tying the existing roof into the new portion. Once I got back from Florida, they stayed another week. The first two weeks of March were very busy!

It started with completely removing the makeshift roof that Mike and I had built. The tarp came off, the the plywood and two by fours stripped off, then it was ready for walls :)

The last picture with NO WALLS. Thanks Natasha!

First wall goes up!

After the walls went up, a few guys helped to get the gable end secured. It took a little longer than expected, but we owe a lot of gratitude to our friends who have been so generous to us. Mike Sr. who came for two whole weeks to help. Ben, one of Mike's college roommates who came from Arizona not necessarily to help, but ended up being a Godsend at the perfect time on vacation. Also Jaydee from church who took multiple days off of work to get this big task accomplished and brought his boys Drayton and Jairson to assist.

The next phase of building was HUGE! It involved six trusses and about 15 people who graciously came to help. There was a team of about five people down on the ground to lift the trusses up to the second level, and about 8-10 people on the platform part to receive the trusses and help get them tied in. Only a few could do the nailing and securing, so everyone else was very patient in their helping. It was one of those things that may not have seemed very hard to one person, but we could NOT have accomplished this without everyone's help! 

Thanks to Mike Sr, Ben C, Mitchell, Jordan, Alex, Tucker, Kawika, Jaydee, Drayton, Geoff, Ka'i, Mattaniah, Caleb, Ben L, and Jonathan. 

After the trusses went up, Mike (and Ben and Mitch) had to finish the roofline with the same shape.

This was the weirdest part, but it had to happen to make the shape right and for the water to run off properly. After everything was set, the plywood went up.

This is the view from the street.

This is the upstairs.

This was Mike's least favorite part--being on the roof--but he was a champ! I even helped him get the tarp laid down.

The next phase we will hire professionals to get the tiles up on the roof and secure them with watertight materials. If Mike didn't have a full-time job he could have done it no problem, but with these big jobs it's getting harder and harder to work them into the margins.

Here's what the house looks like now at the end of March with all of the tiles in place and ready for the roofing company.