Monday, October 17, 2016

Weekly Updates – 21 & 22

April/October 17, 2016/ Leave a comment Edit

Yesterday, the girls and I sent my little brother off. I just got word that he’s back home in Florida getting some much needed rest! The past two weeks have been such a whirlwind of busyness, fun, and exhaustion.

I wasn’t sure what to expect since there’s such an age gap between us, but it seems he had a wonderful time… and so did I! From excursions to late night talks over hot chocolate, it was a blast! The girls really loved having him here, and I enjoyed getting to know the young man he is becoming. Although Mike’s time was limited due to work, he was still able to have a surf sesh with him and a few moments here and there. We really enjoyed having him here. Hopefully we didn’t bore him too bad in our old age

I kept a journal of things we did each day. Well, bullet points… not quite a journal. So I’ll share the highlights and photos that I was able to take over the last two weeks. Here’s what we did in chronological order. Might be nice to look at years from now.

September 30 – October 16, 2016

Airport
Camping at Bellows with Byrds and Rodeffers (beach, mini-golf, shared meals)
Church at Makakilo Baptist
Costco/Target runs
Game/Movie nights at home with Jared, Mitchell & the Garretts
Waimea Valley and Falls (perfect for swimming)
Kualoa Ranch (looked around and saw animals)
Picnic lunch at Kualoa Regional Park (aka. Chinaman’s Hat)
Surfing at White Plains
Farmer’s Market and Salvation Army in Waipahu
Surfing at Hau Bush
Dinner at McDonald’s Playplace
Windward Mall
SUP with Uncle George at Pokai Bay
Lunch in Waikiki at Hula Grill
BBQ at the house for Mitch’s B-Day
Dr. with Emma/Aaron park with Lily
Dinner at Monkey Pod
Ko Olina sunset
Diamond Head hike
Lunch at Bogart’s
Manoa Falls
Germaine’s Luau
Sea Life Park
Picnic dinner at Kapilina Pool
Snorkeling at Electric Beach
North Shore Beaches (Aaron)
Polynesian Cultural Center
Show in town with Charles (Aaron)
Sunday morning worship at Nanaikapono
Chesley & Malaya’s birthday party
Airport

Believe me. We didn’t just sit around. Here are some of the picture highlights:

April

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Girls’ Playroom

Projects

Girls’ Playroom

April/October 13, 2016/ Leave a comment Edit

Are you looking for some inspiration? Want to do a variation of the typical pink playroom? I love these muted tones so much! Ours has come together quite nicely. I admit there’s probably too much stuff in there already, but it seems to be working and [for now] everything has a place.

Most of the things my girls have are either hand-me-downs, craigslist-type purchases, or gifts from loved ones. I can probably count on one hand the things I’ve actually bought them myself [especially new things].

Part of me wants to be that mom who only has five toys for her kids, but it’s just not me. Maybe one day I can put my hording days behind me. But for now, I just embrace the chaos.

When I first decided to transform the guest bedroom into a playroom, it took me a while to decide what I wanted to do.

Five Things that Helped Me in this Process:

1. Use what you have. I knew I didn’t have much of a budget, so I had to use what I knew I had on hand. I happened to have all of the curtains already, so I based the color scheme off of that.

2. Let it evolve. You might not have the entire vision in the beginning. That’s ok. Sometimes ideas change. Toys come and go. Kids grow out of things. You don’t have to get it all done at once. Set up something temporary and see how it goes.

3. Try something new. For me, that new thing was a teepee. I thought it would be fun to make, but I also knew they’d enjoy it for a long time!

4. Organize. Even if there’s clutter, at least it will be organized clutter. Make sure everything has a place. Believe it or not, my two year old enjoys playing more when things are put away and the room is clean.

5. Make the space fun and inviting. Making it fun for my girls means mommy playing with them in the room from time to time. Other times it means playing music for them to listen to. Sometimes it means having twinkle lights

Here’s how the room itself has transformed over time. Below is a shot from our first walk-through before buying the house.

The shot below is also before we owned it. The previous owner let us come in and clean the carpets and spruce things up to ensure the inspection would go through and better our chances of getting approved for a loan. It seemed futile at the time to shampoo the carpets when we knew we’d rip them up if the bank approved us… but you gotta do what you gotta do! They actually came semi-clean, but the thought of someone else’s carpet (and it was D-I-R-T-Y) in our bedrooms just grossed me out.

Below, my friend and after we finished scraping the popcorn ceiling!

Another shot of the room after the carpet was ripped out.

I thought I had a shot of the guest bed from this angle, but I can’t seem to find it. Below, you can see the carpet down, the curtains up and some random decor.