summer time

                          

so today is the first day of summer, i shot out of bed, ate breakfast, watched the today show, walked baxter, planted flowers in front of the house and then thought, now what?! it's 10:00! i have much to do don't get me wrong but it's like this giant expanse out in front of me and i don't know which way to go to get to where i need to go!

i have worked at mililani uka elementary for the past 5 years. i work with special ed students, sometimes in a class, sometimes one on one. i have had many difficult students and it has been exhausting at times but i have always loved it and felt like i was making a difference for that child. i was debating if i wanted to go back next year or if i wanted to do something different. 2 days before school was over i was called into the VP's office and told that the 4 part timers would not have positions next year. the district needed to shuffle around some EA's and we would not be able to return. we are kept on the sub list but are out of a job. this was a bittersweet moment. i felt a weight lifted that i didn't have to decide if i was coming back but sad that i wouldn't be back and apprehensive that i didn't know what i wanted to do. i am ready for a break and have house projects to do but i am sure by fall i will be ready for something to do again. i just don't know what! 

for now i am concentrating on doing yoga and getting in shape. working on the yard and house projects, getting ready for our trek youth conference, planning on going to cali to hang with ki and ellie and possibly utah to take caleb for his mission, we'll find out today! 

here's to summer and possibilities!!

chicago surprise

                                      

We had planned on going to chicago for matt's graduation ceremony. He has been doing school online through Loyola university in chicago for almost 2 years. He is not completely finished but close enough that the program wanted him to walk in the ceremony. He has one more class and his dissertation left and he'll be done this summer~ for good i hope! Matt is so determined to constantly improve himself and his career.

on a second note it has been a stressful couple months. we moved, we're renovating, matt has been gone a ton, i got really sick and have had some stress on top of it all and i really missed ki, scotty and ellie! . i haven't been the most happy and have cried to more than one person. 

cue to this weekend! we flew to chicago. matt's parents were going to drive up and see matt's graduation. i was excited to see them and spend some time with them. we miss all our family! we got there and things started getting suspicious. matt told me he had a surprise, he kept texting on his phone and we were waiting by the hotel and eating lunch across the street and sitting in front of the hotel. i started realizing that i thought the surprise was kiley coming. i didn't know if it was just her and the baby or what but i didn't ruin the surprise. matt's parents got there and while hugging and saying hi to them a cab pulled up and ki and ellie got out! scotty came from around the back with the bags and i couldn't believe i was really seeing them, i yelled and ran to give lots of hugs! matt has it on video

 this was immediately on the street in chicago. i wanted to give ellie a little bit to warm up but she just kept looking at me like i was someone familiar to her. after a few min. i held my arms out to hold her and she let me take her. i was so happy to hold her again. i missed her so much!

 we went into the hotel and got everyone settled. it was a surprise to matt's parents too. they wanted to get something to eat but matt said we should go across the street (again) so we did. i kept saying that this was so perfect i wish caleb was there.

 he was going to be so sad he missed seeing ellie and that we were all here without him. scotty kept saying he'd be fine at the beach all weekend. i told matt i think we should have brought him.
we finished their lunch, walked out of the restaurant and caleb was getting out of a cab! that was a shocker! i was so happy he was there!

 ellie looks sad in this picture but she really wasn't. she loves caleb and warms up quickly

 there are things that you just don't get to see on skype or face time. i love seeing ellie sleep and seeing her wake up in the morning.

 there's the face of happy buddies! he's going to miss her like crazy on his mission!!

 we had so much fun, shopping, eating, hanging out, playing with ellie and talking with family!

                                                all of us at dinner

 i laid with ellie when she just woke up while everyone went down to get breakfast, i think that's my favorite time with her, she's so sweet and funny and talkative!

                                                    brother and sister wrestling, still!

                                                       caleb feeding ellie

        ellie with kathy at graduation. she met both of her great grandma's in the past few months!
then we went to graduation. the weather was not good and none of us except grandpa tim and caleb were prepared. we all freezing! it just meant we didn't wear what we had planned for graduation but it was ok.  the graduation was nice, short and sweet!

 there was a bagpiper. matt loves bagpipes and wants them at his funeral. maybe this will be good enough.

 kiley said she has been at all 3 of her dad's graduations! he now has his PHD!

 afterwards the boys really wanted chicago pizza so we found somewhere with gluten free pizza and it worked out great!

 we went to ghirardelli's and stuffed ourselves! we went to Qdoba, chipotle, panera and weber BBQ! we also went to shedd aquarium which was really great. we haven't been there in many years!!

 it was a short but great weekend! it was so fun to see my kids and hang out with family and love on ellie. i have to say it has buouyed my spirits! i have such a good husband and know that he gets stressed too but that he always wants me happy! the icing on a very good cake was that with all his miles he got us upgraded to first class on the way home. we had 2 legs and the first leg was ok but the second plane from san fran to hawaii was top notch!

 i couldn't even touch the seat in front of me. the seats reclined with a foot rest, we had our own t.v. with movies and tv shows and got sundaes that we chose toppings from a sundae bar. hot fudge of course!! it was really nice! i could fly like that anytime!!

it was such a special, great weekend but it's always nice to come home to hawaii, especially the weather!

thanks matt, it was so special to me and really boosted me up!

progress

so we've been here about a month and although it seems there is still a mountain to do we have made some progress. matt has been traveling a ton so we're lucky to get anything done. thanks goodness for isaac and sara, they have been our little construction/tiling angels!! (we do pay them :)

 we had dean put in the doors. we did 2 sliders, this one and the one below. it is so nice to have good sliding glass doors, the screens are being a little bit of a pain but we'll get it worked out.

 a new front door, which makes a big difference. before there was a brown door to the right and the jalousy( no clue how to spell) windows to the left. this brightened everything up. the privacy glass in nice too, lets in light but you can't see in.

 and the laundry room door, which i love, i think it's so cute. the one that came was the wrong size and i didn't love it so i ran to home depot to get the right size and saw this and it came home with me.

 then isaac and sara tiled the laundry room, sara is an awesome tiler which i think is so cool!

 isaac's smooth move to put in a last little tile without stepping on it!

                  the grout is not in yet in this picture but it turned out nice. it's dark but i like it now

 laundry room is all painted and appliances in, now the door just needs to be painted and a shelf put in and a few cute things to brighten it up.

 then we moved on to windows. it doesn't look easy to me but isaac has done a great job. the first ones that went in just got fit into the old place but the second ones were a lot more work.

 there used to be a door in here but there are so many other doors so we wanted to just frame that one in.

 these were the harder ones. we wanted to take those windows out and frame it half way up

                                                           so out they came!

                                                              we do try and help!

                                           there are 2 like that

                                                     being framed in

                                                sara is an awesome worker, she can do anything!
so those are the things we've been working on and there are more things to do, i'll show you a few...

 this is a nook when you walk in, something is going there, built in cabinets or shelves or something.

                        every wall in the whole house including trim and ceilings needs to be painted, and the baseboards need to be put on in every room, closet, hallway etc.!

 this is currently our bedroom! the walls need to be primed and painted, the windows replaced, and a ceiling fan put in.

 this is the master bath, currently. long ways to go but i think at least we know what's going in there, but it's a big job. it will be a large shower, no tub. then vanity, toilet, floor, lighting, etc.

                              not sure where this is on the list but our closet has to get organizers in it

 these are the living room windows, hopefully those will be done in 2 weeks.

 so much lighting. this hole has to be moved to the center of the kitchen and something installed

 this one has to be removed and the ceiling patched. since we moved the kitchen out everything is off center now.

 this is my pantry but the electrical guy/friend says the box has to be moved so when that gets done i can paint it and put shelves in.

 the windows that have been done need to have drywall put up on the bottom and be painted

 this room will be last but the ceiling in the addition part has to all be taken down along with these flourescent lights and then we'll have to see what gets done there.

this is also the addition part, this wiring has to be moved since it used to be a room and a bottom put on that beam. then that part has to get tiled.
one thing seems to always depend on another. matt can't finish the ceilings because a fan or lighting is being put in every room and then there will be a hole or a mess so we'll do it after and on and on. so there's a lot more to do and that's not even going outside! but we're getting there!