Making Paper Cranes

The Ladybug and I started a little project the other day. We decided to make some paper cranes, in honor of the people of Japan. The Ladybug is so diligent in her work and soon became an expert at pressing each and every fold. I am amazed at her creation and concentration, as well as her enthusiasm for the activity.

The idea of making the paper cranes came from a book called Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. It is based on a true story of an inspiring young girl. This description comes from the back of the book:

"Hiroshima-born Sadako is lively and athletic - the start of her school's running team. And then the dizzy spells start. Soon gravely ill with leukemia, an aftereffect of the atom bomb that fell on her city when she was only an infant, Sadako approaches her illness as she did her running - with irrepressible spirit. Recalling a Japanese legend, Sadako sets to work folding paper cranes. For the legend holds that if a sick person folds one thousand cranes, the gods will grant her wish and make her healthy again. Based on a true story, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes celebrates the courage that made one young woman a heroine in Japan."

I started this little project at school with my students, in honor of all the people of Japan. With each crane that we fold and create, we are sending our love and prayers for all of the suffering and loss they have endured. Each crane also comes with many wishes for a new tomorrow.

~~Aloha!

Silly Lips

The Baby Butterfly has a very silly personality, she definitely keeps us on our toes. She is wold and crazy and loves to laugh, dance, and play all day long.

Just the other day she and I were talking, and I moved my lips back and forth while I was thinking about something (don't remember what it was though... must be old age!). She tried to copy what I was doing, and ended up making me laugh. Her "silly lips" were totally unexpected, and now the funny movements makes me chuckle each time I see her wiggle her adorable lips.

Enjoy!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

(If the above video did not load, try clicking here.)
~~Aloha!

The Ladybug is Now Five!

We knew it was going to happen, we had been planning it for several years. I just cannot believe that it finally came. The Ladybug turned five years old!

A few years ago the Ladybug was walking with her daddy when they passed some children on a baseball field playing ball.

She asked him what they were doing and he replied, "Playing baseball."
At just two years old she proclaimed, "I want to play baseball!"
Her Daddy said, "Sorry honey, but you have to be five years old to play baseball, and you are only two. You will have to wait three years before you will be allowed to play."
The Ladybug was a bit disappointed, but seemed content with that answer, and continued on her way.

Over the next few years, each time we passed a baseball field with children playing, the Ladybug commented that she wanted to play baseball, but she knew that would have to wait until she was five years old.

The age of five seemed so far off at that point in time, twice her age away as a matter of fact! But as time passed, the inevitability of that number seemed to creep eerily closer. And, this past Saturday, that day finally became a reality.

To help make the day extra special for the Ladybug, her Nana Schoo came out for a special visit.

On the eve of her birthday, after the Bug had gone to bed, the three adults (Nana, Daddy, and Mommy) spent time wrapping gifts and decorating her bedroom door. We took some simple red balloons and a permanent marker and created some adorable ladybug balloons. We also made a couple signs to help announce her special day.

The next morning, the Ladybug walked out of her room, walked by her door, stopped dead in her tracks and then backed up. She looked at the door and in a state of shock said, "Whoah!!!" It was an awesome response for all of the fun we had decorating.

Rather than making her wait until later in the day or evening to unwrap her gifts (an extremely agonizing thing to do for a young kid), we decided to allow her to open her gifts in the morning. She loved this option! She received a few fun little gifts, her favorites being a few archeological digs, a new doll stroller and accessories, a pretty princess dress, and her very own tool box. When looking at the gifts, I am amazed at the broad range of things she received... from princess to archeologist, to hands-on construction. This kid definitely likes a wide range of things, and I am so proud of her for that. Kudos little girl!


Her gifts from both Nana's, Mommy, Daddy, and her sister.

The Ladybug's favorite gift, her very own toolbox with real tools inside!

A Sonic Screwdriver (Dr. Who fans know what this is!).

The Baby Butterfly trying on her sister's new safety goggles.

After a fun afternoon together, we finally made our way to the Ladybug's favorite restaurant. It is a place we only visit about once per year because it is rather expensive, but it boasts the best Asian food around. We all loved the food as well as the time together.


The Butterfly writing and drawing before dinner. I just love her concentration.

A silly little grin during dinner.

At the end of the day, Daddy and I tucked the big girl into bed. She gave us both great big hugs and thanked us for a great day. As we walked out of her room she asked, "So, when do I start baseball?" My of my, that girl has a memory like a steel trap!

We thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful time as a family celebrating the Ladybug's fifth birthday. I still cannot believe that my little baby is already five! How can this be?!?!? Amazing how time seems to fly by.


Age one.

Age two.

Age three.

Age four.

And finally, age five!

Happy Birthday beautiful girl. I love you always!!!

~~Aloha!

Wordless Wednesday, Butterfly & her Blocks

~~Aloha!

Mmmm, Noodles

A little girl and her love of noodles.

~~Aloha!

Ladybug... Stat!

Sorry I have not been updating the blog as much recently. There is so much going on around here that I am having a difficult time keeping up. I will update everyone soon. But, in the mean time I have copied a post from my husband's blog about our adventure last night. Enjoy!


Each night when the Butterfly goes to bed, we go through the same routine.

1. The Butterfly gives night-night kisses to mommy and sister
2. I turn on the bed-side light and close the blinds
3. The Butterfly closes her door and turns off the main light
4. We waltz around the room for bit
5. The Butterfly gives me a goodnight kiss
6. I put her in the crib, sing a Wiggles song or two, and leave
Unfortunately, last night the Ladybug, who was hanging out by the door as the Butterfly was heading to bed, managed to insert her fingers into the space between the door and the door frame right above the hinges just as the Butterfly was finishing Step 3. As a result, the Ladybug got her fingers crunched as the door closed.

She let out a blood-curdling scream, and when she pulled her hand out of the door frame, her middle and ring fingers were bent backwards at the knuckles in a terrifyingly unnatural angle that I can only describe as Holy shit that looks like it hurts.

(Actually, given the night to think it over, I can think of a better way to describe it: boneitis.)

The little girl simply looked at her hand a screamed some more, while the Queen B and I tried as best we could to survey the damage. Between her sobs, the Ladybug said that she couldn’t move her fingers and that her hand hurt, so we decided immediately to run to the emergency room. The Queen B wrapped the Ladybug in a sweater, while I hopped into a pair of flip-flops, and then the two of us — panicky girl and panicky dad — rushed into the car and headed to the hospital while mommy took care of the Butterfly at home.

I raced to the emergency room entrance and parked my truck outside the front doors, whereby “parked” I mean “drove up onto the sidewalk and narrowly avoided taking out a pair of nurses on their smoking break.” I swept the Bug up into my arms and ran inside to the front desk, the pair of us shaking from a combination of adrenaline, fear, and extreme cold (in our haste, we were both still in our pajamas, and it was only 4 degrees out).

We were greeted by an orderly who surveyed the Ladybug, her outstretched arm, and her mangled hand which, at this point, looked like an attempt to make the Vulcan hand-sign gone horribly wrong. He crouched down by the tear-stained, snot-soaked, hyperventilating mass of hair and and skin that had once been my daughter.

“Hi sweetie,” he said, “we’re going to fix your hand up, okay? But first, I need your help, okay?”

The Ladybug nodded quick assent.

“Okay,” he continued, “I need to takes some deep breaths, like this… Eeeeee (inhale) Oooooo (exhale)… Eeeeee (inhale) Oooooo (exhale)… Eeeeee (inhale) Oooooo (exhale). Can you do that?”

The Ladybug, still shaking and in pain, tried. Eeeee Ooooo… Eeeee Ooooo… Eeeee Oooo… As her breathing slowed, so did her shaking, and after a minute or so of breathing with the orderly, the Ladybug had stopped shivering and sobbing and seemed in much better spirits.

“Are you feeling a little better?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you,” said the Ladybug.

“Good,” said the orderly. “Now remind your dad how to breathe too, because I think he’s going to fall over.”

Over the next hour, the Ladybug and I sat and waited in a small room with a pair of extraordinarily uncomfortable seats as nurses peaked in from time to time to see how she was doing. Over the course of the first half-hour her backwards-bending fingers slowly straightened out, and she began to flex her fingers ever so slightly.

To keep her mind off of things, I gave her my iPod and set it to stream Phineas and Ferb from Netflix, and as we waited, she eventually began to smile and giggle, and by the time a physical doctor actually showed up, her left hand was functioning perfectly fine. He pushed and prodded it a bit, and seeing that the Ladybug did not wince or shout in pain, commented that she had probably dislocated two of her fingers, but what with little kids being composed primarily of rubber and Laffy Taffy, that they had naturally popped back into place.

“Just to be sure,” he added, “I like to take some x-rays.”

So we did. Afterward, the Ladybug and I looked at her x-rays on a computer with the nurses. She stared in fascination at the sight of the skeletal claw gloved by the shadowy outline of her hand. She noted the neatly arranged phalanges in her fingers, which connected to the similarly ordered metacarpals in her hand, which in turn terminated in what appeared to be a chaotic jumble of pebbles perched at the end of her radius and ulna.

“What’s that?” the Ladybug asked the nurse, pointing to the pebbles.

“Those are the bones in your wrist.”

The Ladybug compared them to the long, slender bones of fingers and arms for a moment.

“Oh man,” she said with an air of exasperation, “I guess I broke my wrist instead.”

It took another hour for the doctor to survey the x-rays himself and officially discharge the Ladybug, who was, despite his say so, was still unconvinced her wrist bones should look like that. He disappeared again to find a nurse, so to pass the time, the Ladybug again whipped out the iPod and sat back in her uncomfortable chair watching Doctor Who.

Eventually, a nurse appeared with her discharge papers and announced we were free to go (…pay the bill, that is). I got up and stretched my body, which was aching from a combination of leftover adrenaline and the bootleg iron-maiden assembly that masqueraded as “a chair.”

“Time to go home, little girl,” I said, gathering up her jacket.

The Ladybug held up her left hand, which I immediately assumed was to show me that it was doing okay. However, she quickly curled up all of her fingers except her index one.

“Just a minute. The Doctor hasn’t beat the Weeping Angels yet (in reference to the Dr. Who episode she was watching).”

So, yeah, she’s doing fine.


~~~Aloha!