Grease Lightning

Well, there's nothing like a little grease fire to get your evening started...I must point out that my cooking was not the cause of this little kitchen mishap. As most of you know, my husband is a wonderful cook and he does a fair amount of the cooking in our home. (I'm not too proud to admit that he is a better cook than me. I am not bad cook--he is just better.) Anyway, the fam had called me on my way home from work and asked me to pick up some vegetable oil because Norm was going to make his famous pupu chicken. If you haven't had it before it is the best. The kids ask for it all the time (along with everyone else) so I was actually looking forward to this deep fried concoction. The cooking started off fine and I was in the kitchen too doing the usual (trying to look "busy" even though I wasn't actually doing anything) when the next thing I know there are flames lapping up the side of the microwave that is over the stove. Other than making a big mess no one was hurt. Kobe missed out on seeing our indoor bonfire and I'm sure Tehani won't soon forget this set (well see if she still like cooking after this) and we even finished the evening with our meal of pupu chicken (a little grease fire isn't enough to distract this family from their deepfried meal!) Just be warned that if you happen to get a whiff of anyone in our family for the next day or two, we haven't taken up smoking (even though we smell like it)--we just like pupu chicken!!

I'm thankful for...

1. The extra time that I had off of work this past week. The kids only had school on Monday (which I thought was kind of weird) but I guess that is what happens when you go to a private school--you can make up your own schedule instead of following a normal one that the district comes out with. The kids and I managed to get in a trip to the library to get some new books and a trip to the movies to see Bolt in 3-D (my first 3-D movie) which the kids thought was pretty cool.


2. The fact that I am ready for Christmas. All the presents are bought and wrapped and we put up the tree this weekend. Of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go shopping on Friday morning and I did score a deal on a new washer and dryer. Yeah me!! Even with that, it was not the same since my usual shopping partner Cynthia has moved away :( Though I did somehow manage to spend money without her.)
   
3. The turkey that I cooked on Thanksgiving and that it came out ok. I don't usually stress about cooking a turkey when it is just for us but I was cooking the turkey to take over for the big meal at the Kalaniuvalu's...luckily for me everything turned out ok including the stuffing and gravy--(how can anything that is cooked with a cup of grease drippings not taste good!) We had a great Thanksgiving with Nofoa's family--and Kobe and Tehani were in heaven playing with all of the kids.
   
4. Everything else!! I've got a great family and great friends--and tons to be thankful for. This is definitely not how I thought my life would turn out when I first moved to Utah 18 years ago (at that time my plan was to get out of Provo as soon as I could!) but I guess everything happens for a reason so here I am....and I wouldn't have it any other way!!

Our little social butterfly

Well, we just got Tehani's progress report from school. Overall, she is doing great but the teacher did have one thing she would like Tehani to work on..."She is very social, sometimes during lessons or work times. That is the only area where I'd like to see improvement..."

Apparently, it runs in the family. I've heard stories from my mother about getting called to my school when I was little because I wouldn't stop talking during class. I already knew that Tehani takes after me in this area because she is a little chatterbox. She is ALWAYS talking and she never runs out of stuff to say. It's funny to think about this now because Nofoa and I were so worried about her as a toddler since she was very delayed with her speech--so much so that she actually saw a speech therapist for about two years. Weird, huh? Well, that must have been one good speech therapist 'cause Tehani hasn't stopped talking since then.

So if you're ever in the mood to talk, just give Tehani a call!

Kobe & Tehani's Favorite Things

Call me a copycat (and hopefully I don't get sued by Oprah for copyright infringement) but I'm posting a list of our "Favorite Things." I guess technically this isn't a favorites list in true Oprah fashion, but every year I get lots of calls and questions from family members about what the kids want for Christmas. My usual response is "That's a good question?" To help out this year, I had them mark up WalMart Kids' Holiday book so if you could care a less about what the kiddos want, feel free to skip this post but for those of you that are interested...

TEHANI'S "FAVORITE THINGS"

1. Littlest Pet Shop VIP pet--She didn't actually specify which "pet" she wanted. (I was tempted to remind her that she already has a million stuffed animals, but I suppose it is her list after all)
2. FurReal Cat--Again, we already have a REAL cat--courtesy of my brother and his wife. I did hear Tehani talking later that she thought it would be funny if the FurReal cat scared the real REAl cat.
3. Giddyup N' Go Pony--I guess it's better than asking for a real pony...
4. Easy Bake Oven--My mom never let me have one but apparently enough kids didn't burn down their homes the last time these were "hot" (literally) 'cause they are back again.
5. MP3 Player--Someone should really remind her that she is 7 (not 17)

KOBE'S "FAVORITE THINGS"

1. Pokemon Region Playset--I'm thinking her may actually be a little old for this particular toy but he is a HUGE Pokemon fan (for reasons I still don't understand.) Must be a boy thing...
2. Neopets Jumbo Plush--At first I thought that perhaps this was a 'Tehani" pick (it is a stuffed animal after all) but its marked in the book with Kobe's messy handwriting and everything
3. More games for the Wii--Right now we only have MarioKart (thanks Uncle Ken) and then Wii Sports and Wii Play. Apparently, that is not enough "Wii" to go around...
4. Nerf Tech Target Set--A toy that involves shooting projectiles through the air at unsuspecting eyes...how could this not make the list!
5. K'Nex Amusement Park Ferris Wheel--Kobe loves anything that involves a little million pieces (that can easily get sucked up into my vacuum when I bother to do so)

And I'm sure you've all heard the old wives tale about how THE NUMBER 4 & 5 are unlucky...and that you should never purchase ITEMS on a list with certain numbers...something to do with things that ARE NO LONGER NEEDED. As a side note, by some strange coincidence I actually finished my Christmas shopping today too. Funny how that works...

So for those of you that like suggestions, there you go. Just remember, kids LOVE surprises so don't feel confined by these lists. Anyway, my next project is to tackle my Christmas cards. (I know, I'm almost as bad as the radio stations that bust out the Jingle Bell music before Halloween!) But there are only 54 days left to go so I better get crackin'!

Our Halloween dress rehersal

Technically it's called Trunk or Treat but for me I like think of it as my dress rehearsal for Halloween. I am happy to report that Kobe and Tehani (and their costumes) both made it through the night unscathed. Our church held it's annual Trunk or Treat on Thursday night. The kids liked it because they get a head start on building up their candy stockpile for the next year (just don't tell them that every time the came back to the car, I took candy out of their buckets and passed it back out!)

I was also glad that Kobe and Tehani didn't have any complaints about their costumes. Being the cheap mom that I am, I put my sales skills to work and somehow managed to convince both of them on using "free" costumes this year. Kobe's Christmas present costume came from an old box in the crawlspace (I only posted pics of Norm in the box but it was really Kobe's costume.) And Tehani used a clown costume that could be classified as an antique as it is almost as old as I am. The bozo gear comes compliments of the queen of all pack rats--my mom. The Jungle Lady (aka Auntie Bernadette) is the one that actully sewed this get up which has been worn by my cousins Diane and Monica and my sister (and probably many other unsuspecting youth over the years.) And I'll be sure to put the costume away for Charlotte to wear--we'll just have to wait and see if Cynthia has the sales skills to pull it off...