Babysitters

Aloha everyone,
We found out a few weeks ago that the kids' favorite babysitter (besides Aunt Katie), Miss Vicky is moving. Her dad is in the army and they got orders to Texas at the last minute. We were actually looking forward to another year before saying goodbye. Vicky's mom was Mason's 1st grade teacher and she is a good friend of mine. The kids actually beg us to go out on dates so that they can have Vicky over. So, Saturday Bob and I went out. Not for us, but for the kids. :) There weren't even any good movies to see but it is always nice to go out for dnner just the two of us and know that the kids are having a great time. Luckily for us, Vicky's older sister is staying here for college, so we aren't totally out of a babysitter.
Speaking of babysitting, we watched our friend's son Samuel yesterday for a couple of hours. Mackenzie had a blast being the "babysitter". She followed him around, picked him up, and even filled his sippy cup with juice. I think she'll be a great babysitter when she gets a little older.

I had to add this picture too. Our neighbors have three little puppies. I don't know how old they are but aren't they just too cute? They are selling them and the kids would love to have a dog but we've explained to them that we can't buy a dog with only one more year here. Arranging a flight for your dog is expensive and a hassle. (We've heard many other people's stories)

Brownie, our bunny, left for a new home on Sunday. We don't have a good set-up at the new house for her. Especially since Bob is allergic. She went home with a couple who have another bunny her age named Beau. Beau's "pen mate" died last month and he was lonely. The kids were sad, but they did ok. I think I may have been more attached to her than they were. Honestly a bunny is my kind of pet, they're quiet, calm and don't require as much attention as a dog. Well, that's about it around here. I think I'm out of vacation mode and starting to feel the back to school bug. My theme decor this year is going to be frogs, so I have been cutting out quite a few little frogs for bulletin boards. I'll take some pictures when it's ready.

Craft Camp

Mason and Mackenzie went to "Craft Camp" this week. It was from 10am-12pm each day. They really had a good time and ended up making a trivet, a pencil holder, and a flower pot.
I have 12 more days until I go back to school and the kids start a week after me. Summer goes by so fast!

Pool Party!

Aloha! We went to a pool party on Saturday at the home of my co-worker, who is going to be Kenzie's Kindergarten teacher. Kenzie thought it was great swimming in her teacher's pool. :)
We all had a great time.

Mason would go down the slide and land on the boogie board that Bob had waiting at the bottom. I was afraid he would slip and hit his head on the side of the pool but have to admit he was getting pretty good. :)

This is the view of Kaneohe Bay from their house. Isn't it beautiful!
Even the moon is amazing in Hawaii! :)

Lovin' my new vacuum...

I went out to Sears this morning and purchased a new Kenmore progressive vacuum cleaner. My Dirt Devil, which I have disliked for years, kept over-heating when we were vacuuming the old house and it won't stand up on its own anymore. So, my wonderful husband said to go out and buy any vacuum cleaner that I wanted. I was really leaning toward the Dyson until I did what any good daughter of Mel Kaup would do and I checked with Consumer Reports. Surprisingly, the Kenmore did way better than the Dyson and was in fact Consumer Reports #1 pick! And, it was a few hundred dollars cheaper than any of the Dyson vacuums. I just finished vacuuming and it works really great. It's so quiet compared to my other one and it stands up all by itself. Yea!
In other news, we have everything over to the new house and can actually get my car in the garage too. There are still lots of boxes around here but we are making progress. We are heading to a pool party at one of my co-workers house this afternoon. It should be lots of fun!
Have a great weekend, everyone!

I am finally getting around to posting a few pics of the new house. We've been pretty busy and don't have cable at the new house yet. Everything about our new house is great! We really do like it. Here are a few pictures. I'll try to take some more pictures now that we have furniture in. 

Can you believe that this is the U-haul we got? Of all the trucks they have we ended up with the "Nebraska" truck. :) 

My new kitchen. New appliances, lots of cabinets, and counter space. Yea! Notice the microwave though. I can barely reach it and I certainly can't take boiling water out without a step stool. So, I went to Kmart and bought a nice little step stool. :)

Double sinks in the master bathroom! Love it!! :)

The kids playing in their walk-in closet. We should maybe keep the closet empty for a play area. :) 

I forgot to take a picture of the outside of the house, but you can see the one across the street. Its pretty much the same as ours, except that ours is a one-story instead of a two-story. 

Also, Mason posted security the day we moved in. We should be pretty safe. :)