Sometime in the last 12 weeks...

Brady had Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off, and met up with the Clarks for a hike.

We specifically chose the Cliff Trail to recreate this photo from 5 years ago.  It was socked in but the sentiment shone through.

Heidi and Nic made fun of me taking a selfie with my mud pup.

Love this dog, love this photo.

Piano Recital: The kids were much less than thrilled to participate.  It was a good learning experience.  Zachary struggled on a song but persevered through it, recognizing areas for growth next time.  Kate went first as always and she and I played a duet together.  We think it's pretty funny to play Christmas music at recitals well after Christmas.

Tiny numbers limited by COVID meant we are in and out of there in an hour.

Lois is a 73-year-old teacher who is committed to excellence and connection.

Another cut for Roxy.  Now that I'm finally posting, she is due once again.  Brady was eager to be her groomer early on but now realizes that it's a 2 hour process he would gladly relinquish.  Like many other positions, though, groomers are hard to come by right now so he will continue to be the clippers for Roxy.

Kate and Owen, always finding ways to entertain themselves before practices.

A Sunday afternoon walk and talk.

Roxy and Kate have grown closer recently.  Kate claims she is gentler with Rox now, and I agree.

Spelling Bee

Months ago, Kate came home and told me she intended to win a spot at the school Spelling Bee.  She had to place in the top 2 of her class and wanted to start studying immediately.  She had 50 words to learn and felt overwhelmed by the challenge initially, but plugged away at it daily for about 15 minutes and always in the car.  The minute my foot touched the gas, she was asking to be drilled on words.  We highlighted, circled and practiced them, and she was so annoyed when day after day, the class competition/test was delayed.  Finally, she took the test and finally, she aced it and earned her spot!

Spelling Bee Practices started right away and she was privileged to work directly with our principal and our curriculum specialist multiple times a week.  She now had a list of 450 words and a classroom full of motivated competitors.  She spent 2 months practicing and learning, even getting out of the water at a perfect surf beach the day before while we were on our girls' trip.  I will never forget her diligence.  The day of, she came home from school and quizzed herself for 2.5 hours straight.  She knew every word.

Brady and I were SO NERVOUS for her.  She wanted to win.  We were unsure how she would handle the stress and pressure, but she was poised and absolutely confident, even with a shaky voice.  She made it round after round.

And then she won.

Next up: Kauai-wide Bee!  It was a conglomerate of 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8th grade winners and runner ups from every school on the island.  Kate now had 1200 words and many of them were obscure.  She continued to study daily and also downloaded an app for practice.  Her highlighted list of words was extensive but she pushed through and refused to give up.

The day of the Bee came.  She sat looking so young next to mostly older kids.  With so many words to choose from, we really had no sense of what she should have been studying, but only knew she studied as thoroughly as a 5th grader could in the three weeks between School and District Bees.

Round after round she progressed until she went out on "kangaroo"--a word she had never missed.  She said a letter unintentionally.  It was an easy mistake and she was devastated.  

Only one competitor goes home satisfied when it's all over and she absolutely believed she would be going home with a trophy and moving on to state.  I love that confidence.  We did not lead her to believe anything like that but encouraged her.  We were shocked at her 4th place finish among all the middle school kids.  She beat out the top students in Zachary's school--both 8th graders.  Still, she was heart-broken and sobbed into my shoulder for several minutes until we told her she needed to be a good sport and take deep breaths.  The winner and runner-up were untouchable in the field so even with a correct spelling of "kangaroo," state competition was not a possibility this year.

Yay, Koloa School!

The trophy kids made for her at school.

Her smile after she recovered emotionally.  So proud of her!  C-O-N-G-R-A-T-U-L-A-T-I-O-N-S, my persistent girl!

A couple days later, Owen got $5 for winning a bet.  He said he was going to buy a Tesla.

100 Days of School!  I'm proud of this picture because it represents my willingness to participate even when my job was so intense, I was up until 11pm or later working on lesson prep nightly.  My commitment to myself when I took this teaching position was I did not want it to change how I spent my afternoons with the kids.

We made friendship bracelets in my 7th grade math class to go along with a video teaching distribution theory.  All three kids were thrilled when we had a lot of leftover materials and they blinged out.

He went to school and church this way for days.

Another Sunday walk.

Another Monday dog park.  Yoda, Kate's favorite, is now one she's a little nervous about after this week when she sneezed incessantly after petting him.

Sherlock, an 11-year-old dog.

One stressful evening while Brady was north and I had 20 things to do after putting kids to bed, I fell on the stairs.  That's right: not down the stairs, on the stairs.  I still have large bumps and scars from the mishap.

Roxy makes every soft space hers.

Zac entertains our neighbors as he bikes by with all his daily gear.  He has been doing soccer and basketball simultaneously for the last two months so he takes both sets of gear with him on some practice days when he splits time (if he has a ride and I'm not shuttling him).

Owen's play date with Keonu.

Roxy won't be flying through the windshield if we get in a wreck.

Super Bowl Sunday!  I didn't even come for the commercials--only the food and friends.  I even took a nice nap on the their lanai.

We are either outside in the cul-de-sac or on the trampoline as dusk sets in most nights, typically after at least two kids have practice.  I love it when all three kids are playing together cooperatively.

Very few rainbows this winter!  It's been the driest winter I can remember since living here.

Owen loved basketball season.  He liked it even more than baseball and definitely more than soccer.  His female coaches were kind and organized, and handled a few of the aggressive, bully dads with ease.  We had some embarrassing parents on the Koloa team.

Sunday races around the green belt--this night, all three kids beat their official records!

A day off school means all the kids played basketball while I did Peloton.

Wailua Shave Ice to celebrate President's Day and piano lessons.

Kate told me with some big emotion that she was not loving soccer.  I was shocked since she is talented and always seemed to enjoy it.  She explained that there had been several parties she was not invited to of teammates and she felt like the only girl without a close friend.  We remedied that by inviting her closest teammates over for homemade pizza, Lapperts, Just Dance, and plenty of time on the trampoline.  I see them all chatting at practice now just like past seasons.  Pre-teen is its own stage.

We had 4 rats in February.  While vacuuming out the car, Kate was scarred for life when a rat ran out of the vacuum hose.  When faced with the decision to either resume vacuuming (there couldn't possibly be more rats in the vacuum) or scrub mats, she opted to vacuum.  Another rat CAME OUT OF THE HOSE she was holding.  Kate, I don't want to touch that vacuum ever again, either.

Before work one morning, Brady went to war with a rat he found in the pantry and caught it with his bare hand.  I know that sounds gross but to me it sounds sexy.  What a man, what a man, what a man.  We spent many, many, many hours cleaning the garage with Owen and Kate (Zac had a headache and slept through it all), and I was so happy with our clean garage.  We found the food they were after--slug bait!  The thrill and relief lasted three weeks, until I spotted another rat.  AGH!  

Zac and I have a new deal: he gets no feedback or comments from me on piano as long as he does his lesson each day.  He has to play through his songs once a week for Brady.  Otherwise, I only offer praise after he is done.  It is working decently well.

A Sunday Stebbedlarks evening at the golf course.  We played Ultimate Football and it was the most fun I have had in weeks.

Super cool shots of Kate and O on the trampoline.

Zachary has basketball games every Saturday night (usually after a long day of Saturday soccer games).  The night he played David's team, we went out for McFlurry's afterwards.  Owen was a terror the next day at church but the tiny M&Ms mixed with soft serve might have been worth it anyway.

On Valentine's Day, Brady shocked me with a letter describing our next adventure: a backpacking trip with our VEM college friends to celebrate my 40th birthday.  I did not think there was a chance we would go anywhere until after his north shore job ended--it has simply been too stressful to consider.  He coordinated permits and plans with our friends, as well as childcare with Nic and Heidi.  Just the past week, I had sent a text to Aaron about how badly I wanted to get away for a weekend and hike in their area, and Brady already had this planned!  Yep, what a man, what a man, what a man.  

While my afternoons since working look the same--me in the car, doing homework with kids, helping with piano, dinner, etc.--my evenings are all tied up with school and not blogging.  Not sure how to remedy but also committed to continuing a record because it matters to me.  So here's to my next post and not taking 12 weeks to make to make it happen.  Cheers.