winter celebration 2012.

so it's been awhile, hasn't it?

this past wednesday night, kyden's school had their annual winter celebration.



things of note this year ... the girl at the very left edge of the video with the red-trimmed top hat and the ponytail (she waves to me at 0:52-0:53), that's tatum. you may have seen her in a few of my instagram photo dumps. she isn't in kyden's class but they've befriended each other and we're looking to enroll him in the same じゅうどう (jūdō) class that she's in. once settled into their spots, kyden is standing next to kai, whom i wouldn't consider his "best friend" yet as at this age his best friend changes every day, but they're pretty close. next to kai is mackenzie. she used to be in their class but because the three kindergarten classes were a bit big, the school created a fourth class and she was one of the students that transferred to the new class. i believe the three classes were pushing about twenty-two students so five students from each of the classes were randomly chosen to make up the new one.

let's see, what else ... oh. at 1:17, you may recognize kyden's SPED preschool teacher from last year, mrs. h. i think that might be it. i would've wanted to show some of kyden's other friends, like kiana and sophia, but i couldn't find them in the sea of 5-6yro.

so it's about 2.5 weeks until christmas ... do you have your tree? is your house all decorated? us? not yet. haha. but kyden recently mentioned that he wanted to decorate the house so we'll probably be doing it soon.

so this year, we didn't participate in the honolulu city lights parade. but kyden will be joining daddy for his cycling team's annual city lights ride tomorrow night. they'll be biking from the store on ala moana boulevard and up to honolulu hale. and yes, that's right. at night. about 7:00pm. this will also be the first time that kyden will be biking near traffic. so of course i'm a bit apprehensive but it's only about a mile ride and being that it's the christmas ride, he'll be lit up like a christmas tree. and also within a group of several riders. daddy's been doing a great job quelling my paranoia. xb

so, by the way, what's on YOUR christmas wishlist? we're adding to kyden's transformers collection. specifically to the decepticon faction, as his ratio of autobots to decepticons is 6:1. though, that "one" decepticon is megatron himself and i'm sure he can hold his own against the six.

kayli's really into disney's fairies and princesses. so this year she'll be getting a princess shopping cart. among other princessy things. as well as hello kitty stuff.

both of them are getting lots of "necessities" this year. like both are growing out of their current wardrobe so they'll be getting some new clothes. both need new underwear. stuff like that.

daddy got a new toy ... a helicopter that he can control with his phone. it also has a camera on-board. so don't forget to close your curtains or we'll spy on you. :b

i do hope everyone is enjoying the last of 2012 and not getting too caught up with the stress of holiday shopping. thank you for staying with me and my infrequent posting over the past couple years. love!

photo dump.

finishing up the last of august as i'm already a month behind.







[ 01 ] already getting some love from her kyden오빠 on her 3rd birthday.
[ 02 ] SBX with my buggy.
[ 03 ] enjoying her guittard chocolate cupcake with PINK vanilla frosting.
[ 04 ] birthday balloon!
[ 05 ] pressies!!
[ 06 ] happy birthday~♫
[ 07 ] "washing the car".
[ 08 ] showing off his journal during open house at school.
[ 09 ] trying every single flavor of her new princess lip glosses.
[ 10 ] friday night fireworks.
[ 11 ] dinner @ shirokiya.
[ 12 ] thebus.
[ 13 ] rabbit egg.
[ 14 ] new "bumblebee" shoes for school.
[ 15 ] playing house and tea party.
[ 16 ] styling her own hair.
[ 17 ] back to friday mornings in downtown.
[ 18 ] via daddy; while mummy had an interview at tory burch.
[ 19 ] bedtime story: "three billy goats gruff".

hello, from youtube land.

kyden will be on break this week. and daddy is also on vacation. unfortunately (and, of course, fortunately) i will be starting work.

i'm a little over a month behind on my photo dumps as i realized that i haven't posted any from kayli's birthday yet. too make up for it, i'm posting another video. this time of kyden. one of kyden's favorite things to watch on youtube is video reviews of toys. and majority of the time he watches ones about transformers toys.

every so often he'll talk as if he's doing one so i figured i'd might as well let him make one for real. this one was done with his dark of the moon mechtech deluxe class specialist ratchet that he got from oma and grandpoppy during their visit a couple of months ago.


press "" on video to play.

you can hear me trying to quietly prompt him to wrap it up. if left alone, his review would probably have been twenty minutes long. xb or included all seven of his transformer figures and been an hour long. he has such enthusiasm. i'll probably end up doing more of these for him. you can tell he really enjoyed doing it and just loves being in front of the video camera.

that's it for now. hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!!

hi! welcome to tory burch.

after a long nine months of filling out applications, getting turned down because i wasn't available to work during the day or for other various unknown reasons (i mean, who wouldn't want me? :b) i am finally returning to work. i'll be starting in a few days, on the 1st.

the lucky company to have me representing them: tory burch. as many of you know, i am a huge fan of catherine, the duchess of cambridge (popularly known as kate middleton). i love her classic, ladylike style and, though she has never worn anything from tory burch, i find that trait in many of the brand's designs. the brand is also best known for their handbags and "reva" flats and i am extremely excited to part of the company.

below, is a peek at the fall 2012 collection which should currently be available in the boutiques.



the "madeleine" peplum sweater in the first photo is at the top of my "want" list. i absolutely love sweaters. especially crewneck ones. although it's hard to wear them year-round here in hawaiʻi. but i always feel the most comfortable and most confident in them. probably because they're one of the most simplest items and i don't have to worry about some kind of wardrobe malfunction. :b

i will continue to hold an evenings schedule, a schedule that i have worked since becoming a mummy, whether it was at maui divers, kate spade or LINKS. i will leave for work when the hubby gets home so my time with kyden will be limited to taking him and picking him up from school and on saturdays which i have requested as one of my days off.

if you're in the area, don't hesitate to stop by and tell me "hi".

best ever!

since i'm a bit significantly behind on my posts and photo dumps (again), i thought i'd make it up to everyone with a video.

with kyden오빠 at school, kaylibub and i have more one on one time. her favorite thing to play, what else but tea party.

this was taken at the end of august, on the 29th.


press "" on video to play.

actually, a bit of the ending somehow got accidentally deleted, which is why the video ends so abruptly. not completely obvious in the video is her hiding the lego "cookies" behind her. as she got up to get more, i asked her what the pieces behind her was and she matter-of-factly answered, "poop". love that no matter how girly she can be, daddy and kyden's influence still comes through. :b

oh. and before i go, i just quickly wanted to mention that i'll be returning to work on the 1st. a bit more about that later.

photo dump.

the beginning of august ...




[ 01 ] daddy got an ouwie at work.
[ 02 ] late summer days = sweaty little boy.
[ 03 ] daddy tended to his ouwie by drilling out the blood. xb
[ 04 ] listening to the sound of contentment.
[ 05 ] eager to be in school too.
[ 06 ] breakfast.
[ 07 ] making new friends.
[ 08 ] making "pretty pretty".
[ 09 ] pool time!
[ 10 ] dinner with family at sushi san.
[ 11 ] battle wound.
[ 12 ] "ring ring. ring ring." hello?
[ 13 ] new week. new shirt. new backpack.
[ 14 ] lucky shirt.
[ 15 ] bedtime story.

a month in (UPDATED).

it's been a month since school has started and kyden has adjusted pretty well. i think returning to the same school was a huge advantage for him. he's made a few friends and recognizes many of his classmates. he has also chosen to have snacks during recess rather than play. i'm a bit "on the fence" with that choice as i think he should use the time to play and exert all that energy he has. but instead of taking away his choice, i've resorted to keeping his snack small so that he doesn't take the entire recess to finish it, leaving him with some time left to play.

in a mixture of good news and bad news, i was offhandedly informed on tuesday, that kyden was assigned into the top level reading class. hooray!! and i say offhandedly because i was only informed because he has been misbehaving in class and has been moved down a level.

between the three kindergarten classes, the children are split up into three reading groups. i'm assuming something like "advanced", "intermediate" and "beginner". i was a bit surprised that kyden made it into the advanced class. being out of school for the first half of the year and not being strict with home studies was a bit afraid that he had fallen behind his peers.

it seems that recently he hasn't been following directions. the day his teacher spoke to me, he had taken off his shirt during class and wouldn't put it back on when the teacher asked him to. and then he also kept making spitting sounds. it seems it's been going on for awhile and i'm disappointed that his teachers did not inform me about it when it started rather than waiting until they've taken action on the situation to tell me.

the concern is that if he continues to misbehave he will have to move down to the lower class which carries a risk of him getting bored because it may be too slow of a pace for him.

i need to set up a meeting with his teacher so that she can discuss the reading program to me. overall, i think the reason for their decision is because his behavior is disrupting the rest of the class. supposedly, the teacher gives an instruction like "when i say 'go!' you stand up ... when i say 'go!' what do you do?" then they're all supposed to answer correctly and then do what she says. if someone doesn't know what to do or doesn't follow directions, they have to do it again. so if kyden's the one not paying attention or not cooperating, he's forcing the rest of the class to have to repeat the instructions over and over again.

in the advanced class, they may learn a lesson in one day. in the lower classes, it may take a two or more to get through it, so if he's not cooperating, more than likely there's another student that probably didn't get it either.

yesterday, he did really well. and hopefully if he continues to behave he'll return to his original reading class.


(i updated the post to add the photo. thank you, auntie jo for sending it to me.)

on a sidenote, kyden has befriended two girls, kiana and sophia. every day when i pick him up from school, he spends a little time playing tag and being chased by them. the girls have a difficult time separating from their moms in the morning, so the moms (both also from japan) have encouraged the girls to support each other. in the morning though, kyden eats with whoever he spots first. this morning it was jerry. another day, it was micah. every so often he'll still sit with tatum but mostly he'll sit with "the boys".

on another sidenote, a bit about the photo at the very top. every morning, kyden will share a bit of his breakfast with kayli. mostly, he'll try to give her the things he doesn't like. and she (being the vegetarian that she tends to be), usually, refuses any of the meat. on tuesday, though, she surprisingly claimed the "chicken dog" that came with his pancakes. it was more like a chicken nugget shaped into a stick. and of course, since it so closely resembled a chicken nugget, kyden wanted it too. they did really well with sharing it up until kyden ate the last bite of it. she wasn't too happy with that. but as it's essentially HIS breakfast, i didn't mind.