She did it again. She put these on herself. She and Kanalu were playing in the boys' room and all I hear is Kanalu say, "go show mommy". Keiko is quite the character.
Keiko was drinking her milk and unexpectedly she fell asleep. The best part is that she didn't want to let go of her cup while she was in dreamland.
I finally got the cup away from her and now I'm stuck until she wakes up.
Piko finally got his associates in computer science and has one year more till he completes his bachelors. I'm so proud of him for being so steadfast and stinkin' smart. We really didn't make a big deal about this graduation because next year will be the big one and I'm going all out with balloons and leis and an inflatable swimming tube. OOooh yeah I'm going for the high school traditions of a Hawaii graduation. I can't wait. Then I'm gonna take him out for a big ole steak dinner.
I just wish this graduation ceremony had some singing and fun hand motions like Kanalu's kindergarten one. :)
| |||
| Ingredients: | |||
| 1 block Butter (not margarine) 3 C C&H Sugar 1 box Mochiko Flour 1 tsp Baking powder |
1 tsp Pure vanilla extract 4 Large eggs 1 12 oz can Coconut milk 2 C Milk (must be 2% OR Homogenized) | ||
| Cooking Instructions: | |||
| Soften da butter at room temperature, low defrost in microwave is ok too. Using electric blender, use mix speed and blend togedda da butter and sugar. Stop da blender and add Mochiko, baking powder, vanilla, eggs, coconut milk, 2% or Homogenized milk. An den turn on da blenda at mix or medium speed and let da blenda take out all da lumps. Da batter must be smooth, no moa da kine lumps. Pour into 9" X 13" baking pan. Bake at 350* foa 1 hour. TIP: Use a glass or foil kine pan to bake and use plastic knife to cut afta it's cooled. | |||
| Additional Comments: | |||
| Thru trial and error, I finally got dis one, bugga is ONOLICIOUS! During canoe season hea in Seattle, WA I enjoy making it for our paddlers during potluck, it's a hit! Trust me you won't be disappointed, jus no cheat da recipe and yours will come out awesome too! ENJOY! | |||
I have a thought that comes to me every time I am pregnant. . . "those we love leave this life to make room for the lives of our children."
When I was pregnant with Kanalu my dear Uncle Tommy passed away and during that time I prayed that my child could only be so blessed with the love of his 'ohana and talents in music that my Uncle possessed.
A year and a half later I was pregnant with Kolu and during my pregnancy I was able to go to Hawaii and meet my Grandparents there for a family reunion. Kanalu got to meet my Grandpa Baptiste and loved stealing his cane. I'm grateful to have those little memories because a couple months later after we found out that Kolu was a boy my Grandpa passed away and then right before Kolu was born my favorite Uncle "Mac" Arthur Pacheco passed away. In my heart I hoped that Kolu would be blessed with my grandpa's patience and my Uncle Mac's sense of humor.
Then while I was pregnant with Keiko my favorite Aunty Chiyoko passed away and therefore I felt the need to give Keiko a Japanese name. Aunty Chiyoko always had something to do. . . she used to make ceramics. . . I still have a few of the things she has made me. . . she was a volunteer police officer. . . she danced hula and was very involved in her community. She also was such funny lady. . . I think humor runs in the Fuchigami family. . . there is always something to make fun of! I pray that Keiko has the same love of life that Aunty Chiyoko had.
So now I'm pregnant again and yes there has been yet another passing in my family and in Piko's family too. Piko's Aunty Haunani Kaili passed away this month as well as my Uncle Bryan Baptiste. I got to know Aunty Haunani during our Niau family reunion in Vegas when I was pregnant with Keiko. She is such a graceful woman and loves her hawaiian hertiage. . . she has a beautiful oli voice and dances hula so lovingly. She also has a great devotion to family history work. I wish I had more time to spend with her getting to know her and discovering her other talents. Within a week of Aunty Haunani's passing my Uncle Bryan passed away. He was the mayor of Kaua'i. He was such a people person. He would go to everyone's parties on Kauai to say hi and get a bite to eat of course. I got to spend some time with him when I was pregnant with Kolu. . . he treated us to lunch at this little Portuguese bakery/restaurant across from the county building. I'm taking Piko there in two weeks for some Pocho sweet bread and Pocho bean soup. So naturally I pray that our little Lynea is blessed with Aunty Haunani's grace, love for her culture and ancestors and with Uncle Bryan's love for the people she lives amongst.
Ironically right now we have to go to Piko's University graduation ceremony which I have a feeling will be very boring!!! I 'll post pics of Piko's graduation as well as some video of Nalu's absolutely fun graduation later.
As tradition since 2004 my little 'ohana has gone to Iosepa, Utah for a little bit of camping (we really don't ruff it we borrow my in-law's fifth wheel camper), a little bit of Hawaiian food, a little bit of Polynesian entertainment, a lot of spiritual reflection, and a whole lot of fun!
We experienced a small miracle one of the days that we were camping. The weather forecast said that it would be a stormy weekend so I went a bought the boys raincoats and rain boots. I wanted to be prepared for all weather cuz you never know what's going to happen at Iosepa. On the Friday before Memorial Day there was a huge nasty storm rolling toward us. So I put all of our out door things away and made ready for the storm then went into the camper to take a nap. When I woke up there was sunshine beating on my face. I thought I was dreaming. I got up and went outside and that giant storm was totally gone. . . it disappeared. My boys were running around with some friends they made and Piko was helping up at the main kitchen area. The wind was blowing still and it was cold but there was no rain. I felt greatly blessed.
We missed some of our favorite friends that didn't make it to Iosepa this year. I must say that Saturday's entertainment was really good. . . especially because it didn't storm during the show. It was nice to eat Kalua pig outta an imu. . . I'm so tired of crock pot Kalua pig. I never want to eat crock pot kalua pig again!!!
This year the boys did a better job at helping clean the cemetery. Our cousins buried their daughter who was stillborn in the cemetery last September and during that weekend they put her headstone on her grave. If I ever die here on the mainland I'd wish to be buried at Iosepa. . . it's the closest place to Hawaii for me.
This year like every other year we spend at Iosepa was perfect. I can't wait to go back next year. . . maybe we'll go back sooner for our own little camp out!
On the Tuesday after Iosepa we went to the Dr and what did we see. . . three little lines staring at me. If any of you know what to look for on an ultrasound you know what those little lines mean. . . It's a girl and we're naming her. . . Lynea Ku'uleianuenue. To be honest I really wanted to name this baby after me but it didn't really feel right and even when I'd seen her on the ultrasound Lynea didn't seem right then but I kept having crazy dreams about her and that I really needed to name her soon. So I racked my brain over and over for weeks and then I asked Kanalu what he thought of a couple names that I picked and he really liked Lynea. . . pronounced lin-nay-ah, which I'm happy with because it close to my first name Lynne and feeds my ego. Ok so her Hawaiian name is super important to me. I promised Heavenly Father that I'd have one more child if He would give me a girl when I was pregnant with Keiko. So Lynea is my child of promise. . . therefore her name Ku'uleianuenue means my rainbow lei literally which I interpret as . . . Lei means adornment or to Hawaiians figuratively child for when you put your child on your shoulders their legs wrap around your neck like a lei. . . the rainbow was Noah's symbol of promise from God that He would never flood the earth again; so for me every time I see a rainbow it reminds me that God always fulfills His promises; for Hawaiians figuratively it means royalty. Therefore for me Ku'uleianuenue means My Child of Promise.
All four of our children have very special names and I pray that as we teach them about what their names mean and why we gave them those names their lifes' actions will magnify thier names.
Well the weekend of my birthday my husband tried so desperately to have a surprise birthday party for me but I found out about it. Poor Piko was so sad so he kept the guest list a surprise for me. I was so excited to have one of my bestest friends and "sister" arrive with my favorite, butter mochi. That was absolutely the best part of my day. Ardis Weight and her wonderful little 'ohana arrived and I ran in the house to tell Piko before I even greeted them because I was so excited and I wanted to kiss my hubby for thinking of me. Ardis took all the pics at our little BBQ but I won't post them all because there were so many so I'll just post the ones I think are funny.
Thank you Damon, Kaina, Chad, Cilla and Piko for cooking all the food. Thank you everyone for the great gifts.
Speaking of gifts I really wanted gifts from my boys that they picked out by themselves so I told Piko to take them to the dollar store so they could pick something out. Piko himself was bummed yet again because he wanted to buy me an ibook because I do digital scrapbooking and macs are so much easier to use when you are dealing with graphics. You just click and drag. . . love it. But Piko couldn't bring himself to pay double the price of a pc for a mac. . . he likes to add all the bells and whistles to his gifts so of course it would cost way more. I'm so glad he didn't buy it. . . we need the $$$ to go to Hawaii in July. So he also decided to buy me a dollar gift which I'm so happy with. . . Kolu got me a balloon on a stick, Nalu got me the cutest heart pen, and Piko got me a bath pillow which I use once a week when I relax in the tub with no interruptions. That has to be my favorite gift, I'm so simple. . . Piko thinks I'm so high maintenance. He thinks of buying me gifts at the dollar value he'd like to have a gift at. . . he is so high maintenance. . . I don't buy him stuff anymore I just tell him get himself something fun and he enjoys that way more.
Thank you Ku and Josi for the wonderful guava cake. . . it was way huge and very delicious (thank you Ikaika Kelly for making it). That cake was even better like 5 days later. That's how much cake was left over even after everyone took a plate full of it home with them. Keiko really enjoyed herself and ate about 3 pieces I'd say of which two pieces ended up on the grass. Kolu was all about the watermelon and ate maybe six pieces. I kept telling him to stop or he'd get diarrhea but he didn't stop nor did he get sick. It was a beautiful day with wonderful friends and family. Mom and Dad Warr arrived after they rested from running it the Ogden run. Hello Dad ran a full marathon and Mom ran a half marathon. They still managed to be at my party. Aunty Wilma and the Mack crew came too after working really hard painting and cleaning Aunty's basement that they are renovating. I feel very blessed to be surrounded by many a loved one.
My favorite shake has to be an avocado shake. . . don't gross out until you try it. After all an avocado is a fruit. . . you get half of a small avocado, a cup of vanilla yogurt, 3 cups of milk,1/4 cup sugar or more if you want, a banana if you'd like and blend it well. It is so good. Add some ice to make it into a smoothie. Now if you are using a magic bullet you have to half this recipe for all the ingredients to fit into the serving size container it uses.
On Saturday before Mother's day we had a little gathering at Piko's mom's house. It was so fun. That's when I made my chocolate trifle and it was so yummy. I also made a fun set of blocks for my mom-in-law and also my own mother. My kids call my mom-in-law Nani (by her request and they took to it quick) and they call my mom Tutu (grandma in Hawaiian). This was a super easy and fun project. I used a Stampin' Up scrapbook set, wood blocks I bought from Michael's, I painted the blocks after sanding 'em, some pics of the kids, some mod podge to adhere the paper and pics to the painted wood blocks and some mom quotes that I found online. After I adhered all the paper and embellishments to the blocks I put a layer of mod podge over everything. . . well except whatever ribbon I used because I didn't want the ribbon to get stiff. I think this project would be great for Father's day too especially if your dad or hubby has a desk job.
The first Saturday in May was the best starter of that month. I got to go to a Scentsy party at my friend Jen's house while Piko took the kids to Kanalu's school carnival. I made sure Piko took pics so I wouldn't miss a thing.
If you have never heard of Scentsy you must find a way to smell it. Scentsy has these cute wax warmers and bars of scented wax. When we moved into our home last year our realtor gave us a Scentsy warmer and "sticky cinnamon bun" Scentsy bar. I totally fell in love. The previous owners of our home were smokers. . . we couldn't tell when we looked at the house because it was freshly painted and the carpet was ripped out and now has hard wood floors. We found out after we started the furnice this winter and got a big wiff of cigarette smell. We gotta get our vents cleaned for sure before next winter. I thankful for that great house warming gift because those sweet smelling Scentsy bars are the best. I've tried other scented wax bars and they just don't hold the smell for more than an hour or two. One little piece of a Scentsy bar lasts for several weeks. I love it. I bought six different scents at Jen's party. . . there was a special if you buy six you get 'em for the price of five. Go check out scentsy.com to find a distributor near you!!!
So while I was enjoying smelling yummy scents Piko was taking pics of the boys playing at the school carmival. Here are the shots he got.
That was quite a great morning and then in the afternoon we went to our cousin Mahea's house and helped them a little bit with cleaning their back yard. Aunty Wilma. . . Mahea's mom. . . made the yummiest hamburger patties. . . she had terriyaki sause, green onion, and oatmeal in the ground beef. After it was cooked it tasted so good in between a bun with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and bacon.
Pineapple cake mix (any cake mix will do)
two banana split snack pack pudding packs (eight individual servings. . . or pudding of your choice)
two strawberry snack pack jello packs (eight individual servings. . . or jello of your choice)
one small can of pineapple chuncks
one small can of mixed tropical fruits
one large container of extra creamy cool whip
six peeled and thinly sliced kiwi or any other fruit you desire.
After baking and cooling the cake cut into thin slices to place at the bottom of a 9x13in pan. Be sure to save the same amount of cake for the top layer as well.
Spread pudding across the cake layer. Chunk up the jello out of the little containers they come in then layer it onto the pudding evenly. Then drain the cans of fruit and layer it onto the jello evenly. Layer the thin slices of cake you saved onto the fruit. Spread the cool whip over the cake layer and place your sliced fruit.
This is the easiest pretty dessert ever. I love it. In fact for mother's day I made a chocolate version of this with just bananas and strawberries minus all the other fruits and it was even better.
The pictures at the top is half of this recipe.
hi aunty kanoe this is leila but dont call me leila on my blog becuz mom said i have to... read more
on Keiko moments