Alive and Doing Well

Here are some random shots nothing too exciting just wanted to show

"We are alive and doing well"And YES the house is a mess:)

Obviously I need to work on "How to use my new camera to get this shot readable"

Azure lost her bottom teeth

Azure, has lost her two bottom teeth. The second tooth she hid from the tooth fairy so she could take it to school to show her friends at school. the tooth fairy was perplexed the night before, searching for the tooth. Her toothless smile is super cute!

She has done well in learning how to read. She is proud to know how to use spell many words, one of her favorites she know is B_E_C_A_U_S_E. She loves to practice reading in the Book Of Mormon almost more then practicing her homework.

Azure, has started to try many new foods. she has made a game out of tasting new things. Her new favorites include pineapple juice, grapefruit, and green beans. we love this and are happy to see her getting the needed nutrition.

Corban will be five soon

Corban will be five soon on April 15th.

He is still our "frog" I made him a frog costume to replace this one but he still likes this one, it is a size 3. I hope someday i can find the perfect replacement for him. He has loved being in preschool this year. He has been a trouper to get up and get dressed and out the door each morning. He does not love to have his teeth brushed, we will keep working on this. He is my boy who loves his toys. he gets lost in his own little worlds of play and is often talking to his imaginary friends and playing for hours in his world. Azure and Corban are mostly inseparable. They are learning how to get along together, at times when they do fight, they know they need to say they are sorry to one another. I teach Corban to make sure Azure is "oK" past the sorry words. That we need her to smile, before we move on, I belive he does well with this teaching. I think it has something to do with Corban being a very emotional boy. His feelings are very deep and often his crying tangents go on for long bouts and he is sent to his room to continue his tears. When he cries it breaks my heart to hear him, I have to remind myself that he is not in pain physically and that his emotions need exercised so that he can grow and mature.

Year four has been great on to year five. . .YEAH!

Gwendolyn Delainey will be six Months on the sixth

GWENDOLYN Delainey

will be six months on April 6th I thought

I would share some photos taken in the last six months.

This cute girl was red from after bath-time. It does not get red like this anymore.

But I LOVE LOVE this silly face she makes.

Sleepy GWEn

Typical wide eyed Gwen DD

She almost looks like Azure, very grown up

Gwendolyn has changed our family dynamics. Azure and Corban are experiencing some draw back and some plus to number three. Overall, we LOVE having a girl, a boy, and a baby.

Gwendolyn is rolling from her tummy to her back. She can hold a toy firmly but drops it after short bits. We are looking forward to witness" crawling" to be on display in the next three months.

Gwen has shown to be a Mommy's Girl she prefers life by my side or in my arms or more than just with in her sight. I look forward to her world opening up when she learns to crawl.

Gwen DD loves food. we have started feeding her this past month. She can't seem to get enough. She opens her mouth with much anticipation at receiving a soupy rice and banana meal as often as she can.

Happy Six on the sixth Gwendolyn Delainey.

Elementary schools had good reviews

My good friend Stacey Johnson told me something that Confucius said, "Either your journey or your destinations is revealed but never both". Well moving to Hawaii is looking at my destination so in my Business. now to work on the journey I suppose.

I shared this with a few friends and family today it seemed to be true for each of us.

Oh and have you noticed something in the air, it could be spring but I think it is change for so many. I love change and I also think I may love my new haircut. Although I may go a bit shorter and a bit darker next time. WoW ! Have I mentioned lately I love life, especially when it's roll'en.

The Hawaii research we have done this week has been on the elementary schools. We found some good reports on the area we are focusing in on the city of Kaneohe and Kailua. Between these two is the hospital Dan hopes to get on at. Well if anyone has some updated information on the school system there let me know. I am planning on attending a Home School Expo next month to get some curriculum ideas not that I plan on Homeschooling but I wan tot make sure I am not completely in the dark if I need to. Although I will hope for safe school's in Hawaii and great education systems like Emillo Reggio programs that the kids have here. I think I spelled it right.

Oh life is speeding by. Everything in due time. I am getting excited about my business. I am busy writing my business plan,Ii need to get back to it. Oh, and I cut my hair, new for me.

We had a family Temple trip today brief but I will post pictures of the outing soon. Till then, aiming for Hawaii, building a business and Gwendolyn has started eating cereal yeah!!

Time line to meet GOAL

Here we see a beautiful mystic Hawaii Landscape. As we try to take the mystery out of Hawaii we will lay down our time Line for us to make our journey.

The time line; it looks like this

March 2010 Dan’s in School, kids in school

April 2010 Dan’s in School, kids in school

May 2010 Dan’s Second semester of nursing school is finished (with of course passing GRADES!)

June 2010 we will work on Elaine’s Handmade Paper business & prepare to move to Hawaii by selling everything we cannot take with us, & getting our house ready for renters. (if you know someone who want s to rent our house in spring of 2012 let us know it’s a four bedroom J )

July 2010 we will work on Elaine’s Handmade Paper business & prepare to move to Hawaii by selling everything we cannot take with us, & getting our house ready for renters. (if you know someone who want s to rent our house in spring of 2012 let us know it’s a four bedroom J )

August 2010 we will work on Elaine’s Handmade Paper business & prepare to move to Hawaii by selling everything we cannot take with us, & getting our house ready for renters. (if you know someone who want s to rent our house in spring of 2012 let us know it’s a four bedroom J ) School starts back up for Dan and the kids Azure will be in 2^nd Grade and Corban in Kindergarten.

September 2010 Dan’s in School, kids in school. Elaine works on her business.

October 2010 Dan’s in School, kids in school. Elaine works on her business.

November 2010 Dan’s in School, kids in school. Elaine works on her business.

December 2010 Dan’s in School, kids in school. Elaine works on her business.

January 2011 Dan’s in School, kids in school. Elaine works on her business.

February 2011 Dan’s in School, kids in school. Elaine works on her business.

March 2011 Dan’s in School, kids in school. Elaine works on her business.

April 2011 Dan’s in School, kids in school. Elaine works on her business.

May 2011 Dan Graduates from Nursing school YEAH!! The kids are out for the summer.

June 2011 Dan starts working as a Nurse. Elaine works on her business. The kids are on summer break.

July 2011 Dan works as a Nurse. Elaine works her business. The kids are on summer break.

August 2011 Dan works as a Nurse. Elaine works her business. The kids start school Azure in 3^rd grade Corban in 1^st grade.

September 2011 Dan works as a Nurse. Elaine works her business. The kids are in school.

October 2011 Dan works as a Nurse. Elaine works her business. The kids are in school.

November 2011 Dan works as a Nurse. Elaine works her business. The kids are in school.

December 2011 Dan works as a Nurse. Elaine works her business. The kids are in school.

January 2012 Dan works as a Nurse. Elaine works her business. The kids are in school.

February 2012 Dan works as a Nurse. Elaine works her business. The kids are in school.

March 2012 Dan works as a Nurse. Elaine works her business. The kids are in school.

April 2012 Dan works as a Nurse. Elaine works her business. The kids are in school.

May 2012 Dan works as a Nurse. Elaine works her business.

June 2012 One year of Dan’s work history completed. We can now MOVE TO HAWAII!

This is 28 months. In this time we must save the money to move.

Welcome To 2010

As I start this post with a picture of Hawaii from space.

I hope your first thought was, Hhmm Somewhere in the world.

This is about the sum of what I know about

HAWAII as a place in the world. Yes, I know of the stories others have told me of paradise, and beautiful weather every day, and beaches and flower lays. So with all the information I have (and Dan’s) we as a family have set a NEW 2010 Family Goal. That is to move to Hawaii. NOW just you wait to tell me "It's so expensive to live there,” AGAIN. I do hear you ALL saying that. And yet DAN and I have decided to make a goal of it.

To catch you up to the present Dan is in nursing school here in St. Louis MO. We own a home here in Maplewood MO. Have three beautiful, wonderfully behaved, and oh, so fun kids. The tale being Gwendolyn we are still getting used to having around. It is fun for us all to have a baby in our home. Azure is in 1st grade and Corban is in Preschool, he will be starting Kindergarten this fall.

Dan and I decided we wanted to blog about our Goal to move to Hawaii. To journal our progress and stay focused on the little goals to meet the big goal. We also thought we could make it fun to press through the thick of trying to accomplish a goal by blogging about how it is coming about.

To continue the catch up this goal was born a few weeks ago. When Dan did a search for the highest paid Nursing states in the US and Hawaii came up as number 2, we paid attention. Move to Hawaii has been on Dan’s dream list for a few years. California was number 1. Neither Dan nor I have any desire to move to cally. So when our previous plan was to not move from MO till it was time to attend CRNA School. Limiting the amount of moves we made, mostly because we thought being stable and settled was best for our children's education, this could be the best choice. Dan and I know there are lots of ways to cross a room. We are looking at a move to Hawaii as possibility of another way to cross the room. We will look in to how all this can be a goof education for our children. So, we are trying on this Hawaiian skirt or shirt and seeing if it fits our family.

For all those who say it's expensive we are looking at that again and again. We looked at a cost of living wizard. We know it will be expensive. We may stop drinking milk at $7 a gallon but not till we get there. And we may need to give our kids’ calcium and Vitamin D, oh silly me they will get plenty of Vitamin D in the sunshine of Hawaii. Point is we will make sure our kids are healthy but we will live within our budget and means. I am sure there are very healthy children there so we will do as the islanders do.

For those who know us we are not novices to moving. This move will be quite BIGger then we have ever done. YES it will be an expensive move. We will be saving ALL our money to make this GOAL happen. Oh, this is where I should mention our plan was to move just before Gwendolyn turned two. If we could swing it, because, that would save us one plane ticket. But, that has been bumped now; we will wait till Daniel has worked here for one year to get the experience needed for employment in Hawaii. Living here the additional six months will help prepare better for the move.

DETAILS, details, so much planning will go into this goal, another reason we are excited about the GOAL. While we continue to work these out we hope to keep you up on our progress. Saving our money, planning and working toward our goal over time, we think these skills will be valuable education for our whole family.

After telling the kids we printed out a map and showed them the island of Oahu where we plan to move. Azure of course has told her whole class and thus the cycle my father started with me has bleed down the genes. I was the girl at school who told everyone we were moving to Tahiti to live in a grass hut. Maybe seeing my Dad be blessed by his Heavenly Father to travel the way he always dreamed will inspiration that no Goal is to big or to small with the Lords help. We invited the children to pray with us to our H evenly father taking our decision to him to ask for his will and blessing and to know if it is a good decision for our family. We told Azure to listen with her heart and her mind. Following our prayer Azure immediately said," I am not quite sure what He is trying to tell me, I listened and I don't know". We explained to Azure that our answer would come but in the Lords time in the Lords way. But, when we received an answer we would know in our heart and our mind. I am excited for the Goal and all the emotions and learning and teaching to be had by it.

As we dream of hot winters, and sandy beaches. We wish you all great things to come with all of your 2010 Goals. And want you to be a part of ours!

The kids & I would like to gather your addresses. Azure, has a homework assighnment to bring in many friends & family's addresses to write letters to throughout the month of December. I would like to send cards to you. So please post in comments here,send in a message on FB, or email me @ elaineduree@hotmail.com whichever makes you feel most comfortable. Thanks, and Enjoy the holidays!

Gwendolyn Delainey Taken by Stacey Johnson

My friend Stacey Johnson takes such great pictures. My Gwen is beautiful but Stacey deserves credit to capture her beautiful features! I am Lucky to be this 'lil' girls Mommy!

Trying CLOTH

Dan's Boss gave us a gift of Cloth Diapers. I dug right into learn how to use them. I found there are many kinds. finding one that's just right for me I really had to sort threw them all. Here are some links to some of my favorites; http://www.bumgenius.com/ http://www.fuzzibunz.com/ http://www.thirstiesbaby.com/ http://www.blueberrydiapers.com/

I have tried a few different cloth diapers due to this fab online store Jillians Drawers For $10 I am trying cloth for 21 days.

I definitely like using cloth diapers. I am not sure if I will use them 100% of the time yet. So far I bought a lot of 11 off craigslist of AIO's from BumGenius in a size small, Gwendolyn is not in a small yet. The gift from Dan's Boss I am ordering the new duo diaper from thirsties. I decided I wanted a utility sink (I got this one way marked down) next to my washer to make washing out poopy diapers easy for me. My goal is to eventually have the $60 plus or minus a month I spend on diapers. Also, to save on diapering with our next child as well.