Best Friends

Kaila’s 3rd Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated Kaila’s 3rd Birthday! I can’t believe how quickly she’s growing up!

Spent the day at the Ala Moana Shopping Center

Watching the beautiful Koi fish

Then a shopping spree at the Disney Store

Hawaiian food dinner – chicken long rice, kalua pig, sweet sour spareribs, poi

Dreams do come true . . .

Happy Birthday Kaila!

Thank you Aunty Cathi for the beautiful dress!

 

The Dove Self-Esteem Weekend – “Let’s Talk”

The Dove Self-Esteem “Let’s Talk” Weekend has come to an end and what a great time we had! It was a great opportunity for my daughters and I to have a heart-to-heart talk about the importance of self-esteem.

Dove is committed to inspiring all women and girls to reach their full potential by caring for themselves and each other. The Dove Movement for Self-Esteem invited all women to join them in creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety. There were many ways in which women could take simple actions that build self-esteem in girls. It could have been as simple as inspiring the next generation with words of encouragement, spending an hour on a self-esteem building activity, or supporting self-esteem education in her town.

For our weekend, I decided to get the girls outdoors . . . away from the television, magazines, and video games. It was time to be one with nature and show them a different meaning to the word “beautiful”. When I told the girls of my hiking plans they were very excited. They’ve never really been on a hike before and they couldn’t wait to see what it was all about.

We arrived at the Makiki Valley Loop Trail and found that there were many paths to choose from.

Since I had Kaila (2) with us, I knew I would have to select the easiest path. That turned out to be a great decision because it allowed me to talk to my girls as we leisurely strolled through the forest. We talked about how they were feeling about our new family situation, things happening at school, and anything else that they wanted to bring up. It was then that Kacie (10) mentioned that some of the girls in her class had started a “popular girls” club and asked her to join. She said she wanted to participate since these girls were her friends but that she also didn’t like that the group excluded other girls that she liked as well. In the end she decided to decline so that she could be friends with whoever she wanted to.

I am so happy that we decided to participate in the Dove Movement for Self-Esteem weekend. Sometimes it takes an event like this to remind myself to stop and enjoy my kids while I still can. Pretty soon they’ll be all grown up and I’ll miss moments like this when they still turned to me for help and advice. This is my chance to teach them that character, confidence, and independence are important traits that will take them far in life.

This post was sponsored by Dove

Our Maika’i Award Student

For exemplifying safety, respect, cooperation, honesty, responsibility, fairness, pride, and kindness.

Congratulations to Kacie who received her school’s Maika’i Award today!

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