FOr My MOM

My mom is a very visual person. SHe hates when I live somewhere she has never been or seen. Well its been a year since we have lived here. SO I guess I am a little slow at getting her some pics.



After seeing these pictures you are probably asking..."where are they going to put that baby?" Good question.

Random Stuff

So I have these pictures of Rusty with his "Pilgrim Beard". He is such a cutie. I actually kind of liked the facial hair for a while but it started to get a little too long and pokey. A couple days of growth is quite nice.



Another random thing is our neigbor's cat. Such a sassy thing but I love her. Her name is Scarecrow. I caught her in a dead sleep one day. She was out to the world. Our neighborhood has many cats so I get my fix of kittys and Rusty doesn't have to deal with cat hair on everything. Best of both worlds...for now.

Christmas Dinosaurs

Well, it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and Rusty and I were trying to get into the spirit of Christmas. We made sugar cookie dough and frosting. We put it in the fridge over night (for best results).

Then Sunday night we rolled it out got out our bags of cookie cutters only to find that our Christmas cookie cutters were missing. All except for a snowman and a gingerbread girl. Bummer! I lent them out to someone last year and can't remember who. Anyways, Rusty decided to pick a few random cutters that could be toys...his brightest choice being the Christmas dinosaur.


What gets you into the spirit faster than a green and red dinosaur...nothing! They turned out really cute...and yummy. By the end of the night (9:15, past our bed time) I realized I never ate dinner, unless frosting and cookie dough counts.
Merry Christmas!

Drum Roll Please...

Rusty and Lala will be having a...BABY!

The baby is a...Pirate according to this picture.

The baby wanted to say "hi" to all of you in this picture.

Apparently SHE wanted to show you this too...


It's a GIRL!!

Two Peas in a Pod.

Rusty thinks its so funny when we get dressed for church if we are matching. Often I'll get dressed first and Rusty throws on a matching tie as we leave the house. Then someone at church will point it out and I finally realize and smack him as he laughs.

During the week he gets dressed first and leaves before the sun gets up. One perticular Friday I decided to meet Rusty in town for dinner. We do this every now and then. When I picked him up we realized that we were matching but more than just a matching tie. It was pretty funny and pretty embarissing.



Then the other night, we were visiting our friends for dinner. Rusty just stopped on his way home from work. After dinner we decided to play games. Rusty wanted to change. We thought it was so he could be more comfortable, but he had a hidden agenda. We went home got our game and Rusty put on John's clothes. Or some that looked all to similar to the very outfit he was wearing at dinner.


Will I ever understand Rusty's fetish? Probably not. I love him anyways!

Baby Bump Update

Well its getting bigger. I know...I know, people will say you don't know big. But it feels big to me. Its funny cause being a girl you are always thinking about your looks even when your not thinking about it. Your natural tendency is to suck in your gut. I had a roomate who for pictures always showed her "good side" What is wrong with us. I don't know but we do it. So I have realized I am still doing this. Even with my prego belly I have the urge to suck it in. The baby is probably so happy when I am off gurad and letting it all pop out.

I tried hard not to suck in for this picture, but it probably could get a little bigger. It really is weird seeing my stomach just grow. You know its going to happen but its still weird.

Mamma Called the Dr. And The Dr. Said...

No More Skimming for Pregnant Lala!

Boo Hoo!
What can I do? The waves are big its the best time for skimming and I have to sit back and sun bathe? Anyone who knows me, knows sun bathing last about ten mins before I get major ADD. So the result has been me skimming despite the Docs orders. Luckily no monkeys have fallen off the bed. I am past the stage in skimming where you eat sand. In fact the only time I fall is in water now. Its a little more forgiving. Every where I go people tell me "Your pregnant? Oh, no more skimming for you then." I laugh like yea...but secretly I think probably on Saturday I will go.

I know its bad some of you are thinking I am the worst mother to be in the world. I feel the same way. Skimmboarding is my drug and I am addicted. What makes it worse is everything I think of thats an alternative is kinda off limits too. I'm supposed to avoid any type of jarring physical activity. That gets rid of all the fun ones. So everytime I start telling my self no more skimming I get really depressed.

Last Saturday after we went skimming I told Rusty, "You have to be the parent here and tell me I CAN'T GO." He said, "When have you ever listened to me?" I told him he had to be persistent. Then we thought of an alternative sport to play...tennis! I love tennis. So on Saturdays we will play early in the morning then go for a cool down swim across the street at Pipe Line. If anyone else plays tennis let me know I would love to have a partner any day Monday-Friday.



On a happy baby note we find out what the baby is on the 18th of this month! Woo hoo! This will be the first apt. Rusty has been to. He'll get to hear the heart beat, see the baby movin around inside of me and, as my mom said we get to find out what color the baby is. Should be exciting for all!What swim wear do you think our baby should wear?

I'm Growing Up...or out

So there are a few questions people ask me when they know I'm pregnant. The first is always..."Is it a boy or a girl?" Good question. Since I haven't had any visions in my dreams my answer is the same. Don't know yet. The other frequent question is..."how far along are you?" When I tell them about 3 months the coment that often comes next is..."oh, then your not showing yet." I wish that were true. Actually its not so bad really. I think its fun to have a "baby bump" as I like to call it. This is the first pic of our little alien hanging on our fridge (cute magnents...thanks mom).



It just blows my mind that something so little can have such an impact on every aspect of my life. Sleeping, eating, peeing, my energy, and even give me a baby bump. I think I might be getting large and in cahrge with this one.

So here it is everyone. My baby bump for all to see..who haven't already seen. Pretty exciting I know...Don't hurt your self with all the excitement!

Butterflies in My Stomach

So, today I went to the doctor for a visit. Very exciting things you know...breast exam, paps, urine samples, its almost like...going to a day spa! But Better! Cause I didn't know about one thing they were going to do.

They did the thingy that lets you hear the heart beat of the baby! Fun! So she's looking around trying to find the little wipper sanppers heart beat and listening to the sounds of my insides make their music...then bamb she found it. Except it didn't sound like a heart beat it sounded like air being blown quickly over and over. Little butterfly wings for a heart. It was very exciting. I wish Rusty could have been there. Its been hard trying to get apts. around my work schedule let alone both of ours. I actually had to get a sub for the first half of the day. When I came back after lunch all my kids were like,
"Mrs. Rueckert,we missed you, were you sick? Why were you gone?"
"I Had a Drs. Apt."
"Why"
I hesitate, then say, "I wasn't sick I was doing something exciting (day spa). Do you want to know what I was doing? "Many big eyes and mouths awaited. "Mrs. Rueckert is going to have a baby!"
Many voices and a few hands shot up. So we did question and answer for about 10 mins along with many stories of their experiences with babies. My favorite comment, "Mrs. Rueckert you don't look like your going to have a baby."
Bless you child...no homework for you. I quickly said, "I will get bigger."
And of course, "Are you still going to be our teacher after you have the baby?"
"Well, someone will come and help me teach you...but I'll come visit."
"And will you bring the baby?"
"Of Course!"

They are very sweet! I love these guys...even though they can get under ones skin. So I opened up my big mouth. It will be a few more mins before the rest of the North Shore of Hawaii gets news of my bun in the oven. I already had one parent ask min after the bell rang.

My New Excuse for Everything

So Announcement! I am pregnant! Not THAT pregnant. And when I am as big as her I won't be as artsy as this lady to get this pose.

I am 11 weeks along. Due April 11th. Don't know the sex yet but had my first ultra sound to see the heart and the alien inside of me. I am one of the LUCKY who didn't get very sick. I just had a couple weeks of wipeout! Where you feel like the train hit ya. After that I felt great.

The last two weeks have been fabulous! I feel like me again. Don't tell anyone cause its a great way to get out of...just about anything. For example..."Why haven't you updated your blog?"..."Oh, I've been feeling kinda sick, you know, the critter growing inside of me." The possibilities are endless as to what you can get out of.

Even Rusty has enjoyed using this unborn child to get out of a thing or two. Mostly he has been enjoying the snacks I bring to church. It seems as though he enjoys church a lot more. Should have thought of that sooner.

Open House!!

I made it through another open house! Talk about a long day. I left at 7:00 am to go to work and left my class at 8:00 pm to go home. Yikes was I tired!

It was great though. I had a chance to talk to many parents. Discuss their child's strengths and those things that are making life...hard for me. I had a constant flow of questions and discussions with parents for about an hour and a half. At 7:45 It finally died down. I drove home watched some olympic divers. And it was time for bed.

All those discussions with parents, all though very helpful for both parties in the classroom, Gave me way too much to think about in my dreams. I woke up at 2:30 wide awake with a million things on my mind. Ok 21 things...my students. Now thats crossing the line. I need a little break from those guys and sleep is that break. Needless to say today I am exhausted. I need some Ice Cream...spoon fed. Any volunteers?

Mexico Anyone?

Let me start by saying I have been a bad blogger lately. What is my excuse? Work. Thats right summer is over. Well atleast the vacation part is. Its still dang hot and humid, especially in the classroom.

Lets go back to when life was care free, when we couldn't understand all three hours of church in a liitle place called...Baja.

Rusty had never been to Mexico. Fun! I loved showing him something new. Like a little kid or something. We relaxed in La Paz. Saw some of the sights, enjoyed amazing sunsets. Rusty even got a mexican hair cut. That's brave! He was a little nervous because his spanish is...how you say...muy mal. So my dad had to tell Enrique what Rusty wanted. Rusty is lucky he didn't end up with a white head of hair like my daddy.

We saw many other parts of the baja Peninsula. La paz is in the middle and Cabo San Lucas is at the very end. Rusty and I took the water taxi(glass bottom boat) to see the very tip where the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific ocean join. Lalo, our taxi driver, showed us a cave. He said in spanish two go in and three come out. After struggling to translate in my head and then to Rusty I finally got what he meant. He was saying two people go in there and make a baby. Lalo...so funny. There is a beach over there called lovers beach and he dropped us off for ten mins to look around hte surf was up pretty high and guess what we saw...TWO SKIMMERS!! I was so excited. I wish we had brought ours. Next time!

WE also checked out some sights a little closer to La Concha, our Resort. One was Tecolote. Rusty and I decided to rent a jet ski. Too fun! And hello, have you ever had a mango on a stick! Now that is the life. They cut it up all cute like a flower. Oh then Rusty and I caught some octopus..you know, touristy kinda stuff.

The other place that we really loved was Balandra. It Famous for its mushroom shaped rock. A rock that Rusty concoured... with a little help from a local mexican. I'm so proud. The place had much more to offer. Star fish, blow fish, friendly rainbow fish from the 80's that come up to your feet, and little rays. They hide really well in the white sand but get them on that lettuce like kelp and they aren't so hidden. We had a blast!

One of the high light os the trip for me was cruisin around Spirito Santo Island. We saw and entered amazing water caves and natural windows. We collected shells from the beaches. We saw dolphins jumping around our boat. We even went snorkling with the wolves...los lobos as the call them in Mexico. We know them as sea lions. These things were masive. THey kept grunting or barking in the water. The biggest one was easily 700 lbs. The pictures don't do them justice.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great trip!!

We're Back!!

I have so many pictures to go through from our trip. One thing that sped up the process is that I lost all of my pictures from Idaho...technical problems...bummer. The Mexico pictures will come soon I promise.

So Latest news for me is that I got a hair cut. One thing I have found when you have long hair is that most people don't even notice when you get one. I could cut off a foot and most people don't even look twice. I thought this one would get a double take, but only a few noticed. So here is the before and after pictures.

Before and After

Its a good change. Shorter hair is so much easier...why do I ever let it get that long. Anywho Rusty and I have been getting back into the swing of things. He leaves for work, I try to stay busy for 10 hours while he's gone and then we eat dinner and play for a couple hours before bed. Good times. Lately we have been going on bike rides. Rusty found a bike under the porch and fixed it up. And I got a bike from Walmart. It makes for a fun evenimg. We just take our bikes along the beach path that starts at Sharks cove and ends at Sunset. We don't usually get that far. Even at night it gets pretty warm. When we got home from our mainland trip my bike had made a friend with the vine under our house. It was actually remarkable how the vine intertwined its self around anything that was thin...like the spokes, the brake wires, and other parts of the bike.


Another bike experience we had was when Rusty and I went out for family night and about 5 min. into our ride it started pouring rain. We camped out under a big tree for another 5 min. until the rain died down then booked it home. Rusty's prized bike doesn't have a splash guard on the back tire. Poor Rusty.

Our Front Yard

wE HAVE BEEN BUSY! mY sUMMER BREAK STARTED ON MONDAY AND i HAVE BEEN SPENDING ALOT OF TIME STUDYING...HAHA. oKAY, i HAVE BEEN SPENDING ALOT OF TIME AT THE BEACH. aLL THIS TIME HAS LEAD ME TO FIND A GREAT TREASURE THAT'S BEEN RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE THIS WHOLE TIME AND i NEVER DISCOVERED IT. itS A BEACH CALLED tHREE tABLES. tHE NAME COMES FROM THE REEF FORMATIONS. tHEY COME OUT OF THE WATER TO FORM TABLE TOPS. wELL THIS IS A FISH PALACE.

tHERE ARE LOTS OF FUN CAVES AND LITTLE ARCHES TO SWIM THROUGH.

tHE OTHER DAY WE WERE OUT WITH OUR FRIENDS nATHAN AND hEBB (HER NAME IS lIZ & SHE SERVED ON TEMPLE SQUARE...LAST NAME WAS hEBB) wE SAW A hUGE tuRTLE! sO FUN! thIS THING WAS WAY OVER 100 YEARS CAUSE IT WAS HUGE. tURTLES ARE SO CHILLED OUT. iTS NO WONDER IN nEMO HOW THEY MAKE THEM ALL "SURFER DUDES". i WAS THINKING THEY JUST SOUNDED HIGH. pOINT BEING IS THAT THEY ARE SO RELAXED IN THE WATER AND LET YOU GET SO CLOSE WITHOUT A CARE.

oN THE SIDE OF THIS BEACH THEY HAVE BIG LAVA ROCKS THAT MAKE TIDE POOLS WITH FUN FISH, URCHINS, HERMIT CRABS, AND SEA CUCUMBERS (SEA SLUGS). tHE ROCKS STAY REALLY WARM BECAUSE THEY ARE BLACK. eVEN AT NIGHT THEY ARE STILL WARM. wE WENT THE OTHER NIGHT TO WATCH THE SUN SET AND THE ROCKS WERE LIKE A HEATED RECLINER. iT LOOKS LIKE rUSTY AND i WILL CONTINUE TO ENJOY ANOTHER FEW YEARS OF OUR HONEYMOON HERE IN hAWAII.

No Hot Water...or cold.

Rusty and I are pretty easy going when it comes to the constant struggle we have with our water heater. We have solar pannels on our roof that are supposed to heat our water, and when those don't kick in due to cloudy weather we have a flip switch...a pricey flip switch. When things aren't just right you can imagine our showers are pretty quick.

A few days ago we would have been happy to have cold warm hot or a combonation of any of the three. I got home form work and went to the beach to escape the summer heat. After a swim and a little nap I went home to get dinner ready. No water! It's funny how when your power goes out, (seems like a common occurance here in Hawaii), you still try and flick on the lights every time you go into a room. Well the same thing happens when your water is out. Its crazy how often we use water for the simplest things. Brushing your teeth, dishes, rinsing my hands after handling food, washing hands before preparing food, and of course showering after the beach.

I couldn't go to bed in my "condition". So rusty and I in the true spirit of the North Shore went for a night swim. After our swim we walked down to Sharks Cove (5 min walk) and took a shower in our bathing suits at the beach shower. Good times. The next morning we had water again. The End.

Our New Pet

wHO KNEW GEKOS COULD BE SO FRIENDLY?

sO rUSTY AND i LIVE ON THE nORTH shORE OF hAWAII. iTS PRETTY COUNTRY, SMALL TOWN. wE LOVE IT. wE HAVE ROOSTERS AND CHICKENS THAT KEEP AWAY THE CENTIPEDES, AND GECKOS THAT KEEP AWAY COCKROACHES. wELL AT LEAST THATS WHAT i THOUGHT THEY DID. wE HAVE A WINDOW IN OUR BEDROOM RIGHT BY OUR COMPUTER. tHIS VERY LARGE LIZARD WOULD ALWAYS BE HEADING OUT WHEN i GOT HOME. tHEY LOVE SUN BATHING ON OUR FRONT PORCH, WHO WOULDN'T.tHESE ARE NORMAL GECKO ACTIVITIES. bUT YESTERDAY i DISCOVERED A NEW PAST TIME FOR THESE FRIENDLY REPTILES.
a GECKO PLAYING wii? nOW THATS AN ACTIVITY i WAS UNAWARE OF. i COULD TAKE THIS GECKO TO THE CIRCUS AND MAKE A BUCK. dON'T KNOW HOW GOOD HE IS AT wii BOXING BUT WE'RE ON TO SOMETHIN'. tHIS IS NOT THE END OF OUR NEW PETS TRICKS. tHIS LIZARD WAS VERY TINY SO TO GET A GOOD PICTURE i HAD TO GET EXTREMELY CLOSE. i COULDN'T BELEIVE HOW BRAVE HE WAS. sO i THOUGHT, BEING THE ANIMAL LOVER THAT i AM, THAT i COULD TOUCH THIS THING. tOUCH HIM i DID. eVEN BETTER HE JUMPED RIGHT ON TO MY HAND. hE PROCEEDED TO CLIMB UP MY ARM ON MY SHOULDER. hE MUST HAVE BEEN ENJOYING THE HEAT THAT WAS RADIATING FROM MY SKIN AFTER A FEW HOURS AT THE BEACH.

i GAVE rUSTY THE CAMERA AND TOLD HIM TO GET A PICTURE OF THIS. tHE GECKO LIKES PHOTOGRAPHY AND JUMPED FROM MY BACK ONTO THE CAMERA. rUSTY WAS A LITTLE STARTLED BUT NOT NEARLY AS STARTLED AS WHEN THE gECKO JUMPED FROM THE CAMERA TO HIS FACE! i AM LAUGHING HISTARICALLY AS RUSTY sPITS AND THE GECKO LANDS BACK ON HIS HAND. aPARENTLY rUSTY DOESN'T LIKE BABY GECKO FEET IN HIS MOUTH. i WAS JUST SAD i DIDN'T CAPTURE IT ON FILM. tHE BEST TRICK OF ALL IS THE GECKO EVEN HELPED ME WRITE THIS bLOG. oKAY HE PROBABLY JUST LIKED THE HEAT FROM THE COMPUTER. wHAT A CUTIE! hE SERIOUSLY HUNG OUT FOR ABOUT THREE HOURS. cAN i KEEP EM' dAD?! cAN i?!

sTANLEY

sO, MY NEPHEW sCOTTY bEAR IS IN THE 2ND GRADE. aND HIS CLASS READ A BOOK CALLED fLAT sTANLEY. wITH OUT TELLING YOU THE STORY sTANLEY GETS FLATTENED AND SENT VIA MAIL AROUND TO DIFFERENT PLACES. aS A CLASS THEY MADE THEIR OWN FLAT STANLEYS AND i GOT ONE FROM ONE OF sCOTTY'S CLASSMATES. sO i TOOK sTANLEY AROUND TO SEE THE SIGHTS...(MOSTLY JUST THE BEACH SINCE THATS ALL rUSTY AND i DO). i INTRODUCED sTANLEY TO MY CLASS, TOOK HIM TO mATSUMOTOS sHAVE iCE, AND MANAGED TO GIVE sTANLEY A PROPER LOCAL MAKEOVER. mOST IMPORTANTLY THE SHAKA AND THE SLIPPERS AKA FLIP-FLOPS. rUSTY AND sTANLEY LOOK SO CUTE TOGETHER! bELLA WAS IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. sTANLEY WAS HER BEACH DOLL. sHE KEPT LOOKING AT HIM FOR THE PICTURE UNTIL WE SAID PUT STANLEY ON YOUR TUMMY. sUCH A SMARTY...AND A CUTIE! sO BACK TO cALI i SENT sTANLEY WITH A LEI AND A PICTURE BOOK OF ALL OUR GOOD TIMES.

sKIM cITY

sO THIS IS WHAT rUSTY AND i DO FOR FUN. I AM SURE YOU HAVE HEARD US TALK ABOUT IT. sOME OF YOU HAVE EVEN SEEN IT. wE ARE TRYING TO GET BETTER. tHE IDEA IS TO SURF THE SHORE BREAK. sOMETIMES WE DO AIR TRICKS TOO. iTS PRETTY FUN ONCE YOU GET PAST THE PART WHERE YOU EAT SAND ALL THE TIME. nOW WE ONLY EAT SAND ONCE IN A WHILE. mUCH BETTER THAT WAY. rIGHT NOW THE WAVES ARE DEPRESSINGLY FLAT. sKIMMING IS PRETTY POPULAR IN cALI AND fLORIDA BUT HASN'T TAKEN OFF OVER HERE IN HAWAII. wHEN WE SEE ANOTHER SKIMMER ITS INSTANT FRIENDSHIP BECAUSE WE ARE A RARE BREED OVER HERE. rUSTY AND i ARE STILL BABIES IN THIS SPORT SOME OF THESE GUYS CAN SHRED THE WAVE UP AND GET BARRELED. itS PRETTY COOL. oNE DAY...WE WILL TOO.

Let me see that BELLA ROLL!

sO THIS VIDEO CRACKS ME UP. i TAUGHT bELLA HOW TO ROLL DOWN THE HILL AND SHE CAUGHT ON PRETTY QUICK. sHE JUST WASN'T SURE WHAT TO DO WHEN SHE FOUND HER SELF IN THE WATER. lOVIN THAT GIRL!

Pictures from our Latest Trip To Kauai

Decisions, Decisions!

wELL, IT LOOKS LIKE hAWAII WILL BE HOME FOR ATLEAST A FEW MORE YEARS. nOT TOO BAD OF A PLACE TO STAY. i DO MISS MY FAMILY BUT IF i HAVE TO BE AWAY... i WOULD ONLY BE HERE IN hAWAII.

sO WHO IS TO BLAME FOR THIS CHANGE IN PLANS?rUSTY! rUSTY DID IT! hE DONE WENT AND GOT HIMSELF A REAL JOB. yOU KNOW THE ONE THAT HAS BENIFITS AND PAYED VACATIONS. hE IS A jUNIOR fINANCIAL aNALYST. rUSTY'S FAVORITE PART IS THAT HE GETS TO DRESS UP AND LOOK ALL SHARP. wE WILL SE HOW LONG THAT LASTS.

wE JUST RECENTLY SOLD rUSTY'S CAR IN jANUARY WHEN WE MOVED TO pUPAKEA ON THE nORTH sHORE. sO WE DECIDED THE BEST THING WOULD BE TO TAKE hAWAII'S FINEST BUS SYSTEM: "tHE bUS". vERY CREATIVE NAME i KNOW. iT TAKES TWO HOURS EACH WAY! yIKES! i WOULD BE CRAZY BY NOW. bUT LEAVE IT TO rUSTY TO FIND SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE TO DO LIKE STUDY FOR HIS EXAMS COMING UP. hE ACTUALLY LOOKS FORWARD TO THAT BUS RIDE.

aS FOR ME i AM STILL TEACHING 1ST GRADE MATH AND READING AND pe FOR THE SCHOOL. iT KEEPS ME BUSY AND ENTERTAINED AND MOST IMPORTANTLY GIVES ME TIME FOR THE BEACH. iTS NOT AS FUN WITHOUT rUSTY THERE TRYING TO IMPRESS ME WITH HIS SKIM BOARDING SKILLS BUT IT KEEPS ME HAPPY AND TAN. nOW i AM TRYING TO GET READY FOR NEXT YEAR BECAUSE i WILL BE BACK TO FULL TIME FIRST GRADE. tHINGS ARE WORKING OUT JUST LIKE THEY ALWAYS DO.

mY fIRST REAL BLOG ENTRY...TEAR...lALA