Shaker card video!

I gotta get better at posting on my blog.
So, I've figured out how to FINALLY make the how-to tutorial videos like I've wanted to.
Problem is, YouTube is only allowing me videos that are "so long" right now.
I suppose, after so many posted, you 'earn' more minutes, but right now, I'm supposed to keep them under 10 minutes.
So, with that being said, here's a shaker card!
I hope that anyone that reads this, also enjoys the video!
Thanks and aloha!

https://youtu.be/nLLDj8PksKo

New YouTube videos

Aloha! 
omygosh ... 

So, I've decided to keep up with my blog. It's been a LONG while, but I've missed it!! 

With new starts, comes new stuff! 

I have started to follow in the trend of YouTube videos, and creating my own how-to's! 

To start, here is a link to my very first how-to tutorial.. making my paper roses! 
Tara's Paper Roses!

This post is short and sweet, but stay tuned!
Another video is coming soon, and it's a Christmas card! 

Aloha, everyone! 

Wow, we're all grown up!

I need to pass this on..

Friends from school, some we're never close to, but thanks to Facebook, we're all living one big reuinion again!
It still fascinates me to see how all us 'kids' grew up & went down different paths in our lives. One path in particular tugs at me..
My Friend, Tanna, and their adoption journey.
This gets to me because my own husband is adopted.. I am grateful for the life his birth mother gave him, and planned for him to grow up in to.
God bless birth momma's, and momma's that grew their babies in their hearts instead of their bellies.

If you'd like to take a minute, and read their story, here is the link ::
Roush Road to China

Christmas 2012 ... Home!

"I'll be home for Christmas" had a whole new meaning this year!
We figured we'd go home for the holidays since it'll be a long while before we're home for anything again!

It was a nice visit! We found out that my brother in law & his wife are having their FIRST baby in August! YAYYYY!! And, my brother & his wife are having another wittle bebe boy!! EEEeeee! I am one VERY blessed aunt!
We also got to meet our niece for the first time... she's only 17mo... sheesh. She was a preemie like our own boogers. She is SO cute, and OH, so sweet! I love babies! I love them more so now that I can love 'em up, spoil them rotten, and SEND THEM BACK TO MOMMY & DADDY! woohoo!
that's a pretty cool feeling!

Here are some pics of our trip.. I wishe we had gotten more, but time was limited, and honestly, we just plain forgot..

Schroeder Family Christmas! I'm standing next to the bald boss man wayyyy in the back! 

4 Generations. My grammie, my momma, my Emily, and me.... (fat girrrrrl!)

Santa was good to the kids! As usual!

My monsters with my nephew, Tyson. LOVE that boy! 

They're so cute...

Lastly, but sure not least... a video of my oldest child 'playing' my mother's new digital piano. Super cool piano, btw. 

Tell me that kid isn't some kind of hilarious...?

It's a BURFDAY!

heehee.
That's an old inside joke between cousins.
moving on..

My oldest 'baby' is 12.. TWELVE. Who allowed this? WHO BLINKED?!
I swear, this kid is some kind of amazing.
He plays the trumpet in 6th grade band.
He does his best in school, and does anything to please his teachers.
He is kind to everyone, and prays for those that dislike him.
He has a cool sense of humor.
He loves his dog more than anything.
He loves his Xbox & Wii games.
An all-American kid.
My Jayjub. My JT.
Happy Birthday, baby boy! I hope your $95 dinner, and embarassment at the restaurant was fun for you, as much as it was a blast for us!!

Burfday boy eating his ribs!

Only girl eating HER ribs..

Oh, and here's a video of the embarassment at dinner. heh. We're such cool parents.

The title of my blog is what..?

...Hawaii Wishes, right?
heh.

I think the last time I typed out anything about orders was a WHILE ago, and honestly, I have NO IDEA what that last update was.

This summer, Boss Man was told to choose from a few options for orders.. They were crappy choices, but out of those, we chose to head towards Tornado Alley, Oklahoma...
wrong.
we were SO wrong.

After a MAJOR prep, a few disappointments, we had to tell the kids that we were moving, and going to Oklahoma...
Being the Army Brats that they are, they accepted the news graciously, and attempted to make the best of it.

Until August..

Boss man contacted me with news that the position in Oklahoma was filled & there was now a change of plans...
"What do you mean a change of plans?! What-the-crap? WHAT NOW?!"

Then I was greeted with this ::

That's right... ORDERS TO TRIPLER GENERAL HOSPITAL IN OAHU, HAWAII !!!

Yep. You heard me.
The Schroeder's are moving to HAWAII!!!!
We were BEYOND excited to hear this, and so VERY thankful that God is giving us the awesome opportunity to be in a place that truly made us happy!

This was how we told this surprise to the kids ::

...And a video of how the whole thing went down...

Uhh. Um. So it's been a minute, no?

Wow.
I didn't realize it had been SO long since I've written anything!
So, last thing that was written was back in February.
Since then, we went on our AWESOMELY awesome fun Disney cruise! We had SO much fun! If anyone of you EVER have a chance to GO... GOOO! Those 7 days were NOT enough time !!
I am going to attempt to post some pictures of the trip. I lost them ALL when a magnet fell on my laptop, and I was unable to retrieve them all.
**insert gasping, heart-wrenching pain in the gut feeling here**
yea. it was that bad.
ANYway... here are some pics of our adventures!

The Terminal!

My babies!

Some of the GRUB!

Cute, no?

My FAVORITE restaurant!

Night dancing over there --->

Boss man & I at a themed meal. I was Pocahontas, and he was some sultan.

STITCH!! my favorite!

Castaway Cay ... Disney's *private* island!!

Dang tourists... DAD! Get out of my PIC!! DADDD!!!!

My parents on their VERY first cruise & trip to ANY tropical islands! SUPER sweet, huh?

Hello crystal blue waters, and beeee-utiful ship!!

just some sloshy water on a VERY rockin' night out on the sea!

Goofy kids in the Goofy pool

crazy light-up glass on PIRATE NITE... arr.

Valentine's Day Teacher gifts....

HEEHEE!!
Thanks to Pinterest, and allllll the majorly cute thingies there to make, sew, bake, cook, create, etc, etc, etccccc.....
I fell in L*O*V*E* with one idea....

Making little 'notebooks' out of paint chip samples!!

...yeah. you know. those displays at Wal-Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc... paint chip sample papers... eeek!!
...and they're free!!
...and they make cutesy crafts!

I wish, wish, WISH I could find the original link of these CUTE little cuties, but I just cannot find it right now... Only because I need to give credit where credit is due, and these were *NOT* my idea!!!

ANEEEWAY, here's my take on them! All dolled up for a gift for Valentine's Day...
(Which, btw, the boss man & I just had a discussion about the way that's spelled... Valentine's Day... TO ME, it should be Valentines Day...but that's just the technicality junk, right??)

Oh, and this was just ONE gift. I did the kids' teachers gifts differently, and gave them chocolates instead!

I may just have to do a quick tutorial on them... mainly cause they're SOO-ooo-ooo easy to do & soooo-OOOO cute!!

Sweet Treats Birthday Card

My awesome grandmother let me load her 'Sweet Treats' Cricut Cartridge onto my Gypsy.
I have wanted that one for SOOOO long!!
...but, I wasn't able to make anything for a while with the holidays coming, sick kids, new year, a sick ME, school, life, household chores, feeding the family, etc...
(did you know you have to feed kids EVERYday? who knew? Apparently, they get hungry every few hours, too!)

ANYway...
I was tired of doing chores, and the 'mom' thing, so I sat & made a card. I finally used the Sewwt Treats cart, and I LOVE IT!
So, here's my birthday cake card...
... and no one to send it to!

...(maybe I'll mail it to myself for my birthday in February!! heehee)

T-shirt bag tutorial!!

Oh. My.
I recently came across a few sites of re-purposing clothing.
(I know, nothing 'new'...)
But I found something I thought would be easy enough to try out, and would be perfect for our upcoming DISNEY MAGIC CRUISE!! woot woot!!
oooh yes.
Disney cruise.
in April.
bring.
it.
on.
ANNND, my parents are going on said cruise!!! They've never been on one, and I just know it's gonna. be. a. BLAST!!!

ok, ok.... moving on.
T-shirt bag.

sooo stupidly simple, that you HAVE to at least try this one.  (kinda makes me wish I hadn't given away all our old shirts...arg.)

ANYWAY... go grab you some old/new/too small/too big, etc t-shirts.
Here we go...



Random shirts I had to use.. I know, I know... my Hawaii ones. SOMEHOW The Disney Store shirts are incredibly sturdy!!!



Open it up, lay it out flat as possible

Cut under the pit, all the way up. The lower you cut, the bigger the loop is to sling it over your shoulder.

See... like so. Not rocket science.

Then, flip the cut piece over to the other side as a template & cut it!

snip. snip. snip.

hula. hula. Minnie looks so happy! This is what it should look lik so far. With me?

See the 'tagless tag' markings? see??? OK... I don't want that in my 'bag', so I'm gonna cut just below that so no one knows the 'size' of my bag. Personal prefrence.

Fold in half as best as you can, making sure at least the neck hole area matches up...

snip. snip. snip. again.

eeeee! it's coming along!

tank top? nooooo.... cute beach bag! (almost)

Flip it inside-out. Time to sew.

Match up the bottom hem & sew along that line.

Just like so. sew? so. super-duper easy stiching here. Nothing fancy-schmancy.

Here's my stitch line. blue. See? no fancy stuff here.

My finished hula Minnie beachy/pool bag.

See this sad one? yea. This *was* one of my favorites. Sadly, it met it's doom in the dryer with a yellow crayon. And seeing as how I have ONE child that LOOVES 'lellow', I know who the culprit was. But that's OK.... cause it's getting a new life as a beachy/pool bag that's coming along on our cruise!

sigh.

All my purdy wittle bags!

my husbands uniform stars. cute, no? Well, now it's a super cute bag!!!

A few things I have thought about these are
1. It's totally recycling. (awesome!)
2. EASILY washable!!!!
3. Light enough for kids to 'tote' around.
4. ROOMY enough for a towel, sunscreen, change of clothes, sunglasses, book, mp3 player, wallet, etc.

All these shirts were either a size L or XL. The bigger the shirt, the bigger the bag, obviously. And vise-versa.
It took me about 30 minutes to do up these 5 little bags. Who doesn't love an easy sewing project?

Really. You have to try this one. Lemme know how yours turn out!!