Outside of Books | YouTube Mom | 8/21/21

I let my son have a gaming youtube channel this summer. He’s been asking for five years now and he’s been learning the ins and outs of screen recording on his ipad or using a capture card for his nintendo switch – but he hates editing. So he is doing the editing? Me. 😂 And I haven’t used iMovie (I have a MacBook) in forever. It’s been a learning experience for me and I’m finally getting the hang of it…sort of. Also I’ve learned to use youtube for their audio library and uploading, etc…see I learn so much being a stay at home mom!

Outside of his gaming videos he and his sister have started making Pikmin videos. What are Pikmin you ask? It’s these creatures:

They are from a Nintendo game called PIKMIN and from what I learned from my son (since I only played the game with him a handful of times)…they are flower creatures. They come from the ground, which is kind of cute but they all have a different elemental power. Now as you can see from this collection, some are store bough plushies (those are the more durable looking ones) and the rest – well…I sewed them 🤣 with left over fabric (old tshirts) or felt. It was a lot of work…and now that we have a puppy – he loves them too. As you can see, Pink Pikmin has not faired well at all…and some eyes have gone missing even. 😭

They use my cell phone to film the videos. I did the first couple “takes” and taught them how to prop the phone etc…so at least now they can set it up and shoot a video without me directing them. Oh yes…I’m director, co-producer, tantrum calmer (for his sister who wants to be included), brainstormer mediator and editor….oh and social media coordinator or whatever title that is – I post the videos to Facebook so Nana in Philadelphia can watch them and whoever else. It’s exhausting but my kids and I feel so accomplished when we actually finish an “episode”.

According to my son, there are 2 series he’s making – 1st one is called The Pikmin Quests ~ where there is some storyline in my son’s head (yeah there is NO scriptwriting in this process lol)…there is danger, there is drama, there are plushy fights…you get it.

Here are the first two episodes:

And then he wanted a 2nd series where the Pikmin just go around our house and neighborhood and have fun. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Here is the first video for that series:

So obviously, I can’t already see things on here that bug me – like the first 2 videos I saved at different sizes I think. I couldn’t remember what settings I used for the first video like fonts for the title etc…so now I’m writing notes down in a notebook when I create these things – like song titles, fonts, and to remember to film in landscape mode instead of using my phone upright! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyway that was my life outside of books this past weekend! The videos were filmed weeks ago…but I finally sat my booty down to edit all the clips and make into a “video”. It’s just been so busy with my son back in school, entertaining my daughter who is not in school and a puppy who wants to be outside all the time and it’s so HOT. 🥵

Leave me any tips below if you are a youtuber and make videos! Stay safe and thanks for reading!

❤️ ~ Yolanda

Dog Mom – Atlas Chronicles | Outside of Books | 8/2/21

Hi friends! So outside of books I’m not only a mom of humans, I’m a mommy of an almost 9 month old puppy named Atlas. I feel like we’ve had him forever. We’ve had dogs before but my kids were really young when we had them and they had passed away. I feel like Atlas is the dog that will be remembered during their childhood and watching them bond is the sweetest thing ever.

Atlas is a mixed breed, supposedly a dachsund mix…but he is all terrier! He looks like the twin of a dog I had in my 20’s. So definitely a terrier, not sure what kind though. He is the cuddliest boy.

The first day we got him 🥰 He was 2 months old!

There was a moment when I thought the kids wouldn’t bond with him because he had razor sharp puppy teeth. My son was afraid of his teeth and puppy energy (he had the zoomies for a good 2 months!!). My daughter didn’t care if his teeth got her but I minded a lot so I had to train my kids and Atlas at the same time, one not to bite and the others to pick up his signals and to train him! It was a challenge…I almost regretted having a puppy. 😫😭 I had raised two puppies but that was before I had children so it was a new venture for me for sure.

With a lot of consistency in keeping his schedule, training, playing and more training…he is pretty much potty trained (if we leave the house sometimes he can’t hold it when he hears our car pull up in the garage). He is so cuddly and always wants affection. He is sort of obsessed with my parents, his grandparents who come over once a week to my house – oh his excitement when he sees them. It’s a little bit uncontrollable lol…but we are working on that. I’d say neutering him and his adult teeth finally coming in really calmed his energy down.

He has a favorite pair of fuzzy socks that belonged to my son – but he carries them in his mouth and whines every morning and drops them in the lap of my kids. It’s so sweet and they thank him for the socks. He also has one favorite squeaky bone toy he plays fetch with outside. I’ve tried different toys but the bone is his favorite, so yes I had to hunt for a pack of it on Amazon!

Atlas and my daughter are like puppies together! They are the youngest in our family and have quite a bond. She never feared him even in his wild early puppy stage when he was learning. Now she can’t even pick him up (we had him when he was 3 lbs haha…he’s now much heaver) but that’s okay, he flops down into her lap constantly.

As for my son, I had my son start doing his lunch and dinner feedings and taking him outside to potty. I told him when he stays consistent with his routine they will bond and sure enough – now he isn’t afraid of his teeth. Now I catch the two of them playing fetch outside together without adult supervision. I’ve found Atlas in his bed a couple times cuddled up next to my son and it makes me so happy.

Atlas was the perfect fit for our family and he has really grown into a loving, affectionate dog. We are still working on socializing him (he gets afraid of other dogs – especially big ones) but he’s much more curious on his walks so that’s good. I can’t believe he’s not even a year old yet, it feels like we’ve had him forever!

Do you have any pets? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading. 😘 ~ Yolanda

Stickers with Procreate and Cricut | Outside of Books | 7/26/21

My kids love drawing with the Procreate app. I actually got it for myself and didn’t do much with it but I did have many grand plans, as crafters often do. But it wasn’t until my four year old daughter became obsessed with it that I took another look at it. She loves the app and because of her I learned to do more things with it…like make stickers!

Again, youtube tutorials were my teachers in this project. There are tons of videos on how to draw on procreate then turn them into stickers with a Cricut. Here’s what I made…

Here are some of the supplies I used to make the stickers – sticker paper (photo on the left) that I bought at Target. I did buy a bulk pack from Amazon (not pictured), a different sticker paper brand but the quality of the paper feels thinner.

The self-adhesive laminating sheets I bought on Amazon and it’s used to make the stickers waterproof, it gives it that shiny finish.

Here is what I made haha – they aren’t the greatest. I haven’t drawn anything since my college art classes almost 20+ years ago! But my daughter loves all the rainbows I made. I’ve been in a rainbow moon lately and I don’t know why. What will I be using these for? My Etsy shop – I like to add little free gifts for customers, so these would make good ones to insert in the package. 😊

Are any of you crafters into making stickers? What do you make with your Cricut?

😘 ~ Yolanda

Van Gogh Immersive | Outside of Books | 7/21/21

On Sunday, my family – along with my sister, went to the Van Gogh Immersive Exhibit. Vincent Van Gogh is my favorite artist. His paintings always evoked the strongest feelings in me – I like how he layered paint and how his moods were expressed in his paintings. He dealt with a lot of mental health issues and yes he eventually cut part of his ear in an episode but I think that’s why I love his work. His emotions are all there on his canvas and his letters.

I thought my kids would enjoy the experience because it’s like a moving art show instead of a canvas for them to stand there and look at. Here are some photos from our experience.

The first part of the Immersive event are these quotes from letters Vincent wrote to his brother Theo. I’m so happy he had Theo.

Since I was with my kids, they wanted to get to the main room…but first we walked through this room called the waterfall, I think. It’s where the images basically fall on a black backdrop and dark lighting.

And then we walked down a hallway…my daughter and sister went ahead of us, this was like a mini date day for the two of them. My daughter loves her Aunt and my sister adores her as equally…she has only two older boys, so my little girl…we share HAHA. 🥰

Walking with my son to the main room. ❤️

The main room is where the 35 minute “show” is held. There were some people standing around, some people sitting on the floor, a few elderly people were smart and brought folding chairs. We found a spot and took a seat – we didn’t see it from the beginning, not sure what part we came in because it plays on loop.

I’ve been real lucky to see actual Van Gogh paintings at the different museums I’ve visited over the years. During our European honeymoon we even got to visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, it was a dream come true for me. The only thing that seems out of my reach is seeing Starry Night in person! When I went to MoMA in NYC back in 2009, it was on loan to a museum in Paris. I was oh so sad…because it’s my favorite of his paintings.

This immersive experience with the music playing and the images moving was really amazing to me. I could have stayed there for hours just sitting there. I wish museums would have an immersive rooms like this, I’d probably stayed there awhile.

My daughter was definitely feeling the experience, she danced when the music played. She’s four and she told me she loves Starry Night too. ♥️ It’s the swirls around the stars and in the immersive experience it kept swirling and moving. My son enjoyed it but he got freaked out when the self portrait eyes blinked HAHA.

The tickets were pricey and I like I said I wish I could have stayed longer, but the kids would not have want to linger forever there. My daughter told me she wanted more rooms to visit. Yes, that would be nice too actually. My sister and I agreed it would have been amazing to have cafe chairs to sit on or even benches. And maybe a drink in hand, haha…both of us said we would have liked to just sit and linger and stare at the images with the music playing. It’s really beautiful.

She’s feeling the moment!

I really should put her back in ballet…😅

I enjoyed it a lot and glad I could show my kids my favorite artist. My son learned a bit about how Van Gogh’s mental illness helped shaped his creations. The color of his work depicted his moods and maybe that’s why I love them so much – it makes me feel something – I always said I liked how much paint he put on the canvas, like it looks so heavy with paint, and I can just imagine him painting with passion. His letters to his brother are so honest about his despair and also that he still had hope…especially when he looked at the stars.

Ahh…the dreamer in me just vibes with him. It was worth going to the show just to watch my daughter dance to the music and images…it made my heart overflow with joy. 🥰

Thanks for reading! ~ Yolanda

Summer Beach Days | Outside of Books | 7/12/21

We are in mid-July and that means my son starts 3rd grade in a little less than 3 weeks. WHAT?! Where did the summer go? I can’t believe he starts school again and this time full time, in class. I already did his school shopping, which was easier than previous years since I had so many things left over from 2020 – the home school year because of the pandemic.

Anyway, summer has gone by fast but I’m happy that I got to bring the kids to the beach and to the pool a lot in the past month and a half. So enjoy some of my beach day pics!

Ko Olina Lagoons

This is one of my favorite places to take the kids on the west side of Oahu (Hawaii island that we live on) – the water is so calm, the only thing is you have to get there early because parking is scarce. I’m an early morning person, so are my kids, so we always manage to get parking there but we leave the house at 7:30am to get that parking. There are 4 lagoons but 3 of them are connected to major hotels (Disney Aulani, Four Seasons, Marriott). The 4th lagoon is where most people who want public access go because it has the most parking, but like I said, get there early!

Do you spot the black crab on the rock? | Ko Olina Lagoons

Beach days…

Kapilina Beach Homes – Iroquois Point Beach

This was the first time we ventured to this beach. It’s on private property, a housing community called Kapilina Beach Homes, so you have to enter through a gate, show license/registration etc…and get a parking pass. You can’t use their beach chairs or cabanas and parking is in a designated spot or you will get towed. But that’s okay, I understand it’s for the residents and we were guests so that’s a definitely a perk for them! And there was barely anyone on the beach – I think there was only one other family in the spot we were at! That was nice!

The water was a little choppy, it had much more waves than the lagoons I like to take the kids since it’s not blocked off by rocks but open to the ocean – that’s okay because my son loves it. And there were crabs running all over the place, so I taught my kids how to catch the baby crabs and then let them go. It made me feel like a kid again, catching the crabs and it was so sweet watching my kids do it and they were so gentle with them.

It would’ve been nice to use the cabanas because it was crazy hot that day we went and no shade! I didn’t think to bring an umbrella. Next time we go, I’ll bring the umbrella. Also the beach faces Honolulu, so you can watch planes landing at the airport which was an interesting site to see.

Diamond Head in the distance – that’s where Waikiki and most of the tourists are

Some of the cabanas that we couldn’t use lol…:( can you imagine living in this neighborhood though? You can just walk to the beach!

The baby crab was super fast and I couldn’t get a video of it!

We live really close by to this area and I’m surprised we only ventured out to this beach this summer. I’ve been in this area for about 10 years now! I’m originally a townie 😅 a Honolulu city girl, but now we live in a development area that was supposed to have a lagoon area we could walk to also…but the plans keep changing which is a bummer. 😒 And now they are building an artificial wave maker/surf place in our area…hmmm…not sure how THAT is going to pan out. Is it for locals? Tourists? Not sure…We live in Hawaii, where natural waves are all around us…will people want to pay to surf waves? Maybe…I mean water parks are popular even here in Hawaii – okay we have like ONE water park. Maybe people can practice surfing on fake waves first? I don’t surf so I don’t know. The only thing I really like to do at the beach is sit in the shallow end and chill…lol…that’s how I enjoy the beach!🏝☀️⛱ Of course I build sandcastles with the kids and look for shells, etc…but yes I’m more of a chill beach goer than a sporty one.

Anyway, we haven’t ventured to North Shore or South Shore beaches this summer but that’s okay because the West side beaches are amazing too!

Do you like to go to the beach in the summer? Or lake? Let me know in the comments – I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for reading! 😘 ~ Yolanda