02/14/10

{45/365} Happy Lunar New Year

Yes I am aware it is also Valentine’s Day today but I have been looking forward to Lunar New Year as well! Any event where it is sanctioned that I can eat tons of Korean food AND celebrate with friends I am all about! We were headed to another town for the celebration! Aaron had fixed the car battery and we were ready to go!

I watched my beloved Illini lose and then we left because I want to visit the fabric store in that town as well as the Asian grocery so we left early. Everyone looked so cute…I say that because not everyone was wearing what they left the house in come dinner time.

We get to the town and Little Man and I went into the fabric store (Little Princess was asleep). I smell something and soon realize it was coming from Little Man. His diaper NEEDED changed. So I call Aaron and ask him to bring in the diaper bag (leaving Sunny and Little Princess in the car). He brings it in and tells me he will change the diaper while I finish shopping. Ok sounds good to me. So I finish up my shopping and notice that they are not back out yet. I head back to the bathroom where I hear Little Man crying and Daddy well let’s just say he is not so calm. I get them to let me into the men’s restroom (luckily it is a one man bathroom) and realize that the diaper had exploded everywhere. Daddy knew the only other outfit I had for Little Man was his hanbok and so he had tried to clean up Little Man’s clothes but the whole room smelled like poop. So I sent Daddy to fetch the hanbok and I proceeded to bag up all of the clothing and poop covered diaper. I cleaned up what I could of the poop covered diaper bag and tried to decide what to do next. I was trying not to cry because well if I started I would not stop. We got Little Man dressed in his hanbok and left.

After a few unanswered phone calls to friends who were coming to dinner…we went to Wal-Mart where I had to settle for clothing that I had not planned on. By this point I am trying so hard to find something funny about all of this because I am close to tears. All I could think is WHY….

So we arrived a few minutes late to dinner (sorry everyone) BUT I managed to keep it together and we had a great time…it was pretty fun! Thank you friends for not asking and for understanding! I cannot wait for our next event there should be even more kids! I will NOT label the children in this picture….which happens to be the best picture I got of all of the kids there…if you know the kids just use a first initial in the comments and DO NOT link to a parents blog unless you are a parent.

And for those thinking Little Man is sick – he may be BUT we are working on a stool testing to make sure we know what we are dealing with first…this is not the first time this has happened and we have other issues. (Same for Little Princess…)

So to the pictures…

And my absolute favorite picture even though I didn’t take it…check her out:

12/17/09

Bad Mommy, Good Mommy

So I have been so busy this year that the list of things to do for Christmas just keeps growing and growing and as it grows something some how falls off like oh say the Christmas Cards. I feel bad our Christmas cards never made it this year (and it is probably too late now) and Christmas gifts are well not as many as in years past (that is not all bad). Well I manage to miss EVERY opportunity for pictures with Santa, yep everyone. So now I MUST take the kids to see the mall Santa (something I am not so fond of but I am going to do so we have the pictures).

But why have things fallen off the list, because I have been playing with my kids and teaching them new things. One day I spent a good portion of the day realizing how far the kids have come in just over a year and crying. Another day the twins learned to count to 5 (though I am the only one who has heard it thus far)! One day we all cuddled up together and took naps together even though I should have been getting ready to go out. I have been trying to enjoy my kids more this holiday season. That seems more important to me, how about you?

The above picture is from Thanksgiving — I forgot I had all of these pictures and because I am working on boxing up my old camera (my new one comes tomorrow) so you get this one today! Tomorrow I get my d90 and my 50mm lens to say I am excited is an understatement. I love when Christmas comes early!

12/16/09

Cookies with Grandma & Grandpa

So we were able to do cookies with Aaron’s parents as well! We did them at our house when it was play date time! They had fun! Here is the proof:

and because it was so cute to watch him literally throw the balls on the cookie sheet:

(see he was not even watching what he was doing…grandma had to move them so they were not piled on top of each other)

12/4/09

Casual Friday – Christmas

Hello! Welcome and thanks for stopping by my new home! I am still dealing with some moving issues and getting everything settled but please look around and make yourself at home! If you are here from my old home please feel free to add this blog to your favorite reader (the button is in the upper right hand corner) or get my updates sent to your e-mail (once again in the upper right hand corner, just click on the word e-mail)! If you would like you can follow the blog through google friend connect (it is on the right hand side as well). I am working on my new blogroll and adding a few more buttons to the sidebar!

One of my favorite times of year is Christmas and I L-O-V-E to decorate for Christmas. So this year I talked to Fiona over at Bantering Blonde about guest hosting Casual Friday (which I hope to do more often now!) and she said sure! So today I am guest hosting Casual Friday and I am asking everyone to do a walking video tour of their home decorated for Christmas or at least take a few pictures to show me what your favorite parts of your decorations are! You can add your link whenever you are ready, it does not have to be today or even a Friday and please feel free to add your link at any time! Thanks in advance for making my Christmas and participating in this bloggy tour of homes!

Here is the tour of my home:

Add yours here:

11/26/09

Happy Thanksgiving!

So today when I was trying to take a few pictures they got it! First Little Man and then Little Princess – they would say “CHEESE” and then smile. You only have a brief minute to get the picture but hey it is a start! I love hearing the word, it is SOOOOOO cute!

So because there have been a lot of changes this year in my husband’s family we all decided that the best way to handle Thanksgiving was to eat at the church (the church chef makes Thanksgiving dinner every year). The tickets were cheaper than we could have made Thanksgiving dinner and the chef is amazing! Oh my gosh were the kids HUGE hits in the clothing department….the compliments we received on their outfits! And more than once I was asked if I made them – even though I didn’t made me feel good because I can (and do) make outfits like this!

I loved the table decorations but I am still learning to take pictures of things that do not move at 20 million miles a minute! So check these out:

Question of the Day : What did you do for Thanksgiving this year?

11/24/09

Christmas Spirit

car wreath

I know that I said I was going to do a picture a day until Christmas and since I have been working on this site, I decided to put them all here and when it went live then you could see all the pictures!

Technically this picture was taken before Thanksgiving, almost a week before Thanksgiving, but when I saw it I HAD to take a picture of it. I about lost it right there and my friend said to me “And you are worried about decorating your house for Christmas too early?”

That wreath made me think of Christmas and smile the whole time we were in the store! (And I learned the true value of taking my camera with me everywhere I go…good thing I had it!)

So….my question for the day: Would you decorate your car for Christmas? Do you decorate in a way no one else does?

10/4/09

Chesouk and the Scenic Drive

One year ago today I was all packed and ready to go to Korea, my phone rang NON-stop and I was trying very hard to shop on the Scenic Drive with family before we all piled into my mom’s car, complete with car seats and drove to Chicago to board the plane to Korea. I was trying not to think of all the things going on in Korea at the time, like Chesouk (Korean Harvest Moon Festival – similar to our Thanksgiving but lasts longer than our Thanksgiving). I was VERY VERY VERY nervous and I think at least once during the day wondered if I really knew what I was doing (for the record I didn’t). There are moments today where I am right back there – the nerves and everything. I still cannot believe that at 1 p.m. tomorrow it will be a year since I boarded the flight to take me to the babies I now call mine or ours.

Friday night we celebrated Chesouk at our house! A local Korean woman (who we all love) had made us some beef and told me how to cook it, so I made steamed veggies, kimchi stew, rice, meat and some basic side dishes! It was SOOOOOO good and the best part of all my house smelled like Korea to me – yes the smells I remember from Korea are all of food (maybe that is because our room was on the same floor as the kitchen for Eastern!)! Ok before the pictures – yes we celebrated in our PJ’s and that is OK — we checked

Don’t ask me why Aaron didn’t put the kimchi stew on his plate but apparently believed it was best served on his tray – didn’t matter he would not eat it either place!

The same was NOT true of Little Princess – she DEMANDED more and ate every ounce that was given to her. This girl LOVES her kimchi and her kimchi stew! (We put rice with theirs to help a little….and she demanded it on all of her food and then she ate every last drop even food she would not touch before.)

Saturday (which is what day of the week today was last year) we took the kids on the Scenic Drive – though the weather choose NOT to cooperate and it rained for most of our trip, so we had to carry them around or put them in the stroller so no good pictures of them at the drive. It did lead to us coming home early though and I got a few pictures then! I cannot believe all the changes in a year!

I need to STOP calling them my babies….look how grown up they look and just wait until Wednesday when I compare them to the first day we laid eyes on them personally!

She felt she was all set – her drink, her book and a few extra books

Ok before you all think I am completely and totally cruel — he DEMANDED that his sister’s new orange and blue hair bows be put in his hair, so I did – they stayed there until he had a MASSIVE fit about having to share the drink (it was a slush they were sharing) and then they came out!

This is one of my new favorite pictures of her — a real smile!

Her turn with the slush!

Ending the day with a good book, or two or three or hey how about 20!

Yep the attitude I got when I tried to get her to stop reading and look at me!

(P.S. Yes Aunt Amy this is the entire outfit you got her for Christmas last year…it finally is not entirely too big! The pants are perfect and lined she will wear those a lot – until she grows again!)

And finally because you have not had enough of them already…..Playing before bed:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=533qyWvMS3o]

09/9/09

National Women's Friendship Month – Tinychat #1

Hello! Remember last Friday when I said that September is National Women’s Friendship Month and that on September 10th and September 24th I am going to do a tinychat in honor of that, well it is the 10th ladies (and gentlemen!)! So how do you join me on tinychat….first I want you to pick one in real life (irl) friend you want to talk about and one online friend you want to talk about (complete with blog, twitter, etc…about them) because we are going to talk about friendship! Also bring a glass of wine, a soda, a glass of water and some dessert and be prepared to laugh (sometimes we laugh so hard we cry!)

So how do you tinychat — well it works best if you have a webcam and headphones BUT you do not have to have either you can participate in JUST the chat room (I will be monitoring it so that NO ONE gets left out!)

So here is what you do — I (or one of my great buddies if I am running late getting back from an out of town errand) will open the room at 7:30 p.m. CST BUT the chat does not really start until 8:00 CST! The chat link is HERE so when you want to log in be it at 7:30 p.m CST or 9:30 p.m. CST you want to click on that word HERE….

Plug in your webcam and your headphones(if you plan to video chat)
Click HERE
Pick a name to log into the room with
Click OK (if you are not video chatting you are live with everyone else – if your sound is up you should be able to hear everyone who is video chatting – introduce yourself and join in)
Click on start broadcasting
Choose the video from your cam – click on it
Then choose the right microphone (the right one will make the volume on the left go up and down when you say test test test) and double click on it — typically for me it is the first mic
You MUST wear your headphones to reduce echo and make it easier for everyone to hear
Find a point to introduce yourself and have fun!

Please come and join me and have a GREAT time! And yes I will be on cam!

09/8/09

Wordless Wednesday — Labor Day

(Watching for a drum…he became more obsessed with drums with each passing band!)

(she just saw a woof woof — she was obsessed with any dog)

(This kid LOVES rocking chairs….)

02/13/09

Happy Valentine's Day

20-edited-2

So I took a whole bunch of pictures today to make cards for Little Man and Little Princess and Aaron – this is one of them, check out a few more HERE

Just thought I would share and wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day!

02/12/09

State of Affairs

This is one of Little Princess’ new shoes that I got for $2.00 and yes they are only size 3 – yep size 3 for her tiny feet

First - Recently I have been reading about so many people whose jobs are in jeopardy or who have been asked to take pay cuts (I will not be linking to any of them for the sake of their privacy) and to tell you the truth I became a tad concerned for our now one income family. I finally set Aaron down and said so tell me how secure is your job…I love his company and it has been around for some time and he is one of the employees that has been with the company for so many years I have stopped counting (though the company has not). He told me his job is secure and that we will be OK – even though we are still trying to get to that “perfect” budget which means I need to get on top of that as I have offered to take over some of that so that he does not have to work and keep track of all of that. I really think that we are doing ok with the budget as we rarely eat out anymore because (1) has anyone ever tried to eat out with two toddlers who until recently could not feed themselves and still have a hot meal yourselves and (2) I have been able to plan some meals that are pretty budget friendly (Thanks Jen for being a kick in my rear on that – she wrote a great post that I am just too tired to link back to specifically, sorry) – including shopping lists, coupons etc… and we have both not been doing that much shopping period because no time and no money. I have started Amazon wishlists for myself and both kids (and Aaron as well but he has added NOTHING to his list) – I add anything I see that I would like the kids to have or would like myself to this wishlist and then anyone can use it to get the gifts! (I believe my Valentine’s gift from Aaron came from my wishlist….not sure yet though.) Also, we are going to shop our local Mothers of Multiples sale for spring and summer clothing for them (or at least what we feel we may need). I am really trying very hard to do fun things with Little Man and Little Princess (and as a family) as well as save money right now so any other money saving tips would be greatly appreciated…

Second- I am starting to think ahead to upcoming holidays and some traditions that we as a family should look forward to such as Valentine’s Day and Easter. We plan to take Little Man and Little Princess to the zoo that is less than a block from our house on Saturday so that they can help celebrate the local bear’s birthday and maybe have a little fun! We will dress in green and eat some fun food for St. Patrick’s Day (Aaron’s family is Irish…). Then we come to Easter – a LARGE topic of discussion in our house. This year probably will not matter so we have some time to make some decisions here BUT we would like to start some things this year. For us, church is a MUST on Easter and then an Easter lunch/dinner but this is where our tradition decisions end. The topic of discussion at our house is the Easter Bunny (we had this huge discussion about Santa Clause as well – the decision there is still a little up in the air). So I thought I would pose our issues to all of you and see what everyone has to say (for those related know that we would only be doing this ourselves and not be putting any rules or restrictions on any relatives just like Christmas) – here are our points in no specific order and our discussions change daily on what is the way to do this so all view points are welcome, I just ask that you be respectful to each other and us.

We believe that the real reason to celebrate Easter is the resurrection of Jesus – that is what our children should be told about and should be celebrated. So do we leave Easter at only a celebration of the resurrection with no mention of the Easter Bunny, no died eggs, no candy, nothing at all, etc…
If we introduce the Easter Bunny to our children then how do we do so in a way that still leaves the resurrection as the number one part of the celebration and not the Easter Bunny, gifts and candy (or even Easter clothing – which I will admit I am so excited to make or look at)?
If we do not introduce the Easter Bunny what happens when our children begin to attend school and hear about this bunny…how do we handle that?
We do not really want to support telling our child that this Bunny exists and then later saying oh sorry it is just Mommy and Daddy and later having to explain why we are not just making up God and Jesus and they are not just Mommy and Daddy (we actually have figured out how to do this with Santa Clause but there is a Saint that had something to do with Santa Clause and that helps – if you want to know our thoughts on that let me know and I will share)
Our hope is to respect our faith and our beliefs and not totally deprive our children of normal childhoods and we managed to find a way for Christmas now please help us with Easter

My Everyday Miracles

Where the miracles never cease and always come in pairs!!!

Tag Archives: holidays