Chats with Zach- Episode 1

Zachary is doing so many crazy, witty, cute things lately and I am so afraid that I will forget them all. I need to do better at keeping a record of what he says. So this is the first official posting of Chats with Zach.

Story Background

While out shopping today, Zachary stopped to admire the rocks as he often does and brought one along for a taxi ride. At one point, he told mommy he didn't want it anymore so I conviently dropped it out the window at stoplight because I, of course, did not want to hold onto a little rock. Zachary was very sad that his rock was gone and was not very happy that mommy got rid of it even though he didn't want it anymore.

Chat with Zach

Scene- Mommy and Zachary in the kitchen unloading groceries and Zachary finds a box of baindaids on the counter.

Zachary- Mommy, I need a bandaid.

Mommy- Why do you need a bandaid?

Zachary- Because I'm sick.

Mommy- Oh really? Why are you sick?

Zachary- Becuase mommy threw my rock away.

Mommy- Oh I see. So where are you sick?

Zachary- ummmmm (pointing to his left leg slightly below the knee) right here

Mommy- So the bandaid will make you all better?

Zachary- Yes, I need to two. One here and here (pointing to the right knee as well). Then I not be sick.

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Setting

Mommy and Zachary are laying in his bed trying to get him to take a nap. Zachary has insisted that mommy lay under the covers too. Zachary obviously doesn't want to sleep because he is constantly moving while mommy is longing for a short snooze.

Chat with Zach

Mommy- Zachary, you need to stop wiggling and rest. It's time to go to sleep. Mommy is going to sleep, baby sister is sleeping, and Zachary needs to sleep.

Zachary- Baby sister is sleeping?

Mommy- Yes

Zachary- (pulling the covers over his head and slinking down beneath them, his head is at parallel with mommy's belly) Good night baby sister, sleep good baby sister (said while rubbing mommy's belly) pops out from under the covers- I say good night to baby sister!

Happy Birthday Mrs. Heather!

This week Zachary's teacher celebrated her birthday. We surprised her with a gift certificate from her class to the local nail salon, flowers, and a popcorn cake. Little Sara can't have gluten so I wanted to make something that everyone in the class could enjoy. I think we have found a new treat :). Mrs. Heather was very surprised.

Popcorn cake (popcorn, marshmallows, and M &M's~ Yum!)

Waiting for Mrs. Heather to come inside

Surprise!

Happy Birthday Mrs. Heather! Make a wish!

I hope Mrs. Heather realizes how much we appreciate her. She has done an amazing job with the ELC and it is such a comfort to know that Zachary is in good hands. Mrs. Heather is kind, loving, a gentle disciplinarian who expects great things from our kids. She always has a smile on her face and makes the ELC a postive place to be. She is so consistent and Zachary respects her greatly, as do I. The best part of Mrs. Heather is that she loves the Lord with all her heart and that is so evident in how she works with our kids and teaches them to love God and how to be a good friend.

We love you Mrs. Heather! Hope you had a great birthday!

This is a video of us singing Happy Birthday to Mrs. Heather. Watch Seth blow out her candles !

High School Prom

Saturday night was the 2008 High School Prom. Jennifer was the faculty sponser. A task that will probably never be repeated for a long time :). However, it was a great opportunity to get to know students. The prom committee was planning to have prom at a hotel but then about a month before decided to change it to school which required a lot more work. I wasn't sure if they were going to be able to pull it off but it actually turned out quite beautiful. We worked Friday night until about 10:00 and then started again at 9:00 the next morning. Prom was to begin at 6:30pm.

The theme this year was Moulin Rouge. Don't worry there was nothing provocative about this prom, except for maybe a couple dresses students wore, but the decorations were just very elegant with lots of red and black. The draped the atrium with red and black fabric and used lots of Christmas lights to brighten the room.
The doors were covered in fabric and red carpet was rolled down the grand staircase. Dinner was to take place outside on the lawn and students were to walk up the red carpet to the dance floor. Surrounding the grassy area is a sewer grate that really detracts from the beauty of the area. The students had this ingenious idea to use it as part of their decorations. They cleaned it out, lined it with rope lights, filled it with clean water, and then floated candles, roses, and feathers in it. It turned out pretty beautiful at night.

Dinner was catered by Outback Steakhouse. We had to choice of a steak or grilled chicken salad. The dinner was quite delicious and much better than the cafeteria catering option for about the same price. Outback actually came and cooked everything on campus. The brought grills and deep fryers and cooked right under the grand staircase. It was amazing to watch and it smelled delicious while we were setting up.

Patrick agreed to come as my date and as an extra chaperone as well :). I had to pleasure of purchasing a maternity prom dress. I'm so glad that I was the only attendee wearing one of those! Most of the night was spent guarding dark areas of the school and making sure students weren't sneaking off anywhere. It was a light night but lots of fun. It took me about two days to recouperate from the tiring weekend. Prom was fun but I will be glad to pass the torch on to someone else next year.

Happy Birthday Seth-buddy!

This weekend we got to celebrate with the Hawkins family as Zachary's best friend, Seth, turned 3 years old. Seth had a "Cars" themed pool party at his grandparents house. (Seth's grandfather is the headmaster of our school so he actually has a house with a yard.)

Zachary was so excited to go to his first pool party. He got dressed up in his Cars swimsuit just to match the occasion. The first game they got to play was to search for pictures of the Cars characters hidden all around the yard. Zachary racked up don't you think?

Seth's big sister Haley taught everyone how to play "Red Ligh, Green Light." It took a little bit for Zachary to catch on but I think he understood in the end.

Zachary swinging with Tavin.

Nina is another friend from school. Her grandparents live in Florida and send her sunglasses in almost every package. She always has a cute pair on. Isn't she adorable?
Sara is enjoying her plates of food and gluten free cupcakes. :) Nobody enjoyed the pool as much as Sara did that day. She was a little fish. :)
Kirk, Seth's dad, decorated the Lightening MacQueen cake. It's good to find someone else around to decorate cakes. I think for a dad he did a really good job.

The cake sure was yummy! Good job Mr. Kirk!

Time to swim!
Zachary picked out a monster truck for Seth's present. The boys enjoyed opening presents. In fact, Tavin opened the presents for Seth just in case he didn't know how. Tavin celebrated his 3rd brithday in March so he's an expert now. At one point, Seth asked Tavin to help him open the present for him. :)
We had a great time at Seth's party. Happy Birthday Seth-buddy!

Nursery Rhyme Program 2008

Zachary has been practicing for months now to be in the Early Learning Center Nursery Rhyme Program. We have been so impressed with his ability to recite so many nursery rhymes on his own. We had even begun to call him the 'Nursery Rhyme Nazi' because he would correct mommy and daddy when we quoted the rhyme wrong. No matter how well Zachary knew the nursery rhymes, he didn't help him out too much when the big day came.

Zachary and Auntie Esther

Zachary was sitting on stage with all of his friends ready to perform until he spied two faces in the front row. He ran off the stage to mommy and daddy just to say hi but got upset when he was told to go back on stage. Note to self- don't sit up front next year and definitely don't wave until AFTER the program. That was only the beginning of the cry fest. After Zachary, came Seth and then a few minutes later Tavin lost it as well. The three boys were down for the count. Zachary and Seth watched most of the program from the sidelines.
Soon the time came for "Rub-a Dub Dub". Zachary, Seth and Tavin were supposed to be the three men. They coerced two on stage but only one got dressed and both bringing along a security parent.

Zachary then knew what to do but wasn't about to let Daddy leave his side. Zachary even kept telling Seth what to do.
For the rest of the program, Lisa, Seth's mom, and Patrick had to stay on the stage with the boys. Despite the cry fest trifecta, the program was very cute and the kids did an amazing job.
Sadly, they wouldn't join the group for a picture. The group included Zachary's class, 2's and 3's, and the Pre-K kids.
This is Mrs. Boyer. She is our amazing elementary librarian who is moving to China next year. Zachary has loved Mrs. Boyer and she has helped to instill a love for books in Zachary. We will miss her dearly.
We couldn't get Zachary to sit in his chair by himself but bring out the ice cream and he had no problem sitting alone :). Don't you love the ice cream in Korea? It comes in all these amazing plastic things for you to suck out your ice cream. I personally love the milkshake in a bag- great invention!

Seth buddy and ZacharyZachary, Mommy and Daddy are still very proud of you and can't wait to see what you can do next year! We do plan to video tape Zachary saying his nursery rhymes at home so you can hear what a good job he does reciting them. We love you Zachary!

Senior Nights

For three nights we opened our home to Patrick's seniors to let them know that we are proud of their accomplishments and will be praying for them as they embark on this next adventure in life. Wednesday night we had no one show up. We weren't sure if anyone was going to take us up on the offer of free food. Thursday night was much different. We had 32 students in our house plus the three of us! Our entry way was just a pile of shoes. Friday night we had 7 students. We served chocolate fondue, dark and white chocolate, with a variety of things to dip and eat even if they didn't want the chocolate. Koreans are not big sweet eaters but they do like chocolate! I was making a new batch of chocolate after about 20 minutes of this kids swarming around the table.

In the Korean culture, everyone shares plates of food. Often a family of four may only order 1 or 2 dishes and share the with everyone where Americans each like their own portions. I guess that is why Americans have a much bigger body mass :). Anyway, when I gave the go ahead to begin eating even after I gave instructions about your 'own' plate and the little bowls for their 'own' chocolate, the students swarmed the table and just started eating right there. I had to remind these boys that there were about 25 other people that wanted to eat too. We had students eating all around the apartment. The floor....
the couch...Zachary's room...and on the balcony. Joseph claimed his spot right next to the table and stayed there for about 45 minutes. They were supposed to eat dinner before they came over but I don't think he did :).
We weren't sure how Zachary was going to do in this large crowd of Korean students. He had some rough moments where Mommy or Daddy's arms was the only place he wanted to be. You can see how they surrounded Zachary wherever he went. He eventually warmed up and played with most of the students. Friday night was much more manageable for him.
However, Zachary did enjoy it when the boys found his train track. They must have spend 45 minutes to an hour perfecting their track and finding new inventive ways to crash the trains. These boys instantly became friends with Zachary. :)

Even we Zachary wasn't around, the boys played with the trains. They have a much longer attention span.
Paul was my favorite guest. Without being asked and not complying with the requests of not having to do this, he cleaned all our dishes in the kitchen. Most of these were from dinner or during the day but out of the kindness of his heart he wanted to do it for us. He told me it was his hobby and I told him he can come practice his hobby at our house any time he wants :). Paul has plans to go to seminary after his undergrad degree and wants to be a pastor to the English speaking community in China. What a great kid! Zachary posing with Irene and Hannah on Friday night. He is finally getting the hang of the Korean "V" in pictures.
Our group of girls Friday night.
Our large group of kids Thrusday night. (Zachary is sitting in 'Uncle' Paul's lap.)
We were truly blessed by having these students in our home. Our only regret is that we hadn't done it sooner. They are an amazing group of kids with big dreams. Congratulations TCIS class of 2008! We wish you all the best!