Elementary SEW

The first week of May was Elementary Spiritual Emphasis Week at school. This year's theme was Heroes of Mega City. We learned that Heroes never give up doing good, always tell the truth, always forgive, are generous and have courage. I had the wonderful opportunity to help out with the ELC this year in preparation for next year. It is always so much fun to see little kids so excited to learn about God and to worship him at the top of their lungs. We had a great 2 1/2 days that were packed full with lots of learning and lots of fun.


Mr Dean is the elementary student minister. He along with Mr Mike, who was dressed up as Super Galactic Boy each day, taught us how to be a true hero. Zachary enjoyed dressing up like Mr. Mike and wore a towel on his head for the week so he could be a super hero too

Patrick's crazy 3rd grade group for SEW

Giggles on the Go

I know I haven't blogged in awhile and there a few posts that are coming but I just had to get these on tonight. My baby girl is crawling! Hard to believe she is big enough to do that already. Shelby Grace has been trying to move for over three weeks now and really like raising up on her toes. I was sure she was going to walk before she crawled but she proved me wrong.

Zachary and Shelby Grace were supposed to be in bed already but instead had a good time jumping on the bed. The giggles just melt your heart. Everyone needs a big brother to make you laugh.

Now here are two little monkeys jumping on the bed. Luckily no one fell off and bumped their heads!

Watch for Zachary holding Shelby Grace's hand while they jump. So precious!

Mother's Day

I am so thankful that God has blessed me with two beautiful children. Being a wife and a mother are two of my most favorite things. Hubby treated me so well and let me go back to sleep after I fed Shelby Grace and I got to stay in bed until 8:00! (well almost 8- my body just doesn't let me sleep that long anymore!) Patrick also cooked a yummy breakfast. Zachary picked out a beautiful purple orchid plant for me too.

Later on in the day Patrick wanted to go play baseball with people from school and church. I first thought- Wait this is my day, I'm not supposed to do anything today! Of course after thinking about my attitude, I told Patrick he could go and enjoy himself as I am always the one who goes out to do things. In return I got the best gift for Mother's Day. Of course Shelby Grace and Zachary didn't nap well since I was home by myself but because of this I got to snuggle with both of my kids for a good while. Shelby Grace would only sleep on me and Zachary woke up after an hour but was still a little groggy so he climbed in the chair with me and Shelby Grace. I just rocked and snuggled with my kids and cherished each moment. So often we think Mother's Day is a day for moms to have the day off and do nothing but I can't think of a better way to celebrate Mother's Day than with the two special reasons I get to celebrate in the first place.

Chats with Zach from Guam

This has been quite a vacation. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time. As usual, Zachary has been his crazy self. Here are a few quotes from Zachary.

When riding the bus to the Incheon airport, the bus actually travels faster than most cars because of the bus lane. Traffic can be so bad in the right hand lanes but busses zoom on by. We were passing lots of cars that were pretty much at a stand still. I told Zachary to watch how fast we were moving. He looked out the window and said "Those cars are moving backwards."

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Zachary was so excited about coming to Guam. He is a really good traveler and is used long travel times. When we got off the plane and went to get our bags. He's asked, "Where do we go next? On another plane?" Nope. We only had one plane this time can you believe it!? "So where are we going now?" To the hotel. "No! I want to go to Guam!"

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To prove that our son is Mario addicted, everything he sees reminds him of Mario. We went to Underwater World, an aquarium here with an underwater tunnel, and saw huge mannarays swimming around. When he saw the rays he commented, "I have that game when Mario rides on that." While walking through the resort grounds, we walked across a walkway with hexagon shaped tiles. He was carrying his little Mario doll and said, "This is like the beehive part on Mario" and got down to let Mario climb up the hive. We had mentioned to him that when we were in Guam, we could try and buy a new Wii game since they were American version versus Korean version. Of course, he picked out a new Mario game. We kept trying to tell him that we didn't have the wii here and had to wait until we got back to Korea to play. At the hotel he decided to wanted to play and this was his suggestion. "We can fly on a plane back to Korea and take a bus to our house and play." So you want to leave Guam? "No, we fly on a plane to Korea, play the wii, then get on a bus to take us to the airport and come back to Guam."

Chats with Zach- Episode 13

Zachary has been so excited that we decided to take a trip to Guam. He has no idea where it is or what you do there but loves saying that we are going to Guam. We booked tickets only a week before we were planning to travel and that day he was asking if we were going to Guam. He is so ready to go (as are the rest of us :)!)

One day I was changing Shelby Grace and she was flapping her arms. I said to her, "Shelby Grace, Are you flying?" Zachary comes running in, "Shelby Grace are you flying to Guam?"

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While we were preparing our money to go to Guam, we had some US dollars around the house so we thought we would see if Zachary knew what they were. We showed Zachary some Korean Won and asked him what it was. He responded, "Money." We showed him a US bill and he responded, "Young jung dong!" (That's the area in which we live!)

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Zachary has been practicing sounding out words so we thought he should learn how to read some Korean as well. We showed him the Korean spelling for 'oo-yoo" ( 우유) which means milk. When we showed him the Korean Won, it had some Korean writing on it. He runs over and says 'Look is says 우유!

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We were watching the NCAA tournament online when a quick advertisement for CSI on Thursday came across the screen. Zachary was watching too and said "Look, T, C, I, S!" while pointing to all the letters.

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Patrick and Zachary were reading his Bible one night before bed and they had this conversation.

Daddy- "Do you believe in God?"

Zachary- "Yep"

Daddy- "Don't you know that God mad you?"

Zachary- "Yep"

Daddy- "How do you think God made you?"

Zachary- standing up on the bed with his Superman cape in his hand- "Like that!" with a big flick of the cape. :)

Chats with Zach- Episode 12

One day Zachary came across Patrick and I kissing in the kitchen.

He asked us "Are you getting married?"

We told him we were already married and asked how you get married.

He answered, "You have to dress up, kiss and stand on a rug at grandma's church."

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It seems that we have a lot of people over to our house for dinner. Zachary often asks, "Who is coming to eat with us tonight, mommy?" When he was sick this past week, he asked who was coming to dinner. I told him that Miss. Nikole was supposed to come but because he was sick she couldn't come. The next morning he said, "Mommy, I'm not sick anymore. Can Miss. Nikole come for dinner?" Guess he enjoys company as much as we do!

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What happens when two three-year olds teach each other the lyrics to Disney songs? You get words like this.

"You've got the bare necessities the shuffle bare necessities. Run in for your life"

Real lyrics- "Look for the bare necessities The simple bare necessities Forget about your worries and your strife"

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We are planning a trip to Guam for Spring Break and we started to tell Zachary about it. Here are some of the comments that transpired.

"We're going to Guam? Do we have to go on the airplane? I went on an airplane yesterday for a long time when we came back to Korea."

As he runs across the apartment, "We are here and then we run and run and get to Guam."

Shelby Grace was playing on her play mat so Zachary bends down and tells her, "Shelby Grace, we are going to Guam. Do you want to go? squeal Shelby Grace said she wants to go to Guam."

Ask Shelby Grace was she wants to do when she goes to Guam, Zachary.

"Shelby Grace, what do you want to do in Guam? pause She said she wants to grow on the beach!"

"Can we go to Guam?" No Zachary not until next week. Enter very sad, pitiful face. "I thought we were going today."

About 3 minutes later, "I want to go to Guam."

Do you think he even knows what Guam is ?

Good Morning Sunshine!

Friday morning Shelby Grace woke up to eat and because we didn't have to go into school until 10:00, I nursed her in bed trying to catch a little more shut eye. After eating awhile, all she would do is smile and giggle at me. What a beautiful sight to see in the morning! I hope I can remember these morning smiles forever. Luckily, I caught a few on camera.

For some reason, both kids were pretty happy at 6:30 in the morning and I got some pretty cute shots of them together. We are so blessed to have two happy children whose smiles just melt your heart.

Happy Birthday Dawson!

Sick Day!

Zachary has been sick this week so Mommy got to stay home and play with her kids one day. Despite the sickness, it was quite a happy place and great opportunities for great pictures.

Anna brought Zachary a fun ball from China. It's lots of fun to play with but even more fun to make silly faces through.

I look really sick don't I? This is before all the coughing and nasty snotty nose began. By the end of the week, he looked a little crusty.

Thankfully Shelby Grace hasn't gotten sick. She is just all smiles!

Fondant

I had my first opportunity to work with fondant this week. Word has gotten around that I like decorate cakes so I get asked to make something every now and then. This time the request was for a graduation cap. For my first adventure with fondant, I am pretty pleased with my work.

When in Korea, do as the Koreans do

This weekend we got to experience some highlights of Korean culture- sticker photos and Dr. Fish.

Most malls or shopping areas in Korea have sticker photo booths in which they actually have a person paid to work there because the are used so often. In the states, you just get to take a picture and maybe choose a fun background but here you pic or backgrounds and then can color all over the pictures and add fun things to them. Patrick and I got to go on date thanks to our friends Anna and Ellen so we just had to take part in a little bit of Korean dating culture :). Check out our pictures.

Even on a date, we think of our kids. A Mario hat for Zachary and Minnie Mouse ears for Shelby Grace. :)

Our next adventure for the weekend came at a Korean coffee house and a pool of Dr. Fish. Dr. Fish are little fish that nibble at the dead skin on the bottom of your feet and make them nice and smooth. For a little under $2.00 we could sit with our feet in a pull of water and let the fish attack our feet. It doesn't hurt but sure does tickle like crazy! Here you can see the fish going after Patrick's feet. Can you tell he's got nasty feet?

Now everyone will know my little secret that my feet are the most ticklish part of my body. I couldn't keep my feet in very long at one time. They tried to get me to keep my feet in for at least 30 seconds straight but I couldn't make it. Zachary wouldn't put his feet in the pool but Shelby Grace is our mercy. We thought we would see what she would do. I guess she is not too ticklish yet. She just wiggled her toes and watched the little fish.

Look at that baby soft skin! These fish work wonders!

Chats with Zach Episode 11

Zachary is very well known around the TCIS campus. In fact, I am pretty sure he has more adult friends than I do. He has gone through many 'friend' phases in which he is attached to a certain adult and gets so excited about seeing them or talks about them all the time. This past week we saw Mr. Dan around campus more than we have in a long time. Last year Zachary got to spend a lot of time with Dan but since he moved into the dorm we haven't seen him too much. As we walked through the campus the other day we passed Mr Dan and said I said to Zachary, "Look Zachary it's Mr. Dan! Say hi!". Zachary looked is way and gave a smirky laugh and then yelled, "Anna!" His new adult friend was walking up behind Dan. Poor Dan was heart broken but we couldn't help but giggle. We've got to get Mr Dan over again soon or he's going to loose his place forever!

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Zachary asked to play wii the other day which is of course a common occurence in our house. He asked Daddy to "please put in Mario Galaxy." Daddy said, "sure" and Zachary responded, "Thanks my friend!"

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This weekend we actually planned a pretty full day of activities for one day. When I was giving Zachary the run down of our day and the various places we would go, he said, "Wow, that's a lot of places." Somehow he decided that we needed to go 5 places today and was sad when he woke up after his hour and half nap in the car due to traffic and lunch pick up and found that we were at home and he had missed the 5th place. When we got inside after returning from our trip to Time World Shopping Center to get a pretzel, Trinity coffee shop for Dr. Fish, bowling, and Subway his response was "I want to go somewhere." (Says the boy who doesn't like to leave the house because he can't take the wii with him.) Seems like he had a fun day!

Mommy and Me

Field Trip

It was "B" week in Zachary's class so we got to go on a field trip to B-B-Bodyworld. We've been there before but it is always lots of fun. First we got to ride on a b-b-bus.

We are ready to play!
Climbing on some epidermis (aka skin)

Hanging out the the skull- I tried to get a picture of Zachary and Seth together but it's almost impossible to get them both sitting still at the same time.

After lots of fun play, Zachary decided to chill out inside the stomach. It was the only organ with a TV inside.

The upstairs part of B-B-Bodyworld had a huge play area where the kids ran, played and screamed for a long time. They were able to get their heart b-b-beats a pumpin'. It only cost 22,000 won for 10 kids and 9 adults to have a b-b-blast. We had so much fun, I decided next year we should come here once a month for a field trip. :)

5 months old

I can't believe my little girl is 5 months already. Shelby Grace is growing so fast. In the past week alone, she had two teeth come in and has learned to roll over both ways. Shelby Grace loves eating rice ceral and pretty soon we plan to try some oatmeal. She is is a chewing machine and always has something in her mouth, either fingers, a toy, or a burp cloth. She loves to hold onto things and when she has anything on other than a one peice outfit, you can usually see her tummy thanks to her lifting up her shirt or dress up. She is a TV watcher like her brother and already enjoys watching Zachary play Mario on the wii. Our new baby movie is Praise Baby- so wonderful! They are enterainment for Shelby Grace and Zachary as well while we get a great dose of praising Jesus in the house. Shelby Grace is a quiet little girl for the most part. She does laugh and talk, mostly at the shower head while taking a bath, but for the most part is pretty laid back. Of course she still lets you know when she is not happy! She moves around in her crib when she sleeps so we expect her to be an early crawler. She can already scoot across a blanket by grabbing the blanket and pulling it. We have loved watching her grow and change. I can't wait to see what she will learn this month.

See my tummy!

Mommy loves putting bows in my hair but the ladies at the ELC always take them out for the day and put them back in when mommy picks me up. :)

It's getting hard to take pictures now that she likes to move around. She flops over quiet a bit.
I ready to eat!

Just plain cute!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Even in South Korea, we had the pleasure of celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday. The elementary librarian planned a special birthday party for the ELC age kids up to 3rd grade. I volunteered to decorate the cake so I got to take a break from the high school and come down for some fun.

The librarian had hats for everyone!

Some of Patrick's third graders at the celebration. The taller boy in the back with the bow tie is Zachary's good buddy.

Mrs. Youn and Mrs. Smith-Jang performed "The Foot Book."
Some other teacher's performed another story but I can't remember the name of it. It was a not a book I was familiar with.

I can't wait until next year when I get to celebrate with little ones again and read Dr. Seuss books all week. Thank you Dr. Seuss for your wonderful stories! We love them!