Pass the guacamole please!

Shelby Grace is taking after mama with the addiction to avocados and guacamole. I think if we let her she could eat a whole avocado in one sitting. This particular day she ate a half of one before we cut her off.

This video is from about a month ago of her eating guacamole. I guess the avocado doesn't fall far from the tree!

The Korean Countdown

Zachary lost his voice and we loved the way he sounded and we wanted to get him on video. He has learned to count in Korean so he is showing off at the same time. We are also raising the class clown. Watch out teachers down the road, you've got a silly one coming your way!

A little bit of September

My little girl is getting so big!

Big brother and little sister

Look I can eat with a spoon!

Our friend Sarah had her gallbladder removed so she came to stay with us for the weekend. I got to play beauty parlor. :)

Everybody Stand Up!

We may not have been at school for a week but Shelby Grace learned a new trick while we were stuck at home. She can stand up on her own now! Each day she is getting stronger and can even squat and come back up. She already gets into plenty of trouble crawling around. Who knows what life will be like when she's walking. We just know that we will be in big trouble all too soon!

Please look past the crying boy in time out in the background. :)

Yeah for me!

Fish are friends, not food!

Zachary's fish tank has some new occupants. It's been without fish for about 6-8 months but yet he still turns the light on every night to sleep. While we were 'quarantined' we snuck out to HomePlus and Zachary got 7 new fish. We only asked for 5 but the store gave us a couple extra. He picked out 4 blue neon tetra fish and 3 tetra fish that are brown without the blue stripe.


My favorite part of his new fish are the names he gave them. They signify his 3 year old world. The names come from his favorite games on the Wii (Super Mario Galaxy, Lego Star Wars), his new favorite movie to watch (Go, Diego, Go), and his favorite thing to eat in Korea (kim or seaweed and rice).

Blue fish
1- Luke Skywalker (He's never seen the movies- how did he figure out he was the cool guy?)
2- Han Solo
3- Luigi
4- Diego

Brown fish-
1- Mario (He's the teeny tiny fish that we didn't realize we had until a couple days later.)
2- Kim
3- Rice

Welcome to our family little fish!

Pictures of Quarantine

Things to do when you are stuck in the house.

Quarantined

Because of the swine flu infecting our school, we have had a surprise week long vacation 7 days into school in which we can't go anywhere. We've been sneaking out a little bit here and there but not for real long periods of time. We have been trying to figure out things to keep the kids busy. Some are successful, some are not.

• Wii- Of course successful- just have to limit the stressfulness
  
• New scissors for Zachary- exciting and successful until we start cutting things that are not paper
• Cutting and gluing construction paper- successful
• Painting with Korean water colors- unsuccessful- but not necessarily due to Zachary's non desire to participate, Korean water colors just stink
• Building a tent in the living room- unsuccessful- except for the fact that Zachary used the broken clothespin and drove all around the the outside of the tent but didn't go inside. Daddy did have a good 2 hour nap inside the tent so at least it go used
• Making a straw necklace- unsuccessful- Zachary strung about 3 pieces on the string then decided to wrap the string around another straw and make a gun
• Dancing to the Wiggy Wiggy Wiggles- extremely successful- need to do it more often
• Computer buttons for Shelby Grace- successful but not our choice of baby entertainment
• New Go, Diego, Go movies downloaded from iTunes- successful
• Playdough- successful- but of course not Shelby Grace friendly
• Bought a new stacking toy for Shelby Grace- unsuccessful- but Zachary really likes it!
• Shelby Grace follows mommy and daddy around the apartment- in the bathroom, the kitchen, the bedroom...anywhere- successful for her but drives us wild after awhile.
• Trip to Familie apartment's playground- successful- could of stayed long and need to go again
• Pop up caterpillar tunnel- successful
• Carrying a plastic golf ball in your mouth- successful for Shelby Grace but not necessarily safe
  

Here is how we get out our wiggles during the day. We do this song at the ELC and the kids love it so much we have to do it numerous times a day. Check out Shelby Grace's moves in the video. Be forewarned that it might kind of loud so turn down your volume at the beginning to be safe.

This video depicts what we feel like 4 days into being quarantined. We are going crazy with 3 more to go!

Chats with Zach- Episode 16

It's been a long time since we've had an episode of Chats with Zach but that doesn't mean we have been without days of laughter due to Zachary's creative remarks. If only I can remember everything he says each day, then I could write a whole book. Here a few recent Zachary chats.
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This year I have moved down the Early Learning Center to be Zachary and Shelby Grace's teacher. He doesn't quite understand the concept that I am there for good and asks every day. "Are you going to be my teacher today?"
On the first day of school, he went in with me early in the morning to help get some things ready. I was having quite a frustrating morning with the computers and copier at school. I was not being the best example and verbally showing my frustration. Zachary served me a big piece of humble pie when he looked at me and said, 'Mommy, you know you can ask God to help you." Thanks for the reminder son, it was just what I needed.
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Our church meets on our school campus so the nursery meets in the Early Learning Center each week. Someone else was in charge of the nursery this week so Patrick and I dropped the kids off and went to church. At lunch we were talking to Zachary about what he did at church. We were talking about how mommy was not his teacher today.
Mommy- "Did you have fun without me at school?"
Zachary (with confused look on his face)- "No. I played with Seth and Sara."
Mommy- "But did you have fun without me?"
Zachary (still confused)- "But Outme wasn't there!"
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Zachary and I were walking up to school the other day and he was holding my hand. We have a special family 'secret' where we give each other three squeezes either on the hand to knee or wherever to mean "I love you." As we were walking, I squeezed Zachary's hand to say "I love you." He told me to do it again with different words. Not knowing how in the world he would read my mind, I complied with him and gave him 5 squeezes thinking I was saying "You are a cool kid." I asked him what I said to him. He thought for a minute and said,
"May I be excused please?
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One day we were practicing counting and Zachary wanted to keep going very high. We were very impressed that once we got him over the next 10 hump (like, 40, 50, 60, etc) he could continue with the number pattern until he had to change tens again. We made it all the way to 100. We were praising him for the good job and he said, "Wow, that is more than 12!"
Next math lesson, number concepts :).

Our Adopted Grandmothers

The Ladies class at church has adopted my children as their TCK's to pray for. By far, my kids are the luckiest in the world. I know without a shadow of a doubt that they pray for my family every day and they definitely spoil them rotten. Before we left, they had a party for the kids. It was a fun afternoon. Shelby Grace and Zachary did a great job showing off for them and entertaining them by being the center of attention.

Shelby Grace has finally found a 'blanket' to attach to but they are not blankets but washcloths. My child is strange.

Playing with Ms. Margaret

Zachary created this game us everyone to play- balancing a plate on your head and walking across the room. The ladies loved it and joined in too.

Go Mrs. Jackie!

Whoops! You didn't make it as far as me says Zachary.

Go Ms. Margaret!

I love how Zachary had to walk beside each lady to help her out. :)

Present time! My kids are spoiled!

Thank you ladies for loving on my kids and prayign for us each day. We love you all very much and miss you dearly. See you next summer!

A visit from special friends

Shortly before we left for Korea we had a surprise visit from some dear friends, the DeWitts. It was a short 15 hour visit but was wonderful to catch with them. Zachary loved having Aaron around to play wii and fight swords with. He and Aaron even share a special name after a special boy. Below you see Aaron Zachary and Zachary Keona.

Boys will be boys no matter what their age!

Swimming Lessons #2

When we got back from the lake, Zachary got to take his second class of swimming lessons and this time without mommy. I was so proud of all that he accomplished on his own and conquering fears in the water. Though we haven't gotten past going under the water. I'm pretty proud of what he accomplished this summer.

Weekend at the Lake

We got to spend a weekend up at High Rock Lake at my uncle's lake house. We haven't been since Zachary was a baby. It was so nice to have a relaxing weekend at the lake before the chaos of packing began. Uncle Rackley, Aunt Vicky, Uncle John, and Aunt Patricia joined us on Saturday too. We had a great time together watching the kids experience the lake for the first time.

Riding on the boat- It was so relaxing it would put Shelby Grace to sleep even in a big ole life jacket.

Playing badminton with Papa

All done! That spaghetti was yummy!

Swimming time

Swinging on the porch and watching the boats go by

Zachary finally got to fish with grandma. He was so excited.

Patrick had also never been fishing before. He found a new hobby and mom found a new fishing partner. Patrick learning how to put a worm on a hook and even take the fish off the hook with his bare hands. I was pretty impressed for a first-timer.

Together again!

We had a wonderful time getting together with buddy Chase this summer. Can't wait to get together next summer when we will have two boys and two girls! These boys sure have grown into two handsome little ones. (Ok I know Zachary needs a hair cut something awful! It's on the to do list).