Christmas came early in our house this week. My mom mailed us four packages--yes, FOUR packages!--of goodies! Each was filled to the brim and stuffed with all kinds of treasures and comforts from home. Because she spent two weeks with us here in Busan, she was able to make a list of some of the items that aren't available here. Santa, AKA The Delivery Guy, delivered the four packages over a period of three days, because I guess they got separated in the U.S. before leaving Houston. I so badly wanted all four to arrive at the same time so I wouldn't have to wait to tear into them, but then again, getting packages for three days was kind of exciting. Thank goodness the three days were consecutive! Take a look at our Christmas in July!!!!
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| These were the first two packages to arrive. |
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| They were so anxious for me to take this picture so I would cut open the boxes for them. :) |
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| GrammE sent Connar's Thomas the Train singing toothbrush. Talk about excited... He watched a movie while holding this toothbrush later in the day. :) |
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| The boys checking out their loot. |
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| Parker just couldn't wait any longer for me to open the tortillas. He decided to take matters into his own hands. :) |
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| And Connar had the same idea with some fruit snacks. |
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| The boys are quietly enjoying their fruit snacks. It was so fun to see them be so happy about fruit snacks, but they love them and hadn't had them in nearly a month and a half. |
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| Because the stores don't sell refried beans here, I excitedly asked the boys, "Who wants a burrito for lunch?!" when we pulled these out of one of the boxes. So with a big smile on my face and singing some silly song about burritos, I waltzed into the kitchen with a pep in my step to open the can. That's when I realized that I didn't have a can opener. Yes, I'm serious. Well I had already basically promised the boys (and myself!) a burrito for lunch, and I wasn't about to go back on that just because I didn't have a can opener. I took matters into my own hands and grabbed a pair of kitchen scissors (We have two pairs of those but no can opener!) and started stabbing away at the top of the can. As I made a hole in the can, I'd move over a bit and make another hole until they were all connected enough to pry the top open just enough to fit a spoon inside to scoop out the refried beans. It may have taken 15 minutes longer to make bean and cheese burritos, but I did it. And boy were they tasty. :) |
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| Speaking of tasty, my mom included a couple packages of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in the boxes (I've found some other types of candy here that we also have at home but no Reese's). She was curious if they would melt.... like that would matter! The chocolate was going to taste the same whether it was still on the peanut butter cup or if I had to lick it off the inside of the wrapper. I was determined to eat those Reese's no matter how they showed up on the other side of the world. Good thing for Talton that they showed up in tact so he didn't have to watch me lick a wrapper. :) After we put the boys to bed that night, I poured myself a nice cold glass of milk in a coffee cup (because I think milk tastes better in a coffee cup! :) ) and settled in on the couch with my favorite candy. |
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| I let Talton do the honor of opening the third box to arrive. |
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| I'm pretty sure I heard angels sing when this box was opened. Among many other amazing items was Velveeta! One of these blocks would be gone 24 hours from this point due to queso (Rotel was in the first box sent) and homemade macaroni and cheese. |
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| Ho Ho Ho! Here is the fourth box to arrive. I loved how my mom drew little red hearts on all of our boxes. That made me smile. :) |
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| This was a small box, but you wouldn't know it by looking at all the stuff crammed in there. It was mostly fruit snacks for the boys, which is fantastic! |
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| Also in that box were party horns. You can see the iPad on the table with GrammE watching as the boys played with their party horns I had just taken out. Seeing the boys smile and get excited about all this stuff made her day. :) |
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| Here is everything that arrived in our four boxes. See, I told you it's like Christmas! :) |
The following are items that were broken into within the first 3 days....some within minutes of opening a box. :)
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| fruit snacks - The boys L-O-V-E these! We've searched high and low for these or some sort of comparable fruit snack here and can't find it. It'll be a sad day when the boys run out of these. |
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| stickers - We've been using stickers on Connar's potty chart, so he was thrilled to get new stickers. I brought lots of stickers from home from my old scrapbooking supplies, but I didn't realize that most of them were too girly for my boys. We used up all the airplane stickers I had, so getting stickers that weren't so girly was a nice treat. :) |
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| Velveeta - Boy was that queso and homemade macaroni yummy for our tummies! |
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| refried beans - These are nowhere to be found here, so having a few cans of these to make quick bean and cheese burritos has been nice. |
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| Reese's - These Reese's Pieces came in a later box, but in the very first box we got were two packages of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Wellllllll I don't exactly have a picture of those packages because they didn't have a chance to be photographed, if you know what I mean. :) There's only a picture of me eating one of them (above). Can you blame a girl?? |
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| I'm so sad I won't be around when Girl Scout cookies are sold next year. I'm desperately going to miss my Peanut Butter Patties and these delish Shortbreads too. |
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| Good 'ole Aunt Jemima syrup - Talton and I have decided that the boys don't mind eating the syrup we bought at Costco, so we'll ration this Aunt Jemima between the two of us. Now if we only had some Eggo waffles it would really be like home. |
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| Is it just me or is this box of macaroni and cheese smiling at me???? It's a sign. It's saying "eat me". :) |
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| This oatmeal is sooooo good! Quick, easy, and yummy breakfast. I mean, I could eat hashbrowns for breakfast every day of my life, but I'm thinking my kids might want something different every now and then. :) |
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| The boys loved getting toys along with the yummy food. Great idea, GrammE! |
My mom also sent us some reusable grocery bags, because they do not provide them at the grocery stores here. Every time we've grocery shopped, we have to put all of the individual items back in the cart and carry them in to our condo one by one. These bags were very much needed!
In addition to all these fabulous goodies, my mom also sent a couple of letters to us along with pictures. I want to share some of the pictures with you, because the captions she wrote on them were so sweet and some even had me laughing out loud. :)
Thank you, Mom/GrammE, for our Christmas in July! You made two little boys and their mommy and daddy very happy. We love you!
