a box of happiness for everyone!

Connar received this handheld game console for Christmas from my Dad and Esther.  He loved it from the beginning, but it did not come with any game cartridges, and because we didn't open it before leaving Houston, we didn't know that so he was stuck playing the short games that were already loaded on the console itself.  He saw a flyer that came with it in the box, and he got all excited when he saw some of the other games in there that you can buy separately.  So I told my dad about that....

...and he sent Connar a new game, "Jake and the Neverland Pirates", the next week in a box he was sending with some other items for us.  Look at that reaction!

 

He sent a bear for Parker, who promptly kissed and hugged it.  :)

Annddd he sent all of this!  This is happiness to us.  :)  Look, when you can't get things yourself, it's such a treat when someone goes out of their way to send it to you because they love and care about you.  :)

Who wants to paint?

I asked, "Who wants to paint?", and in no time flat, these littles of mine were at the table ready to go to town with the watercolors!

Now, Parker knows exactly what to do with regular paint, but he wasn't quite sure what to do with the paint and the water.  He had more fun playing with the water than painting but whatever.  Connar painted his "A is for alligator" letter.  I was really impressed with how tedious he was about staying in the lines.  That's a new thing, and my OCD side is loving it!  :)

Oh, check out those cute aprons they're sporting!  They're nothing fancy...just a big C and P but I still love them.  They're just the right size for them.  I had plans to spruce them up a bit by making a pocket out of cute fabric, but that just didn't happen in the limited time I had in Houston in December.  Oh well, they work perfectly fine like this, and I like having something to cover up their clothes with when they want to get dirty.  :)

the importance of having girlfriends

This topic has been on my mind lately, and I was originally going to include it in my Thursday Thoughts but decided against it in favor of dedicating a whole post to it like it deserves.  I always miss my family and friends, but there are definitely days when I miss them extra....and this week has been one of those times.

It got me thinking about how important women are to other women.  As I get older, I understand more and more why maintaining strong friendships with other women is so necessary.  And since I've lived on the other side of the world, I've come to appreciate even more than I already did the time, love, and effort that go into making and keeping strong relationships with the girls in my life.  I love and cherish my husband to the ends of the earth (and if you know me at all, you know this to be true), but there's something undeniable about the bonds between women.

As I think about this, my mom and her girlfriends come to mind.  They are my role models for how to maintain strong female relationships.  Many of them have been friends for decades, and some of them are newer friends who seem like they've been around forever.  Well I've been watching..and learning...and applying it to my own life. 

Here's what I know to be true about the importance of having true, lifelong girlfriends:
.....They are the ones who you can count on to pick you up when you can't do it yourself.
.....They are there for the happiest of days when a new baby is born and for the saddest of days when someone special is no longer here, whether they're taken before the mommy ever got a chance to hold him/her in her arms or if they lived a long, happy life or anywhere in between.
.....They are the people you can make eye contact with and understand what they're saying.
.....They are the ones who moved far away and you don't talk to often enough but can pick right up where you left off the last time you saw each other, even if it has been years.
.....They are the people that give without expecting something in return.
.....They are the people who know what you need when you're not quite sure.
.....They are the ones who you can trust to keep your secrets...and you don't have to remind them to keep it a secret.
.....They are the ones you can vent to, big or small, and won't think less of you.
.....They are the ones who encourage you to go for something new and big in your life, even if it means it'll take you away from them.

I feel so lucky to have the women in my life that I do....young, old, new, mom, and sisters.

These are some quotes I've come across recently that make me smile.  If you're a woman, I hope you can relate to this post.  If you're my mom or her best girlfriends, many of who serve as family to us as well, thank you for showing me what being a good friend means.  If you're my best girlfriends, thank you for being you.  I hope you know I treasure each of you and think about you often.  xoxoxoxoxo

 

"Friendship isn't about whom you have known the longest... It's about who came and never left your side."

"A real friend is someone who tries to pick you up when you've fallen, and if they can't pick you up, they lay down right beside you."

"It's been said that everlasting friends go long periods of time without speaking and never question the friendship.  These friends pick up like they just spoke yesterday regardless of how long it has been or how far away they live, and they don't hold grudges.  They understand life is busy and love is there."

 "Reminder: Your girlfriends will probably outlive your husband.  So find good ones."

"Even though we change and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not still friends."

"A good friend is cheaper than therapy."

"Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit." 

"Friendship: It's not in the quantity of communications, it's about the quality of the connection."

 "Remember, you don't need a certain number of friends, just a number of friends you can be certain of."

Tot School...brought to you by the letter A

Connar has been really interested in letters and numbers recently, so I figured we'd do some fun "school" stuff to keep this 3 year old learning and busy.  He really loves doing all the activities.  Now if only I can get him to understand what school is really about....one day, I guess.  I asked him, "Connar, when you go to school with Mommy, what are you going to do?"  His response: "I'm gonna play with my friends."  :)

Here's what we did for the letter "A" in Tot School....

"Find the letter A" letter search

....next time I'll put the uppercase and lowercase on one page and have him circle them in different colors....at least that's what I'm thinking right now.

tracing his name to learn how to write those letters and recognize which letters are in his name

So proud of himself!

tracing big A's and little A's

...ever since when he spots a big A somewhere on a wall or label he says "Up! Down! Cross!"  Now I've got to figure out what lingo I'm going to use for the other letters.  :)

 singing the alphabet song and smacking every letter with a spatula as he sings it

.....If you didn't see the video of him doing this, you must watch it now!

We attempted to make homemade applesauce.  When I turned back from grabbing my camera, I caught him nibbling away!

 We talked about the core of the apple and even plucked out the seeds.

All into the pot..... It smelled heavenly while it cooked on the stove, but I'm going to spare you the after picture of the applesauce because it didn't turn out as planned.  The consistency and texture of the apples after cooking them was more like what you'd see in an apple pie filling, which would've been great for that but we were aiming for applesauce.  Oh well.  I don't even think he noticed that it didn't turn out the way I hoped.  He just had fun dissecting the apples and adding the ingredients.

We used the apple seeds to make an apple tree.  And he practiced making more A's on that paper too.

I made a list of "A" words and printed off pictures to match.  I told him the word, he found the picture that matched, and he glued it down next to the word.  It was a great activity for recognizing the letter and the sound of "A", but it was also a good fine motor activity with handling the glue bottle, flipping the picture carefully and slowly so he didn't get glue on his hands, and carefully placing the picture where it belonged on the paper.  Because there were so many words and pictures, we split this activity up over two days, but in my opinion that's a good thing because it just reinforced what we were doing the day before.

Stay tuned for more Tot School in the coming weeks and months!

Full Moon Fire Festival

On the first full moon of the Lunar New Year, the Koreans build a humongous fire and burn whatever they can get their hands on, all in the name of good fortune and good health for the upcoming year.

They construct the tower of wood for several days leading up to the festival.  Then, when the day comes, they light it, and people are encouraged to run up (yep, they're running because of the enormous amount of smoke and heat that fire gives off) and throw stuff in....either bad memories from the past year they're trying to get rid of or wishes for the new year.  They also have many performances near the fire.

They do this on the major beaches here, and the big fire here on Haeundae Beach attracted a massive number of people.  Since it was on a Sunday afternoon, I left my three guys at home and went on a walk to inspect this tradition.

Now that's one serious kite.  There were lots of kites being flown out there, but this one takes the cake.

 

Not sure what this says, but I thought it was really neat how they laid cups on the sand with a candle in it to spell something.  I could see it lit up from down the beach later that night.

As I was walking home, I came across this singer.  What's funny is that when I walked up, he was starting this song about love and handed the girl in the front row a small piece of paper (I pan to her in the video....she's on her phone...texting him maybe?).

Thursday Thoughts 2.28.13

Happy Thursday to you!  Here's what's floating around in my noggin lately.  :)

• Weather here....getting better and better every couple days.  Today was b-e-a-u-tiful!  Can I get a WOO HOO?!
• One of my very good friends has been on my mind a lot lately, because she has a lot going on in her personal life with one of her parents.  I wish I could be there to hug her and help her in some way, even if just to make her laugh or bring her a sweet tea, but that's just not in the cards right now.  So, for now, I'll continue to pray for her and her family.  She's probably right though when she said that it's probably better that I'm not there because we'd just cry together every day over it.  We've been through a lot together over the years, so I am sad that I'm not there in person to help her through this.  But, rest assured sweet friend, I'm here....even if here is 7000 miles away.
• Talton has the day off tomorrow for a Korean holiday, so we're in for a 3 day weekend!  Love when that happens!  He is planning on taking Connar for some one on one time to a nearby hill for a little climb, so that means Parker and Mommy will be having some sort of date too.  Yay!
• Have you heard of the book or the movie "The Gruffalo"?  My mom sent the movie to the boys for Valentine's Day, and it's so cute!  It's pretty short, around 30 minutes, and has lots of repetition, so the boys really love watching it...every single day.  :)
• Talton & I had to go to the U.S. Embassy this week to have some papers notarized.  What a long day.  We left at 8 am and didn't get home until nearly 8 pm.  The KTX (high speed train) to Seoul takes anywhere from 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 hours, then throw in the subway ride from Seoul Station to the Embassy stop that's about 40 minutes after all the switching and stairs, the 1 1/2 hours we were at the Embassy taking care of business, and then doing it all over again going back to Busan.  Not to mention, the Embassy charged $50 for every notary stamp.....and we needed 12.  You do the math.  Like I said, what a long day.  I just pray that all of our hard work to get business from home taken care of pays off, because only then will it all be worth it.
• Let's talk about Costco.  They're killing me.  Not only do they not stock Kraft macaroni and cheese boxes (seriously, whoever decides what they sell or don't sell needs to be fired), they have recently been testing my patience with their inability to consistently keep our favorites on the shelves.  They sold these really yummy red potatoes in a bag....once upon a time, for a limited time apparently.  Now, it looks like they got a wild hair and stopped stocking tortilla chips.  Oh uh-uh, no way Jose.  Don't they know we need those in our house?  Seriously Costco, get it together.
• Last weekend Talton & I packed the boys a lunch and hopped on the subway with hopes of trying a new restaurant.  Talk about a waste of 1 1/2 hours.  Thank goodness T was a good sport about it, because it really does stink when you spend all that time walking and being on the subway with two toddlers without your goal coming to fruition.  Even with map in hand from a recent English magazine for the city, we couldn't find the restaurant.  I asked two people with businesses around where the restaurant was suppose to be if they knew where it was....ha, thinking they'd know what I was saying was wishful thinking.  Come to find out from a girl Talton works with because she did some research using a Korean map :) , that location is closed and is moving.  Great.  Just great.  That's just the norm around here though.  Businesses open and close at the drop of a hat.  Seriously, there's a place right outside the doors to our building that yesterday had nothing inside and tons of ladders outside.  Today, their restaurant name is already shining in bright lights, and their tables are ready to be filled with customers.
•  I went to the post office yesterday to mail something, but I didn't realize that I forgot the envelope I was planning on mailing until I took a number and sat down to wait my turn.  Awesome, Kristi.  Sometimes I think I'll never get back all the brain cells I lost to "Pregnant Brain".  This "Mommy Brain" is totally real too.
• The boys are loving electric toothbrushes lately.  It's so funny to see them be so excited about a toothbrush!  Connar has always been pretty good about brushing his teeth when we say it's time, but Parker, man that kid gives me a run for my money at teeth brushing time.  He does a pretty mean backbend and digs those heels into the ground so I can't move him.  That is, until we bought him an electric toothbrush.  Whatever works, people.  :)

Here's to hoping you have a great Thursday and an even better weekend!  xoxo

Is that you, Spring??

Today was amazingly gorgeous!

I'm talking short sleeves and no jackets kind of gorgeous.

I'm talking playing in the sand gorgeous.

I'm talking let's blow bubbles outside and run after them gorgeous. 

I'm talking let's lay in the sand and dig for rocks and shells gorgeous.

I'm talking Momma ain't concerned with how much sand we smuggle back home in our pockets and underwear/diaper because it's finally warm enough to play outside since October gorgeous.

I think Spring is finally on its way!!