Christmas Wrap-Up

Mya sporting 2 teeth!!

Mya with her wrinkled nose.

Mya and Ava.

Claire and Ava.

Claire, Ava and Olivia waiting patiently to eat Christmas dinner.

Mya showing off. She has taken a huge liking to standing. This was taken during our 12 hour stay at the MSP airport. Torture.

Claire and her Papa.

Mya and her mullet. She actually liked wearing this thing. She must have some redneck in her.

Where are Luke and Olivia? After the huge snowfall, we all went out to play.

Christmas Day dinner.

Claire working on her ornament.

Claire, Olivia, Luke and Ava playing in the snow.

Claire getting ready for some sledding fun or not so much. She wasn't a huge fan.

Grammy bought art kits for the kids to do. Claire and Ava were waiting patiently to begin.

Kiddos handing out presents.

Claire handing out presents.

Claire opening presents with encouragement from Ava. These two were best buds.

After a very long Christmas Eve day, we finally arrived in North Dakota. There was a huge storm that swiped the entire midwest and greatly affected travel. It turns out we were very lucky to arrive when we did; however, after spending nearly 12 hours in the Minneapolis airport, it was very difficult to feel an ounce of graciousness. We ended up missing our Christmas Eve church service and opened our gifts in our travel clothes. Not exactly picture perfect, but my Mom went all out on the food and atmosphere preparations. She made so many goodies and the food was just as I had imagined. Yummy. We had our traditional feast--meatballs/gravy, mashed potatoes, vege tray, and salads. It was delicious. Snow continued to fall for the next two days, which kept us from embarking on our traditional day after Christmas ornament shopping. Instead, the guys shoveled and blew the snow from our street. We did make it uptown to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks--Squeekwal. Claire loved sitting with Ava and wandering back and forth from seat to seat. She also ate half a bag of popcorn, but I guess that is part of the fun of movies. It was her first movie since infancy in a theater and although she went to the Princess and the Frog days later, she still isn't quite ready for the theater. My family packed up and moved on to Bismarck for a few days. It was nice to spend more time with my sisters and Claire especially enjoyed the time with her cousins. Mya even broke another tooth. She wants to stand all the time and loves the love and attention from all. Tonight my sister is hosting a New Year's Eve party. As we left their house this morning, Claire had it in her mind that we were having a party too. We bought some lobster and scallops together with some potatoes, wine and movies. It is fun. Tomorrow we are heading back home. It is definitely bittersweet. I look forward to my own bed, our usual routine and a sense of normalcy, but I will certainly miss my family and Claire and Mya will most definitely miss their Grammy, Papa, Aunties, Uncles, and cousins. They have been spoiled beyond belief but have been really good. Good byes always stink, but thankfully, we'll be together again in April. Although this Christmas has been somewhat strange, it has been wonderful just the same.

my workout playlist

I never dreamed I'd be listening/watching this when I worked out, but it is true. Here it is: photo courtesty of Laurieberkner.com I wouldn't have it any other way. My little healthy lifestyle journey is going well. I have exercised 7 days thus far which consists of treadmill activity and an ab workout every other day. I don't pressure myself to run everyday, but I have run 4 of the 7 days. I am quite proud of that. I have never been a runner or enjoyed running, but I have grown to like it. I used to say that I had exercise induced asthma! I think I did, but maybe I outgrew it? ha. Whatever the reason, I am finding it pretty easy to run and maintain a steady pace for no less than 20 minutes each time. Pretty impressive feat for a girl like me. Interestingly, I had planned to take today off, but didn't. I actually had the desire to run. Chris and I are both sticking to the eating plan as well. So far I am down about 4 pounds. Although 4 pounds is plenty, it ...

Pink Family

Chris and I are creatures of habit. We like what we like. When we find something especially wonderful, we tend to go a bit overboard. Case in point--Chinese restaurant in Minot, ND. We frequented it often at least a couple of times per week. This was basically THE place we went out to eat. The host actually started to say things like, "nice to see you AGAIN." We were rather embarrassed and fearful that his line would eventually become, "your usual table?" Thankfully we moved. Since coming to Korea, we've tried every Brazilian Steakhouse (there are 4 or 5), I deemed Ceia my favorite. It has the most delicious white rice with which I put this onion mixture on top and it is oh. so. yummy. We became frequent visitors--typically one night per week. We joked between ourselves that we were going to be greeted as we were dreading in Minot. It never happened, thankfully, but who knows what the staff actually said as they primarily spoke Korean :) Another quirk Chris an...

9 Months

Claire is nine months old. She is such an active kid, always on the go. She no longer lays nicely when we change her diaper. It is quite the challenge. She is getting rather quick at crawling, so we have to move just as quickly to keep her out of where she doesn't belong--the fridge, cupboards, etc. Developmentally, she is right on track or maybe a bit advanced in our biased eyes. She crawls, pulls herself up, is beginning to move from one piece of furniture to another, mostly eats table food, and imitates us (both in the noises we make or actions--knocking on a door). When we hold her hands, she is beginning to take steps without much guidance. On Saturday, she made her first attempt to climb a step. Sadly, it ended with her sliding down. She has three teeth--two on the bottom, one on top with another coming in on top. Ten things we love about her: 1. her smile 2. her curiosity 3. the way she holds our hands or her own hands when she sleeps 4. her easy-goingness 5....

Alison said…

My, you have had quite a vacation...you must be exhausted from all the travel. You have also been quite busy with your posts...I checked the other day and you didn't have any of your pics up yet. I am happy you like my blog...I have been spending some time on it. The fonts are VERY tricky, but I finally figured it out. One more day till we meet again in cube world. See ya Monday

January 3, 2010 at 10:24 AM

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