Constant Beginnings

Korea is the land of jerseys. We've been intending on buying a couple, but never got it done. Now that our time in Korea is coming to an end, we've been tackling our shopping list. Jerseys were up--just in time for "jersey day" at the kids' school. Super cute girls. I'm sure their Papa would agree even though they aren't sporting his Purple and Gold!

And this is a prime example as to why I do not let my kids choose their clothes: (photos are blurry, but they wouldn't look any better in focus ;) Yep. That's what I get! ****I neglected to say that Mya's skirt is a ballet skirt. I will be choosing this child's clothes until she is 21. The skirt is totally see through. If you look closely, you can see her Dora undies peeking through. Additionally, have I mentioned how much I HATE tattoos? I do. Awful. Much to my displeasure, Mya is not just sporting 1, but TWO! THis girl will not be leaving our house until she is 30!

Claire and Mya have been very blessed with great friendships here in Korea. Claire's BFF, Lana, had her 5th birthday party on Friday. We went. I seized the opportunity to capture a few pictures of the girls and their friends. Thankfully, Joei (the tallest girl) and her brother Austin are moving to Grand Forks AF base later this month, so we'll be able to see them this summer when we go home. They are such great kids and it will be nice for our kids to learn that "good-bye" doesn't necessarily mean forever. 

Chris and I go back and forth all the time about whether or not we should get another dog. We are dog people; however, we realize our lifestyle does not always fit that of dog owners. We don't believe in leaving a dog outside, we don't believe in leaving them in a cage, we believe they should be treated as members of the family. Pretty simple. That being said, we are gone for long hours, we don't have doggy daycare available here like we did in MA and we like to travel and go on vacation. For these reasons and a few more selfish ones, we haven't gotten a dog. Knowing what is best and controlling my heart are two different things. I saw this dog, Charlie, who happened to be going to live with a teacher that I formerly worked with. They often place dogs in foster care vs. leaving them in shelters where there is higher risk for disease. Anyway, we were able to dogsit for my friend for a weekend, which turned into another week. It was a goo...

Isn't he the most beautiful baby?? We are so excited. My sister delivered our newest nephew on March 13th. Jackson is a very special gift to her and her husband as they've had a long, challenging journey with pregnancy, having experienced multiple miscarriages along this road. We are so happy for them. They deserve this most perfect baby. We can hardly wait until June when we will get to snuggle him too. Hopefully by that time, they'll be willing to share him a bit ;) 

This PCS thing is nothing I've experienced before! My silly husband thought it was a pretty simple process, but I knew a bit differently having dealt with a number of clearance documents at work. Needless to say, we've been filling out forms, gathering signatures and making appointments. The kids and I had our medical and dental appointments last week. Mine went well, but an entire case of adult beverages should have been consumed after Mya's appointment on Friday afternoon. The dental clinic is located in the hospital which houses the immunization clinic and family practice offices. Mya hates that place! The girls starts freaking out the minute I pull into the parking lot regardless if we are there to pick up a piece of paper or for an appointment for someone else. Such was the case on Friday. We pull in and she starts crying and mumbling something like "no shots mommy." Yep. I knew we were going to have fun--and lucky for me, I got to deal with this all on my ow...

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...