Constant Beginnings

Nothing says "Spring" like the birth of babies, so we made some bird nests out of shredded wheat biscuits. This particular recipe wasn't the greatest (I've since found a better one that we'll try next year), but the girls enjoyed. Claire's classroom has a little nest perched on a stick in their classroom. Claire came home one day and told me that a teacher found a baby bird's egg to put in the nest. She was 100% convinced that is was going to hatch soon. Each day we go into class and she has  to check on the egg to make sure all is still well. Low and behold, after careful observation, Claire noticed the egg now has a line on it. She is certain this means that egg is going to hatch open VERY soon. One of her friends has tried to stomp on her innocence by telling her the egg is fake. Thankfully, Claire is holding her own and sticking to her story. These are the stories I truly cherish. I am so thankful that she truly is an innocent soul even though there a...

Miss Kim. Tears fill my eyes when I think of leaving Korea--all because of this one, very special person--Miss Kim. She is an angel. I could not have asked for a better teacher for Claire. She is warm, nuturing, goofy and totally smitten with our little girl. Miss Kim is simply perfect in the eyes of Claire and of course, in ours too. I am so thankful she entered our lives. Miss Sue. She has loved on Mya each day since before Mya made the move to the preschool class. She has taken Mya under her wing and helped her transition. She is a wonderful person! The Easter festivities began at the kids' school. Eggs galore. Both of our kids were hoarding them. Claire had eggs in her hood, in her pocket and even tucked under her chin. You'd think they were deprived kiddos who never experience fun! Ha.

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...

Korea offers a little something for everyone. For me, New Core Outlets. A little tiny taste of an American department store. It is lovely. I never buy anything, but I enjoy wandering and looking. Mya and Claire love the play area. This one is free. There is another upstairs that costs a few thousand won, but we didn't happen to have any with us, so free it was. Free is good.  I happen to ask Mya one day if she could copy my trick. She did and soon after, Claire did as well. I guess it isn't so special anymore.

10 days. Yep, that's it. In 10 days (or less) we will know our destination. This wait has been intolerable. We actually caught word a few weeks ago that we may be headed to San Antonio and though we knew this was far from definite, we leaped into planning mode (you know, just in case ;). Four months is not nearly enough time to find an appropriate house, great school for Claire, preschool for Mya, and a job for me. San Antonio was second on our list, so it could be a real possibility. Needless to say, if San Antonio is our future home, we are all set. We found everything we were looking for and more (not to mention family to love on our kids and sunshine galore). So exciting. That being said, now that we have our hearts on Texas, even if we get our #1 choice (Ramstein, Germany), I think we will feel a twinge of disappointment. Strange and wrong on so many levels. I am trying to reopen that door again today in preparation for the "drop." 10 days. Yikes! I can't wait! ...

We bought new couches when we got married. We chose ivory microfiber thinking we'd switch them out in 5 years or so. 7.5 years later, they're still here and looking rather shabby. These poor couches have seen it all--breast milk, vomit, urine and countless crumbs and juice spills. Yep. I am willing to bet you are dying to come on over and have a cup of tea. :) To make a long story short, on a last ditch effort to save our couches, I took the cushion covers off and washed them. They came out clean but also a faint shade of pink. I thought I was in trouble and began to break the news to my dear husband that in addition to potentially buying a house in the coming months, we will also need to fork out some moolah for new couches. Well....Korea is the land of many wonderful things. One of those things is the tailoring and upholstery work available for a very affordable price. The challenge; however, is finding these places (everything being in hangul and broken English presents qui...

Sweet girl. She fell asleep with the animal crackers tucked in tightly.  We have a sick little girl in our family. She's been up at night, restless, a bit more lethargic during the day. She does manage to throw a few smiles our way as well as spark a fight with Claire, but she is just not the same. Poor thing. Chris had the day off on Monday as did the girls. He enjoyed watching the Patriots secure their trip to the Superbowl, although he tells me watching a game while listening to the jibber jabber of two busy children is less than desirable. He wants his cake and to eat it too. I was working. Who had it worse? Ha! I stayed home yesterday. We had a great day. We read books, played a game, took a nap, I planned my sister's baby shower (so exciting and such fun!), and lounged around with lots of snuggling. I did not get this blog updated. I've kind of fallen off the wagon of blogging. Here's the run down on us: 1. We went to our first movie in the Korean theater ...