T-Ball

As a part of our busy week last week, Grace started T-ball practice.  It will be interesting to see what she ends up choosing as her favorite sport - everything she has done she has enjoyed, and so far, this is no exception. 

They had worked on their overhand throw in PE that day.

I love that this girl always has a smile on her face!

Tristan has been begging to play catch - and Tuesday he finally got his wish.  I have a hard time letting them throw baseballs out in front of our house because there are just too many cars our there.

Grace was supposed to have her first game this morning, and Tristan was supposed to start his T-ball clinic, but we had thunderstorms all night and into today so everything was cancelled.

Royal Wedding 2011

Yes, we were among the billions who tuned in to watch the Royal Wedding today.  Fortunately, it came on about supper time in our part of the world, so we didn't have to get up in the middle of the night to watch it.  I remember watching Prince Charles and Princess Diana get married, and really wanted to share that experience with my kids, especially our little princess Grace.  I was no where near the fairy tale girl that our daughter is, but I remember what an experience it was watching the Royal Wedding in 1981, and how those pictures stuck with me, and I thought Grace would think it was a pretty big deal watching a real live Prince get married.

Tristan is the one who wanted to get dressed up for the "ball" 

I thought it was a beautiful ceremony, and hope the kids enjoyed it as well and will remember it for years to come - even if they didn't understand the significance of the event.

Easter Celebration

On Sunday afternoon, we ventured over to the Stafford's house for an Easter celebration.  Kim and I had discussed having an Easter egg hunt for the kids since we had heard that the ones on post weren't terrific - and the fact that we want our kids to know the real reason we celebrate Easter.  So, we invited six other families and had a fabulous time and ate some delicious food.

Us womenfolk stuffed the eggs full of goodies, and then we tasked the men with hiding them for the kiddos 

 

The floodgates have opened! 

All the kiddos 

My fabulous friend Kim (with the help of the other adults) teaching the kids about the death and resurrection of Jesus through resurrection eggs.

And, of course, I made our Easter cake to share with everyone.  This bunny has become our annual Easter cake - I offered to do something different this year, but the kids refused.

I added these cute little chick cupcakes to be sure we had enough for everyone.  I was thankful to have help from David (frosting), and Tristan (adding the coconut), or they never would have been finished in time!

Praise the Lord, He is Risen!

I had really good intentions of having the first part of this post ready to go for Easter morning, but this last week has been crazy busy and time totally got away from me.

This is a banner I made.  I really liked the idea of having something hanging up like our St. Patrick's Day banner, and had seen several ideas for party banners online, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Art by Grace 

Since the MI Ball was Saturday night, the kids spent the night at my friend, Kim's house.  David got up bright and early on Sunday morning to go get the kids so we could still do our family Easter egg hunt before church that morning.

They found eggs immediately when they walked in the door and started eating! 

I couldn't resist this shot! 

Tristan was really excited about his "cheese birds" 

Who needs a basket? 

Grace received some beautiful purple heart earrings 

I really don't know what this face was about. 

A boy after my own heart - not diggin' the Peeps! 

My precious babes all dressed up and ready for church. 

We hope you all had a blessed Easter!  More to come with our Easter party.

2011 MI Ball

Saturday evening David and I headed up to Seoul for the 2011 Military Intelligence Ball.

I will tell you that when David came home about a month ago and told me that I had to get a dress for a formal event the end of April, I really wasn't happy.  What??  You want me to go to a ball when I'm 30 weeks pregnant, feeling fat and miserable?  NOT FAIR!  We ended up having a really good time, the food was even really, really good - I even told David that my steak could've been cooked a little more, and the dessert was spectacular!  We enjoyed dancing (for the first time in who knows how long), and just having an evening out together.  After all, how can you not have a good time when you get to get all dressed up (even if you are really pregnant).

Mulhyanggi Arboretum

Last Thursday Tristan and I ventured out to a beautiful arboretum with the photography club that I'm a part of here.  There are several members that are experienced photogs, so I was really excited to get their input and advice on all sorts of things!  I love my camera, but I really need to get it off auto mode and learn how to use all the different features and know what all the different terms mean. 

We all met up at the train station and took the subway to Osan-si and walked a short distance to the arboretum.  This was Tristan's first "train" ride since we've been in Korea, though it wasn't as thrilling as I thought it might be for him as I forgot that he has taken it several times in Chicago and at several airports.  Oh well - it was a fun experience nonetheless.

Tristan and Michael waiting for the train 

Here it comes! 

They had some beautiful plants and flowers there, and I really want to go back when even more things are in bloom!  Right now all the cherry blossom and magnolia trees are in bloom, and the azaelias were beginning to bloom as well.

Not that I'm a botanical expert by any means, but I had no idea there was more than one kind of magnolia tree, or that they came in such beautiful colors!

I'm thinking we might head back for Tristan's 5 year old pictures in June.

Cherry blossom tree - they have the prettiest light pink flowers!

Love these orchids.

We had a really fun day, and beautiful weather for our adventure too - something that is quite iffy these days in Korea!  I really enjoyed playing around with my camera and trying to learn the ins and outs of shutter speeds and ISO.  I also learned about NOT putting your main subjet matter in the center of the photo - something I always did because I didn't want there to be a question about what I was taking a picture of.  Turns out that with the right focal point, your subject matter can be anywhere in the picture.  I look forward to learning a lot more from these ladies!