It's here!!

Our household goods have arrived!!!  Hooray!

 

David is bound and determined to bring one of these Bongos home when we leave

 

I just think this contraption is cool - no breaking your back hauling boxes up two flights of stairs

 

And I thought I was going to make a nice meal for our anniversary today!  All I can say is moving must be similar to the amnesia after childbirth - I totally forgot how chaotic and time consuming unpacking is!

 

Do you think I have a little bit of work to do?

A new friend called last night and offered to take the kids off my hands for a while today so they wouldn't be underfoot while the movers were here - of course I accepted!  She called a couple times throughout the day and asked if she could keep them longer so I could get more done - was I supposed to say no??  She ended up keeping them until almost 3:00 that afternoon!  Gotta love this lady - she initially invited me to a Bible study she's involved with with a few other ladies, and now she wants to take my kids off my hands!  In all seriousness though, I feel so blessed to have met her.  She seems like a wonderful God fearing woman who shares many of the same values as I do and wants to instill those values into her children too.  Thanks Jami, for coming to my rescue in a couple different areas of my life when I needed it most.

 

The kids were thrilled when they got home to see that all of their stuff had arrived (and some of it was already unpacked - thanks to the fact that it wouldn't fit in boxes!)

Today David and I also celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary.  He did end up taking me out to dinner since I didn't manage to get anything cooked!  We headed over to a Chinese restaurant (in Korea, I know... but we're going out for Korean on Friday) and then out for Baskin Robins to top it off.  Though it wasn't any spectacular celebration (memorable, yes, as we made a wrong turn and ended up in the red light district... boy was that an experience), we were together and that is what is most important.

Summer School

I am trying my hand at "homeschooling".  No, I don't plan to pull my kids out of school (yet) and home school full time - I frankly don't think I have the patience for it!  I know several wonderful women who homeschool their broods and I really don't know how they do it!  It does seem like a very popular option here in Korea despite the good things I have heard about the Department of Defense school system here.

The one thing I am committed to is continuing to provide my children with knowledge of the Bible and the core values that God wishes for us to have and follow.  We have pretty much gone from all to nothing in the spiritual aspect of things, and I really don't want to loose the firm foundation we began with our children last year.  So, for this summer I have started doing a "bridge" book with Grace and started some Scripture memorization with both of them.  Tristan only "gets" some of it, but he's involved in all that we do.  The book we have also provides a summer Bible Camp with weekly lessons that we are working on.  I am planning on working with Tristan in a preschool curriculum in the fall because I think he could really benefit from it and I don't know if I will be able to get him into a preschool when school starts - and if I do, I don't know how much "learning" will take place. 

They do seem to enjoy it so far, and even ask about doing it most days.  I'm hoping this will keep all of us in a routine and things will just fall into place after school starts. 

Happy Birthday America!

Today we spent a great day together, mostly just hanging out at home.  Then in the evening we went to church, fellowshiped with some nice folks, and then headed out to Freedom Fest.

The kids explored a couple of M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles

and a fire truck before heading over to the baseball field to get settled in for the concert and fireworks.

While we were waiting for the fireworks, the kids played a little soccer to run off some of their pent up energy.

They also had some great entertainment.

My wonderful family listening to the evening's entertainment

These drummers were fabulous!

The fireworks started around eight-thirty - about an hour ahead of schedule.  Apparently there was supposed to be a storm roll through between nine-fifteen and nine-thirty (which never materialized), but that was okay by me because that meant we got home earlier!

We all really enjoyed the show, and this was the first year that Tristan didn't cry about wanting to go home.  In fact, he thinks that we should do this every day.

We hope you all had a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

Play Time

We have been eyeballing a park for several weeks now.  Well, David and I have - it sits on top of a hill just outside of post, and all you can see from the road is the very top of the playgroud equipment.  We've been busy with swimming lessons the last 2 weeks, but we took time today to venture up the hill, and this is what we found.

 

They also have about seven different exercise machines to use while the kids play.

 

Obviously I had a hard time convincing the kids to stay on the playground and just play, but I guess developing an early love for exercise will benefit them in the long run.  I did manage to spend about 30 minutes on the equipment also.  We all had a great time and I'm hoping to get to any park (we have several in our area, and they all have exercise equipment around here) about 3 times a week - I don't think the kids will complain too much.

 

The drawback these days is the fact that it is so dang humid...

This is the sun.

We are entering into monsoon season and this is the most you see of the sun at any given time, and in the morning and evenings especially, you are just walking through a cloud.  It is difficult to tell sometimes if it is raining or if it's just the moisture accumulating from walking through the "clouds".

A Tristan-ism

There are so many cute things my children say, but I fail to write them all down.  I was inspired by a book my uncle wrote about his youngest daughter, and started writing down a lot of the funny things that Grace said, but I've not been good about keeping up with it.  This comment by Tristan was worth making note of though...

So, if any of you have been wondering what these type of vehicles are, Tristan says they are...

 

Doctor Trucks.

Another One "Bites" the Dust

Grace has lost her 3rd tooth!

 

Problem is that neither of the first two have come in yet... If you look closely, you will see the start of one of her permanent teeth coming in (bottom right), but it's not ready for biting yet.  She was having a hard time biting into things with just 2 teeth gone, so it's gonna be interesting - she told me the other day that I needed to make her soft tacos for a while, since she couldn't bite into the crunchy ones.  It's a good thing she's aquired an addiction to Subway's broccoli cheese soup!

The Book Worm

Grace has finished her first chapter book!

 

Reading about a chapter a day, it took her about a week to finish it.  There were days that she would even ask to read more - must've been a good book!  She has moved onto the next book in the set she received for graduation.  There are 5 books in the set, so she should be able to get through them before school starts again the end of August.  She is also reading multiple other books, including books her brother asks her to read to him.  I loved it the other day when they were both just hanging out in the living room and Tristan picked up one of his books and said, "Gracie, will you read this to me?"  They both hopped up on the couch and she read him the book.  Love that!!