Happy Birthday Cade

Dear Cade,

I cannot believe that you are going to be 3 years old already. It seems like just yesterday, I found out I was having a boy and I lost the key to the Volvo and was stranded at the doctor's office on the night before Kennedy's birthday party. I still remember how scared I was to have a boy. What on earth was I going to do with a boy?!

And you are all boy. No mistaking that. You like to get dirty. You run everywhere. No walking for you, man. What's the point in walking if we can run?! You bounce off the walls, the couches, the floor like it's rubber. You get hurt about 15 times a day and generally it doesn't phase you. You just find something else to bounce off of. You crack us up all day long; I just wish I could keep up with you more often.

You eat just like your father. I wouldn't believe if I didn't see it with my own eyes every day. You eat off your plate, off the table, off the floor, off other people's plates. It doesn't matter to you. You love steak, chicken, pork, fish. Just about any protein. Vegetables? You can take them or leave them. You often feel like the carbs are an unnecessary way to mask foods. Why would I eat my eggs in a tortilla when I could just eat the eggs, cheese, and bacon? Why do I need a hot dog bun? The hot dog is just fine by itself. Rice? If I have to, but I'd prefer just to pick the meat out of the stir fry! All of this about every two hours all day long. And if we forget to feed you? Well, you just open the fridge and bring us the bread, the jam, and the yogurt. A subtle little reminder: Mom, I'm hungry...again!

You have a great sense of humor, you love people, and you have the best expressions. You come into our bed early in the mornings and cuddle with us. It's the only time all day you sit still and we cherish those moments.

You have done an amazing job adjusting to life in this culture where every female wants to touch, pet, and hug you. You have more patience with that than I do, and I applaud you for it.

You are a great kid. I couldn't have asked for more, and I'm so grateful that God gave me you, my little boy. Your dad says I'm going to have stop calling you "little" soon. I'll try to stop doing it in public, but I'm pretty sure you'll always be my little boy.

Love,
Mom

Opening Presents

Opening presents has a whole new meaning when you're overseas...

See that computer screen in the bottom left corner?

That's not us just leaving the laptop in the middle of the room...

that's our Skype date. That's a grandma getting to watch her grandson open the birthday present she sent him.

That's technology that allows us to keep close relationships with our family back home. 

That's getting to see the joy on the face of the person that you bought a present for even though he's across the world.

This is us being grateful for that technology (and those presents)!

Cade's Birthday Party

Cade is going to be 3 in just a few days, so we had his birthday party this weekend.

There were 3 little boys all turning 2, so they had planned to have a joint party...we decided to join in since there aren't any boys closer in age to Cade.

Since no one has a house big enough to accommodate that many people, we had the party at church.

The same church where we have playgroup, so there are plenty of toys to keep the kids entertained!

Eric got a lesson in photography and how to use our camera from the high school photography teacher, so he did his best to get some good shots.

Kennedy was very concerned at the onset about the lack of presents and friends her age, but she had nothing to worry about. She had lots of fun, too!

The boys were not too excited to have to sit down...even if cake was coming their way!

Cade put on all kinds of expressions for us...I'm not really sure what he was thinking...

All in all, it was a great time...the kids had a blast!

And, it was low stress for me thanks to the other moms who organized everything. All I had to do was buy stuff, show up, and decorate. I can handle that!

I'll do my best to get the rest of the photos on Facebook in the next day or two!

Week 8: Cabin Fever

I'll be honest, it's getting harder to keep up. I have finally been feeling better, but as a result of that, I've been able to work out again which means getting home later a couple of days a week. Basically, it means that yes, I have resorted to the iPhone this week when needed. Thankfully, the prompt this week was easy...we've been cooped up with cabin fever for months now. It did get up to 50 degress today, though!

Day 48: Kennedy wanted to color last Friday when we got home from school, so that's what we did!

Day 49: On Saturday, the kids and I played with Photo Book on the Macbook and iPad...just being goofy and hanging out between Skype dates!

Day 50: The kids made beds for themselves on the living room floor on Sunday morning.

Day 51: Watching a "scary" movie with dad...I think it was Veggie Tales.

Day 52: The kids helped dad dry the dishes. Kennedy wanted to earn some money so that she can buy Cade a birthday gift. I don't know if the 100 Won will make much of a dent!

Day 53: Cade was excited for Pizza School on Wednesday night at Ross and JJ's...I just missed the shot of him hugging it!

Day 54: When we got home from school yesterday, the kids had put together this "zoo house" with the nanny...they were so proud!

I think the one of Kennedy with the Duplos is my favorite...I like the way the light hits her hair. I asked her if we could move the house, so it could sit in the light, but she said it was too fragile, so here it is with the distracting background and everything. I'll take what I can get these days!

If you'd like to see others' work on Project 52, check out the links:

www.styleberryblog.com

Little Readers

I have already mentioned many times before my love of reading and the ever-elusive stack of books on my nightstand. Last week, I caught a few photos of my littles and their growing love of reading.

We picked up these phonics Curious George books when we were Boston a couple of years ago. I knew they would come in handy eventually!

She is doing a great job learning how to read these simple books, and they're perfect because they just focus on one vowel sound and one consonant sound in each book.

And then there's Cade...reading in his underwear...

he's quite the reader himself! He totally cracks me up when he "reads" his books. Sometimes he tells the parts he remembers, sometimes he looks at the pictures to tell a story, and sometimes he just makes the sounds.

All I can say is that I hope they continue to love reading throughout their lives as much as they do now!

Travel Plans

I'm so excited!

This weekend we bought our tickets back to Seattle for this summer. We'll be home for nearly eight crazy weeks. We'll be back in WA for about a week at the beginning of June, and then we fly to Ohio for the big wedding. (Still have to buy those tickets...we could only spend so much money in one weekend!) Then we'll be back in WA for about six weeks before heading back to Seoul. So, let us know if we need to get to your name on our calendar. We can't wait to see everybody!

We also booked our vacation to Thailand for Christmas 2012 over the weekend. I'm so excited to be at the beach in the middle of the winter next year. It has been freezing for months now and I'm thrilled to get a break in the middle of it next year.

Speaking of breaks from the freezing weather, my trip to Indonesia and Singapore is less than a month away now. I can't believe it. I'm a bit apprehensive, but I'm also excited to take this trip with our middle school students, experience life in yet another culture, and hang out at Telunas Beach...in warm weather!

We are blessed to be able to travel so much in 2012, and we are excited about everything but the plane rides and the jet lag!

By the way, Eric took these pictures on Sunday morning while I was in the shower. He still refuses to use the new lens, but he did a great job anyway!

Week 7: True Love

Well, I can't say that I was feeling particularly enthused about this prompt. For me, Valentine's Day consisted of a bunch of kids hopped up on sugar (not my own!) and a good dinner. Just your run-of-the-mill true love. So, inspiration is definitely lacking. Exhaustion is taking over. But, I did take pictures. And, I took them with the real camera. So I'm happy with it.

Day 41: Reading a book will always be one of my true loves!

Day 42: Kennedy holding her Valentine's Day candy...one of her true loves! I was so mad that my Valentine's Day post went live without any words or pictures in it! I really liked some of the pictures I got of the kids and their candy. I have fixed it in case you missed it!

Day 43: I truly love this stage Cade is in...always running around in his underwear, having very few accidents, and loving to read his books!

Day 44: Since I'm working full time now, it's dark by the time I remember to take a picture most nights...this is a blurry picture of the kids watching their evening "movie" before bed...they truly love that 20 minutes of TV they get every day! (And I love the incentive to get them to eat their dinner and try something new each night!)

Day 45: Brushing the teeth...I wonder what part of our evening routine I'll take pictures of next week since I've just about covered it all this week!

Day 45: Ugh. My little iPhone-addicted children. At least they were playing an educational game. Cade told me that you spell cow "C-O-W" after playing this game.

Day 46: The kids love it when I get home from Costco. They're always so excited to see what I have. This time they were particularly excited because Costco had Goldfish crackers (not "marine crackers"--the real ones!), a rare treat since we've arrived in Seoul!

I think my favorite for this week is Day 42. I just love her sweet little hands holding that bowl of candy...and you know I love Jelly Bellies!

If you'd like to see others' work on Project 52, check out the links:

www.styleberryblog.com