Cardboard Box Car

Cade finally got his turn to get Daddy's cardboard box creation...

He, of course, went for a car...complete with steering wheel and GPS (created and installed by Kennedy)...

I have to say, he looked pretty cute sitting there in his car...

Can you tell that the steering wheel was mounted with a marker? Eric wanted it to be able to turn...

Then Daddy pushed him around the house like a race car!

He had a great time! Unfortunately, the steering wheel didn't last long, but it provided ample entertainment for a day or two!

Lego Zoo House

Well, you've already seen the best picture that I took of the Duplo zoo house that the kids built, but I can't help but show you all of the others too...

The Duplos are one item that we have been very grateful that we brought with us from the very beginning. They didn't take up too much room in the suitcases. (Let's be honest. It was more room than I wanted it to be.)

And the kids have thoroughly enjoyed them since the day of our arrival. We've stored them in a cardboard box for the last six months (different ones as they seem to get destroyed every couple of weeks).

I was very excited to finally get Cade some fabric boxes for the Duplos and his cars for his birthday. No more cardboard boxes for us!

I love how creative they get with them...and they definitely haven't outgrown them yet!

Lego Towers

On Thursday I had what may have been the worst headache of my life. If you've known me a long time, you know that is saying a lot! I barely got up off the couch all day long, so the kids entertained themselves with legos much of the day.

And somehow I still managed to take some pictures.

I tried my best to give you some perspective on just how tall this lego tower was. And Kennedy did the whole thing by herself.

I was impressed!

Then they stood in awe of it

and danced around it

before they started trying to knock it down

so that they could build another one!

I was in bed by 7:30 that night and woke up at 7:30 the next morning...thankfully without a headache (though I still had a sore throat and stuffy nose).

Cardboard Box Dollhouse

The title on this might be a bit misleading. Eric and the kids did create a cardboard dollhouse for Kennedy on Saturday.

On Friday, the nanny took the kids to play with the girl that she watches on the weekends (leaving me entirely alone for nearly 5 hours! What did I do? Spent the time chatting on Skype. Fear of solitude? Nah. Just taking advantage of the moment). Anyway, apparently Leila has an amazing dollhouse. It was all Kennedy could talk about afterward!

So Eric (embracing the TCK power he wishes he had!) suggested they make one out of a box. Kennedy gave very clear instructions for how it should look. Eric said it is the type of project that can be worked on over time, so no pictures of the completed dollhouse yet.

Instead, I thought I'd throw in a few random pictures of Cade. 

While we were at lunch on Sunday, he thought it would be funny to sprinkle the pepper onto the tablecloth at the restaurant.

And then lick it off. Ahhh...life with a little boy.

And a little girl. Nothing compares!

Heart Garland

Alright, just a quick post about our latest Pinterest project...the kids and I attempted this project together on Thursday. They quickly decided they weren't up for it, though Kennedy did help me by holding the paper wrapped around the chopsticks.

I think they turned out really cute, though I wasn't sure at first.

They definitely didn't turn out as cute as the ones that I saw pictured here. That's where you'll find step by step directions, too, if you're feeling like you need some heart garlands in your life!

I was already planning on hanging the lights up again and doing the die cuts, so I figured since I already had the supplies, I might as well go for another cute craft.

Eric says it's too soon to decorate for Valentine's Day, and I've never really gone all out for it in the past, but with these boring, white walls I'm putting extra effort into making this apartment feel like home!

Daddy's Craft Project

Alright, first I should probably admit that this title is a little misleading. I can't say that this was necessarily his project. It was yet another idea that I found on Pinterest. One that I'd been meaning to do for probably about the last four months and just hadn't gotten around to it. Seriously. Those cereal boxes have been on top of the 'fridge for a long time.

Then I was absolutely determined to do it over Christmas Break. So, that last Sunday night before school started again I cut the paper, taped the boxes together, and was all ready to put it together. I wrapped the paper around the boxes and was immediately frustrated.

I decided that no one would know that I didn't have the patience for this. I would just toss the whole thing and not worry about it. That's when Eric walked in. "Can I try it?" he asked. Sure. No problem. So, yesterday, that's what he did.

And it looks pretty good, doesn't it? He did a great job. And had a lot more patience than I did....three cereal boxes and some wrapping paper make a cute little box for Kennedy to put all of those papers that she "just can't throw away"!

Of course, then he told me that he did not want to see these pictures on the blog, so he probably won't be happy to see this, but I just wanted everyone to know how much I appreciate his willingness to step in when I get frustrated, even if it is just a silly Pinterest project!

Pottery

Remember the pottery that we made on the trip with the Korean Foreign Schools Foundation? (I told you about it here.)

The museum where we made the pottery promised us they would send us something. It sounded like there was a pretty good chance that the dishes that we made wouldn't make it through the kiln, but we would get something regardless.

So, we designed and created our dishes with love, enthusiasm, and lack of experience and hoped for the best.

A few weeks ago, I remembered that they were supposed to be done in time for Christmas. I remember some joke about them making good Christmas presents. But we hadn't seen them yet...

This week they showed up at school! And we are happy to report that all four of ours made it through the kiln! Those are our hand-crafted bowls with our initials inside! Yay! We're so good at pottery.

"Stained Glass Windows"

Every morning that I am home, Kennedy gets up and asks "What are we making for craft today, Mommy?". Cade asks, "Will you get me some cereal, Mom? And some orange juice? And some oatmeal? And some toast?". And Kennedy asks again, "What are we making for craft today, Mommy?".

It's a good thing I'm the daughter of a preschool teacher, and an avid Pinterest peruser, and a person who keeps anything that might be able to be turned into a craft, and the crazy woman who picks up clothes pins and popsicle sticks because "we might need them at some point"!

Yesterday, we made our own stained glass windows. I'm pretty sure this was a project my mom did in preschool at one point. We had all of these little pieces of tissue paper from the package that we got the other day.

The kids put new window clings on the windows in their rooms and we were left with thin, square, clear sheets of plastic. It didn't take long for me to put the two together.

She looks pretty excited, right? Considering she continued to ask me the remainder of the day if she could make more, I think she enjoyed it. Apparently I couldn't catch that with the camera, though.

Cade got a little help with his...Kennedy decided to make a door and two windows...

Hmmm...I wonder what I'll come up with for tomorrow...

1st Snow in Seoul

We woke up this morning and were so excited to see the first snow here in Seoul! We put on our boots, ran outside and tried to catch the flurries with the camera. It turned out Cade was not too excited to actually be in the snow, and that I was pretty unsuccessful actually capturing a shot of the snow itself, but we did enjoy watching it while it lasted.

I did get some good shots of surprisingly cooperative daughter. I was only surprised that she wasn't the one complaining about the cold.

Kennedy reminds me of my mom here...

After breakfast, we tried our hand at a very simple science experiment that I found on another blog last week. Well, it was supposed to simple. It turned out I didn't exactly have what I needed for it.

Eric accidentally dumped the cream that had expired down the drain last night, and I don't have liquid food coloring drops. The gel food coloring sunk to the bottom of the bowl because it was too heavy and the lowfat milk wasn't thick enough, but we still saw some action when we put the liquid soap in. And, the kids still enjoyed it because they didn't know what it was supposed to look like anyway!

Then, we got to work making our sugar cookie dough.

Baking the gingerbread cookies that we'd started yesterday.

And, finally finished the sugar cookies this evening. (And, just so you know, Cade asked me to take this picture of the snowflake cookies for you. He also directed where I take the picture and which cookies I needed to take a picture of!) Tomorrow, we will decorate them, and then we'll be all ready with our goodies for the kids' Christmas program at church on Sunday evening. I think we're pretty officially in the holiday mood, don't you?