Uh-oh!! Ouch!

We have a couple new words out of our little guy. He's been saying 'Mama,' for awhile. Initially, it meant everything from me, to more, to his pacifier. He seems to have narrowed down his choices and it generally just means me. He's been saying 'Da' for about a month. And, today...'uh-oh' (yes, he dropped a toy from his highchair...we've started that: ) and I said 'uh-oh.' I haven't heard 'ouch' yet, but Travis has. Seems he bonked Min in the head with his pacifier when he was changing his clothes. Travis said, 'ouch,' .... Our little man isn't such a baby anymore : (
We've had a pretty rough week at our house. Andrew started running a fever last Friday and it was gone by Sunday night. Charles started on Monday, and Henry Tuesday morning. Yes, mom and dad got it as well. We should feel better soon.

I took Henry to his classroom assignment day today, and we found out who his teacher is and got to meet her. He's visited the school a couple times before, but spent a great deal of time checking out the kindergarten room. He's pretty nervous, but a little excited at the same time.

I was messing around with Elements and doctored a couple pictures. Chris gave me some great advice and it's helped a lot. I took these pictures on Sunday. This one was taken with the afternoon sun glaring into his face, but I so loved this silly expression he's making lately. It's kind of a 'I'm sort of in between happy and sad' kind of face, and that's exactly when he uses it.
This one was in the evening. And the lighting was so much better. I'm not completely happy with this one, but will try to mess with it a little more.

A work of art...and WONDERFUL news!!

I had to post this digiscrap page done by a friend of mine. It is of a photo that we took in Duluth...I posted it on an earlier entry. She is amazingly talented, and I abosolutely LOVE this page!! This has always been a favorite poem of mine. It is a good descriptor of my life. I find that my path in life has taken many diversions that most people don't have the opportunity to take.... being sick, my transplant, my children... all paths that I would never change and that have made my life truly amazing. I have much to be grateful for... my health, husband, children, family. So.... in so many ways this is truly a work of art. Thanks, Chris!!! For the other news... James was unable to finish his last two rounds of chemotherapy because his blood counts weren't returning to normal quickly enough. So, they did a CAT scan, and can't find any growing tumors!!!! Baby James (please read his blog for the best information) kidney has an area which they described as 'indeterminate origin,' meaning they aren't sure what it is, but it's not growing. GOOD NEWS!! Anyway, they will repeat a CAT scan in 3 months, and in the meantime, we are really hoping they can live life as normally as possible. Congratulations James and family!!

For our family news....it's pretty boring. Henry went to Bible School with the kids from our daycare. We missed Bible school at our church because it was during Korea Camp. He loved Bible school!! I've spent a couple hours the past 2 evenings helping our daycare provider reclaim her house. They have a ways to go, but at least they've made some big steps in one week. The other families are also helping them with various things that need to be done. Andrew started running a fever last night and it continues tonight. As is typical for him, he has no overt symptoms so we have no idea what might be wrong. We're expected to have a beautiful weekend and we can't wait!! I'm so excited to finally be able to do things outside after a week of being cooped up.

Bat Baby!!!

Here is the newest member of our family.... Bat Baby!! Okay, okay...it's really Min. But, doesn't he look good? He wasn't too impressed with his new identity, but became a little happier with a few tosses in the air.

I was snapping a few pictures one evening this weekend and managed to get a few okay ones. The lighting wasn't the best on this one. I think it's a little light, but the expression is priceless so I"ll keep it.
The color was much better back here. I put him in all shade, just like Chris said.... only I couldn't get a very good pictures. Maybe Elements can help me out a little.
Family fun on the trampoline. Min LOVES it!! Of course, he's always been a little jumper. And, he much prefers when Henry jumps in front of him.
This was from today. Min thinks Charles his hilarious. He can always get him to laugh. Whoever thought that putting blocks in your mouth like fangs would be so funny to a 10 month old?
Laughing at Charles!! All Charles had to do was giggle and Min would laugh.

We had a great weekend with my brother and his family. They came on Thursday, went to the Twins game on Friday, and came back that night for the rest of the weekend. We had a great time!! I hope they can make it back again soon. I think Henry and Charles wore out my nephew, Lane. He's 11, and a favorite among the cousins. We made ribs for my neice, Jacey, who turned 17 on the 17th. She LOVES ribs, and they turned out great! Travis is a really good cook. Hopefully, he'll have more time to cook now that he's done with school ; ) especially since I would rather do a lot of things instead of cooking.

We weathered the rain fairly well with just a dab of water in the basement. It was easily cleaned up with two towels so I really can't complain. Our preschool/daycare provider had to completely remove all her carpet, and the sheetrock and insulation on the bottom part of her basement wall. And, then you read the news about the people in area towns who have no homes to come home to. Or, the ones who died as a result of the flood. We have much to be thankful for.

We go to Classroom Assignment day next Wednesday at Henry's kindergarten. He's not looking forward to starting school, and has begged us not to make him go. I imagine the first couple days will be difficult, but he'll settle in and be fine. The first day of tae kwon do was hard for him, too, and look at him now!! We're hoping to meet the other kids in his class and, hopefully, set up a couple playdates before school starts. Henry would do so much better if he knew someone who was going to be in his class with him. Charles also doesn't want to go to Ja Neal's if Henry won't be there. I think the month of September will focused on transitions.

Family Vacation

We managed to take a short family vacation...2 nights in Duluth. We managed 4 nights last summer...camping, but couldn't quite swing it this year. 2 nights camping with Andrew has all we've been able to manage this summer. My pictures didn't get uploaded into the order that I wanted, but.... oh, well. We had a lot of fun with Henry contributing a few laughs...though he didn't think they were always funny. Charles swimming at the pool. The boys loved the water and, of course, that's all they wanted to do. We practically had to drag them kicking and screaming from the hotel to go do anything else.
Hiking at Gooseberry. For those of you with boys, you'll understand the appeal of sticks, rocks, a nd water. As we looked through our pictures it seems like we had a ton of the boys and at least one, if not more, of the above items included. Charles was finding sticks that he wanted to throw in the water as we were hiking. He only has one handful on this picture, but ends up with quite a few more. I should know.... I carried a few : )
Henry took this picture. Andrew fell asleep when we were walking down by the Canal in Duluth. Actually, he was having trouble falling asleep because I forgot his blanket to throw over his head... less distraction that way. Henry had gotten a shirt and let me borrow it. I threw it over Min's head and he was sleeping in about 30 seconds. This is us on the trolley going back to the hotel.
Charles, too, fell asleep on the trolley. It seems that the hiking at Gooseberry did them in. Of course, they didn't fall asleep in the car on the way back to the hotel like you would expect. He falls asleep at 5:30 on the trolley. He did sleep until morning!!

This is when we were about 45 minutes from home. Min had had enough. This was taken at the verge of a meltdown. One of Henry's many contributions to a funny family weekend. We weren't even to Duluth yet. We had stopped at J. Cooke State Park to hike around. Henry was obsessed with jumping from rock to rock and making it out to these little islands... the water was very shallow where he was jumping. We warned him many times to be careful so he didn't fall in the water. But, alas, he slipped. First he slipped and fell on his behind on a rock. Then he got up and slipped onto his knees and scraped one. We tried not to laugh, but how can you help it? He got mad.
I really liked this picture of Charles. It reminds me of my favorite poem...'The Road Less Travelled.' We actually have quite a few pictures from this weekend that would fit that title.
At Gooseberry. Charles got tired. He had put on quite a few miles by this time. Thankfully, we didn't have too much farther to go.
Henry climbing a tree at Gooseberry.
Min spent a large part of our vacation in here. Of course, he loved it!! But, when he's on my back he needs to peer around the side so he can see what is going on.

All in all, we had a good time. Yes, there was plenty of whining and complaining...mostly due to tired boys. But, we had a lot of laughs too.

We're gearing up for a visit from my brother, his wife, and two kids. They are planning to come on Thursday. We're very excited!! It's been awhile since they've been down. Aside from my parents, they have been our most frequent guest. And, we've really missed them the past couple years.

A week of many firsts (is that even a word?)

Wow!! What a week! It truly has been a week of many firsts. Henry tested for his yellow striped in tae kwon do last Saturday and found out on Tuesday that he passed. Here he is after he received his yellow stripes. He was VERY proud, and loves to walk around and talk about being a 'striper.' I'm pretty certain that's not legitimate tae kwon do terminology. Anyway, he is loving tae kwon do, and has already learned the new form for being a yellow stripe. A form is a series of tae kwon do movements that must be learned accurately and done precisely in the correct order. I think he does his forms 5...6...7 times a day.
Here is the other first...a lost tooth!! Wow!! What a thrill to lose a tooth! There was a lot of discussion on what the tooth fairy pays these days both amongst us and with the neighbors. Now, Henry's other bottom tooth is loose.

The boys were off from preschool this past week so we were home all week. We tried to do a few fun things like...grocery shopping, playing in the pool, taking the dog to the vet (very insane!! A warning to anyone who is contemplating taking their 3 boys along to the vet for the dogs checkup... DON'T!!! Take this as a very sincere warning...unless you are planning to sedate your children. The dog was so much more well-behaved than my children. Thank you, Pongy-dog for being such a good boy!), and a trip downtown on the city bus to have lunch with dad. Always a big hit at our house. Thankfully, the bus picks us up on the street behind our house. Min loved it, and the boys ran like wild men downtown and then couldn't figure out why people were laughing at them.

Here they are watching the construction. I love this pictures. You'll have to click on it and make it bigger, because Min is not so impressed with the construction equipment.

There was a concert this weekend at the Mayo Civic which I took the boys. Another first, and a little bit of a risky endeavor, but they did great. It was a Christian singer, Twila Paris, who is touring for a month with the World Vision Korean Children's Choir. It was amazing!!! The boys absolutely loved it, and wow, could those kids sing. They sang as a choir first, then the lady sang for awhile, and then the kids returned to perform traditional Korean drumming and dancing. Absolutely incredible!!!
This was the best picture I could get. I got a couple others that are much brighter but blurry because of the moving fans. A co-worker had brought in a copy of their church bulletin telling about the concert and the need for host families to house the kids for the night. I called last Monday to say that we could take 2-4 kids. We have an extra bedroom and Min's room has a queen bed in it. They said to plan for 2 and would call us if we needed to take 2 extra. After the concert, we went to wait for the kids who would come with us. It seem there weren't quite enough families so they asked if we could take extra. Of course!! So, last night we realized a whole new meaning for the title, 'Paul Fraternity.' The four boys of the group came home with us!!! My boys were thrilled, of course. I hurredly called Travis to tell him that instead of 2 girls, we were bringing home 4 boys. Needless to say, he was surprised. We had ordered pizza and managed to fill them up with pizza and fruit. They spoke a little English, and were really great kids.
Here they are in my dining room. They were here for such a short time. We brought them home last night at about 10:30, and then had to drop them off at their bus this morning at 7:30. The boys, and us, were disappointed that we couldn't keep them longer. They had fun wandering around, seeing the neighborhoods, schools, and various wildlife we encountered on the road this morning. They were off to Rockford, IL today, and were going to perform in 20 different venues before leaving for Korea on August 28th. A most amazing group of kids with a ton of talent.