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.