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.

Vacation!!

The boys and I are on vacation!! Well, some of you may say that I'm always on vacation since I don't really work outside the home. And, others may say that I never get a vacation. Our vacation is that the boys preschool is closed next week, and even though the work continues at home, my frame of mind is much different. When the boys are home, I KNOW that I won't really get anything productive done so I might as well just relax and enjoy myself. So far we only have a few plans. We're going to take the city busy downtown one day and have lunch with Dad. This isn't as hard as it seems since the city bus stops on the corner behind our house. It takes about 15 minutes to get downtown which is much too short for the boys, and the bus drops us off at the clinic doors. We'll try to go to story at the library on Wednesday, and will try to get to the Oxbow Zoo one day. I've learned that the vital word is TRY since with the 3 of them nothing is ever certain.

We've had a relatively uneventful week. I did work on Thursday afternoon and got to see a past co-worker and friend who was visiting from California. The boys and I were home on Friday and got started on our vacation by refilling the pools (now freshly scrubbed) and buying some clearance pool toys. Min is a walking maniac... though he doesn't think he can move one step without holding onto your hand. He is getting better at cruising furniture, and is much more confident. Now, I can't ever get him to sit down. He keeps his legs stiff so they won't bend. what a little smarty. The above pictures is, of course, him reorganizing the books. He LOVES the book case. I couldn't pass up a few more pictures.
His very much into making funny faces lately. One of the instructors at tae kwon do always holds him and Min makes faces. Then the instructor asks, 'Is he smiling or not?' Sometimes its hard to tell.
In the pool! Min really loves the water. The water was pretty cold so I filled buckets in the house with warm water so they could go in.
And....now he's ready to get out. For those of you who think he's always happy....he's not. Yes, he is MOSTLY a happy boy, but he has his moments.
And, this!! It has been awhile since they've sat so closely to each other, willingly, without fighting. I had to chuckle at Henry's choice of reading material.... the Lance Armstrong autobiography. Pretty heavy reading for a 6 year old who, though making great gains in the reading department, is not a reading prodigy. He must have found the pictures.

Henry had his first tae kwon do test today. He was testing for his yellow stripe. We won't find out if he passed until Tuesday. It was very interesting, and he was very nervous, but did great. We were so proud of him!!! There were about 20 spectators, the kids in the class, other black belts, and the people who were judging. They went through all the kicks, punches, blocks, and form. First they did it as a group, and then the grandmaster asked Henry to do his again...alone. I'm not sure if he made a mistake the first time, or if he just thought he was supposed to do it again, but he did it. I couldn't believe it! This from the boy who cried through the whole first class. They asked the kids questions. All in all it took about 45 minutes.

Camping with friends

We spent the weekend camping with friends, and we had a really great time. Their kids are about the same age as ours... almost 6 and just 3. And, though they lacked sleep, they had a lot of fun. This is the first time we've camped with someone else and we certainly realized the benefit of having built-in playmates for the boys. We weren't constantly hounded to be the entertainment, and fighting and arguments were minimal. We actually got to have adult conversations for at least 5 minutes without being interrupted...occasionally. We spent time at the lake swimming and playing in the sand, hiking, fishing, and just general playing around the campsite. I was really impressed with how these pictures turned out. It was at night with my 'night portrait' setting on the camera.
We got home early this afternoon and the boys crashed....so did I : ) I fell asleep with Andrew and we had a really great nap. I ordered a baby carrier that came recommended by a friend. This is just a generic mei tai, ordered from a lady on ebay. But, it is by far the best baby carrier I've used. If you're into wearing your babies, it is incredibly comfortable, light, easy to use, and so easy to take a long... it just folds up like a blanket. Min loves it!! We went for a walk this evening, and this is the two of us.
And, bath time consisted of this...

Henry had a really great night at tae kwon do on Thursday, and is REALLY loving it. He can't wait for Tuesday, and has been practicing over the weekend.

Mischief Making

Min finally found a way to make mischief...he found the bookshelf. Thankfully he can't pull it down on top of him, but he can create quite a mess when he gets the hang of taking the books out. Today, he only managed a couple. But, I'm afraid it's only the beginning.
Seeing these pictures made me think of Charles and Henry's little boy pictures. I realized that I only had them saved on Shutterfly since we've gotten a new computer. I've been slowly transferring some of the pictures from Shutterfly to my desktop so 1)I can share them with you; 2) to edit them with my Adobe Photoshop. I still need practice but am trying to do a little at a time. I realize that I need to PURCHASE a book to help me realize what all I can do with it. I had borrowed one from a friend...Thanks Chris!! But I think it will take me awhile, with book in hand at the computer, to really learn everything. Anyway, I came across a few photos of Charles favorite mischief making activity when he was about Andrew's age...unrolling toilet paper. He would crawl into the bathroom and Iwould find him unrolling ALL the toilet paper. It was really funny. I haven't gotten to Henry's yet, but will share them when I get them saved.
As you can see, he's in the process of unrolling the toilet paper on the roll, but there is another roll on the toilet. He got it off the shelf and just hasn't started in on it yet.'What.. I didn't do anything. This toilet paper was ripped up on the floor when I got in here.'

Hmmm....can't think of a title today...

Life has certainly been gotten back to a new normal after the week of camp and the 4th of July camping trip. Henry had 2 tae kwon do lessons last week with a different instructor. This instructor is in his 20's and, I think, has become another idol for Henry. He's a really great instructor. I had to bring Charles and Andrew with for one of the lessons. Thankfully, the institute has a little playroom for siblings. But, Charles chose to watch the lesson instead. We may have another budding tae kwon do student. Anyway...not only is he a great instructor, but he also loves babies. It was interesting to watch this young man with a black belt tickling and laughing with Andrew. And, Andrew loved him. So, we've settled into tae kwon do and Henry gets to start attending class with the other kids. Charles LOVES water, and would gladly spend the entire day watering everything in the yard. Of course, he especially likes watching the water run down the sidewalk 'like a wiver,' pouring into and out of glasses and, as the above photo shows, into a tube so it makes a waterfall.
Andrew is very much into walking as much and as often as possible to the utter fatigue and sore backs of his parents. He would also much rather spend time walking than going to sleep. Of course, his walking includes holding both hands of a parent which is why we have sore backs. But, he insists upon walking with complete disregard for crawling. In the above picture, he was heading for the plant so he could eat it. Maybe he's going to be a salad man? Today, he managed to pluck the bud off a lily and get it into his mouth.
This is Charles eating bi bim bop yesterday. Our local Korean community made a bi bim bop lunch to raise fund for James. We all LOVE bi bim bop, and this was absolutely delicious. The lunch was very well attended. The man of honor and his family were able to attend. We had a nice time visiting with everyone since we hadn't seen them in about...oh, 2 weeks since camp was over. I talked with the ladies in the kitchen and they were hoping they wouldn't run out of food. I left before it was over so don't know if that happened, but I'm guessing not.
The boys playing 'chase-each-other-down-the-sidewalk-in-pajamas-and-undies.' Thankfully we live in a neighborhood with lots of families with children so they usually just laugh when they drive by and see sights like this.

Not much other news here, except I have to include a couple conversations I've had with the boys. Last Sunday when we were driving to church, Henry noticed some people out running. He asked why they weren't going to church. I told him that some people go to church on Saturday. He commented that his friends down the street went to church on Saturday sometimes. I told him that they were Catholic and people who go to the Catholic church can go on Saturday night or Sunday morning. He said, 'We're not Catholic. We're Korean.' Which led into a discussion about the differences in religion and ethnicity.

Last night at bedtime, Charles asked, 'Mom, why doesn't the sky fall down?' I'm not much of a scientist or meteorologist or whoever it is that studies this kind of thing and so I couldn't readily give him an explanation. So... I said, 'I don't know.' Charles said, 'I think there is a tube in the sky and that keeps it up in the sky.' I tried to get him to explain what he thought this 'tube' looked like, and he gave him such an abstract answer I couldn't really piece it together. I told him a tube is a lot like a garden hose (which he adores because of the water), and was this what the tube in the sky looked like? Then, he said, 'Brown puppy (his favorite stuffed dog) won't get any bigger because he's too hot.' Charles is great for giving reasons for things that make absolutely no sense. I usually say, 'oh,' and try not to look at Henry because then we usually can't help laughing.

Upblocks, downblocks, roundhouse...a whole new language!

Henry successfully completed his first tae kwon do lesson....and he has a uniform. Oh my...he is SO proud. If we let him, he would wear it 24/7. He changes into it at least 3 or 4 times a day. We now have a whole new vocabulary with words such as; upblock, downblock, roundhouse, sidekick, knee kick.... I've done well to remember them. Travis took Henry to the lesson and they came home and Henry gave me a demonstration. He practices everyday with no complaints. Henrys' lesson was with Master Park who has been his idol since he was about 18 months old. No kidding!! Mrs. Park did some translating for us and we met her Park Institute. Henry watched a lesson, at 18 months, and when we went home he would take the pillows off the couch, take his socks and shoes off, and practice kicking them. Master Park told Henry he needed to drink lots of milk and eat his vegetables so he would grow into his uniform. He has the smallest size, and its rolled up : ) So, now he asks me if everything is 'healthy.' Henry doing an upblock.
Showing off the back of his uniform.
Charles and Henry on the swing last night.
We had a rather uneventful 4th. We went camping at Chesterwoods and went swimming and bar-b-qued with friends. There are no fireworks allowed out there, so our plan was to do them this weekend. Thursday at Chester was nice. We went hiking and the boys picked blackberries. I walked ahead and scouted out the berry bushes, Min was sleeping in the pack so it was a little quieter up ahead. Travis walked up to a bush I had just pointed out and saw a huge bullsnake slither away. I shudder at the thought even now. I do NOT like snakes, but I try really hard not to pass on my fear to my children. When Travis said he saw the snake, I walked away, VERY quickly...but did not scream. We ended up going home Friday morning because the boys were at wits end with fatigue. They had great naps and we have had a much better weekend.

Andrew is now 9 months old, and is incredibly active. No, he's not crawling...no, he has no teeth. However, he learned to walk holding our hands today and thinks that is the greatest thing since sliced bread...and he really does love bread. You have to love their first little marching baby steps on those little feet : ) And, he found the fridge with the boys collection of drawings and magnets. Now, all artwork has to be placed high enough so he can't reach it.

Camp Moon-Hwa

We have all finally recovered from our week at Camp. We absolutely love camp and wouldn't miss it. However, it is all-consuming and everything else is put on-hold until its over. This means that our house was a mess (well, you have to remember that 3 boys weren't in it all day, so that did help), only the bare minimum in laundry was done, and, though we didn't need to resort to eating cereal for supper, there were a couple nights that was nearly the case. Oh well... no one would have minded and we all would have been just fine. Also, neither Henry nor Charles had naps the whole week, and Min only had naps while in the carrier. Of course, no one, except Travis and I, minded that. The boys were exhausted every afternoon when we brought them home, and were generally sound asleep by 7 every night. Today, everyone is rested and we're catching up on the housework and laundry.
The boys are sad that we can't go to camp everyday, but I think they enjoyed returning to their regular routine. We all had an awesome week!! I was in charge of the nursery which truly makes me appreciate daycare providers, preschool teachers, and stay-at-home parents of more than 3 kids. I had really great helpers and, though everyone was tired at the end of the day (including the kids...how do you get them to take naps? ), I think they all had fun. Charles and Andrew were both with me in the nursery. Charles enjoyed building and playing with his friends Mira and Nathan. He REALLY missed not being with Henry. Andrew was generally with us in the nursery, but sometimes he would be taken by some other volunteers in other parts of camp. He did get to spend about 15 minutes visiting the ladies in the kitchen.
It was Henry's first year as a 'real' camper. He was in Pre-K with 4 other kids. He LOVED being in Pre-K, and got to a lot of really fun things. He had music class, cooking, drumming, games, and his all-time favorite...tae kwon do. He is passionate about tae kwon do, and most evenings we had a wanna be tae kwon do master in the house. We were relieved to see that he was FINALLY ready to take lessons, and signed him at Park Institute on Friday afternoon. He has his first lesson tomorrow at 6 pm. We've been trying to talk him into tae kwon do for a year. His other favorite activity at camp....bowling. Now, if you EVER want to experience sensory overload (this does border on near seizure activity) please come to our camps Wednesday afternoon bowling outing. I took over coordinating this outing last year...and what an experience. The teachers and helpers managed to get about 80 kids onto two busses and to the bowling alley. We took about 15 lanes, and shortly after arriving the alley is turned into 'Extreme Bowling.' They turn off the lights, turn on black lights and strobe lights, turn up the music, and the kids turn into bowling maniacs for 1 1/2 hours. You can easily spot the first time extreme bowling adults because they have a look of shock on their faces. Certainly what I must have looked like last year. I'm always relieved when we return to camp and we have not left any campers at the bowling alley.

Here are a few pictures from Camp. This is Andrew and one of our nursery helpers.
Charles and Dad at the program. Charles was exhausted. I think he has Korean soda.
This is Henry during their singing performance at the program. They had learned two Korean songs during the week.
This is Henry during the tae kwon do performance. What could be more appropriate...a Korean boy in a hanbok doing tae kwon do.
Here he is watching the demonstration put on by a few Park Institute students.