July 2010 Archives

The bear is for Craig's dad. Neil (my uncle, not the bear) was our driver from the hotel to the wedding and back. Thanks, Neil!

We got a ride from our hotel to downtown Walnut Creek this morning and then walked over to Crepes Ooh la la! for breakfast. I had the Nutella crepe and it was heavenly! I don't know what my mom or Craig had because mine was so delicious it didn't even matter.

After breakfast we stopped at a camera shop for some lens cleaner for me then my mom & I sent cardigan shopping because it is really cool here. (It was so hard to imagine anything less than 100 degrees and 80% humidity and this weather is shocking to me!) We had lunch and then made it back to the hotel to change before Neil came to pick us up to take us up to the wedding. The word at home is that it is still going well for all!

Look at this cute lady we picked up at SFO and took out to Walnut Creek on the BART with us.

It was so very strange to drive away from the house without the kids today! Sure, I do stuff on my own from time to time but this is different! Craig & I have haven't been away overnight since we went to my friend Sharon's wedding in Boston in September 2006! Technically Sarah was with us then so the time before that was to Paris in July 2006. Either way, it was overdue. I definitely appreciated the fact that I didn't have to worry about anyone freaking out on the plane or needing to go to the bathroom or needing a nap but not falling asleep, etc.

My mom got to the airport before us and we all got on the BART to Walnut Creek. Once we checked into our hotel we walked to an Indian restaurant for dinner (it was excellent!). We aren't sure what we'll do tomorrow besides sleep in. I did talk to Corrine and the kids when we landed and Corrine said that the girls both said they weren't nervous any more after about an hour so without us. That was a relief! Both girls sounded just fine on the phone so here's hoping it all goes well!

So far the kids have been in the baby pool and doing somersaults on the futon mattress and having a good time. I think Owen & Henry might be the odd men out with Raisa, Anna, & Sarah, but I'm guessing they'll figure it out by the end of the weekend. It will be very strange to leave the kids behind but at least I know they are in good, capable hands!!

Many months ago (February?) Corrine offered to come down to Texas to take care of the kids so Craig & I could go to my cousin's wedding in California. That seems like so long ago and suddenly the day is here. The whole family decided to come spend time with the kids which was a great idea although now Corrine & Scott will get a feel for what it's like to have five kids 8 and under! (yikes!)

I threw them into the job right away. Sarah had a last-minute visit to the doctor scheduled for late this afternoon so I left Henry & Anna with Corrine & family and gave her instructions on how to start dinner! I had been talking to the girls about this weekend and told them that they need to "help" Corrine & Scott with Henry because they (Anna & Sarah) know what he needs, what he can and cannot do, etc. I think it really helped to take the focus off of them and the fact that Craig and I won't be here. I hope so anyway! Both girls say they are scared but Anna decided on her own to stay with Henry this afternoon to "see what it is going to be like this weekend when mommy & daddy aren't here."

I bought these two bottles of pop/soda/carbonated beverage for Henry's party on Saturday but no one had any (we all enjoyed the Italian sodas and the wine!). The other half of the reason I bought the drinks was because I had this little red connector thing from Lakeshore Learning so we could make a vortex. The girls wanted to color the water purple. This was a really great activity to do while we waited for Corrine, Scott, Owen, & Raisa to arrive. And they all played with it for a bit, too.

Another song that Sarah made up but when Anna sings it sounds like she is rapping is this one:

wooda-wooda-woh with the dinosaur day
wooda-wooda-woh with the Henry day
wooda-wooda-woh with the (insert anything here) day

The girls made up a song shortly after we moved into this house that goes:

Henry-ville, Henry-ville
Henry, Henry-ville
We are friends with Henry
who lives in Henry-ville

Mostly they sing it this way but sometimes they change the "Henry" to some other name or object. This is also usually sung while they run around the track from the kitchen to the family room to the dining room back to the kitchen.

Sarah is drawing a rainbow.

Mine on the left and Sarah's imitation on the right.

Henry had his one-year appointment this morning with a new doctor. The doctor I've always taken Anna to in town is not current on how to care for uncircumcised boys so I found two doctors in the Houston area who are. One is in Houston and the other is just on the other side of the freeway from our house. The clinic was definitely a little different than the office I take the girls but I did like the doctor and will Henry seen by her from now on. She's a little more hands-off than the first one (more toward the Korean style of care) but hopefully we'll just be there for vaccinations and yearly check-ups.

Henry did great but I didn't get his numbers written down so I can't share his latest stats with you. I'll have to call them or stop by to see if I can get them. Sarah whacked her head on a chair when she was spinning and spinning and spinning around the room but otherwise everything went well.

I haven't finished putting together the whole bear portrait collage but I'll try to remember to post it here when I do. We were so busy with the party stuff yesterday that the bear picture waited until today. Happy one year, Henry! We love you!! (Sometimes I call Henry "Henry-Bear" because it is similar sounding to "honey-bear.")

Anita sent these cute cupcake toppers. We wish she could have been at the party but we know she was in spirit! It was funny to watch the adults hem and haw over which cupcake they wanted based on the toppers.

We had a nice birthday party for Henry today. We made pizzas (they were supposed to be grilled but the grill died this week. Not unexpected for a $99 grill we bought five years ago!) and had cupcakes and cake. We had two sets of neighbors and two sets of friends over which made this probably the smallest of the three kids first birthday parties. Only grandma was able to make it of the four grandparents and we were happy she was here both to help celebrate the day and to help with the prep-work! (Thanks, mom!)

Yes, it is hard to believe that a year has gone by since Henry arrived on the scene! The last few months have gone by especially fast with the move. Henry came into the world and the Korean nurses announced that our baby was "a prince" and he really has been. I called him "Mr. Wonderful" early on and he has proven to be the easiest of the three kids so far. I don't know if that's what third kids just do or if we just got really lucky.

Henry is starting to sign and make a few specific noises (trumpeting like an elephant, mooing like a cow) and has a tiny interest in walking (he really liked the alligator walking toy from Nana & Papa) but is such a good crawler that I don't know how long it will take him to venture out on his own. He is in between Anna & Sarah in his level of daring at this age. (Sarah is not very daring any more but she was at one year, that's for sure! Anna has always been on the cautious side.)

He is definitely the most social of the three kids. From the start he always seemed content if you would just sit and chat with him; but he also likes to watch his sisters and he is starting to annoy them like a good little brother should by tearing apart whatever they're playing with or trying to eat their toys or just drooling on them.

He is starting to put things in containers and really study his toys. He is magnetically drawn to all electronics and cords (he takes after his father!). He loves to take baths (although it is really not fun to give him one because he does not sit still) and he's climbing up the stairs and cruising everywhere. He loves drums and other musical instruments and he likes to read (I think more than Sarah at this age but probably not as much as Anna did at this age). I am looking forward to some one-on-one time with him this fall while the girls are in school.

Henry you are one amazing kid and we can't wait to watch you grow and learn over the next year!

Anna and Sarah do this thing that they call "spinning a dial." They take one another's hand and then spin each other around until they get dizzy. Sarah wants to do this much more than Anna and gets very upset when Anna doesn't want to do it any more. If I offer to do it then she insists she only wants to "spin a dial with a kid." Probably because I don't last very long at all!

The crystals grew quite a bit more during the night!

The start (watching the liquid go up the cardboard).

Four hours: the biggest one we got.

I got this crystal kit at Lakeshore Learning. Sarah wanted to try some of them outside but we had to bring them in part-way through the growing because it started raining. The ones that started outside were the best growers of the bunch! My mom & I talked about making rock candy, too, but decided there is too much to do to get ready for Henry's party so we'll have to try that another day.

Waiting for class to start.

Anna on the un-even bars.

I am constantly telling the girls that they are not allowed to "do gymastics" in the house so I signed them up for actual classes. The girls do their warm-up together but then are in separate classes organized by age. Sarah had a little freak-out when I dropped her off. I ran a bunch of errands during the 45 minute class and came back to see them both participating very reluctantly. We're signed up for a month (one day per week) of classes plus there is an open-gym night each week. We'll see how it goes!

My mom & I did take the girls to open gym tonight and they tried a few things but mostly liked to run and jump into a pit filled with foam blocks. Well, Sarah would run, stop, and then climb down into them. Finally one of the teachers took her hands to help her jump in and then she switched to the new method: run, stop, jump. Anna had a blast running and jumping to see how far she could go. Sarah had a major meltdown when it was time to go (she didn't want it to end). I hope I don't have to witness that again next week!

Sam & Ally came over this morning for a playdate. Kim brought her nanny and Grandma was visiting, too, so the adult to child ratio wasn't totally out of control. However, my girls didn't play as well with Sam & Ally because they were too excited to see Grandma. (Not that Anna & Sarah would have actually played with Sam & Ally but they weren't with them as much as I wanted them to be.)

Yes, Henry loves smoothies.

I bought a tissue paper flower-making kit from Land of Nod that said for ages 5 and up but most of it was too difficult for Anna to do (I had anticipated helping Sarah with hers). So, the girls chose the order of the colors in the flowers and I did the rest. We all thought the flowers were nice when we finished and have decided to leave them out for Henry's birthday party this weekend.

The kids had a blast on the ferris wheel at the aquarium today. The aquarium itself was pretty lame though and we had to go through it again when we realized we got to the end much too fast the first time.

The girls always like to take the end of the background paper roll and create some art. I think I'll cut some of their paintings out and hang them in their bathrooms for some personalized art.

I think this kid is using up more than his fair share of the world's supply of "cute."

Sarah is so creative and silly. Her latest thing (the past several weeks) is that her fingers are little toys that she can bring everywhere (very convenient!) and they are called "Fingerees." (This is pronounced "finger-ease.") They can act out stuff, talk to each other, and sometimes they get in trouble ("I didn't do it, Fingerees did!"). Anna also has Fingerees now.

The girls made it to their last day of music class. Sarah didn't participate again (I'm guessing she probably still doesn't feel 100% better) but they both said they had fun. Anna said she heard a song she really liked but, "I can't remember who wrote the notes." I started guessing composers: Beethoven? Chopin? Mozart? and she said, "Mozart!" So I chose all of the Mozart songs we have on iTunes and asked her to tell me when she heard it. The second song she said "this is it!" and exclaimed that each time a new movement started and then stopped when a new song finally came on. So, Anna started writing "Mozart Symphony Number 35" on post-it notes and started hanging them all over upstairs.

Henry is now doing the "traditional" crawl 100% of the time and he is fast!

The rooms are finished! We are pleased with all three rooms although I'm a little shocked by the color in the bathrooms just because I'm not used to it. Once we hang up the towel bars, some pictures, etc. though I'm sure it will soften it a bit. The painters did a great job and I am so relieved that it is all done. I don't feel bad that I didn't do it myself at all now. We did take all of the personality out of the kitchen, however, so I'll be on the hunt for the right art to hang on those walls.

I got everyone out the door to go to music camp and not quite half-way there Sarah started throwing up in the car. The poor little thing! I turned around and drove home as fast as I could but I didn't have anything in the car to give her to clean up immediately. I have put baking powder on the car seat and am airing it out but I'm not totally confident it will get all the stink out (I can't take the cover off of the seat).

Anna was a bit disappointed that they didn't get to go to music camp again. Let's hope they make it tomorrow (their last class!).

Today did not go as planned... The girls had been sick over the weekend and I was a little sick yesterday. Today Anna was throwing up so of course I didn't send the girls to their music camp but I also had to go out and get the paint for the painters. The paint store was having a bit of trouble with their computer and so had a hard time matching our paint for the kitchen. Poor little Anna just wanted to lay down and was stuck waiting it out for a long time at the paint store. Finally the paint store guys said they'd deliver the paint to me when it was ready.

I ended up calling Craig home early from work because I was also not feeling well and needed to get some things at the store for Anna but couldn't drag her out again. I don't know if the painters realized we were sick or just thought we were the laziest family ever since we spent most of the day hanging out in my room! (Henry had to nap in Craig's closet due to some noise in his & Sarah's bathroom.)

I think Sarah was secretly happy that she didn't have to go back to music camp.

These are the "before" pictures of the upstairs bathrooms. The painter called tonight and asked if it was OK to come tomorrow (we thought they wouldn't be here for another week or more). So tomorrow I have to run out and get paint after I drop the girls at their music class. I'll post the "after" pictures when they are done (should be two days).

The girls are going to a music camp together at the rec center this week. Anna looked ready to go but Sarah was hesitant. When I came to pick them up Anna was participating but Sarah was just watching the class. Anna reported (with shock in her tone) that Sarah spoke to the teachers and that she (Anna) whispered something to one of the teachers. I just hope they have fun this week and see that they can survive without me for a stretch of time.

Sarah & Anna are kind of like twins who develop their own language. Someone (I'm guessing Sarah) started calling Henry "Hen-a-ree-ah" (yes, it rhymes with diarrhea). This, thankfullly, turned into "Henreek" and then that morphed into calling Henry "Sen-teek." That doesn't even make sense but that's what they call him (when they're not calling him "Hen-honk," "Hen-roy," or "Hen-a-reek-ah." Sarah is "Sair-yeek" and Anna is "Anne-yeek."

The girls play so well together and on their own but this house is so big compared to our apartment in Korea I don't often get pictures of them playing any more. In some ways I wish the house were a bit smaller so that we wouldn't feel so disconnected but ultimately I'm happy for the closet space we have (no basements here!). We're still adjusting, I guess.

I gave up and got frustrated with the process of the walls. It started to feel hopeless with Anna's bathroom and thinking about texturing so we called a couple of places and we're waiting for the estimates to come in. I feel both a sense of relief and failure. Mostly relief, I think.

It doesn't take Grandma long to get the sewing machine out when she comes. She made the girls new skirts today (they got to pick the fabric).

Henry is turning into a little comedian with all of his facial expressions lately!

All of the paper in the kitchen is off of the walls! We are still debating on texturing or not. For now the next step will be to repair some damage on the drywall.

Craig took the girls to the fireworks last night (he didn't bring a camera). This was the latest the girls have ever been out. He said there was a fair amount of whining and that Sarah said at about 8:30: "I should really be in bed by now!" The fireworks started after 9 and I could hear them from the house and just barely see a few through the thick trees. Craig said both girls fell asleep about 35 seconds after he buckled them in the car and they were thrilled in the morning when they realized that they had slept in their clothes. The report is that they loved the fireworks even though they were too loud.

Craig has to do the up-high work.

I bought a steamer to get the wallpaper down off of the walls and it is wonderful! Anna's bathroom is still much more difficult to get through three layers but I am making good progress there, too. Yay! Our kitchen does feel like a disaster zone though so hopefully that will motivate us to get this project done and move on with our lives.

I had to be dorky and get the kids to wear red, white, & blue today while none of them realized they had a choice.

This was one of the girls favorite floats.

We walked to the parade today and it was super hot. We brought the double stroller so the girls took turns riding in it. If you ask Sarah how sweaty she got today she will tell you she was so sweaty that she "sweat off her temporary tattoo!"

Everyone loved the parade but Henry was the most fun to watch get excited by the different floats going by. Next year, however, we may just drive over in the air conditioned car!

Anna came up with adding the scarf under the tiara and then thought they should have thrones to sit on. Sarah always thinks she wants to dress up with Anna but then lasts about 2-3 minutes before she starts throwing everything off and shouts, "I don't want to be a princess any more!!"

Henry loves playing with everything in the musical instruments box. Really it is about the only set of toys he plays with lately. He can play the recorder (well, you know, he can blow air through it and make it whistle, he can't play any notes or anything), the kazoo, and his very favorite is the drum. I think he will get some more instruments for his birthday to round out the box.