In my tummy

This morning Cal asked if his froggie blanket and pooh Bear were with him in Korea. I said, "no, the neighbor gave you Pooh Bear when you come home and I made you the froggie blanket." A little later in the morning, Cal was wearing his froggie blanket like a sling this morning. He had "baby" Pooh Bear inside and was telling us to be quiet because of the baby. then he changed the story. He said that Pooh Bear was in his tummy in Korea and he's not born yet.... I guess this is the slow process that we'll be going through with the kids for teaching them about birth, adoption, genes, and different types of families.

Movie time!

Videos to download and enjoy...

God obviously handpicked our family members:
Shaking heads

Cal had the best time ever soaking himself with the water bottle:
A little wet?

For Lissi's birthday, she got a special gondola ride:
Row Your Lissi Boat

Cal's 1st day of school-re-enacted

Since the camera was missing last week, and the backpack was missing on Thursday, I asked Wink to re-enact Cal's 1st day of preschool for pictures. Here is my smart boy getting ready for school! He loves his new Thomas backpack--even if it has nothing to carry inside...

1 year old check-up

Lissi is now 29 inches (50th percentile) and 18 pounds (15th percentile). Her little head is only in the 3rd percentile, but we figure it must be PACKED with brains. She has moved up in the weight percentile from 3rd to 15th, so all that solid food must be doing her some good. Heaven knows, she didn't gain that weight from drinking her bottles!

Apple Picking

Ever since living in New England, we've had an annual tradition of apple picking in the fall. We have taken Cal apple picking each fall since he's been home. Today was Lissi's first time apple picking.

In spite of yucky noses and congestion, we enjoyed the GORGEOUS day (after a week of rain) and got a ton of yummy apples! :)

Sickies going around

Lissi is still sick. She isn't eating much but is generally in a decent mood. Her nose has been leaking all week. It's amazing how much goop can fit in that little body. her cold is strating to move into a cough. The poor thing isn't sleeping well from her nose and cough. Now she's given the bug to Wink and he's feeling pretty gross himself. We are praying that Cal and I are spared.

Hats and Huggles

These were taken last week. Aren't they the best brother-sister pair ever! ;) They do so well together. Cal is really learning how to work with Lissi to give her something (to keep her occupied) when she starts to play with his toys. They are both great (so far) about sharing. On Cal's 1st day of school he didn't mind that daddy was leaving, but got upset that Lissi was leaving him.

Cal's 1st day of school

Cal had his first day of pre-school today. He wore his brand new Thomas the Tank Engine backpack (which he left at school of course). Other than the artwork he brought home (a yellow paper with letters stamped on it), I didn't get a lot of information from him. He said the teachers were nice. His babysitter, Auntie Lynnette, picked him up since Wink was in class. Our camera was MIA (there-by causing panic in the evening when we spent an eterminty trying to find it) so we didn't get any 1st day of school pics :( Hopefully we can re-enact next week.

Lissi's behavior explained

Her total lack of sleep (at night and naps) and grumpy mood are now explained. My baby's sick :( She had a 101 fever this evening (that is an armpit reading, so I'm assuing it's actually higher) and hasn't eaten since breakfast. Poor thing spent most of the day crying. :(

Photography adventure for the day

Our happy little girl was NOT happy for the photographer today. Well, who would be after getting up for a couple of hours at 4:30am and not making up for it at nap time. We got a total of one (1) semi-smiling shot for her first year pics. Here they are:

Letter to Lissi on her 1st birthday

To our dear Lissi,

Today you are one-years old. It is so hard to believe that my little baby will soon be a toddler. Before we know it, you will be getting ready to go to school! One year ago your birthparents made a very difficult decision. We are thinking of your birthparents often today and I’m sure they are thinking about you.

You have grown into such a big girl already. You can take many little steps (more than 10 at times) but still prefer to crawl or “walk” on your knees. You love to climb up and down and flop onto the pillows. You are rather fearless and try to climb into and out of the bathtub independently as well as plastic bins and boxes. Last week you climbed into our friends wading pool (with all of your clothes on-of course!).

You have a very large verbal vocabulary for your age. You can say “mama, dada, doggie, more, ball, hi.” You have learned some ASL signs as well: “more, ball, eat, hi/bye, sorry/please, finished (sort of)”. You have a few expressions as well, “Wooah, wow, uh oh”. You can say “ooooooo” for a cow noise as well. ;)

You are a true water baby. You splash and splash in the bathtub, swimming pool, and buckets of water. Even when we rinse your hands in the sink you stick your finger into the faucet so that the water sprays everywhere. You love it! Mommy is slightly less thrilled.

You love to eat just about everything, especially fruits (our peach tree was a big hit) and some veggies (peas and corn). We’ve been to a number of birthday parties recently and you have devoured bits of birthday cake. You have learned to drink out of a straw, and enjoy stealing sips of your brother’s milk.

You are a very happy little girl. You love to smile and laugh. You love to make other people laugh as well. You are cuddly with adults, especially mommy and daddy. You want to be held when away from your parents (like at church or the gym). You love to play with your brother imitating each other, flopping in the pillow-pit, and chasing each other around on the floor. Your favorite toys are “ball ball”s. You are very good at sharing and passing the ball back and forth. You take the nubby blue ball and smoosh it on the floor and on your face.

Your 8th tooth is coming in right now. Your hair is long enough that you had your first haircut last weekend. You are still a skinny little thing, but you finally don’t fit in your 6 month size clothes!

You are a delight and a wonder and we are blessed beyond measure to be your parents!

Much love, Mommy and Daddy

Lissi's 1st haircut

Wasn't too traumatic for her (or me!). We just wanted to cut the whispy long parts off for her 1 year old pictures next weekend! :)

Gardening and Garbage

We are a wasteful society. I have always been aware of this, but even more so after reading my recent bookclub book "Affluenza". I have wanted to start composting since we moved in, but since the Rats of Nimh live under our yard, I've been discouraged from starting. I have always been a star recycler and am very good about re-using when possible, but we still generate a full garbage can weekly.

We usually remember to put it outside the night before garbage day, but occasionally Wink has been known to run down the street after the garbagemen before 6am. When we do forget, it is usually the worst timing. Like....after having a party of 50 people over to your house.

Wink pulled out one of our yard debris bins to be used as a secondary garbage bin for the week. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem, but I took the entire afternoon today to do yard work (read: whack, hack, cut every bush, tree and overgrown shrub in the front yard). 4 and a 1/2 hours of yardwork left me literally shaking in exhaustion. It also left me with a LOT of yard debris. Way more than our one remaining can could hold. So, now I have an overflowing can. The rest of my wreckage got thrown right back into the yard. I didn't know what else to do with it. I'm not sure it looks any better now than it did this morning. ;)

Thoughts on Candyland

Let me start by stating that I loathe the game Candyland. Wouldn't you hate a game that you play at LEAST once a day at work for an annual total of close to 300 games? Additionally, many of my students are working on being a good sport. So I have to be the dealer for all the cards and the children fight and whine when they are sent backwards (the dreaded "Plumpy" card evokes tears at times).

On Lissi's birthday, a friend gave Cal and Lissi a joint gift of a new Candyland game. As much as this made me roll my eyes, I knew that this would be a great first board game and would be good for learning turn-taking and good sportsmanship. I had successfully avoided actually playing the game with Cal (although Wink and our new babysitter have not been as lucky).

I'll describe the differences between this new "modern" version and the "older" version that I use at school. The newer version is multi-cultural. It has 4 children of all different races in the game. There is no longer a dreaded "Plumpy", although there is a spot to be sent back to near the front of the game. Queen Frostine, beautiful and everyone's favorite at school, is now Princess Frostine, and is glamorous and old (and represented by an ice cream cone rather than a snowflake). When you get stuck in the molasses swamp, you now just lose one turn--instead of being stuck for an infinity waiting to draw a blue card. The cards and no longer just a square color, they have a 3-D feel just like a "button" in a computer game. The gingerbread men players are taller and curved (for increased aerodynamics?). Finally, the age old question, "Do I need to get exactly a purple to win the game?" is now answered since the last square on the board is rainbow striped.

Wink had told me that he had yet to beat Cal. I had difficulty believing that Cal could actually play the game. I mean, he's 3. But, cal proved that he has mastered the game. He takes turns appropriately, he knows how to move to the next colored square. He moves forward and backwards without too much complaint. He even tells you that, "I have bad news for you...." when his opponent gets a "bad" card. When I won the game (woo hoo! I never win this cursed game!), he was even a good sport about it. My three year old is a gamer?!

A few movies

Movies from Lissi's birthday party (these are big files so grab a cup of coffee while they are downloading):

Singing Happy Birthday Video

Lissi's Tol table trauma Video

And a day in our life....Cal attempts to entertain Lissi so we can get some pictures:

Cal the entertainer video

cute comments

Lissi is learning her sound effects. She says "wooooooooah" when flying her brother's helicopters or airplanes, "wow" when she sees something cool, and "uh-oh" when something falls down. She also grunts when she is lifting my 1 pound weights. She sounds just like a weight lifter (even though she can actually lift these with ease). Wink swears he doesn't know where she learned to do this!

Cal has decided that "I have a question...." is a good way to introduce a comment, such as "I have a question for you [pause] If a tree fell down on the house or the fence then that would be really, really horrible." Where's the question?????

Lissi's 1st bday party!

We made it through the big party. We had over 50 people there (including our family). My mom even flew up from California to be there for the event (which we held about a week before Lissi's actual bday so that my mom could be there).

The weather was VERY hot (for this area). Low-90's was quite sweaty for an outdoor party. But, luckily the party could be outdoors because there is no way everyone could fit in our home. This was a potluck party, so we had many tasty dishes. I made several Korean dishes including a cucumber salad, sweet soy-sauce potatoes, and crockpot bulgogi. The dessert included banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for the kids and a fabulous Harvest Apple Cake for the adults.


About an hour into the party we dressed Lissi in her traditional hanbok, given to her by the Reception Center. We asked all the guests to make predicitons as to what she would choose during the toljabee ceremony. For the toljabee ceremony we held Lissi up to a platter containing a variety of items. The first two items that she chooses is said to be predictive of her future. The first item she picked up was a plastic knife, indicating that she will be a good cook.

The guests were cheering (and making strong suggestions as to what she should choose next), the weather was hot, and Lissi was not a happy camper. I think choosing was a little too stressful :) She almost chose the pen (indicating that she would be a scholar) and almost chose the thread (indicating long life). But ultimately, the stress and heat got to her and she broke down in tears. So we've concluded that she is just going to be a REALLY great cook. We had promised a prize to whoever was able to correctly guess both items that she picked up from the tol table. Because she only chose the knife, I wanted to give prizes to each person who chose the knife...but I had only bought 4 Korean treats and 7 people were winners. So I asked for volunteers to not take a prize. This idea, however, backfired, and everyone (except for Cal) graciously said they didn't need a prize. Then I had to change my tactic and ask people to be greedy and take a prize!


All together it was a great celebration. Cal had a terrific time opening all of Lissi's gifts. He is pretty sure that the gifts are for him and only shares them reluctantly.

New Lissi tricks

Lissi has become quite the communicative little gal. Mama has taught her well :)

She is verbally saying: "mama, dada, ball, more, doggie, nai-nai (Chinese for milk)"

She is signing: ball, more, please/sorry, milk

She also has her 8th tooth coming in.

1st day back at work!

I made it through the day! It was kinda nice to be kid-free for 8 hours ;)

A Cal cute

A few minutes after Cal and I returned from the gym (my last day at the gym since I'll quit now that work is starting again....) I heard Felicity was awake in her room. I told Cal that we'd have to get up Lissi and daddy (yes, daddy has been sleeping until 11:30am). Cal said that he'd get Lissi and I could get daddy. I asked him how he was going to get Lissi, since she was in her crib. He said, "Don't worry. I'll sing to her." And he went into the room and began singing "Jesus Loves me". Isn't that the sweetest! :)