Crawling: Take 2

Emma's Discovery

"Hey, guys! I woke up this morning and found this awesome BOX in our living room!"

"Hmm... I wonder what's inside?"

"Whoa! It's a tree!"

"This is my mommy 'fluffing' the tree."

"Hang on. I said MY mommy!"

"She loves me."

"This is Daddy hanging the 1st ornament on the tree."

"It's a pretty good lookin' tree I gotta say."

"Here are all the other decorations Mommy & Daddy put out."

"Now I guess we're all ready for this thing called CHRISTMAS!"

Last Baseball Game

Today Eric played his last baseball game of the year. It was quite chilly but Emma and I made it out to watch and enjoyed the time as a family. Here are a few pictures for the day. (Of course most of them have a bent toward Emma instead of baseball. Sorry!) :)

8 Months Old!

On Thanksgiving day my baby turned 8 months old. In the hustle and bustle of the day we ended up not taking any pictures at ALL! :( However this was taken the following day and shows just how active our little girl is becoming. She loves standing and has even pulled herself up to a standing position using furniture. She also loves walking (with help) and will ALWAYS try to get whoever is with her to help her walk around. She has recently learned to sit up on her own from a laying position and loves to practice it... especially at bedtime! Her crawl is quickly morphing from an army crawl into a full out crawl on her hands AND knees... almost. She loves "talking" and a few of her favorite games are peek-a-boo and flying around the room with Daddy. She is wearing more and more 12 month size clothes. Still in size 3 diapers. Her favorite foods remain carrots and sweet potatoes but she is actually beginning to eat more and more non-pureed foods and seems to just prefer the real thing. Oh, and she can now feed herself the cheerios instead of waiting for me to put them in her mouth. She is down to 2 naps a day and also (finally) usually sleeps a good 11 hours at night. She rarely cuddles yet always wants me right with her to play. She understands what it means when you say "yay!" and start clapping. She even tries to join in the clapping although doesn't have it quite down yet. We took her to the doctor for more shots yesterday and here are her stats: 27.3 inches & 21.6 pounds. It seems like her rate of gaining weight is finally slowing down but her cheeks and double chin would make you think otherwise. :) We love our baby bear and are still constantly amazed and blessed to see her development and growth into a sweet little girl.

From the Kitchen

Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup & Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

So, I am REALLY proud of this one! It was my 1st time ever making Broccoli Cheese soup from scratch and it turned out GREAT! A friend of mine recommended the recipe from here: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/1833/Panera-Bread-Broccoli-Cheese-S79119.shtml

And my husband was gracious enough to make beautiful, delicious grilled cheese sandwiches to go with it. Yummy!!!

A Few Backlogged Photos

This year my husband gets the privilege of being the yearbook advisor at ICS. That means that he frequently has the yearbook camera around. So, tonight I went through all 4,500 pictures and downloaded a few to our personal computer and thought I'd share them with you.

The 1st is of the ICS staff this year. Not as many this year but they sure do look sharp in those Conqueror polos!

And then I found this incriminating series of photos. OINK (ONLY in Korea) could my husband, as the coach/chaperone of a team at the volleyball tournament in Seoul, uninvited just barge in on a traditional drumming group and then (below) also uninvited dress himself in an advertisement suit for an unknown business and dance around like a clown waving at traffic AND... the Koreans LOVED it! (Not pictured in these photos but you know he has to be Eric's partner in crime, Mr. Tad Romsa - ICSPTK Director. sigh. boys. :)

And these last photos were taken by Eric a few weeks ago at the school's Book Fair. I was able to help with the planning of the Book Fair again this year and even went in to work a few 1/2 days with Emma to help Pam, the new Librarian, out. I really had a lot of fun (and I think Emma did too). The pics below are of when an outside Korean hagwon group came in for a storytime and to buy books.

I had a lot of fun but, WHEW, would it be difficult to work full-time and also be a Mommy! I admire those women who do.

8 Months Later...

So, I started this project way back in March a few weeks before Emma was born. I guess it was that "extra burst of energy" every pregnant woman is supposed to have before going into labor. Well, the burst obviously didn't last too long because I did not finish then. I had good intentions of having this done and up in Emma's room when we brought her home from the hospital. And when that didn't happen I even took this project TO the hospital with me when we checked in for my induction. (WHAT was I thinking?!?!) Anyway, suffice to say... it didn't get done. And then I just never really thought about it until a few days ago. My inspiration came after a morning MOPS meeting where we got to get creative and iron-on (yes, I know it was only iron-on but that's my kind of crafting anyway) cute designs onto onsies for local mom's in the area in need. It must have gotten my creative juices flowing because I came home full of energy and ready to craft. I finished this project that day and put it up in Emma's room the next. Who knows, I may even get out our wedding scrapbook and attempt to finish it! ha!

From the Kitchen

People frequently ask me what kinds of foods I cook for meals "over here in Korea." This especially happens when I'm back in the States visiting. And although I cook all the time, I usually have a hard time answering this question. So, I've decided to periodically take pictures of our nightly meals and blog about them. This will not only help answer the question of what kinds of foods we eat "over here," but will also be a reminder and inspiration for me (and possibly others??) of a meal I can make sometime in the future when I look back and remember blogging about this. So, 1st up:

Spicy Sausage & Peppers Penne

Courtesy of the Pampered Chef Cookbook, It's Good For You

Thank you Pampered Chef for showing me that spaghetti is SO much better when you add sausage, peppers, onion, & garlic to it!

Yum, yum, YUM!

A few of Emma's recent favorite activities

Standing and cruising around furniture.
Smiling at herself in the mirror.
Eating snacks!
Dressing like a diva.
Pulling things out and eating them (especially if they are cardboard/paper as proven here by her chewing on the box of a deck of cards... and getting a piece in her mouth! sigh.)

And these last 2 videos show you Emma's version of her crawl!

Oh, AND... we don't have a video of it yet BUT... Emma also LOVES practicing her two words: "Mama" and her (debatable version) of "Dada!" :)

Fall

Ponytail!