An Evening WITH Daddy!

A couple of evenings ago, before this cold weather blew in, we had the opportunity to spend ALL evening with Daddy! It must have been Sunday now that I think about it because lately, with Eric's school and coaching (& baseball playing... although that doesn't happen very often do to the other things) schedule, he has been getting home pretty late each evening. And with Emma going to bed around 7:30pm each night, that doesn't leave much time for Daddy to see baby. I'm ok with it, though, because on those late nights I know that Eric is out for a good reason. Plus, I also know that this is just for a season and that he won't be coaching all year. BUT, it was nice on Sunday because we were able to take advantage of him being home and went out for a brief walk, play time at the park, got some food, & even did a little shopping!

Heading out from our house. This was the 1st time that we decided to try Emma in the big-girl stroller. (instead of putting her in the car-seat and attaching it on top.) She did really well!

We happen to have a small park about a 2 minute walk from our house, so we stopped there to "play" for a bit.

We're not sure what Emma thought about the slide.

Or the swings.

But...

We're pretty sure she enjoyed being tossed in the air by Daddy!

Then we continued our walk and happened to stroll pass this spot on the sidewalk. I know it may seem childish, but do you see the names Eric & Laurie marked into the concrete there? Well, over 3 years ago Eric & I noticed this wet patch of sidewalk and decided to inscribe our names there. And here you can still see it! (Funny memory... I remember being upset that Eric wouldn't let me put a heart in between the names. Ha! Well, look where we are now!)

Then we went and picked up a box of our favorite cheap pizza here. PIZZA SCHOOL! And no, it's not actually a school where you go in and make your own pizzas.

And while we were waiting for our pizza to cook, I convinced Eric to walk across the street to the baby store and we ended up making 2 purchases! The 1st was of some more baby food containers for me to use when making Emma's food. And the 2nd was actually a toy! Other than the bath duckies we bought in the states, I think this might be the 1st toy we've ever bought for Emma! Yes, the rest were given to us. I'm sure that's the way it will be for many years to come... I've heard stories. Anyway, the above photo pictures Emma with her new ball.

"New" Furniture!

Remember this? It is a picture of Eric fixing our futon... the 1st time! This pic was taken around a year and a 1/2 ago. Well, let me tell you something. This futon went downhill quickly. By the beginning of this past summer, there were only 2-3 of those bottom slats in tact. Meaning basically the mattress/cushion was sitting on the floor.

So, when you sat (or laid) on the couch, it felt like you were in an uneaven bucket seat. NOT fun on the ol' back. And definitely not fun for a pregnant and then just-un-pregnant lady to sit on all day.

And do you remember this chair? It was the replacement chair for the old green one in the 1st photo above. I had high hopes of rocking my baby to sleep in this "nice" glider/rocker each night. Well, as it turn out, the rocker was broken making this chair very uncomfortable to sit in, much less rock in it. About the only thing it was good for was as a cat bed. Ug.

Well, we prayed and searched long and hard for a new couch and chair and God has been good to us. At the end of the school year, one of our long-time teacher friends was leaving and we got to have her couch. Below is a picture of 2 of the 3 or 4 men it took to bring it up our stairwell and into our narrow doorway.

Then, recently I found this chair on a facebook site called, Osan Flea Market. It looked like a really nice rocker at a reasonable price so we bought it! And let me tell you, it is SO NICE! Probably the nicest piece of furniture we have (excluding our bed which was brand new and a wedding present to us.)

So, now our living room looks like this and we are REALLY happy for the changes and how God has provided. Now we feel that we can actually have people over again and they can sit somewhere other than on the floor! Yay for gently used (American!) furniture.

Chusok with the Chungs

Do you remember this? It was taken last September (2010) on Chusok. Each year our landlord family invites us down for a traditional Korean meal to celebrate the holiday with them. Last year I was nearly 4 months pregnant and just starting to feel the need for maternity jeans. Well, I'm happy to say that I am out of those now and back into my regular jeans. yay!

But, that is not the point of this post. This year the Chungs invited us down again BUT with one new and exciting development. Usually the Grandma and Grandpa leave when we come over. I guess because they feel uncomfortable in their English capability. (However, Mr. Chung's English is REALLY good for his age!) Anyway, this year for the 1st time, the older couple STAYED while we were there and the Grandma even ate with us! I'm pretty sure it was due to them wanting to see and hold our cute white baby. But, hey, whatever works, right? We were so happy to be able to interact with them all. It was a good meal. We are hoping to have them all over for a Christmas meal again this year and hopefully be able to share more of our faith with them at that time. Anyway, below are a few pictures of everyone taking turns holding our precious Emma. (We even dressed her up briefly in her adorable, oversized, traditional hanbok for the occasion.)

A view from Sunday

Heading off to church!

Birthday Shennanigans

I promised I would share about the "rest" of my birthday happenings since not a whole lot happened on Wednesday, my actual birthday. On Saturday afternoon one of our fellow teachers offered to babysit Emma while Eric and I went out to eat at Outback Steakhouse. Always a treat here. We don't have pictures of this (well, we do but there were on our other camera and I was too lazy to load them up!). But then we went home and my sweet husband had planned on us watching the movie "Australia" (get the connection?) a movie I had been wanting to watch recently. However, we were both SO TIRED that we ended up falling asleep instead of watching the movie! ha!

Then on Sunday evening, with a big group of teachers and friends, we went out to eat at a Korean Galbi place (our favorite one!) and then went bowling afterwards while bringing along some brownies and ice cream to share. We had such a fun time celebrating with our friends! I love that even though we are so far away from "home," that we still have a family here to celebrate and have fun with. Thanks, everyone, for a great birthday!

Happy Chuseok!

So, this is my 7th time wishing everyone in the States a Happy Chuseok on a holiday that they really know nothing about. Well, just know that it is similar to Thanksgiving and a big national holiday here. This year we decided to take advantage of the sales in the stores and buy our little Korean gal a traditional hanbok. It is way too big for her now but we're hoping it fits better by March so we can have her 1 year photos taken in it. Won't she be so cute?!

On another note... they say she has my eyes...
maybe they're right.

Big Girl!

Last night Emma finally moved out of our bedroom (yay!) and into her own bedroom (YAY!). She's such a big girl now sleeping alone in her very own room! To me this is big. When she was a month old I almost had panic attacks thinking of the day when she wouldn't be sleeping in the pack 'n play right next to me. But, thankfully, in just the perfect timing, God has taken those feelings away and these last couple of days I felt like we were really ready to do this. #1 Reason - because the weather has finally turned BEAUTIFUL and we don't need to run the AC at night (which we only have in our bedroom, not for the whole house). #2 Reason - I feel like she's definitely old enough to handle this now because she isn't eating at night anymore. #3 Reason - Her sleeping patterns had taken a turn for the worse with her waking up almost every hour of the night crying. I would have to get up and put her pacifier back in her mouth to get her to go back to sleep... EVERY TIME. So I wondered if putting her in her own room would help her sleep better. And it DID! She woke up a couple of times early in the night and then slept for a good 6 hours before crying 1 more time. But then she went back to sleep then too! YAY EMMA! I don't know whether it was the nice weather with the windows open, or less noises in the room from Mommy & Daddy, or somehow that subconsciously in her sleep she knew we weren't there and couldn't cry just because she could (knowing I'd be there... if that makes sense). Well, at any rate, I'm happy and thought I'd share this milestone with you all. Now I feel more like a family. I know we were before but now it's like... we have a kid! She needs her own room. We'll never be able to get a house that just has one bedroom. We need 2! Hard to wrap my mind around sometimes but, exciting!

2nd Annual 29th

Thank you to all who wished me a warm Happy Birthday yesterday. I appreciated the happy greetings very much. My day was pretty uneventful (don't worry, the "events" will all happen this weekend) with much of it being spent like every other day at home with Emma. But I am SO glad to be able to spend it with her. The highlights of the day, though, are pictured below. Highlight #1 - Opening my gift from my parents in the morning (with Emma's help of course!) Highlight #2 - not pictured but I got to nap with Emma in the morning. Highlight #3 - going to another ICS volleyball game and getting to see my husband. After the game he also got me a huge bouquet of flowers. It was a good day. Stay tuned for a post about this weekend.

Volleyball

This past Saturday was the 1st ICS Volleyball game. Once again, my wonderful hubby is the assistant coach for the boys team. Eric really loves working with Tad, the head coach, and getting to spend the extra time with the kids outside of school.

So, Saturday we all headed out to the game. It was Emma's 1st volleyball game Ever! I think she enjoyed it. And, of course, all the students enjoyed HER too!
BTW... I LOVE our new camera!
Emma and Isaac with a throng of HS girls. Emma and her #1 fan!

Part of the boys' team watching the girls play.

Even as coaches these two still know how to have a fun time.

Morning Smiles