Sweet relief.

Halloween and the whole month of October are officially over! And I personally couldn't be any happier about it. We did it all! But George casually said to me tonight as we were wearily walking to the car, "Halloween will probably be better next year, right mom? Because dad will be here." And I totally agreed with him on that one.

Many things just didn't happen the way that they should have (like we did not attend our church Trunk-or-treat party, nor did we manage to carve any pumpkins, or hand out any candy!). But we did manage to knock on every single door of one whole tower. And while George had enough drive to knock on every single door of all three towers, we finally convince him to call it quits after one, and join us for dinner at Taco Bell!













We also managed to fit in a full day of Halloween fun at the elementary school on Thursday.





A school wide costume parade.


Complete with our Principal dressed up as an Arab (is that even politically correct?!)


And our friend dressed up as the evil Step-Mother, which caused Jane to think she was at Disneyland again.






And a 3rd grade class party that somehow I was in charge of.





Followed by a "Family Fun Night" at the elementary school had us heading into Friday already pretty worn out.

And I have also realized that Halloween is only fun if you get to express your creativity through the costumes. But when you have kids who simply desire to be a character, you don't even get to have any sewing fun. When Ruby said she wanted to be Ariel from the Little Mermaid, and Jane said she wanted to be Dora when she turns into a true Princess, I simply picked up the phone to Florida and said, "Send me ballet tutus ASAP. I'm bailing out of Halloween!"

So I guess I've kind of had a bad attitude all along. The one thing that has kept it a little bit intersting for me has been my personal quest to not eat one. single. piece. of. candy. (or orange frosted cupcake, or pumpkin shaped sugar cookie, or pumpkin chocolate chip cookie with cream cheese frosting, etc., etc.)

So far, I have acheived my goal!

Sometimes if you find life to be getting slightly dull (yes, I'm being sarcastic), it's good to add a challenge, as though you are in the bonus round. Get your kids on board and turn it into a game. So as Henry offered me my 26th piece of candy tonight, just to see if maybe this time I might fold, I am none too sad to say a big huge ADIEU to Halloween!

Bonus round won!

Major Earnest, can you come home yet please?!! We need you now.

We need a time out.

The only good thing about being busy is that time passes by quickly, and we are all anxious for the return of Major Earnest. But the bad thing about being so busy, is that there is never enough time. These past seven days have flown past with hardly a pause. Before it all becomes a total blur, I'll post a few pictures...

A swimming birthday party. Complete with a bunch of fun friends

An Indian Jones cake that was so cool, even 9-year-old boys noticed it and asked me about it. (No, I did not make it. My talents do not extend out that far I assure you.)

With pizza, ice cream, presents, and about an hour and a half of swimming, Henry actually voluntarily told me he thought it was his funnest birthday party ever. And honestly, that was all I needed to hear to make it all worth it.

A traditional 7am Earnest family birthday party the next morning.

Complete with his favorite present:

the Ripstick

Followed up by mine:

Hand made pajamas complete with a skull and cross bone t-shirt and his name embroidered on the back! I was totally excited to give them to him.

All made for a fun Saturday for a very excited new 9-year-old. Lunch at Chili's and hours of fun ripping it up on a new Ripstick completed his birthday. And as always at the end of the day, Henry said, "the worst part about birthdays is that the next day, they're just over." Funny how different our perspectives were. Where I wanted his day to be totally fun and special, what a relief it was when it was over, and I had mostly succeeded!

Completing Henry's birthday pushed us through the weekend, but this week has been one thing after another. Today were the big Halloween celebrations at the elementary school, since tomorrow (the 31st) is a day off! Under normal circumstances I might complain about such a fact, but for now, we are all dying for one very long time out!

I promise, more updates to follow shortly!

A list.

1. While on my run today, I got stopped. He told me it might just be for a minute, but if I could just wait, they were moving explosives. That never happened while on a run in Colorado Springs. It was slightly shocking. And yet I was grateful for the warning I suppose.

2. I ran longer than I normally do on a Thursday morning, because I was "in the zone". Running speak for; the miles were coming easily today. Anyway, I was gleefully anticipating the recovery shower to kick start the rest of the day. Only to return home to find the water in the entire building was shut off. And it would remain shut off until 6pm! It was maybe 10am?! That was a long, stinky, dried up sweaty kind of a day, if you know what I mean.

3. Darin's been gone for 20 days and 20 nights. And he will STILL be gone for another 20 days and 20 nights. I think it was better before I looked on the calendar and did that computation. That was some very bad news to be given today.

4. Henry's math homework took what felt like 3 days to complete. It was all things like this:
7634-4239=
I wanted to slit my wrist all along the way. For some reason watching your child laborioulsy work through subtraction is in fact, NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT FUN.

5. George came out of his bed at 8:37pm to inform me with tears pouring out of his eyes that he would be having a test in Spanish class tomorrow. He stammered out the words, "I will have to WRITE all the words out. I don't even know how to!" At that very moment I wanted to crumple up into a little tiny ball and roll away down a grassy hill. What Spanish words will he have to write out? And why, oh why did he only mention it at 8:37pm the night before?! I unconvincingly said, I would wake him up early tomorrow morning so that we could study. He said, "how early?" I said, "I have no idea, just go to bed. Crying about it is not going to help us right now. Good night."

I think I better FINALLY go take the shower that I should have taken at 10 o'clock this morning. Perhaps at that point in time I will have better solutions for the obstacles of tomorrow.

P.S. Oh yeah, and Henry told me at 7:30pm that I could bring him two dozen cupcakes for the snack tomorrow for his class, since his birthday is on Saturday. I guess I should have thought of that, but I've been so busy worrying about his birhtday party tomorrow night, and making Saturday a very special day, that I simply forgot that cupcakes should go to school with him in the morning.

I definitely need to get in the shower now.

Halloween decorations.

Some mornings we wake up in Korea and it looks like we are engulfed in a cloud. Not really a happy white cloud, but a gloomy rain cloud. That's too bad, because it's not helping Korea win any points.


So sometimes in Korea, we have to make our own kind of festive. And since we inadvertently left all the "fall" decorations back in a storage unit in Colorado, we are decorating with little girls...


Here's the new pose as demonstrated by Ruby. It's supposed to be some sort of ballerina move. It looks slightly awkward, but she feels stylish while doing it, so who am I to judge?!

Here's Jane taking stock of life within a rain cloud.

And here I captured a moment of play between the ladies. I thought it was entertaining to hear Jane repeating over and over again that she would come in and save her. Ruby thought she was stuck.

P.S.

It's my sister Rachel's birthday today.

I love you Rachel!

I'm not trying to brag or anything

But when it comes to choosing an eternal companion, I think I have some skills. Because this shirt came in the mail from mine, and I wore it all day long and thought I looked cute. And he picked it out, all especially for me. And we just have a really good thing going. So I think I proved my skills about that today.

And I'm not trying to brag about my family, but they are really funny, so I'm just proud to be one of them. And you should totally read this post about the ultimate Slurpee hunt. Because Rachel is too young to remember when our Uncle Tom used to take us to as many 7-11's as he could find, in search of our perfect Slurpee flavor, and now with technology and all, Rachel basically did the same thing on a global level. And that takes skills, and she's my relative. So I think I just proved my skills again.

And again, not trying to make anyone feel bad, but I think I know how to recognize the hands of angels all around me. Because I'm doing a single parent gig right at the moment, and I have lots of kids (do you want one?), and it can get totally exhausting. But today around 4:30pm, I was in an empty house. It was completely empty and silent, and it was 4:30 in the middle of the worst time of the afternoon. And at that moment I knew that angels fly all around me and love me and watch out for me. So again, I think I proved my skills (did I?).

The end.

Keeping busy.

Having not been raised to sit around and feel sorry for myself, in the absence of Major Earnest, I am busily trying to stay busy. Being blessed by a collection of moms who have been here much longer than I have, we were off on a "field trip" on Friday afternoon to the Songtan Botanical gardens. It was pouring rains as we were driving there, and the moms were panicking that perhaps our field trip was going to flop. But right as we pulled up into the parking lot, the rain stopped!

While we were trying to gather together our kids to get a memorial photo...

This lady was simultaneously trying to gather together her kids to get their photo.

I found her subjects to be infinitely entertaining. Who knew a country existed that sends two-year-olds on field trips to Botanical gardens, in matching outfits complete with matching backpack?!
These little ones were completely enthralled with Jane and Ruby. Too young to have the nerve to speak to my ladies, they would simply walk past and stare so hard they would nearly fall over. My girls couldn't understand the staring, so I kept trying to help them understand how different they look from each other. I'm not sure the lesson was learned.

The Botanical gardens were also the first place we have been here where we were actually mauled (maybe too strong of a word) by a crowd of teenage girls requesting photos be taken with our children. When one proud Korean girl yelled out to me, "Where are you from?", I could not resist yelling back, "CALIFORNIA!". The scream was one I would reserve for a rock concert or celebrity appearance of some sort. It was shocking! I thought one of them was about to faint.

To escape the teenage Korean paparazzi, we ran through a shrub maze...

(We may or may not have actually had to run through the maze to escape a mob. The details are not so important.)

Only after we were free of the mob, could Ruby find a rock on which to re-enact her favorite "Little Mermaid" moment. We cannot pass by such a rock without Ruby climbing upon it to sing.

She simply cannot help herself. If you could see her face, she is being completely serious and singing some sort of love ballad to Prince Eric.



Additionally, it helps immensely while trying to stay busy, to continue to receive packages in the mail! Upon returning home from our field trip, I found a package waiting for me from my sister and parents. After I opened the necklace my parents gave me, Jane insisted it was so beautiful she needed to take a picture of it...

and then the fun continued as Jane directed Ruby to pretend she was opening up a new necklace too...

Our busy fun continued throughout the weekend as the children tried vigilantly to take out and play with every single toy that we own.

As George rekindled his old passion of self-portraituring

And, as we loved the world of video conferencing with some of our favorite people on Skype.

And less you think that I am surviving quite well, I was still thoroughly missing Major Earnest on Columbus Day, so again I followed the caravan to a National park here in Korea to spend the day hiking about.

I guess it shouldn't be any huge surprise that the Koreans like to take pictures of us. I sure seem to get a kick out of taking pictures of them too.

And thus concludes the longest post ever. Like I said, I'm trying my hardest to stay busy, but all this busy making, has gotten me totally exhausted, so good night.

Here's how we have fun and feel loved in Korea...

We borrow a grocery cart from level 1, bring it up to the 3rd floor so that George can learn how to "Heeley" up and down the apartment hallways.




We teach 3 year-olds how to swim in the big pool. I mean, seriously swim. As in, they will not drown any more, at least not in this swimming pool. And now swimming is actually fun.

Here's how I'm feeling loved on the day after my birthday...

I'm remembering this cake and the friends who brought it over to share it with me last night. Who made me laugh late into the night and stayed all the way until it wasn't my birthday anymore. Thanks girls...



I'm wearing some new green pajamas from Kristine and Lisa which are making me feel very foxy indeed. I'm sorry that Major Earnest is missing their debut.


I'm smiling about the collapsible basket that Lori knew I would love and use all around town. But probably fretted over, as only Lori can. Lori, it's perfect!

I'm loving the sparkly bracelet that Renee thought would be pretty on me. And smiling and laughing about the tissues with my initial on them. It's a gift that only Renee could think of.

I'm delighted that Kim was inspired to get me a box to organize my bobbins into. How did she know that I've secretly been wanting to collect bobbin spools, and then secondly have a place to organize them? Kim doesn't even really sew, and I've never mentioned my thing about bobbins. And yet her gift is full of little things that only a sewer could love. She's just so darn thoughtful like that.

I'm loving that my friends sent me birthday presents in a box full of surprises for my kids. And that they are the kind of friends who love my kids probably as much as they love me. Those are the most amazing kinds of friends to have in your life.

(I'm not really loving the amount of lip gloss Jane thinks is appropriate. But we'll work on that beauty tip tomorrow...)

And as I head off to bed, I'm just not entirely sure that I've ever done enough of anything to deserve that kind of love being poured forth upon me. But I tell you what, those are the best kinds of friends to have. The ones that demonstrate so much love and compassion, and who in return make you want to rise up to become a better person.

Thanks to all my sweet lady friends back in The Springs (j/k). Life just isn't the same without you. I am indebted.

I'm not even kidding you.

Today as I was kneeling down on the floor in the girls room, to help Jane get dressed, my eyes caught hold of something sparkly in her drawer. And there, sitting on top of a pair of white sweat pants was my sweet wedding ring.

And just like that, my prayer was answered.

And here I had gotten myself all geared up to find it in ten years...

Lost and found.

Ruby asked me tonight in her sweet little Ruby voice, "Mom, can you buy me a playground? A really big playground? With a big, huge slide? But it could be mine? I could have it at my house?" And I thought that was so cute I should write it down and remember it forever.


And the other night after we were coming home from Darin's promotion ceremony Ruby said, "I know who sent daddy those flowers, they are from Jesus." Because the flowers came with a card stuck in them, and this is the picture of the guy on the card.

All these little moments, and all these little sayings, I don't want to forget.

So tonight, I was at dinner at a friend's house, and I thought I was fine, and then someone asked me if everything was okay? I smiled and said, "Of course." But really, something is wrong.

See in this picture?



On Thursday night I was wearing my wedding ring, and now three days later, I can't find it anywhere. And believe me I have searched. And I think after three days of worrying about it, it's finally beginning to weigh heavy on me. I hate to lose things. I really do. And why do we have to lose things anyway?

My cousin asked me if I had prayed about being able to find my ring. To which I replied I had. And all day long today I've thought I was being struck by inspiration and I would run off into a room and tear apart a bed, with such a burning hope that the ring was going to tumble down onto the floor.

But it never did.

I lost my wedding band, at my grandma Z's house. My grandma Z's house is the cleanest house on the the planet. And when I commissioned grandma Z with the task of cleaning and finding my ring, imagine the finality I felt in my heart when she called me back and said, "So I think you should check in the twins diapers this week. Because your ring is not in my house."

I knew it was lost forever at that point in time. But that was only okay, because I still had my diamond ring.

And sometimes we loose things around here, like wallets and keys. But then after fervent searching and pleading with twin three-year-olds, we find them. One time we lost the pet dog to the doll house. And that was sad for a little while, but then a month later, the little dog was found, smooshed into the pillows on the couch. So that was happy.

And then my cousin told me that her dad lost his wedding ring once for 10 years. And ten years later his wedding ring showed up in the house again.

So things get lost, and things get found. And something we write down to remember. And somethings we never write down and we forget.

But I just hope I'm going to find the last piece of my wedding ring somewhere in this house. Because some things really shouldn't ever get lost or forgotten. Don't you think?

Everyday should be like today.

A sweet friend gave Darin and I the gift of time together this afternoon. We found our way to the Seoul Flower market.

We unhurriedly walked up and down isles and isles of flowers and all sorts of breakable items, without a care in the world.

We purchased bundles of flowers.

We took in the scenery.

Then later on in the evening, after Darin took us out to dinner, he threw me an impromptu birthday party, a week early! He's going to be gone, and I think the guilt is plaguing him a bit, so he wanted to see the joy on my face when I opened

This...

And this...

Bon Voyage Darin. You are irreplaceable. Embrace the beauties, bounties, and smells of America for me, but please hurry back. Korea and I will be anxiously awaiting your return.