Merry Christmas!

From Korea with love. Happy to report that all of the children are in their beds dreaming of St. Nicholas.

Even happier to report that they are all wearing matching pajamas sewed by one festive Mama!

And super, super excited that I'm on my way to bed and it's only MIDNIGHT!!


After reading the story of Christ's birth from the book of Luke tonight, Darin asked Ruby what the job of a shepherd was, just to see if she'd been listening. Her answer was, "A shepherd's job was to take care of sheep, and watch the sky for new stars."

Her answer struck me. May we all be the type of people this year who can recognize the light of Christ in our own lives, just like the shepherds were able to recognize the new star in the sky.

Merry Christmas, and GOOD NIGHT!!

Word to the wise, don't have a baby six days before Christmas...

...Because you'll feel too busy every year when it's time for his birthday!

But if you do, celebrate his 8th birthday at the Bowling Alley. That will make things significantly simpler!!

Our very own George Z. Earnest turned 8 on Saturday the 19th. I decided Saturday birthdays are the BEST! Dad was home for the traditionally 7am birthday party complete with breakfast burritos and an entire pound of bacon, a la George!

(P.S. the 7am birthday party came AFTER the very intimate 6am party that included only me, Darin and George. Since George had been awake since 4:45 in anticipation of his birthday, it was all Darin and I could do to let the rest of the kids sleep for one more hour. We let him open the DVD of the movie Matilda! Genius idea, because then he was very excited to sit quietly and watch it since he's been wanting to see the movie after reading the book at school.)

And then, since it was Saturday, the friends party could take place at 11am. George picked the bowling alley and 8 friends to go there with. The bowling alley provided the party room decorations, the lunch, the cake, AND the party favors! And whatever that cost, it was priceless! As I was walking out the door to George's party, all I had in my hand was an ice cream scooper and some candles. Since it is six days before Christmas, I was so happy to have made this decision a month ago!!





Even more fun was that the party room had a Wii in it. We quickly sent Darin back home for some required Wii equipment, and very shortly thereafter, the boys were enthralled!

The party went off without a hitch. George had a blast and loved the fun time spent with his friends.

I know George had a great 8th birthday, and I've had an even better time being his mom for these past 8 years.

This last pictures sums George up in my mind. He is so full of life. He has often challenged me throughout our years together. I've been more frustrated by him, and more confused by him, and more worried about him, than maybe anyone else in my life. But in return he has loved me and helped stretch me, and has surely made me more than I could have ever been without him. And for all of that, I am honored to be his mother.

And besides, his smile is worth a million bucks! I love you George. Happy 8th Birthday!!

A Christmas sneak peak...

(Thanks for the early Christmas presents Grandma Z. And yes, the Christmas tree is sitting inside of a bucket. Just a little Christmas randomness to entertain us this year!)

Much like last year, I've decided at least while I live in Korea that making gifts is the way to go for most of my friends and family (hope you guys don't mind!). It does mean starting towards the end of November I'm immersed in gift making. It's a lovely ritual for the most part because I apparently love to sew. And given the fact that we have a mailing deadline, I always can see the light at the end of the sewing tunnel, so to speak. But this year, as soon as the packages got mailed off, I remembered two other gifts that I wanted to make, these ones for the ladies.

Months ago while craft blog surfing, I came upon a tutorial on how to make a mermaid tail. Ruby happened to be standing right by me, and saw the pictures of little girls running around with mermaid tails on, and instantly decided she needed one. She later found some sparkly purple fabric at the Happy Quilt and has asked me repeatedly when am I going to make one for her?!

Shhh, please don't tell her, but she'll have 2 wrapped up under the Christmas tree. Just in case it isn't fun to be a mermaid all alone, I made her a second one to decide if she wants a certain sister to be a mermaid with her. But the choice will be hers to make. Had I known how easy these mermaid tails were going to be, I might have made them months ago!! In case you are in need of a mermaid tail, here's the tutorial.

One day Jane came into my sewing room and asked me to open up my fabric cupboards. She stood on a chair staring up at the selection and I could see she was thinking of something. Suddenly she turned to me and said, "I need all of the polka dotted fabric sewn into a blanket!"

And you know what, I totally agreed with her. She doesn't know it yet, but under the tree she'll have her dreamed of polka dotted blanket, complete with the letter "J" appliqued in the fabric that she specified. And just for added love, it's backed completely in a fuzzy white minky fabric. The polka dot grid came together surprisingly (and thankfully) fast.

And to top it all off, all of these gifts were made completely with things that I already had on hand. I didn't have to make a single trip to any store to complete these Christmas gifts. That my friends, is the part about it where the gift is also a gift for me!!

I couldn't be more pleased to make these kinds of Christmas dreams come true! I know people say things like, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree", so I'm sure many of you aren't surprised that my girls wanted some homemade gifts for Christmas, but I remain enormously pleased that they have already learned to love my handmade offerings. What sweet ladies indeed!

Now it's time to start wrapping!

Traditions and time.

When I was growing up, Sunday dinner was a tradition. No matter what had happened during the week, by Sunday evening the table was being dressed with a table cloth. My mom had a collection which in my young mind was the definition of wealth and refinement. More often than not, the fine china was getting pulled out. There was an elegant water pitcher. There would be a roast, mashed potatoes, vegetables, rolls, fruit.

Okay, some weeks were more elegant than others, but to be sure, not a week was missed. I went through a phase around my junior year of High School where I actually couldn't stand eating the Sunday dinner, but all these many years later, it's all roses and smiles. And I'm so glad about that!

The food would be eaten and gone quickly. We were after all, a young family with six kids, but if my memory serves me right, there were times when we stayed at that table for up to an hour, laughing, talking, debating, teasing, etc. Sometimes so long that it would be time for dessert. I remember the go-to Sunday dinner dessert was a Pilsbury bundt cake mix, cooked in a bundt pan, drizzled right out of the oven with the sugary topping, served next to a ginormous scoop of any of five flavors of ice cream. We always had ice cream in five different varieties in the freezer at all times.

I haven't carried on the tradition of the roast, or the five flavors of ice cream in my freezer. But pulling out the table cloth is a must, as is sitting down all together. And often I'm still lingering at the table even after everyone else is gone, remember when I used to linger at my mom's dining room table as a kid. I hope that someday my kids will have longer attention spans, and more to say that just knock-knock jokes, and they'll linger with me. But for two Sundays in a row we've wanted to produce a Sunday dinner worthy dessert, and have had only the ingredients on hand to make magic happen. I'm happy to say that we've been able to pull out our Williams-Sonoma, bundt cake pans, most recently the "Snowy Village Cakelet Pan Set", and have a bit of Sunday dessert magic of our own. Turning it into the "snowy" village is the ladies favorite part. The batter is quite possibly my favorite part. But having a tradition, even if it is just the beginning of one, is of course better than any of it. And were I inclined to heartily endorse a product, I would indeed endorse Williams-Sonoma Bundt pans with all my heart. We have three. Each one works like a charm, every time we use it, including the first time we used it. And there isn't anything I like better in a product that faithfully producing the product it says it will produce. Know what I mean?

The Snowy Village Cakelet Pan Set, consider it as a Christmas gift this year, I'm serious.



In other news, Henry bemoans his homework every night. It gets in the way of his reading, and all he wants to do is read one good book after another. He doesn't even let a day laps between the completion of one, and the start of another. I LOVE that about him. He is MY son. I knew he was, but it's so sweet to see this trait emerge. He is ever searching for his next great read. Book series are his favorite because then you always know what to read next. But when it ends, it sometime hits him hard. George kind of teased him last night at the dinner table that he had a book. The Major suggested the book get put away, and I agree, but then I told them a story about when I had kids, one of the greatest things I dreamed of, is that they would love to read. George looked at me and said, "I love to read too." And I said, "I know you do, that's why I told the story. You have all turned into readers, and I LOVE IT."

Next, I am busily working everyday to get our Christmas gifts mailed back to the states. This is the first morning in about ten when I have felt like I could sit down mid-morning for a blogging break.

In hopes that it was my last time there, I was at the post office this morning at 9am. I didn't have the ladies with me, because I had just dropped them off at school. I ran into a young mother, a friend of mine, who's husband works with the Major. Her baby is seven months old, and she's tired. She hasn't slept an uninterrupted night of sleep in seven months now. She was appealing to me for some motherly advice. She thought she had maybe already asked me before how I ever got babies to sleep, but she'd forgotten my answer and wondered if I'd remind her.

I had to pause for a moment.

How did one get a baby to sleep?

I had almost forgotten.

I was able to remember a few anecdotes and mostly sympathize and give her encouragement that time passes faster than anything, and someday she'll be standing in a post office without any little kids around her, at all, and someone will ask her something about babies, and she'll forget that she used to know the answer to that question.

It's bittersweet I tell you. It really is.

But then she told me that she saw Darin the other night at a work function and that he had our ladies with him. She decided to ask him about his memories of how to teach babies to sleep through the night. She reported to me that his answer was something like,

"To be honest, I can't remember. Annee did it all. She just did it all. She let me sleep, every night."

I hope you'll believe me when I say that I nearly got a lump in my throat, and maybe had to wipe a tear out of my eye. The Major and I are not overly mushy or lovey-dovey. That would be unappealing to both of us. We are casual, and love to laugh with each other and don't ever say the lovey-dovey sort of things to one another, unless it make for a good joke, then we might. But somehow hearing that he had said that about me to a friend of ours had me glowing inside. What a sweet memory for him to have of me, during quite possibly the hardest time of our lives.

I'm certain I did not let him sleep through the night every night while I juggled about with two babies. But that that is his lasting impression is so unbelievably kind of him, I nearly wanted to bust into his top-secret location and give him a hug on the spot. But that most definitely would have violated our rules of non-lovey-dovey behavior.

Instead I just gave him a blog tribute. I hope he likes it :)

Those are my thoughts this morning in December. Have a great day!

Christmas is coming!!

Henry's school class was going to sing at the annual tree lighting ceremony on Thursday night. They sent the notice home, and I wrote it down on my calendar. Henry was to show up at 5:10pm for the lighting ceremony which would happen at 5:45. I was doing all kinds of things to make sure we were going to be there as a whole family. I sent Henry out the door right at 5:10 and told him to walk himself down to Base Theater where his class was gathering. I fed kids dinner early. I had everyone dressed, etc. But at 5:30 when the Major suggested we should walk out the front door, I suggested we still had fifteen minutes before it "said" it was going to start.

Still, we left pretty close to 5:30, all bundled up and prepared to listen to the music and enjoy the glittering festivities. So I thought it was kind of strange that the closer we got to the base theater, the number of people who were walking the other direction. And Darin tried to tell me about 1/4 mile away that the tree was already lit up, but I countered that I thought the tree had been lit up all week, and the "lighting" ceremony was mostly the kids singing, and I was sure we had not missed it. But sure enough, when we finally got in front of the Theater, there was Henry wandering around all alone, sipping some hot cocoa, because the singing happened right about 5:35.

Then everyone blamed me for everything going wrong. The kids missed the lights. Santa was leaving on his fire truck, etc, etc., and everyone turned to ME to ask why we missed it all.





What can one do? I tried my hardest. And that's my only defense. I really thought I knew what I was doing. Needless to say, that story pretty much sums up how I feel about the entire start of the month of December. I seem to be ten minutes late and out-of-the-loop, everyday. We don't even have the advent calendar out yet. I think I'm a little bit in denial that Christmas is really coming. I feel the need for some time laps photos in a blog post in the near future. I know I say it almost every time I write, but it's because I think it to myself every SINGLE day...Where does the time go?! Really. Where?

Unrelatedly, people often tell me how much they wish they had twins. I think it's a funny comment, because I don't really think there are that many ladies walking around with a four month old baby wishing she were walking around with TWO four month old babies. But maybe there are? But sometimes I understand what people mean, especially this week when I was sitting at Ruby's Make Over Store...

Because I didn't just have one four year old who wanted to doll me up, I had TWO. And then, I felt really special.


P.S. If I look really old and tired in this pictures, it's because sadly I am. I am both old and always tired!

P.P.S. Boy oh boy did I look fine. The girls were beside themselves at their creation. Jane kept saying over and over again how she had never seen a hairdo like mine before. And I said, "I surely haven't either!" And they couldn't wait for the Major to walk through the door to take a picture of me standing next to him. It turned out so awful. I'll admit it, I have too much pride to post that picture!

It's kind of like I quit blogging...

And I was okay with that, until George said he wanted to run the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5K with me....



Then I knew I would need to post pictures about that! If I were to say something about what I most want out of life, on the list somewhere would be to have kids who love running. Much like some of my best memories are of running races all around the US with members of my family, I would really love to run races with my kids, all around the world!

So I told George he could totally run a 5k if he wanted to. After all, he can come home from school any day of the week, and run 2 miles on the treadmill, so 5k is just 1.1 miles further. I told him I'd do it with him, but he had to train.

He trained MINIMALLY. He could have trained more, that's for sure. But knowing my George the way that I do, I knew that the experience and the emotions of a race would be something that would only benefit him. I knew that physically he could run 3.1 miles, and that emotionally he would be soaring. So I wanted to help him accomplish his little dream.

The race was on Wednesday after school, and when he came home from school, he nearly talked himself out of it ten times. And I was having a hard time knowing what my role was. I DID NOT want to be some crazy "stage" mom who wants to throw their kids out there for all the world to see, how great I AM. I only wanted to help him accomplish something that he wanted to do. But I'll admit that I was struggling with the line I was walking.

In the end, I told him if he didn't feel ready for it, there would be another race on another day. But ultimately, I didn't want him to feel disappointed in himself or regret that he didn't do it. He came back to me in about five minutes and just said, "Mom, I'm going to do it!"

So off we went.

It was 100% the correct decision. To experience, all of the struggles, challenges, joys and excitement of Georges' first 5K race are almost too much for me to put into words.



When he saw that he was the only kid there, he grew about two inches taller. When the race started, and he looked back and saw that he wasn't going to be the last person to finish, he grew another two inches. When we turned around at the half way point to run back to the finish line, and he saw all the adults STILL BEHIND him, he was completely shocked. And when he saw Darin and the kids parked a little ways up the road, all standing in front of the van cheering and clapping, I thought George's heart might burst. And for all those moments of realization for my George, well, it's basically priceless.

The last half mile were totally hard for him. He wanted to stop, but then he told me how hard it was to start running again after you stop running, so I knew that I should just help push him through. I decided to tell him the story about when he was born.





Once labor started with George, things progressed really fast, and I basically pushed once, and he was out. So I crafted that memory into a story for him during the last half a mile to help him forget how hard the running was getting. And I told him that ever since he was born, I knew he was going to be a really fast kid, because he was born so fast. He liked my story. And before we knew it, the finish line was in sight. And right as we turned up the way to the finish line, all the adults who had already finished gathered around and totally started yelling and cheering, just for George. And I felt so proud, because he totally earned that applause. Because running 3.1 miles is hard for lots and lots of people, and he did it, he totally did it. And he's only 7.



And the thing is, I knew he could do it, but I'm not sure if he knew he could do it. It's so important to have experiences in our lives, when we surprise ourselves. It builds our confidence and helps us remember to set the bar a little bit higher the next time we have an idea, and that's how you achieve things. And I think George is here to achieve things. I just do.

The race director was so excited that a kid came out to participate in the event, that she wanted to give him a prize. I guess they were out of airplane trophies, because instead, they gifted George with a ten pound frozen ham! And then I learned a lesson, it pretty much doesn't matter what the prize is, people just love to win a prize. George wanted to carry that ham around with him for the rest of the day. And if you bump into him on the street today, he'll probably tell you that he won a ham at the race yesterday. And he's totally excited that he's providing the meat for our Sunday dinner this week. He really, really is. Just ask him.





So, that's the story that made me want to write a post on my blog again. I hope you agree, it's a good story.

And while I struggle as a mother with all the tiny details of my responsibilities towards all these amazing people who call me "mom", you have no idea how grateful I am that I was physically prepared for the day when my son told me he wanted to run a race. That I could run with him and comfortably pace him and talk to him and pull him through, because it was not physically taxing to me at all, I realized how grateful I am for my body. I spend a lot of time hating my body, because I'm a girl, and we do that really, really well. But through this little experience with George, I realized that it can accomplish things, and I should just be really grateful that it's strong and capable. I love learning new lesson/being reminded of old lessons.

And now it's Thanksgiving, and I feel all full of things to be grateful for. Like when I look from the kitchen to see the Major surrounded by his adoring off spring, all cracking up at the latest family friendly video on U-Tube.

Or when I look at my ladies, and remember the time when I pleaded with all my heart to the Lord for ONE little girl, and He answered my prayer with TWO.

That's all I have to do on any given night, to remember all that I have to be grateful for. It's a lot, I know.

A few favorites...

This outing:

We managed a trip up to the Seoul Grand Park last Friday. Korea is really offering the most amazing fall you have ever seen. I know you think fall is beautiful where you live, but I'm just saying, it might not have anything on Korea. The weather was perfect. The kids were delightful. The company was lovely. It was darn near a perfect day. Everyone wanted their picture taken with the fox ears.

"Say Cheese!"

This photo...

The Barbies and Princesses got replaced for a day, by the Cabbage Patch dolls. My ladies were so enchanted with their game of "pretend you're mom", that Jane had to line up all the babies for a photo shoot. You know she's seen real moms do this a thousand times. When downloading the photos, I wanted to remember the sweetness of that day.

This outfit...

Jane walked out of her room all decked out. She was delighted with each element of the outfit and wanted me to admire the addition of each one. And with only the addition of some leggings, I absolutely told her she could wear it to the movies that afternoon. Who am I to judge?! (Not to mention that daddy is out of town, so we're all acting a little crazy.!)

This smarty pants...

For making the Principle's List of 4th graders with straight As for the first quarter!!

They sent home a notice that there would be an awards assembly, but they didn't tell you if your child was going to get an award. I figured my odds were pretty high, with Henry as my 4th grader, so I showed up to the assembly. The Principle's List students were the last ones honored, so he sat nervously through the whole thing, wondering and worrying if his name would ever be called. He thought straight As meant you had gotten an A on every single worksheet and homework assignment since the first day of school! Which he thought meant that he had not qualified. After the assembly was over, he told me, "Mom, I really wanted to get an award, but I was just so nervous that I hadn't qualified for straight As. So I just decided to cross my fingers and hope I'd get lucky!"

I loved his innocence and humility. I'm pretty sure I had a huge lump in my throat when they called his name. I'm just so darn proud. And so happy that crossing your fingers is still believed to be a tangible solution! I love the magic of childhood. I just love it!!

And those are my favorites from this past week.

Dorothy, and Glinda, a Zombie and Yugi, oh my!

Good morning November 2nd!! We survived another year of Halloween. But like I say every year on the Monday after Halloween, "good riddance Halloween, we will not miss you for these intervening twelve months. You were good while you lasted, but good bye now. " And least you think that is a bad attitude, I will let you know that it did not in the least prevent us from fully celebrating almost everyday of last week.


Dorothy, Yugi, Zomumbie (say it out loud, it's the combination of a zombie and a mummy, although the mumminess didn't really get added until the next party!), and Glinda the good witch, were all dressed and ready for the Tuesday night PTO Halloween party.

On Friday we successfully attended the pre-school class party, without a camera, and the elementary school wide parade. Later that night we made it to our church Truck-or-Treat, again without a camera but with a winning pot of chili (although it won for most "unusual", so is that really winning?!).

On Saturday we (maybe it was mostly Darin?) managed to carve four pumpkins. George vowing this year to be able to pull out the pumpkin guts, and carve his own jack-o-lantern face, all without loosing his cookies. Happy to report no cookies were lost, but neither were very many guts extracted without parental involvement!

Carving pumpkins somehow turned into roasting mini marshmallows over candles. The candles were burning in an attempt to help Ruby stay in the same room as the pumpkins. Have I mentioned yet that we are an extremely smell sensitive group of people?!

Later on, dressing up for the final time to go trick-or-treating. And I'm pretty sure that by this point I was not the only one getting tired of this routine. But I am positive that I was the ONLY one in this house who was getting tired of eating candy. These kids (and maybe Darin too?) were eating it like it was the very manna from Heaven. The candy monster may or may not be coming here VERY soon to snatch all the candy from the children while they are sleeping some sad night this week...

trick-or-treating

candy inventory, weighing and sorting.

So you see, it was fun while it lasted, but it's time to move on. The girls are 100% focused on their birthday. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine's Day are all just road blocks to their ever important birthday. This morning on our way to school they were down right jubilant as they announced to me, "Mom, it's almost Christmas now, and that means it's almost our birthday!!"

Slow down ladies, we all just need to slow down.