Christmas Day

The countdown finally came to an end!  Santa didn't fly by!  He came!
The kids got new jammies on Christmas Eve, one of our few traditions.
I tried to get a picture of them together in the new PJ's but alas my children never
hold still, and certainly never at the same time!

We are fortunate parents, our kids didn't wake up until 8:00.

I wonder how many more years we'll get away with that.

William was feeling partly cloudy and mostly just wanted to be held all day.

It wasn't too bad, but he didn't get overly enthused about his presents.

A Pillow Pet is the only thing she really wanted!

She wanted the unicorn one, but Santa thought it was too ugly to buy.

Fortunately Jee Hoon was nicer than Santa and got the unicorn for her.

2 Pillow Pets in one day!  Life is sweet.

William needed one as well. 

I think Santa might just buy duplicates of everything next year.

We got Isabelle this dog because William got one for his birthday and she is
stealing it ALL of the time.

The age recommendations are 6 to 36 months. 

There is no way I am going to tell her it's a baby toy,

I am going to let one of her friends break it to her when she's 7.

Paybacks!  That'll teach you to steal my dog!

He wasn't excited about his presents but he couldn't get enough of Isabelle's!

Daddy's toys.  He was saying "Mine" to Isabelle.

I am 98.8% sure that he was joking!

This tent was a spur of the moment buy at the last minute.

This was the favorite of both of the kids.

They played in it for hours and when it came time for bed

we had to clear off Isabelle's bed and put it on top.

It was there that she slept for the night with a pile of blankets,

her new pillow pets, and all of her Christmas loot.

The last thing she said before going to sleep...

"This was the BEST Christmas EVER!"

Victory is mine!

Oh yeah, what did I get for Christmas? 

Well besides my Wii Fit I got the best thing ever,

a 2 hour nap!

Christmas Eve 2010

Oh what a fun day! 

Today we had our family Christmas party.

We decided to do it at our Lehi Taekwondo center so that we would have LOTS of room for the kids to play.  It certainly wasn't as formal as many people's Christmas parties probably are,

but we had so much fun!

We had to start off the party with some food!

Holy Cow - our family looks HUGE!

It was so nice to have Grandma Great with us for our party!

Sue and Mac stopped by too, that was nice since we haven't seen Sue since she moved out.

(She stayed with us for just a month or so not too long ago, but Isabelle still misses her!)

Let the games begin...

Now thats what I call a handful!

Erica will always be a kid at heart.

I have to let you know this was only 2 days after Erica had a

very large, very painful shot for her cancer treatment! 

She is amazing!

This is way harder than it looks...

Unless you are Nathaniel and you have a very big mouth!

He didn't seem to find it challenging at all.

Isabelle on the other hand found it very challenging!

Oh, oh...you almost got it!

DODGEBALLL!!!

I think the dad's were playing a different game than the kids.

Liam was just running around the whole time thinking he was a big kid!

Last but not least....presents!!!

Isabelle played with Hungry, Hungry Hippos for hours tonight!

What a hit!

Yay - Cars for him to be excited about,

and shoes for me to be excited about!

Thanks Grandma & Grandpa.

Boots, and they are even pink - score!

Again, I was more excited than her about these.

I love having practical parents.

Wesley's 1st Christmas.

I think he's pretty into it!

After the party we still had to come home and have a little fun.

Christmas cookies for Santa just had to be made.

Well, 2 for him and 1 for her.

I left her alone for 3 minutes and when I came back 95%

off the sprinkles in that bottle were on those 3 cookies.

I hope Santa loves sprinkles!

After a few games of Hungry Hippos and a game of memory it was off to bed for Isabelle.

The scary thing about this memory game is I won, but not by very much. I only had two more matches than Isabelle.  She has a good little memory and I am afraid that by the time she is

 6 she will be beating me everytime.

Soungsik on the other hand...didn't care so much for that game!

Another Skeleton in the Closet

We are at the beginning of 2 weeks vacation for our family.

Now sadly, vacation for Soungsik doesn't equate to vacation for me.

The house still needs to be cleaned, there are piles of laundry to do, children still think they have to eat, and paperwork for Taekwondo needs to be completed before the new year can begin.

Today however I am being sneaky.

The kids were both extra whiny today so I just put them down for naps. And miracle of miracles I think they are actually both going to sleep.  This would be the ideal time to catch up on dishes, fold laundry, and clean the house.  Here's my dirty little secret. 

Instead of doing all that junk, I am going to read a book, with my hair and makeup undone while eating a large piece of chocolate cake in place of lunch.

Soungsik is going to come home from shooting and ask
"What have you done all day?"

I of course will answer him in a shocked voice with "I can't believe you would even ask that...doesn't the house look so much cleaner!?!"

Ssshhh...don't tell okay. It's not like I murdered anyone!

The Gift Not Wanted

 Isabelle came running into the room the other day
and she was incredibly excited.

She was saying "Come quick mom, come quick. 
I have found what I want to get you for Christmas!!!"

Of course I went with her fast enough to see the ad on T.V. for this super great gift.

This is what she wants to get me...

Now clearly we have not watched "A Christmas Story" enough if she believes this to be a good gift!  The only thing these jammies are missing are
little bunny ears and eyes looking up at you.
And just look at how big the model's butt looks in them,
and she's a MODEL.
Can you imagine what a regular sized person's butt
would look like in those?

Isabelle enthusiastically tells me "and mom, the BEST part is you can unzip the feet
and take them off if you get too hot!"

I am still in shock that anyone over the age of 5 would want these.

The ad is targeted to husbands.

I am truely concerned about the homicide rate this Christmas if any men are dumb enough to believe that their wife will want these, and that she will feel beautiful in them.
Husbands are completely dilusional if they believe they'll get a little "something extra"
 on Christmas because of this gift as the commercial implies.

The only place I could see wearing these jammies would be a padded cell,
or that prison in Arizona were all of the underwear is dyed pink.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that Santa won't pull thru on this wish for Isabelle.

I am also very thankful she doesn't know how to order things online...yet.

I do really appreciate the thought though.

She really wanted to get me something special that I would love.

Happy 5th Birthday Isabelle!!!

I have had a hard time with this birthday. 

 I am finding myself unable to accept that my "baby" is

turning into a full fledged kid.

She is starting to have hopes and dreams all her own. 

I find that amazing, wonderful, and also very scary! 

Since her birthday was on Sunday we had a

low key birthday this year.

It turned out GREAT!

She said "This had been the best birthday ever!!!"

She has been waiting all year for the
primary kids to sing "Happy Birthday" to her.
 She was beside herself with happiness today at church.

Of course it wouldn't be a birthday without presents.

It was also a great way to warm up her
unwrapping skills for Christmas.

Rapunzel doll from Grandma & Grandpa! 

She is in heaven!

Fairy wings and a tutu from Uncle Nathaniel, Aunt Jenny

Natalie, Lily & Wesley! 

Let the make believe begin!!!

This book looks so cute! 

Good choice Khun Aupa & Jee Hoon!

Smelling it didn't help her guess what was inside.

If she needed help, Liam was only a heartbeat away.

We watched "Despicable Me" before bed. 
We were all laughing histerically.

Sometimes we were laughing at the movie, but most of the time we

were laughing at Isabelle laughing at the movie.  She was in stitches!

This one was more for me than her...she is constantly

asking to use my digital camera!

I am a little scared about all of the horrible pictures

that are going to be taken of me in the

following weeks and months!

I think we might be getting some good

laughs in the next few weeks.

She helped me make and decorate the cake.

It tasted much, much, much yummier than it looks!

Her birthday wish???

"That everyone in the world would help each other."

Proud mommy moment.

When I tucked her into bed she got a little serious and said,

"Mom, I have never been 5 before, how do I do it?"

I only had one answer to give her,

"One day at a time, and the best you can.

I love you!"

Belt Ceremony and Annual Christmas Party

Today was an insanely long, tiring, and fun day!

We had belt ceremony and Isabelle got her orange belt!

This was a pretty big testing group! 

We had 48 people in total test.

She seems a little dazed by the large amounts of people watching.

Here's looking at you kid...

After ceremony we had breakfast and then played games. 

I think there were around 200 people at this party.

Do you know how much food 200 people can eat in the morning?

I do.  ALOT!!!

I was scared for a few minutes this morning.

I felt like some of them hadn't eaten for over a week,

especially the 11 year old boys.

I don't have pictures of the food or the games,

I was way too busy doing other things!

You will just have to believe me when I say it was completely loud and chaotic!

I think everyone had tons of fun though!

It wouldn't be a Christmas party without a visit from Santa.

Isabelle has been very excited about seeing him!

I asked her if Santa asked her what she wanted.

She said "Nope, he said he's going to suprise me!"

I think she likes the idea of a suprise.

After the party she went into the office and saw that Santa

"forgot" his big red bag.  She was almost in tears!

Being the genius that I am, the red bag is now under our tree

waiting for Santa to pick it up on Christmas Eve.

We had to convince Isabelle that he has a different bag for toys!

Now William on the other hand...

NOT so excited about Santa.

What's the matter Santa?

Can't you handle a teeny, tiny, 1 year old?!?

And what's a party without an after party?

It was nice that there wasn't 100 kids running around yelling.

William wasn't crying, I think he was just officially pooped out!

Later in the evening we took Isabelle to see

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

She loved it except for about 15 minutes at the

end that got a little scary.

She got on my lap and covered her eyes and said

 "tell me when its over"!

She also ate almost a half of a large bucket of popcorn.

Piggy, piggy, piggy. 

I hope we can rest good tonight after the long day and get

ready for Isabelle's birthday tomorrow!

BOOK REVIEW: THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Written By: Barbara Robinson

Number of pages: 90

Number of stars I'm giving it: 5

So it is a Christmas tradition to always read this book. 

It has been one of my favorites since about the 4th grade. 

 Is it pathetic that all I have read in the last
month is children's books? Probably. 

 Do I care? No way! 

This book makes me laugh so hard, I have known people exactly like all of these characters while I was growing up. This year I felt especially bad for the mom who had to put the whole thing together and still make dinners for her family.  I am sure everyone has read this book, if so you must read it again.  If you haven't then you must, must, read it this year. 

 Another bonus is that it only takes about an hour to read. 

"Hey. Unto you a child is born!"

A Close Shave

I finally had it with Liam's cow lick today. 

I LOVE his hair long, its very cute and very unmanageable.

No matter how many times I comb it during the day, it looks as if I never have.

The thought has crossed my mind more than once in the last few

days to put cute little elastics in like I did when Isabelle was a baby.

Since I don't think that is a wise decision I really only had one other option.

I shaved it off.  It is very hard for hair to stick up all over the place

when it is only a quarter on an inch long.

Here's Liam before his terrible mother got to him...

Look how cute my little man is!

He has no idea what's going thru my mind right now!

And here's Liam after.  Soungsik likes his hair better short. 

I think he is too cute for words either way.  

I also can't stop rubbing his head - it feels so cool.

This is proof that he is incredibly thrilled with his new do!

I asked Isabelle if she wanted the same cut, she declined,

I can't imagine why?

BOOK REVIEW: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader                                   
Book 5 of 7 in the Narnia Series
Written by: C.S. Lewis
Number of pages: 248
Number of stars I'm giving it: 3.5

I needed to finish this book by Saturday because we are going to see the movie made after it this weekend.  The other books in the series have only taken my a couple of days to finish because I have liked them so much.  This book took me almost 2 weeks.  It wasn't a bad book, but it was very hard to get into.  Actually I think that for once the movie might be better than the book.  My biggest issue with this book is that everything just seemed disconnected.  All of the things that happened were interesting, but problems got resolved quickly and characters moved on quickly. I would have liked more depth in a lot of places.  The ending also seemed rushed and I didn't care for it much.  There was no pull between good and evil, very few hard decisions for the characters to grow from.  I do think that kids would find this book entertaining, and while I didn't hate it, it's probably not one I will be reading again for myself. 

Christmas Piano Recital

Isabelle had her 2nd piano recital tonight.

She has been asking me for weeks "Is today the day, is today the day?"

She has worked really hard, and while she made a couple of small

mistakes, overall she did great!

Isabelle's cousins (Jakob, Corrine, and Sariah)

also performed tonight and did wonderfully!

This is Isabelle playing "Spanish Guitars"

Here she is with her teacher, Betsy Fox, playing

"Hark the Herald Angels Sing".

We have been teasing her for not curtsying after,

she was laughing and can't believe she forgot.

We are so proud of you Isabelle!

We hope you continue to work hard,

and continue to love the piano as much as you do today!

2010 Year in Review

I know I am a bit of a Grinch, but I really hate Christmas letters.

Especially ones that are 3 pages long and just go on and on and on about

how some families cure diseases, win peace prizes, write novels, and how

their children never, never, never do anything wrong.

I was a little on the dumb side this year and put my

 blog address on our Christmas cards.

After I did that I realized that people will probably be expecting to

see some kind of family update if they do come here.

So I have decided to just write 3 things for each member of the family.

Don't get your hopes up too high - we didn't even cure a disease!

William - or Liam as I like to call him...

1. He has learned to crawl, climb, walk, run, kick, punch, roll, jump,

and do backflips this year! Well not really the last one, but you get the idea.

2. He will be officially done teething by the time 2011 rolls around!

 YAY for Mom! I guess it's good for him as well.

3. Finally starting to speak. He likes to say: binkie, blankie, kitty, doggy,

cookie, thanks, aupa (korean for dad), grrrrrr, grandpa,

and finally at long last, mama!

Isabelle

1. Still doing Taekwondo, and she also started piano and gymnastics.

 She is loving it all. The day she can actually perform a

real cartwheel we are going to have a party!

2. She has been doing great with her school, especially her reading.

We are so proud of her progress.

3. She makes us laugh at least once everyday. Thanks sweetie!

Me

1. I have had multiple personalities this year.

Angry mom, happy mom, crazy lady, nice lady, hollering maniac, peacemaker.

There may be more, but its hard to keep track of all the voices in my head.

2. I have had multiple jobs this year.

Taxi driver, chef (ha ha ha), house keeper, teacher, counselor, primary teacher,

translator, secretary, baby sitter, state delegate, moving man, dishwasher,

 clothes washer, psychic, nurse, thats pretty much it.

3. hmmm, 3 is alot. Sometimes less is more, right?

Soungsik

1. He did a little fishing this year, but he has started to go shooting much more.

He even built his own gun. I hope that doesn't backfire on him (he he he)!

2. The awesome parent of the year award in our family undoubtedly goes to him.

He is way more patient and fun than me,

my kids are so lucky! I am pretty lucky too!

3. We opened our 2nd taekwondo center this year.

 He also helped his brother get his school opened.

He has been incredibly busy with that!

We are just grateful that we survived the year with

no health problems or broken bones.

We are grateful for family that's always there:), and for good friends.

We are grateful our house is still standing,

even if there is a spider in the bathroom...I gotta go!