If I Have to Tell You 1 More Time...

We had one of those days today.

Not bad per say.

Not good either.

I think we all woke up feeling like 
we wanted to go back to bed. 

Isabelle and I really had it out a few times today. Our house guest doesn't believe that I could get really mad at my kids. 

Obviously he hasn't been around long enough yet. 

Honestly I don't know if I needed to be more patient with her, or if she needed to be more patient with me. 

It took her over 2 hours to finish 1 page of her piano theory.

It took her 2 hours to not finish 1 page of math.

Science, crafts, and spelling didn't happen at all.

Strange that we were still doing school at 6:00 tonight.

Not so strange that the kids were in bed by 7:30.  

They aren't sleeping, but they are out of my hair 
for the day so - whew!

I must have said the phrase "If I have to tell you 1 more time to (fill in the blank) I swear...
That's as far as I get.  

I am not really sure how to end that sentence.

During one of Liam's many tantrums tonight I said

"Somebody is a little cranky today."

Isabelle immediately replied

"I think it's you Mom."

Normally a comment like that would not fly in my house, but today there was just enough truth in it that 
I had to let it slide.

Tomorrow I am determined to wake up on the 
right side of the bed.  
This might require me to switch sides with Soung-Sik.

There is a new rule at our house effective today.  NO TV, Wii, or fun until chores, school, and piano are done.  
I might reconsider the fun part in the 
morning when I am a little less "cranky".

For when my little minions read this in 20 years, I just want to add that you had plenty of cute and loving moment as well today.  I love you both!

Korean Picnic & Choir Performance

I have to give a disclaimer for this post - yet again.

I had some of the worst picture taking luck all day!

The pictures are far from good, but you'll probably get the idea.

We started off the morning at a picnic in beautiful Sugar House Park with all of the students in our Korean language school.  Since this was a Korean party there was good food.  LOTS and LOTS of good food.

The man sitting next to Soung-Sik is the friend staying with us for the next few months.  His name is Doo-Il.

 

After we stuffed ourselves the kids had to get some playground time in.

 

William LOVED the swing, but he is so small he 

kept falling out of the baby swing.

Now that I look at the picture I think he's in the swing backwards.

Hey I was just doing what all the other parents were doing.

I wonder why their kids stayed in?

 

Here's Isabelle with one of her teachers.

Her teachers were the best!  They have been so nice, patient, 

and incredibly loving with Isabelle.

We are really going to miss them during the summer!

 

This is Isabelle and some of the other kids doing a drawing competition.

 

They also had hackey sack competitions, a treasure hunt, and played some Korean games called "something, something in Korean".   Isabelle had an extreme amount of fun even though she didn't win any games.

William was just running around like a crazed baby without a nap.  

I tried to subdue him with the sling...

 

 Sadly he never fell asleep.

Instead he started entertaining himself by pinching me and pulling my hair.

It hurt.

He laughed.

After an hour I gave up and turned him loose again.

After the party we had to hurry, 

and I mean hurry to Isabelle's choir performance.

Actually I had to dress her and do her hair in the car.  This was not an easy feat, and sadly we still missed the first song. Were you aware that it takes more than 10 minutes to get from Sugar House park to 7200 S? 

 

Here's my summary of the choir performance.

Natalie (my niece) and Isabelle were the cutest kids, if you ask me.

The choir as a whole did great.

Then came the soloists.  Horrible is an understatement. It was so so bad.

Someone such as their parents or the choir director should have let them know this. 

I realize it's mean to say things like that, 

but I think it's meaner to let them go do that in front of 100 people.

As a side note I am ridiculously glad choir practices are over.

By this point in the day William couldn't resist sleep any longer.

 

You know he's tired when he falls asleep without finishing a sucker!

Congratulatory ice cream was in order.

 

We wrapped up our busy day by torturing William...again.

 

 

All in all it was a very fun and very memorable day. 

I hope the memories last longer than the sunburns!

House Guest

We have had a fair share of house guests since we got married.  

Our guests usually have a few things in common.

Number 1 - The don't speak any English,

Number 2 - They are much older than me,

Number 3 - They stay for at least a month,

Number 4 - They make me really uncomfortable and on edge.

When my husband told me someone was coming to stay for 3 months a mere 6 days in advance - I started to get uneasy. Do you know how hard it is to feed a Korean man?  Well it isn't easy.  It's taken me 10 years to condition Soung-Sik to my lack of cooking skills. And ever since I caught my Mother-in-law mopping my walls I tend to second guess my cleaning abilities. 

As it happens Soung-Sik is always at work when people arrive at the airport.  That means I get to be the official "Welcome to America" greeter.  I do refuse to hold signs.  This time Soung-Sik forgot to tell me his last name and flight number.  I just looked for a really lost and worried looking Korean man and luckily he was the first one I saw.  Like our other guests he doesn't speak any English so I checked my nephew out of school to be a translator - a VERY good idea.  Our guest is younger than me, which means I'm the boss.  Being the boss is a first for me when our guests are concerned, I think I am going to enjoy it. He is planning on staying 3 months, but I wonder if a single guy used to living in Seoul will die of boredom at our house. The really great news is he hasn't made me nervous or uncomfortable at all.  Actually I just boxed with him, I was a little nervous then.  Hopefully this will be a smooth visit for all involved.

After reading this post I am wondering if I should just learn how to cook really well and speak Korean?  

It could happen...

IN OUR WORLD: AT LAST

Usama Bin Laden has finally at long last been caught 

- and dealt with.

I am not one to usually feel elated over a death, but I must admit I gained a pretty big smile when I heard of the news.

 

Here's a brief news story about his death.

Usama bin Laden is dead, multiple sources confirm to Fox News.

President Obama is expected to deliver a statement from the White House Sunday night to discuss the major development.

Sources said bin Laden was killed by a U.S. bomb a week ago. The U.S. had been waiting for the results of a DNA test to confirm his identity.

The announcement comes nearly a decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks which started a tireless hunt for the terrorist mastermind and Al Qaeda leader.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/01/usama-bin-laden-dead-say-sources/#ixzz1LA7D8tgx

I am also happy that we don't have to deal with a long drawn out legal process.  I wonder if the after life is what he believed it to be.  He's probably in just a bit of shock right now. And that is all of the attention this guy is going to get on my blog.  I will be off to talk about bigger and better people now!

A Monster is Born

HELP,  I need somebody. 

HELP, not just anybody.

HELP, you know I need someone, HELP!

This is how I am feeling tonight. My children have been in their dark room for over an hour and a half now. Are they asleep?  No silly.  Why would someone sleep when they are in a pitch black room with warm soft blankets?  Isabelle is upstairs claiming to be scared, something about monsters or something.  We aren't buying it.  Soung-Sik just hollered to her that we are scared of her too.  It is a fact that we are scared our children might never go to sleep. 

Don't they look terrifying???

 

But the real monster isn't one in the closet or under the bed.  The scariest monster is about 2 feet tall, weighs around 20 pounds, has uncontrollable hair, a mischievous laugh, and never slows down.

Tonight this monster... hold the phone, a monster should have a really scary name...lets go with Maximus-Non-Sleeperious-Tasmanian-Devil, or Maxnoeepmandev for short. 

Maxnoeepmandev figured out two simply horrifying tricks tonight.

He can now open doors and enter or exit any room he pleases. 

I am not especially thrilled about this.  Not even a teeny tiny bit.

The second trick he learned is how to climb up the bunk bed without the use of a ladder.  I am beginning to understand why Isabelle might be afraid.  Even though Maxnoeepmandev scares the living daylights out of us all, we don't want him falling to his death and/or a broken limb from the bunk bed.  

How he managed to learn these tricks on the same night is a puzzle, or a curse from Soung-Sik's mom many years ago. I am not exactly sure how we are going to solve this problem. I think if a monster is old enough to open doors and climb up three times his own height then he is old enough to start receiving Mey mays.  Mey May is Korean, I'll let you use your imagination on what it translates into.  It's a sad day for us all.

Please go to sleep Maxnoeepmandev and stop scaring little defenseless girls!

BOOK REVIEW: The Last of the Mohicans

Title: The Last of the Mohicans

Author: James Fenimore Cooper

Number of Pages: 517

Number of Stars: 4

This book took me 4 months to get through the first half and only a few days to get through the last half.  It was like reading two entirely different stories.  That is the only reason why I didn't give this book 5 stars.  It is truly painful to read the first part.  It is very well written, in fact I think that was the problem in the beginning, it was too well written.  Going back and forth from different dialects and languages made my head want to explode!  

Once you get past that the story is simply amazing.  You really love the good guys and really hate the bad guys.

This has always been one of my favorite movies.  That being said the movie is 100% different from the book.  I am not even sure why they named the same thing.  It couldn't have been more different.

My favorite characters is Uncas.  He may be one of my top 5 favorite fictional characters of all times.  I really admire characters who in hard times do the right thing with the right attitude, and don't ever question if they should or not.  Cora was also amazing.  There is a real shortage of true heroins in novels, but she lives up to it.  She is the best example of courage and unconditional love for your family. The other supporting character all have wonderful qualities as well.  This was a little too real to life in that not all of your favorite people can live happily ever after.

This book gives such a clear picture of what life would be like at those times.  I love the deep spirituality both the Indians and the "whites" have.  The respect they hold for each others beliefs would be refreshing in our time. I am glad that I read this book. I honestly don't know if I will read it again, but if I do I will probably start in the middle.  Everyone should read it at least once, so if you haven't yet - you'd better get to it!

Easter Weekend

Easter Sunday is winding down. My sugar filled children are sleeping soundly probably dreaming of chocolate bunnies.  

We had an action packed weekend.  We had so much fun.  So so much fun that I think I am actually excited to get back to a normal Monday.  

What would Easter be without colored eggs?  Isabelle and I waited for William to take a nap before we brought out the dye.  This year Isabelle picked out a dye set named "Bright and Shiny Foil Eggs".  The marketing idea was much better than the actual hands on process.  The only things that got bright and shiny were my fingers.  *Note to self...next year buy the dye set named "Boring, Dull, and Easy".  

Easter sugar cookies were next on the list.

 

Cut, baked, frosted, sprinkled, and eaten.  What's next?

Cupcakes?  Baked, frosted, sprinkled, and eaten. Moving on.

Lounging around in one of dad's sweaters sound good.  

The entire time I was growing up I would steal clothes from my dad.  This made him completely crazy.  He never understood that his clothes were so much more comfortable than my own.
I wonder if I have a clothes thief in training?

Finally we got around to some Easter egg hunting.

 

This hunt was for family home evening.  These eggs were filled with scripture references.  I know that's not as good as candy, but the kids still had fun learning about the resurrection. 

 

 "Dear mom, if you ever show this picture to my buddies in high school I will never forgive you!"

Easter morning the kids got their baskets.

 

  

Isabelle's favorite thing was her bunny.

 

William was only interested in the candy.

Tonight all of the cousins came over and we got around to doing a real egg hunt.

 

William caught on pretty fast.

 

He thinks Easter egg hunts are the coolest things since.....

well since...nope he thinks it's the best.

You have to be pretty fast to get an egg with these girls around.

 

Easter eggs & candy - $15.00

Basket - $10.00

Finding eggs with Grandpa - Priceless

 

We even had bunny visitors this year.

 

"Shadow" was so patient with all of the love!

 

"Bandits" little bunny heart was pounding pretty fast, 

but the kids were in love!

Sometimes you just need to relax and hang out.

 

Grandma Great joined us for dinner.

 

It was so fun to have her here.  Doesn't she look wonderfully vivacious!

(ha ha ha - inside joke. I love you Grandma!)

She was telling us lots of stories about my dad growing up.

Should I share some?  Yes?

Okay you twisted my arm. 

My dad used to take straight pins to primary and poke the girls sitting in front of him!

What a meanie!

My dad used to throw things in the canal.  

Once he threw my Grandpa's tools in.  

Then my Grandpa threw him in.  

I think that was the end of that phase.

My dad got in trouble in 4th grade because he was hiding a book inside of the book he was supposed to be reading and reading the other one instead. Was it a comic book you ask?

Why no, it was the Book of Mormon. 

I guess he wasn't bad all the way to the core!

I just love Easter.  I love the candy. I love the hunts.  I love the food.  I love that it is almost warm weather.  I love the family.  I love the memories of my childhood that it brings.  But most of all I love the reminder it gives us of our Savior and his sacrifice for us. I love that he chose to do something that he didn't have to do, just because he loved us. I love that he knows us better than we know ourselves.  

Happy Easter to all of those that I love!

Garden Party

We broke down and decided to do a garden this year.

This is not the first year doing a garden, but hopefully this year our neighbor won't spray it with Roundup!

Let's begin...

 

No we are not trying to grow cinder blocks and fabric.  

Those are the clever pathways I thought of.  

I will let you know in a few months if it was a super great idea, or a never do it again idea.

 

Isabelle was so excited to help.

I am not sure how many of the seeds made it into the right spots.

As mom reminded me though 

"We aren't trying to grow plants, we're trying to grow kids".

I figure we only spent $20 on seeds, so as long as we get that many vegetables back it'll be a job well done.  

 

I remember always having a garden growing up.  I hated weeding and working in the garden, but now that I am older I can really see the value of the work for the kids.  Maybe Isabelle will eat vegetables if she has the pride of growing them herself!

 

Daniel and Erica's family stopped by, which was nice because we enlisted more child labor.  Elyssa might be a child, but she works harder than many adults could, or would.

 

Cameron enthusiastically said "I didn't know work could be this fun!"  

Wasn't it nice of us to let the kids have fun?

 

William had fun too!  This kid loves to be outdoors.

 

We found William helped with gardening best when he wasn't in the garden. 

Here's to hoping that we gets lots and lots of yummy food this year.

Zucchinis I challenge you....prepare to be breaded, baked, shredded and fried!

10 Years and Counting.

How is it that time can stand still and yet go by so fast?  I think my mind and my body must be in alternate universes.  In my mind I am still 22. I just got married.  Somehow I have 2 children, we must have found them on our doorstep. 

In reality Soung-Sik and I got married 10 years ago today. It was rainy and cold that day as well. My body is proof that my children didn't come from the doorstep. Sadly I won't ever have a 2 in front of my age again unless I make it to 200.   

It is still strange to me that my perfect match was someone, who on paper, is completely opposite from me.  I doubt that any dating agency on the planet would have ever paired the two of us up.  Thank goodness I subscribed to heavenlymatch.com instead.  On paper we have a 10 year age difference, actually 9 years and 360 days difference. I promised myself I would never marry someone 10 years older than myself, that's just gross!  Factor in different languages, different religions, different cultures, and me never meeting any of his family.  Somehow after the second date we had made up our minds, even though we tell each other. We dated non-stop for 7 months and were engaged for a whopping 3 weeks.  We were a recipe for disaster.

Looking at it now I can't believe I found someone who balances me in so many ways.  We care about the same things, and we don't care about the same things.  We are perfectly content just being together at home. There isn't another soul on Earth I could be more comfortable and genuinely myself with. We find the same things funny, and believe me it doesn't have to be very funny.  Soung-Sik is very giving and I am mostly selfish, so that balances out well, especially when blankets and cookies are concerned. But one thing I love most about our relationship is that we are both extremely stubborn and opinionated.  I am grateful that I didn't marry someone that would let me walk all over him.  I love that we both feel strongly about life, fortunately most of the time we feel the same way.  Occasionally we disagree and then you'd better stand back.  Because of our stubbornness it gives me courage in life.  I know that whatever challenges come, when we are united we make a powerful team and we will make it through.  

I have had so much joy the past 10 years, mixed with a little stress and a little sadness.  Add more laughs and happiness than I could have imagined.  And what started out as a recipe for disaster has turned into something sweeter than you could ever buy.

Soung-Sik, I am so grateful I said "yes" to you 10 years ago today, it was the most important decision of my life and I think I got it right!

Could've Done Without That or Too Much Information

What I am about to write may be disturbing and gross to some, I know it is to me.

Last week Isabelle was pretty sick.  She was throwing up (which will further be referred to as T.U. or the yuckiness) pretty much all night last Monday.  I felt so bad for her.  This Sunday it was Liam's turn. We got up in the morning and went to church, he seemed fine.  He was laughing and playing all day - up until the yuckiness hit him.  I felt bad for Isabelle, but I felt horrible for Liam.  Sick babies are the saddest! I also felt bad I took him to church, because I hate when people take their sick kids to church, but seriously I had NO idea.  I have been on nonstop T.U. laundry duty for the past week.  

Yesterday I had a book club to go to.  All day I was feeling really tired, I blamed this on the fact that I have had sick kids.  In the afternoon I got a bad headache so I almost didn't go to club.  Everything at club was going great we laughed a lot and discussed the book.  When dessert was served I had a little voice in my head say "you shouldn't eat any dessert".  Did I listen? Of course not!  It was pie, why would I listen to anyone telling me not to eat pie?  After about 3 bites I started to question my rebelliousness.  I knew I had to get out fast...I ran to the kitchen and discarded the rest of the pie.  Then I not so gracefully excused myself from the group and left for home.  I only got to the front porch when the yuckiness hit me.  It came as a big surprise to me, because I haven't had the yuckiness since I was 12 - that's almost 20 years.  After 20 years you start to think you are immune to the yuckiness.  As I was leaving the homeowner was pulling up.  Luckily I love this person, but it was still mortifying to tell him that I just T.U. in his lovely flower garden.  I don't think T.U. is good for flowers. 

When I got home I got the yuckiness 7 more times in about an hour. My husband had never seen this oh so beautiful side to me - even when I was pregnant I never T.U.  After this fun hour I felt even worse for my kids being sick before - I didn't remember it hurting so much.  I had the full fledged flu. Fortunately my sweet husband was there with me.  Somehow the porcelain throne doesn't seem as gross when you have someone patting your back.  It is our 10th anniversary tomorrow, I guess you should see your wife at her worst before your 10th anniversary.  After about 2 hours Soungsik decided to show me his not so beautiful side.  We had a not so wonderful bonding night as husband and wife. we worked on the part of our wedding vows of "in sickness or in health" last night. Now I am sitting here in my pajamas being extremely sore and tired just hoping that I don't get the yuckiness for another 20 years.  That should put me in my fifties.  Now that's a little depressing!

BOOK REVIEW: THE PERSIAN PICKLE CLUB

Title: The Persian Pickle Club

Author: Sandra Dallas

Number of Pages: 196

Number of Stars I'm Giving it: 4

I really enjoyed this book.  It was a very quick read.  It only took me about a day to read from cover to cover.  I doubt it will ever be a "classic" read, but it was an interesting story and a fun book to steal your mind away for a while.  This story reminded me almost from the beginning of my Grandma Nielson who has passed away. It also reminded me of her hometown of Oak City and brought back a lot of childhood memories for me.

The characters were likable and interesting.  I liked them more because none of them were perfect.  They were dealing with real life issues that I think most people could relate to these characters.  This book made me grateful for the many little things we take for granted like: food, clothing, a house to sleep in, electricity and so much more. While there was a mystery in this book I found parts of it to be very predictable, but predictability doesn't bother me.

I recommend this book to anyone who just wants to read a quick feel good story.  My only negative comment is I felt it had needless bad language in it, and that is always disappointing.

A Moment in Time

Here's where we are at this moment in time...

William:  I don't even know where to begin with him.  He is all ends of extreme right now.  Extremely cute.  I can't even stand it! Is it child abuse to hug your child until they pop?
Extremely opinionated and stubborn.  You haven't seen a temper tantrum until you've seen one of his!  Please don't even mention nursery attendance to me right now!  Soung-Sik's nickname when he was growing up was "Moo Dep Oh"  which means "One Way or My Way"  we now call William -  "Moo Dep Oh Jr".
Extremely energetic. There is not enough caffeine in the world to enable me to keep up with him, so I guess its good I don't drink it. We also call William Curious George, his curiosity gets him into trouble numerous times a day. 
Extremely hilarious.  The fact that my 1 year old has a pretty broad sense of humor at this age scares me to death. His favorite new games are run away from mommy when ever she's changing me, head butting or Pach Chi Gi, and if I stick both fingers up my nose is it funny then?
Extremely orderly.  No I am not kidding, mom and I are seriously concerned that he might have OCD. Here's few things that MUST be done daily. The first thing he does after every meal and nap is to make sure the straps in his high chair are fastened.  This cannot be done by anyone else, if you do it he will have a fit until you unhook them again and he does it "properly". After lunch he must eat a banana from Grandmas, a banana from our house usually will not do.  After nap he must have a drink of water, from Grandma's house, in a specific cup - with a lid and straw, don't even think about giving him a tippy cup. When going down for nap he must be sleeping with his dinosaur on his side, close enough so that he can hold onto one of it's scales.  There are many, many other things, I really hope this doesn't turn into something more obsessive.
 Extremely loving.  This extreme is the best of all.  The other day I told him to say good bye to Isabelle. He went to her and grabbed her hand and kissed it, just like Prince Charming.  My heart melted and Isabelle said "That is too stinkin' cute!"  He loves to walk anywhere just holding onto one of my fingers. Why won't my children stop getting older?

Isabelle: She loves sharing a room with William.  She has had so many milestones lately and we are just so proud of her.  She is our little angel of patience.  She endures everything we ask of her, and she does it with a smile.  When you are around her it is so easy to forget that she is only 5.  I worry a lot as a mom that I expect too much out of her, honestly I expect more out of her than I do out of myself.  I think she's capable of more, but that's a heavy load for someone so young.  Do I have any complaints about Isabelle...is the fact that she wants my constant undivided attention a problem, or a huge blessing?  I am happier and more confident every day in our decision to home school her.  She loves learning and just absorbs everything right now.  I can't imagine missing out on all of her "light-bulb" moments. 

Soung-Sik: He's decided in the last couple of days that he needs to get into shape. I didn't realize he was out of shape.  Honestly I thought our little matching belly pooches looked quite well together.  If he gets into shape then what am I supposed to do?
Since the weather has started to get a little sunny fly fishing has popped into his head with a vengeance.  I am not going to break it to him that we are going to have massive flooding this spring, so getting into the river will not even be possible. 
He is still carrying a lot of stress with the taekwondo centers, but they are doing better each day.  I am so grateful that he is a hard worker who takes pride in what he does.

Me: I am not sure why I always get a brain cloud when it comes to myself.  I am pretty sure I have been with my brain and body at all times!  I did go to the Stake Relief Society program tonight.  It was so wonderful.  There were many different musical numbers, both vocal and instrumental.  When I die I hope I get put into Angel Boot Camp (or ABC as the angels call it) for singing.  If I could choose one talent it would be singing.  Oh well, I suppose my talents are listening and appreciating.
My days are full, and while they may sound mundane I have great joy everyday when I see my family.  I know this busy time in life will pass too soon, so I am going to make the most out of everyday.  I might need to be reminded of this while I am folding laundry and scrubbing the toilets!

BOOK REVIEW: THE CLEANSING OF AMERICA

Title: The Cleansing of America
Author: W. Cleon Skousen
Number of Pages: 146
Number of Stars: 4

Cleon Skousen is also the author of "The 5000 Year Leap" which I think everyone should read. I found this book to be very interesting, but not as informative as The 5000 Year Leap.

The first half of this book, while disturbing, was a more interesting read.  He took more out of the scriptures and other sources for the first portion of the book.  When I started reading this book the voices in my head were just screaming in unison "AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

You could have many long and heated discussions from this book!  I really liked that it brought new thoughts to my mind and made me think.  I am not sure how anyone will actually survive everything that is going to take place before the millennium.  I think I need to work on my faith so that I won't be scared senseless when these things are happening.  I came away from this book really, really hoping my eyes won't rot out, and also the eyes of those I love!  In reality I hate to think about that happening to anyone.   I am a believer that all of the continents used to be together in one large land formation, so the thought of Earth becoming like that again would be incredible.

The second half of the book was more about forming a "Zion" people.  The interesting thing about this is it seems to basically boil down to communism by choice rather than force.  I found this to be a less interesting read and I think he put much more of his own opinions into the last part.  I just decided that if I survive the horrible eyeball rotting disease, the earthquakes, the wicked people, the thundering, and tsunamis, the cleansing fire, then I will worry about how the government will be set-up.  I think at that point people will be very humble and more willing to help each other and listen to each other. It will take something of that magnitude to get people who are in positions of power to think about "the people" again, assuming any politicians survive!

I plan on re-reading this book, because I am sure I missed a lot the first time around!

Jr. Green Belt Test

Isabelle had her Taekwondo test for her Jr. Green belt today.

Overall she did pretty good.  

 

She is still about as fierce as a bunny rabbit.  

I am hoping that the cute "disguise" can work to her advantage if she ever needs to fight in real life.

 

Doesn't her dad, I mean Master Kim, look super impressed?

This is a video of her form. 

Not too shabby for a 5 year old. 

Good job on your test today Isabelle!

We are so happy that you love Taekwondo.

 

She said to me the other day "Mom, I don't really want to be a dentist (Soungsik and I have been dropping hints), what I really want to be is a Master Kim, just like my dad!"

I'm a Big Kid Now

I am putting a disclaimer on this post.  Isabelle is going to really hate me for writing this post in about 5 to 10 years but today she willfully and excitedly gave her permission for me to blog about this. Therefore anything I say can and will be held against her in a court of law, or at the dinner table when her friends are over. 

**As a completely unrelated note she also promised me yesterday that she wouldn't date until she turns 41.  I thought that was a little extreme so I granted her permission to date at 31.**

My baby is growing up.  The milestones seem to be getting farther apart and while I still love them coming I am beginning to get sad that we have passed so many by already.  Isabelle found out a few weeks ago that her 3 year old cousin didn't need to wear pull ups to bed anymore.  She thought this was a strange concept since she is older than her cousin.  She decided that if her much younger cousin could sleep in "big girl" underwear then she should be able to too!  Since she is my first child dealing with this I have no idea what a reasonable goal/expectation should be for a 5 year old in this situation.  We agreed that if she could stay dry for 10 nights in a row that she could sleep with her big girl underwear.  Well, much to my happiness and dismay she accomplished that last night.  Her she is doing a victory dance...

 

The thing I am most worried about is that it has only been 3 days since she started sleeping in the top bunk in Williams room.  I am hoping with all my motherly might that she won't have any accidents for the rest of her life. Is that too much to ask?

 

"Oh yes, we won't be needing these icky things anymore!"  is what I think she's saying.  I won't miss buying them either.  That literally is flushing your money down the toilet.

 

I understand now how sad I made my dad when I started to refuse to wear my hair in pigtails.  I know our days of pigtails are numbered just as our days with pull ups were.  There are some things she can never grow out of though, like those baby fat cheeks.  Sorry Isabelle, those come from generations and generations of chubby cheeked people.  It's our family's trademark.  And I hope that when you are 31, dry, and pigtail free, you will find a man who just adores your pinch-able chubby cheeks as much as I do!