Cell Phone Envy

We received a package from Doo Il today.

Among other things it had a memory card 

with pictures from his cell phone.

I have cell phone envy.

His phone takes better pictures and videos than my camera :(.

Thankfully he was kind enough to share what he got with us.

It was a nice surprise and a great way to remember the fun we had over the last couple of months.

 

Doo Il is the new president of Isabelle's fan club, I think!

They miss each other like crazy.

The Korean picnic.

A pair of hooligans.

TKD stuff.

Soungsik loved taking his friend to work with him.

This is one tough cookie.

A cookie with NO FEAR!

My hard working, good looking hubby.

Doo Il enjoys a good prank.

 

William and I enjoying the great outdoors.

I am a bit of a tough cookie too.

Out to lunch.  

I can't get over what cute kids these are.

And they are great friends to boot!

Taking in the views in Vegas.

The Grand Canyon.

Zions.

 Even though his camera is better,

it still doesn't make you look tanner or skinnier.

For shame.

 

Out by the buffaloes.

 

Thank you Doo Il.

Not many people are as cool and thoughtful as he is.

Days of '47 Float Preview

This morning we went to the Days of '47 Float Preview.  

It was so fun!  This was definitely the way to see the parade.

We were in an air conditioned building and we didn't have to wait for hours for the parade to start!

There were so many cool floats, 

so I couldn't get pictures of them all.

A BYU float, the donkeys looked almost real.

 This one was made by a Methodist church.

It had little houses all of the way around,

too cute!

This float was especially cool from the front, 

but my picture keeps loading sideways.

What is a technologically challenged girl to do?

I like big boots and I can not lie,

you other brothers can't deny...

Ducks and swings...

I don't know what it means, but I still like it! 

I thought this one was cool.

They had missionary penguins! 

 This one ended up being Soungsiks favorite, for obvious reasons!

Wilford Woodruff fly fishing.

This float was made by a youth group, not bad!

This one ended up being Isabelle's favorite - for obvious reasons!

 Kung Fu Panda baby!

Balloons puppies and swords - oh my!

 I can't believe how still the kids were when she did this!

A beautiful butterfly for her.

A slippery slimy snake for him.

William's favorite part were the marching bands. 

He was mesmerized by the drums.

Soungsik doesn't understand why I don't want to buy him a set,

seriously he doesn't know why?!?

We may have to make this an annual tradition!

A Moment in Time

Here's what we are all up to at this moment in time...

William:  I personally have never met a more independent and stubborn child.  I am sure that some other mothers would argue this with me, but I am just calling it as I see it on a day to day basis.  I have decided that he will use his super power strength and determination to become an amazingly great person or he will become an evil dictator - only time will tell!  He has to do everything himself.  Peeling bananas, opening doors, changing diapers, getting on counter tops or other furniture, combing his "hair" and brushing his teeth. He is a boy that does not need or want my help.  I am taking the not being needed a little badly.  Fortunately he still messes up a lot of the things he attempts to do and after a short time he comes crying for mommy.  I suppose there is validation in that.  Aside from trying to conquer the world he spends the rest of his time teasing his sister, or anyone else he comes in contact with and helping me out around the house.  He loves to make sure the dishes in the dishwasher get washed at least 2 or 3 times before I can put them away. He is a great help at putting the knives away too!  He also makes sure the washer and dryer are both turned on at all times.  Don't get me wrong, although we have plenty of power struggles and near death experiences every day, we have plenty more laughs, hugs and love.  If he is going to become an evil dictator, I want to make sure I am on his good side!

Isabelle: Oh she is the talkative apple of my eye.  She is full of questions, and sadly I am mostly devoid of answers.  Thank heavens for the internet and Grandpa!  Right now she is just enjoying being a kid.  And isn't being a kid the best in the summer?  She has been going to sleep with the sun every night at around 10:00 which means she's been sleeping in every morning too.  At night I think this is a bad thing, but in the mornings I think it's awesome.  Is the glass half full or half empty?  It all depends on the time of day you look at it I guess!  Today I taught her the all important life lesson of how to lay on the sidewalk to dry off quickly when you are freezing in the kiddie pool.

Here she was laughing because Yepi wanted to lick her toes.  William didn't really grasp that you have to hold still for the process to work.  Maybe by next year he will figure it out.  Isabelle is really turning into a kid, and  a good one at that.  She loves to help me around the house and with William, and unlike William she is actually becoming helpful.  At this very moment in time my children are sleeping in drawers.

 

Why?

Why not!

Actually they are playing in the drawers while they are supposed to be sleeping.

When I finish typing I will make the trek upstairs one more time to threaten 

something horrible if they don't go to sleep this very instant.

Soungsik:  He is usually focusing on work  Things are not working out quite the way we had planned with our partner so in the next couple of weeks we won't have a partner anymore.  In the long run this should be much better for us.  In the meantime it is leaving us without a much needed instructor.  Soungsik is focusing most of his energy on finding a good employee. The rest of his spare time he spends focusing on his new boat.

 

Which has become a very expensive kiddie pool.  

I wonder if Soungsik is aware that we have a kiddie pool in our garage?  

Me:  I always hate typing about what I am doing because it's usually pretty mundane.

I am enjoying the summer and consequently enjoying  the break from routine that it brings.  I haven't been reading as much as I should, but I have been cleaning and learning to cook more.  Soungsik is thrilled about that.  As always I wish I could stop my children from growing. In truth I could let William keep going until 2 and a half, but that's it!  I caught the furniture re-arranging bug, and a couple rooms in our house got attacked. I have also been spending time watching Korean dramas, my one guilty pleasure.  Well that and chocolate - but that's it I swear!  My days are filled with happiness, blessings, and mostly peace, so I can't complain about that, now can I?

Isabelle Sr. Green Belt Test

This morning Isabelle had another taekwondo test.

She tested for her Sr. Green belt.

She did great!

I was glad we waited an extra month for her to get extra ready.

She was so excited to get her trophy this time.

Here's a video of Isabelle doing her form.

I love watching her test.

It always surprises me how much she has grown 

and improved in her technique.

You did awesome Mee Hae!

Keep up the hard work!

We love you!

Potty Party!

I had something very exciting happen today.

Most people wouldn't even talk about it, let alone be excited about it.

Other mother's will completely feel my joy.

Lately William has been asking to sit on the potty.

I am not currently potty training him.  As I said in an earlier post, parents that potty train their children while those children are teething are nuts.  I do however let him sit on the potty when he asks to.

Today when he woke up from his nap I went to change his diaper.

When I went to put his new diaper on he went a little bezerk and ran diaper-less into the bathroom. He sat on his potty, which happens to play music if the child successfully pees.  It also works when they step into the little bowl with their foot.  It is a favorite toy of Williams right now.  I am running off course.  He sat on his potty and low and behold what always happens when someone sits on a potty?  My cell phone rings of course!  I told William "You stay here, I'll be right back."  I don't know why I bother saying those things, because he rarely if ever obeys. I ran downstairs to get my phone and that's when I heard the potty music followed by William screaming. I ran back upstairs and he was just standing there staring at his potty.  He was frightened because it had never played the music without his foot inside the bowl before.  I looked in the bowl and sure enough - we struck gold!  I turned into crazy excited mom and William clapped his hands along with me not really knowing why.  

Did I overreact?  For sure.

Did I just give you too much information?
Yes.  It's your fault for reading a post titled "potty party".

Will I start officially potty training him now?
No way Jose!  I figure this boy is going to train himself!

Does it sometimes pay to have a compulsive neat freak for a son?
You betcha!

Here is William with a congratulatory chocolate chip cookie.

 

Today he made one small step for baby and one giant leap towards big boyhood!

Did I mention I am a little excited about this?

The Past Few Days.

I have been terrible about blogging this last week or so.

I blame it on July and vacation.

So here is what we've been up to the last few days.

Here's Isabelle helping me make Kimchi.

 

Here are the kids playing in a big dirty box.

I wanted to close the doors and leave them there for a while,

but I am pretty sure that would be child abuse, so I restrained myself.

 

This is William doing push ups.

 

 

Just kidding, it was actually William having a temper tantrum in the driveway.

He began this in the sun, after about 10 seconds he decided it would be better to finish it in the shade.

They just had to help Grandpa with the tractor.

 

I doubt he could have done it without them.

 

What is it about machinery and dirt that attracts children?

William inspected the lights for us.

 

Luckily for us they were just fine.

He also got his arm stuck in his dump truck.

Luckily for him I pulled it out without the aide of butter or dish soap.

The weather was so nice that swimming became a necessity.

 

And a little art occurred too.

 

That pretty much wraps up the last few days for us.

Holy Moley!

My least favorite part of being a parent (so far) is teething.

I really hate it.  I am pretty sure my children hate it too.

It takes over a year to get it over with and done.

Somehow it always catches me by surprise.  

I think things like "Why have I changed 8 poopie diapers today?" and "When did my child get such a nasty personality?  Could he have been possessed by demons?"

Then within a few days I see their new tooth pop up and I think "How long have I been a parent, shouldn't I know what's going on by now?"  This thought is followed by massive amounts of guilt for not being patient, loving and understanding with the little demon.

Liam has had 2 molars break through in the last week and I think the last 2 are well on their way.  

Molars are like the final test just to make sure you had fun with the entire teething process.

We are probably going to have a party when he gets those last 2 molars in completely.

I also wonder what other crazy parents think when they start potty training an 18 month old.  Really?  You want to potty train and teeth at the same time?  That's flat out insane! 

So Liam this is your mommy saying "I'm sorry I was cranky with you.  I'm sorry teething has hurt you and made you feel all yucky.  You are almost done - keep up the good work, and push those babies up as fast as you can! Love you!"