Happy birthday, Kristen!

It is Kristen's ninth birthday today - her third to celebrate with us. :) This is the first year that I knew what I was going to get her, knew that she would like it and have fun PLAYING with it, and she could tell us what she wanted to take to school for treats. I just can't explain how happy that makes me. We got her the Rose Petal Cottage to play with her dollies with. I just know Daniel will invade, but hopefully they can play together somewhat nicely. ;) Yes, it is much below what a typical nine year old would get, but it is where she is at right now. I am growing more comfortable taking her where she is and enjoying it with her. And we are at least moving into preschool type play, which is encouraging. She needs to experience each stage, and we are seeing progress.

Last night we were frosting her cupcakes - with PINK frosting and sprinkles, of course - and she was singing, "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to Kristen, happy birthday to me!" It was a hoot. And she knew to use "me" instead of "you" in this case...and I think most people could have understood what she was singing. :) She was able to communicate that she didn't want Daniel to help make the cupcakes, which was really big because she had to say no. Then, when Katie asked if she could help frost, Kristen said, "Sure, Katie! You may help me!" Just putting that many words together in a normal kind of way makes me so happy each time I hear her! This morning Katie told her happy birthday, and she said "Thank you, Katie!" It is close to sounding normal...does that make sense? :D She knows we are celebrating her and it is her special day.

Happy birthday, Kristen! We love you!

We love wrapping!

One of the cool things we have "discovered" with Drew is all the different baby carriers there are out there! Let me tell you, with our other three running around, I am so thankful for carriers! Plus, both Forrest and I love all the Drew snuggles we get with them.

One of my favorite things to babywear with is a wrap. Basically a long piece of cloth, these are so versatile! They can be used for front, back and hip carries with babies and toddlers. This is a Girasol wrap and is so soft! Daniel calls them "blankie carriers" and they are that cozy! This design or colorway is named Cabo. We love it!

My favorite Drew toy!

Infantino makes a baby mailbox toy I am loving! I saw this in a magazine this fall and was so happy to find it for Drew for Christmas. I love all the details on each item. The letter has a stamp that velcros on and off , it is crinkly and has the cutest little sunshine that rattles inside. The really great thing is that all these pieces are attached! There is a little box with a cupcake that comes out, but only so far so it doesn't get lost or fall. All the pieces go back inside the mailbox which will be lots of fun when Drew can reach in! It is rare that I enjoy baby toys, but I love this one!

Action picture coming when I find the camera. ;)

First day of school - 2007!

Katie and Kristen are off to the first day of school! I can't believe the summer is over already! They were very excited! Katie, my late sleeper, was awake at 6 this morning!



Katie is in third grade and has a new teacher this year. She had the same teacher for the last two years because she was in a 1/2 grade split class. So, she will be with more different kids and a new teacher. She was a little nervous this morning, but I am sure she will do great. She is excited to be learning cursive this year and of course can't wait for science. (We had a cicada resting on our porch this morning - that is what she is pointing out in the picture.)

Katie had very firm ideas about what she wanted for shoes and a school bag this year. The largest criteria for both things were that there was no PINK involved anywhere. She wanted a messenger style bag and z-strap shoes. Both of those items were surprisingly hard to find in a style Katie and Mom agreed on. But, we did it!




Kristen is in first grade - this will be her first day that she stays all day at school! This is a little harder for me than I thought it would be! She is very excited to take her lunch just like Katie, though. For Kristen, the more pink something has, the better! And she loves Hello Kitty and princesses. So, she was very easy to help pick out a backpack. She also let me pick out a cute outfit for her to wear on the first day.



Of course Daniel had to come out and join his sisters for a picture! He is going to miss having them to play with during the day. He starts preschool next week, which will help a little, I think.



Off they go in the Daddy Bus! Bye girls! See you this afternoon!

Good-bye to a little of my baby...

Daniel had the cutest names for Katie and Kristen. Katie was always Nee-nee - for some reason, we don't know where it came from! But from when he first started talking, this was his name for Katie. And when Kristen came home, she became Ki-ki (rhymes with Nee-Nee). She has picked up on this and it is what she calls herself - much easier to say than Kristen.

And this past week, Daniel has started calling Katie by her name. It is very sweet to hear him say Katie, but at the same time is very sad! He is growing up and turning into a little boy instead of my baby. He is also saying Kristen now, as well. Her nickname will stick for a while longer because she still says it.

Daniel is also pretty much potty-trained. He is SO proud of his "boy pants" and we have to watch out to make sure he doesn't show them off to the world...or anyone who seems interested. I always made a big deal of making sure Katie didn't say "butt." Sigh...one of Daniel's favorite things to say right now is "Thomas on BUTT," complete with a little whack on the behind. He has Thomas underwear, Cars underwear, and Bob the Builder underwear...along with many other "generic" selections. And he always knows just which ones he wants. Thankfully he is finally wearing 2T pants which are available with adjustable waist. Another favorite saying is "Pants falling!" This always makes me laugh.

The more he talks, the more I love him. His mind is as crazy and unique as the rest of our family. God knew what He was doing when He put him in our family. He loves music and singing and has better pitch at almost three than Katie did. He loves to "sweep wif me" and snuggle up at nap-time. I am treasuring each day I have to do that and pray that his sweet and loving heart stays the same as he grows up.

As his third birthday approaches, I think of his first mom in Korea. I pray that she has peace about her incredibly hard decision. We have been blessed with the biggest gift anyone could ever give in Daniel and we couldn't imagine our family without him.

Clothing: it's all the rage

My dear son is developing quite a sense of fashion. Not that it is particularly wonderful or sophisticated, but he has a definite opinion about what to wear. Today we were looking through summer clothes deciding what to keep and he has adamant that he did not want several outfits that I thought were cute. He is so cute about it that it is funny, at least right now.

The funniest part is listening to Forrest try to get him dressed. Daniel usually has a specific idea of what shirt and/or pants he wants to wear for the day. Forrest usually does a "grab whatever is on top" method of picking an outfit. Daniel gets so upset and tells him over and over WHICH shirt he wants - except it sounds like "shirk." I giggle for a few minutes and then go rescue the boys.

This week we were in Gymboree, because I had Gymbucks - yay! ;) I was looking the sale rack over and the kids were watching the movie. All of a sudden Daniel is next to me, grabbing my hand. "Come here, Mommy. Show you some-sing." There was a baseball shirt hanging just out of reach and he was in love with it. "Want zis one, Mommy. Me wuv zis one." Believe it or not, I resisted that plea...it wasn't on sale yet! Poor child...

Then, there is Katie. She is adamantly opposed to pink right now and orange is the color of choice. Anything that has a cute dog is okay, bugs and reptiles are better. So, of course we have to shop the boys section for those. She has a very funky and wild style, which I love but is hard to come by in a lot of stores. Animals that do not look correct are out, even if they are adorable, like the pandas on a recent Gymboree line.

And then there is my sweet moldable Kristen. It is so fun shopping with her because I will hold something and she will say, "Ki-ki? Me? Ohhhhhh, yes!" I am enjoying it while I can. And she will wear pink. And princessy, poofy things. Oh the joy!

It really is fun to see the personality of each child come out in what they want to wear. And like most things about life in our house...always an adventure!

October has been busy!

October has been a full month already for our family! We celebrated Kristen's first birthday with us, which was amazingly special. She was so excited and totally knew that it was "Kiki's birthday!." We made cupcakes for her class treat and even that was fun and such a big deal to her.

The birthday girl!

We celebrated the actual day with dinner at her favorite restaurant - where she can get ic-ee cream!


Then, we went to the mall and rode the merry-go-round (which by the way made Mommy rather ill). Then we visited Build-A-Bear where everyone made a friend. Kristen chose Hello Kitty (yay!), Katie chose a Husky dog, and Daniel chose the most snuggly puppy.




Then we opened her big present from Mommy and Daddy - a new kitchen!


We had an extended party that weekend - here is the birthday girl with her cake!


We went trick-or-treating at the college where Forrest teaches this past Thursday. I love all the costumes the kids picked out this year. They all had very strong feelings about who they wanted - and didn't want to be!
Katie is Rani - one of Tinkerbell's fairy friends.

Kristen is Mulan...and did she ever look like a princess.

And last but not least - Daniel as Nemo! :D :D


Yesterday I ran a half marathon here in GR. It was the longest I have run so far - I working up to running the full in Disney in January. It was WINDY at the end, but I made it! :D I got my first ever medal.
Pre-race family picture - pretty good, actually!

About half-way through, the family came to say hi!

And almost done - I was pooped!

Now, see the black thing in my hands? Here is the funniest thing about the race - and it is so me! I was wearing a cheapo pair of gloves (from the $1 store) that theoretically I could toss if I got hot. Well, I didn't need them by about mile 3. BUT, being the frugal (or stubborn) person that I am, I thought I would carry them until I saw the fam. Well, I forgot to pass them off. :lol: :lol: Now, at this point, I could have tossed them. But, I just couldn't do it! It is hard enough for me to drop the water cups on the ground! So, I kept carrying the gloves. I finished with them, as you can see. When we got into the van I said "WHERE ARE THE GLOVES?" I had carried the darn things all the way through and throught I lost them. I actually just stuck them in the back of my pants. 8)

Up and down...

It looks like Daniel has decided that it is time to potty-train. I didn't expect that my boy would initiate this! We have Pull-Ups and a few pairs of underwear, so I decided to let him try for a while this morning. He has spent the morning pulling his underwear up and down. He will sit on the potty and then get up and put them back on. It is pretty cute.

So far we have only had success when standing up in the bath-tub. We will see if he figures it out more - he seems pretty determined.

What we learned today...

Today Katie took a "personal day" from school. ;) We are all pretty stressed out from waiting for Kristen to come home and I didn't mind the company.

Daniel got a haircut on the deck - finally warm enough and sunny so we wcould make the mess outside. He looks like a totally different little boy - his head is so much smaller! Pictures are coming later. I did pretty well except for the sideburns...those are pretty tricky with a moving target. Katie got her bangs cut...I was not going to attempt her thick, long hair.

The science experiment for the day was making popsicles in our new mold. Katie wanted to use Squirt, which seemed fine to me. Being Katie, she wanted to add blue food coloring. Because I am such a cool mom, I agreed. She had the molds partly filled but I thought they needed more Squirt. I opened the freezer this afternoon to discover that apparently carbonated liquids expand more than water does when it freezes. So, not only was there sticky pop all over the freezer, it was blue as well! It was actually less of a pain to clean up than I thought, although we will probably be finding blue ice in the freezer for a while.

During Daniel's nap, Katie challenged me to Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine on her new Sonic game. I managed to " beat the pants off her" in that game but when we tried the real Sonic game, she "beat the pants off me." She told me that she was ready to be a good sport even if I won.

Forrest finishes his classes today and we are all glad of that! Katie gave him the PS2 game Kingdom Hearts 2 and she is so anxious to play it with her dad! They will have lots of fun with it, I am sure.

B-ball!

Here is Daniel's belated present from his great-grandparents! He has shown a LOVE for balls since he was in Korea and now that he is 2, he thinks he is big stuff! He has a great throwing and shooting arm! This is pretty much all he played with today! "B-ball" is the love of his life!

He is also sporting his first Detroit Tigers shirt. It is a "Pudge" Rodriquez shirt - Uncle Micah's favorite player. Daddy is teaching Daniel to watch the Tigers already. Daniel's favorite thing about baseball is the bat - he thinks it is a great thing to use to whap Katie.

I am going to be banned from Meijer!

Well, we took a family trip to Meijer yesterday. Fun times! We made it half-way through the store before Katie found a bottle of V-8 that she wanted to get. Yes, I know -- a 7 year old that likes V-8. Odd. Anyway, it was a plastic bottle, but we found out that even plastic bottles have a weak point. The lid is hard plastic and will break. Yep, the V-8 ended up all over the aisle and my jeans and shoes. The worst part is what it looked like in a puddle on the floor!

We managed to report the spill and move on. We successfully made it to the checkout when Daniel decided to throw the (plastic again) bottle of kimchi on the ground. Now, for the uninitiated, kimchi is a Korean specialty - pickled cabbage with red pepper paste. VERY smelly and again, very lovely looking splattered all over the floor. At least this missed me!

Katie had to explain what happened to the cashier - I just wanted to get out of there!

The good news is that we didn't think Meijer carried kimchi...at least we found it, even if it didn't make it home with us!

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

My little guy is two today!!!! Oh man - where has my baby gone? Yesterday we went to the Children's Museum and had a great time - they were celebrating the New Year which was cool - we got to eat Asian food, hear Asian music, etc. There were a lot of adoptive families there and we even saw our SW! Daniel loved it - especially the BALLS!



Today we had presents and cake and Super Bowl junk food. True to his junk food loving nature, Daniel loved getting chips and Little Smokies for his birthday! Then it was cupcake time!!!!



Last year, Daniel hated getting any frosting at all on him. This year...well, let's just say it was pretty much the opposite. ;)



I am so in love with my boy! He is talking away and I love getting to spend time with just him right now. He loves trains, balls, ducks, and Elmo. He is really getting into reading books - which I love! His laugh and smile fill our hearts and make our family so much more full! I am so thankful for his birth-mother that chose to give him life. He is a gift like no other.

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Big boy cups!

Daniel is now using regular cups! He is so good at drinking from them. He has actually been able to do it for about a year, but now has the motor skills to hold it without spilling it. He can say "water" now and it comes out so cute! He gets the biggest smile on his face when he drinks - he knows he is a big boy!

Last night we were at Toys R Us and they have a big display of cold drinks near the checkouts. I was letting him walk last night - a whole other adventure - and he went right up to them and said, "Pop!" and signed please. I had a coupon that I needed to get to $25 with and was close, so I let him get a water in a bottle. He was so happy with that bottle, you would have thought I got him the best treat ever! He drank it so well - he doesn't put his whole mouth over it, but does it right!

Tonight I was putting Daniel to bed and he said, "Mommy, rock." He was just trying to stall, but it was still so cute! Then he tried to get me brush his teeth again and get him another drink. Oh boy, he is a fast learner!

Kat (not meow)

Katie has been experimenting with her name this year at school. First, she wanted to Katherine. When I went to the Halloween party, all her classmates were calling her Katherine - which was funny to me. It is so formal - which she most definitely is not!

Last night I was supervising the homework process and she was writing Kat on her papers. She said that was her new name at school. Then, after Kat she wrote"(not meow)." Apparently her teacher said if her name was Kat, she would have to call her Meow. So now she is writing Kat (not Meow) on all her papers.

We are really seeing Katie's creativity blossom this year. She has her own comic strip - Wormo - and each installment is something to look forward to. She is being challenged and encouraged at school to develop her writing and drawing and we are just loving seeing what she comes up with.

Katie is also eagerly looking forward to our new daughter, Kristen, coming home from Korea. The other night she drew a special picture for Kristen. I have been so touched by her love for her new sister!