Lunar New Year!

This past Thursday was Soellal, the celebration of the Lunar New Year.  That afternoon, I took the little boys up to Houston to pick up some delicious Korean food to have that night for dinner.  Japchae (one of C's favorites) and of course, deeokguk.  Everyone at the restaurant was so friendly while we waited for our food.  The women just fawned over lil' peanut.  And he really soaked it up.  He said something on the way to the bathroom about one of the ladies looking like Umma Jae.  I told him that was probably because they were Korean, just like Umma Jae and like him.  We talked about some of the characteristics they all shared brown skin, brown eyes, etc. and when we walked back up to the front of the restaurant he had the biggest smile on his face.  He looked around, looked back at me, looked around again and exclaimed "Mom!  They are Korean just like me!  You were right, you did a good job, now you get a peppermint."  

In Korea, everyone ages with the New Year.  It's a tradition that you're not another year older until you've eaten your deeokguk on New Year's Day.  C quite enjoyed pretending he was a nine year old. ;)  After dinner we watched a little video about Seollal and then I showed the boys how to do sebae, a traditional bow children do for their elders as a sign of respect.  Lil' peanut jumped at his chance to perform sebae.  C declared he wasn't doing it...then he watched us hand lil' peanut an envelope (a gift of money along with words of wisdom and well wishes for the New Year is given after sebae).  He changed his tune pretty quickly after that. ;)  2015 is the year of the sheep!  I had some coloring pages ready for the boys to do and we finished off the celebration by going out for cupcakes.

On Saturday we went to a Lunar New Year Festival in Houston.  The boys favorite thing was the bounce house area, of course!  The weather ended up being perfect.  The rain held off and it was overcast and the perfect temperature for enjoying the event.

Watching Arirang, a traditional Korean dance.  The women looked so beautiful in their hanboks.

Swords.  Don't have a thing to do with Lunar New Year but, boys need swords.  Daddy said those same swords cost $3 back when he was a kid too.  But, he said the ones back then were made much sturdier.  I think only 1 of the 3 we brought home is still in fighting shape.

The Lion Dance, a Chinese tradition.

A special gift!

We got a package in the mail a few day's ago from lil' peanut's foster mom.  He was so excited (especially about the candies)  I am so thankful that she continues to stay in touch with us.  What a gift for our little man to have that connection to his early life in Korea as he grows.  She sent the sweetest note and I had to laugh at the part where she said that "Keonwoo still seems naughty and I love it!"  She still knows him pretty well. :)  She is fostering an 18 month old boy right now and said that he is super naughty too.  There was even a gift for me, a neat hair pin.  I was so impressed with myself that I was able to get my hair into a twist with it on my first try (considering my hair lives in a ponytail these days).  We need to get our computer into a shop.  Without it up and running my posting is limited.  Here are a few pictures I took on my phone of getting our special gifts in the mail.

Strawberry Season!

In January!  Crazy, right?!  I do enjoy Texas, and these bright, beautiful strawberries in the middle of winter are definitely a reason why.  We made it back to Froberg's Farm this weekend with C in tow so everyone could partake.  The weather was perfect for it.  I'm actually the only one who likes to eat strawberries. ;) But, the kids slurp 'em up in morning smoothies so we froze most of the ones we picked.  Reminds me of going blueberry picking as a kid.  I didn't even like blueberries, but I loved picking them.  It's all about the experience.

Phone Pics

I need to get some pictures from my camera downloaded, but in the meantime, here's a few pics from my phone and a little about what we've been up to lately...

This past weekend was show weekend for me (And for C who was in my Little Theater Stars class this semester)  They did an adapted version of 101 Dalmatians Jr. and were sooooo cute.  I know I'm speaking with bias here as I was a parent this time around, but I thought the other kids did a great job as well.  I had some really fun personalities in this little class and it made for such a sweet and silly performance.  My son, of course, stealing the spotlight on a few occasions. If you're my fb friend, then you've seen the chihuahua scene.  He was hilarious, pulling stuff out of his hat that he'd never tried in rehearsals.  I heard many folks leaving the theatre and talking about how funny the chihuahuas were.  I was so proud of him.  I thought he might struggle with stage fright as he's been pretty nervous a few times getting up in front of his class at school, but nope, he was all about being on that stage.  I can't imagine who he gets that from. :)  Papa flew in from Kansas for his debut and my cousin and his wife came out to the show as well.  Add Daddy and lil' peanut to that and he had quite a fan club for his first musical.

Just a fun picture of another little puppy in the house.  He was a great guinea pig letting me practice stage makeup on him.

Hubby had Monday off so after we all dropped my Dad off at the airport we had breakfast at IHOP before taking C to school (bummer he had class that day!).  Then we ran a couple errands with the little people and happened upon a strawberry picking sign that we couldn't pass up on such a gorgeous day.

Handsome boy showing off his haircut.

A situation at hubby's work led to me getting an unexpected night off from teaching.  It was a sweet time with the boys.  We played outside (the weather has been amazing the past few days) until Daddy got home.

We're settling back into the routines of a new semester.  C with school and some new archery activities, lil' peanut has his speech and nature classes, and I just started women's bible study at church.  Now off to enjoy the last bit of this sunshine before the rain comes back tomorrow!

Something new at the Space Center

On a whim last weekend we decided to put our membership cards to good use and head to the space center.  The parking lot was BUSY so I knew we wouldn't be there too long.  Hubby managed an impressive 2ish hours before he'd had enough of all the people.  C really wanted to watch one of the shows this time.  It's a show we've only ever caught the tail end of and he kept telling us that if you go up on stage you get a toy.  I told him I wasn't sure about that but we made certain to get there before it started and you better believe he was sitting front and center.  I was off in a corner with the baby but could still see the stage.  She asked for a volunteer and when she said "You there in the orange shirt.  I saw your hand up first." I knew my little man was up.  He gave out our full address when asked where he was from (we've had no creepers show up yet, so I think we're good) :) and was a very good sport as she used him to demonstrate the ways astronauts live in space.  Of course I held my breath every time she put the microphone in front of my witty little sasspants.  Oh lordy what will he say? ;)

She's explaining how they go to the bathroom.  I love his face right after she tells him he can go ahead and demonstrate.

"Um, I'm not going to do that."

Well, he was right, the volunteer does get something.  Although I wouldn't call it a toy.  He thought it was pretty funny.  It sat on his desk for a week and one night at bedtime he'd forgotten to get his water so he gave himself a pep talk and opened it up and took a big swig.  "It says spring water on the back, so I'm ok, right mom?!"

My boys

These Three!  Love them so much!!!

Beach Photos

We had a great visit with hubby's folks over the past few days.  I think we were all a little bummed that our southern weather didn't quite deliver, but our beach stay still ended up being a lot of fun.  It was just a nice time to visit with each other, play games, enjoy ocean views and fires in the fireplace.  Morning coffee just tastes better when you can sit next to a fire and still see the beach. :)  We bundled up a few times for walks on the beach too! Hubby and I even got a New Year's Eve date night courtesy of my in-laws. :)