North Bend Visit

We took a day (in April) and made the drive to North Bend to visit family. {Grandma} Dubbee, Aunt Klorissa, Uncle AJ, and cousin Cason [and Buddy the dog] live there. Aunt Kendy and Ken were also able to come down for part of the day also so it was a fun family day!

Cason is getting to be such a big kid and we're so glad to see him! We got to check out their new digs - they have a pretty cool back yard with a huge tree that makes a fort. The cousins warmed up to each other pretty quickly even though we haven't been able to see them as often as we'd like. It made us happy to see them playing together!

{Grandma} Dubbee has a new place we could check out also - it's so cute! Seoul discovered the funny rocking pig - hilarious! Dubbee also had another Easter egg hunt and baskets for the kids - heaven for them. Sydney gathered candy and cared less about the eggs - ha!

Check out this awesome candy face.

We hit the beach and the weather was decent. Sand castles, holes, and water - a kid's paradise. We all had so much fun! Sydney is a champ - she totally face-planted multiple times but it didn't phase her one bit... eating sand and still going. Love that girl!

Last but not least dinner at a favorite family restaurant: Kum-Yon's.

We love our family! Chances to get together are such happy times!

Easter Extravaganza 2012

Easter was so fun with the girls! Every day leading up to it Seoul would talk about the Easter Bunny, and not wanting to do a picture, and memories from last year. Their pure joy and excitement makes being parents and hosting holidays all worth it.

Event #1 - Easter Egg Hunt at Hope Village

There were lots of kids this year but both girls were in the same age grouping so that was nice. Sydney was pretty satisfied with the two that she got - one for each hand! Seoul was a bit nervous to get started but then had fun gathering. The girls loved the chocolate! It's such a nice little community event that isn't too overwhelming for the young kids.  

{I do have a small gripe about parents gathering eggs by the handfuls for their kids. Not that I think my girls need any more eggs but that isn't so fun for the kids. The announcers even said multiple times that the kids should be the one gathering eggs!}

Event #2 - Coloring Easter Eggs

Our friend, Amy, joined in the fun but somehow she didn't make any of our pictures - oops! Seoul had a lot of fun doing the eggs on her own. Independent girl! We got the kit that had glitter so that was exciting. Sydney wanted to do her own eggs so badly, and had fun with the ones she could help with.

Event #3 - Traditional Easter Bunny Photo

Thriftway here in town does photos and hands out a little goody bag. Every year there are tears and this year was no exception. There was no line so the girls didn't have time to warm up. Both girls cried. Loudly. Seoul even tried to run away. Oh, the memories!

Event #4 - EASTER DAY!!!

Seoul came into our room SO excited asking if the Easter Bunny had come! We got up but we had to wake Sydney (notice her sleepy expression). The baskets were fun yet simple and the girls LOVED what was inside. While they were inspecting those, Seoul noticed there were eggs everywhere... what a novel concept! They went to town and had fun collecting. Sydney even was totally into it although she kept sitting down trying to open the eggs because she knew candy was inside. They got a good haul - no complaints from mom & dad either - haha!

I'm pretty excited about the Easter skirts this year. I wanted simple (since of course I waited until the last minute) and Seoul loves skirts lately. My mom made Sydney's and I made Seoul's. Seoul picked out the fabrics, and I think they turned out darling!

After church we caught a few family pictures. Of course we have to include the silly face photo that Seoul never lets us forget. We are a cute family, yes?? Too bad I couldn't get any of the girls together - still trying to figure out how to get two kids to stand and look at me simultaneously.

One of my favorite pictures. Seoul is so beautiful in her joy and innocence!

Event #5 - 2nd Easter Egg Hunt

More Easter treats for the girls from Uncle David and Aunt Ashley! Plus Uncle David hid more eggs outside for the girls so that made Seoul ecstatic! They didn't like picking up the hard-boiled eggs, though, because they were wet so the color bled a bit. They wanted to keep going but the eggs ran out. 

Another favorite picture. Sydney is so beautiful in her own enthusiasm and innocence. 

Event #6 - Easter Dinner

This year my mom hosted our family, Mindee, and a friend for a yummy ham dinner. No pictures of the delish food, but I did get one of the Easter basket cake I made for dessert. I think it turned out cute and was super simple. It was fun to visit and relax and make more memories. The girls love the piano and being silly!

Happy Easter! It was a beautiful time to spend with family and make memories. It was extra special to watch Seoul and Sydney interact - Seoul sharing with Sydney and making sure she was having fun also. Such a lovely remembrance of our Savior Jesus Christ and why we celebrate Easter.

Success!

So, I can excitedly say my house was filled with the delicious aroma of homemade bread this afternoon! I've made simple yeast rolls and other breads but I've always wanted to make bread loaves. For some reason the thought was intimidating. One of which was the kneading and rising process.

The other day my mom scored a mixer for me for $10! So now, the sky's the limit! No kneading by hand? I will try bread. I remembered my college roommate, Lala, made all kinds of yummies and I saw some bread recipes on her blog. So I looked up the breads and there it was. Simple and do-able (a word?). A short while later, I had this:

Warm bread with butter and honey. Oh my!

I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. Not scary at all. I'm looking forward to trying the whole wheat bread.

So my final thought is that eventually I might still want a Bosch over a KitchenAid. My mom had a Bosch growing up and there are some great merits. I've noticed as I've used this mixer (even though it's not a KitchenAid, it's the same style), it's awkward to add ingredients into the bowl. Maybe I'm just not used to it yet. Regardless, it is nice not having to mix everything by hand and not knead bread by hand! Yay for me!

[Oh, and if you have any thoughts on either appliance, do share!]

water babies

Both Seoul and Sydney took swim lessons over the past couple months. We want the girls to be comfortable in water and have fun. Silly mom that I am I took far too many photos so it took a while to weed through them.

SEOUL SWIMS

Seoul did her first session in March-April. She was very excited. Then it was time to get in the water... and she sat on the side. She named her teacher "Tangled" because of her long hair. The second class the lifeguard asked us if we wanted him to be the bad guy... when we consented he lifted Seoul into the water. From then on she had a good time, although she is so timid it takes her a while to try things. She had fun and eventually did some of the things the teacher asked. She didn't so much like the second teacher that joined the class halfway through - she named her "Ariel." By the end she mostly stood when jumping off the side. She surprised both Kelley and I by doing the rope swing twice with the teacher. Ultimately I think she will be the girl that can swim but doesn't love it. She's pretty stiff in the water and doesn't like to be splashed. The purpose is to get her comfortable so that she has fun and I think that was accomplished. [Side note: I find it odd that she can climb in and out of a crib with no foot holds but won't climb out of the swimming pool by herself - silly girl!]

Sydney just did her own thing wandering and playing with whatever she could find. One class she entertained herself by carrying my little red purse around, and it was pretty heavy for her little arm.

SYDNEY SWIMS

Sydney had her first ever swim class (with me) and LOVED it. When she watched Seoul she would say "wawa" and try to climb under the net. She couldn't wait for her turn! Sad to say, during the first class she cried for the first few minutes. I was reminded of many of Seoul's very first swim classes. Fortunately the tears were over soon and she had so much fun. The opposite of Seoul, during bath time she has no problem rolling over or splashing tons in the water. Consequently, she was the same way in the pool, and was very relaxed. Sometimes she was so willing to roll she almost got away from me! By the end she had so much fun "swimming" after the toys I threw ahead of her in the water. She got into "jumping" from the side or the stairs - and by that I mean a slight bending of the leg and leaning toward me. At the last class she, too, went on the rope swing but was pretty expressionless about it (no pics of that one, sorry!) Overall, it was a fun experience and I think she will be the water baby of the family.

Seoul wasn't as content to sit and watch. She took games, but her favorite was to take her toy camera and pretend to take pictures of everything.

 

Such fun experiences. I'm glad for the girls to try new things. Seoul is in her second session of classes so I'm sure more pictures of that will come (in a few months - haha!). I'm not sure if we'll do Seoul again or have Sydney take a turn.

Mean Mom Am I

Some days are really good. Some days look like this:

Our time out spot. From her pose I can see her continuing defiance yet sadness as she keeps her forehead on the wall. (She gets sidetracked very easily if she can look around.)

As she is becoming more independent (read: defiant) we definitely have more of these sad little moments. Only time will tell if they help her... or hurt me more.