Cousin Time... from February!

Oh, how time does fly! I get a little overwhelmed by the number of pictures we take and deciding which ones are awesome enough to post. Then the time spent to upload photos and add captions. Boohoo me. With that being said, here is a long overdue post:

Klorissa, AJ, and Cason came to visit Oregon in February. They got to see our new house and visit and the kids got to play together. Joyful times! Seoul wasn't fully walking then so it was Cason exploring and Seoul watching him. I think they had fun together... for as much as they could verbally express :)


Yay for timer option on cameras for family photos!



Cason got in touch with his feminine side playing with the purple & pink butterfly balloon, yet didn't lose sight of his masculinity since he was chewing on a baseball bat! Along with that he learned how to feed a "baby" pony. Seoul is looking on with approval. (Don't worry, Cason is all boy and we won't forget that!)




Seoul got spoiled by the bag of birthday goodies! Thank you! She loves the Ritz, of course, plus a book, some shoes, other stuff, and just look at her expression holding the socks. Two packages of socks. She calls them "sockies!" (and currently loves to pull them out of her drawer)!




We walked to a nearby park since the day was beautiful. Seoul loves the swings. She kicked her feet back and forth, learning to move herself. Cason loved it and toodled around from activity to activity! It's so fun watching kids interact, but not really interacting. They play near each other but not necessarily with each other at this age.

The daddies with their kiddos on the bouncy animals.




Hmm... what next??


Lovin' those swings!


All kinds of stuff to do!




YEAH!



Tunnel time!

Of course we played outside at home for a while. We love our little neighborhood because it's nice and quiet with little traffic. When a car would come we would just call "game off" and the kids would move out of the road.

Wait for me Cason!

Kids and shadows! Cason loved the rocks on the property across the street.

Getting sleepy...

Love ya Cousin!

It's really fun for Kelley and Klorissa to have babies close to the same age. Lots of experiences to share and fun getting to know the babies!

Canby is famous for their ferry. Ok, maybe not famous but it does boast it's own ferry to cross the Willamette River. Little did we know it was FREE if we just walked on. So instead we PAID for our car to go across one way... then PAID to go back across to Canby. Yep, we're silly peeps.

Kendy and Ken came to visit for a little more family lovin'. Sad times when it was good-bye cousin - see ya next visit! We are planning a trip this summer to Arizona to visit them on their turf. Can we stand the heat??



Thanks for coming guys - we love you!

Funny Antics

Funny Story:

After Seoul's nap she has a snack - a combination of baby puffs, yogurt melts, crackers, veggie puffs, etc. She was eating them from her bowl in the living room with Kelley. I was working on the computer in the office. Around the corner she comes walking toward me asking for yogurt (melts). Since she was empty-handed I asked her to check her bowl. So off she goes toddling out the office back to the living room. Lo and behold, she comes back to me WITH her bowl. Empty. Not intending to ignore my child, I ask her to go ask Daddy to get her more. So off she goes yet again. I watch her walk out the door to the living room. Then I heard music from a toy in her bedroom so I figure she got some more or at least had her attention diverted. Wrong. Seoul comes walking into the office again with her empty bowl just shaking her head at me. Guess she didn't get more...? (that begs the question: was daddy ignoring her?)

March Madness Update

Sad day. I'm out. Seoul and Kelley are tied... both pulling for West Virginia to take it all. I picked Kentucky - BOO.

We all got lucky Seoul didn't lose or else she would have been kitchen duty all week. She might have had fun but I don't think Kelley and I could survive on yogurt melts, cheerios, and crackers.

All in good fun, eh?



Breakdown (by points):

Round 1
Kelley - 22
Seoul - 20
Joo Lin - 25

Round 2
Kelley - 16 [38 total points] - Kelley realized his whole left side of the bracket was toast
Seoul - 14 [34 total points] - Seoul knew BYU couldn't pull it off again
Joo Lin - 18 [43 total points] - I was feeling good about my choices

Round 3
Kelley - 16 [54 total points]
Seoul - 12 [46 total points]
Joo Lin - 12 [55 total points]

Round 4
Kelley - 16 [62 total points]
Seoul - 16 [62 total points]
Joo Lin - 0 [55 total points] - yep, stupid Kentucky.

Note: reviewing last years post I see that Seoul did play. No bracket of her own but we gave her the benefit of ALL WINS.

It's MY party and I'll CRY if I want to...

Just kidding... I didn't cry because today was the big decade change. Surprising myself, I was slightly sad and nostalgic yesterday about moving out of my 20's. I've done so many things in the last decade: made and lost friends, moved (way too many times!), graduated from college, became an "adult", voted, got married which includes getting a new last name, bought a brand new car, had a baby, bought a house, gained a testimony, learned to appreciate what I have rather than want what isn't mine... essentially gained valuable perspective into my life.

I look forward to my 30's. I feel settled and I have the best family and friends.
What more could I ask for?

(Ok, so I wrote this and as I re-read it... REALLY?! I'm in my 30's now? No more 20-something birthdays?? Whoops - maybe I'm not ready...)

Whew. I'm over it. Bring on the 30's and it's going to be the BEST time ever!

Today I played lots with my perfect baby Seoul. I was reminded that I married the love of my life. I had lunch with my favorite sister Mindee. I got numerous birthday wishes from friends and family everywhere. I got to see my dear friend Jennie and her big boy Blake. I had a special dinner with my handsome husband and beautiful daughter. It was a lovely day. Life is good.

Look at her go!

After weeks of Seoul taking a few steps here and there we have decided Seoul is officially a walker. The other night she was toddling around after her cousins and chased a balloon around... more walking than crawling. So much fun!

She kept looking over at daddy in the office as if for approval then would pass the doorway. Notice she did keep going back and forth for him, though :)

Yep, never posted a video so no editing involved - and it's small. Feel free to turn OFF the volume so you can't hear my silly voice. Must LOVE Seoul's new pigtail look, though!

It's that time of year again!

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!

Last night we did our brackets, Seoul included. Kelley devised an ingenious way for Seoul to pick her winners. She was pretty sure of her choices, too. As we kick off the first day of games the three of us are doing pretty well. Keep it coming!

Conversation:
Kelley - Why didn't we have Seoul do a bracket last year?
Joo Lin - She was less than two months old, silly!
Kelley - hmm...

This leads me to believe he will find a way for any child of ours to create a bracket no matter what age they are. Fun family rivalry!

Mini Vacation

In February Seoul and I took our first trip away from Kelley together. Although we had a lot of fun with my mom, it was sad and we missed Kelley SO MUCH! We printed a picture of him and Seoul would say "Daddy?" and kiss the picture. Adorable.

We went up to northern Washington - Birch Bay and Leavenworth. The drive was long but surprisingly I didn't get tired and Seoul handled it OK. The first few hours in the car of each drive were the hardest for her. She's not a car sleeper so we listened to a lot of baby CD's and sang a lot of songs. She read books in the back seat, which were a lifesaver!




Our first stop was Birch Bay, Washington - about 45 minutes south of the Canadian border I think. It was beautiful. We hiked around a state park and Seoul picked out rocks and shells for daddy from the beach.




Next was Leavenworth, Washington. This is a fun Bavarian tourist town. The shops are fun. I bought a (yummy scented) candle out of guilt for making wet tire marks in his shop with Seoul's stroller. Oh, the things I do for a baby - haha! Seoul walked on snow for the first time. Yep, not a fan to walk on it or touch it.

It was a rather quick trip but lots of fun to spend time with mom/grandma and see some new sights. The days away from home took a toll on Seoul and she did sleep a good portion of the way home.

Seoul the Bounty Hunter

Seoul is becoming SO FUN these days! Not that she wasn't before but we've entered a whole new phase of development & learning. It's just amazing to see what new things she does daily.

Her newest achievements are walking and going potty. Really.

Walking - She can go up to 10 steps if we start her free standing.
[I was going to attempt to post a video but now I don't know where the video cord is. Boo!]

Potty - she goes once or twice a day in the potty. Honest!
[She loves sitting on her potty - it plays a song when she pees! The second night we had it she used it. Since then it's been almost daily - she does the sign and then we go to the bathroom. Any suggestions for actually potty training are welcome since I haven't researched it yet!]

Starting young... she likes to lounge on my body pillow and hold the phone to ear and pretend to talk. She has actually made calls on our house phone. Oops!

She loves the alphabet mat. We're learning to match her alphabet letter books to the letter blocks.

Learning to play baseball at an early age :)

Her words:
daddy
papa
mommy
baby
ball
cracker
bye
hi
yogurt (gogurt)
go (in terms of leaving the house)
uh-oh
boppy (referring to nursing time)

Already she loves to be up high and she LOVES spending time with daddy after work.

She shut herself in the bathroom the other day. Peek a boo!

Her princess tent keeps her entertained for long stretches of time.

Her signs:
please
thank you
more
banana
doggy (baby sign version)
potty
all done
help (newest one)

Happy Valentine's Day - cute dress, yes? She is wondering why we were wasting time taking photos instead of letting her have her presents.

The remote is hers when we're in the living room. No arguments.

She still loves her food... this would be bits of cottage cheese all over her face. She can feed herself with a spoon when she wants to.

She knows:
* animal sounds/motions (elephant motion, 'sss' for snake, 'quack quack' for duck, 'moo' for cow, fish lips)
* how to brush her hair & that barrettes go in her hair
* shoes and socks go on her feet (and imitates saying 'socks')
* how to fold her arms for prayers
* what pictures are in her alphabet letter books (For example she finds the 'H' book and knows the order: hands, hat, horse. So before we can even open the book she shakes her hands. Then she touches her head for hat. For horse she can't do the sound so she nods her head yes for some reason.)


She's discovered cupboards and drawers.

She discovered lemons in a restaurant and sucked every last bit of juice out of it.

Cute Seoul moments:
* She wanted yogurt and I wasn't going to give her any (I'm not a mean mom, it was close to dinner!). So she rifled through her alphabet letter books and found the 'Y' book, turned to the page that had the picture of yogurt, and handed it to me while signing please and saying yogurt. Really! How could I resist? She got her yogurt :)
* Dad sings a song he made up - Seoul the Bounty Hunter - and Seoul then pulls on her ears like he taught her. It's one of her and daddy's special songs.