Happy Father's Day!

My dad is a man of few words. He is patient, kind, loving and willing to do and sacrifice anything for his family. He spent much of my childhood working tirelessly to provide the day to day necessities for our family and he never once complained about it.

Now as a wife and mother, I am all the more aware and grateful for all the sacrifices he made for our family and he will still do anything for his little girl. :) As great as that is, I have to say that the thing I love the most about my dad is how much he loves and adores both Bethany and Austin. My dad is still a man of very few words, but the glow in his eyes and the smile on his face when he sees his grandchildren says it all. It so warms my heart to see the immense joy my children bring to him!

Happy Father's Day Dad.
I love you so much!

And of course Father's Day would not be complete without wishing my wonderful husband a Happy Father's Day as well.

Sam, thank you for being such a wonderful father to Austin and Bethany! Thank you for the many ways you love, protect and care for our family each day.You have such a tender heart toward our children and I am so thankful that they have you as an example of God's love for them.

Happy Father's Day Sam!

I've always loved images of parents sleeping with their children, so I leave you with a few of my favorites on this very special Father's Day.... :)

15 day old Austin. He was a tiny little thing, a premie weighing only 5lbs, 8oz.

Two year old Austin. I came downstairs to find they had both fallen asleep while watching t.v.

Bethany was still tired after her nap so Sam wanted to cuddle with her. They both ended up falling asleep.

Ditto. :)

World Cup 2010 - GO KOREA!

This past Saturday, Sam and Austin woke up in the wee hours of the morning to watch the live broadcast of the Korea vs. Greece World Cup game at the Staples Center. The game started at 4:30am so they were out the door by 2:30am.

 Here's our son dressed and ready to go, but barely able to keep his eyes open.

 My parents happily joined in on the fun, but as you can see by the blank look on Austin's face, he had yet to fully wake up. :)

It's not often you see this many Koreans gathered in one place, but Korean pride was out in full force as roughly 10,000 fans gathered to cheer Korea on. They gave out free t-shirts and flags and from the looks of it, everyone was wearing their shirts.

Austin eventually woke up (i'm sure that bag of popcorn helped) and proudly donned his Korea gear with Daddy. The Korea bandanas were courtesy of my mom from the giveaway at the 2006 World Cup.

Game face on!

GO KOREA!
Korea wins 2-0!

At about 6:30am, Bethany and I were still sound asleep when I could hear my boys coming in through the front door. The next thing I know, Austin was whispering "Korea won! Korea won!" in my ear. He had a great time and is now looking forward to Korea's next match against Argentina. This time, he said he wanted to watch it at home and asked if I could make him some popcorn too. :)

Happy 14 Months Bethany

Today our Bethany is 14 months old. She's only been home four months but it honestly feels as if she's been a part of our family from the very beginning. We love her so much and it's been amazing to see how much she has grown and changed in such a short time.

Here's what our little girl has been up to these days....

• She transitioned from formula to whole milk the day before she turned one. We were on our last few scoops of formula and thought it would be a good time to give it a try. Fortunately, she took to it right away and will even drink it cold. This is great because I don't have to worry about warming her bottle when we're out and I can find milk anywhere.

• She has eight teeth, four on top and four on bottom. Unfortunately, she is not too fond of the toothbrush.

• She is affectionate and loves to cuddle and give kisses.

• She loves taking baths. As soon as she realizes it's bath time, she can't get in the water fast enough. 

• She loves food. We've given her a lot of different things and we have yet to find anything she dislikes. If you eat in front of her, she will smack her lips and look at you with those cute puppy dog eyes until you're forced to share. That being said, she will snatch the food right out of your hand if you give her a chance. *watch video clip below* 

• She is not yet standing or walking on her own but our girl can definitely crawl. She is super fast and has even mastered crawling with the nipple of her bottle clenched between her teeth. It's cute to watch the bottle dangling from her mouth as she speed crawls toward you.

• She doesn't say any words aside from one syllable sounds like "da da" (daddy) and "ba ba" (brother).

• She averages about 12 hours of sleep a night and takes two naps a day. The length of her naps can range from a very short 20 minutes to a much welcomed hour and half.

• She does her happy dance every time I seat her in a shopping cart.

• She loves her big brother. No one can make her laugh or keep her attention like Austin.

• She likes to go out. As soon as we step out the door she smiles and lets out a giggle or two.

• She can stay up just as late as the rest of us and does well even when she skips a nap. This comes in very handy as our family is often out and about. 

• She loves her baby dolls but she'd much rather play with her brother's cars and trains.

• She is tough. Accidents are bound to happen with little ones in the house and Bethany is no exception. However, whether it be a bump on the chin, a bonk on the head or a fall to the ground, our little one rarely cries. I guess she has a high tolerance for pain. :)

• She is fiesty. Don't let her sweet and mild demeanor fool you. She knows what she wants and when she wants it and she will be sure to let you know. Even though there's a seven year difference between her and Austin, I'm putting my money on Bethany.

• She likes to clap and sing when she hears music.

That's all I can think of for now so I'll leave you with some video clips. 

Can't say I didn't warn you. :)

Better Late Than Never

Last June, Austin made a "Things I want to do this summer" list. It was quite an extensive and ambitious list and definitely one I knew we wouldn't be able to complete. Now almost a full year later, thanks to a mandatory furlough day for teachers, we finally had the opportunity to do #18, "Go to Adventure City".

Better late than never right?

We were a bit concerned that Austin might be too old for the rides but the lure of a $10 admission price gave us just the push we needed. We ended up having a very fun and inexpensive day out as a family.

As an only child, it always made me sad that Austin didn't have a buddy to ride with at amusement parks. He has Bethany now but it'll still be a few more years until she's ready to be his riding buddy. In the meantime, I'm so thankful he knows how to have a good time all by himself.

Thank goodness Mommy and Daddy also know how to have a good time.

And what was our sweet little girl doing you ask?

She was perfectly content with her snacks,

playing footsies with Daddy,

and watching from the sidelines. :)

She even joined in on the fun!

As if that wasn't enough fun packed into one day, we decided to give our friends a "Hey, we're in the area..." call. Fortunately, they were home and happy to have an impromptu get together. We went over to their house, hung out, went out to dinner, hung out some more and had a great end to a perfect day.