Happy 4th Birthday! Part 1

Our little girl turned four today.

It feels like we just celebrated Bethany's third birthday not too long ago, but now here we are celebrating her fourth. We passed out small treats to her sunday school class, and didn't get back home from church until the afternoon. Since we'll be having a party for her later on in the month, we opted to have a small family celebration with Korean food and cake to commemorate Bethany's special day. What about our traditional myuk gook you ask? Grandma already came by a few days ago to make myuk gook, and Bethany devoured it like a good Korean. :)

Happy birthday to my little girl who is a daily reminder to me that

our God is faithful,

hope does not disappoint,

every child deserves a family,

love can cross over continents,

 and blood lines do not a family make.

I often think about and pray for Bethany's birth parents, but particularly on this special day. I will always be grateful to her birth mother for having the courage to see her pregnancy through to the end, and for leaving Bethany in the care of those who would eventually find her a family. Our family.

Bethany's birth mother chose life, and today we thank God for that precious life.

Happy birthday Bethany!

We love you so much.

 

After waiting patiently all day, she was so happy to finally have some cake.

Three Years Ago

 

Today is a special day for our family.

It was three years ago when I first held Bethany in my arms, and we became a family of four. I will never forget that incredible day, and how God grew our family through adoption. (You can read more about our homecoming day in detail here and here, and find our adoption video here.)

Much has happened during Bethany's third year home, and I am happy to report she is doing extremely well. She's our sweet girl, ready to cuddle at a moment's notice, and the first to say thank you and ask if we're okay. She is also our spunky and determined one, sharp and fearless, strong and carefree. You wouldn't think it at first glance, but once she gets comfortable, you'll see her fire. :)

Her big brother is of course her best friend, and Grandma comes a close second. She enjoys being a part of the same preschool co-op from last year, and attending our local public preschool where she continues to receive speech therapy. It's been encouraging to see her interact with new friends, and see steady progress in her speech all year long. Although she has a lot of room for growth, her articulation and vocabulary have improved immensely, and the entire family is having fun cheering her on with every new word. Go Bethany! We hope to hear some good news when she has her annual IEP next month.

Bethany's a bit of an ipad/iphone junkie already, and it always surprises me how these little ones are so proficient with today's gadgets. She loves watching television, and her latest favorites are Dora, Tinkerbell, Sophia the First, and Peppa Pig. Her favorite part of the day is when we pick Austin up from school, and she gets to pull his backpack all the way to the car. Bethany loves to do "homework", cut with scissors, and chase her big brother with a nerf sword and nerf gun. She also loves to sing and dance, and is my tv buddy when shows like American Idol and The Voice are on.

Bethany still sneaks into our room nearly every single night. Once upon a time, we were those parents who would have nipped it in the bud, but having a ten year old, soon to be middle schooler puts things into perspective --- they don't stay little for long. I decided that waking up with her cheek pressed against mine, or her foot in my face was worth it knowing that she just wanted to be close to her mommy. I know soon enough she'll prefer her own bed over mine, and maybe the tables will turn, and I'll be the one sneaking into her bed at night.

Although I wish she could stay this little forever, I know she has a lot of growing up to do, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for her.

We love you Bethany!

Happy third year home!

February

March

April

May

June

July (Preschool co-op)

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

Valentine's 2013

 

As I was finishing up Austin's Valentines, it occurred to me that these will likely be the last batch of Valentines we'd be making for his classmates. 

From what I hear, treats for birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, and Valentines all come to an end once your child hits middle school. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

As someone who loves making homemade goodies for my kids to share on special occasions, this makes me sad. Even worse, it's just one more thing to add to the "he's too old for this" list. :(

The bright side is, I'll have Bethany's treats to pour all that energy into, and who knows? Maybe I'll find a way to make homemade treats for Austin without embarrassing him. :) Until then, I'll look forward to making treats for Austin's culmination and last day of school as my last hurrah.

Bethany's Valentines

 Austin's Valentines

Happy Birthday to Me

I was battling the stomach flu on my birthday, and I was feeling quite miserable when I woke up. 

All that changed when I found an unexpected surprise waiting for me downstairs.

Thank you Austin for your thoughtfulness and creativity, and for making me feel a hundred times better!

 

Happy 10th Birthday Austin!

We started the day off with myuk gook, a Korean soup traditionally served on birthdays (made with love by grandma who came over just to make it), and even let him watch a little television.

Then we headed off to a middle school tour (yet another reminder that my baby is growing up much too fast). After the tour, I dropped him off at school with cupcakes for his class, but not before I showed him the surprise waiting for him on his school marquee.

In keeping with family tradition, I packed his favorite lunch with a birthday note, surprised him with balloons after school, prepared one of his favorite meal for dinner, and ended the day with ice cream cake.

It's crazy to think how quickly time has flown by, and that the little baby we brought home from the hospital is now ten years old. What a tremendous blessing it has been to watch him grow and mature into who he is today!

Thank you Austin for your tender heart, sense of humor, integrity, and passion for life. Your constant joy and ability to see the good in everything and everyone is such an example to me. Thank you for bringing me so much joy as a mother. I thank God every day for the privilege of being your mom.

Happy birthday Austin!
I love you.

Best Vacation Ever!

August 2-13, 2012

What do you get when you have sixteen kids and twelve adults living in one house for nearly two weeks? No, not a new reality show, but a trip of a lifetime; and what Austin would describe as, "The best vacation ever!"☺

 We were the last family to leave for the east coast, so we were quite anxious to get there.

 Most of Bethany's time on the plane (on the way there and back) was spent doing this.

Big brother and Daddy busied themselves like this.

Once we arrived at Dulles International, we joined our friends in Virginia where the party had already begun. After a day of rest, catching up, and a mommies' night out, all twenty eight of us piled into four separate cars and made an early 4am departure to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

Our caravan of cars made a few stops here and there, but considering how many little ones we had, the six plus hour drive wasn't bad at all. But then again, I can only speak for myself since it was just the four of us in our car.

Still, you can imagine our relief when we finally reached our destination.

Our home away from home.

Aside from a few touristy things, we pretty much stayed put the entire time. There really was no reason to venture out too often since we had a fully stocked kitchen, a swimming pool, and basically, the beach as our backyard. Needless to say, the kids were never at a loss for things to do. The moms and dads weren't complaining either since the dads squeezed in four rounds of golf, and the moms had some time to go out on our own.

This is basically what the kids did ALL DAY LONG. They had so much fun together, and it was beautiful to see how well they got along for the entire trip.

 

 

We ate well, played hard, and had an amazing time together. It was hard to say good bye, but by the time we left, plans for our next big trip were already in motion. :)

I love these people!

Sound of Music Sing-a -Long 2012

Every year in September you can find our family at the Hollywood Bowl's Sound of Music Sing a Long. What began as a date night, quickly became a yearly tradition for us, and since then has grown into a tradition we share every year with our family and friends. This was the eighth year for Sam and I, and we still enjoy every minute of it.

As usual, all 18,000 seats were sold out, and as usual, you could expect to bump into someone you know. We saw my college roommate, another friend from college, Austin's 5th grade teacher, our opthamologist, Sam's co-worker and another one of his doctors.

The show always begins with a pre-show costume contest, and we entered our kids again (this is our third time!). This year was extra special as we had even more friends join us for the costume contest. There were ten kids total that dressed up as....

all the items from the yellow goody bag.

If you're familiar with the event, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Every year the bowl hands out a yellow bag filled with props to each guest, and the host goes through the contents of the bag one by one explaining how we are to use them during the show. The yellow bag is part and parcel to the sing a long, and basically, you cannot have the sing a long without the yellow bag. 

And that my friends, is why having our kids dress up as the props was such a great idea (thanks eunice)!  Oh, and let's not forget the fact that the costumes were way less labor intensive this year, so no late nights and way less glue gun burns and needle pricks on my end. :)

After much anticipation, the winners were announced, and our kids got second place. It was a great win, and all the kids (and parents) were so happy. But guess what? I found out later on that we were supposed to win first, but the staffers recognized Austin as having won in previous years, so they wouldn't (or couldn't) give us first place again. With that said, I am officially retiring Austin from the costume contest (you hear that Sam?). I think three for three is enough, or maybe as one friend mentioned, we could just put Austin in a disguise next year. :)

Several people have asked me to post pictures from our previous costume contests, so here's a quick recap.

Our first year Sohpie and Austin won second place dressed as "sew, a needle pulling thread". They won a blue ray player and some movies which we still use to this day.

(here's my xanga entry from that night - http://mrssjlee.xanga.com/675347051/item/)

Our second year, Ella, Sophie and Austin won first place as "tea with jam and bread", and the prize was a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise.

(unfortunately no blog entry here as i stopped blogging after being introduced to the world of facebook)

Two more pictures just because I LOVE Austin's reaction when he found out they won first place. :)