Dick and Jane Story Collection Volume 1 & My 4 1/2 and 3 Year Olds

Both of my oldest two kids are learning to read. Ryan is on page 114 of 193 . Katie is on page 66 and read 13 pages last night with little problem. It's simply amazing to see something just click like this.

Tonight we're reading Dick and Jane again. Bella wants to read but she is learning her letters, colors and numbers for now.

~Jen

What's for Breakfast in Our Household

Okay the proverbial question "What's for Dinner" is now also "What's for Breakfast?". This morning the kids (all three of them) asked for white kimchi made by Sunja's Kimchi (as they call it--it's the non spicy kind) for breakfast. They ate up the 1/3 of the jar that we had of it. Unfortunately we haven't been able to find more of it at the grocery stores in our area. However I did find it for purchase online and we're just going to have to pick some up. Now should we it up by the gallon???

Now also for breakfast they asked for a rice dish while not Korean is similar to Bibimbop (rice, meat, and vegetables galore all mixed in).

Tomorrow morning should be interesting as we have red kimchi (the spicy stuff as the two oldest call it) only in the refrigerator and the rice dish is all gone since they ate it up this morning. I have tried the washing off of the kimchi to please their palates at the moment but they will not eat it for fear of getting some spiciness. Will there be protesting in our home???

For those of you who read this that are local to us (and you know who you are), please be on the look out for the Sunja's White Kimchi and either pick some up for us or let us know where we can find it.

~Jen

As the sickness goes around the house...

It was either Daddy or Bella who got sick first. Then Katie and then myself. Now Mommy is sick as well. It's a cold but it is wiping people out who get it (well at least Bella and Mommy and Daddy). Katie and I don't think that we're sick at all so we're running and jumping and did I mention running around??

Mommy and Daddy say that we should rest BUT that's no fun to do!!! How else are we supposed to play with our Christmas toys???

Can you say that we are going stir crazy in the house?? So much snow outside and we can't play in it due to it being too cold out and us having colds!!! Definitely not fair!!! However when we get over our colds in this home, we will head outside to play in the snow once again. We're sick of being sick here. We're sick of the runny and stuffy noses. We're sick of having to blow our noses.

~Ryan

Waiting for the Big Man in Red to Come

We are waiting for Santa to come to our home. We were reluctant to sleep (well at least two of us were and it wasn't me). We are hoping that Santa thinks that we are on his nice list since we haven't been so nice this month.

Well gotta go for now before Mommy and Daddy catch me on the computer!

~Ryan

Pre-Christmas in our Home

We have been preparing here for Christmas to come. The tree is up and decorated by mostly the kids (I'll have to upload photos after Christmas for you to see). I have hung up the special ornaments for the kids. The lotus blossom trinket that I picked up at Jogyesa Buddhist Temple in Seoul when we were there last year, the individual grandson/granddaughter ones that the kids have gotten from their grandparents and more. I have baked brown sugar cookies already (and have already tasted the ones that broke--mmmm good!!!!).

On the menu so far for Christmas is:

pineapple/cream cheese dip with crackers
Christmas ham
peas and pearl onions
corn
scalloped potatoes
homemade bread
various cookies
chocolate cream pie (that is if my dad is good)
Korean pear (got them from the Korean food market and boy are they good!!!!)
Korean rice cookies for Bella in particular but also for Ryan and Katie if they would like it

The kids are awaiting Santa's presence however the kids in this household haven't been on Santa's nice list this month (uh oh!!!!!). We hope that changes very soon as Christmas is just days away.

~Jen

The Monster...

Ryan now calls my van the most affectionate term possible from a boy...it's "The Monster".

Ryan: Mommy, we are bigger than that blue van next to us
Me: Yes sweetie we do
Jeff: So we are comparing now are we?
Ryan: We are taller than that car too!!
Me: (to Jeff) does that answer your question??
Jeff: (to Ryan) so is it a monster then?
Ryan: yes since we are bigger than the other blue cars on the highway...we're riding in The Monster

So Mommy doesn't drive a mini van anymore...it's "The Monster".

YIKES!!!!

Mini Van Momma

Never in a million years would I consider myself a mini-van person. They drive like school buses (or at least the one that I have tried years ago did).

Jeff and I have been going back and forth since February that we needed one...we needed space in the vehicle especially during the winter months with the kids and their coats. So we researched and looked but never really found anything we liked. If we spent the money on one, we want the vehicle to last for awhile.

So this Momma to three beautiful kids got herself an early Christmas present this year...a beautiful blue Toyota Sienna LE mini-van with some options on it. We picked it up the evening of November 25th from the same dealership that we bought our two Toyota Corollas from. Except this has more doo-dads and whiz-bangs than my 94 Corolla.

I'm officially a mini-van Momma.

Off to learn how to drive my mini-van (just wishing that we didn't find this right as the holiday shopping season was starting)...