The Night of Nickolstaag

Well I got this email recently from a friend explaining a tradition that their family has kept up for some 13 years and it's a German (I think) custom of the children shining their shoes and leaving them outside their door on the night of December 5th and St. Nickolas would visit them and leave gifts in their shoes, though they don't actually get to see "him" until Christmas Day. Traditional gifts include oranges/fruits, small candies, etc. And also he leaves twigs in their other shoe to remind them to be even better next year!! So anyway, we decided to participate (could only find one shoe for Kyle so it was a stuffed little shoe with twigs and candy in it!! Anyway, and the other picture is of the friend's house that started it all!! Their whole floor participated as well...how fun!!

A Slight Blast from the Past!!

Well I just saw these pictures again when I uploaded tonight, but thought my mom might like them....through the time we've been here the cute little cobblestone path that you see in these pictures has progressed from a very uneven (which it still is) muddy puddly dirt walkway to this bricked nice little path. So I have to hand it to Koreans in some ways..they sure can build something fast, just not necessarily correctly or accurately, (like I said the pathway is still VERY uneven!!)

A Sicky Baby!!

Well after making what I would even categorize as a "beautimous" looking cheesecake for the dessert social today....as luck would have it Kyle throws up 5 minutes before we are to go and afterwards he seemed to be feeling a smidge better so we try and get ready 10 minutes later and sure enough as soon as we get to the door, another barage of upchuck (actually it was only water thank goodness since he hasn't eaten anything today) so we decided it was the spirits so to say telling us to stay put and so the older two and I tried to make Christmas cookies that I would've taken pictures of if Chris hadn't taken my "do everything for you, can be a complete idiot and still operate it" camera and left me with his "do everthing manually, most people could probably operate but not me" camera. So you'll just have to imagine!! They were okay I guess in between trying to make them and calm the ever-crying and tired baby that is of the present laying on my lap face up, eyes wide open but not moving an inch. Do you think I should worry?? Oh wait, I felt a finger move....whoooh....that must mean we're in the clear!! ;)

Well though the profile picture I've had on our site since I began this blog some 6-12 months ago (I don't remember..stop giving me a hard time!!) was great because it was a family picture which honestly we don't seem to get alot of here because I guess that would involve alot of conversations that went like this:
US: "Excuse me, could you take our picture please??"
THE KOREANS:"Blank stare"...no those words would not be spoken, they would just be given very freely from their facial expressions.
And yes you might be saying, "But I thought your husband spoke Korean??" Why yes that's true but he's even more afraid that if he asked them in Korean that they'd run off with his camera. Yeah I don't know either!! Anyway, I digress yet again....Kyle was like 6 months old in that picture and since my strapping little *almost* 2 year has grown so much, I figured our profile picture should "grow" too!! So this was a pretty decent picture of us all from Halloween (minus Dalin's sideways face) and besides it shows our creative and fun-loving side right!! ;)

December 2nd Advent Happenings

Well nothing too thought provoking here, but we had a tree lighting here at the Base theater and we attended that tonight so that was our activity for tonight....and tomorrow's will probably be to go see the Harlem Globetrotters. But maybe after that I'll have some that might give you some inspiration!! ;) Sorry for the dark pictures, but the lights were pretty nonetheless.

Advent Calendar Ideas

Okay, though I don't celebrate the actual happening of Advent...(I think it's a Catholic observance, is it not??) Anyway, I do love the calendars that you can hang on the wall or wherever and put a little treat or fun activity for that day in and help your kids celebrate this wonderful season a little bit longer than just the one day of Christmas. SO starting tomorrow we will have a daily activity that our family will be doing...some of them are pretty hum-drum but hopefully my kids won't think so and will think they're a blast...it doesn't take much with them to have a good time if Mommy or Daddy is in on the activity. So maybe you can get some fun ideas to do with your families or just kinda be a part of ours as we go along celebrating this wonderful month of celebrations for our Father in Heaven's son. Though most of those previously said celebrations do not center around Christ...they should a little bit more I think and that's why with each little activity for the day I've also included a small scripture to go along with it and help us remember the "True Reason for the Season!!"

Some Updates and Pretty Lights!!

Well after seeing everyone else's pretty pictures of their Christmas decorations, I figured I had to put up a few since I'm SO sure everyone was just "itching" to see mine!! Anyway, these are for my mom especially since she wasn't here this year...she was last year.....to help us and take part in all the Christmas decorating splendor....oh yeah and I lied about the wreath picture 'cause it just wouldn't come out right so we'll try that again soon before Chris is gone and can't help me lighten it or whatever on the computer!! ;) TahTah for now and Goodnight!! ;)