Ok, so here's the plan...

This year for Thanksgiving we are once again opening up our home to the airmen that are away from their families, including the married couples who cant go see family back in the states. Our guest list is at ten for now, but we have a few more that are going to get back to us. That should make it interesting! Add in our family of four and that's a full house! The menu is pretty much a typical Thanksgiving meal: Roasted Turkey, Spiral Sliced Ham, Gravy, Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes, Pressure Cooker Green Beans with onion and mushroom, Creamed Corn, Bread Dressing, Baked Beans, Rolls, Cranberry Sauce, Cranberry Relish and anything anyone else wants to bring. We will also be having a few munchies until dinner is ready: Artichoke Dip and a veggie tray. Lets not forget dessert!!!! We will have: Cindy's Best Cake, Chocolate and Peanut Butter Fudges, Mocha-Hazelnut Cream Filled Cake, Tiramisu Bites, Mini Cheesecakes, and Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce. I think we should all be STUFFED!!!

Other news for us: We got to see our on base housing today. I like it a lot! It will be so nice to have a real oven, washer AND dryer, American outlets, real closets in all the bedrooms, a balcony that we can have a grill on, walls that you can hang pictures on, a linen closet... I could go on and on... Best of all it wont be 4 miles away from base!!!!! I will do my best to get some pics up on here once we move in next month.

October

It sure feels like October flew by! I've been quite the busy momma. This week was just crazy!

Monday I was supposed to go to bible study... but I ended up skipping it and sewing most of the night. I have been working on a few costumes, one for Riley as Tinkerbell, another for Elijah as Peter Pan and lastly a Cow Girl for Tiffanie's role in the Hospitality house Murder Mystery night.

Tuesday I took Riley to the Elementary School Fall Festival. We had a great time. They served hot dogs, chips, popcorn, drinks and had cookies to decorate and eat. They also had games in the gym to earn candy or prizes and had crafts in the library. After that we went to the last half of youth worship band. Its the funniest thing to see a group of youth freak out at the sight of a whistle..... We were having a little bit of a hard time getting them to listen when we talked, so Brad got a whistle and he starts blowing it really quietly at first and its amazing how quickly then hush. It only took one regular blow on that whistle and then got the point. After practice we went to eat with our friend Daniel then headed home and I sewed a little bit til bed.

Wednesday was a major sewing day since I needed both Riley and Elijah's costumes finished for the next day. We went to eat at the Mexican restaurant early, then volunteered at AWANAs for a few hours and then headed home for my sewing extravaganza!

Thursday was the Trick or Treat bas at the base. All of the organization and some squadrons set up rooms or table outside and gave out candy to all the kids. Then there was a costume contest at the Officer's Club. My little ones didn't win and I'm kind ticked about that since most of the ones that did win were just random store bought costumes..... and I worked really hard making ours. Grrr... oh well. The kids had fun and still got a bag of candy. We decided to go eat at the steak house afterwards, the Flying M. It was really good food and I was so tired and thankful not to have to cook. I had to finish the Cow Girl costume when I got home, but it went rather smoothly.

Friday was a crazy day. Brad got up and went to bible study at 6:30 AM, while I had the kids at home. I got Riley dropped off to school and then took Elijah to work with me for a little while since Mrs. Tiffanie had to take Thomas to the Dr for his 3 year appt.  That was a crazy time! I send Brad a message and he came by to see me and pick up the check for the t-shirts we're having made for the Contemporary Worship Team. Those should get ordered this weekend. Yay!!!! When I got off work I picked up Elijah from Tiffanie and headed to Riley's school to get her ready for the costume parade. I signed in and headed to her class and didn't see the lights on so I went out the doors next to it to check the playground.... thus locking myself out! After 20 minutes or so a parent finally saw me and let me back in, thankfully. I got Ry ready and Elijah and I escorted her in the parade. We left the school and headed to the Medical Unit to catch everyone up on their shots. Ry and I had to get flu shots, but poor Elijah was due for his flu shot along with his 18 month shots. Youch! He did good though, didn't cry for very long. I was a total waste after that though, so we ended up with Stouffer's Lasagna, cheesy garlic toast and Cookies and Cream pie for supper.

Today I feel rested, finally!!!! I'm glad I finally got to sleep in! Brad had to work though, so I'm sure he'd be kinda tired tonight. So far, I've moved all of the stuff off the desk and moved it out of the corner it was in, vacuumed the living room/dining room and moved around all kinds of furniture. Brad should be pretty impressed when he gets home. Now if only I had the table moved already to its new & hopefully permanent home. *Sigh*

I guess that means its time to get back to work. Til next time everyone!

3 Day Weekend! Yay!

This past week was my first week of work and I think it went pretty well. We got my ID card made and I got some training from the person that is leaving the position, but we have one little problem.... I have to get a security clearance.... uh oh! That can take as long as a year and a half... sooooooo... we'll have to work around that until we can get an interim clearance. It will all work out though... God has his hands all over this one! We went to the air show yesterday and got to see some really awesome things. They had all of the planes viewable to the public and you could even get inside some of them! It was really hot though so we didn't stay too long. I will have a whole different blog on that one though! Today I got up and fixed a big breakfast for the family... eggs, bacon, blueberry muffins, toast, grits. It was really good. We're headed to church in just a little while and then maybe to the Brazilian Steakhouse... or maybe not just depends on the state of our bellies when we get out of church. Tomorrow is Labor Day so Brad and I are both off work and Riley is out of school. We've made plans to go to Seoul and see the War Memorial with our friend Daniel. We are going to the HUGE music store after that. Our plans were going to be to go to Everland, a huge amusement park here in Korea, but we didn't know Brad was going to have the day off until recently... he had to go through a few people to get a day off approved. It works out better this was... Everland is expensive... and the War Memorial is free right now. Yay! for saving money. I will post about our Labor Day trip soon!

Work, School, Play

This should be a fun week! Yesterday was the kickoff for our Revival at church. It kicked off with they Youth Praise Team and then our worship team provided the music and it was such a blast. Our youth did such a great job for it being their first time leading worship. We had the Liturgical, Traditional, Gospel and Contemporary congregations all together in the chapel and it was just amazing to see them come together to worship. The revival is going to last all week and will have a different band/choir, speaker, and special music group each night. I'm loving it!

Tomorrow is my first day training at my new job. I won the bid for the Account Manager contract at the chapel. I only get 2 days to train, so I guess I better make them count. I shouldn't have much of a problem. I think I'm a pretty fast learner, and any one who knows me and my love of math would agree that playing with numbers for a few hours each day is right up my alley.

The Airman and Family Readiness Center has a great opportunity right now for Osan spouses. They have FREE online classes. I'm going today to pick up my information and hopefully I can take some courses to both refresh my computer skills and learn new ones! I'm excited!!!

My Beautiful Babies

I thought I would share the wonderful pictures of Riley and Elijah that we had taken this past July. They are Riley's 4 year and Elijah's 15 month pictures. I hope you enjoy them!

Patriotic:

Just being kids:

Riley is SOOO photogenic:



What a week

This past week was Riley's first full week of Sure Start, her first time riding the bus, my first night of PWOC bible study for the new session, youth band and enlisted spouses club in the same night, my interview for the Account Manager at the chapel, Chusok(Korean Thanksgiving) which meant everything was closed for a day on base and of course worship practice and church. Phew! I'm pretty worn out. We also have 2 sick kids. They have runny noses and clogged up heads. Elijah has had a fever for a few days. Tonight after church we got them some Triaminic and after getting baths got them dosed and put to bed. Hopefully they will start feeling better soon. I got great news on Friday... I got the contract with the chapel, so I get a few hours during the week kid free! LOL! Amazing that I'm so excited about that... even though I'll be working when the freedom from kids happens. This week should be pretty busy as well... Monday we have a bunch of running around to do, then Kids Membership night starts at 5 followed by my bible study at 7. Tuesday is youth band and I have a Skivvy 9 Wives get together to share our favorite desserts. Wednesday we have a parent meeting with Riley's Sure Start teacher... she's not in trouble, we have one one these every month, then we have Awana sign ups right after the meeting for Riley to get going with Awanas this year. As of now we should have a break Thursday evening, which will be welcomed I'm sure. Friday we're heading to Hospitality House for supper and then fellowship with friends, Saturday is worship practice in the evening and Sunday is more practice then church. Here's to staying busy!

Crib Rail Cover

I decided that since Elijah was a beaver when he was 5 months old and wanted to eat his crib that I would cover the rails with hand towel and wrap tape around them..... that wasn't the greatest idea... I know this! I finally decided that it was horribly ugly and that he needed a crib rail cover, so I started my project of sewing one. Step one was making a pattern. I wanted it to fit over the while rail and then secure with Velcro between each of the rails. I measured the length and then measured the spaces between the rails and the rails themselves. I then drew the pattern on shipping paper, which is in the home office section at the store. Here's the pattern that I ended up with (the lines are my guide for where I sew the pieces together):

I then traced the pattern onto my 2 pieces of fabric:

Then, I cut a piece of batting that would fit between the two fabric pieces, not including the notches for the straps:

Once all the pieces were cut, I put the outside parts of the fabric together and then put the batting on top. Time to sew! Starting with the long side that all 3 pieces share:

Then the other long side with the notches, making sure to only go around the outside perimeter so that when it is flipped right side out the notches will become straps:

Once the two sides were sewn together, I turned it right side out, including the straps and then folded the ends in and sewed them shut and sewed a reinforcement along the side with the straps:

 The last step was to sew the Velcro on:

The only thing left to do was put it on Elijah's crib! I think this turned out really great!

Riley's First Day Riding the School Bus

It broke my heart to walk my little girl to the bus stop this morning. She was so excited to ride to school on the bus. I, on the other hand, don't think I was ready to let go of that part of my mommy control. She did great though. We had to walk in the rain to get her there, but it was nicer outside when she got home. A million things go through your mind when you aren't the one controlling how your little one is getting home. I didn't know if she would know ot get on the bus or if they would leave her since it was the first time on the bus going home... yeah, yeah I was paranoid. She rides the regular bus with the big kids to school, then rides a smaller bus with all the other Sure Start kids home. Everything went great though and she will be riding the bus tomorrow too. Here's a few pictures:

That's Riley beside the School Bus sign. She was getting settled in the carseat that she has to sit in.

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Elijah waiting with me at the bus stop for Sissy to get home.



Riley getting off the bus for the first time.



 

 

Seoul Grand Zoo

We took a trip to the zoo back on Labor Day. It was a lot of fun. Seoul Grand is the 10th largest zoo in the world... and the largest in Asia. We took some friends with us too, Tiffanie, Alyson and Thomas aka the Dickenson's(minus Kevin who was at a wedding in the states). It was really inexpensive! I was amazed. We paid W3,000 per adult and W2,000 per kid over 3 to go into the zoo and it was only W500 to ride the little bus from the main entrance of the Park to the zoo entrance. There are other attractions at the Seoul Grand Park. They have Seoul World and the Children's Zoo & Rose Garden, as well as a few walking trails through the gorgeous mountains. We saw all kinds of animals! They have flamingos, kangaroos, elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, rhinos, ostriches, a Insectarium (which freaked me out, bugs ick!), all sorts of snakes, monkeys, giant anteaters, giraffes, hippos, and a ton of other animals. They split the place up into different animals from around the world. There were a few Africa exhibits, an Asia exhibit, South American exhibit and farming sections, as well as a baby animals part with the most adorable little baby monkeys and last but not least, the marine animals!! We got to go to a dolphin and seal show and sit REALLY close. We had a great time! The kids loved it. The only down parts of the day were the bees that LOVED Tiffanie and chased her everywhere and the blisters on my feet from all the walking.

Riley's first day of Sure Start

Today was Riley's first days of Sure Start, which is the same thing as Head Start back in the the states. Since we are overseas they are completely funded by the Federal Government, rather than a state like Head Start is. The kids have to be 4 to enroll and they go to school the same days as the Elementary School kids. Its housed within the Osan American Elementary School. Riley had to be there between 7:45 and 8:00. School started at 8:05. She finishes before the rest of the school though, at 1:45pm, so they use a back entrance for picking the kids up so as not to bother the other kids that are still in class. I took her today and I will take her again tomorrow, but on Monday she will start riding the school bus. She's thrilled at the idea of riding the bus... me.... not so much. I think that makes it feel like my little girl really is growing up. Here are a few more pictures:

Elijah's New Dresser & Lilly's New Bed

I know I said that I would blog about this once we got it all set up and functional... so here goes:

Elijah's new dresser:

Its really nice to have a real dresser for him. We were using a few of the plastic drawer tubs before and they seem to work, but they are small and hard to organize... the new dresser is just great! It has nice solid drawers... unlike Riley's set that needs to be replaced because of the bottom of the drawers which want to fall out and drop clothes everywhere. We got it from E-Mart and it only cost W119,000, which is about $100.00. They even delivered it and set it up for use for free! I was impressed, because when we got our table from the BX they only delivered... no setup and it cost us $60 just for the delivery. I'm definitely gonna get more stuff from E-Mart like this, they sold me on the delivery and setup! LOL!

Lilly's new bed:

She LOVES this thing! We got it at the BX for $15 and I think it might be her most favorite thing ever! We usually let her out into the house in the evenings when everyone is home and we got tired of moving her little bed in and out of her veranda, so we got her this one for the living room. I'm pretty sure it's 10X her size, but she lays all over it, so that's all that matters. Such a crazy puppy!