Day 2

No internet

Can't Sleep

Both boys have periods of not being able to fall asleep. Christian usually comes in and says he's thinking about the 'scary thing' which is one of us dying. Poor guy. I feel badly for him, so we try to help him and did the worry book which he enjoyed. Olin wasn't scared until Halmoni's Korean soaps started to get to him. He came in one night and said he was really worried he was going to go to jail. We asked why. He said on Halmoni's Korean shows, someone went to jail. So we laughed and then didn't think about it. Well, it has been a recurring issue, this jail fear. Then, last week, he had another issue that I can't even remember, that he was scared about and again, it was from Halmoni's Korean shows. He said "I told Halmoni to turn off her Korean shows and she said she would but she never did! And when one show ends she just watches another show right after!"

So...Dae had a talk with her last week. And it worked....when the boys got home yesterday I saw her quickly switch off the TV. And one time I just saw her sitting on the couch, doing absolutely nothing (as usually the TV would be on).

Halmoni gives her all when she cooks and cleans and she clearly also gives her all when she's watching Korean soaps. She can watch SO much tv it's amazing...the funniest part is that a 5 year old is repeatedly asking a 70 year old to turn off the TV!

Olin first day of Kindergarten!

Olin is really excited. He says he's going to be the oldest kid in school and I believe he's right.

Day 3

Listen more, talk less

Christian first day of 3rd Grade!

Day 4

See the positive Side

Day 5

Be helpful to those who need it most

Back-to-School Scavenger Hunt!

Christian was stumped on my age and Olin had to tell him that I am turning 40. Christian also put Baba's age as 40 so he got the answer wrong at first.

Took Olin quite some time to figure out 19-6 but luckily Christian was on hand to give him some gentle guidance!

Dae's two questions for me: "How long did this take you to make?" and "You know Zane is a robot?". Because I have no interest in the kids' shows and never know what is going on. Dae always knows all about the kids' shows. (He probably secretly likes them. hahaha)

The hilarious part of this clue is I don't know the answer. I basically accepted anything he told me and pretended like it was the right answer.

They really loved this Batman Lego movie. They've already watched it twice (from Redbox) so I bought it at Costco today for our upcoming RV trip. They also each got a fruit snack and blow pop.

Day 6

Find Humor in Everyday Situations

Lots of Paper & Cutting

The office is in a state of disarray all the time now. The kids help themselves to white computer paper and scissors and every time I walk in there are always remnants from their various crafts. I don't mind.

Christian made this helmet but it was too small for his head so it fit Olin perfectly. When I came home from work he came and greeted me like this, with his helmet, sword, and this wrist and chest robot panel that he made.

He also made me a birthday gift and wrapped it in Christmas paper, not to be opened until my birthday.

Lazy Saturdays. I am so glad I taught the kids how to change the TV over to Netflix. haha! It's kind of complicated because you actually have to go up to the TV and press various buttons, and then do some remote control functions, but it was totally worth it so they don't have to ask for help every time. Speaking of lazy, we don't have anything planned for this weekend and it's really nice.

Day 7

Reading instead of TV or Netflix

Day 8

Be on time!

Day 9

Random acts of kindness

Day 10

See beauty

Seattle with Richlanders

Seattle with Richlanders came in two parts this past week: Seattle with Alaina and kids overnighter and Seattle with just Kelly overnighter. A great time at both.

Clockwise from lower left: Henry, Christian, Olin, Annie, Claira, eating yogurt and playing Uno Attack

This park on 4th and Pine has cool games

Riding the bus to Theo Chocolate tour. The bus driver gave us a transfer that was good for 3 hours so we spent a total of $2.50 each. Which was great.

Theo chocolate tour was so much fun. The chocolate was really good. I spent $50 on chocolate at their store. :)

Pink Door for dinner. These days I can't go to Seattle without going to Pink Door. haha.

Things that Make Me Happy

Biking with the family on cooler summer nights

The kids using CD's to make a 'light show' in the living room

The fact that every time Olin changes himself he puts on his mustard corduroy pants and Bike Day turtleneck.  And this is in 100 degree temps.

Dae taking the kids golfing.

This does NOT make me happy but I had to blog about my first whisker because it's so gross and so fascinating and I can't believe I didn't notice it until it was this long.

Eclipse 2017

...was absolutely phenomenal!

During the 1 minute 20 seconds of totality, we removed our glasses and the moon appeared navy/black in a navy sky, the temperature dropped by about 15 degrees and most exceptionally all around the moon there was a sliver of the sun's gases (corona) which appeared as a brilliant, white halo around it. Everyone was cheering! It far exceeded my expectations.  It was beautiful, and magical. In this picture, the white corona appears much bigger, but in reality it was just a sliver of sizzling white surrounding the moon. Amazing!!!

Jeff ordered us these limited edition Oregon Parks hats, and Ev brought eclipse-appropriate Lunetta champagne. She also brought Sun Chips.

This was probably 15 minutes or so in to the eclipse

20 or so minutes in to the eclipse

It got noticeably darker and darker. The lighting started to feel like we were at a nighttime football game with fluorescent lights.

I thought eclipse-chasing would be a once in a lifetime experience and it absolutely was. I don't think the kids will ever forget it. Leelee came home and immediately drew a picture of the eclipse at different levels of totality. It was so cute.

After calling and researching 20 or so places, we settled on camping on a 20x20 plot on the football field of Wheeler County High school in Fossil, Oregon. It was me and Ev and our kids for a total of 6 campers. The camping site provided port-a-potties and a gymnasium with access to a sink and showers if needed. They also provided a fundraiser BBQ for dinner and a fundraiser breakfast. It was so much fun. An added bonus: the infamous fossil beds of Fossil, Oregon were about 15 feet above our campsite, so the kids would just run and dig fossils throughout our stay and bring back their loot.

Tiny little Leelee in his bright green shorts digging for fossils.

Our set-up. Quite comfortable. We all fit in the tent. It got quite cold at night. The fossil beds are on the hill at the left of the photo. You can see people digging.

Throwing popcorn, Fujiyama style.

Lots of fossils.

Duck lips with Pringles.

Day 14

Acceptance.

Off to eclipse-chase! See you back on Day 11 :)

Day 15

No comparing

Happy Birth-Dae

Happy 41st Birth-Dae, Babz!!! We love you very much! 

Day 16

Assume and expect the Best

Day 17

Day of eating healthy

Day 18

Patience

Worry & Temper

Ev told me about these books for kids - "What to do when you Worry too much" and "What to do when your Temper flares" (Even the names are absolutely hilarious to me). So basically each of these books is pretty well suited to each of our kids.

They've done them two times. They're kind of like workbooks, and the funny thing is the kids really like them. But the funniest part is when we first introduced the books to them, Olin got kind of mad and didn't want to do it, and we were making fun of the fact that he was getting angry about his angry book. Then about an hour later, Christian admits "mom, I was a little bit worried about my worry book when you told me about it, but now I like it".

Doing the workbook

"doing" the workbook

Serious Pie, and me wearing the most comfortable sweatpants from Zara I have ever owned. I thought Serious Pie was really good, but Leelee wanted pineapple and/or BBQ sauce, neither of which they had. Dae always likes supreme, which they didn't really have. Olin wanted just cheese. I guess I was probably the happiest in the clan about this pizza.

Pizza deliveryman

Have I written about how much the kids love LEGO Ninjago now? Every show they request is Lego Ninjago (on Netflix). Every toy they request is a LEGO Ninjago. They can't wait for the Lego movie to come out (hits theaters September 22). Octonauts is like a very distant memory. These kids.