Thursday, September 9, 2010

Ella's 1st Day of Kindergarten!

I tried posting this last week, but right before I pressed "publish post" all of the pictures were erased and now they look like this. No more pictures, but a whole bunch of computer gibberish!! I'm still trying to fix it, but at least you can read about her first day for now! Sorry!!





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Here she is! My beautiful Ella on her first day of Kindergarten! I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast! The night before her first day, Ella set our her outfit, we packed her lunch with some of her favorite things (a "Meat Sandwich" (ham, cheese, mayo, mustard, lettuce, and tomato), fruit snacks, cheese crackers, some marshmallows, and a CapriSun). Then, we had our nightly scripture study, read a few bedtime stories, said family prayer, and Daddy gave Ella and Avery a special Father's blessing.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early and got all ready to go! I think the picture above is my favorite from that morning! Ella is sitting outside of our complex as we waited for our Taxi. She looks so grown up!



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Behind Avery's cute little self, you can see Ella while she waited in line to walk in to her classroom. This is what they do every morning before school starts.

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Ella wanted to be the photographer, so she took a picture of her Tinkerbell backpack. It's bright and glittery, which is perfect fit for her!

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Here she is after her first day! A little raggedy, but happy!


The next few pictures are of Ella's classroom.

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Ella loves to paint, so she was really happy to see this painting cart!

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This picture is super blurry (which obviously means that I was not the photographer!), but here is the Pledge of Aliegance.


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And finally, a shot of her playground!

Ella loves school but has one complaint...it's too long! The Kindergarten here in Korea is a full day, from 8am until 2:30pm. It will definitely take some time to get used to our new routine! I secretly think she's gone too long, too! I miss her terribly while she is away, and I know Avery does too! A part of me wishes she didn't have to go to school, and I could just keep her home forever! But I know she is where she needs to be!

Her teacher has told me several times how well behaved Ella is. She was the ONLY student in her class to go up to the "Blue" phase (that means she's a step above good behavior). I am so proud of her, and I know she is going to have a great year!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Our First Day of Adventures!

We spent our first day in Korea trying to catch-up on some much needed sleep!
By the second day the girls were itching to get out and have some fun! There was a "Grand Re-Opening" of the PX (similar to Kmart) here at Camp Casey, so of course we came by to take part in all of the festivities! The girl's got to meet Clifford the Big Red Dog...



And Avery just hid from him behind our basket! She stayed as far away from Clifford as she
possibly could!

Next, we met a multi-talented clown on stilts, that also made balloon animals! Here is Ella with her corsage!


And of course, Avery got a "Poodle Puppy!" That darn poodle is still hanging around our apartment, although it is pretty deflated! She dosen't quite understand that it is a balloon, so she thinks it is going to last forever! I still don't understand why she liked this crazy balloon/clown guy but couldn't handle seeing Clifford?! Very strange!



As you can see, we had lots of fun! Overall, I think Day 1 was a success! Don't you?

We Made It!



We're finally here in South Korea after our 16+ hour flight! Safe and still in one piece! I only managed to snap one photo of the whole trip (yes, it was that bad!), and even Ella had a hard time putting on a happy face for me! We were all tired, grumpy, and emotional...but we made it!


Before we left, Auntie Kailey made each of the girls their own activity binder full of coloring pages, cards, stickers, and other fun things to do. They were a lifesaver during the flight! You can see Ella working hard on her binder in this picture...of course she's coloring! We were at the very back of the airplane, right next to the bathrooms. There was a small area where we could stand up and stretch our legs right next to our row. And believe me, we (meaning Avey and mommy)were up and down constantly! Once we got off of the plane, we were VERY happy (and grateful) to have help from another American family that were traveling on our same flight. They helped us with our 9 huge pieces of luggage and all of our carry on baggage. They even helped us find Carlos! We were very happy to see Daddy waiting for us as we passed through customs! Thank you to all of our friends and family who have had us in your thoughts and prayers! We were definitely blessed throughout this first of many adventures!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

We're still here!

I know it's been quite some time since my last post, but we've had a lot going on! Carlos came home for a few weeks after his job training, and then he left to South Korea in early July. We searched and searched for the "perfect" apartment in South Korea, and got Ella enrolled in Kindergarten. We had part of our belongings shipped overseas, and the rest were put in long term storage. My mom and I made a record **5** trips to the fragrant and very scenic Riverside County Dump. I know, I know...you're all jealous! And now we're closing accounts, cancelling phone services, and pack, pack, packing away! We leave bright and early Monday morning, and have only 1 short lay-over in San Francisco! (Hooray!) From there, we have a straight 17 hour flight!

Once we get there, and are some-what settled, I will post LOTS of pictures of our first few days in Korea! So...stay tuned!!

Monday, May 10, 2010

"Mover Avery"


I'm sure a few of you Mom's and Dad's out there have seen the "Imagination Movers" on the Disney Channel.


If not...I'd be happy to introduce you. We have, "Mover Smitty", "Mover Rich", "Mover Dave", and our good friend, "Mover Scott" (the one all the way to the right, with the sweet red goggles).


Now, meet meet the newest member of the group..."Mover Avery".



Pretty amazing likeness, don't you think?


This one is priceless.
Sweet blue goggles and picking her nose. Can't get much better.


And, yes. I am her proud mommy.

Mother's Day

I have THE best husband! For Mother's Day, Carlos surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of fruit from Edible Arrangements. It was delicious! He knows that I would take chocolate dipped strawberries and pineapple over flowers
any day!


This one is for you, Carlos! You can even see a few of the sticks that the girls gobbled down before we could even snap a picture!


I love you, honey! Thanks for making my Mother's Day so special!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Easter

The Easter Bunny made his yearly stop at our house, and the girls had a blast looking for their baskets and searching for eggs!


The Easter Bunny left Ella & Avery a special note with important directions!




After we found our baskets, we searched all over the house for our CANDY easter eggs!


Eggs, eggs, eggs!


Lots of candy and presents!

The only thing missing was Daddy, but he did send us a DVD as an Easter gift! You can never go wrong with a Chipmunk movie (at least in our family)!



Happy Easter!