Korea in the Spring: Scene 1

Korea is enchanting in the spring. The days are warm, the nights are cool and nature seems to whisper of the centuries gone by.

Scene 1: Changdeokgung Palace. The palace was constructed in 1405, destroyed by fire during the Japanese invasion of 1592 and then restored in 1610. The Palace which includes a "secret garden" was included on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List in 1997 for its outstanding architecture and a design that is in harmony with the lanscape.

I'm Just Going to Bite My Tongue

Saturday afternoon James was running here and skipping there and then he made a B-line trot for the stairs, and smack! He tripped. His tongue just so happened to be out of his mouth and he swears it caught on the stairs. The only logical explanation we can come up with is that he bit his tongue. And he bit it hard. Blood was dripping out of his mouth and he was really upset. We took him to the emergency room and the oral surgeon had to put four stitches in.

Since then, I have wondered, "Is it possible to trip on your tongue?"

I Want To Hold Your Hand

Just For the Record

The other day James said to me, out of the blue, "Mom, I am going to serve my mission in the Philippines.

A Celebration

A Celebration of Daniel Mark
On April 5th Daniel was given a name and a blessing in our church. Grandma Gina and Papa came all the way from Utah to celebrate little Daniel with us. It was so nice to have them here. The day was sunny and bright and I will remember it as a peaceful and happy spring day. We missed Papa and Nana who were not able to make the long trip. In an attempt to bring my parents along for the day, I asked my mom what she would serve as food at our celebration dinner. I took down the recipes and made them with her in mind. Sure enough, I felt as though my parents were nearby with every mouthful. I guess that's what is meant by "comfort food".

The Bean Bag Song

For James' birthday party we danced to The Bean Bag Song with bean bags that Grandma Gina made with a little bit of help from Anna, Miri, and Gracie. I learned about this song at the Skokie Public Library's storytime for preschoolers. The song is by Hap Palmer and I think it's fun. If you have a preschooler, give them a beanbag and turn on the song. It could entertain them for a while. It's worth a try.

Tradition

In keeping with tradition, for James 5th birthday we had a party. My small apartment seemed even smaller with seventeen little children in it. For me it was two hours of total chaos. After everyone left, I couldn't help but say out loud, "what was that?" No one could answer me.

April Fool's

On the night of March 31st, while my children were asleep, I wrote on their faces with an eyeliner pencil. We had a few laughs the next morning, but in the end Margaret said, "I don't like my beard".

Harriet Tubman

Anna's second grade biography project was on Harriet Tubman (congrats to Ashely who won the contest.)

I have a deep respect for Harriet Tubman. She faced many obstacles in her life. She was a nineteenth century black woman with a significant chronic illness, but she didn't let that stop her from finding freedom for herself and hundreds of other slaves. Hooray for Harriet and the American Spirit she possessed against all odds.

5 A Day

Last year my friend and her two year old would drink spinach smoothies almost everyday. "Yikes!", I thought, "that is really gross". Then after talking to my sister-in-law (who drinks green drinks everyday) I decided to try it. Today our smoothie had: two heads of Romain lettuce, two stalks of celery, two cups of frozen strawberries, one cup of frozen blueberries, one cup of fresh pineapple, one banana and one cup of soy milk. I thought it was really good. How do my children like it? Well, it's really hit or miss. Some days they drink the whole cup and on other days I drink the whole blenderfull by myself. Like the day I put broccoli in it...

Guess Who

For Anna's biography project she dressed up as what famous American woman? The first person to guess correctly wins an authentic Korean souvenir.