Snazzy

Abby is VERY into my Thrift Store finds...I hope it lasts. She gets so excited to see what I have found for her. Brad just LOVES that I'm bringing home all this crap (I'm sure he uses this as a term of endearment). Anyhow, I found some things she has dubbed "awesome." I'm so proud. :) Here is one of my favorite. Just look how it goes with everything. Earlier, she even stripped down & just had it on with her underwear--she's very cutting edge with her fashion! Who would have thought the fuzzy pink vest would be the #1 find, so far!




Bloggy love,

Catching Up

Just some fun photos of the girls...don't want the grandparents to forget what they look like! :)

Daddy 'helping' with the American Girl catalog! :)

Bloggy love,

A Week in the Life

This is my current project. I love the idea of it--it's a snapshot of what you do every day. The exciting stuff, the groundhog day stuff (lots of that here!) & any other types of things that you want to document. Read more about it here. I started it yesterday...I'm doing pretty well on the pictures, but not so much on the writing it all down! Mine might end up being "A Week (and a half!) in the Life" because it will take me 3 days to figure out exactly how I want to do it. It has made me really look at what we do every day & it has been fun. The rest of the week, I am going to focus on the writing a little more. Here are some of the pictures:

Indy, doing what he does!

Breakfast routine (please don't email me about how it is unsafe to have Bekah in the bouncy on the table!) I just took the butcher knife away from her too! JK :)

What's left of Brad's Texas Sheet Cake...Mmmmm

Daddy being silly

Mommy wearing Bekah in the BabyHawk

Lots more where these came from! I took pictures of the elevators, post office box & spiders too! It will be fun to look back on this little book to have the memories of what our typical week looked like in Korea. Abby LOVES her scrapbook, so this should be fun for us to have over the years. Anyhow, I'll try to remember to post pics of the scrapbook when I get it done!

Bloggy love,

HUGE Event

Okay, this is a huge event at OUR house. :) Here is what happened...oh yes, I have an exciting video!

Can you believe it? My baby is now turning over like crazy. By the time she went to bed, she was rolling onto her tummy & back over with no difficulty. Why does this all happen so fast? She was even trying to scoot...rocking back & forth--Daddy said she is going to be mobile soon. She better not start crawling. Mommy is not ready for that yet! :)

Bloggy love,

I want to win one of these...

adorable coffee sweaters! Go & check it out...there is a cute etsy shop too. Clever little idea, if you ask me. :)

Bloggy love,
Brooke

Thrift Store Surprise!

Bekah is the proud new owner of...

Some adorable Chuck Taylor (pink of course) Converse All-Star high tops! :) I have been going to volunteer at the Thrift Store on Mondays...my friend Amanda found these today. Aren't they cute? They had never even been worn! Bekah LOVES a good deal. If I get Abby anything, she puts it on as soon as she sees it--doesn't wait for me to wash it! Oh the excitement...

Off to make my grocery list for Brad's birthday dinner--he wants Skyline Chili, so I have to work my magic, since we're a long way from Ohio. :)

Bloggy love,

Off With My Hair...

Well, I finally got my hair cut short! Whew. It is unbelievably nice...it feels so much better than I thought it would--I just like my hair shorter. The whole ordeal of getting it cut was not good. I just decided that today would be the day--not thinking it through the 'what to do with the kids stage'. Normally, this would not be a problem, but I decided to make my appointment at 3:30...I made this grand decision right before naps. SO, I just took the girls. Okay, you already know where this is going. It was not good. Bekah was 'Bekah Monster' as we lovingly refer to her. She can be one unhappy camper. Abby was great, all things considered (just tense because of Bekah's screaming!!)! She did repeatedly ask for a drink & snacks, but most of the time I couldn't hear her over Bekah. :) All in all, it was stressful (sorry to all the women there!), but SO worth it! My hair was gross & it's hot/humid here. It needed to go. Here it is... (the best part is that you can't see my 'natural silver highlights' because of the lighting in this picture!).

Bloggy love,

Jen Judd Rocks

Jen is a friend of ours that we have stayed in contact with from our good ol' days at Randolph AFB--she knew us before we were Mr. & Mrs. Back when Brad & I were both lieutenants...young love. As usual, I digress. We got to see her and hang out with her a bit when we spent a year in D.C. & it was so good to catch up. ANYWAY, you can find her here. I borrowed this from her profile on her blog: "If you saw me from Monday to Friday, you'd hardly be able to see me since I'm in camouflage...when I get home, though, I break out into my super craft nerd self and make pretty bits!!" She is lots of fun AND she makes beautiful jewelry. Jen made the girls tiny bracelets--they are adorable!

If you are so inclined, here is the info she sent us about her jewelry & a contest she is in:

Hi all -

Life is good in jewelry land! I'll be showing in two shows coming up in the next few months:

The first one is back in my hometown, Bedford, PA, at the Fall Foliage Festival on 11-12 October and the second is the Del Ray Artisan's Holiday Market in Alexandria, VA, on 4-5 December. Wish me luck...or even better come out and buy something!

Additionally, in business news...I'm going to be opening up my on-line storefront at the beginning of November at www.jenjuddrocks.etsy.com. If you haven't ever been to etsy, it's a marketplace for hand-made goods. I actually shop there quite a bit for art beads from all over the place!

Thanks again for the love and support...now click the link below and vote! And, if you want something special for the holidays....let me know now so I can come up with the perfect gift!!

It's another challenge with another opportunity for you to see more of the jewelry-making world and of my little bit of it!

The Stringing Magazine Winter Challenge is "Black & White." And there are 97 wonderful pieces on display in the on-line gallery. HOWEVER, #37 is by far the coolest as it came from the hands of yours truly.

This is a piece that I started on some wire techniques with. I used some of my Hawaiian bead stash along with a funky piece of quartz for this pretty, imbalanced look.

I hope you enjoy checking out all the pieces in the gallery, but I also hope you'll take a second and put your vote in!! Thanks to all of you for help in my tie for first place during the Summer Challenge. My Cinderella baubles were all the rage. :)

Luvs,

Jen

Bloggy love,

I Passed My Test

This development would be more exciting if I had actually received my Korean driver's license today. I must wait a week! Crazy. I passed my test & now I have to wait. Can you tell I have great patience? Brad looked at me like I was kooky for thinking they would just hand me the license (in my defense, it's piece of paper--not even a laminated one!). The funny thing is that I am still a little apprehensive about driving off base...it's just the principle of it all. I want it now. I can stomp my feet just like my 3 year old--where do you think she learned it? :)

Bloggy love,

Our First Trip to Seoul

What a fun girls' day out! There were 3 mommies & 4 little girls! :) We went to two places I have been wanting to go to very badly. First. we went to Dongdaemun. Oh my...where to start. It was wonderful & overwhelming at the same time. You definitely need a plan or you won't be able to stop drooling & pick anything out. It is a HUGE 5-story building with everything you can imagine as far as crafty items go....fabrics, notions, yarn, beads, etc. It was wonderful & I can't wait to go back--with a plan! :) Here are some pictures:

Dongdaemun from the outside...

Rows & rows and floors & floors of goodies...

Gorgeous curtains that I looked at for Abby

Here we are shopping

On the way back to the car...look at all the motorcycles/scooters!

Bekah's 1st big girl high chair experience

Drum roll...

It's the flower market! We were in a hurry, so this is the best picture I got. Oh my goodness!! This place is so wonderful...I'm going to be addicted. I got a bunch of lilies (that are smelling yummy today!) for 4,ooo won (less than $4), so I was happy. I also got Abby a bunch of pink roses & her very own vase for her room. It's cute. Can't wait to go back...it's not that far away, so look out! I should have my license on Wednesday, so I'll try to get brave & venture out! :)

Bloggy love,

Abby in Charge

On most weekend mornings (and on a lot of holidays), Brad is kind enough to let me sleep in (which is about 7:30 or 8!). I think he feels sorry for me that Bekah is not a good sleeper. I will take his pity. For those of you that don't know me well, I am not a morning person. That is pretty much an understatement. ANYWAY, I was laying in bed this morning and I heard Brad tell Abby he had to go to the bathroom, so he was going to put Bekah on the floor. Abby said, "no Daddy, I can hold her." Hmmmm. No, he won't leave our 3 year old on the couch holding our 5 month old, right? Then Abby proceeds to say, "I can handle it, Daddy. I can handle it." Well okay then, she must be able to, right? I quickly get out of bed & head into the living room...this is what I find:
Notice I'm obviously not too worried about it, right?

Bloggy love,

Funny Girl...

Update on our Hometown Greeting post, which you can find here. Abby has been conducting her very own Hometown Holiday Greetings with Alea. Here is a video that she graciously let me film--for those not aware, Abby isn't fond of having her picture taken or of being filmed. Anyhow, this is good for a laugh:

The best part is that Abby then tells Alea, "you did such a good job, I'm SO proud of you." Drama Queen. Just when you think they aren't paying attention... :)

Bloggy love,

They Killed My Rabbit

My poor, poor bunny rabbit. He was so cute. Somehow, the movers managed to puncture him in his side. Luckily, he had a tag on his back...he comes from the land of www.stonebunny.com. The weird thing is, I had no idea he was made out of stone. Or that he was hollow. I am ordering a new one tonight. I guess I should order the piece of the crib they broke too! Probably isn't a very motherly think to order my cute bunny before the crib part. In my defense, I have tried to order the crib piece, but when I called, their computers were down (and Bekah doesn't really mind her pack n play)! :) Here's the sad bunny:



In other news, things are really starting to get busy around here. It's a different kind of busy than usual. This year, I am just involved in activities as a participant (with the exception of one thing!), so it feels a little weird. I am so exhausted with Bekah getting up in the middle of the night again, that it's probably a good thing. We started Bible study & MOPS this week...I also volunteered at the Thrift Store. It's been fun, but a bit tiring with poor Bekah. She needs her morning nap in a quiet place. That means she has been torturing the nursery workers. If you don't mind carrying her everywhere, it's not a problem! I'm just praying I get her on a schedule of some sort soon. Poor #2 is tortured in ways #1 never had to experience!

Getting ready to buy my dad, mom & brother's tickets to come visit us in December. Very exciting! Abby asked when they would be coming, and I explained it would be a little over 3 months. She told me that she thought 3 months was too long from now! It's not easy going from seeing your Papaw & Grandma practically every weekend to 2 times a year! We're just happy we're going to have visitors.

Gotta go exercise, read my Bible study & unpack boxes until Brad gets home from work. He's been working like crazy. We hope to go on a date soon--maybe on this 3-day weekend (it's Korean Thanksgiving)! :) I hope Bekah doesn't scare all the babysitters off...

I will do my best to take photos of more things around base & off base, so you can get an idea of what it is like here. My camera doesn't always make it into my bag. I'm taking a little trip tomorrow, so I'll try to remember to snap some shots then!

Bloggy love,

Proof that we REALLY live in Korea...

FINALLY! Okay, here's what you have all been waiting for...actual pictures of Korea! I went to the Open Market in the town right off base today with my friend Amanda & her boys. It was so much fun--plus, we got a huge load of fruits & veggies for about 11,000won (around $10). Here we are posing in front of the fish. Yep, they just have fish & various other things that we normally refrigerate sitting out on tables! The girls were great! Bekah barely made a peep. You can't tell too well in the pictures, but there is not much room to maneuver--tons of people. Navigating the market wasn't too bad. Most of the time they had signs up on the tables to tell you how much things cost. There were some really good deals. Amanda made some deals when she wasn't even trying--sometimes the language barrier works in our favor! The only thing on my list I didn't get...peaches. Next time, I'll tackle that one. Here's a look at our deals:

Oh wait...those are the bugs. :)

Here you go:

Isn't it all beautiful?? Very colorful & it's delicious, so far! I'll report on the quality of the corn later...

Bloggy love,

Hometown Holiday Greeting Fun!

Our little family walked over to be filmed for one of those Hometown Holiday Greetings that they play in the states over the holidays...just thought it would be fun to say "hi" to our loved ones back home & that way, they could see the girls. It seemed simple enough. Well, Abby started in on how she wasn't going to look at the camera & talk--on & on she went. She wanted me to hold her; she didn't want me to hold Bekah. Brad wasn't too keen on the idea to begin with, so I'm sure he was enjoying it all because HE had to hold her. Abby was true to her word; she would not say "Merry Christmas" or "I miss you" or anything that we bribed her to say. Yes, we bribed, and she did not fulfill her end of the bargain. After we were done, the first thing she asked was what her special treat was going to be. I told her that she has to do what we ask her to do for the special treat, and since she didn't, she wouldn't get the treat. Take out some paper...these are some parenting skills you don't want to miss. Anyway, on the walk home, Abby says to me, "Mommy, if you would have held me, I would have said whatever you asked me to say." Nice. See, she IS learning something. Here is a video of what transpired after we got home:

Daddy thought that last part was especially funny!

Bloggy love,

Bekah's New Hat

Pictures do not really do this justice! It could just be MY pictures though. :) We went out to grab a bite in between unpacking boxes & when we got home, Abby placed this on Bekah's head (I believe it's an American Girl hat--Auntie Sar, Hannah??). I about fell off of the chair I was laughing so hard! :) Abby is so funny...the stuff she comes up with! Bekah was a good sport...


So, just in case the picture isn't enough, here is a video:

Bloggy love,

Indy Dog & the Movers

Here he waits. That dog whined the entire time the movers were here. He is not handling the chaos very well...apparently, he is a neat & orderly dog. For some reason, he is very tense...me too, but I have wine. He did get a half of a cheesy burrito from Abby earlier, so I think he's stress eating!



Bloggy love,