Wordless Wednesday

Thanks!

Isn't it great to be related to super talented people?! I love the header Alyssa. Thanks for the creation.

xo-Annee

Good bye 2008.

We decided to celebrate the New Year with the East Coast (of the USA). So that meant at 2pm on January 1st ( Korea time) we sat down to watch the apple drop in Time Square.

It was the perfect plan. At 2:05pm on New Years Day, I totally had enough energy to make the Wiley's cheese fondue recipe and hang out with the kids all afternoon long. As opposed to 12:05am on Jan. 1st (Korea time), when I was fast asleep in my bed.

So out with the old, and in with the new, is the motto for 2009. Maybe. I hope 2009 will be full of optimism. Less complaining about living in Korea (Darin is pessimistic about this resolution). More consistent blogging. For Christmas Darin made me a Blog Book with all the blog entries up until October 2008 and it is now my most valuable possession. It's a beautiful family record which makes me appreciate anew the act of blogging. We haven't had such a consistent family record in the 10-years of our marriage.



Also, I hope 2009 will be full of fewer tantrums over what to wear. Seriously. Maybe I'll call it the year of "reigning in the drama". (You don't suppose there is any hope of that really, do you?!) With two girls the exact same age, I realize the next fifteen years (maybe 1000 years) of my life are going to be tumultuous at best. But somehow I feel that at age 3, and at 9 o'clock in the morning, I shouldn't have TWO girls who have melted onto the floor crying about what to wear that day. Right?



I have this awesome video to give you a glimpse of what I'm talking about. It's a few weeks old, that's how long I've been trying to get it uploaded. Ruby in particular had been crying about what to wear. My patience was wearing very thin, since it was so early in the morning (not my strongest time of the day). So instead of totally freaking out on her, I decided to pull out the video camera and see how long it would take her to notice that her tantrum was being filmed. I think I captured one and a half minutes of pure girl drama before she realized a camera was involved. Any day that the girls get dressed without a protest, I utter a silent prayer of thanksgiving. If perhaps this refiners fire is about me not showing enough gratitude, I'm working on that angle.


(The outfit settled upon AFTER the 15 minute crying tantrum.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! It's going to be good, I can feel it in my bones.

On Monday we went to Lotte World.

Lotte World claims to be the largest indoor amusement park in the world. On Monday, we went to check that out. It's probably true. We discovered a few other great things about Lotte World while we were there...

It also has an outdoor section with a castle, thus giving it added appeal to our own Fair Maidens who love a good castle themed park.

But then when it got too cold outside, we could simply cross back over the bridge and find a plethora of fun rides to go on, inside. It was a very handy feature on a cold and drizzly day in December.

Additionally, Lotte World is attached to a mall. A fancy mall. That added a plethora of attractions for the mom. And a lovely "American" food court. We decided in order to please everyone we'd play it safe with Pizza Hut. But then to make things crazy, we ordered the pizza topped with french fries and mayo, a la American?


And then for added intrigue while we were eating our french fry topped pizza we spied a table full of girls wearing Gymboree uniforms! I nearly leaped up from my chair and ran over to become best friends with them. But then, I realized that they were part of the Gymobree "Play and Music" franchise. So, I am still in search of Gymboree in Korea. June was the last time I got to walk into a Gymboree. It's still a little hard for me to talk about.

After lunch it started to rain outside, thus making the lines inside EXTRA long. So then we talked the children into following the sings inside Lotte World to the "Korean Folk Museum". There are no rides in this section of Lotte World so as you can imagine the crowds were much thinner, but you can...

...view miniature exhibits of Korean folk life.

...sit down on a chair for a coloring station.

...and view traditional Korean costumes.

When we could detain the children no longer in the Korean Folk Museum we braved the crowds once again in the "amusement" part of the Lotte World. (Perhaps they count the Korean Folk Museum as part of their overall square footage in their "world's largest indoor amusement park" claim. Our children might disagree with that computation.)

Once back inside Lotte Adventure, Henry convinced us that the now 60 minute wait for the "Splash Mountain" ride was reasonable, since it had been a 100 minute wait earlier.

George lost his first front tooth.
(The second one fell out a day later while swimming, making him a very rich toothless 7-year-old.)

And Jane got accosted by the Korean Paparazzi, and performed like a champ.

She had the whole crowd smiling at the end of her photo shoot. Thanks to Jane for being our sweet blond American Ambassador. Ruby, not so friendly to the strangers with cameras in hand...




And after nine hours of fun at Lotte World Theme Park, it's really amazing that we were still smiling.



P.S. Thanks to the parking lot attendant who stayed late enough to move the double parked car behind us (you can double park in Korea, as long as you leave your car in neutral). We really needed his services after totally shutting that place down!

Christmas in 3 parts.

Part 1: Christmas Eve.


The requisit opening of new Christmas pajamas...(only after the more important reading of the Christmas story while eating ice cream sundaes)




The painfully required photo of all the children sitting still which is next to impossible, getting four children to sit still on Christmas Eve. I believe this was the 24th attempt.




One last bedtime story, in our new pajamas, to try to get everyone to calm down.

Part 2: Christmas Day.

Part 3: The Day after Christmas.






In the morning we were treated to ebelskivers thanks to Darin's new William-Sonoma ebelskiver pan. They were the most delicious ebelskivers one has ever tasted. Especially with a Hershey kiss melted into the center. Consider trying some yourself.







More lego building (thanks for letting us borrow your table since Thanksgiving Stephensens!).





More nap taking and doll house playing.









But finally after nearly 48 hours of being inside our house, we decided an outing was in order. To the restaurant affectionately refered to as "3500" because that is the price of the meal there.

More fun than trying to guess what this food was, was listening to all of the various offers people were making to one another if someone, anyone, would take a taste. In the end, the plate was left untouched. We are simply not that curious.

We had a lovely Christmas. And in case a Christmas card never materializes this year we hope the light of Christ touches your home throughout this new year!

Merry Christmas, from the Earnests in Korea.

He's 7!!

George turned 7 on Friday. His smile is infectious. His zest for life is impressive. His sense of imagination and creativity make me proud. His pace is unbeatable. He wakes up happy and ready for action. He's everyone's favorite person at school. He LOVES babies (and they love him back). He is a deep thinker. He is good to the core. He is sensitive to other people's feelings. He is sensitive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He wants to be good and smart. He wants to be loved and seen. He is generous and kind. And he makes each one of my days more interesting and rewarding.




I love my George. What a gift that I've had him in my life for all of seven years now. As was said during the dinner prayer on his birthday, "Please help us have another great year of GEORGE."





Love,
MOM.