How to turn 4 in style of course.

According to Jane and Ruby:

1. Receive birthday cards and money in the mail from Gma and Gpa Z. the day BEFORE your birthday. Spend all your money immediately, and then enjoy a dish of ice cream. This gets you in the mood for a good party the next day, on your real birthday.

2. The decorations. No regular streamers will do for these girls. Have your mom stay up WAY too late crafting fabric streamers. Much more stylish.

3. Start the party EARLY. Gives you another chance to model your sleepwear before you get dressed for the day. All early morning styles acceptable at the 7am party. No shirts required.

4. Smile and stretch simultaneously. We always wanted Mermaid Barbie, but boy is it ever early. (p.s. Thank your mom for your crown, it will come in handy all day long.)

5. Get dressed in new birthday outfits (thank your mom again that they are NOT handmade. Sometimes a good outfit from the mall is perfect.), and head out for your lunch date with dad.



6. Lunch date. Don't forget your crown, it will be good evidence that it really is your birthday when the waiters come to your table to sing. Relish the moment. This is your day to shine.

7. Don't spill too much on your new clothes. Lunch should be followed up by your first ever manicure at the Beauty Salon:

8. Matching your nails to your outfit should always be your objective when picking out nail polish color:

9. Score yourself a long afternoon playdate. But don't forget to be home in time for cake decorating and an evening dinner party.

10. Save a few presents to open after dinner. You want to feel the full impact of a day long party!

P.S. How did Grandma Lark know that we were dreaming of having these princesses that come with a prince AND a horse?! She must be a genius.

11. Never forget to say Thank You!! Everyone was so kind and generous all day long. You got so many amazing packages in the mail.

12. Go to sleep with a grin on your face, dreaming about how to turn 5 in style...

Happy Birthday to the Ladies.

They are four today, and oh boy am I feeling nostalgic...




Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Lazy Days Skirt.

Leaves you feeling neither lazy, nor dazed.

This skirt was started at 10:15 pm, and was finished at exactly 11:07 pm (I'm a runner, I love to time events). I'm only sorry the ladies aren't available to spin and twirl right at the moment.

Follow this link HERE if you have an hour to spare today. The only change I made was instead of using ribbon, I made a quick piece of bias tape. Had I used ribbon, this might possibly have been the 30-minute skirt.

I wonder who will want to wear it in the morning? All of my creations are not equally loved by both ladies. It's convenient really, but I will also let them do some of their own design, should the Kelly- green polka dot not be to their liking. Too bad shapeless, elastic waistband skirts aren't equally flattering on the 31 year-old figure, else you know what my closet would be full of, right?!

Nighty-night.

**Fashion update**

Jane picked the skirt.
Ruby explained had the polka dots been green, instead of white, then she would have liked it. Instead she insisted it's Jane's skirt, with the wrong colored polka dots and all.

Just in case you were wondering.

Twice as much fun.

Here's one reason why one computer doesn't cut it around here anymore...simultaneous Princess playing. Awesome way to spend an afternoon.

A discovery on the road today.

With a handfuls of sick children throughout this week, running has been at the bottom of the list. But today was Thursday, and everyone was healthy! So I had a morning all to myself. Due to the before mentioned blizzardy conditions, and then the slushy, melted-blizzardy conditions, my running has been mostly indoors as of late. But today the road was calling, and so I obliged. And the running was profound.

Recently I have come across a few articles about the plight of the young mother (or the mothers of young children), centering around the age old dilemma which we all supposedly encounter of wondering if we are losing our sense of identity, or being lost and forgotten amidst the travails of the task at hand. And it's not just the young mother who suffers such sensations of being lost, over the years hasn't Oprah been championing the cause for all women to "find themselves", and to put themselves first?

So while I was reading the article I was somewhat tired of the subject. I guess I don't feel all that lost to begin with, and therefore don't really understand what exactly I should be looking for. But one comment by a reader of the article particularly perplexed me. It said something along the lines of, "like many young mothers, I have taken to the common hobby of running as a form of escapism..." and then her comment continued on, to which point I do not remember. But that one line never really left me, I guess because it bothered me. I had never really viewed my running as a form of escapism. While I run, I maybe am literally escaping from my house at that particular moment, but I don't think that I had felt like I was wishing to be escaped from all that was in my house. And while the title of running is a nice one to have, I don't think it was ever my intention to possess it. Running was something I had simply found along the way. It is something I do for now. But I realize I may not always do it, and therefore would hate to tie too much of my sense of identity to simply one aspect of my life.

Rather for me I have viewed the running not as an escape, but as my strength training. God in all of his great wisdom decided eons ago to make me a Woman. And in so doing made me inevitably soft and sensitive. A nurturer. A burden lifter. A listener (okay, and a talker, I don't deny it). A multi-tasker. Someone who naturally thinks of others, often before herself. Those are things that women naturally do. And when I decided to become a mother, all of those innate traits suddenly had the most profound way of being implemented. But to do all of those things 24 hours a day, 7 days of a week is never going to be easy. And it requires strength. And therefore, I have to strength train.

With every step I take on my run, I am strengthening my muscles to be able to lift more burdens. I am teaching my lungs to breath deeply and efficiently. With that skill, when my kids want to race me from the elevator to the front door for the 400th time since moving here, I can do so easily, and they derive joy out of the game, which in turn makes me happy that they are happy. With the running I gain insight and peace, which translates into patience and love at home. Because someone is always about to cry around here, and my name is usually the first name called to sooth and make better. But I can, and I do. The running teaches me endurance and stamina, because I don't really foresee the day when my skills of wiping tears away will not be needed by someone. To learn to run a little bit further, a little bit faster helps me train for the days which feel never ending and all together too hard. But I know I can finish them. The run always ends eventually. The running is like depositing money into the bank and saving it for a rainy day. The strength is deposited and ready to be called upon when it is needed, because you never know when someone is going to need to be carried instead of being able to walk for themselves.

But to run to escape? How could it be? Every trail that I choose, ever path that I take, every course that I invent, eventually leads me right back to my home. And the metaphor of that never eludes me.

The title that occurred to me today, is that I am His. I belong to Him. And ultimately that is the only title that matters. We all want to have a purpose. We all want to feel like we belong. But in realizing that I am His, I also get to know where I belong, which is basically all I wanted to know in the first place.

That my days are often filled with mundane tasks; That I do not relish the role of sock matcher, or meal planner, or taxi car driver, or master finder; are all true facts. But that I am trying to give my children a very clear and undeniable knowledge that they belong to me, that they are not in the least bit lost, because I am RIGHT HERE, is truly an edified employment. Until they are old enough to know and understand for themselves that they too are His, I need to make sure that they know that they are mine, and that I give to them that same warm and satisfying feeling of belonging, just as I receive from my Father in Heaven. That is my journey. That is my job. That is my title. And I hope that it is enough.

And that's what I discovered on the road today.

Baby love.

There are no more babies in this house. But these little shoes almost make me wish that there were....(just kidding Darin!)

Or maybe I just wish to have a house full of adorable baby shoes... This tutorial has been bookmarked for far too long. When I saw my sister-in-law Valeria making some, I decided it was time to try some for myself. Nothing is perfect the first time around, but these are slightly heart breaking, are they not?!

Is it okay that I hope that a little piece of Heaven is full of buttons? I thoroughly enjoyed my day off on Super Bowl Monday. Thank you so much Darin.

I meant to update my blog on Wednesday...

Now it's Sunday. It's hard to think of where the time has been spent. Somethings about Wednesday I won't forget though, like how I won the Disney Princess Wii game for my girls. They got the game for Christmas, and everyday ask if they can play it. Which mostly means someone else has to play it while they watch and pretend to pay it. It's annoying.



But on Wednesday, I really didn't have any excuses. I simply stayed in my pjs and got down to the business of getting that game won. Belle's kingdom remained locked until all other kingdoms were won. And the fancy golden outfits couldn't be selected until you completed all the other chapters. And oh how they wanted those golden outfits! Sometimes I had to laugh at myself as I methodically worked through Snow White's kingdom, winning games right and left, thinking how good I was at video games, then remembering this video game is made for 3 year-olds. Whatever, I got the golden outfits, and unlocked Belle's Kingdom, and my ladies witnessed with their own eyes the credits rolling on the game. So I had them totally convinced that the Wii could be turned off for a good long time!



And with their sense of completion about finishing the game, they went off and happily and quietly played the afternoon away with their more tangible princesses.




Giving me some much desired quiet hours in my sewing room to finally being the Village Frock that at one point had been intended as a Christmas present. It's nearly Valentine's day, right?




Thursday seems to have passed by in a blur. But on Friday I had been telling the girls it would be our big day to go and get hair cuts. You will recall we've had some hair issues over the course of 2008. Mostly Jane has had some hair issues. One full year later she is finally getting a hair cut that is all one length. Progress!




Ruby insisted that she got a hair cut this time too. She's been watching Jane get hair cuts all year long and feeling left out. Little did she know she had the most coveted hair-do of all, the un-cut hair. But a little trim always does a lady good.

Later that night, dinner was off base at The Pizza Club. We are trying to find more places that accommodate large and loud families. Pizza Club will stay on the list! And after dinner we splurged and took all the children to our favorite video store and let everyone pick something out (each movie sets us back a whopping $3). The favorite pick of the night was by far for George, who has been waiting since before Christmas for a DVD quality copy of High School Musical 3. Thanks to his iPod, he can now sing every single word, to every single song, right along with the movie. Watching George sing along made that movie 110% better. He's got a groove.

Saturday was spent in a whirlwind of basketball games, a primary activity, and enjoying the random 50 degree weather.

But when Sunday morning rolled around, George was feverish and sore throaty. As a result, the majority of us are having to miss church today. Ruby didn't let that stand in the way of modeling the finally finished Village Frock. The "standing still" pose was not making her happy, but the authorized twirling pose made her smile. I'm smiling that somethings really do get finished around here (other than Wii games).

A blizzard.

We are sitting in the middle of a blizzard, Korean style.

The roads are closed and we're snowed in!

More pictures of angels to follow.

A full report.

The first photo in my January 2009 photo album is of this:



These are the colors and the patterns that are the things of my January dreams. It's the source of my inspiration this month. I have no idea what it will all come to, but I could look at this particular pallet all day long. It's all fabric designed by Anna Maria Horner.

And for Christmas, Darin gifted me with her book. It's like the gift that keeps on giving to both of us. Chapter ONE was on how to organize your space, it caused me to do some serious introspection about my sewing space.




And to Darin's total delight inspired me to change it into this:

And after accomplishing such a feat, I was inspired to attempt my first project from her book, the Taxi Tote:





And yes, in Korea's ever vigilant attempt to win me over, one gloomy day at Happy Quilt, there I spotted an actual bolt of Anna Maria fabric. I'm continuing to contemplate buying the whole bolt. My line of thinking goes something like this; If I show the universe that I love it, by buying the whole bolt, more Anna Maria bolts will magically appear. Do you think I'm onto something?! Anyway, the Taxi Tote has come with me to church two Sundays in a row, and that's saying a lot for a tote bag of mine. Me and my totes are usually fair weather friends.

So I continued to sew in January...

Re-attempting the piped pillow tutorial with much greater success and less stress the second time around. Loved the seagull fabric from the Alexander Henry 2008 collection which is also starting to magically appear in Korea!


My second favorite fabric of 2009 the black, white and red ballerina print by Michael Miller. In a peasant dress by Anna Maria.


And another tiered skirt with a flower top. More springy, because winter can't last forever right?

Did you know out of our base in Korea there are flights that go to Hawaii? January is a bit of a rough month around here. Frequently as Darin heads out the door to work, I tell him, "If I'm not here when you get home, I probably went to Hawaii."

He replies back, "Oh yeah, what about the boys going to school?"

And I reply back, "Hmm?" (Like I didn't hear what he said. It's a funny joke every time I do it.)

But someday, and maybe sooner rather than later, I think I really will try to go to Hawaii. More to come on that in the future.

And in answer to the question, "Do you get the US holidays off in Korea?", let me just say that "Yes, we do. And we also get the Korea holidays off as well. Lots of great days off!"

So to celebrate MLK jr. Day, we went sledding. No, there is no snow here in Korea right now, but this sledding hill makes just enough to give us hours of good family fun:

And tomorrow will be the boys last day of school this week due to the Korean New Year celebration. It's one of those weekends when they advise that you not try to travel. So the question remains, what should we do? Hawaii maybe? (J/K Darin!)

And finally a package in the mail from Liz today! That always makes for a great day. The girls were hoping it was full of Barbies and Princess toys. Too bad it wasn't. In an attempt to make them forget that it was not full of toys, I let them spread the felt squares all around the living room....



And then to draw the activity out I told them to find items around the house that matched up with the color of square.



Little did I know that they have just enough of their father in them to make a simple game turn into a bit of a nightmare as Jane could NOT let well enough alone. Every square HAD to have items in an exact matching shade of the color square. Talk about kill joy. I was just trying to distract them, but then I had to fully engage to help them accomplish the task at hand, which wasn't a task at all, but just a game. Those Earnests are all the same, a bunch of perfectionist!! But in the end, each square had a matching item or four. And I now have a WHOLE lot of things to clean up. But, the girls loved it and are still out there playing with it right now. And Jane has requested that we leave it that way forever.

And yes, we push the grocery cart into our house to unload the groceries and packages. Ah, the joys of living in an apartment building!

In all seriousness, the felt squares will most likely be used to craft up some sort of birthday banner for the month of February. We have half of our birthdays during two days of February. So that definitely is giving us something to look forward to next month (other than going to Hawaii).

And with that, I'll wrap up our full report of the month of January so far.