Snow! Snow! Snow!

It's always newsworthy when we get snow in West Texas! You may remember my post about our Easter snow, well now we are getting snow at Thanksgiving and LOVING it!

Here are some pics of our playtime in the snow!

Mia's 1st Birthday (Tol)!

I can't believe that Mia is already one!?! The first year of your child's life always passes so quickly, but when they've only been with you for six of the twelve months the first birthday comes way too soon.

In Korea a child's first birthday is a very important celebration and is known as Tol. In appreciation and respect of Mia's heritage and her birth and foster families we wanted to put together the best Tol possible. I researched the Internet for information about the Tol celebration, looked at pics of other Tols (held in both Korea and the U.S. and by birth and adoptive families), searched for authentic Korean recipes, purchased Korean ingredients online (I was going for as authentic as possible!), etc.

On the menu was Jap Chae and Bulgogi (two of our favorites), rice, seawood soup, rice cakes, and Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets for the picky eaters. ;o) I love to make our kids' birthday cakes because my mom always did that for us, so I made her cakes and decorated them with sugar cherry blossoms (one of my favorites sights in Korea and also a favorite flower of mine).

Now for some of the Tol traditions.... We did have a Toljabee, which is a little ceremony where the baby predicts his/her future by selecting from a bunch of different items placed in front of him/her. For Mia's Toljabee, we placed some Korean money (wealth), a book (scholar), ruler (talented with their hands), play knife (good cook), and a thread (long life). Mia chose the money and the thread...not too bad. We also served Mia a bowl of Seawood Soup to honor her birthmother and foster mother...this was very special. Mia and I both wore Hanboks...Mia's was given to her by her birth family and Rusty and I purchased mine at the Namdaemun Market in Seoul. For fun, we gave everyone a quick lesson in how to sing Happy Birthday in Korean, so everyone did their best and sang to Mia in Korean. :o)

The food was great, the friends and family were a blessing, it was a wonderful celebration and I hope it would make her birth and foster families proud. I'm including some pictures of Mia's birthday and will add another post with additional pics...I maxed out this post. :o)

More Pics of Mia's Tol

Even More Pics of Mia's Tol (this is it...I promise!)

It's been too long...

It's been too long since I posted last, my apologies. I guess being a mom to two is keeping me pretty busy! :O) No laughing for those of you with more kids than that...I'm learning. ;o) Anyway, Mia is 11 months old now. She has eight teeth, has taken eight steps at one time, cruises EVERYWHERE, and is going to be one on November 9th. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

Here are some pictures of our little Red Raiders!
Enjoy!

Mia's 8 months old today!

Today is Mia's 8 month birthday! She started crawling about a week ago and has definately mastered the skill now. She's trying to pull up on furniture around the house but thankfully hasn't mastered that yet. :o)

She has two top teeth coming in...she is going to look SO different with top teeth!?! Mia is eating lots of different foods...there is nothing that she doesn't like...she fits right in around here. She is also saying "mama" which I think is WONDERFUL, of course!

Below are some pictures of her crawling around the house and the last picture shows Mia following Huston around on his tricycle.

We'll post again soon!

Happy 4th of July!

Huston & Mia want to wish you a Happy 4th of July!


Family pic of us after the Children's Parade in downtown Midland


Rusty, Huston, Mia & Uncle Sam during the parade (how do you like my backdrop? it's not very scenic in downtown Midland) ;o)


Mia's all dressed up and ready to celebrate her 1st 4th of July!