Gift from Omma and Appa!

Gift from Omma and Appa!

We received a card in the mail from the post office on Thursday that there was a package waiting for us from Rai's Omma and Appa (foster mother and foster father). Friday, we picked up the package on our way out of town, and Rai could hardly wait to get it open. In fact, I let him open it in the card in the post office parking lot. Here are a few pictures:

Cookies! We buy something similar at H-Mart (Korean market), but these cookies are MUCH better!

Clothes! Despite the near 70-degree weather, Rai wanted to wear the jacket for the rest of the afternoon. :-)

And we also received pictures. I have to admit that my eyes watered at the sight of the pictures. We had taken a picture of Omma, Rai, myself, and Aaron at a flower park on the morning we received Rai. Unfortunately, my eyes were closed on the picture taken with my camera, but we have posted it everywhere regardless. Omma's pictures included not only a picture with everyone smiling and eyes open but she also included several pictures with Rai's entire foster family (including a foster brother and foster sister). We also received a beautiful letter. Thank you Omma and Appa!

Not-so-great haircut

For nearly 6 months after Rai came home, we tried to cut his hair ourselves. Both of us tried not to make any drastic mistakes, but Rai moved a lot during the process. The result: mini-haircuts in stages. Finally, I talked Aaron into letting Rai get a haircut at Great Clips after one of Aaron's haircuts. Rai did great and the hair cut was MUCH better than we could have done! I really should have written down the name of the stylist (or hair-cutter) because we went back to the same Great Clips last Friday and Rai's haircut wasn't so great. It's shorter though, so I can't complain. Here are a few before and after pictures:

Before:

After:

This is certainly Rai's favorite part of the haircut, the candy they give you afterwards. :-) His response? I LIKE candy! I LIKE it!

Speaking of sweets, a trick on Mommy...

Rai is generally a great eater. He isn't too picky, and he'll generally clear his plate. In fact, he LOVES green beans, especially with a little butter. Tonight, he cleared his plate (chicken, risotto, and green beans) and asked for four helpings of green beans. I finally just dumped all the leftover green beans on his plate (about two helpings), and he finished every last bit. What happened next? Well, here is a snapshot of the dialogue:

Mommy & Daddy: Rai, you ate like a big boy!

Rai: Ice Cream!

Mommy: Ice Cream?

Rai: Yeah! Ooo-kay! [nodding]

I was tricked. :-)

Snow in Texas (again)

In the over twenty years I have lived in Texas, I can count the number of times I have seen snow on one hand (maybe two at the most). So you can imagine our surprise when we saw snow this Christmas, then the week after, then a crazy 13 inches in February, and once again today! We were in Austin, Texas this weekend and only saw the temperature change from 70-degrees to a chilly 40-degrees in just one day. Today, we arrived home to see this:

Rai had been making snowmen out of playdough this weekend, so he was thrilled to have an opportunity to make a REAL snowman. Despite the excitement though, a few minutes in this chilly weather meant a brief outing to rake the snow and then back inside for some hot apple cider.

Aaron's first post ever

I told MaryAnn a long time ago that I would contribute to this blog from time to time, but have neglected to do that thus far. Recently, I decided this blog might be a good way to practice some Korean, particularly since we found out that Rai's foster mother has been able to read it. I will start trying to translate what I can, so to any Korean-speaking folks reading this, please feel free to comment and correct me. I'm sure I will probably sound ridiculous in Korean, so we should all have a good laugh.

-Aaron

오래 전에 저는 저희 아내한테 이 블로그에 쓴다고 말했어요. 하지만 지금까지 안 썼어요. 하국어를 연습 하는 걸 원해서 지금 시작해요. 제가 실수하면 비평을 주세요.

아론 (이나면 애런? 어떻게 한국어로 "Aaron" 써요?)

One of a Kind

What do broccoli and bread crust have in common?
Rai likes them! We went to Abuelos (best Mexican food in Plano) while my family was in town this weekend. Rai has recently started talking non-stop and kept saying "Meh-can food! Meh-can food!" all the way there. He certainly loves the rice, quesadillas, and anything with chicken, so I ordered a combo plate with a side of broccoli. (They do have GREAT broccoli, and I wanted to be sure Rai had something healthy.) It turns out that Rai thinks Abuelos has great broccoli, too. In fact, I had to hurry and eat a few big pieces of broccoli before Rai realized there was more. He ate about 10 pieces and decided that was all the "Mexican food" he wanted. :-) And during lunch Sunday, Rai asked for a piece of bread and ate the crust first. Aaron just laughed and said he had never seen a child eat only the crust. He did eat the rest afterwards.







Busy Busy Mommy!
With April just around the corner, I took a moment this weekend to reflect how my life has changed in just under one year. Life has certainly changed at home with the morning rituals of a hyper toddler begging to eat breakfast at 6:30am, "Mommy and Rai Day Outs" to the zoo/museum/DART Rail Station/park/anything outside of the house, a resurgence of movie afternoons thanks to Rai's obsession with popcorn. It has certainly been an endless series of new experiences and adventures! But life at home isn't the only part of my life that has picked up in pace. Work, specifically my classes and research at UT-Dallas, has been more busy than I ever remembered. There are no complaints here, though. I love my work, and I am so fortunate to do what I love.

I often say that I'm looking forward to a less busy month, semester, year, etc., but as the Dalai Lama states:

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."

Who am I kidding? I love this busy life and wouldn't have it any other way.

Airplanes, Omma, and More!

Omma! Appa! :-)
We recently received permission from our agency to contact Rai's foster family (Omma and Appa) directly! Although Omma was worried that we were not allowed to contact one another directly, our agency said that contact with each other is fine after the child arrives in the US as long as both we and Rai's foster family are comfortable with the level of contact. How exciting!

Pictures for Omma and Appa:












Airplane!
My homework assignment from Rai's preschool was to bring a picture of Rai next to a form of transportation (i.e. car, bus, etc.). To show a bit more effort and take Rai somewhere new, we went to a flight museum in Dallas. Rai loved it until he got startled by planes taking off nearby at Love Field. After a few "skury" take-offs, Rai decided he was done. In any case, homework done!

Other Pictures: