One last session before we leave Korea

I had the pleasure of photographing this little beauty last weekend.  It should be my last session (unless a certain mama wants newborn photos:).  Enjoy!

When your style changes...

I did a newborn session for this family back in December. 

Well, when I got an email from them today, I went back over their photos, and realized that my style had changed.  When I shot their session, I was thinking along the lines of posed newborn shots.  I recently have changed my view more towards lifestyle photography, finding it much more enjoyable.  So when I found this gem.. I had to edit it for them.  It exudes that newborn peacefulness. :)

This blog post has really inspired me.  I have been wanting to define on paper what it is that I want my children to learn, and be and do.. and its all written here, just like I've pictured, but haven't been able to say. Please go and be encouraged! :)


http://time-warp-wife.blogspot.com/2012/02/three-of-most-important-words-parent.html

A few pictures from a recent trip

As I was finishing up editing a birthday session, I decided to jump back and do a few of my own pics.  These are from our marriage retreat weekend- we went to see N. Seoul Tower.  Here are a few of my favorites. :D

The skyline from Seoul Tower

The temple atop the mountain

The bear museum that describes Korea's history, past and present

Wishful thinking

Locks of Love area- there are hundreds of thousands of locks on this mountain!  The legend is that if you and your love leave an inscribed lock on Seoul Tower,  you will have a long and happy love life and your dreams will come true.  :)

Really big heart.

What a thrill!! :D

I just clicked through a random email from I Heart Faces, and noticed that my photo of Gyungbokgung Palace was a Featured Photo for the Letter L Challenge last week!!  :D

http://www.iheartfaces.com/2012/02/alphabet-challenge-l-photos/

Mine is the only one under Leading Lines.

What a thrill!  :P  I was totally shocked when my photo popped up. 

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning

Whew!  This last week flew past, and its already the middle of February!  I know that as I try to cram as many activities in as possible, the time will go even faster.  So far, I have a trip to Dongdaemun planned (need to get the last few craft supplies before our movers come), a sleepover at our house this coming weekends, watching a friends kids the next (payback for both friends watching mine for my CDC observations), and attempting to get to Insadong and Myeongdong before we leave.  Although those last two might have to wait til the week before we leave.  Jon is going to start leave a few days before we actually get on the plane, so that we can see a bit more of Korea before the opportunity is completely gone.  :P   I do wish that we hadn't passed so many opportunities up because we didn't want to spend the money, but we have seen lots of cool places and done lots of new things here, so I am happy. 

I will definitely miss the kid friendliness here- my kids will not understand why people don't want to talk to them when we get back stateside!  Jacob can ( and does!) strike up a conversation with pretty much anyone he sees, even if they don't speak the same language! :P 

We have already sold our couch, microwave and crock pot.  On the list are the entertainment center, the loft bed, twin bed and toddler bed, since the floors are heated and the kids would rather spend the night on the floor for some reason.  Plus, Jacob scared the heck out of me with a huge scream tonight, when he "fell off the side of Cait's bed while I was walking on the edge!"  (Insert parental snort of "Well, duh.  Don't walk on the bed railings.").  He's got a nice little scrape bruise about 2 inches away from a very sensitive area. 
Add that to the fact that he has spent the last two days with a 103-104 degree fever, and its still about 101 today, and he wasn't feeling too great at bedtime.  My poor man. 

I'm feeling accomplished today- finished editing a session super early this morning, got most of my chores out of the way (including mopping the entire living room and kitchen, which I dread), swept and vacuumed the foyer (we aren't allowed to wear shoes in the house, and the foyer gets really nasty very fast with all the dirt that is tracked in).  I really need to peel myself off the internet and go fold laundry, since Jacob doesn't have any pants left. :P 

Some good news, though- Jon said that the tentative plan is to let him have half days as much as possible until the end of the month, so he can wrap up all the loose ends (vet, car, records, financial paperwork, etc) before he starts clearing.  So that will be a huge help to me.. lol.. I won't have to fight to have the car in order to go around and do things. 

Anyhow, nothing else to update with.  I had planned to share a couple of pictures, but its not letting me click browse, so I will wait for another day. :D

Picture post

I wanted to share some images from the last few weeks.  I apologize if you've already seen them on my Facebook- my goal is to eventually make a book out of my blog, just for the memento and being able to say I did it. :P  So I post pictures in both places.

Ghetto sledding at its finest!  (Hey, there wasn't enough snow on the hills)!

Catchin some good air! :)

Jamie's turn, courtesy of Daddy

Look at me, Ma!!  No hands!!

Delighted grin

The "yay, I did it and I'm not hurt!' grin

A royal bench at the museum- no shoes allowed!

Jacob writing his name and USA in Hangul

Caitlynn writing her name in Hangul.. poor kid had LOTS of characters to write!

Jamie giving a death glare to the lady that had my camera! :P

My turn!

And everyone knows that eating ice cream off the table makes it taste better, right??  :)

Making a Korean good luck charm out of paper.

Her good luck charm.  They had to color a paper that said what they wanted to be when they were adults, and it is tucked inside.

This is where the boys were the entire time she was making her charm.

Children's art on 3x3 wooden blocks.  Caitlynn was exclaiming, " This one has a CAKE on it!"

Post-it note mosaic

Jacob actually asked me to take this picture. :D

Mirrors on the ceiling are fun!

The number one reason why I LOVe homeschooling, especially in this country- its Thursday around 130pm, and they are learning about the Forbidden Bridge and the Forbidden Stream at Gyungbokgung Palace.  (This stream used to be filled with water (duh), and the bridge they are standing on was the entrance to the palace.  The King required everyone to stop and cleanse their minds with the water from the stream.  Once they had observed this custom, they were able to cross the bridge and continue inside to see the King.  The walls of the palace were not ridiculously high- the King believed that he should be accessible to his people.  (We had a tour guide this time around).

The crazy picture they asked for.

Jamie playing peek a boo around the corner of the same ledge the other two were on above.

And just cause I like it, Jamie peeking at the dessert buffet two weeks ago at the Dragon Hill Lodge, where we participated in the marriage retreat.

Time is ticking

We have 38 days left in country.  This time is really starting to fly right on by!  Today we got our HHG pick up scheduled.  3 weeks and 1 day, and all our house hold goods will be packed and taken away.  We have to be out of the apartment a couple of days after that, and will be staying with a friend until we fly out on the 18th. 
I still need to get down to Dongdaemun once more, for several basic items I need to make several items I will use in my photography.  I also want to go to Osan once more, to visit Happy Quilt- love love love the fabrics there! :P 

The animals had their rabies shots this weekend, and will go for the yearly shots this next weekend.  We have tons of things to sell and get rid of (only allowed 4000 lbs of HHG going back), we need to fix the van door and sell the van, housing needs to come get our fridge, and amongst all this, I have to finish my CDEC class, and keep the children up to date on their work.  Whew!  I'm tired just thinking about it! :)

I need to order Jamie's new car seat (because his old one is going to expire, and I don't want to lug it on the flights with us), we are ordering the Kindle Fire for the kiddos to use on the way home, and when our tax return hits, I get to pay off a bill or two! :P

Sorry for the rambling, but my brain is racing right now, and my list is in the other room. I'm too cold to get up and go get it.. hehe..

Anyhow, I am praying hard that we will be able to get out of this apartment without having to pay and arm and a leg to fix the floors and wallpaper.  My kids are rough on wallpaper. :_

Hopefully I will have some time later this week to post some photos of what we've been up to lately. Night!

Jumping on here real quick to add my January recap.  I'm linking over at Frisk, Party of Five. :)  Enjoy!

(Sorry that its not pretty, I literally had four minutes to throw it together and add my link.. lol)

We were blessed to be able to go on the marriage retreat for the last weekend in January, and were able to take the kids this time, as child care was provided.  We only have a month and a half left here in Korea, so we decided to make sure we got to Seoul Tower, and it was SO worth it.  There are only a couple of pictures here, as well as some shots of the kiddos bowling on the same trip. 

Hope you enjoy! :)

PS- I guess it would be good if I remembered to add the link, huh?  :P  Let's see if I do this right.. :D