January fun

This picture makes me smile
Opening my awesome present
The creation- Reese's peanut butter cup cake

The kids just liked the candy pieces

Caleb going up with Grandma J
Isaac and Nate on the chair lift


Caleb's got it down


I had my birthday this week! I am now 33 years old. No deep thoughts about turning 33. I told Nate I wanted a Reese's peanut butter cup cake for my birthday and offered to ask a friend to make it for me. But, he is the best husband ever and made it himself. The cake was so good. I wish it wasn't gone already. The kids had fun picking out gifts for me. Caleb chose a Taste of Home Baking cookbook and Isaac picked out a travel mug. Julia gave me an App Store gift card. Yep, Nate gave me an iPad. I was surprised! It is a really amazing and fun piece of technology. The kids are enjoying it too. It will be nice to have a way to check email, etc when we travel.

We were able to get some ski passes thru Nate's company this year. Yesterday Nate took the boys skiing for the first time. And they loved it! They both caught on fairly quick and didn't want to stop. Nate used a harness for Isaac. So he skied behind Isaac and could pull on the straps to help guide him and keep him upright. Isaac hasn't mastered the "snowplow" technique so he would just point his skis down the hill and go- really fast. It reminds me of my brother Tim when he was younger. He just flew down the hills and usually ran into the hay bales at the bottom. My Mom went skiing as well and had fun. We're hoping to take the boys again this winter.

Julia isn't old enough to ski so we had a girls afternoon. We went to a Korean (Lunar) New Year celebration in Holland. There was a Korean dance group that performed about 6 traditional Korean dances. The dancers wore hanboks and played jangos which are traditional Korean drums. The performance reminded me alot of our trip to Korea. Can't wait to go back someday!


Fan Dance, women are wearing hanboks

After the dancers there was a Tae Kwon Do demonstration. I did not realize Tae Kwon Do is Korean. Julia enjoyed hearing them yell, "hi-ya!" She asked when she could do that?

At the end of the event we had sushi rolls and rice cake. The rice cake is okay, Koreans are not known for their desserts. :) Now Americans, we excel at sugary non-healthy desserts!

The celebration was really well attended. I'm glad for an opportunity for Julia to be in a place where there are other Asians. Julia commented on how pretty one of the girls was. That made me happy. Sometimes transracially adopted kids see themselves as "white" and see white as the standard of beauty. I want Julia to understand that Asians, particularly Koreans, are beautiful and she doesn't need to wish away her looks. We attended the celebration with Lisa Klamer and her girls. Afterwards we went to their house for supper. Julia is beginning to enjoy playing with other girls, especially if they are a year or two older. Overall it was a great weekend and we are thankful for the opportunities God has given us!