Happy Hallow's Eve!!

So, my kids weren't so scary.  The girls, were fairy witches....they're own invention after Chelsi couldn't decide between a witch or fairy.  So, her Godparents found her a costume, for her birthday, that fit the bill just perfectly.  We added some soot to Jaemin's face to go with his fireman's costume and Chase got dressed as a zombie football player.  I'm sure we'll have a ton of candy by nights end, but some will last until almost Easter.  The newness wears off after a bit.  But, the kids will pay us our dues in chocolate for being mom and dad.  How evil....huh?

This one's great.  They were waiting for Jaemin to look at the camera.  Never happened.  :)

Worn out shoes

Me selling shoes at a rummage sale or donating them to anyone is such a rarity.  We cleaned the garages out where the kids keep their shoes that have started to wear and we had to toss a lot of them.  And I mean A LOT.  Most of them are getting tossed because they look like the ones below.   Literally, they are missing parts of them.  So, no....we do NOT waste our wears.  We wear and wear and wear them some more.

We went to a local event for Halloween, just me and the 4 youngest, while Brian took Cole deer hunting.  The kids had a great time and came home with a boat load of candy.  Jaemin and Chelsi got to ride barrels around and then Kaelin, Chase and Chelsi walked through a haunted house all by themselves.  Please excuse the awful pictures at the end.  They were taken with the camera I keep in the car that's over 10 years old.  We had fun, but they're all tired and grouchy now.  More candy tomorrow, right?!

Sorry about the tongue.

 

 Jaemin the firefighter on a real fire truck!

Aahhhh....kimchi

Since I'd been craving kimchi I thought we'd make a night of it since our closest Asian market is about an hour from us.  So, we stopped by the market and Bass Pro.  Had some great pizza buffet too.  The kids really enjoyed the nights as the big boys decided on how to spend the gift cards they'd been saving.  Jaemin was in an extra great mood and quite the little character tonight.  We looked through their kimchi selections, at the market, and since the cucumber kimchi was only in tiny jars I got white kimchi instead.  It's not quite as spicy and I'm really NOT a fan of cabbage kimchi and neither is anyone else in the house.  Kaelin and I are about the only ones that will eat it anyways, unless Jaemin does.  He's never had it so I guess we'll be finding out.  He did hear us say it was kimchi and yelled "Iunt kimchi" at the store.  Brian even got an extra large jar for someone he knows that loves kimchi.....but he eats the cabbage one.

And since kimchi always has a way of leaking out on the way home, it managed to leak through the two bags they put it in and onto my mats.  Everytime we got back in the van we opened the windows (cold air and all) to air out the car a bit.  My garage will smell like it by morning I'm afraid.  I think it was turning Brian's very full stomach after supper.  Kaelin and I still thought it smelled good.

So, yep, we'll be having some for lunch tomorrow.  I'll make another quick batch of sticky rice to go with.   And another enjoyable family night.  Yum!

New dish invention

The other night, literally, while I was lying in bed trying to sleep I thought of a food concoction.  So, today I decided to try it out for real and see if it was as good as what I was craving in my head.  It was AWESOME.  The kids....all 5.....LOVED it and asked for it to be in the weekly rotation.  How cool is that.  It's totally an Asian inspired dish, since that's mostly what I crave 24/7.

Super easy.  All you have to do is make Asian coleslaw, but I substitute the vinegar for rice vinegar and put a dash of sesame seed oil and soy sauce in it.  Cut up about 3 or 4 pork chops into small bite size pieces.  Mix a tablespoon of sugar in with about 3 tablespoons of soy sauce.  After the sugar is mixed in and dissolved poor over the pork chop bites and add 2 cloves of chopped garlic and some sliced mushrooms (to your liking).  Marinate this in the fridge for an hour (minimum).  Fry the refrigerated mixture until it's browned and slightly crisp.  Get the Asian coleslaw out of the refrigerator and mix the pork chop bites in.  Heat in the microwave until just warm if the pork chop bites are cool or you can eat cold.  Serve with a side of sticky rice.  If you need the Asian coleslaw recipe comment on the blog and I'll post it as a response.  For now I'm going to save myself the time if no one cares.  :)

Sooooo healthy and sooooo yummy!  Glad I made a ton because I get to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Apple doesn't fall far

Not with Brian anyways.

He tells me after work tonight that he has something awesome to show me.  He wouldn't tell me what it is just that it was the best.  I immediately asked "did you get it out of the trash or on the side of the road?"  This is his dad in him.  So, I go to the garage and he shows me the burner/stand for a fryer he found in the dumpster.  He says the dial's not working properly, but his dad (of course) said it's an easy fix.  Brian's been wanting a fryer, so I guess now we need to get the pot and strainer.

Sometimes, I wonder what people must think of us.  :)

A question of Heaven

So, last week when Butter died, Chelsi asked me where he was, as I tucked her in to bed.  I told her he went to Heaven.  She asked where Heaven was and I told her God was there.  She then said that she thought God was in Church.  I told her God was everywhere.  Kaelin quickly piped in to ask "does God see me in the shower?"  After I laughed I had to explain to her that I doubt God had any interest in her showers.  :)

Lisa

Fresh start

We got another dog to help the boys heal their hearts.  The boys and I sat down on the internet Friday afternoon looking through the ads and found a 2 yo yellow lab just 45 minutes away.  She said her dad didn't have time for him like she'd hoped when she gave him to him as a pup and she couldn't have anymore dogs, so she wanted to give him away.  So, while Brian worked late I loaded up the kids in the truck and went to pick him up. 

He's slightly neglected.  I think he was pretty much fed and watered and that was about it.  From time to time he played with their two yo grandchild, so he follows our 2 year old around like a lost puppy....no pun intended.  He's skinny and doesn't have as much muscle tone as our other dogs have.  He's finally starting to eat...a little.  He's not shaking anymore.  But, he's scared of every single noise and doesn't seem to care for men much.  You can't even clap without him ducking and running for his kennel.  He hides in there most of the time anyways.  That's what he's use to.  We've had him loose in the yard all weekend to get used to it.  We also invested in the fencing for him so it couldn't happen again.  He's a pretty good dog and I think he's got a lot of potential, but for now we're just trying to let him adjust and teach him how to play.  He doesn't know how.  He's great with the kittens, which made me feel better.  The lady that had him was so happy he was going to a big family she gave me a hug. 

Poor thing though.  He had never been in a vehicle and was scared to death.  He sat on the boys' laps and got so scared that he crawled up under my legs and I had to pull over before we had an accident....He's really long legged so I don't know how he got up under there.  By the time I stopped his collar was tangled on the emergency brake pedal.  The boys got him back and he laid on the floor and shook the whole way home.

The kids love him so that's all that's important right now.  And he's starting to come out of his shell somewhat already.  He'll make a lot of progress.  He seems smart enough.

Sad week....

Football's over.  They lost their first playoff game, but did so well being 6 and 1 for the season.  So while I'm sad to not watch Chase tackle anyone anymore, it's nice for life to calm down a bit.

Cole tried out for basketball, but only being 5'4" at 13 is not tall enough to make a competitive junior high team.  I'm very sad for him since this was the only sport he was interested in that his cardiologist would allow him to play.  I'm hoping he'll find peace with it.

The worst part of the week, and by far the most sad, was the loss of our lab Butter.  He came to us from the local pound in June and has been the favorite dog to me and the kids.  He was a wonderful dog and so much fun.  He was so well behaved at 3 years old.  He didn't jump and go crazy.  He loved to be pet and lay with the kittens.  He LOVED to play frisbie and catch balls and sticks the kids threw.  He was hilarious sometimes.  He would run and roll over because he tripped over himself or run into things as he ran.  He reminded me of Chance in the Incredible Journey.  Just a great, great dog.  But, we came home to find him laying across the street.  He obviously had drug himself over to where he was and his back legs were paralyzed, so he did it all with his front.  He was bleeding everywhere and we could tell he had been completely run over on his whole back side.  The person who hit him didn't hit him.  They ran over him.  There's no way they couldn't have known what happened after running over an 80 lb lab.  And since our road is dead end they had to have been driving way too fast which makes it all the worse.  No one has called or let us know they did it.  He has tags and everything and nothing.  They just did it so callously.  We called the vet and got him there, but after taking xrays he found that his pelvis was fractured so badly it had pierced his colon and he was bleeding out.  We had to let the vet put him down so he could go in peace.

We tried to reinforce to the boys that we did everything possible.  The vet didn't know of anyone who would have a decent chance of saving him.  He said there was truly nothing we could do.  We told the boys we had to accept it.  Chase said his goodbye after they brought him back home.  He couldn't bear to bury him.  Cole didn't go with them to the vet because he was afraid it was this bad, but I talked him into helping his dad bury him so he could have some closure and say goodbye.  They each had a cup of hot chocolate and we talked and hugged and cried.  Jaemin still goes to the door calling for Butter.  They both seem a little better this morning, but it's going to hit them again when they go outside to play after school and he's not there to play with.  I miss him not walking to the mailbox with me or going on our walk down the road with us.  I miss him not scratching on our door for attention.  I miss not seeing him lying in the sun, warming himself or sitting with the kittens.  I miss Butter.  How can you replace such a great dog!

Life

It's been a bit since the last post, but what can I say?  I'm just enjoying life...other than a near run over crossing the street (at a light like I was supposed to I might add) going to work this morning.  You'd think I'd be less tired working part time, but I'm slightly more tired.  Just more active I think.  Tomorrow's a busy day, but Friday should be a little more restful...as much as possible with 2 little ones at home.

We spent the other night outside playing with our Walmart purchases from the weekend.  We bought some water colors and the kids painted.  Then, the girls colored one of my rocks in the rock garden.  It's okay, I told them they could.  Jaemin didn't last long painting, so Cole took him inside.  But the girls were out for awhile.


This, obviously, is not of them painting, but Jaemin so reminds me of Chase in this.  So cute!

New pictures for grandma

Fun with pictures.  They're all edited and complete.  Here are a few.

She's changing her habits

I don't know if it's because she's now going to my mom's some of the week and she does the same things with her with how she raised me, staying home more, just growing up or a combination, but it's great.  Chelsi is finally eating better foods.  Of course, this after eating the same supper for 3 nights.  I made goulash Monday and she did NOT like it at all.  The rest of us thought it was pretty good.  She agreed to finish it Tuesday and on Tuesday she decided to finish it Wednesday.  It was only one scoop.   Seriously.  She didn't get the meals we had those nights since she still had to finish her goulash and Tuesday we had pancakes and egg casserole for brinner, so I think that made an impact.  She loves that. 

Wednesday, Chelsi decided she really did want to eat whatever we were having.  Especially since Thursday I had planned to make chapjae and sigeumchi nameul.  Last night she was pretty happy she finished her goulash and she ate a ton of chapjae and rice.  But, the shock was when yesterday for lunch she decided to try Jaemin's yogurt.  She liked it...but she's said that before and never tried that food again.  Today, I had a package of chocolate donuts I was using as a reward, so I asked her if she wanted a donut after she ate her chapjae for lunch.  She said she'd rather have a whole yogurt to herself.  We've tried to get her to realize yogurt is good for years!  For breakfast I thought for sure she'd pick out the chocolate peanut butter cereal since we didn't have anymore pancakes, but no, she picked out the grain cereal. 

So proud of her and her new healthy habits.  On top of that she's finally stayed dry for 2 nights in a row.  It's been months since that's happened.  I told her if she started staying dry we'd sign her back up for gymnastics.  I gotta get one of these kids out of diapers/pullups now that our budget is tighter.  Oy!