2014 Family Reunion

 

Last weekend we headed down to Illinois for the annual family reunion. The weather could not have been better, not too hot and low humidity. This is the host of the shindig, my brother-in-law, Paul. I think he was weeding the garden:)

My daughter cannot stay away from weeds. She finds weeding as a great stress reliever. I told her she can come over to our house anytime she wants to relieve stress:)

          A tractor always makes for fun for the kids. I was trying to get Ezra to smile with his Dad.

                                                       I gave up shortly and off they went.

                                           His mama will smile for me whenever I ask:)

                But back to Ezra, this time I was just trying to get his face without the ring pop.

                                               Finally got the photo, thanks to his mama.

                                       New kittens were a huge hit. Noah loved them.

                                                  They are called Lucy and Ricky.

This little one was really shy and hid most of the time.

                                                 Is there anything better than a kitty? 

                                                    Ezra loved all my sister's flowers.

                                                      "Hey, big brother! That's my trike!"

                                         "Thanks Mom but now where is Noah going?"

                                                      "Oh no! He took my favorite chair!"

                             Rocketman with our daughter and two of our three grandsons.

                                                 "I love my mommy and she loves me too!"

        We got to see my cousin, Pattie and her hubby Curt. I think they had a great time, can you tell?

Ezra, can you move out of the way so I can get a picture of your little brother on your trike?  No, okay:)

All day I had been trying to get Ezra to smile at me to no avail.  He finally did. I never worked so hard for a smile.

He had no problem smiling for my sister, the little stinker. I didn't take many pictures because I ended up doing a lot of reiki. My sister fell in love with it along with lots of others. It was so great to see everyone and we had a blast.

Maedeup Monday!

 I had bought a bunch of Humblebead cuff bracelets beads and finally got down to making some bracelets with them.

I also charged each one with Reiki making them extra special. You can find them for sale in my Etsy shop.

We had a short trip to Rockford, IL for the annual family reunion where we had a blast. I took quite a few photos and I'll have a blog coming up shortly about all the fun. But for now, I'm back to being a slug. I can't believe how worn out I am.

A Box From South Korea

It's always a good day when we get a box from South Korea. Hannah sent it along with some presents. She bought me some hanji paper knowing I can never have enough.

                                                                 This beautiful box.

                                                                             Yummy treats!

                              And a boyfriend pillow for when Rocketman is away for work.

She also sent this girlfriend pillow for Rocketman. He was speechless (and so was I). It is quite the conversation piece but alas he won't be using it as a pillow.

We usually visit Korea in the Spring during the cherry blossoms but as this Spring approached, I just didn't want to go so we didn't. I wasn't sure if it was because of what happened last year or something else. I just knew I didn't want to go at that time and it's a good thing I listened to my intuition.

Recently, Rocketman asked if we should go this Fall. I first didn't want to because I really love springtime in Korea and a trip in the Fall and then the following Spring seemed too close together from a financial standpoint so I continued to push back.  But I had to admit that I had a feeling we would be going and that's all it was, a feeling.

Then two weeks ago, Hannah tells us she is quitting her job in a few months and asks us to come to Korea. Hannah has never asked us to come but is always overjoyed to see us when she isn't working which is all the time. That was my first sign that maybe we really should go. Hannah would be taking a break from the job market and wanted to spent a lot of time with us which is something she had never been able to do.

The final sign was a Kakao Talk message from Hellena, our Korean friend who is a flight attendant. She told me she was quitting her job and getting married. She really, really wanted us to come over for the wedding. That did it! I didn't need any more signs, we were going to Korea. So now my days are looking at flights, hotel and lots of shopping. I have about 30 friends that I need to buy gifts for. I also need to make a list of what I need to buy.

We are so excited and also deciding where we want to visit. Last year, we were going to Jeonju, the home of hanji but had to cancel because of Rocketman's hospitalization. So we are planning on a few days there and I asked Hannah where else we should go that would be a good photo op for Rocketman.  Korea, you need to really stock up on kimchi!  I'm coming!!!!

Maedeup Monday!

                             Maedeup bracelets that will be in my Etsy shop soon.

Big news around is! We are going to Korea for a visit this Fall. It was not planned but last Friday I was contacted by one of our dearest friends, Hellena and she told me that she is getting married. She wants us there for her wedding and so we are going. Also, Hannah is quitting her job next month and she also asked us to come to visit in the Fall. I knew there was a reason we didn't go in April and now I know why.  We plan on staying in Seoul but doing a lot of side trips. I want to spend some time in Busan and also in Jeonju which is considered the home of hanji. We are so excited!!!!

On-Line Classes

I've been having a lot of fun taking on-line classes this summer. I just finished up one with Rae Missigman where I learned how to create the things you see in the photo above. The class I took is called Paint Sketch and Store. I love how everything turned out and I really enjoyed her videos.

I also took an on-line class on watercolors by the fabulous Wyanne. I took her Wyanne's Way watercolor class and I learned so much from the series. I love her paintings and she really explained how to do different techniques.

Things have taken a wild turn and I will explain more in my next post. You truly never know what tomorrow will bring and in our case it has brought some amazing news.

Fun Times with Noah

Every year my grandson Noah and I take a trip to The Red Balloon in St. Paul. I always take a picture of Noah at the back entrance and this year I was amazed to see how much he has grown. We both are huge book lovers and The Red Balloon is a must go to for children's books. They have everything including apparently Chris Colfer from Glee who is doing a book signing there this week. 

               Noah came home with a bag full of books for himself and for his little brother, Ezra.

                    We also made a stop at my sister's eye shop to get new lens for his glasses.

I also signed him up for a couple of kid's classes at White Bear Center for the Arts. His first class was a duct tape craft class where he made a wallet and a checkerboard.

               The second day he took a class on fingerprinting and stamping. He loved both classes.

                                   A quick trip to Target and I found this in my cart:)

He also talked me into a trip to Toys R Us. The time flew by and it was time to return him to his parents. He is growing up so fast and I can't believe he will be in third grade in just a few short months. But I cherish every moment I spend with him and his two brothers.

Catching Up on Craft Projects

I had bought a bunch of kits from Donna Downey to keep me busy when we moved back to South Korea in 2011. Little did I know that I would barely have time to cook dinner with all the Korean craft classes I ended up taking. I had hours and hours of homework every night so these kits never got made. When we returned home in 2012, they ended up on top of a cabinet in my craft room and forgotten until recently.

I spent the last few weeks reorganizing my craft room and found these kits unopened. I decided to put them together and be done with it. The dads have birthdays in August so I made two of the kits for each of  them. The one above is for Rocketman's dad.

                                                                This one is for my dad.

                           I even made one for myself featuring pictures of my grandparents.

I also had kits of tags to make. I was going to make these for all my friends in Korea. But again, time came and went and these were also forgotten.

Now they are finished and all ready for our next visit:) It felt good to get all these kits finished.