summer time

so it's been insanely hot lately.. or at least i feel like it has. today was so humid and gross... the air was thick. even the grocery store's refrigerated section doors were all steamy. this weather makes me want to do absolutely nothing but sit motionless in front of a fan with a wet cloth over my head. heehee :). yes, it was gross, but we still plug away at our daily routine. i even managed to workout even though getting sweaty was the last thing i wanted to do! i was trying to talk myself out of going to the gym the whole drive there. :) don't you just love the midwest, especially michigan?... such extreme seasonal weather conditions. you know i'm going to be wishing for this warmth come january when we're buried in snow.

well, i haven't really taken many photos lately... but i try and capture some of our moments with my trusty cell phone camera when we are out and about...



chillin' at the pool! too bad addie's not looking up! but good thing the girls are covering my fattie self!












"dang, this carrot is hot! but i must touch it!"



"ahhh, this is more like it... an air conditioned play area! this is more my speed!"

we recently celebrated my father in-law's birthday up in mid-michigan. we had a nice lunch and cake with family. ellie amazed everyone with her ferocious appetite and her new walking skills. and addison enjoyed spending time with her relatives and the goodies that halmoni brought from korea... and of course, she couldn't wait to dig into that cake that she helped pick out! :)


wow, everyone is actually looking at the camera. this is a rare moment!
happy birthday, dad!

happy birthday, america!

i'm a little behind on my entries. as you know it's past july 4th, but i didn't want to go without posting some good ole red, white and blue fun! :)


me and my shadow








staring adoringly... i think?



:)







addie with her pirate sword


and anyone who saw my last year's post on the pee wee olympics. well, we did it again this year. it was pretty much the exact same thing as last year. but this year it was soooo hot!! it was 95 degrees. we were all literally dripping (or glistening for us ladies) with sweat. ughhh. but occasionally i could find a shady spot with ellie and catch a little breeze. at least i wasn't 9 months pregnant like last year!


the marshmallow toss



the plate discus throw



putt-putt. this year, addison would pick up the ball and put it right in front and between the hole and tap it in and then pick it up again and do the same thing for the next hole. she didn't feeling like working in this heat! heheh



trying to make it up the hill without the help of daddy.






"hooray, i did it!"



the bike parade



look how dark ellie is!!! her skin tone is different from super fair-skinned addison. she tans very easily and gets dark! poor thing was sweating watching addison do all the games! maybe next year you can play too, ellie! :)

my little boy

jimmy and i sometimes joke that ellie was meant to be a boy. she seems a little rowdier, a little louder, and a little more aggressive, a little more adventurous, and rough and tough than what we're used to. and her appetite is ferocious... the girl can eat. it's funny to see how different she is from addison. but different is good and i love that they have their own personalities.

pre-bath pics... looking oh-so-unisex in the faux denim diapers. yes, i had to try them. the t.v. commercials did me in!

piano and goofing around

we're trying to get addison started in piano. so i started doing some research on private lessons and teachers in the area. addison seems like a bright kid and she's definitely showing interest in playing.... and sounds pretty decent when tinkering on the piano. so, most places that i called all said that they don't take students under the age of like 6 or 7 due to the kids's attention span, etc. i wasn't getting much luck on finding anything or someone that was willing to take on a child this young. that came as a surprise to me. i mean i started when i was 5 and my sister started when she was 4. i just naturally thought that was the right age. well, i ended up finding one teacher that would take her on. but she doesn't teach in the traditional method that i was taught with learning to read music, practicing scales, etc. she taught the Simply Music method. i try to be open about different methods on anything. and then i thought to myself that maybe the traditional method isn't the best and can be discouraging for young children. so we gave this teacher a go. i paid for a month and we tried it out. and at the end of the 4 lessons, i decided to find something else. i'm not saying the method doesn't work. but i just didn't get it and i didn't feel like it was teaching her the proper way to play or the basics of piano. i guess i'm "old school". well, we found a piano readiness class at the nearby university. it's more like a group class for kids her age. i think this may be a better introduction for her. but i have to say she did learn two songs played on the right hand only from the 4 lessons. so it was worth somthing!



looking so proper and serious.



addie practicing. addison got very frustrated at times and i had to dig her out of that feeling a lot. prehaps that is one reason why teachers are reluctant to teach kids this age... their lack of ability to handle this kind of frustration? she got frustrated with, "my fingers are not doing what i want them to do!" i think she doesn't have a lot of finger strength especially in her fourth and pinky fingers. but like i told her, it just takes practice....







addison and her practicing was like a magnet to ellie! she was always there. this image so reminds me of my youth. i think i even have a photo just like this of me and my sister somewhere.



silly ellie



"enough piano!"



ellie dripping like crazy! i can ring her shirts out at the end of the day! jk hehehe