Finally getting around to posting some pictures from Easter...

At the easter egg hunt at Aunt Jeanna's...

  Poppy was so excited that she found the "golden egg"...

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Easter egg hunt with the cousins at Uma & Upa's house...

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Have I ever mentioned how much Sammy loves his dessert?  Cupcake face...

Or have I ever mentioned how much he loves his blankie?  This is a common scene around here...

 It's a Sammy-monster!

And these two are peas in a pod.  Inseperable...

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A quick game of soccer with Ty...

 Until Sam took a little break to look for airplanes...

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Dumpling day!  Getting ready for someone's 5th birthday...

We've been kinda busy around here lately.  And really tired.  Sam had a hard time adjusting back to sleeping by himself in his room once we came home from vacation and he has been keeping me up all night and getting up toooo early in the morning.  And if he hasn't been waking me up, Poppy and Marc are waking me up with their coughs.  Every night for over a week.  But as of yesterday, Sam finally seems to be back on track, and hopefully Marc and Poppy are getting over their coughs, so this mama should be coming back to life soon...

Here's what we have been up to...

We did a fun craft to decorate paper easter eggs.  First, you cut out large easter egg shapes out of thick paper.  Then fill a tray with shaving cream... 

smooth it out a little bit...

dribble a few lines of different colors of paint and then gently run a chopstick to marble it...

smoosh the paper easter eggs into the shaving cream/paint mixture...

when you pull it out, you'll have peaks of shaving cream and paint...

and then you take a squeegee and gently scrape the shaving cream off...

and you are left with this cool marbled easter egg!

we have these beauties hanging all over our house now...

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we re-organized kitchen cupboards (which is always so much more fun with my two little helpers)...

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Sam and I made these cupcakes while Poppy was at school yesterday and then when she got home, Poppy decorated them...

didn't they turn out cute?!...

we brought out easter cupcakes over to Poppy's cousin's house for an easter egg dyeing party...

and an easter egg hunt!  At first, Sammy wasn't sure what this was all about...

but once he caught onto the fact that there were treats inside of the eggs, he took off running...

Lots more easter egg hunts and family parties to come this weekend...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday, we spent the day getting all of Poppy's valentine's ready for school.  She was so excited to pass out her bookmarks...

 We also made these yummy cookies and Poppy packaged them up and passed them out to grandparents...

This morning we were all greeted by chocolates and flowers at the breakfast table.  Then as soon as we dropped Poppy off at school, Sam and I whipped up a heart shaped cake.  Sam was not too happy when I didn't let him eat this cake at 10:00 this morning, but that's understandable.

Then it was off to the Korea House for dinner and back to our house for that cake...

 Poppy checking out her loot from school...

 And how sweet is it that Marc helped Sam make me a valentine - my favorite gift of the day!!!

Happy Korean New Year!

We have been quite busy this week, celebrating the new year.  Last year I went into Poppy's classroom to make a Korean snack and read a book about the Korean culture.  This year I was asked by the directors of her school to come in and present to the entire school.  Poppy was soooo excited that I would be teaching her friends about Korea. 

First I went into her classroom and made hoddeok (Korean sweet pancakes) which were a huge hit with the kids...

Then Poppy changed into her hanbok and together we did a little lesson about the Korean culture at chapel...

       

We talked about where Korea was on the map and how Poppy was born there, we talked about her hanbok and the tradition behind it, we showed them her dojang stamp and finally we listened to a few Korean songs.

I was surprised by how excited the students were to learn about Poppy's culture.  They're still talking about how beautiful her dress was and how yummy the pancakes were.  And Poppy was in her absolute glory being able to stand in front of the entire school with her mom.  She said she wishes we could do that every day.  Sniffle, sniffle.

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In other news, at any given time on any given day, you can find Poppy writing a love letter to Ty.  It's her new favorite thing to do...

                                    

Yesterday we had a crafty playdate at Ty's house and Poppy made this beautiful valentine's day garland...

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 I'm addicted to pinterest and I'm not afraid to admit it.  But at least I've been putting my pins to good use!  This was one of Poppy's all time favorite crafts we've done together...

And you know how I feel about owl crafts...

And I had a surprise 40th birthday party to go to last weekend and when I saw this idea on pinterest, I knew it would be a hit.  And it was so easy to put together!

Our new year's eve

Our new year's eve tradition is to go to our favorite Korean restaurant for dinner.  We always get there super early and are usually one of the only families there.  We all look forward to this night all year long.  So you can imagine our shock and disappointment when we pull up to the restaurant only to discover that they are closed for the holidays!!!  I had to pick my jaw up from off the floor, just as Sam started crying in the back seat because he was hungry and Poppy started whimpering about how badly she wanted rice.  We thought fast and headed over to the only other Korean restaurant in WNY, which is more of really casual, almost to-go place that we've never been to.  

Unfortunately, the food was really disappointing, well at least for me and Marc it was.  Poppy and Sam absolutely loved it (because it involved rice and noodles!)...

And I got scolded for dressing Sam in red.  Apparently only girls should be dressed in red!  Have I ever mentioned how often Sam gets called a girl?  Almost every single day!  Poor kid.  At least his sister can relate (everyone thought she was a boy up until she was about 3 years old).

More important than the food was the fact that we were celebrating the new year together.  2011 was a great year for us and I'm hoping 2012 is even better!  Today was spent booking our family spring vacation to Florida which reminds me of how much we have to look forward to this year!

Christmas 2011

Each year I always forget how hectic the week after Christmas can be.  Playdates, dinner dates, parties and get togethers galore!  I'm finally surfacing to post a few pictures for Christmas eve and Christmas day.

Christmas eve, dinner at Marc's aunt's house...

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Christmas morning, scoping out what Santa brought...

discovering the stuffed stockings...

Lola loves hiding in her new bed...

Sam's new Thomas set was a big hit...

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After lounging around in our pj's all day, it was finally time to get ready for the family to come over...

Marc made standing rib roast for dinner (or Roast Beast with Who-hash, as we called it)...

And after dinner, everyone piled into the living room to watch The Polar Express...

Our sad attempt at a group shot...so sad this didn't turn out!