The Big PCS Part 3 - Two Months in Pictures

Well, we are now nearing the end of this phase of our big PCS. I guess you could say the last couple of months have been Part 3. You can read about Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

The beginning of Part 3 was full of excitement and travel, but the majority has been spent here at my parents' house, while the Man has been TDY. And since arriving here, things have been relatively calm and laid back. We've just been kinda hangin' around, waiting for the next phase of this big move to arrive. But it's been so great to see so many relatives while we've been here. My parents have had jobs out of town, so we've mostly just been able to see them on the weekends when they are in town, but that's more than we'd have been able to see them if we weren't here at all, so I'm not complaining. So even though I wish the Man was with us, I'm thankful for this time that we've had to catch up with everyone.

The Man comes home tomorrow (yippee!!!), so I thought I'd give a little run-down of Part 3 of the big PCS so far:

One of the first things we did after leaving Korea was share a plate of noodles in Tokyo.

Since then, we...

Spent a few days in Hawaii.

Spent some wonderful time with family and friends (including 99 year-old Great-Grandma).

Celebrated Easter.

Learned to walk.

Had some Texas Bar-B-Q (I got to go visit the Man for a couple of days).

Watched the tulips bloom.

Spent time in the snow.

And the sun.

I'm so excited to see the Man tomorrow, and also so happy that we get to spend a little bit more time here. I'm also really excited for the weeks to come and the next phase of our big PCS...

Kids and Kites

For Joy School one day the kids made these tiny kites out of nothing but paper, string and tape. I know, you don't even have to tell me. A professional kite flyer would be jealous of these little masters of the sky. These babies will fly like eagles, is just what I thought... not.

But...

Guess what happened?

Well, first let me just say that we have had  a few afternoons of unsuccessful attempts to get real kites in the air -- you know, the kind you buy in the store, spend two hours trying to get to stay in the air for more than three seconds, and all you end up having to show for the ten bucks you spent is a broken kite, and a couple of kids wondering why exactly we called that activity 'flying kites' -- yeah, we've been there, done that, and the kids have been disappointed.

So, I was pleasantly surprised when the kids took these kites outside and thought they were the greatest things since peanut butter. They had so much fun with them, and ran around the yard flying/dragging their kites along for quite some time.

Maybe it's because the kites were their own creation.

Maybe it's because they could fly these kites without any help.

Maybe it's because the kites actually did fly (sort of).

Or maybe it's because they looked at the kites, developed extremely low expectations of the kites' potential performance, and were pleasantly surprised like I was to see that they actually did sort of work.

Whatever the reason, the kids and the kites reminded me of something very important that day.

They reminded me that creating something simple is usually better than buying something fancy. I think it's because a lot of joy comes from the creating part, and then being able to actually use it, magnifies that joy.

Oh, and you can never have too much paper, string and tape.

Spontaneous Delight...

... is bubbles.

Lots of them.

And...

Finger-painting without paper.

And if you're going to finger-paint, you'd better do a little toe-painting too.

You just have to.

And it's eating Funfetti frosting straight from the can.

(That one was all me.)

Snail?

This is what the sky has been giving us just about every single day.

What is this stuff, anyway? It looks like hail, but it's soft like snow. All I know is we've been seeing a lot of this 'snail' lately.

Yup, spring takes its time coming to these here parts.

The kids love the snow, but I think they're starting to wonder if the sun is ever going to show its shine again.

We made it... thus far.

After many hours on a few of these (the larger version), many miles on interstates, many precious moments of visiting with family and friends, many tears, are we there yets, diapers, runny noses, Wee Sing songs, snacks, diapers, dirty clothes, dips in the pool (and the ocean), sunny days, diapers (did I mention that already?), snowy days, and prayers...

We have arrived...

at the next phase of the longest PCS known to man.

We will stay in said phase until about two months from now, at which point the Dude will be finished with his TDY and we will move on to the final phase...

of the longest PCS known to man.

Honestly, I'm so grateful for this time to be able to spend with family. It is a real blessing to have these treasured times with our loved ones, before shipping ourselves across another ocean.

Salad People

I had an idea quite awhile ago to make a cookbook for my kids. I wanted it be easy to understand and follow for even non-readers (with help, of course), so my plan was to use photos of the ingredients and steps of each recipe. I actually started making and taking pictures of some of the recipes I wanted to include, but never got much farther. Starting and not finishing projects happens to be one of the things I am really good at. 

Anyway, I'd still like to continue with this little cookbook project, but in the meantime, there are some great cookbooks for kids available. I bought this one awhile ago, and it mostly just sat on the shelf for awhile. But recently, I've decided to start using it for our Family Night snack. We made a Family Night jobs rotation, so each person has a turn to be in charge of one part of our Family Night. For now, the Man and I are taking turns planning the lesson/activity, and the kiddos are rotating through song, prayer, and snack. So each week, before we go shopping, whichever kid is in charge of the snack for the next Family Night chooses a recipe from the cookbook. Then they help make it before Family Night. 

So far, the kids have been excited about it. They love getting to choose whatever they want out of the book. We've tried a few recipes so far (see pics below), and the kids have loved them. The only one that they didn't much care for was the Cool Cucumber Soup that the Girl chose to make this week. I'm not really a fan of cold soups, so it wasn't my favorite either, but I'm glad we made it and the kids tried something new. The Salad People were a big hit. The kiddos actually ate more than one bite of veggies, so I call that a success.

This cookbook even has fun step-by-step illustrations to make it easier for kids to follow the recipe.

The Girl was in charge of the snack for our first Family Night of the year, and she chose the first recipe in the book. All it took was a pear half for everyone, a dollop of yogurt, and a bunch of cut up fruits and veggies, raisins, etc.

You end up with something like this:

She also chose a drink. And let me tell you, she was very determined to juice those lemons. She wanted to squeeze as much juice as she could out of each lemon before she would hand them over to me to squeeze.

A spoonful of partially frozen cranberry juice concentrate added to each cup was supposed to create the "sunrise" effect. Ours wasn't partially frozen, so I'm not sure if it looks the way it would have if we followed the directions perfectly, but it looks sort of sunrisey, don't ya think?

The Boy chose the snack for our next Family Night. It was super yummy, but a bit on the oily side. Next time we make it, I'll try using a little less oil than the recipe calls for.

 I predict that this year we may experience some cooking catastrophes – mixing mishaps, tsunami-ish spills, burned-out blenders, etc., but it's all worth it… I think.