Westview's Easter Egg Hunt

Trixie has a big smile and Henry has a mouth stuffed with candy

We went to the Easter Egg Hunt at Westview Baptist Church. I was excited because it was Henry's first Easter egg hunt. It was funny to watch Henry because at first he truly had no idea what to do. It didn't take but a second for Henry to see what the other children were doing and to jump into action. After finding several eggs Henry then proceeded to put the eggs in his basket back on the ground. I tried to tell him that he got to keep the eggs, but Henry would not put the eggs back into his basket until ... he discovered candy inside!! After finding the treats inside the eggs he hurriedly put more eggs in his basket and also opened and ate as many pieces of candy as he could before I stopped him. It was quite funny! He also got to hear the Easter story about Jesus, make a set of resurrection eggs, color a picture, and decorate a cookie to eat. Henry had a grand old time!

Such a helper

After helping with laundry Henry likes to BE the laundry!

Henry is such a helper. If he hears you say what you need he is running to get it for you before you even ask him to. He loves to bring coats to people as they leave our house, he loves to throw things away for us, he even likes to clean up! One of his very favorite things to do is help me with laundry. After "helping" me sort the clothes, Henry takes one handle of the hamper and I take the other as we carry it to the washing machine. Once there he puts all the laundry in the machine and then of course he likes to push the button to get the machine going. Then he carries the empty hamper back upstairs all by himself. He really is a hard worker. I don't know if this video below works, but Henry also insists upon having a turn sweeping the kitchen floor after I'm done. I hope Henry always has such a strong desire to help. :)

Happy Henry Day!!

One year ago at the airport One year later at the Henry Day celebration

One year ago today we brought Henry home. I can't believe it's been a year already! Our trip to Korea to pick up Henry was wonderful and I wish we could do it again. I remember that trip vividly, yet here it is one year later and so many things have happened. Henry has done an amazing job of settling in and it feels like he has always been with us. He is certainly a perfect fit for our family. He is very friendly and happy and funny, and he loves his sisters like no one else. The feeling is mutual and the girls adore Henry and Trixie is always saying, "Henry is the cutest little brother!"

We've been talking about how we would celebrate Henry's family day and Lydia insisted that we call it Henry Day instead of family. I think it's fitting -- the day is all about Henry after all. We celebrated by ordering in Fazoli's, coloring Easter eggs, and then turning on Korean music and eating Easter cookies for a "party" as the girls called it. We all had fun -- especially Henry -- and that was the goal. May the next year be as wonderful as the last!

Our American Citizen

It's official!! Henry became a U.S. citizen this morning!!!! He raised his hand while we said the oath and got his certificate. He had quite a cheering section : Mama, Daddy, Trixie, Lydia, Grammy, Nana, Papa, and our good family friends Jim & Peggy Brown. After the ceremony Uncle Scotty joined all of us for lunch. This was a great day for our family and for Henry!

Merry Christmas!!

Aaahh, Christmas morning! Of course we were up quite early in the morning because Lydia and Trixie were anxious to find out if Santa Claus had visited our house last night. Everyone was thrilled with all their gifts and after breakfast I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to go play in the snow with the kids. So we just put all our snow gear on right over our pajamas. Henry loved the snow ~ especially eating it. He also enjoyed sledding down our little hill. The girls love to make snow angels, but Henry didn't care too much about that. After our fun we headed in to get ready for Nana and Papa's house. We spent the rest of the day visiting the Kohlenberger side of our family. We don't get to see them all that often and it was nice to spend the day visiting with them. We had a great day and made sure we remembered to say, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!"
I hope all your Christmases were as perfect as ours was! :)

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always my favorite day of the entire Christmas season, but this year it was magical and perfect in every way. Snow started coming down Christmas Eve morning which excited me to no end. Snow is one of my very favorite things and I rarely get to enjoy it on Christmas Eve or Christmas. We went to church in the evening and kept Henry with us during the service. The way he enjoyed Christmas music throughout the season we knew he would enjoy the music in the service. He had a great time dancing to the music and also moving up and down the pew between me and his grandparents. When we cam out of the service it was snowing so hard we could hardly see anything ~ it was so exciting and beautiful!! The grandparents came to our house for supper and gifts after church. Henry looooved opening gifts and quickly learned that when he opened one gift another one was soon to follow. He received a bouncy zebra that is very fun for him and also some crayons and a coloring book of his own. Considering that he's always trying to take his sisters crayons and color on their papers it was a great gift for him. After all that I tried to convince everyone that sledding in the dark would be the perfect ending to this most perfect of days, but Lydia and Trixie insisted upon going to bed so that Santa would come (they were also excited to sleep in their brand new bunk beds!) So, we put cookies, milk, and carrots out and headed to bed. We read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and the story of Jesus' birth and it was lights out. I will always treasure the memory of this first, most magical, Christmas with Henry Joon Seong. :)

Brent's Christmas solo

What's going on in there?

This year we started attending a new church and Brent tried out for the Praise Team. It was a big deal that he made it and an even bigger deal when he was chosen to sing a solo in the big Christmas program. We were all excited to hear his solo and he did not disappoint us ~ Brent did a fabulous job! (He has such a great voice) We let Trixie and Lydia come to "big church" so they could hear Daddy sing, but Henry went to the nursery. He was, however, very curious about what was going on in the service.