Milestone

Several days ago marked the point in time at which Charlie Jin-yeong had been with us longer than he was in Korea. I've heard many parents of older adopted babies comment that this was a turning point for them and for their child, the point at which their relationship climbed to a new level. I can't say that I've noticed anything that dramatic, nor did I realistically expect to or even want to. Still, it means something. And not all happy. I honestly find it slightly sad that he has now been outside his country of birth, his culture, outside the continent of his race, longer than he was in it. That said, there was a point for each of my children (Rose and Lucy at the same time!) where it just was impossible to imagine life before them. I don't remember exactly when that was for Ella or Rose & Lucy, but I know it happened. I know that, at first, it seemed strange to have a baby, to have tiny twins, but then at some point, I couldn't remember when we didn't have them. I also don't remember exactly when this happened for Charlie, but it did. I remember when he first came home, thinking how sweet, yet how foreign to me, he seemed. Now, and for a long time before now, he is just Charlie, our son. He just is part of our family, and I don't remember him not being part of us.

I remember taking this photograph. He had been home only a few days. I thought he was sweet, and beautiful, but still somewhat foreign to me. I felt like he wasn't quite mine. This is not because he is adopted. I felt that way about the girls also, at first.

Now, this kid is ours. As I said above, I don't remember when that happened, but it did. It happened at some point a long time ago. And I now can't remember when we didn't have this loud, hungry, demanding, sweet, mohawked, all-boy little guy.

Fine Line

Sheref sent me this photo yesterday from a kids' clothing store while I was on call at the hospital.

Sheref: What do you think? Should I buy this?

Me: It's awfully cute, but don't you think he looks just a bit like a North Korean soldier?

Sheref: It's a fine line between cute and junior Communist party member.

(He ended up buying the outfit)

The Best Night Ever!!

Our Lucy is a bit dramatic. She frequently makes comments such as "this is the worst day ever!!" Happily, when things are going her way, she is equally theatrical. Tonight, in Lucy's opinion, was the "best night ever."

After a very hot and humid summer, the past few days have been relatively cool in South Carolina [Cool is a relative term, of course]. Cool enough that it occurred to us to use the firepit in our backyard.

As an aside, our backyard is generally a place I refer to as "Snakeville." South Carolina is full of slithery poisonous creatures, and once I heard people talk in all seriousness about the "snakeboots" they wear to mow their lawn, I decided our backyard is off limits. Tonight, though, with our beautiful cooler weather, the backyard looked particularly appealing.

So we made a little fire, ordered some pizza, grabbed a growler from our favorite (and the only) brewery in town, and had a little backyard party.

Lucy (if my camera were just a tad bit faster,

I would have captured natural Lucy, instead of Poser Lucy)

Rosie, who CANNOT pose if she tries...

Sweet Ella-bella

And Chuckles...cinnamon graham crackers are awesome...

and he also liked the pizza, if you can't tell by his stained face...

...and completely obtunded from gluttony

Trip to "The Beach"

One of our office's (awesome) ultrasonographers told me this week that she always finds it odd that patients from Myrtle Beach, when asked where they are from, always just say "from the beach." Which is funny because our city (to which they come for tertiary medical care) also has a beach. In fact, multiple beaches. As does, in fact, any coastal city. When our ultrasonographer said this, it made me remember how my grandmother, who used to live very close to Myrtle Beach, always referred to it the same way, as "The Beach."

Anyways, last Sunday we took a trip to The Beach. Our city has tons to do, lots of culture, aquarium, kids' activities, and (yes) even beaches. However, Myrtle Beach has what we do not: lots of cheap cheesy mini-golf, fried seafood, waterslides and amusement parks. So we took off after church and drove the 2 hours to Myrtle Beach. The drive is beautiful, and it's really quite an easy trip.

We took a small detour to the Anthropologie store in a ritzy outdoor mall (yeah, that was for me...obviously). Then we ate (you guessed it) fried seafood and finally hit up a pretty cool amusement park/boardwalk/cheesy family entertainment outdoor wonderland. We're generally pretty cheap, but we splurged for the "all you can ride" bracelets for Rose & Lucy, and Sheref took Ella on a 90 minute (and $50!!) Magic Quest thing. Apparently this Magic Quest is all the rage among 5th graders. So Ella had a unicorn magic adventure (or something like that...it involved a $20 magic wand...that's all I really understood), while Charlie and I followed the twins around while they rode ride after ride after ride. It was 100 degrees, so I was pretty impressed with my parental patience for 2 hours of rides (if you know me in person, this is quite a feat).

The kids had a great time, and frankly so did the adults.

3 cuties

Airplane ride

Merry-go-round

A ride the twins called the "Cupcake Ride"

"What about me?"

Chuckles in the cheap-o quarter bus ride...which he LOVED

Rain Watch

I did a post a while back describing my evolving parenting tradition of Sky Walk, Snow Walk, Sky Watch, etc. Good bloggers know how to embed a link readers can click on to read that post. Note I said "good bloggers." I don't know how to do this, and, having already spent an hour earlier today fixing VMWare Fusion on my laptop (yeah, I know...welcome to Geekville), I cannot be bothered with figuring it out.

Anywhoo, thanks to Hurricane Irene, tonight was a perfect night for a Rain Watch. For those of you who opted not to scroll back to read above-mentioned post, a Rain Watch is a family tradition in which one essentially sits on the porch and watches the rain. In pajamas. With a beverage or snack, or potentially both. I know, I know, please try to curb your enthusiasm.

Thanks, Irene, for a beautiful South Carolina storm

What says South Carolina summer storm better than hot chocolate in Bailey's Irish Creme mugs?

One of my great friends bought me these mugs years ago. Probably had something to do with the fact that my drink of choice at the time was either straight-up Bailey's (on the rocks) or White Russians. White Russians, if you were wondering, are made of Bailey's, Kahlua and cream, a combination that is making me moderately nauseated as I type this. At any rate, these mugs used to be one of my most prized possessions (the fact that I mean this 100% seriously is making me laugh out loud right now). One of my other friends commented that she thought the mugs were scary. I recall being slightly offended at the time. Now, well, I see what she means. Slightly scary.

Lucy drinking hot chocolate out of my former most prized possession

Rosie

And Ella-bella

And what is a pre-Hurricane party without a Disney-themed umbrella?

{this is Lucy, posing of course -- even through the umbrella...}

Oh, and this was my beverage. Spanish Malbec, wonderful birthday present from my mother and father-in-law. Couldn't ruin the wine with a Bailey's mug...

"Today's the Day!!!"

Rose & Lucy started kindergarten today. It was a little bit of a fight, but we managed to convince the school to let them be in the same class. I'm sure being in the same class is a poor idea for many (especially identical) twins, but for Rose & Lucy we have no doubt it is the right decision. At any rate, they have been very excited to start kindergarten. All yesterday, they (mainly Lucy!) talked about how great school would be, how they JUST.COULD.NOT wait until the first day of school, etc. So this morning, when I woke Lucy up, she bopped right out of bed and yelled, "Today's the day!"

All 3 girls were excited for the first day of school. Ella is in fifth grade, which means her classroom is upstairs (apparently a very exciting thing in fifth grade world).

Outfits laid out for the first day...

Rose's outfit she picked out herself

Miss Lucy's selection

Ella's outfit (I can't get the photo to rotate...)

First Day of School Eve...bedtime....

Lucy (have I mentioned before that Lucy does not know how NOT to pose??)

Rosie with her new chihuahua stuffed animal (did you know that Beverly Hills Chihuahua is the best movie of all time? Remember how people of my generation were always floored by the fact that our parents remembered the times of -- gasp -- black and white television?? Well, my children are flabbergasted that Sheref and I grew up in a time before Beverly Hills Chihuahua...seriously!)

On the way to school...

Our newest 5th grader

Two guesses which poser twin this is.

Hard scientific proof that monozygosity (identical twins) does not equal concordance for posing talent -- i.e. if anyone has ideas for how to get Rose to understand what "smile naturally" means, let me know...

All three of my sweet girls

The first day of school was a huge success. All 3 girls had a wonderful day. Such a wonderful day, in fact, that I am currently overwhelmed by all the re-telling of stories, description of classmates' clothing choices, narration of storytime, library time, playground time, detailed descriptions of Ella's teacher's 3 dogs' individual personalities, Ella's teacher's dislike of Washington State and joy at her husband agreeing to move the family back to South Carolina, the detailed layout of the kindergarten class play kitchen area, how fabulous it is that in fifth grade one can talk in line and {drumroll please} use PENS (I heard this particular fact no less than 6 times), etc etc.

But I jest. I love hearing these stories and knowing that the girls are happy at school. Great first day of school indeed!

This One's for Aunt Connie!

We were in the mountains all weekend, and just arrived home tonight around 8:30. My birthday (I turned 28...again) was Friday, which was the occasion for the weekend in the mountains. When we got home, we unpacked the car, walked the dog and got the mail. Among catalogues and bills was a card from Sheref's aunt Connie. We didn't check the mail Friday, but I know that the card arrived Friday, not Saturday. How do I know this? Because Aunt Connie N.E.V.E.R. forgets an occasion, and N.E.V.E.R. is late with her cards. NEVER.

I imagine Connie's card operation to be much like Santa's workshop. Little elves working all day to strategically time each card to arrive on the exact day of each birthday or anniversary. Seriously, she never misses!!

I liked Sheref's Aunt Connie from the first moment I met her. She is a great woman, and we always love her cards. Thanks, Aunt Connie!!