Weekend in Busan {Craft Day & Baby Shower}

We headed to Busan this past weekend!  It was a blast!  I have been so ridiculously blessed with the friendships formed here in Korea.

On Saturday I got to hangout with friends, cross-stitch, and eat American chocolate.  Does life get better than this?  I, of course, did not remember to take pictures.  (So insert a mental image.)

Sunday we headed to church and then to a baby shower!  Someone is having a baby boy!  Actually, it was a double baby shower (two moms, two baby boys on the way.)  Honestly, I love holding babies right now in my life, but I am a-okay that we are not the ones about to be parents.  The thought is too overwhelming.  BUT I am SO excited to be in the position to spoil the wee ones around us.

Yeah!  Who knew babies needed so much fun stuff?  Showers are so educational!

The guys did not cross-stitch or eat American chocolate (well maybe they ate some, but not as much as I did! ha.) but they did enjoy playing video games and throwing a Frisbee around during the baby shower.  Win-win.

I think I am getting a bit side-tracked.  Anywho, before said baby-shower, the expectant mothers got to make and frost a black-forest cake.  Wa!  Decorating cakes in Korea are way more complicated than I thought.  They rocked it.  The cake ended up beautiful and delicious.

The mommas-to-be and their cake!

The baby shower was so fun ya'll.  I met someone from Mississippi and Georgia this weekend.  Ya'll, they say, "ya'll".  ohmygoodness.  people saying ya'll = happy heart!  I dd not win any of the baby shower games, but I did learn what a diaper is called in South Africa (a nappy) and that we are born with 300 bones. 
 
After the baby shower we were headed back to Daegu!  It was a busy weekend, but so fun.  Won't trade it for the world :)

Christmas Letter 2011

Here is our Christmas letter.  Just in case you are wondering, I got the idea from here.

And here is our Christmas picture.  Not too bad considering we do not have a fancy-smanchy camera and we just used the self-timer.

Christmas Home Tour

Hey ya'll - want come over to see our cute apartment Christmas-ified?  Even if you an ocean away, you can come on in and see our cozy place.

 The front door...paper snowflakes and a Christmas potholder

Magazine Christmas Trees

These might look difficult to make, but they are SO simple, all you need is a magazine!

This blog shows each step for the Christmas trees with pictures.  I did have a few problems getting the tree to end up a circle, so I just put the back towards the wall and no one can tell what the back actually looks like. I used magazine that were different lengths to add variety.

This is the back of my shorter Christmas tree - not perfect, but that will  be a secret !

My friend Gabi, recently taught us how to make a mosaic using pictures.  (Thanks Gabi!)  So here is my snowflake mosiac....

white snowflakes on a white wall...(obviously I am obsessed with paper snowflakes)

 I tried to make a Christmas tree.  It is, uh, a little Charlie Brownish (to say the least)  It did not come out perfect, but it definitely better than no Christmas tree at all.  We also have a designated place to put presents.  I will save ya'll from actually having to see it!

What is your favorite way to decorate for Christmas? 

Art Festival

So today we had a special day at school. (One of the best parts about teaching at an elementary school is all of the special days we have!)  It was Art Festival Day!  As of yesterday my job for art festival was to help the kids line up to go on stage.  (The kiddos take turns playing instruments, reciting poems, dancing, etc.).  I think my school wanted all the parents to see the waygook.

But then I got to school this morning and was told that my job had changed.  I "got" to stand near the art gallery  and "watch" it.  Yes, I stood for 3 hours and stared into space.  It was so boring.  Of course all the parents and grandparents that walked through the gallery had questions for me.  I did a lot of smiling and bowing.  And shrugging my shoulders.  There were some amazing pieces of art!

Check out these cross stitch pictures that some of the moms made!

The students contributed some art, the parents contributed some art (see above), and the teachers contributed some art.

Here is my awesome contribution.  I think it pales in comparison to the parents' submission.

I doubt that I will have the lovely opportunity to stand around for three hours and do absolutely nothing in my future jobs.

Craft project

Hey ya'll, I am visiting the Waygooken Housewife today, telling about my latest craft endeavor.  Head on over and check it out!

5 for 1

I have a list of things that need to get blogged about, but I feel like I do not have time.  So here is 5 blogs posts summarized and wrapped up into one:

1.) We are home!  In the last three weeks we are have spent 29 hours on planes, 30+ in cars, and 10 hours on trains, it feels good to not be traveling anywhere in the near future.  Don't get me wrong, we had a blast seeing people in America!  Check this post out for my cinnamon roll making fun!

2.) We moved!  We left our old apartment looking like this:

All of our material possessions in Korea

And came back to a new apartment filled with with same boxes.  Hopefully we will finish unpacking soon and we can give you a video tour of our new apartment.  I think my favorite thing about our new apartment is the two (yes, TWO) drawers in our kitchen!  Woohoo!

3.) Daegu 2011 is almost upon us!  I have seen more foreigners running in the last two days than I have seen in the last year.  I even crossed paths with some participating athletes on the running trail this morning!

4.) School starts on Monday.  The Korean school year runs similar to the calendar year, so we are starting second semester.  I think I am excited about seeing the kiddos.

5.) I finished the bib set I was working on while we were in the States.

The project is for a "brave knight".

Now I just need a little cutie to model it...

Wordless Wednesday (almost!)

I finished!