Saturday, October 25, 2014

our fall in celebrations

Oh, how I wish I were more on top of sharing our moments. Without giving you a run-on, excuse-filled speech of all the reasons why all our Fall celebrations are being packed into one post, just roll with me and accept my attempt at capturing and cherishing memories from Fall 2014. Deal? :) Deal.

[First Day of School]

Beniah started Kindergarten at a new school this year.When I asked him how he felt about going to a new school he replied, "New school means new friends." Oh sweet boy, how right you are.

We have been an Academy of Tucson family by way of Dave being a teacher in the school district the last 8 years. He proudly would remark that our kids would attend Academy schools early in our marriage and I would rolled my eyes because no-way-would-we-still-be-in-Tucson-then. But, here we are, and Beniah is loving Academy. He loves his teacher and her great stories (and by the time they get to me, they really are great stories) and enjoys learning so much. His favorite thing right now is learning how to read and spell-he eats up signs when we are out and about, trying to sound out and read the words.


Since Haneul started preschool mid year last year and since she is a Fall birthday she is in the same class this year. Initially I was concerned since they would be at separate schools (and Miss H. does love her brother B), but the transition has gone so well and Haneul loves school. Haneul adores her teacher, Ms. Ashley, and is doing her best to be a leader while resisting the urge to be bossy. We've had some great conversations about what being a good friend looks like and she continues to mature day by day. She continues to love being creative and paint is still her choice method. As per usual, she is intrigued by whatever Beniah brings home so by way of influence she is learning all the more.










We celebrated the first day of school with a trip to Starbucks: smoothies, cake pops, and puzzles = a new LePeau tradition. 



[Haneul's Family Day]

August 24th marked Haneul's Family Day. She has now been living at home with us longer than she has lived anywhere previously. This is a milestone, of sorts, and I still feel relief knowing she is home. Our wait for her, though not as long as some, was filled with so much anticipation and longing. Occasionally my mother in law will look longingly in Haneul's direction and remark, "Shes really here, huh?" I don't have those moments quite as much as she does, but that night we channeled our inner Phyllis (we all have one in us!) and recalled the trip we made together as a family. We watched the video and told Haneul all about the time we first met her. For days afterward Haneul showed off her scrapbook from that trip proudly to whoever walked through our door and she spent many moments alone looking through pictures and piecing the story together. It's becoming her story, one that I pray she cherishes with joy. We celebrated simply by sharing Hotteok-a delicious Korean street truck dessert that I (too) often enjoyed when I lived there.






[Beniah turns 6]

This year we went low key for Beniah's birthday and choose to honor him in a couple different ways.

To kick off his birthday weekend, Beniah had his two oldest cousin over for a sleepover. They ran around a lot, played "international war" with their army men, had deep dish pizza for dinner, and while they started out in different beds in B's room, by morning they all ended up in one big pile on the floor. I totally failed to capture these moments, which is insane because I constantly have camera in hand. But those boys had so much fun running around and celebrating Beniah and I'm glad he choose to have them over.

Sunday morning Dave took Beniah out for his birthday breakfast-a LePeau tradition-he had a hard time picking between Bobo's (classic delicious greasy pancake joint) and May's Counter (chicken & waffles), but ultimately decided to go with our college time favorite and had a blueberry banana pancake.


On Monday morning he proudly wore his birthday crown around school and helped pass out the popcorn I brought for his classmates. That night we had a few friends over to enjoy a Lego cake and he got to open his gift from Halmoni. He loved everything in his package: stickers, clothes (his favorite being his furious & fast orange t-shirt), and remote control car...but he was quite upset with me when I "stole" a part of his gift...

Beniah received a $100 from Halmoni for his birthday (amongst other things) which we promptly took to put in his college fund. He has brought it up everyday this week-like how many eegees he could buy at school with it, and how many lego sets he could get... and right now he just asked me, "How would you feel if I stole a hundred dollar bill from you Mama?"‪#‎teachingdelayedgratification‬

Every year I interview the kids on their birthday with the same 20 questions to get a snapshot of their current stage of life. It's fun to look back over them year after year and see what has changed and what hasn't-answers that have the same answer as age 5 are asterisked

Beniah 
 Birthday Interview: Age 6

1. What is your favorite color? Orange*
2. What is your favorite toy? Zombie nerf gun
3. What is your favorite fruit? Peach
4. What is your favorite game? Football
5. What is your favorite animal? Elephant*
6. What is your favorite song? Everything is Awesome - Lego Movie
7. What is your favorite book? Zane
8. What is your favorite dinner? Taco Bell
9. Who is your best friend? Chasen
10.What is your favorite drink? Lemonade
11. What do you want to be when you grow up? Construction builder
12. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play with Chasin & climb the tree
13. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas*
14. What is your favorite vegetable? Brussel sprouts
15. What is your favorite breakfast? Cereal
16. What age is a person an adult? 90
17. If you could drive, where would you drive to? the Mall*
18. Where is your favorite place? Mimi & Poppo's house at the Lake*
19. What makes you angry? When someone takes my favorite things
20. What do you love most about Haneul? That shes my sister!


[Haneul turns 4]

This year Haneul will have a big birthday party (which will happen once volleyball season wraps up), but on her actual birthday I got to take her out for her birthday breakfast: she had apple juice, a cranberry white chocolate scone, and a quiche at Beyond Bread. We took our time while the boys were away and she enjoyed every single bite. She has been looking forward to her birthday for quite some time (the two months wait between their two birthdays is passed with her asking "is it my birthday yet?" everyday). At dinner that night I asked her, "What was the best things about being three?" Without hesitation she responded, "[That I'm] going to be four!"

One of the many joys of parenting siblings is watching their relationship grow. On Saturday we recieved a package from Halmoni, which I knew had presents for Haneul in it, so I made the kids wait until the next day to open it. That morning Haneul came into our room and excitedly asked, "Can I open the package from Halmoni?" Beniah was still sleeping so I went to wake him. He came into our room, all groggy, wrapped his arms around Haneul and said, "Happy Birthday Haneul". She was beaming- and so was I!! Its so sweet and fun to see them love on each other!

Haneul
 Birthday Interview: Age 4

1. What is your favorite color? Purple
2. What is your favorite toy? Beniah
3. What is your favorite fruit? Melon*
4. What is your favorite game? Cariboo
5. What is your favorite animal? Giraffe
6. What is your favorite song? Let it Go - Disney's Frozen 
7. What is your favorite book? Oh the Places you Will Go! - Dr. Seuss
8. What is your favorite dinner? Macroni & Cheese
9. Who is your best friend? Beniah
10.What is your favorite drink? Juice*
11. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Mom
12. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Go to Daddy's van
13. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween
14. What is your favorite vegetable? Carrots*
15. What is your favorite breakfast? Daddy's Smoothies
16. What age is a person an adult? 15
17. If you could drive, where would you drive to? The Lake 
18. Where is your favorite place? The Lake
19. What makes you angry? When Beniah hits you
20. What do you love most about Beniah? Hitting his bum like a drum


There you have it-my very belated Fall celebrations post!