haneul is 2!

On Friday Haneul turned two! All day we kept asking her, "How old are you?" and Beniah had fun teaching her how to say "Two!".

check out that bed head! EVERY morning her hair is crazy~

Daddy had the day off (thanks fall break!) and was able to treat all of us to banana pancakes for breakfast.

her eyes get big for food

Beniah was very excited for her birthday party and helped in anyway he could to get ready. Haneul likes to color (she even colors the wall!! :/ ) so we had crayon crazy celebration. I saw some cool rainbow cakes on pinterest..so we tried our hand. Beniah helped me make and decorate.

The party was at one of my favorite parks. Its has a big open field and a good sized playground. We had a couple friends stop by for some fun outdoors. The weather was beautiful-we experienced a cold front this weekend so it actually felt like fall!

Papa helping the kids with the chalk

I took like 5 shots of this scene...this was the best one. I like Eli's surprised expression.

the Reyes big kids having their hand at bags

Terrance with his "baketball"

checking out the scrapbook of our trip to meet Haneul. It came just in time on Saturday morning!

Jackson and his basketball :)

Bryce doing double duty

Eli and Haneul both snacking away

Cory with his crayon art project

Missy helped man the station. E is for Emma!

waiting in line

I think what Haneul looked forward to the most was her cake. We've limited her sweets (compared to what I think she was used to in her foster family) so she could not wait to get a bite of that sweet goodness!

Beniah and Rylan with the baby dolls

Once we got home, Beniah helped Haneul play with her new fun toys.

dress up from Papa and Janet

so sweet

picking shoes to complete the outfit

she showed Dave every outfit she tried on!

feeding and rocking their baby dolls to sleep

the christian left?

"Before you speak to me about your religion, first show it to me in how you treat other people; before you tell me how much you love your God, show me in how much you love all His children; before you preach to me of your passion for your faith, teach me about it through your compassion for your neighbors. In the end, I'm not as interested in what you have to tell or sell as in how you choose to live and give."
    - Cory Booker (Mayor, Newark, NJ)

one month home

We had our social worker visit last week to write our one month home report to send back to the foster family. I got to write them a letter about how Haneul is transitioning and I printed off a number of pictures to send them. (I first saw the requirement was 6 pictures and thought that was a lot! Then I counted how many I actually printed...13!) It's been a whirlwind of a month getting settled into our new life as a family of four. It has truly flown by and I realized its been without posting any pictures! There are two reasons for this: one is I can't seem to leave those two alone for longer than exactly 2 minutes and secondly, I left my camera battery charger at my mom's house in Korea. 

Haneul has transitioned well to life in the US, her new home, and her new family. Overall we are really shocked with how well she has done. It is completely her personality though, as she is very easy going and social. She loves to be in the action and still wants to do whatever Beniah is doing (which is usually where the 2 minute rule comes into play). She is eating constantly and loves fruit. I was a little concerned with her protein intake, but she has come to eat pretty much whatever we give her now. She is sleeping well both at naptime and bedtime and rarely wakes up at night. She is picking up more and more English everyday although I still talk to her in Korean a lot. This has helped a ton as she is easily frustrated if she doesn't get what she wants right away! 

Some have asked if it feels weird to have her home. Dave and I both feel like she is just our daughter. It has been easy for her to transition into part of our family. We are very blessed to have her, as well as Beniah. Enough talk..here are some photos!

in the pool at cousin eric's 7th birthday party!

dance party!

Dave loves this expression on her

fun at the park! We've been to the park pretty much daily because this little girl has sooo much energy!

Beniah is bouncy her on a climbing chain

Papa and Janet visit to meet Haneul

a rare picture of both Dave and I with Haneul!

Sadly our camera lost battery at the park and I've been without a camera for almost 3 weeks! (It took a little bit to realize where it was left..) 

adventures in arizona: apple annie's orchard

We made the trip out to Willcox, Arizona on Saturday morning to visit Apple Annie's Orchard. We had quite a crew as we met Aunt Tyler, the Tucson cousins, Aunt Tyler's sister and boyfriend-Erica & Bryon, and brought Denise & Terrance with us. The kids had a ton of fun running around the orchard, picking apples, eating apples, and playing with each other.

first time really playing together

she liked dancing with corbin

the pre-picking huddle

reaching high for apples!

the future of family photos: me smiling and the kids not. *sigh* i'll get used to it..

denise & terrance

enjoying the apple she picked. these granny smiths were super tart-don't know why she kept eating it!!

erica with "the perfect apple"

beniah trying his hand

still can't believe this boy is 7~he's getting so big!

time to climb the tree!

they had too much fun! good naptime on the ride home

I was really impressed-we enjoyed delicious caramel corn popcorn, homemade fudge (in all kinds of varieties), and apple smoked burgers! There was even a tractor to ride, but we decided to let the kids use their legs. It was a great trip and think we might come back out to Willcox for our pumpkins this year!