Warm weather and high temps

I know I've been absent for awhile.

It was in part because we were out enjoying the beautiful weather.

It was also in part because the kids have all gotten sick with some nasty respiratory bug...please do not let our 2 yrs here be like AL (almost always having a cough of some sort)! Israellla was tagged first. Then Little Man got it next. And now Yahaira has the cough and a fever. Daniel has junk in his throat whenever he wakes up, and I may have the beginning of some phlegm. Yuck!

Last week Yahaira and some of the neighbors took a vine, strung it between 2 trees and then decorated it with handmade paper cutouts. It was neat to come across them (and their creation) in a vacant yard. They ended up having to move it to our backyard since they were leaving tiny little paper clippings on the ground. They are welcome here anytime:)

 One of the girls did not want any boys in the pictures, but look at that great photo-bomb!

Yahaira has been practicing writing her name in Hangul (Korean)

야하이라

On Monday the outside of our house was painted. I had no idea this was happening. I found out when I hit a lady going out my front door in the morning (she was taping things off). Now it is a light cream and much more pleasing to the eye than orangish-red.

 Israella decided to take out the beads and string some of them. I was pleased to see her take some initiative and work at doing something that is a little more challenging than day dreaming about princesses and unicorns. She's got quite the personality and spitfire attitude. I look at her and see the little girl that I used to be.

 Yahaira also made some cool designs and a baby carrier for one of her dolls. She cut, sewed and crafted all on her own. Happy smiles:)

This past Saturday we played host to 2 Korean ladies who were taking a hike/walk along a trail that started near Pyeongtaek. You can read about that adventure over here on our travel blog (when I actually get the time and energy to write it). I will write a post about being the weirdos we are who enjoy having complete strangers spend the night in our house. It is a wonderful experience and definitely helps hone my people skills.

On another note, we have a Korean "nanny". She started yesterday:) I use the term nanny in quotations because her primary role is not to nanny the children, but instead to just hang out with them and talk to them in Korean as if they were her own kids (and understood Korean). I am still home during this time (though I hope she grows comfortable with the kids, which will allow me to run a few errands sans kids at times). She comes twice a week for a few hours each day. Yesterday, Daniel was sick and feverish all day. She asked if I was going to take him to the hospital. I replied that I wasn't. Awhile later she asked why I wouldn't take him to the hospital. I tried to explain (in my very broken Korean and via gestures) that in the States you take a person to the hospital when they are dying, not for a fever. Maybe she thinks I'm weird now. It must be a cultural difference because Yahaira's piano teacher has asked about taking the sick kids to the hospital too, which again I replied, "Nope." I did get to take a nap with Little Man though! It was refreshing to get a cat nap and not have kids waking me up for some reason or another.