Hello from Washington!

Greetings from Ferndale, WA where this is the view out the front of our new house! We are loving the view of Mt. Baker!

Tae's been enjoying the outdoors at our new home. The weather has been kind to us - many beautiful days in the 70s! Here's how we spent the 4th of July:

Painting in the backyard

Picking strawberries at a local farm (we picked 17 lbs!)

Going on a boatride in Puget Sound from Blaine Harbor to the Semiahmoo Spit

And playing in the Sound. He was a little uncertain of the cold water at first...

But then he started splashing...

And then he really had a great time!

We've enjoyed several meals al fresco in our backyard, plus many special meals already with Uncle Mark and Aunt Michelle. Life is good here...we hope for you too!

Can you believe it???

From Tae:

Can you believe that my parents have finally gotten around to posting new photos of me?  Makes me want to scream with joy!

Well, the big news around here is that I'm going to be wearing this outfit a lot more beginning this summer when we move to Washington State! I guess I got a little used to it since it was so rainy in California this winter. I loooooooove to stomp in puddles!

I had a fun winter and spring when all my grandparents came to visit:

I still love to help in the yard (one early Saturday morning in my pj's):

And I love to pick (and eat) strawberries from the yard. Vegetables...not so much. I am 2 1/2, you know:

And, I always amuse my parents with my hairdo in the morning. Here was an extra special cool one:

Here's a song I learned that I'll have to sing a lot when we live in Washington!

And let me read you a story...it's one of my favorites, The Napping House:



And let me show you how well I draw a circle!



That's all for now! Have a great spring, everyone!
Love,
Tae

Tae's Autumn

It's been a couple months since we've posted new photos of Tae. He's grown so much and is talking up a storm in his cute, deep voice. He's happily enjoying "preschool" 3 days a week and loves to read, play outside, bang on a xylophone/workbench/drum/whatever is available, and always asks for a "full body hug please." How can we resist?

Here are pictures of Tae's autumn:

Picking pumpkins at the pumpkin patch

Tae as a bee for Halloween

Remembering his baptism on All Saint's Day

Tae the artist

Wagon ride with daddy

Putting away the clean silverware

Yummy!

Watching the recycling truck with grandpa Rod

Reading with Grandma Sharie

Tae's first visit to El Camino Pines Lutheran Camp in October

Sometimes life is like that...

Visit to see Uncle Mark and Aunt Michelle in Bellingham, WA in Nov. (at the Children's Museum)

Tae's first experience of snow! (It snowed 4 inches overnight!)

Fun to run in snow!

Up in the sky with daddy!

Thanks for my bath, Uncle Mark!

We took the train from Bellingham to Salem to see Mike's family for Thanksgiving. This was the stop in Seattle...and it was actually snowing! Tae was fascinated with it falling from the sky.

We also saw cousins Owen and Rachel...

...and played at Owen and Rachel's house

And had a great Thanksgiving with Grandma Mary Jane and Grandpa Don

And just for fun - here's Tae singing his own version of the "Itsy Bitsty Spider," with special emphasis on "washed the spider out..."

"Itsy Bitsy Spider" from Jana Schofield on Vimeo.

Grandma Sharie and Grandpa Rod are now visiting for 2 months - Tae is loving it! Blessings to you this Christmas season!

Tae is 2!

Our little boy is becoming a big boy! On August 31, Tae turned 2, and we celebrated with a "bubbles and balloons" birthday party:

He was so happy to have a birthday cupcake that while I was lighting his birthday candles, he took another cupcake and had a bite!

Tae began "school" (a Montessori toddler's program) the day after his birthday and they made him a "birthday crown" which his teachers said he wore all day and they had to pry off him for naptime:

They put him in the "special birthday chair" and sang a special birthday song:

We were blessed that both sets of our parents were here for Tae's birthday (and Mike's parents were here for almost 2 weeks helping finish our backyard deck bench and do "Tae watch" - bless them!). We took advantage of our families being here to get some professional photos taken at the beach:

Tae's "word explosion" continues, with recent favorite phrases being:

"boom boom truck" (for any big truck)

"ready, set, go!"

"mama dada work (or home or wherever we are at the time)"

"wake up mama" (said this morning when I was a little slow getting to his crib!)

and my personal favorite: "church - fun!"

And since Tae loves to eat and sleep, here he tries to do both at the same time on a recent hot San Luis Obispo day:

We simply adore our little 2 year old! How blessed we are!

One year Forever Family Day!

It's hard to believe that a year ago today in Seoul we were handed the greatest gift of our lives - our son. We will forever remember the emotional intensity of that day for all of us - the joy we were experiencing, the loss Tae was enduring. One year ago today when we received him in our arms he probably wasn't sure what to think:

However, we're quite confident that he knows us as his mama and dada now. Here's a quick video I took last night:

Tae - mama/dada from Jana Schofield on Vimeo.

And, we're quite confident that he also knows the word no.... Here's a video my dad shot the other day (my parents were here for a few weeks - bless them!- while mama and dada went houseboating and mama recuperated from a laparoscopy).

Untitled from Jana Schofield on Vimeo.

Tae continues to bring unceasing joy to our lives - you can imagine that we laugh a lot! We delight in his recent explosion of words and are amazed at the things he understands - today he said four colors, and he can pick out several letters and even spell his name.

This summer we've been enjoying lots of fruit from our trees and berry plants - here's Tae this afternoon picking strawberries and stuffing them in his mouth (I, of course, loved the shirt he was wearing today!)

Tae has also recently been enjoying reading lots of books...

helping clean up...

beach combing...

and being the sweet silly boy we just love!

Happy First Forever Family Day, sweet Tae! We love you!!!!!