Mandu Party

Last weekend we got together with a group of friends and had a mandu making party. Mandu are Korean dumplings with meat/veggies that can be fried or steamed - and they are soooo good. Our friends D & C graciously opened their home to all of us, including lots of very energetic kids! We enjoyed catching up with everyone and the food was amazing.


We celebrated a few birthdays with cupcakes, which the kids enjoyed.






Mmmmmm! This is the mandu. We also had crockpot bulgogi, kimchee, soup, rice, veggies and fruit...too much to remember. It was like an early Thanksgiving.


I'm still counting, but I think this is everybody!

More hats, Trunk or Treating, Apple

Henry and Walter love playing with hats. A few weeks ago, they found Mama L's hat box in her closet and had a grand time trying her hats on and pretending to be cowboys (just for the record, Mama L doesn't own any cowboy hats!). In this picture they were goofing off with my winter hat and Nate's baseball cap.

Instead of going trick or treating on Halloween, we attended our church's trunk or treating event. We have a dinner, games, a costume parade, a book reading and lots of dessert. We park our cars in the lot so that all the trunks are on the inside and the kids go from trunk to trunk to get candy. We had fantastic weather that night.

Walter dressed as a tiger to match his favorite stuffed animal. He was so excited at church he was literally jumping up and down and pacing back and forth!


Henry was a giraffe - it must be the spots, but I thought it made him look taller than usual!



Walter loves apples. He grabs an apple any chance he gets and takes a bite - it takes too long to wait for Mom to cut it up!

Spaghetti & Getting Ready for Winter

We had some snow here a few days ago, so we pulled out the winter stuff to see what fits. The boys couldn't resist wearing their hats and mittens around the house.







Henry and Walter both love noodles...unfortunately they are kind of tricky to eat and most of Walter's spaghetti ends up on the floor. He didn't seem to mind.

A Weekend with Friends

This weekend we had fun visiting with our friends. Andrew and Janelle and their kids came on Friday and left Saturday. The guys got to do some pheasant hunting, the kids had fun playing with trains, going to the park, and riding bikes. I didn't get any pictures because it was crazy-busy!

On Sunday, Randy and Kristi came with their family for the day. We met when we were in Korea meeting Henry and they were meeting their son, Parker. We have a lot in common, so we look forward to the time we get to spend with them. You won't meet nicer kids than Melanie, Brooke, Ryan, Parker, and Noah!


It was a full table at lunch: Noah, Henry, Parker, Melanie, Brooke, Ryan, Walter


Walter and Noah were pretty messy after finishing off cookies with orange frosting - very messy!


Parker and Henry kept busy playing with Moon Sand.


Things got a little loud when the girls were playing the organ.



Ryan joined in the fun.


The musicians...


What can 7 kids do to a family room? Take a look around! They definitely have healthy imaginations which lead to lots of creative fun.


There was some chasing...


...football...


...driving and leaf removal...



What handsome brothers!


These four went on a few walking "adventures" around the house - and came back laughing every time.


Meanwhile, Walter had fun pretending to drive with Ryan.

Keeping Busy while Dad's Away

While Nate was hunting in Canada and South Dakota, we spent some time in the cities. We went to Como Zoo and rode on the Carousel, played at the park, went on rides at the Mall of America, went to the doctor's office, an apple orchard,church (just the 3 of us without any help...for the first time ever!), ate a yummy meal at Hoban with our friends and much more. We tried to keep busy but not too busy to keep the time from crawling. Happy to report that Daddy is finally home! We made it - Praise the Lord! I owe a BIG thank you to my sisters and dad who were my extra hands!

The boys loved Boppa's headlamps!








We had fun playing at the park with Adeline!

Sharing

Henry and Walter each picked out a lollipop at the grocery store and had fun sharing with each other. I know I really don't need 5 pictures of this event, but it was kind of sweet so I couldn't choose.

Fall Harvest

Nate left last Friday for his duck hunting trip, so we headed to the cities. We met our friends at the Fall Harvest Farm for a morning of fun. They loved seeing the cows, turkeys, and chickens. We went on a tractor ride and picked corn and gourds and then we were so tired out, we headed home.


The goats were Walter's favorite part of the farm. Henry didn't want to feed them, but Walter thought it was so fun to have them eat out of his hand. I had to include the second picture because wanted to look them right in the eye!



The corn pit was actually Henry's favorite thing (Walter liked trying to eat the corn) but I couldn't get a picture of him or the boys together in the corn that wasn't blurred!


There are obviously not good pictures - Preston is the only one who would look at the camera. I thought it was funny how they all went different directions and did their own thing once they saw the pumpkins - maybe orange wasn't the best color to dress Henry when I wanted to be able to see him easily!