Sum It Up Sunday!

I slacked last week, so I have a lot to update you on over the last two weeks!!

Week of 12/8:

We brought in the Christmas spirit with a tree lighting ceremony and a holiday Bazaar at our local SuperGym. Santa came to town to help light the tree. Cooper was not sure about him as he passed through the crowds. Our lovely babysitter holds date night once a month, so after the tree lighting, she took Cooper and Andy and I were able to go out to dinner. It was wondering enjoying dinner without picking up food off the floor or constantly making sure there is nothing in a two foot radius for little fingers to grab.

Throughout the weekend we visited the Holiday Bazaar. There were over 50 vendors including Korean and American home based businesses. It was a great opportunity to do some Korean shopping without having to go outside of base. Some of the business can be difficult to find on our own!

This is a sample of one of the vendors with their Korean pottery. It was so gorgeous!

The rest of the week was pretty routine as daddy was still working his 12 hour shifts and mommy was on her 2^nd to last full week of school before break. Cooper and mommy were able to play Santa Claus while Daddy worked so much!
 

Cooper telling Santa Claus how good of a boy he has been :)

Andy was so kind to let me get away over that weekend for a little girls time in Osan. The Air Base is in Osan and is a bit larger than Humphreys right now, so we ventured there for some additional shopping and food! One of my colleagues and friend is originally from India and craves traditional Indian food. I said I would be willing to try it if she found a place here. There is a tiny little restaurant out in the Osan Ville that served as “close to home” as she could get. We did our shopping and then went to eat. I can say I tried the food, I can’t say I loved the food! Haha. The chicken was good, but they LOVE their spices! It was a good experience and I’m glad I learned some of the history behind the culture!

Week of 12/15:

What an exciting week!!! It was Birthday Week! This was also my last week of school until January 6^th, so the kids were wild! I can’t say I blame them, I was ready to get out of that building and on to the new school as well!

We heard our Christmas card made it to all of our friends and family. In reality, I had completely forgotten about the fact that I would need to get a picture, get the card made, have them mailed to me and then have to send them out! I was scrounging to get a picture taken in time. I realized I needed to get things done on a Saturday morning, by Saturday afternoon I had gotten the props together and dressed Cooper up. With Daddy’s help we attempted our first photo session. These were the ONLY two pictures where he is smiling. He did NOT like being a snowman! Although I had to use black and white to make it look decent, I think it was well worth it! For those readers who didn’t receive one – here you go J

 

Wednesday was Cooper’s FIRST birthday! I can’t believe an entire year has flown by! I’m sure I am the 10,000^th parent to say this, but I just can’t believe how fast time flies. Cooper has had quite the year. He has lived in Kansas, Ohio, and South Korea! I’m not sure of too many one year olds who can say that! He has been such a trooper through the transition of moving all around! He has truly changed Andy and I’s lives forever and makes us smile each and every day. He is full of energy these days and “talks” from sun-up to sun-down. He loves to scoot around on his walker and finds it hilarious to take a few steps and then go flying into mom or dad’s arms. He is also really starting to come into his personality! He gets very angry when he doesn’t get his way and is having a hard time learning he can’t have everything. He knows when he is doing something wrong and enjoys giving us a stinker grin after he’s done it! I think we will have a climber on our hands. He loves to get on top of boxes or anything he can get on to get to what he wants. We have had so much fun getting to love on this little boy over his first year and can’t wait to continue on this journey with him!

On his actual birthday we opened gifts from all his aunts, uncles and grandparents. He started out just wanting to climb on top of all the boxes and didn’t care much about the gifts. But, by the end he began understanding the concept and enjoyed ripping off the wrapping paper and playing with his toys. We have loved seeing him interact with these new toys and try to figure out how they work. We LOVE our family for getting everything together and sending gifts to him even when we are half a world away!

 

Saturday we had his first birthday party! "Down on the farm it's lots of fun, 'cuz Baby Cooper is turning ONE!" This was our theme and even though all of my decorations, party favors, and games did not come in, in time for the party, we made everything work and had a great time! We have been blessed to have met some friends through work and child care. They were all able to make it and made my "sad" emotions about not having a party at home with our family go away! It truly amazes me, with each place we go, how much of a family you can create in such a short time with the Army! Andy and I are so thankful and feel so fortunate to have had people be there to help celebrate such a milestone for our little family!

 

Our craft for all the older kids!

 

After the party, we packed our bags and are ready to head to the big city - Seoul, South Korea! There was a holiday special at the hotel on base and we took it up! We will be in the city Sunday the 22nd- until Christmas Eve. We hope to get lots of pictures to add to our post next weekend :) We don't have too much time to explore the city, but hope to be able to get as much done as can while we are here. We look forward to spending some time away from the Hump, and keep ourselves busy as Christmas approaches.

 

Merry Christmas readers!!!

Sum it Up Sunday!

Hello Readers!! We've had a busy week here in Korea!

We had a full week of school and will for the next two weeks. The kids are anxious, but they are doing fairly well at staying focused. As focused as middle school students can be :) Cooper was with me on Monday morning and wasn't must have his dad's "not sure" feelings on the Christmas spirit :)

Andy had a crazy week again! He came in 2nd in the Soldier of the Month board and was nominated to go to the Auddie Murphy Board in February. For those of you not in the military, this is a very big honor to be chosen to go and we will be studying our butts off to make sure he passes this board. There is also a huge mission going on on-post and Andy was called in on detail to work 12 hour shifts to help with the mission. We are hoping this is the last big thing until after the holidays so we are able to spend some family time together!

Due to the moving of the current school to the new school, much of our things at school are beginning to disappear. Therefore, I had to do a lot of planning and copying ahead of time. It was a couple long nights and stressful days, but it has been super great to come home at night and not have much of anything to do! It came at a much needed time while Andy was gone. I have been able to really hang out with Cooper and got this adorable photo of him playing!

Surprisingly enough Cooper has done really well with the Christmas tree and other decorations. I only decorated the tree about half way down besides the lights. There have only been a few times I have caught him playing with the tree. Below is one of those times :)

 

 

We were very fortunate enough to have Andy home on Friday night in time for the tree lighting ceremony and Santa Claus. On post, they have started a Holiday Bazaar to kick off the holiday season. This included the tree lighting on Friday night and then a great Bazaar full of both American and Korean vendors. We attended the tree lighting ceremony and then off to the Bazaar throughout the weekend. We are blessed to have an amazing babysitter who does "date night" and took Cooper after the tree lighting so that Daddy and I could get away for dinner and Christmas shopping. The Bazaar had some really great things! I was able to wrap up my Christmas shopping for family members with some neat traditional Korean items.

 

Santa Claus made his appearance on a fire truck! Cooper saw him and was not really sure what to think about him. Next weekend we have breakfast with Santa and are looking forward to getting his picture with him!!

 







We have another full week of work and another full week of Daddy working 7-7. Our final packages have to be mailed in time for Christmas by Tuesday, so I'll be standing in line at the post office for a while I'm sure this week!

 

Hope you all have a great week! We miss and love you!!!

Sum it up Sunday!

This week has been a great week for the Naseman Family! It was a three day work week and we enjoyed our first Thanksgiving on a different continent!

The biggest event of our week - Cooper's FIRST STEPS!!! He takes two or three steps and then falls forward for us to catch him. He finds that very hilarious, so he hasn't tried to take more than three steps. I am waiting to get that perfect moment on video :)

Three day work weeks are always wonderful! I have three weeks left in the current building they are using as the middle school. Starting in January, the students will finally have a chance to use the brand new school building! Although this means I will have to pack up my classroom and start all over with a new classroom, I am thrilled to be in a brand new school with all the resources I have been dying to get my hands on! I look forward to the day I can upload pictures of my new classroom :)

Thanksgiving was a big success! We had all the trimmings - turkey, noodles, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, stuffing, vegetables, and pumpkin pie! Cooper absolutely loved the noodles and turkey!

 

Andy technically had a 4 day weekend, but was stuck with CQ (Staff Duty) on Saturday. This is a 24 hour shift to watch the soldiers in the barracks. It stunk for Cooper and I to not have him at home, but we had our own fun decorating the house for Christmas!

 

It is very crazy to think it's December 1st already! This time last year I was counting down the days to give birth and now I am counting down the days to planning his first birthday party! I won't lie - I've a shed a few tears rocking him to sleep lately. I look down at this little innocent boy who has shown me so much over the last year and can't imagine my life without him! I'll save the rest of my sappiness until his birthday :)

Cooper hanging out with Daddy on the couch.

 

Cooper loves to transfer all his toys from the seat of the bumbo to the toy bin and then back again. He will sit and do that for a solid hour while talking to them. Cracks me up!

 

We have an exciting weekend to look forward to - our Christmas Tree lighting is on Friday! There is also a large Holiday Bazaar I am looking forward to because there will be a lot of Korean vendors present :) I can't wait to find some goodies to send home to our family!

Sum it up Saturday!

Hello!! It's been a while! We were on hiatus as we traveled back to the states and back and then readjusted to life back in Korea.

I think I'll will break out in hives and then itch until I bleed and cause scars if I have to really think back on my experience flying home, so I'll safe my skin and give just a snapshot glimpse into our adventure home.

It was terrible. Absolutely. Horrible! Our first flight home was by far the worst experience of my young life, yet. We were up at 5:00 Wednesday morning to get on the 6:00 bus out of Humprheys to Seoul. We arrived just before 8:00. The gates in the airport are not the same as the gates in the states. There is not a Delta check-in counter per say. There are lots of counters and only at a designated time do Delta attendants take their position at the gate. This meant a lot of down time before the gate opened at 9:50. We walked and walked, and crawled around, but mostly did a lot of crying, haha. Finally we were through and God was watching over me, preparing me for the living hell I was about to experience on the flight. There was a great play area for kids to burn off all their energy while they waited. It was only a short walk to our gate, so we spent a solid 2 hours here before boarding.

Isn't this place awesome!!!

 

 

The Flight. Air time - 12 hours. Crying Time - 8 hours. Sleeping Time - 2 hrs. If that gives any mother who has flown with an infant any idea of how my trip went multiply that times two. It was a huge plane - two levels and it was packed. I got death glares from everyone on the plane, including some stewardess. Poor baby Cooper was so excited to see all these things he had never seen before that he just wanted to crawl all around. He sat on my lap in the middle seat - NEVER again! He finally became very tired, but we sat by the bathrooms and the stewardess station. Every time his eyes were about to close, a stewardess would be opening a new can of pop. To sum it up  - the guy next to me ordered two vodka and tonics and didn't even save the second vodka for a second drink. I was secretly praying he was ordering the second one for me - Lord knows I needed it!

Regardless of what happened, we made it home for a very important and fantastic wedding weekend! I had such a great time with family and standing next to my 'sister' on her special day! It was absolutely gorgeous and I would (I think) go through the entire flight again to be there!!

Not a great shot of either of us, but it was as good as we could get. Cooper looked absolutely adorable! I thankfully zipped right into my dress as the first time I had tried it on was three days before the wedding!

It took us a while to get adjusted back to Korea time. Cooper down by 6:00 and up ready to party at 4:00. That week was super long, but we made it and had the weekend to catch us up. Since then, we've been busy Christmas shopping as we have to have everything mailed by December 10th in order for it to get home on time. At least it has made me get my Christmas shopping done early! Here's a few shots over the last week!

Painting with Mommy and Daddy!!

Can you find me? It's my new favorite game.

 

I can't write too much on it now as I am already tearing up, but I promise I will once the big day is gone. We are planning Cooper's FIRST birthday!! I can't believe it is already time to do this. We cannot wait for his party and all our farm friends that will join :) If you didn't get an official invite in the mail - consider this one yours!!!

Sum It Up Saturday!

or Sunday. haha. Man I need to get it together! I feel like I say that to myself all the time. In terms of an entire week, we didn't have that much going on. Busy schedules, making dinner and grading, grading, grading! This was the last week of the grading period, so I was burning the midnight oil most nights this week.

Our BIG news of the week - is the newest arrival of Cooper's baby cousin - Ariyah Rose :) We cannot wait to get home to meet her!

Although it was busy, we had a few very fun milestones this week :) Cooper got his Halloween gift - a new learn-to-walk toy. He took off like crazy! He has no fear when it comes to trying new things. We call him our little monster. He is so wild and loves to be everywhere all the time! He rams the walker into everything, including walls. He finally figured out how to turn the walker when he hits something. Only problem - he only knows how to go right, so he makes complete circles to turn left. Hilarious!

*I can't get the video to load. Hopefully next week.

 



The other great event was Halloween! Our little cow didn't know what to think when we went out. It's a very different lifestyle and adventure to trick-or-treat in an apartment complex. Everyone on the floor came out and sat around to pass out candy. Instead of going street by street, it was floor by floor in the elevator. There were lots of cuties and Cooper wasn't sure what to think of the scary costumes. He lasted a good 45 minutes and then enjoyed seeing everyone else's costumes as we passed out candy.

This weekend we are busy PACKING!!!! We are so excited to be coming home this week to visit all our friends and family. Cooper has his suite all cleaned and ready to go for his auntie Hallie's BIG DAY :) We will be in and out throughout the end of the week - so if you can't see us at the wedding reception, feel free to text or call to stop in and see us.

 

We also visited a new restaurant this week - I'm Your Fan. They specialize in pork cutlets. This is the hot and spicy. I had the double cheese. They are huge pork cutlets with sauce all over and a side of rice. They also had a salad bar with salad, extra rice, and other kimchi options. Andy and I have not found a kimchi we enjoy, but we keep trying! haha. The meal started with a soup of some-sort, but we don't really know what it was. It tasted kind of like a pasta/potato soup, but we couldn't understand the waiter. Andy and I both thought it was okay, but Cooper loved it! He couldn't get enough. Overall, I thought the cutlets were pretty good. Andy prefers not to return, haha. The one of many food adventures :)

Cooper even got his own bowl :)

Sum it up Saturday x 2!

I know, I know...I missed last week! I apologize for not updating, but our life was a big fog while daddy finished his time in the field.

So, for the week of the 14th:

It was Homecoming week at Humphreys High School! We had a spirit week full of dress-up days, a homecoming parade, pep rally, powder-puff football game, bonfire and the home football game to finish the week out! It was busy!!! All the students enjoyed the week and were out in full cheering action at the football game. I has the pleasure of chaperoning the dance for a bit on Saturday and they all looked so great and had a wonderful time! Here are a few pictures from the week.



 Cheering on the Blackhawks!!!!

6th Grade Class float for the parade :)

The fall weather has been absolutely gorgeous! Cooper  has loved spending time outside at the different playgrounds

                          

                            

 

 

This week:

Daddy finally got home late Wednesday night! We love having him home. Hopefully he won't have to return back the field until after Christmas. We have been busy getting the house back in order. Cooper has been really testing us lately. he is either causing a heart attack or making us laugh these days. He is standing up on everything, which makes me gasp with fear every second. Sometimes he thinks he can brave and tries to reach for the next nearest piece of furniture only to stand there crying out of frustration. He is also figuring out new things everyday day making us laugh! There is a video of his latest toy discovery! He has also started closing his eyes while he's laughing which just may be the cutest thing on the planet! Although the baby babbling is just as adorable, I'm a bit nervous we will have the child who never shuts up once he can form words! We are having an absolute blast with him and getting very sad as we realize we need to order things to be shipped here in time for his first birthday! Is that even possible?!?!

 

 

Someone got loose while I was getting him ready for his bath!

Cooper figured out how to work his toy from the Sesame Street Live! Don't mind the mismatched pajamas :)

Last but not least, we even got a taste of Oktoberfest here in Korea! The MWR services sponsored a full German Oktoberfest with German beer, brats, sauerkraut and potato salad. The night ended with a wonderful concert by Aaron Tippin. (Think, where the Stars and Stripes, and the eagle flies!)  it's starting to get chilly here at night so we had to bundle up a bit!

Hope you enjoyed our update! Many of you will be seeing us very soon and we can't wait! Love you all!