A Brief Family Vacation

We went camping two weekends ago near the Silver Lake sand dunes. This was the last chance to get the whole family together before our exchange kids go home. We banned electronics, which was hysterical because, while Won Kun and Lena are always texting, it was ME who discovered that I could take Won Kun's ipod to the camp store to check my email!! I had to allow a little texting to bribe him to let me use it. :-)

Kids goofing off with Mom's camera...

Pool time for two bathing beauties...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that newly-toothless smile!!

Lena's never played putt-putt golf before! Here they are, getting psyched up for the intense competition...

The Dunes- a favorite destination for the Sparrow family.

My boys crossed the dunes with a water bottle and a pirate flag. The received much attention for doing this! It's a long trip across the dunes and then down the shore of Lake Michigan to the lighthouse. Lots of people stopped to take photos and video... wonder what they'd think if they knew our last name is SPARROW!?! My guys definately have a little "Captain Jack" in them!

Family photo at our favorite lighthouse...

Won Kun and Lena, just after she smacked him upside the head like a true big sister!

Stiff competition for the "Exchange Student Cup"... John wins it, but only because Won Kun had technical difficulties with his go-kart and Lena DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS ALLOWED TO PASS!!!

Won Kun, Lena... we will miss you and will forever cherish the memories and the photos of our year together! Love, Mom

Pyrotechnics, Piercings, and Plants

An update on Sparrow family fun, starting with the Hamburg Family Fun Fest. My guys were at a manly, sword-wielding, tough-guy church retreat so I took the ladies for a little surprise. When the girls all saw the carnival come into view Lena starting yelling something like, "It's so AMERICAN!!" And Morgan and Parker just screamed like little girls. :-)

Parker wasn't ready for the very-tall, somewhat-fast ferris wheel so Lena and Mo went without us. While the fireworks were going on, it stopped with the girls right on top! What a spectacular view!!! What's a carnival without wasting some cash on a dart-throwing game and fresh cotton candy (this is the ONLY place to get *good* CC!!)? It was a magical night with the loud music, fireworks, yummy smells, etc. One of my favorite childhood memories is the fouth of July carnival in Whitmore Lake so this was SO much fun for me. :-)

Next up...

I've wanted to try sqare-foot gardening for a couple of years and finally got started yesterday! John and I built the frame and then the girls got in on the fun.

The girls stole my industrial string from the garage, so I stole my daughter's yarn for my garden. Fair trade, right?

Lena won't get to stay long enough to eat the cucumbers, but we were thrilled she wanted to help plant them.

And finally...

Parker's been begging to get her ears pierced for a while (oh, and she's growing out her bangs, but keeps forgetting her barettes!). Before...

And after! (Oh that toothless grin never gets old for me!)
Morgan also got her ears pierced today, but hers was a re-piercing after letting her holes close up a few years ago. My sweet girls...

There's a little update for you. Vacation photos are coming soon!

God bless,

Kelli

WLHS Prom 2009

I am posting these mainly for Lena's family to see her going to her American senior prom, but maybe everyone will enjoy them! They all clean up so beautifully! :-)

Won Kun and his date, Abby...


Back row- Dae Sick, Won Kun, Caleb, and Immo
Front row- Lena, Abby, Lauren, and Melissa

I thought this was such a cute photo... :-)
A pose we've been using for all of the formal dances this school year. I love the addition of Lena into what has been a guy-only pose up til now!

The new desktop photo on our computer... kind of a backwards Charlie's Angels?! This foursome has been such a wonderful additon to our family this year. While only two of them live with us, Dae Sick and Immo are over quite often and we will miss them just as much as our own when they all go home in June... waaaaaaaah. :-(

I get annoyed too many days when one or more of my six kids don't get a chore done promptly and I have to remind them, but today reminded me gently of what really matters. I really love these teens and will miss them so much when they are gone- thanks for making my day, kiddos! I love you all. <3

A day at the zoo with our animals... err, children!

Won Kun already went to the Binder Park zoo with us last summer so he skipped out on us this time. It was a gorgeous day, except for the rainstorm on the way and then some sprinkles while we were there. In any case, it was a wonderful time together!

Loving our camera! We got many cool animal photos but this is one of our faves... the Mexican wolves.

Heading for Africa on the tram...

Morgan Ami entertaining us in Africa (with an Asian hat... typical.)

We thought we would never get the giraffes over to the feeding area. Something spooked them and they wouldn't come near us for a long time. I was *not* leaving until Lena got to feed a giraffe!

We found a couple of gorillas in the African outpost and took a photo. They didn't seem happy about it though.

"NO MORE PHOTOS, LADY!" (recognize that hat on that monkey's head?)
He started following us! A gorilla with a goofy old-man hat and red Converse... he got a LOT of attention from passers-by for the rest of the day. :-)

We are looking forward to many more zoo trips this summer and hope for many more beautiful days like this one!

Disney on Ice

Friday we went to the Disney on Ice, Worlds of Fantasy show at the Palace. When we asked Lena if she would want to come with us, she nearly cried she was so excited! Won Kun had a basketball game so he chose to stay in school... what is WRONG with that boy?!?

At the Princess pre-show, we were able to meet Cinderella and Belle. Parker (Snow White) was a little shy about it even though she has played princesses just about every day since coming home from Disney World in May!

Sweet sisters in front of Jasmine's costume. I must be influenced a little too much by my sons' love of weaponry... the first thing I notice in the photo is the glint of the sword!

No, we weren't the ONLY people there... just the first. :-)

The show covered four movies... Cars,

The Little Mermaid,

The Lion King,

and Tinkerbell.

It was a wonderful show and we look forward to Disney returning in October. We've definately become Disney Geeks over the last year. Of all the times we've been to Disney with one or more of the kids, 2008 was the most MAGICAL and one of my most treasured memories with my family.

Blessings,
Kelli

Oh, happy chaos!

Lena, Morgan, and Parker seem to be getting along just fine... Morgan dressed up as "Little Lena" complete with her cell phone and sunglasses. Parker got in on the dress-up fun also just after this photo.





Lena has been soooo wonderful with the girls. She is very patient and loving, plays and reads with them, and does lots of snuggling.





(I tried to get a nice photo with my new "daughter" but look who snuck into this photo.)

The funniest thing is the relationship between Luke and Lena (hey, that almost sounds like "Luke and Leia"... cool, maybe she won't notice if we start calling her that!)... Oh, sorry... those two are so hysterical together! The teasing and loving little "jabs" at each other make me know she really is a part of the family already. She's the big sister he never had- and he really needs someone to boss him around sometimes! Jalen loves to watch those two go at it!


Great father/daughter shot!



Won Kun and Lena have done quite well together, too. They've hosted several little get-together/parties as they share many of the same friends.

It has been a *very* busy time for us with four teens, a tween, and a little princess. We have one in drama, two in basketball, two in power lifting, two in Life Teen, and six with rich social lives! We have put a lot of miles on the family "bus" recently but have even enjoyed just driving all of the kids to different events, often multiple trips a day. Some of the best conversations happen trapped in the car together. :-)

A word that keeps coming to mind lately is "chaos"... but not the kind of chaos that's in John and Luke's current favorite movie, "Dark Knight"!! This has been what John and I call our "happy chaos." There are times I am mentally counting kids to make sure I know where they all are, who's in charge of them, and how they each are getting back home, or buying snacks to have 2-10 more kids over for the evening, or talking around the dinner table for a long time about anything and everything, and I am enjoying this time in our lives more than any other. I am more often ditching other responsibilities temporarily to take time to enjoy my hubby and each of the kids in different ways and I'm starting to look at ways to ditch some responsibilities altogether. I see how fast time is flying and it's definately got me thinking...

Thanks for reading!
Kelli

Yet ANOTHER teen in the house!

The photo below was taken in September. These are all of the YFU exchange students at WLHS this year. We had NO idea how much we would grow to love all of these kids!

Last week, Dae Sick stayed with us (front and center in the photo) while his host mom was on vacation. While he was here, Lena (far left) needed a place to stay while YFU searched for a new host family for her. She stayed with us overnight... just long enough for Morgan to beg to keep her! Sooo, we now have a 16 yr. old girl from Brazil in the family! We are now the Brady Bunch with 3 boys and 3 girls and loving every minute of it! Wait, maybe not EVERY minute, but most of them... just wish I could get my girls to go to sleep. They only want Brazilian lullabies from their new big sister!!

We are very thankful for ALL of our kiddos! Our bio. four have really welcomed and embraced new siblings so easily and beautifully and Won Kun and Lena are such a wonderful addition to the family. We are all learning a lot about other cultures, beliefs, languages, etc. and having an awesome time in the process!