Honor roll and perfect attendance...

Kenny received Honor Roll and Perfect attendance awards at school this month for the first and second quarters. The principal invites all the parents to attend and has each student come up on stage to receive his or her award. Along with the certificates Kenny received gift certificates to several different restaurants and stores in the area. It was a fun day for Kenny!

Seven and counting...

Jessica celebrated her seventh birthday this week with a double layer chocolate heart cake and a firework display after dark! Jessica says her "real" party is on Super bowl sunday (which we celebrate every year to commemorate her being delivered on Super bowl sunday seven years ago). But we couldn't pass up the chance to have cake on her actual birthday and set off fireworks we had left over from New Year's.
I'm sure our neighbors were wondering what we were celebrating in the middle of winter, but I'm sure by now they've realized we'll set fireworks off for just about anything!

Trip to the I.C.U....

We spent Sunday afternoon at the USA Women's and Children's medical center delivering 37 knit caps that Lisa had made herself for babies born in the Neo-natal ICU. The NICU can hold up to 80 premature babies at any given time and is most often at full capacity.

Lisa was welcomed with excitement by all the nurses on duty and took a private tour of the facility. We waited for her out in the hallway as we saw her put on scrubs and walk around with the head nurse to get a close up view of the unit. The picture she took with the nurses on duty was submitted to the Mobile Register Newspaper. What a great way for Lisa to be recognized for her time and effort!

Cinnamon...

Shrimp boils and sebei...

For New Year's day we had some friends over who are originally from Hawaii but moved here last spring because of their job with Chevron. Not only do we share the same background as far as where we grew up but they are also Korean which makes for some very interesting conversations as we compare childhood stories of being raised in America by Korean born parents who held tightly to the old customs of Korea and never let us forget where we came from or who our ancestors were!
Our friend's parents were visiting from California for New Year's and had never been to the South before. We treated them to an authentic Cajun Shrimp Boil (boiling of potatoes, corn, mushrooms, onions, garlic, hotdogs, and shrimp in a spicy blend of cajun seasoning) for lunch, participated in an annual Korean New Year's custom of Sebei (bowing and paying tribute to elder family members - notice Jessica in a Korean dress and our friend's son pointing the wrong "end" towards his grandparents?) with the children, and ended the day with fireworks out in the front yard! What a great way to start of the new year!

Ringing in the New Year...

One of the most interesting things about New Year's is how we subject ourselves to staying up all day preparing ourselves to stay up all night and waiting for the clock to strike midnight. It always helps to have some interesting people to keep you company in order to pass the time away. This year the Elders in our area were able to spend the night with a member family until 12:30 am as long as they had a ride to and from our house and didn't have to drive their mission vehicles after hours. That was all the permission we needed to spend New Year's Eve with a group of homesick but very energetic missionaries!

Lots of Fondue, Disney Karaoke, and a round of Torx helped keep everyone busy. At midnight we set off fireworks and rang in the new year! Roman candles were a favorite this year. That and the 100 count missle launcher (which was Kenny's favorite). I still can't get over how the kids enjoy those sparklers. You know the ones you can buy for a penny a box. I still seem to never buy enough of those. Maybe I'll remember better next year. Or maybe we'll just buy more of those roman candles and watch the elders chase each other around the yard again! Happy New Year!