It's been a while

We've been doing a lot of fun things while I've been gone away from the blog. I'll just post pictures to sum up  what we've been up to.

Waiting out the cold weather, watching tv

Hanging out in the crib

Free Zoo day with cousins

Flying a kite when it got warm enough

Learning to play the Ukulele

 

Easter Egg Hunt down Main Street in Lehi

 

Working at the Church Farm

 

 

Fishing

 

Welcoming Aunt Yearim home from her mission

 

Visiting BYU

 

Shopping

 

And last but not least... Eli turns 9 months!

 

 

6 months Eli!

Wow. Eli is already 6 months old! (Okay... 7 months...) We went in for a check up earlier this month, and we couldn't but laugh at the numbers... So his height is in the 75th percentile, weight 43rd, and his head circumference, 100%! I mean, is it even possible to be on the 100th percentile on something? I took a second look, and he does have a big head... He's pretty tall and big, so it's not too noticeable, but when he wears a hoody (18 month size), the torso area is a little big but the hoody fits him perfectly.

This guy is so gentle and mild, I often forget that he is there... I guess that's not a very good thing, but he is just so good. He will sit with toys, watching Al and Ellie play for a while, then sit in the jumperoo for another hour. He's started to go to sleep on his own too, and it's been wonderful. He just turns over on his side and falls asleep. He is so easy to please, and even when he is crying at the top of his lungs (which only happens when he gets hurt or get left alone for a while), he immediately stops as soon as I pick him up. He loves to smile and loves to look at himself in the mirror. He's only been sick like twice since he's been born (other than the jaundice problem), so he's just been a terrific baby to have.

Physically, he still can't roll over yet but he can sit up by himself with a little bit of support. He's got the two bottom teeth and is getting top four all at the same time! He can grab the bottle and feed himself and reach out and pick up cheerios and put them in his mouth. He was having some serious eczema problems durinig thte freezing cold weather but it's gotten much better now. He's so quite too the point that I'm sometimes worried that he can't speak. He doesn't really make any noises except for when he laughs, cries, or sometimes squeals.

He's starting to get into the clingly phase. He'll start to whine if he sees me or Joe walk out of his sight. He loves Al who's always trying to make him laugh and puts all really well with Ellie who just show him too much love.

He started eating rice, cheerios, apple sauce, and bananas. He still drinka formula like a champ though....

 

 

 

Eli wearing hand me downs from Al. When Al was wearing these pj's, he was walking around! And he said he remembers wearing these... Ha ha.

 

Thank you, 2012!

2012 was a very good year for us. We had so many blessings that we were thankful for. Here are some examples.

1. Ellie's burn - Back in February, Ellie pulled an electric skillet full of hot boiling soup over herself. She had 2nd degree burns all over her face and her right arm. We rushed her to the emergency room and made several trips to the doctor's office to have her treated. By the end of the month, she had healed up so nicely that we couldn't even tell that she had burned herself. Now, she only has a small scar on her upper arm. We were so blessed to have her heal up so nicely.

2. Joe's new job - Joe's old work, T-Splines, was bought out by the biggest CAD company, Autodesk. We received a generous severance package, and Joe was able to spend a few months with the family at home, vacationing, studying, working on his resume, and looking for a new job. Joe found the perfect new job at OrangeSoda, and he's been really enjoying his new job.

3. Citizenship - I became a US citizen this year! :D I was sad that I couldn't keep my Korean citizenship, but I'm excited to belong here and have the same status as the rest of the family. :)

4. Elijah Juyoung Rigby - We were so blessed to welcome a new addition to our family, Elijah! We are so happy to have him, and he's such a great baby. He sleeps well, eats well, and plays really well. We love him so much!

5. Our new house - After 4 months of house hunting (long story), we were so blessed to have found our new house! It is the perfect first home for us, and the kids love it! It is just perfect for our little family, and it has the BEST location! We've enjoyed living in it for the past few months, and we are looking forward to the next few years we will be in this house. :D

6. New toys - Joe and I have been very frugal and saving money ever since we've been married. We have been very careful with our money and have been happy with buying second hand things and being without the newest toys. This year, we decided together to treat ourselves to nice trinkets. I got a KitchenAid mixer and a Dyson, and Joe got a Nexus 4, something that's been on our to-buy list for a few years now.

There are always ups and downs in life, and there were definitely many ups for us last year! We are excited to welcome a new year and are enjoying and counting our blessings!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Mozart!

Well, okay... He's not composing or anything yet, but here is Alden, playing and singing Follow the Prophet on the piano. We haven't really been working too hard on practicing lately, so we need to get going and get him to practice more... :P

 

 

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Ellie turned 2! We can't believe she's already two, but also can't believe she's only two.

At her two year check up, her stats were, weight 30% and height 48%. We are glad that she's not as short as we thought she was... She is still afraid of the doctor from when she got burned, but she definitely did better than last time we were at the doctors...

For her birthday, we went to the Kangaroo Zoo to celebrate. We invited our neighbor friend, William, to go with us. The kids had a blast, and we were there for 3.5 hours! I was so tired from chasing after the kids with Eli but they still had enough energy to come home and ask to bake a cake!

After both kids took really short naps, we baked funfetti cupcakes and made icing. The kids helped decorate the top of the cupcakes, and we got to sing and blow candles out when daddy came home for dinner.

Kids licking frosting off the hand mixer

While we waited for the cupcakes to cool, we practiced decorating cupcake tops with watercolor.

Kids showing off their work.

I was afraid Ellie wouldn't know how to blow candles out, but she was a champ!

Next day, we had a small party with some family. I got a mini cake from Smith's since I knew we wouldn't be able to finish a whole cake (and I ran out of time to bake one).

Ellie is really, really verbal. At age two, Al could only say maybe ten words (not including the alphabet). She can say full sentences, and pretty much say anything she wants. We think it is because she has an older brother that she follows around everywhere, but she sure is smart, too. She knows most of the alphabet and is starting to catch on with the numbers. Considering we haven't taught her as intensively as we did with Al (he was studying the alphabet and numbers for hours everyday), she has learned so much without much effort (on our end).

She loves to play with Al, and they love to run around the house playing Zombie tag, hide-and-seek, house, doctor, and whatever else their imagination can conjure up. Right now, they are both playing on nintendo ds, and Ellie does a pretty good job pretending to play (with the stylus).

She is so loving and not at the same time.. She will cuddle up to people (familiy members) and give hugs and kisses, then turn around and hit people... (sigh) We are still trying to teach her to control her temper. Threats of time out works most of the time, and sometimes, she just gets reallys stubborn and would rather go in time out than give up and do what we say. (But she always crys when she goes in time out). Sometimes though she feels really generous enough to share her special "blankie" and gives it up to me or Eli.

She's always loved to dance, but she's starting to get into singing. She follows along the Korean nursery songs we have in the car, and her favorite song is "Tomato," just like how Al liked it when he first started singing.

Here she is, with her first piggytail, all ready for church! And yeah.. the purple hair thing only stayed for like 5 minutes before she pulled it out.

I'm grateful for...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of yummy food and time with family. :D It was so wondeful to have Joe home for several days in a row, and the kids loved having daddy around.

On Thursday, we went over to Joe's dad's house for Thanksgiving Dinner. Joe's grandparents were there too, and Faye made wonderful Turkey. There was mashed potato (it was like the best I've had), green bean casserole, corn, rolls, etc. Joe and I kept eating and munching even after our plates were done.

Grandma adores the baby. :D

After dinner, we hung out, and Tom and Laura and the kids and Jamie and Laura came to visit. The kids, of course, ran downstairs to watch Phineas and Ferb and the men helped dad move his newly refinished cast iron tub into his bathroom.

Grandpa's favorite.

 

Kids watching TV

Discussing how to best transport the tub.

Kids playing

That night, we decided to go over to Walmart. We wanted to check out the $2 movies. Joe stayed home with the kids, and Tom, Laura, Jamie, Sam, and I went over to Walmart. We walked in 10 minutes before 8, and just as we walked in, the people standing next to the pellets started to rip them open. We walked past the crowd of people to look for the DVDs. We all got separated, and I picked up some pajamas for the kids. I couldn't find the $2 DVDs, and I found Sam and Jamie. They said they couldn't find the DVDs either, and we waited for Tom and Laura who had found the DVDs and were digging through the movies. They got really good deals on very nice movies.

Later that night, I was supposed to go shopping with my sister at Walmart, then at the mall. Since I already went to Walmart, they decided not to go shopping. I took my cousin, Dan, to the new outlet mall. We got back home around 2:30am.

On Friday, we had dinner with Yeagi and Jonathan. Since we already had turkey Thursday, I wanted to make Korean food. I made pork neck bone stew, and Yeagi and Jonathan brought all the traditional Thanksgiving food. Her turkey was actually really, really good. She just bought some turkey breast, stuffed it, and it tasted really juicy.

 

After dinner, we put the kids to sleep. Joe and Jonathan played video games (finally finishing up Chrono Trigger), and Yeagi and I took Dan to IKEA, Macy's, then home. After we got home, they played Zelda for a while longer. It was Jonathan's first time playing the game, and he kept yelling out, "I LOVE this game!"

Saturday, Joe took the kids out to the backyard, raked the leaves up, and let them play in them. They had so much fun.

Joe's dad needed help with the tub a little more, so we drove back up to Bountiful. On our way, we drove up to Ogden to pick up my Dyson vacuum. :D After helping dad with his tub, we went up to Joe's grandparents. We helped them set up their Christmas tree, and the kids had so much fun helping grandma putting up ornaments on the tree.

 

That day was also Small Business Saturday (by AmEx). They reimburse $25 if we spend more than $25 at a qualifying small business. We decided to eat at Rib City in American Fork. The ribs tastes so good and tender (they cook it for more than 24 hours). The kids enjoyed the BBQ chicken and fries.

Sunday was another relaxing day, and we had a lot fun. We can't wait for Christmas break, so we can have another fun, relaxing days with Joe at home. :D