Wednesday, December 9, 2009

More Snow!





Snowstorm, zero degrees, twenty below windchill and loving it! Tae was so excited in the snow it was hillarious! initially he did many snow dances and fell in the snow a lot! Secondly, we shoveled the walk and he shoveled with a gardening shovel! After a while, his cheeks were getting quite red, and I decided that he should come in to avoid frostbite. As you can see, he was none too pleased about that! He went out again after dark and did a bit more shoveling. fun!

Early Snowfall



The first snowfall of the year! Tae hasn't seen snow since last winter, when I am not really sure that he quite got it. We went outside today and there was just an irritating dusting of snow on the ground. Didn't matter!; that was just enough to taste, and just enough to go sledding in the backyard.

Some crappy weather



Well I am a little embarassed that these photos are being published as we both look like we have been through the ringer. Oh well. It is grand what a paper bag and some dish towels can do in the entertainment department. Fun Times!

Huschles



Gail and George visited from Grand Marais. This is Tae's great aunt and uncle. It was the first time they had met Tae. He took to them quite fondly and we shared a glass of holiday cheer! Tae learned how to say "cheers!"

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Baba



"Baba" is Papa. Papa is grandpa, my dad. Tae and I look at a few photos of baba somewhat regularly. There is one on the fridge of my mom and dad sitting at the kitchen table in Minneapolis, reading the paper, and drinking Grain Belt Premiums. It was a very funny photo and at the time it was taken I remember thinking it was very funny. My dad was very sick at the time; he is very thin and bruised in the picture. My parents absolutely hate beer, especially cheap beer, which makes it all the more funny.

Another photo is the picture in the living room of the entire family, including Mike ( Kass' husband ) and Hansi ( my husband and Tae's dad ). In the photo, everyone is wearing Norwegian sweaters made in Valle, Norway, our native town. Everyone except for Nana. She is german and couldn't bear the thought of wearing a Norsk Sweater.

The third photo is in our hallway and is of Papa walking me down the aisle at our wedding. Although he was sick at the time, he doesn't look sick. He looks like a handsome dog ( as he would say ) and I am quite proud of him in his lovely summer suit on a lovely summer day.

Well those are the three photos. There is another photo at my office, it is the one that you see here and the one that is on the Memorial Card that we made for him. Tae has never seen it before. We sat at my desk near the photo today and suddenly Tae exclaimed " Baba!" "All Done!".

He recognizes baba and he recognized that he is "all done", whatever that means for him. I love that.
Ode to: Carter Blaine Harstad, my dad, Tae's baba
Tae Carter Harstad-Johnson, our son, Baba's grandson

Monday, November 30, 2009

December

Well December is the month that Tae came to us and it starts tommorow. I have been looking at many photos of him when he first arrived in Minnesota and he looks so young. Every look on his face says "what am i doing here?" , " what next?", " is this forever this time?" . I think about Mrs Lee and Mr Kang and how much love they poured into this child and how much love we now are pouring. I also think about his birth mother and how much love she poured into this child during her preganancy, her birth and I am certain it still continues. It is impossible for it not to.

Tae has many mothers; he is blessed! They all love him tremendously. We will continue to send photos and gifts to the foster family and I have no doubt we will see them again. We will also continue to send gifts to the birth mother; we hope that we will see her or meet her or something some day.

These women and men including ourselves have all given this child Jeong Tae Lee, Tae Carter Harstad-Johnson A LOT OF LOVE. He is truly blessed. It is our hope and dream that we can continue to remind him of how much love was and is in his life.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

What A Ham



Nothing more to Say

Saturday Celebration





We had a lovely Saturday Celebration of Turkey Day. In attendance were Kass and Mike from Salt Lake City, Bruce and Margaret from Winona and Nana Karyne from Minneapolis! We had a great day; Tae was filled with love. Of course as usual I didn't pull out the camera until the eleventh hour and unfortunately Bruce and Margaret were gone already. Thanks for the great time all!~

Uncle Dick and Aunt Linda!


Uncle Dick and Aunt Linda came to visit a while ago, but their pictures have been stuck in no mans photo land, so here they are now!!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Thankful



Today is Saturday and we are celebrating Thanksgiving. The smell of turkey is in the air, we are awaiting the arrival of all of our family. I am thankful; I have two wonderful men in my life; need I say more?

Monday, November 16, 2009

Home again, Home again...


Well, coming home again is always a good thing. Tae celebrated by pretending that the dust pan was a slide. He was yelling "slide!" and wanted me to push him around in it.

Clean up, clean up



Wow. Having an electric broom is a great way to obtain a helper! Tae was quite talented at operating this machine

Kenwood Park






Going to playground at Kenwood Park was also a good thing to do during the day. Here we are on the slide and on the train. Tae became quite crabby on the slide because I would not let him go all the way to the top by himself. At that point, it was time to go back to Nana's.

Nana's Hand



We just got back from Minneapolis. We were there for four days as Nana had hand surgery. She fell on the tennis courts and thought that she broke her hand. When she went to the doctor and they xrayed it, they said that her arthritis was so bad that they couldn't actually tell if there was a break. So, she had surgery and they fixed the arthritis; they also discovered there was no break. On the day we got there, we couldn't visit Nana at the hospital because kids under 5 aren't allowed. So here is what we did: rode rocking horses and walked around Lake of the Isles. Nana got home at around 6pm. Tae was an excellent caregiver and helped in all of the doings around the house over the past four to five days; thank you Tae!

A Windy Day



Today we were raking leaves and taking carts full of leaves to dump them back in the woods behind our house. During one of the dump runs, Tae just decided to go for a walk down a trail that we often use that goes back in the woods and up over the rock cliffs behind our house. Here he is demonstrating how the wind was blowing over his head. A Windy Day.

Pilates and Yoga


Tae has really taken to pilates and yoga. Every night after his bath, he takes this pose between the couch and the coffee table and basically does some core work. After that, he goes and gets Yoga Journal and we find some poses to take. The most popular are downward dog, legs up the wall, bridge and boat. He can actually do bridge, its crazy!

Pumpkin Destroyal




Every kid deserves the right of Smashing Pumpkins. Go Tae.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Words Words Words

Words are really starting to flow! Some of my absolute favorite are listed here:

"Oh-No!"
Oh No happens in appropriate situations, although in normal life they probably wouldn't warrant an oh no. An example would be today when the screen for the chariot was slightly unhooked. Another common thing would be when Tae's pants aren't rolled up enough and are slightly dragging on the ground.

"Appa-da"
This could be apple sauce, apples, apple juice or sometimes bananas and sometimes potatoes.

"Osh"
This is off. The cover of the jar off, the shoe off, the top of the sippy cup off, the hat off, the jacket off. Sometimes it means on as well, depends on the connotation.

"No"
Is obviously no but is also snow.

"Way"
Is away. Usually it means the sun is in my eyes and I want it to go away. Is also used when dada goes to work. Also is used when Sydney leaves the room.

"Nidney"
Is Sydney the cat, but also refers to the kitty pillow, the stuffed kitty and any other kitty that might be around.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Hallows Eve




Halloween has come and gone, we did some pumpkin carving and did some treating for trick or treaters. We did not go out ourselves however. Maybe next year.

Aamodts




This past weekend was a gathering of SEEDS at Aamodts Apple Orchard in Stillwater, MN. There were about twelve families there and we went on a hay ride, picked apples, ate apples and ate lots of other stuff!!! Including Kettle Korn, our favorite!