The end of an era

Sammy graduated from 6th grade today.

It was an emotional day.

Sammy did a great job and was so excited to be moving on to the next great thing, but I couldn't help but be sad. It's hard to have Sammy grow up. She's my baby (although she hates when I say that). It's hard to believe that time has passed so quickly. Also, I am really going to miss her fabulous elementary teachers, Mr. Gallagher and Ms. Reinier.

They are truly the best teachers that I have ever met. They are 100% committed to helping children develop a love of learning. They support students throughout the many stages of their lives. They have helped to raise my kids during the seven years they have taught them. I can't express enough how grateful I am to have known them and benefited from their dedication. Just one more thing we will miss when we move.

A quick visit

It was great to have Mom and Stan come down from Rockford for a quick visit. We are really going to miss them when we move to England! We tried so hard to get a good picture of them with the kids before they left today, but the sun was really bright. Jonathan's eyes were closed in every picture except this one, and Sammy was not cooperating for this shot (so I cropped her out - thank you very much, Photoshop).

Campus Photo Shoot

Over the years we have conducted many a photo shoot on the IU campus.
Today was a pretty day, so I thought we would take advantage of the unique buildings around town and get a few pictures of the kids. Most turned out okay, but this was my favorite. I love the old door in the background and Jonathan's peaceful expression. It looks great in black and white too!

Happy Mother's Day

I have had a headache since last Wednesday and a stomachache since yesterday. I woke up this morning and decided that I was too sick to make it to church. Jonathan went to church with the Andersons (thank you very much) and Sammy decided to stay home and "take care of" me. (translation: watch TV and play on the computer while mom slept)

After church, Jonathan informed me that he got to help pass out candy to all the mothers.
It figures...
Every other year it's flowers that I promptly kill (without meaning to) and the one year I miss church they decided to give out chocolate!

Sometimes life isn't fair.

Feeling sick.
Feeling grumpy.
Feeling sorry for myself.
But also feeling grateful for my two wonderful children who spent the afternoon entertaining themselves so that I could rest and try to feel better in time for school tomorrow.

This is not a paid advertisement

Jonathan is pretty creative.
This quality was always appreciated and supported when he was in the Gallagher/Reinier multiage classroom for elementary school. Since being in middle school has been such a huge change (with different teachers and expectations) Jonathan has not had many chances to truly display his most creative work. He felt sort of "stuck" as he completed various read and respond assignments.

When he was given an assignment to create an advertisement for a health product, he saw it as his chance to do something more out of the ordinary (similar to the focus study presentations he had done in elementary school). Together we started brainstorming ideas, and by the end of the night he had written a script, come up with a product name, and recorded a short commercial. (see below)



Because they had been learning about how people are influenced and the types of media messages often used, Jonathan was required to include at least three advertising methods. It really turned out cute - especially considering we got it done in two days (writing, filming, and editing included).

In case you missed some of the more subtle "jokes" in the film...
(1) Take a closer look at the names of each of the experts - obviously all the same doctor.
(2) Listen to the great offer at the end - to double your bottle size AND your pill size.
(3) The medication is called "i.b.quiet" (similar to ibuprofen but pronounced "I BE QUIET").
(4) The medicine quiets the voices in your head - did you see the phone number?
(5) An excellent price, but how about that shipping and handling!?!
(6) What's that song playing in the background of the video? It was chosen for its lyrics.

The latest pictures of the kids

I haven't done a great photo shoot of the kids in a while. I guess I've just been lazy. Or busy. Or unmotivated. But Sunday they were both in cooperative moods and it was lovely outside so I tried it. Here are a couple of the best shots...

Maybe it's the braids, but I love that Sammy still looks "younger" in this picture. I'm adjusting to Jonathan getting older, but it's harder for me to let go of Sammy. Perhaps because she's the youngest?

Sad faces

This picture was Sammy's idea.

She decided that we needed to take a "sad picture" to send to Mike since we missed him so much. Cute idea. Cute picture. Cute kids.

Mowing blues

There is a reason that I never learned how to use this riding mower.
Actually several reasons.
First, it's Mike's toy...not mine.
Second, it just didn't interest me that much. I can drive a car, why learn to drive a riding mower?
Third (and most importantly) I figured that if I never learned to drive the thing, I would never have to mow the grass!

Unfortunately, there was a flaw in my logic.
Mike moved to England.
Now what?
Although Jonathan has driven the mower before, he never got it all started on his own.
The grass really needed to be mowed and we are having an open house tomorrow. I needed to get the lawn looking presentable. And Jonathan was at an all day Academic Superbowl Competition anyway.

So...
I decided that I would try to do it myself.
Not an easy task as it turns out.

I read the directions that were conveniently printed right on the mower. I followed each direction. I got the mower started and even managed to drive it in a relatively straight line without hitting anything. But when I stopped and looked behind me, I realized that it wasn't actually cutting the grass!

New plan.
I stopped the mower and tried fiddling with some buttons and rereading the instructions. Then I tried to start the mower again. It wouldn't start! Had I already broken it?

Long story short...it was out of gas.
Luckily we had a bit of gasoline in the garage (enough to get the mower to start).
But I was still confused as to why it wasn't actually cutting the grass.
I decided to give up and use the push mower - which I was unable to get started after priming it over and over again.
So I put that one back in the garage and tried the riding mower again.

Another long story short...
Eventually I discovered the little yellow button on the riding mower that apparently released the blades so they could cut the grass. It sounds so easy, but this took me about a half hour to figure out.

I had to be very careful as I was mowing the yard because I was scared to death that I would run into the mailbox or the house or the car or Sammy. Plus I still hadn't gotten used to how touchy the controls are. So I didn't mow very close to anything. This left me with a problem when I was finished - how to do the trim. Since I still couldn't get the push mower started, I opted for the next most logical thing (at least in my mind). Scissors. Yes, that's right! I trimmed the grass with utility scissors. Hey, I wanted to get the job done.

I'm just glad Mike wasn't there to make fun of me as I crouched down on the ground and cut blades of grass with my scissors. Of course, if Mike had been here, I wouldn't have been in this ridiculous situation at all!

Cheap Thrills

The airport.
An obvious place to take your kids for some cheap entertainment, right?
For the Bunton family it works!

The Indianapolis Airport has been rebuilt recently. This spring we have had the chance to go to pick Mike up at the airport and drop him off three times. Each time, we have to use the moving walkway to get from the parking garage to the terminal.

That in and of itself is a fun time...but the kids love the fact that there are lights up above that change color and light up when you walk beneath them. The kids call it the "disco room" and love it when we have to go to the airport. It's the highlight of our trip.

Saying Goodbye

Well, it's official.

Mike is off to England.

After many hurdles and hoops he had to jump through, his visa was approved yesterday and we took him to the airport today. It was a bittersweet farewell. We were glad that he was able to start his new job finally, but we are really going to miss him.

Real rollercoasters

It used to be a family tradition...

Going to King's Island theme park every summer on "Navistar Day".

Mike's whole family (parents, sisters, nieces, nephew, aunts, grandma) would head over to King's Island for the day. It was so much fun. We would ride rides all day and go home sunburned and exhausted.

Since Mike and his dad no longer work for Navistar, we haven't gone to King's Island. We tried Holiday World a couple years ago, but it just wasn;t the same. So, knowing that we would be heading overseas and likely not have the opportunity to go to the theme park again, we decided to take the kids one last time.

We had a blast!

Sammy even rode some of the bigger rides (although not many).

We spent the whole day there and headed home...sunburned and exhausted.

A rollercoaster ride

Up:
Our passports came back...finally.
Down:
Two of the three passports came back with incorrect information.

Up:
I went to Bradford Woods last week.
Down:
It rained and was freezing cold the whole time.

Up:
We sold a lot of our big items already.
Down:
I miss our stuff. Now this move seems even more real.

Up:
Mike's visa got denied (yeah, that's an up in my book because that means he's still in Bloomington a while longer).
Down:
Mike's visa got denied (okay, it's a down too because we still aren't getting a paycheck until Mike starts work which he can't do without a work visa).

Up:
We sold our truck.
Down:
We lost money on the truck.

Up:
I got RIF-ed last week (reduction in force - aka layed off) so I don't feel as guilty about leaving after only one year.
Down:
It never feels good to lose a job, even one I would soon be quitting.

Happy Easter

Easter at our house has changed a lot over the years. Part of that has to do with the fact that the kids are getting older. This year I asked Jonathan and Sammy if the Easter Bunny still needed to visit our house. Jonathan didn't answer right away, but Sammy piped right up. "Of course, Mommy!" she said. So once again the Easter Bunny hid plastic eggs around the house. This year he hid some on every floor of the house. It took a little while for the kids to find all 92 eggs! But they enjoyed the hunt.

This makes me smile

Ok.
With life as crazy as it's been lately, I have to find joy in little things.
I did in this TV commercial for Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal (one of my favorites).
It makes me laugh every time I see it!


I just saw this one for the first time today. It's pretty cute as well.

Fears

I am not an adventurous person.
I do not deal well with change.
I have lived in Bloomington for 21 years.
I have never left the USA except to visit Canada briefly as a child.
And now I am moving to England.

I am scared that I will get lost.
I am scared that I will get in an accident because I will have driven on the "right" side of the road instead of the "correct" side of the road.
I am scared that I won't make new friends.
I am scared that I will get bored not working.
I am scared that I will lose touch with my friends and family.
I am scared that we won't sell our house.
I am scared that we won't sell our cars.
I am scared that I won't be happy.
I am scared of the unknown.

I need to have faith.
I need to trust Heavenly Father to help our family.
I need to do my best to stay positive.

But I'm moving to England and I'm terrified.

I had forgotten...

It's been a while since we've had a toddler in the house. It wasn't until April and Pete brought Kate to visit for the weekend that I remembered what it was like. I love watching little kids amuse themselves with the simplest things. Last night, Kate spend a long time simply scooting herself across the hardwood floors.
Today I was reminded of another thing I had forgotten about - toys. Lots and lots of toys. All over the place. Dumped out on the floor. Strewn across the family room. Played with and discarded. It's funny, I remember it driving me nuts when my kids were little but it didn't bother me nearly as much when it was my sweet niece, Kate, doing the dumping.

He did it!

Tonight Jonathan tested for his black belt. He was pretty nervous ahead of time, but it was an excellent test. Since he was the only one testing, Mr. Scott really flew through it. He completed the test in less than an hour. (Usually it takes closer to two hours.) His kicks were fabulous. (I could hardly get a good photo since he was moving so fast.)

His forms were precise. You could hear his uniform snapping as he performed each technique. Even Mr. Scott pointed out what a great job he was doing. Watch the video below of his final form, Neppujin Chodan.

At the completion of his test, Jonathan got a special plaque and a brand new black belt with his name embroidered on it in both English and Korean. He looked pretty great with it on.

After the test, we headed over to Pizza Hut with all of the family and friends to celebrate. I love how the cake turned out. It's Jonathan with a black belt!

We are so proud of his hard work and dedication. It took many years of training to get to this point, but he stuck with it! He's even started being an assistant instructor in some of the beginner classes at the YMCA.

Black Belt in Training

Jonathan tests for his black belt in Tae Kwon Do on Saturday.

His test requirements consist of the following:

hand techniques:

Horse stance-triple punching,Low block,High block,Inside block,Outside block,Palm heel,Ridge hand,Inside knife hand,Outside knife hand,Double middle knife hands,High double knife hand,Low double knife hand,Tiger claw,Uppercut,Back fist,Outside hammer fist,Spear hand,Roundhouse elbow,Elbow thrust,Leopard paw,Ox jaw,Eagle claw,Tiger mouth,Bear paw,Underpunch,Downward elbow,Upward elbow,Back elbow,Outside elbow,Two finger spear, and "Bam Jumok"

kicks:

Front, Half-moon, Roundhouse, Side, Inside crescent, Outside crescent, Backside, Jump front, Back crescent, Tornado, Thunder, Backspin, Jump roundhouse, Jump reverse roundhouse, Hook, Axe, Jump backside, Drop backspin, Jump tornado, Jump outside crescent, Jump 360, Jump reverse front, Jump inside axe, Jump outside axe, Double round, Twist, Flying side, Drop backside, Drop roundhouse, and Free style combination kicking and punching (five floor lengths)

falling:

Front, Kickback front, Back, Side, Front rollout, and Back rollout

forms:

Palgue 1, Palgue 2, Palgue 3, Palgue 4, Palgue 5, Palgue 6, Palgue 7, Palgue 8, Koryo, and Neppujin Chodan

sparring:

two 3-minute rounds

Whew! I'm tired just typing all of that!

In preparation, he has been going to lots of martial arts classes as well as practicing at home. Tonight he asked Mike to help him practice by sparring with him. They looked so cute out in the front yard that I had to snap a couple pictures...

Stay tuned for pictures from his test this weekend...

For Sale

Well, it's official.
Our house in on the market.
Our realtor, Sue Elkins, came by today and put a sign in our yard. Our house and a detailed description (including photos) has been added to the Homefinder database. There's no turning back now! I just hope that whoever decides to purchase our house loves it as much as we have.

Attachments

Tonight we finished our room-by-room cleaning and purging. Mike and I have spent the past several days doing some serious cleansing in our house. It is amazing how many things we have come across that we haven't seen or used in years. It certainly made it easier to get rid of some of those things. Items like picture frames, old dishes, plastic cups, too small clothes, and toddler toys were simple to part with. It makes the house look so much nicer to have less "stuff" stored all over the place.

The tough part was when I had to part with all of my kitchen gadgets. I love them. I have a salsa maker, a smoothie maker, a yogurt maker, an ice cream maker, a bread maker, a milk shake machine, a toaster oven, a mini food processer, and a KitchenAid mixer. Since they all run on electricity, I cannot take them to England with me. And that makes me super sad.

The thing I will miss the most is my red KitchenAid mixer. It has been such a wonderful addition to my many kitchen appliances. I have used it to make birthday cakes, christmas cookies, brownies, pizza dough, banana bread, and much much more. Mike bought it for me as a gift and I have loved it ever since.

Mike thinks I'm silly for getting so upset over having to sell it. Luckily my good friend, Melissa, understands my situation. She told me, "Kim. It's alright to be attached to your appliances." Thanks for your support, Melissa. I am attached.

Today's accomplishments

It took some prompting from Mike, but I actually got a few things done today.
(1) Paint touch-ups around the house
(2) Sweeping the floors
(3) Got rid of two boxes worth of stuff in the garage
(4) Straightened up the kitchen
(5) Fed my kids breakfast and lunch
(6) Blogged
(7) Washed the windows
(8) Fixed the plumbing leak downstairs (okay, Mike did this one)
Nevermind the fact that I never took a shower or got dressed today.
It was still a day that I could check things off "the list".

Updates

So, we're moving to England in two months.
Yeah, that's right. England.
As in across the ocean and far away.
Exciting?
We'll see.

In the meantime, we are frantically trying to do the following:
(1) Put our house up for sale
(2) Clean the house so it can be put up for sale
(3) Sell both our cars (interested?)
(4) Sell many of our belongings that will not fit in our place overseas

Do see a pattern here?
Sell, sell, sell!

(5) Arrange for time off work so I can help Mike find us a place to live
(6) Get our passports
(7) Get our visas
(8) Figure out which school(s) will be best for our kids in England
(9) De-clutter and reorganize
(10) Plan to see family before we leave

Hmmmm.
When I put it in list form it doesn't seem too overwhelming. NOT!
I am freaking out here.
Mike keeps telling me he needs me to function.
Well, I'm not functioning right now.

Every time I think about everything we have to do and everything we need to sell and everything we need to store and everything I still have left to do at school - I get more than a little overwhelmed. My latest solution has been to go back to bed and cry my eyes out. (Hence Mike's comments about me not functioning.) A better solution would be to get going and attack the list a little at a time.

I'll try that...tomorrow.

Wii Fit Parody

Our family bought the Nintendo Wii game system about a year ago. It was close to impossible to find one in the stores. After looking for several months, some friends of ours called us one night to announce that they had "picked one up" at Best Buy for us. How sweet of them to remember we were looking for one.

For anyone who is not familiar with the Wii or it's unique characteristics, what makes this game system different is that it uses wireless remotes and a sensor to transmit information to the game system console to make your game very interactive. For example, if you are playing a game of bowling, you actually have to hold the remote and act as though you are bowling. The sensor picks up any twists and turns and the speed at which you "throw the ball" and this determines how many pins you knock down on your turn.

There are tons of games for the Wii. We have about ten. There are also a ridiculous amount of accessories. One of the things you can purchase for the Wii is a "game" called Wii Fit. The idea behind it is that people can use their video game to get in shape. Sounds like a great idea, right? Well, take a look at the video below that the kids and I found one day on You Tube. It's hilarious!

Saying goodbye

Before they left for Wisconsin, Sammy wanted to have her picture taken with Grandpa and Christie. Here is the result...

While they were visiting, Sammy found a new friend in Christie. She discovered that Christie was willing to play games with her, play house, and sit beside her at dinner, in the car and at church. Sammy was so sad to see Grandpa and Christie go, but she looks forward to their next visit in a couple weeks.

Grillmaster

Whether it's hamburgers, hot dogs, brauts, or chicken...
Mike is definately the master of the grill.

That's not to say that everything he cooks turns out wonderfully. We have had our fair share of overseasoned hamburgers and raw meat. But he is getting pretty good at tossing something on the grill and wowing us with the results.

My personal favorite is his grilled chicken. Very tasty.