Christmas Bliss!

Will loves this little 'Rody' bouncer!

This is what Christmas morning is all about! Ryan made sure every Santa we saw knew that he wanted this Little Einstein's rocket above all other gifts! Santa tried to hide it behind the tree but Ryan zeroed in on it right off the bat!

Getting Ready For Christmas

You may see a common theme among my most recent blogs......that nothing is worse than moving in December! Aside from Christmas, we have our anniversary and Ryan's birthday this month. All of which seem to get lost in the shuffle and chaos. We tried really hard to make the holidays as normal as possible this year. Nothing says home, to me, more than our Christmas tree. Every year for our anniversary (12/16) Heath and I exchange ornaments and each year we buy a special ornament for Ryan and Will. I can remember the significance of each ornament from the past 7 years.....a new baby, new home, family vacations. All that matters. We had ourselves a merry little Christmas in our 'newest' home (our 9th in 7 years of marriage) and even found some time to do a little baking!

Birthday Party

Last year, aside from Ryan and Will, Uncle Nick was the youngest person at Ryan's birthday party. Being on a December move cycle didn't make this year much more promising for making new friends before his birthday! BUT, we are so lucky to have 2 very close friends/families living here in Phoenix, so we were actually able to pull off a small 'kids' party for his 5th! We went to Bounce U which is a huge room filled with inflatable jumping castles, slides, and obstacle courses. The kids had a ball, Ryan wore his crown the entire time, and we ended the afternoon with pizza, cake, balloons, and presents.

I can't believe that Ryan is 5. Sometimes I still see the baby in him - I still watch him while he sleeps and want to pick him up like I used to be able to do. He has grown into such an intelligent, sensitive, and amazing child. He has lived in 8 homes, 5 states, and 2 countries in his short life and has never whined or complained about all of the changes or separations. He can read, write, add, subtract, cross the monkey bars, ride a bike, and identify almost as many planes as Heath. I look forward to knowing the man he will become, but for the most part I try to hang on to everyday, selfishly not wanting him to grow because I will never have these days again. Being his mother is one of the greatest joys of my life.

Lazy Blogger!

I can't believe that I haven't posted since Korea! To say we've been busy would be an understatment. We've moved from Korea to CA and then from CA to AZ. In the past week we've packed and unpacked (kind of) 2 of our 3 shipments, bought furniture for the entire house (which won't get here for 2 more weeks so we can't put anything away), had 2 doctor appointments, had one birthday party, planned another, had our 7th anniversary, enrolled Ryan in preschool and basketball, spent 2 days in Flagstaff, put up the tree and lights and the rest is a blur.......AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

Anyway - we are really enjoying being together as a family again in the US. Here are some photos of the past few weeks. I will put up some more of Ryan's bday and the new house once things settle down a bit! Love, Nat

"If I'm cute enough maybe they won't notice the mess in my room!"

Ryan wanted a 'job' to do on Thanksgiving, so I let him mash the potatos. It lasted just about long enough for me to take the picture.

The Wimberleys on top of Coit Tower

Lunch at Bubba Gumps on Pier 39 in San Francisco

Boat tour of San Francisco Bay

Opening the Dinoco Helicopter!

Ryan's 5th birthday - nobody in town had a rocket ship cake...so this is my feeble attempt at a homemade!

Below photos are from Williams, AZ just west of Flagstaff. We took a couple of days to relax and get in the holiday spirit by taking a ride on the Polar Express to the North Pole to meet Santa!

Daddy put snow down Ryan's back!! What you don't see is Ryan's revenge - Heath getting nailed square in the junk with an ice block immediately after this photo!

On our way to dinner before boarding the Polar Express

Mrs. Claus....Will not diggin' her either This encounter with Santa went over much better than the photo attempt earlier in the evening!

On board the Polar Express!

Will is not so crazy about the snow

My little Eskimo!

Houseguest!

We have seen lots of these little guys in our front yard this past summer. The boys love them..... they totally creep me out BUT, being the mom of 2 boys I've learned to put on a brave face. I've never in my life touched a frog - and I don't intend to anytime soon!

Halloween Party

We had a Halloween party for the kiddos at Heath's work today. Ryan has been looking forward to it for weeks! We left with him saying, 'this was the best Halloween party ever on the best day ever!" I guess he had a good time.

A space shuttle making a pumpkin craft! Can you guess Will's costume? Is he

a.) pilot

b.) child living in 3rd world country who pulled his mosquito net off of his bed 2 nights ago?

Have you ever seen a cuter space shuttle?

The crafts and haunted house were no match to the appeal of a wide open muddy grass field. All of the kids had a ball running and tumbling in the grass. It was cute to see these little guys, ghouls, and princesses having such a great time.......and the parents were more than happy to let them burn off the sugar highs before going home!

Here He Is!

These will be the cause of many sleepless nights in the very near future! But, for now, I love to feel his little kicks!

Look how sweet!

(he looks big...uh oh, here we go again! If this guys continues to follow the pattern, he should show up at about 9.8)

Last Days in Korea

Big Boy Haircut!
All Smiles

Ryan's latest accomplishment - he can complete this puzzle of the USA by himself. If you look closely, you'll see that Pennsylvania is missing. We eventually found it shoved into the bottom of the toothbrush holder in the upstairs bathroom. Thanks Will.

This is Will's "I'm up to something' face.

Just a couple of pics from our last days here. I can't believe we're leaving next week! I am hoping to make a video of our home, neighborhood, and city to remind us of the adventures we had here. The summer was miserably hot and humid, the bugs continue to be a problem but I'm glad that we were here, at least for part of the time with Heath. My fears that Will wouldn't bond with him because of the long separation at such a young age vanished the day we arrived, and now I'm worried about the month away from Heath because he is easily the favorite parent. Will asks for him all day and squeals when we pull into the parking lot at Heath's office to pick him up! We're in the pre-move scramble -again- but hopefully I'll get a chance to post halloween photos before we leave.

The Results are In....

I used to joke that I was going to leave Korea with a GIRL one way or the other. I guess God had other plans. Unless we adopt, it looks like the Wimberley Family is complete with our 3 beautiful, healthy boys.
(In case you're wondering.....I'm okay. I'm giving myself a day to mourn the daughter I'll never have. As with the other two, this baby presented 'himself' instantly - it was the first thing we saw. I cried through the entire ultrasound partly because my dreams of tutus, proms, and matching Christmas dresses evaporated in an instant and partly because I felt so guilty feeling sadness while looking at this beautiful little boy who I already love so much. When I burst into tears the tech asked, 'is this a good thing or a bad thing?'. Heath's answer was, 'it just means we're having 4 kids'. He would have liked a daughter, too. We are both so excited to welcome this sweet little boy into our lives and can't wait to see him. From what we can tell, he looks like Ryan.)

Ultrasound Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is our big ultrasound day. I'm excited to see this baby... I have to admit that sometimes I forget he's there. I can't believe that I am already halfway through this pregnancy. Time is flying by. We're just 2 short weeks away from leaving Korea and starting our new life in Phoenix. By this time tomorrow we will hopefully know if there will ever be a little princess in our future (Heath insists this is not possible as he did the other 2 times) or will our life be...

Maybe we won't see anything and we'll have to wait 20 more weeks. I hope not. If this baby is anything like Ryan and Will, he will eagerly present his 'gender' the instant the tech puts the wand to my belly! I'll keep you posted.

Busy Lately!

How hard is it to get one good photo...."Great Ryan, Will sit down, look at Mommy"
"Ryan, put the squash down. Will, look at Mommy"


"Will, look at Mommy.......forget it!"

Big, Bigger, Biggest!

My boys

They had Korean Rap/Dance music playing over the loudspeakers at the park. The boys wanted to dance 'on the stage'. Heath loved that.

Intrigued

Whoever said being a Mama's Boy was a bad thing??

Bunnies were everywhere in the gardens!

The pumpkin festival at the botanical gardens in Seoul Grand Park. Oddly enough, there were no pumpkins.

This guy climbs on everything (including this heat lamp)...and falls off of almost everything. I don't know if I have any photos of him without a bruise or scratch!

Breakfast at the Dragon Hill Lodge in Seoul

Ryan's favorite dinner - spaghetti and meatballs 'NOT CUT UP'