History in the making

We're sitting here watching Sen. Barack Obama accept the nomination for president of the United States, trying to see if we can see my brother, Jason, who is sitting behind him in Mile High. Whether your a democrat or a republican or whatever, it's pretty amazing to watch such a historical event live. Yes we can!

Delia's dedication

We had Delia dedicated this weekend. The church service was out at a beautiful house by the river (that my family lived in when we first moved to Dgo...I failed to recognize it as my former home, but I was only 4 when we lived there- anyway, it was all the more special to have Delia dedicated there!) Our friend and pastor, Jeff, prayed over Delia and graciously opted out of making too many jokes on our behalf. Delia was sweet and attentive for the whole thing, Isaac decided to play toys with Grandpa instead of standing up with us, all the grandparents, Uncle Jason and Aunt Vanessa were there to celebrate with us. Thanks Uncle Jason for playing photographer again!

Delia at 10 months

Our baby is 10 months this week! incredible! Not a lot of new skills to report- she's just getting better at everything. I like these pictures because they show off her big baby cheeks!

I like to ride my bicycle

Pop got a new bike! We've been waiting and waiting for it to arrive, and it finally got here yesterday. It's totally awesome. According to Uncle Jason he now has the coolest bike on the block! Hopefully I can get my cruiser in a couple of years when the kids start riding bikes.

What are you saying?

Conversation with Isaac tonight...

Me: Hey Isaac, what do you want to be for Halloween this year.

I: Fart (it kind of sounded like "fawrt," but mostly just "fart")

Matt: What do you want to be?

I: Fart!

Me: What did you say?

I: Fart!!

Me: A fart?

I: No, FART!

Matt: Say it again, Bud.

I: FAAAAART!

By this time Matt and I are rolling on the floor laughing and crying- it was so funny. After about 10 minutes of guessing (a frog? a fort? first?) and 10 minutes of "NO! FAAAART!", Matt figured out he was saying "Spot"- a dog in one of his books. Good thing- I don't know how I'd dress him up like a fart for Halloween!

Is that a word?

Conversation with Isaac yesterday...

Isaac (in a time out): I want to get down!

Me: Isaac, there are consequences to your actions. You push your sister down, you get a time out.

Isaac: I not be consequatered, Mommy!

Ni Hoa Olympics

Woo hoo! The Olympics are here- we have been waiting all summer. Matt and I are big Olympics fans- we're trying to pass the slight obsession on to our children now since is their first summer Olympics, but they might be a little young still. Last night i kept trying to get Isaac to watch the opening ceremonies without much success (Look! Isaac there's fireworks! Look! All the athletes from different countries are walking in! Look! There's the president!- Have you ever seen parents begging their children to watch TV?) Matt and I stayed up for all 130 hours of the opening ceremonies, though, (I only fell asleep a couple of times!) and they were awesome- we both want to go back to China again. Today the kids are a tiny bit more interested and have been introduced to weightlifting, rowing, volleyball, badminton, handball.... Here they are cheering on USA!

Wiggle with my sister

I don't know how Matt got the kids to do this at the same time, but they sure have fun...

Shake it like a Polaroid picture

Did you doubt that our little girl would like to DANCE? Here is the evidence...

This is the pergola that Pop built

Our big backyard project this year was to put in a pergola. It turned out great! Once Matt got it put up we were eating outside almost every night. Lately it's been too hot to eat outside, but hopefully we'll be spending plenty of time in the backyard again before the cold and snow comes.

Here's Matt and Jason getting the support beams up...

Isaac is ALWAYS right there to help with tools!
The "wall" to block the grill from the wind. Before Matt build the pergola the wind knocked our grill over often. One time it was blown ten feet into the yard!

The finished project- after the pergola went in we decided to put in an additional patio space with pavers. It was kind of like laying tile, complete with "grass grout." Did we say that we were NEVER going to lay tile again? I think we've said this five times and we keep getting sucked in to doing it again!We've only used our new fire pit a couple times, but once cooler temperatures come back we'll fire it up again. I can't wait for s'mores.

Did you say something funny?

Delia entertains us everyday with her great laugh- I finally grabbed the camera today to catch it. She's hilarious!

Bible camp

This past week Matt was the speaker at a local Bible camp for high school students run by our church. It was strange having him gone every night, but he had fun doing it and it sounds like he did a great job! I was able to go up one night to hear his talk on community- it's been awhile since I've sung songs that have hand motions! I was so proud of him!

Playlist

We've added a soundtrack to our blog! Hopefully you are enjoying our current selections right now. If you don't like it or want to watch a video, scroll down to the bottom of the page to turn it down or off. Rock on folks.

Wordle

I just found a link to this website Wordle. You can create a collage of words- this is the one from our blog. If you click on it you can see it larger.

Happy Birthday Babe!

Happy Birthday to our #1 husband and Pop, Matt Bong. We love you, babe!

Blowing out candles with our sister-in-law, Vanessa (or BAH-nessa according to Isaac). Her birthday was on Sunday- Happy Birthday Vanessa!

The kids with the birthday boy this afternoon. Yes, that is a lamp growing out of his head thanks to my excellent camera work.

Blowing out candles with Pop...

D & I

My new favorite picture of the kids...

Delia at 9 months

Again, I can NOT believe how fast our little girl is growing! New skills include speed crawling, standing up all by herself, waving good-bye, blowing super raspberries. She loves to make noise, but no official first words just yet. She loves to dance and shake- sometimes on command which we think is just hilarious. She LOVES her big brother and wants to do whatever he is doing- she fearless and will take off to join in wrestling with Pop when Isaac does. She continues to keep us entertained and up at night.

Here she is trying to figure out how this hairbrush thing works...
Practicing her standing...
Playing well by herself in her room...
And hanging with Momma...

new kids videos

Recent videos of the kids...

Isaac working on his car...

One of Delia's favorite things...

Trip to Silverton

Today we drove up to Silverton, a little mining town 50 miles north of Durango, for a FUN outing! It's a spectacular drive- the best way to get there is on the train, but I didn't think the kids were ready for 8 hours in a train car, no matter how awesome the views so we drove.

On the way there my mom asked Isaac, "What do you think we'll see in Silverton?" "Silver, Oma," he tells her. This kid doesn't miss a thing.

My main goal was to look at rocks with Isaac... this was my favorite part of going to Silverton as a kid. Isaac wasn't really into the rocks, but I bought some anyway and the kids played with them when we got home. Iron pyrite, "Fool's Gold," always made me feel rich!

4th of July

Another good 4th of July for us... we spent the afternoon at my parents with friends and family. Isaac and Matt played outside a bunch while Delia and I stayed inside in the AC. We kept Isaac up late to watch fireworks for the first time- it was a pretty decent show and in the end Isaac liked it. Happy Independence!

Delia crawling EVERYWHERE inside...

Matt and Isaac playing Chutes and Ladders...