Yes... I'm pregnant! Josh and I are so thrilled and excited. I'm 13 weeks along right now and I'm feeling great. I've had a few bouts with morning sickness, but nothing unmanageable. Overall I feel like I'm having a great pregnancy so far!
Josh and I found out I was pregnant at the end of February, but chose to keep it private until our anniversary in April, when I would be 12 weeks along. It was hard to not tell anyone, but it wss a really wonderful time In our marriage to have such wonderful news just between the to of us.
We scheduled an ultrasound and appointment to hear the baby's heartbeat for the morning of ou anniversary. Seeing baby and hearing that heartbeat for the first time was just amazing. Baby was incredible active and the doctor said I must be the exercising and Zumba classes I've been taking (ha!)
After the appointment we called and texted all our family members to share the great news before posting it on facebook to share with our friends. What a memorable anniversary!
Next week we have another ultrasound scheduled to look at baby more closely. The doctor wants to be sure that the due date is correct. As of now the due date is October 26th. Then we have another apointment the middle of May. We should know baby's gender at the end of May or beginning of June. So far I really like my doctor here, but baby will not be born here in Korea.
Baby is due the end of October but we are set to leave Korea in the middle of September. So, baby will be born in Alabama. We will be moving back there for Josh to take some aviation classes then start his new position as an instructor for the BlackHawk course. He will be teaching new aviators how to fly- a fantastic opportunity!
Well, I think that's about all for now. I will upload photos soon. Have a great day!! :)
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Big Changes
It has been way too long since I've posted a blog, so I will try as best I can to include everything. At the end of February I finished my time at BIS. Leaving was bittersweet and I miss the kids and my coworkers. However, I don't miss the workload and stress. I love being home when Josh comes home from work and having the evenings together. I love having time to clean the house and not be rushed, relax and make dinner every night. Ive been having fun trying new recipes, spending time with friends, exploring Seoul and walking around our neighborhood now that the weather has been getting nicer. Not having the stress of that crazy job is wonderful!!
To keep myself busy I've been taking a Zumba class twice a week which has been really fun. I'm also teaching kids four days a week. I teach one kindergartener named Jun who is very advanced. His spoken English is really impressive and be learns quickly. I also teach two middle school girls, not together but in separate classes. Both girls are just learning English so it was a bit rough at first, but they are developing reading and speaking skills quickly. It's a fun process seeing them learn so quickly and gain confidence. I also teach a class of four kindergarteners. Two kids are four and the other two kids are five. This class is super fun because the kids are a bit crazy and their English is so minimal. So, with a mixture of English and Korean we manage to have a fun time. So far they know their ABC's, the happy birthday song, can count to 11 and know all the primary colors. It's fun but I always feel like I need a nap after teaching that class! Ha!
Teaching these classes has been fun and a great way to keep busy and not get bored at home all the time. I'm also really thankful for the extra income. Only in Korea would parents pay crazy amounts of money for private English lessons!
Josh has been working a ton, like normal. We are planning a trip to Thailand next month which I know will be a much needed break for him. He's overworked, for sure. :( We plan on going to Phuket, Thailand for about a week in May, so I've been busy learning about the area and planning our trip as well. Can't wait!
A few weeks ago Josh and I celebrated our to year wedding anniversary. Such a wonderful day! We had a delicious dinner at the same restaurant we went to on Valentines Day. How blessed we are to have each other. It was a great day!!
And.... The biggest news of all is that I'm 13 weeks pregnant! Surprise!! :) I will write a new blog post all about it and I will add some photos later as well. We are so thrilled and can't wait to be parents to our little one! :)
To keep myself busy I've been taking a Zumba class twice a week which has been really fun. I'm also teaching kids four days a week. I teach one kindergartener named Jun who is very advanced. His spoken English is really impressive and be learns quickly. I also teach two middle school girls, not together but in separate classes. Both girls are just learning English so it was a bit rough at first, but they are developing reading and speaking skills quickly. It's a fun process seeing them learn so quickly and gain confidence. I also teach a class of four kindergarteners. Two kids are four and the other two kids are five. This class is super fun because the kids are a bit crazy and their English is so minimal. So, with a mixture of English and Korean we manage to have a fun time. So far they know their ABC's, the happy birthday song, can count to 11 and know all the primary colors. It's fun but I always feel like I need a nap after teaching that class! Ha!
Teaching these classes has been fun and a great way to keep busy and not get bored at home all the time. I'm also really thankful for the extra income. Only in Korea would parents pay crazy amounts of money for private English lessons!
Josh has been working a ton, like normal. We are planning a trip to Thailand next month which I know will be a much needed break for him. He's overworked, for sure. :( We plan on going to Phuket, Thailand for about a week in May, so I've been busy learning about the area and planning our trip as well. Can't wait!
A few weeks ago Josh and I celebrated our to year wedding anniversary. Such a wonderful day! We had a delicious dinner at the same restaurant we went to on Valentines Day. How blessed we are to have each other. It was a great day!!
And.... The biggest news of all is that I'm 13 weeks pregnant! Surprise!! :) I will write a new blog post all about it and I will add some photos later as well. We are so thrilled and can't wait to be parents to our little one! :)
Monday, March 5, 2012
Last Days at BIS
It's crazy to think that my time at BIS is over. My contract was a total of 15 months and at times that felt like forever! But, I am happy to say that things ended well and I enjoyed some fun times with my kids before leaving. I think leaving was easy because I'm not leaving the country yet. When most teachers leave a school like BIS they leave the country (their Visa only allows them to be in the country as long as they are teaching.) But, Josh and I will be here another 7 months. So, I know I will be able to see the kids and I am even tutoring some of them, so it wasn't as sad as I expected.
On Friday the kindergarteners graduated. We all got into the shuttle busses and traveled into Seoul. Of course I was biased, but I think our students were better than the other two campuses that also participated in graduation. It was obvious we had spent more time developing and practicing their graduation speeches and song and dance. The other kids were also pretty wild and our kids were much more disciplined and well behaved.
The kids had lots of fun at graduation and it was really special to see them get their kindergarten diplomas after teaching them for so long. (In Korea kindergarten lasts two years).
I worked on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday teaching the older kids, as the kindergarteners had a week vacation. I had already finished giving all my students their end of the year exams so we played games and had lots of fun. Wednesday was my last day. After school Josh and I went to my favorite Korean BBQ restaurant with Joe and Stephanie.
I am just so thankful that I was able to have this job. Yes, the hours were long and the days were stressful. I struggled working for people from a different culture who had different ideas about work standards and expectation. But, I learned a lot about myeslf, Korean culture and was so happy to make some money in the process. Working at a hagwon was an interesting experience, as it is NOTHING like an American school.
Here are some fun pictures from my last few days:
On Friday the kindergarteners graduated. We all got into the shuttle busses and traveled into Seoul. Of course I was biased, but I think our students were better than the other two campuses that also participated in graduation. It was obvious we had spent more time developing and practicing their graduation speeches and song and dance. The other kids were also pretty wild and our kids were much more disciplined and well behaved.
The kids had lots of fun at graduation and it was really special to see them get their kindergarten diplomas after teaching them for so long. (In Korea kindergarten lasts two years).
I worked on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday teaching the older kids, as the kindergarteners had a week vacation. I had already finished giving all my students their end of the year exams so we played games and had lots of fun. Wednesday was my last day. After school Josh and I went to my favorite Korean BBQ restaurant with Joe and Stephanie.
I am just so thankful that I was able to have this job. Yes, the hours were long and the days were stressful. I struggled working for people from a different culture who had different ideas about work standards and expectation. But, I learned a lot about myeslf, Korean culture and was so happy to make some money in the process. Working at a hagwon was an interesting experience, as it is NOTHING like an American school.
Here are some fun pictures from my last few days:
Matthew's Birthday Party
My sweet "flowers" made from the kids handprints
I got so many sweet cards from the kids. This one was from Sarah. I loved how detailed it was. She even drew her purple wheeling backpack!
The most important thing Joshua learned from me over 15 months is that my favorite color is pink. Oh boy!
With Jun
With Erin Jo
With Dorothy (and her diploma)
Matthew not wanting to take a picture
"Ms Leah, only take picture is picture is CRAZY!"
Clara is just so precious!
Another picture with Clara
Ms Kristal also left BIS the same time as me. She is off to University in March. Here we are with the kindergarteners who will have their second year at BIS starting in March.
Claire from first grade
The kindergarteners have uniforms now. Stephanie texted me this photo today and I can't get over how cute Jun, Matthew and Clara look. Adorable!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Rosemary Ranch Chicken
I found a recipe for rosemary ranch chicken online com and tweaked it a little. This recipe is truly delicious and we love it in our house! It's also easy to make because you should have most of the ingredients already at home. The chicken is very moist and delicious. I like to serve this with rice and add peppers, onions, mushrooms and pineapple to the skewers before barbequing. Enjoy!
(The last time I made this I forgot to take a picture, but I will add one the next time I make this recipe.)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup ranch dressing (I use the low fat ranch)
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon rosemary (fresh or dried)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Skinless, boneless chicken breasts- cut into 1 inch cubes
Directions:
(The last time I made this I forgot to take a picture, but I will add one the next time I make this recipe.)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup ranch dressing (I use the low fat ranch)
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon rosemary (fresh or dried)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Skinless, boneless chicken breasts- cut into 1 inch cubes
Directions:
- In a medium bowl, stir together the olive oil, ranch dressing, worcestershire sauce, rosemary, salt, lemon juice, white vinegar, pepper, and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Reserve a small amount of the marinade in a separate bowl.
- Place chicken in the medium bowl, and stir to coat with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 6 hours. (The longer you leave the chicken in the marinate the better it will be.)
- Preheat the barbeque for medium-high heat. Thread chicken onto skewers and discard marinade.(On the skewers I like to add cut up onion, green/red peppers, mushrooms and pineapple.)
- Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill skewers for 8 to 12 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, and the juices run clear.
- While you are grilling you can add extra marinade to the skewers if you want.
- Serve kabobs with rice. Delicious!
Leah's Kitchen Diary
Hi friends! I decided to start a new blog! I will be writing in both, but the new blog will be all about one of my favorite things....FOOD! :) I will be having lots of extra time on my hands when I am done teaching at BIS and my goal is to learn to love cooking. I have lots of recipes to try and want to increase my confidence in the kitchen. I think that blogging about my sucesses and failures in the kitchen will help me do just that!
You can follow my new blog at:
http://leahskitchendiary.blogspot.com/
You can follow my new blog at:
http://leahskitchendiary.blogspot.com/
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Spicy Part II
Spicy has proved to be, quite possibly, the most hilarious student I teach. He has the best sense of humor and lovingly refers to himself as Spicy every day. He decided that all the boys in his class could be Spicy 1, Spicy 2, Spicy 3 etc and now all the boys like to be called "Team Spicy!" Haha!
Brian aka Spicy makes the best little faces and I caught this photo earlier this week. What a ham!
Brian aka Spicy makes the best little faces and I caught this photo earlier this week. What a ham!
Pirate? Or gremlin? :)
Happy Valentines Day
Valentines Day was great this year! I had lots of fun with my kids at school and Josh surprised me at work with flowers. It was so sweet and such a great surprise, as I know how busy he is during the days.
After I was off work we went to the most amazing restaurant for dinner. One of Josh's co workers Sam had recommended it to Josh and it was delicious. First we got some yummy bruschetta as an appetizer.
After dinner Josh took me to a chocolatier! It was a small little shop in Jeonga and we had fun choosing the ones that we wanted.
In other Brown family news I have 7 or 10 days left of work (my boss is freakishly unorganized and doesn't know when my last day will be yet), we joined a Korean gym (yay for getting in shape and working out together) and we are busy planning our anniversary vacation in April. The weather is warming up a bit (high 20's, low 30's) and we are anxiously awaiting information about where our next Army move will take us. Stay tuned!
Beautiful flowers!
After I was off work we went to the most amazing restaurant for dinner. One of Josh's co workers Sam had recommended it to Josh and it was delicious. First we got some yummy bruschetta as an appetizer.
Super delicious!
Josh with his carbonara pasta
My spinach pasta was amazing, but also very rich.
Every teacher has to have at least one teacher sweater. I bought this one when I was student teaching. This was my third year wearing my silly Valentines sweater. But, I was feeling like a real dork wearing it at a fancy restaurant! :)
Our box of chocolates and the paper flower that Josh made for me :)
YUM!!
Silly Valentines from Ms Leah to the teachers I work with- haha!
In other Brown family news I have 7 or 10 days left of work (my boss is freakishly unorganized and doesn't know when my last day will be yet), we joined a Korean gym (yay for getting in shape and working out together) and we are busy planning our anniversary vacation in April. The weather is warming up a bit (high 20's, low 30's) and we are anxiously awaiting information about where our next Army move will take us. Stay tuned!
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