Life at Pullen Central

At long last....an update

2011-08-27T16:51:00.015-05:00

It goes without saying that life has been very busy and I have been remiss in posting any updates to the blog. To Mr. Kang and Mrs. Lee, I sincerely apologize for not posting updated pictures. We are all doing well. Please send me your direct email address to ckpullen@comcast.net and I promise to send you photos more regularly.

Here are some photos of what we've been up to over the past several months....

Ben enjoyed his first year as a cub scout, earning his Tiger cub badge.

Claire enjoyed dance class

Gopher Fans!

Silly!

Ben at his first grade learning fair

LOVED what he wrote!

Ben turned 7!

Easter Bunny Cake!

Ben participated in his school play

Ben completed 1st grade...he's here with his teacher.

Love my kiddos!

Claire turned 4!

Claire enjoyed running track!

Ben played soccer

and baseball

LOTS of fun at the cabin this summer...Claire went knee boarding for the first time and Ben got up on water skis for the first time!

Ben's first grade teacher auctioned off a ride on her horse to raise money for the school and we were one of the winners! Both Ben and Claire had a great time riding and feeding Kool Kid (the horse).

Cousins!

Ben FINALLY lost his first tooth! He's convinced he's absolutely the oldest kid to lose their first tooth!

Another School Year

2010-10-02T08:16:00.008-05:00

Summer's over and it's back to school again! Ben started first grade and Claire is now in preschool!

Checking out his new desk!

Ben's teacher...Mrs. Schmidt!

All set and ready to go!

First grade!

Ben gets a locker this year!

Home on the bus!

Check out Claire's new backpack...all princess!

So excited to start preschool!

Check out Claire's new cubby!

Catching Up

2010-10-02T07:47:00.009-05:00

Okay, so once again, I've really been lax about posting updates here....life is so busy these days! Here are some photos from over the summer.

Perhaps she should have just stayed in bed.....

Playing on the John Deere tractors at the State Fair!

So silly!

The giant slide was the hit of the fair!

George and Claire being so very silly!

Ben spent a week at Camp Christmas Tree...here's the fort that his team was building!

Claire and Sam riding the John Deere....a new favorite activity at the cabin this summer

Plenty of popsicles were consumed at the cabin this summer

Ben really enjoyed playing soccer this summer

Tubing was another favorite activity at the cabin

Claire became so much more confident in the lake...jumping off the dock and climbing back up the ladder for more!

Ben and Dave ran a 5K race over the July 4th weekend....Ben did great (his first race)!

We picked lots and lots and lots of strawberries...YUM!

Another fun summer filled with activities and fun! Hard to believe that summer has gone and we're already into Fall. Time just flies.....

2010 Family Photo Shoot

2010-10-02T07:27:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday to Claire!!

2010-06-20T19:01:00.007-05:00

Look who's 3!! We had fun celebrating Claire's birthday!

Check out the fun dress up stuff from Uncle Chuck, Aunt T, Sam and Joey!

We had a cupcake party for some of Claire's friends....

Decorating the cupcakes was so much fun!

Yummy!

Everyone had a great time in the jumpy-especially Ben and Claire!

Check out Claire's GIANT cupcake cake!

Make a wish!

Her actual b-day fell on Monday, so we celebrated with a yummy ice cream cake!

Check out the new kitchen from Mommy and Daddy!

Ben gave her, her very own personalized fishing bucket!

Look who's proud of his little sister!

Summer Fun!

2010-06-18T11:11:00.003-05:00

It's Cabin Season!

2010-06-18T11:00:00.005-05:00

The weather is warmer and that means it's Cabin Season! Both Ben and Claire really enjoy spending time at the lake up north and love all the activities and fun that it has to offer.

Check out Ben knee boarding for the very first time!!

Check out the HUGE Northern Pike that Ben caught in our lake! That's the largest fish I've seen caught from this lake in the 10+ years I've been coming up! It made for a yummy fish fry lunch!

The long, flat driveway makes skateboarding and scootering easy!

They love driving and riding in the John Deere tractor that we inherited from Great Aunt Kaye and Uncle Gary's cabin!

Captain Ben!

Captain Claire!

Claire loves to fish as well!

Mom painted Claire's toe nails for the first time at the cabin this spring!

Such a Big Girl!

2010-06-18T10:41:00.004-05:00

Okay, so it's been a few months since I've posted pics and Claire has changed so much during that time! She's growing up so fast is one delightful, funny little (oops, I mean BIG) girl!

"Look how big I am!"

"Check out my big girl bed!"

Story time....

First night in her big girl bed.

Playing dress up is her favorite activity lately. She likes to say, "Mama, I look pretty!"

Her "fancy" shoes!

So silly!

One HUGE accomplishment is that Claire was potty trained in March and we had a "Potty Party" to celebrate!

We now have a First Grader in the Family

2010-06-18T10:24:00.004-05:00

It's so hard to believe, but Ben has finished kindergarten...where did that year go?

Here he is on the first day....

and on the last day of school. He's grown in so many ways!!

Here he is at his Kindergarten Spring Sing...so cute!

Here he is with his teacher, Mrs. Houston. He has SOOO much fun this year and learned SOOOO much!!

Ben's 6th Birthday!

2010-06-18T10:03:00.010-05:00

Okay, so this is long overdue...Ben celebrated his 6th Birthday on May 1st!! Here are some pics from the festive events surrounding his birthday.

Check out the new soccer gear that Grandma gave him...all set for soccer season!

Check out the new Joe Mauer Jersey!

A new hockey helmet with clear face mask....very cool stuff!

Make a Wish!

Time for a party with friends at Goldy's Game Room!

Claire LOVES to bowl!

Goldy made a special appearance at the party....very fun!

Group shot!

Kisses from Claire!

Pizza!

Another cake!

Granny, Uncle Chuck, Aunt Teri, Sam and Joe gave Ben a Joe Mauer jersey AND 2 tickets to a Twins game at the new Target Field!! Ben and Dave got there early to watch batting practice and were able to get up close to the field. Ben caught a ball!! So much fun!!

TC Bear!

Turning 6 turned out to be a great gig for Ben!

Nickelodeon Universe!

2010-01-10T14:56:00.006-06:00

We ended our winter break with a visit to Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America! We joined Chuck, Teri, Sam, Joey and KP and had a great time!

Look who got to meet SpongeBob!

Sam and Ben and their first ride.

Ben on the Blue's Clues ride!

Teri and Sam on the same ride

Claire and me, too!

Ben takes after his Dad and LOVES rides! Here he is riding the Power Tower ride for the second time. The ride pulls you up to the top of the tower and then drops you. He loved it!!

Happy Birthday, Olivia!!

2010-01-10T14:43:00.006-06:00

When we visitied our family in Indiana the weekend before Christmas, we helped our niece, Olivia, celebrate her first birthday!

Is that the cutest birthday hat you've ever seen?

Happy birthday to you, Olivia!

"Not sure what I'm supposed to do with this....."

Such a cutie!

Yum!

"Can't get enough of that chocolate frosting!"

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-10T13:48:00.019-06:00

Happy 2010! It's hard to believe the 2009 holidays are now memories. Here at Pullen Central, we had a wonderful holiday season filled with fun, family and great food! We are so blessed. Here's a recap in pictures.

Here are Dave and Claire listening to a kids' singing group perform at our annual "Supper with Santa" gathering.

Ben was all on board to sit on Santa's lap. Claire didn't want anything to do with him!

Deep conversation about Ben's wish list.

They picked out a great tree!

It looks even better all decorated!

Silly little elf!

He LOVED his new MINNESOTA Santa hat!

Ho, Ho, Ho!!

We traveled to Indiana the weekend prior to Christmas to celebrate with Christa's family. Here's Grandma with all 5 grandkids. (From L to R, Claire (2.5), Ben (5.5), Olivia (1), Vivian (3.5) and Mia (8). We all had a great time!

The Hart girls digging into their loot!

Mia getting into her loot!

"Thanks for the Rock'em Sock'em Robots, Uncle Brian and Aunt Kristy!"

Check out Mia's new dress!

The kids had a blast handing out the adults' gifts!

"This one is really heavy!"

Attempt #2 was a bit more successful...at least she sat on his lap. She still talks about how she cried on Santa's lap. When we ask her, "Why?" she just says, "because!"

Time to make the cookies for the big guy!

All set for Christmas Eve services and a casual gathering at Pullen South!

Claire and Pepper

Cookies? Check! Milk? Check! Carrots for the reindeer? Check! All set for the big guy's visit!

Annual family PJ shot on Christmas Eve!

Christmas morning....he came!!!

Tearing in!

Check out the saucer sled that Ben gave to Claire! We got a TON of snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, so she was able to try it out right away!

Ben digging into his loot!

Santa listened! He brought Ben a bowling arcade game!!

Family Shot at KP's house, Christmas afternoon

Ben and Sam "modeling" their Minnesota blankets that Granny made for them..."Thanks, Granny!"

Claire's pushing her new baby, Lou, in the baby swing.

Did I mention we got dumped on? Here was the view out our living room window at our neighbors' house across the street.

Frosty in the making

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday and wish you peace, happiness and prosperity in 2010!

Fun, Fun, Fun!

2010-01-10T13:16:00.005-06:00

It's catch up day for our blog! Now that the holidays are over, I found some time to get caught up! Here are some pics of some of the fun things we've been up to.

This is a favorite hiding spot when we play hide and seek!

Dave strapped ice skates on Claire for the first time and she loved it!

Bowling is a huge hit!

Here's a quick video clip of Claire bowling. She insisted on carryin the ball all by herself!

Bubbles anyone??

Almost time for a real "big girl" bed. Where has the time gone?

Halloween & Fall Pics!

2009-11-09T16:38:00.006-06:00

It's hard to believe it already November! I have some catching up to do with posting pics! Here are some from October.....Halloween and more!

My favorite storm trooper and ladybug!

Watch out, bad guys!

Am I cute, or what?

Buddies!

Thanks, Grandma, for sending us a bag of goodies!

Ben's works of art!

Claire's work of art!

Pumpkin Pride!!

Hard at work!

Time to clean out the pumpkins!

A beautiful day for a pumpkin patch!

Cow train!

Ben's Cow

Check out the haul!

Mom's pumpkins!

How cute is this one?

Peek a boo!

Almost like a real John Deere!

Hope everyone is enjoying fall like we are!!

Ben & Claire

Korean Benefit for Children

2009-10-03T18:42:00.006-05:00

Last Saturday we attended an annual fundraiser put on by our adoption agency called, "Korean Benefit for Children." It's an annual event that raises much needed funds for the two agencies in Korea that, among many other things, take care of the babies being adopted until they can go home to their forever families. One of the agencies (Eastern Social Welfare Society) sent some representatives over to attend the event and we were thrilled to learn that one of the honored guests was Mrs. Oh, Ji Young, who was Claire's social worker during her time in Korea. We spent quite a bit of time with Mrs. Oh while we were in Korea....she, among so many other things, was the interpreter between us and Claire's foster family (who do not speak English). I fondly remember how she went out of her way to make Ben feel so welcome and special when so much attention was being focused on Claire. We were so thrilled to be able to spend some time with her while she was here and to hear updates on Claire's foster family.

Here's a family pic with Mrs. Oh!

I've talked about the Harstad's in previous posts....Claire was her foster family's first foster child and coincidentally, their second foster child, Tae, went to his forever family in Duluth, MN, a couple hours from us. We don't get to see each other very often, but we're in touch via phone and e-mail regularly. Margaret and Tae were able to make it down for the benefit, so here's a picture of us with Mrs. Oh. Tae is getting so big and is cute as can be!!

Ben and Claire are showing off their Korean Warrior Kites that they made

Here's Ben trying his hand at Taikwondo...can he break the board?

Success!

MN State Fair!

2009-10-03T18:35:00.003-05:00

Ben's first day of kindergarten was on a Tuesday, so the Monday prior, Dave and I took the day off work and spent the morning with Ben at the MN State Fair! This was Ben's first appearance at the fair and we all had a blast! Here are a few pics:

A ride on "Ye Olde Mill"-a classic ride at the fair

Look who was hanging out at the U of MN building?

The giant slide was Ben's favorite! He actually got to go twice....once with Mom and one with Dad!

He's already talking about next year!

Catching up!

2009-10-03T14:32:00.010-05:00

I've been a bit negligent on posting updates lately, so here are a slew of pics from the end of the summer.

It took to the end of the summer, but Ben finally got comfortable tubing at the cabin. Next year, he wants to learn to water ski...stay tuned!

Joey got in on the action as well!

Such a great big brother!

Makeshift catcher equipment

What a fun playground near the cabin!

Ben successfully climbed all the way up to the eyes of the caterpillar!

Claire loves to swing!

Check out the hand-me-down John Deere Ride On to use at the cabin....Thanks Great Uncle Gary and Aunt Kaye!!

Hang on, Claire!

Love the hat!

"Giddy-Up, Daddy!"

Nature walk

We had a great time at our annual reunion of dear friends in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin just before Labor Day!

Kaylee is growing up so fast and Claire loved hanging out with her!

"Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" as only Ann can tell it. Claire LOVED it!

What to you do with a whole bunch of kids when it's raining and cold outside? Wii to the rescue!

Another annual ritual....the Greenvile, WI homecoming parade! Claire is patiently waiting for the candy to arrive, oh and for Drew and George to pass us by in the parade as well!

Waiting for the start of the parade!

The end of summer meant saying "good-bye" to some preschool friends.

A week before preschool was over, a brand new playground was installed. Here, Ben and his buddy, Ryan, were having a great time on the slide!

The tire swing is the bomb!

A rite of passage at Calvary Childcare Center...on your last day of school, you get to have your picture taken ON TOP of the tunnel! Normally, it's against the rules to climb on top, but an exception is made on your last day!

Claire loves to water the lawn...too cute!

We've officially started hockey...Ben is a mini-mite!

All decked out in his equipment

Ben and his friend, Goldy, as the Gopher Womens' hockey game!

We now have a kindergartner among us!

2009-09-04T14:53:00.008-05:00

Well, it's official. Ben is now a kindergartner! His first day was last Tuesday and he was so excited and ready to go. Mom, on the other hand, had a hard time with that first day. That got better as the week has gone on. Watching him get off the bus and listening to what he is learning and doing each day is so much fun! Here are some pics of that first day.

He's ready! So, I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said, "An astronaut or a mascot!" hmmmm

Which is bigger....Ben or the backpack?

He literally ran up the steps to the school!

Can you tell he's growing a little impatient with all of Mom's picture taking?

So relieved to see him get off the bus on that first day!

Look who caught the Big One!!

2009-08-07T14:27:00.003-05:00

Not only did Claire catch her very first fish.......

But Ben caught one very large fish all by himself! Check out this large mouth bass, which was about 19.5" and weighed about 4-5 pounds. He was so proud! After the photo shoot, he tossed him back in the lake and now has a great fish tale to tell!

Summer Silliness

2009-08-07T14:06:00.012-05:00

It's hard to believe that it's August and our summer is flying by so quickly. Here are some pics of what Ben and Claire have been up to this summer.

Claire is talking more every day and is one silly little girl!

Check out Ben's cool face paintings that he had done at a friend's birthday party!

Wait....there's more!

Fun rides at Como Town!
Claire's learning how to ride her trike!
Strawberry picking on a cool Saturday morning at the cabin

T-Ball! Watch out Joe Mauer!

Mastering the monkey bars!

Splash pad park!

More silliness!

Track

Safety Camp

Look who's learning to dress herself!

We hope you all are enjoying your summer as much as we are.

Popsicles!

2009-08-07T13:44:00.002-05:00

All I can say that it's been the summer of popsicles!

Claire is 2!!!

2009-06-21T20:30:00.009-05:00

It's so hard to believe, but Miss Claire Bear is now 2! We had fun celebrating her birthday! Here are some pics of all the celebratiang!

Here she is celebrating at daycare!

Cousin Joey (who is in her class at daycare) loves cupcakes!

I think she liked it!

All ready for her party guests to arrive!

Stylin' party attire!

Many of you know that Claire loves her "bug" that came home with her from Korea. We couldn't resist having it be the theme of her party!

It was a beautiful day to hang outside for the party!

Now, for the loot!

The Pooh phone was a huge hit! She opened it first and had little interest in opening the rest of her gifts. In fact, her cousins Sam and Joey got into a few tussles with her because they all wanted it. "Mine!" was heard many times...aahh...to be 2 again. Thanks Uncle Brian, Aunt Kristy, Vivian and Olivia for the cool phone!

"I love books!"

Ben was more than willing to be her gift opener.

Claire got a fishing hat and fishing gear from Uncle Chuck, Aunt T, Sam and Joey-thanks! The hat says, "As a matter of fact, I DO fish like a girl!"

Look, Papa! I got some keys!

Time for cake!

"Happy Birthday to Me!"

"Yummy! More cake!"

When we ask her how old she is, Claire holds up her 2 index fingers and says, "I 2!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE BEAR!! WE LOVE YOU!

Mama, Daddy & Ben

Ben's Art Show

2009-06-21T20:16:00.006-05:00

The teachers at Ben's preschool do a really cool thing every year. They spend a couple of months studying all kinds of artists and then the kids create art inspired by those artists. At the end of the school year, they host an art show where all the kids' art is on display for family and friends. It's truly amazing how much they've learned and I know Ben was so proud to show us all of his hard work. Here are a few examples of his art. This is only a small representation fo what they did and I'm afraid I can't remember each artist that was the inspiration for each, but where I can remember, I've noted it below.

Inspired by Jackson Pollack

Andy Warhol

Korean mask

Drawing of Ben and Mom

I think this might be Van Gogh, but don't quote me.

Standing in front of his canvas painting. His is the maroon and gold one...surprised?!

Painting from Monet's boat...they really sat in a boat to pain these

Sculpture that he made with a couple of his classmates

Self Portrait

Pretty cool, Ben! We're proud of you!

T-Ball & Track!

2009-06-21T20:04:00.006-05:00

Ben has been having a very busy summer! He's playing T-Ball for the first time this summer, which is a hoot to watch! It's adorable watching all the little 5 & 6 year old kids trying to figure out what they're supposed to do. He's also running track again this summer, which is sponsored by the high school track team. They have 4 races each meet and the kids are divided up by age and gender. He's loving participating in both. Here are some pics....

On your mark......get set.....

GO!!!

Sprint to the finish!

Throws right hand, hits left hand.

Joe Mauer would be proud!

I'm on third base, Mom!

He loves to field the balls as well!

He's SOOO excited to be on the maroon team! Now that the first week of practice is over, let the games begin!

Baptism Weekend!

2009-06-21T19:39:00.007-05:00

We flew to Indiana a couple of weekends ago to celebrate the baptisms of two of our nieces, Mia and Olivia. It was actually our first time meeting Olivia, who is even more adorable in person than in pictures. We were thrilled and grateful to be part of such a festive weekend!

Congratulations to Mia! Here she is with her Godfather, Todd, her Mom (Christa's sister), Deb, and her pastor, Jeanette.

The kids had fun at the celebration afterwards at Mia's house!

Vivian's making some music!

Cousins at play!

Here's Olivia's baptism...she was very intrigued!

She smiled right on cue!
So tired after the big event!

Proud family!

Proud Grandmas!

Proud Godmothers!

Grandma and all five of her grandkids...this doesn't happen very often!

Grandma with all but Olivia...they were all looking at the camera..a rare feat!

SEEDS

2009-06-02T21:00:00.007-05:00

We are so fortunate to be part of a large group of families who've recently adopted children from Korea. We've all met or became connected through our adoption journeys and are enjoying watching our children grow up together and sharing our experiences with one another. The group is named SEEDS (Seouls Engaged in Everything for our Daugthers and Sons). Many of our children are the same age and have birthdays this spring/early summer, so we decided to have a birthday party for all of them to celebrate. We were fortunate to have 17 families attend the gathering...a new record! It was so much fun to see all the little ones run around, communicate and interact with one another. A great time was had by all!

We were particulary excited because we finally got to meet Margaret and Tae! As many of you know from earlier posts, Tae and Claire had the same foster family while they were in Korea. Tae went to live with them about a week after we left Korea to bring Claire home. Tae came home in December and we were connected to each other with the help of the foster family and our agency. The odds of this happening still blow my mind...how lucky are we?? Anyway, Margaret and I have spoken on the phone, exchanged e-mails and follow each other's blogs, but haven't had the opportunity to meet until last Saturday (They live in Duluth, MN, which is about 3 hours north of the Twin Cities). We were so excited to finally meet them and hope to meet Hansi (Tae's Papa) soon!

Here are some pictures from our fun gathering:

Tae and Claire!

Margaret, Tae, Claire and me

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-06-02T20:36:00.004-05:00

May is always a busy time for us with lots of things to celebrate...Ben's birthday, our anniversary, Mom's Day and Dave's birthday. This year, Dave turned 40 and he wanted to celebrate the big occassion doing something he absolutely loves to do...spending time at the cabin! Even though most of the weekend was spent doing lots of hard work (putting docks in the lake, getting the boats up and running, yada yada yada), Dave wouldn't have had it any other way. The kids had a great time decorating the cabin for our birthday celebration and KP made her delicious chocolate fudge cake. Although the weather was still pretty chilly, we managed to get out on the pontoon and check out what's new on the lake since last fall. Cabin season has begun and the Pullens are excited!

Here's to many, many more!

Claire LOVES putting on her life jacket and going out on the boat!

Captain Ben!

The fish may not be biting in the lake yet, but a hot game of "Let's Go Fishing" is always going on inside the cabin!

Ben, Dave and Chuck went to a pitch-n-putt course near the cabin and had a great time! Ben's becoming quite the little golfer!

So Silly!

Look Who's 5!

2009-05-11T20:46:00.007-05:00

Hard to believe...but Ben is now 5 years old! Wasn't it just yesterday when I was overdue, went to the hospital to be induced, only to get bumped because there were too many women already in labor and no beds available (funny how that memory is still so vivid :o)). But it is true and we had a lot of fun celebrating and ate lots of cake in the process! Here are some pics from the big event.

Finally-he gets to use all of his fingers on one hand! I remember when he was 2, he could hold up 2 fingers on one hand, so he would show us his 2 pointer fingers.

" Thanks, Claire, for the real baseball bats! I'll be all set for T-Ball!"

And a Joe Mauer shirt....so exciting! How appropriate that it was on Ben's birthday that Joe returned to the Twins for the first time this season and hit a home run at his first at bat!

Cake #2 (#1 was at school earlier in the day) was a rainbow cake that Ben made with Grandma---yummy!

Fast forward to Saturday (the day after his actual b-day) and here he is at his friend party. A great time was had by all at the health club with lots of gym time, pizza and chocolate cupcakes!

Back home for a family BBQ celebration!

Thanks, Grandma, for the Colt's chair!

"Thanks, Aunt Deb and Mia! We've been learning about this author at school this month!"

"Thanks, Uncle Brian, Aunt Kristy, Vivian and Olivia! I've already been using my new tennis racket at the school tennis courts!"

Thanks to Granny, I'm all set for the cabin this summer....a new life vest and fishing hat!

Thanks, Pullen South! My very own wetsuit! I can't wait to learn to water ski this summer!

Cake #4...Goldy Gopher and the U of M. He is his father's son!

Thanks for coming to visit us and to help celebrate Ben's birthday, Grandma! We had a great time and loved spending time with you!!

Celebrations

2009-04-19T19:17:00.012-05:00

Spring has finally sprung here at Pullen Central and we've had some reasons to celebrate lately. Here are come recent pics of the happenings at Pullen Central.

Claire and her buddy, Kate, on the sit and spin.

We celebrated Claire's "Gotcha Day" by spending the morning at the zoo, the afternoon enjoying a delightful spring day at home, and the evening with a yummy meal and cake, and then, some egg decorating for Easter. This was Claire's first Easter with us, so Ben filled her in on the Easter scoop.

Swinging in the back yard

Driving the cozy coupe

Opening her "Gotcha Day" gift

A cool wooden puzzle of the map of Korea

What's a celebration without cake? It's hard to believe it's been a year already....we love you, Claire Bear!!!

Time to decorate the eggs....

So proud of his work

The Easter Bunny can't help but be impressed with these eggs!

So silly!

Easter morning...guess who paid a visit to Pullen Central?

Claire's not too sure what to think about all the goodies!

Check out Ben's haul from the Easter egg hunt in the afternoon with Claire and his cousins

She's on a mission.....eggs, here I come!

Just had to post this one....Claire and her cousin, Joey, hug each other quite frequently these days....too cute!

Hope you all are finding reasons to celebrate these days.

Love,

Dave, Christa, Ben and Claire

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY, CLAIRE!

2009-04-08T08:21:00.006-05:00

One year ago today, Claire arrived in our arms and hearts forever and we brought her home to Minnesota. We're looking forward to celebrating! Here are some pictures from that incredibly emotional day.

Here, Claire is being blesssed by Dr. Kim, the founder of the agency that took care of Claire in Korea. He is in his mid 90's and has dedicated his life to helping children in Korea. He's such an inspiring man and we were fortunate to have met him.

This was when we were waiting to board our long flight home from Seoul.

This was taken when we arrived home at the airport in Minneapolis.

This was her first night sleeping in her crib.

Here she is now!

We love you Claire!!

Has it really been a year?

2009-04-02T13:42:00.008-05:00

It's so hard to believe....but exactly one year ago today, we met Claire for the very first time. What a difference a year makes. We're looking forward to celebrating her "Gotcha Day" (the actual day she was ours forever) next week. Every day we feel so blessed and are so grateful that she is part of our family. I thought I'd share a few pictures of that very first meeting in Korea.

This was just moments after she came into the room with her foster parents.

I can't even imagine what she's thinking at this point.

Ben is just as excited today and he was in this picture to be her big brother (and a great big brother he is)!

Here's the first family picture we took.

Mr. Kang and Mrs. Lee, we think about you everyday and are so grateful that we've been able to stay in contact with you. I'm sure this anniversary is bittersweet time for you. We love you and look forward to seeing you some time in the future.

What a difference a year makes...mischevious Claire unrolling the toilet paper.

March Madness

2009-04-02T13:25:00.006-05:00

It's hard to believe that March is already gone. Despite our continuing non-spring-like weather, we've had a busy month. Here are some things we've been up to...

It's a bit hard to see in this picture, but Ben is flying a kite all by himself! Uncle Chuck helped him get started, but then, he took control. It was pretty cool to watch!

Claire loves helping to vaccum the floors.

A local NHL player held a fundraiser, at which the Stanley Cup was on display. Ben was so excited to get his picture taken with it!

We had a great time at our monthly gathering of fellow Korean adoptive families. It's so fun to watch them all growing up. Tunnel crawling was Claire's favorite part of the day!

We're still in a bit of denial over this....Ben will be starting kindergarten in the fall (how did that happen?). We attended his kindergarten round up at his school, where he got to ride a school bus and check out the school.

Here he is in one of the kindergarten class rooms. He's so excited to go to kindergarten! Mom, on the other hand, is still in a state of disbelieve. Before we know it, I'll be posting pictures of his first days of kindergarten.

Dave, Christa, Ben & Claire

Keeping Busy

2009-03-08T12:39:00.009-05:00

We're all hoping that spring arrives very soon, as it's been a long, cold and snowy winter. Despite the long winter, we've been keeping busy!

Claire started swim lessons in January and loves it!

Here we are at a Gopher baseball game (inside the Metrodome, thank goodness!). The Gophers were down by 2, had 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and ended up winning the game!

This was Joey's first time to meet Goldy!

(Claire didn't want to have anything to do with him. )

Ben and Goldy are pals!

Claire made some fine artwork for me for Valentine's Day.

And Ben made me a keychain (he was so proud)!

He was also proud of the frames he painted for Papa...maroon and gold, of course!

Here, Claire was able to show her artistic skills at her friend, Lucy's birthday party.

Ben and Claire have discovered that a good game of crib ticklefest is so much fun!

May spring be just around the corner for all of us!

Dave, Christa, Ben & Claire

XOXOXO

2009-02-13T15:22:00.003-06:00

Ben & Claire would like to send you lots of hugs and kisses for a very Happy Valentine's Day!

XOXO,

Ben & Claire

Random Winter Happenings

2009-02-11T13:55:00.010-06:00

Greetings! It's been a cold, cold winter here in Minnesota, but we've managed to stay busy visiting friends and having fun! Here are some pics of some of the things we've been up to lately.

We had a great time at the Clinton's where Ben got to ride an ATV...no worries...his dad we doing the driving and Ben had a blast!

Claire and her pal, Ruby....aren't they adorable?!

We had a great time visiting the Koalskas. Here's Claire with Kate....don't they look like they could be siblings?

Silly girl and her papa!

Stealing her brother's hat is so much fun!

Ben went skating the the U of M Hockey team recently and has a blast chasing Goldy!

Here, he's showing of his hockey skills.

Soooo very tired........

We hope everyone is having a fun winter. Don't know about you, but we're so ready for Spring!

Dave, Christa, Ben & Claire

What are the odds?

2009-01-15T17:05:00.006-06:00

Okay, so I've written several times on this blog about how wonderful Claire's foster parents in Korea are. They took such amazing care of her while she was in Korea and love her as if she was their daugther. She was their first foster child. We've been very fortunate to have maintained contact with them through this blog and through a couple of letters we've exchanged since coming home in April.

Fast forward to just before Christmas and I see on their blog that there are pictures of them with an adorable little boy....how wonderful that they became foster parents again to such a beautiful little guy! My first thought was "what a lucky little guy he is to be placed with such amazing foster parents." I could also tell by the pictures that this little boy was old enough to be going home to his forever family soon. Mr. Kang often leaves messages on our blog, but they are in Korean, so sometimes it's difficult to understand the messages using software to translate them. He left us a couple of messages right around Christmas and I thought he was trying to tell us that this little boy's forever family was also from Minnesota. I checked his blog and I saw pictures of this adorable little guy meeting his forever parents for the first time. The pictures were taken in the exact same room that we met Claire in at the agency in Korea! Deja-vu!

I was just about to call our local adoption agency to see if it was possible to find out who this family was when we got a message from the agency telling us that a family had just returned from Korea with their son, who had the same foster parents as Claire. They wanted to connect with us! Turns out, they do live in Duluth, MN, which is a couple hours north of the Twin Cities. What are the odds that first 2 foster children of this amazing couple end up living just a few hours from each other?! That adorable little boy is named Tae and his parents are Margaret and Hansi. Margaret and I have spoken on the phone several times and look forward to meeting in person very soon. They have family here in the Twin Cities and get down here fairly often. We can't wait to meet them in person and we're trying to figure out how we can get Mr. Kang and Mrs. Lee here to Minnesota for a visit!!

So, meet Claire's foster brother, Tae! He's about 10 months old.

Did I mention that he's adorable?!

Here's a great picture of their family with Mr. Kang and Mrs. Lee

Mr. Kang and Mrs. Lee....we all can't wait to see you again some time soon! Thank you for letting us know that Tae was coming home so close to us. We will let you know when Claire and Tae finally get to meet in person!! What a blessing!

Love, Dave, Christa, Ben and Claire

The Holidays!

2009-01-02T06:50:00.013-06:00

This Christmas was different for us in many ways...this was Claire's first Christmas with us, but it was also our first Christmas without Grandpa Hart. We miss him everyday. Our new niece, Olivia, was born on December 19th-what a blessing! We didn't travel to Indiana for the holidays, so we really missed spending time with Grandma and the rest of our family there. We hope to go there some time soon because we can't wait to meet Olivia and see everyone again! Even though so many things were different this year, we had a very busy and fun filled holiday season.

Here are Ben and Claire on Christmas Eve before we went to church.

Here's the crew at the Pullen South celebration on Christmas Eve.

"Thanks for the Leapter, Grandma!! I play with it all the time now!"

"I'm starting to get the hang of unwrapping gifts!"

New PJ's on Christmas Eve....that's one of our traditions!

All set for Santa and the reindeer!

Santa came!

Claire loves her new chatter phone!

Check out Dad's tye-dyed shirt and undies that Ben made for him.....maroon and gold for the Minnesota Gophers!

Santa brought Ben the guitar he asked for....must have been a good boy this year!

"Two Gopher ornaments in my stocking!"

Claire loves to push her baby in the stroller she got from Aunt Deb and Mia!

Granny gave all 4 grandkids a set of trainer water skis for the cabin! Ben should be ready to try them out next summer!

Claire wanted to try them out....she'll probably have to wait a while before she can try them out.

Same for Joey.....maybe Summer 2010?!

"Thanks for the "Wild" Jersey, Granny!"

Opening presents is fun!

Family pic!

The weekend after Christmas, we headed up to the cabin to check things out and go sledding. There was a ton of snow up there! Check out the snow fort that Dave built for Ben and Claire!

We spent New Year's Eve at Pullen South where we made homemade pizzas and watched the Gopher Football team lose (big time) to Kansas. Despite the loss, we had a great time!

May 2009 bring you health, happiness and prosperity.

Dave, Christa, Ben and Claire

One Year Ago Today....

2008-12-26T20:15:00.003-06:00

...we got the phone call we'd been praying for and we layed eyes on our beautiful Claire for the very first time

It's hard to believe she's been home with us for nearly 9 months already.....we're so blessed!

Meet Our New Niece!

2008-12-21T14:07:00.006-06:00

Say, "hello" to our new niece, Olivia Rose Hart. She was born last Friday evening to Christa's brother, Brian, and his wife, Kristy. Both Mom and Olivia are doing great. She's a beauty! What a wonderful early Christmas present!!

Here is Olivia's big sister, Vivian, meeting her for the first time.

Love this picture of Brian and Vivian!

Holiday Fun!

2008-12-21T14:06:00.018-06:00

We've been very busy enjoying the holiday season! This will be our first Christmas with Claire, so we've been busy showing her some of our traditions. Here are some pics of what we've been up to.

At Supper with Santa, Ben got up close and personal with the big guy!

Claire, on the other hand, was not impressed with the guy in red. Ben told her she would understand soon that he really is a good guy.

Ben picked out a great tree for us!

Claire helped to decorate the tree...

And so did Ben!

Check out the finished product!

A couple of silly elves!

Check out Claire's first snowman (yes, the "M" is for Minnesota...like Goldy Gopher has on his chest).

It's time to make some cookies!

Works of art!

We got hammered with a snow storm this weekend, so we took the opportunity to introduce Claire to sledding! She LOVED it and cried when we took her home to get warm.

On your mark, get set, GO!!

We took Claire to get her first haircut....she was not amused!

I took this picture of Claire just a couple of weeks ago...she snuck into the pantry and was helping herself to some snacks. Check out the picture of Ben below, which was taken a couple of years ago. Coincidental....even down to what clothes they are wearing!

We wish you all a wonderful holiday and a safe and happy new year!

Love, Christa, Dave, Ben and Claire

Thank you, Mrs. Lee and Mr. Kang!

2008-11-23T13:30:00.005-06:00

What a wonderful surprise! We received a call from our adoption agency telling us there was a package for us from Claire's foster family in Korea. Inside, there were new hanboks for both Ben and Claire (in larger sizes) and some beautiful hair accessories for Claire. That, alone, was such a generous gift, however, there was more! They saw our posted video clip on the blog of Ben doing Taekwando and decided to send both Ben and Claire Taekwando outfits from Korea! Ben was sooooo excited!

THANK YOU MR. KANG AND MRS. LEE! We are so lucky to have you in our lives!

Dave, Christa, Ben & Claire

Catching Up

2008-11-23T12:38:00.005-06:00

Okay, so it's been quite a while since we've posted any updates. Here are some things we've been up to over the past month or so.

A trip to the circus wouldn't be complete without a ride on an elephant! Ben had a great time!

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this. This is Claire's "bug" that came home with her from Korea and she falls asleep holding onto one of its legs every night.

The second annual outing on the pumpkin train was fun for everyone! Here, Ben and Claire are eating their lunch with Jack and Lucy.

Pullen South came along as well. Here they are picking out their pumpkins!

Here's Ben's pumpkin choice!

Ben & Claire are hanging out with their cousins, Mia and Vivian!

Happy Birthday, Mia!!!

Vivian is getting so big...such a cutie pie!

It's pumpkin carving time!

Check out their work!

Claire's first experience jumping in the leaves-very fun!

Such a ham!

Halloween is finally here!

Batman is ready for trick or treat!

Claire's costume looks just like her "bug"!

Claire's not too sure about this trick or treating thing.
Look at all of Ben's loot!

Couldn't resist posting this clip of Claire doing one of her favorite things of late!

And she's now walking (albeit much like Frankenstein)! Here she is in action.

Rest in Peace, Dad and Grandpa

2008-10-18T15:27:00.010-05:00

It is with a very heavy heart that I (Christa) write this post. In the very early morning hours on Thursday, October 16th, my Dad, Bill, passed away suddenly. He had been struggling with several serious health issues over the past several years, however, we had no indication that he would go so suddenly. He and Mom had just been in Minnesota this past weekend to help us celebrate Claire's adoption finalization and her baptism. He certainly took advantage of his Grandpa time with Ben and Claire and it was obvious he was savouring it. We feel so blessed to have had this time with him. We are all finding comfort in knowing that Dad is no longer suffering from his health issues. Ben is particularly comforted knowing that Grandpa Bill is now playing fetch with Scouty Dog up in heaven. We will all miss him terribly.

Rest in Peace, Dad. I love you.

Pollylop

Happy Occassions

2008-10-16T16:16:00.018-05:00

We celebrated two very happy occasions this past week. First, we had our adoption finalization hearing so, after lots and lots and lots of time and lots and lots and lots of paperwork, fingerprints, background checks, interviews, more paper work, more fingerprints, 2 very long plane rides and still more paperwork, Claire Se Jin Pullen is "officially" part of our family and a U.S. Citizen! This part of our incredible journey is over, but there is so much more to come. We are so very blessed and fortunate to have Claire. Here are some pictures of the big day.

Oh, did I mention that she's walking now? I'll try to post a video clip of her walking, but you can see you walking in this picture.

The following Sunday, Claire was baptized...another blessed occassion.

Uncle Steve and Aunt Teri-Claire's Godparents

Pastor Jan, who did the honors.

We were so thrilled that Grandma and Grandpa Hart could make the trip to Minneapolis to be a part of these two very special occassions.

This and That

2008-09-28T11:08:00.023-05:00

It's been a few weeks since I've posted an update. All is well and we've been keeping very busy. Ben is back in swim lessons and will start ice skating lessons is a couple of weeks. He continues to do well in preschool and enjoys playing with friends there. Believe it or not, he had his Pre-Kindergarten screening this past week (is it even possible he will be going to kindergarten next year?) and passed with flying colors, which was no surprise to his Mom and Dad. He continues to amaze us with how much he knows and how much he remembers. At the same time, he's a very active, happy guy who makes us laugh every day!

Claire is also doing very well. It's so hard to believe that she's been home for 6 months already. She's SOOOOOO close to walking. She runs around the house pushing her walking toy and can stand from a sitting position without holding on to anything or anyone. She cruises around furniture as well. One of these days, she'll figure out that she can do it on her own and will be off and going. She is transitioning from the infant room at daycare to the toddler room, where she'll take naps on a cot and will feed herself at lunch. Her cousin, Joey, is already in the toddler room, so she's excited to hang out with him again. We have a couple of very special occassions coming up that we're looking forward to...Claire's adoption finalization hearing (making it all finally official and she'll become a U.S. citizen) and her baptism. We'll be sure to post updates on those soon.

Here are a few clips/pics of some recent happenings.

Summer is officially over and that means it's time to get the cabin ready for the winter. Claire, Ben, Joey and Sam were intrigued watching their dads taking the dock out of the lake-a sure sign that summer is over!

Koreans recently celebrated Chuseok, which is similar to our Thanksgiving. One of the families in our group hosted a gathering to celebrate the occassion How cute are these little ones in their hanboks?

Check out Claire on the move!

And watch how she can stand!

We recently attended a fundraiser that our adoption agency hosted where the proceeds benefited the agency in Korea that took care of Claire. Ben tried his hand at Taekwondo---take a look! I sense Taekwondo lessons in our future!

The start of a new school year!

2008-09-03T19:56:00.004-05:00

It's hard to believe that summer is gone and it's the start of a new school year. Ben "graduated" to the "Kindergarten Bound" room at his preschool. He was so excited to move up to the "big kid" room and see some of his friends who he hadn't seen all summer.

Got the backpack packed and I'm ready to go!

"Check out my new cubby!"

Claire is still in the infant room where she loves her teachers and playing with her friends!

Great times....great friends!

2008-09-03T19:07:00.009-05:00

A couple of weekends ago we ventured to Osh Kosh, Wisconsin for an annual reunion of wonderful friends. Many of us lived in the Twin Cities area after college, where we shared so many good times together. Some of us still live in the Twin Cities area, while others live elsewhere. We all look forward to this annual gathering at Mike and Theresa's on Lake Winnebago in Osh Kosh.

Claire finally got to meet Julie...

...and George!

Ben and Dave ran out of gas on the jet ski and had to be towed back to shore as Kurt and Kaden patiently waited for their ride on the tube.

The weekend wouldn't be complete without the ladies only cocktail cruise...always a good time!

Claire hanging with Julie Hoff!

And Judy, too.

Ben and Claire with Kaylee and Drew.

Thanks to the Eiermans for hosting, yet another, wonderful reunion. We so look forward to this every year. Thanks, also, to the Sorrells for your wonderful hospitality. We're so lucky to have such wonderful friends in our lives!! Can't wait til next year!

Dave, Christa, Ben & Claire

More Summer Fun

2008-08-17T20:04:00.016-05:00

Summer is quickly passing us by, so we're enjoying as much of the summer fun as we can!

Drying off after a swim in the lake.

Cupcakes are good!

Riley had a growth removed from his tail and had to wear a bandage almost as long as his tail. He was happy when it could finally come off!

Claire is becoming more adventerous....this time she discovered how to completely unroll the toilet paper-such fun!

"May I help you?"

Ben's been working very hard over the past several months to fill up his zoo jar with buttons. If he had a good day or Mom and Dad catch him doing something good, we reward him with buttons. Now that it's full, we get to go the zoo!

Claire loved her first trip to the zoo! Sparky the seal came right up to the glass to see her!

A trip to the Como Zoo always includes a carousel ride!

Claire LOVED her first carousel ride...she screamed her head off when it stopped and we had to get off!

Check out Ben's new zoo keeper hat with a light!

We visited our friends, the Herzbergs, and had a great time! Here, Ben and Ava are enjoying their homemade snow cones....yum!

Okay, the video quality isn't that great (I had to save it to a lower resolution so it could be uploaded), but check out Ben jumping off the dock and swimming back. It's taken the better part of the summer to build his confidence in doing it without help and now, we have trouble getting him out of the water!

Random Happenings

2008-07-22T20:31:00.005-05:00

Summer is flying by far too quickly. It's hard to believe we're approaching August already...seems like we just got home with Claire and that was back in early April! Claire started daycare a couple of weeks ago and she's doing very well. The first few days were really tough on both Claire and Mom, but now she enjoys playing with the other little ones and hanging out with her loving teachers. Her cousin, Joey, is in the same room with her and both cousin Sam and Ben are close by as well. Having familiar faces around has made her transition to daycare easier.

Here are some pics of some random recent happenings here at Pullen Central:

Claire is pulling herself up all the time now and thinks it's pretty fun to stand up in her crib!

She also loves to walk while we hold her hands (and gets quite mad when we take a break). It won't be long before she's walking on her own!

Sam recently turned 3 and we had fun at his pool party! Here he is on his cool big wheel that he got from his Mom and Dad.

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Our niece, Vivian turned 2 the same week Sam turned 3. Since she lives in Indiana, we were not able to make it to her party, but we heard she had a great time. Happy 2nd Birthday, Vivian! We can't wait to see you again!!

Claire's first ride in the burley trailer...we haven't gotten a bike helmet for her yet, so we made do with Ben's hockey helmet. Ben kept helping Claire by pushing the helmet back when it would cover her eyes. Both had a great time! Note to self....buy Claire a bike helmet!

It was a rainy Saturday at the cabin, so Ben and Sam helped Granny make a very yummy chocolate cake!

The rain finally cleared and we went for a ride on the ski boat. I loved Sam's expression in this picture...so much fun!

Ben, Claire and Dave had a great time playing with our new "ultimate sprinkler ball" (thanks, Larry, Sharon and Andrew!)

Water baby!

Fun in the tub!

Fun Filled Holiday Weekend!

2008-07-08T20:27:00.015-05:00

We had a great weekend at the cabin over the Fourth of July. All the Pullens (including 3 dogs) made it up, the weather was spectacular (finally) and we packed the long weekend with lots of fun activties, including lots of "firsts" for Claire. We also celebrated Teri's birthday and KP's semi-retirement.

Here we are waiting for the 4th of July parade in Pequot Lakes-Claire's first parade! The fire engine sirens scared her, but she was intrigued by all the activity.

"I'm ready for the candy-bring it on!"

The whole crew!

Helping out with Teri's birthday cake (notice the icing on his finger?)

Her cute holiday outfit, a gift from Mom's friend, Tracy. "Thanks, Trace! Don't I look adorable in it?!"

Checking out the activity on the lake.

You gotta love a good read on a lazy afternoon!

Ben's becoming quite the fisherman! He caught this large mouth bass and couldn't stop talking about how it jumped in and out of the water!

Granny and the gang (we tried to get a shot with all 4 looking at the camera)

Another first for Claire...her first time in the lake! She's a water baby-just loves it!

Hanging out on the boat-watching Ben float in the lake all by himself (a first for him!)

Claire and Joey getting sand in their pants on the beach...yet, another first for Claire (the beach, that is)

How big are you, Claire?

Just couldn't resist this one...exhausted after a fun filled weekend, snuggling with his Univ. of MN football (yes, he is his father's son)!

Summer Fun!

2008-07-02T19:46:00.008-05:00

We've been busy enjoying our summer. Here are some pics of what we've been up to lately.

We went for a trolley ride at Lake Harriet and Ben got the blow the whistle!

We've been meeting lots of families who've also adopted from Korea. Here's a photo of all the kids at our last gathering...too cute!

Guess who's big enough to sit face forward in her car seat?! She likes the view much better.

We've also been spending time at the cabin. Ben has really become a cabin boy and can't wait to get there to go fishing, swim in the lake and go for boat rides.

Dave and his brother rigged up an good old fashioned tire swing for the kids at the cabin...It was a hit for both Ben

and Sam!

We're also lucky to be able to swim at Pullens South (Chuck, Teri, Sam and Joey's house). Here are some shots from Claire's first time swimming....she didn't like it at first...

but was having a great time before she knew it!

So silly!

Ben also participated in youth track meets at our local high school.

He's so proud of his "trophies" as he calls them.

We hope you all are enjoying your summer! Hard to believe it's the 4th of July already and Claire's been home with us for three months! Seems like she was never NOT part of our family.

Dave, Christa, Ben & Claire

Happy Father's Day!!

2008-06-16T17:36:00.011-05:00

Such a busy weekend...Claire's birthday on Saturday and Father's Day on Sunday. Even though we lost our electricty from around 10pm Saturday night til 7pm Sunday, we had a great Father's day! Our promised breakfast for Dad ended up being fruit salad and a pecan carmel ring...everything else required electricity! Dave didn't mind.

Ben was so proud of the car air freshner that he made for his Papa!

Proud Papa!

Cute Hat!

Such a monkey!

Happy Father's Day, Papa! We Love You!

Ben, Claire and Christa

Chuk Tol, Claire!!

2008-06-16T16:40:00.014-05:00

Chuk Tol (Happy 1st Birthday) to Claire! We celebrated by having a party that combined both Korean and American traditions! A traditional Korean celebration includes 4 components:

Praying & giving thanks

Making & wearing birthday clothes

Preparing the Tol table and performing the Toljabee ceremony

Sharing food with guests

Here, Claire is dressed in her hanbok, which the Korean traditional dress. Her hanbok was a gift from her foster parents in Korea.

Here, Claire is sitting at her Tol table, where fruit and rice cakes (in the middle of the table in front of Claire) are key foods that are included on all Tol tables. The different rice cakes have different meanings. The white ones on the bottom left are for pure and divine clean spirit and longevity. The reddish colored cakes (top, center) ward of evil spirits so Claire can grow without disease. The green and white moon shaped cakes (bottom, right) are either empty or filled. The empty ones mean that Claire will grow to have a big heart and the filled ones mean that she will grow to be wise.

Food is also presented in towers to show guest that food is plentiful and meant for sharing. In addition to the fruit tower, there is a cookie tower and a candy tower (yum!).

The objects in front of the rice cakes were for Claire's Toljabee ceremony. It is customary to place these objects in front of a child on their first birthday and what they choose first second foretells their future. The objects include:

Money=wealth

Rice=prosperity

Food= public service

Thread = long life

Pencil-scholar

Scissors=talented with her hands

Jujubes (red dates) = many descendents

So, what did Claire choose? She started to grab the jujubes first, but changed her mind and grabbed the pencil, followed by the thread. So, if this holds true, she will be a scholar who will live a long life!

Now, onto some American traditions. Here she is in birthday outfit #2 -a girl can never have too many outfits for special occasions :o) !

She didn't know what to think of the cake! She had more fun digging into it than eating it. She wasn't trying any of it, so we gave her a taste and she really didn't care for it (are you kidding me?!). We tried to feed her some cake a couple of times and she didn't want to have anything to do with eating it...just playing.

Cousin Joey, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed his cake!

Mama and the birthday girl, who is such a blessing!

Dave, Christa, Ben and Claire

Where's the Fire?

2008-06-16T16:27:00.006-05:00

Last week, Dave and his Mom took the kids to the local fire station open house while I had to go to New York for work. A good time was had by all!

This picture has nothing to do with the fire station open house, but I had to post it. Claire loves hanging out at the window, looking out, feeling the breeze and squealing at passersby. It's pretty darned cute! She's getting close to being able to pull herself up by herself!

Hose guy!

Not too sure about this Sparky Dude

The long anticipated ride in the fire truck!

They ran into Ben's old buddy, Zach, who we haven't seen in a while! Believe it or not, they are the same age (I think Ben might even be a couple of months older), even though the size difference is huge!

Dave, Christa, Ben & Claire

Prayers for Claire's Birthmother

2008-06-13T16:07:00.007-05:00

Tomorrow is Claire's first birthday! As we prepare to celebrate this very festive occassion, we feel the need to take a step back and say a prayer for Claire's birthmother. Tomorrow will be an especially difficult day for her. We send our prayers and gratitude to her for making an incredibly selfless decision which gave us the biggest gift we could ever wish for. We can't imagine having the strength to do this, but we are eternally grateful that she found this strength in herself. We wish her peace, health and happiness.

We also send our prayers our to Mr. Kang and Mrs. Lee, who would love nothing more than to be here to help us celebrate.

If you think of it tomorrow, please say a prayer for them as well.
Thanks-
Christa, Dave, Ben and Claire

Where is our summer?

2008-06-08T20:18:00.005-05:00

Like most of the country, summer is taking it's time getting here this year. Regardless of what the temperature reads, we're still trying to doing the things we like to do during the summer....

...like going for a boat ride up at the cabin. This was Claire's first time out on the lake and she didn't mind the life jacket at all. In fact, she really enjoyed being out on the water (notice all the extra clothing she's wearing...did I mention we're still waiting for summer here?).

Check our my new shoes!

And look at me riding my toy!

Here's our little ham, having a great time at his preschool's end of school year concert.

Is that snow???? No, but it sure looked like it had snowed. We were pelted with a nasty hail storm recently. Fortunately, the only damage we sustained was to our poor plants. At least we hadn't planted any of our annuals yet because of the cold and wet spring. They were all still in their flat containers in the garage during this nasty storm.

We recently had some new family photos taken. Here are some of our favorites

Busy, Busy May

2008-05-20T19:42:00.019-05:00

Things at Pullen Central have been very busy this month..starting out with Ben's birthday, then Dave and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary, then Mother's Day, then Dave's birthday...wow, we've had lots of cake so far this month! Claire continues to melt our hearts. Knock on wood, but we've had a little streak of great nights of sleep!

We've finally had a few warm days here-yeah-and have finally been able to enjoy the park that is across the street from our home. This was Claire's first time swinging and she LOVED it! Ben is fearless and goes very, very high!

"Look how high I can swing, Mama!"

Swinging makes me so happy!

Couple of cuties!

Ben went "Golfing with the Gophers" and got some tips from Goldy!

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Such a busy month....now it's Dave's birthday!

Claire's first time at the cabin! She and cousin Joey kept finding things to keep them busy...

...but neither was crazy about their cabin sink bath!

Such a smiley girl!

Claire sends kisses to all (be sure to hit the play button)!

Adjusting to our new life

2008-05-07T14:15:00.008-05:00

Hello, everyone-
We've been a bit delinquent in posting updated pics since we've returned from Korea...hard to believe we've been home 4 weeks already! Everything is going well. Claire seems to be adjusting very well and is a thriving, healthy little girl. Ben is an amazing big brother...we are so blessed!

We had so much fun when Mia, Aunt Deb, Grandma and Grandpa came to visit!

Here's Mia modeling the hanbok we brought her back from Korea!

Grandma and Ben!

Cousins!

Ben is Four!

2008-05-07T10:56:00.008-05:00

Where does the time go? In the midst of all of the excitement at Pullen Central recently, we celebrated Ben's 4th Birthday (is that possible?)!! Grandma and Grandpa Hart, along with Aunt Deb and cousin Mia made the trip to Minnesota to meet Claire and to help celebrate Ben's big day! We celebrated by hosting a party for family and some of Ben's buddies. It was a snowy, cold Saturday, so having 7 four year old boys inside made for a chaotic, but fun party! Here are some photos from Ben's b-day celebrations.

Such a big guy!

Check out the cool Batman cake!

Make a wish!

"I love my very own golf bag! Thanks Uncle Chuck, Aunt Teri, Sam and Joey!"

We can always count on Uncle Brian to keep Ben outfitted in IU gear. Go Hoosiers!

Check out my Spiderman scooter! Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

And a baseball mitt...Thanks, Aunt Deb and Mia!

On his actual birthday (May 1st) Mom and Dad gave him his first big guy bike!

"Look at me ride my big guy bike!"

Happy Fourth Birthday, Ben!!!

Home At Last...Safe and Sound

2008-04-14T14:40:00.017-05:00

Hello-

We arrived home safely from Korea last Tuesday and are slowing getting adjusted to our new life. Our departure from Korea was very bittersweet...we were so excited to be taking Claire home, however, we were grieving for her foster parents who were so incredibly sad to have to say, "goodbye" to her. It was very, very emotional. There are special places in heaven for foster parents everywhere.....

Our flight home was a challenge. We had been told that it usually goes one of two ways...the babies either completely shut down and sleep the entire 18+ hour journey or they cry. Our trip home was more of the latter. Claire was very scared and very quickly starting grieving the loss of her foster parents. There were 5 other babies on our flight to Chicago and Claire was definitely the most vocal one (much to the dismay of all the passengers near us). She's definitely got a good set of lungs on her! Ben was a such trouper the entire trip and had a great time! We are so glad that he made the journey with us!

Having been home nearly a week, Claire is becoming more and more adjusted each day. She's getting close to being on a manageable US schedule (although she's consistently waking up between 1-2 AM and wants to play....hopefully we can get her to put herself back to sleep soon!) and she is more comfortable in her surroundings. For the first few days, the only time she wasn't crying was when I (Christa) was holding her. I couldn't even put her down for a minute without huge crocodile tears. Now, she can be content sitting on the floor and playing with some toys or playing with Ben and I can leave the room for a minute without her being scared. She's also becoming more comfortable with Dave holding her (it's very, very common for them to gravitate more towards women than men because foster mothers do the majority of the childcare...some of the families that we traveled with are experiencing the same thing). She giggles and smiles a lot and puff up her cheeks and blows when she's mad...it's pretty cute! I even took her to Target today to pick up some things and she loved riding in the cart! All in all, we think we're all doing great!

Here are some more pictures:Calm before the flight took off...

A rare moment on the flight....asleep in the bassinet

Playing together our first night home

Asleep in her crib her first night home

There's her grin!

She likes the johnny jump up!

Such a big helper!

She's finally home!

Dave, Christa, Ben and Claire

A Message to Mr. Kang and Mrs. Lee (Claire's Foster Parents)

2008-04-14T14:25:00.004-05:00

Hello, Mr. Kang and Mrs. Lee-
We hope you received our message from Ms. Oh that we arrived home safely. Se Jin is adjusting well to her new life, but we know that she is still missing you. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you, again, for taking such wonderful care and, most importantly, for loving of our beautiful daughter. Words could never express our grattitude. We will commit to you that we will make sure Se Jin knows about you and her homeland and we hope that some day when she is older, we will travel back to Korea to show Se Jin her homeland and to meet you again. We also promise to continue to post pictures of her (and the rest of our family) on this blog and will be checking your blog often. We wish your family peace and good health.

Dave, Christa, Ben and Claire

We Have A Rock Star Among Us!

2008-04-05T05:37:00.012-05:00

Hello, again, from Seoul-
It didn't take us long to figure out that Seoul is truly a beautiful, safe and clean city with wonderful, friendly people! Having spent quite a bit of time in China and Hong Kong, I was expecting Seoul to be similar, but it's not at all. It's SOOOO much cleaner, the driving is so much more civilized (we never feared for our life and they don't honk at each other), and the people go out of their way to greet you and help you. We've spent the last couple of days sight seeing (and shopping) and wherever we go, people (especially school aged children) say in broken English, "Hello. Nice to meet you!" We were forewarned before we left that Ben would get quite a bit of attention here, but, holy cow, we feel like we're with a rock star! Everywhere we go, Koreans come up to him and talk to him (usually in Korean) or they'll yell from down the street to him. One morning we were waiting for a coffee shop to open and a group of school aged girls were gathered on the corner looking at us and, obviously, admiring Ben and then one of them yelled to us..."Hello, You baby is bootiful!" and they all giggled as they crossed the street. It's so endearing, but it pretty much freaks Ben out. He's been riding on Dave's shoulders when we're out. Dave's going to need one really long massage when we get home.

We were at a Korean Folk Village with 2 other couples from the US and I heard some commotion behind me and a very large group of kids had surrounded the other 2 couples and were talking to them in broken English and wanting their picture taken with them. It was so funny!

We had a situation in the subway this afternoon where a Korean gentleman went out of his way to help us. We didn't realize that the route we took was a slightly higher fare (literally 10 cents each) than what we were used to paying (it was a longer ride), but we didn't realize our mistake until we tried to exit at our stop. The machine kept spitting back our tickets and the turn styles wouldn't move so we could exit. We realized we needed to pay more, but couldn't figure out how to do that...the ticket offices were on the other side of the turnstyles. This gentleman was wearing a St. John's sweatshirt, so we asked him if he spoke English, and he did a little. We were able to communicate the problem to him and he didn't know how we could pay the difference, so he told us to stay there and he ran to find someone to help us. We were finally freed after paying our 40 cents. I've heard of similar stories from other families....the Koreans and just good, friendly people.

We've seen some really cool things...we visited a royal palace yesterday that was built in the 1300's. It's weird...here is this ancient palace right in the middle of a bustling city and is surrounded by modern sky scrapers. We watched a changing of the guard ceremony, which Ben really enjoyed. We also visited the world's largest book store and found some cool books that we can give to Claire that are in Korean and English. Ben was excited to get a Spiderman coloring book where all the writing was in Korean. Today, we visited the Korean Folk Village which a huge complex that really gave us a sense of all facets of Korean culture...how they live, what they eat, how they make a living, how they are entertained, etc...it was really cool to see so much in one place. We watched a group of folk dancers and musicians perform, we watched them perform some acrobatics and we watched a traditional Korean wedding ceremony. It turned out to be a full day adventure, but it was worth it.

We still have a few more places that we're going to try to see on our last couple of days here. The other 3 families that are staying at our hotel (who we now call our friends) are leaving for home really early Monday morning, so they get to pick up their babies tomorrow night and bring them to the hotel. I volunteered to go with them to the agency for their pickup to video tape it for them. That should give me a sense for what our pickup will be like. I'm planning to have lots of tissue on hand.

That's all for now....both Dave and Ben are crashed and I'm ready to join them.

Christa, Dave and Ben

Hello, again, from Seoul!

2008-04-03T16:01:00.018-05:00

Hello, again, from Seoul!

It's now Friday here...hard to believe how quickly this week is going by!! We got to spend some more time with Claire yesterday and it went well! Her foster mother (her name is Mrs. Lee, Hyeon Shil) continues to amaze me. She brought some food that Claire likes to eat and got it all out and motioned for me to feed her, knowing this could help Claire start to trust and rely on us. She kept pointing to me and saying "Umma" (mama in Korean) and pointing to Dave and saying "Appa" and telling Claire that Ben was her big brother. Her foster father (also an amazing man!) brought us a box of CD's of all the pictures they've taken of her, along with a DVD of videos of her and a CD of her favorite music. He had also had another book of photos made and he included the photos we sent to her of our family. Claire will be so fortunate to have these priceless memories of her time here. We couldn't express our gratitude enough! They also gave us a large bag of stuff to help Claire with her transition....her favorite pillow, her favorite toy, some clothes, formula, diapers, her favorite lotion....unbelieveable!

They also gave Claire a beautiful hanbok, which is the traditional Korean dress. It is absolutely beautiful. It's customary on a child's first birthday to dress them in the hanbok and set objects in front on them. Koreans believe that whatever object they pick up first determines their destiny (pencil means she would be a scholar, a thread means long life, money means you will have wealth, etc.). Can't wait to dress her in this beautiful hanbok and see what she grabs! Oh, and Koreans also celebrate a baby's 100th day of life. Many years ago, many babies didn't survive to their 100th day, so it is now customary to make a big celebration of that day. They had that celebration for Claire and gave us the hanbok that Claire wore on that day. Her foster mother also wrote her a letter, which we can give to Claire down the road. We truly hope to maintain contact with her foster family. We told them at our first meeting about this blog and yesterday, her foster father pulled out his lap top and brought up the blog (which he had figured out how to translate everything into Korea) to show us he would keep watching for updates there.

This second meeting took place at the playroom of the agency (instead of a conference room), so we were all sitting on the floor with some toys. A truly priceless moment happened when Ben was taking a stuffed toy and putting it on Claire's head and letting it fall off. Claire kept squealing in delight at this and Ben was on cloud 9 that he was able to make his sister laugh! Oh, a few more tidbits about Claire, she now weighs about 20 lbs, has at least 4 teeth and just started to crawl (although we haven't seen her crawl yet). The next time we will see her is on Tuesday, when we pick her up on the way to the airport. It's going to be an incredibly hard and emotional day for all of us.

Here are some more pictures from our second meeting.

Group shot that includes Claire's foster parents and her social worker (Ms. Oh, Ji Young)

Prior to our meeting with Claire yesterday, we were invited to lunch at the agency with all the other families who are picking up their children this week. The agency is nothing short of amazing. It was founded by Dr. Kim, Duk Whang 36 years ago. I think he said they've placed over 45,000 children from his agency in 36 years. He is now 95 years old and still comes in every day and makes a point of meeting each and every family who is adopting a child to express his grattitude. He has published many books and he presented each of us with a copy of one of his books, which he signed for us. He is an amazing man who has devoted his life to helping children and others in need. His daughter, Dr. Kim, Jin Sook, is now the president of the agency, and she also met with us to express her grattitude. It was so very humbling...we are so incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to have Claire become a part of our family and they are so incredibly grateful to us for doing it. Check out their website: http://www.eastern.or.kr/.

Now, we have some time to sight see. We're going to check out the palaces today and are going to the Korean Folk Village tomorrow with some of the other families. Seoul is a very clean and beautiful city and everyone is so very friendly! It's also very safe and we've already figured out the subway system, which is very easy. We're looking forward to seeing more of it.

Christa, Dave and Ben

Hello from the Land of the Morning Calm!

2008-04-02T02:38:00.022-05:00

Hello from Korea!

We made it here safe and sound last night and had our first meeting with Claire and her foster parents this morning. Wow...where do we start? She's even more beautiful in person than she is in the pictures! She's, obviously, grown quite a bit since December and is still quite the little chunk! (She had her pre-flight physical after our meeting, so we will find out how much she weighs-I'm sure she's bigger than Ben was at this age!!).

She was very enamoured with Ben and couldn't stop staring at Dave. I can't imagine what was going through her mind. She was okay with me holding her at first, but it is clear she is very attached to her foster parents. They left us in the room alone with her for a few minutes and Claire was okay at first, but then, she got really upset (which is very common). Once her foster mother came back in the room, she stopped crying. We are going to meet with her again tomorrow, so, hopefully, she won't be as scared as she was today.

We were completely overwhelmed by the care she's gotten from her foster parents. Claire is their first foster child and it is very clear that she is very, very special to them. They've gone out of their way to document her first 10 months of life for us. Her foster father created a photo album that captured her time with them and he gave it to us. They've also loaded videos onto a website for us to access. At one point, I asked the foster mother how she comforted Claire and she said that she loved music and pulled out her cell phone to play a favorite song. At that point, her foster father spoke and said he would go home tonight and burn a CD for us of her favorite songs. They already had given Claire's social worker a detailed list of her sleep schedule, feeding schedule (how much, when, etc.), bath routine...you name it. The social worker is translating that into English for us. Oh, and get this, car seats are not required in Korea and very few people use them however, they knew she would need a car seat in the U.S., so early on, they put her in a car seat so that would not be a new experience for her when we bring her home. We will be forever grateful for the care and love they have given her. It's going to be a difficult transition for all of us. We told them that we wanted to maintain contact with them and promised to send them updates and photos.

Okay, now what you really want to see some photos....

Here are Claire's foster parents bringing her into the room to meet us.

Here, her foster mother was having her wave to us.

Claire and her foster parents

She was scared, as you can imagine, so we had to really take it slow

She was very enamoured with Ben.

Finally, I got to hold her! She was fine with me holding her, at first, as long as she could see her foster mom.

That face!

Family photo!

Proud Papa!

Mama's Girl!

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

2008-03-30T13:37:00.012-05:00

Our bags are packed (and there are a lot of them!) and we've gone over all of the lists so many times.....I think this picture says it all!

Typically for Korean adoptions, families do not travel in groups (which is the experience my sister had when she adopted Mia). You simply get on a plane when the Korean Agency tells you your child is ready to leave, and that varies by child. However, so many families from our agency got their travel calls the same day we did and couple more got theirs on Friday and it's turning out to be quite the contingent traveling over to Seoul. We're meeting 1 couple in Chicago, who is on our flight over to Seoul, and 3 others couples (from Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina) at the airport in Seoul and there are more families who left late last week and are already there. It's going to be fun to share this experience with all of them!

Our first meeting with Claire is Wednesday at 9:50 AM (which would be Tuesday, 7:50PM in the US). We'll do our best to post pictures of our first meeting on the blog some time during the day on Wednesday, US time. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well and keep checking in for updates!

Finally, for those of you wanting to greet us at the airport when we return, here are the flight details:

Tuesday, April 8 @ 2:40pm

Korean Air 7573/NWA 139 from O'Hare (We clear customs in Chicago, so we would meet you at baggage claim.

I'm sure we'll have amazing stories to share when we return!

One week from today........

2008-03-26T20:13:00.005-05:00

We will meet Claire!!!!!

We got our travel call this morning and have booked our flights! We will be leaving on Monday morning (3/31) and will arrive in Seoul around 5:00 pm on Tuesday (they are 14 hours ahead of us). Our first meeting with Claire will be on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!! We will be returning on Tuesday, April 8th around 2:40 in the afternoon.

So much to do to get ready to hit the road!!

Stay tuned!

Even Closer.....

2008-03-24T11:37:00.002-05:00

Found out this morning that Claire's visa was issued today!!!!!!!!!!!! Our phone could ring at any time telling us it's time to pack our bags and head to Korea!!! Ring, phone, ring :o)! Stay tuned.....

The Easter Bunny Came!

2008-03-24T10:59:00.008-05:00

The Easter Bunny paid a visit to Pullen Central and left a trail of Easter eggs and treats from Ben's bedroom....

To the kitchen, where he left a cool Batman Easter basket filled with treats...

and a chocolate basketball bunny who's ears were so tall, they didn't even fit in the box! That was worth waking up at 6:30 AM (although Mama and Papa weren't so sure on the early wake up call)!

Ben and his cousins, Joey and Sam, had a great time at the Easter egg hunt at Granny's house. Because we got several inches of snow over the past few days, the Easter bunny hid the eggs inside Granny's house!

Such a cutie!

We are so very close!

2008-03-22T17:28:00.005-05:00

Hey, Everyone-
I thought I'd post a quick adoption update. We are so very close to receiving our "travel call"! The final step in the process on the U.S. side was approved on February 26th and, at that point, we were simply in a waiting mode for Korea to finalize what they needed to do in the process. Thanks to the internet (and several Korean adoption forums), I learned there are ways to keep tracking the paperwork trail and as of last week, there was just one last step that needed to be completed on the Korean side....Claire's visa interview. Of course, she's only 9 months old, so the "visa interview" is a technicality at this point, but that step still needed to be completed. I had been calling the National Visa Hotline daily to see if an interview had been scheduled and as of early last week, it had not, so I called our agency and asked them to check on it. They did and found out that they were going to schedule her interview for late last week. They told them to expect a travel call in 1-2 weeks (and that was last Wednesday).

So...the bottom line is, our phone could ring any day now from our agency telling us that Claire is ready to come home and we need to book our tickets and head to Seoul!!! It's pretty cool because I know of at least 7 families that are all at the same point and a few more that have just recently traveled to Korea to bring their children home. There is a really good chance that some of the families would be traveling at the same time and staying at the same place.

Stay tuned....we'll be sure to let you know when the travel call comes!!!

Floppy Easter!

2008-03-22T17:19:00.006-05:00

"Floppy" Easter from Pullen Central!

Which has more color....the eggs or Ben's hands?!

Happy Birthday, KP and Chuck!

2008-03-02T07:58:00.012-06:00

Both KP and Chuck have birthdays in February and we hosted a birthday celebration here at Pullen Central. We decided use this occassion to try our hand at Korean cooking, which, with the exception of one questionable noodle dish, turned out delicious!

Look, Mama...I'm using chop sticks!

Granny and Ben sharing their fortunes.

It says, "Happy Birthday!" in Korean.

We're getting closer!!

2008-02-26T20:20:00.002-06:00

Hi Everyone-
I thought I'd give you a quick update on the adoption. We're getting close to getting our "travel call"! We found out last Tuesday that we received our I600A approval (US Federal Gov't. stamp of approval) and today, we received word that we've already received a U.S. visa for Claire. This happened in just a week's time, as we couldn't apply for the visa until we had the I600A approval. We're now just waiting for the Korean government to finish processing her paperwork, which takes 10-14 weeks. We're at 8 weeks, so, hopefully, we'll be en route to Seoul some time mid-late March! Claire will be home very, very soon! Stay Tuned!!

Dance Fever!

2008-02-17T18:37:00.008-06:00

Ben takes a Dancercise class at his preschool and at the end of each session, they have a performance for the parents. These pictures are from his performance this past week.

There's that tongue, again!

He was so excited to get his sticker card to take home. It's proudly displayed on the fridge!

Claire's New Digs!

2008-02-17T18:22:00.003-06:00

Claire's room is nearly complete. Take a look at her new digs!

XOXO!

2008-02-14T18:00:00.002-06:00

Ben sends you hugs and kisses for a Happy Valentine's Day!

Rock Star!

2008-02-14T11:15:00.000-06:00

Ben recently had a day off from school, so we spent the morning at the Children's Museum. His favorite part was watching himself sing and play the guitar on a TV. Check out his performance! (Autographs will be available upon request.)

He's got the moves!

Fireman, Ben! The boots were about as tall as Ben. I had to lift him up to get him in the boots!

Ben in action!

2008-01-20T09:36:00.000-06:00

I'm trying something new...posting a small video clip. Here's Ben in action on the ice rink!

Our Angel has a name!

2008-01-15T16:48:00.001-06:00

Our beautiful little girl now has a name! She will be Claire Se Jin Pullen! After negotiating with Ben to not name her Lucy, he's now telling everyone, "I want to name her Claire. Ben and Claire Pullen! My sister's name is Claire Se Jin Pullen!"

Not much new to report on our progress...we've completed everything we need to complete and now we just wait a while for "The Travel Call"! Once we get that call, we are expected to be in Korea within 1 week to pick up our daughter! Stay tuned!