Happy Birthday Grandpa Ko!

Sunday, Feb. 15th was Grandpa Ko's birthday so we had another little celebration. He loves seafood so took him out for Dim Sum after church on Sunday, sushi for lunch and Monday and then a big crab dinner Monday night. (We're doing a good job at finding all the restaurants that have two highchairs!) The kids did so well at trying new foods but never leave home without Cheerios!
Cameron enjoying some udon noodles and Timothy taking a sip of tea...not in a sippy cup!

Mom having some lip smackin' good crab and a goofy Sena and Aunt Katie!

It's a Party!

Sorry for the long wait in the birthday party photos. Things have been quite busy around here

The twins' birthday party was a blast! I feel like it all happened so fast but we managed to get some great pictures and video to help relive the whole event. As I touched on in an earlier post, the 1st birthday in Korean culture is a pretty big deal. Thank goodness for Young's mom and sister!! They made sure the kid's table was set up correctly, the food was fantastic and the decorations were festive! I'll try to walk you through the party with the photos and hope you can get a glimpse of the madness we all celebrated!
We started the morning by giving the kids their birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy! They love their little cars...and just want to sit on them even when they aren't being pushed. Young got the giant monkeys...need I say more??
Aunt Katie and cousin Sena made a huge birthday sign for them and hung all the decorations. Young's mom made some extra special side dishes to go with all the Korean food and did an amazing job getting everything ready.

After playing a bit and eating, it was time for a wardrobe change the start the Korean ceremonies.


Grandma and I headed back to dress the kids while Aunt Katie and Young set up their table.

The table is set up with a variety of colorful rice cakes and fruit of the season. Traditionally the table is a sign of the family's wealth and status in the community. Now days you can improvise on the rice cake towers by using colorful cookies. (If you have time, google Korean 1st birthday images and see how elaborate these table can get!)
Pictures with Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa

Now comes the picking part. Four objects are laid before the baby, each one has it's own meaning. The object the baby picks determines his/her future. The objects are: a bowl of rice meaning they always will have food to eat, never going hungry. A book/pencil meaning they will be scholars/smart. The string means a long life and money means they will have wealth.
After laboring a bit, Timothy went for the rice...and Cameron immediately grabbed the money! So I guess Timothy will always be eating and Cameron will always be shopping...I'm so proud..sniff, sniff!

Anyway, after changing again, it was time for cake and the kids were getting a little restless waiting on mommy to light the candle...

Of course, putting a cake with a lite candle in front of a baby isn't the smartest thing I've ever done. Daddy was taking pictures and I didn't have time to blow out the candles on both cakes before Cameron tried to touch the flame...ouch! Sorry baby...
I think the kids were a bit overwhelmed by all the attention, neither really took to their cakes. Timothy enjoyed a little of the frosting but then his hat fell off and the elastic pinched his neck...ouch!

All in all we had a great day! We are so blessed to have so many friends come share the day and so blessed to have Young's family here to celebrate as well. Timothy and Cameron had such a special day with all their friends! Thank you to everyone!!

Happy 1st Birthday!!

I can't believe our little babies are one year old today!! And I can't believe Young and I have made it through the first year. In many ways the first year went by super fast and in others ways, it felt like the longest year of our life! And the twins managed to make it through with a mommy and daddy who had no clue about being parents. But we have made we all made together as a family. Praise God!

I'll post birthday pictures soon but here are some birth day pictures to jog your memory.




Timothy and Cameron, we love you very much and wish you the happiest of Birthdays!

To Cameron:

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19

To Timothy:

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. 1 Timothy 4:12-13

Keeping Busy

We been having a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa Ko. Young's sister and niece got in last night and increased the fun ten fold. The kids have been brushing up on their Korean and eating all kinds of new foods. And I'm enjoying having all the extra pair of hands! Here are a some pictures over the past few days...

The minute Grandma and Grandpa showed up, they scooped up and kids and didn't put them down all evening.

Grandma feeding the kids rice cakes...they loved it!

We took last night off cheer the Tarheels on against Duke...Blowout!!

Sena feeding the twins breakfast and then we headed out for some sightseeing. We were lucky the rain stopped for the day.

Big Week Ahead

We have a big week ahead of us this week...Young's whole family is coming in town to visit and be here for the twins 1st Birthday this Saturday. In the Korean culture the 1st birthday is a huge celebration and feast! In days of old, if a baby made it to it's first birthday then the survival rate greatly increased. Things have changed quite a bit over the hundreds of years, but it's a tradition Koreans still hold on to. I think it's fantastic and I can't wait!

Not only am I excited for the kids to see their grandparents, aunt and cousin but I'm super excited to have some babysitters! I plan on making the most of having grandparents staying with us all week!!(maybe Young and I will get a few date nights, yeah...) Having said all that, I'm not sure how much we'll be able to post this week, just FYI. We have lots of touristy things planned as well as a big birthday bash to prepare for. So stayed tuned and we'll try to post as we have time.

Here are just some cute pictures of the kids eating their chunks of banana to tide you over...

Growth Spurt!

Timothy is going through a huge growth spurt right now. In about a week he has outgrown about 75% of his clothes. I put his jammies on him last night that felt a little tight but thought I could get away with it...as soon as he started to crawl away the snaps came undone! He is a bottomless pit at meal times, never seeming full. The past few meals he has cried when I wipe his face because the meal is over. So I search around for some more food that will fill him up. And I can't imagine how much he weighs now, he feels like he has gain about 5 pounds in the past few days.
I'm going through all his 12 month clothes now and start them in the rotation...but they all seem so big. My little boy is growing up...:(

I took these yesterday...you can see how much taller he has gotten over Cameron.

Baby Steps

Timothy just started walking with his toy walker this week...Yeah!

Passing the Time

The kids have been "sick" with a stomach virus the past 8 days but certainly haven't been acting like it! You would never know by the way they have been playing around. But I've been sticking close the home just because you just don't know when an explosion of the diaper is gonna happen. I've changed more diapers and done more loads of laundry this week than I do in a month! And poor Timothy, he went through so many pairs of pants from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, he was on his last pair of clean ones. (Their poops is sooo watery and runny, there is no way to stop it from getting everywhere) We've been on the BART diet, bananas, applesauce, rice, toast, but it doesn't seem to stop the poos yet...
Anyway, we've been having fun running around the house and learning all kinds of new stuff!
They love to open and close doors and this one leads from our foyer to our hallway and has glass pains. They just couldn't figure out why they could see me but to get got me.

Timothy can reach the windows now and spends a lot of time just looking outside.

Cameron helping with the laundry...practicing her Proverbs 31 skills!

And let's not forget their favorite activity...taking everything out of the toy bins and throwing it on the floor!