Seollal 2015

And just like that, it is the Year of the Sheep!  And to celebrate, we planned to head to the Korean Cultural Center's annual Lunar New Year celebration.  We headed over early to volunteer with setup activities for a few hours prior to the start time.  We saw lots of our friends and we all had so much fun.  It is great that we have so many new friends with Korean born kids.

My cuties before we headed out.....it was all smiles!

Goofy little man.

While we setup tables and wiped them down, the little ladybug decided to twirl like a princess.

 The Sang table and Happy New Year sign.

Paul and his buddy Nicholas were geeking out over his Minecraft and Pokemon books.

Lillie and her friend Kylie coloring their princess coloring sheets.

Lots of views like this....the boys just wanted to play on various tablets and video games.  They did a nice job sharing so I didn't push too much. Here is Paul, Teegan and Nicholas playing Minecraft.

And Paul, Teegan and Matthew.....

Lillie "playing" Yut.

And then coloring her TaeGuk fan.

Our friend Abbie (Nicholas and Kylie's mom) was the master of ceremonies. She did a great job and we really enjoyed the presentation this year.

The kids learned and practiced their Sae Bae bows and then learned to drum.

The food is always fantastic.....bulgogi, jap chae, kimchi and gimbap.  Lillie especially like their gimbap and had about 5 pieces herself.

Oh, and the ddukguk (rice cake) soup was pretty darn awesome too.  When daddy said one more bite, she said she wanted ALL the bites.

Cute name tags....

And then we headed home to take our hanbok pictures and have some quiet time.  I love our beautiful children and their excitement for all things Korean. We weren't lucky enough to get several days off work to celebrate like we would have if we lived in Korea but we sure did have a great time celebrating a few days late!

The Sae Bae bow is traditionally done by children while wearing their hanbok during the Lunar New Year festivities.  The children wish their parents a Happy New Year (sae hae bokmani badeseyo) and then bow deeply to the floor.  They are supposed to cross their hands and then press to their foreheads before bowing.  Once done, the children are supposed to get money from their parents. The kids got to practice at the party today and then did their official Sae Bae bow today when we got home.  I am super proud - they both did great.  

My little boy is getting so big and looks so much older to me this year.

Being a cool dude.

Beautiful girl - I love her in light pink.

Her curtsy pose.

And sometimes they even act like they love each other.

They also have a crazy and goofy side.  It can't always be serious stuff you know.

Another great celebration is in the books.  Filled with laughter and fun and great food with our friends.  We are truly blessed to have Korean culture in our lives.

All things Valentine

It is amazing to me all that goes into Valentine's Day when you have kids.  It starts with the making of the Valentine's box.....Paul made his at home and Lillie's was made with her class at school.  Paul chose hot pink paper with a monster face and red pipe cleaners (with help from mom and dad) and then Minecraft stickers all over the sides.  A good combo of sweet and boy.

And then it was on to selecting the perfect Valentine cards to give their friends.  We try to be creative and do handmade stuff when we can but for Valentine's cards the kids seem to enjoy picking out the store bought variety.....which lets me off the hook and that is fine by me.  Paul picked Spiderman with red heart shaped suckers.  Lillie picked Disney princesses with pink Cinderella castle suckers.  Perfect choices for both of them.  We usually make homemade Valentine cards for some of our family members but frankly with all of the health stuff going on around here of late, that just didn't happen this year.

Friday brought parties for both of them.  Lillie's was in the morning with her class and it sounds like she had a blast!  Paul's was in the afternoon and I volunteered to help.  Thankfully this party was a little more in control than the Winter party - which about put me over the edge!  Here's Paul and his friend Ella from our neighborhood. Unfortunately she will be moving to St. Louis in about a month.  Paul is really disappointed but we've told him that he can write her letters and maybe we could see her again when we visit our friends in St. Louis.

After their community giving project where the kids got to load up bags with donations for a youth emergency shelter, it was time to party. We always have three stations - snack, craft and game.  Paul was clearly thrilled for his craft.....

After some Valentine Bingo, he headed to my station....snacks!  We took a selfie with his decorated cookie and got photobombed by some of his friends.  Too cute.

We had a Valentine's family dinner out on Friday night at Waterfront - one of our faves.  My two favorite boys snuggled up before dinner arrived.

And little miss sassy pants waiting for our steamed mussels.

We hit up the DQ drive thru for some Dilly Bars and headed home to open the Valentine loot that Mimi, GranJo and Auntie Jen sent.  The kids look sparkly in their heart shaped glasses from Mimi.

Me like MONSTERS!

Cool mailboxes with lots of cool stuff inside from GranJo.

Ladies man for sure.

Special Valentine from the kitties.....we miss our babies and wish the construction would get done so they can come home.

The festive Dilly bar eater.

Lillie loved the art project that Auntie Jen sent....she sat for almost an hour and did every single one by herself.

The end result.....so cute.

We made sugar cookies today and the kids got to frost them.....no one was excited about it at all. Clearly.

Lillie says "Get in my MOUTH" to her cookies....

 Paul says "Look mom, I've got a sprinkly tongue".

The finished product - they are clearly proud and the cookies are very yummy.

We had a special Valentine dinner at home tonight - Paul got to pick and we had ribs with potato salad and corn bread....and cookies for dessert!  Super yummy and lots of fun.  Lillie showed off her new Hello Kitty blanket. Two of her very favorite things and Mimi knows her ladybug so very well.

Phew - this is an exhausting holiday but everyone had so much fun.  And tomorrow we will stay in a sugar coma all day long.  Thanks to everyone that made it so special.

Warm day = snow fun

Finally today the kids could get out and truly enjoy the snow from last weekend. And because it was starting to melt, it was much more fun to play in.  No wind, lots of sun and temps in the 40s make for a great combination!  They played outside for a good hour this afternoon.

Silly girl laying in the snow.

Making a very awkward snowman.  Unfortunately I couldn't help them make a real one due to some back issues.....they made it work.

And then they thought it would be fun to throw snowballs at the wacko snowman.

My goofballs.

Lazy Lillie

Little ladybug decided she wanted to be lazy this morning....and we are all allowed to have days like that so more power to her!  Paul and I ran to a haircut and when we returned home she was still in her jammies.  Here are the many faces of lazy Lillie today.

 Love that sweet face!