Daddy turns... twenty-twelve?

OK, it might be starting to get a little old... the twenty-ten joke, not E, that is!

Anyway, we celebrated his birthday over a couple of very interesting days.

On his actual birthday we took e to the doctor for a follow up on his ear infection only to find out he was having asthma like symptoms, just like his brother. A chest x-ray and two medications later we went to dinner with some friends of ours, Lynn and Patrick (a doc here on base). e was still wheezing pretty good. Happy birthday, here's your wheezing baby! After dinner we all came back home and got e to bed. I really thought I was going to be making a trip to the ER. I didn't know how often I could give e his inhaler since this is his first episode, luckily Patrick was still there. Needless to say, I am extremely grateful to good friends and albuterol! e went right to sleep and has been feeling much better since then.

After all children were in bed and not wheezing, the four of us played cards and ate cake. Yes, it is still more cake from his promotion. Mmm... oak leaf.

The next day we went to Seoul to see the war museam. On the way we stopped at Bur.ger Kin.g for lunch, (it's a treat for us - sad but true, the BK here is in a little trailer.) We have officially reached the two kid's meals phase. We ordered e his own, and he ate almost all of it! (More on e's eating techniques in a later post...)
From there we headed to the war museam. One of the things that really struck me about the experience is how the Koreans really view so much in relation to any chance of unification of the penunsila. I think I forget just how recently this country was divided and how sharp of a division it really is. This piece of artwork represents two brothers, one fighting for the north, one for the south. The crack symbollizes a divided nation. This was a theme of all the artwork in the museam.
N wasn't overwhelmingly thrilled by spending his afternoon in a museam, but there was a lot to see, including these old battle ships from the Joseon Dynasty (15th - 19th century) referred to as Turtle Ships because of their spiky metal roofs!
Then we found the helicopters... this was the first time N would smile for a picture all afternoon. He just couldn't take his eyes off this helicopter display!
And then the airplanes and tanks on display. Here are all the boys in front of a Korean War era T-6 Texan. (Don't ask me how I know all of this!) Notice the oh so trecherous no handrail stairs. Korean standard.
N in a tank...And the obligitory picture of the cute kid driving a jeep!
There were even more airplane and helicopter displays outside... and e was pointing them all out! (As if Dad and N would miss a helicopter or an airplane!)
It was really cold outside, but clear so we caught this nice view of the Seoul Tower before heading home. Happy birthday E!

Play time

OK, so this is definitely one of those posts that is mostly for me to remember things! Sorry...

Right now the boys are really into playing with puzzles. We are constantly amazed with N's ability to figure out a new puzzle. He has a 20 piece digger puzzle that doesn't even really challenge him anymore. Apparently he got his Grandma's spacial reasoning! But lately, e has also shown an interest in doing puzzles. He takes the pieces out and tries (often successfully) to get them back in the right spots.

Yesterday N got out a puzzle for himself, and then set one out of the floor for e. I heard him saying from his room, "come here e-i, there's u puzzle e-i." So sweet... we assume. Or, it could just be the controlling big brother deciding what little brother should play with... but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt! Sweet boy.

He can walk!

So, he's not quite 16 months old and he's finally walking... sort of. He'll walk between any of us if we encourage him, but isn't too excited about walking everywhere yet. I think it's because it's still easier to keep up with big brother while crawling! Hope you enjoy this short video of him walking to Daddy!

Turning "twenty-ten"...

Well, thanks to N, I get to turn twenty-ten this year, instead of the age that shall not be named... I actually had a great birthday, despite E not being available to go out and celebrate with me.

I started the day by going to the flower market just south of Seoul. It was my first trip, and it was so much fun! Tons of flowers, plants, ribbon, tissue paper, wrapping paper, and glassware all at wholesale prices. My friend Lynn and her daughter took me, and we just wandered the flowers and paper product before I decided on two bunches of roses and an African violet. I broke the bank and spent the equivalent of $13.20 total on the flowers and plant. Yes, 20 long stem roses for $11, and $2.20 for the plant. How could I resist! They are making my kitchen look so pretty. I will be returning before we leave.

Then I had dinner with two more friends, Karen and Maya. We went to one of my favorite little Thai restaurants off base that is nearly impossible to get kiddos up the tiny stairs and into. Perfect Mommy night out! Notice the new black pearl necklace thanks to Karen... I love it!

Then I came home to cake with E. Ummm, not a picture perfect cake, but after E's promotion last month we had a TON of cake left over. We cut it small squares and froze them to bring out at the next couple of cake appropriate holidays. So, this is the corner for me birthday! Hey, we didn't want to waste perfectly good cake!

I received a ton of cards for my birthday thanks to Dad and L. For the record, L's friends are awesome card senders! Thanks so much to all of you who made my day! E and the boys colored cards for me, but I think the most creative is this one from Uncle E, inspired by N's counting skills...
And the inside...

Got to love it! Thanks so much everyone! I have awesome friends and family!

WWF toddler style...

So the boys were starting to drive me a little nutso tonight and I was thinking, "gee, I wish their dad could wrestle some of that energy out of them..." Well, they just took it upon themselves!

For those of you who might be feeling sorry for e, (which you really should know better than to by now) here he is on the attack. He was tonight, as he is most of the time, the instigator of this activity.

This is becoming a frequent occurrence at our house. I have always been told about the wrestling that occurs between brothers, but I didn't expect it to start this early!

"Fancy socks"

Tonight I put on a new pair of cute striped socks that EJ sent me for Christmas. N promptly said the same thing he always says when I wear any socks other than plain white ones. "Mama has fancy socks!" I have no idea where it came from, but it cracks me up every time!

Bowling

Yesterday we went bowling with some friends of ours. It is one of N's favorite activities, and even e gets in on the action. We can barely make it through one game, but it is very exciting! Here is e taking his turn... he pushes it himself and actually beat me (and the rest of the kids!)

N carries the ball (all 6 lbs of it) up by himself and pushes it off.
He has to watch the ball roll all the way down! All the boys pose of one last picture before heading home.

"Twenty-ten"

So one evening while we were in Hawaii we were trying to keep N entertained at dinner. I was writing numbers on a paper and he was counting. We got all the way up to 29 without incident. "... benty-six, benty-seven, benty-eight, benty-nine..." Then he got all smart on us. "... benty-ten, also known as thirty!" We've heard the "twenty-ten" before and that is always good for a smile, but the fact that he added "also known as thirty" cracked us up! You just never know what's going to come out of him next.

Happy New Year!

We celebrated New Year's Eve with our new friend Christie, along with Patrick, Lynn, and their baby. Everyone came over for dinner and then we put the kiddos to bed and played games, one of which required way too much concentration after two glasses of wine! They stayed until around 10:30 (Patrick had to work at 6 am, ouch!) E and I tried to make it until midnight, but we lost the battle around 11:30... we're such party animals! Anyway, here is a picture of our group, and yes, there are three kids under three looking at the camera!