life with the lieutenant

• Monday was a day off for Steve, so we decided to walk up to post and get the boys haircuts. We also had to go get our rent money and convert it to won off post. 

• After paying rent, we walked by our beef and leaf, said hello, then bought all of the produce from the street vendors. We walked home and couldn't stop thinking about beef and leaf. So back we went.

stomach: growling

watching a Korean soap opera- I always wonder if she knows what they're saying

• After lunch we headed down to the sandbox and playground, but the wind was picking up and we were all just FREEZING. (Ok, I was freezing. Steve was chilly. The kids were oblivious.) We convinced them that we would find a warmer place to play and instead agreed that we would just go get lost and drive until the kids fell asleep in the car. And we did.

•  Drove straight to North Korea!

• It is so bizarre to look across the river and see a country that is still technically "at war" with us. Makes the psycho seem a bit more real than just the chubby dictator the media pokes fun at.

Everyone loves a good blurry car pic. This was one of the many tanks embedded into these bunkers along the river.

• We promised the kids donuts for something... taking a nap? being good? not defecting to NK? Can't remember now, it was as good a time as any to bribe them for a picture.

The blond chick and I are not on the same page

30 seconds after this picture was taken, Sam skidded to a halt on the pavement and ripped two nice new holes in those jeans.

• Tuesday brought preschool!! *confetti, balloons, trumpets*

teeny tiny freckles! I know I'm partial, but I think he's the cutest.

• Sam climbed in bed with me and told me I was his best friend. Soaking it all in. ALL IN. I know that sooner than later I won't be this cool to him.
• While the kids were at preschool, I got my craft on for Molly's birthday.

Pin the candle on the cupcake- that's a thing, right?

• The blissful silence also allowed for cleaning, laundry, more cleaning, and cleaning. So relaxing!!!
• After preschool pick up, we came home and the kids played on the playground. Then we went to check the mail and headed back home to make dinner (STEAK.... yummmmmm... I am finally getting the hang of cooking them on the stove. Steak tastes way better when it's not well done..) Then I made the stupid (STUPID) mistake of searching "cupcake" on Pinterest... next thing you know, I'm cutting out retro oven cupcake holders because obviously this will make Molly's party. Idle hands and whatnot. I can't make anything until the day before her party, so I think I might be getting a little stir-crazy...

• Naturally I ran out of ink after I printed out the first oven.
• Wednesday brought a slow morning for Sam and me while Molly slept in til PAST NINE AY EM and then we cleaned house/did laundry/more boring stuff until the px opened at 10 so I could get more ink. Got in, got the ink, got out, got home, realized I didn't even need the ink to begin with, printed the ovens, headed over to a friend's house to play and lunch and cut out ovens. We made quick work of it together.

morning story time

Hanging in my friend's elevator- this never gets old to me.

• The kids actually napped (chorus of angels singinggggg!!!!!) and Steve and Sam walked over to the chicken place to order dinner while Molly woke up. We met them on the playground and Molly was pretty thrilled to see Steve.

• After dinner and baths, I continued on with making the ovens (which really weren't as labor-intensive as they appeared).

the front opens up and there is a cupcake holder inside

My coloring skills are just off the charts, crazy good. Like that of a 6 year old, even.

• While I was busy coloring paper ovens, Steve went off in search of a Frozen cake. Molly's preschool teacher texted me to let me know that Molly's party at school would be taking place the next day, and that I was in charge of bringing in the cake. A friend had recently brought a Frozen cake to a birthday party, so I knew where Steve should go look. After he visited every bakery within a two mile radius of us (which is actually a lot of bakeries), he found one. Molly was THRILLED.

• While I did not attend the party, Sam informed me that Molly did not blow her candles out, but he helped her. I know he licked the Elsa and Olaf too (he loves pulling things out of cakes and licking the frosting off!) but I don't think they made it home with us.
• I went to Bible study (and cut more stuff out) during preschool and hit up the commi before picking up the kids. Then we met some friends at the playground on post.

• Meltdowns ensued (have I mentioned that transitioning to no naps is kinda brutal?) and we headed home. Some water, snacks, and rest seemed to heal everyone.
• Friday was Molly's actual birthday!! THREE, YOU GUYS.

birthday waffles

were not made to share a chair- just feeling extra close that day

• We took a few pictures before ruining our clothes going outside to play.

GIRLS ARE WAY MORE FUN TO DRESS! (Sorry Sam)

We all had more fun than it appears here.

• We had lunch (birthday girl requested breakfast burritos) and then I let them watch tv. DURING THE DAY. Because whooooooooop!!! It's Molly's birthday! Go crazy! (And maybe I needed them to go to bed early that night so I could bake one million cupcakes.)

• Steve was finished with work around 2 and we let Molly open her presents then (because remember- everyone is supposed to fall asleep super early thanks to my brilliant no nap idea).
• Most of it looked like this 

•  Until she opened her presents from preschool and then she looked like this

• Was probably hoping for a bag of chips instead of a bag of dried seaweed. Ah well, what can you do?
• Sam got some gifts too, because apparently grandparents enjoy spoiling their grandchildren. And Steve makes a nice lounge chair.

• After presents, we had to go run some errands for Molly's party the next day. We unloaded everything at home and went straight to "da bounce house" as per Molly's request.

living. the. dream.

• Thankfully I had the foresight to make pizza dough earlier in the day and it was easy to throw together a pizza when we got home from playing. And since the birthday girl doesn't like frosting (seriously, I need some sort of DNA testing to confirm our relation), I made a tiny naked cake for her.

 

• I ended up with a ton of leftover batter, so everyone got their own tiny cake. Needless to say, a lot of cake was thrown away that night. (It hurts my heart too.)
• Sam has the opposite of Molly's "problem" - he only likes the frosting.

• They FINALLY went to bed (not at all as early as I had hoped) and I got to work making the cupcakes.

How do you store cupcakes?? (Serious question- am I missing something really obvious?)

• There were more cupcakes in a cake container too, which seems like the only logical way to store cupcakes, but I didn't want to stack them and have their moist little tops all peeled off. Not that I ever (EVER!) intend to make this many cupcakes again, but you never know. I might just make this many cupcakes again. (It was a fun little party!)
• The next morning came early and I started scrambling about trying to tie up all my loose ends (which were all a lot looser than I intended for them to be the morning of the party).

kid favors- cupcake rubber duckies, cupcake bubble necklaces, and chopsticks cases (with chopsticks)

bags to collect pinata candy in

I know what you're thinking, and the answer is yes. I did get a little sweaty picturing all of those sprinkles all over my floor.

Party time!!

pin-the-candle-on-the-cupcake (super flop- kids don't like being blindfolded or made to close their eyes)

fruit alongside the donut tower because if there is going to be a case of diabetes at this house, there may as well be some natural sugars included too

almost everything at this party came from the Korean dollar tree or was leftover from Molly's party last year

adult party favors! I squealed when I finally stuck a cupcake in there and realized it was all going to fit and be ok!

Everyone hard at work decorating their cupcake... except.... ?

Yep. That's about right.

•  For some reason, Molly clammed up when it was time to decorate cupcakes and blow out her candles. That's ok though, Sam was there, ready to help in any way possible.

Yes, Levi, I agree, these cupcakes could definitely benefit from more frosting.

• This pinata is very 2015 and PC - you need not whack it with a stick (violence!). Instead, you just pull the strings out of the bottom, one by one, until the bottom falls out, releasing the candy. Please note that this was just the only kind of cupcake pinata available. I am not, in fact, against whacking an inanimate object that is meant to be beaten until candy is released.

I completely overestimated how much candy we'd need and let's just say that I have a ton of leftover Easter and bribery candy.

• The aftermath

• Not NEARLY as bad as I was expecting. I had mentally prepared to find sprinkles EVERYWHERE but it was all relatively contained. There were plenty of adults around to help and monitor and I think the kids were more focused on scooping the sprinkles in their mouths rather than throwing them on the floor. It was very easy cleanup.

• The party moved outside and we quickly realized that the bubbles were colored and yes, they do stain.
• Steve and Sam went and took all of the leftover cupcakes and donuts to the guys on staff duty and Molly and I just sat on the couch and stared at the walls. Literally. We were both exhausted.

• Saintly Steve brought me some coffee and slowly I came back to life.

• Not enough that any of us ever got off the couch though. In fact, we ordered chicken and had a "picnic" on the living room floor and watched Cars. So fun! (It will be years before they realize that I was just way too lazy to make dinner or force them to sit at the table that night.)
• Sunday morning came and we hustled to get ready for church. It's about a half hour's drive from us, so we usually end up being a few minutes late due to traffic. We sit at the back, so not a huge deal normally, but since this was Palm Sunday, we were all meeting outside on the Village Green before walking back to church, so it was going to be super obvious that we were late if we didn't get going on time. (That, and our family makes up 1/6 of the parish so it is semi-noticeable if someone is missing.)

bribed with the leftover pinata candy

• After a very trying mass, we came home and had lunch and naps.

• Well, at least Molly napped. Sam and I ended up playing this squirrel game and it was really fun. Very easy for anyone who gets stressed out explaining board games to children. This is a cinch. 
• Before Molly woke up from her nap, our sitter showed up (she might get to stay until JUNE!!!) and Steve and I skedaddled out the door. We initially wanted to go somewhere else for dinner, but ran out of time since we took a few weird turns and ended up driving on a pedestrian street. I'm still not sure what sort of restaurant we ended up at (other than the obvious- Asian), but our food was good.

• We wandered around the mall and I even remembered to take pictures of some of the funny things we saw!

wanted to buy it- but didn't

That is TWELVE DOLLARS for fake parmesan cheese in a bottle. This is why we get a little stressy when our commi runs out of food.

Umm? Close?

mmmmm gelato.....

After sampling quite a few, I ended up with coffee tiramisu- I RECOMMEND.

Steve went with grapefruit- nice and refreshing, but that's not really what I look for in a dessert. (Things I look for in a dessert: chocolate and having to unbutton my pants because I couldn't resist eating all of it.)

• After the big mall, we headed to a different store where I had gotten the kids summer pj's last year. They had them on sale again, so score! I also think they've got parking garages down pat here.

When you pull into a parking spot, the corresponding light above your spot turns red. If a spot is available, the light is green and you don't have to drive down every aisle to find a spot. The big square lights let you know if anything is available in that section.

• Still, the biggest downside to parking garages in Korea is how tiny the spots are. Steve had to crawl out the passenger side after I took this picture.
• And once we arrived home to our own parking garage (not as fancy as the one pictured above), we parked next to someone who would get an earful from Kerri.

• I have to give them a little credit though- most folks here don't use carseats at all. These people are considered safety-conscious! lolz
• And that, my friends, was a very long blog post. We are probably going to have a boring week, so this next post should be much MUCH shorter.