Agabang in Anyang

I'm almost all out of babies these days, as my babies have now turned 3 and 1. Once Ammi decides to start walking (instead of hyperventilating out of excitement, arms flapping, preparing for flight, and then falling on her face), it'll be time to make some more. Haha. Really, though, Dan and I were talking today about how much fun the kids were specifically today, and how that humans-are-animals survival instinct makes you consider having more. Also, this week Joash has decided it'd be good to have another baby. He was telling me today that we need another baby, and he'd like 5 if we'd oblige him. I told him that we have a baby! He should play with her! I guess he's just used to getting a sister for his birthday.

The pace of life just continues to be constant paradox. I never have time, but nothing much happens, except the total cultivation of life! And I actually feel really good about that. Joash is starting to be sarcastic, and he's just such a funny, chatty guy. I can almost see him learning words sometimes. He'll start a sentence and then say, "I can't say the word!" And once I tell him what word he was looking for, he uses it from then on. Kids are amazing.

Ammi is smart in a really devious way. She is so much sneakier than Joash. Just today she was trying to flush the toilet, and I told her not to so she pulled her hand away. Then she looked at me, smiled, and went for it again. If I gently push her hand away, she comes back for another swat and thinks it's a hilarious game. She is mad as ever, but she's starting to play by herself more. Maybe since their birthday we finally have toys she's interested in? I don't know.

Okay, so Chuck E. Cheese's pictures, and that'll be the end of this post.

Months ago, Joash became adamant that he should have a red Lego cake for his birthday. I did my best to make that happen. There was a series of comedic errors leading up to the completion of the cake. Dan was out of town while I baked it, so I didn't have the car. That's normally not a problem, but I realized that the only food coloring we have is, like, pastel Easter colors, so I had to make him a hot pink/orange Lego cake. And I really wanted to do a hidden number inside, a 3, for his birthday. I specifically bought cookie cutters for this purpose. The kids play with them every now and then. Of course, the only number missing was the 3! I had to hand cut 3s from 8s, and then they were actually too tall to even fit right, so I settled for a cake with a sideways 3. But kids don't care! And then I commissioned Dan to build a cake cover out of Duplo bricks, which he more than accomplished. 

This was probably Joah's first time actually blowing out candles. Last year we forgot to buy candles, so I cut some "candles" out of McDonald's straws. 

Ammi had a little Lego head cake. She was surprisingly disinterested.

Joash was so desperate to begin present time that he committed to helping Ammi with hers. Not before we shot the confetti canon, though. Funny story, I am still cleaning confetti up from various places, human and otherwise.

And then it was his turn. We accidentally bought him tons and tons of Legos (or did Dan do this on purpose for himself? Yes.), but he didn't mind. And he even got to play with them all for 2 whole weeks before I just couldn't take the constant patrolling of fixing and sharing teeny, tiny Lego pieces. They are on a brief respite for now.

Me and my dear girl.

I thought this just looked so sweet.

Then we went to Chuck E. Cheese's! Where a kid can become bamboozled and over-stimulated. Ammi loved it because those are her two favorite things.

A moment of calm in the chaos.

Unrelated, why is this bowling pin with bowling pin legs so obviously giving birth? It was even worse from the other side. Weird stuff at Chuck's. Weird stuff.

Joash won the Kentucky Derby.

And played 30 seconds of every game, and that stressed him out. He really wanted to "go to 99," he said, which we've deduced to mean that he wanted to play for longer. And I did walk away sort of frustrated at the way the games very blatantly deceive and bait the children. We left when Joash began crying and asked to leave. We asked if he had fun, and he said, "Yes! But not really."

We read a book, I think, about the spinning teacups, so spinning mugs of hot chocolate were right up his alley.

And this was the best I could get of them and the lesser of famous mice. Never again, Chuck!