i blinked and now he's one

so this guy, and his bad 16-pound self, went and audaciously turned himself into a one-year-old.

*shaky laugh*  excuse me while i go compose myself.


ok, i'm back. i'll try to hold it together.

so the grandparents wanted to throw him a first birthday party, called a "dol" in korean.  which involved this traditional korean outfit.  but the smallest size they make them in is 24 months.  why do they do that when babies wear this when they're 12 months old?  it's not like we want him to "grow into it".  he's only gonna wear it once.  so it should fit for that one time.  in any case, my peanut was swimming in it.

ok, so this party was a good excuse

to get family

and grandparents

and some of our extended family to get together... and eat fruit.  ha ha, i'm kidding.  grandma mira wanted to take care of the head table.  i was happy to keep it waaay simple and so my only job was to get the family there on time. and i was fine and dandy with that.

the boys were fine and dandy with the ipad we brought along.

this is a daily occurrence in jonah's life.  from pretty much everyone in the family.  whether or not he's fine and dandy with it.  ;)

and then the balloon guy came.

and soon every kid was oohing and aahing.

see?

because the balloon guy could make anything. even awesome jet packs! (guns too. and yes, soon all the boys had guns.)

and rapunzel! and jasmine!

and ariel! and buzz!  (buzz was my personal favorite. check out his clear balloon helmet!)

and lest you think the balloon guy could only do disney characters, here's jeremy lin, too! per phil's request. he may or may not have been the only adult to make a request of the balloon guy.

i love this shot.

but soon enough, the birthday boy was partied out.

and so was his mama.

thankfully then the food (and drinks) came out.  sprite's his favorite.

i love this one, too.

getting loved on some more.  this time by cousin joy.  so stinkin' cute.

then cake time!

quite probably his favorite part of the whole deal.

yup, most definitely.

then it was time for the doljabi.  or as phil called it, "time for jonah to pick his fate."  some items are traditional, some were added by us.  :)  from left:  ipad- computer nerd, thread- long life, basketball- basketball player (highly likely, don't ya think?), stethoscope- doctor, bowl of rice- never be hungry, bible- pastor, golf ball- golf player (i think my uncle put that one down), money-some sort of rich person.

so what did jonah go for?

total beeline.  computer nerd.  it is now written in stone.

and then it was all over.  he survived!  his mama did too, thankfully.

a BIG HUGE thank you to our good friend sam for taking all the party pictures for us.  it was a HUGE help (and meant i could actually be in some of the pictures) and we loved the shots you took!  and a BIG HUGE thank you to my dear friend jenny for letting us borrow sam for the party.  we love you guys!!

disney, part two

so the second half of our disney day started with...

princesses!  both girls brought along a dress to wear.  lauren chose this ratty old tinkerbell number complete with a rip in the shoulder.

allie couldn't help but admiringly touch tiana's lovely dress.

lauren couldn't help it either, but she uses the back of her hand to feel things.

i asked lauren if she wanted to go together with allie or after her to meet the princesses by herself.  she chose to go after so she could have her own conversations with them.

jasmine was next.

she did a wonderful job admiring lauren's ratty old tinkerbell dress that was two sizes too big for her.

lauren loved her for it.

we all did.

and last was ariel!

ah to be a little girl meeting your favorite princess.

lauren was starstruck.

i think she loved it.

and i'm glad she's not too grown up to still love it too.

and who did we see just as we came out?

and then at night, we caught the world of color show where we saw...

and...

put simply...

it.

was.

awesome.

and finished with a blast of fire!

jonah took the opportunity to warm up his hand.

a day full of magic and wonder.  and that's why we love experiencing disneyland with our little people.  :)