Jack the Climber and Explorer

Although Jack can not walk independently yet, he can climb everything. We have found him in a few interesting places. He is quick and we have to keep an eye on him. One thing we have found is that he enjoys playing in the potty. We have to keep the lid down and the door shut. Just the lid down does no good because he explores the TP roll and last week we even found him on the back of the toilet. Not on top of the seat, but on top of the tank!!! hands against the wall. CRAZY! He is an engineer like John, he already is a big problem solver and can configure things to get what he wants. For example I was folding laundry on the floor in our bedroom, Jack was down on the floor with me and John and the two older kids were on the bed watching a movie. He wanted up on the bed but we wanted him to stay on the floor with me because he likes to dive off the bed still at this point. Well.. this little engineer, not walking yet like I said, and only 12 months old, takes the laundry basket, tips it over, pushes it across the room to the side of the bed and climbs up on top so he can get up on the bed. Like I said we are so in trouble.
Well keeping the potty door closed works pretty well, except for this morning. This morning we were getting ready to head out the door to Allie's first soccer game of the season. We were to the point of just heading towards the back door. I walked down the hallway to the garage door and noticed the bathroom door was open. I peeked in, and instantly ran for the camera. Here is what I saw.



No babies were harmed in the taking of this picture. He may look in an uncomfortable position but you are looking at a boy who can do the splits, and put his feet behind his ears no problem. He even headed down a park slide on his tummy, one foot straight down the slide first, the other by his head. Smiling the whole way. Boy is our boy flexible. By the way the toilet had been reciently flushed so although cleanup was untimely since we were just headed out the door, it could have been much much worse.

Making Korean Egg Rolls

I asked a friend from church for her Korean egg roll recipe from a friend at church. Her Mother-in-law is Korean and she had posted on facebook that she had made some a few weeks ago so I took the opportuntity to ask her how she does it. I then invited my friend Natalie over to make them with me. Her son came home from Korea three months before Jack so it is fun to see them together. Although they really don't play "together" much yet since the are so young, we still managed to get them close enough to get a picture of them together. They enjoyed emptying cabinets while we cooked. Both of them enjoyed the end product. So did we. I was impressed with my wrapping skills even though I had not wrapped egg rolls before. I have however used wonton wrappers for various things before so maybe that made it easier.

Here is the recipe:
1 pkg of egg roll wrappers (I get them at HyVee)
1 pkg of Cellaphane noodles (HyVee)
3/4 cup carrots (julienne)
4 green onions sliced using some of the green
1 egg
1 pound hamburger
onion fine chopped
1/2 TBSP roasted sesame seeds
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp soy sauce
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp MSG (optional, we didn't use it)

Basically you boil the noodles like you would any other noodle. they only take about 3-4 minutes. Drain.

Mix hamburger and all the other ingredients. Cut the noodles with a scissors into smaller pieces. Just take the scissors and cut the ball of noodles randomly so they are not so long. Add to Hamb mix. Stir up good.

Put mix in the wrapper and roll. Deep Fry 350 degrees.


Stuffing.

Stuffing on wapper.

Rolled rolls.

Cooked rolls.

And our Cuties!

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday we hung out in Grandma Weber's backyard with the cousins. The kids looked for some eggs, Jack looked for rocks too. We got some very cute pictures of Jack that day in the yard. Here are some favorites.



Eating bunny marshmallows.


Hunting eggs.


EGGS!


Hey mom I found a ROCK! That is cool too right???


Happy Easter


Showing off standing skills. Now where do I go??


Walking with help from Aunt and Uncle.

Big Boy Haircut.

Our little boy no longer has a bald spot and we have trimmed his hair a few times since he came home but we decided to go a bit further and give him his first big boy haircut. I was not very excited about the idea because I didn't want my little guy to look different and we cut John and Ethan's hair at home so John wanted to cut Jack's hair himself as well. I did cut a bit too much off behind his ear during a trim so the thought of a full haircut made me nervous. Well we survied with out too bad of a result. I was still sad to see his hairstyle change but now I am used to it.
Here is some pics from the day of his haircut when we were playing outside, and the after picture.








and after haircut.

Doljabi, First Birthday

Jacks first birthday went off without a hitch. We has Chinese food (sesame chicken, fried and white rice) cupcakes, fruit, veggie tray, and Korean cucumber salad.
We made our own ballooon towers and I bought cupcake stands that I decorated into fruit towers. It is traditional Korean first birthday celebrations usually have fruit displays and food towers. We put our own spin on things but friends in the area who are of Korean decent were very impressed with our Dol Table. We were too. It turned out nicer than I could have imagined I was very happy with it. I even impressed myself. I also made his banner to go behind the table.
At the party we also did the Doljabi. Doljabi is where Jack is put in front of a table and chooses an item to pick up. The item he picks fortells his his future. It was great fun. Jack had everyone fooled. He put his hand on top of the money right away everyone said (Ooooo) but he did not pick it up.. He just used that hand for balance and reached straight to the far side of the table and picked up the spool of thread. Then he picked up the small soccer ball with his other hand. So Jack it is foretold will have a long life, (thread) and be athletic (ball). We were happy with his choices and he was very proud of them too. He held them up for all to see.
Here are some pictures from his big day.

Dol table.

Jack on his birthday table.

Jack in his hanbok. (traditonal Korean clothing)

Choosing his item. Doljabi.

Eating Cake!