Mika was invited to one of her new friends’ birthday parties this weekend, who also knows her old friend Lillian. All guests were treated to highly professional, individual face paintings. Mika loves to be a butterfly these days, and Lillian opted for “Pumpkin Princess” … and voilà! Happy 5th Birthday, Jordan and thank you for a very special party.

(front/back of camera)

Mika has been obsessed with making cameras out of folded paper. Some of her favorites are decorated front and back, and have punched out holes for the lens. On some days, she builds them in matching sets for Tobin and herself, and today she made two double-sided mini cameras as a gift for Tobin and me.

If that is the only side effect of being photographed every day, that’s fine with me :)

To keep each boy’s snotty nose to their own, we decided to take Henry and Tobin to the New York Transit Museum rather than having our play date at home. They had a blast all morning and continued to play really well on the playground. Then, tired from running around for hours, they sat down on a little step, leaned onto each other, and practically rubbed noses.

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Following up on Tobin’s claim to be three years old, he is still sticking to his guns.
Also, he insists that Mika is three years old as well, which makes him officially a big boy.

Good thing we don’t have two three-year-olds in the house for real…

We met with Kai and Sango for a very last play date before their final relocation to NC.

Kai, we’ll miss having you here so close in Brooklyn, but hope to stay friends no matter where you are. Next time we’ll see each other in person, Sango will be walking and talking as well (Tobin almost managed to teach her some essential “Pingu” attitude: nook-nook!). xoxo MiNiToSu

This was the first Halloween with two walking kids going trick-or-treating. We started at the kiddie parade in Cobble Hill Park, where we ran into many friends. Mika had both the courage and endurance to ask for candy at every single doorstep of Garden Place. Tobin, still new to the game, was a bit more reluctant but bravely made his way through all those grabby hands and faced the sensory overload of spookiness head on. He even collected a handful of candy all by himself. On our way back home, we stopped by the playground where ‘Purple Kitty’ and ‘Max’ quickly found their comfort zone. Happy Halloween!

(For those of you who remember, here is Mika at her 2-year old Halloween in 2006)

The kids just had to show off their Halloween costumes to Sung before bedtime.
Mika is excited to be the Purple Kitty one more time (thank goodness the costume still fits her!), and Tobin will be Max from “Where the Wild Things Are“

Halmoni, Harabogi, and Tobin’s friends came from near and far to celebrate with him for hours. The kids had a blast and the adults could enjoy each other’s company under surprisingly relaxed circumstances.

Tobin was still going strong after his friends had left and pushed his nap to almost 4:00 pm. Fueled by a lollipop, he even had the courage to practice his Korean greeting with the grandparents. 안녕하세요 (pronounced an-nyang-ha-se-yo)!

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Fascinated by some of the wilder creations of Charm City Cakes and BCakeNY, i always wanted to make an edible “theme cake” on my own. Just in time for Tobin’s birthday, i came across the perfect inspiration on the blog of a Vancouver based cupcake business, Coco Cake: Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar, turned into a cupcake party train! (It’s still one of Tobin’s favorite books).

The things i’ve learned: it’s as much fun as i have suspected, a lot more work than i had thought, and … i really don’t care about buttercream. Next year, it will be all about the inner values of the cake again ;-)

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In the past year you have grown from a crawling, babbling baby to a running and talking little boy. We love the sense of humor you have developed. Sometimes you are trying to act as grown up as your sister, but sometimes you are just as cuddly as a year ago. When you speak German, Mika has to translate for Daddy … but you are starting to pick up a little English as well. Oh, and you learned to say 안녕하세요 (hello) today! It is so much fun to hear what’s going on in your head and we are looking forward to the next 12 whirlwind months ahead.

Ninja: Tobin, sag mal “ich bin zwei!” (Tobin, say “i am two!”)

Tobin: Ich bin drei! (I am three!)

Ninja: Nein, du bist ZWEI. (No, you are TWO.)

Tobin: Eins, … drei, vier! (One, … three, four!)

PS: the weather was spectacular – especially after suffering through a week of near freezing temperatures and rain. At 74°F and sunshine, Tobin and Henry could take the new Bagger (digger) for a spin at the playground.

A real-life backhoe loader was parked next to a nearby construction site, offering hands-on 360° access. Tobin would’ve stayed there indefinitely, but Mika decided that it was time for him to let go (after about 30 minutes).

We dropped by Nara’s house to check on our favorite baby girl. She’s growing by leaps and bounds (although the wide angle lens exaggerates a bit here). The kids loved that she’s a lot more interactive than last month – smiling and trying to communicate. Now she’s even more interesting to them than Watson & Crick…