Happy 6th Birthday Boys!

The day of their birthday arrived and it was a HOT one.  I swear, it must have been the hottest day yet.  We had debated whether to not send the boys to school or send them (last year, they played hookie and we went to the pool), but decided to send them for a short day. It was a wise decision since there was so much to do that day. I spent the morning cleaning and baking cakes while Dahin played in the kiddie pool downstairs. After the boys returned home from school they helped mommy decorate a little.  They were very excited about their party.  We were expecting about 8 kids, although it had begun as a 'you can each invite one friend' deal.  The news soon spread around and the boys were randomly inviting their little play buddies.

Jack picked up some pizza from Costco--two cheese and one bulgogi--and I made Koolaid.  Ronan and Oliver got some twizzlers from Grandfather and Bubbie and Ronan used them to make a candy bouquet in the middle of the table.  I made salad and cut some vegetables, but only the grownups ate those (go figure).

Bulgogi is a Korean meat dish--marinated beef that is grilled slowly.  Since this is Korea, Costco carries a bulgogi pizza in addition to the cheese and everything varieties.  I was able to sit briefly and talk with a couple of the moms who came to the party. 

Naturally, after a few cups of Koolaid, the kids were a bit, shall we say hyper?  So, to chill things out before cake time, Jack put in a dinosaur dvd for the kids and some clay that they could play with.

Oliver had specifically asked for a strawberry cake with real strawberries, but the problem is that, while we have some strawberry mix and frosting that a friend kindly brought back for us from the US, we had no strawberries.  Korea is not like California, or other parts of the US, where all kinds of fruit are available at all times.  I found some frozen strawberries at Emart and, while the texture was less than desired (I guess I should have just cut them up frozen and plopped them on the cake at the last minute instead of defrosting them), they worked okay for the demands of a 6 year-old (although he did complain about the texture ['they're mushy'] so I told him to suck it up and deal with the out-of-season option).  We picked up balloons, plates and cups, and a couple of number candles at Emart as well.  The boys insisted on number 7 candles instead of number 6.  They said, "But we're 7 here and our friends will all make fun of us if our cakes have a 6 on them."  Damn Korean age.

The party was hectic, but a blast.  I had flashbacks to my days of waiting tables, except this was way more intense.  Scoop out ice cream for three kids, and the first kid wants more, etc.  I think they had a lot of fun.  After cake and presents, Jack and one of the moms took the kids outside to work off all that sugar.  The boys got a whole bunch of great gifts like legos, books, pokeman cards, a lightup 3D viewer thingy.  I had to kick the moms out because they were helping clean up and I was all into sitting for a while and then cleaning up.  It was really nice of them to jump up and start washing dishes, though.  Like that we had kids over who live where we live so departing for home was no biggie and easy. Well, Until Next Year! Happy Birthday!