This may be the most fun Sterling ever had getting his picture made! He was an absolute mess. As soon as he realized he had a whole cake all to himself he began pounding it and flinging icing all through the air. He LOVED it! Every time he'd start clapping more icing would go flying. By the time we left the portrait studio he was covered from head to toe in blue icing, I was covered in blue, and I had given the photographer $20 to cover her dry cleaning bill because she was blue also! It was a mess, but totally worth it. They both had so much fun, and we got some of the cutest pictures they've taken this year!
She may look sweet now but don't let her fool you! She was a bit mischievous about eating her cake. She didn't trust that she was actually being allowed to dig into a cake, so she was very "sneaky" about eating her cake. She'd stick one finger into the frosting, eat the frosting off that finger, then look at me...waiting for a reaction. I actually had to go ahead and show her it was okay to play with her food before she would really go crazy.
This cake is a testament of my love for my children. My cousins who may be reading this blog will surely recognize this cake. It’s my Grandma’s homemade chocolate cake. This is a thing to be in want of in my family. To understand how important this cake is, you have to understand its history. For every single one of my birthdays growing up I received this cake adorned with peppermint candy canes for my birthday. Lots of other people in my mother’s family received this cake…minus the candy canes. I got the candy canes just by happen chance of being born close to Christmas. I imagine my Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Tony probably had candy canes on their cakes on occasion too, since their birthdays fall immediately after Christmas. Anyhow, all Randall descendents LOVE this cake. One of Grandma’s well known requests was to serve this cake at her funeral…which we most certainly did. So, in memory of Grandma, who I know is smiling down from heaven today, we will have homemade chocolate cake with butter cream icing.
The second reason it’s such a show of my love for Ella and Sterling on their birthday has something to do with sifting the flour 4 times! And since our household goods haven’t yet been delivered, this meant no great Williams-Sonoma sifter to use. Oh yes, my Grandma would have been proud. I sifted that darn flour 4 times by hand through a stinking sieve! And that still left the sugar for the icing to be sifted! But I sifted, and I sifted thinking of how important it is for my two babies to have Grandma’s homemade chocolate cake on their very special day. Now for the true payoff…eating this incredibly delicious cake! Wish you were here!
Of all days, today the babies took a 4 hour nap! Is that even possible at this age?! Since we've been in Korea I've been lucky to get them to take a 2.5 hour nap, but today, while Michael and I sat around, twiddling our thumbs, waiting for them to wake up so we could celebrate their birthday, they decided to sleep from 10am-2pm. When they FINALLY woke up, we were ready for a party! Forgive us our pitiful singing voices and watch their birthday song at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmumL_N_7g8
This little boy is such a nut. We had to sit him on the floor with a towel under him while he ate his cake (our highchairs haven't made it here yet). He still managed to get cake all over the place...but he had a very happy birthday in the process!
Watch this little mess at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jih4lC5juXc
Ella enjoyed the frosting on her cake a lot. She's so girly about the way she eats, it's so cute. Watch her carefully eating her cake at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpByTyVn55Q
To top off the celebration, Ella and Sterling had to receive a few gifts from Mommy and Daddy. One of the toys they received was this popper push along toy. They actually found where this was hidden in our bedroom this past week. Every time I turned around they were crawling off to pull this toy out of the closet. Although they're not able to push it along just yet, they were very excited to roll it across the floor.
Sterling was so excited to roll his Thomas the Train ball back and floor across the forth with Mommy.
Ella works on one of her new birthday puzzles. Such a curious little girl!
When I became pregnant I decided to make the commitment to nurse my children for the first year of life as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (from the AAP recommendations: Exclusive breastfeeding for approximately the first six months and support for breastfeeding for the first year and beyond as long as mutually desired by mother and child.). I must admit I was nervous about whether this was a possibility when we discovered we were having twins. But here we are on their first birthday, and Sterling is drinking his last bottle of breast milk. (Ella is in the process of weaning). I’m so proud that I met this goal, and that my children were able to receive the benefits of breast milk for the entirety of their first year. Of course, I’m definitely not so sad to be packing up the pump which I’ve become all too closely attached to since Sterling weaned himself in January. So good-bye to another significant part of the first year, and hello to sippy cups full of cow’s milk, juice, water and all sorts of other big kid things!
Although today was the official "big day," celebrated with Mommy and Daddy, next weekend we will be having a big birthday party with lots of people from Daddy’s work. Actually, it’s starting to sound like we may be celebrating with half of Korea! Last week Michael ordered a birthday cake, plus two smash cakes for their party. When he brought home the receipt, I was SHOCKED by the price….90,000 won! That’s over $90 American dollars! Apparently, there was a breakdown in the communication department during the ordering of this cake. The last word we received from the bakery was we needed to make sure there were at least 2 people available when the cake was delivered, because the 2 people the bakery will be sending to deliver it will need help carrying it in! I have no clue what size this cake is going to be, but I sure hope everyone likes cake. Michael began inviting the American soldiers whom he works with, as well as all the Korean nationals from his work. The Koreans are all very excited and will be bringing all of their families. As we have now learned, in Korea the first birthday is a very large and important celebration. It is tradition to invite a large number of guests and serve lots of food and cake. So, be sure to check back next weekend to see our huge first birthday blow out!
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