small style: rainy saturday.

rainy saturdays can be the pits. but when there are pockets where it stops and sunshine peeks in, throwing on a pair of wellies and a hat and jumping in puddles is kinda the best thing ever. :)

especially when you bring a football with you.



but not so much when your momma makes you take another gazillion photos.

i'm pretty sure this is choi boy's football player intimidation face.
is it working?


how 'bout now?

*
*
*



thought so.

actually, cb doesn't mind the camera so much. and that's probably because i've had it in his face every day since he's been home. ;)

he's getting really good at that not-looking-at-the-camera-model-look.



or at least that's what i'm telling myself.

i do know what this is, though:

that would be cb's touchdown dance.
obvi.
:)


the deets:
hat (GO PACK GO!!!): gift from jojo
tee: h&m
plaid button down: target, gift from my momma
sweatshirt blazer (with elbow patches!!): h&m, bought with a giftcard from stacey
jeans: gap, gift from my sister
froggy wellies: kidorable, gift from my mom's friend

nearly everything cb is wearing was gifted to him! we are so blessed. :)

linking up with morgan again!

april photo-a-day challenge!

hey party people,

are you addicted to instagram? i totally, totally am. it's so much fun and less annoying than the fbook and that tweeting thing. just sayin'. ;)

anyway, some buddies and i have been following along with a monthly photo-a-day challenge since february and have been enjoying seeing each other's takes on the daily prompt. this time around, we thought we'd come up with our own challenge for april since there were a couple of prompts we were really wanting to see from each other. and we also had so much free time on our hands to come up with creative and fun ideas for the entire month. (ha!)

care to join us?

we'd love to have you play along!

here's our list!


we will be posting under the hash tag #dailymuse and hope to continue as the year goes on! i'm @choisrus if you care to follow!

see you on IG!

"i would volunteer for you," and other thoughts from watching the hunger games.

{source}

in january of 2011, i spent nearly every free waking moment i had consuming the hunger games series. i literally lost sleep over the books and when i was done, i was so sad and felt like i had said goodbye to some dear friends.

i know, i'm such a nerd.

so, naturally, i was totally, totally, TOTALLY excited about the first movie. i may have even spent some time stalking forums regarding casting speculations. and i may have also stalked youtube looking for clips and trailers of the movie.

i know, serious nerd bomber here.

my parents very generously offered to babysit choi boy after our weekly sunday night dinner so we could go and watch the movie and i giddily accepted (and i may have even squealed and clapped). my sister, who is also a big time THG fan, and the hubs (THG poser -- did not read the books) headed to the theatre while my mom and dad happily whisked cb away, after not only buying us all dinner, but also buying our movie tickets! whohoo! (yes, i'm 31 and my mommy and daddy still spoil me :) )

like a true nerd fan, i wore cargo pants to pay homage to katniss. my sister, who is crazily often on the same wavelength as me, thought the same thing and we were totally twinsies again. this happens so frequently we are now rarely surprised and only slightly amused.

if only we had worn our hair in katniss-esque side braids.

my sister and i got to the theatre with plenty of time to spare to be sure to secure the good seats. we may have even tested more than one row for optimal viewing distance.

we were straight giddy.

at this point we had a half hour to spare and the hubs was being a gentleman and waiting for my cousin (also big time THG fan) who was running late. and it was probably a good thing since he would likely have rolled his eyes at the number of self-portraits we took and at our slightly obsessive conversation.

my sis and i had semi-sappy conversations about volunteering for one another if we were called in the reaping, though we agreed that my sister would last much, much longer in the arena and would have a strong chance of winning. i, on the other hand, would likely be one of the first that the cannon would sound for. sad, but true.

finally, FINALLY, the movie started.

and i tell you, i loved all 2 hours and 22 minutes of it. i cried (a lot), laughed, hid behind my hands, sucked in my breath, squeezed my sister's hand...so many emotions. (sidenote: i'm really embarrassing to go to the movies with. i get really into it. yes, i'm that person. thankfully, so is my sister. unfortunately for the hubs, it's twice as embarrassing for him when he's with both of us.)

it was SO good.

SO, SO, SO good.

jennifer lawerence IS katniss. it took me a little bit to get over how tall she was, but man, oh man, she played katniss so well and was able to depict many of the subtleties that are often lost when turning a first person narrative book into a movie.

the other characters were spot-on, too. at first, i was a little skeptical of josh hutcherson as peeta, but he won me over with his charm and winsome nature, just the way peeta would, and just the way josh did in one of my favorite movies, little manhattan.

the movie was just incredibly well done and probably one of the best book to movie adaptations i've seen.

but it also left me feeling really unsettled. the books did, too, but seeing it live action made the dark themes and the social commentary (suzanne collins is a genius) a lot more in-your-face and glaringly apparent.

i couldn't help thinking about the capitol and all its lavish and frivolous niceties and our own lives and luxuries and our first world problems. and all that we often ignore. and about all those people that don't have the luxury of choice.

it really made me remember and think.

which is often what the best movies do, no?

did you see it? what did you think?

one more milestone.

"they" say that often children who are adopted are not fully adjusted to their adoptive families until they are home for as long as the age they were when they were adopted.

for us, that's today.

on december 17, 2010, choi boy was placed in our arms forever.

he was 15 months and 8 days old.

today is 15 months and 8 days from that date.

which means that according to "them," we will be moving forward with cb fully adjusted to his life with us.

it also means that from this point on, for as long as choi boy has been alive, he will have now been with us longer than he hasn't.

which is something that is altogether remarkable and amazing and just...right.


we can't imagine our lives without this silly and amazing and hilarious and charming little boy.

and thankfully, gratefully...for the last 15 months and 8 days, and every day going forward, we didn't and don't have to.

small style: déjà vu.

last week's small style post ended up being quite a hit. mostly among the eemo crew, but cb did end up making an appearance here and here. :)

apparently, the hubs was also seriously diggin' cb's outfit because on sunday morning, before i could pull out cb's church clothes, the hubs got cb dressed (which usually results in some form of mismatched colors and sweats), and here is what he chose:


yep, blue and cream striped sweater and green pants. (good job, appa!)
a more play friendly version, for sure, and as the hubs was quick to point out, more appropriately boy-ish. :)




and the grey tee under the sweater? a bucky the badger shirt, natch.
perfect for our basketball-lovin' little dude. (go badgers!!!)



the deets:
sweater: crewcuts (a gift from a friend)
tee: university of wisconsin bookstore
cargo convertible pants (they turn into shorts): gap (from the spring wardrobe shopping spree with my mom)
velcro kicks: gap (same story as above!)
basketball: little tikes


i love my boys.

especially since they indulge me by letting me snap away on sunny sunday afternoons.

because, in case you were wondering, here's how choi boy really feels about being constantly photographed:


and that's because he'd so much rather be doing this:

yes, i realize he's playing soccer with a basketball. he's very versatile, folks.

oh, and one last thing about the striped blue shirt, green pants outfit.

it turns out, it was really ingrained in my head, too. because here's how i found myself dressed today:

and cb was none too happy about it. i wouldn't be either if my lame old mom was cramping my style.

*sigh*

parents.

;)

short and sweet.

i love my family.



so much.



that is all.





actually, one more thing.

my shadow hips don't lie.




and that really is all.


peace out.

full.

we are in the middle of a stretch of crazy beautiful, sunny, almost summer-like weather.

sidenote: you might be seeing lots and lots and lots of bubble-blowing photos over the next few weeks...it's one of our current faves. :)



when the weather is so lovely, it's easy for me to remember how incredibly lovely our life is.




everything is so good right now. and we are so grateful for that.




we are in a good groove and enjoying every moment (okay, *almost* every moment) that the Lord has blessed us with.





our life is so full. full of joy and laughter. full of love and sweetness. full of everything we could have hoped and dreamed of.
and we thank Jesus daily for it all.




but it's also full of busyness and schedules and demands. and as much as we take time to enjoy every (okay *almost* every) moment, our plates are quite full.

and because of that, it's been somewhat hard to take the next step in growing our family. our application materials for our second adoption have been sitting on our dining room table for the last 2 months, collecting dust and silently mocking me.

part of me has a difficult time imagining how we could possibly care for two little ones when our hands are so full with just one little bundle of endless energy. and another part of me has a hard time getting back into the mental state that is required for us to finish (okay, start) our application. i nearly break into a cold sweat remembering all the endless paperwork, essays, interviews, fingerprinting, notarizing, etc, etc, etc.

not to mention the waiting.

the waiting was so, so, SO hard. and i know it'll be just as hard, if not harder, this time around, especially given all the uncertainty surrounding the international adoption program in korea right now.

but, the biggest part of me yearns to have another little one home. another little one to share in the fullness that is our blessed life and to make our life even more full of joy.

and that is the part of me that is going to kick it into high gear and turn in our application soon soon soon. (y'all are going to hold me accountable, right?)

choi baby, if you read this one day, know that our hearts already ache for you. and though it's taking us a bit longer to get these first steps done, we know that when we see your face and finally meet you, we'll know that the timing was just right.

we can't wait to make such sweet memories with two littles...

but until then, we'll continue to soak up all these moments.




so very grateful.

just because.

if you know my mom, you know that her love language is gifts. it brings her such joy to give you things she knows you've wanted, and it's her way of showing you her love. my mom also loves to shop. so, when you combine the two...it often results in my mom calling me out for shopping trips so she can buy new additions to choi boy's wardrobe.
which, for the record, i don't mind at all. ;)

after such a trip to the mall on saturday, i dressed cb in some of his new duds for church on sunday. and since it was gorgeous and sunny out, we *had* to do a post-nap photo shoot.
i mean, duh. ;)

i shared some of these snaps in tuesday's post, but gosh, i just love them all so much, i had to share the rest in a separate post.

just because.

indulge me for a bit, okay?

thanks. :)

i am such a fan of colored pants this season, so when i saw these green chinos in mini boy sizes, my heart leapt. truly. ;)




i mean.
seriously.

cb isn't always this charming for the camera...




but on this sunday, happy from a good sleep,



and excited about the promise of almonds,

he was ready to ham it up!




(b-t-dubs, that sequence was choi boy singing and dancing to "shake your booty".
i'll let you guess which parent taught him that classic.) ;)

but, that didn't mean cb didn't have a little wise guy,


or pensive and pretend-to-look-far-off-into-the-horizon model looks in him.



such a sillyhead, that little dude.
i just love him so.



and for those that are interested, here are the deets:
hat: old navy
sweater and pants: gap
shoes: tiny toms
linking up!