Chois-R-Us

"he looks just like you!"...

2012-02-10T21:57:00.006-05:00

...and other comments of the like are ones we've heard quite a bit lately.

i don't know if it's because choi boy is seriously bringing the cute lately just like his cute appa (but really, CB is WAY cuter than the hubs was as a kid. for reals. i'm sorry, babe, but it's true. need i pull out the bowl cut picture again?) or because CB is looking more boy than baby and therefore looking less like just another baby, or people are just trying to make conversation, or what, but we've been hearing it a lot.

way back when, before CB was home, i wrote this post wondering about how i would react and respond to such comments. and my very wise friends (sidenote: i accidentally typed WIDE friends. heehee.) shared that there would be a time and a place to share about our family story and there would be many other times when we would just be doing a lot of nodding and saying "thank you" and walking away.

we've been doing a lot of nodding and saying "thank you" and walking away.

because most of the time, when people make that remark, CB is right there with me. and though we talk about CB's adoption story and our family journey a lot, and CB will proudly tell anyone who asks that he came from "kee-yah!" on an "eh-pane!", i don't want him to feel like he has to be defined by the fact that he is adopted.

and i feel like if i were to correct people about this in front of CB all the time, saying something like, "well, actually, he's adopted so he probably looks like his birth family." it would make him (even at 2 years old) feel funny. like his adoption needed to label him and always be declared. you know?

but at the same time, i don't want CB to think we aren't proud of and so, so, SO thankful for his adoption story. so, if it is more than a stranger making such a comment, we do try to share a little bit about our family and our journey.

in short, i still don't know how to answer this. and i think i won't for while. i think and hope that as CB grows up, he'll be able to give us cues on how he wants us to handle this. maybe we'll come up with a secret wink or other signal we can give each other after we nod and say "thank you" in response. or maybe he'll openly share about his adoption story and i'll beam proudly behind him.

or maybe he'll say, "gross! you think i look like my mom?! she's a girl!"

(i repsonded similarly when people told me i looked like my dad when i was little.)

:)

but you know what's really funny? and a little eerie? CB kinda *does* look like our family. it's a little uncanny. he kind of resembles my dad,

but we think he looks most like my cousin, CB's 'lissa eemo, when she was his age. it's a little crazy:

right?!

uncanny.

and, just because....

you're welcome.

niiiice!

2012-02-06T20:17:00.003-05:00

choi boy is currently obsessed with the idea and concept of being "nice." it may have a little something to do with his kindergarten teacher momma repeatedly (i.e. ad nauseum) saying, "you have to be nice" and "play nicely" or "are you being nice?"

just a little something. ;)

anyway. cb's always checking in to see if he's being nice or reporting to me that he is, indeed, being nice. it usually has to do with sharing -- something cb is very proud of doing, or when he shows affection, especially to his buddies. he also likes to report when others are being nice, even fictional characters in books or on tv.

so, basically, cb walks around all day saying, "niiice!"

in other words, my two-year old sounds an awful lot like borat.

but a very cute, very sweet, non-creepy, non-skeezy borat. yes, that's a possible combination.

here's a little (albeit slightly forced!) peek:

:)

instafriday.

2012-02-03T05:04:00.001-05:00

why, hello, instafriday. it's been a while.

i really should be doing work. or laundry. but, you know how it goes.

my sister keeps pestering me that i need to blog more often. and since i can't think of anything worth its own post (or rather, my brain doesn't want to think of anything), i'm just going to use some instagram pics i haven't shared here. instagram buddies, my apologies. :)

and, onward!

my love for sparkles and sequins this season is a little out of control. i'm trying to limit sequin wear to just once a week. i'm totally serious here.
on the other hand, a sequined skirt is very popular among the kindergarten set. ;)

we watched the packers' loss to the giants in sadness. but ribs made us feel better. my boy can put them down!

but once the ribs were gone, here's what the scene looked like.

sad.

choi boy has been really loving "knuffle bunny" lately. he then found "knuffle bunny too" and his signed copy of "knuffle bunny free" on the highest shelf of his bookcase...i'm really trying to be okay with two year-old hands getting all over this special copy. after all, it's *his* copy, right? right?? (that sounded convincing, no?)

my dad and cb have a very close relationship. they love each other like crazycakes and my dad is just the cutest with cb. the other week, we went for a walk in the snow, and i turned around to find the two of them like this:

yup, the love for his grandson transcends his regard for trespassing laws.

choi boy LOVES stickers.

a lot.

i wore this to work last friday:

i love pajama day! making pancakes with my kinders was the icing on my flannel cake.
flannel cake sounds really gross, but you get it.

i had to seriously talk myself out of buying this at target:

as in, i had to take it out of my cart, place it back on the rack and walk away fast.
isn't it out-of-control adorable?! wouldn't it be so freaking cute on a daughter i might have one day?
yes, i hear the ridiculousness. hence that fact that it is still at target and not in my house. but, you know, if anyone wants to send one to me for a future choi girl...just kidding. kinda.

after being home for 13 months, we were finally able to get cb's SSN...one more step (the COC) and we can check off alllll the paperwork for choi boy's adoption! whohoo! bt-dubs, cb was mostly a rockstar at the social security office. mostly.

and it's a good thing cb now has an SSN, because it seems as though he is set to go to work as a handyman:

as i said on instagram, i really need to get cb a play tool set. and i also need to hide all my bobbypins lest they end up in sockets.

when did they redesign the penny?! i was so confused when i saw this and thought it was a foreign coin. why would they redesign the penny???

cb's favorite show is "curious george". and i think i know why. i think cb sees a lot of himself in george. besides the mischief, they really look alike.
no, seriously:

i mean, right?

my sister and i have a crazy ESP connection. we often find ourselves wearing eerily similar outfits, sometimes with exact same pieces. case in point:

this is us on sunday. we put these on in our separate homes without talking to each other. we were even wearing the color nail polish.
freaky.

and finally. as i sit here on my laptop posting pictures from my phone, i am cracking up about this one:

that would be my mom and dad on their smartphones, texting and chatting with their friends (they discovered this new instant messanger-type thing in korean and are on it all the time, forwarding their friends cute little jokes or pictures, etc. they're like middle schoolers -- it's hilarious!), and cb playing with the cable remote.
what has technology done to us?!

made our lives more awesome, that's what.

:)

happy friday, friends!

amusement at the museum.

2012-01-29T20:55:00.002-05:00

(okay, i know that title is a bit much, but i couldn't help myself!)

the best thing about (most of) the DC museums is that they're free! and because we're only about 25 minutes outside of the city, taking a spontaneous trip with an hour left before closing time is NBD.

in fact, it turns out it was the perfect time to visit with a busy two-year old. most people were leaving, so we found rockstar parking (holla!), and by the time we got into the museum, it wasn't too crowded considering it was a saturday. the hubs had to work, so one of my closest friends, choi boy's beloved auntie rina, joined us for some fun at the museum of natural history.

i've always loved this elephant that greets visitors at the entrance.

cb did, too. :)

we headed straight to the hall of mammals -- an awesome exhibit that displays all sorts of animals separated by continent.

it's a little freaky when you pause to consider that all they animals are real and stuffed, but it's amazing how close you can get to them.

cb was totally impressed and in complete awe.

we saw so many cool displays, but these two stood out the most:

look at that fashion foward orangutan with its dolman sleeves!

and my absolute favorite:

it was entitled, "busy toddler in action"
:)

we decided to be brave and let the busy toddler out of his stroller...

and, of course, all he wanted to do was push buttons.

he's very good at pushing buttons.

we stopped for a bit at the ocean life exhibit,

hello, dory!

and then headed to the second reason for our visit...

dino-mite!

cb was a little confused as to why the dinosaurs were just made of bones, but went with it anyway.

cb made himself very comfy in the dinosaur wing.

we even got to watch a scientist(? artist?) working on a dinosaur rendering based on some photos of bones.

very cool.

with our remaining time, we headed upstairs where we initially intended to go check out the hope diamond (and all the other pretty sparklies rina and i like to see...), but were instead greeted by this:

how serendipitous! i had no idea this gallery was here on loan!

choi boy loved checking out all the cool things from "keeya!" especially these cool little statues.
i loved seeing all the cool artifacts, too, but i love my cool little guy from "keeya" the most.
:)

finally, we reluctantly headed to the insect zoo...

(anyone else find it ironic that the insect zoo is sponsered by orkin?)

...where i sucked it up, pretended to be above my fears, and got up close and personal with the live insect displays so my little boy could check out some bugs.
that is called sacrifice, my friends.

for reals, yo.

cb loved playing and hanging out in the large ant hill and even met a cute little pal who was playing hide and seek with her big brother.

how stinkin' cute is that exchange?! adorbs!

we checked out the butterfly garden on our way out and bid adieu to the museum.

but, not to worry, cb, we will surely be back soon...

...after all, it really measured up!

(i know, i know...i can't help it with the puns!)

sporadic crafting.

2012-01-27T22:27:00.006-05:00

remember that etsy shop i opened up shortly before cb came home? and remember how i joked that i was nuts to be opening up shop just before bringing home a toddler? i totally was.

just as soon as my little corner of etsy opened, it went on vacation. :) no regrets, of course. i was just a tad busy hanging out with my little rockstar.

anyway, since then, i've painted some name signs here and there for different friends and their sweet little bebes. and i thought i'd share them since i just finished something for cb and for our new little niece.

would you mind indulging me for a moment? k, thanks. :)

for a co-worker's sister (who is now also a co-worker!) and her sweet little boy.

for a co-worker's baby girl.

for sweet little ezekiel! i also made a larger version for our favorite little g-man.

little birdies for a co-worker's friend's daughter (um, yes, my co-workers have been super sweet about asking me to do some paintings for them -- so fun!)

and, for our sweet little niece, molly's little sister, who was born last week:

a cupcake again, because i can't help but think of sweet little yummies when i think of the name reese. love it. :) (oh, and E, if you're reading this, you should have this in your hands soon!)

finally, here's one i just finished for choi boy's room...it's larger than the others (16x20, i think) and was a way to display one of the hubs' favorite bible verses:

such powerful truth in there. :)

but. i'm so mad at myself because the "you" is so squished in the first line. you see, when i was sketching it out, i forgot the word "not" and didn't realize it until i was painting the words! gah! curse you, exhaustion and delirium! oh well. if those pesky little squares didn't take forever, i'd fix it. but for now, it shall remain as is. ;)

i did love doing this one, though. not just because it's so special and for cb, but because i love writing. i don't mean the craft of writing (though i do like that quite a bit, too.), i mean actually forming letters and writing them. when i doodle, i just make letters and write words, so it was so fun to just write out the verse in varying fonts.

you know, i think one of my dream jobs would be to write those signs at trader joe's or wegmans. i could create those signs that say, "fresh shrimp by the pound!" and "local honey" or "stock up on vitamin c!" how fun would that be?! no, really!

except, i have a feeling it just wouldn't be as fulfilling as teaching.

i dunno, just a hunch. ;)

p.s. i am taking custom orders for paintings even though nothing is listed in the shop! :)

word up, baby.

2012-01-24T22:42:00.001-05:00

i don't like that choi boy is becoming more boy than baby. but if he has to grow up (and i supposed he must), the language development sure sweetens the deal. it is seriously amazing to watch toddlers develop their language and literally double their vocabulary overnight!

cb continues to learn new words almost daily, but recently, he has also started to clear up some of his articulation. just recently, cb learned how to "correctly" pronounce his name as well as our pup's name. he used to drop the first consonant, making the names sound like this:

ahkin = his name

ahpuh = piper

he's found those first consonants, but his 'r's are still a bit muddled. and i love it. :)

another word he's cleared up? firetruck. which i'm kind of sad about because he used to call them "wee-ooh-wee-ooh trucks," imidating the siren. it was awesome.

and on that note, here are some words that he still mispronounces that i hope stay this way for at least a little while longer...

tippy eemo = tiffany eemo (my sister actually wants to be called tippy forever. i love that.)

gamote = remote (this reminds me of a certain little dude and his "gaboons")

b00bies = blueberries (this was is hilarious and adorable, albeit embarassing in public.)

cue me = excuse me (oh my gosh, this one melts my heart every time i hear it! although. the fact that it's usually after a burp or fart makes me giggle. a lot.)

teef = teeth (this boy loves to brush his teef!)

oh, and the other part of language development i love? the little misunderstandings and mash-ups that happen in their brains...it's like you get a peek into their thinking! my favorite examples?

when cb is reaching for something and it's too far, he says, "too reach!" which, in his 2 year-old brain makes perfect sense. :)

and an example that adds a smile to an otherwise sad ending to the packers' season...here's the conversation that took place after the pack lost in the first round of the playoffs:

me: oh no, buddy, the packers lost!
cb: mommy, go find it!

word.

i wish i could, buddy, i wish i could. :)

and a little video bonus. i tried to capture some video of cb being chatty, but it was after nap and he was much more interested in mooching off tippy eemo's snack and just gave me some little one word responses here and there. however, i did manage to capture cb singing his own original mash-up of the ABC song and "twinkle twinkle little star." it goes something like this, "A B C D star. how i baby star. how i baby star..." yup, "baby star" being another mix up for "little star". and hey, he might not have any of the words right, but at least he realizes (or doesn't realize?) the tune is the same in both songs! ;) oh, and you also get to see him try and ham it up with the cute to try and get some more snacks...

"you will not win!" and other fun adventures in discipline.

2012-01-18T22:23:00.005-05:00

two is a super fun age.

no, really! i mean that with all sincerity. i love how two year-olds are like little sponges, soaking up everything around them and exploding in their knowledge and abilities. it's absolutely amazing to watch!

but.

along with all those new cognitive abilities also comes that infamous fight for autonomy.

you know what i mean.

"i do it!"

"my turn!"

"miiine!!"

or, if you're choi boy and still mixing up your pronouns, it sounds like this:

"you do it!"

"your turn!"

"yoooours!!"

he sounds so very generous, but really, the sentiment is very much the same.

and of course, we also get our shares of "no!" and "no want it!"

yup. super fun.

don't get me wrong, most of the day, cb is as sweet as can be.

but, there are definitely pockets of the day when we see a cb that thinks he is way too cool for his lame old 'rents.

we get the bargaining,

"mommy do it? mommy clean up?"

the running away,

this is the one time in my life that i will be faster than cb, so it actually cracks me up as i run after him. for now.

and the trying to get out of it by being cute.

that one works more than i'd like to admit. :)

oh, but my favorite?

the epic tantrum.

mmmhmmm. 15 plus minutes of screaming and crying and pure stubbornness. they are farther and fewer between than the other behaviors, but they are present. the whys of the tantrums vary but we try and keep our reaction to it consistent. we *try* to remain calm, ride it out with cb and when he's ready, "debrief" with him and continue on with whatever caused the tantrum without giving in to his demands. of course, there may have been a time or two when i proclaimed in frustration, "you will not win!" but that's another story...;)

two-year old cb, know that you will not win in these situations. because i love you too much to let you win. right now, appa and i know better than you, though we fully admit there will be a day when you know better than us! we want what is best for you. we want to keep you safe and we want to help you become a kind and respectful human.

so, though you might be stubborn now, i am more stubborn. and i'll continue to be that stubborn so i can help you work through these tantrums in order to teach you how to take all those new skills and knowledge that you are acquiring daily and use them to become even more awesome than you already are.

i love you, baby. i love you something fierce.

our first family day.

2012-01-15T13:45:00.003-05:00

i finished it. our one year slideshow is complete. and *before* my extended deadline, too. because, you see, one month ago tuesday, we celebrated our first family day. so, without further ado, here's how the celebrating went down.

on december 17, 2010, choi boy was placed in our arms forever. though we didn't come home and land on US soil until december 20, the day our agency considers our placement date, we will always recognize december 17 as the day we became a family.

so, on december 17, 2011, we proudly celebrated our one year milestone! 365 days of familyness. :)

we decided to make the day all about cb and his loves.

we started the morning with some cinnamon rolls (*not* homemade, thankyouverymuch). cb thought i had lost my mind and asked me, wide-eyed, "umma, eat cake??!" yes, baby, you can have cake for breakfast on family day. ;)

after "cake," we moved on to our main activity for the day. if you couldn't already tell, choi boy has been quite interested in and excited about trains lately. because our family day falls during christmas season, there was no shortage of train shows we could attend. we chose one close by and cb had a blast looking at and watching all the trains.

we even got to chat with a certain man in red. :)

but, not for long, because there were trains! to! see!

child was mesmerized.

and seeing cb so excited made us *so* happy.

after coloring some pictures of trains (what else?),

we headed off to grab some of cb's favorite food for lunch. we contemplated going to a korean restaurant, but our little boy LOVES soup -- pasta e fagioli, in particular. :) so, we set off our local pizza shop that happens to make *the best* pasta e fagioli!

someone was very excited as we waited.

and though the pizza is amazing,

nothing beats that soup!

the rest of our day was pretty lowkey, but the best part was just being *together*.

we are so blessed.

happy one year home, cb! we are so grateful to be your umma and appa!

and to celebrate, here is a slideshow of our journey to choi boy and our first year together...

please note, it is LONG. like, nearly as long as a sitcom long. i know, i'm crazy! but, i'm so glad to have everything documented in one slideshow to show cb now and as he grows up. don't feel the need to watch all (or any) of it (it's mostly for his sappy ~~momma~~ family anyway), but around 12:30, you might recognize some familiar faces. :)

p.s. i just realized this is my 300th post!! how appropriate that it is so celebratory! :)

procrastination is my friend.

2012-01-11T10:35:00.000-05:00

hi.

remember how i said i was going to finish that family day video by the end of last week?

yeah. didn't happen. i made progress though, so i'm granting myself an extention. so generous, i know.

there are about a million and one things i need to be doing right now...my house is a mess, things at school are really kickin' it into high gear with the end of second quarter right around the corner (read: high stress! crunch time! assessments! data! ack!), we're exhausted from still coming off the holidays, we're battling the perpetual winter daycare sickies, etc, etc, etc. fun times, people.

oh, and on top of all that, my sister has been bugging me to blog. so, naturally, that's what i choose to do. :) it's true, procrastination is my friend.

and what better to blog about than an award! :)
three rules apply to this award:

1. thank the person(s) who gave this award to you.
2. list 7 things that people may not know about you.
3. pass it on to 15 other bloggers. (i'm taking that to mean 15-ish)

thank you to my sweet friend, dana, who is waiting for her darling ollie to come home from korea. go say hello and encourage her as she continues to wait!

and 7 things? man, i feel like i'm always talking about my quirky self (hello, this is my blog, after all -- and i graciously thank you for reading as i continue to yammer on...!), so it's tricky to come up with 7 more things...but here goes.

1. when watching tv or listening to music in the car or on anything that has number levels attached to the volume, the volume *must* be set on a multiple of 5. if it's not, it drives me slightly batty. i've gotten to the point where i can now keep the volume on even numbers, but i can't ever have the volume on a prime number. they bug me. i know...told ya. quirky.

2. some of my least favorite chores are unloading the dishwasher and putting away the clean laundry. i think it's because by that point i feel like i've already done so much to get those dishes and clothes clean and that extra last step just seems like so much extra work!

3. i'm really specific about paper and writing tools in different situations. my absolute favorite writing tool is the sharpie extra fine point marker. the newish sharpie pens are pretty awesome, too, but there is nothing like the flow of the marker, especially on cardstock. but, when i use either of those, it has to be on a single sheet, flat on a hard surface (preferably a table). same with if i'm writing with pencil. but, if i'm using a ball point pen or a gel pen, i have to have several sheets of paper under that one i'm actually writing on. otherwise, it doesn't feel right. (or *write*? ha!) and, i always, always have to have the cap on the bottom end of the pen, or the weight is thrown off. (do you feel better about your non-quirky self yet?)

4. i cry really easily during movies/tv shows/commericals. yes, commercials. especially ones with children or dogs. the jif commercials kill me. and have you seen that walmart commericial with the two sisters?! i don't even shop there and i was bawling at the end of the 20 second spot. it really embarasses the hubs. once, we were watching hachi and i lost it. i cried so hard i couldn't see and the hubs and the friends we were watching it with were laughing so hard at me they couldn't concentrate on the movie any more. thankfully, my sister is also exactly like this, so when we're together, we cancel each other out. or enhance the embarassment factor by 500.

5. i went to a women's college. no, we didn't have nightly pillow fights in our cute pajamas. we did, however, sometimes go to class in our gnarly pajama pants, but that's another story. while i mostly enjoyed my collegiate experience, there are times when i wish i had gone to a larger school with a big sports program. i feel a bit left out during college football and basketball seasons and wish i had a fight song to sing. somehow, "gaudeamus igitur" just doesn't cut it. but, alas, it is what it is, so stomp your feet and sing it with me, smithies, "vivat academia!"

6. have you seen the sh*t girls say videos? they are hilarious and sadly so very true. in fact, i'm guilty of saying so many of those lines verbatim without even thinking. my greatest repeat offenses? "so good, right?" (almost always referring to food) and "i can't believe i ate all that." you can see where my interests lie. :)

7. i love ice cream and i love yogurt and i love cheese, but i hate milk. so i can't really blame choi boy for hating it, too. have you seen that "got milk?" commericial with angie harmon where she tells everyone that statistics show that children whose moms drink milk are 534 times (or some other ridiculous number) more likely to enjoy and drink milk, too? makes me feel all sorts of guilty and convicted. but still not drinking any milk. blech.

and now to pass on the award to 15ish friends:
kelly @ jon an kelly + max
elizabeth @ everyday the wonderful happens
melissa @ life as a lewis
sue @ all accounted four
nora @ ideas. i have them.
tina @ tina's xanga
tina @ a new song
joanna @ waiting for two
courtney @ it's how you live
pix @ cheese curds and kimchi

and because i would never hear the end of it from my sister if i made this all about me (it's not all about me??) and didn't include pics of cb, here ya go:

eating cookies outside on a spring-like day

giggles upon giggles (and not drinking milk)!

hard at work eating a "sammitch"!

and look, tippy eemo, i'm even inlcuding a bonus video, just for you. :)

this and that.

2012-01-02T20:23:00.011-05:00

happy new year, friends! i hope your 2012 is off to a fabulous and blessed start! :)

i still need to post about our first family day celebration, but i really want to put together a slideshow and somehow, being on break did not motivate me as much (or at all) as i thought it would...happens every time! ;) i'm giving myself til the end of the week...so we'll see if there'll actually be a slideshow at all. ha!

anyway, here are some tidbits and happenings that i meant to blog about, but never got around to...so here they are smushed into one long post. apologies. for the length and the randomness that is about to go down.

in december, we went to two different light shows.

the first was a light show/winter carnival and we went with our future in-laws. thankfully, the kiddos are at the age when they are just as happy to watch instead of do.

goodness, i hope that stage lasts a while longer. $5 per person to ride a ferris wheel?? no thank you.

but really, the kids were really very excited to take in the sights -- want to see photos of two very enthralled kiddos and one chill infant wondering what's going on?
k.

the wide-eyed stares and open mouth gape crack me up.

the adults were more jazzed about this:

and this:

why, yes, that is a foot-long corn dog. and yes, it is just as marvelous and disgusting as it sounds. :)

my college friend, rosette, came into town and we headed to zoo lights, which was mostly kinda lame, but free, so there's that.

choi boy did enjoy the train set up, though.

a lot.
there's that open-mouth gape again! (and some snot, too, apparently.)

oh, and there was this, too.

mischief maker at his best. sigh.
(photo courtesy of rosette!)

we had a little christmas get-together with some AP friends, and though i didn't get any pictures (too busy keeping track of a certain someone!), shawna sent me some great ones of gabe and cb. and i was bored, so i did this:

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

and this:

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

the guy hug and release cracks me up!

cb got another haircut, though i'm not sure how i feel about this one.

i'm not actually sure what he thinks about this one, either.
he also startled me a bit with his freakishly good memory by replying to my "do you want to get a haircut?" with "and watch dora and eat lollipop?"
hi. the last time we went to cartoon cuts was JULY. and he didn't even know who dora was then! he somehow remembered watching dora and then processed who it was, even though he only recently started naming her. children's brains amaze me.

my bosom friend (what's up, anne of green gable fans!), sylvia, came by for a visit, too.

love that girl. she made my sophomore-senior years in college SO fun. :)

we spent nap time doing an improptu mani sesh:

(instagram friends, sorry for shoving my glittery nails in your faces AGAIN.)
we also vegged out and laughed over hilarious blogs and lots and lots of youtube videos like we usually end up doing...have you seen this one or this one? i die.

the hubs and i rang in the new year with our great friends while our little miracle babies slept soundly upstairs.

somehow, i ended up taking pictures of only the food we ate.

don't worry, we kept it classy:

those would be loaded chilli cheese fries. that were inhaled.

we did manage to stay up and toast to the new year together:

new year's day is one of my favorite holidays because it's one of the few holidays where our family really incorporates korean traditions by doing saebae and eating ddukgook. love it.

cb donned his hanbok (the one his foster mom bought him for his first birthday -- it still fits!) and practiced his "새해 복 많이 받으세요"

and when it came time to actually do saebae, cb was so good, he was lightning fast.

:)

tomorrow brings us back to our "normal." which i'm actually quite thankful for. not gonna lie, this week was a bit tough. between all the holiday excitement and extra attention our boy had showered on him by our family, cb has come to the rude awakening that not every day is a holiday and that he can't always get what he wants. life lessons, i tell you. it will be really good for him to get back into his routine and hang out with his buddies at "school." oh, and he's also managed to perfect the art of tantrum throwing. in public. epic. love him like crazycakes, but dude can scream.

other than that, our 2012 is off to a great start!

no, really! :)

happy work week, friends!

small style {what i got for christmas edition}.

2011-12-29T08:04:00.004-05:00

the other day, we were at a party for a certain sweet girl we know and love. the mommas were oohing and ahhing over all the pretty little things she received and remarked that little boys never receive clothes as gifts. i sheepishly and quietly replied that mine does. a lot a lot a lot. ;)

people will often comment on choi boy's wardrobe and hint at the fact that i must spend a fortune on his clothes. the truth is, i don't. anything i buy is either from target (and usually on sale) or on clearance elsewhere. truly, most of cb's clothes were gifted to him, and on any given day, cb is wearing at least one article of clothing that was bought for him by his doting aunts, grandmas and great aunts. i guess that's what happens when you are the first grandchild in a family of women who love to shop!

take for example, cb's christmas outfit...every part of it was given to him either as a christmas present or from earlier in the year. wait, i did by the christmas socks he was wearing that day -- from the dollar spot, no less -- holla! but they were shed before they could make an appearance in these photos:

the outerwear:

reversible hooded lightweight puffer jacket: northface (gift from my mom)
boots: toddler uggs (gift from my aunt) -- note, *i* don't even have a pair of uggs! i am a proud owner of fuggs, thankyouverymuch.
straight fit jeans: baby gap (gift from my sister last christmas)

do i think it's ridiculous that a 2 year-old has a northface jacket *and* uggs? yup.
do i also think it's super sweet that his grandma and great aunt want to spoil him with clothes they think look adorable on him? totally.

and underneath:

striped shawl-neck sweater with toggle button: zara kids (gift from my sister this christmas -- she found it on my pinterest boards -- my sister rocks!)
navy t-shirt: h&m kids (gift from my mom last spring)

and lest these pictures make you think cb is a total divo (who looks to be about SEVEN years-old in these shots!!!), here's what he looked like most of the time i was trying to snap pictures. ;)

sillyhead!

linking up with morgan at mama loves papa again!

christmas recap.

2011-12-26T16:10:00.003-05:00

hello, there. :) i hope you had a wonderful christmas!

we were home last christmas, but newly home and jet-lagged and a bit shell-shocked at this whole insta-parents thing as we adjusted to our new lives together.

this christmas, we took full advantage of the fact that our boy had a (semi) understanding of what was going on and knew and loved everyone that surrounded him on this very special holiday. we also took a lot a lot of pictures...sorry. this is gonna be a long one! ;)

because of the craziness with church on sunday morning, we decided to do the bulk of our family celebration on christmas eve this year. my parents (who live 20 minutes away) requested that we pretty please sleep over on friday night so they could soak up every ounce of the day with choi boy. of course, we happily obliged and loved watching cb relish our sleepover at hahmee and hahbee's.

we started christmas eve morning with presents before the rest of our extended family came over. choi boy was very happy about this and tried to charm his way into opening them before anyone else was ready.

once we started, cb was just as excited about the giving as the receiving.

especially when the giving included calendars filled with pics of cb from january to december!

there was knitted goodness,

lots of kisses,

and a train from eemo that gave cb a preview of what was to come on christmas morning.

once the train was out, there was no concentrating on anything else. my sister also gave cb some super cute clothes, but really, he couldn't be bothered with them. not when there was percy to play with!

there were also some laughs,

(i get a present from "santa" every year. and quite suspiciously, he has the same exact handwriting as my momma.)

and even some tears.

we gave my sister a necklace engraved with "tippy" -- her name is tiffany, but cb can't say it and has called her tippy eemo since he started saying her name.

she loved it. :)

was someone exhausted from all the presents?

oh, no. someone just wanted to have some quiet play with percy, all by himself.

silly boy!

later on, my cousins and uncles and aunts came over,

(love my family!)

and the first thing cb wanted to do was to show off his new toy. of course!

thankfully, he was some very sweet and loving uncles that were only happy to play.

cb tore himself away from his train long enough to pass out his gifts for his uncles and aunts,

in customized bags, no less!

and even opened a few more gifts for himself, too.

note: we did *not* tell him to pose with his hands in his pockets. he is just *that* much of a ham. ;)

we enjoyed a delicious christmas eve dinner prepared by my dad and uncle (with some help from my sister -- parmesean crusted brussel sprouts -- holla!):

corned beef, salmon, mashed potatoes with kale...yes, a very traditional korean christmas dinner. ;)

and right after dinner, guess what cb went right back to...

yup.

this time, he enlisted help from his hahbee and great uncle, who went all out and constructed tunnels and overpasses out of little boxes and containers!

soon, cb was changed into his christmas jammies and left in the care of his grandparents and two sets of great uncles and aunts while the young folk (uh huh, i'm included in that!) headed out to the movies.

we returned to my parents house to stories of choi boy drinking "wine" (sparkling grape juice...why my parents had that on hand, i don't know) and toasting cheers while chomping on lots dried squid. apparently, he was quite entertaining. :) we scooped up our sleeping boy and headed back home to prepare for christmas morning.

we (and by "we," i mean the hubs) sleepily set up choi boy's big present...

and the whole time we were giggling like school children imagining cb's reaction in the morning.

he did not disappoint.

(even in his hodge podge red and green "jammies" since he peed through his santa ones...i blame it on all the sparkling grape juice.)

cb just kept repeating excitedly, "choo choo chains! chains!!!" and loved discovering his new table and some extra special trains (and an awesome mickey mouse clubhouse book -- with sounds!) from his grandparents in wisconsin.

cb also very much enjoyed a super cool toy shopping cart and some awesome wooden cut-apart food from his gomo and uncle jake.

so blessed and loved that boy is...:)

and i scored something pretty sweet, too. the perfect "mommy" necklace that isn't overtly a mommy necklace:

a momma bird, a baby bird, and a letter c.
my hubs is the best. and he *may* have had some help. ;)

phew! told ya that would be long :)

we hope your christmas was super fun, too!

joy to the world!

2011-12-24T11:56:00.007-05:00

wishing you peace and JOY,

and celebrating all the wonder of the season!

christmas blessings to you and yours...

love to you,

chois-r-us

the day we came home.

2011-12-20T00:02:00.000-05:00

a year ago today, we came home from korea as a family of three... :)

after choi boy was placed in our arms {forever}, we had one final day in seoul. the hubs was sick with a nasty travel bug and it was seriously cold outside, so we kept things low key, though we did venture out for a bit to get one more good look at seoul.

we ogled over more street food,

walked around,

and were so excited about being out and about with our son (!!) that we ended up taking the same picture

again,

and again,

and AGAIN.

and i didn't even realize it until i was looking through all the pictures for these posts! ;)
excited much? oh yes.

we also tried to meet up with a friend here,

but even this third attempt failed us! it turns out it's awfully hard to try and meet up with someone in an unfamiliar, foreign city without the help of cell phones! thankfully, we did have a chance to finally meet up this summer stateside. :)

before we knew it, our week in seoul came to an end. we packed up all our things, trying our best to keep track of the new toys and tiny articles of clothing that would be accompanying us home.

we said our goodbyes to my uncles and aunts and cousins who were sad to see the newest addition to their extended family go. remarkably, this little guy made his way into everyone's hearts overnight.

:)

at the airport, we waited with excited anticipation about heading home and truly starting our lives together on our own turf. unfortunately, we had to wait longer than expected as our flight was delayed for 4 hours due to some fog. but, at that point, we were so used to waiting, a few hours hardly made a difference. ;)

besides, cb was such a trooper and charmed just about everyone.

and the impromptu nap on my shoulder didn't hurt, either. :)

we finally boarded another pretty blue plane and began the 15-hour journey home. again, choi boy was a total trooper and even managed to sleep snuggled into the baby bassinet, totally pushing it with the size limit!

(bulkhead seating = amahhzing.)

and soon enough, we were home.

and i tell you, there is nothing like walking through the international arrivals doors as a proud family of three to the roars and cheers of your family and close friends. such sweetness.

and cb? he managed to make a fantastic first impression with his sleepy smiles and giggles.

the balloons might have helped. just a little. ;)

and then it was time to really go home. and settle in.
and just be.
together.

at last.

thanks lots for walking down memory lane with us...it's been so fun to look back and remember our time in korea last year, especially while following my friend, sue, and her family who are currently there (like, right now!) picking up their second son. :)

so thankful for this amazing year, and i can't believe how fast it's flown by...thanks for all the encouragement and love along the way!

xoxo.

the day we became so happy together.

2011-12-17T16:03:00.001-05:00

two days after first meeting choi boy, we headed back to the agency to pick up cb. forever. :)

when i first shared about this last year, we were still a little shocked and processing the fact that we had truly become parents to a 15 month-old. here are a few more details about how the day went down...

cb and his foster mom and his foster sister were already at the agency, taking care of cb's pre-flight report and finally well baby check. we were ushered into the playroom, where we were greeted by this cutie pie:

again, the attempts at eating a christmas ornament because he thought it was fruit = major indicator that our little guy was quite the eater. :)

cb and his appa got busy playing with the toys, especially in the play kitchen.

meanwhile, i tried to ask as many questions and write as many answers as i could. but i couldn't help but sneak in a few hugs here and there!

before we knew it, it was time for our send-off. it was definitely bittersweet to say our goodbyes to cb's amazing foster family. we hugged and prayed and promised to keep in touch.

soon enough, we were in my aunt's car, driving away with an unfazed choi boy, who was munching away on a large bag of shrimp chips. ;)

i love that last picture. it's classic cb. and i love that i know that now!

amazingly, cb was quite comfortable with us from the start and seemed to be pretty much at ease about leaving with us and hanging out with us at my aunt and uncle's.

though we did see some grieving when we were settling cb down for a nap and again at bedtime, for the most part, he was pleasant and lots of fun. :) as crazy as it might sound, i think that because he was a little bit older (15 months), he had a bit of an understanding of what was going on. and i also think his foster mother prepped him for a long time about who we were. i know, it sounds bananas, but it just felt like...somehow...he knew.

we spent that first day just being *together* and getting to know our boy. we watched some (clearly riveting) korean television,

read some books (to a clearly riveted toddler),

played with my aunt and uncle's crazy dogs,

who *really* were riveting! ...and i'll stop using that word now. ;)

gave our water-loving boy a bath,

and cleaned.

an obvious choice for a bonding activity, i know.

at the end of that first day, we put our boy to bed. he cried and was sad at the loss of his foster family, but he let us comfort him and fell asleep in my arms.

as we lied down next to him, we marveled at the fact that we were his umma and appa and thanked Jesus that we would have the joy and privilege of raising him.

today, 365 days later, we celebrated our first family day. and every day since then, we have continued to marvel that we are the ones that are choi boy's umma and appa. and we continue thank Jesus daily that we have the joy and privilege of raising him.

happy family day, cb. we love you with all our hearts.

the day we built this city.

2011-12-16T06:02:00.000-05:00

okay, we didn't really build seoul.

but, the starship classic goes with my song-titled posts, you know?

was anyone even getting that?
no?
just me being a nerd? probs.

any.way. after we had our meeting with choi boy, we took advantage of the remaining day and a half we had on our own since we would be picking up choi boy before the weekend.

i never managed to post our pictures from traipsing around seoul. my mind was slightly occupied at this time last year. :) so, here's what we were up to last year when we weren't hanging out with our little man...

first things first...what's a girl to do after meeting her son for the first time and seeing how small he is?

go shopping, of course!

my aunt took us to itaewon and dongdaemun where we marveled at the stacks and stacks and stacks of STUFF and tried to get our serious shop on, looking especially for some cute digs for cb, who didn't look like he would fit into most of the clothes we brought with us from home.

we also saw some random signage in english, including this gem:

crazy, right? not even sure what it was for...perhaps "peter choi" is synonymous with "calvin klein" in korea?

what we were *really* interested in, though, was the street food. YUM.

seriously. watering at the mouth right now remembering this. i wonder if visitors to the US find our street food as enticing and yummilicious?
somehow, i think not.

for dinner, my uncle and aunt took us to this tiny restaurant near one of the mountains in seoul and we feasted on the yummiest sahm-gyup-sal we've ever had.

p.s. sahm-gyup-sal = pork butt. delicious, right? ;)

our gracious hosts for the week, my uncle (who looks so much like my dad!) and aunt:

the next morning, we booked our day with back to back meet ups with several of our friends that live in korea. it was such fun to reconnect with our friends and share part of this incredibly special trip with them.

first, we had coffee and cupcakes with cynthia, my college bud, who bought choi boy his adorable puppy and bear pajama sets.

she also took us to an awesome multi-level book shop where we loved finding translations of some of our favorite books,

and giggled like little kids over some new literary discoveries:

why, yes, that would be a book entitled, "ddong" or "poop" -- it's a story about a piece poop that starts out sad and lonely only find redemption and acceptance in becoming fertilizer. and yes, we bought it. at the hubs' insistence.

next, we met up with mike, the hubs' close friend, and his family for more coffee and other yumminess.

what is it about coffee in korea? so good!

and finally, we capped off our fun day with our friend, debbie,

who took us out for this:

be still my stomach.

we were totally wiped out after packing our free day, but we were so glad that we were able to take full advantage of our short visit to seoul. though we really didn't get to do much sightseeing, we couldn't be upset because we knew it was because we were getting our boy sooner and we also knew we'd back. someday. :)

the day we met our beautiful boy.

2011-12-15T00:00:00.001-05:00

a year ago today, we met our beauitful boy for the very first time...

after we flew into seoul and landed, we went to my aunt's house for dinner and took a quick driving tour around the city. at this point, we were deliriously tired and could barely keep our eyes open. so my aunt (my dad's older sister) dropped us off at my uncle's (my dad's older brother) house.

we fell into bed and thankfully, despite all the jitters and anticipation about finally (!!!) meeting our son, we managed to get a solid night of sleep.

the next morning, we woke up and could barely contain our excited energy. by then it was actually two days after we had initially left -- those time zones and time changes are SO trippy. it's one of those things that if i think about too much, it makes my brain hurt and feel like it's about to explode...but, i digress.

after ~~putzing around~~ ~~wasting time~~ enjoying one of our last few mornings sans children, we made our way to our agency.

we waited for our social worker in the lobby and before she could come find us, in walked a familiar face, uhboobah style!

it was completely surreal to finally see this little guy in person after months and months of staring at and memorizing every picture we had of him.

choi boy and his foster mom were scooted away to take care of some things before our official meeting and we were escorted into a room to fill out some paperwork. as we crossed our t's and dotted our i's, we took a moment to soak it all in. it was amazing to know that so many of our friends had been in the very same building picking up their little ones before us...

i loved this sweet reminder of that!

finally, finally, FINALLY, it was time to have our meeting with cb and his foster mom. the playroom was unavailable, so we settled ourselves into a conference room and got to know our boy.

who happened to be so very snazzily dressed in his little track suit and "scarf of flames" as my friend, sylvie, so aptly named his bandana. :)

cb didn't mind one bit that there weren't very many toys to play with. instead, he was super excited about the yogurt his foster mom gave us to feed him.

like, super excited.

and the puffs we brought with us were quite a hit, too!

looking back, this was our first indicator that food was a way to our boy's heart. :) something we would continue to see, and still do see, a year later!

we chatted with our social worker and choi boy's foster mom here and there, but mostly, we just hung out with our little man and enjoyed getting to know him and his sweet personality. it was incredible to finally be able to interact with choi boy and see him and hear him and hug him and hold him and even...smell him. (y'all get me on that, right?) cb was as charming as ever, and had no fears about engaging with us and letting us play with him. i'm sure the food had a lot to do with that, but still. ;)

he even showed us many of his now famous faces...

and it's amazing that i can look back on these pictures now, a year later, and *know* what those faces are. what they mean. and it's even more amazing that i get to see those same silly and sweet faces daily and that they are often for me...even the stink eye. :)

not surprisingly, our meeting with cb flew by and soon it was time to say our see-ya-laters...surprisingly, as i first remarked last year, there were no tears from any of us (even me!). i think we were just so over-the-moon thrilled and filled with joy that we couldn't wipe those silly grins off our faces.

and to know that in just 2 short days, we would look like this permanently sealed those grins even more.

:)

happy meet-iversary, cb!

the day we were leaving on a jet plane.

2011-12-13T05:45:00.003-05:00

a year ago today, we counted and double checked our bags,

(and our living room has never looked so clean and uncluttered since...)

headed to the airport,

(where my momma worked her magic with the airlines and managed to secure our seats in a row of three where the third seat was not booked -- holla!)

and boarded a big blue plane.

destination: seoul, south korea.

mission: picking up our son!

i remember us being so super duper out-of-control excited but trying our best to get some rest before a)having our days and nights completely flip flopped with the time change and b)picking up a toddler that would surely add to the flip flopping! we managed to sleep a bit, but korean airlines is so stinkin' fabulous, we were up watching movies and tv shows and enjoying the plentiful yummy, yummy food that kept coming our way. :)

complimentary wine? on a 15 hour flight? why, yes, please!

4 movies, 2 naps, 1 book, and a 13-hour time difference later, we began our descent down to the land of the morning calm.

we touched down and got our first real glimpse of korean soil, from where our families and choi boy had come. after ten long months of waiting, it was incredible to know that we were in the same country, the same city as our boy.

we deplaned, and headed off to meet my aunt, ready to {finally} start this new adventure!

notice how much grosser and more exhausted we look as compared to our pre-flight picture. was it a foreshadowing of the decline in our youthful looks after becoming parents?

absolutely.

did we care?

not really. :)

up next, reliving the day we met our son!

what a difference a year makes!

2011-12-09T00:30:00.001-05:00

a year ago today, we got the {travel} call that changed our lives and rocketed us ahead to finally becoming a for-real-in-the-flesh family of 3!

it's still crazy to believe that we have had the joy of parenting choi boy for nearly a year...and what an incredible year it's been!

over the next few days, i'll be celebrating our little anniversaries and reliving parts of our trip to korea -- since i never posted about non-CB parts of the trip anyway! :)

come stroll with us down memory lane!

so thankful to be able celebrate with this little guy :)

ellie fun day.

2011-12-05T21:45:00.005-05:00

i want to take a moment to share about some amazing friends of ours. sarah and elton recently started a new venture called ellie fun day. rather than try and explain things in my own words (inevitably messing something up!), here's their mission and their heart in their own words:

Ellie Fun Day designs baby blankets that change the lives of marginalized women in India. Our vision is to design a beautiful baby blanket made by Untouchable-caste women, in hopes of providing a fair wage and dignified living for many who are susceptible to human trafficking.

OUR PASSION is designing beautifully luxurious baby blankets
made with natural and/or organic materials.

OUR CHALLENGE is providing a fair wage and a dignified living
by employing marginalized and under-resourced women.

OUR HEART is to change the world one blankie at a time.

VALUES

People // Every life is precious.

Design // Good design empowers change.

Love // Actions rooted in love change the world.

Respect // For both people and the planet.

so cool, right?! i asked sarah if there was anything we could do to help spread the word and she wanted me to let you all know that they are holding a fundraising campaign on indiegogo (go check it out!) and they are also currently hosting a giveaway on their blog.

will you show them some love and enter the awesome giveaway?

and while you're there, take a moment and read about their story. i know it will touch your heart as much as it does mine. :)

hot dog!

2011-12-04T21:49:00.003-05:00

if you really think about it, mickey mouse and all his pals are a wee bit strange.

first of all, mickey and minnie really look nothing like mice. and how come none of the characters are proportional to each other (with respect to the animals they're supposed to be), but chip and dale are actually tiny? and what's up with pluto and goofy both being dogs but pluto acting like a dog and goofy acting...well, goofy? and don't even get me started on the donald duck and no pants situation.

but you know what?

those weirdos sure bring a whole lot of joy to my little boy.

i mean, just look at him breakin' it down to the hot dog song!

love it!

just love it.

and apologies for making you also watch cb's lame background dancer.

;)

instafriday.

2011-12-02T00:05:00.001-05:00

i'm really trying to post more than just an instafriday post and one other random post each week...really, i am! it's just that instafriday posts are so easy! and so convenient to do a big friday phone photo dump. ;)

so, here we go again!

from real simple magazine:

i've seen these around and i still can't decide how i feel about them. they are equal parts intriguing, hilarious, and freaky. the hubs on the other hand, wants one. for himself.

choi boy channels his inner spiderman!

my cousin came and stayed with us over thanksgiving break. she is a senior at NYU tisch majoring in film and animation and she is super talented. she was playing legos with choi boy and in about two seconds, whipped up these cool dudes:

don't they look like the rock 'em sock 'em robots??

cb LOVED them. and then properly and predictably destroyed them within in 20 minutes.
which is sad because his parents will probably never be able to create something as cool.
unless towers are considered cool.
i'm really good at towers.

at open play at a kids' gym:

discovery table filled with giant pompoms, clear tubes, and small measuring cups = genius and so much fun!

jumping off the teeter totter without warning your buddy?

= not cool. sorry, B!

best dinnertime ~~bribe~~ motivator.

best adult product copy-cat'ed from a kids product.
that is, until they make twinkle toes in grown-up sizes!
i kid.
maybe.

getting creative with eemo while waiting for our food:

also, teenage mutant ninja turtle in training.

mini piper has been choi boy's lovey since we sent her over to korea in his first birthday package. the fact that she has traveled to korea ahead of us to our boy and then back home with all of us makes her extra special. we even had to get a back-up travel mini (that leaves the house with him) so we wouldn't lose OG mini.
my mom, being very thoughtful and sweet, bought an even smaller stuffed black lab thinking cb could just carry that one around and that it could even fit in his jacket pocket if he needed to stash her away.

mini, meet tiny.
:)

unfortunately, though, it didn't work and now cb insists on carrying around mini *and* tiny. oh well. ;)

here are mini piper and tiny piper with their namesake.

as you can see, the stink eye prevails!

and lastly, what might be my favorite instagram pic ever:

:)
i'm just going to pretend that whole sitch is all about his love of books and reading rather than his love of tractors and trucks. mmmk?

happy friday!

click on over to link up! and while you're there, check out jeannett's fundraiser for sweet xander!

a letter.

2011-11-30T00:01:00.005-05:00

dear choi boy,

we are quickly approaching the lasts of our annual firsts. we just celebrated our first thanksgiving together and in just two weeks, we will celebrate our first family day. and just a few days after that, we will celebrate our *second* christmas together. it's amazing how quickly these last 11 and a half months have flown by!

today is the last day of november. it is a month that is filled with intentional gratitude, and it also happens to be national adoption month. bearing those two things in mind, i would be remiss not to write something that addresses the immense gratitude that we have surrounding the story of how we came to be a family.

the other day, i was walking piper and reflecting on our thanksgiving. tears filled my eyes and streamed down my face as i thought about how incredibly blessed we are to have you in our lives. you have brought us, all of us, SO much joy. daily. and then i laughed because i am sure anyone that walked by me thought i was nutty, but then again, laughter is another gift you've brought us. :)

adoption is not perfect. in fact, in a perfect world, adoption would not exist. in a perfect world, there would be no sorrow, there would be no pain. there would be no infertility and there would be no circumstances that would cause birthparents to choose adoption. but the fact is, all those things *do* exist. and in all its brokenness, and in all *our* brokenness, adoption, and God's plan for it in our lives, brought us together.

whenever someone thanks us or admires us for "saving" you from "a lesser life," i cringe. because we will never ever be able to know or measure that. and that is not why we began our journey. though i felt my heartstrings tugged by adoption long ago (before i was even anywhere near mothering age), in many ways, i feel like our journey to you was selfish. appa and i needed you and we missed you.

on top of that, i *know* the Lord used you to bring us healing. to heal us from heartache and uncertainty. to remind us of the joy that surrounds each new day; the joy that we often refused to see in those long months spent waiting for you. to show us how to marvel and wonder and give thanks for even the littlest of things. to make us laugh and smile every single day of our life together.

there are days when i completely forget about the long and hard road we each took to get to each other. when i can't believe i haven't known you since forever because our hearts just seem so connected. and there are other days when i just look at you and pinch myself that you are really here. and that you are really ours. and every one of those days and every day in between, i am so thankful that your birthmother chose life and made a plan for your adoption. and every second of every day, i thank the Lord for bringing us together and making us a family.

cb, we love you SO much. so much more than we knew our hearts were capable of. and i know that right now, you love us about as deeply as your two year-old heart can. you probably don't understand all the intricacies of how our family came together. heck, sometimes i don't even understand it all. but i do know that we *are* family. no matter what, no matter how.

and i couldn't imagine it and wouldn't want it any other way. because any other way would mean that you would not be our son. and that's just something i can't bear to think.

that winky face kills me!

i am so blessed to be the one you call umma

and i am so blessed to know and witness your many faces.

i just love them all!

you are amazing. and we are so blessed.

love you to bits,
umma/mommy/and when you're feeling especially silly, "gaaaace!"

instafriday.

2011-11-25T21:50:00.005-05:00

hello, friends. :)

i hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving! we sure did and we are so grateful for our first thanksgiving with our sweet choi boy. :) but there's more to come on that next week.

for now, here's what we've been up to via some instagram goodness!

i managed to squeeze in some painting last week.
i'm classy and like to mix my paints on a paper plate. but, i'm in good company with lindsay. :)

i painted this for baby grant who turned one last saturday:

that song is extra special for both me and grant's momma. oh, and our boys, too. we think. ;)

grant's birthday party was at a farm.
so, naturally, cb had to don his overalls and gingham shirt.

he's really perfected the pensive farmhand look.

tina did an AMAZING job with the party and its super cute UP/balloons theme:

plus, we had lots of fun playing on the slides and structures and hanging out with the animals:

the birthday boy enjoyed a hayride into the sunset...

love that boy! happy birthday, grant! we had so much fun at your birthday bash!

we pulled out the christmas jammies early in the week. that's right, BEFORE thanksgiving.

oh, yes we did.
the firefighter hat completes the look, no?

another {different} jammies shot:

my own personal drummer boy. :)

speaking of jammies and such, the other night, i asked choi boy what book he wanted to read at bedtime. he responded, "pee pee book!" i told him he didn't have a pee pee book (and secretly prayed this was *not* an indicator that we need to begin potty training soon). but cb looked at me and said, "yes!" insistently and brought back this book, exclaiming, "pee pee poo poo book!"

i wonder what cb thinks this book is about...? and it probably confuses him even more when i cry every time we read this book about a toilet.

and speaking of toilets (wheee, i'm on a roll!), cb was "helping" me fold laundry when he grabbed something and ran away. when i caught up with him, here's how i found him:

yes, you would be correct in guessing that that was underwear on his head.
but, it's all good! it was clean!

finally found time to finish this book:

i want tina fey to be my BFF. if only liz lemon could be my friend, too.

cb was due for another haircut.

this time, he was a pro and sat {mostly} still thanks to the trusty lollipop that kept him occupied.

so, there's a korean spa/bathhouse not too far from us. and there are always several tour buses parked outside.

i can't believe people travel by tour group to hang out naked in a bathhouse. my mom loves it, but i can't bear (or bare - ha!) to hang out in my birthday suit (and see others in theirs), especially when i run the risk of running into a student's parent or church member or someone...::shudder::

even though my parents live 20 minutes away, we spent the night at their house on the day before thanksgiving. my dad really wanted some extra time with his favorite (okay, only) grandson. ;)
i never tire of seeing these two together.

they're like two peas in a pod. such sweetness.

but, what you don't see is the phone that they were intently staring at.

you see, cb had brought my dad his phone and pointed to it, saying, "red bird! red bird!" we were confused at first and it took us a minute to realize he was asking to play angry birds, knowing that hahbee has it on his phone and that it's not on mine or the hubs'.
nice.

thankgiving morning started with a pre-feast workout:

jillian michaels has nothing on choi boy.

besides, he was able to be guilt-free when he licked the leftover pumpkin cupcake batter right out of the mixing bowl.

choi boy thoroughly enjoyed his first american thankgiving.
but sadly, the thanksgiving meal did not escape his meal time escapades. some turkey and mashed potato ended up on the floor after a certain two year-old decided he was done. holiday or no holiday, a time-out followed.

but, i'm pretty sure that's not what they're supposed to look like...i only wish i snapped a photo when he was sitting there with my aunt's high-heels on his feet. clearly, we need to revisit the effectiveness of time-outs. ;)

choi boy, lately.

2011-11-21T21:00:00.003-05:00

since choi boy turned two, i haven't done monthly developmental type updates. actually, let's be honest. those 23-month haikus were pretty lame. so i guess i really stopped at 22 months before cb's big two. ;)

anyway, i feel like cb has changed and learned so much since turning 2 at the beginning of september, so for posterity's sake, i thought i'd post some tidbits and such about what cb is up to lately. really, this is more for our own journaling/baby book sake, so feel free to skip this one or just quickly look through the {insane amount of} pictures...ha ;)

here's what our little munchkin is doing/loving/learning:

*the talking continues to be non-stop and cb is all about asking, "this?" meaning "what's this?" all.the.time. and he quickly learns whatever word he's asked about, often surprising us with what he's learned from the other parent or from another adult. my favorite has to have been when we were out for dinner one night and cb handed me the yellow bottle and said, "here, umma, mustard!" random! he's also repeating everything we say, which is usually good...but the time i exclaimed, "oh, cr@p!" turned into a certain toddler repeating, "oh, trap!" all morning. ;) for the most part, his pronounciation is fairly decent, but he tends to eliminate some of those hard medial sounds, turning "mickey mouse" into "mee-eh mouse!" and "motorcycle" into "mo-UH-si-kul!" i love it. ;)

*choi boy has also (again from repeating us) learned some rather hilarious and adorable stock phrases. we often hear, "come on!," "guh gul, ahper!" (that would be "good girl, piper" for those of you that don't speak cb-ese), "sit down, peez!," "right dare!/right here!," "scoo me!" (after a burp or bahng-goo, natch), and my favorite, "oh my dosh!," which, according to cb, is what pete the cat says after he steps in blueberries. well, i suppose it does make sense...;)

*choi boy has recently started occasionally calling us "mommy" and "daddy" instead of umma and appa. and truly, i'm not sure how i feel about it! it's very sweet the way he says the words, really elongating the ending ("mommmeeeeee!"), but sometimes i don't realize he's talking about me! :)

*the mischief also continues...while choi boy remains sweet and friendly and outgoing, he is definitely one to test and push limits. that, coupled with his daredevil nature, makes for some SUPER fun moments when we are equal parts freaking out and trying to reprimand cb for jumping off the bed/climbing up the sink/jumping down the stairs/unrolling all the toilet paper and wrapping it around himself/running down a steep hill/unlocking and climbing up on the diswasher door and then emptying all the (dirty) untencils/eating playdoh/sliding down the bathtub, etc, etc, etc.
fun times, friends, fun times. :)

*sesame street continues to be a favorite for choi boy, but he's also got some serious love for a cheeky little monkey named george. mickey mouse and his gang have also won cb over. and cb can do a mean "hot dog" dance that rivals only the hubs' hot dog dance. i *will* get it on video one day, even if i have do go all hidden camera on my boys!

*like most two year-olds, curiosity seems to be a language in which choi boy is very fluent. anything and everything is interesting, and when i stop and wonder with him, my heart is so full. however, sometimes, my brain and mouth are at a loss for words because i don't know what all the things he is asking about are. i really need to brush up on my local fauna. ;)

*generally speaking, choi boy is very good-natured and agreeable, but there are certainly times when that two year-old's fight for autonomy gets the best of him. and he let's us know. fo sho. his current signature moves? that would be chucking whatever forbidden object is being taken away from him or screaming or running away, or sometimes, if we're *really* lucky, a perfect trifecta of all of the above...

...usually while wearing a seriously impish grin on his face.

*out of nowhere, choi boy has learned most of his colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, brown, white, and gray), some letters (C, G, M, H, O, B, and A), and can usually count to 10(ish). sometimes, cb tries to count higher and it goes something like this, "11, 14, 18, 14, 18, 14, 12, 15, 18, 14, 18..." it cracks me up! so cute. :) he also asks me to help him write his name and knows and calls out the first 3 letters. did i mention how much it melts my kindergarten teacher heart? oh, i did? my apologies, but seriously, my heart = big puddle of mush.

*cb has taken a liking to "singing". while he doesn't sing any actual songs quite yet, he can sing along with you (kinda). but when he sings on his own, most of his songs are some variation of "happy birthday". they usually go like this "happy dump truck! happy roller! happy digger!" or "happy candy! happy loll-pop! happy chockit!" you get the picture...i see grammy awards for songwriting in our future, i just know it.

*choi boy continues to love all sports, but he now also loves every single kind of transportation and construction vehicle. yes, friends, the love of the gargage truck (or, "ah-beej chuck!") has officially entered casa choi. as has the love of diggers, tractors, rollers, pick up trucks, buses, firetrucks, police cars, school buses, vans...no seriously, EVERY. SINGLE. KIND.
this frilly girly girl momma is learning the names of all those vehicles on the fly...sometimes, i still don't see the difference between a front loader and a little bulldozer. and is an excavator just the fancy name for a digger? or are those different, too? help! remember? my favorite color is glitter!

...aaand back to the fact that this post is all about cb, NOT me. ;)

*finally, one of my favorite daily moments with cb is at bedtime. after we read our books and say our prayers, we cuddle and cb tells us a story. usually, it goes something like this:
we say, "once upon a time there was..."
cb: "a koh-kee-rhee!" {elephant, in korean}
us: and the koh-kee-rhee was...
cb: playin'!
us: and then he...
cb: go seep!
us: and then he...
cb: wake up! goo mohneen!
us: and then what did he do?
cb: dance! baby dance, too!
us: there was a baby, too?
cb: yes! dancin'! mo' dancin'! the END!
pulitzer prize winning, no? i laughed, i cried, i got up and danced.

and there you have it. an entirely too long, crazy detailed post written by a potentially obsessive momma. ;)

what can i say? i just adore that crazy silly boy!

instafriday.

2011-11-17T21:02:00.005-05:00

why, hello, there, {almost} friday! i do love you so. :)

here's what we've been up to lately via instagram pics...

we celebrated my 31st birthday in style.

korean fried chicken and beer.
best. birthday. dinner. ever. EVER!

made even better by some fro yo, yo.

clearly, choi boy was very invested in this family photo.

you guys. my two year-old hates milk.
so, naturally, i bribe him to drink it.
"drink all your milk and i'll give you a muffin."

CHUG!
mother of the year awards can be addressed to grace choi. thank you.

cb has a major sweet tooth. but, the boy also loves brushing his teeth.

okay, so it's really because his toothpaste is sweet, too.
so, FAIL.

i secretly want these girls' pj's in a grown-up size.

perhaps not so secretly anymore.

much to my dismay, choi boy has developed an interest in thomas and his friends. i know, i know, they're great, but the eyes and non-moving-lips-while-they-talk kinda creep me out.
choi boy was gifted a super cute busy book with thomas and friends miniatures and he loves to play with them.

"play" meaning line them up, of course.

dude, all that play is hard work.

i got me some purple pants.
i love them.

but i kinda feel like i'm channeling willy wonka.
the gene wilder one, not the creepy johnny depp one, FYI.

choi boy has a love for older ladies.

and two of them doting on him at once? it's enough to get him to share his cocoa roasted almonds.
no, really, contrary to what this post might show, i do feed my child more than just sugar. plus, almonds = protein! see!

you know what's so neat? watching your kiddo "replay" some of the things you do with him. especially when they're of the sweet and non-running-out-of-patience kind. ;)

this is cb putting his baby to bed. he says, "cuddle, baby!" and tells the baby a story. :)

we went to our friends' daughter's birthday party last weekend. it was beautiful and fantastic.
katie balloons of the unpoppables fame was there.

she is very talented. but a little cray-cray.

that would be katie *in* a giant balloon.
doesn't she remind you of the mom from the incredibles in that shot?
crazy, i tell you.

cb is the only grandchild on my side of the family. he is MAJORLY adored and loved, but is also a source of serious entertainment.
and being the little ham that he is, cb eats it all up.

that would be a napkin tied around his head. anyone else humming, "matchmaker" from fiddler on the roof?
and dang it! another sweet in his mouth!

tonight, choi boy pulled out some paper and declared, "umma, homework!" and proceeded to get to work.

and what was said homework?

practicing his Cs.
oh, how my kindergarten teacher heart smiles.
:)

and lest you think i'm a wacky tiger mom, that lasted for about 90 seconds and was sandwiched between some serious running and jumping all around the house. love that boy and his multi-faceted awesomeness. ;)

share your pics, too! go link up!

happy birthday, eemo!

2011-11-13T22:11:00.004-05:00

today my sweet baby sister turns a quarter of a century. i can still vividly remember my 6 year-old self telling my mom to bring home a little girl as she and my dad left for the hospital on november 13, 1986. and i'm so glad she did. :)

actually, tonight, at my sister's birthday dinner, my parents brought up that story and i asked what they would have done if she was a boy. and true to his corny nature, my dad answered, "we would have dressed him up in pink!" ;)

my sister is of the funniest, craziest, most loveable people in the world. she is genuine and giving and such a blast to be around. i am so blessed to call her not only my sister, but also my friend. and to see her as choi boy's aunt just melts my heart. remarkably, they are cut from the same cloth and cb and all his hammy and goofy behavior remind me so much of my sister and the charming and sparkly mischief that pretty much defined her as a child. :) they are quite the pair!

earlier today, my sister came over and we went outside to snap some pictures of choi boy. and though you'll see lots more from this set in a later post, i had to share the ones of cb and his eemo sharing some sweetness.

aren't they just precious together?

happy birthday, tiff! so thankful for you and so grateful for who you are in our lives...looking forward to all the many adventures that lie ahead!

*ahem, please excuse piper...um, taking care of some business in that picture...;)

blog love. :)

2011-11-12T21:32:00.006-05:00

my sweet friend, christy, passed on a blog award to me, and since ~~my super lame saturday nights consist of staying home~~ i'm enjoying a relaxing night at home, i thought i'd pass it on.

:)

christy's family is currently waiting (with extreme patience and grace, i might add) for a referral from korea. they have been waiting for 16 months (SIXTEEN!!!) since their homestudy went to korea and we are all hoping to hear some very good news SOON. please go give her some encouragement as she waits!

here's how the award works:

The Liebster Award spotlights up and coming bloggers who generally have less than 200 followers. Upon receipt of the Liebster Award, there are a few very simple rules:
1. Copy and paste the award on your blog
2. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you
3. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
4. Hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

of course, i have a hard time narrowing it down, but i think i'm going to pass this one on to some friends that i haven't passed awards to in the past.

so, here we go!
1. heather at everyday evans
2. rachel at becomming ajumma
3. kim at kimbap umma
4. shirley at konglish baby
5. joy at simply joy

would you go show those ladies some blog love? :)

and, because a post seems just incomplete without a picture or mention of my little man, here he showing off a new favorite shirt (of mine). :)

my baby singing, "baby".

2011-11-07T21:31:00.005-05:00

i feel like i need to defend myself.

i can't believe this is my second post about the biebs.

i promise we don't sit around and rock out ("rock out" being a relative term) to his songs all day every day. for reals.

we do listen to the glee station a lot on my pandora, though. and whenever the glee version of "baby" came on, choi boy would get very excited. so, i pressed the little thumbs up button. and lo and behold, because i "liked" it, the original version of the song came up. and cb loved it even more. so thumbs-up'ed that one, too.

i know!

but it's so cute when cb sings along.

SO cute!

okay, you can go ahead and throw your music snob tomatoes at me now.

i promise, the next song choi boy learns to sing will be a ray lamontagne or U2 or beatles song.

no, seriously. how cute would it be to hear a two-year old sing, "trouble" or "the sweetest thing" or "blackbird"?

we'll work on it.

that would make up for this silly teeny bopper pop, right?

:)

instafriday. {travel and such}

2011-11-04T06:20:00.002-04:00

happy instafriday! :)

last friday, i flew solo with choi boy to milwaukee. for the most part, he was a total rockstar and was kept entertained. but, at one point, he found my phone and wanted desperately watch elmo videos, and explain as i may, he just couldn't understand the phrase, "airplane mode."

;)

one of the best parts of our quick weekend in wisconsin was hanging out with family. cb and cousin were reunited and started right back where they left off.

are they not the cutest?

we spent some time at the mall because it was COLD outside. that car and a bunch of other quarter-fed "rides" were the mall's way lame version of a play area.

okay, so it *did* make for some cute snaps. still lame.

we flew home on sunday (with the hubs this time -- holla!) and choi boy made himself comfy watching the "big eh-panes!".

he also burned off some pre-flight energy.

'twas much needed.

the flight home was not as rockstar-y, but we did manage to get some good giggles:

and dear me, frontier airlines, i love you and your warm chocolate chip cookies.

thank you for preventing (an even bigger) in-flight meltdown.

as soon as we got home, this is what cb did.

pantry pilfering.

my inbox hates me.
and the feeling is a tad mutual.

why is it that miniature versions of normal-sized things are so super cute?

and, does anyone else look at these pictures and see four wide-mouthed smiley faces?

i saw this and was very confused.

is anyone else outraged by this confusing message geared toward preschoolers? they are asking the kids to draw their favorite shape in the square when it is very clearly a rectangle!
okay, perhaps "outraged" is a tad mellodramatic.
but, really, the teacher in me is quite disappointed.

cb LOOOVES his hahbee (my dad). and his hahbee adores him.

and it melts my heart.
every. time.

this, on the other hand, does not melt my heart. for i am not a vampire.

sorry, that was a dorky attempt at a segue.
but, really, that was an evil jar of garlic that refused to open. and i bought it to make my life easier.
i *almost* considered smashing the jar, but then realized the kitchen reeking of garlic would not be cool. the hubs came to the rescue. yay! but, i kinda hate that. i am woman; hear me ~~roar~~ scream and swear at a jar!

want to know why cb is smirking?

and giggling?

that would be because this two year-old was shrieking, "eat poo poo! eat pee pee! eat bahng goo! ("fart" in korean, of course)"

really? bathroom humor starts *this* young?!
awe to the some.

come join the party!

small style {wedding edition}.

2011-11-03T06:21:00.003-04:00

last weekend, we went to wisconsin for the hubs' best friend's wedding.

um, how cute is it that boys (men) have best friends? ;)

we were so excited to celebrate HK & angela -- finally!!

of course, choi boy had to don some snazzy duds for the wedding, so i'm linking up with mama loves papa for small style again to show them off. natch. :)

the poor dude fell asleep on the way over to the church, so he slept through most of the ceremony and when he woke up, we headed straight to the baby room and cb wasn't much in the mood for pictures. but i took 'em anyway. mom of the year, right here. :)

the deets:
cardigan: h&m
pink oxford: gymboree
tie: crewcuts, gift from a family friend
cords: baby gap, gift from a sweet former yg student
shoes: tiny toms, gift from eemo
:)

of course, we gussied up for the wedding, too:

just kidding. we actually did manage to wear non-stained, grown-up clothes.
we were no match for choi boy's dapper style, but i'd say we cleaned up fairly decently!

look how handsome the hubs looks in his tux! :)

congrats again, HK and angela! we love you guys!

go link up with your little one's cool style!

the sheriff returns.

2011-11-01T06:43:00.002-04:00

while all of you were out there enjoying a carefree halloween, the sheriff was busy keeping a watchful eye on things, making sure everyone else was having a safe celebration.

truly, it is hard work, but the law never sleeps.

there are horses that need to be kept in line,

fire engines that need fixing,

and mommas that need to be charmed.

swoon!
:)

oh, but don't worry, the sheriff was able to sneak in a bit of fun, too...

because this sheriff is so skilled, he can multi-task.

it's all about the watchful shifty eyes.

hope y'all had a safe and happy halloween!

sidenote: halloween is such a weird holiday. we were super excited to celebrate choi boy's first halloween home, but cb was a bit alarmed looking around at all the costumes and i'm sure he thought we'd lost our minds when he realized we were allowing him to walk to random houses and take candy from strangers. so bizarre.

but the oddity of it all was nothing some candy couldn't make up for. ;)

one last stop. {two peas in a pod}

2011-10-30T19:56:00.001-04:00

okay, are y'all sick of seeing pictures from our weekend at deep creek lake? probs, right? we weren't even there 3 full days and yet, here i am on my third post! sheesh!

i promise this is the very last post.

these pictures just really warranted their very own post.

aren't you super excited for the time we go on a week long vacation? maybe i'll squeeze 10 posts outta that!

kidding.

kinda.

okay, no really, on to the post!

after we checked out of our little lake front cabin, we said goodbye to ben and liam and their families and made our way over to have one more adventure with gabe and his family. just a short drive away was swallow falls park, home to some beautiful waterfalls.

the boys were so funny because i'm pretty sure they thought we were all heading home after we said our goodbyes. so when we pulled into the parking lot and they saw each other, they were super excited and screamed, "haiiii!" choi boy loves gabe and squealed, "geeeebe! geeeebe!" again and again. so cute!

i mean, who wouldn't love that gabe! (i swear, gabe was standing on a tree root or something...i hope!)

the boys are so cute together and are quite like two peas in a pod...a good mix of silly and sweet with a touch of mischief (okay, really that's more cb) and lovers of sports and any sort of transportation vehicles, to boot! and what's cutest is that as they play, they break out into spontaneous hugs, too. love. it.

once we got to the park, we "hiked" through the paths and down to muddy creek falls where we could get really up close and personal with the water.

like, seriously (scarily) up close:

notice the hubs' tight grip on choi boy.

after a few too many close-calls and near heart attacks (okay, *i* nearly fell in), we headed back to grab a bite to eat back in town before we hit the road.

of course, before we could do that, the boys decided to take a pit stop at sillyville and giggle city.

"umma, running! running!"

they parked themselves on the ground and had a fit of giggles as they watched and tried to catch a daddy longlegs (and this scaredy cat momma pretended to think it was so cool):

after they had thoroughly "examined" (i.e. squished) the bug, we loaded our budding entomologists in the car and headed back into town for lunch.

we ended up eating at the soda fountain in the back of the town's antique shop. the sign for milkshakes lured us in and we are so glad we stopped in!

it was so quaint and just delightful...and not to mention yummy! can you ever go wrong with tater tots, cheese fries and milk shakes? i think not.

after scarfing down our lunch, we strolled through the town one more time and checked out the antique car show.

our cute little boys garnered some attention and were invited to climb into one of the (very cool) cars. very cool.

by then we had delayed nap time long enough, so we coaxed the now cranky 2 year-olds out of the antique cars and said our final goodbyes (with lots of hugs) to our pals.

and with that, we settled in for the long-ish ride home,

and drove off, back down through the mountains, waving farewell to the windmills and cows.

and this picture has nothing to do with anything, aside from the fact that it was taken that weekend, but i loved it too much not to post:

no more lake posts, i promise!

:)

insta-friday. {catch-up edition}

2011-10-28T06:02:00.002-04:00

it's been a while since i've joined up with jeannett for insta-friday, but if there is a teeny silver lining to choi boy being sick with bronchitis (boo! and blech!), it's having extra time to ~~waste~~ blog. ;) well, that and the extra cuddles and sweet time with my boy (which is actually a big, fat, glittery silver lining), of course!

here are some insta moments from the last couple weeks:

i went and got my hair did. perms have come a long way, my friends. all hail the super awesome korean pama. :)

see, a far cry from the crazy, tight curls of the 80s! though, slighly uncle-jesse-from-full-house-or-inigo-montoya-like...

my boy and i made my favorite fall treat...pumpkin chocolate chip muffins:

methinks he liked them.

it's not even (quite) halloween yet and there is christmas stuff EVERYwhere. don't get me wrong, i love the most wonderful time of the year. i'd just like to fully embrace and get used to fall first before winter is shoved in my face.
choi boy, on the other hand, is mesmerized by all the twinkle lights and upon seeing santa, decided he (whom cb is not even really aware of) needed a hug.

it was very sweet, but don't think i didn't have frightening visions of the entire display falling over and on top of cb. and those frightening visions were had as i snapped that picture. first things first! duh. ;)

choi boy really loves to "play" basketball. he has no less than three basketball hoops of varying sizes and no less than 6 different basketballs littered around the house. when all of those basketballs are nowhere to be found (which happens quite a bit, actually), cb will use anything as a substitute.

anything.

the other day, i was taking choi boy's shirt off so he could get into the bath. i had forgotten that i had put his nerd shirt on as an undershirt until i saw it peeking out under the two buttons i had undone. it was as though he was reverse superman, hiding his clark kent uniform under his super one. ;)

choi boy was my date to our school's international night...we went to see my kindergartners dance the merengue (they were SO. freaking. cute.), but when cb started to get a bit antsy, we escaped to my classroom to play for a bit. when we left, cb took a souvenir with him:

why, yes, that would be an asian man in a business suit driving that tractor. perhaps cb chose something to give us a glimpse into his dual career future? hmmm...

we met up with choi boy's noona again and headed over to a local pumpkin patch.
cb was *very* excited about the pumpkins!

no, really, he was excited. he was also interested in picking up every pumpkin he could. :)

of course, before we did anything else, we had to take a ride on the train!

cb and his noona braved the moon bounce slide,

checked out some goats,

(he tried to feed this pregnant one some rocks.)

and he even shared some precious popcorn with noona.

true love.

i'm back to playing words with friends after a short school-started-and-it's-crazy! hiatus.
looks like i need some brushing up:

although, in my defense, i use "gah!" as a way of expressing shock or disgust quite frequently. so there.

piper is so sweet and patient. i love her.

cb LOVES bathtime. i mean, looooooves. he could spend hours in the tub.
his latest bathtime antic is "swimming". he lays flat down on his back and kicks his arms and legs around, often singing because his voice sounds funny underwater. it's hilarious and awesome.

my mom is convinced he got sick from all the swimming, but the doctor said cb's ears were perfectly clear, thankyouverymuch.
;)

i may have found my newest snack obsession.

um, yes, that is a nearly empty bag almost finished during one sitting.
don't judge. they have 10g of whole grain in each serving!
so what if i ate 3 servings?!

my momma gave us a new humidifier for choi boy's room. it's korean and all sorts of fancy shmancy. it came with a handy manual written in both korean and english. and not surprisingly, it was chock full of some awesome engrish.
my favorite? the happy and angry humidifiers:

don't forget to use your humidifier "at the flat place," or it will be angry.

my boy is currently sleeping and sounding like darth vader. it's so sad and it makes my heart hurt when he has a coughing fit and is gasping for air. :( i hope the antibiotics work their magic soon soon soon.
but, in true cb-form, even a pesky illness can't get him down! except for his bouts of coughing, he is still his silly, wacky self, albeit with a crazy raspy voice.

the only difference? he's a lot more cuddly when he's sick.

which i don't mind.
not one bit.

four little boys.

2011-10-26T22:09:00.002-04:00

four little boys together can often be a recipe for total disaster. or major trouble. or incredible chaos.

in this case, it was a recipe for too much cuteness. :)

our little guys had a ton of fun hanging out and playing during our weekend away and got a kick out doing anything and everything together, be it inside or outside.

they jumped around in the leaves,

played {the most ridiculously adorable} game of catch,

no, seriously, how stinkin' cute are they?!

hung out with their appas,

played some hardcore ring-around-the-rosie:

sidenote: choi boy hasn't really played much ring-around-the-rosie before -- i've tried, but it isn't much fun just playing with your momma. the power of peer pressure got cb to willingly join in, but he had no idea what was going on during the "we all fall down" part and just watched as his buddies fell on the floor. and then, he'd try hard to help them up. hilarious!

the boys even got to enjoy a bonfire together, where they tried some new and intriguing treats:

what is this white blob?

seriously? i'm supposed to eat this? like a sandwich?
whatevs, there's chocolate in there. i saw it.

and finally, the boys were also totally in cahoots and each talked to their respective grown-ups to try and convince them that we needed to stay one extra night:

"mommy, you look gorgeous. this mountain air really suits you."

"if we stay one more night, you'll get to hang out longer with people over the age of 2!"

"daddy, don't you want to keep rocking our awesome matching hoodie look?"

"who cares about work, appa?"
it didn't quite work.
;)

but, even if their scheming didn't work, i am certain this won't be the last of our travels together!

so grateful for good friends and great times.

autumn glory.

2011-10-20T22:15:00.003-04:00

don't you just love autumn? the smell of crisp, {relatively} clean air; the gorgeous fall foliage; the cool, just-right temperatures; and let's be real because this is me talking here, the breaking out of cute fall clothes and shoes after a summer of wearing nothing but loose-fitting clothes and flip flops? *sigh* it's one of my favorite times of year.

to celebrate the season, last weekend, we went on a weekend getaway to beautiful deep creek lake in garrett county, maryland for their autumn glory festival. we joined our friends, ben, gabe, and liam and much, much fun was had by all. (as you will soon see by the no less that gajillion pictures i will be posting over a few days. apologies in advance.)

i tell ya, i think all we were all a bit skeptical at first, because in most equations, 8 adults + 4 two-year old boys + 2 dogs + 1 small cottage = scary, scary disaster, but in reality, the weekend was a smashing success. :)

we were greeted by the cutest little goody bags, put together by the sweet sandra:

how cute is that ghost?!

and choi boy was beyond thrilled at the prospect of spending an entire weekend with his buddies:

okay, seriously, how cute is that hug?!

after the kiddos went to bed, the parents caught up with each other and got some laughs and major WTHs out of finding this book in the cabin's library:

still not sure what it was about, but it sure had us giggling (in a this-is-so-bizarre-and-actually-a-book?? kinda way)! ;)

the next morning, we headed to town for the festival and parade. as we were driving in, we got a sneek peak at some of the parade floats and attractions...and a certain two year-old may or may not have been shrieking at the top of his lungs upon seeing such coolness:

the town itself was, in a word, charming. these are terrible pictures, but here is a glimpse into the adorableness of oakland.

i felt like we were transported back in time...or at least to stars hollow (gilmore girls fans, holla!). :)

we got the boys nestled into their cozy strollers (as demonstrated by sweet liam),

and walked around to take everything in.

of course, one cannot take in the sights on an empty stomach, so we opted for some light (haha!) festival food snacks:

corn dogs, funnel cake, fried oreos? yes, please!

after loading up on fried carbs and sugar, we walked over to the local volunteer fire department where the firefighters were so kind and let our gang of 2 year-olds take over their fire truck.

they. were. in. heaven.

and there were no less than 5 cameras going off simultaneously.

even piper got in on the action and auditioned for the role of firehouse dog. she turned it down, though. something about having to run a lot and keep up with the action. ;)

we walked around some more and found a tiny little playground that was precariously placed at the edge of a creek/lake finger thingy (um, hello, time to break out the toddler leash...just kidding, i don't have one. yet. still not judging, though if you do!). the mommas and daddies were a wee bit nervous (or at least i was and now i'm projecting my nervousness on them, too), but the boys thought the park was totally rad. but, at that point, they had been sitting in their strollers for over an hour, and i'm pretty sure they would have thought anything that involved being set free was totally rad. ;)

they played,

the giant bumblebee was obviously a big hit!

and climbed,

and let out their energy until it was time for the main attraction...

the parade!!!

gabe and choi boy had such fun watching from their daddies' shoulders and hollered and cheered and screamed and danced for the entire duration of the parade.

the daddies might have cheered a little, too.

;)

meanwhile, piper made herself comfy on the ground and nearly fell asleep.

see? not good firehouse dog material. at all.

we saw everything from baton twirlers,

to fun floats,

(LOVE operation christmas child!)

to bands,

to horses,

and tractors,

and everything else in between, including too many pretty pageant title holders to count! ;)

but to the boys and their pure hearts, the prettiest girls there were their mommas.

ha! i couldn't even type that with a straight face! although, i will say, gabe's momma is quite lovely! :)

it was such good, old-fashioned hometown fun and there was so much thought and love and care put into the parade and the entire festival. we got to talk to a few locals and they were so proud of their town and thanked us for coming and insisted we come back again soon.

and i sure hope we do! :)

home.

2011-10-17T20:58:00.001-04:00

last week, choi boy's adoption was finally finalized...yay! :)

our state does not have families come to court to finalize adoptions before a judge. instead, they send you a (not-very-fancy but so very-worth-it) letter which tells you that your child is officially and legally yours. !!! even though choi boy has been ours in our hearts from the moment we saw his adorable face, it was nice having the bigwigs sign and seal it and make it truly so. oh, happpy day!

since we don't have those cool pictures with a judge in his/her robes, i'll share this sweet cb snippet instead. almost as if on cue, cb started saying, "home!" last week. he recognizes when we are at the intersection before the turn to our house and cheers, "home! yay!" it's just the sweetest. and after waiting and waiting and waiting to have our boy home, it is literally music to our ears to hear cb talk about being home (even if he does still say his name all sorts of funky). :)

and just because i can, here are two more little videos of our sweet (official) son...

first some silly giggles and hat eating,

and then some chattin'.

please ignore the yucky gutteral sounds from cb's appa and cb's umma's annoying (and sick) voice.
:)

love that boy!

whatnot wednesday.

2011-10-12T21:53:00.002-04:00

why, hello there, whatnot. it's been a while. and yet, you've just been building and building in my already cluttered brain, so it's time to get some of you out. enjoy your short time in the spotlight, because i'm pretty darn sure there's more of where you came from still stuck in there.

*so, i've somehow ended up being subscribed to a lot a lot a lot of those daily deal email things. and i rarely buy any of the deals, but for whatever reason, i can't bring myself to unsubscribe. perhaps it's from fear of missing out on a truly ahhhmahzing deal or something. anyway, i'm always baffled by the number botox deals there seems to be. i'm talking at least one a week. are that many people really looking for deals on botox? and when they see those emails, do they think, "score! now i can get my botox for 65% off!"? it's just weird to find so many botox deals sprinkled amidst deals for gutter cleanings, restaurants, and canvas prints, you know? does anyone else find this shady and bizarre? no? just me?

*you know that trust game you play at those cheesy team-building retreat thingies? you know, the one where you fall backwards into a crowd of people that are waiting to catch you? or when you play with a partner and lean all your body weight back so they can support you? choi boy would *rock* at that game. he has total and absolute trust when it comes letting other support his body weight. in fact, he is rarely allowed to hold two grown-ups' hands simultaneously. because when he does, this happens:

cb pretty much just makes the adults holding his hands drag him around. that is, when he's not using the grown-up arms as trapeze bars.

*a few weeks ago, i found out firsthand that boys are truly better at spacial awareness and depth perception. check out this awesome bruise:

you shouldda seen the other guy!
just kidding. because the other guy was a stair railing.
yep, you read that right. i was turning a corner to head to the staff bathroom at school (the school that i've worked at for the past TEN years -- and i'm pretty sure i know the layout pretty darn well) and i didn't clear the turn. i completely misjudged the space (apparently, i think i'm a lot skinnier than i really i am!) and ran straight into the railing. yup, just me and my body. not me and a shopping cart or me and a stroller or me and my car. just me. sad.

*remember that scene in HP and the deathly hallows where hermione throws a hex on harry so he is unrecognizable to the snatchers? we had a kinda sorta similar experience the other week. we went in to scoop choi boy up from his crib after he hollered for us to come get him (it's actually super cute -- he wakes up, chats and sings to himself for a bit and then calls us over when he's ready to get up). well, when we saw him, we gasped because this is what we saw:

crazy! so swollen and almost unrecognizeable...poor little guy. :( after checking things out with the doctor, it turns out it was not, in fact, a hex or spell gone wrong, but we're pretty sure it was a new brand of milk we tried. of course, in true cb form, the hives did not bother him one bit (aside from being a bit itchy), and he continued to scream and shout and run and jump just as he normally would. except with a crazy puffy face. can't get him down!

*choi boy has been chattin' up a storm and trying new words all the time. as with any two year-old, he sometimes gets confused with the new words he's learning. my favorite confusion? cb confuses the word "your" or "yours" with "my" or "mine". it's rather hilarious and makes him sound like the most giving and selfless child ever. for example, if i pull out something he wants to eat, cb will come grab it and say, "yours! your apple!" or, if he's playing with some buddies and "working on" sharing his toys, he'll walk over and tell them "your ball! your car! yours! yours!"
so giving, right? that's my boy. ;)

*i've had my iphone for about 8 months and i still cannot properly type on the keyboard. and i promise i don't have crazy large, yeti thumbs. really. but the typing? it's absurd. and the (ridiculous) auto-correct makes my emails/texts/anything i type on my phone look and sound crazy.
proof:

i mean, come on!

got some whatnot you need to clear out of your head? go forth and link up with elizabeth!

pickin' apples.

2011-10-10T18:18:00.002-04:00

alternatively titled, "the obligatory fall outing wherein we pick fruit."

apple picking just oozes fall, doesn't it? i have such fond memories of going apple picking as a child. or rather, i have fond memories of the first hour or so of apple picking and then complaining about being tired and wanting to go home for the rest of the time. yes, sadly, i was *that* kid. ;)

a few weeks ago, we took choi boy on his inaugural apple picking trip and it did not disappoint. unlike his momma, cb could have picked apples all day long! we had such a blast picking apples and enjoying all the orchard had to offer...as you will soon see by the insane number of pictures i'll be posting. apologies in advance. ;)

we joined cb's ladyfriend's family for our outing, and you can bet there were many awesome photo ops of the two littles. right from the start, actually. :)

kate's baby brother showed us his own share of adorableness, too.

love him!

cb and kate enjoyed some play time before we headed out into the orchard.

the sandbox was a big hit!

as was this super cool airplane!

and unfortunately, so were these porta-potties.

cb saw them and excitedly shouted, "red house! red house!" not really, little dude.

after the porta-potty clarification, it was finally time to pick our apples. the hubs and i are not fans of warm or cooked fruit (sorry, pie lovers!), meaning our picked apples were going to be strictly for eating as is. so we opted for a small bag that cb insisted on carrying.

the excitement about that was (thankfully) greater than the porta-potty excitement.

as you can see, we wore our wellies to combat the wet and slightly muddy grass.

and also partially because they were super fun (and cute!) to stomp around in. ;)

and, we were off!

and once choi boy realized what we were doing, he was unstoppable!

cb and kate got into the groove together and even got some pickin' pointers from kate's pops.

and pretty soon, cb was giving his own pointers.

we tried to stop for some posed pictures, but our little guy was far too busy to stop.

"there are apples to be picked, appa!"

"that's right, appa, stay focused."

soon enough, cb realized that eating apples straight off the tree was much more fun than picking.

so he proceeded to eat apples.

a lot of apples.

so many apples we later paid for them in a stinky way.
sorry, that one was for beth. ;)

he couldn't even stop eating long enough to look at the camera for a family shot.

and then he was so busy eating, he photo bombed kate's family's (minus her daddy who was trying to find cell phone reception!) shot.

classy.

one might even say choi boy seemed a bit...intoxicated by them apples.

but i'll leave that up to you to decide.

after picking and eating, we headed back up to the market and play area and munched on some yummy apple donuts.

we also got to ride the cutest little barrel train that you ever did see!

cb wouldn't let me get in the car with him, but insisted that i also come, so i was the totally lame grown-up riding in a cow all by herself. i felt like tom hanks in that carnival scene in "you've got mail." complete with eyeroll from a child and all. ahem, cb. ;)

we had lots of fun riding around the farm and cb had a mild freak-out when he saw his latest obsession:

"coo bus!! coo bus!!!!!"

after a second ride, this time, sans lame umma,

we picked our pumpkin,

checked out some mums,

and called it a day.

a delicious day, actually.

:)

p.s. elizabeth asked about the instruments from this post. they are from the 'B' line at target, but i haven't seen them since the summer...they are fantastic, though, and i hope you find them!

come fly with me!

2011-10-07T22:17:00.003-04:00

okay, i'm just going to put it out there: i am stankin' tired. working full-time, being a momma, and life in general are kinda kickin' my butt right now. just kinda. don't get me wrong, i am still madly in love with all the different parts of my life, i'm just learning to balance and manage everything! just a small task, you know. ;)

mostly, it's just funny and there are days when my life plays out like a comedy of errors. like the morning i made coffee and was baffled when i ended up with a pot of just water. and that was because i used the pot to measure the water and then forgot to pour it in the coffee machine. duh. and then the next day, i ended up with just a pot of water again, but that time it was because i never put any coffee in the coffee filter. double duh. and obviously, i really needed coffee. ;)

my blogging has slacked a bit, and honestly, i miss it. and my commenting on my buddies' blogs has pretty much become non-existent, and honestly, that makes me sad. i can't promise i'll catch up, but i'm going to try, try, try! on both ends.

and alllll of that was a way lame introduction to this post. sorry!

so, yes. on to the point of this post!

we've really been making the most out of our weekends and finding lots of fun stuff to do. a few weeks ago, our airport held its annual plane pull -- a fundraiser to benefit the special olympics. in addition to the actual plane pull (yup, teams actually pull planes. like big planes.), there were tons of planes and cars on display and choi boy and his buddy, ben, had lots of fun checking them out!

before getting up close and personal with the aircrafts, though, cb had to practice zooming around like one.

:)

we spied a cool helicopter just hanging out...

and also let appa check out some cars he'll never get to do more with than just look at. ;)

cb even hopped around in a mini moon bounce!

but, sure enough, the best part of the morning was hanging out in the airplanes.

especially ones that are small enough for little hands to pretend to fly!

cb and ben were just beside themselves with glee!

they were so excited, they even managed look in my direction with happy expressions on their faces! a rare feat, for sure.

seriously! check out those grins!

but, as awesome as the little plane was, it wasn't the coolest vehicle around. because this bad boy was also present:

yes, that would be my dad's business car. i know you're all out-of-control jealous. ;)

and the chick-fil-a cow was also hanging out.

which cb was clearly way excited about. ;)

after giving some tech consultations,

"um, hahbee, *this* is how you work this app."

and some much needed rehydration,

cb was ready to take off again and move on to his next adventure! which i'll hopefully blog about before the end of the year. ;)

oh, and p.s. in case you're wondering, yes, i totally made cb wear his aviators shirt again on purpose. maverick and goose would be proud.

cb and the sunshine band.

2011-09-29T20:57:00.003-04:00

i know you're probably super tired of seeing choi boy in his checkered shorts and aviator sunglasses tee, but i promise, promise this is the last of the birthday posts! clearly, i am a wee bit obsessed with my boy. just a bit. ;)

okay, so the reason for this post? my dear friend amy (cb's betrothed's momma) knows cb quite well, and knows that in addition to all things sports, cb also loves making music. so, quite appropriately, she got a little percussion/music set for choi boy...and of course, he went nuts!

cb immediately started pounding away on his little drum, and after he had gotten the initial excitement out, he passed out all the other instruments and proceeded to lead the family in a drumming circle.

(he had to check to make sure we were all staying on beat.)

it's really quite amazing what a group of perfectly well-mannered adults will do to impress and entertain a two year-old! ;)

want to see video of the drum circle? please note my mom's ridiculously awesome singing...oh, and it's loud. really loud.

of course, the only appropriate thing to do after a rad and righteous drum circle is to clean.

obviously.

and after a busy day of partying, present-opening, and rockin' out, you can't really blame a guy for passing out. on the floor. topless.

rock on, cb.

rock on.

a sweet reunion.

2011-09-25T18:57:00.003-04:00

last sunday, we had the incredible opportunity to reunite choi boy with someone very special. cb's foster sister (his foster mother's daughter) is studying english in the states for a semester. and of allllll the places in the entire good ol' US of A, she ended up enrolling at a school an hour away from us! crazy awesome, right?! she contacted me through my blog and we set up an afternoon get-together.

!!!

we headed to a park so cb's foster sister, his noona, could hang out with him while he was in his element...i.e., we needed a place where cb could run around and get out all his sillies. :)

choi boy had tons of fun playing, climbing, peek-a-booing,

drumming,

while using the smallest drumsticks ever, i might add!

and even iron-crossing.

;)

eventually, cb burned enough energy and was able to slow down and hold noona's hand.

it was so sweet and beautiful.

noona's friend came, too, and of course, choi boy charmed both of them and had them wrapped around his little finger.

literally.

choi boy also took noona for a walk around the park.

cb showed her the lake and pointed out the geese! and ducks! and birds!

and after the tour, choi boy taught noona how to play football.

american football, that is.

she was very impressed. ;)

and after traipsing around the park, we headed to lunch, and the sweetness continued in the car.

love!

noona wanted to try some mexican food, and cb decided this was a good idea.

a very good idea, indeed.

and after a quick lesson on the alphabet (when cb sees letters, he points and shouts, "G! G! G!" the only letter he knows...i'll give you one guess as to why. hint: super bowl champs!),

it was time to say our goodbyes.

or rather, it was time to say our "see you later"s, because you can betcha that we'll be meeting up with noona again soon! what a precious gift to be able to spend time with someone that helped raised our son for the first 15 months of his life before he came home to us...such an amazing blessing.

so, so special.

and so grateful for the way this all worked out! God is so good. :)

the loot.

2011-09-22T21:48:00.006-04:00

okay, i realize it's totally obnoxious to do an entire post about presents.

but, there were so many adorable pictures of choi boy and the amazing and thoughtful gifts he received, and the last post was already *ridiculously long*, so i had to do one more post.

i know, first world problems for sure.

as i said, cb received so many amazing gifts from our friends and family. we are so grateful for the many, many people that love and know our boy so well and that wanted to simply bless him on his first birthday home.

cb and his girl, kate, checked out the stash and like a good girlfriend, kate catalogued and kept note of what was from whom so cb could send out thank you notes (that his momma is *still* working on ).

after the party, we headed to hahmee and hahbee's house for some family time, aka, my parents wanted to spend more time with the birthday boy. ;)

we all watched and cheered as cb opened his gifts. his squeals of joy were just the sweetest!

quite honestly, i think he was a bit confused about what was going on -- he didn't understand why he couldn't just stop and play with each new toy!

my sister and cousins and i also spent some time sitting around and admiring our glitter tattoos and trying to stay awake after a long night where ~~i forced them to slave away~~ they lovingly helped put cb's party details together.

:) love them.

one of cb's favorites was a basketball hoop from auntie tina and uncle tom who know our sports-lovin' little dude so well.

my teenage cousin, one of cb's beloved sahmchoons (uncle in korean) loving put the hoop together as cb watched with bated breath.

and soon enough, it was finally time for cb to practice his shots!

but, cb's favorite favorite FAVORITE gift?

little wellies, a raincoat, and an umbrella!

um. so.stinkin.cute.

i mean, right?!

even hahmee and her matching dress got in on the umbrella lovin'!

my mom's face cracks me up. such silliness only for her grandson! ;)

love it.

again, we are just so grateful for all our friends and family that just adore and shower our little guy with such sweet love. we know that presents are just things, so we are most grateful for the love from which these things came...thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.

party time!

2011-09-19T21:45:00.004-04:00

heads up: this post is going to be picture heavy. we're talking super duper here. unless you are my sister and have forced me to post this, please feel free to just quickly browse through the zillion photos. :)

the day after choi boy's actual birthday, we had a big fat celebration for our birthday boy!

because of all the crazy, out-of-control rain, our original plans of an outdoor party (at the famous train park, no less!) needed to be changed. to say i was a bit frazzled while scrambling around to find a new location might be an understatement -- just a little one. ;) i may or may not have sent out around 5 crazed emails to all of our guests... but, we managed to get everything taken care of and we prepped for our new indoor party.

of course, the day of the party was the sunshiniest day we had seen in days and days, but oh well. ;)

cb's birthday was a loose circus theme...set in motion because of the old-fashion train at the park where the party was originally supposed to be held. my friend, christine, did an amaaaaaaaaaazing job designing the banner, cupcake toppers, signs, and favor tags that you'll soon see. her work tied everything together and added the best finishing touches. love her!

the cake that my sister saved. it looked naaaaaaasty the night before and i felt like i couldn't serve it to our guests. tiff worked some magic with some new icing and we added the red and blue m&m's, a mini bunting thingy i quickly scrapped together, and a cupcake topper. ...and voila! serveable. ;)

homemade cookies and mini swirlpops for favors

and now what you're all really waiting for...pictures of the birthday boy himself. :)

we (okay, *i*) made cb wear this silly clown tie, and surprisingly, he LOVED it!

cb's uncles brought him these giant balloons:

he was rather possesive about them. :)

miss daisy came to do balloon animals and glitter tattoos!

the grown-ups thought the glitter tattoos were pretty cool, too. ;)

there were also some crafty crafts.

but mostly, there were lots and lots of people that were there to love on our boy. and for that we were so grateful.

a cb imposter was also in our midst...

there was some singing...

and some blowing out candles...

and then lots and lots of eating of sweets!

but not before some hilarious photo ops. ;)

cupcakes are best eaten with chopsticks, didn't you know?

somewhere in there was a wardrobe change...

and then more sweets!

someone was wee bit intoxicated from copious amounts of chocolate...

can you blame him?!

of course, cb spent a lot of time surrounded by the ladies!

and of course, of course, choi boy's extended family showered and covered him with love.

and after all that? cb plopped himself in the corner, emptied out his diaper bag and declared himself partied out.

what a silly guy!

we loved celebrating our little guy and are so, so, SO very grateful for all those that came out to celebrate him, too (even if you were only there with us in spirit!)!

happy two to you, cb!

...and i might never throw a birthday party again. phew!

let the birthday posts begin!

2011-09-17T16:04:00.004-04:00

my sister informed me that i need to get off my lazy blogger butt and start posting about cb's birthday celebrations. in my defense, i've been sick (nasty kindergarten germs!) and the start of school is just a wee bit busy. ;) but, choi boy deserves to have his birthday relived and documented, so here we go! i uploaded all the pics i wanted to post and there ended up being over 80 of them.(!) so, i'm going to be *that* crazy momma and break up the birthday posts into 2 posts. or 3 or 4. ;)

i forgot to mention that in the midst of the whirlwind two weeks ago, we were experiencing some historic rainfall and major flooding. it rained for 8 days straight for a total of almost 10 inches of rain -- we were seriously thinking about building an ark. it was so bad that school was cancelled that friday...major roadways, we're talking huge interstates, were closed down and it was actually a bit frightening. while i was driving home on thursday, there were literally waterfalls coming off the jersey walls on the highway -- crazy!!

but, despite the crazy weather, having friday off allowed me to spend the *whole* day with my sweet birthday boy. there really is a silver lining to every cloud. ;)

we started the morning with some special birthday breakfast:

cinnamon raisin toast with peanut butter and a blueberry smiley!

choi boy was a little skeptical.

(those shifty eyes *crack* me up!!!)

but, being the little piggy he is, he ate it anyway.

we spent the morning with cb's beloved kate and had lunch with hahmee and hahbee. we made him tell everyone how old he was...to which he happily replied, "twooooooooo!"

mostly, we just spent some quality time together watching our newly turned two year-old laugh and play and have fun.

we had one of cb's favorite meals for dinner -- bulgogi and broccoli with lots of bap:

on a pororo plate, no less!

and for dessert, cb enjoyed a very special treat of TWO of umma's chocolate chip cookies.

he was a little in disbelief at his good fortune. :)

and to end the day, after bathtime, cb's eemos came over to shower him with gifts (before umma made them slave away in preparation for the big party the next day...)!

so much fun!

cb loved his presents,

and his momma did, too.
:)

we loved having cb's actual birthday all to ourselves...what a treat to celebrate our little one!

...and lots more birthday party tidbits to come! :)

two.

2011-09-09T00:09:00.001-04:00

TWO!!!!

twoday (haha) my sweet little boy turns TWO.

what a difference a year makes! on choi boy's first birthday, we were pining for and missing our son. a year later, we are thrilled to celebrate not only our boy's 2nd birthday, but also almost 9 months home together!

over these last (almost) 9 months, it has been such a JOY to watch choi boy grow and learn and become the amazing two year-old that he is today. we love him more than we thought was possible...he has stretched and grown our hearts and everyday, we fall even more deeply in love with him. we are utterly grateful that God truly knew exactly what He was doing when He led us on our journey to choi boy. with each day, we marvel at the privilege we have of parenting cb and giggle and coo over how stinkin' cute and hilarious he is.

i mean, come on...look at him!

:)

i could (seriously) go on and on about all that i adore about my son, but i'll spare you the total gush fest and just share a select few.

at TWO...
*choi boy is busy, busy, BUSY. he loves to explore and is so curious about just about anything. he is a little too adventurous for my sanity and has no qualms about jumping/flying from place to place. and because of this, cb has absolutely no patience or time for the camera.

*cb is a TOTAL goofball. we knew this about him from the get-go, but oh boy, with some newly acquired skills and words, he's taken it to a whole new level. cb has several different fake laughs that he uses for different purposes and he loves being silly.

i will happily submit this photo for his senior year yearbook when he is voted "class clown". :)

*choi boy has developed a crazy love of sweets. we tried to hold off on the sugar for as long as we could, but with the hubs and i both being major dessert lovers, it was inevitable that cb would be exposed to the sweet stuff sooner than later. his most recent sweet obsession? (heavily diluted) apple juice. it pains me that cb wants juice all day long because we try to be a water family (minus some (okay, maybe more than some) caffeinated drinks), but my mom says it's payback since i pretty much lived on apple juice from years 2-4. as in, i refused to eat or drink anything else. ;)

but, my goodness, the way cb says "apple juice" is just so darn cute i can't help but give in. i'm a total sucker.

and apparently, i am also very annoying with my incessant questioning. jeepers!

*remember when i said cb was beginning to put two words together? well, it seems he was just flirting with two word sentences all summer. we'd hear a phrase here and there, but they were really few and far between. well, at the end of august (the 27th, to be precise), choi boy woke up, started spewing off two word phrases and hasn't stopped since. as in, he talks nonstop all.day.long. and now that he's really and truly putting words together? he's very bossy. many of his two word phrases tend to be commands directed at umma and appa. it's rather hilarious. ;)

*along with the talking, we are seeing lots more of cb's desire for autonomy. he wants to try and do everything by himself. and we are happy to let him try,

especially since when things don't go so well on his try, he is (usually) happy to ask for "hup, peez!"

*i think one of my favorite things about our sweet boy is that he is just that...sweet. coupled with all the independent and adventurous spirit is an incredible sweetness. cb is such a loving little guy who doles out hugs and kisses by the dozen and also loves to take care of his "babies".

melts my heart!

as i said, i really could go on and on and on because we just love choi boy to bits and are still so tickled by the fact that we are blessed with the honor of being his umma and appa.

yes, it is certainly a teeny bit sad that our baby is no longer a baby,

and from this angle he looks like a tween!

but more than anything, today we celebrate our son and praise God that we have the honor of calling choi boy our son. and we thank God for the all the people that made that happen because of their sacrifice...they are not forgotten today and we hope that somehow they know just how loved and cherished choi boy is.

*happy birthday, cb! we love you SO much!*

whirlwind.

2011-09-08T20:25:00.005-04:00

phew! i feel like these past few weeks have been a total whirlwind! where in the world did the rest of august go? how is it that our vacation seems like it was eons ago?

the last few weeks feel like they have gone super quickly, but at the same time, it feels like they have dragged on and been much longer than just a few weeks...somewhere in there, the hubs and i celebrated our 6th anniversary and the hubs turned 33. of course, i went back to work, and we all know the mixed feelings i had about that. on top of all that, choi boy got the dreaded hand, foot, and mouth disease (yay.), which made for a miserable last week of august.

now that choi boy is back to his normal, healthy, goofy self, things are going pretty well in the back-to-work situation. the first week of school is always absolute madness, but we are slowly finding our groove and adjusting well. i'm finding my balance between momma and teacher and continuing to love both and appreciate the beauty of both. although...i was pretty discouraged by one particular comment on this post. i won't get into it because it hurts my heart and wears out my brain to think about getting into it, but i am so thankful for my dear friend, tina, and her words of wisdom.

and, the craziness to add to all of this? a certain someone turns TWO tomorrow (yup, you'd better believe there are simultaneous posts going on right now) and this bright momma had the brilliant idea to schedule choi boy's birthday party on the first saturday after school starts. for no less than 80 people. no, really, i'm so very excited for it and thrilled to be able to celebrate my little man, but boy, is it a lot of work!

in fact, i don't even know why i'm writing this post. there is much to be done! ack! perhaps it's my preemptive move to show you that i'm rather cuckoo lately and to excuse any exeptionally poorly written posts and even-more-stinky-than-usual photos. i don't know. just a thought.

no, seriously. must go do actual stuff now.

for real.

going.

bye.

;)

creativity.

2011-09-03T22:26:00.001-04:00

no toys at hahmee and hahbee's house?

no problem.

all we needed was a little painter's tape and some ingenuity.

and, voila!

painter's tape mustaches are all the rage right now.

does it look like i was restraining choi boy and forcing him to take a picture? because i totally was.

don't worry, he was very pleased with his new facial "hair".

he even got his parents in on the fun!

;)

the best part about painter's tape? when you're tired of one look, simply peel it off, rearrange it, and create an entirely new style...interested in some earrings?

sure, why not? :)

p.s. thanks for all your sweet and encouraging words on my last post...still processing, still wallowing a bit, but i'm so thankful for a three-day weekend with my boys. i just love them so!

the one where guilt kicks in (again).

2011-08-29T21:17:00.006-04:00

thankfully, irene spared us and we are so grateful that there was relatively little damage in our area. we continue to pray for those that were hit harder, especially for their recovery efforts. xoxo.

heigh-ho, heigh-ho! it's back to work i go!

actually, i've been back to work for two weeks working on some school leadership stuff. but today was the first day back for all teachers and today was also the day it all hit me like a ton of bricks.

"it" referring to mommy guilt, of course.

i am back to work full-time this year. and i truly am excited for a new crop of kiddos and all the learning that will happen for them and for me this year. i love, love, LOVE my school and my colleagues and am so proud of our accomplishments from last year and i just know this year is going to be phenomenal, too. i can feel it in my bones!

but, that doesn't mean i'm not feeling super anxious about leaving my baby for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

:(

i know he'll miss me (well, at least i hope he will!), but i also know he enjoys his time with his friends. his extroverted personality does so well with the consistent social interaction with his peers, too. but part (okay, right now, a big part) of me definitely feels lots of guilt about leaving him. there is a nagging feeling that i am missing out on some of the best times of my little guy's life.

i know the guilt is made all the more stronger because we are coming off the heels of an awesome summer and some amazing time together. and rationally, i know that summer is but a season, and often a magical one at that. i know that, come the dark and dreary days of winter, if i were at home with choi boy, we would be fighting to stay entertained and have meaningful time together, because they can't be all fun, special summery kinda days. but part of me wonders if it's those dark and dreary days that would be the most meaningful. because we'd have to fight to make it meaningful.

i also know i'm being a bit melodramatic. (i have that tendency, if you haven't caught on by now. ;) ) we'll still have 5 hours together in the afternoons and evenings. we'll still have weekends and holidays and breaks. and of course, we'll still always have summers.

but, for right now, i'm letting myself be melodramatic and i'm letting myself wallow in self-guilt. just a little. i think i need to get it out of my system for a bit. i'm sure it'll always be an inner-battle for as long as i am a working mom, but it's certainly magnified during these first few days back.

after all, when you get used to seeing this face all day long,

and then suddenly you don't,

man, is it rough.

a {sunshiny} sneak peek.

2011-08-26T19:53:00.005-04:00

it's been an unusual week around here. a historical earthquake on tuesday, a historical hurricane on its way.

it's bizarre and even somewhat frightening, but it's also a teeny bit cool. we'll see what tune i'm singing on monday after irene makes her way through, but for now, i'm thanking God for and watching things from the safety of our home and praying for everyone in irene's path.

to add a bit of sunshine to our week of natural disasters, here's a sneak peek from our family photo session last week! we worked with natalie and jamie of borrowed blue photography who donated their time and awesome skills for a free session through the celebrating adoption program. they were amazing! though they totally captured choi boy's adorableness (i'm so not biased), phew, was it hard work! our session lasted for about two hours with two shooters and they took hundreds and hundreds of shots, but cb did anything and everything in his power to avoid the camera at all costs. there goes his illustrious modeling career!

oh well. ;)

go check it out!

pebbles and bam-bam.

2011-08-24T23:00:00.003-04:00

remember how i said that choi boy and his cousin molly reminded me of pebbles and bam-bam? well, i never got around to sharing these pictures of choi boy and his ridiculously cute cousin, so i thought i'd pair them with some more pebbles and bam-bam vignettes.

on another note, i can't believe it's been a month since our chicago trip! this summer has flown by entirely too quickly...how in the world is it already wednesday (almost thursday!)?!

last summer, the hubs and i bought an awesome shirt for cb at american apparel. i think it was one of the first pieces of clothing we purchased for him that was intentionally bought for him to wear when he came home (versus sending it in a care package). later that summer, i bought a matching shirt for molly, and my sister-in-law and i agreed that the cousins would definitely have to wear them the first time they met because it would be just too deliciously cute.

people, it so was.

look!

okay, so my child totally is not paying attention, but that's all the better to segue to a pebbles and bam-bam story...

while we were hanging out at molly's house, the hubs tried to engage in conversation with the littles. he started with a simple question: "hey, where's your belly button?" to which choi boy grunted and lifted up his shirt to show off his prized belly b. and molly? she looked at the hubs, pointed to her stomach, and said, "it's right here, uncle peter!" duh. silly question!

but, perhaps my favorite story of cb and his cousin is this one...

we were browsing through the children's section at the best store ever (all together now: TARGET), when we came upon some sesame street t-shirts.

cb immediately started shrieking, "EH-MO!!! COOKIE!! ERNIE!!"
he was slightly excited.

meanwhile, molly started swaying back and forth and, in near perfect pitch, began to sweetly sing, "sunny days, sweepin' the clouds away! on my way to where the air is sweet!"

i almost peed in my pants from laughing so hard.
it. was. awesome.

:)

luckily, despite their differences, choi boy and molly played so well together. they even shared some sweet, sweet hugs with uncle jake/molly's daddy.

how stinkin' cute are they?!

maybe next time they meet, cb and molly will actually be able to fit into their t-shirts and they'll look less like dresses. ;)

although, did bam-bam even wear pants??

p.s. i had to edit this to add that i know that the differences between cb and his cousin are due largely in part to the facts that a) she is a girl and b) she has heard only english for her entire life, versus cb who only began to hear english at 15 months. sorry if it sounds like i'm making fun...i know my son is perfect just the way he is. ;)

how cheesy are we?

2011-08-21T21:27:00.003-04:00

totally,

totally,

TOTALLY,

i mean, ridiculously,

out-of-control

CHEESY.

get it? because we're all wearing matchy bicycle shirts? while riding bicycles?
love it. ;)

just wait 'til you see our awesome santa claus christmas sweaters, complete with pom-poms and sparkles and bedazzled goodness.

you know i'm so kidding on that, right?

vacation musts.

2011-08-17T22:23:00.005-04:00

being away on vacation is such a privilege and one that we don't take for granted. if anything, we make sure we savor our annual family trips and make the most of our time away.

it's a time to relax, laugh, let loose and enjoy each other.

it's also a time to:

totally chill

to eat ridiculous amounts of ice cream...

daily.

to explore new places.

{savannah}

to savor good food.

this was actually the only yummy thing at paula deen's restaurant. really and truly. sad and disappointed.

to be extra adventurous.

to go on aimless bike rides.

(clearly aimless because we ended up in front of a large recycling bin!)

to be loved

and to love on your nearest and dearest.

to eat crazy ridiculous amounts of food in whatever hodgepodge dishes the beach house has on hand.

to do your best impression of amelie and her raspberries, only with olives.

to have your picture taken again and again for no other reason than because your shirt is cute.

to have large family meals where the talking stops once the food comes out.

to find treasures.

and most importantly, to have the freedom to walk around shirtless, munching on dried squid.

good times, folks. good times.

what are your vacation musts?

just beachy.

2011-08-15T20:47:00.003-04:00

we are back from a week away at hilton head...it was lovely and so wonderful to spend extended time with our family. choi boy relished every moment of being surrounded by his adoring fans and thoroughly enjoyed his first family vacation. he was such a champ through it all -- the 12-hour drive, the heat, the sleeping in a pack-and-play, the being in an unfamiliar environment...all of it. it was quite a relief to see that he just went with the flow. this certainly bodes well for future travels!

one of cb's favorite parts about our vacation was the beach. yay! quite honestly, i was worried about how he would handle the whole beach situation. while he loves water, he isn't the biggest fan of having his hands dirty, so i worried about how he would react to all the sand. turns out, there was no need to worry! our boy took to the beach like...well, like a fish takes to water. :)

want to see?

at first, he was a bit confused about what was going on. especially since we had so much stuff!

after we were settled in, cb headed to the surf with appa. appa showed him the wet sand.

and though he was a bit skeptical at first,

cb quickly decided it was pretty cool. and he let us know by repeatedly exclaiming, "coooool!" again and again. :)

he explored the water and sand with the help of many beach toys.

and even brought his beloved football along for some further exploration.

and when choi boy realized this beach place was awesome, it was time for some serious football playing.

very. serious.

choi boy joined us for some obligatory family shots,

but really, all he wanted to do was get back down and play.

and play he did!

of course, all that play works up an appetite, and we all know cb has a healthy one to begin with. man, did he attack those post-beach-play snacks!

that would be a squeezy yogurt he's got a death grip on.

and the only time the sand actually bothered him?

when it interfered with his eating, natch. ;)

that's my boy!

whatnot wednesday {on thursday}.

2011-08-11T14:30:00.002-04:00

it's been a while since i've joined elizabeth for a whatnot wednesday. she's right...there's too much pressure to bring the funny. and while she pressed on and continued to blog despite the pressure, i...just stopped. but i'm going to get back on the whatnot wednesday horse (a day late, mind you) and try again. pretend i'm funny even when i'm not, okay? ;) thanks!

*i'm busy planning choi boy's birthday party and am having a bit of cool idea overload. there are too many amazing ideas out there and so much pressure to make cb's party phenomenal. not that i could, but you know. anyway. an idea that i ruled out early on was a pinata. i'm sorry, but i just don't get how i could hang a beloved character, only to have the kids beat the living daylights out of it. what kind of message does that send to children?! okay, i suppose the pinatas with the pull strings are pretty harmless, but then doesn't that still lead young children to believe elmo or dora or whoever is filled with candy? hmmm. how i'd love to be able to peek into a young child's mind as they create schema and try to make sense of this kinda stuff. intriguing.

*i love summer movies. there are always several that i'm itching to see (currently, the help!) and often they do not disappoint. sure, they're not usually oscar contenders, but generally, they're feel-good or great movie-experience flicks. but, there are two movies this summer that i just do not get. first, cowboys and aliens. dude. there is a huge wtf factor going on there. seriously?! cowboys? and ALIENS?!! and clint and daniel? who thought that was a good idea?? second, that new plant of the apes movie. okay, this one is slightly more plausible (hey, it doesn't take much to be more plausible than COWBOYS and ALIENS), but that's kinda what freaks me out. have you seen the previews?! that look that the chimp gives the dude sends chills down my spine. ::shudder:: eeeeeeeeeee...incidentally, did you know that the guy that "plays" that chimp is the same guy that "played" gollum in the LOTR trilogy? i wonder how he feels about being typecast as the freaky nonhuman thing...

*on that note, i seriously worry about children who are cast in horror films. doesn't it mess with them? don't their parents worry for their mental wellbeing? do they need major cuddles and happy songs and joke telling after each take? note to future choi boy, i could totally see you on the big screen, but you're not allowed to be in scary movies, okay?
glad we got that out of the way.

*speaking of grown up choi boy, it seems that some people wish he would hurry up and grow up. because the other day, choi boy got a letter addressed to him from ford informing cb that he should take part in their awesome! buyback! program! not sure how that happened, but i'm pretty sure 23 month-olds are not allowed to sell cars, let alone own them. or, you know, drive them.

*this is really pathetic, but i'm giving myself a present. i'm declaring blog commenting bankruptcy. yup. there. i said it. i have hundreds of posts that i haven't been able to comment on and was planning on playing catch up this week. we're away and i was hoping to whittle away at my google reader, but the internet connection here has been spotty and it's just been too difficult to try and open blogs and comment (though, clearly, i've been able to blog, so i totally have my priorities straight, folks). i'm so sorry. i know how important comments are and wish i had time to be able to go back and comment on all of your posts, but i head back to work next week and know the backlog will only get worse. so sorry. but, please know that i've been keeping up with blog reading and have been rejoicing with your good news (yay, for those of you that FINALLY got EP!), laughing with you, and even shedding some tears with you.
and with that, i will be hitting the "mark all as read" button on my reader today and starting fresh tomorrow.
eek! i feel strangely nervous...

*and finally, so i don't end on that pathetic note, here's one more whatnot tidbit for you.
choi boy has taken messy eating to a whole new level. somehow, he manages to paint his face with whatever he's eating. it's quite classy. and he still hates getting his face wiped, so it makes clean up even harder. if only you could reason with an almost two year-old...if only.
here are some of his latest masterpieces:

just beautiful, no?

happy whatnot to you!

twenty-three months.

2011-08-09T10:05:00.004-04:00

i have an irrational dislike of prime numbers. i think it's the nonconfrontational, everybody-let's-just-be-friends person in me that hates the fact that prime numbers cannot be divided up evenly. i told you, irrational!

so, since 23 is a prime number and does not lend its rigid self to my nice little lists, i will instead use twenty-three words to celebrate choi boy's twenty-third month.

but,

to make it more fun?

i'm gonna do it in two haikus.

yeehaw! nerd alert!! ;)

*ahem.

choi boy:
he’s hilarious.
and always cracking me up
i’m crazy ‘bout him.

twenty-three:
choi boy, my rockstar:
happy twenty-three months, bud.
what a joy you are!

TA-DA!

listen, i didn't say they'd be *good* haikus.

as a refund for your time, here are two cute pictures of my twenty-three month-old babe:

next month, he'll be TWO! wowzers! how the heck did that happen?!

i am going to seriously savor the last month with my one year-old. :)

wisc'd away!

2011-08-08T21:16:00.005-04:00

*sorry, some of these pictures turned out extra large and a bit wonky...but my internet access is weird and spotty right now, so i can't quite fix it. please forgive me for the wacked out photos!

after some fun times in chicago, we headed off to wisconsin for a quick trip to my in-laws.

do you get the title of the post now? so clever, right?? i know, not really.

look at these cute cousins ready to roll on a mini road trip!

my mother-in-law is an amazing cook and had lunch waiting for us when we arrived.

the kiddos had an eating showdown.

pretty easy stuff when the main course is halmuhnee's famous korean fried chicken.

umma, have you tasted this goodness?! yes, sweetheart, i have. it's the stuff of champions, i tell you.

we had a visit from the hubs' little cousins who were absoultely over-the-moon about meeting their nephew for the first time.

and this little girl charmed us with her pre-bedtime smiles.

gah, i die. seriously!

the next morning, we headed over to the neighborhood playground for some early morning play.

molly was kind enough to lend choi boy a pair of her sunglasses since we left his at home. i think he's really rockin' the pink, no?

the kiddos ran around a bit...

but, mostly,

they just wanted to hang out.
i'm sorry, i couldn't help myself!

for lunch, we headed over to our favorite milwaukee joint...

YUM!!!

can you tell the mommas were excited?!

after lunch, we tried for (yet another unsuccessful) photo shoot...

i love how halmuhnee is the only one looking at the camera. :)

so sweet!

we tried to see if being outside would make things better,

but it turns out,

inside or outside, trying to take pictures of more than one toddler is not an easy feat. ;)

we said our goodbyes to halmuhnee (and realized we never got any pictures with halahbuhjee!), and loaded everything and everyone up in the car.
and thankfully, the babes promptly fell asleep.

which was perfect because when we got back to chicago, uncle jake had the pool ready for a certain pair of sweet toddlers!

love!

rainy day fun!

2011-08-05T14:25:00.007-04:00

on with the chicago recaps!

nasty midwest thunderstorms spoiled our plans for the botanical gardens and the park, but my resourceful friends came up with some great indoor play ideas for our littles.

on wednesday, we met up with grace and cori and their kiddos, minus joel and seth. we had lots of fun playing in one of the coolest mall play structures i've ever seen. of course, i didn't get any pictures of it, but trust me, that treehouse was way cool. although, choi boy thought opening the door to the play area and running away was a way more fun game. me? notsomuch.

anyway, we had a grand ol' time chatting and catching up and tried to get some pictures of the kids before we said our goodbyes. and...of course, they turned out hilariously subpar.

oh, yes, that would my cb standing up on the bench and then eating a sandwich and not paying attention. and did you see his face in that second shot? bahahaha!

sweet, sweet evan was very interested in taking pictures and wanted me to snap a few shots of him.

of course, i happily obliged -- who wouldn't want to take pictures of this cute face??

the next day, we met up with beth and her cuties, sam and lily. we went to an awesome play cafe and the kids had a total blast.

and what do you think choi boy was most interested in?

did you guess finding every ball in the play area?

because then you'd be correct.

at one point, he knocked down the basket holding the balls and just climbed in.

he found the perfect ball and then went over to shoot some hoops...

check out that form!

for the most part, beth and i were so busy gabbing and laughing that i didn't get many shots of the kiddos playing, aside from that ball montage. but, i did manage to capture this hug between cb and sam.

i don't think cb could help himself because ohmygoodness, look at this cutie:

is he not adorable?! i just love his glasses...eek!

we tried to get some shots of the kids together.

why do i even try?! and believe it or not, that pained look on sam's face is actually him saying, "cheese!"

and there's cb's "cheese!" ;)

lily joined in on the fun...i can't choose which crazy face is the craziest. :)

and why does my son always have food in his hand during group shots? he is *so* my child.

and of course, i embarassed us and asked another lady to snap a picture of me and beth.

you guys, beth is hilarious and needs to start her own blog. who wants to join in on peer pressuring her?! c'mon, beth...you know you want to! ;)

and yet again, we are so grateful for the new friends blogging has brought us! yay! thanks for hanging out with us, ladies!

to the zoo!

2011-08-02T15:18:00.004-04:00

i've said it again and again and again, and i'll say it again: the best part about blogging is meeting amazing people i would have otherwise never met. the hubs thinks i'm slightly crazy to develop friendships on the internets, but boys wouldn't understand, right?

okaaaay, if you're a boy and you happen to be reading this, i'll be your friend. okay? ;)

so, anyway. friends. while we were in chicago, we got to meet up with some of my blog buddies and it was so great to meet these ladies in person. and, if possible, they were even lovlier in person. :)

we spread out our blog buddy meet-ups and started off the week with a trip to the zoo with joanna, sue, christine, and min. joanna and i go way back (as in, we met up last year), and min and i were in korea picking up our little ones at the same time. though we managed to miss each other on THREE occasions in seoul, we were finally able to get together in the midwest...isn't it funny how things work out like that? and it was so wonderful to finally chat with sue and christine in person (and give them big hugs), too!

the kiddos had a total blast and it was amazing to see them together. and, i'm sure that's all you want to see, so let's move on to the pictures, shall we?

it was really hot out, so the kids loved playing in the fun misters...i was secretly wishing i could jump in, too, but i so would not have looked as cute as these guys when wet:

sweet little anna worked hard to coax choi boy into giving her a high five:

and eventually, cb could not resist her charms:

who could?? look at that smile!

we tried to get some group shots in the iconic kangaroo (during which time recently potty-trained champion, gabe, was off doing his business)...

but someone did not feel like cooperating.

whose yellow-shirted child is that?!

oh, right. mine.

we did also manage to see some gorgeous animals.

and we enjoyed a picnic lunch together where cohen and cb treated us to the cutest little hug fest that you ever did see.

ack. heart totally melted now.

of course, we had to try for the obligatory toddler group shot and of course, we walked away with some doozies.

not sure where that cutie joel was...

we tried to get a shot of the mommas, too.

and of course, since were simultaneously trying to smile and keep a watchful eye on our gang of kiddos, we forgot to get one with min, who took that first snap. oops!

after that, we said goodbye to most of our crew and cb, probably feeling sorry for evading the high-five, laid a big smackaroo on miss anna.

while i totally egged him on. ;)

gabe and his momma stuck around for some extra hang out time and we indulged our boys with some mold-a-rama magic.

sidenote: dude, that is a seriously cool midwest thing and totally puts our sad little smushed pennies on the east coast to shame.

we ended our visit with, what else? a ride on the carousel!

and, apparently, carousel rides are very serious business.

we had such fun and can't wait to meet up with these buddies again the next time we're in town!

astute observations.

2011-08-01T20:01:00.007-04:00

i'm still working on our chicago trip recaps (okay, you got me, i haven't actually started yet), but i wanted to make sure i got this story down before i forget. you'll probably hear a lot from me this week...hope you don't get sick of us. ;)

my sister-in-law has this sweet dog -- a cockapoo named daisy. here's a picture of her with me, molly and piper from last summer's chicago visit:

this year, while we were staying with my sister-in-law, choi boy was fascinated by daisy, and was especially enthralled by her fetching skills. you may remember that our dog, piper, is literally a retriever that does not retrieve. so this was all new to choi boy and he sat open-mouthed and watched daisy fetch again and again.

and here is the conversation that we had while we watched her...

me: wow, that's so cool, isn't it? piper doesn't do that, huh?

cb: {shakes his head}

me: what does piper do?

cb: {matter-of-factly} poo-poo.

me: {giggling} well, you're right. what else does piper do?

cb: {with, i swear, the slightest hint of disgust and exasperation} pee-pee.

so there you have it.

what can i say? my boy's observant.

don't worry, though, he still loves her like crazycakes, non-fetching ways and all.

oh, and she loves him, too, despite the stink eye that makes it seem otherwise.

;)

instafriday.

2011-07-29T07:07:00.000-04:00

it's instafriday time! really, this is my excuse to instagram just about everything. ;)

phew! we have had a busy, busy week! there are several chicago recaps to come (we are having a total blast!), but for now, here are some snippets of what we've been up to that won't make it into individual posts. be warned, it's long. ;)

are you lucky enough to have a rita's in your 'hood? we are. and we la-la-la-LOVE it. it is some serious yums.
and i love the cheeky little phrases on their cups.

yup, it's true. the world does need more rita's. especially this yummy new cantaloupe flavor!

the hubs keeps a football in his car. and any time we ride the hubs' car, choi boy insists on holding the football. the other day, he fell asleep in the car like this:

doesn't he look like a sad, sad quarterback after a major loss?

cb got another haircut. and apparently, the third time's a charm because there were no tears this time. yay! rather, cb sat and looked at himself in the mirror throughout his cut.

i'm pretty sure he's saying, "just a little off the top, please."

i was secretly hoping we'd bypass the whole train obsession, but it looks as though it's inevitable. sigh. one of us left this train table with a bit of kicking and screaming.
'twasn't me.

when we booked our flight to chicago, we booked it around nap time, hoping cb would sleep on the plane. of course, our flight was delayed and choi boy fell asleep in the security line and woke up as we approached our gate. perfect, huh?
but, i decided to take advantage of cb's nap and got one of those 10 minute manicures. it was actually more like a 15 minute manicure. meh.
and then i took this picture:

and then i got sad because my hands don't look so youthful anymore. and because this color wasn't as pretty as i thought it would be. i should have stuck with boring pale pink.

as for the actual plane ride?

cb was a total rock star. he got lots of high fives and fist bumps as we were exiting the plane. :)

once we arrived in chi-town, choi boy and his cousin bonded over an impromptu drum session.

notice the blur of fast-moving hands and molly's hilariously adorable face!

cb and i went exploring and i snuck into a stranger's yard to snag some shots of my two favorite summer flowers:

hydrangeas...sigh...so beauteous.

hibiscus...dreamy.

choi boy continues to work on his "cheese"...

...and it slays me every. time.

this picture makes me both smile and feel a bit sad.

cb was happily munching on his PB&J, watching the world go by and probably daydreaming. so cute. but it also reminded me of those kids that sit all by their lonesome at lunch time. sniff. :(

check out this CRAZY dandelion!

it's like it's on steroids! gross!

lately, choi boy has been throwing his arms behind him when he wants to run really fast. it's awesome. and it cracks me up.

i'm pretty sure he does it because it makes him more aerodynamic.
people, we have a future rocket scientist on our hands.

and finally, cb has been sleeping in a pack-and-play while at my sister-in-law's. i suppose the pack-and-play is not as comfy and squishy as cb would like. so, my little stinker pops up and pulls/steals a pillow off my bed (which is right next to the pack and play) and lays on it instead.

when i went in to snap this photo, i thought he was sleeping, but i thought wrong. he saw my phone and said, "CHEEEESE!"
what a sillyhead!

will you join the party and link up?

cousin love.

2011-07-28T13:50:00.007-04:00

it has been a year since we have seen my sweet and adorable niece, molly. she is just two days younger than choi boy. and in fact, my sister-in-law's due date when she was pregnant with mollypop is choi boy's actual birthday. how cool is that? love it. :)

choi boy and i are in chicago visiting my sister-in-law and her family. one of the best parts about this trip has been seeing molly and cb together. such.ridiculous.sweetness.
i die.

yup, i just keeled over. mmmhmmm.

it's funny because even though they are only two days a part, they are different in so many ways. first off, choi boy is a good bit taller than his cousin, though she clearly wins in the chunk department.

which is absolutely acceptable when you are not even 2 and this cute:

ohmygosh i just want to bite those cheeks!

molly is also a total chatterbox and talks in near complete sentences. i am in awe and could listen to her talk all day long. she is a genius. and i'm her aunt, so i can totally show her off and say that with no qualms. ;)

mollypop uses her extensive vocabulary and language skills to be a total bossypants to choi boy. it's hilarious. and cb is fine with being bossed around. or, so it seems, because he doesn't have the words to protest. ha!

we've been joking that molly and cb are like pebbles and bam bam.

(source)
molly is cuteness and smarts and choi boy is all brute force and slightly caveman-ish. ;)

regardless of their differences, they've been having such a blast together...they even wake up asking for each other. or, rather, molly wakes up and clearly enunciates cb's name while cb wakes up and goes, "ah-ee!" :)

look at all the fun they've been having!

this is what happens when you get two toddlers to look at you and say, "cheese!" -- no small feat, for sure.

and here are some stinkin' cute shots of molly directing cb in their play.

all i can say is, girl power. :)

one thing choi boy and molly do have in common, however, is their love of food.

i think they could both easily join adam richman's man vs. food nation team. don't you?

and their crossed feeties could be their trademark:

love it!

so thankful for cousin love...can't wait to see these two grow up together!

lots more on our chi-town adventures to come!

Chois-R-Us

"he looks just like you!"...

niiiice!

instafriday.

amusement at the museum.

sporadic crafting.

word up, baby.

"you will not win!" and other fun adventures in discipline.

our first family day.

procrastination is my friend.

this and that.

small style {what i got for christmas edition}.

christmas recap.

joy to the world!

the day we came *home*.

the day we became *so happy together*.

the day *we built this city*.

the day we met our *beautiful boy*.

the day we were *leaving on a jet plane*.

what a difference a year makes!

ellie fun day.

hot dog!

instafriday.

a letter.

instafriday.

choi boy, lately.

instafriday.

happy birthday, eemo!

blog love. :)

my baby singing, "baby".

instafriday. {travel and such}

small style {wedding edition}.

the sheriff returns.

one last stop. {two peas in a pod}

insta-friday. {catch-up edition}

four little boys.

autumn glory.

home.

whatnot wednesday.

pickin' apples.

come fly with me!

cb and the sunshine band.

a sweet reunion.

the loot.

party time!

let the birthday posts begin!

two.

whirlwind.

creativity.

the one where guilt kicks in (again).

a {sunshiny} sneak peek.

pebbles and bam-bam.

how cheesy are we?

vacation musts.

just beachy.

whatnot wednesday {on thursday}.

twenty-three months.

wisc'd away!

rainy day fun!

to the zoo!

astute observations.

instafriday.

cousin love.

the day we came home.

the day we became so happy together.

the day we built this city.

the day we met our beautiful boy.

the day we were leaving on a jet plane.