Super CB's Super Party!

Choi Boy's birthday always falls during or right after the first week of school. As a teacher, it's a time that's always a *wee* bit hectic and stressful...just a wee bit. ;) But, since we love parties and and we love partying with our friends, and we especially love celebrating our little superhero, a party is always added to the mix!

This year, we combined two of CB's big loves: superheroes and golf! We found a great party package at a local county park that combined mini golf, carousel rides and a party tent. We kept things low-key with catered food from Chick-fil-A and brought some desserts and decor that fit in with the superhero/comic book theme. We told the little guests that they were all welcome and encouraged to come dressed as their favorite superhero, and delightfully, all of them came sporting some superhero costume or accessory! Even the hubs and I got in on the fun and wore Superman and Supergirl shirts. The kids had a blast playing mini-golf, riding on the carousel, playing on the playground, making superhero masks, giving themselves superhero tattoos and just stuffing their faces with super sugary sweets!

Here are some of my favorite snaps and moments from CB's Super Party (photographs courtesy of my very talented friend at Three Continents Photography):

CB and some of his best buddies!

The one crafty DIY project I did for the party... The felt banner is from the Spritz line at Target and I made Choi Boy's name out of construction paper, drawing freehand and using 3 different sizes of plates to trace out the circular pieces. It took just over an hour to make and was lots of fun to do!


An antique carousel chock full of small superheroes!



One of the never-ending games of mini-golf!


In lieu of a cake, I made cupcakes and used (a lot of) food coloring to dye the frosting red, yellow, and blue -- the colors of Superman's uniform. The cupcake toppers came from Oriental Trading. I also made M&M cookies with red, yellow, and blue M&Ms and displayed the rest of the M&Ms in mason jars around the cupcakes.


Lil' CB did not mind blowing out his candle on a tower of cupcakes!



We had so much fun at Choi Boy's party that I barely got any pictures on my own camera! I did manage to get some snaps on my iPhone...you can see the balls of cookie dough before I popped them in the freezer overnight (that's my trade secret for baking cookies!), as well as some other snaps of the little guests and my sister and me in our superhero masks! ;)


We had a super time celebrating our Super CB!

egg-cellent.

I know, if you're still around this neck o' the blogosphere and reading this, you're probably thinking, "Who is this consistent blogger that has taken over Chois-R-Us??"

But, as you can tell from the pun-tastic titles, it's me. You see, I still have a few posts from January and February that I never wrote. And I don't really feel like playing catch up again. So instead, I'm going to try to just keep up with things from now on. We'll see how long that lasts. (My bet is on 3 weeks. ;) )

Anyway, yesterday, we went to an Easter Egg-stravaganza sponsored by a local church. They had some great activities for the kids and Choi Boy had a total blast!

Of course, before we dove into things, we had to take the obligatory picture with the obligatorily creepy Easter Bunny.

Why does he (she?) look so angry??

Once we put our kiddo through the necessary EB torture, we headed off to the Egg Roll! (sidenote: before we walked over, I said, "Oooh, look! Let's go do the Egg Roll!" to which the hubs responded, "Mmm...egg rolls...I want one.")

At one point, CB thought it wasn't going fast enough, so he tried to throw the egg and bat it with the wooden spoon. That's my boy! ;)

And then it was off to the moon bounce! The moon bounces were divided up by ages, which was great, so CB didn't have to contend with any really big kids, and instead could really go at it!

After that, some parachute fun!

It was some serious "hare"-raising fun. ;)

Finally, some giant bubble blowing!

Phew! After all that, CB had worked up an appetite and spent some time munching on the candy he won and some pizza. And there was also some lounging.

Now that CB is a little older and able to really *do* things, we have such fun at these kinds of events. So thankful for the community members that put them together for families to enjoy!

And yes, despite his face here, CB really did enjoy himself. This is just his, "Quit with the picture-taking, Mommy!" face. ;)

Happy Easter to you and yours! He is risen indeed!!

the one about christmas.

So. I'm fully aware that it's February. And that Christmas was literally last year. But, if this blog is anything, it's a memory book of sorts for Choi Boy and our family, so I declare it Christmas Recap Day here at Chois-R-Us, mmkay?

Let's see...jogging back to 6 weeks ago, here's how Christmas went down in our family:

We planned to spend the night at my parents' house on Christmas Eve, so Christmas came to our house on Christmas Eve morning because we didn't want to schlep CB's big present over to Hahmee's and Hahbee's. So, of course, I dressed CB appropriately in his Christmas jammies on the 23rd so he could open presents in said jammies. (If you have been reading this blog for a bit you know that I am nothing if not well-planned for opportunities to coordinate outfits for photo ops.)

CB awoke on Christmas Eve, totally confused about why his parents were super excited and giddy. And perhaps that's why he was slightly less than enthusiastic as we forced him to open cheered him on as he opened his present.

is that a "meh." face or what??

We ended up getting CB an awesome fire station "doll house". He loves playing with the little doll house at his girlfriend's house and also loves visiting our local firehouse, so we figured it would a fun gift (that *wasn't* trains...this momma is a little tired of trains). 

After initially reacting with, "I wanted a roundhouse!" (Seriously. SO over trains here.), CB ended up playing with his firehouse for 2 straight hours!

We had fun day with extended family at my parents' house on Christmas Eve (that included chowing down on a HUGE dinner), and somehow, the only shot I managed to get was this one:

Anywho. Christmas morning arrived and it ended up being a lot of fun waking up with the whole family. CB and my dad got right to their morning workout:

(Yes, he wore the same jammies again. Photos ops, people!)

And then once the high school and college-aged folks were finally out of bed, we got right to exchanging gifts. Our little guy was quite excited about both giving and receiving!

And then, after Christmas Eve dinner leftovers had settled into our bellies, we headed off to the ice rink! Of course, CB and his Hahbee had to wear their new matching sweaters:

(sorry for the less than flattering pics, Daddio...)

And there you have it. Our Christmas post. Up 5 days before Valentine's Day. Booyah.

family day festivities!

A few weeks ago, we celebrated our second Family Day! While I sometimes wish that I had had the foresight (like some of my friends did) to purchase years worth of Family Day gifts while we were in Korea to pick up Choi Boy, we decided last year that instead of doing presents on Family Day, we would celebrate CB's special anniversary with a fun, family event or activity. Also, with CB's Family Day being so close to Christmas, it seemed better to not overwhelm CB with even MORE presents! ;)

Now, being that CB's Family Day is in the middle of December, we're somewhat limited on family activities because there's not much to do outdoors, and we pretty much exhaust every possible indoor activity throughout the winter. So, when CB mentioned wanting to go ice skating, we decided to go with it! 

Thankfully, the ice rink's smallest skate size fit our tiny guy's feet and were double blades. CB thought it was awesome to walk around on them on the rubber mats and was super! excited! to ice skate!

Unfortunately for Lil' CB, reality hit hard when he actually got on the ice! He kept saying, "Whoa! It's so slippery! This is hard!" 

We took itty bitty steps together on the ice, moving about a centimeter at a time.

But CB wanted to go fast, so this is what the hubs ended up doing:

Gotta love him. :)

We lasted about 30 minutes -- with several breaks in between ;), but we were happy to have a new adventure together! And that's kinda what Family Day is all about it...being together and celebrating our adventures!

Love our little boy and our little family!

happy christmas to all!

It really *is* the most wonderful time of year, isn't it?

I'm writing this early and scheduling it because when it goes up, I'll be enjoying Christmas Eve with my awesome family. :) 

I hope you are enjoying your evening, too!

And to wish you the merriest of Christmases, here are our Christmas cards!

yes, cardS. because i'm crazy (or super resourceful) we ended up with three cards this year...one main one and two that were free with promotional codes. yesssss.

and my personal favorite:

Christmas blessings to you and yours!

advent.

Now that Choi Boy is 3 and understanding so much, we wanted to be intentional about teaching him the story of our Savior's birth.

At the end of last month, I found this Christmas Countdown book that seemed just right for a 3 year-old. Each day tells a small part of the Christmas story and includes a suggestion for an activity, a prayer, and a short bible verse. It has been perfect for a short evening family devotion and has been easy for CB to understand.

He has loved learning about Baby Jesus and His birthday! In fact, CB began asking if he could get such and such for Baby Jesus as a birthday present. We told CB that all Jesus wants is his heart (meaning his love -- we cleared up the literal heart very early on!) and since then, he's been talking about how he will give Baby Jesus his heart for his birthday. :)

We also have a "traditional" chocolate advent calendar that we have enjoyed opening and reading as a sweet treat after our devotion.

CB has been happy to share his chocolate and loves finding the number for each day.

It has been so much fun and such a blessing!

Of course, while it's been mostly sweetness and love as CB really shows us that he is beginning to understand what the hoopla is all about, it hasn't been without the usual CB hilarity...

Case in point:
At church the other week, we walked in as they were singing "O Come All Ye Faithful." CB looked up at me excitedly after he heard "O Come" and said, "Oppan Gangnam Style!"
Um. Not exactly, buddy. ;)

And one more:
CB has loved reading our Christmas devotions, but let's be honest, his favorite part is the chocolate. The other day, when he asked if it was time to read and I told him it was, he jumped up and down and shouted, "YES!!! Jesus chocolate!"

Such a silly little dude! So blessed to be celebrating our third Christmas together!

731.

Dear Choi Boy,

731 days ago, you were placed in our arms forever.

For 452 days before that, you lived with your foster family and we are so grateful for their love and care for you during that time and still now as they love you from across an ocean.

It was 287 days between the time that we first saw your sweet face until we got the call that you were ready for us to bring you home.

About 96 hours later, we boarded a big blue plane.

We flew for 15 hours and finally landed in the country where you were born and from where our families came.

The next morning, we woke up early and spent the next 7 hours keeping ourselves busy until it was time to meet you. And we did. And it was wonderful and amazing. After the meeting, we said our see you laters and you left with your foster momma to spend just a couple more days together.

Two days later, 2 excited parents (Mommy and Daddy) walked back into the adoption agency. 1 energetic and curious toddler (that's you!) was placed in their arms. And together we walked out, 1 new family. Somehow, it all made sense... 2 + 1 = 1.

*     *     *

It's hard to believe that was 2 years ago! In so many ways, it feels like we have been together forever. And in other ways, that trip to Korea seems like it was just yesterday. We've come a long way in these two years and we know you and love you more and more each day...I don't know how it's possible, but it is.

So, today we will celebrate you and celebrate our family. And we are so thankful we can celebrate and hope we will continue to not only celebrate these milestones but also every moment in between.

We love you, CB.

Love, 

Mommy and Daddy

Happy 2nd Family Day to you! 

And to us!

two years ago.

Two years ago today, we boarded this big blue plane.

And we flew 6974.7 miles across countries and oceans, all the way to the other side of the world, specifically to Seoul, Korea.

We flew there to finally meet and bring home our sweet boy.

We were giddy and excited and nervous and just over-the-moon elated that he would finally, finally, FINALLY be in our arms.

one of our last pictures as a family of 2.

It's funny how that journey to bring Choi Boy home felt like an eternity. The ten months that passed between seeing his little face and reading about him to finally getting on that plane stretched on forever. Every passing day was another day that we didn't have with our son. Every day was a day of his life that we missed. And every day was a day that we waited.

But since then?

My goodness, time has just flown and it is just unbelievable that it's been *almost* two years that we have been three. I suppose that old adage always holds true...Time really does fly when you're having fun.

And what fun we've had!

Looking forward to walking down memory lane this week and celebrating our 2nd Family Day!