instafriday.

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!

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. :)

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".

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}

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}.

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.

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. ;)