Autumn Adventures...

Well, the remainder of October held up the same crazy pace it started with. We rounded out the last weekend with a true whirlwind trip to Washington DC. This was Christopher's first airplane ride since coming home from Korea, and this time he got to have his very own big boy seat! I'll admit he looked a little freaked out at first, but after we were aloft, he excitedly entertained himself with the buttons on the armrests and the air vents and lights above him. Good thing it was only a short plane ride!

In DC Christopher participated in a rally with tens of thousands of people - all of which I am pretty sure he thought were there to clap and cheer for him! He was loving the attention of the excited and joyous crowd, and had lots of pictures taken of him cheering and clapping along.

We rounded out the day with a trip to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, where Christopher discovered the amazing world of Dinosaurs. I think we have a budding scientist in our midst!

The next day we went home to share Christopher's first American Halloween with the grandparents. It was a crazy 6 hours (round trip) in the car after the plane trip the day before, but worth it to see how happy they were to share it with him. He was not a big fan of the pumpkin carving experience. I couldn't even get him to put his hand in it once...he just kept pulling his hands back with a look like "Are you nuts? That looks disgusting!" Oh well, we still enjoyed it! :o)

It was a very cold and windy evening, so we bundled up our little spider tight and set out with Buster (sporting his little devil horns) to hit the neighborhood. I decided to put his winter coat on under his costume so you could see how cute it was, but I think he ended up looking more like a full tick than a little spider! :o) He was a little confused about trick-or-treating at first, but after we showed him how to put the candy in his little bucket he thought it was pretty fun and kept putting his hand out, palm up, for "more". My parent's neighbors obliged several times with a laugh before I had to step in and stop the greedy little bugger! ;o) We tried to visit the homes of old friends who still live on the street, and ended up only going to 5 houses, which was plenty for him. It was pretty neat that I ran into a few childhood friends who had the same idea to bring their own children back to the old neighborhood. What a great testament to how special the neighborhood was (is) that I grew up in. It is the kind of thing that makes me a little sad that Christopher will grow up without lots of neighborhood children to play with.

November started out with lots of winter preparations on the farm that Christopher was happy to help with. I think Sunny thought he was some sort of little bear...she was most curious.

He is just so cute all bundled up in his baby Carhartts.
We recently made a trip to the Children's Museum for a special event just for adopted children and their families. It was such an amazing night full of beautifully blended families! As an added bonus, we got to see some great friends we have made through the blog! We all had a ball! There was so much to do there - Christopher was especially fond of shopping in the little market and I think he would have taken ALL the fruits and veggies if they would have fit in his little cart! :o)

As we come nearer to the holiday season, I am really looking forward to sharing so many special moments with our little man. We have already started baking together, and Christopher is a master at the cookie dough placement (lol). This morning he helped me mash sweet potatoes and stir the jello (he also "helped" by dumping an entire bag of brown sugar on the floor for the dogs - ha)!

Ta da! Just right! :o)

I can't even begin to describe how much happiness and pride I feel watching MY son, my very own child, enjoying this season as much as I do! I think I am more excited about Christmas morning this year than he is, just to see his little face! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we truly have so much to be thankful for!

Have a great one everybody!