A Great Week!

We have been a family of three for over a year now, and Christopher celebrated his second birthday on Thursday! Wow, I can't believe how fast this year flew by! He is such a fun, curious little guy, and so very smart; I could not have imagined a more amazing son! We celebrated with a private party at home (just the three of us) on the big day and had a blast!

My super cute BIRTHDAY BOY!!!

Surprise face and excitement over presents! SO cute!

My first attempt at a train cake (of course it had to be a "choo choo" cake)...

It was yummy! I wish we had the chance to eat more of it, but Buster decided to help himself to the remainder while we were outside.....naughty Dog!

He is a pro at present opening after Christmas. Love this one...ooooo a Kindermisik glockenspiel!

Christopher loving his new musical book for the car....

Over the weekend we visited the family and as a special birthday treat, took our little water baby to an indoor waterpark with his little friend Mikaela and her Mommy. Unfortunately, he was NOT a fan. I think it was a little too crowded and loud, (not to mention freezing) for him to get into it. He did have fun visiting friends and family though, so it was not a total bust. The highlight of the weekend was the arrival of a birthday package from Christopher's Amazing Foster Family in Korea. They are wonderful and loving people, and we keep in touch with them often. They love him like a son, and they will definitely continue to play an important part in his life and history as he grows up. I have included some photos of the amazing gifts they sent not only for Christopher, but the whole family. So thoughtful!

The Box...he was so excited to open it!

Digging right in. I think the stuff on top is seaweed!

Wow!

Assortment of super warm hats, scarves, gloves and slippers for Christopher....

A great assortment of Pororo toys including a watch and whistle, and check out the TRAIN!! I think they know what our little man likes! As an added bonus they included written translations of all the instructions!! So cool!

This gorgeous tea set...

Beautiful vase...

I hope this year holds many more wonderful weeks to come!

One last parting shot...

My Two year old "teenager"playing on the I-pad all by himself at the hotel!

Wow, if he keeps growing at this rate he will be a teenager before I can blink!

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Snow Much Fun!

It has been a white and lovely (though bitterly cold) winter for us thus far and we are really enjoying the view from the toasty house! It has actually been a pretty light year for snow in our area (possibly the least snowy winter we have had in the last five years)! Things warmed up just a little last week, so we finally felt comfortable taking Christopher out to enjoy a little playtime outdoors. We pulled him around in his sled...

Played with a summer favorite: bucket and shovel...

Dad pulled us around in the big sled and we rode it down the "hill" in the driveway...

Christopher stomped and crunched away with his little boots and rolled around in the snow with dad....

We even tried snow angels....not too bad for a first try!

We also played with the minis! Isn't Echo pretty in the snow!

I love how beautiful the winter is, but I think I am ready for spring now!

Happy New Year!

We spent the close of 2010 with some good friends and an early dinner party with the kiddos. Now, normally if you were to show up at a dinner party and someone was wearing the exact same outfit that you were, you would be pretty embarrassed and it could be awkward for the people around you....not the case when the matching party goers are the exact same size and wearing diapers! Ha! Christopher got to spend the evening playing with trucks (and of course some trains) with a new little buddy. They were a little shy with each other at first, and I think the other little guy was quite frankly a little weirded out by Christopher and his hug-all-little-people introduction style, but they soon became fast friends and were tearing around and playing great!

Playing with a big "tuk"

We had great food made by some great friends, then left to tuck our little man in before it was too far past his bedtime. Phil and I watched the ball drop then stayed up waaaaayyyy too late watching the first part of the "Jaws" movie marathon on tv. It has been forever since I have seen that movie and I still get instant goosebumps when I hear the shark music.....ahhhh! We spent New Years Day with Phil's family and were entertained by Christopher in his hanbok doing some pretty funky dance moves and looking oh so cute!

This year has started out a little rocky in some regards, but I am hoping that it will turn out in the end to be the best year yet! Here's to new beginings and as my Dad always says "good riddance to bad rubbish!"

Christmas 2010

(Warning: this may be the longest post yet! )

We have had such a wonderful Christmas season this year!

The celebrations started with a festive party at the Frederik Meijer gardens. They had Christmas trees from around the world and of course we had to stop at the Korea tree!

We waited in line to see Santa and Christopher was sooooo excited once he spotted him! The line couldn't move fast enough and he was making these hilarious squealing noises. I thought for sure we would get some great pictures.....

....but unfortunately the excitement to see the bearded man quickly faded when he got up close!

Even with Dad's encouragement, he was not impressed! :o) It did end on a good note though as Santa did get him to give a high five, and Mrs. Clause gave him a yummy marshmallow snowman. Maybe he will remember that part next year!

We received a package from Korea just before Christmas with some leather journals for Phil and I to keep about Christopher (a tradition they started for him from the first day he was placed with their family). Christopher was given his own special Christmas card that flashed lights and played music. He loved it and played it over and over. They are such thoughtful, wonderful people!

Christmas is definitely better with kids! I can't even begin to describe how much fun we had sharing Christmas with our little man and watching him so excited to tear open the packages (he really didn't get the whole concept of presents, he just liked to tear the paper)! We celebrated Christmas three weekends in a row this year, once with my family the week before, together as a family of three for the first time on Dec 25th, and once with Phil's family the weekend after. I hope Christopher isn't going to get the wrong idea about what is going to happen on the weekends from now on!

His first experience was fantastic! He got the coolest little igloo tent, camping pillow and lantern from my brother and his girlfriend. It's a great place to play, hang out with the dogs (or cats), take a nap or do a puzzle with mom! He plays in it every day, and it has become a new fixture in our living room! lol

He loves pillows and was so excited to try his new camping one out, that he promptly ran over to the couch, tossed the decorative pillow on the floor, replaced it with the new one and crawled up to test it out. He even pulled off his socks to get the full test with absolute comfort!

The new highlight of his little universe however, came in the form of a train table he received from my parents! Christopher is what we affectionately call a "choo chooholic." This boy LOVES trains! You name it, if it has a train he's in! The first thing he says in the morning is "choo choo"! My dad is actually quite the train enthusiast himself, and his own "set" actually sparked this new found obsession in Christopher! (I will try to blog about that whole experience someday - it's really quite amazing)!

It was a great day, with a great family, great food and lots of fun!

After Christopher went to bed, we ended the evening with an exciting battle of Wii bowling on my Mom and Dad's new system. What fun ending to a wonderful day!

Christmas eve we made lasagna and Christopher helped place the noodles. We all baked a gingerbread cake and prepared it for decorating. Christopher is becoming quite handy in the kitchen - Isn't he the cutest little chef ever?

We wrote a letter to Santa that Christopher signed with his hand print and put it in a nifty envelope ornament on the tree for Santa's elves to pickup.

My mom made this amazing stocking for him and even customized the little boy to look like Christopher! Thank you mom, it is definitely something he will treasure in the years to come (I know I always will)!

We hung our stockings for Santa...

We watched some movies together, and of course played with the trains!

We read some books (Christmas and of course some about trains) and tucked him in to wait for Santa! :o)

Christmas Morning!

He was so excited when he saw the gifts by the tree!

We had a monsterous breakfast with all the highest calorie yummies we could come up with, and just had a great quiet day at home with just he three of us. We played, danced, read, watched movies, ate, and decorating our little gingerbread man cake. Christopher of course, had to sample all the toppings!

The next week I think Christopher was really getting the hang of things. He and Rosie played Santa and passed out all the gifts to Phil's family...which he then helped to open.

He received his very own ride-on Thomas the Train from Aunt Julie, and the coolest gear set from Great Grandma that is just like the one he fell in love with at the Children's museum! He even got a mini tractor just like Dad's from Grandma and Grandpa. I can't wait to take some pics of my guys side by side on their own John Deere's come spring!

He was blessed with so many wonderful gifts, but the best one of all was the time we got to spend with all our amazing family. I hope he enjoyed his first Christmas home with us as much as he made ours the best Christmas ever!