Welcome home Uncle Dan!

We are thrilled to welcome Uncle Dan home from his deployment in Iraq....he just made it back to the Midwest earlier last week and we were lucky to celebrate a belated Christmas this weekend. While we are quite proud of the sacrifice that Dan and his family made on behalf of our country, we selfishly are very glad that he is home - safe and sound! We had lots of fun catching up this weekend and Paul had a blast with his cousins.

Playing choo-choo's with Jon.....

Hey, check out my choo-choo's Jake!

Come on Uncle Dan....let's get this thing out of the package and put together so I can play with it!

Paul trying to carry his new motorbike to a clear spot on the floor - he had to give up since there wasn't a clear spot after we opened all of our gifts!

Hanging with Jake!

Cabo towering over Paul....

Paul was having fun with Pa's real electric choo-choo......

Watching Elmo and playing with choo-choo's with Gram!

We also had a chance to celebrate Jake's birthday - lots of celebration this weekend. Looks like Jake is making quite a big wish......

Paul enjoyed the chocolate cake VERY MUCH!

Eeeewwwww daddy....leave my chocolatey hands alone!

The boys together - what a crew!

We had a great weekend and now must gear up for another busy week - they are all so busy these days with the back and forth routine that is seemingly endless. No movement on our house and we are getting to the point that we have some decisions to make - lots of stressful decisions in our lives these days, but I have faith that we will make the right ones for our family.

Ah, the era of the trantrum begins....

We've had so many people comment on how HAPPY our little man seems and yes, it's true, that he is pretty darn happy **most** of the time. We have noticed lately that he is moving into the tantrum stage (otherwise known as the terrible 2's).....while I don't enjoy this stage nor do I look forward to seeing how quickly Paul will be able to REALLY develop his tantrum-throwing skills, I do accept this as a normal part of childhood. If you really stop and think about it, this is just one more way for Paul to show is independence - he is choosing to make lots of noise and trying to get his point across when he doesn't really have the words to do it. So, I should really be PROUD of him for his tantrums....but alas, I don't think it's pride that fills my heart while this is occurring!

This particular tantrum was actually pretty funny....who knows what even set him off.....that really isn't the point anyway. He flopped on the floor and started to scream so Jason grabbed the camera and there you have it - tantrum documented for all of eternity. I am sure that we will pull this out when Paul is in his awkward teenage years and get a good chuckle over his "almost 2" antics.

I must warn you that this is not for the faint of heart - right around 50 seconds into the video, you might want to close your eyes if you have a weak stomach.....and with that, I'll leave you to enjoy this fabulous video. I must admit that it still makes me chuckle!

Fun with Friends - Part 2!

It occurred to me today that I missed a whole chunk of pictures from our weekend fun.....so here is part 2 for your viewing pleasure!

Mommy playing checkers with Paul - he's a tough checker player so I needed some help from my checkers coach little C!I got booted so little C could play with Paul - I think the strategy was who could pull the mat from under the checkers!

Our future chess player.....I don't think you are technically allowed to move both a white piece and a black piece, but who cares about the stinkin' rules!

Sweet N playing in the Lego container - too cute!

Mommy, I need longer arms - I can't seem to reach the Legos in the bottom of this container!

Once he got a handful, he kept dropping them against the window - not sure that they were supposed to go there, but he was having fun.

Daddy built a cool tower and Paul couldn't get to it fast enough to knock is over!

Daddy and Paul playing at the Lego table - not sure what they are both so intently looking at?!?

Sweet N sporting her leopard print coat - a diva in the making!

I want that one....and that one......and that one......and that one......partners in crime and we had to wipe the drool off the display case!

And finally, some upside down fun with a full belly of ice cream......smiles were abound!

Fun with Friends!

We made the trek to Bloomington today to visit with a few of our adoption friends....all of the kids had so much fun....and the adults too! We were pretty sad that Rebecca and little J-man couldn't join us - he had a cold and so they decided they should stay home.

Here's Paul on the way to Bloomington - he had lots of fun with his choo-choo and Elmo book. We are so lucky that he is a good rider!
Paul playing with his new friend C. Looks like Paul is hogging all of the airplanes!

N and C playing at the children's museum....

N and her brother A checking out the trains! The train tables had cool cutouts for the kids to crawl into - N was having fun in the middle of the table!

Here's Paul and A checking out the trains....

Paul and mommy checking out the cow....hey Paul, what does a cow say? MOOOOOOOOO.....

Paul and N coming down the stairs from riding in the combine.

OK, this one is hard to explain, but here goes. They have these cool tube things that blow air rather forcefully - they have these bandanna-like pieces of fabric that you stick in the tubes and then you watch them shoot quickly through the tube system and then shoot out the end. Paul thought this was a total riot. I managed to catch a shot of the bandanna in flight towards Paul's head....he was laughing hysterically.

Paul (and his reflection) checking out a display at the museum.

I didn't get any good group shots today - it's awfully hard to get all 5 kids together, sitting still and looking remotely in the same direction. We had a great lunch, a great time at the children's museum and GREAT ice cream after! We are all pooped after a long day, but what a wonderful time we had. It was nice to tell our Korea trip stories and talk about the funny things the kids are doing. It was so nice that all of the kids were in great moods (no meltdowns) without naps! Paul crashed in the car on the way home and we drove in some pretty serious fog. This has been such a crazy winter! We're planning to sleep in tomorrow so we are hopeful that Paul is in on that plan!

Hand-Me-Down Toys are the BEST!

Well first of all, I must apologize for falling off the face of the blogger earth! It just took me 20 minutes to get caught up on all of the blogs that I follow.....I have been hiding under the rock called WORK all week. When I am out of town, I can't do anything with blogger since I only have my work computer and blogging websites are blocked (probably a good idea for employee productivity, huh!). So, here I am trying to get caught back up with my Facebook and blogs!

Last weekend we had a great visit with our friends Katie and Tod - they have been so generous to Paul and have given us all sorts of wonderful hand-me-down toys from their kids. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends.....and especially friends that have such cool stuff!

Here's a random shot of Paul after daddy had some fun.....he forgot to snap up Paul's one-sie and then decided to snap it over his jeans. Goofball......

Paul with his "new" electric keyboard - the keys light up red when you press them - he loves to play the real piano so this is a wonderful addition to his musical toys!

Another "new" toy was a bucket of Home Depot tools. Here's Paul trying to "fix" his keyboard with his fancy new wrench!

Bucket head.....

Our smart little man figured out where to plug in the microphone - he kept plugging it in and then unplugging it again.

The pliers from the new tool bucket somehow made it to dinner that night.....instead of a fork, Paul decided to use a pair of pliers to eat his noodles. It wasn't quite as effective so we quickly switched to a fork!

Thanks again to Katie and Tod....Paul just LOVES all of his new treasures......

Laundry basket fun!

It's been a pretty exciting week around our house....we had 3 home showings in one week! Our agent has indicated that 2 of them have interest which is exciting. Of course, we won't believe it until we have the offer in our hands! It's a whole new year, a whole new price (yeah, we did another price reduction last week) and it's TIME TO MOVE! So, fingers crossed and prayers to St. Joseph and we'll get this house sold soon!

Paul continues to be a happy and healthy boy. His final 2 front molars are totally broken through and coming in very fast now. He actually went the whole day today without a drool bib which was exciting! We'll see if the lack of drool continues.

Paul is such a great eater - he just loves his fruits and veggies! We actually have trouble getting him to eat protein at some meals....but he will always eat his fruits and veggies! Here's some cute video from today's lunch - he had pieces of carrot and green pepper. He is really into stacking pieces of food and decided to stack pieces of carrot on the table....he also likes to balance food on his cup or other places. It certainly seems as though he might be headed for a career in engineering but who knows.


Paul has been really into sweet pickles lately.....


Another of Paul's favorites is climbing into laundry baskets and having mommy or daddy push him around. He's so proud of himself and just laughs and laughs.

Here's Paul sporting his "Mommy's Little Man" t-shirt. He doesn't usually get into the taller laundry basket, but we went with it.


Mommy giving him a gentle shove.....at this point he was squealing with delight!Last night as we were bathing Paul, I was thinking about the screams and crying during bathtime when we first brought Paul home. Oh my, how far we have come!

One of Paul's favorite tub toys is an old empty baby wash/shampoo bottle. He loves to fill it with water and squirt it back out. He was having a blast "washing" his hands and then "washing" daddy's hands.....

Fast forward to summertime please....

I think this winter is starting to grate on everyone.....but we are making the best of it and trying to think warm and sunny thoughts for sure! It was a pretty low-key weekend for us which is just what we wanted! We are all hoping for a snow-free week....and fingers crossed a good house showing on Tuesday......it's time to get this place sold and get moved!

Here's Paul snacking on some Cheerios and watching Elmo on youtube at the desk in the kitchen. I bet he would watch some combination of Elmo, Thomas the Train or Pororo all day if we let him! He just loves to listen and sing and dance along with the fun.

Daddy made a great dinner tonight - salmon patties, homemade alfredo sauce over noodles and I picked up some corn on the cob at the store this weekend. I had very low expectations of the quality of this corn, but I have to tell you - it was GREAT! So, that's our foray into summertime during January.

Paul just LOVES his corn on the cob!

Maya was getting a little too close for comfort. I must admit that the whole move from the high chair to the booster seat makes this all a bit trickier.

Little Man has just started to drink from a normal cup - not the sippy variety. This of course only works at mealtime when he is strapped into his chair, is wearing a bib and has some supervision. But, he's mastering it quite well!

This video was originally just meant to show you our little man drinking like a big boy, but it's so much more! Check out the shivers in the middle - cracks me up. And of course the "more, more" and "please" is always cute and funny. Please note, Paul is drinking from a plastic cup that is actually a dog food measuring cup, but I assure you that is was NEVER used on dog food. It's been stashed in the cupboard forever and is just the right size for his little hands. We clearly need to buy some small, plastic cups for our big boy!

Stay warm!!!

Head, shoulders, knees and toes.....

It's certainly winter in the Midwest....another dumping of snow and lots of cold temps! It's a good thing that we have plenty to entertain us in the house! Paul woke up in a terrible mood today, but it was his day at Gram and Pa's so his mood quickly improved when he arrived at their place! They had a fun day - inside of course - and he came home happy as a clam tonight!

We had a pasta bake for dinner tonight.....Paul had lots of fun with the noodles.



After dinner, Paul decided to show off his balancing skills....isn't he proud of himself?!?


Paul just LOVES his train table....thanks again Santa!Cheeseball.....

I caught him in the middle of saying CHOO CHOO.....

We changed into pjs and then the fun really began.....our little train conductor.....not sure the hat goes with the monster jammies?!?

Scary daddy chasing Paul.....I can't even explain the laughter that ensued!

Paul, where's your nose?!? BEEP!

Paul, where's your chin?

Paul, where's your cheeks?

We LOVE our little man!