Bounce house fun....and a bubble to boot!

We decided to head to have some bounce house fun today.....we hit Monkey Joe's and Paul had a blast. I am always amazed at how he can just jump right into a pack of kids and have fun even though he doesn't really know anyone. In a huge room of bounce house choices, he stuck pretty close to just two of them and a few he didn't even try out.

Climbing high.....

Racing the other kids.....
WHEEEE.....the slide at the end was a big hit of course.
He was thrilled to be able to wear his cool new Spiderman shirt! He is really getting into superheroes these days (although he hasn't even really seen any superhero movies or shows).
Someone fell asleep in the car on the way home and was still zonked out when we brought him into the house. Think he was pooped out?!
After a yummy steak dinner, we definitely needed to hit the bubble (think of all the icky germs on those bounce houses!). I haven't taken any bubble pictures in quite some time so thought it was appropriate to pull out the camera. He even got to take a spin in our big tub!
Why hello bubble man!
My little lion (cool Christmas gift from GranJo).
Checking out his paws....the towel even has a tail. Too cute!
We really enjoyed this weekend - spent the better part of Saturday around the house and then ventured out a bit today. Paul is really into imaginative play these days and he was on quite a roll this weekend. There was a lot of talk about him going to work and sitting in meetings (hhmmm, wonder where that came from). He would pull up all of the chairs and stools around the table and kept telling us that the people at his meeting were helping to celebrate his birthday (apparently he is ready to turn 4 already!). They had pretend birthday cake at the meeting (wish we had cake at all of MY meetings!). He had a briefcase that he filled with all sort of goodies and his Thomas purse...which I told him to call a MAN purse to make daddy feel a bit better about it. I just can't even put into words how cute this all was.....he was SO into it. I love this kid more than words can even say.

Miss Lillie at 16 months

We were so blessed to have received an update last week from Lillian's 16 month checkup. She is right on track developmentally and has actually increased in weight and height. At her 14 month visit she was 75th percentile for weight and 50th for height....she is now 90th for weight and 75th for height. She is clearly thriving!! Our pediatrician was very pleased with her milestones. She even has 12 teeth already which is really quite remarkable at this age. Her hair is clearly growing a bit too!

Our sweet baby!

I even like the crying picture.....love that we can see some teeth since she doesn't smile in the pictures we have received!

Still a little teary eyed but I love her just the same!

It's amazing how much a few pictures can brighten a day! It is so hard to continue to wait for permission to bring her home, but it certainly warms our heart to know that she is being well cared for and is thriving in her foster home.

Big Boy Room - Phase 1

So the time has finally come to move forward with our plans to transition Paul into his new big boy room with his big boy furniture. Phase 1 was the ordering of his new furniture and it was delivered today. Paul has been talking about it and asking about it all week.....and he kept asking us what time it was this morning as he waited for the doorbell to ring. He could hardly contain himself when they finally arrived.

After the furniture was all setup, Jason and I were quick to get the sheets and quilt on it for Paul to climb on in and give it a whirl. Before he even got on the bed, he had to gather all of his stuffies and put them on first.

So here is his bed and nightstand (along with his umpteen stuffies).

Jason and I spent some time installing his new curtains today as well. I am pretty happy with how things are shaping up.....we need to get the painters in to paint the walls and have them hang the super cool wall mural that we bought. I can't wait to see it put up on the wall! Then we just need to finish up the rest of the decorating touches. This will likely take us a little while and that is really by design. This project is both fun and also a way to occupy our time and energy while we wait for Miss Lillie to come home.

We got him ready for bed tonight and he was quite excited to get settled in for his first night in the new room. He was pretty tired, so after 2 books and some snuggles, he was fast asleep.


Earlier in the day, I came into the kitchen to find our kitchen table had become a parking garage. Lots of cars perfectly aligned in all four quadrants of the table base. He was quite proud of himself and I couldn't help by chuckle. That's my kid!

Kansas City roadtrip

There is nothing better than a roadtrip....made even better by the fun family waiting for us at our destination. We picked a "middle ground" to meet our friends Rebecca, James and Joseph. That meant a maiden trip to Kansas City.....to stay in a hotel with a sofa bed for Paul. He was in HEAVEN! We did far too much in our short 2 day visit but we laughed, we ate and we played with plenty of cars and trains!

This is literally the only shot I got of the 2 of them looking at the camera and sort of smiling....both have a touch of bed head and are wondering how dare I interrupt their train playing fun.

We arrived mid-day on Friday and after grabbing a quick bite to eat, we headed to the Kansas City Zoo. What a cool zoo with lots and lots of land...which meant lots and lots of walking! Good for 2 little boys that had been cooped up. Unfortunately, the zoo closes at 4pm and we only had about 90 minutes to check out as much as we could.

Not sure what this was, but I think Joseph was glad there was a pane of glass between them!
Cool dude hanging with some sort of bird.
Beautiful shot of the cheetah....they really had some cool animals.
Bunny ears! Not sure Joseph was all that impressed.
Checking out the spy glass.......
And when one does then so does the other.
Riding the hippo.....
Lots and lots of running and chasing each other!
Hey there Joseph.....how's it going cutie pie?

They had a cool polar bear exhibit and the polar bear was ready to put on a show for us. Check out how HUGE his paws were on the glass. I could have watched this for hours!




We spent lots of time in one of our two hotel rooms with the kids playing. We were so lucky to have snagged rooms right next door to each other which was very convenient for the kids. I could have taken hundreds of photos like this as it was a very common view of the boys this weekend.
After a yummy breakfast on Saturday, we headed to an indoor amusement park called Zonkers. Lots of rides, games and bounce house room. First stop was the train of course.....and they had to ride in the engine!
The banana ride.....this looks fun enough, however what you don't see is the power struggle for the throttle....see where all 4 of their hands are grabbing - that is the throttle. It got a little ugly during the ride since they both wanted to control when they went up and down. In hindsight, they should have ridden in separate bananas.
Lots of fun to be had in the bounce house room. This was the place that they could be LOUD....and they were.
Some sort of wrestling match I think.
Look how high I can bounce! Joseph needed a little break.
Do you think he was having fun?!?!

I couldn't pick which of the bounce house videos I liked better, so I am posting them both.....might want to turn down your volume as they were loud, loud, loud!





And then it was off to try the boys very first roller coaster.....it was a pretty serious one. They both loved their first time!
It's hard to say whether the daddies or the boys had more fun....but check out the smiles on their faces when they come flying by the camera. At the end you can barely hear Paul but he says "can we go again?". They did go one more time and had just as much fun that time too!

Time to recharge their batteries with a little snack.
We left the amusement park and headed to Science City.....could we have fit any more into a single day? Of course both boys loved the big model train setup.

And then we spent lots of time in the train exhibit room.....Paul was digging this train engine.

They had a real full-sized train engine that even sounded like it was running. Paul took his turn being the train engineer.
And then it was off to the helicopter.....first Paul was the pilot. I think Joseph looks a little nervous with Paul's pilot skills.

And then it was Joseph's turn to fly the chopper.
We left Science City and headed to a yummy Korean restaurant. The boys shared a big bowl of bibimbap. I think Paul was pretending to be a walrus with his chopsticks. We all ate way too much and had lots of fun at dinner!

We had such a nice time with our good friends. The weekend just flew right by! I love watching those little boys together....they can really come up with some doozies! We need a weekend to recuperate from our weekend with all of the fun stuff we did! Can't wait until next time.

Belated Valentine's surprise....

Mimi helped us to spread out the Valentine's Day fun with a delivery of her favorite cookies. We tried to tell Paul that they were poison so we could eat them all, but he was having none of that! We broke out the huge box after dinner and we all had fun sampling the yummy treats.

Chocolate cookie smile.....

Hello cookie - you look good enough to eat!
CHOMP!

And here is a special message for Mimi.....enjoy!

International Man of Mystery

Wahooo.....Paul's passport finally arrived so he can officially be an International Man of Mystery! We had some paperwork difficulties that caused some major delays in getting this precious document and lo and behold, it arrived on Monday. What a sweet step forward in our preparation for travels later this year (hopefully).

Check out our little cutie.....he looks like such a big boy instead of my baby.

We are officially ready for whenever the time comes later this year......what a great feeling!

Heart Day 2012!

Lots of happy hearts around here. We started with opening some fun gifts from GranJo over the weekend....think he was excited?!

A closeup of the fun snacks that GranJo sent.....cute AND tasty!

On Monday evening (can you say last minute), we assembled Paul's gift bags and Valentines for his party. He was quite the helper to get everything into each bag...we had 28 to assemble and it took a whole hour to get the task completed. PHEW! Check him out taking a spin with the star shaped sunglasses we gave to each kid and he was super excited that I got him Spiderman Valentine's.

The finished product....quite a pile!
Paul had a lot of fun at his party at school today. They ate some healthy snacks...and probably a few not-so-healthy ones. The teachers are smart enough to staple their Valentine's bags closed to the kids couldn't get to their treats during the day. After our dinner tonight, Paul opened the stack of cards he received from various family members.

RRIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!
Checking out his cool card.

And then it was time to open his bag 'o' goodies.....he was super funny as he pulled out his countless cards and suckers.

And check out his loot......this is on par with Halloween if you ask me!
All in all we had a fun celebration of the ultimate fake holiday. Hugs and kisses from our family to yours!