Memorial Day weekend fun

 While we pause to reflect and pay tribute to the service men and women that protect the freedom that we hold dear.....we enjoyed lots of family time together and plenty of sun and fun.  There was a street fest in Valley Junction and we decided to check it out.  It was a bit of a bust, but Paul scored a fresh squeezed lemonade and an airbrush tattoo.


The fresh squeezed lemonade.....

The airbrush tattoo......

The end result.....a cool dinosaur tattoo.....not sure it was worth the $5 since it washed off the next day when I applied sunscreen to his arm, but Paul thought it was pretty darn cool.

Here was Paul's highlight of the trip.....the real live caboose.  He was a bit disappointed that he couldn't climb on or in it but still thought it was pretty cool.

We hit a local cajun place for dinner and then DQ on the way home.  His Dilly Bar started like this.....

Progressed to this......

 And ended like this......clean stick but dirty face!

We spent lots of time playing in the pool and water table this weekend.  It was lovely weather - albeit a bit warm, but perfect for splashing around!


Trying to swim in his little bitty pool.....such a good sport.

Smart kid....best seat in the yard!

Time for a lunch break....hot dog and goldfish.....gotta love his "table"!

Today we broke down and turned on the sprinklers for him....he likes them but is afraid of them all at the same time.

I'll just try to fill my bucket....whoops, I am getting sprayed!

Muscle pose....which way to the beach?!?!

Playing with the hose, in the pool while the sprinkler sprays over his head.  Multi-tasking at its best!

And this pretty much sums up our day.....happy boy.....with a cheesy grin!

I continue to find myself having random thoughts about how these little moments will change once Lillie is home.  I asked Paul today if he was planning to share his pool with her and he told me that she should have her own pool....ha!  When I reminded him that we need to share, he agreed that it would be more fun to splash around with his sister than by himself.  I just know that he will be the best big brother ever.

Another visit with Baby Samuel

 We headed to visit our friends Jeff and Sisilia and their cutie pie Samuel.  He is a whopping 2-1/2 months old now...hard to believe that time has passed so quickly.  Paul was excited to see everyone...he picked out his favorite Avengers t-shirt to wear!  We had a yummy lunch and just spent time hanging out.  We spent a little time outside although it was getting a bit warm so we adjourned back into the house.  What a nice day spent with good friends.


Hanging out on the patio with some sidewalk chalk.

Someone decided to be silly while taking a picture with his friend Samuel.

Random hanbok hysteria

 We were doing a little reorganizing today and ran across Paul's hanbok.  This is the one that his foster mother gave us when we left Korea - it was far too big for his first birthday (but he wore it anyway) and fit him perfectly for his second birthday (so we had portraits done).  We didn't pull it out for his third or fourth birthday since I figured it was way too small.....turns out I was wrong.  It's small, but still barely fits him without looking TOO crazy!  He was SO excited to wear it and was quite the ham when I pulled out the camera.  I assured him that we would be picking out a new one when we head to Seoul later this year.


His "serious model" pose.

His "check me out with my crossed legs casual" pose.

His "silly hands on his hips" pose.

His "all the cool kids are kneeling in their pictures" pose.

And finally, his "squat and laugh" pose.

I probably shouldn't publish this, but the last photo was made even funnier by the rip roaring toot that he expelled while I was taking it.  I love my boy.

A few things about Paul

Dear Paul,


There are so many funny things that you are doing and saying right now and I want to make sure we remember them!


- You are obsessed with the song Paradise City by Guns N Roses.  We get to hear you sing it all the time.  Too bad daddy introduced you to the race car game called Burnout Paradise which led to your 80's rock band obsession.
- You are fixated on the fact that you are now 4 years old and you seem to think that turning 4 is your ticket to do just about anything that you want.
- You like to say something and then follow it up with "That's the TRUTH!"
- You are really into jumping on one leg or skipping around.  Sounds like all of the kids in your class are doing the same thing...way to give into peer pressure my dear.
- You talk a lot about missing people and how long it has been since we have seen them last.  This actually warms my heart.
- You are very focused on the alphabet right now and you ask a million times a day to spell certain words.  You like to point out when a word has a letter in it that is also in your name.
- You start many sentences with "Do you remember..." and then finish with some completely random but factual tidbit.  Some of which are from quite some time ago and I am not exactly sure how YOU remember those details.  As an example, you remembered exactly which table we sat at the last time we were at a restaurant...and it was at least 6 months prior!
- You are totally into super heroes and recently became obsessed with Transformer Rescue Bots (just like your friend Joseph).
- You have an imaginary friend named Gugga.  Actually I should call him your alter ego in keeping with the super hero obsession.  Gugga does lots of naughty things and therefore you think you can get away with that since it was Gugga that did it....we have now explained that you are responsible for Gugga's behavior so no more blaming Gugga when bad things happen!
- You ask us all the time if we know someone's phone number.  The most recent was asking if we knew Guns N Roses phone number (see a theme here?) and when we told you no, you asked if we could Skype with them to ask them their phone number.  Nice logic Paul.


I love you more and more each day - you are such a bright and funny little guy.  You most definitely keep us on our toes!


Love,
Your mom

Soccer Overload

 Paul's soccer fun continues...he loves his spring soccer league!  One of my co-worker's daughter is on his team and they have struck up quite the friendship.  It was cool to watch the kids today - they finally started to click a little as a team and there was some passing and assists including a few between Paul and Grayce.

So excited about soccer that he fell right down!

Check out the simultaneous kicks....cool shot.

 Running, running....everywhere!

Warming up like airplanes before the game!

Goofing off before the game....lots of smiles and laughs!

I spy daddy!

 Some serious focus on his skills.

Got his sticker and was happy as a clam!

He has 2 more games left for this league and we found out today that they will be holding a fall soccer league which starts in August!

Mother's Day Fun

 Our Mother's Day this year was filled with wonderful weather and lots of love from my boys.  That's not to say that Paul was on the best of behavior - he wasn't!  We headed to the zoo along with most of the metro area....but it actually wasn't all that crazy once we got inside so the parking lot must have been deceiving.  We had a nice time walking around and Paul enjoyed showing me all of the new exhibits.  They had even opened the train already which was a treat since they don't typically do that until Memorial Day.


His Iron Man sunglasses....Mimi bought these for him last summer when he wasn't even into superheroes.....boy she was thinking since he is obsessed with them now!

Waiting "patiently" for the train to arrive.....Paul's inaugural ride of the season.

Mommy and Paul.  I love this boy!

The rest of the day was filled with playing outside...and daddy smoked a rack of ribs for dinner!  My day was complete and I surely felt loved.  I can't wait to hold both my babies next year.

On the Eve of Mother's Day.....our lock of love

 I was thrilled to open a very special package this week....a custom engraved lock that we will take with us on our trip to Seoul.  When we traveled to bring Paul home, we visited the Seoul Tower and saw all of the locks of love.  It was unbelievably beautiful to be standing on the very top of Seoul and see the expansive city and all of the locks from previous visitors wishing to express their everlasting love.  So this time we are coming prepared....locked and loaded!  And I certainly wasn't going to take just any lock, we had to have the perfect lock for us.  And here it is....take a good look because sometime this year when we are lucky enough to hear the words "your daughter is ready to travel" this lock will be hitching a ride on that beautiful blue plane.

After a beautiful day for a game of soccer, we hit the annual Asian festival.  Of course I forgot my camera...boooo....but we had fun nonetheless.  We ate lots of great food, walked around a bunch and secured a balloon sword for Paul.  The Korean area of the festival had a little shop to score cool Korean swag.  We have not traditionally had all that much access to Korean snack food but I know Lillie will likely be used to these kinds of things, so I snagged a few items that looked interesting.  Some lightly sweetened rice cake treats and shrimp crackers.

After dinner, Paul decided he wanted to give the shrimp crackers a try.  Bag open, first bite.

He's a bit skeptical at first.

It was 2 thumbs up from Paul....smiles for the shrimp crackers!

It was a nice day all the way around and I can't wait to see what the boys have to surprise me with tomorrow.......

Polar Bears and the Park!

It was a stormy morning around here and we thought a movie made sense on a day like this.  Paul has never been to an IMAX movie, so we saw a beautiful documentary about the Arctic Circle and the impact of climate shift on the environment there.  It is always a pleasure to watch the beauty of the polar bears as they jump and play and swim.  We all enjoyed the movie!


Paul loves to go to the park....and his favorite park recently is the playground at a nearby elementary school.  So we had to hit the park today since the weather brightened up for the afternoon.




Hello?!?!  Daddy, are you there?!?!

The new kind of teeter totter.....I see a slight size differential here!

Wow....this is hard work to try to get down!

 And then it was off to the monkey bars....these are circular wheels that spin while you are on them.  Little man has no fear so rest assured we stand nearby to grab him when his little arms can't hold any longer.

 And that little stinker drank all of my water!

And I saved the best for last....our little man is totally into a particular 80's rock song right now.  Daddy and Paul like to play a little Burnout Paradise which is a race car game.  The theme song is Paradise City by Guns n Roses....and Paul knows the chorus by heart and sings it freely.  I think it is cute albeit slightly embarrassing in certain situations.  We got it on camera twice....enjoy and rock on!

My kid is square

Yep, it is official that Paul is almost a perfect square....as confirmed by our pediatrician last week.  He is 40 pounds and 40 inches tall.  He continues to be a healthy and happy little man.  He passed his annual exam with flying colors!


Friday night was date night for me and Paul.  Jason went to dinner and a comedy show with a friend and I was thrilled to spend some alone time with my favorite 4 year old.  Paul picked our dinner destination...Buffalo Wild Wings.  Likely would not have been my choice, but we had a great time.  When we got there he asked if we could sit on the patio which of course I obliged.  He was the perfect gentleman!


Cheesy milk smile.

And we hit DQ on the way home....twist cone for him and vanilla dipped in chocolate for me.  Good thing we sat outside as we both made a big drippy mess!

 Saturday brought another day of spring soccer league.  We missed last weekend because of Paul's birthday and he was super excited to get back to it.  The weather was dreary at first but about halfway through it cleared to blue skies and lots of sun.  Paul scored the first blue goal (he did that the first game too).  He seems to really enjoy playing but is certainly tired by the end of the hour.  We try to get him full of protein beforehand to give him energy, but we can see how tired he is by the end of the game.