A Rockin' Good Time!

On 11-11-11, we celebrated Gabe's third birthday with the very appropriate theme of Rock n' Roll.

The guest of honor getting his groove on before the party:


My friend Christine did the awesome graphics:


As the guests arrived they got a 'backstage pass' to get the party started:

There were stations set up where they could 1)get their "Rockstar Look" 2) "Rock On" with a tattoo or 3) "Watch a Jam Session"




Rockstar Accessories:


Jam Session Accessories:


Some Rock Stars:





Cupcake time!:








After the party, some family stuck around to open gifts.

Grandma gave a card with a cheetos taped to the inside to match the picture on the outside:

My little cleaning helper:

Playing with the loot with Aunt Bari later that night:

Happy Happy Day!

Overall it was a fun little party. Gabe seemed to have a blast with all his friends at his home on his turf, doing his favorite activity. The party goers seemed to have fun too. Some of the reports from their moms since include: insisting on wearing the backstage pass to church, sleeping with the guitar, turning every song into a rock song, saying 'rock on', older brothers stealing the guitars, glasses and passes from the younger siblings that did attend.
Happy Birthday to my little RockStar!!

November's Care Package

When Levi JeeHo went in for his well baby check around November 12, this is what his foster mother would have gotten:

Included are some clothes, lotion, a toy and "The Snowy Day" in Korean.

Big huge Seoul Sister thanks goes to 2 of my bff's: Kelly (who brought the package from Chicago to WA) and Kris who brought the package from WA to Seoul. It warms this mom's heart when my care packages are delivered with love the whole way!

Birthday Love from Seoul

You know what's great? Getting a box like this delivered to your house:


And finding awesome Pororo loot inside:


Thank you to Mi Yeon (Gabe's foster sister) for making Young Min's birthday all that more sweet!

Three Is the Magic Number!

The Gabester is 3 today! And there is all sorts of magic going on. Here is a glimpse into his personality these days...

*"What you doing?" is in heavy, heavy, heavy rotation these days. Another big one is "what's that?" even on things that he knows what they are and what we are doing. Sometimes I think he just wants to see if we'll come up with a creative answer. Both of those questions are also usually followed up with the ever present "because why?"



*His imagination is in total overdrive these days. Laundry baskets are birthday cakes, we hide under the covers from the coyotes we see on Diego, a change sorter can be a scary ghost, etc. It's so fun to see what little scenarios he dreams up and what sticks in his mind from the day.


*He's big on compliments. He'll say 'nice dinner, Mommy' or 'nice cleaning, Mommy.' And for the record, every meal is 'dinner.'


*This Halloween season we were really big on 'scary yards.' We'd drive around town and rate them as 'no scary,' 'little bit scary,' or 'big scary.'

*Preschool is going much better. We had tears every day until the 7th class. Then we started letting him bring his trusty boo-ba and said that mommy couldn't go but his blankie could. Now boo-ba just hangs out in his backpack in case he needs it. He loves preschool and is a total chatterbox when I pick him up.


*Gabe is *obsessed* with baseball. I will say (cuz this is my blog about my kid) he is quite good for his age. Tees are for losers...we only pitch the ball and he hits about 18 out of 20 pitched balls and some have gone over our garage and many many have hit our windows. His throwing is very good too, complete with body twist. We watched the playoffs and needed to act out all exciting plays.


*He's a polite little boy. In addition to 'please' and 'thank you', he'll say 'excuse me' to anything in his way... 'excuse me arm' or 'excuse me paper.'


*He has a set of made up words that he uses randomly such has 'bomba, hingy, mombee, momba.' You could ask him what he played with today and he'll say 'bomba!' We don't know what they mean but they are nouns and seem to have a positive connotation and seem to be used when he wants to be silly, doesn't want to answer, or doesn't know the answer.


*Gabe will rock his charades team one day. If I can't understand what he's trying to say he'll act it out or give me another type of clue. For example he drew some snakes one day and I thought he said stripes and he said 'no, hissss.' Another day he was talking about a bridge and I couldn't understand him and he said 'not a tunnel.'


*He's big on the "I'm sorrys" these days, when he knows he does something I don't like and it usually comes a bit later. He'll all of sudden come up and say "I'm sorry I threw that (fill in the blank), mommy."



*Another big activity is music. He plays the drums every.single.day. He totally mimics the people he watches on you*tube. Someone just may have a special gift under the tree this year.



So there you have our little boy at 3! He is such a sweet, fun, smart, active little boy. I always say to him "Mommy must have done something pretty darn great in her life to deserve you" and that's the truth!
Happy Birthday, Gabriel YoungMin!!!!

Smile for the Camera

A few weeks ago we did our second round of professional family photos. The first was in October 2009, right after Gabe came home. We used the same photographer, Amanda Hein. She did another great job! Gabe was a bit cranky that day but she still got lots of good shots. Now, comes the hard part of picking ones to frame without our house looking like Amanda's Gallery. Here are a few of the shots, but you can check them all out HERE.

Levi at 9 months...

We got a wonderful email from our social worker yesterday with an update and three spankin' new pictures of Levi JeeHo! I love how he's gripping his new blankie, his spikey hair, and the sweetness in his face.




As of Thursday, he weighs 19.6 lbs (8.9kg), he's 27.8inches long (70.6cm), both are the 45th percentile. He also has 2 teeth on top and 2 on bottom.
We're so thrilled to get an update and know that he's healthy, getting our packages and looking adorable!

Poor Little LBOS/Care Package #2

I used to be such a darn good blogger and really loved it. I still enjoy it, but more and more it's becoming a bit like homework. I have all sorts of posts that I need to write: a day at the fair this summer, our visit with Mi Yeon, care packages we've sent to Levi, etc. I promise I will get back on the horse and get back to blogging. I know some of you actually still read this blog, and I want/need to have some of these times in our life documented. With Gabe's 3rd birthday and all the holidays fast approaching...I'm gonna really buckle down. Also, I want my fellow bloggers to know that I still do read your blog. I've taken to reading the blogs on my i*ad, which makes it a lot harder to comment.

So let's start out with an easy-peasy post, Levi's 2nd care package:

I know it doesn't look like much, but this little blankie saved us when Gabe came home and I'm hoping that maybe Levi JeeHo will find the same comfort in it. The green blankie just barely squeezed into the gallon bag, along with some socks, some robeez and a picture drawn by Gabe that says "For my brother - Love, Gabe. "



I also included a picture of Gabe with his trusty boo-bah:

My friend Kim, brought this package over this week. LJH should be into the agency with his foster family around October 12 (his 9mos check up) to pick it up.

First First Day O' School

This past week was Gabe's first day of preschool. Since he has a November birthday, it's the 2's and only 2 days a week. The first day was only an hour and the moms and dads stayed in the room. I will admit that I was a both teary and proud as we crossed the parking lot, hand in hand, Gabe wearing his new backpack bounding to the building. Gabe dove right in and played with all sorts of toys they had set out. He even played by himself for about 15 mins. When we left I asked him if he had fun he said "Yes, mommy was there." Wish us luck for his first full day tomorrow :)

A Bowl of Ice Cream

I have to say we ate A LOT of ice cream this summer. A walk to the local custard place, a spontaneous stop on the way home from a fun day, at the fair or zoo and of course in our house. I'm sure (hope) it slows down now that fall is rolling in, but all that fun ice cream this summer just screams "childhood" to me.
Let's see how many facial expressions Gabe can make while wolfing down a bowl of vanilla, his favorite flavor.

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