kicking this Blog to the curb ...

well ... obviously I haven't been blogging as much. 

truth be told, I've been busy. 

Also ... I get bored with stuff ... and so I decided to switch things up. 

Granted, this took me WAY longer than I thought it would to get started,

but  my NEW BLOG is ready to go. 

I finally upgraded my camera too ... so I'm hoping the new blog will

encourage me to take more photos and document life more

(because I have been seriously lacking in that department)

So if you want to check out the new one

CLICK HERE

and if you aren't on my blog roll for some reason, 

please let me know! I'd love to add you - as I love reading adoption blogs

(or any blogs for that matter)

I'll be leaving this blog up for a while, and then I'll probably make it private.

so if you can't access it after a while, it's nothing personal. 

anyway, hope to see you over at the new blog!

what we've been up to

Yet again, I've failed to update the blog in quite some time. 

I know we've been busy, but at the same time, I can't remember 

what we've doing. Maybe that's a good thing?

But one thing I DO remember is that we celebrated Charlie's birthday!

 

He's TWO now. Can you believe it?!?!

 

getting smiling photos of Charlie is nearly impossible.

 

so I had to settle for some action shots instead.

 

but ... I figured out if I had him and Claire 'race' while having

Bob stand behind me while making silly faces and waving his arms ...

we could get Charlie to smile.

 

and this was one of my favorite shots.

Charlie has done so incredibly well. 

We just had an appointment with our Pediatric GI Specialist 

and she still is amazed at how well he is doing. 

Attachment is also going well for all of us.

Charlie is super secure and even his big sis has totally adjusted. 

(meaning, she doesn't talk about sending him back anymore)

But I'm proud of my girl. She, too, is growing up.

 

and she's loving that she has a little buddy to play with

 

and you know what? I think Chuckster likes it too.

my handsome boy

I can't believe that Charlie is turning 2 next month.

for reals.

how did so much time pass by?

 

today we met up with one of my girlfriend's who has a 13 month old son

it was amazing to me how little he was.

Charlie was about a week shy of turning 13 months when he came home.

I don't remember him being that little ...

... but in all actuality, Charlie was even littler.

 and now here we are, almost 10 months later

and he's grown, and flourished, and is doing fabulously well.

 

I love my handsome boy so much

and I'm so thankful that he's a part of our family.

well HELLO THERE!

I can't believe that 2 months have passed since I last posted.

well ... maybe I can.

just like everyone else, life has been busy in our household. 

and now I can hardly believe that Summer is quickly 

coming to a close.

but I sooooo love Fall

(so I can't say I'm all that disappointed)

Charlie has been home with us for about 10 months now

and life seems so normal with him

that it's kinda hard to remember what it was like without him.

our happy guy gives us many laughs

 

 and our sweet girl is starting to embrace being a big sister

the two are are becoming buds ... who (dare I say it) enjoy

playing together

Charlie loves saying 'hi' and 'bye' to EVERYONE

now if I could just get them to both look at me and smile

at the same time, life would be golden!

so that's the super boring recap of our lives.

(obviously you didn't miss much in the past 60 days)

a MUST see

I found this youtube video

when I was checking out another blog 

this is a clip from 'Korea's Got Talent'

this boy's story is incredible. 

and of course I bawled through it. 

so watch it

(there are subtitles)

and then pray that more EPs will be granted

for International adoption.

I wish I could be this boy's Mom.

for reals.

Seriously?

I've been locked out of this blog for a few weeks now. 

literally. 

Like it wouldn't let me log out of my other email address

so I couldn't get onto my blog. 

but magically tonight, 

it let me on. 

and all the things I thought I needed to blog about,

I kinda can't remember what they were.

So I'll just leave you with this:

this cute guy is officially a Lesiw now. 

his finalization happened a couple of weeks ago. 

he wasn't super thrilled with having to wait for the judge

(who was running about 40 minutes late)

but sometimes life is just like that.

We learn to do things that we may not totally enjoy

but they make us a better person.

{like how I'm trying to teach Charlie to do 'jazz hands' on command}

so far it isn't happening, but it will... oh yes... it most certainly will.

Children's Day

in Korea there is a National Holiday knows as 

Children's Day

everyone gets the day off, amusement parks are packed

and families are all just hanging out with each other.

So we decided to start our own family tradition.

Of course this means I need a photo:

 

and of course it looks like we're off to a rough start

but the day did get progressively better as we made our way

across town and to our favorite Korean Restaurant.

 

me & the Chuckster

(I actually thought he was smiling in this photo. I literally

just saw that he's not. Oh well. He WAS smiling though. I promise)

 

Daddy & Claire

(all smiles. all the time)

 

banchan. my favorite.

 

bulgogi hot pot. my new favorite thing ever.

after lunch we came home and Charlie took a nap before

Claire's taekwondo class. Claire got to play on the ipad with Dad, 

and Mom got to play on Facebook.

(everybody wins)

after taekwondo, we head over to the mall.

Appa and Chuck go to the Apple Store,

while Momma and Claire head to Sephora.

(and just so you know, Claire actually likes to watch

make-up tutorials on YouTube. I don't know how she finds

them, but she does. And she will literally sit through them)

so for a Children's Day treat ... Claire got a make-up application.

 

she got to walk around and look at products

 

and once the perfect shades were picked out ...

... the magic started

 

she absolutely enjoyed every minute of it

 

and was super happy with the results

 

oh my sweet girl

I am so happy that you are my daughter

I love that you sing songs all the time

and you have your two imaginary friends:

(Molly - an older sister & Kate - her friend)

I love your friendly spirit

and how proud you are to introduce your brother to people

I love how you're becoming more adventurous

and how you're so excited to go to pre-school

and I love just about every little thing about you. 

You are that incredible. You really are.

 

and my crazy, crazy Chuckster

you have become such a Butter Ball

and you are a MONSTER eater

I love how much you love your Appa

(even though it means you like me less... way less)

and even though you chewed up a french fry the other day

and then took it out of your mouth and threw it at me for no reason

I still love you and your crazy antics

I love how much you're laughing

and how you like to 'dance' really fast by running in place

I love how you say 'hi' to everyone

and 'bye' to every car that passes by

and when you smile your super genuine smile

it makes me SO incredibly happy

so much so, that I usually burst out laughing

You are that fantastic. You really are.

so to my children:

I love you. 

I love so, SO much.

and I am so incredibly thankful 

that God allowed me to be your Mom.

What do you get ...

... when you take this little girl

 

and put her in the same room with her Dad

while he watches some type of sporting show?

 

a total waste of Barbie band-aids.

(good thing they're cheap)

I have to say - it did make me a bit nervous

when we were out as I didn't want people to think 

she had some huge gaping wound underneath it all. 

but it was fun for a day

as we for sure had bath time that night.

Seriously ... it was the best I could get

hope everyone had a 

HAPPY EASTER!

Costume Parties = Super Fun Times

This morning we had a Super Hero birthday party to go to.

I was trying to come up with the kids' costumes

and then it hit me. 

The Inspiration:

The Wonder Twins

(anyone remember them on TV?)

I had one kiddo who was super into it

(thank goodness!)

 

and one who wasn't too sure about it

 

 but even if it wasn't his favorite costume ever - 

it pretty much was mine!

ahhh yes  ...  I love this age. 

and mostly because I can still make them wear things 

that make me laugh super hard.

tiny bubbles

so it was about time to whip out the ol' bubbles again.

this guy (with the runny nose) was super happy about it

 

I have to say, I forgot how messy bubbles are. 

I kinda hate getting all sticky.

But I suppose it's worth it for the sake of those we love.

 

Charlie had fun trying to 'catch' the bubbles

 

and even tried to blow some himself.

 

and he tried again ...

 

and he tried again ...

 

after his many tries ... I think he started to wonder what was up.

 

but luckily - he had his Noona near by.

 

who showed him how ...

 

and guess what?!

HE DID IT!!!

 

Thanks Noona for your help!

(and tomorrow ... I hear you have a pretty special day!)

 

 I can't wait!!!

fun in the sun

after all the rain we had, I think it's safe to say that everyone

was looking forward to some days of sun. 

I think the best part is that now we're able to go out and play

after dinner and before bedtime.

so as the sun begins to get ready to sleep,

we hit the road for one last journey.

 

 and practice all sorts of super fun tricks

 

and hand out a few more smiles

 

with glowing crowns sitting on our heads

 

this little guy never wants to stop

 

and this sweet girl likes to pick me bouquets

 

so thank goodness there's always tomorrow. 

(well ... as long as there's no rain)

and on a totally random note ...

I took this picture of Charlie while he was eating bread.
He loves bread. And he was in a silly mood.

Which resulted in a photo that makes me laugh super hard.

So enjoy a bit of Chuck: