Movie Monday and "I wuv you!"

(I promise, the potty is clean. :)  )  

He was trying to get a musical Notre Dame bottle opener from the utensil drawer.

I came home from a bad afternoon/evening at work today and my son gave me a kiss, a hug, and an unprompted "I wuv you, Mama!"  This is only the second time he's said it to me without prompting and both of those have been over this past week.  What an awesome way to end my day!  Love it and love him sooooo much.

Camping, Thomas, and Vet Med Open House

A few weeks ago, we went camping for the last time on our land for this year.  We were there just as the leaves started turning colors and it was gorgeous!!  I can't imagine what it looks like in full autumn color.

A little "visitor" to our campsite between our last two visits:

 He left a couple of very small holes in the bunk ends as a reminder of his visit.

Much more desired guests!!

We took a ride on a real steam engine about 40 minutes from our campsite.  Boo absolutely loved it!  He is still talking about riding "Thomas" and how he came back to pick us up.  Even though the engine was black and not blue, he continuously refers to this engine as "Thomas"!

Boo and Daddy in front of Thomas and the conductors.

Driving "Salty," or at least a train car that looks like Salty

"Here comes Thomas!"

What is this little boy watching so comfortably?!?!

Of course, it's...Thomas!!!

He was watching his video the first evening while Chris and I were reading at the table when I felt the camper start rocking, just very slightly.  I looked up and saw Boo standing up dancing on the bed to music that comes on between episodes.  Hil-ar-i-ous!!!  This kid continuously cracks me up.  I didn't get that first dance on video, but we played it again just to catch him dancing without knowing he was being videotaped.

And he now says this every. single. time. a song ends that he has been enjoying:

Chris' cousin, Matt, is in vet school here it town and they had an Open House last weekend.  We took Boo to the face painting booth when Matt was working and Boo chose a dog to be painted on his face.  He sat so still while Matt was working and didn't even flinch.  Although I thought he looked a little terrified, kind of that deer-in-the-headlights look, but he did great!

The finished product:

We petted a horse, a cow, 

and even a little pig!

What fun times!  And we have more coming up...let's just say...GO CARDS!!!!!

Movie Monday - Nature Movies

"Need gas!"

Boo almost always makes noise when he runs; can you imagine him running track or cross-country and doing that?  Kind of funny to think about!

Scaring a worm.

Catch-up Post #4 - Local Outings

We recently took our new canoe out to a nearby lake.  This was the first time we had Boo in a canoe; yes, people, we bought a canoe without knowing how our little guy would do once out in a body of water!  He loved being in the canoe while it was on the ground and ever since we bought it, he kept calling it "my geen (green) boat" or "my ca-new."  But we had absolutely no idea what his reaction was going to be when push came to shove and we were on the water.  We were hoping for the best, but also knew it might a very short-lived canoe trip, if we even made it away from the dock!!  Well, he did not disappoint:

"I'm ready to go!"

Safe in daddy's arms.  He was a bit skeptical about the whole thing when we first went out...

...but soon was very. comfortable. with the whole thing!  He leaned over so far he got his hair wet.  And Chris had a grip on him the whole time; it may have been our first, and last, trip if he ended up taking a dip overboard!!

He was even adventurous enough to crawl forward, away from daddy, and sit by himself.

Some pretty scenery we saw:

We also went to our local apple orchard to get some yummy apples, apple donuts, apple fritters, apple pie, apple cider...you get the picture.  They have some children's activities there as well, one of which is a bounce house obstacle course that Boo just had to go through.  Since he is too small to do it himself, Chris and I decided I would go through it with him.  Of course, once we got into the thing, he didn't want to do any of it, at all, by himself.  And it's really for bigger kids anyway, but oh well, we were in it.  (There wasn't a height requirement at the front, which there probably should be.)  So I pretty much lifted him over, carried him through, and climbed up this thing with Boo attached to me like a monkey.  You can see in the following picture that he has a death grip on me with both arms and legs!!

This was not easy!

But a very good picture at the top.

Kisses in the oversized chair.

Doesn't he look so small???

Guess what??  We're all caught up!  We took a last(?) camping trip for the season this past weekend, but that will be for another post.  Hope you enjoyed our summer...we certainly did!!

Movie Monday - Dancing (again)

 Boo just loves to dance!  Wait until 20 seconds into this and then he busts-a-move!

(I know I have a lot of video of him dancing, but the kid is so dang cute at it and has some pretty cool moves.)

Hanbok

A couple weeks ago, I put Boo in the hanbok his foster family bought him for his first birthday that he celebrated with them over in Korea.  I wanted to capture a few pictures of him in it to send to them with a letter I've been working on and I thought I'd share one here as well.  Doesn't he look adorable?!?!  And it's still a little big on this 2.5-year-old!

This one is from last August; you can tell he's filling it out much better these days!

Catch-up Post #3 - Family Trips

At the end of August, we visited my grandfather, aunt, uncle, and cousin for the weekend.  Boo had a great time getting to know these extended family members a little better, and they seemed to really enjoy having him around as well!!  We had a bit of a surprise as Chris was hospitalized while we were there; it made our stay a day longer and my family spent a lot of time babysitting Boo while I was at the hospital with Chris.  We were extremely proud of our little guy that weekend for so many reasons.  He didn't fuss over us leaving; he seemed so relaxed and at home from the time we got there and was talking non-stop. His great-grandpa really enjoyed listening to him, I was told!  He also allowed my aunt to put him to sleep, both at nap time and at night.  This is pretty big for him, and for us, as the only people besides us who have put him to sleep since he's been home (15 months at that time), have been his grandmas!  She was also able to take some pictures of their activities that weekend.

Boo absolutely LOVED their cuckoo clock!  They also have a grandfather clock that would chime right before the cuckoo clock, so we knew when to look for that little birdie coming out.  We would count how many times he chirped before he went back inside to go to sleep.  Entertaining and educational!  :)

He went for a bike ride to the park.

Ice cream time with great-grandpa!!

Maybe another reason why he didn't mind having Mommy and Daddy gone?!?!

Cousins (with a once-removed in there somewhere!)

Spending time in their pool.

Labor Day weekend, we visited Chris' family and again, Boo was feeling right at home as soon as we got there.  We ate a lot of good food and saw all the boys.  I kid you not, this family is made up of pretty much all males: Chris is one of three boys, and Boo only has boy cousins.  Chris' dad only has brothers and they both only have sons as well.  And man, was I taking a lot of ribbing during the Notre Dame game that weekend because they all know I'm a die-hard fan and the Irish didn't win...but you know what?  Bring it.  :)

Chris, his brothers, nephews, and Boo

Grandma, her sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons (we were actually missing three guys from this picture)

Two boys missing from this one (I'm not sure who the other lady is in this picture, but she wanted to be in it...no problem!)

Trampoline jumping

Sunset at the lake

Tubing.  Obviously, I don't go tubing a lot; after this picture was taken, I was informed that we should probably lay down on our bellies to make it easier to hold on.  Thanks for the tip!

I am getting closer to finally being caught up with our activities.  Up next: our first outing with the new canoe and a trip to the apple orchards.