Happy Halloween!

Tonight Graham went trick-or-treating! We only visited two houses, Halmoni and Halabeoji then to Grandma and Grandpa's, but he's not even two years old yet, so I figure I have a bit before I'm required to do the neighborhood tour. Tonight also marked the first time that my little guy was wired on sugar...he shows a strong preference for Whoppers and Three Musketeers. When I thought that he had ingested enough sugar (this was very early on in the evening mind you), I told him the candy was gone and showed him my empty hands. Graham is too smart for me because he marched himself straight to the candy bowl and began to put handfuls of candy straight into his little pumpkin. Hopefully by the time my little monkey wakes up in the morning the sugar high has worn off!

Pumpkin Carving!

This evening we spread plastic on our kitchen floor and got down to business with our pumpkins! Graham was initially frustrated with the process since we wouldn't allow him to use the knife-we're so mean! He soon realized that a wooden spoon could provide entertainment too, and luckily, the knife was quickly forgotten. Graham ended up enjoying himself, but I don't think the same can be said for Annie. She was eventually exiled from the kitchen because she tried to eat an entire pile of stringy pumpkin mess. Although I'm certain Graham has no idea why we were carving pumpkins tonight, it was fun for Jeff and I to start our family Halloween tradition. Stay tuned for our toddler style trick-or-treating adventure tomorrow night!

Graham was a bit apprehensive about the stringy pumpkin filling. He repeatedly lifted the top off and would say "No No No!" to himself, then quickly close the pumpkin.

Graham enjoyed scooping the pumpkin clean

Offering a snack to 'Anna'. Notice that he's using the same spoon he was using for the pumpkin-only the best for his dog!

"What's in there?"

" Where did all the strings go?"

Getting up close and personal with the big pumpkin

The boys and their creations

The King is back

The weather has really cooled off around here, which means that if we want to take an evening walk, we all need to bundle up. Graham isn't very good about leaving a hat and mittens on, so last year our solution was dressing him in a one piece fleece suit for our nighttime excursions. I was happy to see that his fleece outfit, complete with crown, still fits (barely!) from last year. I'm not sure it's going to fit for much longer, so until he outgrows it, I'll just enjoy how adorable he looks it in!

When we got home from our walk, and peeled off our many layers, Graham got to participate in one of his favorite activities with his Daddy. I've started to call it 'gymnastics' as Graham cruises around in Jeff's arms near the ceiling! The laughter during this activity is contagious, and I'll work on capturing it on video.

Lunch with Daddy

We decided at the last minute today, to have lunch with Jeff at work. Graham fell asleep two minutes before we arrived at General Mills and remained asleep as I transferred him to the stroller then began our trek through the giant parking ramp and into the building. He woke up immediately when he heard his Daddy's voice though and wanted to get out of his stroller asap!

Why ride in the stroller on the way to lunch when you can walk like the big boys?

All during lunch, Graham was very distracted by the cutest playhouse I've ever seen. There is some sort of contest going on, and this miniature house is the prize. Luckily for Graham, the angle of his highchair allowed him the perfect view of the 'ouse' as he calls it. When we were finished with our meal, and Graham was allowed out of his highchair, he ran to the house and claimed it as his own. It's just his size, and he really did look adorable hanging out on the front porch. If Graham could talk, I'm sure he'd be begging his Dada to do everything in his power to win this contest!

Smelling the (fake) flowers

VERY irritated the the door was locked!

Waving 'Hi' to all the people who stopped to smile at the cute little guy playing in the house

Birthday Weekend #2

This weekend was jam packed with fun for us! Graham had the opportunity to visit with a different group of people every day which made for one tired little boy by the time Sunday night rolled around. We started our weekend Friday night with a reunion of sorts with some of my childhood friends. The group of us go all he the way back to elementary school so it's always fun to catch up-especially now that there are babies in the mix!

Here is Graham rocking baby Benjamin, the newest addition to the group.

4 Friends, 3 kids, and 2 more babies on the way!!!

Yesterday, we helped Jeff celebrate his birthday! We were lucky enough to have a Korean feast prepared by Jeff's mom as a birthday lunch. No matter how hard I try, my Korean food just doesn't taste like it does when ChanSoon prepares it! Our meal (and the leftovers we got to take home) was such a treat! Jeff's birthday fun continued into the day when he was able to pick out his new Apple iTouch...boys and their toys! :)

Getting a ride from the Birthday Boy

Checking things out from a different perspective

We wrapped up our weekend with Graham's friend Maddie and her parents with pizza and football at their house. Maddie is 10 months old and watching these two together gave me a glimpse into my near future. Let's just say that I will never have the opportunity to sit down ever again! We had a great time tonight

Maddie has the most adorable push toy that she's able to walk behind. Although Graham doesn't need to push a toy to walk, he also loved this toy and didn't want to share it with her. He seemed to forget that the toy belongs to Maddie and not to him! Here Graham is sitting on the toy so Maddie couldn't move with it!

Maddie gets a good-night kiss

Just a cute picture of my smiley guy!

Graham and Elmo

Graham loves Elmo. I'm not even sure when he was first introduced to this furry red creature, but his love is undeniable. His Elmo books are tattered from being reread so many times, his favorite bath toy is an Elmo submarine, and he actually enjoys diaper changing time since his beloved Elmo adorns the waistband of his size 4 Pampers. So, when Graham walked into school today and saw a little boy wearing an Elmo shirt, it didn't surprise me when Graham followed this child around the classroom almost obsessively!

Graham has TONS of stuffed animals but really pays attention to just a few. He loves a black stuffed terrier puppy that looks like 'Anna', he loves his 'baby' from his crib, and most of all, he loves his Elmo. It's very sweet to watch how tenderly Graham cares for his Elmo. He carries Elmo around patting his back and carefully props his red friend up in front of books and toys so Elmo is never left out of the fun. As you can see in the following pictures, making sure that Elmo is well nourished is also one of Graham's priorities.

Getting organized....

Before our little princess comes home from Korea, we've got quite a bit of work to do. Currently, her bedroom is a fully furnished guest bedroom with a closet that I've happily used as my 'over flow' area for the past three years. Today with the help of my wonderful Mother, we got down to business on a project I've been dreading...we tackled the closet issue. It's amazing how much Jeff and I have accumulated since we moved in, and even more amazing how much a single closet can hold. It was quite an undertaking to completely empty it, give it a fresh coat of white paint, and install a brand new closet organizer. Home improvement projects are definitely not my thing, and I could never have gotten it done without my Mom-THANKS Mom! Now, I just need to find a place for all the clothes that no longer have a place to go....

Helping Grandma with the screwdriver...

"Yep, it's level!"

A visit to the Children's Museum

Graham enjoyed a very full morning at the Children's Museum today. It's been a few months since our last visit, and today I was able to see just how much Graham has grown. Activities that frustrated him just months ago made him grin today, and some activities that he used to love, seemed to bore him today. He's changing so quickly!

First, Graham got to play with some balls

Then, he amused himself by making faces in the mirror

Of course, the books are always a highlight for him!

Climbing through the 'ant farm'...*note to self-wear old jeans next time! This ant farm is two stories high and very dark inside so when Graham began his adventure as an 'ant' I followed closely behind on my hands and knees. It was VERY close quarters, but the fact that Graham kept calling out "Mama" then would turn around mid-crawl and grin at me, made it all worth it!

Driving the bus!

Filling up his basket at the 'grocery store'

Apparently his basket got too heavy, because it was soon abandoned in favor of this cart

Cleaning up the floor. He LOVES brooms right now, so this was a treat since I don't let him touch ours at home....it's just too tempting for him to chase Annie :)

Making a big mess with water-YAY for the museum supplied water proof smocks!

Eating bubbles

This last picture needs a bit of explaining. Going for a ride in the car in the middle of the day always puts Graham to sleep. The problem with this is that he refuses his normal nap once we get home. So, on our way out of the museum I got us some french fries to share in the car. I knew he was hungry and I figured it would keep him amused and awake until we got home. Apparently I left the museum a little too late because Graham just couldn't keep his eyes open. I turned around to hand him a french fry and a minute later glanced at him in the mirror and this is what I saw....

The poor little guy didn't even have enough energy to chew a single french fry so it stayed hanging out of his mouth until I woke him up at home!

Birthday Weekend

This weekend, Graham helped me celebrate my birthday! The entire weekend was picture perfect fall weather so we took the opportunity on Saturday to visit a pumpkin patch. This wasn't your average pumpkin patch though. This one was complete with pony rides, camel rides, petting zoo, multiple playgrounds for children, hayrides, restaurants, berry picking, apple picking...really, the list of activities goes on an on! We all enjoyed ourselves so much that we're thinking it might become our fall family ritual. It was very crowded though, and we did laugh to ourselves at the thought of navigating that place with a double stroller next year!

Graham's first pony ride. I know he looks afraid, but I promise he's not. He was actually very irritated when he ride came to an end.



In order to get to the actual pumpkin patch we took a ride on a wagon pulled by a giant tractor. Here is Graham watching the tractor as it began to move.

We didn't want to be responsible for carrying a giant pumpkin and a toddler so we decided we would bring home a pumpkin that Graham was able to pick up himself. Despite Graham's valiant attempt, this pumpkin was not meant to come home with us.

Success!

Pumpkin vines are a great form of entertainment!

Graham helped me blow out the candle on my birthday cheesecake.


In our family, we really like to celebrate birthday's. In fact, it's the norm for the birthday individual to claim the week around their birthday as their 'Birthday Week'. Initially, Jeff thought this was a crazy tradition, but it wasn't long before he was claiming his 'Birthday Week' as well. In fact, his 'Birthday Week' starts today! To conclude my 'Birthday Week', we had dinner with my parents and Peter and Lynn. Uncle Peter and Auntie Lynn know how much Graham loves trucks, and they had quite the surprise for him....3 miniature construction vehicles or 'Dumpa Dumpa' (dump drunk in Graham's language) as he calls them. He was one happy little guy!

Nothing is better than new trucks!

Graham's reaction to a certain piece of paper that Uncle Peter had with him has us all cracking up! If anyone has questions about what exactly was on this piece of paper, you'll need to go directly to the source and ask Peter.....:)

The sugar high from dessert is on its way...

Chocolate cake puts Graham is a very good mood!