Pictures that WON'T be in your mailbox this Christmas!

It is that time again for getting that perfect Christmas picture. A.K.A. the pictures of torture. I'm still not sure who is tortured more..me or the kids. I quickly found that tickling isn't the answer. We just get a little too silly. Also singing Christmas songs to get their attention didn't work either. Telling jokes doesn't work either. Ian is saying..."Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese" (he's seeing if he says it with more emphasis, if I will let them go play). Props and food also didn't work.

We will keep trying. We will have a Merry Christmas despite the fact we don't have a pictures showing the kid's TWO happy and clean faces. We know that those times do occur, we'd just like prove it. :-) We wish all of you a Merry Christmas!!

Gotcha!

It is Ian's gotcha day today! I can't believe that it has been a year already. It has been a year of adjusting, trusting, attaching, and loving. In our parenting classes during our preparation to bring Ian home, they said that it could take a year to form a good attachment to each other. I thought that sounded like a very long time. Yet throughout this year it is just when I think I'm fully attached and I can't possibly love him any more than I do, I'll look back in a month and think... nope, NOW I'm completely attached and I can't possibly love him more. He has been such a joyous addition to our family. We are so blessed to have him and Cydney in our lives. In the adoption world the phrase "You grew in my heart and not my tummy." is used a lot. Before we had Ian I wasn't sure if I would use that phrase or not. Although, now I understand it. My heart is about to burst. Forever a family. :-)

Happy Birthday/Halloween!!

Well we got to start our Halloween early this year. The kids didn't mind. The downtown businesses have their trick or treating early. Our bunny hopped the whole way there and Yoda wouldn't give up his stick for anything. We did shorten his stick right after this picture so that he wouldn't take his eye out.
Cydney celebrated her 4th birthday. She had such a great time. She got to take donuts as her treat to her preschool friends, wear a fancy dress, go shopping with some birthday money, eat pizza and cake for supper and watch a mooooovie! She woke up the next morning asking if her birthday was that day too! Ahhh...if only!
Here she is discovering her birthday present from us. A doll house. The jury is still out if the gift was for her or me. I had just as much fun setting it up for her. Needless to say I didn't see her much the next day.
We also had fun celebrating Chuseok (the Thanksgiving-like Korean holiday)with many other adoption families a few weeks ago. It was wonderful hanging out with them and meeting some new families as well. The food was terrific (thanks Rachel and Chris for hosting).

We took the kids to my 10 year college reunion. It was wonderful playing around on campus and showing the kids all of our memories.
It has been a fun and busy month (and it's not even over yet!) It is hard to believe that a year ago on Tuesday, Sean and I would have been heading to Korea! What a very very fast and Happy year!!

Pumpkin Patch

We wanted to get a camping trip in before the end of the year and thought that perhaps this last weekend might be our only chance. Yes, it was cold but we had a great time. Here are Cydney and Ian "practicing" their camping with their sleeping bags. Cydney helping Daddy set up the tent.
Sometimes help wasn't always the right word. :-)

We visited a pumpkin patch so that the kids could find the pumpkin that is calling their names. "What's that??!?!?" Ian's a little disturbed that pumpkins might be talking to him.... It is his first time in a patch. This pumpkin seemed friendly enough...it will come home with us. :-) We ended with some yummy apple donuts and apple cider. I love fall!!

First day of School

Today was Cydney's first day of 3 year old preschool. She was soooo excited! We picked a preschool that is just a few blocks away so that we can walk there. She ran the whole way there and I had a hard time keeping up with her. :-) She had a fantastic time. She said the teacher didn't get mad at her and she had only one complaint that someone had pulled her hair. So perhaps we need to do braids or a bun. :-)

Ian had his 18 month check up yesterday and got a good report. He did have to get a couple of shots. He still amazes me that he only blinks when they give them to him. I guess when your daily tasks involve jumping off chairs face first onto the floor, a little needle doesn't hurt so much. :-) He's been saying a lot more words lately. "Snack, birdie, bus, Dadda, shoes." He is obsessed with shoes. I took the kids shoe shopping the other day and it was if I'd taken him to the biggest toy store ever! He just kept giggling as he pulled box after box off the shelves and tried each shoe on.
We've been blessed by the squash fairy this summer. Here are the kids with our HUGE squash. I finally had to start freezing some because we were all getting a little tired of it at every meal. :-)


This week it is apples. We picked 40 pounds of apples over the weekend at Papa's farm. So far we've made apple butter, but I think applesauce, apple bread, and apple pie filling are going to be in the works the next couple of days. We really need a bigger freezer and stomachs. :-)

Summer is flying by

It is hard to believe that school is supposed to begin soon and summer will be technically over. It has been a busy summer, with fun visits from family, vacation bible school and swim lessons. Here are some pictures that show just how much fun we've been having... Ian trying watermelon for the first time. Cydney playing with her cousins from Colorado. Celebrating Ian's first 4th of July with cousins at the Lake. Cydney learning to fish with Daddy.
Ian sharing a good laugh with cousin Delaney. It must have been a knee slapper.
Trying out some running shoes.
Playing video games with Uncle James.

Ian has learned how to climb and is keeping us on our toes. He can often be found sitting in a chair at the table waiting for a meal to be served. :-) Cydney is excited to be starting another set of swimming lessons tomorrow and is on her quest daily to wear a dress that twirls. It has been a great summer so far and we hope that you have had one as well.

First Family Vacation...

We're back! We took our first family of four vacation last week. We had a great time and Ian got to see and play in the ocean for the first time. I think he would have gone for a dip by himself if we'd let him. :-) Cydney also liked the water a lot more than the last time we saw the ocean. She even touched a sea anemone! That surprised me since I was trying to be brave and touch one myself. :-)
Here they are waiting with Daddy for a wave so that they can jump over it. We tried building sandcastles, although we got a little carried away with building a mote and both kids lost interest long before we did. Ian was more interesting in throwing rocks in the water anyway.
Here is Cydney and Uncle Michael on her first mountain climb. She was excited to still see snow! Here is Ian having a great time at the children's museum. Cydney's main focus on the trip was to see the elephants at the zoo. She kept asking, from the minute we stepped off the plane, where they were.
Don't let Ian's face fool you (he just fell in some cold water and is contemplating where he went wrong) we had a fantastic time! It was so good to see Uncle Michael, we can't wait to go see him again!!

Forever a Family!!

Ian is officially adopted!! Last Wednesday we had our day in court. It took about 20 minutes and it was a done deal. We must have answered all the questions correctly, because they agreed to let us keep him. :-)
It was a very happy day here in the Henson household! The little people didn't really understand, but the big ones did! How does Ian celebrate?Why by shopping at Cracker Barrel of course! :-) I swear he's a happy guy, it just seems when cameras come out...the smiles are hidden.

Being Ian's official forever family is something we've been looking forward to for a long time. Going to court hasn't changed anything at home, but we're sure grateful for what it stands for! We feel so blessed to be a family and are looking forward to forever!

6 months already?

Six months ago yesterday we arrived home with Ian. (disregard the date above...that's when I started writing this post...Nov. 5th is when we came home).I can't believe it has been that long already! Next week we're heading to the court to make our family official and legal. We've felt pretty offical for a long time now, Uncle Sam just has to have his say as well. ;-)
Yesterday also happened to be a holiday in Korea known as Children's Day. They celebrate the children by taking them somewhere fun, eating fun foods and getting presents for them. Here are the kids getting ready to go. We spent the morning with other families that have kidd-o's from Korea. It was a lot of fun. It is so great to see Ian toddling around with his adoptee buddies. Thank you to all the ladies who went to so much work to make it such a fun morning! Here they are enjoying their cupcakes.
Here is Ian practicing his social skills. His friend Drew is 7 days younger than him. Perhaps they were nursery buddies.

The kids discovered a fountain and sure got wet.

Here is Ian doing a headstand because he's so excited about playing in water. We all had a lot of fun.

I've started working on a Lifebook for Ian and for Cydney. A lifebook is pretty common in adoption circles. It is a book you put together for your adopted child that explains all you know about his past and how he/she came to be adopted. It is a good jumping off point for discussions about adoption. I'm making one for Cydney too. I underestimated how hard this task is. I'm also looking for possible ways to illistrate it. It may just be some stick people with smiles. I still have a long way to go.

Thank you for checking in. My appologies if you've been checking more frequently than I post. Perhaps this summer I'll have more time?? :-)

April fools!

No, this is no April fools joke...I'm actually posting a message! I apologize for being so silent for so long. Time has been getting away from me, but please except my apology with many pictures of the kids. So much has happen since I last posted. We've had visitors, swim lessons, doctor visits, and oh, yeah! A court date has been set to finalize Ian's adoption!! Woohoo!!
Here is another big accomplishment...we turned Ian's car seat around to face forward now. He giggled the whole way to our first destination after we turned him (he giggled like we'd forgotten to turn him around). :-) Ian has also been busy supervising Cydney's job of feeding the dog. She gives him the lid to dog food container and he bangs it on the floor while she dishes out the food. Kind of like a "come and get it" bell for Amos. Cydney got a metal for finishing her sports class at the YMCA. She was so proud of her metal that she wore it for days. After she got tired of it, Ian tried wearing it for a day, but decided it was too long. Here they are in the wagon (on one of our nice days not too long ago), getting ready to ride to the park. Cydney had instructions to not let him jump from the moving wagon and she took it very seriously. I'm not sure Ian could breath most of the way there, but he was safe. ;-) I was trying the get a picture of Cydney and Ian in their "Big Sister" and "Little Brother" shirts before they got too big to wear them. This was as close and happy as they got during my photo session.
And lastly, we are in full Easter celebration around here. Just like the Christmas photo there isn't a photo that has both these bunnies smiling, so alas, a have a happy bunny and a bunny in headlights look. But they were sure good sports. Since none of the previous pictures have Ian smiling, I thought I'd end with this one of him enjoying a dip in the sink. Sometimes a meal is just that good, that he needs a dip in the sink rather than be spot cleaned.

I promise to not let as much time go until the next post. Some things that I wish I could show you are Ian's new dance moves and Cydney's magic tricks. Ian's ears pick up music everywhere and he just starts dancing. His moves are fun...kind of a Charlie Chaplin meets Micheal Jackson thing. Cydney's tricks usually involve her waving her hands and exclaiming.."Ta Da...FIRE!" That makes Mommy nervous and has made her launch into fire safety and awareness, but Mommy also knows who to blame. ;-)

We wish everyone a fire free and Happy Easter!!