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!!

Ian is ONE!!

It seems like only yesterday that we were bringing him home.... :-) We celebrated a few weeks ago with family and friends (my apologies for not posting sooner). We hadn't invited Mother Nature but she invited herself so we had to reschedule for the next day. We tried to keep with Korean traditions and make sure we had the 4 parts of a good Korean birthday party. #1) Wear traditional Korean clothing (we left that to Ian, who wore the Hanbok that his foster mom gave him). #2) Prayers and blessings (Rev. Grandma Henson did a nice job with that). #3) Sharing food with friends and family (we fixed Bee-Bim Bop and Seaweed soup) #4) Preforming the Toljabee (having Ian pick an item that will predict what his life will hold).


We surprised ourselves with the Bee-Bim Bop. It turned out better than our trial run at home. Woohoo!! I wanted to serve seaweed soup because I had read that many mother's eat it after giving birth and then eat it again on their child's birthday to celebrate it. I wanted to honor his birth mother in some way and this seemed like the perfect way. I'm afraid we should have done a trial run on it too, because it didn't turn out nearly as good as it was in Korea.


We preformed the Toljabee. Here are the items we had and what they stood for:
Apple - He will have many descendants
Thread - He will have a long life
Book - He will be a scholar
Rice - He will be rich
Knife - He will be a warrior
Brush - He will be a talented artist
Puppet - You can guess this one (a last minute addition from Daddy)
Ian chose the thread and then went for the rice. A great choice! I was relieved that he chose the thread...with his dare devil ways I need all the assurance I can get that he's going to live a long life!! I secretly was holding out for the apple (because of grandchildren...it is never to early to start hoping). ;-)

We also had some American traditions as well. It just wouldn't be his first birthday without letting him eat his first piece of cake! He really liked it. Cake in one hand....a Star Trek tribute with the other "Live long and prosper." He didn't get quite as messy as I thought he would, but he still needed a little dip in the sink afterward.

We all had a great time. I think Ian had the best time of all. He was working the room like I've never seen. He loves parties and especially when they're for him!! Here are a few more pictures from the party....
Ian with Grandpa Henson enjoying an inside joke.
I think Cydney might be melting here. Just too much fun...

It was so wonderful to be able to celebrate Ian with so many friends and family! I can't begin to tell you how much we're enjoying having him as a part of our family. We're looking forward to many more birthdays!

Ian has been Served!

Hopefully this is the only time in his life that this will happen. Yesterday we met our lawyer. Well, more like his assistant and saw his office. We got the paperwork started to finalize Ian's adoption. Korea's rules are that the adoption is finalized in the US, six months after we arrive home. Our court date won't be for a while yet, but I knew there was paperwork and regulations that took some time to complete, so I wanted to get the ball rolling. It was really an interesting experience. Our lawyer's assistant took us around the court house completing paperwork. Our last stop was the department that "serves" people their paperwork to be present in court. According to the law, Ian is supposed to physically except the paperwork from the Lady working in this department. "Good luck, Lady." Was my only thought. She waved the paperwork at him and he did his shy pose (burying his head in my shoulder...I love that). His thoughts probably were (sorry, if this gets old...): "This is a trick! At home they don't let me play with paper, because it tastes so good and they're afraid I won't eat dinner. And I'm not supposed to take papers from strangers." Finally I took his hand and placed it on the paperwork and they called it "served". Phew! I thought we might be there all night. We celebrated with a trip to McDonald's. That's right, we celebrate BIG at our house. ;-)

Because yesterday was such a big day Ian's cold has gotten worse. Poor guy. You wouldn't know it to watch him. He just goes about his exploring, but when you look at his little face you can see how miserable he is. A trip to the doctor didn't provide any medicine, so he's got to just wait it out. Blah.... I'm just hoping he feels better in time for his birthday party. Cydney is so excited about his party. She's been picking out dresses in her closet for a few days now. She's hoping that there will be music for dancing. :-)