Incredible Outing

Saturday evening Charlie and I decided to do something with "just Ian". You know, one of those things that we might not be able to do with just him for a while after Drew comes home? Charlie said "let's go to Incredible Pizza". For those of you outside the Tulsa area or without an Incredible Pizza in your town...it's a fun and food place for the family. They have all kinds of games, go karts, minature golf, bumper cars, and every arcade game you can imagine (or at least I could imagine). Plus, they have a pizza buffett (the salad bar was actually quite nice). I was actually pleasantly surprised by the experience.

When we got there, the line to get in was crazy long, but it moved pretty fast. We decided to eat first...smart mommy. After we ate, then we headed toward the fun. Ian's little eyes were wide with wonder. I didn't know if they'd have stuff suitable for an almost three year old...but they did.

Ian spotted the "car" first. The last time he wanted to ride a car, he was fine until it moved and then he was done. Not this time. He rode the car about 5 times before we convinced him to try something else. Then we played "whack a mole"...great...teach a 3 year old to hit something. Then we found the carousel. Haven't been able to get him on a carousel before. Saturday night....we couldn't get him off. Every time we took him off, he just cried and cried. But soon he'd be distracted by something else and he was fine. He climed the stairs to the landing over the ball pit...then he couldn't figure out how to get down. So, the tears started to flow...not too much though. Charlie walked around to each side of the stairs and guided him down. Then he went back up and down the stairs several more times. He rode the train, played in the balls, ran around, rode the carousel about 50 times (literally) and watched the go karts go around the track. He was mesmerized by the go karts. He stood there with his little face and hands pressed against the glass watching for about 15 minutes.

He figured things out rather quickly. When one of his car rides was over, he said "more time". Charlie said "let's play whack a mole"...Ian said "no...more time Daddy"...and proceeded to point to the card reader where you slide your card to pay for the ride. We both laughed when we realized that he had figured out how to make it go. Every time if would stop...he'd point to the card reader and say "more time".

It was great fun. All three of us enjoyed our evening. When we were walking to the car, Charlie said "any idea what time it is?" Neither of us had a watch on. We arrived at Incredible Pizza around 4pm. I said "it's probably around 6:15 or so."....Charlie pulled out his cell phone and it was 7:30pm. Wow...3 1/2 hours.

It was worth everything to watch Ian having so much fun. We had an incredible outing with "just Ian".

Has It Been A Year?

One year ago today...Ian officially became Ian. We waited way too long for finalization, on January 19, 2007 it finally happened. Even though he had been Ian to us forever, in the eyes of the court he was finally Ian Everett Kushal Conner.

One year later....sweet little Ian is a toddler in full force. Driving his mommy and daddy crazy some days, but that doesn't last too long. He's very independant, or at least he thinks he is. If we hear it one time a day, we hear it 20..."I do it"....and most of the time he can. His vocabulary amazes me. He loves to sing and his favorite thing to watch is The Wonder Pets (sweet little Nick Jr. show). He's never been much into TV or movies or anything like that, but for some reason The Wonder Pets fascinate him. He can sing all of the words to their theme song and and almost recite some of their episodes. He has his favorites though...The Wonder Pets Save the Egg and The Wonder Pets Save the Chameleon. The egg is his absolute favorite...the others come and go. Fortunately we have almost every episode recorded so we can watch them about 20 times a day. Sometimes the consequence of bad behavior is not getting to watch The Wonder Pets.

Ian has come a long way in a year. We're very proud of our little man. He's now waiting to be a big brother...even though he doesn't really know what that means.

The Shirt Says It All

Although I'm not one for words on shirts....this one was just too cute to pass us. Crazy hair, sippy cup and a picture of Drew in his hand....it just doesn't get much better :)

Happy New Year

Happy 2008!!!!

2007 was a great year for Ian as well as his Mommy and Daddy. Ian has brought pure joy to our lives. He continues to amaze us every single day. It's hard to believe that 2 years ago we were waiting for word that his passport had been issued so we could travel to India. Now...we're waiting for his little brother Drew's paperwork to make it's way through Vietnam.

2008 promises to be a year of many changes. The biggest change will occur when we bring our second son home from Vietnam. Having 2 little boys running around will certainly keep Mommy and Daddy busy and hopefully sane. We're so looking forward to having both of our boys home. Ian knows his baby brother is from "Bietnam" and his name is Drew...and that he'll stay home and get all of the toys ready for baby Drew while Mommy and Daddy are gone to "Bietnam". I don't think he understands that completely, but probably as much as an almost 3 year old can. Yikes...almost 3 years old? Where has the time gone?

God has provided so many blessings for us. Ian is, obviously, more of a blessing than we could have ever imagined possible. But, we thank God for the greatest blessing of all...his Son...Jesus Christ. We hope and pray that God will work in the hearts of many people this year and that His name will be glorified.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!!