Fun play dates

Ian had a full social calendar this weekend. Friday he got to hang out with two of his girlfriends, Sayla and Brynna. These little cuties are 9-month-old twins.














Saturday he played with Isaac Fair who's almost 4 months old. First he taught Isaac how to use the walker.



















Then he taught Isaac how to suck his finger. Ian's a pro at that one!

Vacation: Part 2

We spent about 2 days of our vacation in Atlanta visiting old friends and neighbors from Mission Year. How me miss them!















We stayed the night with our dear friend Furuzon and her two kids Orzu and Ormon who are Afghani. They became very dear to us. Here we are eating breakfast.




















Ian is enjoying his first nan bread. Yum!















Cute patooties Ormon and Orzu.















This picture makes my heart happy.















We also spent time with our Turkish friends the Mamedovs. Here is Omar, Suriya, and Suriya's daughter who is a couple of weeks older than Ian, but much tinier.















Suriya's daughter has been walking since 8 months, so it was funny to see her pushing hefty little Ian in the stroller. Ormon was 4 months old when we moved to Atlanta, now he's almost 3!















We didn't get a good pic of our Iraqi friends the Ali's, but here is Ian petting their pet bunny. Yes, it just hangs out in the house.




















We spent time downtown with our great friends the Odles. Here are Ainsley and "Inan" (that's what Ainsley calls him)




























We also visited the Jeff Delp (our Mission Year city director) and his wife Katie. Here is little Maya who's a couple of months older than Ian. She's enjoying a novel while Ian steals her snacks.


Last but not least, we visited my sister and bro-in-law in Nashville where my parents were also visiting for Easter.



















Ian and aunt Heidi testing out uncle Josh's scooter















Right before our trip home we went on a hike. Ian was wiped out. I'm pretty sure grandpa enjoyed the hike.

Family Vacacation: Part 1

After 1520 miles on the road, we made it home from our family vacation! We had a great time, but it was a bit of a whirlwind as we traveled from Gatlinburg to Atlanta to Nasvhille, TN, and then back home. Here are some pics of Gatlinburg:

We met up with Troy's family and stayed in a condo with an indoor water park.


















Ian in his fancy surfer swim gear:



















He's thrilled to be on the swing


















The fun kiddie area

Our favorite part of Gatlinburg was hiking in the Smokies. Ian spent 3 hours in the hiking pack and loved every minute of it.










































Ian also enjoyed eating a second round of birthday cupcakes.





























To be continued...

Ian's Birthday Party

These pictures are a little delayed because we've been out of town. Ian had a fantastic first birthday...here's the proof.
Anxiously awaiting his guests:














Of course, he got way more toys than he needed:










































We splurged and got him his own "reading chair." (and it wasn't even from a garage sale!)




























One of his favorite presents: avocado!














And of course, what one-year-old birthday would be complete without the cake-eating!

We had fun celebrating Ian's first year of life. Now, on to toddlerhood (tear).

Happy Birthday Ian!

Happy birthday to our son! Here's his first year in pictures:

Birthday:

1 month:

2 months:

3 months:

4 months:

5 months:

6 months:

7 months:

8 months:

9 months:

10 months:

11 months:

1 year!!:

Holy cow! How did that happen!

This year has brought a lot of change, a lot of joy, and a lot of tears. We wouldn't trade it for anything! Ian, we love you so much!!!

Bedroom Makeover

For as long as I've lived in our house, I've HATED our bedroom. Troy painted it a really dark blue back when he was a bachelor, and while it was great for him at the time, I always felt claustrophobic in the man cave that was our bedroom. We finally sucked it up and spent a weekend painting. It's a bit tricky to do this with a baby, but we tag-teamed it and painted like crazy during nap time.
Here is the before (I always forget to take before pictures until we've already torn the room apart, but believe me, it was ugly!!):





























And here is the after:




























We just used the left over paint from our living room and bought some new curtains. Plain, yes, but I absolutely love it! I actually enjoy being in our room now.

We've literally painted almost every square inch of our house in the last year and a half, including ALL of the dark wood trim that took 3 coats each. The only thing left is our master bedroom...we'll see when that happens!

I am loved!

So, we have a dog named Petey. I'm not by nature a huge pet lover, but we got Petey from a rescue organization when we lived in Atlanta and he's a great dog. Now that Ian flings food all over the place, it's so great that Petey will eat everything on the floor, especially since I'm not the world's greatest housekeeper. Petey loves me more than anything in the world. It's kind of crazy to think that you're the center of the universe for another creature. When I come home from work after being gone only a couple of hours, Petey hears the garage door opening and runs to the door and whines until I come in. He then jumps all over me when I open the door and acts like he hasn't seen me in weeks. What a great way to be greeted! Well in the past week or so, Ian has caught on. When he sees what Petey is doing, he knows that mommy is coming home. Now when I walk in Petey is yelping and jumping and Ian is sitting right inside the door waiting for me saying "ahhhh!" What more could a mom ask for? (For those of you saying, well Troy could do the same thing, he's one step ahead of you. When I came home from Bible study last night, he was sitting inside the door saying "ahhhhhh!").