October, so far...

I am sitting here wondering how in the heck I have let so much time go by without posting anything to this blog of mine.  And to tell you the truth, I can think of a few reasons.  One is that I have a new calling at church as the Nursery Coordinator.  As the person in charge of overseeing 3 nurseries with over 40 kids total, I have spent a good bit of time and mental energy there instead of here.  Also, Ian's birthday just passed (which I will cover shortly) and again my time and mental energy was required there.  Finally, and probably the real culprit, is that I finally got into Pinterest and nearly every time I sit down at my computer I get sucked into Pinterest for more time than I care to admit.  And though I feel bad for neglecting my blog, I am so in love with Pinterest!  Corralling so many awesome ideas, recipes, etc. into one neat little spot is genius!  I feel strangely productive after browsing around and gathering ideas even though I've really accomplished nothing.  Anyway, this post isn't supposed to be all about Pinterest.  I better move on to more important things.

Believe it or not, Ian turned 5. It actually is so silly to say that because it is not at all hard to believe. He's seemed like a five-year-old for at least a year already. 



We had a Ben 10 themed birthday party and it turned really great.  You'll just have to take my word for it though since, as usual, I forgot to take a single picture.  (I have previously mentioned his love of Ben 10, who you can read all about here, if you're so inclined.)  It was decided long ago that Ian would dress up as Ben 10 for Halloween this year so I let him wear his costume to the party.  We played a couple games, ate yummy food, played at the park, had cake, and opened presents.  Same as most parties I guess, but since we were at the park and not our house it was much less stressful.  Plenty of great friends were there and Ian got lots of fabulous gifts, so to him it was perfect. 

He had a couple gift cards to Target (thank you, Grandpa Gus and random lady at Target last week) and this is what he picked out.  The plug-in-and-play video game controller.  He couldn't be happier.  Well, that's a lie.  If we let him play non-stop like he wants to, then he couldn't be happier.  We gave him another video game for the wii, too, so he has lots of games he wants to play and that equals lots of motivation for getting the homework/reading/chores, etc. done in a hurry.

I can't say enough what a wonderful kid Ian is!  I can almost always count on him to be quick to obey whenever I ask him to do something.  He's also a really good eater.  His most recent favorite foods are carrots and apples.  He's a great conversationalist, even if his favorite topic is video games or tv shows.  Every now and then it will be about a book he's read.  And he is a really good reader!  He loves to lay on the rug in our entryway where the library books are and read and read and read.  It's awesome.  We are endlessly impressed with how smart he is.  And we'd love to take credit for it, and maybe we can take a little since we are trying to be good parents who teach our kids a lot, but he is just really gifted.  I have a feeling his smarts will keep me on my toes.  Anyway, he is just so sweet and so kind and such a blessing in our lives!  Happy birthday, Ian!  You are the best and we love you!!