Happy birthday, Daddy, and other fun!

 We've been so thankful for the RAIN that we've had almost every day for the past few weeks! One particularly rainy day, Ian discovered the mud puddle in the "garden." Boy, was he excited!!

 It was fun to dig, drop, and jump in all of that mess!

 By the end, Ian was covered in mud from head to toe. He could easily have been selected to be in a Tide commercial! And it would've been a successful commercial, too, as the clothes came completely clean. :)

 Ian was very excited to make Daddy a few birthday cards for his birthday on Thursday. He mainly wanted to draw spirals, circles, lines, and zigzags ...

 ... but he also decided to draw himself! The drawing certainly doesn't look impressive, but when you see the labels of all of the parts he intended to include, it's precious! He was also proud to draw a letter "I" all by himself. The only other letter he can successfully draw is an "O." He's proud of that, too! :)

 We met some friends at a new indoor playground called "Wonderwild" on Thursday morning. It was a GREAT place (especially with the rainy weather!). Ian's favorite parts seemed to be the train table (not a big surprise), the slides, and the "ball pit."

 Whee!

 Ian liked to go down the slide at the same time as his friends (like Caleb B.), perhaps just so he could say, "On your mark, get set, GO!"

 Our once-timid Ian wasn't afraid at all about climbing up to the very top of the play structure and then sliding down the tube slide. (On a side note, though, our once-friendly Ian is now shy even around people we know and is reluctant to talk or wave at times! Silly boy!) You can also see Ian's friends Caleb B. and Caleb L. at the top of the structure, along with a small child who was screaming because he got stuck trying to go up. :)

 The playground also included one large bouncy structure. The slide was very steep, so Ian preferred to go on his belly! :)

 This is the ball pit Ian really enjoyed. He and Carson had fun throwing (and trying to catch) the balls.

 Jump, Caleb, jump!

 After our family went out to dinner at a local Thai restaurant, we decided to continue the family tradition of going to Chuck E. Cheese's to play some games. Ian was a little unsure of the "rides" that jumped and bumped around, like this monster truck ride.

 But he did really like this helicopter ride that went up and down if he made the pedals spin.

 We tried the kiddie skee ball game,

 but Ian much preferred playing the adult version. When we left, he told us his favorite thing was, "playing skee ball."

 Honestly, though, he seemed most interested in this motion ride (though not while he was on it). He had this intrigued yet panicked expression through most of the ride and then finally asked to come off during a particularly bumpy time because "my ears feel stuffy." Once he got off, though, he didn't want to leave that area and continued to want to "watch the movie" while other people were riding the ride.

 Matt and I most enjoyed the competitive basketball game. Unfortunately, Matt beat me EVERY time. (Maybe I can use my big belly as an excuse??? :))

When we got home, we sang to Matt and enjoyed eating brownie mallow bars together. What a fun birthday! We thank God for a wonderful husband and daddy like you, babe!