First photos

I was browsing through our Ethiopia files and found these photos. They are of the day we met Will. I thought the one above was just priceless of Will and Jeffrey bonding. They connected very quickly and were a match made in heaven.

This one is too cute too. I'm not sure if he understood here if we were the ones taking him home or not, but he sure wouldn't let go of Jeffrey!

Family photo shoots

Here is Mr. Cranky Pants not wanting to pose for our 6mo home family photo that we need to send in to our agency.

He is pretending he is sleeping and will not open his eyes. Thank you "Mr. Cooperation"

Ok, so our first 2 photo sessions were not a success, so we had to have Will take a time out and then tried again later in the day to see if "Mr. Photogenic" would show his true colors later in the day.

It's not my favorite photo, but it will have to do. As you can see, the time out worked and Will showed his cute little smile for our snapshot. I hope this pic. that is sent off to the Ethiopian government shows that Will is a happy little guy and is adored by his whole family, even though it took 3 photo sessions to get him to smile. What a little stinker!

Happy 6 months home

Happy six months home little man! Yep, that's right, he has already been home for six months. He has grown in so many ways in just this short amount of time. We just had our six month home study with our social worker this week. She was quite impressed with Will's adjustment and communication skills. As she left she said to give her a call when we were ready for our next adoption...hmmmmm now where is her phone #?
Yesterday the kids and I spent some time in my classroom. Will had a good old time with all my reading manipulatives and the girls stayed busy on the photoshop program on the computers in my room. I still have a lot to do to get ready for the new year, but I have a good jump start. I head back to work on the 26th and the girls start on the 1st and Will starts preschool on the 14th. It's going to be back to a routine life instead of these lazy days of summer!

Look who has discovered legos

When Will came home with us 6mo ago, he didn't have the interest in Legos yet....so I got them out again today to see if he was ready for them.

As you can see........he has an interest. Now I have to get used to legos being all over the floor, and hold back when he has made a creation to not tidy up and put it away, as I know he will want to marvel at it for a while

Right now I have a large snake like looking thing laying across my computer room floor. He must have worked on it for a half hour last night. I better leave it there until he decides he wants to create something new when he wakes up right?

Gotta love the boy toys...

Wordless Wednesday(posted on Thurs) ooops

WILL

You gotta love when you hit a sale at gymboree and they have an adorable shirt like the one above on clearance in our little mans size!.. Will is all set to go to a lobster boil.......

Here's the backpack, which also makes him look old just like the lunchbox!

Here is Will giving us his professional modeling pose!

Still wondering if I should cut the fro.....I just keep gelling it to keep it slick and not so puffy!

Cousins

Heres Jacklyn and her cousin Maddie. I had a photo shoot with them before we left for WI. They had a great 2 weeks together.

Isn't the color swap on my camera cool. I love my Canon!

Sittin on a rock in the Carolina pine forest in Maddie's front yard!

Jacklyn and I returned home from NC on Sunday afternoon. Both Will and Jaymie stayed alive with Jeffrey and the house wasn't in too bad of shape when I returned. I did spend some time on the kitchen floor and in the bathrooms cleaning when I returned though! Will was so excited to see Jacklyn as she had been away for 18 days. Jacklyn commented on how much more
Will was talking since she had left. Every week he makes great gains with his vocabulary. He got a backpack from my sister and he has been walking around with it on his back a good portion of the morning. He filled it with his school supplies. It has Thomas the Train on it...:)I'll take a pic of him with it as it is so cute on him.

What..............

was I thinking? I left for NC yesterday without my two babies! Jeffrey is in charge of child patrol of Will and Jaymie. I had to go to NC to pick up my oldest from her cousins house. I'll be returning with Jacklyn on Sunday am. So far Jeffrey said Will is doing fine. This is my first time away from him overnight since we got him in our arms. I had trouble sleeping last night not having my little one curled up close to me. The flight to NC was a breeze. I couldn't believe how fast it was. I guess compared to flying to Ethiopia....any flight is a short flight now. I'm just hoping now I return home with Jacklyn and my children have not had any trips to ER.
We are starting to get things in gear for returning to the new school year, which of course means my wonderful life of staying home full time ends.... I go back to 3 days a week. Will will be going to preschool which he seems pretty excited about. "Little Bill" goes to preschool so that show has helped him understand the concept of what preschool is all about. His preschool is 3 hours a day 3 days a week and I am so lucky to have 3 people who love Will to pieces picking him up each on a different day after preschool so I can get all my work hours in. How awesome is that? I am so thankful. He may just get a little too spoiled and not want to come back to me at days end! Will's interest in books and letters has really perked this last month. He loves the letter "W". He recognizes characters in books and can recite simple word books that have been read to him! Hooray, I have a little reader on my hands!

wordless wednesday

Our dog whisperer

Here's Will with "the pack"

Yes, those are little pony tails in his hair. His sister got a hold of him and pulled his curly hair into little pony tails.

Look who is the pack leader now!

Monkey Joes Bouncy House

Yesterday we went to Monkey Joe's to burn some calories. I had a coupon for buy 1 entrance get one free, so it was a cheap play date. You get the coupon when you sign up for Monkey Mail at the Monkey Joe's website. Anyhow, Jaymie and Will had fun bouncing away. Monkey Joe himself made an appearance and Will was very interested in the big purple monkey. He wanted me to carry him and follow the monkey, but if the monkey got close, watch out! Will wanted nothing to do with him. He was trying to be brave, yet figure out what exactly the big purple monkey was. His phrases to me were......Monkey Joe scary? I want to see Monkey Joe. Where did Monkey Joe go? Does Monkey Joe bounce? One particular bounce house had a line and I was very impressed at how Will waited in line with Jaymie. His ability to figure out how things work is impressive. It has been a long time since I have gotten bit by him:) That is progress. It is also interesting when he knows he did something wrong.........like slamming Jaymies fingers in the basements french doors......he will go off and kind of go to his "happy" place which could be anywhere, but he kind of curls up and really thinks about what just went wrong. Then he snaps out of it and all is fine. It is kind of like he is just taking it all in and figuring out right from wrong. Enjoy the photos below of Monkey Joe. Watch out for Monkey Joe, he is a little scary!

Monkey Joes

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Wordless Wednesday

Another FL trip

Jeffrey was awarded his second Summit award with US Bank again this year. The company was suppossed to reward their employees for their hard work in March with a getaway for the winners and their spouses. Well, with all the hoopla with the tarp $ US Bank held off the planned getaway. It's back on now and the Summit award winners are headed to the Ritz Carlton in Naples. We went to Arizona 2 years ago for Jeffrey's first Summit award. That was an amazing trip. I had never been pampered so much by a hotel staff in my life. I felt like royalty, which I was kind of uncomfortable with..... anyhow, we are heading to Naples in mid Sept. My boss (principal) is letting me flex my hours so I can accompany Jeffrey. I can't leave the kids, so they are coming with and Jeffrey's mom is meeting us there to watch the kids when we attend the awards ceremony and other functions:) Im thrilled they get to come with and be part of it. I'm not thrilled I have to find a formal kind of dress. So, FL. here we come! It will be Will's second time there in his short time he has been in the states. The girls are thrilled as part of the package is we get to go parasailing and jet skiing. Right up thrill seeking Jacklyn's alley.

Some Sunday snapshots of Will

Here is Will sucking on his shirt after he wet it down. I have seen him do this quite often. He sure loves water.



He has mastered the pout face. Could somebody please share with me how to say no to a face like this....He's saying.....mama can I have a chick hicks matchbox car? Look who got a chick hicks matchbox car today! The face had nothing to do with it. Really!
Here he is showing you all his little prize for being his cute little self. So should I keep growing out the hair? I'm torn.