President's Day

Poor Will came down with Croup a few days before President's Day so we had to come up with new plans.  So what do you do on a snowy holiday when you are sick? We decided to bake cookies.  It was our first time having Will help us bake cookies and he was so excited.  He loves watching Dave and I in the kitchen, so it was no surprise that he was thrilled to be able to take part in the baking.  Dave wanted to make snikerdoodles, he had fond memories of rolling the dough in the cinnamon sugar when he was a kid, so that is what we did.  Throughout the whole process Will would randomly yell "delicious!"  It was adorable!  He loved dumping the ingredients into the bowl.

He was not entirely sure about the mixing, so Dad helped.

Cracking eggs was one of the highlights.  He has watched us crack eggs many times and I think he was pretty excited to have the chance to do it himself.

Then he got to roll the dough in the cinnamon sugar, Dad's favorite part.

Waiting for them to cook is so hard!

He did finally get the chance to eat a cookie.  He really enjoyed it, but I have to be honest, I think he enjoyed making them more than he enjoyed eating them.  Baking cookies was such a fun experience, I am so glad we took the time to do it.

After baking cookies, we started playing a game we have played many times.  We hang Dave's old karate belts over the railing and Will pulls them down.  Well today he came up with an entirely new game.  I think he may have been inspired by watching Tarzan the day before ha ha!  Even though we were sick we ended up having a very fun day.  So grateful for this sweet little family of mine.

Valentine's Party

Will was so excited for his first Valentine's Party.  Dave helped him put together his Valentine's mailbox and Will put the stickers on all by himself.  He was so happy, it was adorable to see how proud he was and the way he loved being able to help.

At the party we made love bug hats and cute little valentines dogs.  Will picked everything out and I just helped him with the stapler. 

The best part was decorating cookies.  I did not think Will would actually decorate a cookie, I thought he would just try to eat it.  But with some coaching he decorated his cookie (although more candy made it in his mouth than on his cookie ha ha) and had a good time doing it!  The kids ate heart shaped pizza, and us Moms just enjoyed some adult conversation.  All of these "firsts" are so much fun.  It is one of the things I just love about being a Mom.  Something about it is just so magical!

Adoption Winter Social

We had the wonderful opportunity to attend our adoption group's Winter Social.  We are so blessed to be a part of this group and this amazing community.  Being involved with other families who have adopted has really blessed our family, and I am so grateful Will has the opportunity to have friends who are also adopted.

It has been like 16-17 years since I went ice skating, so I was grateful I had a stroller to hang on to!  Thankfully after going around the rink a couple times I felt much more confident and really enjoyed spending the time with my little family.

Will was not loving being in the stroller and wanted to have skates like everyone else.  They don't make skates that small and we were not overly confident in his ability to balance, but he sure had fun sliding around in his shoes with Dad to help him out.  These two have a riot together, I can't get enough of watching them play!

Adventures with Grandma

We were very lucky to get to spend some time playing with Grandma this week.  Most of the time when we see Grandma J we are with other family so Will does not get much one on one time with her.  It was so nice to take some time together so they could make some memories.

Will was able to show Grandma how adventurous he is.  He does not hold back one bit!  He is also a trier.  When he wants to do something, he keeps at it until he figures it out.  I love that he does not give up, it is one of the many pieces of his personality that I love.

He loved being able to have Grandma's full attention all to himself.  There is something so special about the bond between a grandparent and their grandchild.  He just ran from one thing to the next and knew that Grandma would be right there beside him.

Will was also able to show Grandma how friendly he is.  He made a little friend while we were there and they just ran around laughing and holding hands, it was adorable.  I'm so grateful we had this chance to get together.  When it was time to go, Will wanted "more Grandma".  It was so sweet.  Family is so important to us!

Pool Time

We had so much fun taking Will swimming the other day.  The last few weeks he has been pulling his swimsuit out of the closet and asking us to put it on him.  We finally made his dreams come true and took him to the pool.  It was a really nice change of pace to go swimming in the dead of winter.

He had so much fun splashing around and going down the slide.  He also was very brave and liked to jump into the water and have Dave catch him.  We even got him to kick his legs and swim around a bit.  These family outings are what we live for!

Stories at the Library

I love taking Will to story time at the library.  Recently he has really started to participate more.

It is so cute to see him sitting with a bunch of other kids listening to the stories and then dancing around and doing the actions to the songs.  It is just so heart warming to watch.

Afterwards he loves coming home to color the picture that he got.  This is also a recent interest and it is so darling that he is beginning to sit down and color.  I love these little things we are able to do together.

Mega Playground

We had a really fun day playing with friends at the Mega Playground.  It was adorable to see Will being such a good little friend and trying to help Ollie up.

They had lots of adventures together and are just the cutest little friends.  It is also definitely a perk that I get to hang out with Ollie's Mom.  She is so much fun!  We sure do love playing with friends!