Well, since my last post, Will has turned 1!!!! What a big boy. He is eating some table food now. He is walking while holding on to his walker. He is climbing stairs. He is into everything! :) We had a party for him and he thoroughly enjoyed every bit of his birthday cake... all the way up to the top of his head! We are getting ready to surprise Alina with a trip to Disney World. I'm so excited to see her face when we tell her, I can't stand it. I'm going to decorate her room with Disney stuff and make a big sign telling her about our trip. Then when Dan comes home, we will open the door to her room and surprise her. :) Will just woke up from his nap so I guess I'll have to cut this post short. I'll post some new pictures in a little bit.

Wow! 4 months have gone by since my last post. The holidays have evidently kept us very busy. The kids continue to grow... fast!

Alina is losing teeth all over the place. We were thinking about getting her some detures to get her by the next couple of months. (just kidding) She has 3 teeth gone on the top with another one loose. I see two of her three new teeth starting to poke through finally so hopefully she'll have functional front teeth soon. The missing teeth stage is kind of cute, though.

Alina had her 6th birthday last month! I can't believe I have a 6 year old already. We took her to Chuck E. Cheese for her birthday. She had a ball playing all of the games and she even ran into a school friend. They ran around hand in hand having fun all afternoon. The celebration was complete with cake... Chocolate, of course!

Will is changing every day. He is now crawling around fast a lightning and pulling himself up on furniture. He's using his walker a lot. He's getting really good at it. Just need some more practice with his balance and he will be walking in no time.

Will also is getting more teeth. He has 4 all together now. Two on top and two on bottom. His teeth are really starting to transform his face into a little boy face rather than a baby face. He only has a month and a half until he turns one!!! I'm not ready for him not to be a baby anymore so I'm excited, but a little sad.

In other news, I've been dieting since the beginning of the year and have lost 15 lbs so far. I'm determined to get all of this weight off before I hit my 40's (only 2 years away). Wish me luck. I'll get there.

Anyway, we all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years at home. The kids loved their presents (Will loved the wrapping paper). Now we are ready for spring. It has been colder than usual and we've had more snow that we usually get. So I'm ready for spring flowers!

Until next time, have fun!

October was a fun month for us. Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit a couple of weeks ago. They came to celebrate both Will's baptism and Halloween with both kids. We took them to play bingo at Alina's school, we visited the zoo (just a couple of days before Atlanta's new panda cub was born), and finished the visit with Trick-or Treating with the kids. Alina dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and of course Will had to be the Cowardly Lion! Very cute!

Alina continues to do a fabulous job in school. Her teacher tells me that she is reading 2 grades ahead of the class and she also gets to participate in an advanced math class once a week. The girl is SMART. We are so proud of her.

Will has gotten some teeth! He has two on the bottom and we believe he is working on his two top teeth right now. He has grown right out of his infant carseat and now uses a big boy carseat. He is showing signs that he might be interested in crawling soon. He already rolls all over the house. I'm definately going to have to be on my toes watching him soon. We have safety gates ready to go to keep him away from stairs and things. Ready, set, goooooooo!!!!!

Well, it's been 2 months since my last post. Man, I feel like I blink and 2 months go by!

Will turned 6 months old on Monday. He is growing like crazy! He just had his 6 month checkup and all is well. He is 19 lbs and 27 1/4 inches long!!! That's between the 77th and 79th percentile! He's on solid food already and we are waiting for teeth to come in sometime in the next couple of months. We are working on sitting up on our own and we have lots of tummy time to encourage him to explore crawling soon. He changes every day and it is fun to watch. Although it is happening so fast!

Alina is doing well in school. She got good marks on her first progress report. She continues with her swimming lessons and just recently graduated to the next level. She's begun Girl Scouts and is having a blast. Roasting marshmellows for smores, of course, is her favorite activity!

Will's adoption will be finalized in about a week and a half!!!! We're so excited! Also our 11th wedding anniversary is coming up. Guess we'll just have to have one gigantic party! Life is good and we feel very blessed. :)

We are all doing well. The kids are healthy and happy. ...And growing!

Will turned 4 months old a couple of weeks ago and he weighed 6 lbs, 1 oz at his checkup. He is rolling on to his tummy and pushing up with his arms. Before you know it he will be crawling. He's started cereal (which he only tolerates because it fills his belly). He's laughing and giggling, especially at his sister. He sleeps all the way through the night and is just God's ultimate blessing.

Alina has started Kindergarten! My baby is in school! I just can't believe it. Seems like just yesterday that I was rocking her in my arms like a baby. She loves school. I believe her exact words were, "Mama, Kindergarten is awesome!" The best part to her, of course, is riding the bus. Since my last post she has lost another tooth and the two new ones are both coming in nicely. She loves swimming and has recently decided to join the Girl Scouts as a 'Daisy'.

Ok, I've been slacking a little again. But just wanted to brag on my little girl a little bit. She lost her first tooth! Of course this was about a week ago. ...told you I've been slacking. And she is already getting a new tooth in. She is getting to be a big girl. She will start Kindergarten in August but I think she is pretty advanced for Kindergarten. She is reading a little bit, spelling, doing math (adding, subtracting, and even concepts of multiplication). She, of course, is excited to ride the school bus.

Will had is 2 month checkup today. He has gained 3 lbs in the past month and is fabulously healthy.

We are going on vacation next week for about 2 weeks to see family. I'm so excited to see everyone. Dan's family has not met Will yet so it should be fun! And I'm ready to get out of town for a little while to have a change of scenery. :)

Just a quick post. I'm getting ready to take the kids to the IAC picnic. Should be fun. Its a beautiful day and it will be nice for Alina to make some new friends and play at the park. Can't wait to show Will off! I'll try to take some pictures and post them later. I really wish S. was coming, but I know that isn't likely. But if you're reading this, S., please come! We really want to meet you!

Too bad Dan's working and can't go with us. But he has some time off coming to him next week so we'll find something fun to do as a family. :)