Saturday, October 2, 2010

sorry everyone.....



Sorry, I am a bad blogger.......this is my attempt to catch up!





Leo has been absolutely fascinated with anything science lately. We've been spending our time at the science center, aquarium, and the Challenger Space Center as much as possible. The first picture is Leo at the aquarium. He insisted we bring the camera to take a picture of the jellyfish. Alex is not a fan of jellyfish. Their see-through bodies give him the willies. So Leo wanted a picture to scare him with! The boys LOVE the aquarium! We spent 4 hours there last week! Leo and Wil both really like the sea horses. We learned so many interesting facts!

Here is Leo dressed up as an astronaut at the Challenger Space Center. Wil let us stick his head in the board for a quick pic too!









Leo and Wil in their Chippewa gear! (Thanks Kupers!)

























Well, after a year of nagging, we finally found a karate class for Leo. He is the picture of cute in his Gi. He is very good at it - the class actually holds his attention the entire hour - but he says he hates it....


















Leo so proud that he was going golfing with his dad. He picked out his "golf shirt" for the occasion. He's been really into daddy lately. He will only wear his sports shirts that are "like daddy's" lately. So I'm pretty embarrassed when he wears the same clothes every other day since he only has 3 sports shirts. Then, on the weekend, he makes Alex wear his too so they match. It's pretty cute. But if anyone has size 5 Lions, Red Wings, Central MI, Cardinals, etc. shirts laying around, send them our way!!!





















For my birthday, Alex took Leo to Walmart and he picked out this "beautiful" necklace. Leo was so proud (as seen in picture) and woke me up for the next 3 mornings at 6 am to "Put it on!!!"


Wil is pure daredevil! He loves to climb, run, jump, anything he can! The video is a couple months old, but it was a preview of what he's moved on to now. We enrolled him at The Little Gym to try to give him an outlet. He hangs from the bars, he jumps off the tops of mats, he flips. It's really pretty amazing. He's in a class that he is young for, but he keeps up with all the big kids. We're really really proud of our little monkey!







This is Leo riding a 2 wheeler! He's doing just great!





Wil LOVES the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse TV show - well, really only the end for the "Hot Dog" Song. He begs me all day to watch just the song on YouTube. I mean all day long. It's pretty cute, even though I've seen him do this 1,000 times :-) PS, if you notice, Wil always has one shoe on, one shoe off. We don't know why....

1 comment:

Shana said...

OMG, they are so grown up! I can't believe how well Leo is doing on a 2 wheel, we haven't even tried that with either girl. Wil looks like a natural gymnast and dancer:) Too cute!

Learn Chinese!

Timeline


January 8, 2007 Attend Adoption 101 Information Session in Mesa, AZ
January 22, 2006 - Apply for preapproval from our agencyand Taiwan
January 23, 2007 - Application for USCIS (I-600A) form submitted
January 28, 2007 - 1st Homestudy meeting
January 28, 2007 - Sign adoption contract with our agency
January 29, 2007 - Approved to adopt from Taiwan
February 1, 2007 - Clearance from state of Arizona
February 6, 2007- Maricopa application to adopt is filed
February 13, 2007 - Clearance from state of Michigan, Medical clearances, and Fingerprint invitation arrive from USCIS
February 24, 2007 - Fingerprinted for USCIS
March 11, 2007- Homestudy Complete and Court Certification from Maricopa County received
April 28, 2007 - Homestudy is translated into Mandarin
July 1, 2007 - Finally receive 171-H in the mail
July 6, 2007 - Get new case manager
July 22, 2007 - Sign adendum to contract
August 8, 2007 - Our lucky day! Referral for Lin Kai-Yi, born 6-3-06
August 8, 2007 - accept referral
August 13, 2007 - Sign Child Referral Agreement
August 23, 2007 - Paperwork arrives in Tucson
August 24, 2007 - Paperwork arrives to us
August 26, 2007 - Documents notorized (How many adults does it take to use a stamp?)
August 28, 2007 - Documents certified by AZ Sec. of State
August 29, 2007 Documents sent to TECO to be authenticated
September 4, 2007 - Documents arrive in Tucson from TECO
September 6, 2007 - Documents sent to Taiwan! YEAH!
September 10, 2007 - Update day! We receive 4 pics and a video!
October 2, 2007 - Receive word from TWCA that our hearing date is October 9, 2007 (this happened extreamly fast!)
October 9, 2007 - Keep your fingers crossed for a quick 1st ruling (even better yet, keep your fingers crossed for a final ruling!)
October 11, 2007 - October updates are here!
October 19, 2007 - Receive more pictures and videos from Ray's visit to Taiwan!
November 5, 2007 - November updates are here!
December 2, 2007 - December updates are here! Can't believe there has been no news all month!
December 13, 2007 - FINALLY! Word of our First Ruling! Yippeee! It happened on Dec. 13th in Taiwan (yesterday here)
January 4, 2008 - January updates
February 4, 2008 - February updates
February 28, 2008 - Leaving for Taipei!!!
February 29, 2008 - Arrive in Taipei!
March 4, 2008 - Gotcha Day! Can you even believe it!?!?!?
March 5, 2008 - FINAL RULING FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY! (by the way, our paperwork says the final ruling was issued December 24th!)
March 6, 2008 - First AIT appointment
March 7, 2008 - VISA DAY!
March 10, 2008 - Leave for home!
March 10, 2008 - Arrive home with our boy!!!!!!!!!!!
July 5, 2008 - Find out about Wil's arrival!
March 10, 2009 - Wil Shan-Yi Shaffer is born at 3:38 am 8 lbs. 4 oz. 20 inches long