The Life of "William Frederick Turek"

2012-02-01T16:12:00.001-05:00

Christmas Eve before church service -12/24/2011

We had a very exciting Christmas this year! Not only did we have family in town, Papa Dan, Grandma ConBon and Auntie Julie, we were able to celebrate Christmas morning in our own home with Will who was so much fun.

Christmas Eve dinner after church. Peninsula China Bistro for sushi! See Will in the middle of the snowman family?

After Christmas Eve dinner, Julie and I made a homemade Pecan Pie for our dessert the next morning. It's fun to cook in the kitchen with your sister! Especially when you can throw flour in her face!

Pecan Pie... Mmmm. Our favorite.

It was so exciting to see Will set out cookies and milk for Santa. He drank the glass of milk we were leaving for Santa so Mommy had to refill the glass. HAHA.

Leaving cookies and milk for Santa

The first thing Will did when he came downstairs in the morning was check the plate and glass. Then he was in awe looking at the stockings which were filled with goodies. After that, he noticed the shopping cart from Grammy and Papa Johnson so he had to zoom all around the house with that before we did stockings. LOL

The big Santa gift was his Suzuki Four Wheeler which Will likes to call his "motorcycle". After about 10 minutes of practice, he was well on his way to mastering how to manuever the quad around the neighborhood. It's only a 6 volt and it goes about 2.5 mph. Surprisingly, it's faster than I though it was going to be! But we are able to walk along side of him while he drives so that's good. Watch out for Daddy's car! Whew. That was close.

Christmas Day

Thank you to my family who traveled to our home to spend this special holiday with us. We certainly had a blast with all of you!

Merry Christmas.

Baker in Training --CHEF WILL

2012-01-25T16:25:00.001-05:00

Will has become a little baker/cooking expert in the kitchen. If Mommy is in the kitchen, Will pulls up a chair and has to be involved in the process. I let him do little things like stir, add ingredients, put cookies on the sheet etc. He gets a BIG kick out of doing things in the kitchen with Mommy. We are having fun learning and experimenting. Everything is a learning lesson, right? Like, here count these eggs.

Thank you to the Pinar Family for sending this cute outfit for Christmas. We have used it several times now and will continue to do so! :)

Santa Chuck at Birkdale Village

2011-12-16T10:31:00.002-05:00

Will has gone to see Santa at Birkdale since the year he was born. So he went in 2009, 2010 and 2011. It's always the same Santa. His name is Chuck, Santa Chuck. In 2009, it was theperfect little picture, Will was dressed in his Santa suit. I used that photo as our Christmas card that year. Then in 2010, we went with cousin Annika who was down visiting at the time for Thanksgiving. BOTH of the kids freaked out. It was so comical that Branden/Rachel/Rick and I all think this picture is going down in history for a classic picture that we can pull out at things like graduations and weddings. HAHA. I should have used that for our card last year! I submitted that photo to the Ellen Degeneres website and it was chosen and put up online for all to see under "Bad Paid For Santa Photos." Just randomly, I checked Ellen again this year, 2011, and their picture is still posted on her website as one of her "favorites"! LOL. I wasn't sure how 2011 was going to go since he was so afraid last year. He was totally fine with Santa, even high-fived him. When I told Santa Chuck that this was our 3rd year in a row, he asked me to send him all the pictures from the three years to his email, which I did. He then took them and posted them all to his website! Will is becoming famous online eh. :)

This is Santa Chuck's email back to me:

"Thank you. Make certain you look at the bottom of the page!

http://www.santachuck.com/

I get MANY comments about his picture when I send out emails!! EVEN from other Santa’s!!!

Santa Chuck"

Ellen Degeneres webite:

http://photos.ellen.warnerbros.com/galleries/bad_santa_photos#107111
(Annika and Will are #35 out of 55)

Elf on a Shelf

2011-12-15T10:07:00.000-05:00

I'm hearing more and more people who do the Elf on a Shelf holiday tradition. I'm going to start it next year when Will can grasp the concept a little bit better. My friend sent me this on email today regarding another gal's post about this tradition. It's actually quite funny and laugh out loud! Anybody who does this tradition would like to read this. Enjoy.

http://peopleiwanttopunchinthethroat.blogspot.com/2011/12/over-achieving-elf-on-shelf-mommies.html

A sign posted outside Will's classroom at school.

2011-12-15T10:00:00.001-05:00

How cute is this?

Poopy in the potty??

2011-12-14T22:38:00.003-05:00

I couldn't pass not posting this from September 26th, 2011. This is a picture from one of Will's books. I asked Will, "What is this?" Will's answer was, "Poopy in the potty." My morning coffee will never be the same!! And LOL because if you actually look a this picture, it could maybe, possibly look like that!!! :) So funny. I got a good laugh out of that one. There. Your morning funny.

I love to bake cookies with Mommy

2011-12-12T17:17:00.000-05:00

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

2011-12-07T22:29:00.001-05:00

Our tradition is to pick out a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Eventually when Will is a little bit older, we will venture to the mountains and chop one down. However, this year, Rick was on call so we went down to the corner and bought a fresh cut douglas fir. We bought from the same guys last year and the tree was one of the freshest I had bought so we gave them another swing at it. So far, so good! With a two year old running around, you aren't able to decorate as quick as in years past. We are having fun though. Will is totally into the spirit. We are changing the advent calendar each morning and he's having fun with that. I'm using it as a teaching experience because we get to practice larger numbers! Like today is 18. Eighteen days until Christmas, can you believe it?

Yesterday at school, they asked all the two years olds, "What would you like from Santa?" Will's answer is "Toys." I asked him that same question a few times since then and he keeps answering, "Toys." So funny.

Tonight, we had a Christmas program at school. Will's class sang two songs and wore flashing rudolph noses and/or reinder antlers. Will did an amazing job, singing a word here and there and clapping. Some of the kids were crying and scared. Not Will. He loved the limelight. I wonder where he gets that from?

Picking out our Christmas tree

Making Daddy's 41st birthday cake. Will loves to cook!

Nose pickers

MI/Ohio State game. Michigan finally won!! Too bad so sad, Amanda. LOL

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-12-07T22:08:00.001-05:00

We spent the turkey holiday with The Tureks who came down from MI. Amanda also joined us in the festivites! Yay.

On Thanksgiving morning, Rick and I ran the Charlotte Turkey Trot, an 8K (4.97 miles) in Charlotte, South Park. It was a beautiful sunny day with race temps around 50 degrees. We both ran in short sleeves. I love to run in this weather! The best part of the race was beating Rick by 2 minutes!!! :) It will probably never happen again but I'm going to eat this one up. I finished with 8:39 minute miles and 42.30 minutes. I'm very proud of myself. :) Will was home with Papa and Brunga Turek giving them a "run" for their money. LOL. We had so much fun and will plan to Turkey Trot run every year. I've been running for about 2 years straight and love it. It's seriously like they say, a runners high. You are addicted. Next up... Cooper Bridge Run. Here are pix from the Thankgiving holiday.

Turkey Trot 2011 --post race

I'm way into Daddy's shoes!

Hello Grandma Turek!

Hello Papa Turek!

My awesome, most juicy turkey ever. It's all about BRINING.

Time to carve. Oh yah. Will ate more at this time than he did for dinner!

Happy Thanksgiving. We have alot to be thankful for.

Mmmm. Good eats.

Happy Halloween!!

2011-12-07T16:45:00.001-05:00

I am so far behind in blogging and I apologize for that. The holiday season seems to take over control! :) Anyway, we had a fantastic Halloween. Will was totally into the holiday this year and we even trick or treated alot farther than I thought we would! I was thinking we would hit a few houses on the block and then when it was all said and done, we hit almost the entire neighborhood. Will enjoyed a nice wagon ride with his BFF, Micayla while being pulled house to house by Papa Dan. My parents were in town for two whole weeks from MN which also covered the Halloween holiday. Papa Dan even won the block Halloween costume contest in my neighborhood! Check out the photos below from our different events.

Before the Vikings/Panthers game. The Vikings won!!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin carving on Oct 30th

Before block party. Mommy is 70s go-go and Will is "Harley Davidson Biker Dude"

Will and his BFF Super girl, Micayla during the block parade

It's the winner, "DANIELLE" of the block party!!!! His pumpkin bowl prize. :)

Before Mommy & Daddy's Halloween friend party. :) Rick the slick cowboy and Jody the Indian. Will wanted to be in the picture so he jumped in with Mommy's hat.

Love this pic

YOOOOO GABBA GABBA!

2011-11-17T09:38:00.001-05:00

Some girlfriends and I took our little people to the live show, Yo Gabba Gabba on October 29, 2011. If you have kids, you TOTALLY know this show. If you don't, it is a show on Nick Jr. that has five little monsters that teach a lesson each show but it also includes, art, music and DANCING! Will loves the show so much and it was so fun to see his face when we went to it live at Ovens Autitorium. He had no idea what was happening until it started. He was mesmerized. Needless to say, he LOVED it. By the middle of the show, the kids were jumping and dancing in the aisles. I liked it so much that I would totally take him again, tomorrow. They put on an excellent show. I was even singing all the words to the songs. LOL! Good times. Good fun.

Before the show, getting ready to pick up Lori & Micayla. Will has on his Yo Gabba Gabba shirt (Brobee) that I made him for his birthday.

Web Miller, Will, Kruz Vaughan

Arden/Nicole, Web/Anna, Jody/Will, Tricia/Kruz, Micayla/Lori

I LIKE TO DANCE!

On our intermission break. We loved to jump in this couch thing!

Look at us dancing! Will is in the middle of a jump, Micayla has her arms up

After the show, we celebrated by going to Chick-Fil-A! One of Will's all time favorite restaurants.

I like to shop with Mommy at Harris Teeter

2011-11-17T09:34:00.001-05:00

I gave in and let Will have his very own shopping cart one day at Harris Teeter. Can I tell you that he took that cart (he drives it VERY well, by the way!) and drove it right to the meat and cheese samples and then from there, right to the cookies! Can you tell he knows this store all too well? Haha.

He calls it "Teeter".

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-07T14:24:00.003-04:00

This year, Will is just as crazy about pumpkins as he was last year. He loves to point them out everywhere that we see them, whether it may be in the grocery store, on a front porch, at his school or in our house. We have two large pumpkins and one small one on our porch and he says, "Daddy pumpkin, Mommy pumpkin and Will pumpkin" to me all the time. And when he sees the pumpkins, he yells out and excited like he hadn't seen them before. He cracks me up. Here's a couple shots of us at the pumpkin patch where we hayride to the patch and cut your pumpkin right off the vine. Afterwards, we drink homemade apple cider. I love this time of year. It's so colorful and we are especially looking forward to the fall crispy air after the brutal hot summer! We have alot of fun events coming up in the near future. Grandma Con Bon and Papa Dan are coming for two whole weeks starting October 25th. We have the Trunk or Treat event at Will's school on the 28th and then a huge block party in my neighborhood on Halloween. I can't wait for you all to see Will's costume, which is a SURPRISE!!! Go figure. You didn't think I was going to let the cat out the bag did you? You know me all too well. :)

Gotta love his hair blowing in the wind. LOL

We're ready for our hayride!

This is our group of friends who came with us.

I want this one Dad!

In the pumpkin patch, selecting our pumpkins

Another funny story...

2011-10-01T15:59:00.003-04:00

We went to dinner the other night at Brooklyn South, a pizza/pasta joint near our house. On the wall near the cash registers, they have sweatshirts with "Brooklyn South" written on them for sale up on the wall. They are pinned to the wall with the hoods up and arms out, like you would see if the sweatshirts were on a hanger. Will kept pointing and saying, "Ghost! Ghost! Ghost!".

I thought that was hilarious. :)

What makes a happy family?

2011-09-24T08:43:00.005-04:00

This is an interesting article that I read this morning.

When 1500 children were asked, "What makes a happy family?" The most frequent answer is "things you did with them."

It IS what you "did" together with them that matters most! Its so true!! My best memories as a kid are things that we did together... like camping or going to the cabin, waterskiing, saunas, swimming, snowmobiling, sliding, ice skating, ski trips, playing house, playing sports, art projects and getting tucked in every night (thanks Mom) :)

http://www.imom.com/parenting/teens/relationships/family/life-application-at-the-end-its-relationships-that-matter-most/

Will's height prediction

2011-09-12T14:03:00.000-04:00

So I've heard that if you double the amount in inches when your child is two, it's a good indicator on how tall they will be as an adult. I have NO IDEA if this is accurate, so I'm going to keep track just for kicks and giggles.

At two years old, Will is 34.5 inches long. He weighs 27.0 pounds.

If I do this calculation and double his inches, that will make him 69 inches, which is 5'9".

However, there is a height predictor online and when I punch in my height (5'5") and Rick's height (5'11"), it says that Will is going to be 5'10". http://www.babycenter.com/child-height-predictor

Based on the formula I used, there is a 50 percent chance that your boy's full-grown height will be within 0.8 inches (above or below) of this prediction, and a 90 percent chance that it will be within 2.1 inches.

WebMd says Will is going to be 5'11": http://children.webmd.com/healthtool-kids-height-predictor

There's no proven way to predict a child's adult height. However, several formulas can provide a reasonable guess for child growth. Here's a popular example:

Add the mother's height and the father's height in either inches or centimeters.
Add 5 inches (13 centimeters) for boys or subtract 5 inches (13 centimeters) for girls.
Divide by two.

Most children will reach an adult height within 4 inches (10 centimeters) of this estimation.
Another way to estimate a child's adult height is to double his or her height at age 2.
Remember, a child's height is controlled by genetics. It's also important to note that children grow at different rates. Some children begin their growth phases early, while others are late bloomers.

In this case, Will is going to be 5'10 1/2 inches.

Hmmm. Makes ya wonder huh?

So I think we are safe to say he's going to be somewhere between 5'9" and 5'11". HA!

Yo Gabba Gabba 2nd Birthday fun!!! --Will & Micayla Joint Bday Party

2011-09-11T14:20:00.000-04:00

Look at this resort where we had the party :) Thanks Gary & Lucy Phillips!

We had a joint birthday party with Will's BFF, Micayla Phillips. Since Will and Micayla are exactly two weeks apart and they have all the same friends, "Why not?!" Gary & Lucy Phillips were kind enough to allow us to do the party at their house on Lake Norman. It was a perfect day on Saturday, September 3rd. It was hot, sunny and no chance of storms. Unlike the night before when a monsoon dropped on us and ripped down trees, flickered power and blew a steel, HEAVY, storage box right off the dock! We were so lucky that the rain gods dumped the night before the party. Whoa.

The party was a Yo Gabba Gabba! theme. If you don't have a small child, you probably have no idea what Yo Gabba Gabba is all about. It's a show on Nick Jr which plays two episodes each weekday at 1:00pm and 1:30pm. Basically, they are five different toy monsters with music, dance and simple life teaching lessons on each show.

Here is a link to meet the characters. Two of Will's favorites are Brobee (green one) and Muno (red one-eyed monster).

http://www.nickjr.com/yo-gabba-gabba/about-yo-gabba-gabba/yo-gabba-gabba-characters_ap.html

My girlfriends and I are taking the kiddos to a live Yo Gabba Gabba! show in Charlotte at the end of October. When I thought I'd better introduce Will to the show on TV to get used to it, he was hook, line and sinker sucked into the show within one episode! I have no idea what the attraction is to these little ones because if you watch it as an adult, you say... "OKAY.. what?!" But at the same time, you are singing all the jingles from the show to yourself throughout the day. HA!

The birthday party day consisted of swimming, blow up sliding in the lake, lawn games, big BBQ feast by grill master, Gary Phillips himself, clown with face painting, magic show and balloon characters. Then, Foofa (the pink one) from Yo Gabba Gabba showed up for pictures. When she left, Brobee (the green one) came for cake and birthday song! The kids had a ball. Will was brave enough to have a snake put on his face and Micayla had a couple flowers.

Lori and I shared in the making of the cupcakes. She picked two characters --Foofa (pink) and Toodee (blue). And I picked two characters to make --Brobee (green) and Muno (red).

It was alot of fun to make the cupcakes but very time consuming in the decorating process! :) I like to make Will cupcakes each year for his birthday. That's kinda "my" thing. I had help with Julie and Debbie here last year when I made the monkey cupcakes but this year, I was on my own! I think Lori and I did an AWESOME job!

Then it was CAKE time!! Will liked to stare at his candle. We practiced a few times on how to blow it out a few days before the party. He was doing great but when it came time for the big birthday candle blow out, he just stared at it. Lil John Balcerzak came running up and blew the candle out for Will! Hilarious!!

Mr. Cake Face. Say Cheese!

We love you Brobee!

Here is a link to all my pictures on Kodak Gallery from the party if you want to see more:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=1212822230103%3A729317325

Happy 2nd Birthday to my baby boy, Will!

Love you.

Mommy

Happy Little Family

2011-09-09T13:06:00.003-04:00

Having fun and eating ice cream with the Phillips Family!

Jody, Will, Ricky T

Micayla, Lori, Keith

I used this picture on Will and Micayla's birthday banner which you will see in next post.

Just hangin out with my BFF!

MICHIGAN vacation --Aug 13th to Aug 21st --PINE LAKE part

2011-09-09T09:28:00.000-04:00

This is a view from my parent's deck on Pine Lake. Awww. So relaxing and peaceful. It's morning and I have a full cup of coffee which I am thoroughly enjoying while looking at this scene.

So it's off to Kalamazoo with the Johnsons. We have two cars packed to the gills. Papa Johnson, Rick, Jody and Will are in one vehicle. Debbie, Jenna and Julie are in another. We have luggage, strollers, back packs and are headed to the lake! Julie flew in from Minnesota so we could all have a family vacay together.

We were on our way to meet new baby of the family, Henrik Drake Johnson. My brother Branden, his wife Rachel and big sister Annika welcomed Henrik into the world on July 25th. Will has another cousin!

Born 7.25.11 | 2:51 pm

9lbs 14oz | 21.5 inches

Yup --he was a whopping, almost 10 pounder! Good work Rachel, you birthed a one month old. You go girl! :)

This part of the trip consisted of lake play, bon fires, hanging out, cribbage tournament (Ricky won!), cooking, coffee drinkin, waterskiing, a Lake Michigan beach trip and eating lots of Godfather's Pizza. YUM! We had alot of fun and relaxation with the fam. Branden/Rachel/Annika/Henrik all stayed with us at the lake house. We rented a RV for the driveway so that is where they stayed. Here are some photos.

Hi Papa!

Julie, Dad, Rick on Pine Lake.

Will and Annika seeing each other for first time. They are high fiving. It was so great watching them play together. They are six months apart in age. Henrik is not quite two years younger than Will.

Lake Michigan day. Thanks Marie (Rachel's Mom) for the hospitality!! I was able to reconnect with one of my best friends, Tara, her daughter Grace and new baby brother, Gavin.

Our group at Lake Michigan. We couldn't of asked for better weather. It was hot and beautiful.

This is Henrik under the pop up tent a the lake. He slept the whole time. :) He likes hearing the crashing of waves --white noise!

Sisters: Jenna, Julie, Jody

I love you cousin Will!

Will on an old bus. Say cheese!

Rachel and Henrik. Lookin good girl!

This is me. Waterskiing like the old days. :)

Here's our one shot of the cousins together. Will (almost 2), Annika ( 2 1/2), Henrik (4 weeks)

MICHIGAN vacation -Aug 13th to Aug 20th --DETROIT PART

2011-09-08T20:03:00.000-04:00

We took our vacation up in Michigan this year. Yes! Rick actually took a week off work?! Yay.

First, we started our trip off in the Detroit area with all of Rick's family. We stayed in his Mom/Dad's practically brand new home in Sterling Heights, a suburb of Detroit. Will had a blast with his cousins, Ethan (9 yrs) and Ava (5 yrs). And they sure took to him. Ava was like a little Mommy to Will, taking care of him every step of the way. The first night, we went to dinner at Rick's Mom's favorite Italian restaurant called Andiamo's where we snapped this picture. Will looks afraid in this picture because he was afraid. It was about to downpour and there was alot of thunder and lightening. For whatever reason, Will is afraid of thunder. Regardless, it was a fun night reconnecting with our family.

"TUREK FAMILY"
Carol, Jody, Rick, Will, Ava, Scott, Ethan, Melissa, Fred

We had a pool date scheduled for Sunday but we were rained out. But that was okay because I think we had a better time at Scott/Melissa/Ethan/Ava's house. We had dinner, drinks and play. It was so much fun! Here, we took a long time overdue family photo. I have this one up in my house. :)

"TUREK FAMILY"

Here is a cute photo of the kids when they were about to play Yo Gabba Gabba on the TV.

Ava, Will, Ethan

I love this picture of Rick's Mom.

"BRUNGA" --Grandma Turek

Uncle Scott and Auntie Melissa (Rick's sister)

Fred (Rick's Dad), Carol (Rick's Mom), Rick, Melissa (Rick's sister)

Scott, Melissa, Jody, Rick

On Monday, we celebrated by going to the Detroit Tigers/Minnesota Twins game. I was on the fence on who to route for... since I am a fan of both. I had to decide which team to wear to the game. Well, I picked the Detroit Tigers for RICK because we were at his home and he's such a huge fan. My family who joined us for the game, all wore TWINS. Julie was in town from MN too. Well, guess what? The Twins won that night! Crazy. Here we are before we left for the game. Mom Turek stayed back this one time to watch Will so we could enjoy the game. Normally, she is right there with us.

Rick, Will, Jody --before Tigers game

And here we are ... meeting my family at Comerica Park. They drove in for the game from Kalamazoo.

Dick, Debbie, Julie, Jenna, Jody, Rick

Scott, Ethan, Ava (her first game!)

Our group of fifteen after the game.

My family stayed over in a hotel so they could bring us back to Pine Lake the next day. We all met for breakfast where we had a wonderful meal --both sides of family. There, Will received some birthday gifts from his cousins and one of his all time favorite things is a stuffed Brobee character. Brobee is from the show Yo Gabba Gabba. Will hauls Brobee all over the house. A few times he's even slept with Brobee. :) Thanks TUREK family for everything! We had a blast.

Those dirty, bad RED WASPS

2011-08-07T21:37:00.000-04:00

Tonight at 7:30pm, our poor baby was stung twice by a swarm of red wasps that are living in one of our bushes in the back yard. Will went over to pick up the frisbee that landed by the bush and BOOM, it happened. His cry was screeching and it made me run as fast as I could. He was only 20 yards from me. I knew what had happened when I saw something fly away from him. I didn't know what it was but after it was all said and done and Rick was able to go discover what was in the bush, we knew it was red wasps. It was a very scary moment, since bee stings run on both sides of our family as a severe allergy. We rushed him inside to inspect what actually happened. I tore off his clothes and found the one sting on the back of his right shoulder. I thought that was it. He only has shorts on at that point. After he stopped crying and was playing with his fire truck, he started crying again and was reaching for his leg. I took off his shorts and there was another sting on his right upper thigh. We felt so bad for the little guy. Rick sucked out the stingers, we cleaned the wounds with soap and water, I applied baking soda paste and then gave a dose of benedryl. Rick ran to the store as fast as he could to buy an epi pen, just in case. We found out that you can't get an epi pen unless you have a prescription. That's crazy.

Little guy is doing really good. The bites look alot better but he's a little uncomfortable. I called the pediatrician office just to check what I could and could not do and they said I did all the right things. If Will had no symptoms for 2 hours (hives, wheezing, shortness of breath etc), then we are out of the woods. We kept him up a little later tonight just to make sure he was okay. Thank God!

Praying

2011-08-04T16:54:00.000-04:00

Each meal and before bedtime, we pray with Will. Our family meal prayer is this:

"Thank you for the world so sweet. Thank you for the food we eat. Thank you for the birds that sing. Thank you God for everything."

On our 14th wedding anniversary, June 28th 2011, I gave Rick a card that has a few pink pansies on the front of the card. It has been displayed close to the table where we eat and is in full view to see. Ever since that card was put up, during our meal prayer, Will keeps saying, "Flowers. Flowers. Flowers" as he looks at the picture. We now have to incorporate the flowers into our prayer or he is not happy. So at the end of our "Thank you God for everything", we have now added the extra line, "And thank you God for the FLOWERS!" :)

Today

2011-08-02T15:41:00.000-04:00

Today, Will didn't know I was watching him. He picks up the cordless telephone off the base on the end table and puts it up to his ear. He says, "Hello. How are you?" into the phone receiver. Yes! Another LOL.

Will's latest things

2011-08-01T12:47:00.000-04:00

So just a moment ago, Will tells me "WATCH." And then he looks at me to to make sure I'm looking at him. He sets the ball down in front of his right foot. He kicks it perfectly straight then says, "GOOD KICK." That made me laugh out loud! :)

When we are eating, he wants his hands wiped with a napkin if they get dirty. Actually, he doesn't like his hands dirty ever. He's so particular. Then he throws the napkin on the floor. We say, "NO WILL. DO NOT THROW THE NAPKIN ON THE FLOOR." Everytime we scold him, he starts waving back and forth and saying, "Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi." It's everything I can do to avoid laughing. It's very comical.

Pool and Leisure Diving --July 30th 2011

2011-07-31T20:41:00.000-04:00

We practiced our leisure diving yesterday at the pool. Rick found this clip on leisure diving this week under "Most Emailed Photos" for that day. We HAD to try it! And here is how it turned out.

Practice shot. For both Rick and me, the photographer

The "money" shot! I must say this is pretty perfect. :)

Johnny Vaughan's practice shot

Johnny's final shot. :) Pretty good!

TUREK FAMILY. Awwww.

We love you Willy Dilly! XOXO Mom & Dad

We had a BBQ at our place after the pool party. Here is Will and his friends.

Will (23 mos), Kruz (2 yrs this week!), Ethan (2 yrs on July 10th)

Here are the same three --almost exactly one year ago! LOL

How much time do we have left with Will before he goes to college? 5,884

2011-07-28T13:43:00.000-04:00

What’s so magical about the number 836? That’s the number of weekends we have left with Will before he goes off to college…

Now consider the number 5,884. Yes, I know, it’s a BIG number… until you realize it’s the number of days you have your children with you until they turn 18. Doesn’t seem so big now, does it?

http://www.convertunits.com/dates/

From my IMOM emails that I subscribe to:

How Much Time Do You Have Left With Your Kids?

The answer to that question is that we, of course, hope and pray we have a lifetime left with our children. But, if you want to get a visual of the fleeting nature of the time you have left with your children living at home, try this:

1.Calculate how many Saturdays you have with them starting now until they turn 18.

2.Buy that amount of marbles and put them in a jar on your dresser.

3.Every Saturday, take one of those marbles and throw it away. You’ll never get that day back.   

This will help you prioritize what’s really important and how you should spend that precious and irreplaceable time with them.  

July 2011 --Auntie Jenna and Papa Johnson

2011-07-24T16:09:00.000-04:00

I flew with Rick to Austin, TX in the middle of July for a business trip. There, we were able to attend the Davis Cup tennis match at the same time. It was my first live major tennis match. It was alot of fun and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The match we watched was between Mardy Fish, USA vs David Ferrer, Spain. The USA lost in 4 very intense sets.

Will having fun with Papa J in the swimming pool where we are members.

Wonder twin powers... ACTIVATE! One of my very favorite pictures of Rick and Will. :)
They are dressed like twins, not planned.

At Bruesters ice cream for Cotton Candy Explosion!! MMMmmm

I flew my sister, Jenna here to take care of Will for the three days I was gone. My Dad also came to keep Jenna company. Thank you Jenna!!! Love you. Will had alot of fun with his "Auntie Jenna." That's one name in the family that he can say accurately. :) When I came home, Will didn't want me to wipe his hands at the dinner table. No, Auntie Jenna had to do it, even though she was clear across the table. And when we were walking, he had to have Auntie Jenna's hand. Very cute.

My Dad stayed longer, after Jenna flew home and we enjoyed playing cribbage (I'm one up on you Dad!), boating and watching a movie every night. FUN. Miss you Dad.

Now, we are waiting for tomorow, July 25th where our new nephew will be introduced to the world via induction. Rachel is currently 9 days past her due date. Lil man is nice and cozy in there. Good luck Rachel and Branden. Will is excited to meet his new cousin in August. Love you guys.

Happy July 4th, 2011!!

2011-07-24T15:56:00.000-04:00

We spent the holiday with family and friends. My Mom flew back with me from MN to Charlotte for a quick week trip. We were so happy to have her with us! And not to mention, the extra help on the airplane. Let me tell you my new best friend, Rick's IPAD!! :) Lifesaver and definite occupier.
Here is where we went to the annual 4th of July BBQ at Gary & Lucy Phillips house. This year, the party was on Sat. July 2nd. Good times, good food, hot weather and fun! We didn't come out of the lake all day except to eat.

Then on Monday, July 4th, we had lake day out for ADULTS where we chillaxed and wake surfed all day (thank you for watching Will, Grandma Con Bon!). Then BBQ and fireworks at our house afterwards. We are sooo lucky that the fireworks for the city of Cornelius are blown off on the golf course directly across the street from our house. We never have to leave our yard and the show is phenomenal. It's right above your head that when the 35 minute show is over, your neck is sore. I keep saying that it would be better to lay on a blanket and watch, rather than a lawn chair. We were rained out this year for our BBQ so instead of 20 adults and 10 kids outside, we were all going crazy inside the house! Hilarious. Lots of loud music and dancing. Luckily the rain cleared up about an hour before the fireworks so we were good there.

My girls: Amanda, Tricia, Me, Lori

Happy July 4th!!

Will was a little sketchy on the fireworks. We kept him up past his bedtime. He couldn't decide if he liked them in the beginning. He kept saying, "Home. Home!" and pointing to our house. But he couldn't peel his eyes away from them. Then, he was okay and started calling out all the colors that he was seeing in the sky, "Red. Yellow. Blue. Purple." Very cute. When it was over, Kruz cried because he wanted more. Micayla fell asleep in the middle of the fireworks. I have no idea how that happened because it was as loud as it could be. And Will says, "Fireworks. All done?" He was happy.

Dancing away. Dressed in patriotic gear.

My Mommy and Me

Happy July 4th! Thanks for the shirt Grammy and Papa J

Right before the fireworks. Past our bedtime. :)

Micayla, Lori, Jody, Will

Minnesota trip -June 2011

2011-07-24T14:27:00.001-04:00

Okay, so I'm a little behind in blogging. My summer days have been filled with many boat trips, swimming, the pool and running after my little monster. Yes, literally running! He likes to run as fast as he can, including on cement, which makes me VERY nervous. All boy baby. All boy.

Will and I took a trip to Carlton, MN at the end of June. We planned it around our DeLuca Family Reunion, held at Chambers Grove Park in Fond Du Lac. Rick was unable to make this trip because of work constraints. We sure missed him!

DeLuca Family Reunion

At Chambers Grove Park

Grandma Con Bon!

Auntie Julie and Will having fun

It was so great to see Grandma Con Bon, Papa Dan and Auntie Julie, or "Auntie G" as Will calls her. We had so much fun playing, cooking, riding four wheelers, catching turtles, kicking balls, ice cream cones, playgrounds and just plain being together. :)

Goofball sisters!

We were supposed to originally camp in Hinckley our first three days but we were rained out so we canceled our trip. How can you keep a toddler at bay INSIDE a camper when it's raining the entire time? I don't think he'd be interested in playing board games all day HA! At least it finally cleared up for the entire weekend where we had fun in the sun and played with friends, family and pontoon boat rides. It was a nice break for me in the weather since it was close to 100 degrees in Charlotte. I welcomed the 70s and 80 degree weather.

It was nice to catch up with my BFF, Amy. We were even able to swing a blackjack trip to the casino. Whoop Whooop! Unfortunately, our luck ran out and we both lost in the end. It was fun to play for 2 hours straight though! :)

Amy, Jody & Julie before casino night

Adam, Amy, Jody, Will on a boat ride

We also got to spend quality time with Dad/Debbie who were in town to work on Patsy's house, Auntie Bev, Auntie Marlene, Tammi/Troy and family. We also saw my cousin Becky and family, even Dan/Darilyn were in town! What a nice treat to see everyone so unexpectedly.

The Crane Kids: Jaylah (2 weeks younger than Will), Will, Korah, Kaden, Jasper

Thomas Scandin, Tristan Scandin, Tammi Scandin, Will and Julie

Will even caught his first fish on the trip. Awww. A little sunny off the dock with the help of Papa Dan, of course.

Last but not least, we had the Male side family gathering at Mom/Dan's house. We had a great BBQ, four wheelin and family pictures. We had so much fun seeing everyone!

Dan/Connie and the grandkids, Austin, Brittany, Braedyn, Braxdyn and Will.
This picture is now blown up into a 16x22 canvas on my Mom/Dan's wall.

The whole Male side family

THANKS AGAIN MOM & DAN FOR EVERYTHING!! Love you.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T18:32:00.000-04:00

Father's Day gift

Father's Day gift to Daddy from Will

Grandma Con Bon made this one for Will!

Will and his friends having a pool party --June 12, 2011

2011-06-19T14:51:00.000-04:00

We had a "wee-little people" party at our house last weekend. Rick bought this Walmart $25 special pool for our party. He bought the pool so it was big enough that we could actually get in it with the kids, which we did. LOL. Will and his friends had a super fun time together!

Micayla, Will and Kruz in action

Snack time. Mmm. Mmm. Good. (No, that ISN'T their wine bottle, it's Mommys and her friends)

Who loves YO GABBA GABBA?! Umm, I do. I do!

And now for the pool video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X44eHfGJmVA

Like Father, Like Son?

2011-06-19T14:29:00.000-04:00

Will is napping right now and this is how he likes to sleep.............with the blanket wrapped around his head. For those of you who know Rick, he sleeps the same way!
Happy Father's Day to the BEST DADDY EVER, Ricky T. Love you babe.

06/19/2011

Will videos --May/June 2011

2011-06-05T21:26:00.000-04:00

June 4th, 2011http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5BJG70R2IA

May 23rd, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT9fMAXwa0I

May 16th, 2011 (Will's World)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_4cLaYSQTQ

School Pix

2011-06-05T21:21:00.000-04:00

Primrose School hires photographers for fall and spring to take photos of the children. So here are the two shots that we got for the spring shoot. These taken May 2011.

Papa Johnson visit -May 27 to May 31, 2011

2011-06-05T21:15:00.000-04:00

Oh my gosh! Will had so much fun with "Papa" Johnson. Here are some shots I took the first day. I was snapping away and got so many great pictures. Unfortuneately after these pictures, Will came down with a gastro bug which pretty much KO'd him for the next few days. Can you say laundry?? Holy smokes! We were still able to hit the lake and enjoy good quality fun together. Dad and I were dead even in cribbage for the days of his visit. I would win, then he would win. Yup. We're probably the best cribbage players in the family. HA! dig dig Julie/Branden/Jenna! :)

Look out Papa! I'm gonna get you.

Let me throw all three of these balls at you, Papa!

Will was laughing SO HARD that he gets hiccups

Memorial Day -05/30/2011

The Tureks visit

2011-06-05T21:04:00.000-04:00

Mom and Dad Turek come every May (around Mother's Day) and every November (during Thanksgiving and Rick's birthday). We enjoy having their company for 10 days.

This year, Rick was traveling to California on a business trip for a portion of The Tureks visit. I loved having the company so I am not alone while Rick was traveling. We were able to enjoy their 45th wedding anniversary together where we took Will to a white tablecloth restaurant. Call me brave! Will did a great job and had us chuckling left and right. He was a little ham and comic that night. Here is a photo of us before dinner:

Happy Anniversary!

When Rick came back, we had a family picture right before Mother's Day dinner where we went to Red Rocks in Birkdale Village and then for ice cream at Cold Stone. It was a great day!

Happy Mother's Day!

SMILING

2011-06-05T20:46:00.000-04:00

This is what you get when you say, "Will... SMILING"

Superhero Birthday Party

2011-06-01T18:07:00.000-04:00

Will went to a buddy's house for a superhero dress up birthday party. So I bought a Superman tshirt at Walmart for $5 and then borrowed a cape and mask from a friend. We had our costume! Will's girlfriend, Micayla was Supergirl. Awww.

"Will's World" Clubhouse

2011-06-01T17:23:00.000-04:00

Thank you to both Papas who helped build Will's World Clubhouse! First it started with Papa Dan and Rick who put all the big pieces together. Then, Papa Turek helped Rick fine tune and finish it off. Rick decided to tweak the original design a bit by adding a cement floor, adding boards to create a room underneath, making a bigger picnic table etc. I believe this will be a favorite past time of Will's as he grows up. He loves the slide especially and the surf board. :) We nicknamed it "Will's World" and are in the process of making a plaque for the front. Then at the picnic table, we are making "Wild Willy's Cafe" sign. We are slowly but surely decorating the clubhouse. Fun.

Our ANGEL baby

2011-06-01T16:34:00.000-04:00

This picture was taken of Will through the baby monitor on our TV screen. Rick says, "Look. It looks like Will has wings like an angel."

Will IS our angel from heaven above. :)

Sometimes, you need to stop and smell the roses

2011-06-01T16:30:00.000-04:00

Easter 2011

2011-05-01T21:57:00.000-04:00

Easter was so much fun!! Not only did I have my awesome family here, Will was excited to celebrate in the holiday with us. Here are some of our highlights:

Mom and Dan were here from Minnesota to celebrate. Yay Mom and Dan!
We taught Will how to Easter egg hunt in the yard before the "real" Easter egg hunt at church. He did incredibly well and was so cute carrying around his basket. I think he was more excited about finding a prize inside the actual egg than finding the eggs themselves. I stuffed them with a goldfish and some others had fruit snacks. He couldn't wait to rip them open. LOL
We took Will to the Easter Bunny in Birkdale Village the day before Easter for pictures. I really didn't know what to think, whether he was going to freak out like he did with Santa or not. When we walked up to the bunny, I acted like the bunny was so great. I was high fiving the bunny and that got Will in like flynn. That's all he wanted to do was high five the bunny now. Micayla on the other hand, was not a fan of the bunny. She freaked like I thought Will was going to freak. Great pictures though!
We went to Verizon Wireless for our church service which is always so great. We love Pastor White who can teach like no other. And we had the special treat of the band, Need To Breathe, play a mini concert after the service. Will and Micayla had a ball Easter egg hunting. Thanks to Jesus for his amazing sacrifice to us.
Easter dinner was hosted by Gary & Lucy Phillips. We drove to their house by boat. This is where we had a mac daddy meal (THANK YOU!) and then watched the kiddos play in the sand which then turned into soaking themselves in the lake. This included dumping buckets of water over each other. It was 87 degrees. Good times

Asheville, NC and Mom/Dan/Julie trip

2011-05-01T15:33:00.000-04:00

We had a splendid time with the family in April! Julie had a work trip located in Asheville, NC. My Mom went with my sister on the trip and then Dan flew here at the same time. So Papa Dan had some good quality time with his grandson, Will before we headed to the mountains in Asheville to pick up Grandma Con Bon and Auntie Julie to return to Charlotte for an extended vacation. Julie stayed a few days and then returned home to Duluth. Mom/Dan stayed until the Tuesday after Easter.

Here are pictures from our time together.

Papa Dan showing Will how to hit the ball. We spent alot of time outside, playing ball and playing bubbles. Will's two favorite things right now.

In the Black Mountains, ready to start our hike

Will really enjoys nature. He sat on this rock for a few minutes just staring off into space and listening to the trickle of the stream.

Will says "Hey come on! Why are you so slow?"

One of my favorite pictures. Will running to his Auntie Julie from down the hill. I love you Auntie Julie.

Papa Dan, Grandma Con Bon and Will enjoying the weather. We are now back home.

Auntie Julie's scarf was a big hit with Will!

Family pic but where's Rick?? He's taking the photo silly!

Thanks Mom & Dan for everything. Here they are in their matching shirts. :)

Dan bought a 2005 Chevy Suburban down here. Then, he drove it home --24 hours straight with no stopping for sleep. He's a crazy mad man! This was an unplanned purchase but couldn't pass up the deal.

Here is Will's new water table which he LOVES. You can buy this exact one at Walmart for $30. The Easter Bunny brought this. It started off really fun but now its turned into.. let me splash everywhere and dump buckets of water on my own head! LOL

Will's milestones --April 2011

2011-04-06T15:03:00.000-04:00

My baby is 19 months old. WHAT?!

Here are some fun things to talk about and take note. I print my blog in book form once a year for Will to keep later when he's grown. It's kind of taking place of his baby book.

So here are some things that he is doing now that make me laugh and/or smile.

When we drove to Charleston, Debbie brought down Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD for the ride down in case we needed some video action. Since he had watched a few episodes, he broke out of now where talking in Donald Duck voice. I will video tape it for you and upload to YouTube. It's frickin hilarious!

On my fridge, I have these plastic magnetic letters that spell out the name W-I-L-L. Everyday, we talk about the letters and what they spell. Two days ago, I was holding Will on my hip and getting his milk out of the fridge. He then spoke and said his name when looking at the letters! It didn't sound exactly like we would say Will but it sounded more like "Whoooal". Go Will!!

Lastly, he did a poop on the potty yesterday!!! I don't think I can count it because he was in the middle of a poop and I put him on the pot and some went in there. However, he has been telling me lately the word, "poop" and touching his bottom. We have slowly been talking about potty --he has some books, I have a child potty on the floor and also a child toilet seat that goes on top of the regular toilet with splash guard. Since he is showing signs of being interested, I have been talking about it more. He's only 19 months old so I feel like he's a bit young but we're going to take it slow. He doesn't understand the pee part but the poop part is working so far. Go Will!

Charleston, SC --Cooper Bridge Run

2011-04-06T14:53:00.000-04:00

Rick and I have been training pretty hard for the Cooper Bridge Run in Charleston. Every year, it is the first Saturday in April. It's a 10k race; 6.2 miles. The trick to this race is that around mile two, you run up the Cooper Bridge for one mile at a 4% incline. That is why this race is so challenging. I have been told that this is the 3rd largest 10k in America and in the top ten 10ks in the world. There are about 40,000 run/walkers total. You have the option to walk and I was one of those walkers for many, many years. I slowly converted to running and now I'm a die hard. Who would of thought?? Me, running? I can't believe I've been doing it for a year now. Once you get into it, you kind of get sucked in and addicted. The good news is that I am in the best shape ever and I feel awesome!

We rent out houses on the Isle of Palms, a little city on the beach about 20 miles from Charleston. We now have two houses, the "baby" house and the "party" house. :-)

Our entire house beat their goals for the race. Since this was my first time running the Cooper without walking, I didn't really know what to expect with the bridge and all. I was nervous! In the beginning, my heart was pounding like I was getting ready to play a big game. Or like I was about to race and beat all 40,000 people! ha.

We finished like this:

JODY --56:29 minutes, #240 out of 2,354 in my division (age 40-44); #2358 out of 20,523 females; #7423 overall.place.

RICK --55:39 minutes, #527 out of 1585 in his division (age 40-44); #4656 out of 14,238 men; #6657 overall place.

Grammy Debbie came down with us this year to help out with Will so both Rick and I could run the race. THANK YOU GRAMMY!! You have no idea, how helpful that was. It was so great. I don't think I'll travel for this year ever again without help. When we went last year, I stayed at the house while Rick ran and then met up with him at the finish line.

In our house, we had the Tureks (Rick/Jody/Will -19 mos), Grammy Debbie, the Vaughans (Johnny/Tricia/Kruz -19 mos), the Sundays (Kevin/Nicole/Arden -10 1/2 mos), the Bentons (Craig/Phebby/Van -8 mos). We all had so much fun!!!!!

The ball pit was a BIG HIT.

Will slept in the closet. Perfect!

At the "Market" in downtown Charleston

Bubbles are WAY FUN

Will and Kruz had a BIG OLE TIME

Phebby and Van

Arden Sunday

Johnny/Kruz, Rick/Will, Kevin/Arden

Saturday morning --race day. It's 7am. Like Rick and Johnny's throw away sweaters? Anything picked up on the ground from the race are given to homeless shelters. These were $5 clearance sweaters from Target!

Post race. We're all having fun! It's a beautiful day. Right now at 9:30am, it's 60 degrees.

The TUREKS

At the Windjammer, post race.

Grammy Debbie and Will reading books before bed. Like Grammy's spray tan? Glo Glam baby. Glo.

March 2011 pix

2011-03-26T07:29:00.000-04:00

Will loves to help Daddy in the yard

The hose is my favorite thing right now

Cashed out --hard

Will and the tubes

2011-03-26T07:23:00.000-04:00

People have told me how tubes change your life. Since Will had his tubes on Monday this week, I was paying close attention to him and his demeanor. I am happy to report that I can significantly see a difference already in just five days! The things that I noticed are this:

When we were outside, he was listening to the birds. The birds have always been there. But this time, he actually paid attention.
When I turned on the dishwasher (which I do every single night), he stopped and listened and made a "oooh, listen to that" face.
He's been in a really super happy mood

Coincidence? Maybe; maybe not.

He's not sleeping as much (about an hour less) but I think its because he's excited about his new ears! ;-)

I am so happy for William. I'm happy that he's not hearing like he's under water. That made me sad. We have our follow up appointment on Monday afternoon.

Here's to ear tubes! Yay ear tubes!

Will's tubes today

2011-03-21T12:57:00.000-04:00

Will's ear tubes went great today. He was such a trooper, especially since I had to wake him up at 5:35am, three hours ahead of normal schedule. He was a little angel in the doctors office, just hanging out without any fussiness at all. Rick was smart and brought the portable DVD player and we played him Vegetales, "God Made You Special."

The procedure was 5 minutes long once he was inside the surgery room. They hit him with a mixture of tylenol and versed right before he was taken back. It took about 10 minutes for the drugs to kick in. In surgery, they use a gas mask to knock him out for just s short time. He had infections in both ears so they sucked out the infections, including puss. He was a bit fussy when he first woke up but they said several times, that was to be expected. He ate a whole bowl of cheerios in the car on the ride home.

We arrived at the surgery center at 6:15am. They took him back into surgery at 7:28am. We were driving home by 8:15am. Gotta love how fast it all went.

He was sooo loopy when he got home today but the drugs finally wore off after a couple hours. At first, he couldn't even walk or stand, poor guy. Once he ate a big breakfast, he was a new person! Thanks to God for a good surgery. Now lil man is napping hard.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2011-03-17T21:54:00.000-04:00

We had fun playing and hanging with Amanda on St. Patty's Day. We ate dinner, we played with bubbles and even went over to Micayla's house for some wine. Here is how we sport our green on St. Patrick's Day.

Will is getting tubes on Monday

2011-03-17T21:43:00.000-04:00

We tried and tried to get over this winter cold and flu season. Will is on his 7th double ear infection (in his life --that's last winter and this winter). We went to the ENT for an appointment three weeks ago for an evaluation. The doc gave me a choice on trying one last low dose antibiotic for one month (1 tsp/2x per day) because we are SO CLOSE to Spring when all the viruses go away. We will recheck one month later.

Let me give you a little background on Will and taking medicine. He is the WORST at taking medicine. I usually have to disguise it with food, if I can even get it that far. If he sees me coming at him with a spoon of "something", he shakes his head and says, "No!" He will not open his lips. I had gotten to the point of forcing him down and shoving it in the back of his throat. He's gotten so good, that he knows how to block the medicine with his tongue from going down his throat and then he sprays it all over me, all over everywhere. Basically, on the last medicine, I gave up after 1 1/2 weeks and I was supposed to give it to him for a month. I just can't do it anymore. He's had medicine all of December, all of February and a little bit of March. I'M OVER MEDICINE and so is he. I ask all my other friend mothers how they get their kids to take medicine. EVERYBODY says, "Oh. My child takes medicine so great. Just sucks it down and loves it." Well, not so much for my son. There is only one medicine that he will take and likes.. it's grape flavored tylenol.

So we went in for our follow up appointment a week ahead of schedule because I was leary on whether he had another infection. After we got back from Michigan, a head cold flared up again and the snot just doesn't stop. All of the kids at school (daycare) are snotty too. I know that's where he gets it. Will is constantly carrying fluid on his ears, which means they aren't well. The doctor described it to me as he hears us like he's under water. That's so sad to me! We have to nip it now because if he has fluid like that for too long, it could affect his speach and/or hearing.

Based on that, Will is slated for tubes on early Monday morning, March 21st. We are the first appointment and have to be there at 6am. The procedure is 5 minutes. We will be driving home within an hour. He will take a long nap that day and then wake up like nothing ever happened. That's how they explained it to me. The tubes will last anywhere from 6 months to a year and will fall out on their own. Hopefully he can keep them in a year and we can cover next winter too! As Will grows, he should grow out of ear infections. Right now, the tube is horizontal and that's where the fluid sits and then bacteria grows. As he grows taller, the tube will become more vertical which will then drain properly on its own.

Going Back Home to Michigan -03/02/11 to 03/07/11

2011-03-16T21:32:00.000-04:00

Will and I road tripped (via airplane) to Michigan for Annika's 2nd birthday party. Boy, did we have a fun time! It's funny because basically, all we did was hang out and that's FUN in my book. I think I'm getting old. Oh my.

So here are some of our trip highlights. First of all, Annika (Will's 6 month older cousin) and Will had a blast together running around like crazy kids. They had us laughing out loud all weekend.

We did art projects like coloring. This is something that Will is REALLY into these days. If I could let him play with a box of crayons (I won't.. I'm afraid for my walls), he would be happy as a lark for hours.

We dressed Will up in Debbie's old Halloween costumes (poor thing!):

We had an AWESOME time, hanging with the family:

We even experienced snow................ and it was MARCH. You mean to tell me that I left 70s in Charlotte for snow??!! haha. No, it was fun and beautiful. You know why it was beautiful? It's because, I knew I could leave it!! ;-)

And little Ms. Annika turned two. Wow, the time seriously does whip on by. This is our family shot from the "purple" themed birthday party. Will especially enjoyed watching Annika open presents and then playing with all her toys. She was such a good sport; she didn't mind sharing at all. There was one point when Annika opened a purple tu-tu. Will grabs the tu-tu and tries to put it on. How does he know it's a skirt, I have NO IDEA??!! Branden as a joke, puts the tu-tu ON Will and then snaps an iphone picture. He texts it to Rick. Rick's whole reply was, "Get that dress off my son, or I'm going to punch you through the phone!" We got a good laugh about that. We won't tell Rick how much fun Will was having playing with Annika's tea set and dolls. hehe. Good thing they are having a boy in July because we need some BOY TOYS around!

I was also able to meet up with some of my old GFP (Godfather's Pizza) friends. It's nice that we are in contact with each other after all these years. We had sooo much fun meeting up at Shakespears in downtown Kazoo. There were alot of laughs, reminiscing and good ole fun. Thanks to Val and Pat who made the drive from Detroit to meet up with us. That was great.

L-R: Lisa & Mike Leeger, Mike Nower, Pat Callaghan, Me, Val, Kathy Colvin & Candace

Another memory from the trip is "naked hall running", as we named it. After Will and Annika's baths, we let them run (FAST) up and down the halls. They were so funny! Needless to say, after naked hall running they were definitely ready for bed.

Oh yah, I ate pizza four times when I was up there. Mmmmmmm. Mmmmm. Good. Thanks Dad and Deb! Love you guys. Thanks for everything.

Here is a recap video of our trip:
http://animoto.com/play/eeAQQ1RpH9Fc2AVwlT9VIA?utm_content=challenger#resolution

18 month photo shoot --March 4, 2011

2011-03-06T13:44:00.000-05:00

I have no idea where the times goes. I cannot believe my baby boy is a year and a half already. Will and I are up in Kalamazoo for a long weekend with my side of the family. Annika is Will's six month older cousin who just turned two. They play so incredibly well together. Annika is like a little mother to Will. She wants to take care of him. Like give him his sippy cup. Or give him his blanket. If he leaves the room, she calls his name... "Wheel. Wheel" is what it sounds like. So cute!!

We decided to take them to Portrait Innovations for a photo shoot. Our goal was to get a great shot of them together, but that didn't happen. Trying to get two toddlers to sit and smile at the same time is difficult! However, we did get some great individual shots. Here are some of our poses.

This is Will's fake smile. You tell him "smiling" and this is what he does! What a ham.

Little Ricky.

Will and all his girlfriends--Feb 2011

2011-02-28T21:31:00.000-05:00

Will has already has girlfriends everywhere! My entire neighborhood is comprised of little girls ages 10 months to 4 years. Trust me, Will is going to have his pick of the crop around these parts. LOL! Let's hope not. Keith (Micayla's Dad) is already talking about what he is going to do to Will if he messes with Micayla in the future. HAHAHAHA

Here is Will and one of his girlfriends, Morgane Parkinson. We have a playdate with Morgane every couple of months. She was born in Jan 2010 so they are 4 months apart.

As of late, I am getting alot of comments about how much Will is looking like Rick. I think it's when he's in serious mode. Ever since Will has been born, we've gotten the comments about, "he looks like his Daddy", or "little Ricky." But not as much as we have gotten lately. I probably hear it a couple times a week. I really don't mind. I'm happy because Rick is so good lookin! ;-) hehe

Here is the shot where I tell Will, "SMILING" and he gives me this fake, cheesy smile. LOL

Gaston Heart Ball -Feb. 5. 2011

2011-02-06T16:01:00.000-05:00

We went to one of our three heart balls last night. The other two are the end of February. Will kept jumping in the picture when we were taking it from the tripod. He's so used to pictures (why do you think?? haha) that he wanted to be in the picture.

Will at Primrose School --Feb. 3rd, 2011

2011-02-06T13:48:00.000-05:00

Will loves his friends and school. He enjoys learning, the songs and especially dancing! They have made comments to me about how low he bounces when he dances. It's actually quite funny. Will is definitely a character and is developing his little personality. Now, he lets you know about it when he doesn't get his way. My Mom (Grandma Con Bon) calls it "strong-willed just like his mother!" Nice. It was NFL day at school if you are wondering why he has a Brett Favre jersey on. Pictured here is Will, Molly Rose, Micayla and Nolan. Peyton is in the background at the table. There are 10 kids in his class each day with two teachers. The other children are spread around the room and not pictured here.

Here a some new videos that I uploaded from the same time at school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI2YY_kjosw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xik-NdpTdFk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-v-Xhgi-o0

Will and Micayla sittin in a tree...............

2011-01-14T16:01:00.000-05:00

Christmas 2010

2011-01-07T15:15:00.000-05:00

It was off to Minnesota for Christmas this year. Ho Ho Ho! Will did VERY well on the flights. We had to connect on the way up to Duluth through Detroit and then on the way back through Minneapolis. Both ways, he fell asleep on one of the legs. To keep him occupied, we were armed with LOTS of books, "Your Baby Can Read" video, treats and snacks. I bought a couple new books but the one that did the trick and he could read over and over and over was "Pat the Cat." He could've taken the money out of the machine and put it in Daddy's wallet about 100 times. Rick said to me, "I"ll do this money thing with him all day if that what it takes." And the trick worked. Will wants to read that book all the time right now. He loves books!

On the plane --watching a video.

So while we were up in Minnesota, we were able to spend lots of time with the family. We stayed at my Mom and Dan's house up on the lake where we had fun playing in the snow, sliding, snowmobiling, walking and hanging out. Will's biggest thrill of the five days was my Mom's dancing & singing Santas. All you had to do was show him one time where the button was to turn them on. And that was it. He could've played with those Santas over and over and over. He would line up three or four in a row on the chair, push the buttons all at once and then dance to the music. The first thing he wanted to do when he woke up was play with the Santas. It was very cute.

It was off to Bentleyville on Thursday night to look at the Christmas lights in the bayfront of downtown Duluth. Julie told me that they had 180,000 visitors this year! Wow. It was very beautiful.

Julie stayed with us up at my Mom's house so it was like old times. It was so good to see my little sister! I made her dress up in knee high Santa stockings with a Santa shirt and shorts on Christmas Eve. I'm not sure she was too happy with me. haha Julie! Will sure loves his Auntie too. She could get him belly laughing all the time. So could Papa Dan. Will shakes his head back and forth now (like he's saying no real fast) because that's what Papa Dan would do and he would LAUGH so hard.

Christmas Eve dress up :-)

We were lucky that Will loved the snow and cold. I had all the gear for him --boots, snow jacket, ski pants, wool socks, hat and mittens. He actually looked a little like "Ralphie" when he was all dressed up. It took him a little bit to get used to all the clothes. But once he did, he was off!

My "Willy"

Do you think he liked the snow??

Turek Family

My favorite pic ever!

Out for a walk

Let's go out and play!

He had fun on the snowmobile

Thanks Mom & Dan for everything!!

Sisters having fun in the snow

Rick and Dan off to the Buffalo House

It's a winter wonderland!

My Mom & Dan went all out decorating her house for us this year. Will thoroughly enjoyed the decorations and lights. Thank you for doing that!

We had Christmas Eve day with the Male family up at my Mom's house. Will had so much fun playing with his cousin, Braxdyn (he is one month older), Braedyn, Austin and Brittany. There were so many toys! It was great to see everybody.

Male family Christmas

The "female" side of the Males. ;-)

Cousins Braxdyn and Will

Then Christmas morning was at my Mom's with Rick, Will, Grandma Con Bon, Papa Dan and Auntie Julie. We had fun staying in our jammers all day until we had to get ready for the Johnson house. We stopped by Amber & Justins for another hour playdate over there. Then it was to Auntie Bevi Lou's house where she and Auntie Marlene made a mack daddy spread of Christmas dinner. Will sat in the high chair that I sat in as a baby. Awww. We sang the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas at dinner. Funny!

Christmas morning having fun in our jammers!

The Johnson Family:
Cousin Tasha, Jody, Will, Cousin Sadie
Auntie Julie, Auntie Bev, Auntie Marlene

On Sunday, we chilled at the lake and played outside again. Rick and Dan went snowmobiling each day we were there, including a trip to the Buffalo House for wings and beer. Bev, Marlene, Tasha and Sadie came up for dinner and socializing on Sunday night. It was so good to see all of them again.

Love to everybody who made our trip so special! Thank you. We miss you so much.

LOTS of new Will videos -December 2010

2011-01-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

Will and the flute (12/05/10):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKrskzgiLag

Will playing ball and the Christmas tree (12/06/10):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm05hJ7AdgU

Will's first sled ride (12/24/10):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAhjgH3TyKw

Will's first snowmobile ride (12/24/10):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5A7FzPh4K8

Will walking in the snow for the first time 12/26/10:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meKGccWLnJw

Will and the ELMO slippers (12/30/10):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT25mCrp2mY

Silly Will.......... or is it Silly Mommy?!

2011-01-07T13:32:00.000-05:00

When I change Will's diaper these days, it has become a difficult task. He will not sit still so I have "props" near the changing station to help me in my task. These props can be anything from books to stuffed animals, to blocks to sunglasses etc. Whatever works for him to stop wiggling or trying to crawl right off the bed! Here is a sample of one of my props.

12/12/2010

Santa Claus

2010-12-02T07:58:00.000-05:00

So Will has LOVED Santa Claus --well, at least last year. Last years photo shoot went so well, that the real-bearded Santa asked if he could use my picture on his website. And that picture is still there. Check it out: ww.santachuck.com. Also, that picture was so good, we used it on our Christmas card last year. For those who can't remember, here is a look back:

Christmas 2009

That experience is not what happened this year! I have been prepping Will with Santa things for the past couple of weeks. I bought him a Christmas book. I point out Santa in all the stores. I "Ho Ho Ho" to him. I think to myself that I'm doing a great job. haha.

So when my brother Branden, Rachel and Annika came to visit. We knew we would like to get them a photo with Santa together. When we walked into the room where Santa was sitting on his chair. I could feel Will gripping my arm so frickin hard. I thought, "Oh no. This isn't going to be good." I hadn't even sat him on his lap and he was acting like, "Do NOT let me down Mom!" So Branden handed Santa Annika. And I handed Santa Will for his other leg. This is the best shot that we got:

Christmas 2010

They were in full terror mode. We took about six shots this way and then we caved. I asked the lady taking the photos if we could try to jump into the photo to see if it would be better. And it was but not your best Santa photo, that's for sure!

I have already submitted the Santa photo to Ellen so we'll have to wait and see on that one. Overall, it was a great experience and we know that these photos will be keepsakes for the future! I can already see Will's graduation board from high school. HA!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-02T07:33:00.000-05:00

Annika and Will LOVED the red wagon.

What a wonderful Thanksgiving that we had! We were able to enjoy the company of Rick's parents who winter in FL each year. From Detroit to Stuart, FL we are almost exactly to the mile, halfway. That's nice because his parents can break up the long drive and stay with us for 10 days. Then, they do it on the way back in May each year. Will had a blast with his grandparents. He especially enjoyed Grandpa Turek reading books to him.

We also had a great time with my brother Branden, sister-in-law Rachel and niece Annika. Will had so much fun with his cousin who is six months older. They played until they were wore out. Luckily, they were on the same schedules for sleeping. Down around 8pm. Up around 8am and napping around Noon. It couldn't have worked more perfectly.

We did so many fun things in a short period of time. We hung out and played. We had photo shoots. We ran a Turkey Trot race 5k on Thanksgiving morning. We ate a big fat haas meal, cooked by yours truly. We played cribbage. We played games. We went to the park. We visited Santa Claus (a whole seperate story on that one!). We went for walks in the wagon. We watched MI lose to Ohio State AGAIN. We celebrated Rick's 40th. Basically, we thoroughly enjoyed being with each other. I am thankful for my awesome family. Sometimes we are just born awesome!

Okay, now on to the great pix. I will post more on FB. I hope you enjoy as much as we did.

Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for my husband, my son, my family and all my friends. Love you all!

~Jody

Photo Shoot. Awww.

GQ stylin'

Photo Shoot

Touchdown!

They loved to sit in the chair together. Will would get up and Annika would pat the chair on the seat like, "Hey. Come back."

Thanksgiving morning turkey trot 5K

My beautiful 13.15 lb turkey

Thanksgiving buffet. Mmmm.

Slice away turkey man!

Can I see your belly?

They loved to look at the Christmas lights on this tree at my neighbors house.

We like to play on this box.

At the park

Park. I love to slide!

Park --another person who loved to slide!

Snack time on the floor so we can cook dinner. Ha!

Bathtime!

MI/Ohio State party

Happy 40th old man!

Walking

2010-12-01T22:07:00.000-05:00

Well folks, he's off. Walking everywhere. Now he is trying to master running... So are a little wobbly again. Rick calls him Frankenstein. I call him a mummy. Because when he first started walking around 14 1/2 mos, he walks with his hands straight out. It's funny to watch him walk. I think its cute. I knew once he started, it would only take him a couple weeks to master the skill like he's done it his whole life!

11/15/2010

Will loves the fall leaves

2010-12-01T22:01:00.000-05:00

If I would let him, Will would be outside all day and all night. He cries when we take him back in the house. He wants to play, play, play ....outside. Here is a shot of him on November 14th. Rick was throwing leaves at him and he thought it was the funniest thing. Hence, this shot here.

11/14/10

Will --walking

2010-11-14T13:11:00.000-05:00

He's finally starting to take off! He's 14 1/2 months and taking his sweet ole time. LOL. He was a late crawler (10 1/2 mos) so I read he was going to most likely be a late walker. I wonder if it has anything to do with him HATING tummy time when he was a baby. I also read that little tummy time makes crawling start later. Hmmm.

Anyway, here is a video of Willy Dilly walking yesterday (nov 13). If I stand him up, tell him to walk to me, he will do it. But the other times, he will continue crawling.

I am waiting for him to stand up and walk on his own without me saying anything. That happened today in the garage. It's so cute! But he's so wobbly too. I'm nervous about him face planting. UUggh. Maybe I don't want him walking? j/k.

Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lazF7xISP0

Will had plastic surgery

2010-11-14T13:02:00.000-05:00

Well. It happened. The thing you fear all your life about your child --them getting hurt. Here is what happened.

We had two club seats to the Panthers game on Sunday, Nov. 7th which we bid on in a silent auction at the Iredell Heart Ball this past February. We had the choice to pick any game that we desired in the 2010-11 season. We choose the Panthers/Saints because it was the only game that worked with our schedule.

I hired a first time babysitter, a girl from my neighborhood who I wanted to use but wanted Will to be a little older since she was sixteen. It's funny to think that sixteen is young to babysit when I was babysitting for neighbors when I was age twelve for one dollar an hour! The babysitter has plenty of experience because her older sister has two small children, one being a couple months older than Will. She babysits for her sister all the time.

We were at the tailgate about 15 mins when I got the call. Will had fallen and hit his ear on the corner of the sub-woofer speaker we had upstairs and it ripped his ear. Luckily, the babysitter's Mom is only a block away who rushed her to help with the situation while we drove home. We decided to look at his ear first before evaluating whether he needed stitches because Rick works in surgeries with stitches everyday. With one look, we knew he needed to go in. His ear was torn all the way through about 1/4 inch and then cut only on one side another 1/4 to 1/2 inch. Will only cried for 3 minutes.

After arriving at Huntersville Presbyterian, we were taken back and evaluated rather quickly. We choose this smaller hospital on purpose as long as they had a plastic surgeon on call (and they did). The plastic surgeon came in and said we needed to do surgery. Will had to go under anesthesia but he had eaten lunch approximately a half hour before this incident so now we needed to wait 8 hours for his stomach to be empty of food and liquid.

The hardest part of this was... the incident happened at nap time so he missed his nap. Now, he can't eat or drink for the rest of the day. AND the surgery was scheduled AFTER his normal bedtime, not including the "fall back" time change that just happened the night before. He was a little stir crazy at surgery time, 8pm.

We were released to go home for four hours while we waited. That was nice! Then we could pre-occupy Will with toys and going for a walk etc. I packed a bag thinking we were going to have to stay overnight.

The surgery took a half hour. They put in one internal stitch for torn cartilage and eight outside stitches. The surgeon was amazing. All the folks at the hospital and the surgical team were unbelievably nice, informative and wonderful. We had a great experience.

At 8:40, we were back in the recovery with Will where he downed three- 4 oz bottles of pedialyte and then we switched to water. He was SOOO thirsty. The poor thing.

And then believe it or not but we were driving home at 9:15pm!! I was like, WHAT?! Will fell asleep in the car on the way home and then went straight to bed. He slept all night and then ate like a horse the next morning by eating 10 mini pancakes, half of banana and 1/4 steamed apple cubes.

On a side note, I do not blame ANY of this on the babysitter. This could have happened to me, Rick or anybody. It was one of those freak incidents that happened and he hit his ear just right to tear it like that. I made the babysitter feel good about not blaming herself. I know what she must have been feeling like because I put myself in her situation.

I hope this is not one of our many trips to the ER!

And his ear looks amazing. The stitches were dis solvable and I can see as of today, they are gone. The scab fell off yesterday. We have a follow up on Monday morning.

Here is a picture of his ear, post surgery the next day.

Riding the pony

2010-11-13T14:00:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, November 6th, Jetton Village had a fall festival which included a petting zoo, pony rides, face painting, coloring contest etc. Obviously, Will is a little too young for some of those things but the farm animals and pony ride were a BIG hit! He enjoyed looking at the animals we have been studying in some of our books. He had the biggest grin on his face when he rode the pony. It's so much fun to live through these experiences through our little ones. I am wondering if he liked as much as me! ;-)

Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4chz153oBY

nov 6, 2010

Happy Halloween!!!

2010-10-31T21:36:00.000-04:00

Gorillas! Oooh Oooh Oooh

Mommy and Will

Will and his BFF, Micayla

Turek Family @ the neighborhood Halloween party
Oct 31st @ 5pm

Slash and 80s Jazzercise Instructor
Partyin on Oct 30th.

Group photo --pre-party @ Tureks house (Oct 30th)

Work it. Work it. Work it.

Check out Will's latest video from October 20, 2010

2010-10-22T16:01:00.001-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsaVR-A5Igo

Trunk or Treat --Oct 16, 2010

2010-10-22T15:59:00.000-04:00

I didn't know what a Trunk or Treat was until this year. What you do is, decorate your car trunk and then the kids Trick or Treat via trunk all lined up in the parking lot. Alot of churches to this. And now Will's school is doing it next week. You can decorate your trunk whichever way you desire. I went into my attic and grabbed anything that I thought would look good from my Halloween boxes. Some of these things I totally forgot about because they haven't come out of the bins since college! So there is no rhyme or reason to my trunk decorating in these pictures. I was just throwing up things. I was very happy with the way it turned out. When I looked around at all the trunks, I said to myself, "Wow, I could win this thing!" But I didn't win. A graveyard theme won. I didn't get a chance to go check it out for a picture.

Will loved the trunk or treat. He was in awe when looking at all the kids in their costumes. I am a member of www.lknmommies.com and this was their 4th annual trunk or treat. They served up pizzas, soft drinks, water and dessert. The DJ was very good, he played great music and had all the kids interacting together. I would guess there was about 75 vehicles involved and about 300 people. I was told to estimate about 200 kids "trunk or treating" and that's about what had.

So after the decorating, they served food. Then it was off to costume contests and trunk contest announcement. They broke it down into each age group. Will's group was age 13 months to 23 months. There were about 15-20 kids in his group contest. The judges narrowed it down to top three (which we made --Yay Will!) and then it was by audience applause who won. We didn't win this year but I did snap a photo of the Harley Davidson biker kids who did win. He was really cute. Here are the shots from our first Trunk or Treat.

Our trunk

Turek Family

When Will saw the little girls hula-hooping, he was trying SO HARD to get this hoop to go around his waist like they did.

In the contest --Gorilla Will and black cat Mommy

This is the Harley Davidson kid who won

Love you Willy D!

Stand by for more Halloween pictures next weekend! Rick and I are going to an adult Halloween party on Saturday night (bet you can't wait to see our costumes....) and then we have a party for Will in the neighborhood on actual Halloween. My sister Jenna is coming down to help me with the babysitting. Can't wait!

Mom & Dan visit --October 2010

2010-10-22T15:21:00.000-04:00

Well, it happened. Rick and Jody took an all adult, all fun vacation to the Bahamas from October 7-11. We went to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island to celebrate birthdays (yup--Rick and me are both turning that BIG number in November) and anniversaries with our neighbors and great friends. Yes, we missed Will so much but once you get there, you realize, "Oh this is what my life was like before kids?" ha. We had some great fun with our friends. And the resort was exceptionally special to us. Rick and I were upgraded to a suite (thanks to my Bahamas travel coordinator, Carmel) and each night, we were given something special. Like a bottle of wine and then we received homemade birthday cake.

On that note, my Mom (Grandma Con Bon) and Dan (Papa Dan) came to Charlotte to watch Will for us while we galavanted around the islands.

They had so much fun with their grandson. Here are some highlights of their trip.

Happy Baby = Happy Grandparents

Mmmmm. Ice Cream. Strawberry.

Do you think I liked it?

First BIG BOY haircut! Not much --just trimmed over ears, gave some layers and cut off "rat tail" as Rick calls it!

We distracted him with Sesame Street songs. :-)

See, not alot of hair. Just a little. I put in envelope for his baby book.

Pretty boy!

In Freeport, Grand Bahama Island on the "Bahama Mama" booze cruise

Pumpkin Patch --October 2, 2010

2010-10-22T14:50:00.000-04:00

We took Will to Carrigan Farms in Mooresville for a hayride and pumpkin picking. He loved looking a the tractor that was pulling our hayride. We also got to see some farm animals like all the ones that Will has been learning over the past year. (horse, cow, pig, dog, cat etc). Everytime Will sees a dog now, he says, "Woof, Woof."

Will is SO into pumpkins now that he wants me to walk him by all the houses which have pumpkins on their porch. He points and tells me which direction to go. One home in our neighborhood has their yard decorated with pumpkins, lights, skeletons and ghosts. If I don't go there, Will fusses. When I leave, he cries. Hilarious!

Here are some shots of us at the pumpkin patch.

Pretty orange pumpkins

I want this one!

Our neighbors and GREAT friends (Younce, Phillips & Tureks)

Will's neighborhood girlfriend, Micayla Phillips

Out in the patch. Here are the pumpkins we picked out.

Love this one. He's so adorable.

Playdate --Will, Kruz & Ethan

2010-10-22T14:37:00.000-04:00

Will had a playdate with his buddies at Ethan's house on 09/25/10. The girls (Mommies) and boys (kids) got together for dinner, drinks and fajitas. The boys ran around (or crawled in Will's case) and played and played. At this age, they "parallel" play which means they play in the same room but doing opposite things, not together. It's cute.

Will (age 12 mos), Kruz (age 13 mos), Ethan (age 14 mos)

Time to eat! Yum. How funny that all three of them have their hands in their mouth?

Listen to johnsontureks Playlist

2010-10-03T14:26:00.001-04:00

Check out Will's Birthday Video that I made on Animoto!

2010-09-22T14:11:00.001-04:00

http://animoto.com/play/ndGJwf6DyaIHQiI2tOg2Hg

New bike seat!

2010-09-20T10:03:00.000-04:00

09/19/2010

We are excited to take Will out this fall and go bike riding. The only thing missing is a helmet which is on order; We should get it this week. Last night was the test in the driveway only. Will loved it!

09/19/2010

LAKE NORMAN TIME

2010-09-17T16:49:00.000-04:00

Slick Willy decked out in shades

How cool is this reflection shot?

Havin fun in 90+ degrees!

Partyin LKN style

It's a FAMILY affair

2010-09-17T16:40:00.000-04:00

We had so much fun having the family in town for Will's birthday. We miss our families so much and wish EVERYBODY lived in North Carolina.

Is Will a vampire?

2010-09-17T15:48:00.000-04:00

How many kids do you know that have the fang teeth come in first?? Will is one of them. Here he is with his fangers all hanging out!

Will's 12 month well visit --September 7, 2010

2010-09-17T15:42:00.000-04:00

All is well with Willy Dilly and his one year check up. He had three shots, two in one leg and one in another leg. Poor guy --I hate when he has shots. After the needles are over, he's good. I was armed with some Mum-Mums as a prize.

His stats are as follows:

Weight (50th%)--22 lbs 7 oz.
Height (75th%) --30 1/2 inches long
Head (70th%) --47 cm

Will has figured out something new (again)....

2010-09-17T15:37:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsuj7Dn5mJM

Time to keep the bathroom door shut! If I don't, he bee-lines for the water faucet. He thinks he's so hot too.

William turns ONE!

2010-09-17T15:28:00.000-04:00

Holy cow! I cannot believe my baby just turned one year old. As sooo many people told me, the time flies. And it sure did! I can barely remember him being an infant, new home from the hospital. Wow. Everyday brings something new from Will. He's totally a character already and is already starting to show that temper he must have gotten from Mommy. According to Grandma Con Bon (my Mom), I pitched temper tantrums quite frequently. Will is showing his independence and letting me know when I don't let him have his way --like climb the stairs whenever he feels like it. Gates are our new best friend!

The birthday party was a smashing success. I put alot of time in coordinating a SUPER FAB first birthday. You know what they say, the 1st birthday is a party for the parents! We had the party on his actual birthday, September 4th from 5pm-7pm. It was a monkey theme. He was born at 7:48am. My sister Julie and I sang to him that morning at the minute he was born while he was eating breakfast. He thought that was fun. Here is Will at that moment:

My family flew in from MN and MI --my two sisters, Julie & Jenna, my stepMom, Debbie and Dad, Dick. Lucky for us, the weather couldn't have been better. The temp dropped from our normal 95-98 degrees (every day this summer --unbearable), to a less humid and comfortable 85, beautiful degrees. I rented a big tent with tables and chairs to help block some of that afternoon sun. We only had to deal with the sun for an hour before it was behind the trees. Most of the party was outside so I was glad when we got a break in those temperatures. We had beer, wine, sweet tea, pink lemonade, juice boxes and water on special. They were FREE only on Sat. Sept 4th. haha. We served Mac's BBQ (pulled pork with various sauces, mac-n-cheese, green bean casserole, hush puppies), vegetarian calico beans, fruit tray, veggie tray and chicken nuggets. Then we had the Monkey cake, monkey cupcakes (which we made on Friday, the day before the party), #1 sugar cookies with icing, peanuts, bananas.

The big hit was Curious George (full costume mascot). He came from 6:15pm to 7:00pm to play with the kids and run around the yard. Let me tell you, they had a frickin blast! That was a last minute decision to hire Curious George and I'm so glad that I did. Will really enjoyed it too. He kept doing the "monkey face" by puckering his lips and saying, "oooh oooh oooh." I got some great pictures.

I made everybody wear a monkey mask for one group photo:

Then it was birthday cake time. Julie and Debbie helped me make the cake and cupcakes. People at the party thought they were professionally done. :-) That made us feel GREAT!

Will did not make a mess at all. He ate his cake so sweet, nice and dainty like. He pinched off little bites of his personal cupcake and ate them. He barely got frosting on his face. So cute!! Then before ya know it, the party was over. It was a fast 3 hours! I wanted to do it all over again.

This is Will AFTER he ate his cake. Not too messy huh?

For more pictures of the party, hit my Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73297&id=1040356806&l=f30338c271

Portrait Innovations shoot ~ September 3, 2010

2010-09-17T14:52:00.000-04:00

A day before Will's big birthday bash, we took him to Portrait Innovations for his 12 month photo shoot. I had the help of Grammy Johnson and Auntie Julie who were in town for the party. I did ALOT better this time because I did not walk out with $100 in pictures! They are such salesmen in there eh. So here are the four shots that we liked best. Will was a great model that day. :-)

Main shot. This is the picture where I got the $9.95 package

You can't really tell, but he has one of those jeans diapers on.

Love the sock monkey. I brought this from home.

Only got this in 8x10 which is up in my house. I liked the #1 block.

William is almost ONE

2010-08-29T21:58:00.000-04:00

I am almost tearing up right now when I tell you that I am planning my baby boy's first birthday party. I simply do not know where the time went this past year. It seriously whipped by sooo fast. I am extremely happy to have this blog because its a great way for me to document all the exciting things that have happened or are happening in Will's life. And the nice thing is there are websites that will allow me to print this blog in a hard cover book like all my picture books. That makes me smile. Actually, Will makes me smile every single day. And every single day, I thank God for our miracle blessing. He is the most special little boy ever. Like Rick said the very day we left the hospital for home last year. We weren't even two blocks from the hospital parking lot when he said, "This kid just hit the jackpot to have us as parents." Rick is so right. ;-)

We love you William. So much.

XO
MAMA

Grandma Con Bon visit -Aug 2010

2010-08-26T17:23:00.000-04:00

Grandma Con Bon made her way down to spend time with Willy Dilly. Rick had to take three different business travel trips in one week: Witchita, KS, Boston, MA and then Harrisburg, PA. So because he was gone, I had my Mom join me in the Carolina heat, which she loved............ HAHAHAHA MOM. We all know why she LOVES Minnesota. And it's not for the heat!

So we had fun reading books, playing with toys, meal time, boating, spending time with friends, shopping and just being together. We appreciate Grandma Con Bon for all that she did while visiting. That even included a five hour babysitting session so Rick/Jody could go on a wakeboarding adventure with their friends! YEEE HAW.

Here are some shots from our fun:

Havin fun with Grandma.

Will loves this monkey mask!

Of course, Grandma gave Will a sucker! Every single time...

Bath time

Like my WMU gear? Head to toe baby!

Party on

More fun times with Grandma Con Bon

I'm on a boat!

Beautiful sunset.

Wakeboarding Dada

Wakeboarding mama

Will & the MONKEY MASK. He loves this thing!

2010-08-26T16:44:00.000-04:00

Check out Will's latest video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M5XO2hjK8M

Red Wagon

2010-08-11T17:04:00.000-04:00

Will LOVES LOVES LOVES his red wagon from Auntie Melissa, Uncle Scott and Cousins Ethan and Ava. Every time that I put him in the wagon, he has a BIG smile on his face as in the first photo. Thank you Pinar Family!! We love you and we miss you so much. XO

08/10/2010

Let's go for a ride!

ELEVEN MONTHS

2010-08-06T12:39:00.000-04:00

I'm starting to plan Will's 1st birthday party! It will be on his actual birthday --Sept 4th. A monkey theme.

Here is our 11 month photo shoot. I really need an assistant because it's super difficult to photograph a fast moving object! Here's the best I could do by myself. Plus, he's after the blocks -- I have to come up creative ways to keep them out of view.

All of these taken on his 11 month birthday, August 4th 2010.

08/04/2010 --that apple toy was mine as a baby. Thanks for saving it Mom! Will loves it.

08/04/2010

He saw the blocks... 08/04/2010

INTO EVERYTHING!!

2010-08-06T12:08:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I admit it; I wanted Will to crawl so bad. It's one of those major milestones and I wanted to record it in his book. Well, Mr. Will took after his Mommy in the crawling category but he beat me by 2 weeks. I didn't crawl until 11 months. Will started crawling two weeks ago when he was 10 1/2 months. And can I tell you that it's gone from 0 to 100 in a matter of 14 days.

He's now breaking things. And to top it off, he crawls like a mad man making noises when he's going fast like, "uh uh uh uh" until he arrives at his destination. The destinations are things like.. toilet paper holder (which he broke; its stand alone), getting inside the shower, trashing the tupperware cupboard, plants, fireplace. Yeah~ all those things that you don't want him in.

But I can tell you this.. he's so cute doing it! I get a chuckle when I watch him go. He cracks me up every single day. You sure can't keep your eyes off of him.

Just this week, when I dropped him off at school, Micayla was after him (like she wants to crawl on his back). Will stops, looks at her and then they both lean forward and give each other a kiss on the mouth. It was so frickin cute! And I got a good laugh out of it.

Also at school, Will is getting an "Incident Report" every other day. This is when something happens and he hurts himself. Last weeks report was because he was trying to stand in his crib and fell down and hit his head. This week, I got a report because he fell out of the circle mat and hit his head. Yesterday, another child bit his finger. All these incidents result in "boo boo ice" and extra love. Now, I drop him off and tell him, "Okay Will. No incident reports today." I made a joke today when I dropped him off to see if the staff just wanted me to sign some blank Incident Forms upfront.

So here are some shots of him getting INTO EVERYTHING:

In the shower --07/28/2010

In the tupperware cupboard --08/03/2010

After the blanket --08/04/2010

And there he goes.... 08/04/2010

Let me see if I can put all my toys in this tub --08/04/2010

New high chair

2010-08-06T10:44:00.000-04:00

We broke down and bought a stand up high chair... isn't he cute?

07/28/2010