The Corner

This corner in our kitchen has been occupied quite a lot these days...

I am not sure what the deal is, but Will has definitely been pushing his boundaries. I know that it comes with being two and finding independence.  Thankfully, 99% of the time, time-out works for us.  Will is very good about standing in the corner for his allotted time.  When he gets finished with his time-out, we go over why he was in time out and then hugs and kisses.  It's pretty much the Supernanny method.  I have watched that show a thousand times and always figured that it didn't work, but it actually works for Will.

After a long night of whining, crying, and time-out, I went to get Will ready for bed.  I was trying to have  a little conversation with him about how he needs to mind mommy and daddy. I wasn't getting on to him, just talking. Well I guess he thought he was still kind of in trouble from earlier in the night, so he wanted to change the subject.  In the middle of me talking, he started singing "Jesus loves me".  IT WAS SO SWEET!!!  He totally got me.  He is my little con artist. He knew exactly what to do to get out of the little lecture I was giving him. 

Nights like last night really wear me out, but i hope that Will is learning a little bit of discipline. We can definitely tell that he understands that if he does something wrong that he will be punished.  Our prayer that in all of this that we will raise a well-behaved and thoughtful child!

The Weekend!

We really didn't do to much this weekend. The next couple of weekends will be busy and then we are heading to the beach soon.

Friday night, we hung out at the house.  John came over and ate with us.  He is living back at my parent's house for now, so we see him much more.

Saturday, Clay got up with Will and let me sleep in.  Love my husband!!  I haven't been sleeping well the last couple of weeks so two extra hours of sleep on a Saturday is amazing.  Clay went up to the church to help out with a renovation project and was there until about 4.  I was supposed to take Will to a birthday party for one of his friends from church, but he wasn't in the best of moods. The party was at a indoor play facility and I just didn't think I could handle it by myself.  Plus with him being in a bad mood, I didn't want to drive all the way there to have him be clingy the entire time.  Instead, we went by the church to see the construction and to watch daddy work.  While we were there, Will told me "I go Dollar Neneral and get a blue prize!"  He was very matter of fact about it. I am still not sure what he did to deserve a prize.  We did end up going to Dollar Tree to pick up some things for Easter before they sold out.  He was really good while we were in there so I told him he could pick a prize.  He picked a Sprite Zero. Since we were out, we headed over to Mom and Dad's house to see them.  Will was wide open!!  He did all his tricks for Pop.  Soon, we left there, picked up some lunch and headed home to eat.

Mom called me a bit later and wanted to go shopping to get a wedding gift, so she picked us up.  Will was playing with a headband in the back seat. He got really quite so I turned around and he was asleep with the headband on his face. He cracks me up!

Saturday night, we went over to Jordan and Kristen's house.  Jordan cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for us and they were delicious.  We had fun just hanging out with our friends and playing in the back yard!

As usual, Sunday we got up and headed to church.  Service was amazing!!!  We are so blessed at our church.  Just in the last few months, I feel like I have learned so much and been challenged in my faith.  Clay and I can really see the effects that God is having on our lives and it is so wonderful.  It also warms my heart that Will is excited to go to church and asks to go almost every day!

Sunday morning after his bath. He was waiting for me and Clay to finish getting ready!

Sunday afternoon, we went to a birthday party for one of my friend's little girls.  She was turning five. I think Will was probably the youngest child there so it was a little overwhelming for him, but he got a cupcake so it was all good!

After a nap, we headed back to church for bible study and then we went and ate Milo's with a group of our friends.  Will was having the best time at dinner and was laughing so hard at one of our friends.  It was hilarious. 

When we got  home from dinner it was storming. It only lasted a little while, but Will slept right through it.  I dropped Will off at daycare this morning and he seemed to be in a great mood so I hope that is an indication that this is going to be a great week!

It's been a couple of weeks...

I have been absent from the blog for a couple of weeks. I didn't mean to take a break, but I guess we are just living life.  Will's birthday week was crazy busy and we enjoyed ourselves so much, so we have been laying low since then.

We have been able to spend so much time together and it has been wonderful!  The weather has been great so we try to spend some time outside everyday.  We also have some home improvement projects going on around the house.  We are working on redoing our master bath, making a few changes in our kitchen, and some outdoor projects.  Other than that, we have been spending time with our family and friends!

Here are some pictures of our baby boy and some things we have been doing:

At Build-A Bear.

We took Will to Build-A-Bear so he could get a bear for his birthday.  I had a coupon for a free bear ($12 value).  Since, I had the coupon we thought Will could pick whatever he wanted and it wouldn't be a big deal price wise.  What does Will pick?  The cheapest bear they offer ($10) and a little guitar ($3).  Bonus for us because it cost us next to nothing.  Clay said that Will was not my child because I have a knack for picking the most expensive thing in the store. HA!

Swinging in the back yard.

 

Will is really enjoying his swing set. He loves to swing and always tells us to "go faster!!" Such a boy!

At the park on a beautiful Saturday morning. 

 

I took Will to a nearby park one Saturday. We had so much fun and there were only two other kids there. Funny story: before we went to the park that morning, I had to run to the bank to take care of an issue and to deposit Will's birthday money in his savings account. I told Will that we were going to the bank and what we would be doing. For some reason he was really EXCITED about going to the bank. When we pulled up, he yelled "It a big piggy bank, Mommy!" I laughed out loud. It was definitely a lot bigger than our piggy bank at home. I let him make his own deposit and he got a sucker. He was a happy boy and loved our trip to the "big piggy bank".

A Happy Meal!

2 Year Old Check-up

I took Will today for his 2-year-old well visit.  He was really excited to go see "Doder Ruffels" (Dr. Russell).  He did so well.  When we got there, he sat in the waiting room, had a small snack, and watched the movie they had playing.  Once we were taken back to a room, he was so well-behaved.  He talked to me about how the doctor was going to listen to his heart and look in his ears. 

Dr. R said that Will was doing great!  He is a healthy boy and we are so grateful.  Here are his current measurements:

Weight: 28 pounds, 2 ounces (50th percentile)

Height: 33 1/4 inches (50th percentile)

Head Circumference:  19 3/4 inches (between 75th and 90th percentile)

He also asked Will lots of questions about colors, shapes, numbers, and the alphabet.  Dr. R was pleased with his development and commented on how well Will talks.  We know he is big on talking so that was no surprise.  We are just happy when other people can understand what he is saying! Ha!

I was a great visit and, bonus, we didn't have to get any shots!!!

I still can't believe he is 2!!

2 Year Old Photos

I do believe that Clay and I have the cutest kid ever!  Erin did it again.  She captured Will's spirit on film and we will treasure these photos.  I could write a book about how I feel about these photos, but I will let them speak for themselves!

To see the rest of the photos Erin took, go HERE.

Backpacks, Balloons, & Bedtime

Sunday was a hard day for all of us. We were all exhausted from the birthday celebrations.  Clay had to get up at 6 to go cook breakfast at church.  Richard went with him, so that left me and Julie to get Will up and ready.

He loves church so much that it is usually easy to get him up and ready, but because he was tired, it was a bit more challenging.

After I got him dressed, he wanted to wear his backpack around the house.  Kristen and Jordan got this for him for his birthday and he is obsessed with it.

As soon as I put the backpack on him, he wanted to go. Only problem was my hair was wet and I wasn't dressed.  Will didn't seem to care that I wasn't ready and then he hung on my leg for the next 10  minutes asking to go to church. 

I was trying to think of something to occupy him so I could finish getting ready so I let him play with his balloons from his party. He had so much fun walking around the house with his balloons and he was a happy boy.  That was until I told him he couldn't take the balloons to church.  Then he had a meltdown. 

We made it to church with about 2 minutes to spare.  After church, we grabbed some lunch and then we all took a 3 hour nap. It was much needed!

We headed back to church for bible study and then went out to eat with our friends.  We got home right at Will's bedtime and he went down quick!  He was still so tired.  I went in and checked on him before I headed to bed and this is what I found:

I got the blanket off his head and he slept soundly the rest of the night!

Birthday Donation

This year we chose to collect donations for our local DHR at Will's birthday party.  The DHR expressed that they were in need of something small that they could give to children when they came through their office.  Due to a recent fire, their department is currently being housed in a smaller space so they needed something that could easily be stored.  After some discussion, we came up with collecting books, coloring books, and crayons. This was something they could store in a small space and it was a small gift they could easily give to each child.   It seems so simple but many of these kids are taken from their homes and literally have nothing.  To have a book or coloring book to call their own probably means the world to them.  It breaks my heart to think of these children and the extremely sad situations that their families find themselves in.

Our family and friends went above and beyond!  I feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.  All Clay and I had to do was ask them to help out the DHR and they did without hesitation.

The gift table at Will's Party.

Here is what we collected with the help of our family and friends:

--65 Books

--87 Large Coloring Books

--24 Small Activity/Sticker Books

--4 packs of colored pencils

--6 packs of pens/pencils

--2 packs of markers

--69 boxes of crayons

Crayons

Books

Coloring/Activity Books

We packed up all the items and we can't wait to deliver them to the DHR.

While this donation will be a tremendous help to our local DHR, I would also like to ask everyone to pray for the children who will receive these gifts.  I know that Clay and I will be praying for them.

I hope in the future that we can adequately explain all this to Will and that he will understand why we chose to make donations to charity instead of him receiving gifts.  Our family has been so blessed to see how something that seems so small to us can really impact the life of someone else.

THE BIG PARTY!

Today was finally the day for Will's big Mickey Mouse birthday party!

A lot of work went into this party and it ended up being a great day.  This morning was a little bumpy. I was stressed and Will was upset.  I am not really sure what was wrong with him but he was super clingy and he didn't want leave the house.  Of course, once he got to the gym and saw his party all set up, my stress went away and he was a happy boy!  He was in awe of all the Mickey Mouse stuff and headed straight for the bounce house.

Mickey was the central theme and I used phrases from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse throughout the party.

So many of our family and friends came out to celebrate. We are so blessed to have people in our lives who love Will so much! It brings me to tears thinking about how much he means to so many people. He really has brought our family closer together and made our friends like family.  He is definitely a bright spot in all of our lives.

We had the party around lunch time so we served lunch and had birthday cupcakes.  My mom did all the food and made the cupcakes. This party would not have happened without her!  Also, Julie and Kristen helped me so much. They did everything I asked of them and I am so glad to call them my friends!

This year we continued the tradition of collecting gifts for a charity instead of having everyone bring a gift for Will. Once again, our family and friends went above and beyond, but I am going to save the details for another post!

The party can best be explained through pictures so here we go...

"Mickey's Art Show" - Coloring Table for the kids...some adults colored too!

"See Ya Real Soon!" - Favor Table - Gift bags for the kids and candy favors for the adults.

"Hot Dog Hot Dog Hot Diggity Dog" - Food Table - We served hot dogs, Mickey chicken nuggets, chips, animal crackers, and grapes for lunch.

"Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse" - Sign-in Table

Guest tables

Cupcake table

Yummy Cupcakes!

Party!

The Birthday Boy!

Sweet Friends.

"Mickey's Mousekersize" - Sign pointing to the Bounce House!

Will having fun with friends!

Family

Gift Table and the "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" Theater

All our guests

Gavin in the bounce house.

Will and "Bess"

Singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out his candle.

Watching Mickey.

Photo I used for the sign in table.

Cute boys!

All the kiddos

YAY!

Berkley at the coloring table.

Will with Uncle Al and Mawmaw.

Our little family at the end of the party!

We were all completely exhauseted at the end of the party, but it was a fantastic day. It was so much fun hanging out with everyone and celebrating our boy!

Go HERE to see the rest of the pictures from the party.