monkeying around

We celebrated Will's first birthday on Saturday with a monkey party! It was a blast, and we really enjoyed hanging out with family and friends, making monkeys, and eating cake. Here are some pictures of the festivities.

birthday banner

{by Holly Webster, who also did our invitations, timeline, and thank you notes...all awesome!}

We had a "build-a-monkey" station for the kids {big and small}

step one

step two

step three

step four

step five

Here's a close-up of the timeline of Will's monthly pictures. Holly did an awesome job!

And we had lots of yummy food!

fun monkey cupcakes

sandwich wraps

and chocolate chip "1" cookies

Got this idea from Kristen at Lullaby Lubbock {check the blog for awesome craft and party ideas!} - people got to take bananas and a banana bread recipe home after the party.

Will loved playing with all of his friends. Lots of fun with Ben...

...and Sally

...and lovely Lucy {he especially loved her black patent leather boots!}

...and of course, girlfriend Harper, who also celebrated her first birthday this weekend!

We also played some lasso golf.

{thank GOODNESS for beautiful weather!}

and took some wagon rides.

and played a little tickle monster

{Will loves Blair!}

Will loved hanging out with the family too. Here he is with Aunt Ryan.

He loved having ALL of his grandparents at the party!

{wish I had gotten a picture with them all, but we got one with Mimi!}

one of my favs - sweet Ben checking out the bananas

And of course, Will got to have his very own cake! He was skeptical at first...

Then he decided to pat the cake for awhile.

Parker helped with the candle.

I love this one!

Crazy pic, but I like it.

Finally, Will tried a bite...

...and then really went for it!

DELICIOUS!

What a fun first birthday party!

And this is Will the next morning, when I explained the concept of writing thank-you notes. ;)

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate this weekend. It was a blast!

one

William turned one on Friday, February 11th. I can't believe it! This last year has been, without a doubt, the best of our lives. We are so blessed to have a healthy, happy, loving little boy. Watching him grow and learn this year has been such fun.

We had a great day on Friday, celebrating Will and getting ready for his birthday party on Saturday. We started the day by selecting appropriate attire - a birthday shirt and his "birthday boy" bib. You know, in case anyone forgot what day it was.

Then we had some blueberries in the shape of a 1.

And some birthday pancakes.

Then we took Will's monthly pictures with his bear. These pictures get more challenging each month, as Will really has no desire to sit still next to his bear long enough for me to jump far enough back to snap the picture. But I have forced him to keep doing it all year, and I'm so glad I did! We ended up with a bear pic every month, and I have them all in a frame, plus we had an awesome timeline made for his party. {more on that later}

Happy birthday, Will!

I wanted to get one in the chair, because that's where we took his first few monthly pics. I was able to get this one before he realized where he was and immediately tried to launch himself headfirst to the floor.

For perspective, here he is at one month with the bear.

Love this one - making his surprised face.

Happy little guy

{probably because he thinks it is hilarious to pull off his socks}

Here are a few things I want to remember about Will at one year:

• He cracks me up. The new surprise face is just great, and he now does it when I do it first, so I can see it almost anytime I want. :)
• He talks a lot, and he has the sweetest little voice. He has started saying "mamama" a lot more these days, although I am not yet convinced that he knows Matt as dada and me as mama. He talks about us a lot though. I am pretty convinced that his first real word was "duck." We play with his ducks at bathtime, read about ducks in his books, and he also has a little pull toy that has 3 ducks in a row. And several weeks ago at bathtime, he started repeating "duck" pretty clearly - and looking at the duck! Matt is skeptical, but I think he knows duck. He also says a Will version of "uh oh" when I say it after he drops or throws something, and he makes the "k" sound when he sees Ally, our inside cat, or Omar, our outside {street} cat. I love seeing him start to communicate. Can't wait for more!
• Will has really started dancing this month, which I LOVE! Whenever a song plays, he will bob up and down. Cutest. Thing. Ever.
• He loves to wave, and will usually do it anytime you say "hi" or "bye" to him.
• Will points at everything. He loves to point and grunt to tell me that he wants something.
• Still not walking, but he took a step this month! He can stand for awhile by himself, but he definitely has days that he wants to stand, and days that he has zero interest. I get a lot of jello legs when I try to stand him up and he's not interested. I'm OK with not rushing it - it's hard enough to keep up with him now!
• Just this week, Will has moved to just one nap a day. He really never had any transition period - just stopped taking the second nap one day and never turned back! I actually think I'm going to like the new schedule - seems like it will be a little more conducive to out-of-the-house activities, plus he naps much longer for the one nap.
• Still rocking just 2 teeth, but he eats like a man with a full set! He loves food, and we've expanded his menu this month. Mostly, we've added lots of new fruits. His favorites are grapes, blueberries, and melon, and it's hard to get him to eat anything else if there's fruit around. He also loves to share anything that I am eating. Other favorites are cajun deli turkey, yogurt melts {he would eat the whole bag if I'd let him}, tortillas, and baked ziti. Don't worry - I still make him eat his veggies! We just have to eat those first before he notices the good stuff.
• We take baths in the big tub, and bathtime is super fun. Splashing, playing with toys, and getting shampoo mohawks are good times.

Happy birthday, sweet William!! We love you so much, and can't wait to watch you continue to grow.

what fun it is to be one!

Will is ONE! We have had a fun couple of days. Will's birthday was yesterday, and we had his birthday party today. Lots of pictures and details coming soon!

coming soon...

So instead of cleaning house, doing laundry, or preparing the million things I need to do before Will's birthday party, I spent tonight designing a logo for my etsy shop. True, you don't need a logo to start a shop, but as a girl with marketing in my heart, I want one. Probably won't get the shop up till after Will's birthday, but here's a preview:

the big 3-0

What a fun birthday it has been! Today is the first day of my 30s, and although I was resistant to acknowledge it at first, I guess moving out of the 20s isn't really so bad. I had a great day celebrating, and I feel very blessed after all the sweet birthday wishes from friends and family.

The birthday fun actually started on Sunday. Matt took me to dinner and then to see A Christmas Carol, which we go to every year. It's one of my favorite things of the entire year, and I seriously think this year was the best! We had great seats, and the show was fabulous. And on our way home, we drove around to look at Christmas lights {while listening to Christmas music, of course}. Matt had been begging me to take him, so I finally gave in. ;)

Then today started with some delicious breakfast tacos made by my sweet husband {and Will helped, of course}. Will and I had some quality hangout/play time before lunch, and then we headed off to the arboretum with Mimi to check out the Christmas decorations. We walked through the DeGolyer house, which was full of trees and santas. After looking at all the things he couldn't touch, Will was ready to get down and play. So we went outside to play in the grass...which was wet...so we settled for the sidewalk.

sweet little baby

{who is looking less like a baby and more like a little boy every day...}

My favorite thing about Will at this stage - the expression of wonderment/glee that he gets at almost everything. LOVE!

On our way out, we stopped in the gift shop, just because I hadn't ever looked in it. And, surprise - Santa was there! Will loved seeing Santa again, and we even got a smile this time.

After naptime, we headed out for a fun visit with Nana and Aunt Ryan, and we then had a birthday dinner at my parents' house - yum! We got to hang out with Mimi, Duke, and Mema, had a delicious dinner, and opened birthday presents. Will was a trooper and happily stayed up past his bedtime to celebrate.

Thanks to everyone for the sweet calls, texts, cards, and birthday wishes! I could not ask for better family and friends. What a fun way to enter my 30s. {You're next, Matt. You only get 3 months to make fun of me for being old!}