just a walk in the park...

Here are a few pics from our walk in the park {the arboretum} today:

big hug coming....

here it is!!

{love you, Will!!}

And we also had pictures taken by A Walk in the Park Photography last Saturday {aka the most humid day ever ever ever}. I am not joking about the humidity. There was so much moisture in the air that when the misters came on in one area of the arboretum, the mist would just sit in the air and float across like fog. No evaporation what-so-ever. So needless to say, by the end of the shoot, it looked like I hadn't even dried my hair that morning, much less gotten up extra early to straighten it. But Allie did an awesome job, and Will had so much fun playing with her. I love the pictures in our sneak peek, and I can't wait to see the rest! You can see a couple on her blog, and there are even more on her facebook page. Such fun!!

15 months!

Will is 15 months old!

Gosh, he looks like a little boy now.

A tall little boy!

I love this little guy so much! The months are just flying by lately, and we have been staying busy for sure. Today we went to the pediatrician for Will's 15 month check-up, and WOW. I guess Will is old enough to remember what happens at the doctor now...and he was not a fan. He was in a fabulous mood this morning, and as soon as we stepped foot in the exam room and the sweet nurse started measuring his head, he lost it. And didn't regain composure until we were in the parking lot! Poor sweet boy. {Luckily for me, Matt was there too!} The doctor was very nice about being screamed at, and even said that it's completely normal at this age. So along with things like walking, talking, and fine motor skills, apparently Will is right on track with fear of medical professionals! ;)

Here are his stats:

Weight: 23 lbs, 7 oz {60%}

Height: 30.75 inches {30%} interesting...he sure looks tall to me!

Head: 19 inches {85%}

A few fun facts about 15 month old Will:

• Very talkative these days! He is turning into a little parrot, and I love it! One of my favorite Will-isms lately is that he uses the same sounds for pretty much any 3 syllable word. Whether he's pointing at strawberries or a hamburger, he says "GA gun gun." Pretty cute.

And he still loves pointing out body parts, especially eyes:

• He continues to love books, and enjoys reading anytime!

• Will is obsessed with outside, most specifically the backyard. Since we have a koi pond in the backyard, he will stand at the back door pointing outside and yelling "ISH!! ISH! ISH!!" {fish!} It's killing me that it is getting so hot and the mosquitoes are out, because we can't go out as much.
• He's a fast little walker these days, and definitely now prefers walking over crawling. The other day, he accidentally started running, and although he ended up in a heap on the floor, I think he liked it.
• I love watching Will learn and soak up everything around him. Yesterday, he was throwing balls out of his little ball pit, and before we left the room, I asked him to please put the balls back in the pit. And he did! {OK, he put like 2 back, but still! So cute.}

In other news, we got to go to a very fun birthday party last weekend. Will's friend Nolan turned TWO, and he had a fabulous party with a petting zoo and pony rides!

Will made a cute cowboy, but he was very skeptical of the sweet pony, Cinnamon.

The ride started off great...

still going...

uh-oh, reaching for dad!

Well, he almost made it for the whole ride! :)

And in closing, here's my sweet boy after playing in the sprinklers the other day. To be completely honest, he was actually rather terrified of the wiggly worm sprinkler thing I got, so we turned that guy off pretty quickly. {I think he'll come around. It's cool.} He actually got so happy because I let him pick up one of the little peaches that fell off our tree. It's the simple things.

happy mother's day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, soon-to-be moms, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and hopeful-to-be moms out there!!! What a fun day we had.

My day started in the best way possible - with SLEEPING IN! Ahhhh...actually sleeping in for the second morning in a row. I am feeling spoiled, and I'm not sure what I'm going to think when Matt has to go to work tomorrow and I have to get up at normal time. When it was time to get up, even for sleeper-iners, Matt and Will woke me up by bringing in donuts {they found a Dunkin Donuts and got my favorite - the donut holes made in all the different flavors! MMMMM!} and the sweetest card ever! Add this to the surprise delivery of two dozen roses on Friday afternoon plus sweet cards and gifts from my parents and Matt's mom, and I can say that I have had a great Mother's Day! Of course, the best gift of all is being a mom to Will. I try not to get too sappy on the blog, but I truly do thank God every day for choosing us to be William's parents. He is such a gift and brings so much joy and happiness into our lives every single minute. I just love him more than I could have ever imagined! :)

OK, back to our day. We first headed to the arboretum to celebrate with the Hawkins side of the family. We took lots of pictures, per usual, but Will is definitely more interested in anything and everything but posing for pictures lately, so most of them look like this:

...or this, when I hold his pointing arm down...

...or this {his signature bail-out move}:

But we did get some cute ones. Here's the fam {minus me, photographer extraordinaire}

And now I'll start the photos I like to call "Will's hot wet mess" series. It was super hot, and he was wearing a hat the whole time we were outside. So by the end of the afternoon, when we took off the hat for pictures, his hair was soaking wet, curly, and a mess! Ha! Add that to the rosy cheeks {a nice way of saying that he inherited my fabulous trait of getting a bright red face whenever I get hot}, and you have one adorable hot mess.

Will and Ryan

Will and Alex

Will and Nana

Then we headed home for a much needed {although much protested after his short snooze on the car trip home} nap. After naptime, we went to my parents' house for dinner. We cooked out, hung out with Mema, and enjoyed some more family time.

Will and me after naptime

{pointer finger still in position? check.}

with my sweet and beautiful mom

the two happiest people on the planet? perhaps these two!

And to end the evening, I just MIGHT have found and tried on my wedding dress.

Happy Mother's Day!!

a little bit country {and some screenprinting...cause that makes sense}

Last weekend, I got to go to a fabulous wedding shower for Blair, so Matt took Will out to see Grandpa Robert and Mama D. Will had a blast riding in the wagon and checking out the longhorn that lives next door. {yep, for real.}

Such fun! And on a completely unrelated note, I have a new little hobby that is pretty darn fun. Kristen and Blair taught me how to use freezer paper {which I had never heard of} to paint designs on shirts, and it is great! I'm afraid we may have t-shirts for all occasions now. Just another reason that Will is going to think I'm a dork. So here's how you do it:

1} print your design on the non plastic-y side of the freezer paper {you can also print on regular paper and trace it onto the freezer paper, but I found it easier to cut the freezer paper into 8.5 x 11 pages and just print it directly}

2} use an x-acto knife to cut out the design {removing the parts where you want the paint}

3} iron the paper onto the shirt

4} paint! I used fabric paint, and peeled the freezer paper off once the paint was dry.

5} After 24 hours, iron over again {with a piece of fabric between the paint and iron} to set the paint.

Made some grandparent shirts:

and some Easter and owl shirts:

And I couldn't resist making a Night Owl shirt. Not sure where I will wear this...

And to tie this post together {yes, this is a stretch, but go with it}, here's Will modeling a cowboy hat while Matt was picking out his birthday boots.

happy easter!

Happy Easter! I hope everyone's weekend was as fun as ours. We enjoyed some family time, some church time, some relaxation, lots of great food, and of course, some picture-taking.

Pre-Easter, Will and I enjoyed the beautiful weather at the arboretum, and Will modeled a fun Easter t-shirt I made for him. I've gotten hooked on making screen-printed shirts using freezer paper {thanks to Kristen and Blair who taught me how to do it!! another show-and-tell post coming soon on this.}

And then came Easter morning! Will thought his Easter basket was marginally cool, but he completely LOVED the little container of applesauce he found in it. {this brings back memories of Christmas, when he latched onto the cheesy puffs container in the midst of a plethora of presents. sweet, sweet boy.}

Here you can see his excitement. After carrying this little gem around all morning while we got ready for church, Will eventually used his fancy new top teeth to bite through the foil and start eating the applesauce vampire-style. Very resourceful.

After church, we took some pictures in the backyard. It was cloudy but sort of sunny too {huh?}, and the lighting turned out strange on these. I attempted to fill in some of the weird shadows on our faces using one of the settings on picasa, but I can't say I was super successful...

This one would have been the best of the three of us for sure, but I am hiding behind Will...shoot! {Matt says I photo-bombed it. Maybe my new favorite expression.}

so I guess this one will do

{gosh, we all look so tan...}

a little walking practice

Will loved hanging out with Mimi and Duke!

After church, we had lunch at Mimi & Duke's house, Will {and Matt and I} had another visit from the Easter bunny, and we got to spend some time with Mema!

Then we headed over to Nana's house, where Will got to play with Nana, Aunt Ryan, Uncle Jonathan, and Uncle Alex. Plus the Easter bunny visited again! Such fun!

playtime with Aunt Ryan

By the end of this busy day, Will was worn out! Enjoying some love from Nana:

Happy Easter to all!!