Summer Fun With Friends

Will's fun in the sun day w/ Kellen & Caroline.

Playing Basketball...

Staking ownership in the basketball... Kellen: "Oh don't you take my ball!!!"

Watching Kellen fly down the slide. (Will wasn't so sure about all that, but thought it was funny to watch)

Tons of laughing

And having all sorts of a good time mixing the sand & water together on the sand/water table.

You just can't beat a fun day w/ your buddies in a backyard full of kid stuff to do.

A Boy And His Dog

Will & Duke relaxing in the garage.

Looking for a lot of mischief.

Will figuring out what life's like behind bars. He did this to himself, I just documented the experience!

Duke basking in his new pool...that lasted 1 day and then he ate it! He's got a new pool now. Lesson learned, don't let the water disappear, he gets tick off!

Full Body Laugh

Will just started this new laugh which makes me laugh everytime he does it. There is nothing more reassuring than a childs laughter. Guess we are doing something right.

Proud Aunt Ang

Little Man and My first cuddle.

I can't believe he's finally here or that my sister is a Mom. Evan, Trac & Jason got to go home today, hopefully to get some good rest this afternoon. I can't wait to see his precious face again. Will doesn't quite get all the hype around Mr. Evan, but as they get older and into mischief together like he and Grace, he'll be so excited to have Evan around.

I See's You

Excuse the nakedness, Mr. Will (as stated many times) is very anti clothes when at home.

Introducing......

Evan Miles Dickinson

Evan was born yesterday at 5:23 pm weighing in at 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 20 in. long. After 10 hours of trying to deliver naturally (w/ an epidural) Traci never would progress past a 5 & a wiggle (a scosh past 5). Her doctor decided at 4:30 pm yesterday it was time for Evan to be born so he was taken by c-section.

Evan and Mommy are healthy happy and beyond amazing. Jason is a proud Daddy and a very supportive husband. I am so proud of all 3 of them.

I spent all day with them yesterday then a little time after Evan was born, but my most cherished time was this morning when I spent a couple of hours with Trac and Evan while Jason ran home and took care of Deacon Dog and before people started to come visit. The picture above was our cuddle time. Will gets to go meet Evan after school and though I know I won't get to hold Evan again this afternoon because Will is a bit possessive of his Mommy, I can't wait to show him his new cousin.

Sorry for the picture quality, I'll post a ton of good ones soon. These were from my phone, I left my camera memory card w/ Trac that has all the good ones on it.

Kissy Face

Well, it happened, the 1st time in 22 months that I truly w/out a shadow of a doubt kicked myself for missing a photoperfect moment in Will's life. Missing this event is almost as bad as if we'd missed taking pictures of Will when he was first born. Okay, a bit overdoing it there, but a big moment nonetheless.

All I have from this moment is the mental picture that yes I can describe, but won't do it anywhere near the justice it deserves. I'll do my best to replay and hope that you have a good mental picture of Will to get the gist of the preciousness I experienced this morning.

Okay, most mornings it takes me a good 30 minutes to get out of school. I like to play too and it's very hard to leave because the kids use me as a jungle gym or play w/ my hair and I get tons of hugs everyday. It's like heaven every morning. I feel like I get jipped if I don't take Will to school everyday; which is rarely so lucky me! I keep telling them I'm just going to start working there.

Well this wonderful morning a very adorable sweet sweet girl named Gabby came over to sit on my lap w/ Will. The two of them were minding their own business on my lap, then all of a sudden Gabby reaches over and puts her arm around Will and he lays his head on her shoulder and looks up at her w/ adoring eyes and a precious smile. Then Gabby leans over a plants a HUGE smooch right on Will's lips. Just big as life right there on my lap. WILL GOT HIS FIRST KISS TODAY. Well, actually Will got about 5 first kisses today from Gabby. And when Gabby had enough w/ the affection stuff she start pushing him away like a teenager flirting and laughing, but Will wanted more so he kept trying to hug her again and put his face up to her level for more smooches, but Gabby is a classy girl so she dismissed him and went to playing w/ her doll again.

I was crushed I didn't even have my phone on me to snap this moment. Will's first kiss...on his Mommy's lap...and I have nothing to capture it w/ except my mind and quite frankly that's no good, I forget stuff all the time. So I'm writing it down so I'll always remember how precious it was and so later on when I embarrass him w/ this story, I can refer back to this for some sort of proof.

Will's First Play Date Sleepover

Will had his first sleepover w/ Grace over the weekend. And though I worried we'd put too much on Corry & Wendy having them keep Will, it turned out to be a very fun and easy couple of days.

Will and Grace had so much fun together. They colored, played & entertained each other very well.

I told Wendy they needed to let us keep Grace next time and let the kids play together at Will's house so Michael and I could experience how fun the two of them are. Quite honestly, I'm very jealous of Wendy and Corry that they got to spend the weekend watching the two of them. And very grateful, because it allowed Michael and I to relax and enjoy our trip knowing Will was in good hands. We went to Dallas for a wedding.

When it was time to wind down and relax, it didn't take the kids long to cuddle up to each other and snuggle w/ their blankets and watch Cars.

I am soooo glad Uncle Corry took these pictures; these two are so sweet to each other...for now anyway. ; )

It was a great weekend in Texas and a beautiful wedding, but I was sooo glad to get home to my Bear. And to have him run out of the house and give me a big hug was the icing on the cake.

Memorial Weekend 2010

Perfect weather for Memorial Weekend....when has that ever happened? Even the water was perfect. I personally think it was a payback for the brutal winter we had. Thanks Mother Nature, keep them coming!

On that note, to add to the perfect weather, we had a perfect weekend. Will was Mr. Independence...when he wanted to be. He was a bit Momma's boy all weekend which I usually love, but my arms are very sore from carrying him. He wasn't a big fan of the sand texture, picture above he's coming to be held.

We went for boat rides which other than the life jacket, he loved.

He had no problem relaxing.

Even Duke enjoyed his weekend. Let me rephrase that Duke LOVED his weekend. He got to roam free most of the time. After the first day of constantly yelling for him to get back here, we let him explore and come back on his own...unless he went too far which was rarely. He followed Will around giving us a glimpse of what it's going to be like for them as they grow. 2 best friends, it was precious. At one point, I even said "Follow Will, Duke" and he turned around and stayed on his trail. I think Duke is still recovering from all the playing, after all he is only 5 1/2 months old.

Will and Bennett played together too, Bennett is our next door neighbor, he's a little older than Will, but he loves Will and likes to come up to Will and say "Baby Will, you want to come play in the water with me" Will doesn't respond w/ words but gets up and heads to the beach.

Sunday evening we had dinner w/ our friends....and Will took off his clothes. Okay, he didn't take them off, he asked me too AND I figured we were at the lake in a relaxing environment, why should anyone have to wear clothes if they chose not too? Truly that should only apply for babies, adults don't get any ideas.

Our friends dog Basha was Will's entertainment for awhile, he walked her around the patio.

THEN, Monday is was clean up time. Papa & Grammy had a bathroom renovated in they garage and the tile people trashed the entire garage and contents w/ dust. Not happy campers to have to clean all that up, but it's all back to normal now and the bathroom is beautiful. Will helped his Daddy mop, until I came in w/ the camera and he ran over excited that I was there. Oh how he melts my heart.

He broomed a little too.

Can't wait for our next trip down, Will and Duke enjoyed their freedom so much. We hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Memorial Weekend.

Chasing Life

I wish I was blogging w/ some updated pics of Will and maybe a shot or two of gigantic Duke, but that's not going to be the case today. Instead I'm going to update you on life.

As stated Duke is getting gigantic, he's 5 1/2 months old and weighing in around 50-55lbs. He's beautiful, full of energy and if you come over to see us, more than likely, you'll get "Duked" as my sister puts it. We are working on training, but as most big dogs do, he thinks he's a lap dog, so you sit down and he's all over ya, in a loving muddy paw kind of way. We had to get a shock collar a few weeks ago to assist in training and I must say of all the things we've spent money on for that dog, food included, that was money well spent. Duke obeys extremely well in the front yard, never chasing after people in the street, won't enter the street at all and comes when called instantly. We are getting there w/ him, he's definitely a smart dog and will be able to stay w/ us instead of go to the farm, which was where I was ready to send him about a month ago.

Will is talking so much lately, some of which Michael or I have to translate for everyone, but he's really getting vocal. He's putting 2 words together pretty well and working on 3.

A few things he says:
"Hot Dog"- Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
"Bye Bye Do Do"- Bye Duke
"Wav Woo"-Love You
"Shashu"-Chocolate
"Pease"-Please w/ instense belly rubbing
"Tant Tu"-Thank You
"Shashul"-Shovel
"BaaaTaaBaa"-Basketball

He says a ton more but those are my favorites.

He loves to dance in his car seat and mostly to rock music. Will is a big fan of the Nickelback song "This Afternoon" As well as Def Leppard & pretty much anything w/ a beat. We'll have to stop listening to the Nickelback song when he starts understanding the words, but he loves to head bang. We jam to the Hot Dog Dance song too. Needless to say Mickey Mouse is a huge his at our house

With summer here, he's sooo into swimming. He's spent several evenings so far in Papa's hottub w/ the water slightly warmed. Loves walking around the perimeter because I don't have to hold on to him. Of course he takes the occasional beeline straight across the hottub and tries to drown himself but I'm on point for those occasions for quick grabs. I suspect we'll be spending a lot of time in the pool this summer.

We are so happy summer is here, we spend 95% of our days outside. I feel extremely guilty making Will stay indoors when he wants out so unless we NEED to be inside we aren't. He's been a big helper this season getting the landscaping ready; he's quite handy w/ a shovel and rake. He even has his own pair of gloves which up to this point have only been used as a chew toy for Duke. Will is good about sharing. ; )

Life truly has been a bit nuts, Michael's been off and on with traveling and I or we seem to be constantly chasing after Will. I walk in every night and look longingly at my camera and think "man I need to take some pictures, Will is changing quickly" Then he's off on his adventures the next day w/ us in tow and no camera. I did however purchase a Flip Video and will be receiving it next week, so funny videos to come.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend. See ya next week w/ fun lake footage of Will & Duke. Crossing my fingers the weather stays nice!