Happy Valentine's Day

William and I took a day to make some holiday crafts during our days stuck inside from the cold & snow. For each grandparents, William printed his hands:

William got his feet messy with our family Valentines. We sent these to his grandparents & aunts and uncles. He thought it was so funny to make his footprint into a truck!

Next up, making Valentines for his friends at daycare & in our neighborhood. He switched between his left and right hands for helping write his Valentines. I did hand-over-hand to help him write the names on his Valentines, but let him attempt his "W"s by himself. We practiced on other paper the "down, up, down, up" motion. Thank goodness for an easy first letter! He loved doing this for himself, as you can see with his cheesy smile :)

So proud he wrote his own "W"!!

William's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated William's 3rd birthday with a Donut Party! We had mini donuts from Donutology with yummy flavors (shout out to Peanut Butter & Death By Chocolate, my favorites). We had cute donut decorations all over the house and a home filled with family & friends to celebrate. Instead of presents, we asked guests to bring donations to a local animal shelter. We did the same thing last year & W really enjoyed delivering presents to the doggies.

Enjoying a donut

My favorite thing William says to me now is his response to when I ask him if he'll be my baby still. "No mama, I won't be your baby anymore. But I will be your big kid." Melt my heart, kiddo!

perfect shirt!

We took all the donations to the Great Plains SPCA and then looked around at the pups. W wanted to give them all treats. He was so excited to give them presents. The workers/volunteers were very thankful & started opening everything up right away!

Halloween 2018

William had a new options for what to dress up as for Halloween. He settled on Darth Vader. I don't have the heart to tell him Darth is a "bad guy", although Bret says he's just misunderstood ;)

Christmas 2017

We had a couple of Christmas's this year! We got back from California just in time to celebrate Christmas at home. William understood what Christmas is a little more this year. He knew there were things in the boxes and bags under the tree and "helped" Bret and I open all of our presents along with ours. We were able to wake up on Christmas Day and have a family Christmas before heading to Topeka to see Bret's extended family. 

So thankful to get to see what Christmas is like through a child's eyes! Everything is so magical to William (not just at Christmas, but maybe more so right now). He makes us so happy!

Valentines

Here's our little stud on Valentine's Day:

Meeting Santa for the First Time

Last year, Will was just too little to meet Santa. We didn't leave the hospital until Dec. 20th and who wants to deal with the crowds & germs with a week old baby?? Not us, that was for sure! But this year, William wanted to meet the big guy, so off we went to Bass Pro!

When we got there, Santa was still busy making toys in his workshop. So Will tested out his chair a la Goldilocks. He found it quite comfortable & we had to convince him that it wasn't for sale for us to take home. We promised to come back so William could meet Santa when he wasn't busy.

When we returned later that day, Santa had taken a break from toy making to meet the boys & girls of Johnson County. There was a little boy in line ahead of us who was NOT a fan of the bearded man in the red suit & we were afraid Will might have the same reaction. He has no stranger danger, but doesn't like not being without us in new situations. Bret did the hand-off to Santa and William decided to check him out. While they were sizing each other up, we snapped some adorable pictures.

After William decided that Santa is an okay guy after all, he allowed us to take a few pictures of the two of them together. Will did a great job! I hope every Santa picture is this great!!

Just a couple of our little elf :)

Thanksgiving 2016

Today is Will's last first holiday! We are so very thankful for him. He's been such a blessing in our lives. I know it's cliche to say, but it's hard to remember what it was like before we had him (maybe more sleep-in weekends & easier shopping trips!). He makes us smile so much and helps us to look at the world in a different way. 

Enjoy the pictures, they are hilarious ;)

Earlier this month, Bret played this dancing turkey for Will. He was not a fan and crawled away, scared or mad. Today was the day to get his revenge!

First, I will eat your face!

Look, Mom & Dad, I've caught him! He's all mine now!!

You will feel the pain, little turkey!! (those eyes are so intense!)

Oh, you apologize? Okay, we can cuddle and be friends. Just no crazy dancing again!

Happy Halloween!

Today was Will's first Halloween! We had a tough time deciding what he was going to be, but decided ultimately on a dinosaur. I couldn't find any good costumes at the store, so I turned to Amazon.com who did not disappoint. His dino costume is sized 6-12mo, but good thing he's not any taller than he is or he would not have fit!

William was not a fan of the costume. Mostly because of the hood part, he did not like it going on his head. He doesn't like hats much either, so we could have predicted this reaction. But, after being put in the costume multiple time, he was finally at peace with the hood :)

We just trick or treated at a couple of houses of friends & Bret's sister/brother-in-law. It was his dinner time and he was getting tired (plus the hood situation), so we came home. We did get some cute pictures of him from today!

 

This is what happens to busy dinosaurs, they sleep so hard!

Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is a favorite holiday is our household! Bret has a love of fireworks and the Fourth has always meant a time to get together with family for him. We announced my pregnancy last Fourth as well and now we have Will here to celebrate with us!

Will & I made a Fourth of July craft to send to his grandparents & aunts and uncles. Yes, the flag isn't exactly correct, but this is how the military displays their flag; always flying in the wind toward victory!

The Fourth of July also always means a trip into Topeka to get together with the whole Dinkel family. With five brothers and sisters, Susie's family (plus their kids and their kids now!) is always a good time. William was quite the trooper! he had his solids like normal about 6pm, then was a social butterfly with all of the family. He nursed at 8pm and slept on me from 8:30-9:30pm, through the beginning of the fireworks. We went back outside and Will got to see some of the fireworks. He wasn't scared of the noise and was interested in all of the bright lights. This goes consistently with his always-alert attitude. The Fourth is Bret's favorite holiday and one day wasn't going to ruin our little guy (we hope!) so Bret shot off all his fireworks and we left about 10pm. Will slept on the way home and we treated putting him to bed like his normal dreamfeed. Here's hoping for back to normal routine tomorrow!

We bought Will's Fourth of July outfit last summer (the jumper; yes, I was still pregnant when we were planning what he would wear!). And it turned out wonderful!