Pilot in training

Will decided to try on Daddy's helmet tonight. Actually, Keith brought it in the house because he wanted Will to try it on. The poor kid will grow up to hate airplanes after all the pressure! Keith stuck the helmet on Will's head and he almost fell over. It is quite heavy, especially on a 20 lb person. But he managed to stand up for a few shaky pictures. Then he just wanted Keith to put it on so he could maneuver the mic and the visor. Pretty cool stuff for kids of all ages!








We also celebrated Keith's 30th birthday (Feb 18th) this weekend with a small dinner party at our house. We had a great time. Our friend Christy was nice enough to make the cake, since I don't bake and no one wanted store-bought cookies anyway! I didn't put 30 candles on his cake but did spell out Happy Birthday. He blew them right out. Good boy! I did manage to decorate his car with window paint tonight, although he won't see that until he gets up in the morning! Happy Birthday!!!

Play all day

Will hit the 18 month mark yesterday and is as full of.....um.....we'll say energy. He's as crazy as any toddler I know! His antics are frustrating, hilarious, and exhausting all at the same time. His new favorites are cars and trucks. He shouted "truck" every time we saw a truck-like vehicle on the road today, even if it was not a truck at all. He is also interested in numbers and has started to learn to count. The other night, he actually counted from 1-10 all by himself and only skipped 8. But he usually needs more prompting than that. He doesn't seem to be a big fan of the number 1 either. Personally, I find 1 and 8 to be overrated. His love of everything Elmo continues, much to my chagrin. He'll ask for Elmo any time we turn on the TV. I guess my idea to spoil him by letting him watch Elmo when he was sick has backfired. Oh well! At least he doesn't want to watch South Park like his father! We're having a lot of fun learning new words as well. He can now say "love you" and shouts "bye" and "see ya" anytime someone leaves the house. He has quite a personality. Grandma Gigi and Papa Rick are coming to visit in May and we're very excited about that. They'll be in for a big surprise at all the changes in the little man!

We got out to enjoy the gorgeous weather this weekend. Will took a liking to this giant sea turtle at the park.


Future couch potato in the making! He's probably watching Elmo...


Spaghetti has become one of his favorite meals. He insists on adding his own parmesan cheese though, which can get quite messy!

Laughing up a storm

It has been a pretty uneventful January for us so far, thus we have few pictures to share. Keith left for San Diego on January 3rd. He's been flying out there all month; we're hoping he'll make it home next week. Was supposed to be Saturday but as usual it is now next week. Will actually had pneumonia over New Year's so we stayed home and took it easy. After Keith left, Will and I had the stomach flu so we didn't feel like sharing pictures of that either! :) We did finally make it up to DC to see Aunt Jill and attend Barack Obama's inauguration, with two million of our closest friends. It was awesome. Pictures to follow, as soon as I get them from a friend. In the meantime, I did get some good shots of Will giggling away. The funniest things set him off on a laughing fit these days. Blowing bubbles in the bathtub, tickling his tummy or under his chin, chasing the cats. He does have a lot of smiles and for that I am thankful. I'm sure he'll have even more when Daddy is finally home at the end of the month!!!

Time for a haircut!

We realized the time had come for Will to get his first haircut. We knew he needed one for a month or so but we kept putting it off. I think the first official haircut signals the transition from babyhood to big boy life. Sigh. But he was starting to develop a mullet (although those tend to be popular here in southern VA) so it was time. We went to this great place in Virginia Beach called Pigtails and Crewcuts. They cater to kids and have fun cars instead of chairs to sit in, play movies, and have staff who is great with kids. Will was a little wary thoughout the process but he was distracted enough that it wasn't a big deal. Here he is before the big snip, looking a little shaggy.

Will got to choose his "chair". There was a firetruck, car, airplane, and taxi. He chose the taxi; I think Keith was a little disappointed that he didn't go for the plane! Here he is thinking "You mean I get to sit in this cool taxi? How bad can this be?"

This is when he started to get a little unsure of the situation. Every time the hairdresser tried to go in for the cut, Will kept leaning away from her. I kept thinking he'd fall out of the taxi before she'd get to the hair.

He looks like he's driving a get away car; trying to get out of this situation fast!


The finished product! He looked so handsome and grown-up with his big boy haircut.

A very Merry Christmas indeed!

Merry Christmas! We have survived the holidays and managed to greatly enjoy ourselves amid the hustle and bustle. We stayed home for Christmas once again and rather enjoyed waking up in our own house on Christmas morning! Aunt Jill came down on Tuesday and we spent the week eating, drinking, and being merry. Will's second Christmas was a great success. Last year we had to help him open gifts; this year he couldn't wait to open his and even help us open ours. He loved ripping the paper off and even donned a gold bow on his head! (great fashion sense...he already knows the importance of accessories!) Of course, he got WAY too many presents (spoiled child!) and actually became a little overwhelmed at one point. I think we should have rationed them and given him one gift a week for the new few months...but where's the fun in that? All in all, he did well and is thoroughly entertained with his new toys. Unfortunately for mom and dad, Will received a lot of musical gifts. Yikes! We already had to put some away to avoid the inevitable loud-toy-induced headache. After his new maracchas, keyboard with working microphone (thanks, Jill) and other assorted noisy toys, he ought to be the next Bach or something. We'll let you know how that progresses! We hope everyone had a great holiday with their family and friends. Visitors are always welcome for Christmas 2009!


Will composing his first masterpiece on his new keyboard. He kept yelling "hello" into the microphone!


Santa brought Will a new trike. He won't really be riding it until next year but he sure had fun scooting around the living room on it. He didn't get the whole concept of pedaling so we just pushed him instead.


Will and Aunt Jill on Christmas Eve. Thanks for coming to celebrate with us!


Will opening his stocking on Christmas morning. He wasn't really sure what he'd find in there...

California Dreamin'

We went, we saw, we cried when we left! We returned Monday from our trip to San Diego. It was glorious! The weather was perfect, the food was great, and we really enjoyed seeing our friends again. Of course, Will didn't adjust to the time change, we ran out of time to see everyone, and we really wanted to stay, but all in all, it was a good vacation. We went to SD so Keith could be a groomsman in his friend Todd's wedding. Todd and Jenn were married overlooking the ocean at 4pm on the 6th. The setting was beautiful, as was the bride. We got to spend a lot of time catching up with Keith's college buddies, which is always a trip! We also visited our friends' new baby, Wyatt, and caught up "Aunt" Sarah and the Ventimiglias, who just moved to San Diego from Virginia this month (lucky!) We were so grateful for Grandma Charma, who flew from Nebraska to San Diego so she could take care of Will while we did fun wedding stuff. They got to spend a lot of one-on-one time, which was great for them both. Thanks, Grams, for making the trip with us. We couldn't have done it without you! Now we're back home trying to adjust to the climate change and counting down the days until Christmas!


Grandma Charma and Will in front of the Christmas tree at the Hotel del Coronado. Their decorations are always amazing!

















Keith and Will watching the fish at Balboa Park in San Diego. Will knows the sign-language for fish so this was one of his favorite stops!


















The wedding party, minus Ryan the best man. From left, Todd (groom), Keith, Jay, Greg, Modesto.


















"Aunt" Sarah with Allyson and Will at the Hotel del Coronado. We miss you!

Where's William???

Will was having a rough day so we let him play in the leaves while we raked and bagged. He didn't really want to play so much as he just wanted to sit in the leaves. Whatever works! He was content to hang out in the pile for twenty minutes or so while we worked around him. Too bad I don't have a giant pile of leaves in the house when I need to get something done. Perhaps I'll invent that! We started with a few leaves...



And added a few more...



And topped it off. Snug as a...boy in some leaves?