Animals, Rides and Tractors, Oh My!!!!

Tonight the kids and I headed out to the Hudsonville fair with my mom! The plan was to see the animals, ride a few rides and sit on as many tractors as possible. Well....we did all these things, but had our hands full with my two little munchkins!! Kailyn had spent the night and all day with my mom, and therefore didn't get as much sleep as her little body requires without putting her in a mood! And Will is just Will and can't tell us yet, using words, what his deal is. So needless to say I am so thankful for my mom and the fact that she has the patience of Job...Thanks mom, I love you!!!!They were taking this sheep out to show and the girl stopped to let us pet it!

Lazy Pigs!The first ride the kids got to go on together. It was a little train that was on tracks and the kids had "steering wheels." You couldn't wipe the smile off their faces.....one of the sweetest moments of the night for sure! This guy was doing a kid show every few hours and we just happened to catch one! He had singing and dancing and some instruments for the kids to play. Unfortunately my kids were getting hungry, which for those of you with small kids know can cause some different moods! However, Kailyn really did enjoy herself while she was able to participate:)
Here they are stomping like dinosaurs!

Here the kids are finally getting to ride the carousel. We made them wait because we only had so many tickets and the adults needed one too. But, we could tell that our time at the fair needed to come to an end....so we spent our last tickets on this ride instead of going on two more...the kids never knew the difference!The next few pictures are of the kids on several different tractors...I think Will got on every single one! We also ran into my sister and her family and I was able to get a few pictures with Michael too:)
A lot of the big tractors were locked, but the kids enjoyed climbing up the steps and standing on the "decks" for a while.One of the more tender moments between these two....I love your hair Michael!The wheels on these things were just so huge...Will could sit right in the wheel wells:)

Daddy's Helper!

This was the scene on Friday night as the boys took down Will's crib! He had slept in his big boy bed for a couple of nights and was doing great:) We also have the basement ripped apart and needed more space for the toys that were taking over the living room! Anyway, the kids were at first just playing on Will's bed and watching him, but apparently Will wanted to be a big helper! Too precious!!I'm sure daddy couldn't have done it without you, buddy!

Rainy Day Fun!

The rain we have been getting is wonderful and all, but it sure makes for some long days indoors. Yesterday we did some rainy day activities including: a coloring page with an umbrella, an umbrella craft, building a fort in the living room, Mr. Potato Heads, lots of book reading, and watching a Disney parade on YouTube! And because it rained so hard, we even got a special guest for lunch- Daddy!!! He was soaked and needed some dry clothes, so he came home and had lunch with us under the fort:)The kids had a fun time making the craft...Will didn't really understand how to stick things in his glue, he just wanted to dab it and take it on and off the paper!

Our nice big fort!!! We always be sure to include the T.V. inside our fort so we can snuggle up and watch a movie:)
I still have some activities up my sleeve, but with the basement ripped up it's been a challenge!

Big Boy!

Today at naptime I gave Will the choice of where he wanted to sleep: the crib or his big boy bed. We have had his bed ready and in his room for several months now but he's never really been that into it...unless its to play on! Anyway, for the last almost two weeks, Will has been putting himself to sleep at both nap and bedtime. I had been rocking him to sleep and loved every minute of it....but it was time! Well, today he chose to sleep in his big boy bed and never once did I hear him or did he try to get out. Way to go Will!!! I bet you never would have guessed that he would have sport balls on his sheets:) I figure he probably dreams about them....so why not!!!!!

Great-Grandma's toy!

My grandma has just recently been struggling physically and is now using a cane, among other things......we invited her over for dinner last night and the kids thought that her cane was the coolest new toy on the planet!! This of course delighted my grandma and she loved watching what Will would do with it next....at one point he was using it like a horse:)My grandma always refers to Will as "dimples."

Where has the time gone?

My little man turned 2 at the end of July, but just yesterday we went for his 2-year well child visit with Dr. Green!!! The Doctor was really happy with the way Will looks and we're hoping not to have to use his nebulizer again for a long time.....he said that hopefully he will grow out of it:) Anyway, William is a total boy and showed it throughout his appt. He was climbing on the chair in our room, moving a stool to wash his hands and loved hitting the mobile of fish that was in our room....thank heavens daddy got to come and help! He was also a trooper when it came time for shots....he had three of them and cried pretty hard, but only for about 30 seconds. Later in the day he walked up to Ryan and told him "ouch" while holding out the band-aid that he had taken off his leg! We are so proud of you Will and love listening to you talk and use new words and especially love it when you sing to Jesus:) These are some of the pics that were taken by my uncle earlier this summer! I'll end this post with his stats. At 2, he weighs 28 1/2 pounds and is 34 1/2 inches tall!!! That's a long way from the 7 pounds he came into the world with!!! We love you Will:)

Tools, tools, tools!

Last night Will found Ryan's belt holder for tools and decided he wanted to wear it on his own belt!! Kailyn also joined in the fun by putting on her belt and sticking tools into it! She was a little more glamourous, what with her shiny belt and all! They had fun going around and fixing things with their tools, but not without the expected sibling fight or two over tool ownership and usage!!Showing off their tool belts!!!You can tell that Kailyn is saying "cheese" in this one:)

BIG Sister!

The other day, Kailyn and Will were chasing each other around playing dinosaur!! Will turned around and ran right into the kitchen table:( All I heard was a "crack" sound!!! I knew when he fell to his knees that he was in pain. I scooped him up and settled him down a bit before looking at the nice shiner he had on his forhead. He was really distraught and I was in the middle of doing something that couldn't wait, so I asked Kailyn if she would read books to him. She loves to make up stories using the pictures or retelling her favorite ones that she has pretty much memorized. It is so precious to hear and see my children have such love for each other, but also reading!!!! Thanks for being such a caring big sister, Kailyn!

"Keep your eye on the ball!"

I used this phrase tonight with Will while playing t-ball. It was so funny!!! He looked at me really cute and bent down to put his "eye" on the ball:) When I started laughing (and treasuring what he was doing in my heart) he took the ball off the "t" and touched it to his face!!! So precious! Thanks Will for the adorable memory:) I love you!

Silly Disguises!

Over the summer, Kailyn and Will have been reading a ton and collecting prizes from the summer reading program at the library!! This is just one of the many prizes they have collected - so silly!!!! Can you tell it's them?

Mommy's Helper

Last night when I went to set the table, Will wanted to help!!! He set the entire table, except the napkins and as you can tell, he was pretty proud of himself:) Thanks little man for being so willing to help mommy with setting the table!The glasses were a bit of challenge because his legs are so short:)

Build-A-Bear

For the kids' second birthday we take them to Build-A-Bear to make and dress a bear! So, on Monday we headed to Rivertown and made Will a bear! Kailyn took her bear, Koda, in hopes of getting a new outfit for her:) Will didn't quite understand the whole thing, but his bear, Destroyer, sure turned out cute.Watching the bear get stuffed and stitched up!They both had a great time giving their bears a bath!! Kailyn even found some bear brushes and brushed her bear's hair:)After the bear-making we headed to the carousel- another birthday treat!!! The anticipation was half the fun:)Kailyn had already picked out which horse she wanted to ride over a week ago when we visited the mall, so Will just took the horse next to hers. She said it was the one with "wavy hair"!

The birthday boy ready to go!
When the ride was done, I got the best picture. Will had a melt-down when it was time to move on - such a two-year-old! After the ride we headed to Olga's for lunch - yum!Will chillin with the "Big D" before nap time on Monday!! I bet you could have never guessed that he would have picked the football accessories:)

Happy Birthday!

On the night of Will's birthday Ryan's mom and dad came over for pizza, cupcakes and ice cream. This was one of the first times I think I remember Will getting excited over presents! Here he is getting ready to open some and being very patient I might add!He absolutely loved the Diego doll that we got him and when I said to look at me and say cheese, he put Diego in front of his face and said cheese!This was grandpa and grandma's gift to Will and he couldn't wait to get it out of the box. Unfortunately, we don't play soccer inside so we had a melt-down until we just removed the ball and let him play with that! He wore it as a hat, because it had no air in it yet, but at least he was happy!

Grandma always finds the biggest birthday bags! This one Will could have fit inside. In this picture he is digging for the crayons and coloring book in the bottom:)Daddy was a good sport and let the kids use his back as a table to color on!

Let's get ready to RUMBLE!!!!

Will's second birthday was on July 31st! So to celebrate, family and friends gathered on Saturday night for a football extravaganza!!!! The theme was football and I took it to the limits:) We had football invitations, mylar balloons, decorations and of course the cake! I also took green butcher paper and covered the counters with it and made yard lines to make it look like a football field! I have to admit I absolutely had a riot planning for this party! It's also my brother's senior year playing football this year - so I decided to kickoff the season right:) As everyone arrived, they picked out a football tattoo to wear for the evening! What fun!These invitations took forever!!! But they sure turned out cute:) Those in attendance were: Great-grandma Bos, Grandma and Grandpa Kole, Uncle Josh and Miss Aimee, Todd and Kristi, Michael and Brook, Uncle Chad and Aunt Libby and Uncle Aaron.

The kids all decked out in their football gear - all the way down to Kailyn's hairbow!
Waiting patiently for our guests to arrive! Everybody was running a little late, except for Josh and Aimee (which I'm sure has everything to do with the fact that Josh had to pick Aimee up!) and my grandma! It ended up being a rainy night so we were stuck inside without the basement playroom! Needless to say it was a little bit loud at times! The spread of food! We did all tail-gating types of food with burgers and hot dogs.Some pictures of the decorations before everybody came! The house was decked out to be sure! I also had four huge football mylars that don't seem to be in any pictures!
Our special football cake donned with Uncle Josh's helmet and football picture!Before we could get the helmet over to the cake Will had to wear it for a few minutes:)
The next several are of Will opening gifts. Our family and friends were incredibly generous and gave from their hearts! It's great to have people that know our son so well:)

The football potty seat from Grandpa and Grandma was a hit! From the minute he saw it- he wanted to take it to the potty and use it!Our first remote control!Giving Great-Grandma a hug for the balls she gave him!
It didn't take Will long to get creative with the potty seat! (Especially since he isn't at all interested in potty training yet!)

He sat on the potty seat for most of the time while he opened presents:) Silly boy!
The last thing to be given to Will was this adorable football toy box!! What a perfect ending!Even with all his other toys, he insisted on using the potty seat throughout the rest of the party!Saying "Cheese" for the cake pictures!

We learned something about our son through this party and that is that he is incredibly shy when he's in the spotlight. The whole time we were singing "Happy Birthday" to him he put his head down and turned red!!!!Wearing the helmet one more time before eating cake!!! Hopefully we didn't leave anything in it for Uncle Josh to discover later!

After Uncle Josh left, he tried to wear one of the little helmets that I had put on the cupcakes:)