First Birthday Party!

in the midst of strawberry festival madness, we celebrated Will's first birthday! we had a small party with just family and lots of good food. Will had the best time. he smacked his lips at the food, devoured cake, investigated every card and gift, and played like a champ. 

i was sticking (loosely) to a mickey mouse clubhouse theme, so my mom and cousin beth were convinced that Will needed his own clubhouse (out of a cardboard box...what kids really want to play with anyways).  it was perfect...and Will LOVED it!...lots of clapping and "a-da's" (which means he loved it).

i printed Will's weekly pictures so that everyone could see them...so cool to see my baby grow up his first year.   

Will had no idea what to do with the cake, and unfortunately i don't have video evidence (i must not have hit record...i am sick over it). but after we gave him his own piece, he started to get into it and was eventually shoveling handfuls of cake into his mouth. oy vey!

what IS this delicious concoction that is squishing between my fingers?

Will got an easy chair, a carolina chair, a swing, a tricycle, an airplaine and tugboat, a dumptruck and car, a leapfrog dog, books, clothes, and a red rider wagon...i believe he made out like a fat rat! oh, and a hot rodding magazine from pawpaw ;-)

 

 

after we had eaten ourselves into a coma, we walked up to the grand feature parade and had some amazing (i.e., the best i've ever had) strawberry shortcake with homemade ice cream! Will loved it and saved some strawberry on his chin for the rest of the afternoon.

and in the aftermath of the party, he is still enamored with his clubhouse...first birthday success!

Will turns ONE!

Will's birthday was this past tuesday...May 13!  brian had the day off of school, so we decided to take a little trip...first to charleston for mother's day and a visit with my college friends...our group has grown just a bit since our college days...

then to charlottesville to eat some good food and see some of our favorite people!

bodo's bagels, our favorite charlottesville breakfast, for the birthday boy...

little john's for lunch with some of my former labmates, and dinner with robin and jeff, who Will also agrees are some of the coolest!...

robin is a talented photographer and grabbed my camera to get a few first birthday shots for us...such a sweet gift to celebrate our boy's first year...thanks robin!!

AND we got some ice cream, which Will was a little unsure about (but willing to keep shoveling it in)....the cake will come this weekend!

who could resist those cheeks? poor guy.  Happy Birthday, sweet boy! We love you so much!

bed joints, head joints, tuckpointing, and, well, you know....

last july, i gave an update on our outside projects. somehow, i don't feel like this list has gotten any shorter, but we have made some progress:

wash the porch rip out rhododendron rip out plants and ivy on side of house (or prune?)
fix mortar in cracks till front yard to even-out crappy work by the city and replant grass
till sides of house and regrade landscape front of house
fill cracks in porch steps
paint porch steps so they don't look like poop paint porch railing paint ugly board above door (or better yet, replace with a door that FITS!!!)
paint the house...bye bye red!
flash chimney relocate family of squirrels living in our soffit  :-)

the brickwork on the side of the porch steps was in really bad shape (i.e., the wall was falling over).  once we tore the ivy out, we realized it had completely pulverized most of the mortar. the wall pretty much needed rebuilt.

problem: that's about the last thing we want to spend money paying someone to do.

luckily, i am just dumb enough to think that watching a few youtube videos makes you an expert...and my husband is dumb smart enough to go along with me.

enter: joanna, the mason. :-)  i knew more lingo than the guys at lowes.

so, today, my first official day of summer break, i learned how to mix mortar and lay brick. i'm tickled pink with how it turned out (for $70!!!), even though i finished my joints differently than the existing joints and got the mortar color wrong in a few places.  i have already taken some advil before bed. i am not the young pup i once was!


before...yikes!...

during...always the ugliest part....

 

boo helped...she barked when creepy dudes were watching me... 

AFTER....

Happy No Pants Day!

my friend brad texted me today, reminding me that today was National No Pants Day!...phew, i had almost forgotten.


Will participated.

 

Easter

Will and I got to spend Easter weekend with my family.  brian left friday for a tough mudder race in the poconos with one of his best college buddies (hopefully pictures to come), so we headed to nan and pap's house. brian got back sunday evening for dinner, but we didn't get a family picture. bummer. Will got to play with uncle trey, play with his "easter basket" toys from nan and pap...beach toys for later this summer, and hunt easter eggs.

i have some work to do on buying gifts for this boy (especially since his birthday is TWO WEEKS away...ahhh!).  i guess because we know others are going to get him toys, we get his essentials.  for example, our best contributions for an easter basket were new socks (so Will's legs no longer look like stuffed sausages...see evidence below) and a toothbrush/toothpaste combo (b-o-r-i-n-g)! maybe as he gets older and starts playing with things i'll be dying to buy him toys.  until then, the amazon box we get in the mail every once in a while seems to be doing the trick.

these socks are practically strangling his legs. poor guy.

he was storing the eggs in his cheeks, like a squirrel, until he made it back to the basket...surely....

11 month tricks

I smashed a few iphone videos together of Will's latest tricks including waving, saying no and dada, transfering between pieces of furniture (he's SO CLOSE to walking), and some awesome games of hide and seek...or hide and peek...or something like that!?