525,600 Minutes... Happy Birthday Will!

Where has the time gone? Will turned one year old yesterday!
He continues to amaze and thrill us as parents,
and we are more in love with him than ever!
Happy First Birthday, Little William!

Will was an early-riser on his birthday-- 5:30 AM to be exact...
Mommy got up with Will and they had a nice quiet breakfast together
while everyone else in the house caught a few more zzzzs.
(Zoey was pretty interested in Will's cheerios, too).

"Aunt" Christa came especially to visit for Will's birthday.
Will found her necklace pretty interesting. :)

Will loves just about everything Baby Einstein, so we made
Will a Baby Einstein/"Jungle Caterpillar" cupcake cake.

Our dining room turned "Jungle!"

Seems like yesterday we took our first family portrait
in about this same spot...

Will was a little overwhelmed by the attention he received
during his party. I think he was wondering why everyone
was watching him open presents.

Cory, Mellissa, James, and Nathan joined us for Will's party!

And so did Nathan, Michelle, and Laurel!

I think that is a smile of approval. :)

The balloons were fun, too.
Here, Will is swinging one in front of the camera.
(I love the smiles of my boys! And I love my boys!)

Every good thing must come to an end...
Will is saying bye-bye to his buddy Steve.
We were thankful to have so many good friends
able to celebrate our little Will!

And for your enjoyment: Will's first birthday cake. Yummmm!!!

I'm not so sure about this sledding thing...

"Come on! It will be fun!"

"But, I'm cold, Daddy!"

"Once around the yard was plenty for me!"

Brushing my tooth.... err teeth. (I have 2 now!)

New Games

Will's new games include:
Shredding napkins at dinnertime!

Chewing on the bright orange Vitamin bottle dropper top!
Will smiles as soon as he sees us bring this to the dinner table...

Taking all of the diapers out of the basket on the changing table.
Will either opens all of them and waves them around or he
drops them down between the table and wall...

And starting to pull to a standing position.
With assistance getting up, Will enjoys standing for some time!

Little Explorer

We took Will to the Grand Rapids Public Museum this weekend. It's a fun museum that has a little bit of everything, including a beautiful carousel. Will had a blast exploring the different sights and sounds, so from the looks of it, we need to take him to more museums. :)

My first ever carousel ride!
This is going to be fun!

Even though my "horse"/deer did not go up and down,
I had fun watching the other horses rise and fall.

Mommy can't remember the last time she rode a carousel.

Weee!

Holding on tight!

Waving to Daddy on a bicycle from the 1800s.

Interesting. "Electricity is made of electrons."

Where did they go?
Watching Daddy add coins to the "coin tornado."

So many interesting things to see including a model of a whale
skeleton, a working steam engine, Egyptian mummies...

This clock is a little larger than those at our house...

One month to go... until Will's big day!

That's right... Will is 11-months-old! Difficult to believe, but he is turning more into a little boy each day! This afternoon, as we were getting Will's 11-month photos, Zoey wanted in on the action. It is fun to see her poking around in the background of these pictures, while Will unknowingly smiles for Mommy and Daddy :)

Here, Zoey is actually pushing Will forward trying to
get comfortable in her little nook.

Isn't this a classic shot of the two of them?
We promise, we did not pose them-- it would be impossible to get
Zoey to sit still if we wanted her to...

Sweet friends

Peek-a-boo

Big foot

Hey, come over here!

Will's First Christmas

Meeting Santa (in Rochester) for the first time.
Santa told us that Will wanted "A plasma TV mounted to
his bedroom wall with Barney playing 24/7."
We're not so sure about that...

Christmas with the Litwiller
side of the family!

Who knew that cold Clementines made such good teethers?

William Robert on Christmas Day 2009

Mom/Grandma and Dad/Grandpa

Dan and Reeti
Sarah and Tony

Lindsey/Mom and Andy/Dad

Sometimes I Like to Curl up in a Ball
Will seems pretty interested in the book!

Smile :)

Aunt Sarah, whatcha' readin'?

I love my new Christmas pajamas from
Grandma and Grandpa Litwiller

Uncle Dan and Reeti are so much fun!

Mirrors + Uncle Dan + Reeti= Lots of Belly Laughs

Mommy and her two "One of a Kind" Boys on her 30th(!) birthday

Not so sure about those silly antlers on my head...

Will loves to be held by his Great-Grandma Grace

Christmas with the Davidson clan

Will's first exposure to an instrument he might like
to play someday--the piano!

Will tries to help out in the kitchen

Being tickled to sleep by Great-Grandma Grace

Building block towers with Daddy

Pat, pat the puzzle box is a fun game

Shhhh-- Will went to bed :) It's game time at 3 "tables"
Table #1

Table #2

Table #3

So happy to have 4 generations together again

Pulling Mommy's hair while she tries to play the piano

Playing and singing Christmas carols together

Tee-hee :) shirt #1 from Grandma and Grandpa Litwiller:
"What Santa doesn't bring me Grandma will"

Tee-hee :) shirt #2 from Aunt Sarah and Uncle Tony:
"All I want for Christmas is my Auntie"

Christmas with the Lantz
side of the family!


Playing with Uncle Chuck and Aunt Caryn

This looks like a big one!

Listening to the lion "roar"

Will must have been pretty good this year-- Santa was good to him!

Christmas Eve at the Lantzes

We took Will to the MN Zoo for the first time while we were home for the holidays, and we were happily joined by Grandma and Grandpa Lantz and Uncle Chuck and Aunt Caryn. While Will was a little young to understand what he was looking at, he clearly enjoyed his surroundings. We all had a great day together!

You would have thought Will was an attraction at the zoo
based on this picture

Native Fish to MN

Burr! What are we looking at here, anyway?
(Wild turkeys, of course!)

The sea dragons caught Will's eye

Grandma and Grandpa Lantz

Uncle Chuck and Aunt Caryn

Our bundled-up family on "Russia's Grizzly Coast"
trail at the MN zoo

Uncle Chuck's Wii remote is pretty cool!

Having a pizza dinner at Uncle Chuck and Aunt Caryn's house
to warm-up after visiting the zoo

Will discovered that watches are pretty interesting

Grandpa and Grandma Lantz took us to Quarry Hill on New Year's Day. Will enjoyed the change in scenery and exploring the sights at the Nature Center. Unfortunately, it was too cold to enjoy the outdoor attractions.

Will peering through the model of a T-Rex scull

Warming-up in front of the fire with Grandma and Grandpa

Trying on my walking shoes

Exploring the different textures of animal fur