I Had to Snap This Picture!

I couldn't resist taking this picture at the Community Center after Will's last soccer game.  I hope the sign is legible.  Lindsay and I just had to laugh.

Indoor Soccer

Will's last game of indoor soccer at the Community Center was tonight.  He has improved a lot over last year and he really enjoyed playing.  It was sad to think that this was his last soccer game with Natalee as a teammate.  They really enjoyed playing together - finding bugs, stretching shirts over their heads, twirling around, chasing one another - oh yeah, and playing soccer! 

 

Of all Will's moves during the game I think this is the one I'm
most proud of.  He stopped to help a teammate who had fallen. 
In the game we love to have the teammate who can score the
goals and steal the ball but in life, on and off the field, we
always need the teammate who will pick us up when we're down.
I hope William will always be that person!

Moving Back Home

After a lot of prayer and contemplation, we have decided to move back to Covington for Jerry to accept a position back with MWV as Production Services Manager at Low Moor.  It's really a bittersweet move for us.  We are so excited to be close to our family again but it's going to be hard to leave behind everything this area has to offer, especially all the people we've met here.

Jerry had the idea of traveling to Covington for Easter to surprise everyone with the news and it turned out to be quite a surprise!  No one was expecting us for Easter and we pulled in just as Mom, Tom, Aunt Andrea, Richard, and Grandad were pulling out of the driveway to go to dinner.  Everyone's reaction to our arrival was priceless.  The only thing that topped it was delivering the news that we would be moving back to Covington.  Will gave Mom an Easter basket with an egg containing the message.  It was hilarious because everyone assumed we were announcing that I was pregnant!  (I am NOT, by the way!)  The next day we got to share the news with everyone during Easter dinner at Mom's house.  It was definitely a special day!



     

Fruit Flowers

Will had an Easter party at Two by Two preschool yesterday.  I signed up to bring a fruit snack which gave me a good excuse to make some fruit flowers.  Will wasn't impressed but the little girls in his class were.  : )

Will was pleased with the chocolate covered strawberries!

Our Last Play Day at the Community Center

Today was our last Play Day at the Community Center.  Next year William will be in kindergarten!!  I really can't believe that time is almost here.  Play Day has been such a lifesaver through the long, cold winter months when we couldn't get outside but Will still had plenty of energy.  Plus, it often served as sanity-saving adult conversation for me!  We are both going to miss it!

This year the big kids have really enjoyed riding and racing the big wheels!  

 

This was actually the last Play Day for quite a few kids in the group.
Natalee, Annie, Will Wallen, and Grace will also be starting kindergarten.

 

Looking Back

 

Look how much they've grown up!! 
This is Brady, Natalee, and Will at Play Day in November of 2010.

 

Visiting Grandma

We planned a trip to Grandma's house last weekend to visit and go to the Maple Festival for pancakes with maple syrup, donuts, and Pecan Yummies.  Of course I always enjoy the ride along 220 North to Highland county and the new lambs at the farms along the way.  This year was rainy so we didn't get to walk through the displays for very long but it was a nice time to visit with everyone anyway.

While we were in town, Tom took us to see the new lambs from
the sheep he sold this year.  They were sooo cute!!! 

They were loving the warm sunshine!

Will got to hold a brand new baby.  He had just been born a few hours
before we arrived!

Where else but grandma's house can you play with shaving cream
and food coloring!?!?

It did make some really pretty swirls.  Mom, I haven't forgotten you
promised to save some for me to play with too!!

My New Toy

Mom got me a meat grinder for Christmas!  Is being excited about that a sign I'm getting old??  It  kind of sounds that way.  Oh well, I'm still excited.  : )

I tried it out for the first time yesterday.  Will was sick with a cold this week so we've been stuck in the house way too much.  We were both bored and tired of each other and couldn't think of any entertainment.  The meat grinder provided a great solution! 

My finished product:  ground chicken!  Doesn't it look great? 
I can't wait to try it out.  Chicken meatball subs
for dinner one day soon!  : )

A Moment to Brag

Just a couple of months ago I was worrying that Will wasn't really going to be ready for kindergarten in the fall.  They always say kids develop so much in the last six months before school, and I guess they're right because I have seen so many changes in Will recently. 

He has started enjoying Two by Two (the preschool that is structured more like kindergarten) and now complains about Jack & Jill (the one that's focused on play with just basic learning).  At home he has been more willing to work on activity sheets and he's really been showing interest in learning sight words on flash cards.  He does a great job sounding them out too! 

The other day he and I were using a printed page of sight words to make funny sentences.  My funny sentence:  He is a can.  Will was much more excited about the one he made up:  See my we!!  Have I ever mentioned potty humor is one of Will's favorite things?!  I could really motivate him with a set of words that included pee, poop, gas, and vomit!  Oh the joys of having a boy.

Will earned his Number Certificate at Two by Two by counting to 30 and
identifying numbers 1 - 20.  We celebrated with a round of laser tag
and a few games at Slinky Action Zone over the weekend.

Fun in Richmond

Will and I went to Richmond over the weekend to visit Aunt Andrea and Richard and to (finally) get my hair cut and colored.  After my hair appointment Friday we found a really cool inflatable play center called Monkey Joe's.  It was a huge room full of bounce houses and inflatable slides.  Needless to say Will had a ball!  Of course I forgot my camera so you'll have to suffer through blurry cell phone pics.

This was only half of the play area - I was impressed by the size.

 

Motion blur amputated Will's arm!  I don't think he stopped moving the
whole three hours we were there!

Aunt Andy couldn't resist Will's pleas to join the fun - for one round anyway. 
The slide about made her sick!! 

By the time she recovered Will had made another trip down the slide
and they both tried to squeeze through the exit!
(she'll kill me when she sees this post!)
hahahahaha!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Yesterday we rushed to finish making Valentine's Day gifts for Will's teachers at school.  I saw the idea on the computer but didn't have time to do them exactly as they were depicted so we ended up decorating these with heart stickers instead.

Will was really concentrating on cutting out the heart shaped tags   : )

Our finished bottles of Valentine's Day hand soap!

We woke up this morning to a beautiful coating of snow paired with sunny blue skies that made the snow sparkle like glitter!  I briefly hoped to take some pictures, but I quickly remembered that I had an appointment at Jerry's work for a health screening.   : (   Needless to say, I would have much rather been taking pictures than suffering though blood work!  I did snap a few quick pictures before the snow melted this afternoon!

 

This evening we enjoyed what has become our traditional Valentine's Day dinner, steaks, sweet potatoes, green beans, and rolls with chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.  Plus, Jerry bought me flowers! 

Looking back I am amazed at how many Valentine's Day activities we did:
 - Will filled out 32 Valentines for his classmates at preschool
 - We baked cookies
 - Will wrote and decorated five Valentines to mail to family
 - We made special gifts for his teachers
 - I made a Valentine for Will that he could paint with watercolors to reveal a special message
 - Will gave me a princess pencil he had received at preschool (explaining that he couldn't make anything, and couldn't draw anything, and wasn't allowed to go to the store by himself to buy anything.)
 - Then he painted two more Valentines for me!

All for a holiday that I've always felt like was created by Hallmark to boost card sales!  I have to laugh!