Baby Crush

When Will was just a few months old Kevin made a comment that I never forget. He said he had never seen anyone look at a person the way I looked at Will. He continued, " It's a good thing Will is an extension of me, because if you looked at any other male that way, I would be crushed. " He then referred to my snuggling, and kissing with my baby Will as my " BABY CRUSH " .

I still have my "baby crush", only he is just two months away from being two-years old!

We have called him " Monkey Boy " with obvious advancement in physical ability. He could pull up to standing at seven months.

We have called him " Houdini" as he can seemingly disappear and you will find him wedged between the wall and a couch, just trying to see if he can fit in the small space.

And Will is always going to be famous in our family for the most stunning thing he did before age one. He figured out how to open the child proof locked cabinets! With determination we watched him try and try again, when he finally figured out, if you just open the cabinet as far as it will go, and then pull hard and down on the lever, it opens! No one would believe it, until they saw the video I captured. Then they almost broke their jaw, gasping at his advancement ;)

One thing we have never noticed in Will, is any indication that he is related to Brooke. Besides his bursting with laughter just like her, there isn't a lot of resemblance in their personalities, until now.....

Will has decided just like Brooke, that he LOVES to read!!!!!

I never expected my " Speedy Gonzales " to actually sit on my lap and read book, after book the way that Brooke did as a baby, and as a child now.

He has proven me wrong.... and at this rate, I think he will also, like Brooke, know his whole alphabet by age three and be able to read small words at three-years, just as she did.

Will brings me a book almost daily, and with the sweetest baby voice he says, " Mama I wanna read, Mama I wanna read book. " He grabs my finger and pulls me towards the cabinet where we keep the books. I sit down. After he gets a book out, he sits down very intently on my lap, like I am his personal reading chair. These are the golden moments as a Mother.

And you know that no matter what I am doing in the day, my heart melts when he does this. I will drop what I am doing to read with him. He can sit for ten min. on my lap while I read him books.

 Will's favorite pages have bugs, trucks, planes and helicopters on them.

Will is such a boy!!!!

  

 He learned very quickly how to say his favorite things, like this boat. He points and says very clearly, " boat, boat, boat ."

                                                    He is imagining riding in a helicopter....

                                        He searches for this page every time he sees this book...

                                                      This is when I started teasing him.....

                                                      

                                 Grandma Pack always loves teaching the kids by reading to them...

                         Grandpa Pack and Brooke got some reading time in this Sunday too!

He is still keeping me on my toes at every moment.....

     We better be careful about what we let this one read...He just had to see if he could do it himself :)

Feathered Friends, a Family Affair

You would think that memories would surface, after we transported a kitten eight hours in our van to Kansas City? You would think that we would be done driving animals with us on road trips. I guess the constant meowing, that drove Kevin to stop at a gas station, get out of the car, and begin duct tapping the cat carrier to the top of the car, just wasn't traumatizing enough for me, or him. Jeff and Tricia owe me a thanks for convincing Kevin that duct tape would not withstand the force of the wind and the baby kitten that Jeff just paid six hundred dollars for, would be dead on the highway.

No flash backs of the constant meow would surface after we touched the fuzzy soft yellow feathers. Well...not for me anyways...I always wanted a pet duck as a kid.

 On one of our million stops,(since Kevin is incapable of driving for more than two hours with out stopping, because he has to see what every strange town has to offer), on the way to Kansas City three years ago, for Easter we pulled over to a Farmers Market where they were selling baby ducks and chicks. Of course, I know Kevin gets the blame for all of this, but his little secret is that I begged him to buy a few of these ducks and chicks. Of course, Kevin knew he had a way out of us keeping them, so he said, " Yes! Great Easter gift for the nieces and nephews." No thought to calling his siblings to get permission, or ask if they had a place to keep these farm animals. He figured they would love it, that is the funny part.

The next six hours we could not stop laughing. Well I couldn't, and I know Kevin laughed a lot too. I put a duck and chick on each of his shoulders and watched as the passing cars looked over to a man with waterfowl on his shoulder, driving down the highway. I laughed as Brooke ( three years old ) had a perfect little duck seat. (Her cup holder attached to her car seat.) Brooke told me for months after we got rid of the duck, that  her cup holder wasn't for a cup, it was for a duck!

The cheeping was nothing compared to the meow of that cat. We stopped as soon as we could and got a heating lamp, a big container, food and water for our feathered passengers.

Everyone loved our Easter gift. Okay..... well not at first. Everyone was a little upset that we didn't ask, but it turned out okay. Three years later, feathered friends still continue to be a family affair for us. And three years later, Kevin's family still reminds us not to bring any live animals with us to visit!

This year I had to share this experience with more than just our family. Brooke and I snuck out of the house one Sat. to scope out the duck situation at the local farming store. It was a few weeks before Easter so I didn't even think they would be in stock yet. I was surprised when they told me that they had just sold the last duck they had, and that they didn't know if they were going to get anymore this year?

No, that was not an option for me. I drove another few miles to another farming store, where they told me that ducks were in high demand this year, and that all the stores were having trouble getting more in. No, that was not an option for me. I called at least eight farming stores up to a forty five min. away and asked to be put on a list of the first person to call when they got the ducks in.

You know if someone had heard me on the phone that day trying to find some ducks, they might have thought I was extorting ducks, or that I was planning to open a small business of exporting them, or maybe they might think I had a webbed foot fetish. Well, if they had seen my children's beautiful smiles, and if they knew me, they would know that there was no way I was missing an opportunity to see my kids, and some more beautiful children smile and laugh.

I got the call that the ducks had come in, and they asked me a few times if I really wanted them, because they told me again they had a lots of people coming in an asking about them. I assured them those ducks need not imprint on someone else, I was on my way.

Kevin couldn't come with me this year to pick up the ducks, and I am telling you he missed out on the biggest laugh that Will has ever bellied up. It was hysterical. When he saw the two large bins full of chicks and ducks he actually lifted his hands in the air, put his head down, closed his eyes and began laughing. Brooke then started laughing too. It was so funny!

We got a childrens out door playhouse a few months prior to this that ended up being perfect for the ducks to live in. It was easier to clean up this year because all we had to do was move the playhouse to another part of the patio and hose it off. Their swimming pool was a sand box we got free from a neighbor.

We took the ducks to the church Easter egg hunt this year to share the joy, and it was a hit! We had literally one-hundred kids lined up to see and take pictures with these ducks. It was so neat to share this excitement. This will be the plan from here on out!

We can't wait for the ducks again next year!!!!! Hopefully these ones will come back to our lake and we will see them too, since that is where we released them.

The Akershus Banquet Hall located in Germany in the Epcot center, was the event Brooke was most excited for at Disney World. Thank you Grandpa Pack for setting up all our character reservations and making this one possible.

At this four course meal, every one of the princesses comes to your table to greet their fans. Brooke got so excited she laughed and was shaking uncontrollably with excitement. She gets this shaking laugh from Grandpa Pack. She has done it since she was a baby, and when you see it, you will know it. It's a rare laugh, but when she does it, you will not forget it. It means she is uncontrollably happy. ( Grandpa Pack does it too )

She had a question for each of the princesses prepared before they came to the table. Pretty clever way to sneak in extra time with her favorite movie stars.

Brooke asked Aurora if she still saw her fairy friends. She said that she had tea and cookies with them last week.

                                    Brooke asked Belle if she lived in the castle still? Belle's answer was , " Yes, and if you ever come to my palace and you dance with the beast, watch out for your feet, because he is heavy! "

Brooke asked Cinderella if she ever saw her mice anymore. Cinderella said that the last time she saw them, they were playing freeze tag.

                                       Brooke waiting for the princesses to come to our table

Brooke asked Ariel if she ever went back in the ocean. Ariel said that she has been practicing a song for her fish friend Flounder. She will be going in the ocean to sing it to him.

We began our " Under the Sea ", experience by riding the Finding Memo ride. We took our  journey into the sea sitting in a seashell. You can not even tell that all the characters from the movie " Finding Memo," are really just holographic images being projected onto a an aquarium window, with real fish right beside them. We saw scenes from the movie, and the best part is riding the waves with Crush the turtle. After the ride you enter the aquarium. When you step right up next to the huge glass window, you really feel as if you are in the water with the sharks, dolphins, manatees, and tons of other species of fish.

Tinkerbell's Playground

Grandma mentioned if Brooke was going to wear costumes this time at Disney World because she thought Brooke may be uncomfortable.

The thing about Brooke is that she is one princess, who knows how to wear a dress and she knows a little dirt never hurt anyone.

Brooke wears her dress with elegance, yet she knows that nothing is worth it, if you can't have a little fun, while you are at it!

Brooke and Will had so much fun in the " Fairy Pixie Hollow Garden. " This garden was themed after the most recent movies about Tinkerbell and all of her fairy friends. Every Fairy was made out of flowers and plants. There were little Fairy houses placed all around the garden. Fairy size front porch swings, and tea cups made from acorns. The best part for the kids was the playground. They had so much fun just playing with the other kids in a beautiful garden!