Will's 1st Birthday Party (in Tulare)

We had a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed 1st birthday party in California for Will on his actual birthday, June 24th. My parents let us throw the party at their house and we a wonderful time! Almost all of my family and girlfriends from both high school and college were able to make it! It was so much fun getting to see everyone and their expanding families, but it was also MORE than chaotic! We had 7 kids under the age of 1 and 14 more from the ages of 2-7. Fun, fun!! Thank you to everyone for being there to celebrate Will's big day...it was awesome!!

Grace

Kennedy

Will

Kennedy, Quincy and Kamryn

Trying to manage the chaos :)

Baby Jack

Baby Kate

The Anker kids - Case, Jack, Liv and Claire

"little kid" pool fun

High School friends - Brooke, Brittani, Julie and Grace

The crew...trying to get a picture with my girlfriends and our kids (a lot of the girls had already left, so bummed I didn't get everyone).

Tante Diane, Allison and Case

College friends - Michelle (w/Will and her daughter, Quincy), Mark, Robin, Dan, Andi and Jeffrey

Time for the cake! (Oma, what's this?)

I like everyone singing to me!

Not sure about this!

I'll give it a try?!

Success!!!

Poor Opa!...he got the stomach flu the morning of the party, so we had to get a picture with him the day after.

Will is 1-year old!!!

Our little man turned one-year old on June 24th!! I can't believe he's not a baby anymore and is now a toddler! He has developed so much since our last post...He now loves standing on his own and walking along furniture and has started walking on his own, taking about 7 or 8 steps at a time...there is such determination in his eyes, he wants to do it SO badly!! He doesn't talk much; he says mama, dada, uh-uh, un-huh and grunts a lot when he wants something :). We have tried to teach him the signs for "more" and "all done", hopefully he will learn those soon and grunt less! He is an okay eater, he really likes junk food and it is constant struggle to find healthy food he will eat. He has 12 teeth and drools more than I thought possible! He is long and lean, 32 inches long (99th percentile) and 21 pounds (41st percentile). He is ALL boy, loves to climb on everything and bang things together. He is not nearly the content baby Kennedy was, he has to be entertained constantly; if he is bored, watch out! What keeps him most entertained is taking walks around the dairy, playing outside in the water and climbing up and down the stairs - you can find Kennedy, Will and I doing one of those three things at any point in day, except when he is napping and he is a great sleeper! He is OBSESSED with his feet...putting his shoes on and stepping on everything. He LOVES trucks and tractors and anything loud and HATES animals...he is so scared of our dog and all the cows, but is starting to get a little more comfortable with them. I keep telling Paul, with a love for trucks and tractors and a fear of animals, he is bound to be a farmer :). It has been truly awesome watching him develop over his first year of life, he is so much fun and is constantly keeping us on our toes! They say boys are harder as babies and get easier as they grow up...I sure hope it's true :).

Too Cute!

The other night, Kennedy was hungry after dinner...this has been the norm lately, so I leave her dinner out until we go to bed and she can finish it if she wants to. After I sat her in her booster, I realized we hadn't heard from her in awhile; we looked over and this is what we saw...too cute!

Merv & Mary's Visit

Paul's grandparents, Merv and Mary, came out to visit June 6th through the 12th. We had a great time showing them around and they thoroughly enjoyed seeing a part of the country they had never seen before. We showed them around the dairy and Brodhead, took a 3 hour drive up to northern Wisconsin to stay with Monte and Beth and then toured the heifer ranch. In the middle of their trip Paul and I came down with the stomach flu, BAD!!, and they were beyond amazing taking care of the kids...I'm not sure what we would have done if they hadn't been here?! Thank you for a great visit!

 A few pictures of the dairy...

 The new silage pad extension

 In one of the milk trucks...notice the name, the Zimmermans haul our milk!

 Kennedy loved feeding the goldfish at Monte and Beth's

While visiting Monte and Beth, we crossed over the Mississippi River and checked out the little town of Lansing, Iowa

 The heifer ranch

Weekend on the Central Coast

The first weekend of June, we flew out to California for Rawley and Ingrid's wedding on the Central Coast. We flew into Fresno to drop the kids off with my parents (thank you Mom and Pop!!) and drove over to the coast. We decided it would be a great idea to go out in SLO on Friday night (try and re-live our college days, you know?!), so we rounded up the Bordessas, my cousin William, my sister Caitlin, her boyfriend Brent and friends Madison and Michelle. We had a great time and let's just say, we aren't 21 anymore...I was HURT-ing the next day and the worst part was, I knew I had to do it all over again that night! Thanks for showing us a good time you college kids!!

 The new Bull's...it doesn't look the same, but it sure smells the same :).

 ???

 Paul, Brent and William

RAWLEY & INGRID'S WEDDING

Rawley and Ingrid, thank you so much for giving us a reason to visit the Central Coast! We had a wonderful time celebrating with you; it was a perfect day!

 Love this couple!!

 Rawley, Ingrid and Joe

Me and Jackie

Okay, trying to get this family picture was like herding cats :)...it was the best I could do!

BACK AT THE RANCH...

Will, Kennedy and Kamryn had a great time playing in the tent Oma bought for them!

Will Graduates From His DOC Band..

On May 25th, Will graduated from his DOC band...he's done, yay!! We were so happy to be finished with it; although it was a wonderful experience...I am definitely ready to get some better cuddle time with my little man and not have to smell his stinky little head :-).

For all of those moms out there who have come to this blog questioning whether or not you should put your child in a DOC band, do it!!! I was so, so, so anxious about putting Will in his. I knew it would definitely help change his head shape, but I wondered how having something like that on his head for 23 hours a day couldn't affect his brain development. I mean, I worried so much I lost sleep over this. I read numerous mom's blogs about their experiences and everything was beyond positive about it!! I also talked to Will's doctor about it and she reassured me their would be no negative effects from the band. I decided to proceed with putting it on and if I ever felt uncomfortable about it, we would end it. Well, once I saw the helmet on him and how loose it was, I immediately felt relieved; I now knew there was no way it could affect him in a negative way. The whole process was wonderful...we drove to Madison every week or every other week and they would shave out more and more of the foam liner as his head grew. He had great improvement over the 10 weeks he had it on and we couldn't be more happy with his little round head :-).

Will and his Physical Therapist, Cathy

with his proud sister!

April (the end of) & May

This picture says it all...the end of April and May (and beginning of June) were busy!! At the end of April we flew out to California (above is a picture from the plane ride out) for Trisha and Mike's baby shower, Joel and Shasta Burns' wedding, Mason's 1st birthday party and Caitlin's 21st birthday in Vegas....we had an absolute blast and CRASHED when we got home!

TRISHA & MIKE'S BABY SHOWER

 The Minnie Mouse theme was too cute!

I can't believe the only picture I have of the mother-to-be is right here, but trust me, she looks adorable pregnant!!

JOEL & SHASTA'S WEDDING

 Allison, Me and Shasta

Again, I can't believe this is the only picture I have from the wedding, but we had SO much fun, I forgot about my camera!!

MASON'S 1ST BIRTHDAY

 Mason, Kennedy and Will

 Sharon trying to get a picture with her grandchildren...a very difficult task!

Mason, you're not eating it fast enough!

Here, I'll help you :)!!

TULARE...

we spent time hanging out in Tulare, catching up with family and friends and thinking we might get some rest too, but you know how that goes....

 Kennedy, Will and Kamryn had a great time playing together!

 Baby Kamryn (as Kennedy calls her :)

CAITLIN'S 21ST BIRTHDAY

 The hot birthday girl!! I remember YEARS ago saying, do you realize I will be 33 on your 21st birthday and it seemed so far away?!!

Sisters!!

 The family!!

 Me, Connie, Case, Landon and Brent

Connie happened to see we were in Vegas on my sister's FB and we were able to meet up, such an awesome unexpected surprise!!!

BACK AT THE RANCH...

While we were in Vegas, my parent's watch the kids. Kennedy and Will love spending time with their grandparents and I think you can see why...they are spoiled!! My mom and dad spent lots of time pulling them in the wagon, playing with them and taking them to the "park" (my parents playground)!

I told Kennedy she had to take care of Will while we were gone...I would say she's doing a good job, wouldn't you? :-)

 The Locke's came over for lunch with the kids. So nice!