With a cluck cluck here and cluck cluck there...

William and I got to go to Dewberry Farms today along with some awesome ladies and their children from our church. I think, in Texas at least, October should be renamed Augtober. Seriously, it was HOT! Who knew? Besides having fun with William and our friends, I had another motive for going to Dewberry Farms - get a cute picture of William with pumpkins. I naively believed this would be no problem. William is usually so smiley, especially when you pull out a camera. Here are the best photos I was able to get.

We had just arrived and were standing in line to take a tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch.

William is playing with one of his favorite things: rocks. I constantly find rocks all over the house. He's easy to entertain, I'll give him that.

First prime photo opportunity: the "pumpkin patch." Really, this was just a plot of ground that they threw little pumpkins on. Here's how the dialogue went "William, look at Mama! William! Look at Mama! William! Look! at! Mama!" Did he look? Oh no. No he didn't.

So we moved on to the "petting zoo." It was a zoo but there was no petting. William loved the animals anyway.

He is trying to crawl into the pond to get to the ducks. "Duck", by the way, was William's first official word after "Dada."

Goats. Loved the goats. He wasn't the slightest bit afraid.

I love his left hand in this photo. "Whoa! A pig!"

William loved the horse. He was actually beating on this gate trying to get in.

And this led to the second, primo photo opportunity. I mean, this shot had it all, hay, barn, windmill, pumpkins, water, a willow tree, a beautiful sky. What more could I want? A kid that would smile would be nice...

This is the best shot I got. Seriously, the best one.

"Oh, a pumpkin.", he says to himself as I beg him to "Look at Mama!"

William loves the camera. He knows that little pictures show up on the back and that there are a lot of buttons to push. Here he is politely asking to see the camera.

Here, he is asking not so politely to see the camera.

Next, we moved on to a play area. William loves to play, especially if the play things have wheels.

After this our little group decided it would be a good time to cool off and have some lunch. We sat at little tables with umbrellas. After sitting down I decided I really didn't have the energy to go look at another thing so William and I hung out on a cool porch while the group took the kids off to explore some more.

The porch was great. It caught a little breeze and William loved walking up and down it.

Now he smiles...oh well. We had a great time with great friends. I would definitely go again however I think we'll wait until November to go next year.

Happy Birthday, William!

On Saturday we celebrated William's first birthday with family. My baby is growing up too quickly. Wasn't it just a couple months ago we brought him home from the hospital? I'm no Einstein but I really believe the older one gets the faster time moves.

Here's our little man posing on his birthday. He was all dressed up for a Pray and Playdate. This is an awesome group one of my friends started. Moms and kids gather once a month. The kids play while the moms pray for their kids. We both really enjoy it. Our friend Gillian made William some cupcakes and we all sang Happy Birthday to him. He loved the attention.

The next day we had a family party at our house. William enjoying his birthday dinner. We had pizza, his favorite.

And cupcakes. He loved the icing! What kid doesn't? Heck, I love icing. I love it so much we had three different kinds, chocolate, cream cheese and caramel and I tried them all!

Family pic...

After cupcakes the kids got to hit on a pinata. William was not too sure about it. He did enjoy watching the bigger kids take a whack but was freaked out when the pinata actually broke and the kids made a dash for the candy. To be honest, they were like a pack of hyenas chasing a lame gazelle. Who knew the power of candy?

And then the presents! Oh my, the presents! It was like Christmas morning. He got toys and clothes, a tent and a rocker. Here's a snapshot of the haul.

All in all, a very good day. It was great to have all the family together but to be honest, I hope the second birthday doesn't arrive as fast as the first.