How did he grow up so fast? {Happy Birthday Will}

How has my firstborn son turned 14 already?  I really cannot believe it.   I have been so sentimental today (which Will does not like).  I have looked through old photo albums and talked about when he was just a baby.  Will and I have always been extremely close.  He is a lot like me but we don't really bump heads.  I remember when he was little, Dave and I would wonder what he would be like when he grew up.  And now I feel like I have a good idea of who that person will be.

Will was a BUSY BUSY baby and toddler.  I was so darned skinny back then (as I look through the photos) and it must have been from chasing him around.  He did not sit still.  He also had a lot of issues early on (full story here).  He was born with a bump in his skull and had major head surgery at 6 months old.  He was always smart though.  At 2 and 3 years old he knew every single type of construction vehicle by proper name and function.  More impressively, he knew all the dinosaurs proper names and their geologic time periods (such as Cretaceous, Pleistocene etc).  Pretty obnoxious, huh?

But all of those struggles are in the past.  Now, Will is a thoughtful, compassionate, intelligent, funny, Christian young man.  He is spending his summer volunteering at the zoo and at our Church VBS program.  He has a HUGE heart for volunteering and does more that any teen I know.

He likes art and reading and swimming.  He loves paint ball and skeet and nerf wars.
And he still like his Legos.




He loves to eat and he loves travel. In fact, he is going on another school trip this Fall. This time they are headed to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.


Since he has Judo tonight, we went out to dinner last night for his birthday.  He picked a little Tex Mex place...



Kate was in a drunken stupor from Benadryl.  A bunch of fire ants got her foot and she fell asleep at dinner:)  That stuff REALLY knocks her out!

Will opened some gifts there.  Mimi sent him a FLIP.  Thank you Mimi.  He loves it.

When Will was in Paris last Spring, their group toured the Fragonard parfumeur.  Will really liked a cologne there called Desert and he has mentioned it quite a few times since he came home. So, I ordered some for him. What can I say?  My son has very good taste.  I keep telling him he better have a great job when he grows up!

After dinner we went out for gelato and we had to literally wake Kate up to eat hers!

The celebration continued this morning...

Having his traditional b-day doughnut before volunteering at VBS.

We gave him this bracelet for his birthday.  He really wanted it.

Now he is heading out to Judo where the birthday tradition is that everyone in the dojo gets to throw him tonight:)




I'd say 14 is looking pretty good on Will.

Happy Birthday Will.  We love you SO much!

(I wrote Will a personal letter as I do each year but as he gets older, he does not like me to share everything here).

P.S.  Thank you SO SO SO SO SO much for all of the prayers for Harry (and all of us).  I was a WRECK yesterday but today I have an amazing sense of peace and calm about it all.  And I am certain that is a direct result of all the prayers. So, please keep them up!