Happy Birthday William!

My reason for not blogging since before Christmas is that my grandmother passed away at the end of December. I have been intending to write a tribute to her here but keep putting it off because I know it will be difficult for me. But, my baby turned 5 this week and I just had to share his special birthday with our family and friends.

Will's favorite song is "Life is a Highway", and so a month ago when Dan and I were trying to decide what concert we wanted to go to at the Houston Rodeo I had the brilliant idea that we should take Will to Rascal Flatts since it was the night before his birthday. For those of you not familiar with Texas, the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show is a 3 week long pro rodeo and concert series on a grand scale (I'm taking about almost as big as the pro rodeo championship in Las Vegas). It takes place at Reliant Park where the Houston Texans (professional football team) play. Every night there is a series of rodeo events followed by a concert (this year's artists include Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift, Clint Black, the Jonas Brothers, Brooks and Dunn, etc.). We left early enough to visit the livestock show (one of the largest in the United States) where Will was able to pet baby pigs and goats, get close to Texas Longhorns, see a cow milking demonstration, watch baby chicks breaking free from their eggs, and much more. It was awesome! The food there was amazing (Will enjoyed fried shrimp and Dan and I shared a huge cowboy burrito). This was Will's first rodeo ever and he loved the calf roping, steer wrestling, bronco riding, bull riding, and mutton busting. His favorite part of the night though was singing along to "Life is a Highway". We had so much fun!!! On his birthday we had a party at my parent's (who so kindly watched Cici and Weston while we enjoyed our night out with Will) house complete with his favorite dinner (chicken, rice, and sauce) and chocolate eclair cake.

Here are some facts about Will at this age. He is the best big boy helper. Anytime I ask him to go get me something or help out his sister and brother he is willing and ready. William loves going to preschool (we were finally able to get him into one in January) and loves loves loves learning. He is a little sponge that picks up on everything. He is extremely excited about beginning to learn to read (http://www.starfall.com/ is a great website for you mom's that want to help teach your kids reading skills). He loves transformers, legos, games (Sorry! is his favorite at the moment), and playing on the computer. He is a very outgoing kid who will say hi to all and make friends with any other kid who happens to also be at the park. We love him!