Farmily Day: Grant's Farm

Between now and mid October we have 2 weddings we are in, one of which we will travel to North Carolina for, one baby shower, one 60th birthday party, one couples shower, a 6th birthday, Will's first birthday and party, Will's baby dedication, a bachelor and batchlorette party, a reunion dinner, alumni baseball game.... I'm sure I could keep going but you get the picture. With all of these things coming up we needed to have a fun family day last Sunday when we were free. It was between the festival of the little hills by our house or Grants Farm. This day was all about Will and we figured he would have more fun at the later. Grants Farm is a local place where you can pet, feed, and see many different animals. It is owned by the Busch family and just a really neat little place, Luke and I have both not been since we were very young, we all had a great day! I cant believe summers coming to an end and were gearing up for these Fall weddings, I love summer but I for one cannot wait for... pumpkin spice lattes, boots, big comfy sweaters and sweatshirts, taking Will to the pumpkin patch, pumpkin beer, and fall nights around a bonfire! I cant think of anything that would of made this first summer with Will ANY better and I think I will always look back on it and smile. :)

 Momma and Will on the train... also, Will's first train ride!

 feeding/petting the baby goats actually I'm not sure if they were babies....

So first I went to go in with Will, there were these kids in front of me (being obnoxious sweet) and it made me really scared. I'm holding my baby boy, I have shorts on, these things are acting like they are starving even though there are tons of people all around us with food for them, and they.have.horns.

After me standing there contemplating for a minute and looking like an idiot I'm sure, Luke looks at me with his "what in the hell are you doing" look so I handed off Will and let him take the reigns on this one! Whew, didn't know I had that weird fear of goats, I'll try again next time.

 Luke telling me that one is sucking on his arm, HA!

 HI Will

 documenting our trip,

Will's first trip to Grants Farm: 10.5 months

 Watching a show, see the bald eagle

a super sweet donkey named: Budweiser :)

and what makes a fun family date complete? Two free samples per person.... Gotta love me some bud light!

I is for itty bitty, k is for kisses, p is for papa's

I was excited to make Williams little book of ABC's  and even more excited when it came in the mail yesterday!!! I am very pleased with the quality, the thick sheets, and the printing! I hope this is something he will treasure for years to come, what a special little first birthday gift for my lil mr. Love you Will! XO

Our lil family getaway

Last Friday morning Luke, Will and I piled ourselves and all of our crap endless amount of baby supplies in the car. It is amazing how much stuff you need for a 4 1/2 hour car ride and one and a half days away! I hadn't been to my grandparents in Kankee Illinois since Will's been born and since my grandma passed. It was a hard trip to make, hard to see their house without her, hard to not hear her in the kitchen cooking, hard to see all the beautiful flowers she had planted, hard BUT good to see her pictures everywhere, hard to see plants from her services I could not make it to, and hard to see the extreme amount of hurt in my sweet grandfathers eyes. They were soul mates, whether or not you believe in that sort of thing, that is what they were. They never spent a day apart, nope not in their 60 years of marriage. They made each other laugh and loved each other the amazing way a couple should. Ive learned so much from them, and now I am learning how to grieve and keep calm and carry.on... a lesson that is taking me a while to get used to.

Will did great on his first road trip, he slept a little then I climbed in the back and we read books and made each other laugh for the remainder of the trip, till we got lost then we got restless, those country roads with no street names can be hard to navigate! We got in and settled and then met most of the family out at a local pizza place in town, we have went back and forth on the idea of going to see where grandma ad is. Since we missed her services and things like that I have had a very hard time accepting that she is gone, and just realizing it in general. Her not being at home was a good realization for me and seeing the emptiness in grandpas eyes but I still needed that closure. Crystal was not sure if she wanted to go. After talking with one of our cousins she told us that grandpa goes there all the time to see her, so we decided after dinner to go with him. I thought I would be a wreck, commercials get me choked up... but it was calm. It was peaceful. And it needed to be done. I am not going to go into detail about our visit there because it was very personal, but putting one foot in front of the other when we got out of the car, was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. But I left there knowing something I didn't before...

Grandma Ad is happy now, she is safe, and she is watching down on all of us.

Afterwards we went back to grandpas house to play a game of dominos, something we all always love to do together! So the kids went to bed and we stayed up laughing and playing.

The next day my grandpa had everyone over to visit, there was a TON of food and fun. I loved seeing all the kids play together, the way I used to when we would go visit in the summers. That morning we even went and picked our own corn for our cookout. It couldn't of been a more perfect weekend, and I vow to do that every year, no matter who is there...we will be there visiting I felt Grandma Ad smiling at me that weekend and there is just no better feeling.

Some pictures of our weekend:

 

Grandpa Bill picking flowers with Bennett and Kate

Will

Next year he will be running away from me!

Corn.Corn.Corn as far as the eye can see!

Riverdale Farm

Will's first ride on a john deere!

my big boy driving

Bennett picking "popcorn" he ate it right off the cob, 2 ears!

some slip and slide fun

Pierce

All the Nottke Great Grandkids

Drew, Kate, Kira, Pierce, Bennett, Addison, and William

William and cousin Chad

Lovin from Kate and Leslie

Tired boy tuckered out after a super fun weekend with an awesome family!

My William is 10 months old

10 months.... seriously, where did the last 10 months go? As I order the invites for your first birthday and reflect on the past year you turn 10 months old right under my nose... I love this age, he is the biggest mamas boy right now and I would be lying if I said I didn't like it a little! ;) I miss him like crazy, so we are hitting the road this morning to go visit my grandpa and family out of town, looking forward to spending the next three whole days with this boy. Your personality mirrors mine Will, we are truly one in the same. Love you bugger, happy 10 months baby boy Will!

 still obsessed with the sticker

 Friends

 such a happy sweet boy

 need to make the scrunchie elmo for the camera I saw on pintrest, he would love that!

 THIS looks like a great seat..... sorry lamb

And lastly, Will's "i didnt do it!" face