Darin – Page 30 – Kotter Family

William’s 1st birthday

Probably sound like a broken record but I can’t believe that William is already 1 year old! We had a family party on Sunday (though his birthday wasn’t until Tuesday) and he got to open some presents and eat some cake, which he loved. Then on his actual birthday he got to open more presents. He didn’t understand what was going on, but he loved anytime we sang Happy Birthday to him.

He has his year checkup tomorrow, so not sure on his weight/height/etc, but he is getting too old, too fast. He started taking a few steps when we were in Utah a few weeks back and continues to take more and more steps, so it won’t be long until he’s fully walking. He gets into everything, especially now that he can stand up by himself and he loves playing with all the stuff in the kitchen (might need to lock some drawers down).

We are so grateful to have William in our family. He is always so happy and smiley and it always brightens my day when I come upstairs and he’s so happy to see me. We love you William!

We wanted to take a picture of him with his cake, but he just wanted to touch it.

Lucas and McKinley got him this stuffed monkey. Lucas has one just like him and William loves playing with it, so Lucas thought it would be a good idea to get him his own.

Playset

We finally decided to buy a playset. We got it the Friday before Memorial Day, which was good, as it gave me a little more time to work on it. I was worried putting it together would be tough, but it actually ended up being pretty easy and didn’t take quite as long as I was thinking.

First thing put together was the ladder. Kids had to try it out right away.

Trying out the slide after it was finished.

T-Ball

We signed up Lucas for t-ball this year and he just had his first game. So far he’s only had one practice, as a couple others got cancelled and he missed one when we were in Utah. So we weren’t sure exactly how well he’d do but he did great.

Most of the kids didn’t hit the ball very far, so unless you were the pitcher, catcher, or first baseman, you didn’t do much when in the field. Luckily his coaches moved people around each time, so he eventually got to play catcher and participate a little more.

He also got to hit the ball a couple times. The first hit I think was the best hit out of anyone the whole game. He was super excited by the time he got back to home base. But he had a lot of fun and made some new friends, which at this age, that’s all that this is about.

First time up to bat and he hits it out of the park (not quite, but close) the first try!

Playing in mud

While fixing some sprinklers, the kids thought it would be fun to play in the water and mud that resulted, which I’m sure it was fun. They ended up a mess, with McKinley sporting some new mud dots all over her face.

Kindergarten Graduation

On Wednesday Lucas graduated from kindergarten! He was super excited to be done with school for the year and for his graduation. The kids sang some songs, the principal asked some of them questions (which kids answers are always funny), they then received their ‘diplomas’ and got to watch a slideshow with some pictures of them through the school year.

It seems like just yesterday we were coming home from the hospital with Lucas. I remember how tiny he was and how scared I was as a new dad, and now he’s a very smart, almost 6 year-old that’s done with kindergarten. Congrats Lucas!

His cap was a little big for him, but he eventually pulled it back so he could see.

Getting his diploma from his principal, while his teacher read off his name.

Lucas is glad to have such good grandparents

Memorial Day

William doesn't seem too impressed — William doesn’t seem too impressed

Arizona

Last week I went on a business trip to Scottsdale, AZ. It’s always hard to leave my family for multiple days at a time, but it is nice to get to spend time with my coworkers in person. The weather was perfect, the hotel we stayed at was amazing and I really enjoyed it.

View right outside my room at our hotel.

View from the balcony of my room. I would sit out here at night and enjoy the warm weather.

I took a couple walks around Scottsdale in the mornings, and there was a couple blocks of just art galleries and lots of sculptures outside.

Funny William

William makes this funny noise quite often, where he kind of rolls his tongue I guess? Not sure, but it always makes us laugh.

Also, lately he’s loved standing up with whatever he can. We always find him in his crib standing up and he’s even started somewhat climbing things, like stairs. He’s getting too big, too fast.

Flying kites

The kids got kites in their Easter baskets and have been wanting to try them out ever since. So one day we decided to give it a try, though it wasn’t super windy. They had fun but not a whole lot of success, so we’ll have to try on a windier day.

Gardening

We were really looking forward to doing some gardening this year, as we have our own house now and can do what we want. The house came with three garden boxes, and we decided to buy a few more. We were going to get another three, making an even six, but Walmart only had two of the ones we want, so we’ll have to get the third on later.

And then my parents had extra raspberries they didn’t want, so we took some and transplanted them around the edge of our fence. Probably won’t get any raspberries until next year, but some of them are already starting to grow leaves, so that’s a good sign.

We got the kids some garden gloves, and they love helping out.