William turns 5!!!

On December 19, William turned 5 years old!!!  I can hardly believe that my baby is 5 and will be starting Kindergarten next year.  Time has really flown, seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant.  Taking five pregnancy tests to prove it to myself.  These have been the most enjoyable, most rewarding five years of my life.  William has brought so much joy and love into our family.  I never imagined I could love someone the way I love this little boy.  He makes me laugh and melts my heart daily.  William, you are one of the best gifts God has ever given me and I am so lucky he gave you to us. 

I have learned so much about my faith in God from this sweet boy.  His total reliance on God is amazing and a great reminder of how we should live our lives.  William is always praying and two of my most favorite recent prayers are these:

"Dear God, I hope you are having fun in Heaven and thank you for taking care of my Grandpa Billy."

"Dear God, I know you are having a fun time with Baby Caroline, and please send the Ruple family another baby girl to love."

Through much prayer Wilson and I have made the decision to take William to Africa with us on our mission trip in June.  We really feel like he is ready for this experience and can't wait to see how God will use him to touch the lives of others.  Please pray for William as we embark on this adventure.

We never do big birthday parties but since this was a big birthday we let him choose some friends and had a bowling party for him. We had a great time and appreciate everybody coming. 



Blessed to have such sweet friends!





Hoping for a STRIKE!




Little brother getting in on the action.



Waiting on cupcakes and ice cream




Present time was pure chaos!!!




I love the boys expressions in this pic.  That was one cool race track!




Cowboy hat from Mommy and Daddy.




Winn boys and Crouch girls...pre arranged marriages made in Heaven!



Thanksgiving

We did things a little different this year for Thanksgiving.  This year our sweet friends the Crouch's invited us to the Aggie vs Texas game.  Seeing as this will be the last game, at least for a while, that the Aggies will play tu we did not want to miss it.  We arranged for my mom to keep the boys and the Winn's, Crouch's, and West's loaded up for College Station.  We had such a fun ride up there laughing and talking and enjoying some adult time away from our kiddos.  Arrived early for a little bit of tailgaiting, then found our seats very high (four rows from the top) in the end zone.  Didn't matter because we were so excited to be there.  Aggies started off pretty good, but then totally blew it.  We walked out of Kyle Field with our tails between our legs.  Such a hard loss on our own turf! We had planned to stay the night in College Station and us girls were going to do some Black Friday shopping, but when we got in the car we were all so bummed we ended up making the 4 hour drive back to Pleasanton that night.  After getting the other couples dropped off  Wilson and I did not walk in our door until 5am.  Wow, were we tired.  The trip was fun and worth it.  We have so many fond memories of Aggieland and hope that one day our boys will want to go to college at A&M as well.  Whoop!!!





Soccer

This fall William played his first season of soccer.  He was on the team named "The Batmans", he had something to do with picking the name.  William loved playing and had so much fun meeting and becoming friends with the boys on his team.  Needless to say these games were pretty comical to watch.  Only a couple of games did William get truly competitive and the rest he just enjoyed chasing his teammates up and down the field.  Wilson was the assistant coach and actually ended up doing most of the head coaching.  He doesn't have a non athletic bone in his body so the fact that these four year old boys don't have their head in the game drives Wilson nuts.  We loved watching William this season and can't wait until t-ball starts in the Spring.  Here are a few shots of our athlete in action.

William and his teammates after the last game getting their trophies.

Love these guys they are absolutely two of a kind!!!



Coming through the parent tunnel.