Happy Birthday, William!

January 18, 2008 is the day that James William Mayes, V came into our family.  That's right, I said the 5th.  He is the 5th male in our family to carry this name.  The ironic thing is that not one of them went by the name James.  My great-grandfather went by the name JW.  My grandfather went by the name Jimmie.  My dad goes by the name Chip, because he is a chip off the old block.  My brother goes by the name Jimmie.  And now, my nephew goes by William.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see him right after he was born.  In fact, he was 3 months old before I saw him for the first time.  We were at my parents' house and it was Easter weekend.  I spent a lot of time holding this tiny little guy.  He was so sweet and adorable and I just couldn't get enough.  Of course we had our annual Easter celebration that weekend.  So we hid eggs for the older kids and boiled crawfish and spent most of the day Saturday outside.  William enjoyed sitting in his seat, enjoying the sunshine.

But as cute as he was sitting in his chair, nothing compares to the cuteness he was in his Easter outfit.









One of our vacations


We have been fortunate to be able to take several family vacations with my parents and with my brother and his family.  I always enjoy being around William and his big brother, Kash.  They definitely know how to liven the party. 










We have spent time together in Tennessee twice.  The last trip was to Nashville for Thanksgiving.  This is where William gave Tommy the name he now calls him.  When Tommy walked into the condo for the first time, he was on the phone with a friend who's name is Lee.  When Tommy talks to him he always calls him Lee Lee.  Apparently, William heard this conversation and started calling Tommy, Lee Lee.  So the name stuck and instead of Uncle Tommy, he is now Uncle Lee Lee.  I am called Aunt Jo Jo and John has gone from being JT to John John.  Apparently William likes us to have repeating names.



William loving on his cousin, John John
during our Nashville Vacation.



Trying on clothes from his
cousin John John.



Although we were unable to make it to his 1st birthday party, we did make it to his 2nd birthday party.  It was a small party with just family at their house in Monroe.  But he was very excited about his presents and of course the cake.

William is a very active little boy who loves to have fun.  He loves playing anything with a ball, loves the outdoors and has a gigantic sweet tooth.  He loves donuts, candy, snack cakes and especially birthday cake.  Whenever they have a cake for a special occasion, he likes to put candles in the cake and sing happy birthday.  He is very good at blowing the candles out.  I taught him a while back to give "knucks" and Uncle Lee Lee taught him to say "Boo-yah" when giving "Knucks".  He is full of energy and never stops playing.  But he also gives sweet hugs and kisses.  He talks very good for a 3 year old and tries to do everything Big Brother Kash does.  As he has gotten older, his hair has gotten very curly.  This makes for some very adorable pictures.




Looking like a certain famous
genius.  Hint: E=MC2



School Picture









After church one Sunday



This past weekend, we were able to celebrate William's 3rd birthday.  He invited several friends to a party at Jumping Jupiter in Bossier City.  We had a good time at the party and again later at home just playing with his new toys.



Happy Birthday, William Mayes.  We love you very much and look forward to spending many more vacations and birthdays with you!