Easter 2013

This will be the last time (for a long time) that there will be only two baskets left by the easter bunny. She had too much fun filling them with his & hers books, toys, and candy that mommy loves too...

Here are a handful of just-before-church Easter photos. I let Wendy wear this super frilly dress that my moms friend sweetly gave her just in time for Easter. She LOOOVVVED it. Maybe it's the pregnant laziness, or the way her face lit up when she put it on, but I didn't even have a desire to fight it. She kept spinning and curtsy-ing with her ankles crossed (as you can see in the first picture). She was very careful not to get any chocolate on it and to hold up a piece when she walked, like a real princess. Harvey, on the other hand, was not so careful and was changed into a different Easter outfit minutes after his drooly first bite of chocolate (as you will see in the later pictures).

*wendy and her favorite/only girl cousin, ruby

This is the only picture I got of the traditional confetti egg war. I was too busy hunting for eggs and smashing them on peoples heads/comforting Harvey who hates this game. It's one of those traditions that I married into and I love. 

Harvey was infatuated with this little garden gnome. He carried it around even though it was like 50 pounds. He waddled around the back yard with it until he gave up and just stayed by it, talking to it for a while. I guess I know what the easter bunny should bring him next year.

 *photo by Ruby, I kinda like it. 

 

HAPPY EASTER!!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!

Here we are, ready for church and all decked out for Saint Patrick in my favorite color. LUCKY for me, my Wendy wondered aloud what that sneaky leprechaun would do to our house this year (he probably would have forgot if she didn't mention it). This year, he left foot prints ALL OVER the house (skipper doll feet dipped in washable green paint), he left us a pot of rolo's/gold at the end of our rainbow, a box of his favorite cerial with a note, turned our milk green, and (ahem) relieved himself in our bathroom. I hope that doesn't mean he pee'd in our milk.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

HAPPY day of LOVE! I got to spend mine with my children and some of my best girlfriends, Emily and Sharla. Emily decided to throw together a Valentine's tea. She went all out with hot herbal tea, homemade lemon-poppy seed scones, salad, pastries and heart-shaped finger sandwhiches. The table was decorated with cake pedestals, tea pots, and tea cups in the cutest colors. We all lounged around while the children ran around hyper from the candy they had all stuffed themselves with from their school valentine's parties. It was so nice to get out of my house.

*photos by amelia lyon

As for me and my man, our Valentine's tradition is to keep it special but low key. A card, a treat, some flowers, a yummy restaurant and a movie. Just the way I like it. This year he got to pick the restaurant (sushi) and I got to pick the movie (Life of Pi - I like to see all the Oscar nominated films that aren't rated-r before Oscar Sunday. PLUS I read the book and really liked it). Then we always spend our low key Valentines date dreaming up our anniversary getaway for one month later. For our anniversary every year, we pick a city (preferably one we've never been to before) and explore it. This year we decided on Portland, Oregon. Sounds random, but I'm really excited! Some years we go big, like Paris, France. Some years we go small, like Los Angeles. This year we wanted to go medium. We wanted to have to at least get on an airplane. Neither one of us have ever been there. We're going to stay in a RAD hotel called "The Nines," where Clark Gable worked before becoming an actor. We've mapped out some of the things we want to do, but I'd love any suggestions if you have any!

I can't tell you how much I love this man and exploring new places with him.

Valentine's Crafting

*melted crayon on canvas

*"You Melt My Heart," by Wendy & Mommy

The minute Christmas and New Years was over Wendy wanted to know what the next holiday was. She told me, "Mom, do you know what my most favoritest part about holidays are? Well FIRST it's the presents, but my second most favoritest is decorations!" When we were done taking down Christmas she immediately wanted to get out the "Valentine's Day box of decorations," but it didn't exist. I decided we had a month and a half to womp up some decorations. With the help of pinterest and my mom, we filled our daily "quiet times" (Harvey's nap time) with pink and red crafts. I'm a little sad it's over.

*Wendy learning how to use a crochet loom. I put that girl to WORK! Might just open a sweatshop.

I saw this cute wreath on the front door of my aunt Ruth's house last February and fell in love. This literally took us a month and a half to finish, but it was worth it to let Wendy "help". Our couch was half covered in yarn for the whole month of January. Wendy helped me every step of the way. I even taught her how to use a loom to crochet the bow. (For the bow we used the crochet loom to crochet a very short scarf which we folded over, hot glue gunned down the edges, and wrapped the center with yard to make a bow. Kind of like the tutorial HERE - just with a loom instead of a crochet hook for a more voluminous bow).

I let Wendy decide if she wanted to go to the store and pick out some valentine's cards (most likely would have been Hello Kitty, Brave or Tinkerbell) or pick an idea of my Valentine's pinterest folder. These were the Valentines she chose for her class mates. I explained who cupid was and what the arrow meant (she liked the arrow because the princess on Brave is very into archery... oh how Disney princesses are the basis for so many decisions in our lives). She painstakingly signed all 23 cards herself and even added a heart at the end of her name. I love her 4 year old signature so much!

My mother-in-law saves EV.ER.Y.THING. We all tell her she has a hoarding problem. She's even got a room in her house that she has named "The Hoarder Room," which was Ryan's bedroom throughout his life. It's now full of stuff with a walkway cleared through the middle. She can't part emotionally with anything her children ever made or drew on, so she often sends Ryan's old stuff home with me. I'm talking math tests from 3rd grade that he failed. So I take these things home for her and they go straight into my trash or goodwill pile. Let me correct that, I'm not completely heartless, sometimes I take a picture of the item and then throw it in the trash. But when she sent this one home with me, I decided to keep it to add to our empty box of Valentine's crafts. I think she said Ryan made it when he was 10 years old. I hope I don't catch the hoarding virus because of it. I'm happy that we've started our V-day decoration collection and that we have some stuff we can pull out year after year.

Happy New Year 2013!

2013 Williams Family New Years Resolutions:

Me- my goal is to go to bed earlier so I can wake up earlier, you know, the ol' "early to bed, early to rise." 9:30pm will be the goal because that's what I consider early (10pm or later is just going to bed at a normal time. Maybe that way I can be more productive before my kids wake up (exercise, shower, read my scriptures, ect.) Just start the day off right & be 1 step ahead instead of 2 steps behind. Plus, I've been promised HERE that if I do this, I won't feel so tired throughout the day and that my mind and body will be "invigorated." That is EXACTLY what I need.
Ryan- to exercise more. (And I'm so proud of him because he's already doing it. He got a gym pass & wakes up early a couple times a week to go do strength training or play racquet ball with our good friend, and talented photographer, Jason Stringfellow.) I'm so in love with him every morning as he walks out the door in his gym clothes to exercise, then work a full day, and spend the evening at school. What a man!
Wendy- grow her hair out for kindergarten (much to my dismay). I don't want to part with that adorable a-line bob of hers, but she wants long hair SO bad. She'll hold Ryan's ties to the top of her head & walk around like she has long hair. I see her gaze longingly at the hair of the other little girls in her classroom. How can I deny her?
Harvey- learn to speak the English language fluently.

*we celebrated the new year at 9pm with New York, watched the ball drop on t.v., and went home to put the kids to bed. After a looooong, busy (wonderful) week of Christmas, Ryan & I spent a quiet evening in and rang in the new year with just the two of us. It was perfect.

Williams Style Thanksgiving

Every year our Thanksgiving is awesome and crazy busy. 

Here's the breakdown:

8:30am: Get up and go play a flag football "turkey bowl" at the field in my parent's neighborhood. I usually play for a minute then watch all the kids while their dads play. The SMART wives send their husbands with the kids so they can cook in peace. Maybe I'll get smart next year too :)

11am: Come home to put baby boy down for an early nap (it's gonna be a looooong day & he's gonna need it) and finish cooking up the side dishes I was assigned.

2pm: First Thanksgiving feast at my parents house with my dad's side of the family. He is the oldest of 7 kids,  I'm the oldest grandchild and grandkids are still comin'= lots of people and lots of fun. We eat on their beautifully landscaped drive way (sounds random, but it makes for a very nice atmosphere - would you expect anything less from a talented landscape architect?)

5pm: Head on over to the in-laws for a SECOND Thanksgiving with Ryan's Mom's side of the family. We have perfected this art of too much Thanksgiving by learning to eat light and ONLY eat your very favorite dishes at each house (at my parents, it's my Grandma Lamb's rolls, my dad's salmon instead of turkey, Aunt Chrissy's pumpkin cookies, and Martineli's sparkling apple cider. At the in-laws, it's Aunt Annette's creamed corn, my mother-in-law's sweet potatoes and Aunt Jacque's apple pie). 

By the end of the day, I have cooked in & cleaned up THREE kitchens. Maybe some day we'll get the guts to tell my sweet mother-in-law that we need to trade off every year because it's too draining. It's too hard, though, when your families live 5 minutes from each other and eat at different times. Plus, you feel a little un-grateful because having those 2 families so close is really a huge blessing in our lives.

Highlight of the day:

ME: "Wendy, you need to take four more bites of turkey, before you eat dessert, because you're four years old."

WENDY: "I. don't. eat. animals."

EVERYONE started cracking up. It's purely because of her hate for the taste/texture of meat, not some deep love for innocent creatures. She has never preferred the taste of meat. I make her take bites of white meat when we have it because she is a finiky eater and that girl needs some protein. My little vegetarian. 

It's Halloween up in this HOUSE!

Normally my halloween decorations consist of a pumpkin on the front porch... and that's it. But this year I decided to decorate October 1st to make it fun/special for Wendy and make the holiday last all month long. This is our halloween front door. We made this wreath with a combo of stuff from the craft store. It plays a "trick" on you because you might think it's cutesy, but just LOOK at the beady little eyes on that tiny evil bird! Come on. It's scary.

For our spooky table, we found dead branches from our yard, spray painted them black, and stuck some spiders all over. Wendy likes to hide these little guys all over the house and name them names that start with the letter S: Sally, Suey, Sassy, Steve, and Scotty.

I took these pictures during Harvey's nap, aka "Mommy & Wendy's quiet time." Someone wanted in on the action. Above is her impression of a ghost :)

Love her.

We were so excited to decorate & get ready for halloween, I made the mistake of letting us carve pumpkins the 1st week of October. The following two days were in the 90's - thanks A LOT California. Hello Kitty witch lasted less than 48 hours before it melted and filled up with black fur. We will be re-carving pumpkins 3 days before Halloween. I also found out that vasoline along the inside and a sprits of bleach and water will make your pumpkins last. Or you could just wait a little.

Harvey's 1st Birthday

My little boy turned one. I can't believe it (even though he's the size of a two year old). To me, he's still a baby. I've realized I always dress him in nothing but pale blue onsies, like a baby, to keep him that way (AND probably because they show off his chubby leg rolls and accentuate his blue eyes). He is my little ray of sunshine, always happy, smiling and cooing at me, with his soft rosy cheeks and striking blue eyes. He brightens up my days. So I decided that was the perfect theme for his little birthday party, "You are my sunshine." It's also the song I sing to him to put him to sleep every night. It turned out to be a perfect sun-shiney day for a pool party and here are the photos to prove it.

 

For weeks, Wendy helped me, slowly, put together the decorations for our "You Are My Sunshine" party. It was a lot of fun to craft with her during Harvey's naps, even though it took twice as long. She was so excited for the party because she helped me make it. It made the party that much more special for the both of us. I made things easier for myself and used the same color scheme as Harvey's nursery, that way I could pull from what I already had in his room, like the fabric bunting I sewed while he was in my tummy and hung up in his nursery.

Our loved ones came out to celebrate with us. It was such a happy day. I love the first birthday. So much happens from the time a child is born to the day they turn 12 months old. It trips me out that only a year ago he wasn't even in our lives yet, and now, how enormous the void would be if he wasn't part of our family.

 Ryan's Grandpa is amazing. He's one of 13 children and he loves his family. He has a little wood shop in his backyard where he makes wooden toys for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren for their first birthday and for Christmas every year. Ryan's Grandma paints all of them. The little wooden toys they makes are so adorable and priceless. I can just picture him in there, devoting hours of his time and putting his love into these toys for my children. For Harvey's 1st birthday he made him a little fire engine. He even had a license plate made with Havey's nickname on it.  I feel so lucky that my children get to know him and have these amazing, hand made toys to pass down to their children one day. 

My little boy LOVED his cake! I mean like, licked the high chair tray clean loved it. (But are we really surprised?) He loved it so much that we had to stick him in the kitchen sink to get all the frosting out of his succulent baby rolls after the party. There's something about a chubby baby splashing around in the kitchen sink that just melts my heart. It was the perfect way to end a great day.