Not Guilty!

We all knew this was coming, right? The blog was so exciting and fun when it first started, and I had all these great stories to tell. But alas, the bloggymoon is over and now I'm lucky if I blog once a month! This really does cause me a fair amount of guilt. But I came across this article on what parents should NOT feel guilty about, so here's a few of my favorites.

• Taking a vacation with only your husband. It's such a tragedy for the kids to spend time with their superindulgent grandparents! In our case, Grammy (Bryan's mom) lives two blocks away, Nana (Jill's mom) and GG (Jill's grandma) are here in town as well. Then, substitute the above "vacation" with "Sunday night Bible study" and add "superindulgent babysitter". Now that our small group is on a break for the summer, the kids are literally begging us to go on a date so the babysitter can come and play games with them!
• Enjoying going to work. You can love your kids and still have that "Thank God It's Monday" feeling, well, every Monday. If you know me at all, you KNOW this is all me! I am usually ready to auction the kids on ebay by Saturday at, um, 10:00am. Yet the Saturday evening $1 family movie rentals and the Sunday morning snuggles are definitely my favorite part of the weekend. But alas, there are some weekends I secretly wonder if I could work 7 days a week!
• Accepting your child's compliment that you're a good cook when they're eating pre-breaded microwave chicken breasts. You did your part. You pressed "start". Maezie actually told me "good cook!" once when she was eating cereal and milk. Well we can't ALL be Bobby Flay, right?
• Sitting and reading a good book. You'll go exercise right after the next chapter, or maybe the one after that. I have decided there is only one reason for reading: to escape your own life's drama! My mother rolls her eyes that I read the same books over and over, but I think it's no different than watching your favorite movie again and again. And I can skip to the good parts without missing anything!
• Feeling smug that you're a better parent than those on Supernanny. No worries. We all feels smug watching it. Until we don't, at which time we employ her techniques. Suddenly my own kids aren't quite so bad (which means I'm not such a bad parent after all!) when I can watch other houses with kids who take more than 6 hours to get to sleep. And hey, if the new techniques work for THOSE parents, then surely I can get mine to bed earlier....which means more book reading for me!
• Dipping into your kid's goody bag when they aren't looking. What's a fun-size Snickers between family members? Just a mere 8 hours ago, Graeson was at a birthday party with a pinata. When the kids collected their plunder and gave their treat bags to their moms to "hold this for me", ALL of us moms started digging for the chocolate! We saved them the rock hard taffy and the fire hot jawbreakers, isn't that good enough?
• Not signing up to be the class parent. Some days, it's all you can handle to get your kid fed, dressed, and on the bus. That's huge! I use my "but I work full-time, so sorry" excuse, and usually there's not even any guilt. Until my carpool buddy and also-works-full-time friend starts making me look bad by having lunch with her kid once a week and taking time off work for field trips. Well maybe I can squeeze in one field trip a year. If it's less than an hour. And it's to Starbucks.
• Plagiarizing a magazine article just to think of a blog entry. Ok, that wasn't really in the article, but there's no reason to feel guilty about that, right? (PS. Thanks Parenting Magazine! Can you help me out again next month?)

Snow Camping

This year we didn't plan our camping so well. We went to LaPine...in the mountains....in May...in a year when winter refuses to give up. The highest the temperature reached was somewhere around 39 degrees. We had rain, snow, sleet, hail, wind, and everything in between! (Of course we finally saw the sun on go-home day!) But we still had a great time with the extended Patterson family. (Sorry Washington folks, I somehow didn't get a single picture of any of you!)


The first thing Kaela and Graeson did was designate a spot for their "fort". It even had multiple rooms!

Of course we had s'mores....but it was so cold, they un-melted by the time we put them all together!

That's right, those are LONG PANTS you see on Bryan! (Now you know it was cold!)

The first day it snowed and was really cold, so we went to the High Desert Museum and waited out the storm.

There was plenty of cuddling under the blankets. (Maezie was not thrilled with the cold.)

And of course there was plenty of climbing on Papa.

We did actually see some people tent camping. Yikes! Thank goodness for our RV, Dad's cabin, and a big fire pit!

Why God Made Moms (according to Kaela and Graeson)

Why did God make mothers?

Kaela (age 8...and giggling through the entire interview): Ummmm (looking at the ceiling)...He wanted there to be more people in the world so mothers could have more babies

Graeson (age 5): So kids wouldn't just have a dad

How did God make mothers?

K: (more giggling) He makes you as a baby and then you grow up and be a mother

G: He made you out of caramel and crab because that's what you like

What ingredients are mothers made of?

K: Um blood, and skin, and hair, and bones

G: A heart and eyeballs (looking 2 inches from my eyes)

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?

K: Because he thought me and you would go good together...(giggling) and so I could be the oldest

G: Because I'm already used to you

What kind of a little girl was your mom?

K: You liked to cook and you liked to help Nana

G: You liked to ride your bike because you were a fun girl

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?

K: How old he was so you could know when his birthday is

G: To make sure he didn't do bad things

Why did your mom marry your dad?

K: Because you were in love (giggling, giggling, GIGGLING and hiding her face)

G: Because he always cooks good things

Who's the boss at your house?

K: Um mommy! Because she thinks she can make all the rules

G: Mommy is when Daddy's not here

What's the difference between moms and dads?

K: Moms have babies and dads don't

G: A mom doesn't have a mustache

What does your mom do in her spare time?

K: You take care of kids and you read

G: Have pedicures and massages

What would it take to make your mom perfect?

K: Make her not get me in trouble
G: If she didn't work and was always able to play with me

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?

K: Um, hmmm, let's see.....(looking for the answer on the floor, and giggling)...that she'd stop saying she's 29

G: I wish you didn't have to have glasses to see

Williams Weekends

When I started this blog, I had this lovely little idea that I would blog every Saturday. Then on Mondays I find myself wondering what happened to the weekends. Well, let's see....

Normally on the weekends we do laundry, get groceries, pay bills, and do "weekend chores". Kaela and Graeson each have a list which includes emptying garbages, replacing bathroom towels, emptying the dishwasher, putting away laundry, etc. There are currently four people in this house who HATE laundry and put it off as long as possible. But there is one little still-naive Williams who thinks laundry is fun....

Kaela is learning how to cook so she's usually in charge of the weekend menu. We've had banana pancakes, stir fry, fettuccine alfredo, blueberry muffins....yum!

After our weekend chores, then we do a fun activity. When it was Kaela's turn to choose, we did home pedicures. Daddy didn't really care to participate. :)

One weekend we went to the Children's Learning Fair which has tons of little booths and stations for the kids to do different activities. They experimented with magnets, brushed a gigantic tooth, created glitter water bottles, made handprints....and of course had their faces painted.

Graeson also had a school field trip one Friday to Abby's Pizza to learn how pizza is made. Ten little boys thought the carbon dioxide tank made the funniest noise they'd ever heard and they giggled hysterically! And then those ten little boys all climbed on the video game machines to drive cars and hunt deer...

It seems a popular birthday month as Graeson went to a birthday party, and Kaela went to two in one day. Kaela's second party was also a slumber party. We went to the Cinco de Mayo parade and then to the library while waiting for Kaela to finish the first birthday party.

Oh and then there's Mommy's busy weekends. The one "free" weekend where nothing was actually scheduled, I sorted two kid closets and wondered when some genius mom is going to invent clothes that somehow grow too. The third kid closet is still waiting... One Saturday I attended and was a speaker at our church's women's conference on "facing your giants". Then there's the once a month coffee craft night which is a must-have for kid-free (yes and husband-free) rejuvenation time. Bryan and I also participated in the Basin Youth For Christ annual banquet to witness inspiring stories of how Bryan and other adults touch the lives of vulnerable teenagers.

And on the future weekend agenda we have hospice Monte Carlo night, hosting my sister's baby shower, Mother's Day, our first camping trip of the year, oh and we can't forget the LOST finale!!! (Yes, this is a big event!) And then there's the projects that keep getting postponed like making DVDs from Grandma's birthday slide show, figuring out how to transfer videos from the video camera to the computer (and maybe even the blog!), reloading music onto my Blackberry, "helping" Bryan do yardwork....I need to retire to get all my work done!

So forgive me if the blogging doesn't really happen every Saturday. But I do "think" about blogging every Saturday, isn't that good enough?

When I'm a 90 Year Old Grandma

Many of you know my grandma Dorothy....GG to the kids. She turned 90 this year, though most people would have no idea she's any older than 70! In my family of redheads, hers is still red, and she has the redhead temperament to go with it. She is still completely independent, bosses everyone around, and her idea of heaven is hanging out with the great-grandkids!

When I'm a 90 year old grandma, I'd like to be like her....

About a month ago, Grandma fell at home and injured her hand. At the time, the x-ray didn't show any broken bones, but when it was rechecked later, the x-ray showed it was indeed broken. But when Grandma was told she needed to have a cast put on, she just didn't have time for that! She informed the doctor that she had a very important pinochle game that afternoon, it was the last game of the season, and she was not going to miss it! So the cast would have to wait! So the bewildered doctor asked if her game would be over by late afternoon so that she could squeeze in some time to get the cast on. Well the game apparently was quite intense, so she had to call the doctor later in the afternoon and said he'd have to again reschedule that cast. And then her schedule was too busy the next day too. So by the time she could finally "pencil it in," she decided that her hand didn't really hurt that bad, and living with a cast was going to cause a lot of problems for her. So she called the doctor and said she didn't want the cast. The important things, Grandma said, was playing pinochle and working jigsaw puzzles, and since she was able to do those things just fine, she didn't need any old cast.

Later, when my mom asked her why she even goes to the doctor if she's not going to do what he says, she replied, "You're right, I think I'll just stop going to the doctor!"

YOU ROCK, GRANDMA!

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

with a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

and satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired

and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

and run my stick along the public railings

and make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

and pick the flowers in other people's gardens

and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

and eat three pounds of sausages at a go

or only bread and pickle for a week

and hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

and pay our rent and not swear in the street

and set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

when suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

~by Jenny Joseph

Easter weekend

This weekend was filled with lots of fun stuff for the kids.....mom, on the other hand, didn't have quite as much fun!

On Saturday morning we went to the Home Depot kids workshop. Lots of friends had gone and said they had a great time. So (enter martyr voice here) I sacrificed my Saturday morning of pajamas and coffee, and took the kids to Home Depot. So I made the assumption that since it was for "kids" that it would be easy and there would be plenty of Home Depot experts helping.....not so much. Arriving at the designated area, we were handed a kit for a wheelbarrow planter and told "have fun!" Um, ok, what now? So the instructions seemed easy at first glance, but as the building began, it was quickly becoming clear that one did in fact need a moderate amount of pre-acquired carpentry skills, because the instructions were not exactly clear. Maezie is now laying on the floor in sawdust, Graeson is pounding anything he can find with the hammer, and Kaela is getting mighty testy that hers is not turning out right. So Kaela got another kit and started over, I ended up making Maezie's and Graeson's entirely--with little teeny nails that are impossible to hold and hammer at the same time--and I was ready to scream by the time we were finally finished enough that it held together (sort of). But....the kids thought their wheelbarrow planters were great and were very excited, so I guess that's what counts!

Next we went to have haircuts for Mommy and Kaela (her first EVER haircut). So after waiting almost 30 minutes in the waiting area (yes, we had an appointment), trying to keep the kids entertained with Playhouse Disney on my phone, our hair dresser was finally ready. So during my own haircut, of course the kids are running wild because they had already used up their quota of quiet during the 30 minutes we had to wait! And for reasons I still don't understand, my haircut took almost an hour. So by this point, I'm ready to scream (again), Graeson is now in a permanent time out, and Maezie is screaming at Kaela to get out of her chair. But since I had really psyched Kaela up for her first haircut, I couldn't just reschedule. So Kaela got her long hair trimmed, and she felt very special with soft, shiny hair, so I guess that's what counts!

Then it was on to GG's house for dyeing Easter eggs. Upon arrival, my sister (I love her to death!) had dropped off all four of her kids and left. So I was now wrangling seven kids to try and color eggs. One has a 13 year old attitude that could freeze the sun, one has a 2 year old attitude that could pierce your eardrums, and a range of antsy kids in between. But, we got three dozen eggs colored, only one that cracked, plus four of the older kids got to hand paint large goose eggs. And there weren't even any spills or major catastrophes! The kids had fun, so I guess that's what counts!

Then, we had to make a quick trip to the grocery store to get critical ingredients for the planned Easter meal. Wow. Every single man, woman, and child goes to the grocery store on the day before a holiday! So we quickly made our way to the necessary aisles, found the closest register--they were actually ALL open!--and began our wait. Eventually I broke open the box of ice cream bars from the cart, at which point Kaela became very anxious and said, "Mommy we haven't paid for those!" I reassured her that I would be paying for them, and I'm sure the cashier would understand why it was sheer necessity to feed the children while waiting in the pre-holiday line. Eventually, it became necessary that Mommy have an ice cream bar too....

Later that evening, as is Easter tradition in our house, we made "Easter Story Cookies". This is a special recipe which involves telling the Easter story with each ingredient. First each child beats the nuts with a wooden spoon, just like the soldiers beat Jesus. Then they taste a small amount of vinegar, just like Jesus was given vinegar when he was thirsty. There are several steps including salt, sugar, and egg whites. Eventually, the cookies are placed in the oven, the oven is then turned off, the kids "seal the tomb" with tape, and then can't see the finished product until morning. In the morning, the cookies are hollow just like the tomb was empty on Easter morning. So I let them have cookies for breakfast, and they were in heaven! So I guess that's what counts!

Sunday we went to church and had a great Easter service with poignant personal testimonies. Then back to GG's house for Easter dinner with the extended Sharp family. After dinner, it was time to hide the eggs. Now this year, as is very typical of this part of the country, the weather was somewhere around 35 degrees with a rip roaring wind and traces of snow still found in places. So Bryan and I hid the eggs ONCE, snapped some quick pictures, and we were done! But the kids don't seem to have any cold-receptors, so they kept hiding the eggs for each other and stayed outside another hour! They had fun, so....I guess that's what counts!

Not-so-quick trip

By request of the "blog fans" (that would be Mom and Laurel), here's the story of our recent fiascos on our brief trip to Bend.

Graeson has had some kind of mystery rash, so since we no longer have a dermatologist here, our family doctor referred us to the one in Bend. So we made arrangements to stay with my dad. Dad (aka Papa to the kids) lives in the podunk little town of Brothers, Oregon which is about 40 miles east of Bend. It's one of those don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it kind of towns. I think the population is somewhere around 20, and that's if you count the cows. So we made the three hour drive for the first time ever without stopping, and miraculously all three kids napped on the way there. (Thank you DVD player and Nintendo DS!) After Kaela & Graeson wore out Dad & Hettie's poor dog, Papa gave them flashlights and let them run around the yard. Needless to say, after the naps in the car, there was an abundance of energy!

So the next morning, about five minutes before we were ready to leave, Maezie started throwing up. And she managed to get both Bryan and I as well as herself in a matter of about three minutes. (I'll spare you the rest of the gorey details....) So by the third child, you do actually learn some things as a parent. One of those things is that there is NOTHING WORSE than carseat vomit. Especially on a three hour drive. Let's just say I have traumatic memories. Yuck! So we decided Bryan and the girls would hang out at my dad's while Graeson and I went to the doctor. Hopefully Maezie would be over it by the time we got back and we would go back home as planned.

So the drive through Bend was, well, scenic because my GPS didn't work, and the Bend road department thought it would be fun to design roads with circle/turntable type intersections. Without road signs. But we made it with only one choice word, which didn't even count because Graeson had headphones on. :)

So of course the dermatologist required EIGHT peices of paper I had to sign. He looked at Graeson for about a half-second and diagnosed him with Molluscum Contagiosum. I only know how to spell it because the brochure is sitting in front of me right now. He never even talked to Graeson, talked only to me, in between dictating orders at his laptop-carrying medical assistant. He said this thing occurs with all children (um....I've been around a lot of kids and I've never seen it) and it will go away on its own. In several weeks. Or maybe months. Or the brochure says five years! Just stop scratching, he says. Um HELLO this is a five year old boy and you want him to NOT scratch! It was at that moment I noticed he didn't have a wedding ring and I had to keep my sarcastic mouth from saying, Listen buddy, you don't have kids do you! He gave us a prescription cream and he went on his way.

So back to Brothers to find out Maezie has vomited a few more times, this time Kaela got the brunt of it when she was holding her. (She's such a good big sister!) So thank you to Hettie for the multiple laundry loads! Throughout the day Maezie was so pitiful she just kept laying on my lap or my chest, dozing now and then. So we decided that since there is NOTHING WORSE than carset vomit (oh, did I already say that?) and she was so clingy, we would just stay another night. Now I do have to confess here that it is nice when kids are sick and they just want to cuddle all day! So at bedtime, because we had thought we were leaving that morning, we had to unpack (again), blow up the kids' mattresses (again), and remake the bed that we had already stripped the sheets off. And though the vomiting had stopped, Maezie now started a major fever. And of course the children's tylenol I had was practically empty. Did I mention we are in the middle of podunk nowhere? So I had to mentally calculate how much of an adult dose to cut, crush, and mix with a spoonful of yogurt. And even though I'm a nurse, this is not an easy task when you're talking about pediatric medication! I did have to get up and do the whole medicine routine three times during the night, but by morning she was improved and we were confident enough to head home.

So we began the trek home, stopping at Safeway for some children's tylenol, and that's when it started snowing. We made it almost exactly halfway home, driving about 40 miles an hour, when traffic came to a complete and total stop. Now Highway 97 is not a big highway, and when you're in between Oregon towns, there's nowhere to go. So through the lovely technology of text messaging, we found out there was a wreck and the highway was actually closed entirely. So we ended up at a standstill for an entire hour. Once again, thank you DVD player! Now here's the miraculous part: not one child had to go potty while we were waiting! Nor was there any vomiting either! (Because as we know, there's NOTHING WORSE!)

Eventually, we did make it home. What was planned as a 24-hour up-and-back trip lasted twice as long with the drive home lasting almost twice as long as normal. Oh and by the way, it's now almost a week later and Graeson rash is actually getting worse. Aren't we glad we made the trip to the dermatologist????

Longest. Trip. Ever.

Getting a computer virus is like...

Computer virus....ugh.

You know, you hear about these things happening to "other people" and then it happens. And no amount of pushing the escape button will undo it. And you have a sinking hole in the bottom of your stomach, way down in those organs you didn't even know were there.

And after a few choice words, the damage is done.
And ugly things begin to appear.
Really ugly.

And after a few unsuccessful experiments, you realize you are helpless. And finally, you cry out for help. You realize you can't do this on your own. You're ready to do whatever it takes to make the ugly go away, and make it good again. You need help. Plain and simple.

What you need is a savior.
So you call him.

And then the rebuilding begins. It's not an easy process. It takes work. Sometimes you need an expert to help you figure out the next step. Someone who knows the right path. Someone who's dealt with this kind of ugliness before. Someone who will guide you in the right direction. You learn things you had NO IDEA you'd ever need or want to know. You find out what "starting over" really means.

But yet, there is a silver lining to starting over, and now there is a clean slate. You take a deep breath, and turn over a new leaf. "No more irresponsible clicking" you declare. This time you'll be more careful, deliberate, intentional about your actions. You start loading in specific programs that work much better now. All the old "junk" is gone. There's a better protection plan. And things are running much more efficiently now.

Oh there's still issues. It's not actually perfect, even after starting over. And you have to learn as you go along, stumbling through and slowly learning a new way of doing things. But soon you realize the new way is much better, faster, easier. And you have access to a "support team" now that you didn't have before. And there's some pretty cool features now!

But you would have missed it all if you had stayed in the old ways. And you might even have kept inadvertently digging up the ugly stuff. Ugh, you don't want to go back there again.

Have you been catching the hidden message? (Ok stay with me on this one....)

Getting a computer virus is like...life without Jesus. You have that sinking hole inside, and no amount of escaping is going to make it go away. And there are some really ugly things in your life. But you don't know how to make them go away. They just keep popping up. Right there in front of you. And you might experiment with a few things to try and fill that sinking hole, but nothing really works. You can't do this on your own. You need help.

What you need is a Savior.

When you cry out to Him, He will come! In fact, He's always been there, waiting for you to ask for help. He gives you a clean slate, no matter what kind of ugly you had before. It's gone. All of it.

And now He's given you a much better "virus protection" and this time, it doesn't let that ugly stuff in. He helps you rebuild. Start over. Clean. He helps you get rid of your "junk" and have a more efficient operating system. It's still not an easy process. In fact, it takes a lot of work. And you still have to learn as you go along, just stumbling through sometimes. But He is the "support team", along with all the other people who have already recognized their need for Him. He is the One you can turn to when the ugly tries to come back.

But this time.....you aren't going to let it in.
Now that's some pretty cool features.

~Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior. Psalm 38:22 ~

Mickey tells Graeson goodbye

If you have not heard the details of Graeson's imaginary friends, please click here to read the first blog posting.

Earlier this week, Graeson woke up full of energy and talking a mile a minute. (Although, this is actually nothing unusual!) He told me that at 2:00 Mickey told him goodbye and that he was going to go now. Graeson went on that Mickey is going far away and he won’t be back for a long time, not until Valentine’s Day (which is still a long way away in Graeson’s mind). Mickey has to travel through ten towns and at the eleventh town he will stop. In a wistful voice he says, "I’m sure going to miss Mickey." Then....this is the best part from a Mother's perspective...he says that Mickey is going to tell all the people about Jesus. And Mickey knows about Jesus, and so does Chuck (his substitute friend) and Lightening (his car friend). So I asked if Mickey was the one who told Graeson about Jesus, but then I remembered it was quite the opposite. The day after Graeson asked Jesus into his heart this summer, he gathered all of his pretend friends in his room, and had a concert (with his guitar of course) where he told all his friends about Jesus. And after that, they had Jesus in their hearts too. I told him, that conversational morning, that maybe Mickey was going to another little boy’s house who didn’t have a pretend friend yet, and Mickey would help him when he’s scared and play with him and be his new friend.

So I have to admit, I’m a little sad to see Mickey go. Mainly because this means my little boy is growing up and doesn’t need a make-believe friend anymore. Well, he does still have the other 10 or so friends… but Mickey was the first. And, I suspect, the others will be leaving soon too. (And I have a lump in my throat just writing this!)

Bryan on the other hand, just rolls his eyes….

So I decided to take a poll of some friends to see just how common imaginary friends are. Just the names alone are entertaining: Hawnie-Hawn-Hawk, Ghosty, Mickey (a generation prior to Graeson's Mickey), Homma, Muck, Pepper, Mick (which was short for Mickey), Penelope, as well as some who didn't have names. They are not all people either...some have been 1 inch tall birds, others dinosaurs, others dogs. There was even a woolly mammoth in the list.

Kaela's imaginary friend was a boy named Five. Five mostly never left our house, but one time he was across the restaurant from where we were eating, just drinking his Pepsi. Five started to fade when Kaela eventually worked up to five-days-a-week preschool, and her (real) best friend was in her class. Mostly, Five was just like her and did everything she did including eating, sleeping, playing, and taking a bath. But eventually Five started misbehaving and so Kaela threw him in the garbage. But recently Kaela admitted that Five does still come around sometimes, when she's scared or anxious or nervous....and he just stays there right next to her.

I had my own imaginary friend as well. Her name was Jamie and she was loosely based on a real friend Jamie who I knew at the time. Her physical appearance was vague....no real face or body, kind of like a dream presence....but definitely had blonde hair. And she was mostly an extension of me, a playmate. But I was always in charge, of course! I have a very distinct memory of playing with my cousin Heather and her imaginary friend Mick one day. The four of us were in my Grandma's front yard playing "Mother May I". Heather and I had a brief argument because she said Mick won and I said Jamie won. I couldn't actually see Mick (so how could he possibly win!) but I never questioned whether he was real.

So if a little one in your life begins a relationship with a new friend named Mickey, tell him hello for us. Tell him that we enjoyed the time he was part of our family, and that he has helped shape Graeson into the person he is today, and will become tomorrow. But most importantly, if Mickey tells you about Jesus, pay attention! He knows what he's talking about.

What have the Williams been doing?

So, it's been a little while....ok a long while, since the last post. Hopefully, I will write more frequently now that we are past the holiday busy-ness. On the other hand, it's getting close to February and our Christmas tree is still up....so, don't hold your breath.

In November, we celebrated Graeson's fifth birthday! He had a birthday party at McDonalds (the best place on the entire planet for a five year old boy) with a few of his friends. (Now his birthdays are now involving HIS friends, not just mom and dad's friends!) He got a new John Deere hat, multiple John Deere tractors, and a monster truck birthday cake. But the best present of all was.....GUM! He was hilarious just standing still, smiling pleasantly, very satisfied with himself, chewing. And chewing. He managed to walk and chew, but talking and chewing....well, that took a little more concentration. And, five year olds in the Williams house get a bedroom make-over, so he also has a new John Deere bedroom.

Later in November, we celebrated Thanksgiving with the extended Sharp family....20 people at the Williams house! (And that was only half of us!) Bryan and my cousin Cassie had a "turkey cook-off", we played a Thanksgiving trivia (some people got ultra-serious and studied ahead!), played "Guess Who Is Thankful", and of course ate, and ate, and ate some more. (Sorry Cassie, Bryan won the cook-off....but maybe next year!) Played more games, ate more, watched football, ate more....good times.
And then.....the Christmas season began. Of course THE most important Christmas item is Christmas music! Bryan thinks the rule is "no Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving"....but the kids and I know otherwise (wink)! Kaela's school Christmas program occurred barely into December....December 1 as a matter of fact. She got a new Christmas dress in a hurry! Sing, sing, sing....onto the next event. Civil War football game (in Bryan's life, that should be a holiday!), weekend visit from friends in Reno, girls coffee craft night, Christmas tree hunting, snowflake parade, hospice Christmas party, church choir practice, Graeson's Christmas program, school Christmas tree lot, Bible study Christmas party, Patterson family Christmas (23rd), Sharp family Christmas (24th), Patterson-Sharp family Christmas (25th), Kaela's birthday (the short version), Williams family Christmas (26th), Kaela's and her cousin Tiffany's birthday party (27th), New Years Eve game night, New Year's Day homemade doughnuts....SIGH! I need a nap just writing about it! (This is exactly why we celebrate Kaela's birthday in June!)
And then January.....well, no rest for the weary! On January 8 my grandma (the kids call her G.G. for great-grandma) turned 90.....NINETY! She is amazing, and full of youth. We had been planning a big party for months, and I was in charge of the video-picture show. Let's just say, it turned into a bigger project than I anticipated, but well worth the work! The day before her birthday, my aunt (on the other side of the family) died suddenly. So my siblings and I were faced with a dilemma....Grandma's birthday (here in K-Falls), or Aunt Cathy's funeral (in Tacoma). Thankfully--mercifully--God miraculously worked it out that I was able to attend both. And the picture show was perfect. Everyone cried except Grandma. It was quite an emotional weekend celebrating 90 years of vibrant life, while also mourning the loss of a 53 year old life. God is good in both situations.Needless to say, last week, I got sick. And had a new onset of a high heart rate. Oh and high blood pressure too. So I was very thankful for five days off to REST. Sort of. (Did I mention the Christmas tree still needs to be taken down?)