Williams of Washington: June 2008

Sunday, June 22, 2008

I'm turning into. . .

Stella has been very excited lately to notice that when her hair is wet, it is getting "super" long. She is infatuated with the idea of having long hair like so and so --and she names off her many friends with long beautiful hair. Unfortunately, her hair has always been so fine and blonde that I have always kept it shorter to make it appear thicker.

Well, she informed me recently that she is growing her hair long! We'll give it a try.

Today she said, "Mom, pretty soon I will turn into Chloe!"

I, not understanding, said "What do you mean?"

Stella replied, "Well, my hair is getting longer and so I will turn into Chloe!"

Chloe is her closest cousin, who has beautiful, curly, LONG, red hair. Which, apparently, Stella has been coveting!

So, here's to hoping Miss Stella has great hair growth and her mother can stay away from the scissors long enough for her hair to finally get LONGER!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Missing

Piles of laundry everywhere, fingerprints on walls, unmade beds, toys strewn about the house. . .
It appears that our MAID is missing in action!
I've been telling KC for years that he should really find a better maid cuz the current one just isn't getting the job done.
Well, by the way my house looks right now, it seems that she's finally up and left us for good.
SERIOUSLY!
And tragically, it would also appear that the gardener ran away with her!

I was going to post photos of my laundry piles, and the disaster area in our yard from our unfinished overhaul but I was afraid it would be too overwhelming for the faint of heart!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

I'm Sorry

Sam is developing many new talents and skills and EMOTIONS. He has recently discovered that he can throw tantrums. They may or may not get him what he wants, but he continues to throw them anyway.

Today, I found him eating toothpaste out of the tube in my bathroom. I took it away and explained that it was "icky" to eat. He promptly threw himself down on the bathroom floor and kicked the shower door over and over again while squealing his dismay. I walked into the other room to continue the laundry and ignore his behavior.

Soon, I can hear him walking to find me, saying "Torry Mama, torry!" over and over until he gets to me. Once he found me, he said it again, kissed me, and patted my leg. I said, "I love you Sammy" and we were once again friends. . .

Scenes similar to this one happen multiple times a day around here! Tantrums and apologies, ( I guess I'm thankful that the apology is included)

Today, I was inspired by Brenda to write down a few of his precious sayings as I am afraid I will forget. (my memory is poor on good days and worse on bad :)

Dog, dog=any midsized hairy animal except cats who are "kitties"

torry=sorry

wub oo=I love you

Lella=Stella

DaddyAddyAddy=the greeting for dad when he comes home from work (said while Sam is running madly to greet him at the door)

cooookie=cookies which he points to the stove and asks for

canny=candy (his true food love)

wamelon=watermelon

fwy=fries

dink dink=drink

milt=milk

shoey=shoes

doggy=his special (pink and purple)stuffed dog that he sleeps with

baf=bath, he and Lella race to the tub

eggy=eggs, a favorite food

nigh nigh=said with a wave as he goes up the stairs to bed

pitty=pretty said when he is trying to put on MY makeup

toap=soap

I poopy=yes, he's done a job and he would like me to change it

toat=coat

bite=bike, he LOVES bike rides

My favorite is that when I get him out of bed in the morning, he is so glad to see me, he pats me on the back and says "mommy, wub you"

He is such a sweetheart!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Weekend In Photos

This post is dedicated to those who are interested in the events of last weekend.

On Saturday, Marcus graduated or "gradulated" (Stella's words) from Pasco High. We had a weekend of festivities with him and a lot of our family. Some weren't able to be here and I'm sure they are the ones who will be most interested in these photos.

First, we had cousins Chloe and Mitchell in town (with their parents) and that was a great thing! They found many ways to entertain themselves and the rest of us too.

We took advantage of time for photo ops before Marcus left for the festivities. Sam just couldn't get enough of the cap and cords. That is why he had to finally be held on the other side of Marcus.

The Class of 2008 walked over from the school and this was their entrance into the ceremony. I'm not sure why, but this was probably the most emotional part for me.

We sat at the top of the stadium. Close to the bathrooms and such.

They all filed into their seats and prepared for the ceremony. We were lucky because Marcus was in the front row and with my telephoto lens I was able to get some close up shots of him.

He was thrilled about that little detail :)

They read the names off pretty fast and had graduates coming from both sides of the stage. I've never seen a ceremony move so quickly!

This is Marcus with diploma in hand!

Here they are switching their tassells to the other side of their caps.

GRADUATES!!!

Marcus and Carter trying to look very cool for the camera.

Stella informed us that Carter is "her favorite friend" so I had to throw this photo in for posterity.

Sam stayed home with Dad, so I took just Stella and she enjoyed herself in more ways than one. She and Chloe found the streamers were a great way to entertain themselves while everyone else was visiting on the field.

I think she enjoyed her first opportunity to see a "GRADULATION"

All in all, a great weekend for our family!

We certainly are proud of Marcus and his accomplishment, of course, we know that he will be going on to even greater accomplishments in the future. I am glad for the good example that he shows my kids when they can see all of his hard work and determination to accomplish his goals.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Choices

In the mornings I pick an outfit for this sweet girl to start the day in (she usually goes through several by the end of the day)and she gets herself dressed. The other morning I put out some white, denim capris and a shirt and I left her to get dressed. When I came back I found her crying on the floor while holding those white capris.
She said, "Mom, these white pants are super cute with the pink flower on them, but I just want SOFT pants."

Let me clarify a little bit. Shorts and pants such as those above are considered "SOFT" pants. Anything knit, velour, stretchy and with an elastic waistband are acceptable bottoms to be worn by miss Stella.

Pants or shorts such as those shown above are considered "HARD" pants. Anything snug, denim, snapping, zipping, and without elastic are not enjoyed by miss Stella. She discards the hard pants every time. No matter the cuteness or details, they just aren't comfy.

Now, I myself, am not one who enjoys tight or squeezy pants either. In my current, almost 19 weeks pregnant, state I find myself not fitting into my "hard" pants either.

So, I find myself saying to Stella, "I know sister, I KNOW, let's go find us some SOFT pants!"

Three cheers for ELASTIC!!!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

A Day in the Life

This morning started a little before 6 am for us. Happy and busy the kids played while I exercised. Then they ate and then we started doing some cleaning around the house.
We were in Stella's room for a few minutes when we noticed Sam had gone somewhere.
Stella ran to look and came back saying, "Mom, it's NOT good."

This is how I found him in my bathroom, with my make-up and such. My deodorant is covered with lipstick, my make-up brush is unidentifyable, my tile and grout pink etc. The lipstick tube was empty. (the good news is that I don't need to dejunk my makeup drawer--my kids are doing it for me)

This is Sam's sad face when I took the lipstick tube away and tried to clean the lipstick out of his eyes.
A short while later, while in the shower, Stella came in and said, "Guess where Sam is now?"

This is where I found him, crying because he was stuck.

By the time I dried off and got dressed, he was located on top of the counter, trying to sneak "Canny" out of the cupboard.

This is Sam's happy face when he was successful and showing off his loot.
All of this happened before 9 am!

We had a few errands to run and we loaded up and headed out. We hit about 4 stores in 3 hours, in and out of the car and scooting around in a cart. I might have had more luck training a pack of wild monkeys than I had while trying to shop with my two kids.

I finally headed home, feeling like I had run a marathon, with only half of the items I needed and a bag of stuff I never intended to get. I was making crazy promises to myself about NEVER shopping with these two again and swearing off shopping altogether. I pulled into the driveway and turned around to see this.. .

One sleeping Sam and one sleeping Stella. Then I remembered just how CUTE and SWEET they can be. . .(and they had good naps, which was payback for a hard morning)

Monday, June 2, 2008

Good Ole' Summertime

Stella and Sam are loving every minute of this warmer weather. From the moment they come down the stairs in the morning until the time when I finally wrangle them into bed at night, they want to be OUTSIDE! This is O.K. by me. They run, jump, make ponds, cook "mud dinners", terrorize the dog, swim, run throught the sprinkler, dig in the rocks, dig up our garden etc.

The end result is happy kids, cleaner house and GOOD sleep at night. We have unfortunately also had a few sunburns, some scraped knees, and a lot of muddy clothes (oh well).

Yesterday morning I went out to check on the kids playing and this is what I saw.

Sam had decided that his clothes were a bother and you really CAN enjoy the sun better in your natural state (right?)

The best part was that they continued to play and cook their "mud dinner" as though this was completely normal.

Ahhh, to be young and free!