Michael's Birthday (Kinda)

This year was everything Hulk...because "Hulk is stronger than Superman, dad, of course!"
Here was this really cool indoor playland that Michael and his friends went to.

Argh, matey!

Pass the package....of course!

My attempt at a pirate ship.

They are singing some sort of birthday wish.

Here he is in his classroom. He absolutely LOVES school and is a little depressed everyday when he has to leave his friends.

So, it was Michael's turn to take center stage. Here he is in all his glory getting lots of attention from his friends. He took treats to his Pre-K class and then had a couple of friends over to celebrate. He wanted a pirate cake, so I did the best I could. I REALLY need to remember to cook the cake the day BEFORE...frosting melts when the cake is warm....

Kohls' Christmas Party

This was Michael and Tommy's first time ice-skating. Tommy took off like a rocket.

Horse-drawn carriage rides...

Dave's work had a Christmas party as well. Their budget was $500,000 which is slightly more than what I had for the ward party. It was amazing with an indoor ice-skating rink, all you could eat food galore, magicians, cookie decorating, and tons more. Needless to say, it was a blast!

Ward Christmas Party

Yeah, so I've been running around and stressing about my ward's Christmas party. I'm in the RS, but we were in charge of this activity, and since I have the easiest calling in the RS presidency, it is only fair that I headed it up. I had a great amount of help from other sisters, so it wasn't too bad, but I was so glad to be done. Here's a couple of photos from it.

Rachel's Christmas Concert

So, this year, Rachel's grade did the 'Nutcracker'. It was very well done. Rachel's class did the "Tea, Chinese Tea" dance, which she wasn't excited about, but was my favorite dance of all. She had a little speaking part and did a great job. She also wanted to be on the top of the bleachers, but as a shorty, there's no place but the front!

Dave's Birthday

Well, this time of year seems flooded with birthdays in our house. First Tommy, then Jane, then Dave, and then Michael. And so close to Christmas...it just doesn't seem right! For Dave's birthday, I took him to get a pedicure. It was his first time. He had told me he was willing to go, so I thought it would be great. When we walked in, the only person working there was a guy! and Dave was like "uh, no, thanks" and tried to get out of it. Then a lady worker came out of the back room and we were back in business. Unfortunately, I had a ward Christmas party I was in charge of, so we didn't get to celebrate much. We did get to eat at our favorite restaurant and ate the best meal in the whole world, Pollo Rosa Maria at Carrabbas...yum! Happy Birthday, Dave, I love you!

Janey's Birthday

I can't believe my baby is one....I feel like this year has just flown by. We had Kris, Chuck, Jessica and Rachel in town for her birthday, so we had to do a little 'pass the package' and cake. The cake was a little lame, but Michael said it tasted good. Jane had way too many present especially because she only wanted the first one she opened...another baby doll. She started walking on her birthday, but I swear it was only because her younger-by-two-weeks cousin was showing her how to do it. Happy Birthday, Jane!

A Year with Baby Jane

So, Baby Jane came into the world with a bang, but she's been quite a mellow baby. She goes along with the flow for the most part. The older kids love to cater to her every need and try to make her smile all the time. As of her birthday, she was just beginning to walk. (She needed some competition from her cousin, Rachel, to see what walking was all about) She can wave hello and say, 'hi'. She says, 'da da' when she sees her dad. She can find her belly button and her baby doll. She loves to eat anything but processed fruit (that sounds a lot like her dad). Her favorites are macarroni and cheese, chicken noodle soup, anything with rice, and corn puffs. She loves to fall asleep at naptime, on the couch, with her warm bottle of milk and watching Finding Nemo or Baby Ensteins. Her favorite toys are her walker which she cruises everywhere with, or her baby dolls that she drags around by their hair. She's still almost bald and her eyes are the same as Rachel's (not a distinct color). She has two bottom teeth and four uppers. I love you, Janey. You've been such a joy to our family!

Help for Shelley and Ellery

Hi, all! I went to AZ this last weekend with my sister, Kim, and we had an amazing time. We got to see what my sister and her husband, Caleb, are going through, day and night, with their little baby, Ellery. (You can check out the whole story on her website, Shelley and Caleb, linked to mine)

She is in need of some help at night. It is almost impossible to sleep. You just can't leave the baby alone. Her cries are so soft and her numbers can drop so quickly that someone needs to monitor her all the time. She is the cutest little baby and be warned, you will fall in love with her quickly. If you have any time, in the middle of the night, please try to help her out. They are staying at the St. Joseph Children Hospital downtown. Her website is asking for some help this weekend, but it is a challenge EVERY night. If it is easier for you during the day, I'm sure she would take that help as well. I'm having a hard time being so far away, so I'm so glad for all the help she gets. Terri

All Aboard!!

The weather had been really nice here the last few weeks, 60's and 70's. Even Halloween night required only the lightest of jackets. But yesterday, the cold swept in, nice and wet. So, since Dave had to work, I took the kids downtown to a Trainfest. It was a bunch of grown men and their toys, but pretty fun and amazing to look at. Here's some of the best shots. TOOT! TOOT!

Start of Halloween

Evil Dr. Frank (I was Dr. Stine)
Rachel was Bride of Frankenstein, and Bella was Zombie Mom...they others aren't scary, so we will not mention them.

Jane loved looking at all the costumes.

Here's the ward Halloween party. This ward always has a great turnout, and everyone dresses up...even the grownups. So, there has always been a rule in our house that Halloween is for dressing up scary (you can dress up all the rest of the year like a princess or whatever...), but Michael convinced me that Indiana Jones was scarey with his whip and Tommy had 2 min. to make his costume, so....BUT, for the actual trick-o-treating, they have promised to be all scare and gore. I was too busy to help them because Dave and I were making one of those oooey-gooey science labs. So fun!

The REAL reason we moved....

Now where was I, one might ask...well, I was in the house...WAY too cold for me...hee hee!

So, there were some reasons we moved to WI, such as a good opportunity for Dave, change of scenery, etc, but seriously one of the MAIN reasons was we didn't want our kids to be SOFT. We wanted them to have to make new friends, get really cold so that the snot ran down their noses, and good oldfashioned work. We've had them move the woodpile (every Williamson knows this is a MUST...), shovel snow, pick huge weeds, garden somewhat, and lots of raking leaves. Bella even got blisters...I'm so proud!