Wendy Lou is FOUR

My baby girl is FOUR years old! There's a part of me that can't believe it, but there's another party that thinks, "Oh, wait... you're only four? I feel like I'm talking to a teenager right now." And can you tell she's a little excited to be four now? She's been checking all the tags on her clothes to make sure they're size 4T... 'cuz, you know, she wouldn't want to be seen walking around in BABY clothes.

 

Her (current) favorite princess, Rapunzel, has been put on hold for a minute to make room for her new obsession... Hello Kitty. "Mom, I just want Hello Kitty everything! (counting on her fingers) Hello Kitty clothes, Hello Kitty bathtub, Hello Kitty make-up, Hello Kitty toothbrush, Hello Kitty kitchen... can you tell the guys (AKA construction workers remodeling our kitchen... more on that later) to make it a Hello Kitty kitchen? Can they make it pink with red polka dots? Can you do that for me?" No sweetheart. I cannot do that for you. But I CAN throw you a Hello Kitty party.

*pin the bow on Hello Kitty

*this girl is not messing around! she wants some candy! she even pulled out the williams under-bite!

Some of the little things I want to remember forever about the 4 year old Wendy:

•  Her favorite game is tag, or "Try to get me." I can chase her in circles around the tree in our front yard, or around the kitchen island all day and she never stops giggling. When I catch her, I pick her up and spin her around until we're both dizzy. Sometimes I get a little tired of this game, but then I realize it won't be long before she wants me to leave her alone and then I'm not so tired of it anymore.
• I've been trying really hard to go on a "Mommy-Wendy Date" on the first weekend of each month. I love it. Her favorite one so far has been our Saturday morning trip to Chuck-E-Cheese. Did you know if you're the first one there in the morning, every single game has tons of tickets hanging out of it from when they re-stocked the night before?? That girl made out like a bandit.
• I still think she's the most brilliant little girl. She just turned four and she can sound out how to spell, do simple addition, subtraction, and remembers every tiny detail about things I've long since forgotten.
• She has an imaginary friend... sort of. It's her imaginary older sister named "Kristen." Kristen is always either 15 years old or  6 years old. I did a little investigating and found out that there is an "older" girl named Kristen on Barney (Wendy has discovered the purple dinosaur on Netflix and cannot get enough).
• She is SO SWEET to her baby brother. She makes him crack up all the time and she likes to hold hands with him in across carseats in the car. When my father-in-law jokingly tells him, "Harvey, you don't do anything! When are you gonna do something?" She gets very defensive and starts listing off his baby tricks, "Yes he does, he can sit up! And he can wave! He can pick up his own food..."
• I really look forward to picking Wendy up from school twice a week. When I get there and wait in line behind the glass door to her classroom, I watch her class walk in from recess in a single file line to sit on the carpet and get ready for their parents to come pick them up. She always looks to see if I'm there, then she always gets a huge smile on her face and gives me a very animated wave. Lately, she's also been holding up her pinky, pointer finger, and thumb to say "I love you!" after the wave. Sometimes she'll try to tell me something, but I can't hear through the glass so I just give her a thumbs up. If any parent is in line in front of me they look back to see who this cute little girl is so excited to see. Then when the door opens she always runs to me with open arms saying, "Mommmmyyyyyy!!" I sigh. She does love me. This is one of my favorite moments every week. Even though I usually have to wake Harvey up early from his morning nap to go pick her up, I wouldn't miss it for anything.

Happy thirty-oneth birthday Ryan!

HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!

31 things I love about this man:

1. He's a hard worker (currently working 2 jobs, in school and STILL manages to make time for me and for his kids)
2. He makes me laugh every day
3. He gets the kids off to their grandparents house on Mondays & Wednesday when I work - SUCH a big help
4. He never makes (lets) me drive when we go places together
5.  He does ALL the yard work; I've still never mowed a single lawn in my life
6. He tells me when I look good
7. He holds my hand all the time
8. He's the first to help out a friend
9. HE WENT BACK TO SCHOOL, which is a huge sacrifice that will reap eternal benefits for our little family. He's actually just about getting straight A's & enjoying being a student!! (can you tell I really love this one?)
10. He's an amazing dad 
11. He takes the kids on late afternoon walks so I can get dinner ready in peace
12. He's a super talented drummer
13. He's also a super talented singer
14. Actually, he's just super talented musically all around - he can pick up any instrument and play it
15. He doesn't really care for sports unless we're live at a game (SO nice that we agree on this)
16. He's really close with this family
17. He never forgets a name
18. He's so dependable
19. He puts Wendy to bed almost every night
20. He reads the kids bedtime stories & does all the voices (it's such a cute thing to listen to him doing the voices and hear Wendy laughing with delight) 
21. He takes me to them movies all the time, even though he doesn't really care for the movies and I love them
22. He loves to dance & he's good at it
23. He always takes out the trash
24. He always kisses me when he leaves or comes home
25. He is a superstar at Niel Diamond kareoke
26. He's a great public speaker (as long as he remembers who is audience is and refrains from being inappropriate)
27. Despite being inappropriate all the time, he loves the Lord
28. He always listens to me when I've had a bad day
29. He's the life of the party
30. He puts others first
31. He's my best friend

Chubby Bunny

HAPPY EASTER!

Love, The Williams Family

(Harvey was not as freaked out as he looks in this picture. He actually really liked the easter bunny, just not the noise-maker the photographer used to get his attention).

*his & hers

*Harvey's 1st Easter

Our Easter family tradition, on Ryan's (Mexican) side, is to search for and smash confetti eggs on each others heads during the egg hunt. The smashing gets a little painful so we usually crush them in our hands and sprinkling each other with confetti & egg shell. As you can see, my son does not prefer this tradition. But, honestly, how adorable can this little boy be?! (forgive all the pictures, I couldn't help it.) 

11 Months!

*I can't get enough of those chubbs!

Harvey at 11 months

• Weight: 27 lbs.
• Had an overdue graduation from the infant car-seat into Wendy's old toddler car-seat. He's rear facing, which apparently the American Pediatric Association says I should do until he's two(!?!), but the poor things knees are going to be in his arm pits soon, so I don't know how much longer that will last.
• Baby tricks: limp arm/wrist waves hi & bye, clapping
• Wakes up happy every morning
• 1st Haircut! I still don't know what to do with it. His thick locks are all over the place. Oh, if only he had the same options as a girlchild and I could just put a clippy in those bangs...
• LOVES to be outside, preferably sitting in the sand. He even cries when I close the front door & he can't see out anymore
• Has been giving me the sweetest long hugs with both arms & his head on my shoulder
• If I had it my way he would stay 11 months for like 2 to 5 years

8 years of true love

*on the balcony of our room at The Ambrose Hotel 

On March 19th 2012 Ryan and I celebrated 8 years of marriage. We dropped off our lovely, demanding children with their grandparents and headed out to Santa Monica. After checking in at The Ambrose Hotel (super cute and super hidden) we strolled around downtown Santa Monica and the 3rd Street Promenade. I don't know if Ryan was being honest or not but he said he had as much fun as I did browsing the shops. Browsing was ESPECIALLY fun because of the kitchen remodel we're in the middle of -  it was actually more than just browsing :). During our "browsing," we searched for (and found) a good Thai restaurant near the beach before heading off to the movies. On our way to the movies we actually drove right by the Los Angeles temple where we were married. We haven't been there in years so it was a nice little romantic coincidence.

*Thai Dishes Restaurant for dinner, so yummy!

*on our balcony again

After getting the best night's sleep in over a year (not exaggerating), we went to a nice breakfast then spent the day on the beach and the pier. We took photobooth photos, rode the ferris wheel over looking the ocean, appreciated some crazies, and had fun just taking our time. It was the perfect day. I didn't want it to end. I think next year we will take two days for just the two of us. After all this time, I have so much fun with this wonderful man, my best friend, who keeps me happy, laughing, and taken care of.

*on the pier

*on the ferris wheel

* in love on the ferris wheel

The Saint Patrick's Day 2012 Instagram Breakdown

This year, Saint Patrick's Day fell on a rainy Saturday, so we spent the day indoors "celebrating." This was also the first year Wendy had any clue what St. Patrick's Day was (thanks to her preschool teachers at tiny tots who went all out and had a leprechaun reap havoc on their classroom). So because of that (and some mom guilt from ideas seen on pinterest) I decided I was going to make it fun.

Photo breakdown:

1. Separated fruit loops by color for some St. Patty's Day art (tried to slow my daughter down from eating the whole box in one day... it took her two.)
2. The proud artist with her pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. She really did most of the work, it turned out super cute but baby brother tried to eat it.
3. Woke up St. Patrick's Day morning to some leprechaun mischief... he ate the rest of our fruit loops & left tiny footprints
4. Wendy helped me make green (scrambled) eggs and ham (bacon) with shamrock cinnamon toast for breakfast. She had a lot of fun making it but wasn't so sure about eating it.
5.We looked around the house and followed some more footprints to leprechaun mischief... he left us a message on the chalkboard door AND (not pictured) played around Wendy's dollhouse, it's just his size.
6. ...apparently he had to go to the bathroom as well.
7. During baby brother's nap we painted our nails with "Pot of Gold" glitter polish.
8. Even though we saw no one all day, we all wore lots of green - didn't want any pinching going on in our house.
9. The "Harvey's 1st Saint Patrick's Day" shot.

Holy Moly, 10 Months!

*check out the one tooth! love it!

Harvey at 10 months:

• Weight: 25 lbs 7oz (93rd percentile)
• length: 30.5 inches (92nd percentile)
• first words: mom, mama, dad, dada
• in desperate need of his 1st haircut (as you can see)
• favorite game: I carry him around the house, from room to room, and let him turn off all the light switches. He looks at the light, then at me with a "look what I can do" grin as he turns it off.
• monkey see, monkey do: will copy lip smacking, using your finger to make bubble sounds, motor boat sound, shaking your head no, a head bob with an "aduh," and an "uh-oh!" sound, and (my fave) scrunched up chris farley face
• not crawling, but always scooting backwards. it doesn't matter if he's on in his tummy or his back. at least once a night we have to go into his nursery and move him down out of the corner of his crib so he's not smashing his head. and during tummy time i'm constantly removing him from under the t.v. stand or couch
• has 8 teeth all together, but still looks like a "one-tooth-willy"