Dear Friends, please read

This month we, especially me, have really been amazed by some of our friends.  I have always had friends, even great friends.  I feel like as you get older friends, or how you have friends, changes.  You get a job, get married and have children. Some people don't depend on their friends as much.  I don't know if that is me, but friends aren't always who I go to first.  I have an amazing man who I call my best friend and who is also my husband.  We tell each other everything... I really mean everything.  We share everything from our deepest secrets to our most meaningless event of the day, sometimes that means we stay up until 2am talking.  I also have 2 little loves that take most of my time, energy and thoughts. 
I  have generally never been one to ask for help or seek out a friend when I am in need.  But you know what makes a great friend..? the ones who are there for you even when you don't ask and maybe don't even know you need them.  Isn't that what truly makes a real "friend" anyway?

  I have that.

Not just one, but several.

I think they know who they are- I hope so.  I hope they know by how I can actually ask them for help (which is something I almost never do- I don't like it. It is a pride thing and I am trying to get over it, but it is hard).  I hope they know because they have encouraged us.  I hope they know because they have seen tears of sadness, pain, and gratefulness.  I hope they know because of smiles they have seen in times when smiles wouldn't have been possible without them.  I hope they know even though we might not talk every day, week, or month we can still get together and it be as if not much times has past since we saw them.  Maybe everyone has GREAT friends, even lots of great friends- but I think that's probably not true.  I think people have friends, who they get along with, and do fun things with.  Maybe they have great friends and don't even know it because their friends never were given an opportunity to shine.
My friends who have been there for me, us, this month, past months, and I am sure in the future- please know you are treasured in my heart.  You have made a difference in my life, and my family's life. I know I could never repay you or express what it means to me.  So thank you for being there and making a huge difference. 


And thank you, my Heavenly Father, for times that may be difficult because through them I would never know how blessed I truly am.

May post to come

Just had to state that at this moment, I am caught up to the month on my blog!  That makes me happy!

April Roundup

April was a busy month...well it seems like life is just really busy these days.  Lots of good family and friend time.  We have the most amazing family and friends and are so thankful for those in our lives.




Some of the more excited and fun events that I also happened to capture with a snapshot are below. 

Date Night with the love of my life, a man who I see growing in God every day and am truly blessed to be married too. P.S. I even painted my long finger nails.  If you don't know me you may not realize I never have long nails and they haven't been painted since maybe 11th grade in High school (with the one exception of the manicure for my wedding).

Thank you Grandpa Williams and Aunt Jamiie for coming down for the weekend and watching our children for a night ;) 

Some fun around the house and outside.  Picking strawberries, playing dress up, and being silly. 

 

Said good-bye to our friend and future sister in law, as she moved to Tallahassee.

Butterfly day at the Downtown Library with the Bolins

A visit home for a visit and needed relaxation.

Easter/ Resurections Sunday 2012

 Easter/ Resurrection Sunday whatever you want to call it is the best day, because our family celebrates our Savior rising from the dead after dying on a cross for us and all of you (whoever you are)!


We had a week long celebration for Easter.  It is fun getting to experience holidays with our children.  They are so excited about it. And we are excited to share what a amazing thing our Savior did for us!  What a great reason to celebrate and enjoy family and fun activities!!

Jesus Has Risen

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.  The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.  Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.  Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”  Matt 28:1-10



For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.   John 3:16



We made shaving cream dyed eggs.  It was a super cool project!  You place paint on a cookie sheet or some sort of flat surface that will clean easy after you are done.  put in it different areas of the surface.  Once you have several colors take a toothpick and swirl them around until you have the desired look. Take the card stock once you have cut it into whatever shape you want and put a layer of shaving cream. then carefully place the card stock shaving cream side down straight into the paint.  It turns out the best the less you move the card stock around.  Once you have the card stock on gently apply a little pressure to ensure all the sides are touching the paint.  Then lift as straight off as possible.  Let the shaving cream painted card stock sit for a few minutes.  Then scrape off the shaving cream- I have a squidgy for the shower so we used that.  The swirled paint remains with a nice smell of shaving cream.  We just "re-dipped" each egg after adding a little more paint and didn't redo the paint.  I would recommend starting fresh each time for the best effect, although I think all of ours turned out great. 

Easter Crafts with Landon and Arabella

The Main head quarters library had a children's story time event  of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane  so I took the kids to it.  The ladies who did it did a super job.  The girls really got into it so the kids did too.  The crafts seemed to interested both Landon and Arabella which is always a plus.

Story time and Puppet Play: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

We took the kids to the Alachua County Egg Drop.  It was a neat spin on the typical egg drop.  A helicopter dropped eggs to start the hunt for each age group.  Landon was super sweet, as he general is, and made sure his sister collected some eggs.  There was some fierce competition in the 1-3 year old egg hunters, which is not really some thing Josh and I look forward too.  Landon did great and we were very proud of his attitude and behavior.  The kids got to meet the big pink Easter bunny and do some other fun games and things.  Afterward Josh took us to a restaurant he had been wanting to take us too for a while.  We ended the morning by stopping by Hitchcock's the local grocery store.  It was a Saturday well spent ;)

Josh, Sally, Landon and I dyed eggs for Easter.  It was Landon's first time.  Arabella wasn't really interested in any of it.  Landon loved having colored eggs to eat.  Bella, a big lover of eggs also enjoyed the hard boiled eggs but I think she really didn't care about the color. 

Dying Easter Eggs

Sunday before going to service we had the kids get their Easter baskets (we had intended on doing this Saturday morning but forgot due to a  busy day and a late evening the day before).  Landon got a car, a growing insect, some pairs of Sponge Bob character socks and candy.  Landon helped pick Bella's goodies out which were dress up shoes, a necklace with a Disney princess on it and candy.  We also had several egg hunts in our house through out the week.  Some were just for fun and some I used to help with school.  I hid letters in the eggs and had Landon name the letter and place it on a picture which started with that letter.

Happy Easter Baskets!

After Sunday service, Sally came over for lunch.  She took some family pictures for us as well.  We had a super day!

Resurrection Sunday with family!

March

Enjoying a God's handiwork tree with my family

 Strawberry Picking at Roger Farm

 

Fishing Fun with Daddy

 Picnic at the park

Splash Park with Bolin Boys

St Patrick's Day

Yay, I am on March!  Just need to finish up a few post here and then on to April and May.  Maybe I will catch up?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 

Feburary rewind

Happy Valentine's Day(well this is way late but the Williams family still wished you a happy Valentine's day even if you didn't know it)!!!  My little loves always make things extra special!  We made Daddy red oatmeal cookies and a chocolate heart cake for Landon and myself (since we are the only ones who like chocolate.   Landon and Bella also made Daddy a card.  I got a steak dinner with stuffed mushrooms, and a baked potato (which is one of my favorite meals ).



 

 School Time!
Landon made pancakes with me.  We tried out using a cookie cutter and chocolate chips. Yummy!  After seeing a couple of recipes on Pinterest for pretzels, I thought it would be perfect addition to our letter P week.  Plus I love pretzels! We made salt, salt and garlic, and cinnamon/sugar.  Some turned out super pretty, some not so much but all were yummy. 








These are a few of our favorite things...
Legos, dress up and stuffed animals LOTS of stuffed animals and there are never enough!

 

And being outside, and making towers with random things around the house

At the end of the month, the kids and I went to stay with my parents for a week.  



 There was lots of Popsicles, playtime, park time, playing in the rain, tickle wars, and loving on Grandparents. 

Arabella is ONE!!- Birthday celebrations and mildstones

Still catching up...from February

Our little lady turned one on February 7th.  Although this is a big event and we were excited and sad of this day coming it was not celebrated well.  Arabella's birthday was Tuesday- Monday we all felt something coming.  Tuesday-Stomach flu!  Bella and I got hit the hardest first.  It wasn't a horrible stomach flu but stomach flues are just horrible so.... :(  I was so upset that I had to spend the day in bed.  If I sat up, got up, or moved about then it was a fast run to the bathroom.  Arabella joined me in snuggling in a sickly doze in bed most of the day.  Landon and Daddy didn't ever get hit as hard but they were mostly in bed Wednesday.  It really took almost a whole week to be completely rid of the full symptoms of the ickyness. 



Arabella's Milestones

Walks- well RUNS 
Bends over and picks up an object
Imitates others' activities ESPECIALLY Landon
Indicates wants with gestures.  She will also point to what hurt her if she bumps into something. 
Scribbles with a crayon
Helps get herself dressed.  She tries to take off her clothes.  She will hold on to me while I am putting her shorts on.  She will also push her arms threw her shirt arm holes.
Uses a fork pretty well and she will get frustrated if she doesn't have a fork or spoon to eat with.
 Understands so much.
Loves to put things inside of things and take them out.
Knows many body parts and will point to them-hair, eyes, mouth, nose, ears, feet, belly, belly button to name some.
Words include-mama, dada, kitty (or something really close), lana (for Landon), mo (for more) mil( for milk),esss (for yes), the following are not so clear but it is clear she is saying the words...Reesie, brother, dog, Callie, Bourbon, cat, dog, and apple (there may be a few more but I can't remember right now)
Has an opinion on almost everything and will let you know it. 

Loves...
Landon
Daddy
Aunt Jamiie (I think she might be currently her favorite outside immediate family)
Food and almost whatever we feed her, including some spicy foods.  Soups and eggs are some of her favorites.
Stuffed animals and dolls
balls
animals of any kind
the colors- pink, red, purple and yellow



BIRTHDAY PARTY TIME!
Since we were all sick for Arabella's birthday we pushed back our trip home to the first weekend in March.  The kids and I went home for about a week and then Josh joined us on Friday.  We did a ladybug themed birthday because Bella seems to like red, lady bugs(one of her favorite books is call "The Ladybug") and her nickname is ladybug... plus it worked out great because someone had given us a ladybug hand-me-down outfit that was just her size!
I made almost all the decorations.  My mom and I decorated.  We were planning on an outdoor birthday party at a park but the weather was..well POURING! Poor Aunt Merry and Owen had to have Grandpa Williams pull up to the stairs on the porch because there was just so much rain and flooding everywhere. 
So we had the party at my parents house.  Daddy, Landon, Mommy, Grandpa Gorman, Grandma Gorman, Grandpa Williams, Grandma Williams, Aunt Merry, Aunt Jamiie, Uncle Jeremiah cousin Owen and friend Dan were the guest.  We had red fruit kabobs, veggies, Oatmeal squares, biscuits and sausage gravy, a ladybug birthday cake that had a brownish body because Mommy had less red food coloring than she thought ): 
It was lots of fun and I think Bella enjoyed her self.  Thank you Williams for the stuffed horse.  Thank you Aunt Merry, Uncle John, and Owen for the adorable tutu and headband.  Thank you Gormans for the books,  Thank you Mommy, Daddy and Landon for the toy stuffed flowers and birthday party.

Arabella is ONE!!- Mommy's Birthday Letter to my sweet lady

Rewind back to February 7th....

My sweet little lady bug,

 How much joy you have brought to our lives.  With your spunky and sweet disposition you make everyday just that more enjoyable.
You are such a happy girl but make everyone work to see a full smile.  You are extremely suspicious of people, especially of boys/men (it seems).   Although, it seems like you favor your Mommy (except with blonde hair) in baby pictures your facial expressions are certainly your Daddy's.  You have that "Williams half smile/ smirk" that mommy is so fond of.

Arabella, you are certainly a Daddy's girl.  It is obvious that you love Mommy but as soon as Daddy is near you want him and are happy as a lark spending all your time with him (that is until you want mommy milk). 

You adore your brother, Landon.  The relationship the two of you have melts Daddy and Mommy's heart multiple times a day.  Landon has a couple of nicknames for you, Arabelly (the most common one), Belly Boo, and he has picked up ours for you which include Lady bug and Love Bug.  You try to do everything he does, including things that give Mommy and Daddy a minor heart attack like climb up on the very top of the couch, standing and rocking on the little rocking chair or figuring out how to climb on top of the bed.  You have also learned to be loving from him and to play sweetly (most of the time) with others.  You miss Landon when he is gone and cry out for him at night if you aren't snuggling with him.  You both have always seem to love to snuggle with each other.  Now that you share a bed, he will pat your back while you are both asleep. He doesn't seem to mind when you lay on top of him.  The love you share for each other is at the top of the list of gifts that you give Daddy and Mommy.  We both love and adore our siblings and so happy to see you share the same love.  I hope it just grows as the years go by. 

You are such an animal lover- big surprise! Since your Mommy, Daddy, and big brother are, plus you are surrounded by furries!  Callie is so sweet with you.  She loves to play tug-a-war but if you try to play she lays down and gentle pulls so not to hurt you.  Reesie and you seem to share a sweet bond.  You already can say her name fairly well and get excited when she walks in the room or to you.  Chang and Bourbon also get lots of sweet love from you as well. 

You seem to be growing at lightening speed and although I love toddlers (maybe more than babies) I am sad to see my littlest growing up so fast.  I loved cuddling with your little lump of a body the first few months of your life.  I am so excited to see you growing at the same time.  You are talking and moving and becoming your own person.  I am looking forward to days spent crafting, talking, snuggling, and just being a mother and daughter together for years to come.

We love you so much sweet little lady bug!