Christmas Eve

Happy 6oth birthday, G-Mommy! To celebrate your special day, we each opened a present this morning. And here's what we got! New PJs! We miss you. Can't wait to video chat with you tomorrow....

And now for our real Christmas pictures.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Christmas Letter

My printer broke in the middle of printing my family newsletter last night. Most of you already know everything going on in my life if you read my blog, but....here it is! :)

Dear family and friends,
We miss you all especially this time of year. How we wish we had the time and money to travel around to visit all of you!!! That being said, we are thoroughly enjoying Arizona. Here is a little recap on the past year of our lives.
We recently moved out of our apartment into a little rental home, and we quickly settled in and feel much more at home! We each have our own room. We were able to add a pet to our family. We have a cute little back yard with trees and swings that the kids enjoy every day. We have a lot of kids in our neighborhood, and we are just down the street from Owen’s school. It is really an ideal location and we are glad to have found it.
Nathan graduated from Arizona State with his MBA in August. He took a 12 day trip to China to study and compare the business practices of their country versus the US. While there, he also studied and compared the authentic cuisine there versus the food at Panda Express. He is still working for T-Mobile and recently opened a new store closer to our house. He works hard every day and still comes home and helps with the kids and household chores, not to mention dealing with all the financial stresses that come our way. He is a wonderful father and husband and is very loved.
Lindsey is still a housewife and recently made her 7th move in 8 years of marriage. She did all of the packing and unpacking (again), not to mention attempting to decorate and make a home out of their latest residence! She cleans houses part time and is still enjoying that, although her body is aging and complains quite often about the physical labor. She loves being a mom and thinks she has the two most interesting and precious children on the planet. She has enjoyed getting involved in Owen’s education and spending some one-on-one time with Hazel. She loves when family and friends come to visit and she can play hostess. She was recently lucky to have a 10 day visit with her mother that involved lots of shopping and bonding! J
Owen is in first grade and is about to lose his third tooth! He is still taking piano lessons and has a great ear for music. He likes to point out when Mommy plays a wrong note on
the piano. He has flourished this year in his new school and has great teachers and classmates. He has acquired an impressive rock collection and says his favorite subject is Science. He loves to dress up as different super heroes. He has been known to wear his Spiderman gloves for days at a time. He has become an amazing reader and likes to read books to his little sister. He is turning into such a handsome, intelligent little boy and we love to watch him grow and learn.
Hazel is three and quite a character! She has a darling little voice with a mysterious Boston accent. She loves to follow her big brother and copy everything he does. She loves to play with her Barbie dolls, her lions and her make-up. She is a little movie buff and will quote her favorite movies at appropriate times throughout the day. One of her favorite lines is from Annie where she puts up her dukes and says “NOW- or you’ll have ME to deal with!” She uses this one often when asking Mommy to do something. It is hard to teach her how to be respectful while laughing hysterically. She definitely keeps us all on our toes.
We feel blessed this holiday season to have a healthy family and to be as secure as we are. We are also blessed to have you all in our lives. We would love to have you visit our blog anytime to get caught up on our day to day lives! www.williamsnfm.blogspot.com
Love,
The Williams
Nathan, Lindsey, Owen and Hazel

Today......

For the first time in a couple of weeks, I had a day to just catch up on life! I steam-cleaned my carpet, organized several problem areas in my house, worked on our Christmas family newsletter, took a walk with Hazel, watched a few shows on my DVR, ate a lot of the sugar cookies we made last night, talked to my mom on the phone, took a good long nap.....

It's been great. There is nothing fantastic to report, no funny stories to tell, but it's just been one of those days where I got to set my own pace and I just don't feel like I get very many of those anymore.

To top it all off, I got to talk to my good friend Dani on the phone tonight. It required a little parental neglect on my part (the kids had an hour long bath), but it was so nice to vent and complain and laugh with her. And oh how her sweet accent made me miss Georgia. I love you, Dani.

And now I am going to post a picture of myself, because I am rarely on my own blog. 30 is getting nearer and I look at my face in the mirror and think "Hey! That's neat. I have a wrinkle for each year!" And you know what? I'm ok with that.

Tidbits

Maybe I just missed Hazel a lot today, and therefore thought everything she said during our car ride home from the babysitter's (aka Aunt Erin) was extra precious. Either way.....thought I would share some tidbits.

"Mom...when we get home can I play on the computer?"
"I don't know, Hazel.....we'll see."
"What does 'we'll see' mean?"
"It means that I won't say yes or no until we get home"
pause.........
"When we get home, can you please say yes?"

Then a few minutes later I could hear her unwrapping a cough drop and I said,
"Hazel, please don't open another cough drop."
(H) "When I was at Aunt Erin's house I ate my whole cough drop."
(Me) "That's not what I heard! I heard that you spit it out."
(H) in a shocked voice "Did Aunt Erin tell you that?!?!"
(Me) "Yep"
(H) "That was supposed to be a secret!"


Later, while listening to the Lion King soundtrack she said
"Is this the part where grown-up Simba sings with Timone and Pumba?"
(me) "Yes"
(hazel) "I wish I could be in their world."

You be the judge

Which does Hazel like more....

GRAPES...

OR CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES?

O Tannenbaum

Our Christmas is destined to be spent amidst piles of boxes and paper. And I don't mean because we have a lot of presents. In fact, we have yet to purchase a single thing! I mean because we pulled out all our decorations and just can't seem to get around to putting them out. We have all been sick and Nathan and I have both been working every day. I don't think I have ever in my life lived in such squalor....and not done a thing about it!

However, we did finally decorate the tree this week. Is anyone else finding it difficult to get into the holiday spirit?

Here's Hazel's section of the tree. So typical...I know. But still precious.

Picture Day

I love my kiddos. They were such good sports for these pics. It only required one good screaming fit from me and we were good to go!

Gross.....

I know I just posted some randomness today, but I forgot this funny story. Okay....I don't know if funny is the appropriate word. You be the judge.

Some of you are already aware of our cat puke situation. So- the cat pretty much always stays outside now.

Anyway- I got up early today and got the kids ready so Nathan could sleep in on his day off. Then I shooed them outside to play until I was ready to leave. After about 30 minutes of them being outside, we jumped in the car to take Owen to school, and I threw them some bagels to eat on the way.

Halfway to school, Owen turned to Hazel and said "Hey, Hazel.....remember how there was that big pile of puke outside from Carly and you put your fingers in it?"

Yep- those we be the same fingers with which she was eating her bagel.

Randomness.....

That's what you get for needing a place to sit.

Asleep in the "nest" in Mom and Dad's room. Looks like she had a rough day!

Owen lost another tooth.

Just a two second video of Nathan making TJ laugh. Would be longer but my camera battery died as soon as I started.