THE pool.

So I haven't really done NEARLY justice in capturing photos of THE pool. Between the rain, and trying to help my mom set up for the expo at the same time, I didn't have my camera out as much as I should have. The pool at the hotel wasn't JUST a pool. It was a zero-entry pool (so you can walk right in, and there's LOTS of really shallow area) The deepest part was only 3 1/2 feet, there's a giant slide (as you can see) plus what you can't see is the big splash park and sand area BEHIND the giant octopus. So Bryce was not so sure about the slide, but willing to try it, with Eric standing at the bottom to catch him. . . . .that did NOT go well. But when Eric offered to go down the slide WITH Bryce, he LOVED LOVED LOVED it. I was so proud of him - he was quite brave, and it payed off, because he had a BLAST. (I think Eric had fun too!)

Okay, so here he is getting ready to go down the slide by himself. I don't have any pictures of them going down together. I think I was too busy laughing and listening to Bryce scream (a happy scream) the whole way down.

Going. . .. going. .. .

GONE. And never doing THAT on his own again, anytime soon!! I think it was just WAY faster than he expected it to be. But not too bad of a first experience on a water slide! He's already talking about next year at "Mimi's scrapbook show" and taking Tanner to the slide. Oh boy!

at the hotel/expo

So, the Gaylord Palms Resort is this AMAZING hotel. It's MASSIVE, and it has this amazing atrium area in the middle - seriously people, waterfalls, ALLIGATORS (yes, real ones) and each section of the atrium is supposed to look like a different area of Florida (the Keys, Everglades, St. Augustine, etc) The architecture is amazing, and you can stay in the hotel the entire time, and never run out of stuff to do. And the pool. . .oh, the pool. . .(but I'll make you wait for that until the next post.) The best part of it, is that the Scrapbook Expo was right there at the hotel's convention center, so we were RIGHT THERE the whole time.
We had beautiful adjoining rooms with Mimi and Poppy, and had balconies overlooking the atrium. Here are Bryce and Mimi soon after we arrived.

And here is the Expo (at the begining of the show, after it was all set up!)

Yeeehaw - also known as, the fruits of attic exploration

(Orlando pictures are coming up next - I almost forgot to share THIS entertainment with you!)

So for some reason, Bryce has been totally interested in attics and basements lately. He was OBSESSED with the idea of going up in Mimi and Poppy's attic while we were there. Being the ever-pleasing and attentive grandparents that they are, Mimi and Poppy took Bryce up to the attic to explore. They came down with all SORTS of my old toys, books and stuffed animals. We were all especially entertained by him wearing my old horseback riding helmet and boots. It was quite the classy look with his pajamas, don't you think??

Worn out!

Apparently all the swimming, cooking, exploring the attic, and playing outside wore Bryce out. He actually SLEPT in the car on the way from Fort Myers, to Orlando. (He NEVER does that anymore! And he had SUCH a red mark on his face after he finally moved his hand from his cheek - poor kid!) We drove up there with my parents, to help (and play) at the Scrapbook Expo. (Pictures from Orlando coming soon! Seriously! They are - they are all set to post tomorrow!)

cooking with chef bryce and chef poppy (and cleaning up too!)

Bryce helped Poppy make Mimi's favorite dinner - Chicken Piccata. (Yes, I believe Bryce handled raw chicken - and Mommy stayed out of the way and didn't watch.) Every good chef has to clean up his mess afterwards. (Or get a really nice woman to clean it up for him. . .maybe a little of both!)

a quick Tanner update. . .(all my random thoughts)

I forgot I wanted to share a quick baby update (And don't worry the rest of the photos I promised, will start tomorrow.) I had a dr. appt this week, and it went well. I survived my glucose test (where they make you drink this horribly sweet "beverage" and then they take your blood. Fun fun.) They said they'd have the results the next day, and that "no news is good news" so we are going to assume that the test came back fine. (Good thing, because I am NOT giving up my evening bowl of mint chocolate chip icecream!)

The baby's size is right on track. . .but on the big side of normal. . .so the doctor said he will definitely be as big or bigger than Bryce. (B was 8 lbs 4 oz., and 8 days early) Let's hope for maybe a week or so early with this one too, shall we!????

I start seeing the dr. every three weeks now.
Tanner gets the hiccups. . .a lot. This week I am convinced that Bryce and Tanner have been trading them back and forth.
I took my rings off this week, because I'm starting to swell a little bit.
And the summer is getting really HOT.

We started getting Tanner's room ready, and Bryce and I have been sorting baby clothes for two days. We have 0-3 month clothes coming out our EARS. So if you feel compelled to buy cute baby clothes. . .please aim for larger sizes!!! :)

could it be?

I understand that I have officially joined the ranks of many of my other blogging buddies who go months without updating the blog. It seemed the longer I waited, the harder it got to do. So in not-necessarily-chronological order, this week I will play catch-up. I have all the photos off the camera, and on the computer, unedited, but ready to post.

We spent last week with my parents, so we'll start with some pool pictures taken at Mimi and Poppy's house. I'll schedule some more photos to post throughout the week.. . so when I say "Check Back Soon", I really do mean it! (Unless Bryce wakes up in the next 10 minutes!)

Bryce wanted to be in the pool basically the entire week we were away - which was quite a feat, because it rained at a moment's notice throughout the ENTIRE week. So in between sprinkles and storms, we got him outside as much as we could! (The water was COLD though, thanks to all that rain!)

Edited: I now have pictures all ready to post every other day. . .just to stretch things out, so I can pretend to be a good blogger for a while. So keep checking back!!! I've been busy this morning!!!

It's official. . .

Bryce's baby brother has a name. About time, huh?

Tanner Everett is the final decision. We picked Tanner for no reason in particular, other than the fact that we just LIKE it!!! Everett is a family name on BOTH sides of our family, which is pretty neat! :)

And after much debating, I finally picked a color scheme and some super cute bedding for Tanner's room/Guest room. I didn't want to do a major baby theme, since the room WILL still be functioning as a guest room (yes, you still have a place to stay the next time you come to visit, and Tanner will come and bunk with us - don't worry - no midnight feedings and crying babies for you to deal with! Well, unless you're Mimi. . .then perhaps!)

So, without further ado, here's the bedding we picked.

So we'll go with a bright cheery green/yellow/blue color scheme, with lots of polka dots and circles!! ( I LOVE that!!) I am going to start working on some fun artwork to hang in there, too!

The Easter Egg Hunt

And ohhhh, what an Easter egg hunt it WAS. Nana is STILL finding eggs in her yard. There were about a thousand of them, I think!!! :) Bryce, and the other kiddo cousins each had a HUGE basket full of eggs by the end of it.

Easter Day

I still have Easter basket, and Easter cookie photos to share, but since these are ready to go first, here they are. HOW cute is this little man in his BOWTIE!? (Thank you Lizzie!!!) He told me, "Mommy, I felt very grownup in my church outfit today!"
And yes, it's finally the first pregnant belly picture too. So there ya go, for all of you who have been waiting for it.
After church, Bryce got to blow bubbles and run around with his pal, KC, while we caught up with Kellum and Sarah, who came to our church this week. (That's the bottom picture. . .they got a little out of order!) KC and Bryce even had matching outfits for Easter. . .how cute!!! :)

After church, the adventure continued, as Eric's car decided to STOP WORKING. Thanks to jumper cables (three times) and Eric's dad, we were able to get his car to the mechanic today, where it is getting a shiny new alternator (whatever the heck THAT is.) Later in the day, we had a big Easter dinner, and egg hunt at Nana's house. (Pictures coming soon!)

So that about sums up our day! It was REALLY hectic, but a lot of fun. We hope YOU had a great day too!!! XOXO

egg decorating!

Bryce had been WAITING and WAITING to decorate eggs. . .he's literally been asking me for WEEKS when we could decorate eggs. He was QUITE happy to finally color the eggs this weekend! And yes, shirtless. It's the only way to keep your sanity, with a four year old and all that DYE!!!!

And now, the finished products. . . .

And always time for more goofy faces. . .

And me, FINALLY figuring out how to do spot color on a black and white picture, in Photoshop. Tee hee! So fun!!! :)

Today we are heading to church, hiding easter eggs, and having dinner at Nana's house. The Easter bunny actually came YESTERDAY . . .he comes a day early, thoughtful bunny that he is, because Eric leaves for church before Bryce gets up in the morning, and the bunny hates to make Bryce WAIT until Easter afternoon to get his basket, but he also doesn't want Daddy to miss the fun. SO, the last few years, he comes the day before Easter. Such a thoughtful bunny! (I will share Easter basket pictures when I get them on the computer!)

HAPPY EASTER!!

"Good morning, Daddy!"

One of Bryce's favorite things to do in the morning is to WAKE UP DADDY!!!! He is USUALLY quite sweet about it, and he goes in really quietly, with his stash of stuffed animals, and says "Goood morrrrrning Dadddddy." Then he crawls into bed and makes giant pillow piles, sits on Eric's head, or makes a cave under the covers.
Along with Eric and Bryce in this picture, are Bryce's two baby dolls, Baby Nick, and Baby Abby. Baby Nick has been with us for quite some time, but Bryce recently decided that Nick needed a friend. . .so we got Abby a few weeks ago. Bryce decided that it was a girl, after MUCH deliberation, and named her Abby (probably because we were going to name our new baby, Abby, if it had been a girl!) Now all Abby needs are CLOTHES. :)

And of course there's ALWAYS time for crazy faces.

I have lots of pictures to share from our Easter preparations. . .but since I have been such a bad blogger, I am going to spread them out over the next few days, just to keep you coming back for more!!!

Love and hugs!

Happy almost Easter!!! XOXO

Are you READY?!

The. . . new baby. ..

is. . . .

a. . . ..

BOY!!!!!!!!!!

We are really excited, (and were secretly leaning towards hoping for another boy!!) Bryce is VERY excited, mainly because he wants to "teach the new baby to snore, so there can be three snoring boys in the house, and Mommy will need to buy earplugs."

any guesses?????

Tomorrow's the day! We'll find out whether the newest little Williams is a boy or a girl! Check back tomorrow for the official report!!!!

Any predictions???????

A little early morning artwork

Bryce wanted to sit at his table (his table which used to be MY table when I was little!) and do some artwork yesterday morning. His big box of stamps and ink pads has been out for a few days, so he set to work stamping. He has gotten pretty good at remembering to clean his stamp before he switches colors. He has some alphabet stamps, and although he doesn't realize it, is getting in some good practice with his letters and spelling, while he makes words!! (Gotta love those secret-learning experiences!!)

Here's the finished product!!!

XOXO

The snakes with legs at the zoo

The Jacksonville Zoo has a new Asian area, with Komodo Dragons! Bryce has been REALLY excited to go see them, ever since he started hearing about it. He says they look like "snakes on legs". I said "Sort of like giant lizards?" But "No, Mommy. Not really. Snakes on legs." (And the difference issss???????)
This past weekend was the grand opening of the new Asian section, so the boys went out to the zoo together, and had a really nice time! Bryce got his picture taken with the zoo's mascot (whose name escapes me now.)

If you look way in the background, you can see one of the Komodo Dragons looking at the camera :) There are two of them at the zoo. . .one is six feet long, and the other is NINE feet long! (I think I'm glad I stayed home!)

Bryce loves to sit on the carousel horse . . .the one that is NOT attached to the carousel! Although he HAS gone on the carousel now, and he liked it - but he wants to be on one of the animals that does NOT move up and down. Going around in circles is quite enough for him, I think!

One of Bryce's favorite stops is this giant fish tank. The fish in there are HUGE, and they come right up to the glass to look at you.

We LOVE to go see the giraffes too. Sometimes you can even feed them leafy branches from the railing. There are a few little ones too, who are SOOO cute! (Almost as cute as Bryce!)

Special thanks to resident photographer, Eric, who I told "Get some good pictures for the blog, before I get in trouble again!" He achieved the task beautifully!! ;)

Touchdown!? Goal!!!!

Bryce has been playing a lot of "soccer" lately - in the house, in the yard, wherever. And everytime he gets the ball wherever he wants it to go, he yells "TOUCHDOWN!!" (Sorry sweetie, wrong game.) Finally he has figured out that he can say "Score!" or "GOAL!"when he's playing soccer. (I don't want the other boys to make fun of him when he's 12 years old and still yelling TOUCHDOWN at the soccer game!!! Tee hee!) Yesterday we went to our friend KC's 3rd birthday party, at the park and Bryce played some soccer with Eric. Soccer. . .and birthday cake. What more could a little boy ask for!?

Big hugs to everyone. . .especially PopPop who will be looking at these pictures on his newly working computer with HIGH SPEED INTERNET!!!!! WoooHoOOOO!! :)

XOXOXO

just a baby update!

Sorry - no pictures. Just wanted to check in with a baby update. I had one of those super quick "sit-in-the-waiting-room-longer-than-you-see-the-dr" visits on Monday. The heartbeat sounded great, and everything was fine! Not too much to report. But rather than make this poor blog sit another day with nothing new, I thought I could at least tell you SOMETHING!!!

I started drinking milk again this week. . .for the first time since around Christmas, so THAT is a pretty good accomplishment, which must mean that I am making SOME sort of progress in the "I-feel-like-crud" department!! I did actually make it to the outlet mall for an afternoon of shopping with Debbie and Lizzie on Sunday. It was REALLY nice to be out of the house for a while! I got a few cute maternity clothes, to add to my stash, and some cute new clothes for Bryce (like a "Big Brother" tshirt from Carters! So cute!)

Annamaria has been coming over to help me clean and organize and keep things running around here, which has been TOTALLY and completely priceless. I am SO thankful!!!! Yesterday we went through all of the maternity clothes (thank you Joy!) It's like a trip down memory lane, because there are clothes there from Annamaria, Joy, and I, plus a few other people. So we spent a lot of time saying "Oh, I remember this! You wore this to such-and-such!" Or, "Ohhh, that was my FAVORITE shirt, it's SO comfy!" or. .. ."Ewww. That was the worst article of maternity clothing EVER. Get rid of it!" It seems that maternity clothes are either REALLY fabulous and comfy, or REALLY hideous and unwearable. There IS no in-between.

OKAY, we have GOT to get to the grocery this morning, because I am out of cinnamon-raisin bagels and applesauce. . .two of my staple foods for the past two weeks. (Bryce LOVES them both too.) Have a great day!!!!! XOXO

no shirt, no shoes, NO PROBLEM!

Here's Bryce showing off his new apron from Mimi and Poppy. He was preparing to make a batch of brownies, which turned out VERY yummy!!!
Hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day! Bryce followed up the brownie baking, with some Valentine cookie baking. At least I can tolerate the smell of SWEETS baking. . .just don't ask me to cook dinner!!! I am so thankful for Michelle and Nana making us some dinners for this week . ..especially since Bryce and I have both managed to come down with colds. JUST what I needed!
XOXO

bad bad blogger. (but with the best excuse!)

Thank you for not sending me nasty grams, based upon the ignored status of this poor little blog. By now, most of you already know my BIG excuse. . . this tiny baby who is making me SO STINKING SICK!!! I am TRYING to get us all back into some sort of routine, and I am TRYING to keep the "Bryce and Mommy in Mommy's bed watching cartoons" to a minimum. . .it's working 30% of the time.

So please bear with me, and I will try to do a better job of taking pictures and posting SOMETHING here.

Bryce is still doing his cooking shows. He got some new cooking tools and treats in the mail from Mimi, so we hope to have another edition to post in the next few days. The weather has been a lot warmer the last few days, so we managed to get outside for a little while yesterday, which Bryce LOVED. He had fun playing with some water toys.

Anddd. . .that's about it. I am trying to convince myself that I am feeling better, and hopefully Bryce and I are going to trek out to get him a haircut today. As you can see from his picture, he is a seriously shaggy boy.

Have a great weekend!!! We love you!

XOXO

Cooking With Chef Bryce

Bryce has been doing cooking shows for us - Cooking With Chef Bryce (inspired by a character on one of his favorite TV shows, Word World - a pig, who has a cooking show called "Cooking With Chef Pig") Chef Bryce's specialty is ice cream sundaes. It's becoming a nightly tradition around here.

In other news, we visited a preschool a few weeks ago - it's hard to believe we have to sign up NOW, for school starting in the fall. I am glad I still have 7 months to adjust to this idea!!! We are still waiting to see if we got a spot at the school we visited . . .we hope so - because we don't have a second choice so far!!! The one we like is VERY close to home, and it's at a United Methodist Church. We'll keep ya posted!!

Thanks for bearing with us this month, while I was without a computer! We're trying to get reorganized around here! Watch for LOTS more pictures and updates in February. . .I promise! (I know, promises, promises!)

Love you all!

XOXO

we're on our way!

the new computer came! I just have to finish getting my files loaded, and well. . .take some pictures, and THEN i will be able to post some new pictures for you!!! (Or maybe i can find some that never got posted!)

Just wanted you to know we are on our way to being back in business!!!
XOXO

echo echo echo. . .

anyone still out there?

anyone still reading?

did i tell you i'm getting a NEW computer? (honestly, i forget if i told you in the last post.) 

anyway, if not. . .I'm getting a new computer. Dell is sending a replacement.  THAT, friends, is the good news.

Bad news. . .its 2-3 weeks out.

Crap.

What am I supposed to do without a crucial appendage for 2-3 weeks? 

I swear, you'd think I'd lost an arm or something.

So bear with me.  I'll be back. 

Back in 2-3 weeks.  

(And then it will be another 2-3 weeks before i am caught up enough to update the blog, and make a new banner!!!)

XOXOXO

Crash!

So, my computer totally crashed. It's basically unusable till Dell gets us the part (the part that will hopefully fix it, because if the first part doesnt work, the second part they will try is on backorder until God only knows when). SOOOO, until that time. . .don't expect to see a lovely new blog post. I'll be back when I can! I just didn't want to leave you hanging any longer!

In Bryce news, he had his 4 year old checkup this past week. 36 pounds, 41 inches tall. . .he's in the 50th percentile for weight, and 75th percentile for height!!! He had two shots, and handled them like a champ. . .so we went and got a vanilla milkshake after we left the doctor!!

Love and miss you all!!
XOXOX

Bryce and the new puppy. . .Wenceslas?

Gigi and Doobie have a new puppy. We think its name is Wenceslas (you know, like Good King Wenceslas) but there has been some dispute about the manliness of the name, by some of the brothers in the family. I think it's going to stick though. Whatever its name is though, Bryce LOVES this puppy. (well, except when he bites him!!) He is growing like a weed (the puppy I mean - and well, yes Bryce too actually!) and he is quite sweet and snuggly. These pictures were taken about 2 weeks ago, and he is already a lot bigger!!

Build-A-Bear (or turkey)

Today Bryce celebrated with his playgroup pals at Build-A-Bear for his pal Delaney's birthday. There are some super cute pictures of the kiddos HERE on Charity's blog!!! :) Bryce picked out a turkey (it is TOO cute!) Apparently Bryce has named the turkey Bryce. So, now we have Bryce the boy, and Bryce the turkey living in our house!