BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!!!

He got up and got dressed without a reminder.

He started the day with a healthy oatmeal breakfast.

Zero hesitation.

Zero nerves.

Zero concerns expressed.

He.

Was.

READY.

The big man started Kindergarten today. He was excited, and walked right into his classroom, got himself settled, let us kiss him goodbye, and that was THAT.

Our neighbor happened to be outside, and snapped this of all four of us!

Soooo. . . .I still have almost FOUR HOURS until school is out.

Now what!???

the birthday shindig!

had to do a trial run on the party hat! he really didn't mind having it on too much!

here's bryce playing in the very cool new play area from Gigi and Doobie. it was definitely the HIT of the party!!! (and it only took four or five people to figure out how to put the thing put together!)

yummy food!
i was really happy with how the cake turned out! it was the first time i tried using fondant, but it was quite easy to work with! phew!

hmmmm, let me see what this tastes like . . .

yup, i guess i like this!

are you looking at me and my cake????

thank you so much to everyone who celebrated with us yesterday, whether here in person, or via Facebook!!! we had a great day! (and I think it was a little less traumatic on me, to celebrate the week BEFORE his birthday! i can still enjoy him being NOT QUITE ONE, for a few more days!)

Oh - and Tanner even took THREE STEPS during his party!!! Any day now, he's going to just TAKE OFF and GO!!!! :)

the wet wet walk

One afternoon last week, the boys and I decided to go for a walk. The sky was a little cloudy, but the dark ones still looked pretty far away. (Perhaps that was mistake number one, but in Florida during the summer, if we never went out when there were clouds on the horizon, we would never go out!) So we went walking. And Bryce brought our little misty bottle, and was misting Tanner and I, and basically using it like a water gun. So by the time we got halfway around the block, it was almost empty. But not to fear, the poolhouse has a drinking fountain. We headed inside to refill the mister, and Bryce asked "Can I put my feet in the pool?"

I being the fun, cool mom that I am, said "Sure!"

But within one minute, as I was getting Tanner out of his stroller to put HIS feet in the pool, Bryce had suddenly gotten MORE than just his feet wet. . . .he walked down to the bottom step, and was in the water (in his clothes, mind you, NOT a bathing suit) up to his shoulders. The crazy boy just walked right in.

We stood there for a minute, me trying to process WHAT had just happened, Bryce grinning from ear to ear, and the two of us discussing the lack of towel with us. . . . .and then I looked up at the sky. Suddenly those dark clouds were on the move - and FAST. In fact, by the time we got out of the poolhouse, it was sprinkling.

So we HUSTLED.
And we were doing just fine, with just some sprinkles, and the dark clouds moving faster than we could walk. We got right across the street from our driveway, and it started to RAINNNNN.
So we RAN FOR IT!!!

By the time we got to our doorway, the sky totally opened up. But no thunder, no lightning, and witin 10 minutes, the sky was blue, and the rain was completely done. That's Florida for you!

Ramblings about Mr. B

(why this picture keeps posting sideways, i do NOT know. i give up. sideways it shall be.)

As promised, some ramblings about Mr. B, Bryce-Man, B-Money, Bryce-a-roni,. . .he is a man of many names. And a man of many talents too. He is especially proud of the following skills:

-jumping off the couch.
-jumping ON the couch.
-jumping off the chairs.
-jumping off the bed.
-running around in circles and then throwing himself down on the floor.

-crossing his eyes (which I know makes many of you cringe)

-making crazy faces for the camera

Oh, and then there's other stuff he's proud of, like counting by 2's, and 10's, and quite a few addition problems that he's got figured out. He's writing his first and last name like a TOTAL champ, and most other letters too. He knows how to spell a couple of words (most of the time) and he knows the letter sound for each letter of the alphabet.

He is still obsessed with Lego Star Wars. And Legos. And Star Wars. "Can you tell me some stories about Star Wars?" is the question Eric gets 12 times a day. (I am so happy that I don't KNOW any stories about Star Wars, so I am spared from such questions!) Thanks to my darling husband, Bryce is now also obsessed with Superman and Batman. "Can you tell me some stories about Superman, Daddy?" has been added to the daily conversation. (And ha ha for me, I have avoided that one too!!!)

Bryce loves making little projects, involving little paper bags, along with drinking straws and toothpicks (because he can reach them in the pantry.) He's been making lots of little snowflakes, and little people on tiny pieces of cut paper. Then he puts them in one of the little paper bags for people. Most of you who are due one, have not yet received it, because he forgets whose is whose, and eventually they. . .umm. . disappear, in a fit of cleaning. (I will deny it to my death if you tell him i threw ANYTHING of his out.) "It's around here somewhere," along with "Where did you have it last?" are my daily statements.

So far, Bryce seems to be feeling pretty good about starting Kindergarten. I'm sure he'll be nervous when it's THE DAY, but so far, so good. I asked him what he is most excited about, and he said "meeting new friends." That's a good thing!

We found out who B's teacher is, and thanks to our friend Sara, who used to teach at Bryce's school, we got the inside scoop!!! Sara said that Ms. Hamela is WONDERFUL, and she was one of Sara's top picks for Bryce! Hooray! Sara told us that Ms. Hamela went on a trip to China this summer, and Bryce thought that was pretty cool! I think it's going to be a great fit, and I am feeling really good about the schoolyear. I also just found out that the kids have optional uniforms this year, but thankfully Bryce has a couple of things that fit into the dress code already. And since it's optional (they are transitioning to mandatory uniforms for the NEXT schoolyear) I am not really stressed about buying a ton of uniform clothes.

We go on Friday to meet Ms. Hamela and see Bryce's classroom. And then school starts on Monday!

FINALLY. . . .north carolina!

the inflatable pool on the backporch was one of everyone's favorite spots!

Mimi and Poppy organized the coolest treasure hunt for Bryce! It had photo clues and took him on a wild goose chase all over the place!

At the end, this is his treasure chest that he found under the house. It was filled with all sorts of craft supplies and fun little goodies!

We went to the waterfalls at Deep Creek and put our feet in the verrry cold water!

When Bryce gets a little bigger, and is a stronger swimmer, we will go tubing at Deep Creek - it looks like SOOO much fun!

Tanner loved watching all the butterflies, and people on tubes, and the waterfalls. and he liked putting his feet in the water too!

The boys had fun riding in Poppy's wagon, up and down the driveway.

This was the first time we've been to the new house in the summer time. When we were there at Christmas, Tanner and I hardly ventured out at all, because he did NOT like the cold weather!!! It was fun to go exploring this time!

Daddy and Bryce, at Lot 7, up the hill (umm, mountain) from our house.

Out on the porch!

Bryce would have SLEPT out in our creek if we had let him!!! He and Daddy, Mimi, and Poppy were working on moving some rocks around the creek to make some better waterfalls. Bryce looked so cute in his giant tall boots!!

And there you have it. . .the very QUICK rundown of our trip!!! Better late than never, right!? :)

ACK!

I was getting ready to post North Carolina pictures, and realized I hadn't ever published THIS post with more of the Fort Myers pictures!!!!!! If someone could please find me an extra two hours for each day, and a larger dose of energy and motivation, I could really use it!!!!

LOVE these pictures. . . .

Tanner's birthday ideas. . .

I'm starting a list of birthday ideas:

http://bryceandtannerswishes.blogspot.com/

I'll keep adding to it, but I will try to remember to post a note when I update!

XOXO

Ramblings about Tanner. . .

Just had to pull Tanner's hands out of the toilet. Such a lovely way to start a Saturday morning. We just had a fairly good night sleep last night so I thought I'd tell you about Tanner, while I have a spare clear thought in my head.


(Tanner playing in the pool at the cabin. It was pretty normal to just strip him down every day and he'd get in the pool. Or he'd just crawl in, in his clothes. Either way, he LOVED it!)

He seems to think he's having a lot of logical conversations with us these days. Telling us what he sees ("dog", "diaper", "cup", ) or what he's thinking ("don't do that", "give me that", "you're so funny", "I'm tired", "You are the best mommy in the world and I love you") except that they all sound like "DAH!" and yesterday "NAH" seemed to be the word of the day. But he looks at us like he is quite sure of what he's saying. Adorable and so funny! There is lots of pointing and laughing and "DAH"s and "NAH"s and clapping around here lately. Sometimes the clapping is clapping, and sometimes it's him trying to sign "More" (which is a similar sort of gesture.) We are pretty sure that yesterday he started signing "Cup". I still remember the first time Bryce came toddling into the kitchen and signed "CUP!" because he was thirsty. It was PRICELESS. We are excited that Tanner is catching on to the couple of signs we've been working on. Communication is a beautiful thing!

And then there's the teeth. . ..Oh the teeth!!!! Because Tanner likes to be different, Tanner is getting his TOP teeth first, rather than his bottom teeth, like the other 90% of babies out there! (I'm making up that statistic, by the way!) The first top tooth started appearing while we were in North Carolina. I hadn't even been looking up top, because I was so busy looking for bottom teeth to start poking through. But there it was. Eric found it! And now the second top tooth is on it's way out. Bryce was 7 months old when he cut his first tooth (and we were in North Carolina for that one too!) and Tanner was 10 months old.

Tanner LOVES taking a bath. (I told you he loves the water. . .the pool, the toilet. . .whatever!) He gets so excited when we turn on the water. He starts jumping and laughing. He gets pretty excited about anything he wants. He dropped a ball a few days ago, and I asked him "Do you want the ball? Should Mommy get the ball?" And the hysterical laughter that followed had Eric and I about in tears!!! He is SO funny. He seems to laugh instead of saying "Yes!" (One day he'll probably laugh at us as he tells us NO too!)

Watch for my random ramblings about Mr. B soon. He is turning into quite a big boy. Just like last year when it was a little overwhelming to have a baby and have a child starting preschool within a week of each other. . .this year it's a little overwhelming to have one starting KINDERGARTEN and one turning ONE in the same week. UGH. This mommy business is exhausting.


XOXO

pool party!!!!!

we were in the pool every day while we were in fort myers! bryce and tanner both LOVE being in the water! it was extra fun when EVERYONE was in the pool!

(scroll down to see more pictures from fort myers!!!)

fort myers

still playing catch-up, here are the first batch of photos from fort myers . . . the second batch will be up shortly!

playing cards . . .i promise, they are NOT teaching bryce to play poker. ;)
nancy made a terrific slideshow of pictures of annie grannie's life to celebrate her 80th birthday. we had fun watching it together and celebrating annie grannie's birthday!!!!

4th of july - oops!

I got so behind with all our traveling this month, I never got the rest of our 4th pics posted! i simply can NOT believe its almost august already!!!! ACKKKKK!

we have the best picture of bryce as a baby, wearing this hat. . . .tanner was not quite as cooperative! it didn't stay on his head for two seconds.

instructions for bryce's fun hat that we made, are here!

love this picture of gigi and the boys going out to nana and gil's dock. after this, my camera battery died promptly, just in time for the perfect light and the perfect photo op on the dock. (yes, i'm still mad.)

ta-daaaa!

On the way to North Carolina, we stopped to see Annamaria and her crew, in South Carolina. . . .this is my favorite picture from the visit!
Thank you for the apple pancakes, the hot dog dinner and games at church, the water balloons, the Farmers Market, and lots of hugs!!! We loved seeing where you live!!!
XOXO

don't give up on us!!

We're in North Carolina, and the internet is in and out. . ..plus, I just don't feel like blogging!!!
But I WILL. . .I promise.

I'll try to post SOMETHING tonight, just to hold you over!!!!!

We love you and miss those of you who are far away from us! We are having a WONDERFUL time in North Carolina, and we can hardly keep Bryce out of the creek!!!!

XOXO

Happy 4th!

It's the yearly ceremonial Placing of the Flags in the Williams family!
And because I like to look back from year to year,
Here's last years pictures.
And here is 2008
2007 (notice that Tanner is wearing the shirt B wore in these photos!)
And here is 2006

So fun to have TWO boys to take pictures of this year!!! Happy first 4th of July, Tanner!!!
Bryce and Eric are going to a Jacksonville Suns game tonight, after a cookout with Eric's family this evening. (Tanner and I will be coming home to bed after dinner!)
Hope you have a fun and festive 4th!

Sweet Trinity

This past Sunday was our last Sunday at sweet Trinity United Methodist. After much prayer and consideration, the church has decided to close. If you have been to Trinity with us, you know what a very sweet. . .and tiny church we have been attending. It is also a church with LONG roots in the community - it was 97 years old, and there are a lot of people who have attended there for their entire lives. They've grown up there, married there, some moved away and came back, and some have been there all along.

It has been a STRANGE week. We packed up Eric's office yesterday, and we'll try to find a home for everything here in the house. Seeing the sign out front taken down was incredibly sad, but we know that this was the best decision and God has a plan for us, as well as all the dear friends we've made at Trinity, as they find a new church home.

Here are Nana and Gil with Bryce (and his sweet lion, that our friend Ms. Beth gave him!) on Sunday, our last service at Trinity.

After church we had a reception downstairs in the Fellowship Hall - how amazing is this cake!? In case you couldn't guess. . .that's the church on there! I love it!!!

Sooo, you might be asking what our plan is now. Where are we going? Well - your guess is as good as ours at this point!!!! Thankfully, Eric still has his part time job at Lakewood United Methodist, where he is on staff. But there isn't another church in our district that Eric can be assigned to at this point. We never anticipated this process, in getting a full-time appointment, to take quite so long. Every year we hope THIS will be the year. . . .but not nearly as many pastors are retiring when they thought they would, thanks to the economy. And there are more pastors than there are positions.

So we wait.

And we trust.

And we pray. . .that maybe NEXT year will be the year.

If any positions open up throughout the year, Eric will be considered for them. and hopefully next summer when everyone is up for reappointment, Eric will get a position (a FULL time position is what we are praying!!!)

So in the meantime, Eric has to find another job on his own. We haven't really been able to start looking much yet, because we needed to get things done at Trinity. The closing process happened quite quickly, so he's had to scramble to get everything done, and help the congregation through this process. So now that we are officially done there, we can focus on what to do next.

Anyone want to hire a fabulous, good looking, multi-talented guy? I know someone who might have some time on their hands!!! ;) (I love you Eric!!!!)

XOXO