Visiting Jilly and Ava!

The boys and I went up to South Carolina to visit the Shockey's this past weekend.  The kids had such a blast together.  Tanner really thinks he is just as big as them, and he zipped around on the scooter, and did everything the big kids were doing! Bryce loved sleeping in Jilly and Ava's new bunk beds, and Tanner was happy to sleep in his "elephant bed" (our Pack N Play with elephant fabric on it) and to share a room with mommy! 

Annamaria and I even snuck away to Target, and left the three big kids at home with Shawn. (And then they promptly turned on the hose, got soaked, and got in trouble! Ha!!!)

They played outside a ton! Annamaria and Shawn have a great big backyard and a long driveway!

 Saturday was St. Patrick's Day, so the kids ate green pancakes, and wore every green accessory they could! :)

 The giant rainstorm was lots of fun to watch from the front porch!

 And rocking out, in the bathroom, with Shawn was another highlight of the weekend.

 PIZZA!!

{best friends forever!!!}

thanks for a super special fun weekend!!!

xoxo

family pictures (Part 2)

 GOOF. BALLS.

 The rest of these pictures were taken at Memorial Presbyterian Church, right next door to Flagler.  It is a BEAUTIFUL church, and one of the centerpieces of downtown St. Augustine.

family portraits!!!!! EEEK! (part 1)

We had family pictures taken, the end of February, in St. Augustine.  I simply ADORE them.  Every single one of them.  The photographer is the mom of one of Bryce's kindergarten classmates, and she was fantastic! She was awesome with the kids, and she was a ton of fun to spend the afternoon with! (Her name is Steph Owens, and if you happen to be in the area, you should totally hire her! tee hee!) Here are just a few of the 230 pictures we have on the CD.  I'll post more tomorrow!!

This is right in front of the main gate at Flagler.  Eric and I have walked through those gates JUST a few times. .. and we have engagement pictures taken in that same spot too! Cool, huh!?

 These are in the courtyard at Flagler . . .

 I'm happy the frog fountain wasn't filled with soap bubbles, or Kool Aid on this day. . . .a common favorite prank on campus!!! :)

 LOVE this picture of Eric and I in the mail room at Flagler! How fun is that!? Those mailboxes are the original ones, way back when Flagler was the Ponce de Leon Hotel. They are super cool.

 I don't know WHY Tanner was trying to eat Bryce's hand, but I think this picture is HILARIOUS!

More pictures tomorrow!!!! 

xoxo

cupcakes for dinner???!

One night last week we had CUPCAKES for dinner!!!!!

Well. . .not reallllly.

We made meatloaf in muffin tins, and topped them with mashed potato "frosting". 

Then the boys used peas and diced carrots, along with shredded cheese and ketchup, to decorate their cupcakes!

They loved decorating them. ..  .but I'm sorry to say it didn't entice them to eat more vegetables.

But it was worth a try! :)

:)

just in case. . .(family photos)

Just in case you aren't on Facebook, and haven't seen the sneak peek of our absolutely A-MAZ-ING family photos, here is the link!!!

Williams family photos!

The mom of one of Bryce's Kindergarten classmates is a photographer and took these photos for us in St. Augustine.  Eric and I had our engagement pictures taken around Flagler, and we thought it would be so awesome to go back and do family photos there!  I cannot even EXPLAIN to you how much I LOVE these pictures!!!! The boys were troopers (for the most part!) and hung in there.  Tanner's expressions CRACK me up in some of these.  What a goof! (I can't imagine where he gets it from!)

xoxo

Garden-planting day!

We had been thinking that this weekend was going to be garden-planting weekend.  And then Eric found this great Groupon for a really nice garden center out near Jax beach.  We went over and checked it out, and it's wonderful! A lot more fun than just going to Lowe's or Home Depot, and we got a lot more plants than we would have been able to, with the Groupon deal!  (AND they have a pet rabbit, named Rocky, which was a HUGE selling point for the boys!)

We got a ton of flowers - some of our standard go-to flowers, marigolds, but also petunias, snapdragons, and a few other things of which i cannot remember their names! We knew we wanted to grow peppers again, and this year we've also decided to try BROCCOLI!! So we are attempting two containers of broccoli, a container of bell peppers, oregano (which is a new herb for us to grow) plus the basil and rosemary that we already had.

The weather ended up being . . .umm. . .BLUSTERY to say the least, but we managed to make it home with our wind-blown flowers (and wind-blown selves!) There was a storm coming in, so we didn't think we'd be able to get the flowers planted, but the clouds blew over us, and we got everything in the ground! (With lots of little helpers, because all the neighbors and kiddos were out with us too!)

 We have had a TERRIBLE time getting ANYTHING to grow around this tree. . .but i am trying to be hopeful this year! At least for today, it looks great! (We just need the landscape guys to come with fresh mulch now!)

 We planted more flowers next to the garage too, but I forgot to take a picture of those!

 And YES. . . .Tanner DOES have a black eye.  He crashed into our bed frame a few days ago, and he has a nice shiner there now. (At least it happened AFTER family pictures!!!)

 Watch out!!!!!

 Here are our pepper plants:

 And here are our broccoli plants:

And just in case you need a blast from the past, here are a few other gardening pictures from a VERRRY long time ago!
Gardening in 2006
Also in 2006

first "beach day" of the year

Last weekend we went out to the condo and braved a walk on the beach.  It wasn't COLD . . .but it was WINDY WINDY WINDY!!!

Of course our plans for the boys to NOT get soaked, well . .. you know how that ended up. (UNSUCCESSFUL!) 

Check out that crazy wind and blowing sand!! It was wild out there!

Yesterday we went to St. Augustine and had family pictures taken, by the mom of one of Bryce's classmates.  She is WONDERFUL and we had a fabulous time!!! We took pictures around Flagler, and the surrounding area downtown.  I know they are going to be AWESOME, and I can't wait to share them with you!!! :)

xoxo

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Bryce had to make a Valentine box for school, to collect his Valentines in, so of course Tanner needed to make one too! (which he promptly stuffed with paper scraps and then tore one of the monster's eyeballs off.)

This was the day before the boys got their haircuts.  They look much more respectable now! ;) 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

We love each and every one of the three people who still read this blog! 

{Giggle giggle!}

These two . . .

 (Please note the fabulous smears of peanut butter across Tanner's cheeks.)

 (I love how Tanner is looking to see what the heck Bryce is doing!)

It's tough to be this strong, and this AWESOME!

crazy no-tooth boy

Mr. Man here lost TWO bottom teeth in the past three days! 

He's got crazy eyes and a toothless grin!

The tooth fairy is having a busy weekend!

xoxo

oh look, there went january!

 because I'm neurotic, I'll be post dating these lovely much-delayed updates to the blog, so that the dates will be right, when we go back and look at them 5 years from now :)

On the last day of Winter Break, and Eric's first day away on his trip, Bryce went with Gigi and Doobie, and Lizzie, to the Gator Bowl.  It was one of the few pretty chilly days we've had, so he went PREPARED for a blustery game! 

And Tanner stayed behind with me, and rode his brother's scooter. . . .because after all, he thinks he's seven years old, and not two.

From Egypt with love!

Eric left for Egypt and Israel on Monday.  I've only been able to talk to him briefly, but I am SO loving technology! We were able to video chat on Skype today, plus he sent a few pictures. And THEN pictures from his phone magically started showing up on our iMac photostream.  I don't know HOW that works, but it does, and it is AMAZINGLY cool!  He was hoping at some point to connect to the internet on the iPad, and then I should start getting a lot more pictures. 

Today they visited the pyramids, Sphinx, and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.  He went into the smallest of the three pyramids in Giza - pictures below.    

  Tomorrow they are still in the Cairo area, and then I think later in the day traveling to St. Catherine Monastery, and an early morning hike up Mt. Sinai.  

This is their basic itinerary, if you'd like to check it out!

http://www.eo.travelwithus.com/!userfiles/brochures/hl12_51058_gregg-tuttle.pdf

He said the hotel in Cairo is nice, the food is pretty good, and he got a solid night sleep last night.  All good things!  

Eric sitting on top of a pharaoh's tomb, inside the pyramid.

This was taken from inside the bottom of the pyramid, looking up.  (The light spot is the sky.)

I'll share more pictures as I get them! 

xoxo