Busy Days!!

A little bird warned me that if I didn't update my blog soon I might loose my life behind a shed?!?! So I thought I better hop to it!! I could have written a million things over the summer about the fun things we did, but I suppose I was spending more time enjoying my kids than updating the blog. I'll give a brief summary...as soon as school let out the boys and I headed to Pigeon Forge with Gigi for our annual summer kick-off getaway. Thanks to her we were able to spend a few nights at the Wilderness of the Smokies hotel/water park. It was so much fun!! We highly recommend visiting there. Although it was exhausting for me because I had to keep climbing those stairs to ride the water slides with each of the boys since daddy wasn't there! After that Mason and Nathan stayed with Gigi and Pop for a week while I went home to do Summer Quest and then I returned to Knoxville for another week to enjoy Concord Quest and celebrate mine and Stan's birthdays. On our birthday weekend Nanny, Buddy, Beth, Brandon, and Paula all came in both for the celebrations and to visit with Brock (and everyone else)!! The rest of June was pretty quiet (I think)!! In July we spent a week at the beach with David's family. We had a great time, but it was nice to get back to a more quiet routine. To finish off the summer we took a trip to Atlanta with Mom, Dad, Nanny, and Buddy. We went to a Braves game and Six Flags while we were there. The game was great...six flags, not so much!!! The kids are too young for that heat and long lines. We'll try again someday! The boys went back to Knoxville with Gigi and Pop for one last hoorah and I joined them on Wednesday. We enjoyed spending lots of time with Brock, Uncle Stan, and Aunt Darby too. David had been in Chicago for the week so he flew into Knoxville on Saturday and we went to Ye Ole Steakhouse for dinner because in all these years David had never been there!! It was delicious as always. So this week it's been back to routine. The boys started 1st grade and are enjoying it so far. It's been a struggle to get them used to stopping playing long enough to do their nightly reading and get in bed at a good time. Mason usually has lots to share about his day. Nathan...its like pulling teeth. That comes as no surprise to most of you I know!! Well, I tried to make it brief, but didn't want to leave anything out. Hopefully I didn't. I'm only including pictures from the last adventure. Thought I'd only post a couple, but that was impossible so I made a slideshow. Sorry!!

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Elijah "Brock" Allen

I am excited to announce the birth of my first nephew, Elijah "Brock" Allen!! He was born on Wednesday, April 22 (his mommy and daddy's anniversary). I wasn't able to get off work to be there for his birth so Mason, Nathan and I made the trip Thursday afternoon. I was so excited to meet him. He is absolutely precious. Weighing in at 9 lbs 11 oz, he is just perfect. For today I am only posting one picture because I don't want to steal the thunder of his grand introduction from Stan and Darby. I will definately post again after spending this fabulous weekend with Brock and his family.

Nathan and Mason turn 6!!

Just as it has been every other year, I cannot believe the boys are yet another year older!! They are becoming more and more independent every day and for the most part really enjoy each others company. Once again our wonderful family made the journey to celebrate with us. We missed those who couldn't be here this year!! Aunt Penny surprised everyone and brought with her Jason's fiance, Lisa, her little girl, Cami, and their 6 week old, Brennon. It was lots of fun getting to know them!

It was a very long day for Mason. He woke up at 7:30 ready to celebrate. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible because most of the house was still sleeping. The party wasn't until 6:00pm so although he received presents throughout the day it was still a lot of waiting. Which resulted in a lot of whining!! And that just didn't end well for him!!

The party was a blast! It was the most relaxing of all of them for me and the kids had so much fun. I wouldn't mind doing that one again next year. And we all know how quickly next year will arrive.

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Spring Break

A little birdie told me I needed to update my blog!! So here it is. I'm separating the posts into spring break and the boys birthday. I have so many pictures I want to share!! This spring break I was scheduled to fly down to Vero Beach, FL to visit my dear friend Ainsley, her husband and my God Daughter (Kelsie). Just me and the boys. Seemed harmless enough to me!! Mom thought it would be a great idea to fly down with us and get a room on the beach both to enjoy the visit and help me out. What a great idea it really was. The day we were flying out from Birmingham our flight was delayed 2 hours making us miss our connection flight in Jacksonville! I said right away I was indeed thankful she was with us and I didn't need a constant reminder of that from the Lord!! We did have a great time. The weather wasn't quite as perfect as I would have liked, but it was still nice. Enjoy some of our pictures from the trip!!

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Football Fun!!

I had to post some pictures from some backyard football fun. Yesterday we were at David's Grandfather's house along with his Dad, Uncle, and brother. It was a beautiful day so after lunch "big daddy" took all the kids out to throw the football around. Well, it ended up to be a game of TACKLE football. David's brother, Jeff, joined in to help out. At one point it was Jeff, Mason, and Bella against Big Daddy and Nathan. Nathan said, "all I know is, it's 2 against 3". Any of you who know Nathan, knows what a big deal it was that he was even playing football. They had a great time. Mason learned you have to tackle around the waist not the neck. Nathan kicked, threw, and caught the ball...gaining a lot of self-confidence. Big Daddy was worn out. I thought the pictures turned out so cute and showed so much intensity that I just had to share. Note to self: pack a change of clothes next time!!!

It's About Time!!

Number one, it's time for a blog update...I know!!! Number two, it was time for my boys to experience the circus. So last week the circus came to town and we finally took them. Mason had gotten an entire playmobile circus set for Christmas, and I thought how much more fun he could have with it if he understood what goes on. The night started out a bit chaotic because David had a short term work crisis. But after we got started it was great. I thought it started at 7pm so we got there at 6:30, but really it started at 7:30. So we got a bite to eat and then Mason and I went down to walk around where they were giving demonstrations. He even tried on a costume! They were totally amazed by all the acts. I think the dogs and elephants were their favorites. Really, Mason's favorite was watching an elephant pee and poop!!! Ah, what a boy!! In the picture where Nathan is laying down he's not really sleeping, but getting very tired. It was a Thursday night and they had been up since 6am and we didn't get home until around 10:30pm. It was worth the late night to enjoy this experience with them at such a perfect age.

Tagged by Darby

Ok, so my sister-in-law tagged me on her blog to play this game quite some time ago and I'm finally doing it!! The way to play is go to your fourth picture folder, post the fourth picture, and tell four things about the picture. Then tag four blogger friends to play along!
What a random picture!! It was taken last year during Nursery Rhyme Week at school. My class made bumblebee costumes to wear and learned a new Nursery Rhyme about a swarm of bees. The little girl in the picture's name is Madison. I teach with her mom now and she told me that Madison prays for me every night still. I think that is so sweet!

Tag...you're it!! Jodi Juneac, Laurie Jernigan, Summer O'Neal, and Danielle Smith

I'm Back!!

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So, here's the deal...I can't get my pictures to download on my laptop (which is what I use all the time) and apparently it takes me FOREVER to go downstairs to use the other computer. My deepest appologies to those of you who have been awaiting an update on "the gang". I decided to go ahead and do a slide show for this one since I will be doing one entry to sum up our October happenings.

The month started off with my annual family girls trip to Gatlinburg. It was a wonderful weekend of catching up, eating, and shopping. Sometime early in the month we took the boys to a carnival at David's younger siblings' school. They enjoyed playing games, eating snow cones, and getting blue hair while we were there. David and I have enjoyed a wonderful season of Alabama football games. As always, we are so greatful to my mom for coming to spend time with the boys so we can enjoy that time. One of the weekends that Gigi was in we visited the pumpkin patch. That is always a family favorite!! Last year the boys picked very small pumpkins and I didn't get one in order to help carry them so this year I opted to get my own thinking surely they could carry the ones they picked. Not quite. Mom got the boys some corn while David and I carried FIVE nice sized pumpkins to the car. Needless to say, David ended up carrying 4 out of 5 because I'm a bit of a wimp!!! We also took a family trip to Gatlinburg with David's family. It was a short, but fun weekend. The boys really enjoyed the picnic at the Chimneys where they climbed on the rocks by the river. I was so lucky they didn't get wet because I had packed very poorly and had NO extra clothes. Sometimes I'm not very good at planning for what all a boy can get into. But they did good and stayed dry!! Lastly, we celebrated Halloween. The boys didn't hang very long during trick-or-treating. Fine by me!! They were so cute the next morning "making trades" with their loot!

That about does it for October at a glance. I promise I'll try to do better during the coming months. However, I am having orthoscopic jaw surgery next week and I'm not sure how that will affect me. Keep my appetite and energy level in your prayers. I won't be able to chew for six weeks. That takes me through the holidays up to New Years Day. Thanks in advance for those prayers. I'll keep you posted on my recovery. Love to you all!!

Baptism

This past weekend David's younger brother and two sisters were baptized and we were able to take the boys to the celebration. About a week before I gave the boys a heads up because we were going to have to leave a birthday party early to go and I wanted them to be prepared. Of course at that time I had to explain what a baptism was. After hearing that the preacher dunks the person under water, Mason responded with "Well, I'm never doing that!" I told him I hoped someday Jesus would change his mind. So during the baptism celebration there were 30ish people getting baptized and the boys did great. They sat on our laps and really took everything in. At our church the water is on ground level and all family and friends are invited to stand around it during their loved ones baptism. So the boys also got an up close and personal look at three children "going under". Towards the end of the service I whispered to Mason that when Jesus does change his heart and it is his time to be baptized then Uncle Stan could come do it. His response... "Can I wear my goggles?" Guess that's what seems important when you're five!

A moment at the beach

Last weekend we took a very short, highly anticipated trip to the beach. Two nights is NOT enough time for the beach (David would probably disagree because he fried in the one day in the sun), but better than nothing! This is such a wonderful time for the beach because the weather is perfect and the crowd is low. We spent the day Saturday enjoying playing mostly on the beach. Daddy and the boys found a "gully" full of crabs so they caught them and put them back in the ocean. Such fun for five year old boys!! Mason's highlight was making a football field in the sand and playing ball day and night. Nathan's activity of choice was badmitton. I had taken a bag full of games that could be entertainment and he was digging thru looking for the perfect one, picked one up and said, "no I need something a little more challenging"!! Cracked me up!! So badmitton it was. Maybe tennis will be his sport (it sure isn't anything else). We enjoyed our visit with Nanny and Buddy and a brief time with Gigi and Pop. Gigi and Pop were able to spend this weekend at our house on their way back to Knoxville. They stayed with the boys while David and I went to the Bama game. The boys always enjoy their time with them.

Bring on Football Season!

Let me say that Mason just cracks me up!! He gets all nutty about the sport of the season. For the past several months it has been baseball. He is quite the collector. He felt the need to own about 20 bats, many balls, glove, batting glove, bases, batters helmet, and catchers helmet all for play. So here we are on night one of football season and all the stuff comes creeping out of the wood work. The picture of Mason in the football helmet is when he came upstairs after retreiving the items he needed to watch the game. The one in front of the couch is when he had all the teams layed out picking who was going to play. And the other one is him "taking a knee" in the middle of his "field" (notice the teams on each end). I just had to share the humor of my evening.

My Favorite Time Of Day

Now don't get me wrong, I am enjoying a little "freetime" these days, but I look forward to the arrival of the bus at 3:15 like no other!! At about 3pm I start watching the clock so I'm not late for my appointment. I go to the porch at 3:10 because I wouldn't want to not be there should the bus be on the fast track or something. I promised the boys I'd always be there waiting for my "big hug" and that is just what I plan to do! I just had to share a video of my little sweeties getting of that BIG yellow bus and running all the way home. My, oh my, they are so big!! Yet, so little!! I love getting them in and talking all about the exciting things they did at school, getting snacks, and lots and lots of love!! For those of you who know me well will enjoy knowing that I no longer feel it neccesary to go to bed the minute the boys do, because I'm not as worn out at the end of the day as I have been for the past five years. Time does change. And it has brought me to another special time in life. And in all the things I am accomplishing now the bus's arrival is BY FAR my most precious time of day!!

Kindergarten Here We Come!!

What a big day in the Williams' home. Nathan and Mason started school today. I just had to show some of the pictures from the photo shoot this morning. They had a great day. They are in separate classes and it didn't seem to phase them. They said they saw each other a few times, but didn't talk to each other!! But each of them had many things to talk to me about when they got home. I was going to get a picture as they got off the bus, but they were running so fast for my long awaited "big hug" that I couldn't get the camera to focus. I am sure I will have many more posts soon about this exciting time in our lives.

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Our pretend beach day

Our outing of the day today was a visit to Oak Mountain State Park's "beach". It may not be the real thing, but we had a great time. I just wanted to share a few of the pictures of our fun. The picture of Nathan being covered in sand is the perfect example of his personality. Completely laid back, and go with the flow (usually). Mason fell asleep on the way home and after THREE hours we finally got him awake. I think he was catching up on sleep from the weekend.

Tomorrow will be another fun day for the boys. David and his grandparents are taking the boys to Tuscaloosa. They are going to the Bryant museum (to see trophies), visit the athletic facilities, maybe the baseball field, and eat at Dreamland. I really didn't think Nathan would want to go, but he does so hopefully he will have fun. Mason will love every minute (maybe not the driving minutes)! Hopefully they will get some good pictures that I can share.

Quick Funny

I just wanted to share a quick story from tonight. The boys and I were at a friend's house and we were talking about how Nathan had a chest xray yeasterday. My friend asked Nathan if the doctor saw his heart, lungs, and ribs. His response was..."No, I don't eat ribs". She and I were rolling and he just continued what he was doing. Kids just crack me up being so matter of fact!!

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What in the world?!?!

That is exactly what we were saying on Saturday night when both of our boys were getting in the tub and this is what greeted us!! This "rash" was all over the boys upper legs and bottom area. I immediately called my dad, the nurse, to get medical advice. He said to apply hydrocortizone cream and give them benadryl. By that night, Mason seemed to be responding to the medicine and improving a bit. Nathan, however, was covered!! I called after hours just to make sure I shouldn't take action. The nurse said it was probably just an allergic reaction to something, but I couldn't think of anything "new" that would have caused this. Well, the boys have had a cough that I thought was allergies for a couple of weeks and I wanted to take them in for that anyway and now this so we made an appointment for Sunday morning. David took them because I needed to go to church, and come to find out they both had walking pneumonia!! I had no idea. Speaking of having no idea...Mason also had a double ear infection!!! They are responding great to the antibiotic!!

Funny story - today we were in the car (I had to go turn in a utility bill to the school to prove we still live in this house) and I mentioned that a friend of mine was taking her little girl to the doctor. The boys had to know why of course and I tried to give them the easy answer by saying she has a big cough like you and her mommy wants the doctor to check her. Mason said, "you mean she has walking pneumonia?" Too big for his britches I tell you!!

The Foam Zone

The weather here yesterday was beautiful and I decided we'd head to the zoo. We are used to visiting the Knoxville Zoo, which we love, and I had been procrastinating taking the boys to our zoo because let's just say it is lacking. But the boys have been asking and when the weatherman said we were looking at 80 and low humidity, I figured it's now or not!! They did have a new area called the "foam zone" which the boys LOVED!! Unfortunately, it was priced separately from the zoo and they could only play for a few minutes per token. It made fun pictures though!!

Chattanooga Choo-Choo

Last year when we got out of school mom and I took the boys for a weekend in Pigeon Forge, but this year I just couldn't work that in. So instead we took them to the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Thanks to Gigi we were able to stay in a train car for two nights. The boys just love staying in hotels!! We got there around bedtime on Friday night and then slept in on Saturday morning. We rode the "charlie" around the complex (you would call it a trolley) and then took a bus down to the waterfront. The boys spent most of their time playing in the water in front of the aquarium. Luckily they can't read so they had no clue that was an aquarium or they would have wanted to go, but I was trying to save some $$ and do less expensive things on this trip since we had just done Disney!! We walked across the river on a pedestrian bridge, but didn't want to walk back so we took a water taxi. That was fun because the driver let the boys drive. When we got off there was a great playground and of course they loved that. When we rode the bus back to the hotel I told mom to get off at warehouse row to shop and I'd take the boys back. Well, she wishes she hadn't. First of all, there was NOTHING there and second of all, she got locked in a store!!! Yep, locked in. The lady left for a break and locked up!!! She was able to finally get someones attention who knew the lady and knew where she'd gone. And would you believe when she came back she just rang up mom's purchase like it was normal!! Fun times. It was a great beginning to summer!!