Williams Family

Cowboy, Wedding and Soccer!

2008-10-01T10:51:00.024-04:00

What a month it's been. Tobin chose his career path...cowboy. Sela got married. And the girls dominated in soccer.

Apparently his sisters wanted people who saw him to know his name...hence the T.O.B.I.N. stickers on his forehead. Thank goodness, because we were wondering who he was.

So Obse came downstairs and gave me and Jason some homemade invitations to our youngest daughters wedding. Of course we attended, but were totally under dressed. Yes, there is a ring on the doll couch Tobin is holding. He was the ring bearer.

After Jason walked her through the closet, Sela gave a speech telling us who our new son-in-law was. He seems nice enough, just wish we could have met him before the big day.

Obse, the maid-of-honor, gave a touching speech about her sister, which included little known facts like her name and age. I cried.
It was truly a joyous occasion for all of us. Congratulations Sela Baby!

Daddy handled the news of his daughter's wedding with a little less enthusiasm. He'd prefer we don't talk about the subject until they're at least 35.

So the girls had their first soccer game last Saturday. Unfortunately I was out of town, so Jason was the ultimate 'Soccer Dad'. Not only did he bring two of the team members, but also a little cheerleader named T.O.B.I.N. and some fruit roll ups for the team afterwards. This is how they rolled in.

For the love of common sense, can someone please tell that boy's parents that shin guards go INSIDE his socks!

I think the yellow team won just by the sheer intimidation our girls brought to the team. Seriously, would you want to try to get past that impenetrable wall?

Mia Hamm eat your heart out.

For those who aren't in the know, T-bone is hyper-vigilantly anal about his hands being dirty. Here he is absolutely frozen until someone removes that offending piece of lawn on his palm.

What a relief. Now Samuel L. Jackson Jr. can enjoy the rest of the game!

Channeling Michael Jordan.

Frankly, Obse is just down right annoyed with having to carry her team to victory.

Nothing like post-game celebratory water! Thanks soccer dad!

Just look at him. You can see that athleticism runs all the way through the fam even to our dog Twinkle Toes.

However, sometimes just thinking about sports wears out our Mona.

Bye Bye Birthdays!!!

2008-09-03T16:01:00.032-04:00

Here's our girl now only one year shy of being in the double digits!!! I guess this is how 9 year olds read...enunciating every possible syllable! It's not a birthday card, it's obviously a royal decree.

Since the girls birthdays are only 3 days apart, they got some shared presents that they opened at the same time. One of which was the following...a karate outfit!

Sela was just certain that having this on immediately advanced her up at least three belts!

Birthday number 1 of his sisters was handled like quite the gentleman.

Birthday #2...Sela Baby turns 8 (or 18) we're not sure.

Opening her present from her little brother. Books...it's a win-win for both of them!

Birthday #2 was handled with a touch less decorum.

So tied for number 1 gift in the girls mind were their walkie-talkies (or as they say, Hawkie-talkies) from cousins Cole and Jackson.

Jason and I struggled with our own decorum when the girls insisted on talking to each other through the hawkie's (as I've dubbed them) while only inches apart from each other (and us). I wish I were exaggerating.

And what other gift tied for gold in the girls minds? Roller skates from Papa and Nanna!

Baby steps.

About 2 feet in 10 minutes!

So Nanna, Aunt Jo and Baby Cole got to come for a visit, which was wonderful! Here are the boys in a bath colored with a yellow dye for kids. Just didn't want anybody to get the wrong idea about the bathwater!
Cue music! Their mama's are singing "Ebony and Ivory" and the boys are obviously impressed!
T just wants to get up close and personal, and Cole is certain that petting is the best way to do that!

Cole's cousins were granted visitation durring his stint in baby prison. He loved it!

Rodeos, Hurricanes and 1 Day of 2nd Grade!

2008-08-19T16:19:00.019-04:00

Although not mentioned in the title of this post, I thought the puppet show the girls put on a while back deserved a nod. Clearly, I was confused as to how the puppets were moving on their own. One baby was being Santa (in the background) while another was being 2 friend dolls. Improv puppet shows are truly an untapped market.

Our neighbors gave us tickets to the rodeo for last Saturday. We all, especially the girls, had a really fun time. I'm thinking you may just see some Ethiopian bull riders before too long... Again, an untapped market!
Jason and the babes. On closer observation you may wonder to yourself why Obse and Sela are in long sleeves when it's hotter than the sun here. Well, because that was a bit better than the jacket and heavy sweater they attempted to leave the house in.
If only this picture had sound you could sort-of comprehend the volume that God gave T-bone. Honestly, it must be some sort of gift for that loud of "bye" to come out of someone under 35lbs. At least he has manners, as everyone in the bleachers got an equal farwell.
The bull are great an all, but T was absolutely more interested in scaring his parents while he tried to fall through the bleachers.
Their friend Emily's family helps run the rodeo, so someone felt very old, independent and sassy getting to walk around and help pass out water!
Practicing to get her foot in the bull-riding market.
So my babies had their first (and only) day of 2nd grade on Monday. They are now upstairs in their school and so basically assume they are big-men on campus. Side Note: still learning how to use the camera - it's really not dark outside when we leave. Their career as upper-classmen has been short lived, however, due to Hurricane Fay. They were so relieved to get a day to sleep in after their exhausting one early morning of school.
Truly, our tea-cup puppy Mona was visibly upset by the uproar Fay caused outside her windows.

Tobin Doubles His Age!

2008-08-02T17:45:00.029-04:00

It's no surprise, really. He's been breaking us in for quite a while now. But apparently it's official. He's now 2. Or rather, we can mark off 1 out of 4 birthdays this house celebrates in the month of August!

Here's my shot of our little man on his last night of being 1. I was in a bit of a grieving-state.

The first thing T got as a 2 year old was a angelic seranade from the 4 of us.

It might have been the prettiest rendition of Happy Birthday ever.

He totally dug all the attention first thing in the morning.

Aunt Jo sent me this outfit so I could match with my cousins Jackson and Cole. Who doesn't love a man in a muscle T, huh?

Apparently, the distinction between "say cheese" and "squeeze your face as tight as you can" is lost on T-bone.

With the false hope of being able to keep Tobin from having as big a sweet tooth as his mama, his sweet intake has been few and far-between. So this slice of birthday cake his Big Papa made is absolutely spectacular in his book.

The sweetest girls, my Obse and Sela, asked me more than once if they could go buy T a birthday present (with their own $). I finally told them no, to use the money they have saved for something they want. As to be no quitters, they spent a LONG time making him a present instead. What was it? Letters. As in, notes...writing...the art of words on a page. I broke it to them gently that Tobin can hardly even talk. They were unfazed.

This was Mama and Daddy's favorite gift of T's birthday. Amah brought him this hat back from her trip to Scotland. Seriously, we are all about various continents in this family.

In T-Bone's mind, there is no greater thing than tractors, or "Dah" as he says. So Amah hit a home run with not 1 but 2 "Dah's" for the boy's birthday. That, along with the hat...that I love.

Poor man's wrapping paper. Yep, mama wrapped that nugget. However, what's inside was mainly from Nana and Papa in NC.

Here he is, being 2 years and 1 day old. He's getting to experience his gift from Nanny (as he says) and Papa. What is it? Wait for it...wait for it...

It's a push trycicle! Or practically a "dah"! Hurray! This was a smashing success, much to the unbelieveable patience of his big sisters. Mama and Daddy were put to shame.

Please note the pink flowers in the front of the bike.
Thanks Obse and Sela.

Did I mention the patience of his sisters?
Truly, rewards in Heaven are theirs for this!

Completely certain that riding a bike means someone is pushing you wherever you want to go.

Big man with his own wheels!

Practically the speed of light!

Can you see the sassy-girlyness in our girls? It's so funny!
They're quite the fans of any photo-ops!

Well, Bottom's Up everyone!

Lazytown Club Dance!!!

2008-07-16T20:20:00.014-04:00

It's been a while since our last blog entry, so I thought we'd make up for it with a quick 3 posts. Let's begin with the most recent, shall we? And what better way to begin than with the official

"Lazytown Club Dance."

What's that?

Well, the other day the girls tell us that they have a surprise (they had been working for quite some time.) And what we found is this...

The girls and T had numerous songs that they sang and danced too. We had some ballet, some splits, tons of moving, and the littlest one loved it as much as his sisters. Because they had worked so hard on this performance, their dad did not let them know his true feelings seeing his son in a sequined dress.

They were so proud. It was awesome. We were privileged and thrilled to be their audience!

Peppers, Pottys, Lions and Freeze Tag!

2008-07-16T19:47:00.015-04:00

For the second entry of the day I share with you my new hobby...gardening. Goal for 2008 = to make gardening hip. I'm really quite smitten with it. Here's some of my latest handiwork!

Here's our lion. He's in love with roaring. We've had to teach him to be a "quiet lion" inside, because we really fear for his throat he yells so intensely.

And here's the lion just certain that he's going potty. Nothing happened, mind you, but he loves his "potty" movie and loves even more sitting on the big boy toilet.

Here we were traipsing around the house with our towel just perfectly resting right below our bottom. It was great!

While I was in the store apparently the girls and daddy had an intense game of "car freeze tag." I don't know who was more entertained, the girls or Jason.

Now I sometimes walk into a room and see my little goobers 'frozen' in some crazy pose. They think it's so funny, which it really is.

This is T-bone's "baff"...or bath. He thinks he's taking a big bath and the more people in the pool to entertain him the better.

Here you see our makeshift barrier at the end of his big bed. He laughes at our attempts of safety!

The sassy's loved to wear the dresses Nanna and Papa brought them. I think they would always be in dresses or skirts or anything girly if they could.

So the girls were positive that they could run 10 miles. Seeing a golden opportunity, Jason and I bet them that they could not. If they could, they got extra candy. If not, they had to rub our shoulders for a long time. Papa tried to warn them and tell us we were not being fair. But, you know how we do...free back rubs!!!

We don't tend to walk around in leotards as a habit. The girls just finished gymnastics. Just thought clarification may be needed. Impressively, the girls both did over 3 miles before stopping. We've still yet to call in our back rubs.

Spagetti, Spelling Bees, and even Easter...

2008-07-16T16:17:00.018-04:00

And to continue on trying to catch up the blog, here are a few pics from even further back. After watching Akeelah and the "Bees" the girls decided they wanted have a Spelling Bee. So gram gave them some words and they studied very hard...it was very serious business. But before the actual event, we had a spaghetti dinner at gram and pop's.

Here's T-bone enjoying his meal...as always. The boy can eat like a man!

Truly, fingers are the best utensil for this meal.
The competitors....
Sela listening to her word

Obse got it right...she's so proud

Man, this was so much fun!

T was their biggest fan!

The girls with Hunter...Nana and Papa's baby

T getting his first Easter basket

The girls loot from the Easter bunny!

Ready for Church

Meeting Amah (Jason's mom) for Church

Smiling...as usual!

Unfortunately, her snowman pillow did not survive the washing machine.

Note: we did not switch over to Boston Terriers - we're babysitting

This is "Doot." What T loves to do..."cook" in his sister's room.

Certain he was hilarious scaring daddy with his lion impression!

A Busy Start to the Year!

2008-03-07T09:22:00.020-05:00

2008 has started out as an extremely busy year for the Williams. Poor children have hardly even had any pictures taken of them. What are some of the explosively exciting things we have been up to, you might ask?

Donuts anyone? Well, we actually lost money in this marketing scheme, but the girls had fun. Who doesn't want donuts at a community yard sale, that's what I want to know!

The $$$ was in very safe hands with these two watching over it.
Seriously, protecting money is a lot to ask of a 1 1/2 year old...he's absolutely exhausted.

Although she once believed the best way to stop on a bike was to quickly try to pedal backwards, she has now mastered the true art form that bike riding is.
Double Dutch anyone?
The girls just had their school performance. Each class had about 55 seconds to perform. Although Obse (tallest child in the back) was extremely excited to perform with her peeps, she was too shy to perform for a few family members. Sela, however, would gladly perform a solo of her song and what she knew of Obse's in front of the entire neighborhood.

This baby girl was thrilled to be at a small amusement park. She would still be there

if we let her.

Their dad was thrilled with how easy the girls made contact with the ball.

Bring it on!

Waiting in line with 2 of their cousins to drive the go-carts.

We should all breathe a collective sigh of relief that it is still many years until they are 16.

Anyone see anything wrong with this picture?

Mr. Not-so-Sneaky found one of his sister's sleep caps (to keep their braids from fuzzing,etc.) Man, did we think we killed the big one with this. Perhaps mama can't tell I have something that's not mine?

Come'on Mama, you know I'm funny!

Last weekend I completed my first 1/2 marathon thanks to my friend Meghan. My goal was to not come in dead last...which I didn't. Although I was certain I was at death's door, especially after going over and back the Mt. Everest-like bridge, super-runner Meghan turned around (after placing 2nd in her age group) and helped me complete my run!

Don't let me fool you, all 400 of us got a metal.

OH Tobin!

2008-01-11T13:32:00.000-05:00

Well, the new year is bringing out quite a change in Tobin. Gone are the days of dependancy. Hello Mr. Man. Goodbye moments of accomplishing anything while Tobin is safe in a pack-n-play. Now, he gets out when he wants. Who knew he was such a big fan of half-full vaseline containers? Well, now we do. Adios feeling of your child being safe in his car seat. You are being replaced with a boy who can (and does) Houdini himself out of the top half, no matter how tight his parents secure it. So long comforting feeling of being able to shut doors. Greetings to a 17 month old who can open them. Child protective door knobs one might think? Nah, he can pull those apart. And now apparently clothes are optional and only to be worn when he feels like keeping them on.

And boy are we pleased with ourselves and our belly!
Goodbye old crib. Remember the sweet days of a bottle? Well, if mama and daddy planned on keeping me in this tiny thing while my legs hung out, then too bad. I showed them that I am now able to climb out in a matter of seconds with out any strain (or fear) at all.
Hello big boy bed. Now guests really have no place to sleep!
I'm so used to tight quarters that I feel the need to self-impose putting baby in the corner.
I gave daddy the scare of his life when he went to check on me. I wasn't on the bed, on the floor, or under the old crib. He even checked the window to make sure no one had come in or gone out! Alas...the last place there was to check was where I was! Can you spot me?
Good times everyone! After waking up to two parents on their hands and knees, I was extremely proud of myself. I thought I was in for a midnight play session.

Christmas and the 60's!

2008-01-11T11:40:00.001-05:00

There is so much trouble he could get into right now he just can't contain himself!

With the patience only she has, Nana (AKA Nan to the girls and Nanny to T-Bone) helped the girls create their very first gingerbread house!

Although they were so proud of their edible home and couldn't wait to eat it, they both found that gingerbread houses are sometimes better left to be enjoyed by the eyes only.

Christmas morning was full of fancy frills, crowns, crafts, etc. Santa really out did himself. Thanks, Santy!!! (One of Santa's three names according to Obse).
She will not be outdone by the wrapping.
Not just one, but TWO new nail polishes ladies and gentlemen!
Apparently his water bottle and plastic spoon stocking stuffers didn't go over so well after all!
Nothing quite like wearing new snazzy outfits with high heels after the presents are opened! Thanks Aunt Jo!
We recently survived our 2-day cold spell of a winter. Much to Jason's chagrin, even Newman got covered with a baby blanket.

Apparently these crazies didn't get enough presents at Christmas. They had to have a 60th anniversary 4 days later.
Nothing would make T happier than if daddy would just turn him around and let him push that lawn mower.

The Play, The Player & The PJ's

2007-12-21T22:58:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was a great pre-Christmas time with family. Jason, me and the girls, along with our friends, Uncle Jason and Aunt Michelle, went to the Christmas pagent at our Church. Our seats were right up front, so we had a great view of everything, even the live animals. Never in my life have I enjoyed a play more than that. Seeing the amazement plastered all over the girls faces was truly special. They were in awe. They kept leaning over to ask me the best questions, like if the backdrop was "real stars?". My favorite of the night, however, was when they asked..."Mama, is that really Jesus???!!!" They were thrilled! For a play that kept adult audiences engaged and moved, it did the same for Obse and Sela. The lights, the music, the fancy costumes of the modern half and the Biblical characters of the second half...nothing was overlooked or unappreciated by them!

The next day we got to celebrate Christmas with Jason's side of the family. Oh, how the girls have been longing for some high heels. Well, their Aunt Julie went through her closet and wrapped up 6 pairs of high heels for the girls! They had no clue they were not brand new. To them, they were exactly what they had been wishing for. In fact, they each were wearing a pair of their very own "new" high heels when we stopped by at their night at grandma and big papa's.
Well, this little man has his great grandma (and big papa) wrapped right around his teensy finger. They have a routine now that if he's there when he wakes up from his nap, they need to each get a snack, something to drink and rock in the big chair until he is fully awake and ready to play. What's even more pittiful is that I don't know which one of them enjoys this more. And you may notice that in the picture there is an extra cracker sitting on the shelf. That's because Tobin likes to "look over there and make sure there is more for him." And sadly, I myself wittnessed the little player doing exactly that! Ridiculous!

The girls got to wear their pj's to school for their last day before Christmas break. Boy, did they think that was fun and silly. And not only that, they had been counting down to Friday all week because "...we are going to have a par..y (sometimes you don't quite hear Sela's "t" sounds) and have SOOO much fun!" Since Friday nights are spent at Grandma and Big Papa's house, we tried to tell them that as they were already in their pajamas grandma was going to just put them to bed after school. But they weren't falling for our shenanagins. Sometimes, we just can't pull the wool over these babies eyes!

A Very Proud Mama!

2007-12-12T17:19:00.000-05:00

These babies are just amazing! On the way home today Sela proclaims to me that she doesn't like Christmas for presents, but because of Jesus. Then Obse brings home the point that Christmas is not about presents but about God and Jesus being born. Really??? Are these kids truly this awesome...my answer is YES! But I should also clarify that story with their plans for their Target $5 "credit card" they got from Nana and Papa for "Obsela Day" and their letters to Santa. With their "credit card" of 5 whole dollars each, they are debating between a cell phone ("a real one mama"), a camera, and a swimming pool. And for Christmas, they wrote to Santa that they would like some "make-ups" (that's how they say it), some real high heels (not the kid ones they have) and a fancy purse. But that's just in case there's extra presents, Santa, because they know the real reason of Christmas.

They were very full of proclomations today of all sorts. As Sela informed me that she does not like homework, and that they both DO NOT appreciate certain aspects of independence like making their lunch...this same lunch that they once begged to be able to help make. Instead, making lunch is "not easy as pie" as they were suckered into believing. But TV... now that is really something they both agree upon to be mutually enjoyable for all.

Yet another reason to be proud is that Tobin is learning to feed himself with utensils. His favorite still remain his hands, with grown up silverware placing a close second. And might I add that the boy is showing strong signs of being ambidextrous! This could be just the push he needs to actually win the Heisman trophy one day, not just be in the running!

Pics of the kids...some with 4 legs

2007-12-06T18:14:00.000-05:00

Here are just a few pictures of the kids. Due to a catastrophe with our camera (it was sat on by one of the adults in this family, I shant name names) our picture productivity has been very low. But thanks to Aunt Julie and her amazing picture skills, and some pictures from earlier, here are some breathtaking shots of the babes!

ER vs. OBSELA DAY!

2007-12-04T09:30:00.000-05:00

Here she is...our very own long overdue blog. What better way to start it out than our first ER visit? Tobin got himself quite a cornucopia of diseases, what with a cold, fever, bad ear infection and bronchitis. It's been nothing short of heartbreaking.

But we prefer to counter the bad with the really good and fun...hence celebrating Obsela Day today! It's the girls day to have completely dedicated to them! They are out of school, watching Christmas movies, going to lunch followed by some playground time, some good ol' fashon home movies of themselves, and big girl bike riding...the fun never stops. Then tonight is pizza (in the TV room) watching a movie with the whole fam. There are even going to be a few presents thrown in. Good times, my friends!