ICK!

So, here's how my morning has gone so far: Woke up, excersised. Sooooo proud of myself, because this is the first post-baby workout and it felt so great! Helped Emma get ready for school and noticed an odd smell in the bathroom. Oh well, with 4 kids, odd smells are not uncommon. Still, this one was pretty bad.... Saw Emma off to the schoolbus. So proud of myself, again, to have squeezed in a workout AND a shower. Feeling as though mothers the world over would be proud to have a morning like this! Heard Jagger call to me from his room to get him out of bed. Walk into Jag's room (still in my towel), and BAM - discover the source of the smell. He had PUKED sometime in the night. Oh, so gross! It was brownies, all dried up and stinky, stuck to his hair, blankie, BoBo (stuffed monkey), all over his jammies. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I'm sure all can imagine the circus of laundry, bath, and Lysol that ensued from that point on. Things seem to have settled down a bit now, but I'm crossing my fingers that the bug doesn't spread.

On a side note, I have a new blog, entitled Williams Family Pics. The plan is to post most of my pics over there and keep this one for random thoughts, rants, etc. We'll see how it goes.

I sooo wish I had thought to take a picture of Jagger's crib this morning, with all the puke, etc. Who thinks to grab a camera at a moment like that?

Ode to friends, part II

Some fun pics I ran across to further illustrate yesterday's post.

Oops - looks like he didn't want his picture taken again.

What is that on my face?

Way to go, Bella - she's got herself a younger man!

Me and my boyfriend.

Hee hee hee, this one's for you, Twilight gals, since I don't have any newer pics of you!

Hopefully they're always good friends!

Friends, old and new, borrowed and blue

I've been thinking a lot about friends lately. I have been so fortunate in my life to have been friends with countless wonderful people. Friends I grew up with, friends that have come and gone, friends that I worked with, friends who are also family, friends who I don't even know except through this strange bloggy world, random people who affected my mood in a positive way. My friend Melissa wrote a post recently about history - common, shared history among spouses. I love that. I love having history with my friends, too, but tonight, that history makes me sad. I don't have much PRESENT with the people that I share the most history with. My oldest friend in the world, the beautiful Lauren Sanchez Gregory, invited me to be her friend on Facebook. Not knowing anything about Facebook, but wanting to be FRIENDS with my friend, I joined and became her friend. This means I get to see all the other people she is friends with, and read her various comments, etc. Some of the names and faces I recognized, others I didn't. It occurs to me that I don't know my oldest and dearest friend very well anymore. I mean, we have known each other since kindergarten (which seems like yesterday and a hundred years ago all at the same time - see, Melissa, duality!), but we are not day to day friends anymore. When we do get together, every few years or so, it seems like no time has passed, but each of our daily lives is completely foreign to the other. I suppose all of this is compounded by the fact that I am in Idaho and she is still enjoying sunny southern California. The baggage I carry from that move is material for another post, another day. Suffice it to say I am sad and missing old friends tonight.

When I was a younger, I was always the type of person who liked to have just one or two really good friends, and that was it. I now find that I need all my fingers and probably some toes, too, to count the number of people I consider really good friends. Of those, there is still just a handful that I trust with my secrets, but still.... I am feeling abundantly blessed by my friends lately. I have had several experiences with various friends lately that have changed my life in a positive and profound way. Two secret-sharing friends here in Idaho, Jo and Hil, have truly been keeping me afloat since I had Kole. My family's life is exceptionally busy and complicated right now, and I have needed the life preservers they have provided. It's very true that the Lord's work is manifested through His children.

Something has happened that has made me realize once again how much I love and need my husband. I'm not going to go into detail for the whole world to read about (right, like the whole world is reading my blog), but nobody's dead, and it's not some life-altering tragedy, so if you don't know what I'm talking about, call me and I'll tell you. Anyway, things have just been put into perspective for me lately. Sometimes it's not really about who does what around the house, who hauls the kids around to all their stuff, who did the grocery shopping or shoveled the snow. Sometimes it's just about loving someone.

I wish I had room and time to post pics of all of my old, new, and borrowed friends (I'm the blue friend tonight). But, I don't, so here's this cute one of my very best friend.

Merry Christmas

There has been way too much fun over this past week to write about all of it, so I am posting a few pics of our Christmas celebrations with both sides of the family. Uncle Geno and Auntie Lisa, Uncle Brian and Aunt Jo, Uncle Greg and Aunt Dovie, Tyrel, Wyatt, Abi, Gavin, Ana ~ WE MISS YOU!!!
I have TONS more pictures - don't ask me why but I've always got the camera handy lately. We really had a great Christmas. I have to say, I am glad it's over, I kind of had the bah humbug spirit this year. The past week or so has been great, though. We had a Christmas party with some dear friends (and missed some others!), Christmas Eve with Shawn's family, which is always so much fun, Christmas Day here (I am so proud of myself - I made the best batch of spaghetti and meatballs ever!), did some after-Christmas shopping, and spent yesterday playing in the snow. Lots to be thankful for this year.

Showing off: me and my little man

Well, thanks to my dear friend who also happens to be a VERY talented photograper (shameless plug: see lisahuberphotography.com), I have some more beautiful pics of Kole to show off. Is it just me, or does he have that "little old man" look? Gush, gush, gush!

Fun with the girls

Well, I thought I would write a long and hilarious post about how much fun I had watching Twilight (again) with some girlfriends last night. But, alas, my lovely almost-2-year-old is screaming something about Blue's Clues while loudly refusing to pick up his toys. Here are the pics, and ladies, I haven't laughed that hard in I can't remember how long. Thanks!

Welcome home, baby Kole

Last week, we were blessed with the arrival of our new bundle of joy, Kole Shawn. He was born on Friday, November 21st (daddy's birthday!), at 2:15 in the afternoon, and weighed in at 8lb., 11oz. He is an incredible blessing, and I, for one, am getting teary just thinking about how amazingly happy I am that he has joined our family. Words do not do justice to this kind of love and joy.