Christmas Jammies!

It's a Christmas tradtion in our house to give pj's on Christmas Eve. Young Skywalker and Beauty Queen tore open the packages and promptly modeled their new threads for us. Hope you enjoy these pics! Our dog, (mini)Cooper, makes his blog debut in this last one.

Beauty Queen then decided that she was indeed "queen of her throne", the rocking chair. She kept pushing her big brother off when he tried to sit with her. I even sat on it when she left the room just to see what she would do when she returned. She immediately grabbed my hand and insisted that I give her *her* seat back. Aren't we all like that? Even the littlest one!

There's no White Christmases in Texas

Ratatouille is a hit!

Young Skywalker and Beauty Queen are big fans of the dish! Skywalker asked me to make it for dinner after seeing the Pixar film. He raved about it through the whole meal. Even though he helped prepare it, I don't think he realized it was ALL VEGETABLES. Beauty Queen ate her portion and most of her daddy's, too!

We give Ratatouille two thumbs up!

Princesses Party as Beauty Queen Turns ONE!

Stay Tuned

Beauty Queen's birthday party pictures coming soon!

Williams Family Reunion: Tubing Adventure

Pickin' Perfect Pumkins

We embarked on the old familiar tradition of the family vacation on Saturday! It's been so much fun. On the way to meet Jeremy's family in Arkansas, we stopped at a pumpkin patch near Little Rock. It was a fabulous place to stretch our legs and make a memory (not to mention, take a bunch of pictures! Isn't that why we do these things?)

Young Skywalker was very focused on finding several perfect pumpkins to load into our already stuffed car. He grabbed a wagon and started loading it like a grocery cart. We had to reign him in reminding him that we still had three hours left and not enough room for these big ol' pumpkins. We settled on five smaller varieties and they are gracing the back porch of our condo as I write.

Beauty Queen had her heart set on taking full advantage of the fact that she was out of her car seat. She insisted on walking the entire time. Only second in importance to walking around was checking out the pumpkins... looking at them, drumming on them, and even occasionally tasting them.

A Night at the Ballpark

Young Skywalker warming up to bat. He got a great hit... a double!

What happens in the dugout, stays in the dugout.

"Go, Bubba! Yay!"

"That Guy" (see my What's in a Name? post) didn't want to miss the big game, either.

The littlest big fan

What's in a Name?

"That guy" - pink bunny who keeps Beauty Queen company each night
Romeo - black and white dog... he's been loved to a very floppy state
Krypto - a small husky that Young Skywalker purchased for himself at Build A Bear Workshop
Bruce Wayne Williams - our first Build A Bear... he has a number of wardrobe items for his multiple identities
Candy - super soft pink bear the color of cotton candy
Zach - second Build A Bear... usually a soccer player
Cody - black Beanie Baby dog and a loyal friend
Smooches - white bear with red kisses all over. a valentines gift passed on from brother to sister
Rusty - a little stuffed boy who was often a companion for Young Skywalker as a toddler

These are a few of our fiber and fluff filled friends who live at our house. What is it that inspires a name for a "stuffed-up" animal (as Young Skywalker used to call them)?

This summer we discovered the Junie B. Jones series. And as a family, we've fallen in love with the antics of this kindergarten girl. She has some great stuffed animal names like a Raggedy Ann doll named Ruth and a Raggedy Andy named Larry. Not to mention Phillip Johnny Bob! But I think it was the way she affectionately refers to her best friend as "That Grace" that inspired the name for "That guy".

"That guy" is a VIP around here lately. He gets dragged by the ears most everywhere. And "That guy" is fairly necessary for naptime and bedtime. I'm pretty sure that at some point we'll have to sew the ears back onto "That guy". And we're astounded that his voicebox has survived two trips through the washing machine and dryer!

And so the next time I find Krypto hanging out in the gameroom by the TV or we're on a desperate search for "That guy" AGAIN, I'm going to stop and enjoy the moment because before I know it we won't have all of these extra characters hanging around forever. And when they're gone, my babies will only be babies in my memory. So, here's to a long life for you, Romeo, Rusty, Krypto, Bruce, Zach, Cody, Smooches, Candy, and "That guy"!

Argh, Matey!

Somehow I stumbled upon an obscure holiday calendar and found out that today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. In celebration, our Beauty Queen is playing the part of Captain Hook... of course, in this day and age of civil lawsuits she has been deprived of an actual hook. For a pirate translator, go to http://www.fissio.com/pirate.pl. Would ye like t' celebrate with us, buckos?

Put me in, Coach. I'm ready to play...

"Mommy, I just LOVE the baseball field!" ~Young Skywalker. Apparently, we have found his calling! He's been a soccer player the last couple of years, but told me he was ready for baseball. He absolutely loves baseball. His first game was Thursday night. Our good friend, Josh, came along with his trusty video camera. Check out the results.