Williams - 2010 Halloween

Pumpkin Patch - we actually went on a day that didn't rain. The pumpkin crop this year was rather bad. Most pumpkins were rotten or green. The kids love the train and boat ride to the pumpkins though.

Anna and Sage at their school party

My little butterfly!

Don't you just love Herbie's face in this one.

Going Goth!

Heading out for the ward Halloween party.

In the midst of the chaos, I can't go without posting our Halloween pics. So I am taking an itty bitty break from homework to share our Halloween spirit.

The Proper Method

Emmet's School Carnival

Vote for Pedro

Of all the quarter machines at Albertsons filled with toys and candy, what does my child choose? Well, the fake mustache machine, of course. I had to ask her politely to take it off before we went to the primary program practice at the church this afternoon.

She must have been channeling Pedro to achieve the identical, vacant look.

My head feels hot.

Holy Pregnant Dreams

So I was in the women's clothing department in Target. There were desks set up and I was instructing students how to be court reporters and use stenograph machines.

I was falsely posing as a naval officer, wearing a blue blazer and white pants. When someone questioned my identity and authority, my exact words were, "What? Are you blind?! I'm a naval officer!" (Pretty sure I thought I was the fleet admiral.)

That's when I realized I had better run and fast... before they looked closely at my impostor uniform. I gazed down to realize I was wearing a cheap Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol blazer, complete with badge.

Long Day for a Housewife

What do you do if you've already done the laundry and gone grocery shopping? I keep wanting to leave the house to Snow Canyon or the park but don't want to suddenly be rained upon. Anika helped me make my favorite muffins, (they're orange!) which takes 65X longer than doing it myself but at least it kills part of the day and keeps her entertained. Which is nice...

... especially when I just cannot bear the thought of another round of the fishing game. I think I've played it 40 times already today.

Guess it's time to break out the crayons. It's really going to suck when Anika learns to read. Brandon and I wont be able to spell things in conversation we don't want Anika to hear. Things like P-I-R-A-T-E-S-P-I-Z-Z-A or B-A-T-H-T-I-M-E or S-H-I-T.

Also, I wont be able to write things like this inside Brandon's card while I color with Anika. Mommy, what is DO ME?

Don't worry, I don't usually sit around and color dorky cards for Brandon. But Anika likes me to color with her so there you go.

Remember how I mentioned I leave things for Brandon in his underwear drawer to discover? I have left some purely hilarious surprises that still have me laughing... a banana wearing a condom, a falsified pregnancy test, etc. And normal stuff too. Like a card or his favorite tic tacs. He will find this artistic creation in his drawer when he goes for new drawers tonight.

Ever wonder what it's like living with a total weirdo? Brandon could tell you.

Have You Met Me?

... was one line in a conversation I had with Brandon recently. Let us examine the entire conversation, shall we? Brandon has been to Boulder Mountain three times in the last few months and he was showing me some gorgeous pictures. I got really jealous and it went something like this...

Dang, Brandon. What does that feel like to just have peace for four days? Don't you realize I haven't spent one single day away from Anika since she was born? You're such a B, rhymes with astard. (The astard was friendly and light and I really did say B, rhymes with)

Well, why don't you go somewhere then? I'll watch Anika anytime you want to go away for the weekend. Just plan something.

Well, what would I even do?

You love to fly fish. Why don't you go fishing?

But you're the only one to go fishing with. I don't exactly have a lot of girlfriends that would like to go on a fishing trip.

What you need is a new hobby to keep you happy. Why don't you learn to knit? Or play the piano?

Those three sentences rocked me to the core. Was I just now discovering my husband doesn't know me at all? This rift, this fault could wreck all that is good. And I replied...

Have you met me?
I was thinking of something a little more exciting. Like calling the plumber...

Enter: The Plumber. Calling him is my euphemism for extramarital affair. Brandon has this plumber friend, Lael. Brandon always told me that when I met him, he knew I'd want him. This made me feel good. (So Brandon knows my type?) I finally met Lael and B was right... I guess he does know me. Janna wants Lael too and we joke openly with our husbands about calling the plumber. I'm sorry, The Plumber.

...Or a girls' trip out of town. Or shopping and pedicures. Or fishing. Or a booze cruise, hell, I don't care. As long as I can sleep in and not watch cartoons when I wake up or sit and tie knots to nothing but the sound of a babbling brook. But knitting? You really think knitting will fill the empty space? And you can visualize that... me? knitting? How does your brain even conjure up that image?

Well, I don't know...


And that was the gist of it, my friends.

One thing that really has surprised me about motherhood is how much I need something of my own. I didn't see that one coming and thought I would be totally content making dinner, nesting, etc. And I mostly am. But I feel so much better when I have something going on that is totally mine. It surprises me how much I need this. I'm thinking after I have this baby and the grenade wounds down there heal and my milk regulates and my nipples scab over and the baby is sleeping well and The Nothing is gone and my hair has all fallen out and then grown back in and when things mellow out... I think then I would like to start teaching ballet again. I need it. I need something to call my own, to escape to.

Is this why women read romance novels? Escape? Should I forget hobbies or employment and just pick up some good ol' fashioned cliterature?

It's my own fault I have not made time for myself to get AWAY.

Is this so not the essence of nearly every Oprah episode you have ever watched since the time you were fifteen? Moms need to make time for themselves. For the good of everybody.

Like I always say... If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!

Williams - Graduation Pending!

Just wanted to let you know that this might be the last post for awhile. I starte school full time last Monday and that means double the homework load. It also means that I stay up late, later than I used to so I can complete homework assignments. Why do I do this to myself? Herb says that I am a masochist since I inflict this pain upon myself. I graduate December 18th and it will be a happy day. I don't know what I am going to do with my free time in the evenings. I will be a new women or I will be hibernating for the winter to catch up on all the lost sleep.

Williams - Herbie Preschool

Herbie's started preschool. This is him on his first day. The backpack is a little big. Finally found a small one that I ordered online and it came today. He also had to go to the bathroom right when I wanted to take the pic of him in front of the school door. He attends preschool at a local high school and the students are the teachers. He loves it.

Williams - Sage's Jogathon

Cheerleaders
The Runners - It is also crazy hair day!

Williams - Baby Food Recipes

Per Nicole's request for information:

I checked out a book from the library called "Top 100 Baby Food Purees" by Annabel Karmel. Here is the link to the book on amazon. Although some of the reviews say to be careful because the author introduces some foods too early. I kind of follow the chart of food introduction suggested in Secrets of the Baby Whisperer (page 124) and then find those recipes in the Puree book. I like the book because it is just basic recipes and very easy to follow. Now that I have done it for 3 months, I hardly use the book so I haven't even bought it, I keep renewing it at the library. I have also gone to the following website but have never used any recipes from there. I have not successfully made any meat baby food which is why I went to this website but I still don't like the consistency and taste of the meat. I am still trying to figure that out. I also purchased ice cube trays with lids at Bed Bath and Beyond. I use a Cuisinart to puree the foods. Good luck if you try this route. I don't know why I didn't even think of doing it with my other kids but I wish I would have.

Williams - Baby Food

Did I mention that I make my own baby food? I never did with Herbie and Sage but I began with Nora about 3 months ago and it is awesome. The food tastes good and it is so easy to puree.

This photo is pre-Prince Valium hair.

When I just can't play Bingo or Candy Land one more time I tell Anika that her animals might like to play. She set this whole thing up one morning and drew the cards for Billie dog and Shaggy.

Did you enjoy Conference weekend? It's the weirdest thing when you're watching one guy speak and magically he changes into another guy. Even when I don't let myself get horizontal, I still manage to doze a talk or two.

Yesterday afternoon I turned on Conference and Anika sat herself down on the couch, peacefully watching what she calls 'TV Church'. A little while later I looked over and she was asleep! I should have taken a picture. It was so funny because she hasn't taken a nap for months and months. And not once in her life has she ever just fallen asleep upstairs. She must have found it very soothing.

The Draft

Well, it's a boy.

I was so nervous about the health of this baby, I thought I was going to have diarrhea on the drive to the doctor. But the baby is healthy and well. Brandon and I both saw it was a boy before the doctor mentioned it. We both thought it was a girl so we were shocked.

I was set on a sister for Anika, not having to change up the nursery or buy new clothes. Didn't this baby realize I have a pair of pink converse in every size? I have to start from scratch now but I'm getting really excited. At least blue is my favorite color.

Driving around town, running errands today I kept tripping out on men. I can't believe I'm going to raise a son. Into a man. I fear the unknown. I fear internet pornography, my family's alcoholic genes and the draft. This whole son thing seems very foreign and scary to me. A boy? Really?

Today's visit was a mere $708. Last month's visit was $446. Also awaiting the lab's maternal serum test bill. C R I N G E.

Better pick some more pine nuts this weekend. (Anika thinks Daddy has been going pineapple picking.)

Williams - Digital Painting

I drew and painted all of these using Adobe Illustrator. I love that program. Thanks to my friend Andy (a professional artist for Sony) for teaching me so many tips and tricks.

Prince Valium

I gave Anika one of my famously hideous haircuts today. This one was so bad, I had to take her immediately to the salon for a 911 fix. The last time we attempted the salon, it ended in tears but even she knew she needed help this time and sat perfectly still. I don't think she even breathed. The girl had to take it extra short to fix my chop-job.

All I can think when I look at her is Prince Valium, my goodness, it's Prince Valium. I even taught her the big yawn with tapping hand.

Just trying to prepare you for the next time you see her. She's still as cute as a button, though. Phew, at least now I know she is willing to go to the salon. I am so sick of repeating my signature mistake... the Lloyd Christmas bangs. Cut when dry. Cut when dry.

Pregnant Tin Man

I wish I had some good photos to share. Anika and I went to California last week but didn't take the camera because Brandon was going to Boulder Mountain and he thinks the fish photos are more exciting than photos of his firstborn playing in her first tide pools. It turned out we returned in time to see him for one night before he left for his big trip.

We went to Newport to Cara's first and had a grand ol' time. Cara has floor to ceiling and wall to wall windows in both rooms of her house, with a view of the bay. Gorgeous. We went shopping for Anika and myself (maternity clothes). Anika rode her first escalator and realizing that made me feel like we were visiting from Amish country. She also saw her first motorized carriage... I think they call them automobiles. We visited Jake at his work, the Apple store. That place is insane, they have about forty employees on the floor at the same time. Me, apparently Amish, hadn't seen such a thing. The whole experience made me realize how little I get out these days.

After a few days we headed to Lake Arrowhead to Andrea's house. What can I say? It was heavenly. Cold mornings, crisp fall weather. I even had a candy apple by the lake in the village with the wind in my hair. And what of this extended dose of 100+ in St. George? F word! I need four seasons, people.

What else?

Anika is loving preschool. And loving ballet class even more. She says, "no more preschool, just ballet class." She went to school without looking back, didn't act scared at all. The second day a boy cried and that made her cry. Then she was terrified to go back and came up with all sorts of creative ways to solve her crying boy problem. For instance:

Mom, can you change the crying boy into a ball with Daddy's tools and I will bounce him?

Mom, I will drive you to preschool and I will say, "bye, have a nice day!"

Mom, can you change all the boys and girls into animals so they don't cry?

Mom, can you bring the vacuum and suck up my preschool? (One day I was walking her in to preschool and she was yelling, "suck it up! suck it up!" A few Moms shot me disapproving glances when it dawned on me they must have assumed I had told her to 'suck it up' and go to school. Nope, just my child's active imagination thinking I could vacuum up her entire school. She really believes these things are possible. Should I be worried?)

Can you blow it with your fire extinguisher? (She even went as far as getting the extinguisher out of the closet.)

Her morning prayers went like this... "...and bwess the boy that he turns into a ball. And bwess he doesn't come out..."

I could go on and on with the things she was imagining to do. When I took her back, she barged in and announced through hot tears and at the top of her lungs, "Hey kids! Are you going to be happy today?" As long as everyone is happy, so is she. The crying boy dropped out so now everything is peachy again.

And what else?

I'm a big girl. Apparently on our trip I gained five pounds. (gasp!) I can't do this again. Sure with Anika I gained a respectable fifty but I started out in shape! I can't possibly put fifty on with this one because I started out the biggest of my life. I will be a linebacker before this is through if I don't really start watching it. I had to buy a new sports bra for the gym...unfortunately, my boobs don't get huge like Nicole's. They fail to impress but what doesn't fail to impress is my expansion of back fat, thus the new bra.

Which brings me to my next highly interesting topic. You know how there's always certain couples that make you gag if you accidentally visualize them having sex? (Yes, I'm going to talk about this.) I recently realized that couple is me and B. Quick, hurry, wince, whatever you do don't accidentally visualize it. But you know you just did. I'm sorry. We're that couple where the woman is a linebacker, dwarfing the man and you can't help but think oh that poor, sweet waif of a man, he's gonna get crushed. Precious does Rain Man, anyone?

I'm so looking forward to and planning on getting my body back. It's not so much the skinny thing as it is the feeling thing. I miss feeling strong and flexible and arabesqueing my way around house chores. I feel stiff and large and brittle like the hull of an old pirate ship, agile as its peg-leg captain. I feel like a pregnant tin man and whilst vacuuming the stairs the other day paused to exclaim, "What is this strange beating sensation?!" Your heart, big laaaady!!! It was almost exercise.



Ultrasound on Thursday. I'm terrified. Please be healthy and perfect.

I think it's a girl.

I'm out.

Were you a nanny?

A friend of a friend of mine wants to be a nanny back East and needs help finding a family. Do you have any tips? Agency ideas? I can't remember the agency I went through so I'm no help to her. Leave a comment if you have some ideas. Thx.

Motivation

Shoveling maneuver sounds like a dream. Q and I were educated about strategic foreclosures yesturday. Hmmmm. Ug, but hmmmmm none-the-less. So this is what I look like. I actually spent five minutes looking at this picture trying to figure how to photoshop a large portion of me out of it. Can't. When is this nursing thing going to kick in? Shysters I don't recognize my body! ...but, I'm not depressed anymore. I had a momentary lapse is all. Feeling hopeful. Had a good hair day. That helps. Great drawings Ci. Makes me want to so something creative. Alana: Know what you're having yet? Those gap nighties are a dream. Is it so so terrible that I've had my thank you cards written for two months but haven't mailed them yet? That's all.

Williams - Painting Class

This is what I have been up to the last few weeks. My friend Melissa wanted me to post some of my work. I just finished a painting class for school. 4 more classes to go and I graduate on December 18th. I don't claim to be an expert painter or artist but I had fun nonetheless. It was hard work though.

Floral Study - completed at Kelli's house while visiting.

Interior drawing - completed at Kelli's while visiting.

Egg

Still Life

Monochromatic Still Life

Another Still Life - I got tired of doing these. I ran out of things to paint because I have no knick knacks.

Duplicating another artists landscape.

Yet another Still Life. This was my favorite one that I painted. We had to paint with only two complementary colors and mix them to create other colors. It was fun.

Attempting a portrait of Sage. This was a fun one too. I couldn't get the eye's right though. Sage told me it looked just like her except she said the eyes were all wrong.

Duplicating Claude Monet's "Sunrise" painting. I love Impressionism. It is much harder to duplicate than I ever imagined.

Too much FAT, too little MONEY

Today I had my first depressing day in 10 months. It's not post-partum or anything to do with Annie- for some reason when I'm prego and after, I get the giggles all the time and feel like I'm on happy gas.

Nope. Today I was depressed over two things: Fat and money. I have too much of one and too little of the other. Can you guess which is which?

I really had to calm myself down several times. "It's fine Nicole. You're fine Nicole."

But then I kept going back to how upside down we are in our mortgage and the 70,000$ we would have had to buy a new home if...

...if
...if
...if.

So I got depressed.

I have a small car. I have to pull the seat all the way forward to fit Annie.
There is no AC in the back.
Plus- I have to park it in a HOT parking lot which makes it way hard to go out with Annie.
It sucks.

so then I got depressed again.

And I wondered: what would it be like to park my car in a garage.
I could almost survive my small Honda if I could park it in a garage.

So then I got depressed again.

I kept telling myself not to swear inside my head but then I kept thinking about how tired I am of telling myself not to swear in my head. I hate it.

Then I made things way worse: I tried on pre-prego pants with zippers.

It was bad.

Real Bad.

...and Q. Oh Q.

...........................................................So today I was depressed.




But Annie is a dream. Loads of smiles. Took her to Swiss Days and drowned my sorrows in a mulita from Irmitas and two cookies. It didn't help much.

Wish I could drown all my sorrows in a big fat SOLD sign.

Someone make me feel better. I may cry.

This is funny.

Williams - Nora Photo Shoot

We spent the last 10 days at Kelli's house in Denver. Callie is two weeks old and they are moving so we went to help them pack and keep her kids busy. We had a fabulous time. While we were there, Kelli took some photos of Nora and the kids. Click on the link below to see some of the photos. Nora is now 8 months old. Where did the time go?

http://eudisfamnews.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-big-sister.html

Just when I was getting used to the pajama-like track suits.