Reflections of a Mom's Life

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Our FIRST Pumpkin Carving...SERIOUSLY!!



OK, we know this will sound CRAZY to many of you but Anthony and I have never carved pumpkin's before. We are 30 years old, I know! Both of our families just didn't do pumpkin carving so we've never ventured out on our own to try this out until now! Katy has been trying to get me to do this for two years. However, two years ago I just felt like Harrison was too young to really enjoy it and last year we were moving to NC.

Side note...can you believe it's been a year now since we moved to Raleigh?? I can't believe it's been that long. Our house in VA was totally empty of all our belongings on Halloween and we had to Trick-or-Treat in my mom's neighborhood...which was still fun. :)

Anyway, we carved our first pumpkin's last night! We had a great time! Anthony wouldn't hear of anything simple...triangle eyes, nose, mouth...he wanted his first pumpkin carving to be memorable! He did a GREAT job! The boys both helped with the first one and then after they were in bed he decided to work on a more difficult design on his own. I think pumpkin carving is his new passion! ha! just kidding! We had a FABULOUS time and this will definitely become a new Williams' family tradition! :)

More later on our Trick-or-Treating tonight!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

We're Expecting!




We are so excited that we are expecting ANOTHER Baby Williams! Yeah! :) The boys are very excited about the new baby news and can't wait to meet their new sibling. :) We'll keep you posted on all the excitement over the next several months! We'll be looking for our new baby to arrive in May 2008! We can't wait! :)

Kids Praise Choir


Harrison sang in church the other night with his Kids Praise Choir. We're looking forward to his concert in December! :)



Crazy Hair Night


Here are Anthony and Harrison with their Crazy Hair for Awana. :)

Friday, October 26, 2007

and just a few more...

i know...still can't narrow things down! here are the last of them! :)


isn't that sunset beautiful!







Cheers! The coconuts weren't ripe so it really wasn't all that good. Bummer! I was so excited to try it and Mom had pleasant memories from tasting one in Hawaii.


Mom and Dad took some picture of our family for us...







Goodbye Aruba! We had a blast! I think the only thing that could have been better is if Ian, Vonda, & Ella Rose could have been with us! We certainly missed you guys on Vacation this year! Hope we can all be together next time!



More Pix from Aruba!





As you can see, Harrison wasn't the only one having a good time at the slide!



Here's Jackson taking a turn with Daddy on the slide

Every morning, Harrison, Jackson & Mimi would have their breakfast out on the balcony...so sweet!

more digging in the sand...

isn't that the best picture!



Anthony and his boys!




I just love these boys!

After all that work on the beach, it's back to the Lazy River!

Attacked by an Iguana!

No, these pictures are not actually of an Iguana attacking me. This is a little field trip we went on one of the days we were in Aruba where we got to feed the Iguana's. They are EVERYWHERE and they are protected in Aruba. They are supposed to be very friendly and and I'm sure that they are.

However, I had a much to close encounter with one. Mimi, Harrison, & I had decided to go and take a nap by the pool one afternoon while Jackson was asleep in the room with Anthony and Papa. Like I said, the Iguana's are walking around everywhere but we've seen that all week. I fall asleep on my stomach and all of a sudden I feel something on my bum. Yes, I turn to look and let out probably the biggest scream of my entire life. Mom jumped up from her peaceful nap thinking someone was drowning! The thing jumped off and ran away but needless to say, no more naps at that pool for me! Later, after our field trip towards the end of the week we learned that where I was trying to nap was also the pool where they did the feedings so the Iguana's are particularly plentiful and curious in that area! ahhh!



This Iguana, that I've zoomed in on is about the size and color of the one who jumped on me! He certainly wasn't a baby! yuck!

ARUBA...One Happy Island

Our trip started out FANTASTIC! We were all upgraded to First Class on the flight from Newark to Aruba! We are pass riders so our children are not technically old enough to fly up front, you have to be eight (unless you are a paying passenger, of course). However, they were pretty booked in the back and the gate agent decided it wasn't worth her time trying to rearrange people so the kids could be seated with an adult so she just put us all up front! We were SHOCKED! I was worried at first. I didn't want the boys to be "bad" and for the flight attendants to be upset that we were up there but they were perfect! Jackson did well even though he didn't sleep a wink and Harrison entertained his Mimi with movies and coloring! :) It worked out great and we made it to Aruba...to start our Vacation! Yippee! :)
Here we are "illegally" seated! :)

Don't these boys look like the best little travelers! :)
This was our rental car! We packed it as full as we could and headed to the Resort. Anthony had to stay behind, but Papa came back and got him! Fun times! :) After we got in and settled, we took a walk around and then ate some take-out for dinner. We all got a good night's sleep to start our week at the beach!




The boys LOVE playing on the beach! They had a blast digging new things every day!
The water in Aruba is so beautiful and peaceful. There really aren't any waves so it makes it perfect for kids to just sit and play right at the edge of the water. Tons of kids! Aruba is a very family friendly vacation spot. We went when Harrison was 6 months old and our second visit was just as nice as the first! We LOVE Aruba!
Jackson thought these lights looked like microphones so he always wanted to stop and let out a quick tune before moving on.



Here the boys are at the water fall at one of the pools.
A quick dip in the hot tub!
We ate a quick lunch and then headed over to another pool with a Lazy River...MY FAVORITE!




We all loved the Lazy River and spent a lot of time there! So relaxing!