Saturday, June 30, 2012

Our special visitors and our first ride on a train!

A few weeks ago my Mom, Aunt, and my Grandad (Daddy Jack) came to visit us for a few days.  This was such a special trip.  My grandad is 83 years old.  I haven't seen him since I went home last year in July.  They flew into Portland which is a 2 hour drive and got tickets to ride the train into Eugene.  I had some money someone had given me for my birthday that I was trying to decide what to use it on and decided that Deci and I would take the train up to Portland and ride back with them.

 This was mine and Deci's first time riding a train and it was SOOO much fun!  Deci did great and it was only 30 minutes longer than driving.
My Aunt Mary Ann and Deci

Of course we had to take them to the Oregon coast...

My mom (Dee) and the girls.


We're trying to decide whats wrong with this child...she likes eating sand and chalk! Silly girl!

After my Mom, Aunt and Grandad left they took a plane to California to my cousins house and met up with 2 of my moms other sisters just in time for fathers day with their dad.
Thanks for coming to see us!
To read another post about my grandad click HERE. :)

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Breakfast this morning

I've been making pancakes for me and the girls for breakfast lately.  I say "me and the girls" because Q leaves too early (okay, only 7:30) but honestly he would rather have the whole shebang with eggs, biscuits, gravy, sausage, and you get the point.  Who can blame him? And maybe just one day I'll be a really good housewife and wake up early every morning and make these things for him... Oh, I KNOW, maybe in the next year when I'm up early with our newborn baby! ha!  Who am I kidding?

  So, this morning I decided to mix things  up a little and add chocolate chips to the pancake mix.  Journey was still asleep.  Q was about to walk out the door for work.  I was mixing the pancake mix and Deci was sitting on the counter reading me bible stories.  Here is how our conversation goes.

Deci:  "Moma, do you know how to make doughnuts?"

Me:  "Nope."

Deci: "Well, maybe when me and Journey grow up you can get a grown-up job and learn how to make doughnuts for me and Journey."

Me: "Why do you want me to make doughnuts?"

Deci:  "Because they are good and if me and Journey are grownups then you can leave us here and go to work to make doughnuts and then bring us back some after work."

And I thought I was being the cool Mom by adding chocolate chips to the pancake mix!  That settles it then, when I go back to work, I'll work at a doughnut shop and everyone will be happy! :)

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Gak

Deci's last day of her speech preschool was last week.  She will start again in the Fall but one of her favorite things about her class is that they get to play with this play-doh(ish) stuff they call Gak.  So we asked for the recipe and I thought I would share it with you guys.  Super easy.
What you will need:
1. 2 cups water
2. 1 Tbs Borax
3. food coloring
4. 1 cup Elmer's White Glue
First Mix: 1 cup water, 1 tbs Borax and food coloring together in a bowl.
Then in another bowl mix: 1 cup water and 1 cup Elmer's glue.
Then, slowly pour the first bowls contents into the 2nd bowl while mixing together.
It will look something like this:
At this point, I thought I had messed something up because it wasn't mixing together.  I then put my hands in the bowl and started kneading it together.  It took a little bit and I still wasn't quite sure I got it right when I passed it to Deci to play with but after a few minutes it turned out perfect!
This was a full hour of entertainment a few nights ago!
AND I'm pretty sure if you store it in an airtight container it will last a while!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

May Catch-up AND crossing number 7 off my LIST!

Like I said in the post below, I haven't done great at keeping my blog updated so this is my attempt at getting caught up...well...almost...at least after this post I'll be in JUNE! :) About time right, it's June 20th!
So, after my family left It was my birthday and Q took me out to eat at a pizza place.  We tried someplace new and got to eat outside.  It was perfect!
Top left Pic: Flowers all from our backyard. Bottom left: My birthday Ice cream cake my lovely friends Derrick and Thania brought over!
 My friend, Kylee got us tickets to an Oregon Duck's Baseball game on Mother's day!
 I should mention that a few months back my sister-in-law, Kerrie, told me she found this thing on FB with ZoZobugbaby that they were looking for kid models who could be in the Portland Area one day in May.  At first I didn't want to do it but Q thought it would be fun.  Go figure.  He did win a beauty contest when he was a baby! :)  So we sent in pictures and we got an email back saying that they picked Deci to be one of their models.  We were really excited...well, Deci was a little confused about what a model was but when I told her she gets to try of fun clothes and get her picture made she was really excited.  So, one Saturday in May we traveled up to Vancouver, Washington and had her picture made along with a few other girls.  It was so much fun and seriously I LOVE Zozobugbaby.  If you haven't checked out their website you should go now! :)  I've seen the pictures from that day but I'm not allowed to share them until sometime next Spring.  See, the photo shoot was for Spring/Summer 2013.
I promise to share the photo's when I get the okay.
After the morning of taking pictures we took the girls to the Oregon Zoo in Portland, which just so happens to be #7 on my LIST!  I made a List back in January of a few things I would like to do/visit in 2012 and The Oregon Zoo was on that list!
The Zoo was so much fun....and no, I honestly didn't mean to match the girls.  I didn't even notice until someone at the zoo commented on how cute they looked matching! haha!  I'm so not observant!
Last, but not least, baby Williams #3 is growing.  This was a picture from our 8 week appointment and the picture on the left is at about 9 weeks....I think.  I keep forgetting to keep track of when I take these pictures.  I'm trying to get better.  With the girls I never did the belly shot every few weeks and I regret that now so why not start with baby #3?  From what I hear, they have less pictures of themselves anyways so maybe if I start early...who knows...  Plus with family out of town this will be a way of letting them see the progress.  I'm showing a lot more now by the way!  pictures to come soon! :)
Whew, now we're out of May.  I feel better.


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Our May Visitors

Yep, you read that right, our MAY visitors.  I know, I know...It's June 19th.  BUT If you don't know, I'm pregnant (in other words, I'm tired, sick, and exhausted.), plus my insane choice of editing (picnik) no longer exist forcing me to find another photo editing program.  If you know me you know I love change but not when it comes to technical stuff. (as if I haven't complained enough about that lately.)  ANYWAYS,  I'm 13...or is it 14...(I've lost count) weeks pregnant and feeling sooo much better! Thank you LORD! So, I'm going to try and play catch-up and do a few catch-up post about the month of May and June.  I know, I know, I really probably should just skip it all together but for my sake (and isn't this why I really blog anyways?? ha!) I'm going to bore some of you to death.  Hang in there with me. :)

Enough rambling...time for some PICTURES!  My Dad, his wife Debbie, and my brother came to visit the week before my birthday!
We decided to hike Spencer's Butte
 We also went to the Coast and they road the Dune Buggies!


My Dad also helped us plant our garden while he was here.  Everything's doing great so far except for the okra which I think is more of a southern vegetable....maybe it doesn't get warm enough here..or something...  Our 86 year old widow neighbor asked us what okra was the other day.  She had no clue.  I hope ours comes in so I we can cook her some fried okra! :)
We took them to 2 of our favorite Winery's.
We also got to spend the evening in Portland for my birthday before they left.  They took me to eat and we got to meet up with my dad's cousin that lives in Vancouver, Washington.  So nice to meet family that lives close by.
Such a fun week!  We really missed these guys after they left!  Come back soon, please!!!
(Are my visitor pictures starting to get repetitive?? haha!  I guess I should start finding new places to take visitors!)

One Last thing:  Today over at The Williams' Post, my most amazing sister-in-law is having a giveaway So go check it out!  I am in love with the new wallets she made.  That's right, she made all of them herself and if you buy one, 100% of the money goes to help her and her husband go on a Mission trip to India!  Go check in out! :)

Monday, June 18, 2012

Cork Stamps

I've recently found a new blog that I'm following (Blessed to be a Blessing) and I found this really cute idea on her blog (from her post Simple, Sweet Cards)...she found it on Pinterest (Source)! I LOVE Pinterest!  If only I had more time to spend on there.
CORK STAMPS!! :)  Now, why didn't I think of that?
So, while my two crafty friends (Britni and Holleigh) sewed themselves a dress...(seriously, sewed a dress in 2 hours and I'm jealous and will be begging them soon to walk me step-by-step through making myself one!) I needed the girl time so I sat mesmerized watching them and making these FUN and EASY cork stamps!
forgive my lack of editing with this pic from my phone...I'm having editing issues STILL.
All you have to do is get some corks, sharpie, and box cutter/knife and get to work.  :)  So much FUN!

Friday, June 8, 2012

The start of it all...

Today, I'm linking up over at The Williams Post

Flashback Friday


It is a linkup about our very first blog post. YIKES! Mine was pretty horrible.
I've been missing for a while like I forewarned in my last post.
The past week 1/2 I've actually started feeling better but I still don't have a lot of energy so most days during Journey's nap I also nap instead of blogging.  Also, I'm still struggling with Photobucket.com and how to make collages easily.  In my mind I'm stuck back in early May when my dad, step-mom and my brother came out to visit.  I so badly want to post pictures but would LOVE To be able to make a collage out of them.  man, honestly I think the pictures make the blog but if I were a writer for real, this blog thing would be a little easier.  Instead I have to make it hard and someone told me about editing pictures! GEEZ! WHO TOLD ME ABOUT EDITING PICTURES??  It's changed my life and now It's hard to post and not edit.
ANYWAYS...
Back to my wonderful Sister-in-law whose blog I'm linking up with today.
Did you know her and her husband are going to India and need your help?
Here is how you can help:
 Go buy a clutch from her at  http://missionarykerrie.storenvy.com/  I bought one from her and I LOVE
it!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Are you reading my husbands blog???

I hope you are, because I've been MIA for most of this month and so much has gone on!  If you haven't checked out my husbands blog go check it out now at http://qcrashing.blogspot.com/ also check THIS POST out where he makes our BIG announcement.  Yep, that's right, I'm PREGNANT! YIKES. 3 kids.  This one wasn't planned and it's been a little overwhelming to think about but we've always wanted more kids (we just thought it would be thru adopting) but the pregnancy stage and newborn stage kind of gets the best of me.  If you read my post HERE where I announced I was pregnant with Journey, you will see shortly after that I stopped blogging for ummm... almost 2 YEARS! Eeeeek!  I can't even look at the post around that post where just looking at the pictures I remember how sick I felt.  I'm honestly going to try and stick with this blogging thing but honestly 3 kids seems overwhelming at the moment.  It starts getting "easy" again after they turn one...or something like that.

What else has been going on this month?  Well, we decided to do the 7 challenge inspired by Jen Hatmaker's book 7.  This month we decided to only wear 7 articles of clothing for the whole month.  You can read more about that on my husbands blog also HERE.  Seriously, I hope you have been reading my husbands blog this month.  We also had visitors from Alabama.  Our friends Michael and Heather Bledsoe and My Dad, his wife, and my younger brother came for a week.  Then my birthday and mothers day.  AND so much has been going on with The Beautiful Mess (which you can also check out on Q's blog).  ALSO, Deci got to be a model for ZozoBugBaby's Spring/Summer 2013's catalog and that was so much fun!  After we took the girls to the Zoo.  We also planted a garden and the weather has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL! 
 
So, lesson for you dear blog readers, if I go MIA again...Go read Q's blog! :)  But hopefully I'll have another moment when I'm free and feel good where I can post some pictures from the month of May! 

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Last Week, Visitors, and The Coast...

Last week Q's mom, her husband Alan, and Q's grandmother came out for a visit and we LOVED every minute of it.  I didn't feel so well this week and didn't take a lot of pictures (I could just kick myself now!) but here are a few:
 Maw Maw and Paw Paw bought Deci a kite...well, I should rephrase...I bought Deci a kite at a thrift store for .50cents and after I told Deci to leave it alone she ripped it open and broke part of it.  Good thing the grandparents were here...she got another kite right away.  So we took it to the coast.
 You know how I LOVE the Oregon coast!  We took a girls only trip.  Q had to work and Q's grandmother had never been to the Oregon coast so we loaded up and went.  Alan decided to play golf. Granny stayed in the van for this stop.  Too bad it was so cold and windy...
 This is one of my favorite places to stop at the coast.  You can walk 1/2 a mile up the hill to the light house and take a tour for free and I love all the rocks at our feet.
 These girls love their grandparents so much.  Deci told me this morning that she wanted to be like Maw Maw and let her fingernails grow out. haha!  Maybe this will help her stop biting her fingernails.
 Funny story:  As we were getting ready to go to the coast I picked out clothes for Deci to wear and told her to take them to Granny or Maw Maw to help her put them on.  A minute goes by and Deci come running to get me out of my bedroom and tells me to look at Journey.  Journey was dressed from head to toe in Deci's clothes! Deci tricked them and told them that I wanted them to dress Journey instead of Deci.  ha! :)  We fixed that problem but when we got out at the coast, I told Maw Maw to grab Journeys coat before she got her out of the van.  I didn't realize until later that she put Deci's coat on Journey. :)
 I love these pictures and If I wasn't so mad at picnik for making me switch to another photo editing company, I would have put these two in a collage.  I just can't figure out how to on PhotoBucket! I know it can happen...


 Deci, of course, had to put her feet in the water.

Paw Paw Crow and Deci.  We had such a fun week with them here!  We got to eat lots and lots of Southern cooking and these girls were spoiled all week. :)
These girls sure do love having family in town.  Good thing they won't be without family for long!  My dad, his wife Debbie and my younger brother Kyle will be here on Saturday for my birthday week!

Friday, April 27, 2012

Portable Flannel Board

I found this craft in a book called "The Preschooler's Busy Book" by:  Trish Kuffner
I also have one for toddlers.
Step 1: Get felt...
 Step 2: Get a large piece of Cardboard. (Or Shoebox, which the book recommends)
Step 3: Glue Felt onto cardboard.
 Step 4: Cut felt into shapes such as animals, cars, people, circles, squares, or triangles, or try letters and numbers if you feel ambitious.
Step 5: PLAY!  Your felt board is ready.
I made mine like this because I didn't have a shoebox but in the book it talks about how if you use the lid of the shoebox you can store the felt pieces inside the box and use it for the car.  I need to find a shoebox and make this again.
(overlook the one-eyed girl.)

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Crossing off number 6! Bend, Oregon (part 2)

Well, the day has finally arrived when picknik.com no longer lives so I had to find a new photo editing procedure and It's killing me!  I've been on photobucket.com for the past hour and not got anything done.  I know this will just take time...but if any of you have any other suggestions of websites where I can edit pictures let me know.
So today there aren't any picture collages and I hate it because I love them...but here goes...
We started the day off by driving up Pilot Butte.  From the top we could see SOOO many snow covered mountains. Mt Bachelor, Mt. Washington, the three sisters, 3 fingered jack, and Mt. Hood..I think...
 I forgot to add in the last post about the funny story about when I told Deci we needed to start packing for our trip.  It went something like this:
Me: "Deci, we need to start packing for our trip."
Deci: "But I hate packing!"
Me: "I'll pack for you."
Deci: big sigh, "Ok, but do we have to pack the table?"
Me: "No, we're only going for the weekend."
Deci: "Ok, but can I take my pink blanket, big dog, my elephant, and my bunny?" 
Me: "Sure."
I think the 3 moves we've made in the past year and 1/2 has made its toll on Deci....I mean, the table? really?  She honestly thought we were going to have to pack the whole house and move again! ha!

 I loved seeing all the big white puffy clouds!  When it's cloudy where we live, it's CLOUDY...like you-can't-see-the-sun cloudy!
 Journey decided to sleep though this adventure.
 Next, we went to go hike to a water fall and found a nice man on the way back to make this picture of us.  Notice Deci with No shoes...hiking with no shoes. yep.



 Deci started out with shoes on but remember when I talked about getting these boots for $3 at a thrift store...well thrift store shoes aren't always the best.  They wouldn't stay on her feet right and when she ran they started sliding off...it was just easier to take them off.
 Lava Fields.



 We were talking with some married couples the other day about this hiking trip.  These married couples don't have kids yet and I guess Q and I feel it's our responsibility to warn them how hard it can be with kids...  This hike was 1/2 a mile (there and back) but felt like we hiked 10 miles.  This picture below was at the water fall and at this point we were both carrying kids and they weren't cooperating at all...
 After this we went back to the house and canceled our plans of going out to eat because we were exhausted.  It was very relaxing and we taught Deci how to play the board game Sorry.  Then when the girls went to bed we opened a bottle of wine and Q and I played the game Sequence. I LOVED not having television or internet.
We didn't go to bed so early and I regretted it later when Deci woke up screaming around 12ish and got in the bed with us.  I think around 1ish Journey woke up crying (which is weird because she's my kid that sleeps all night, every night).  I tried to put her in the bed with us but Deci was taking up 1/2 the king size and Q was taking up the other 1/2.  So we went to the bottom of the bunk bed where Deci started off sleeping.  Journey wouldn't go back to sleep.  I think she finally went back to sleep around 3 then I woke up hearing this beep...beep...beep...beep sound coming from downstairs.  At first I thought it was the house alarm but knew it would have been louder.  I went to wake up Q but when I got out of the bed Journey woke up.  Q went down stairs and it was just the kitchen timer going off...I'm not sure why...  We finally got back to sleep and woke up Sunday and headed home.  It was a very fun family weekend.  Just what we needed.