Pebbles Party

Pebbles turned 5 years old on July 23rd. We had a little birthday party for her with some cousins and friends so we could all just hang out. We missed Katelyn and Blake because they have some allergies to dogs. All the kids seem to enjoy Pebbles, when she is not barking too loud, and she loves having them all around. 

We had some cupcakes and birthday hats and sang Happy Birthday to Pebbles. Everyone got to have a candle in their cupcake for Pebbles birthday! Tisha brought over some balloons that the kids played with on the floor and the rest of the time they all just ran around with Pebbles or played in the toy room.

Pebbles was barking at us while we all sang to her!

Enjoying her cupcake!

We played pin the tail on the doggy. Rachel was lifting the headband and peeking!

Opening her birthday presents. We were two presents short for each kid to be able to open one for her so we had to quickly improvise and wrap a cheese stick and a pile of turkey in pieces of construction paper so everyone had something to open. After they all ran around with Pebbles and tried to feed her treats. She loved her bone from Halli, Peyton, and Lexie and carried around all over the place. 

Ashton, Colt, and Jaden didn't make the picture. Savannah is in the back trying to hide from Pebbles barking.

Thanks for helping us celebrate Pebbles 5th birthday everyone! We had lots of fun with you all! Pebbles loves seeing each one of you!

Baby JJ

I'm a little late on this post but still wanted to have it up here. Our new nephew Jaden James Williams (aka JJ) was born on July 12th at 9:36 p.m. He weighed in at an even 9 lbs. and was 19.25 inches long. I got to go visit them in the hospital and it was so nice to sit and hold this sweet little guy. Kinda made me want another one already. Crazy, I know, but look how sweet he is!

The happy Williams Family of 6!

Mr. JJ is a good baby I hear and things are finally calming down around their house. They had injury after injury and lots of doctor appointments in their family and a weekend back at the hospital for JJ for jaundice. Now they finally get to relax a bit and enjoy this guy. Congrats guys on your little man! Welcome JJ! We are all so happy you are here cutie!

Lost Livy

Today Livy decided to do a little exploring without anyone else. She scared me a lot, even though at first I didn't know she was missing. We are in New York at my parents house now and my dad had Rachel and Colt in the hot tub, my mom had Danny on the swings and I was getting Colt's bath ready. Livy had been in the living room watching tv and playing on  Hannah's Nintendo DS for the past half hour. I had asked her a few times if she wanted to go in the hot tub with Rachel and Grandpa but she said no. And there is a block party going on up the block a ways, but not in front of our house. Well, as I am getting out Colt's pajamas out I hear the dj at the block party say "Olivia, Jessica." The dj is loud so I can hear it in our house. I think, oh that's weird that's our names. Then the next thing he says is "Will the mother of Olivia please come up here." I run to check on Livy and she is not on the couch anymore. Panic. I bust out the door and run up the block and once they see me running that way they start walking to me with Livy. She had went out the front door to see what all the noise was out there. She wandered over there and people brought her to the dj booth. Luckily from the time I realized she was missing to the time she was found was really short because I might have had a heart attack. It took me a long time for my heart to stop beating like crazy and to get over the anxiety. But I am glad to report that Livy is fine and it didn't phase her at all. Unfortunately that means it didn't scare her and she might try something like that again. Sweet little Livy. She sure frazzled me for the whole night and I feel terrible that she even got out there. Bad mom for sure. But I really had just seen her on the couch two minutes before that. Just wanted to remind myself what a precious little girl she is and how much I love her. I love you Livy and your sweet, curious, and wandering personality! So grateful to our Heavenly Father for how he watches over us and that this was such a small scare.

Just to Remember for a Laugh

We tried to take the girls to a little fair with some rides the other day. The first time we drove over there it wasn't opened yet and they talked about it for the next few hours and asked constantly when could we go and talked about the rides. So when we finally went we thought they would actually ride the rides and have so much fun. Negative. They refused to go on any rides except for the carousel. Eric was mad because he bought a bunch of tickets to begin with so he told the girls that they were wasting his time and his money. So after we got home he said "You guys waist my money" to which Livy replied happily "Yup!" and Rachel added, "And we waste your time too!" It was quite funny considering they said it excitedly like it was a good thing.

The girls love watching the Buddies movies about the 5 dogs that do stuff together. She has a bunch of stuffed animal dogs that she takes everywhere and she has started talking like the dogs in the movies which is really cute. Today she said to them "This is my totally favorite movie dudes." As she lined them up to watch Toy Story with her. She says dude a lot now which is just funny.

Rachel likes to play with her small princess dolls or her barbies all the time now. They are always naked and she calls them her kids. She is continually saying, "My kids are dirty, they need to take a bath' or "Can you get my kids out of the tub." And of course they need towels and everything else. She told me that they live in Zarahemla. I guess she is actually listening a little during scripture time!

I asked Livy if she was getting a stuffy nose again and she said "No, I'm not achewing anymore."

When tasting something she doesn't like Livy says "Ugh, this taste like yuck." Just yuck, not yucky, it sounds funny coming out like that.

Rachel getting tired in the car the other day said "Mom, my eyes are running out of energy."

Livy about her foggy goggles, "My doggles are all froggy." Almost a new language she has there!

Livy going to the bathroom, "I did some tinkles so the poopy has something to drink. They were thirsty."

Rachel at the store picking out a toy for getting her hair cut, she was very scared to get it done so some bribery was in order, of course picked out a $30 toy. I told her she could pick a $5 toy and that $30 was too much money. "Well, that's not my problem." Sassy pants, but she still makes me laugh.

A few nights later Rachel was still talking about the white puppy she wanted. Livy was trying to explain it to her Grandma and said "She can't get the white pup, it cost too many pennies. It is 24 pennies. We can only spend 4 pennies." Pretty close!

Rachel's interpretation on some words.
Handle: Can you handle me that toy please.
Soaking wet: I have to change this shirt it is soaked in wet.
Instead of last night it is called yester-night.

The girls see a dime on the floor. Livy says "Look a quarter." Rachel tries to correct her "It's not a quarter, it's a fickel (nickel)."

Livy is obsessed with her stuffed puppies. She always has them on leashes or tied to jump ropes and hangs them or ties them all up somewhere. She calls it hooking them. So the other day she says, "This guy needs to go hook. He needs to go hooking with is mom and dad." If they only knew what they were saying some times!

Rachel wants to marry her Uncle Richie. Today she saw Erin's wedding ring and Erin was telling her about how Rich gave it to her and she got all quite. Then tonight she said, "Richie is a liar. He said he would marry me and he married Erin." Poor kid had her heart broken for the first time!  

Our Backyard Changes

In April we made a few changes in the backyard. We moved the fence back 20 feet which gave us a much bigger yard. It's hard to see the old fence line but it used to be just behind the pool,

We also had a sun bench added to the pool. And new plaster done.

Finished product. It is a big shallow area which is perfect for the kids. They love playing on it and it makes a great spot to sit with Colt and cool off.

Here's the finished backyard. I love it. We put a trampoline back there too which doesn't get as much use as I would like but that' because of the heat. In the fall I think they will spend a lot more time out there.

The Happenings Around Here

They are getting so old. And they sound older all the time because of the things they say that they hear me say. All the time I hear them telling their animals "In just a second," "I'm not gonna ask you again" or "If you don't do it, I will have to take your (something) away." I wish they repeated the good stuff I say instead of only the negative stuff. But they have to lay down the law with those stuffed animals I guess! In this picture Livy wanted to put Pebbles to go outside so she did what she saw me do, give her some ham for Pebbles to follow her.

I found her and she said "I am giving Pebbles some steak to go in the cage." I guess she doesn't get the part where you have to lead her to the cage with the meat! I think she just wanted her to go since she got a treat!

These are the muddy socks she was tromping all over the house in. It was quite muddy in the backyard but she didn't care. She was trying to lock Pebbles in the gated area in our back yard in the picture below. She love to play with Pebbles now a days, even if it is just to lock her up! Usually her or Rachel has Pebbles on a leash and they are dragging Pebble through the house calling her "little lady."

Pebbles and the empty container of "steak." She also didn't get that you only need one piece, she took the whole stack out. This is how they learn I guess!

This is just a picture to remind me of how they once slept and hopefully don't sleep like this forever. This is just a little bed we have permanently set up on the floor next to our bed. The girls start out in their beds and sometime during the night Rachel makes her way down and hops in this bed. I don't mind because she doesn't wake me up doing it. She used to wake me up each night but now she knows the routine so it's ok. Livy hasn't gotten the routine and wakes me up when she comes down. Luckily she only does it like once a week compared to Rachel's five times a week. Livy always wants to sleep next to Rachel. But she is a big mover at night and always ends up with her head under my bed or her legs under there.

Princesses and Best Friends.

The little man is 7 months old now. He is changing so much lately it seems. He has gotten his two bottom teeth as he is showing off in this picture below. He is always tapping them on his top gums which makes for a new smile. He is rolling all over the place constantly and working to get to toys now which is fun to watch. He can get onto his knees sometimes but doesn't know what to do from there yet. Lots of times he just goes into push up position holding his whole body off the floor.

He is a fun happy boy who makes me smile all the time. He is starting to get a temper though. This past month he has started growling and screaming to get what he wants, and he is loud! He is starting to eat little pieces of real food which he prefers to baby food for sure. He loves pizza crust too, but come on now, who doesn't!

He still adores his sisters and always wants to see what they are doing and try and grab them. It is becoming quite a pain to breast feed him because if they are anywhere near he won't lay there and eat, he wants to sit up and see what they are doing. This little guy is so ticklish too. He loves being tickled and you can get him just about anywhere on his body and he'll start laughing.

These pictures are all kind of the same but I love seeing his different looks and smiles. Pretty much all his smiles now a days are closed mouth ones because he loves those teeth on his gums.

He is always trying to move. He does this by flinging his head back and forth and I guess he thinks this will get him moving. And by kicking his legs. He's hard to keep still on your lap sometimes. I love how he kicks his legs when he gets excited. In his highchair, when he sees something he likes and best of all I like when I go to get him from his crib he kicks them when he sees me coming. It's so cute.

Cutie pie.

He is looking mighty big lately.

Miss Livy. Here she is showing her car that she got from the paci fairy. It is amazing how well she did giving it up for how attached it was. She still sees it in pictures and talks about it like it was a family member. She sure is such a big girl! Way to go Livy!

Group shots still in pajamas but they came out cute anyway.

I love these pictures when they are all so happy together. Colt got his share of being smushed but he loved it.

I really love you guys. But after a whole week of sick kids, not leaving the house, and daddy being gone for the weekend, I needed a break. I used a babysitter for all three of them for the whole day for the first time this week. And that made me love you guys even more. It's true. Absence does make the heart grow fonder. And give a tired, worn out, patience losing, losing my marbles mommy a recharge to be a loving, patient, fun, happy and so excited to see you kids mommy. Who knew a movie by yourself could do all that! I really do love you kids and daddy too for suggesting I take the day off. I hope you know how much I love you and really do love being home with you. Well, most days anyway!