Remember back to July?

Where to even begin when you are so far behind?  I just pick some of my favorites and go from there.  Like most people, we had a busy and wonderful summer.  Lots of family and friends!

One of my most favorite times this summer was our Williams Family Reunion 2013.  Due to a lot of different reasons, we hadn't been able to get all together for about 5 years.  Way too long!  And we were still missing a niece Camille and a nephew Ethan.  But we had a majority and we made the best of it.

 

We had a lovely hike & picnic out at Silver Falls.

 

 

We spent a hot afternoon at the local watering hole. 

This is Talmadge. And I have to admit I truly enjoyed this kid that week.  He is a miracle child, being born after aspirating meconium for a suspected two days.  He should have died a number of times and should have a lot more set backs than he does.  He has significant hearing loss and is delayed a year or two in development, but he is bright and happy and crazy and super fun. 

I had the best time just watching him play in the water.  He was in heaven.  (And I got some cute pictures.)  All week he loved to dress up and play fight.  On the first day together, he "shot" me and of course I had to fall over and die with my tongue hanging out.  So then for the whole week, every time he saw me he had to shoot me and wait for me to dramatically expire.  I got exhausted from dying so much but it was worth gaining his friendship. And my own sign language name.  In the deaf culture you should wait until someone with hearing loss assigns a name to you.  Now in Talmadge's world, my name is a two-handed gun shoot.  Just like I always imagined it would be. :)

 

Some people weren't interested in getting wet.

This week Jonah sure loved his women.  And took advantage of any time one of them would hold him. I can't blame him.  He has pretty cute aunts and cousins.

 

 

There are more pictures than I could possibly post on my blog.  I feel so blessed and lucky to have such a wonderful family.  I love and enjoy my in laws so much and would be friends with all my brother and sister in laws even if we weren't related.  I am so lucky!

"I love you!!"

 

 

To end, I'll just leave y'all with this FAB-ulous image. 

 

You're welcome.

My 2 Freak Outs of the Day

1. We picked up a brand new sister missionary at the church today.  Found out that her father is THREE YEARS older than Aaron.  3 years!  How did we get to be so old??

2. Lucas' peach fuzz is undeniably darker and he is going to need to S.H.A.V.E. soon.  Shave!
How did we get to be so old!!

Quotes of the Month

Competition is strong with this one.

One morning while playing Play-doh, out of the blue, Jonah asks why Lucas was born before he was.

"I don't like that he was born before me!"

"Well, I don't know why Lucas came first, but I do know that it was part of Heavenly Father's plan and now you get an awesome big brother."

"No, it's not fair!  And it makes me sad.  Because he was enjoying with you guys before me!!"

 ___________

Walking into the play place at the gym, Jonah and I were having the same old conversation of why he has to follow my directions.  I'm the mom, I'm in charge, and yes, I can tell him what to do. 

This concept can be very difficult for this stubborn four year old.  We signed in and I reminded him that these ladies were now in charge while I am gone.

And then like a movie cut scene, JB turned to the side and vowing revenge, he quietly but menacingly whispered to himself, “I’ll be in charge someday.”

Yes, but until that day, it is my mission to teach him to use his power for good and not evil!

___________

As usual, out of the blue (At least for me. Something was going on in his head.), Jonah comes into my room and states. "I know this sounds ridiculous, but I will never choose wrong again! Lifting his fist with emphasis, "I will stand up for the right!"

He turns and walks away, "Yes! I will stand up for the right."

Good luck on that quest. :)

______________

While on vacation, Jonah walks in on me getting out of the shower asking if he can swim in the hot tub with the other kids.  He suddenly asks me why I don't have a specific anatomical part that he does.  We've talked about this before of course, so I repeated the 4 year old health lesson about the difference between boys and girls. 

He just looks as me and shakes his head, "Man, if I was going to be a girl, I'd prepare for the worst!"

"What?! Why the worst? What's wrong with being a girl?"

Backpedaling, "Oh, nothing!  I'm saying, um, that, um if I was a girl...I would stand for the right!"

???????

I never could get him to tell me what he thought was "the worst" about being a girl.

___________

A few weeks ago, Jonah and I accompanied Lucas to a scout service project.  We were at the city commons center, sanding and refinishing wooden park benches.  Jonah started out strong, sanding like the big boys.  And then he asks, "Why are we doing this? Are we getting paid?"

"No, it's service.  The city does great things for our community and so we help them out by sanding the benches.  It's just a service we're doing."

"Oh. Well then, Mom, will you do some service for ME?" 

He hands me his sandpaper and walks away.

Pre teeth knock-out