The Tennessee Williams

March and April Combo Update

2009-03-23T09:31:00.015-05:00

I started my March blog almost 2 months ago, but life (and Lent!) dictated that this was not to be finished until now. I'm going to stop apologizing for not updating this frequently . . . I'm doing well to get it done at all!

Lydia's Spring Break was back in March. The first weekend was fabulous! We took the kids to Franklin to visit Uncle David, Aunt Holly, Samantha and AJ. It was rainy all weekend, so no outdoor fun, but the all the girls went to see a production of "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse" at the Nashville Children's Theater on Saturday.

I hope we make seeing a show there an annual event, because it was great! The girls absolutely loved it. They came back quoting lines from the play - and have continued to do so ever since: "I am Lilly! I am Queen! I love EVERYTHING!" We love Kevin Henkes if any of you with kids out there have somehow managed to miss his books.

March also brought Lydia's ballet recital. She's an old hand at this now - 2nd year and all. She may not have a lot of rhythm and grace yet (she is, after all, my daughter), but she really looks the part! Here are some pics:

Posing

With a tap dance buddy

With Miss Christine (a.k.a. - a "real" ballerina!)

Reveling in celebratory flowers and cake

Lydia and I also went to see a production of The Magic Treehouse - The Musical in March. She loves reading the books by Mary Pope Osbourne, and she got tickets to the play for Christmas. Loads of fun on the Special Date with Mommy Day!

The kids were so excited to celebrate Pascha this year. It was amazing to see how much Lydia got out of the services . . . her questions and insights. It's so good for me to be able to see things through their eyes when mine get tired! Here are some pics of Pascha-prep and the egg-hunt. Incidentally, the egg hunt lasted all of 3 minutes before the rain storm hit!

Making sugar cookies

First Easter basket

Getting ready to hunt!

We finished off the month by watching some baby robins hatch in a nest built on top of our basket ball goal. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but this is Momma bird feeding the little ones. Mary Wren did a lot of digging in the back yard in her attempts to help Momma Robin find worms for the baby birds. She's now recovering from poison ivy!

Snow and Siblings

2009-03-11T21:37:00.018-05:00

February . . . what a month! We started with snow, ended with snow, and sandwiched stomach viruses (or "throwing up virus" as the Wrenster calls them) and sleepless night in between. The sleepless nights were due mostly to Nicholas' teething. I'd forgotten how long it took for molars to come in. Really hard for me to believe that it was the shortest month of the year! Here are a few of our snow pictures:

This is the snow just starting in our back yard . . .

And here's a shot the next morning when it was all over. That's a lot of snow for Memphis!

This is what I came home to after work on Saturday:

Drinking hot chocolate and watching it snow out the back window! Me: "Why aren't you outside playing in this?" Girls: "Are you kidding? It's cold out there! Don't you see we're dressed like princesses?" Nice.

The church was so pretty that Sunday morning, too. And by 10:00 a.m. it was all starting to melt. Didn't even get a snow day out of the experience!

We'll take the rest of the month kid by kid . . .

Nicholas

What a great kid! Ignore the outfit. I didn't dress him or take the picture. I've ended up with a lot of red and blue in his wardrobe somehow. I'm just now starting to really appreciate the differences in girls and boys. Michael's pretty sure that he's got a killer pitching arm, and we're working on the "only throw balls" thing. Woefully unsuccessful. Quite a little temper, too. Didn't see that one coming.

Interestingly, though, Nicholas likes to be read to even more than the girls did, and I love that Mary Wren is willing to "read" to him while Lydia is at school.

Lydia
Lydia has really blossomed with her reading, too. All of a sudden she is going through "chapter books" so quickly that we're making frequent trips to the library in order to curb her appetite.

It's a good thing she didn't inherit my propensity for motion sickness, because she reads non-stop in the car as well. This came in handy on our recent trip to Dallas for her yearly check-up with our surgeon. Unfortunately, we were down a portable DVD player due to unnecessary roughness by the girls. In order to drive home the lesson of taking care of your possessions (especially when you didn't pay for them), we refused to have it repaired prior to our trip. It goes without saying that this punished Michael and me much more than the girls. Overall, it was a great trip. We left Nicholas with Michael's parents - the first time for me to leave him, and yes, it was tough. But it made for a nice time with the girls. We ate at a little restaurant called The Purple Cow (chosen purely by the name), and the girls thought it was great!

As usual, we stayed at the O'Brien's home. For those of you who don't know, the O'Briens are the parents of friends of ours here in Memphis. When they found out we'd decided to go to The International Craniofacial Institue in Dallas for their cleft lip & palate team, they opened up their home to us. Understand, they'd never met us. Just heard about us through their son and daughter-in-law. My children now consider them a 3rd set of grandparents. We love the O'Briens! And to think, we considered politely turning them down initially. I mean, how awkward would that be, right? Staying with a couple that we didn't know - sometimes for up to a week at a time with a small child just out of surgery. We knew that we would be traveling to Dallas at least once a year until Lydia was about 17 or 18 years old. Now we actually look forward to these trips because we get to see our friends! It was, without a doubt, part of a Divine plan. The O'Briens live less than 10 minutes from our hospital there, and less than 10 minutes from the Orthodox church we attend while there. Here are a few pictures of last year's trip (when they met Nicholas for the first time). Unfortunately, the O'Briens were out of town when we were there in February, so we missed them terribly!

Meeting Ed

Meeting Sandy

Girls playing in the O'Brien's back yard

Lydia got a great report. She's started her orthodontic work. I hate tightening the appliance, but she's a trooper. Her next (and biggest) surgery will be sometime in the next year, depending on when certain teeth come in. Here are a few pictures from February's trip. There's a park close to the O'Brien's that we like to visit:

And, finally, The Wrenster:

This is a picture from a Little Gym birthday party she went to recently. She knows no fear. She has, however, been demonstrating some OCD tendencies that are quite interesting.

This is a picture of her watching a movie during one of the "throwing up virus" times. Notice the careful placement of every stuffed animal she can fit on the couch. It takes her a good 15 or 20 minutes of prep time before she's ready to watch a movie. And she becomes quite undone if anything is moved from it's place. Nicholas has quickly learned how to get a really good reaction out of her. I dug up a picture of Lydia from a few years ago - lining things up in our hallway:

The two of them actually play a game they call "The Line-Up Game." They simply line up every small toy they can find around the perimeter of their room, down the hall, and then down the stairs. The clean-up from this game is not an enjoyable process, but I've learned it's not a battle that I choose to fight. It usually involves Mary Wren throwing herself down on the floor (dramatically) and , with hand to forehead, crying "It would take forever to clean this mess up!" Yes, it would. And, if I can talk Lydia out of doing all the work herself, it may stay there a day or two. Until Mary Wren finds the energy to tackle her share!

4th Photo

2009-02-26T07:44:00.004-06:00

So, Susan tagged me in this 4th photo thing. I'm quite thankful for this, because it gives me an excuse to blog a bit rather than attend to the things in my life to which I should actually be attending - especially those therapy notes and monthly summaries due tomorrow. However, there's no way I can attend to those pressing matters with this important task hanging over my head, so I went digging through my photo folders, which it turns out were in desperate need of re-organization. Yet another reason to procrastinate! Here was the 4th photo in the 4th folder within the 4th folder (it's no longer in that spot since the re-organization).

I love this picture! Our friend Gabby use to come over quite frequently to help me out with the munchkins a few years ago. WE MISS GABBY! And, quite frankly, I need her more than ever! I'm guessing she's pretty busy in school these days, but she sure was a big help when she hung out with us. This is just after she gave Mary Wren a bath for me. Mary Wren loves her some Gabby! Let's see I'll tag Erin (www.whenwefast.blogspot.com ), Holly (www.algoods.blogspot.com ), Elizabeth C. (www.digitalcamerons.blogspot.com) and Elizabeth R. (www.thefoodroots.com). Forgive me if you've already been tagged, and if these links don't work, because I've never attempted that kind of advanced computer stuff before. I have no idea how to let you know you've been tagged other than the way Susan did with e-mail . . . or possibly on Facebook. We'll see . . .

Saturday Morning Sugar Rush

2009-01-19T21:13:00.006-06:00

On Saturday mornings, one of our favorite things to do is load up in the car and head to Gibson's Donuts. We believe they have the best donuts in town, and it is without a doubt an entertaining venture. It's a family owned business, and one of those places where you see the same people every Saturday. The owner is a big Memphis fan, and appears to have a soft spot for Mississippi State as well. Or it could be that he just really detests Ole Miss. I'm comfortable with either scenario. If he knows you or recognizes you, he'll toss a hot donut at you when you walk in. And if you're wearing any Ole Miss apparel, it will be chocolate glazed. Michael was washing chocolate off his hands all day! The kids love this place because of the decor (and the donuts, of course). There are flying cows and pigs hanging from the ceiling, and a vibrant green monkey that screams and dances if you squeeze his hand. All five of us are completely satisfied (Mary Wren possibly too satisfied) for under $7. You can't beat that! I took pictures on Saturday:

Just getting started . . .

Getting into a rhythm . . .

Full blown sugar rush!!!

Feelin' the love

Flying cows, pigs, and monkeys

And I couldn't resist this picture. It's such a microcosm of Lydia and Mary Wren's personalities. Those of you who know them well don't need to look at the name pictures above their beds to know who sleeps where!

A New Year

2009-01-19T16:09:00.005-06:00

So, after returning to Memphis on 12/28 following the Christmas festivities, we got back in the car on 12/31 and headed back down to Jackson again. This time Michael was meeting up with his dad, my dad, and several other guys to go Dallas for the Cotton Bowl. I opted to spend time with Mom in Jackson versus flying solo in Memphis. We had a wonderful couple of days, and Friday I met up with some friends on Friday for a play date at a park. Kim, Allison and I have known each other since Jr. High School. Between the 3 of us, we have 8 kids and potential for fabulous play dates! I hate that we don't see each other more . . .

Ella and Lydia

Kids on the slide

Nicholas LOVED Allison!
Never could catch Kim's youngest on film, but my kids had such a great time playing with the others.

Christmas Continued

2009-01-19T15:39:00.005-06:00

Three posts within 24 hours! This will never happen again. Maybe I should go for four . . . Regardless, here's the rest of our Christmas festivities update: We left Tupelo Christmas Eve and made it back to Memphis in time for church services that night. Home by 2:00 a.m. and up with the chickens around 7:00 a.m. Here are some Christmas morning pictures:

Nicholas loved the gift from his Godparents

Mary Wren with a jump rope and microphone. Need I say more?

Art supplies to last the whole year . . .

The kids with Daddy

The kids with Mommy

It was a great morning, and we were back on the road (along with considerable amounts of caffeine) by about 10:00 a.m. We arrived in Jackson by 1:00 ready to eat again. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of Jackson pics. I was switching to a new camera (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and lost some in the process. Here's what I got:

Re-hydrating after hard day of play with the cousins

One of said cousins (no pics of sweet AJ . . . and I had a few good ones!)

Ready for some hoops (love the tongue)

In awe of his first football!

Massive amounts of chocolate were consumed

Karaoke with Uncle John

It was so great to see everyone together in Jackson . . . that hardly ever happens anymore! We had a great couple of days until the stomach virus hit towards the end of the trip. Not so much fun on the ride home!

2008 Nativity Play

2009-01-19T08:14:00.003-06:00

I neglected to mention that both girls were in this year's Nativity Play the Sunday before Christmas. They had a blast, and the play was so cute. We are very blessed to have very wonderful, very patient Church School teachers, and the girls are learning so much this year. At our "family meeting" a few weeks ago, Michael asked the girls if they knew which feast was coming up. Mary Wren raises her hand (very excitedly) and says, "I know! I know! That's Ophany! (a.k.a - Theophany) That's where John of the Baptist baptized Jesus at Jordan and God said, 'That's my Son and I'm so proud of Him!' There was a dove, too." Again . . . very thankful for our Church School teachers! I didn't get many pictures at the play (thank you, Nicholas), but here are a few:

Lydia with her Miss Peggy

The angels

Christmas Re-cap

2009-01-18T21:42:00.005-06:00

Once again, I am way behind in the blog updates. Michael and I were discussing why I never seem to get to the "fun" things. You know . . . the things I enjoy: sewing, reading, organizing pictures/blogging (yes - I actually enjoy archiving), cooking (things other than dinner) . . . even just doing "nothing" with the kids before they go to bed. I think it's a guilt thing. There are so many not-so-fun things that I feel I have to do: laundry (NEVER ends), cleaning (again with the never ending), cooking (dinner), paperwork and planning for work, errands, grocery, bills . . . you get the idea. And, I'm not talking about what I accomplish during the day. That's pretty much devoted to the kids. They can't raise themselves. I'm talking about what I do in my "free" time. Ironically, I don't ever seem to make much of a dent in the not-so-fun things either. So, what do I do? I put off doing the not-fun things (because they're not fun), but won't let myself start on the fun things because I haven't done the not-so-fun things! Vicious circle. Before I know it, it's 11:00 p.m. and I'm ready for bed. Wow! Random ramble. On to the update!

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas, and were so lucky to be able to see all of our family. Lydia and I missed Granny's Christmas party in Tupelo on Dec. 15th because Lydia was running a fever. First time in 11 years that I'd missed it! But we were back in Tupelo on Christmas Eve and saw the rest of Michael's family then.

The girls in their new aprons

Nicholas & Poppa

This may be my favorite picture!

Mary Wren enjoying the day

Nicholas & Papaw

The boys

I'll have to complete the Christmas update tomorrow at some point because it's getting late. Nicholas hasn't mastered sleeping in yet!

The Christmas Tree Hunt

2008-12-14T14:19:00.004-06:00

Last Saturday (Dec. 6) was St. Nicholas Day, and it has become our tradition to decorate a Christmas tree on this day (or as close to it as possible). We've decided that cutting down a tree ourselves is the way to go. Granted the trees you cut yourselves aren't usually as pretty as the pre-cut ones. And, they're usually a good bit more likely to contain critters of one kind or another. But there's something about going out on a cold day, hiking around the "woods" (i.e. - tree farm), and hacking away at a tree trunk. OK, my husband actually does that part - I attempt to help and usually get in the way. Michael and the girls ventured out on their own this year. It was VERY cold, so Nicholas and I decided that we'd prefer to stay home and get decorations down from the attic - well, he preferred napping. The rest of the crew went to Priddy Farms in Bartlett and found a lovely (although a bit Charlie Brownish) tree.

So now, stockings are hung, tree is decorated, Nativity set is out, and we're well on our way to Bethlehem!

So It's Been 3 Months . . .

2008-12-04T15:58:00.007-06:00

Who knew it could take so long to get settled? Especially considering we're still not even close to being settled! But I had to take a few minutes for a brief update of the last few months (while children #1 & 2 are playing "quietly" and child #3 is sleeping).

September: We moved into the new house!!! Here are a few pics for those of you haven't been able to come by . . .

So, I am now declaring the house renovation portion of this blog officially completed (cause, let's face it, things will never be actually FINISHED) and I can begin updates and reflections on daily life in the Williams' household!

October:

Let's see . . . Nicholas learned to walk

And we enjoyed the outdoors on a regular basis

November:

We traveled to Tupelo to celebrate our nephew/cousin Owen's 1st birtday. He and Nicholas are exactly a week apart.

Nicholas celebrated the Big #1 a week later . . .

And the girls started to warm to the idea of watching football with Daddy. If you can't have cartoons . . .

All in all, it's been a wonderful few months! I'm looking forward to things slowing down a bit after the craziness that was home renovation. But, realistically, I guess a nice calm life may have to wait until after the holidays . . . or possibly until after all children are graduated and out of the house . . .

We're Still Alive!

2008-09-14T22:12:00.013-05:00

So, I've gotten numerous phone calls/e-mails wanting to know what happened to our blog. Did I give up? Did renovating a house become too overwhelming? Did the farm swallow me up? The latter is by far the closest to the truth! For those of you who need catching up, we moved out of our old home at the end of June. Thanks to my wonderfully generous grandmother, Lottie, we are not living out of the mini-van! She has a farm between Collierville and Holly Springs, and THANKFULLY has 3 houses out here. She lives in one, two of my cousins (Wes and Teddy) live in the other, and Lottie has graciously allowed us to take over the 3rd. So, we are now enjoying the simple life and have been for going on 8 weeks now. If you notice, the 8 weeks corresponds almost exactly with how long it's been since my last blog entry. This is not a coincidence. Internet access is not always easy to come by out here. I have discovered that if I stand (OK, squat) in one corner of the house and hold the laptop just so, I can steal internet from the cousins next door. This is not, however, without complications. I usually lose my connection at very inconvenient times which leads to a great deal of frustration on my part. I'm trying hard to avoid frustrations these days, so I have been limiting my on-line time. All of that to say that blogging has not been a priority. Check out some farm pics:

Cows (obviously)

Lottie's house

our house

Cousin's house

BUT NOW we are ready to move into our home this weekend (YEA!!!), so I want to post some pictures of what has been going on over the past two months. Overall, this has been an unbelievably smooth experience. Our contractor has been great, and I'm pretty sure that's the main reason we haven't had a lot of headaches. Not to mention the fact that we are blessed with WONDERFUL friends who have opened their homes to us, kept children for us, offered excellent design/decorating advice and, in a nutshell, kept us from losing our minds. Here are the most recent pictures . . .

Painted stairs

New light!

painted rooms

Kitchen in progress

Old mailbox . . . if you saw it in person you'll appreciate this!

More updates soon!

We have walls! (and ceilings!)

2008-07-19T22:04:00.009-05:00

So it's definitely more fun to watch the progress on the house now. The walls and ceilings have been put back up, mudded, sanded and are about ready to paint. Which means we (i.e.-"I") have had to pick out a BUNCH of paint colors. Not my forte, but thankfully I've got this great friend named Deb (or "Aunt Deb" as my girls call her). Deb has single handedly kept me calm (relatively) and collected through this whole process. My husband is especially thankful for her. And did I mention she is fabulous with colors? Anyway, here are some pictures of the interior house. May not look like much, but they are beautiful to me!

Living room ceiling
Kitchen/den
Master bath

And here's the front steps. Not looking like they should yet, but I'm told that once they are cleaned and sealed the color of the stone will come back out. Suppose to be a dark gray/blue. Here's hoping!

Here are a few recent pictures of the kids, too . . .

lunch outdoors

enjoying Children's Museum

Bored at Children's Museum

Williams on the Road

2008-07-01T17:10:00.008-05:00

I'm finally getting around to posting those vacation pictures I promised, oh, 11 days ago! I'm really not sure what I do with all of my free time . . . The girls had SO much fun at the beach, and it was great being with Michael's family. We have a one year old nephew, Sutton, and a nephew that's just a week older than
Nicholas named Owen. Owen was easier to catch on film than Sutton.

Nicholas was pretty ambivalent to the whole beach thing, but he did take a few cozy naps in the sand.

We stayed on Tybee Island, just off the coast of Savannah, GA. This location was chosen because of my mother-in-law's love of Paula Deen. Not having cable, I was unfamiliar with Paula, but I am now well educated!

Turns out she lives on Tybee and, between her and her brother, Uncle Bubba, has several restarants. We checked them all out. Can't go wrong with fried chicken! Here are a few more pictures . . .

Here's a picture of the house, too. It amazes me how much better it looks (remember, everything is relative) with new gutters, new roof and the beginnings of a porch. They start putting the walls back up next week!

House Update

2008-06-20T07:26:00.006-05:00

So, it's been a few weeks since I updated . . . lots of work going on, but mostly things that don't make very nice pictures. Plumbing and stuff. I'll tell you, though, a new roof makes a WORLD of difference! They've started framing up the laundry room and the bathroom shower (pictures below). And they tore the front steps out (see left). Had to, because they were collapsed and dangerous. We're still debating on what we want the entry to actually look like when we're done. Unfortunately, they poured the cement for the front steps BEFORE having a definite plan, so there may be a bit of drama there. Here are a few pictures. My favorite is the sign that the "brick guys" put up for advertising. I drove up and thought someone had died in my front yard.

We've been out of town for about a week on vacation, so I'll post some on that later today.

Demolition! (Alternate title: A can of worms)

2008-06-04T08:11:00.005-05:00

So, demolition started Sunday! Amazing what a difference removing hunks of wall, ceiling, floor and pink or blue toilets can make. There’s definitely no going back now! Of course, we knew that once stuff started coming out that we’d find “challenges” not evident upon initial assessment. Like the sewage pipe coming straight down through the wall we’re trying to remove between the kitchen and den. Or the source of that stain on the ceiling in the living room (AC condensation). All little bumps that have solutions, so no worries! Here’s some pictures of our busted up house.

And some from Mary Wren’s 3^rd birthday party, to soothe your visual palette after the demo pictures. Still haven't quite figured out how to make the pictures end up where I want them . . .

Getting Started

2008-06-01T22:03:00.008-05:00

Hello, friends! I've been meaning to start a family blog for a while now, but just can't seem to find the time. Mostly because I'm pretty computer illiterate and the idea of figuring out this blog mess it daunting. BUT I'm ready to give it a shot! Michael and I just bought a "new" home that is in need of some major renovations. We thought this would be a great way to document our progress. And, hopefully, when the house is finished I'll keep this blog up! We'll see how it goes . . . ! Here are some before shots of our "as is" home:

I'd label these for you, but I can't figure out how. (Can't figure out why this is underlining either.) Wish us luck . . . you may think we're nuts after you've taken a good look. These pictures don't really do the dust, grime or smell justice!