Busy.

Busy, busy, busy. That's what we are. Sure, since the official launch of Blanks Boutique last month and Curtis working on his second multi-week stint in China within 2 months, we have been stretched a little thin. Our clean laundry may be unfolded and sitting in baskets around the house, but at least it's clean! I should probably be burned at the stake for the amount of McDonald's my family has eaten in the past 2 months, but that certainly doesn't mean I love them any less! I may be very busy answering emails, packing boxes, etc etc relating to the business, but I never pass up the chance for a hug, tickle or "i love you" for the ones I love most! I have to remind myself of this as I streamline these business processes and we all know my intentions are good! The business has already exceeded our wildest dreams and I am so humbled and thankful. Sure, I can't remember the last time I was in bed before Midnight or the last time I left the house without a hat on, but I imagine most successful companies started with some long hours :)

Of course things like showering  blogging get tossed aside in times like this! So I'm going to try to update as much as I can in as little amount of time as I have.

Garrett is 17 months old now and fits the mold of a Williams. He loves to sing and dance and has had a very extensive vocabulary for a few months now. He is definitely an earlier talker than Hayden was. Some of his words and phrases include: Mama, Dada, Haynuh (Hayden), Thank you, Peez (Please), Biy (bite), Cheese, Cacka (cracker), cah-kie (cookie), kuh (milk), ju (juice), tea, bapoo (apple), na-na (banana), Ne-ne (candy), kitty, ball, bath, choo-choo, ni-ni (night night), baby, bye bye, gay (game), Pappy (Paci), Mimi (what he calls his blankie), nose, hot. The best part is he uses them all in context and he will pretty much repeat any word you say to him. He can also identify his nose, head, ear, eye, and belly button!

Our big boy just turned 6! He is just as funny and smart as ever, and he makes us very proud! 

(this was one of his nightly journal sentences. He can write about whatever he wants and this is what he wrote!)

We celebrated his birthday with a swimming party at the YMCA. I thought I was going to have a come apart when we drove up for the party and saw that the indoor/outdoor pool was already uncovered in April. It has been very warm this year, and they kept the water heater on, so it ended up being VERY NICE! 

We had a lovely Easter: 

And lastly, we went to the Tuscaloosa Air Show with the Nixons a few weeks ago. It was HOT: 

Just updates

It's already March of 2012.... wow, wow, wow. We have been busy little bees with school, work and starting the NEW business, Blanks Boutique!!!! Very, VERY exciting... I have been "secretly" working on this for a super long time and it feels so good to finally be out in the open and to see how excited the applique/embroidery community is. I took some major leaps of faith on this one and it's going to pay off.

The kids are just growing, growing, growing ... Hayden continues to say hilarious stuff and Garrett is catching right up. G is 15 months now and weighs right at 20 lbs. He loves animals (pigs are his favorite), being naked, and putting lids on things. He loves to play peek-a-boo and sing "Row, row, row your boat" and "Ring around the rosy." He's definitely a dirt/rocks/sticks kind of kid, but it's not going to stop me from dressing him in pretty little bubble rompers this summer. Here are just a few, random collages from iPhone photos over the past few months. I'm ashamed that we haven't even used the real camera much this year at all! But it is getting to be that season.... :)

Karate Kid

Hayden started taking Karate classes in October. He loves it and it is the perfect activity for him. This week he tested to move up and received his Orange Belt!

I've been getting some flack about the fact that Hayden is only in ONE extra-curricular activity. "But what about basketball? Baseball? Soccer?" people will say. He will "fall behind" if you don't sign him up. I see NO PROBLEM with parents that choose to sign their kids up for multiple activities, that is just not our vision for Hayden. First of all, we are not a very sports oriented family (Hayden included!). Again, nothing wrong with it, just not how we roll. He gets plenty of exercise playing outside, rock climbing with Dad, hiking, etc. Just because we don't put him in multiple organized sports does not mean we love him any less or don't want him to excel. He will start music lessons pretty soon (we are thinking guitar when he turns 6), but we really value our family time at home and don't want to be so busy that we are never here. We are busy enough! I have a rule of trying to never have any set activities on the calendar for Saturdays. (I don't mean birthday parties, I mean recurring activities.) Saturdays are the only day of the week that we can just do whatever we want whenever we want and we really value that! We had a sermon at church a few weeks ago about getting rid of "stuff"... how we all just have to have more and more and more stuff and he also talked about activities... how we have to have our kids in more and more and more activities and we leave no time for God and family. I was very happy that he touched on that and he pretty much said exactly what we feel about them. I was really happy to get that confirmation from above!

The things I wont miss...

It never fails. The sweet, empty-nester at the grocery store stops me to talk to the kids and always ends with some version of "Enjoy every moment. They grow up so fast!" And I get panicked. I KNOW they are growing up so fast and I am doing my best to relish as much as I possibly can. I sometimes picture my future and I see lots of "Remember when the kids were little and (fill in the blanks with memory of choice) - oh I miss that!" So, I have decided to make a list of the things about having small kids that I WONT miss for my future self to come back and read when I start to feel sorry for myself.

1. Shopping with kids.

I will NOT miss shopping with kids. This includes every form of shopping imaginable. - Grocery shopping usually consists of telling 1 grabby, begging-for-everything 5 year old "no, we're not buying that either" while simultaneously trying to keep a wiggly, screaming 14 month old contained to the shopping cart seat. After he screams and yanks at the belt for long enough, I usually give in and shop most of the time switching him from hip to hip while pulling the buggy behind me. Let me remind you how terribly painful this is for the back. Grocery shopping these days is a full contact sport. And its a miracle that I ever come home with enough ingredients to actually make a meal. I don't really have to opportunity to sit and study a list or compare products and prices, so I usually just have to hope some good stuff falls in my cart while I'm wrangling the kids.

Shopping for anything else is just as (if not more) difficult. Clothing, for instance, requires browsing and trying on clothes. It is kind of hard to pick out clothes while trying to, again, contain a 14 month old to a cart or stroller while telling Hayden repeatedly "No, we don't need that" or "Stop hiding in the clothing racks." Dressing rooms are equally fun... as I try to change clothes, assess the fit and look of the new clothes all while keeping 2 kids contained in a small square room with a filthy floor and lots of tiny "snacks" for the little one. Its usually just as I get down to my underwear when Garrett decides to crawl under the door and escape. You wont miss this future self. You wont.

2. Leaving the house with kids.

This should be an olympic sport. I would NOT win. It does not matter where we have to be or what time we have to be there, we are always scrambling out the door with shoes and jackets in hand, and un-wiped mouths. Garrett is still at the age of having to be carried to the car, and he is not a fan. As soon as I open the door to leave the house, he starts writhing uncontrollably to get down and play. It's not time to play, Garrett. We have to get in the car so we can all put our shoes and jackets on and I can wipe your mouths. Let's. Go. Now.

3. Poopy Diapers.

Needs no elaboration.

4. Sweeping the Floors.

These days, I have to sweep the floors a MINIMUM of seven times a day. I'm perhaps a 'little' OCD about things being clean and orderly, but crumbs and food on the floor really drive me bonkers. Sweeping usually goes like this: I sweep everything into a nice pile. Go to closet to get dust pan. Come to sweep up my pile. Discover that Garrett has played in it and eaten some of it and strewn it all back over the room. Yes, he can accomplish this in a matter of seconds. And it happens every. day.

5. Eating out with Kids.

Oh this is a fun one for sure. Eating out with kids usually looks like this:

Hayden - Sitting in a corner playing the iPhone, trying to eat salt, sugar or mustard directly out of the table dispenser, playing under the table, ordering food that he wont eat, etc etc etc. Oh don't forget the "When are we leaving? when are we leaving?" that he starts spewing just as Curtis and I finally get to start eating.

Garrett - Sitting in his highchair eating his food like an angel in my lap grabbing everything within reach, standing in the booth destroying everything on the table, trying to climb on the table, demanding to escape the table and walk around the restaurant, etc etc. At least he eats.

6. The inability to just quickly "run in" to somewhere and grab one thing.

Ha. Yeah right. Curtis still to this day doesn't understand this. "Hey babe, will you run by Walgreen's on your way home and grab some AAA batteries?" Suuuuuure honey. Let me go to Walgreen's, unstrap one wiggly (or sleeping) toddler from his carseat while the big one jumps out of the car and tries to run out in front of a car. Then I'll haul the small one across the parking lot while trying to keep Hayden in the realm of safety, go into the store, put Garrett in the shopping cart aaaaaaand.... refer back to number 1.

7. Constant fear.

Will he run into traffic? Get bitten by a spider? Choke on something? Be brainwashed by that toy/game/video? Fall out of the highchair? Down the stairs? Get ahold of a knife while I'm unloading the dishwasher? Pull a bookshelf down on himself? Catch a virus? Get under the cabinet and drink something poisonous?

I'm sure that each phase of their lives will bring different kinds of fears to the parents, but my biggest fear will always be "Did I raise them according to God's will? Do they know Him, because of us?"

I'm sure I will add to this list over time, but for now, these are the things that stick out. I know I am very blessed that my list doesn't include things like "not knowing where our next meal will come from" or anything like that. These are just the things that I can look back on to make myself feel better about my kids being grown.

There is no need to make a list of the things I WILL miss, because these are the things that will stand out in my heart forever.

The busiest Christmas ever

In true Lindsay fashion, I am *again* one month behind on updating the blog. What can I say? It seriously took me the entire month of January to recover from the Christmas season. After we returned from Aruba, I immediately had to get in gear for Garrett's birthday party, which was quickly followed by Thanksgiving which marked the day that we had something on the calendar for every SINGLE day until December 31st. Between the umpteen thousand Christmas parties, get togethers and school functions there wasn't much time left for....well... anything. Don't get me wrong! It was a wonderful month! It was just very exhausting. But I am so thankful to have people that care about us and want to spend time with us, as I know there are people who aren't so lucky. We are very blessed and it is so humbling. I wish I could document every moment of the month, but I will just have to settle on "It was great!"

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Garrett is One

Our little guy turned one year old on November 19th and we celebrated with a Candyland themed birthday party at the YMCA.

This Year really flew by and we can't believe he is already a year old! We love him so much and he keeps us all cracking up. At his one year checkup he was in the 5th percentile for weight (little guy!), 40th percentile for height and 60th percentile for that big ol' basketball head.

At the time I am writing this out he is 13 months old. He says "mama" "da-da" (waaaaay more than mama), "please" "Hayden" (Hay-nah) "Here kitty kitty" (He kee kee) "Thank you" "Quack quack" "ice" "Uh-oh" and "No!" (Mo!). He loves watching "Peek a boo" on Baby's First TV and anytime we turn on the TV he starts humming the theme song. He loves to eat everything he isn't supposed to and he LOVES to eat ice. He loves to "clean up" stuff by putting things in boxes and he also loves to bring you things and say "thank you". He is hilarious. Here are a few videos from the past month:

ARUBA!

In November Curtis and I were able to get away for a 6 day trip to Aruba. I could spend lots of time using words like "wonderful" and "amazing" trying to describe what a perfect time we had, but words can NOT describe and I don't really have THAT much time, seeing that I'm already way behind on blogging. I do want to lay out what we did on our trip so I have somewhere to come when I need to feel nostalgic :)

Day 1: We arrived at the Westin Resort just in time for a late lunch at the Terrace Restaurant. After exploring the grounds, we suited up and went for our first dip in the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean. We walked on the beach, watched the sunset and then headed up to change. We finished the night by visiting the resort Casino, having dinner at Senor Frogs and then drinks at an open air bar near the resort.

Day 2: We woke up and walked to Salt & Pepper for Breakfast. This restaurant has THE BEST fresh squeezed orange juice I have ever tasted! After breakfast we rented a double wave runner and spent an hour out on the water. After that we got drinks and bummed it on the beach. We witnessed a wedding party straight off of the Jersey Shore taking their wedding photos. Complete with the bride in her tight, mini-wedding dress, the groom with slicked back hair, shades and a half buttoned shirt, and lots of tall hair and glitter in the mix. Hilarious! After spending the day on the beach, we had a delightful dinner at Pago-Pago. After dinner we walked next door to the Riu to play in their casino. After slot hopping a bit, I landed on a penny machine with a 6 cent credit still on the machine. After it wouldn't take my money, I realized it not only had 6 cents left on it, it also had a bonus round waiting to be played. The machine had been abandoned, so I played the bonus round. I won $63. BOOM! I cashed out and ran just to be safe :) After the casino, we grabbed a couple of more drinks, sat in a hammock and finished the night hanging by the shore.

Day 3: We started with breakfast at Salt & Pepper AGAIN. (Hey it was yummy!) After breakfast we rented a car and some snorkel equipment and drove to the south side of the island to Baby Beach. What a GORGEOUS beach! Snorkeling was sooooo much fun. We saw so many fish and lots of coral. After a couple of hours in the water, I was pretty sea sick so I sat on the shore for a bit. After we were finished there, we headed back to the hotel and cleaned up. We had dinner at Passions on the Beach at the Amsterdam Manor. That was THE.MOST.AMAZING.RESTAURANT.EVER. Beach front dining with live jazz musicians, white light wrapped pergolas.... HEAVEN!! I honestly can't imagine a more perfect place. After dinner, we decided to head back to the Casino next door and I won another $60. Score!

Day 4: Since we still had until lunch time with the snorkel equipment and car, we woke up early and drove north to snorkel at Arashi beach. Another gorgeous beach, but the water was cold and I was a little hungover from the night before, so I opted out of this one. I slept sat on the beach while Curtis snorkeled. We made it back to our hotel with a couple of hours before we had to return the snorkel equipment, so we decided to swim out to the bunch of rocks outside of our hotel. This was an EXCELLENT snorkel spot and nobody seemed to know about it. Again, rough waters had me back on land long before Curtis. Also, it had started to rain, so I headed back up to the room. We walked over to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and then had a few drinks on the beach. Curtis wanted to take some sunset photos, so we walked over to the jetty in front of the hotel next door and he took some great photos. After the sun set, we realized it was dark and we had no dinner plans. Adjacent to where we were standing was an open air beachfront restaurant called Pure Beach, and we decided to dine there. So yummy and a great atmosphere! After dinner, we decided to try it at the Casino one more time. Bad idea! I ended up losing $17, but Curtis won $20 so we still ended up ahead. We did decide that would be the end of our Casino run, though!

Day 5: We woke up early to walk to Moomba Beach for our Jolly Pirates Snorkel Cruise. It was sprinkling when we arrived, and upon checkout we were told that the ship usually holds 60 people, but this particular day was way under booked! With the sprinkling rain, some people didn't even show up, and we had a total count of 9 passengers on the trip. The small group along with the hilariously fun pirates made this excursion such a highlight! It continued to sprinkle as we pushed off into the water, and it was actually a little bit cold! But just as we pulled into the first stop, the sun came out and the crystal blue water shone all around us. The first snorkel spot was a WWII German shipwreck, The Antilla. I sat this one out, since "un-natural" formations in water totally freak me out. The next stop was Boca Catalina, and our third and final stop was Malmok Reef. The snorkeling was a blast, but hanging out on the boat was such a great time, too. The pirates were hilarious, they played great music and there was an open bar. When I approached the bar for my first drink, Jose the pirate said, "Do you want something fruity, (then he pointed to one of the other pirates) or something strong? (And then he flexed his muscles.) Haha! They also served lunch on board, and opened up the rope swing. Thankfully we had a small group, so we could do the swing as much as we wanted! I probably did it 25 times, not to mention the one time I rode on the pirates back and flipped. When we got back to shore, the "open bar" hit me and we walked back to the resort and I fell asleep on the beach. For dinner we went to the brazilian steakhouse, Amazonia, since I can't pass one up if I'm in the vicinity. We had a low key night in the room, hanging out and packing bags.

Day 6: We started the day by heading out to Rancho Notorious for a beachfront Horseback ride and it was amazing! Just as our horses approached the shore, we looked out onto the water and there was a full rainbow stretching all the way across the sky. It was the perfect way to end our trip. We returned to the resort and it was time to pack up and head to the airport after having a quick lunch at the Terrace restaurant. On the flight home, we got a first class upgrade and drank mimosas and had an awesome sub-par airplane meal in our oversized seats. We were so happy to be home to our boys, but will never forget the (perfect? awesome? etc etc etc) trip we had in aruba.

Now I'm glad this blog post is complete because I have been working on it for a few weeks. I don't have a whole lot of time to sit at the computer these days! :)