Family Art Show!

The kids have had some doing crafts since school got out. Some of the kids have bigger imaginations that others, but it is great to see them using their ideas and hands to create cool stuff. Now where to put all the "cool stuff"?

This is a fish and a 1 eyed snake that Grant made.



Sandra is showing off her tiara that she made. She really loves girly stuff!

I'm not sure what Talmage made, but he was happy about it. He gave it to me to keep :).

Grant made a 2 headed dragon out of pipe cleaners. It was hard to get a good photo of it. The two heads looked really cool.

Grant's last project to show off was this really cool 3-D shark! He figured out how to make it all by himself. I saw it a few days later and asked him if he made it and how he got it to stick together (since the glue is put up, but he got out the glue stick instead). He is really smart and creative - it's amazing to see what he comes up with!

I need to get out the art stuff again, but with the rearranging the house the crafts have not come out again. It's amazing what kids can come up with and then how they put it together! It reminds me of the transformer mask that Grant put together when none of the adults could! Such awesome kids!

Hair Don'ts!

I feel like I'm reliving the horror or 2 years ago... only with a different child! Sandra did something similar to this, however much more drastic, 2 years ago. I guess it's Mhari's turn to experiment with sissors and hair. I have been much more cautious this time around and even tried to not let her learn how to use scissors, whereas Sandra was a pro with sissors by this age (which is why her hair looked so much worse).
OK - let's get on with it... A week or so ago all of the family was upstairs playing/watching a movie and then I noticed that Mhari wasn't there. I sent Grant downstairs to check on her. He said she was in my bathroom and that he didn't know what she was doing. When she came up I didn't think anything of it. Later when I went to use the bathroom I saw the sissors and the hair evidence on the floor. I knew this was bad! I do have part of the blame since I did leave the sissors unattended in my bathroom (where she doesn't belong in the first place).

Here's her handiwork -
Can you tell? She got the chunk of bangs right where her hair parts. Bummer spot to try to grow out, but much less traumatic than Sandra's cutting adventure.

Here's the top view to give you a better feel of where the "chunks" were taken from.

The fix...

Another part of the fix - headbands. Well, she may not wear one very often, but it did help to hide the bald patch. She looks very grown up with all those bangs.
And just because Sandra had to be in the picture, and I wanted to show how much her hair has grown in the last 2 years .... Here are my 2 beautiful girls ready for church :)
I hope this is the last of the hair catastrophes in our home... but somehow I'm not holding my breath on that!

Clark has arrived!

Here is the Clark birth story :).

I had a specialist appointment the morning of the 21st.  I was just to go in for a non stress test monitoring and they did ultrasound.  I was scheduled to meet with my doctor for my next appointment.  These baby appointments had gotten so crazy that I was in twice a week and getting lots of ultrasounds.  I was worn out and so tired of sitting in waiting rooms.  Monitoring isn't that bad, but it just turns into more time.  Seriously if I hadn't gone into labor the double appointments was going to do me in!

Everything looked good that day so I was happy.  I had been feeling contractions and really wanted to be checked, but since that's not the ultrasound persons job I didn't ask.  It would have been cool to know though.  The best part of this appointment was that Clark was in the right position to actually get some good pictures.  The tech was able to pull out the 3-D monitor and get some great face shots!  Clark was usually so uncooperative that this was a treat.  He usually had his hands in his face so we never had great photos from the ultrasounds.  I love that I was able to see his face inside me the same day or so that he was born.  Seriously cool!

That night my contractions started and I just went about life.  I actually started making dinner and getting things done like usual.  During dinner I could tell that this was only getting stronger and that we were probably going to go to the hospital.  I called our friend Lisa, who was able to come take care of the kids.  Jeff and I headed out to the hospital about 7 pm that night.  I was actually excited that we would have our baby so soon and actually really worried that they would send me home because I wasn't really in labor, or try to slow labor since I was only 36 weeks along. 

We arrived at the hospital and they checked us in.  We waited if they would admit us.  I had been squatting with my contractions and really felt like things were going well.  By the time the nurse checked me I was dilated to a 6!  That was fabulous news!  That meant that we were in fact in labor and wouldn't be sent home!  I was also far enough along that they weren't worried about me delivering "early".  My body was still on twin cycle so that is probably why I went into labor when I did. 

My doctor wasn't available so we were left with the doctor on call.  I was excited to get this labor done since this was the farthest I had ever progressed on my own.  After getting checked into a room and hooked up to IV's things started slowing down.  I was bummed.  I wanted to keep squatting and moving and progressing.  I did tell the nurse to break my water and the baby would be here within an hour.  She wasn't allowed to do that and we were waiting on the doctor.  She finally did come by and check on me.  She even broke my water and things started getting serious. 

Clark still waited until the next day to join us.  He was born at 12:30 am on June 22nd.  He was so tiny!  I couldn't believe how little he was!  Jeff and I were commenting on his size while he was getting cleaned up.  The number came in at 7 lb 14 oz. and the doctor told me that I just gave birth to a 8 lb preemie.  When she said it like that our Clark didn't seem too small anymore.  It is crazy that he was born at 36 weeks and was almost 8 lbs.  If I had gone full term he could have been 10 lbs like Mhari.  The other crazy thing is that I still had the other baby left to "deliver" too.  He really didn't have as much room as a normal baby would have and he still grew really well! 

Clark is a sweet little boy!  We are so happy to have him here with us and I'm feeling so good!  He did have some jaundice, but nothing too scary.  He didn't need to be under lights and we will just continue to follow up on his levels and leave him by the window for light. 
 We are home and trying to adjust to life again. Having a little baby is fun, yet tiring :). He is so cute and small. It has been strange to have such a little one, especially after Mhari! Overall life is going well and we are looking forward to not worrying about jaundice issues. He follows up next week and hopefully we won't have any more problems. He also lost weight and they want to be sure that he is gaining it back again. This is odd for me, a small baby, that can't keep weight! He eats well so I'm not too concerned about it. He'll be nice and plump before long.


I've had some fun taking pictures of my sweet baby...

I may be biased, but I think he's just beautiful!



Look at those feet - long and skinny!


Such little hands!

And here are some of the other pictures of our newest addition!

Sponge bath! June 26th

 

 July 4th :) 

 

 
July 8th - Bath time!

 
All clean!

 

 

 

Baby Clark

Clark Jeffrey Williams was born at 12:30 AM on June 22nd. He was 7 lbs 14 oz and 19.75 inches long. He is our smallest baby so that has been different getting used to. It isn't his fault though, he was only 36 weeks along. Mom and baby are fine and hopefully come home tomorrow. These are just a few pics for everyone to look at. I am sure Sharla will do a more proper post after she gets back. Don't know who he looks like yet but one thing we do know is that Mhari loves little baby Clark. ~ Jeff

 

 

 

Hair Do's!

The girls really want long hair (Sandra especially). Last week when I went through some material I gave the girls some lace pieces to play with. They turned them into their long hair! Too funny. Sandra wore them for a few days and was very happy with her long hair. It will be a while before either of them have hair that long on their own!



A few weeks ago after a shower Grant was combing his hair and making it spikey. I mentioned to him that he looked like a procupine. We all thought it was funny, but I didn't think anything more about it. I should have known it would not stop there with how much he loves animals! From that day on he has been trying to spike his hair. After enough effort on his part I decided to help him out with some gel and even a little bit of blow drying (his hair is not made to poke up).

Here he is last Sunday for church. He really just likes the front spikey now and will even chose days when he doesn't want it spikey! Who knew I could have a boy who was so concerned about his looks... this young! Crazy kid :).

Awards and Graduation Day

School got out a week ago. Our Kindergartner, Grant, graduated to first grade! Next year we will have a 2nd grader, 1st grader, and preschooler! It's amazing how fast time flies!

Talmage had an awards ceremony on the last day of school. Unfortunately I forgot the camera :(. He had a great year and really enjoyed school! He did fabulous in every area of school work! They have a reading program at the school for the kids and the goal in first grade was to pass 30 tests ... Talmage passed 147! He was so motivated! It was great to see him checking out books so he could read them and pass them off. He was the top reader for his class - way to go Talmage! We only heard positive things about Talmage from his teacher. He was a great friend and example to the other kids too. On the last day of school he was sad that it was over and he wouldn't be with his friends next year in the same class. We told him he'll just get to make more friends next year (not sure that's what he wanted to hear though).

Grant had a great year in Kindergarten! He was a great student and excelled in every area. He's a great kid! He was also the top reader for Kindergarten. I'm sure part of that was the influence of his older brother.

It is always so hard to get good pictures at these things...

Here he is with the Principle and 2 vice principles and his teacher.


They also sang a song for us before we got to go visit them in the cafeteria. Grant participated during the program, but I don't think performing in large groups is his favorite thing.

When I went to see him he didn't want to stop doing his activity packet to visit with me (there were a ton of people there still). I tried to get a picture of him with his sisters, but he didn't want to. For not liking large crowds he did great!

He's a great kid! Congrats Grant on doing such a fabulous job in Kindergarten! We love you!

Kitty ... Boots!

Last week Sandra was sitting in the rocking chair with her big red blanket. Mhari decided it looked like a good place to nap... like a little kitty by Sandra's feet. She got her pillow first to be sure she was comfortable :).



Daddy has some big work boots for when he's working outside. He left them out after a hard days work and the girls found them...

Mhari looked really cute in the huge boots!



Trying to walk in them was tricky... those things are heavy!



Mhari put them on her hands and walked like an animal. That was pretty funny. Then Sandra had to have a turn too...

Silly kids. I think it's funny how entertaining shoes can be. Sometimes I think I have a house full of animals instead of children :).

Memorial Day Swimming!

For Memorial Day we spent the evening at our friends house to enjoy their new above ground pool! It was a nice hot day and it was great to be in water! The kids had a blast!



Talmage did really well getting flipped into the water!



Mommy became Mhari's human floaty :)



Sandra swimming in her floaty.



Grant with his stained face - from the liquid jello we brought to share :).

Mhari got a good red face too!

It's always nice to enjoy the holidays with friends and let the kids enjoy the water :).