Happy Father's Day

Father's Day...a day that I did not enjoy celebrating growing up. Actually, I didn't really do a whole lot of Father's Days until we had our first child Reid. And then Father's Day took on a whole new meaning. Now, every year, I look forward to Father's Day. I love celebrating the best Daddy that I have ever seen. And I think that my 3 children agree! ;-) Bry loves his children so deeply and so much. He loves big and he loves hard! I don't think that our children will ever be able to say that they were unloved while growing up.

When I was telling the boys that we were getting ready to celebrate Father's Day, Reid said: "Hey Mommy, that's the day that we get to spend with Daddy! Right??" He was very excited to have a day that was all about Daddy.

Reid and Cole had a great time writing and drawing in their cards to their Daddy. Once they were done, they put the cards in the envelopes and then ran into our room where Daddy was and took the cards back out of the envelopes and showed Daddy! They couldn't even wait for him to take the cards out of the envelopes. They were busy telling him what they drew--from monsters to birds to bugs...etc. You know, the normal boy stuff!

We took Daddy to his favorite restaurant where I'm pretty sure that Ella ate more than her brothers put together. Her stomach was so tight that we could have taken a needle to it and it would have popped. But she was still wanting more when we left. Goodness, where does the food go?

The boys had a great time singing "Happy Father's Day to Daddy!" But their highlight of the day was sword fighting with Daddy. I had bought them these soft swords and thankfully so, because they show their poor Daddy NO mercy at all. They swing those things with all their might at Daddy and belly laugh the whole time. Oh how boys are so different...not to mention sooooo loud!

Bry is definitely loved by his children. All 3 of them light up when he enters a room...every time he enters a room. I am so proud that he is the Daddy of my children. It warms my heart on a daily basis.

And I am thankful that Bry has given a whole new meaning to Father's Day. I have learned that we not only celebrate Father's Day for our earthly Fathers, but I now celebrate it thanking God that He was my Daddy my whole life. He was all I needed. Thankfully my boys have an earthly father that reflects our heavenly Father.

Me and my Big Brothers on my birthday

Here are a couple of pictures of the kiddos on Ella's birthday. Do you know how hard it is to get a picture of all 3 of the kids looking at the camera and smiling?? WOW! It's a lot of hard work...so, we just get what we can get.

BTW...my friend Jeffie's birthday is the same day as Ella's. The kids and I called her on her birthday to wish you a Happy Birthday. The boys wanted to sing to her...except they kept singing "Happy Birthday to Ella, Happy Birthday to Ella..." I kept trying to tell them to say Ms. Jeffie, but they insisted that it was Ella's birthday, so that's what they were going to sing to her. It was actually really cute and I thought it was funny. I am sure that Ms. Jeffie enjoyed it so much as well.

June 14, 2007

Last Thursday, Ella actually turned ONE! I can hardly believe that her first year of life has come and gone. I must say that she has been such a delight. She has to be the happiest baby in the world (Mommy's prejudice, I'm sure). She is rarely seen without a smile on her face. And when I say smile, I mean wide open mouth smile. I can't tell you the countless people that we know and strangers that have come to me and said that seeing her smile warms their heart and makes them happy. Her cute little personality is really starting to come out as well. I think that she will have a sweetness about her with a bit of a playful personality. Which, if you know my boys, you will know is a perfect combination between the 2 of them. I guess she is learning from the already. I do know that she has learned to pick her nose from them. I can only imagine what my future holds in this department with her brothers.

On her birthday, I greeted her that morning by singing Happy Birthday to her. She, of course, was grinning from ear to ear. Every morning, when I change her diaper, we have our own little conversation. Sweet memories that I will forever cherish of our Mother/Daughter relationship.

Once we were all clean and dry, we headed down stairs to join her brothers for morning milk and breakfast. For those of you that know my children well, you know that eating time is a favorite time for the Williams' kiddos!

Our next event of the day was swimming. Big brothers were begging to go to the pool. It was a bit overcast, but still warm, so we went. Mommy and Ella thought the water was a bit cold, but big brothers didn't mind a bit. Daddy brought us lunch to the pool and joined us for some more grub!

When we got back home, we cleaned up, took baths and took naps!! Much needed...well, at least for Mommy. When the kiddos woke up, we got dressed and prepared to go out for dinner. Gran and Uncle Stevo joined us as well. At dinner, Gran fed Ella a lemon. Can I just tell you that she begged for more. She LOVED it. She didn't even get a sour face. Seriously, how is Ella so tiny when she eats soooo big?

Speaking of being tiny...she weighs a whole 17 pounds now and is 27 and 3/4 inches long. Her weight is still <5%, but she did gain about 3 pounds in the past 3 months and grew about 2 inches in the past 2 months. The doc was impressed! My friends are still laughing that she can wear 3/6 month clothing. We are moving into the 6/12 month clothing though and her foot grew 2 shoe sizes in the past 2 months. The biggest news for Ella was that she finally got her first tooth...so, she had ONE tooth for her ONE year birthday! Too cute.

I thank Christ for our sweet Ella every single day. She has been just as much of a blessing in our family as her brothers were and are. We pray daily over our children for God's protection and for the wisdom to raise them in Him and in His Word. Our greatest hope is that they will have a passionate love for Jesus the older they get. We pray that they fully understand and grasp His grace. We are truly thankful.

The Big ONE Party!!!

Ok...so my friends are getting onto me about not updating my blog for the past month. Truth is, with 3 kids, I just don't seem to find the time. BUT....I thought I would post some pics from Ella's first birthday party.

I must say, she was quite the Diva of the day. To be honest, the whole party was a complete whirlwind not only for her, but for me as well. She wasn't really sure what to think about all the people in her house making over her. She wanted to stay as close to mommy as she could...well, that is unless you were offering her food! Though my sweet girl is a peanut, she eats more than her brothers, I'm pretty sure.

As you can see from the pictures, not only did she look cute, but she loved her cake as well. I think she would have eaten more of her cake if she hadn't had an audience.

We decorated with butterflies and flowers for her party in bright, fun, girly colors. I wanted it to be summer like and fun and cheery. She is the most joyful baby and I wanted her party to reflect that.

We were joined by so many friends and family. I pray that as Ella gets older, she'll know just how much she is loved and prayed for by those that attended her party. We have been unbelievably blessed by the friends that God has given to us.

Her brothers sang Happy Birthday to her all day long! They were quite the choir. She laughed the whole time.