A New Year never too late!

Hello all my fellow followers...

It has been relatively a long time since my last posting.  A lot has taken place.. We helped Ty to celebrate his 3rd birthday with a snow party for friends, and a family party the day after. Ty has been potty trained with an accident from random time to time. Such an accomplishment.  We have listed our house on the  market and the opportunities are endless as to where we might land.  We have paid our property off and are  making plans for our next big project.

First off Ty had a wonderful time celebrating his 3rd birthday.. yes I said 3rd birthday.. Oh how the time flies. I spent a couple weeks in preparation for the big day.  I worked with a few friends on securing a snow machine which we ended up not needing. I shopped some closing Party Depot sales and gathered up many snowflake decorations. I made cupcakes, and homemade hot chocolate, and put together little snow treat bags. But really the major focus of the party was the actual SNOW! Yes I mean SNOW.  Byron and a few guys pulled off the biggest task.... they brought back two truck beds full of snow from the mountain and unloaded it in our back yard.  The kids loved it..

This was the easiest birthday party for me. The kids entertained themselves! They played with sleds, threw snowballs, dug with Tonka Trucks and rolled in the snow! Cupcakes and Hot Chocolate were a hit as well. Happy Birthday for sure!

It is amazing. A light switch turned on once Ty turned 3.  We have been potty training for over a year. Ty decided that is what he wanted to do and so we followed his lead.  It wasn't until he turned three that we really didn't put a pull up on. Now we have too many pull ups.  It is amazing.  He even wanted to wear big boy undies to bed.  I think I was more worried about the accidents than he was. In fact we have only had 3 night time accidents since he has begun wearing big boy undies to bed.  WOW so proud.  Ty has even decided to tell us when he needs to go and demonstrates his independence by telling us to stay where we are at while he goes into the bathroom.  It seems so easy.  But in hind sight it has been a journey.  Potty training is not really training children but more like training the adults.

After many bids from 5 different professional builders two of whom we would love to work with in the future some time..but certainly not anytime soon, Byron and I decided to list our home on the market with a realtor. Byron and I spent Ty's birthday weekend remodeling a bathroom, entertaining two birthday parties and purging items from our home to get ready for a showing with many agents the following Tuesday.  WHEW we made it.  Now we have spent the past few weeks keeping the house clean, and ready for a showing at anytime.  We have had a few bits and are hopeful but realistic to.  Where are we going you might ask?  Well that is up in the air.  Byron and I are cautiously planning our next location. So to be determined at a later date.

So that brings us up to speed. We are enjoying watching Ty continue to show us amazing new things, be rowdy, and demonstrating his dramatic side.  Sometimes that includes three year old fits.. Boy I tell you.. two was a walk in the park but three is worse.  We are optimistic though that this too shall pass.. and that we will all be the better for this part of the journey. Until next time.

Welcome 2011

As we celebrated Christmas and the New Year our Williams family reflected on 2010. Though all agreed 2010 flew by rather quickly we enjoyed many things. We enjoyed spending time with each other, watching each other grow, appreciated what we have, and the many extra curricular things we have engaged in. We ave been thankful for our health (though lately has been a rough road with the never ending cold!).

With that and the many memories captured in pictures, video, blogs,and in our brains we have closed the year 2010! WELCOME 2011! We are super excited about what opportunities you bring to our Williams family!

What we hope to accomplish in the year 2011 is a rather tall order but one that we are ready to address head on and we are already making progress.  Byron and I have many HUGE decisions in front of us. We have been working with several building contractors in looking at bids, home plans etc. to take this current house down to almost 4 walls and rebuild to our specifications main floor and adding a floor. Though we haven't finished with this process we are excited and realistic about this process as well as comparing that to selling the house with a Realtor. Where would we go.. we are open to the mid-Willamette valley (which covers the current area we live in among many others) that decision is one to be made once we have all the information we need. We finally own our 23+ acres outright! A burden lifted yesterday as we made the final payment. We are super excited! Now on to other things...

Ty turns three at the end of this month and we are busy with plans for his kid party and then for a family party. This is helpful because our family is so incredibly large and Ty has many friends that he wants to include this year.  He walks around saying that he will be tree. :-) He loves riding his new bike that he received for Christmas and still is full of lots of energy.  We love watching and listening to all the new things he talks about and does for us.  Byron and I are deciding where Ty will be attending preschool in the fall. So much fun to know that he is excited for school too! All exciting times.

So as we get into 2011 we are optimistic, excited and open to the many opportunities there are ahead of our Williams family!

Tis the Season!

It has certainly been a while since my last blog post and much has happened since Grannies 90th Birthday party. Since then Ty continues to have swim lessons and is learning about transitions, swimming, and listening to teachers. He is growing up into a fine young swimmer and person.

We ventured up to Seattle for our first Thanksgiving hosted by my sister Amy and her husband Bob. What a wonderful holiday celebration filled with fun, snow, and firsts.

Ty and I flew up to Seattle for Ty's first plane ride. Boy was that fun for him! (Not too stressful for me either). He learned about who pilots were, what they did and enjoyed getting on and off the plane, walking on the tarmac and up the stairs into the airport. Maybe a few more of those small trips then off to a bigger longer flight somewhere. :-)

While in Seattle our family saw Santa Claus (two times one on the Space Needle and one at his house) his reindeer Comet and Cupid and enjoyed wonderful lights displays at the Botanical Garden.  It was a planes, trains and automobile trip for sure. Such a wonderful time of year.

Ty is enjoying trains. We took the Seattle Monorail two times, enjoyed time on the Space Needle, the Children's Hall at Seattle Center had a huge train layout which we watched for hours and went and enjoyed the elements at a few of the Christmas Villages. We had so much fun!

Currently we are in great preparation for the birth of Jesus and the arrival of Santa (should he decide to visit our house).  The tree is up and decorated, the nativity scene is out and Ty and I talk about what that is and means, cookies have been made as well as 10 green arrangements! I have found an interest in floral design and have ventured into starting my own business! More to come on that topic at a separate time. Work is done for the next two weeks and we are enjoying our time off so far. Ty has received his letter from Santa postmarked with North Pole and we read that every day. This weekend we filled our time with a work Christmas party for Byron, cookie baking, trip to Vancouver to visit Grandma Gracie where we celebrated Christmas and sleep to mend our family colds. A few more odds and ends to take care of, wrapping and being Santa's helper is on the list as well. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all may your days be filled with the magic of the season!

90 Years Old!

Yesterday November 14th, 2010 Granny Fagan turned 90 years old! Amazing this woman has continued to be in great health, share her stories and though she doesn't have much she shares all she has with others.  It was neat to see the entire family come into town, some family mind you I have never met in the 10 years that Byron and I have known each other. It was great to see that Granny enjoyed herself with her birthday hat, her Hawaiian lays, and surrounding family and friends. The celebration was complete with records playing music in the background, a dear friend brought his accordion and played music, friends from McDonalds, friends from Payless, and other people with whom she worked back in the day. Of course there was food, cake, sweets, flowers, a little dancing and a lot of catching up.

Growing up?...

It seems as though Ty is coming into his own independence with statements of, "Mommy I do it myself!" and actions such as getting up in the middle of the night to turn on his light and crawl back into bed to sleep. It is amazing to watch all of the new and incredible things he does and says and makes me realize that time is precious. He shows empathy and caring about others, things, people and our animals. For example, we put Jake's pillow out for him (he is getting old and gets stoved up) and all evening Ty kept asking where Cali's pillow was and if we could get it for her. He brings smiles to our hearts and faces and is truly amazing. 

Leveled Up Means Growing Up!

Several Parent-Tot swim lessons ago the instructor mentioned to me that Ty was close to the age where he should really be in a different class with peers his own age (though there were a few with us in our Parent-Tot class still) and that he seems to take direction well it might be time for him to move on. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. But I looked around our particular class and realized that he was one of three that were of age to move on. All other students were 6 months to a year old.  Clearly we were old enough. But the question was, is Ty ready and hmm.. better yet how did I feel about this move?


I thought about it for the rest of the lesson and came to the conclusion that Ty was not 3 years old yet and that we could stand to participate in this class at least another month. So we attended a few more classes until this past Friday. October 22nd, 2010... the day I made the decision. I hadn't thought about the decision until I was in the car hurrying home to pick Ty up for Swimming. I hadn't even made the decision on the way there. I made the decision as I walked into the "Courthouse" gym! I spoke with Ty and he was excited to try a new class.


Here's how it went. We walked in a little late. I spoke with one of the level 1 instructors who had their hands full with 8 kiddos already. Ty was shy. I sat on the floor next to the pool for 10 minutes waiting for Ty to warm up and get in the pool. They played the "car wash" game and Ty was hooked. I moved back to sit with the parents.


Boy isn't that a weird feeling, watching this little man participate, follow directions and swim with others in the pool. He took to the first instructor and a few of the kids.  I looked at the Parent-Tot class and realized that there were many additions of young moms with young 6 month old's and that class was overflowing. What a timely decision.  My thoughts originally were if this didn't work out this time we would continue with the Parent-Tot class. Now my thoughts were to stay here!


Ty continued his swim lesson by participating, taking breaks, popping out of the pool to wave at me, smile and give me a thumbs up. He then pointed to the second lap pool, deeper and colder pool and asked to get in there. I nicely said no and explained he should stay in the warmer pool with his friends and teacher. So he did. The parent next to me smiled a few times later and said boy he is a character isn't he.  Yes he is!


So I guess the ending of the story is this. Ty is growing up. He will be three years old soon. He is capable of many things. It is nice for me to step back and let him experience the world of swimming on his own. He was so proud to tell his father on the way home and I couldn't have been more proud~

It was time for the annual pumpkin patch trip to Bauman Farms!

 We enjoyed the Punkin PATCH as Ty says with vigor! This trip was great. we picked out three fabulous pumpkins which we will carve this weekend. We bought our favorite freshly made apple cider by the carton as well as the apple cider donuts which has become a tradition for us! Ty made many friends on the play structures and then we visited the farm animals. Oh how I love Autumn activities.


Halloween is next. I can't get the boy out of his costume. We are having to wash it almost on a daily basis. I do hope that it holds up. We are still loving TOY STORY and BUZZ LIGHTYEAR! As you can see Ty is  Buzz on a daily basis. He has named the rest of us as well. Byron happens to be ZURG and I get to be JESSE. If only I had the adult costumes. (And no I am not going out to buy them this year) Maybe some day we will do a family Halloween dress up.

I Buzz!

I got my yasers..pshhh

We are planning to engage in more Autumn activities.. carving pumpkins, trick or treating, hunting, and continuing our swim lessons.