Williams Family Lunch

(From 12/23/16)

This morning we went to do our annual tradition of delivering Christmas gifts and food to families through City Union Mission.  As I mentioned last year, this is an important value in our family.  But this particular event has increased in popularity, so this year they only had one bag for us to deliver, and unfortunately that family wasn't home.  So we said a prayer for that family and dropped off the gifts and food back at the main office.

We then headed home briefly before going to lunch with Meghan's extended family. Mark and Barb are in town for Christmas, and Michelle is too.  We met with all of them, along with Eric and Christine, at Chapala for a nice lunch.  We'll see them all on Christmas afternoon at Eric and Christine's house, so thankfully this wasn't our only chance for interaction.  But it was great to see everyone, and we're looking forward to the main event on Sunday.

Merry Christmas!

 Our Christmas morning started with a literal bang when Clara pulled her stocking off the mantle and the stocking holder smashed her in the head. Luckily she was fine and we hope it helps her realize the benefits of listening next time. After a break to get some ice, she was on board with starting stockings.

After stockings, the kids were eager to get the show on the road.

They all got some stuff they loved, including Hannah who somehow didn't make it into any of the gift pictures.  Jason focused on taking video this year, as he has said he wants to have more video of our family.  Afterward he said he got some great footage but that he forgot to also take many actual pictures. 

After a break for rest, Christine and Michelle came over for Christmas dinner.

We had a nice dinner of sauerbraten and then did Christmas crackers, which we always do in our family. 

We had a really nice holiday and were so glad to have Christine and Michelle to share it with us. 

Does Michelle look like she is trying not to get too close to Clara? She probably is. The kids got Chapstick in their stockings and Clara used at least half the tube in a single day and so was very very resistant to chapping on most of her face and a lot of her hair by the time this picture was taken, and she smelled very strongly of cherries.

Sister Time

Michelle is in town for the holiday so she and Christine came over with dinner tonight. It was so fun to hang out since we so rarely all three get together now that we don't live in the same place. And they brought Chili's, so that was a big hit with the entire family. Hopefully we'll be able to get together a couple more times before she goes back home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was Thanksgiving. We had a really nice holiday at home.

 Jason and Joshua cut the turkey. Well Joshua watched, but considered himself an important part of the process and enjoyed it immensely. We also watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special (the pilgrim one, not the other one that is considerably less good).

 Then we enjoyed a yummy meal, though Hannah apparently finds Christine a bit suspicious. 

 Hannah can be somewhat emotional. She needed some consoling during the meal.

The kids really enjoyed having Christine over to play. I think Christine went home tired. We had a nice day and are thankful for all we have.

A Triple Birthday Bash

Until last year, in each year that we've had a child who had a birthday, we had a pretty big (at least in terms of planning and preparation, even if not in terms of number of guests) at home for each kid.  In 2011 we had Joshua's first birthday.  In 2012 we had Joshua's second birthday and Clara's first birthday.  In 2013 it started to get a little crazy, with Hannah's first birthday, Joshua's third birthday, and then Clara's second birthday.  Last year we had a party for Hannah's second birthday, since we felt the first two birthdays should still have their own dedicated party, but we had a combined party for Joshua's fourth birthday and Clara's third birthday (we still have a small party with just our family on each kid's actual birthday if it's different from the party date).  This year we decided to have a combined birthday bash for all three of them.  We settled on a fall-themed party at a shelter in Shawnee Mission Park.  They all had cakes at home on their actual birthdays, so we did birthday cupcakes for this party.  Gentle Hannah's breath was too gentle, so Meghan had to help her with her candle.
Afterward, everyone enjoyed cupcakes, and of course all the kids devoured theirs as fast as possible.

We invited close friends and family (including Joanna and Kirk who were conveniently in town and able to attend!), but our kids had started asking about their friends at school, so we invited their whole class.  We ended up with a pretty good amount of people.  We had a lot of food, including pulled pork, chili, soup, grilled hot dogs, and caramel apples
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Benjamin, with help from his Mommy and Daddy, was able to enjoy his first s'more-making experience.

When you're hosting the party, you often don't have a chance to really eat and enjoy it.  I managed to eat a plate of food while I walked around managing things and talking to people, but as the party wound down, I sat down to make some s'mores for me and Meghan.  The party turned out great, despite my last-minute setup.  Everyone seemed to have fun and enjoy the food (and the flashlight party favors were a huge hit), and the weather was also perfect: a little bit chilly so the warmth of the fire and the hot chocolate and hot cider was comforting, but not so cold that people were uncomfortable.  And the kids were able to celebrate their birthdays with most of the people who are closest to them, and they had a great time and loved it.  I'm not sure what we'll do next year, but the combined big party worked out really well for this year.

Dinner With My Mom and Christine

My mom was in town to visit her mom and also to spend some time at a retreat with her best friend Deb, and she was able to stop by on her way home. So today Christine and she came over for dinner. The kids really enjoyed seeing her, and of course it was nice for me too.

Since she was here and won't see the kids again this fall, my mom took advantage of the timing and gave the kids their birthday presents. They really enjoyed their gifts.

Almost as much as Christine enjoyed her free new hair style.

Hannah was exhausted by it all. It was really great to see both my mom and Christine and we are glad they could stop by.

Super Pi Day

Pi Day is something that those of us who embrace such nerdy things have celebrated for years.  But in the past few years, it's come into the mainstream.  This year, it really broke through, and almost everyone heard about it, thanks in large part to social media.  This year was extra special, because in addition to March 14th (3/14) matching the first three digits of the approximation of pi (3.14), the year allowed it to continue.  And when you add in the time, you can end up with 3/14/15 9:26:53 which matches the first 10 digits: 3.1415926535.  This won't happen again for 100 years, so it's a special day.  As I mentioned last year, my grandpa is the one who, among many other things, inspired my interest in pi.  Now that he and Grandma live here, I wanted to take advantage of that by celebrating this special day with him.  So this afternoon I took Joshua with me, and we bought a pie and took it over to their house so we could eat pie together on Super Pi Day.  We enjoyed the pie and got to spend the afternoon together, which was really nice.

One of our core family traditions is to celebrate holidays, and because Meghan is awesome, she includes Pi Day among them.  She made us a key lime pie, and I decorated it with a unintentionally sloppy pi symbol.  The pie was fantastic, as it's probably my favorite one that Meghan makes, which is saying something.  We love Pi Day, and it was fun to have this one be an extra special one, for several different reasons.

A Visit From Christine

Today Christine came into town to hang out for a few days. We went out to dinner tonight and had yummy Mexican and kids were super excited to see her too. While she is here, Hannah and Clara are sharing a room and I am really interested in how that goes because I would ideally have them share permanently if they are still able to get good sleep.