A letter to Will

Dear Will,

      Oh, my sweet little boy! Where do I begin? Everyday you just get bigger and bigger. Everyday you can do more and more things on your own. Everyday you are gaining just a little more independence. And everyday I smile at you and tell you how much I love you. I am so proud of you!

    Let's see...right now you are 3 and 1/2. You can do so many things right now! You can ride your bike and play golf all by yourself! You have been doing both of those things for awhile, but they are still impressive!:) Just a couple of days ago you finally learned how to pump your legs while you swing. This is huge! You and I got so excited when we realized that you were doing it on your own. You still need me to get you going, but I don't mind. I hope you never stop needing me.

    You are learning your numbers and letters and you enjoy doing school with mommy at home. Next year you will be going to school two days a week to a 4 year old pre-k. Mommy and Daddy are a little sad about that, but you are excited and you have talked about it for days! I know you will love it! You are such a social butterfly, that I know you will have no trouble and will make lots of friends.

    You LOVE to sing. In fact, you love to take daddy's iPad around the house playing his music. Most of daddy's music is worship music. And that suits you just fine, because you love "church" music. Right now your favorite song is "10,000 reasons" by Matt Redman. Somedays when you sing that song, I sing with you. It absolutely melts my heart to hear your sweet voice and mine singing at the top of our lungs to God.

    You are a big eater. Most days I feel like I can't fill you up. You love to eat cereal, its probably one of your favorite foods, and somedays you are content to eat 3 bowls. You love to eat out. Nothing makes you happier then to eat in a restaurant. I think it goes back to your social personality. You also love to go out and do things. It doesn't matter what, just as long as we go somewhere. Every week you go to the store with me. I look forward to these outings, our mommy & Will time. I love to use this time to just talk to you and find out what you are thinking.

   I love you Will! I love the fact that you are all boy, yet still are very caring and loving.  You never stop and are busy all day, but I would not have it any other way. Thank you for being you. And thank you for loving me the way you do!

I love you always,
Mommy

25 rules for Mothers with Sons

     As a mother and wife I always feel torn between playing with my boys and doing all the things that need to be done around the house. Somebody has to do the laundry, cook dinner and clean the bathrooms, even though reading a book with 2 sweet little boys sounds so much more fun.

     Today, though, I read something that made me stop in my tracks. I was on pintrest and ran across a blog post called "25 rules for Mothers with Sons". As I read it it made me realize things that my boys would love to do, yet I am too busy doing other things. At one point, it even made me cry. Maybe it was the fact that I, just today, signed Will up for 4 year old pre-k. Maybe it is hitting me that these two are really growing up way too fast. I don't know, but it definitely struck a nerve.

      So, today I played with my boys. I went outside with Will and just followed him around as he showed me things (one of the rules). I build a fort with them (another of the rules) and we read books inside (yet another rule). Their little faces had an excited look that told me we should do it more often. Mike even told me that he could tell we were doing something fun and different when he walked through the door this evening.

      Please, don't get me wrong. I play with my kids and spend time with them everyday, and most days I do many of the things on the list. But, it reminded me that I still want a better balance. I want to enjoy every last minute with my boys, even if that means that laundry does not get done or the floors are not vacuumed. Because in 25 years, my little ones will be grown and my house will be clean and I will be wishing to be right back where I am now.

Curious about the rest of the rules? Please go here to read the complete list: http://studerteam.blogspot.com/2011/11/25-rules-for-mothers-of-sons.html?m=1

A Golf Family

Golf. It has become our life again. Before the boys were born, Mike worked at a golf course. He played often, for fun and in a few competitive tournaments. Golf channel was the only thing we watched and of course he loved playing Tiger Woods on play station. When we moved to Charleston, that lifestyle fell away. But, then Mike got a part-time job at Kiawah Island, a nice golf resort in the area. While working one day, Mike noticed a child's set of clubs had been left behind in a cart. Since a lot of people playing at Kiawah are on vacation, no one ever claimed the clubs and he was able to bring them home to Will.

That day changed our life! Will LOVES golf. He can't get enough. He literally wants to play in the backyard everyday. When he walks outside and sees his clubs he can't help but pick them up and swing them. If he doesn't have access to his clubs he does practice swings around the house or at Target or Publix or wherever. He loves to watch golf, in fact somedays he would rather watch the Golf Channel instead of Disney Channel! Mike has a couple of golf games on his iPad. One is Tiger Woods 2012. Will loves playing it! He loves talking about it. But the ultimate is when his daddy takes him out to play. His record is 12 holes. This kid is eat up! I love it!

Not to be outdone by his big brother, Luke has decided that he wants to try his hand at golf as well!

Trip to Tennessee

The boys and I got home about a week ago from a trip to see our Tennessee family. My nephew Tate just celebrated his 2nd birthday. (We like to try and get home often, and so our nephew's birthdays tend to be good excuses to make the trip.)

all the cousins on the Williams side

Tate and Luke

We spent a couple of days in Chattanooga with Marmie and Poppy and a couple of days in Nashville at Aunt Linny's house. Of course it is always nice to go home. I always love getting to see my mom & dad and this time I got the added bonus of getting to spend time with my sister and watch our boys play together.

Marmie and Will having fun!

Overall the birthday party was the highlight of the trip. I say that to mean that we really did nothing but hang out with family, and that was perfect! It was nice, relaxing and we got the chance to get caught up with everyone.The boys and I had fun, as we always do, and can't wait to go back!

Easter 2012

Happy Easter friends! I pray that your families had a wonderful day rejoicing together and celebrating our risen Saviour! We had a great weekend with family. Marmie and Poppy came in and we got to have lots of fun with them. We were busy, what with bowling, shopping, golfing, going out to eat, hunting easter eggs and just enjoying being with each other. Whew...it makes me tired just thinking about it! We had fun, but needless to say the boys went to bed early tonight! Here's a few pics from our weekend...

Will and Poppy at the bowling alley
Luke and Marmie
Easter morning with their baskets
hunting easter eggs
Will, his best friend Jack and Pastor Todd at Easter morning service

Thanks Mom and Dad for coming to visit! We had a lot of fun with you!

Picture Comparison

The other day I was outside with the boys and watched Luke climb up into the rocking chair. I ran in to get the camera because we have pictures of Will in the same rocking chair when he was Luke's age. Thought it would be fun to look at the pictures and compare them. Both are 20 months. What do you think? Do they look alike?

1st trip to the Georgia Aquarium

Will and Jo-Jo

Ok, so I'm a little behind in posting. A lot has been going on recently. So let me get you caught up. A few weeks ago we went home to Atlanta for our nephew Caleb's 3rd birthday. We love going home and getting to spend good quality time with our family. This trip we got a lot of time with Mimi, Poppy and Aunt Joy. (Unfortunatly, Caleb was sick and we didn't get to celebrate with him or even see him or Uncle Daniel and Aunt Tammy.)

While we were there Mimi and Poppy treated us to a trip to the Georgia Aquarium. Oh my goodness! We had a blast and the boys were in awe the whole time. Will and Luke loved the beluga whales, the dolphin show, and the penguins but by far the big tank was their favorite. They were happy to sit in front of the tank and just watch the fish swim by. Thanks Mimi and Poppy for a fun time and for making our trip special!
Luke watching the penguins