Growth

Yay! Look what I can do!





--post from my iPhone

Busy

I hung out with Jenn for a week and have been trying to cook dinner every night when I get home from work because we put together this really great cookbook. It's been fun but all-consuming since I'm not used to cooking actual meals at night. The more I do it though the more time I seem to have and the less overwhelming it becomes. Soon I'll be a pro.

Cody's back to school and Ricky's about to go mornings. This means some fun changes for our family. We will be able to spend a lot more time together.

Anyways, here are some recent pics.



Abbey liked to pat Clair on the head and call her "baby". They had fun together!



And Clair had fun with all Abbey's toys and the wide open floor!






Clearly Abbey and I have bonded...



The morning routine captured in a very bad photo.






She loves the water! Check out our desolate wasteland of a backyard. We're getting grass this winter!



We all love Daddy!






She's very intense about her play times. I feel as though this bodes well for her sports ability later on!

Alrighty...well, happy weekend all!
--post from my iPhone

Milestones

Aha...we have a sitter









And a faller!
--post from my iPhone

The big race

Ricky and Shawn have been paddling down the Missouri river for almost one and a half days now. The race was delayed 2 hours for massive thunderstorms and then ricky said they had more rain after they got going but I think that's tapered off so they've been dry for awhile. He called me at noon and said they were at mile 130 of the 340 and were really tired. Last night, instead of camping they decided to float through the night in the canoe...and they're still alive.


--post from my iPhone

travelings

So Ricky and Cody are in the midwest, Kansas City to be exact.

This is because Ricky is going to participate in this crazy race across the Missouri River from Kansas City to St. Louis. I'm actually a little bit jealous that I don't get to participate too because it sounds really cool. But, it has turned into this fairly hilarious grouping of random events.

First, Ricky has been working every night for the last 13 days. So, in order to workout, he's been going to the gym after he gets home at 11 at night. He usually works out until 2 or 3 and then makes his way home. For Cara, this has meant, falling asleep at 10, waking up at 11 when he gets home, again at 11:30 when I catch the light of his little iphone as he tries to get ready in the dark so as not to disturb me and then walks out the door, waking up again at 1:30 only to realize it's too early and he's not home yet, again at 3:30 realizing it is not too late and he should be home by now, again at 3:45 when he comes in to go to bed, apologizing because he fell asleep on the couch trying to eat something when he got home, then, joy of all joys, again at 4 when the dog gets up to shake off and her collar jingles. I don't set an alarm anymore because the baby's like clockwork and she wakes up everyday between 7 and 7:30 and she is so much more enjoyable to hear in the morning than my iphone is, no matter what sweet alarm I set it to. See, now that's been crazy for me, but for Ricky, he's been going to sleep around 4 and then waking up around 8:30 to take care of the baby until my mom comes around 10. Then he goes to work at noon and comes home to do it all over again at 11.

And that was the last two weeks. Yesterday, at 6:30, he packed up all his stuff and headed to the airport with Cody, who spent the night at the Lattimores and came home at 4am...crazy kid...only to find I had changed the locks and he couldn't get into our house.

They got off ok to Kansas City, discovering once they got there that the paddles weren't with the other luggage. Fortunately, Ricky works for the airline so we don't panic about this stuff...*ahem*....rrrriiiight. A stressful 30 minutes later the paddles were located in Vegas, shipped back to KC, and all was well in the world. On to get the canoe.

The canoe, which was borrowed, came complete with patched up bullet holes and a full fledged ant farm living in the bottom. When the guys attached it to the top of Shawn's Honda Fit (see picture below for a good laugh), Ricky said the ants were coming out of it and in through the windows so they had to shut everything up really tight to keep from being overrun by the little boogers. The canoes owner did assure them that it had gone about an hour that morning in the water and it didn't sink, so that's good.

More adventures to come...here's a picture:

Last week we got Clair's pics from the Picture People. You can't really post these things up so I took a few shots on my iphone. They're not that hot but atleast you can sort of see what she looks like. These are her first real portraits, besides the ones they take in the hospital when the baby's born:

hanging out

Karen had asked me to post up more Clair pictures, so I've been trying. Hopefully everyone else likes them too. I snapped this today and really liked it so I thought I would post it.

We are actually splurging for real photos tomorrow. I'm taking her to the picture people to have her first studio photo shoot. Thought we should celebrate the 6th month mark. Here's to hoping all the clothes still fit and she doesn't fall into anything and end up with a big red mark on her head before tomorrow!

Oh, and can I say that it's been really hot here? So hot I can hardly function. This is because I'm (shhhhh...) pregnant again I'm sure. I can't go outside without dying.

Anyways, now that that cat is out of the bag...it really has been hot. And last night we caught some old dude on our porch trying to walk off with our extension cords because he thought we were moving. Nice try bub...likely story. I just don't get what gives people half a thought in their head around here that they can just walk up onto someone's porch and then argue with them about how they not only have the right to be there, but to also take their things. Ricky told him he would break his legs if he ever came back...Ah, Ricky...my hero. I told him he'd better not.

We haven't had anything too crazy happen since I last posted. Cody came back from CHIC and spoke at church last Sunday about what a great experience it was.


I went "camping" in the mountains with our church. "Camping" because I didn't actually spend the night, just went up to hang out and eat food. We've all been working and doing more in our spare time to clean up the house and get it ready for the fall.


I'm very excited for the fall becasue, for the first time we are not mandating all the rooms be full, which means a bit of normalcy and family time for the Williams, come August. It has been a very long time since we have not lived with a houseful of people, and I must say, as good as it's been, I'm ready for a bit of a break. We still have Rob and Cody and a set of brothers, Cody and Tyler, but nothing like the 5 or six additional guys we've had in the past.


Clair's growing like a weed and has started saying "Da-Da-Da" all the time. Ricky and I have decided this means "Daddy", whether it really does or not. :)

I also just got my pictures from the past few months up on our computer so I can post them on the blog. Here are some of my favorites:


Ricky and Clair and Jenn and Abbey at the Racquet Club where we played in the water when Jenn and Kevin were here a few weeks ago.

Ricky and Cody messing around in the water at their aunt and uncle's house.

Ricky and I in his aunt and uncle's pool and their aunt Karen with Clair and Cody.

Ricky playing with the underwater camera. He took this picture with his head above water and the camera underneath. Next to it is a picture of little Jackson from our church campout holding Clair.

Our friend Justin gave Clair a redvine yesterday at youth group and she has decided it's her new favorite thing. In fact, she was still wearing some of it this morning.

I just like this picture!