Anniversary Help

I got a little help from my girls this anniversary day. Nina started by giving some spa treatment. She painted my nails, put some glitter lotion on my hands, then gave Lyla some treatment as well. Lyla helped bake the dessert for dinner. Anyone who has ever baked things with kids knows that signing up to do so means it is going to take at least twice as long to make your creation, and the mess you'll end up cleaning is going to be enormous. Still, since they love to "help," we agree to the conditions. In the oxymoronic twist of fate, I was trying to make a recipe from one of the most calm, clean, and hypnotizing cooks I've ever seen with one of the messiest toddlers I've ever seen.

The recipe was from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook. I learned of her just after we had Nina. As those of you who knew us back then remember, there was A LOT of time spent trying to soothe a screaming baby back in those days, and when I would be in the house alone, I would try to have other sounds going on in the background to keep me sane. One of the best was the show, Barefoot Contessa. It's a cooking show (and at the time, I didn't cook much at all except pasta and chicken), but the way she prepared the food, the way she talked, and the whole aura of her show was so calming and almost hypnotic for me to watch/listen to back in those days. Because she provided me with a positive memory of those days, I still use her recipes whenever I can. Also somewhat funny is the fact that Nina LOVES to help me bake. Maybe her baby subconscious remembers her mother being calm when Barefoot Contessa came on. haa haa! Anyway, since Nina was out at preschool and not able to dominate the baking scene, Lyla was the exclusive helper. This picture was taken at the begining of our cooking process. It got very very messy by the end, but we had a good time baking together.

What I Know Then and Now

It was perfect timing...I was going through a bag of old things and came across this little treasure. THE MARK DOLL!!!!!! He is missing his shoes, and his hair has taken on a rather ratty look to it now, but it's still the same doll I remember. Before some of you start thinking that I am a much weirder person than you ever realized, I must explain the Mark doll. It was the master creation of my mom (who else) as a "prize" at my bridal shower. Mark's mom had flown in from FL for the shower, and she and I were put to the test answering random questions about Mark - the winner getting to keep the Mark doll. I can't remember who actually won the game, but there were a lot of funny questions, a lot of laughing, and, in the end, I ended up with the Mark doll. Back then, Mark and I had only known each other a year and a half when I was answering those questions. We dated for six months, he proposed, then we were married a year later. Needless to say, there was some information that I knew and a lot that I didn't know. My guess is that people feel that way even if they date six years. After all, people are like onions (according to Shrek), there are a lot of layers to peel back. Anyway, shortly after winning the Mark doll, I married the man, Mark, and yesterday I came across the Mark doll again the afternoon before we were set to go out to celebrate our 9th anniversary.Our anniversary is actually on Wednesday (1/19), but my parents offered to watch the girls for us last night, so we took the opportunity to head out and celebrate a few days early. Nine years gives you the opportunity to learn a lot more about a person than just a few funny trivia questions does. We've shared many great times, some tough times, some just normal times, and I know a much different Mark today than I did nine years ago. I'm sure he would say he knows a much different me. We sat over a long dinner and talked about the changes going on in our lives, the changes in the kids, and our dreams for the future. Much has changed, yet much remains the same. I am really looking forward to seeing what another year has in store...

Golfer Girl

Since it's been so cold and windy lately, we've been spending most of our days playing inside. For fun, Mark's been working with Nina on tennis and golf in the basement. We have soft balls for both, so they hit the tennis balls off the wall and hit the golf balls from room to room. She really enjoys both, but yesterday when they were hitting golf balls, Mark was really impressed with how she was doing. She's got a great little swing, and she can really hit the ball pretty far. Mark's already looking forward to a father/daughter date on the golf course this spring! (disgregard the hair-do...she had asked for a crazy hair style yesterday)

A Dry New Year

I'm not one to get overly excited about the New Year. I know it's a highly anticipated day for some, and I totally get the reasons why, but I just basically enjoy the fact that it occasionally means a night to hang out with friends or have a nice dinner at home with my husband. On this New Year's Eve, we didn't have a babysitter and didn't have any raging parties to attend (a.k.a. hanging with other friends stuck at home with their young kids too), so we decided to make a fun dinner, get the kids to bed, open a good bottle of wine and enjoy the evening. Does that sound like we're getting old or just lame? Anyway, it sounded like a good plan to us, but even that thrilling evening was not meant to be. Mark and Lyla ended up a bit sick, and Mark succommed to TheraFlu just after 10pm, and after cleaning up from Lyla's throw up at 11:45, I decided to try to fall asleep for a little while before she was up again. So, with that being said, I'm already taking names for all those friends who want to line up to hang out with us next New Year's Eve. Book us while you can!

On another dry note, these pictures are of Nina and Lyla's staticy hair after playing in a blanket. Seems like dry is a theme around our house at the moment.

Yes, you are looking at the front of Nina!

A Visit to Asheville

Nina and I just got back from a few days visiting the Williams family in Asheville. Mark and Lyla held down the fort here, and Nina, me, and Bo drove down together on Monday and came home yesterday. My parents also went down, so the Williams family had a lot of post-Christmas visitors in the house. We were all excited to meet little Laynie, and she is such a sweet little baby. She hardly cried the whole time we were there! I am also proud to report that Laynie actually looks like a Lawrence. We thought both Emme and Ryleigh came out looking like a full-blooded Williams. We think Laynie, however, has more of Shenley's side of the family in her. Everyone enjoyed taking turns holding Laynie.
The cousins had a great time together. They played so hard each day that we were there.
They also enjoyed playing with/on Poppy and Uncle Bo.
While we were there, we did a mini-Christmas celebration, played ping pong, ate some good food, and G, Pops, Bo, and I went on a little tour of downtown Asheville for a few hours. Most of the time, however, we just enjoyed hanging out and spending some time with Laynie.



It was a great visit, and we just wish we could do it more often. It was great to meet Laynie and spend some time with the Williams family.

Christmas

We had a really nice Christmas morning. After a late night for Nina and Lyla, we were wondering how early they'd be up on Christmas morning. Lyla was up by 7:20, and once she saw the presents under the tree, it was too hard to wait any longer, so we let her wake up Nina, and we all enjoyed opening our stocking and presents on the family room floor while eating donut holes and drinking milk (coffee for us). After a little time at our house, we drove over to my parents' house where we had our traditional Christmas morning together with the rest of the family. The time spent enjoying family, the fun of watching the kids, the good food, and the celebration of Jesus' birthday were definitely the highlights of our Christmas!

Christmas Eve

This year on Christmas Eve, we had our annual family dinner at my mom and dad's house. For each year that I can remember, we've always gathered for dinner at mom and dad's house (despite weather conditions) with my Aunt Jeanette and Uncle Mike, cousins Erin and Mike, P.B. and Grandma Bette, and our whole family. Through the years, we've added significant others, spouses, kids, and dogs. It's always been an evening I look forward to during Christmas time. The focus of the evening is family, but there is always an abundance of great food, generally lots of laughs, presents, and we all clear out just in time to get the little ones in bed before "Santa" arrives. This year, we were missing the Williams family (who are obviously at home with a one-week old baby), but still gathered and enjoyed a great evening.

With Emme and Ryleigh in NC, and Alex visiting his dad, there were only three kids there this year. Nina, Jacob, and Lyla played for a long time together on this one chair. They made some sort of game out of spinning each other around and trying to get everyone hanging on some part of the chair without getting knocked off.
My handsome and talented husband was the co-chef for the night. My mom made a ton of appetizers, and he made an awesome dinner that kept him busy most of the afternoon and evening, so after dinner he got a chance to relax and enjoy everything.

Nina's Christmas Program

Yesterday was Nina's preschool Christmas party and program. The family and grandparents were invited to attend, and Nina was very excited for this special day. The kids had been making special gifts and practicing their songs in secret so they would be able to surprise all their guests. Nina kept all the secrets (even though it was hard), and we really enjoyed the whole program!For the party, the girls helped make some special cookies. We spelled out the word "Dinos" because that is the name of her class.
Nina and her friend, Avery.
We were so glad that Mousey and Poppy came out to the party and the program.
Here are two of the songs they sung. I wanted to put vidoes of it all, but I know that would be over-doing it a bit. So here are "Baby Jesus We Love You" and "Away in a Manger".
Nina is in the back row, five in from the right (in the black and white).

Road Trip Weekend

We got back this evening from a four-day road trip, but we covered a lot of ground in our travels. We left early Thursday morning to visit my grandma in Pittsburgh. We spent time with Grandma Thursday afternoon, took her out to dinner that evening, then after we dropped her off, we headed to the hotel to let the kids run out a lot of pent up energy. Even though it was 7:30 by the time we got checked in the hotel, we changed into bathing suits and swam in the pool until 9:00 that night. The kids had so much energy to get out, and after swimming and a warm shower, they actually fell asleep that night.

We got up early Friday morning, took breakfast to Grandma, had a short visit, then got on the road to head up to Cincinnati, Ohio where we met Mark's sister and her family, along with Mark's dad and stepmom, at the Great Wolf Lodge. It was our first time visiting one of those hotels, and we loved it. We had a great time playing and visiting with family.

To see the pictures and read the captions from our time at Great Wolf Lodge, click HERE and view the slideshow.

We left the lodge Sunday morning and drove the 8+ hour trip straight home. It felt really good to be out of the car by Sunday evening, but we had great visits with family and enjoyed our time away! A view from inside the water park
A Simpson family photo

Layne Virginia Williams

Layne Virginia Williams was born yesterday morning. Shenley and Layne are both doing great! That makes five little granddaughters for my parents and another little girl cousin for Nina and Lyla to play with. Congratulations Shen, G, Emme and Ryleigh! Good luck Garland!