a jude party

exhale.

i am still recovering from jude's birthday. as i have said before, birthdays are a big deal in my book. never the less, it was a birthday for the books.

jude woke up at 7:00am ready to open presents. he was up 3 times in the middle of the night mumbling tings about his birthday. jude has never been more excited. he was a very patient boy because i made him wait until 8:15 to open presents so greta could get a little extra shut eye on our big day.

jude loves himself a little toy story 3 and imaginext never disappoints.

later that same day (it felt so much later, 7:00am is not our normal wake up time) we went to mcdonalds with some friends for a b-day party. i have also said before that the birthday parties at mcdonalds are the best and most affordable thing ever. we love mcdonalds, even if our favorite city does not.

some of the birthday party crew. in attendence this year were: roen, milo, lucy, cohen, eden, minie, poppy, and of course greta.

ich liebe dich.

jude and roen... carrying on the williams/holmstead best friend tradition.

have you ever seen a cuter boy? debatable.

yaya and momo were REALLY lucky this year because they got a specific invitation to jude's mcdonalds party... landy came and that was just icing on the cake for jude. turns out they were celebrities for the 5 and under crowd. also, when morgan walked in lucy wanted to know who that princess was. lol.

bff's

1.2.3.4.5

we had had a party planned at our house that evening but the day before his birthday jude told me he wanted to go somewhere else, like rock creek or something. he did not want me to take down halloween before his birthday and i concurred. so rock creek it was... and it was delicious.

a big crowd for a big party for a big jude

my 2 favorite men and my all time favorite red head.

our peeps.

jude and hims star wars legos. he got 2 more sets for his birthday and he is thrilled to the gills. notice the age on the box? well, between he and trevan they meet @ 12, perfect.

there was a mean game of star wars 'pin the tail', always hilarious.

you know what they say about women and desserts? well, its true.

gabi and bella took down the ice cream like it was going out of style.

greta preferred the icing.

jude loves his dad so much, especially when he puts together lego's with him. don't worry because the lego building is still going on this morning. it's pretty cute that trevan is as into it as jude.

jude has told me since that i am the best momma. i will throw him a party everyday if i could make him feel that way forever.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUDE!

jude is 5

11/04/05

jude malcolm gregory

7.7 lbs. 21 in.

my first born.

my son.

my jude.

this was the first time i met him... right after they wheeled me out of recovery. i was in awe, he was mine. i saw his little elf like face and i knew that instant he was ours and i would adore him forever. five years later, i still feel the exact same way every time i see that precious, perfectly imperfect face. i am the luckiest mom in the world, i get to have jude.

i was made to love him.

and so was his (14 year old) dad.

what a proud papa jude has made him. trevan may have been skeptical about parenthood so early in our marriage but the minute jude was placed in his arms he was transformed... into a father, a role he was born to do.

happy BIRTHday jude.

i will celebrate you forever.

a weekend of halloween

was your halloween week as long as mine? probably. i don't know if its because we have been halloweening since sept. 1st or if its because i am 26 weeks pregnant. either it was long and drawn out, mixed with the sheer joy of watching my kiddies.

FIRST OFF:

jude's halloween parade

jude as raphael. (date purchased: sept. 3rd)

what you are not seeing is his karate kick mid-parade that brought the audience to tears.

greta was ready for some rug time with jude at school, really we couldn't get her off the rug.

the first of many halloween poses

SECOND UP:

sunrise assisting living trick-or-treating

poor grannie billie has a slight case of alzheimer's and did not remember that she had okayed ll of us coming to her place for their halloween celebration. when my parents got there, they found that she had locked herself in her room with all the madness and only answered the door after some serious pounding that could surly not be children trick-or-treating. when my mom reminded her that we were all coming she was a little upset but went with the flow after my mom talked her down. it was sort of hilarious, she was going to make my mom sit at her door and hand out candy. when my mom insisted that grannie did participate and hand out her own candy, she settled down and i think enjoyed herself. how could she not? she has some damn cute great-grandkids.

pose 2.

greta as barbie from toy story 3.

keep in mind i had lots of really cute ideas for costumes for gaga but her only reply was "NO, baabee!". who can say no to her? surly, i cannot. most people though she was jane fonda or some shiz. ummm, live in the now people.

see? the resemblance sends shivers down grown men's spines.

greta was ready for some trick-or-treatin', especially when she found her pal buzz and woody were there. there are no such things as strangers when toy story is involved.

this poor old lady caught greta's eye and greta would not leave her alone. i am not sure whether this lady was 'half a bubble off' or just too nice to tell greta to go away after her 6th time back asking for candy. either way, it was adorable.

STOP THE PRESS... my dad was at a family event that A. was not at his own home and B. that involved both grandma billie and the grandkids. yes, robyn it's true and i had document this. also, does it not look like he himself would fit right in @ sunrise? with the black church sock and ghostly white old man leg, i am surpised he wasn't asked to sit by a door and hand out candy.

i love that dad of mine.

nothing done with the gregory's and the jackon's is complete without a greta and poppy fight. dustin is sure its always greta's doing but i've seen poppy regulate. (note: do not try to take anyone's but poppy's side around papa bear dustin) brooke and i just laugh at their adorable attitudes, because after all, sometimes best friends fight.

LASTLY:

trick-or-treating

my kids with their people, yaya and papa.

i feel really bad because we had to tell trevan's parents to come to our house this year. at this point, halloween is pretty complicated and we are beyond the point of visiting grandparents. still, i felt bad. they are the best grandparents ever because they didn't even bat an eye and were hear in a heartbeat. yaya even helped me vacuum while i dressed my kiddies... i told you, they are kind of the best.

we have started a tradition of having the jackson's over on halloween. the kids roam the streets of white city begging for candy and then we come home to a warm fire and dine on pumpkin faced pizza's. so far, it's a really nice tradition. also, this year, since we were not traveling to grandparents, my mom and dad joined us. my mom is da best, nuff said. we even got to see moey and ted too. it was a swell night spent together.

stud muff & barbs

(with the addition of the turtleneck under greta's spandex body suit she kind of turned into a female body builder, which also hot in its own way)

pose 3.

greta and poptart.

see? they are best friends... that is until a toy comes between them.

minsie and jude.

the look on minie's face perfectly explains their relationship, adoration and it goes both ways. from the moment minie arrived on this earth she had a best friend.

barbie butt.

pose 4.

it was preezing cold outside and the kids all took turns snuggling their daddie's to keep warm. they had a bawl. minie and jude scared people by saying "BOO!" in a variety of voice instead of saying "trick-or-treat" and it was received well. we all made it home with enough candy to last until christmas.

it was delightful, even for my fat pregnant butt.

happy halloween.

argh... now i have to de-decorate. the WORST.

golden.

did you know that i turned 28 on 10/28? well, i did. did you know that i have been waiting for my golden birthday since i found out what they were in 1st grade? well, i have been. AND it did not disappoint.

trevan took the day off and we had a gay old time... which included a late breakfast, a visit from brooke and the girls (whilst in my robe... a vision in its self), lunch with yaya at cafe rio, a doodle (nap), and dinner with mi familia at cheesecake factory at which point i was spoiled rotten.

a much better birthday than last years disaster... OH, and yes i am willing to acknowledge that i am sort of a baby about my birthday. i really can't help it because my mom made birthdays a REALLY big deal growing up and i in turn make birthday a big deal (not just my own). trevan never refrains from reminding me of what a baby i am about my birthday. that being said, i don't need everyone to drop everything and celebrate me on my birthday... just him. luckily for both of us, he did exactly that this year. good on you, senor.

and well done on my golden present for my golden birthday.

looking forward to my 28th year and all that it bring with it, especially my new baby boy.

first snow.

my older sister robyn started the tradition of finding the first snow as soon as she could drive. now, for the most part, i didn't partake in a lot of the little traditions/activities that she started (tea parties and such) with my little sisters. i mean, brooke and paige were "little girls" and i was a cool tweenager. plus, robyn and i never really got a long in those days. BUT, this was something that i really could get into. every october when it was raining in the valley and it looked snowish in the mountains robyn would load us girls up in the GEO prizm (along with whatever boy was in love with her at the time) and off we went up the canyon to find the snow. we usually stopped at the Peppermint Place in alpine for treats first and then made our way up the windy canyon roads listening to the only christmas music any of us williams deemed good enough, john denver's "rocky mountain christmas" (umm, run don't walk). those jaunts up the canyon with my sisters are some of my favorite memories and i know they are for them too.

thanks robyn for being our big sister.

so this morning when we all rolled out of bed @ 10am.... (umm, our church is at 9) i saw the storm a brewing in the mountains and told jude what we were to do today (after i rushed to get myself off to church). when i walked in from church all my kids, trevan included, were 'ret' to go. we loaded up the station wagon (still love saying that) and drove up big cottonwood canyon to find ourselves some snow.

we found snow.... er... slush but it would do.

happy little munchkins.

a snowball and an evil look...

miss prets needed a snowball too.

it was really wet and we were all freezing after our 10 minutes in the snow. the kids were glad to be back in the warm car. they dozed off into dreamland on our way down the canyon and i looked over at trevan and was glad i was here. i am so glad we went. it was magical.

welcome snow.

p.s. i WILL NOT ever sit for a picture again.... beached whale.

pumpin.

there are few things jude likes more than halloween.... actually, i am not sure he likes anything more than he does halloween. its cute and scary at the same time. so when halloween time comes (sept. 1) it's all we do, listen to, and talk about. jude has been waiting patiently to get his pumpin's and last night we finally gave in.

this year, for the first time, we were joined by the gregory's. growing up choosing our pumpkins was taken as seriously as choosing our christmas tree and it was ALWAYS a family activity. thank you mom for making wonderful traditions. i have carried on this tradition in my little family and even though tern (trevan's mom) didn't buy any pumpkins, i think she liked our tradition too.

gaga (did you know that how she says her name?) + momo

jude is getting to that really fun, annoying boy stage. it is what it is, annoying and kind of cute.

papa + gaga

no one loves greta.

jude has passed his love for halloween right on down to miss. prets. she too cannot get enough but unlike her brother, she has her limits. some things are just TOO scary.

we go to the best pumpkin patch in south jordan. really, its the best. a free corn maze, a real pumpkin patch, loads of tractors... heaven.

jude and his baby brothers pumpkin. he has since decided that it is his own pumpkin, they all are. he's a greedy little imp.

this is rog. my FIL. i love him.

happy pumpin hunting.