easter x4

easter overload... its what you get when you throw easter, spring break, cousin siblings, and 4 families together.

easter, it happens.

big belly momma brookie had us up for an early easter dinner and some dying of eggs. 

she's real nice, that brooke.

all parties are better when nannie is there, she is a fan favorite.

my dad, so weird, but i adore him. this evening he decided to "engage" (which is not normal for him) and participated in the egg dying. one perfect orange egg.

it puts the dye on the egg...

(cousin siblings do things in the nude)

weirdo.

nubby cubbie!

my babies are late walkers... 

jude = 14 mo.

greta = 27 mo. (extenuating circumstances)

ez = yet to be determined

 2 days later we hit up nannie's for her annual easter egg hunt. this year she color coded the eggs, so everyone got the same things (i.e. no fighting) but she's going to have to come up with a different plan yet again, because our numbers just keep on growing and i doubt they make eggs in 17 different shades.

its a love affair.

look at jude! he's 14 or something.

all the williams cousins in attendance

cousin siblings dress the same too.

that dress, tears... sometimes naartjie does me right.

i am this close to disowning brooke as my sister, who looks like this 2 weeks before giving birth? not me.

m'boys.

nannie love.

AND then easter happened at our little house.

family.

the kids got legos, books, toys, and this little play set. one day later this year i hope to buy a real swing set... putting that out there and hoping it will come true. 

 

 trevan's outfit... who is this guy?!?!

 

off to church.

and then on to yaya's.

 and you were wondering where jude got that holiday decor gene?!?

and this is how jude feels about easter at yaya's.

huntin'

unkie ted and auntie mo!

ez got the whole egg hunting thing 100%, he's so damn cute.

precious greta.

the kids big presents from yaya where muppets, and they were placed in random places throughout the yard.

we LOVE the muppets here on carnation drive.

us & the lovebirds again.

jude SEARCHING for his muppet.

 animal, jude, and walter hope your easter was as fun as ours.

flashback friday + some babies.

 williams family circa 1986

 { pretty sure paige was already growing in my mothers womb at this point }

oh and guess what?

i have a new niece and nephew.

billie elizabeth jackson

4-17-2012

and

dexter william clark

4-18-2012

can't you just smell their newness?
mmm.

you can be sure i am gleaming from ear to ear about these 2 babies.
it's almost enough to make we want one of my own...
don't tell trevan.

congrats brooke and paige!

i'm pretty jealous of your birthing genes...

spring break + the bean museum

spring break was sort of lame this year but when have 3 kids, a working husband, and a budget sometimes things ARE lame. lucky for us, trevan took one day off to be with me & da kids and things were less lame. really, i wish this guy never had to work... he's my best friend and i don't like life without him, not to mention he makes my heart all a flutter. unfortunately, the day he took of proved to be the coldest, rainiest day of spring break. we were scrambling for things to do that we haven't already done and i remembered the monte l. bean museum at BYU that i hadn't been to since the 3rd grade. best idea this year....

we are big fans of bears at our household (ie. cubbie), and there were plenty of bears, albeit stuffed, to go around.

more bears.

jude... he's getting so big, and so boyish.

m'girl.

little known fact... my 3 favorite animals are as follows:

buffalo

hippos

manatees

and more bears.

LOOK AT MY BOYS! 

they are thecutest.com

the honey badger.

 that is what all of trevan's family calls ezra because...

the honey badger don't care.

babes in arms, gang flashing preschoolers, and happy boys.

 

 go to the bean museum, it's free.99 and a good time.

i also learned, i could live in provo, which is a big moment for me. i so hated it growing up, but now it seems charming. i had fun driving around provo/orem and showing trevan where my life use to be.

{ and if you find yourself in utah county, hit up JCW's as well }

party girl.

we know how to party
and this is how we do it.

jude was up WAY to early in anticipation of greta's birthday and deemed it appropriate to wake her up as well.

i know, i know, it is a stretch to think of jude being excited about something.

maximus & gaga

is it sad to say that i never wanted a daughter that was into princesses? they seem so cheesy and a little W.T. however, the minute greta fell in love with the gals of disney, i quickly followed suit.

cubbie!

birthday cinnamon roll & scrambled eggs.

AND

not to break from tradition, we had greta's party this year at mcdonalds. 

 * best $60 you will ever spend on a party.

cake!

best friends.

tamari, lucy, bella, gabi, greta, minie, poppy, mylee, & jude
 { missing were jude's BF william and his little sister bella, who had to leave early. }

 my in-laws, being my in-laws, the best people in the world, showed up to greta's party too. it wasn't long before cam was regretting his decision.

see?

and since we weren't in the mood to break tradition (or to host a party at my disgusto house.... 1961 called, and it wants its bathrooms back), we had the family celebration at rock creek pizza. which if you haven't been, you are missing out.

 

 the fam...

told you they were besties.

best reaction to a present, ever. 

this little jewlery box is her favorite present.

 these girls of ours melt icebergs.

my birthday girl and her cake...

which turns out to be the best cake ever. now listen up, kenna does not bake. i literally mess up boxed brownies. i know its the trend to be all domestic and shiz these days but i am not one of those broads. one day being mildy funny, messy, unoriginal, & outspoken will be in and THEN i will be on trend. that being said, when angel girl asks for a pink cake, i make that happen. so i got down to researching and found this cake.

make it. enjoy it. share it.

all and all, it was a swell birthday.

happy birthday miss grets.

you are 4!

flashback friday.

good friday to you.

the family portrait never seen around the world.....

 january 2006

a plus size mama, a photoshopped birthmark, and a BYU dad.

FYI... u of u is trevan's alma mater

 { lesson learned: do not opt for family pictures 2 months post baby, EVER. }

how cute was jude though?

p.s. the outfit choices were NOT my idea.

she is 4.

4 years ago today an angel was born, 

our angel, 

miss greta pamela.

 this birthday seems more special than her others, i feel more grateful for her today than ever before. i haven't blogged about this yet, but a few weeks ago we had another big scare with our angel girl. 

we took her in for her yearly check up with her neurologist, dr. filloux... which really it had been 2 years since her last check up. things last year were hectic with a newborn and i wanted a break from specialists, so we took a year off. anyway, we took her in and were so excited to show dr. filloux her progress. greta has made leaps and bounds in the past 2 years. yes, they are are slow leaps and bounds, but for her, they are huge. dr. filloux played with greta and had her to "games" for about 30 minutes, and seemed pleased with greta's progress. at the end of the appointment we discussed future plans/tests for greta, and he told us he would like to test her again for the disease ataxia telangiectasia, have another MRI done, ordered follow up with her opthomologist, and if everything came back a-okay he'd see us at her next annual check up. we left with a blood test order form and a smile on all of our faces.

the blood work was a breeze, greta was easily distracted and just happy to be on my lap with her daddie by her side. as we were driving home we were remembering about those 4 l-o-n-g days when we thought greta had A-T. we both sighed and thought "he's crazy for testing her for that disease again, she DOESN'T have that disease..... right?!?!". so i do what i do best, i got my butt on the internet at started researching. that's when it all started again... could she have this horrific disease? lets see here....

the symptoms for ataxia telangiectasia

delayed walking (greta was 27 mo.) - check

ataxia (jittery movement) - check

slurred speech - check

slowed growth - check

abnormal eye movement - check

weakened immune system - check

balance problems - check

normal/above average intelligence - check

 family history of cancer

telangiectasia's (broken blood vessels in the eyes)

did you notice anything? greta has 80% of the symptoms of A-T. the last time she was tested for this disease she was 10 months old, and we couldn't tell what symptoms she had then, she was just an infant. now that she is older, so much more had manifested itself in her. i now knew why dr. filloux seemed a little off in telling us he wanted to have her tested again, she obviously presented so many of the symptoms. here comes the freak out... i sobbed, and sobbed, and prayed, and sobbed, and pleaded, and sobbed. trevan and i both did lived that nightmare all over again. how could this be happening again? all i could think was "at least we had 3 years of living happily.". as trevan and i went to kiss our kids goodnight after they were asleep we both knelt by her bed and watched her sleep, and wept. not again....

the wagons were circled, and all of our loved ones prayed with us. we had a family fast planned for next day, when i received the second best phone call of my life. dr. filloux, knowing our stress level put a rush on her test results, and we found out that greta DOES NOT have A-T. dr. filloux reiterated what a great news this was and that he was thrilled to hear this. i wonder if he was as surprised as we were? i was certain that this was our fate. i put my trust in the lord and plead for a miracle, but surely we could not be so blessed twice. however, the lord has a plan for me, a plan for greta, and a plan for our family and ataxia telangiectastia is not apart of it. i have said this before, and i have will say it again... i don't care what greta "has", as long as i get to keep her, my angel girl.

we are never out of the woods with greta, there are always seems to be more tests to run and more doctors to see. i also know, we are never out of the woods, so to speak, with anything in this life. we just have to take it ONE.DAY.AT.A.TIME. and be grateful for everyday we get to spend with each other. 

i know this.

at 4 our angel girl walks, runs, talks, plays, laughs, dances, jokes, loves, and lives.


greta is funny... so funny, she loves to be gross, she loves PINK, she eats a lot, she loves any sort of affection, she is teeny tiny, she loves to look at books, she is enthusiastic about anything, she loves school, she is always dancing, she has a crush on justin bieber, she'll play on the computer all day if you let her, and she can sniff an iPhone out a mile away.

 she is perfect.

 happy 4th birthday gretsie!

{ brooke has outdone herself yet again. xo }

* ATAXIA-TELANGIECTASIA IS A TERRIBLE, TERMINAL DISEASE THAT EFFECTS APPROX, 500 CHILDREN IN THE U.S. IT IS CONSIDERED AN "ORPHAN DISEASE" AND DOES NOT GET THE FUNDING AND RESEARCH IT NEEDS CURE THIS DISEASE. PLEASE, IF YOU CAN, DONATE TO HELP THE FIND THE CURE and SAVE THESE SWEET BABIES. YOU CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE.