Holiday Time

We had our Christmas Pageant today at church. I have to say that I am happy for it to be done. I get so nervous about this stuff and take it really personally. The kids did great, and Megan and I got a lot of compliments on the "production", so I guess it was a success.Here is the "cast"... Ethan, Hudson and Dom (front row) are the Wise Guys, I mean the Wise Men and Alex (holding the star) and Gabby (front row) are angels.

Alex had her Middle School Holiday Concert on Wednesday night, and once again the little stinker wanted to "surprise me" by not telling me she had a solo. (That's her little bit of Grandma Chickie coming out.) It was during a six minute song and a handful of kids sang solos in different parts. She did great and made her Grandmas Patty cry. (The video is on YouTube. Click on the YouTube link at the right to see it. And, like I said, it's a six minute song, so if you want to skip to Alex's part its near the end during the "Colors of the Wind" segment- the song from Pocahontas- at about 4:14)
I posted a picture and a video from Hudson's concert but never got a chance to write anything. His concert was the week before, and he did great. I am really happy with the elementary school's music teacher Maggie Warren. She does such a great job with the kids and picks great music. We are fortunate to have her.

And Happy Hanukkah! Ethan is our OCL (Official Candle Lighter) and since we are not Jewish and don't really know what to say when we light the candles I told Ethan to "say a little prayer or a wish." So he squeezed his eyes shut, folded his hands very seriously and then said, "I wish I were rich." I laughed and said, "That's not what I was talking about! You should wish for peace or something." He looked at me, smiled and said, "Yeah- that's what I meant."(And for my pagan husband, Happy Solstice.)

Happy Holidays!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hudson's Concert

Observation Week

At the kids' dance studio parents are not allowed to hang out in the studio to watch.. which is totally fine with me. I can just imagine how little would get done if there were parents there every class. But twice a year Cathy opens the studio to visitors. On Monday I watched Cate's and Gabby's classes (Alex is the demonstrator for both) and last night I watched Hudson's ballet class and Alex's tap class. Tonight is a night off from the studio! Thursday Hudson will miss his class because he has his first chorus and band concert, but I'll try to get back in time to watch Alex's jazz class. And on Saturday I'll watch her ballet class. All of the kids are doing great. It was fun to watch.

Mr. Vice President

Hudson caught the political bug and ran for student counsel vice president. The candidates had to give a speech in front of the entire 4th grade last Tuesday and then the class voted. Pretty exciting because it was the real election day. On Wednesday Hudson came home from school and said, "Mom... I have some bad news..... for everyone who ran against me!!!" Stinker. Here is his campaign poster and speech.
You may know me as Hudson Williams, the boy who can eat an entire bologna sandwich in one bite. Oh, ok, half a sandwich in one bite. But in the very near future, I hope you will be calling me V.P! I will help my fourth grade class and my school in anyway that is needed. One way I will help the school is by coming up with great ideas for fundraisers. Voting for me, is a vote to put the “FUN” back into fundraising. I will also help the president of the student counsel in many ways. I will be the president’s right hand man. I will be there to give great suggestions and give great ideas.
Many of you know me already, though to the few out there who don’t know me, let me tell you some other traits of mine that will make me a successful vice president and just a great guy to vote for. I’m very hardworking. I work so hard sometimes that when writing out my answers to a real difficult test, my pencil lead just wears out. I try to go to school everyday, even when the main course for lunch is spinach topped with broccoli. I am able to stay focused under chaotic situations. How you may ask? Well having an older sister, some would call her a bossy sister, and a younger brother who never lets me watch my favorite TV shows, being sandwiched between these two and dealing with their craziness has given me the practice to be focused in any circumstance. I listen very well too. I will pay attention to all students and their suggestions to make our school the best that it can be and then make sure that these suggestions are taken seriously.
Lastly, when voting for me today, you are voting for a person who is kind, caring, respectful, trustworthy, and most importantly an excellent worker who is dedicated to all of you. These are just a few of the reasons why a vote for me is a vote not wasted. Thank you very much and get out and rock the vote!

Halloween

First if all I need to say YAY OBAMA.... ok, now that I have gotten that out of my system...

here are some pictures from Halloween... Ethan the skeleton pirate
Hudson the beast

Alex the hooker... oh, I mean flapper and her grandma the clown

hanging with Aunt Dorothy, Kimmy and Margaret at trunk or treat

A Public Service Announcement from Ethan

(That's a 1... followed by "Vote Obama". It is Ethan's countdown to Election day.)

Alex is 11 today...

This is a picture of her from her last soccer game this past Sunday. Her team has one more game, but she'll be in DC for the Junior National Young Leaders Conference, so she'll miss it.

We don't have a party planned because we just couldn't find a good time to have one... yet. She's a busy kid, so finding a good night can be tough. This past Saturday she and Reilly & Caroline went to see Legally Blonde as part of their birthday presents. (Reilly's 11th b-day was yesterday! Happy birthday Reilly!! I still find it to be SO STRANGE that your mom and I had our babies so close.)

So Alex, how does it feel to be starting your second decade?? 10 was really good, wasn't it? I really liked 10. I bet 11 will be even better! Happy birthday baby girl!

Funny....

The other night the boys were getting into the shower (Hudson showers Ethan for me, isn't that nice?) and I overheard this conversation:

Ethan: That must be Dad's... (talking about a razor)
Hudson: No, that's Mom's... Dad doesn't shave in the shower. He shaves at the sink.
Ethan: (incredulously) But Mom doesn't have a beard!!

Birthday Weekend

Hudson celebrated his 9th birthday this weekend. Because Grandma Patty had cleaned out and decorated the barn for her own Barn Bash last weekend, we decided Hudson should have his party there too. The weather was great... almost too hot...for the hordes of boys that arrived...Here they are taking a water break after a game of soccer and just before hide and seek starts.

We discovered that Luke and Bryce look like twins separated at birth!

Dylan and Jared went topless into the apple bobbing bucket.

Ethan gives apple bobbing a try.

Hudson really wanted to play the "doughnut on a string" game. I was less than enthusiastic.... but all the kids had a really good time with this!

Ethan's apple bobbing pays off.... he was quite tenacious, not giving up or cheating (just grabbing the apple). It took him forever (20 minutes??) but he finally got his reward!

Dominick getting a bite of his doughnut.

Nick joined the fun too. I missed most of it but I guess he was the cutest doughnut eater around!!

Cake time!!

The girls enjoyed some post party spa treatments!

We ended the day with a bon fire (the party guests had gone home) and some spooky (?) stories. Dominck wasn't a huge fan of the stories...mom said he was hyper-ventilating!

Happy birthday Hud!!

Random Thoughts....

1. Justin comes home today! Hooray! This has been his longest trip for CACI so far (11 days). Some good news... he'll be going to Italy in April!!
   

2. It is Homecoming Week and Alex has gone all out for the dress-up days. She won a free pass to the next dance with this get-up for "Stuck in a Decade" Day. (The funny thing is that she loves these glasses and wears them around the house all the time!)

   
   

   And this is what she wore today for Tacky Day.
   

   
3. Celia has turned into monkey girl.... pulling herself up on everything. She gives me a heart attack everyday. This box of blocks is one of her favorite things to play with. She tries to climb right into it.
   


4. And finally, from the news... did Clay Aiken really have to announce to the world that he is gay? Really? Clay, buddy... let me let you in a little secret... we already knew.

Hudson got his tumpet...

...and I will be investing in earplugs... just kidding!! It is loud though. Much louder than the flute. He can make a nice sound already, and is really looking forward to his lessons and band practices. He'll have to build up some muscle in his skinny arms to carry the thing!!

Last night was fun... Alex got out her flute. Hudson showed off his trumpet. And Ethan, not wanting to be left out, asked to borrow Alex's little recorder. He's very excited to some day play an instrument, and wanted to know if he could start with the trumpet next year. Not till fourth grade buddy!

And Jack and Griffin came over for a visit yesterday (with Maura and Grandma). I was all set to take a nice picture of Griffin's sweet little face when he dropped into a roll just as the shutter clicked. So this is officially an action shot.

Cousins!

Maura and the boys, Jack and Griffin, are in New York for a visit. This is the first time we've met Griffin, and it's been a year since we've seen Jack. The kids were surprised at what a big boy Jack is... Alex said, "I didn't know he'd be talking so much!" I guess the image of Jack has frozen in their minds from last year.

We had a nice visit at Grandma Chickie's house...

Hudson read to Jack....

and Alex thought it was pretty funny that she is nearly the same size as Aunt Maura!

Classic

Check out this video of the kids singing and signing at church. It's long- you don't have to watch the whole thing, but you'll understand after a few moments why I titled this "Classic".

Dance Baby

Today we started back at dance.... when I say "we" I mean Alex... and Cate! Alex is the demonstrator in both Cate's class and Gabby's too (Gabby's class is right after Cate's). Hudson starts tomorrow. Their schedule will be a bit easier this year.... we have Monday (Alex demonstrates), Tuesday (Hudson ballet), Thursday (Alex and Hudson both tap & jazz) and Saturday morning (Alex ballet).

First Day

It was the first day of school for the Williams kids today......a big day for Alex as she headed off to middle school... and no, she is not a bag lady, she was bringing in all of her "locker stuff" (shelving, essential mirror, you know... the cool, fun stuff) because we missed Locker Day while we were away. Hudson's not a bag-person either. He had to bring in 2 boxes of Kleenex and 2 rolls of paper towels. I find it funny that the schools cannot provide Kleenex for their students!

Ethan is a big first grader now!! And Hudson is enjoying 4th grade. All the kids said that their days seemed short. Ethan said, "It was like a half day... only with lunch."

I was kind of sad to not get a picture of the three of the kids together, like I have been doing... but Alex leaves for school an hour and 15 minutes before the boys do. I think they were still in their boxers when she left!!

We have Dylan and Jared joining us in the mornings this year! The four boys had a lot of fun playing with Legos, Playmobil and on the computer before the bus came for them.

Cannon Ball!