Meeting Margo

My baby sister, Abby, had a baby!  (Check out her more detailed baby blog here)  Sweet baby Margo arrived 3 weeks early (much to everyone's surprise) on February 27.  Jared held down the fort at home so I could race down to Edwardsville to meet my newest niece and see her parents!  She is so tiny and perfect!!  And I was in love immediately!

Proud Aunt!

Margo Blair Williams

Grandama Terri, Margo and Abby

Pop capturing the moment ;)

Ethan and Nora were SO ready to meet their cousin, so today we made a day trip to hang out and snuggle a 2 week old baby!

Nora loved holding her

And Ethan is a natural (he's had practice!)

"Baby" says Atley

Atley, checking her new best friend!

We met up with Haley & Katie (and their parents) for some yummy lunch at Chick-Fil-A and then back to play a while at their house!
Ice cream cones all around!

It was such a fun day!  Love spending time with family :).

Atley Jane

Looking through my phone, I have a lot of Atley photos to share!  I love the age she is at right now!  She is learning something new everyday.  She is such a fun kid to be around (most of the time).  This girl makes me smile :).  We love her so much!!

She loves taking selfies on my phone...

 It's fun to put things on your head (Nora is usually near by when this occurs!)...

And she's always doing what big brother and big sister are doing.  She looks so big here!

Valentine's Day Date

I realize we are a bit past Valentine's Day, and I'll try to be better with my blogging...but I'm making no promises :).

Jared and I made some last minute Valentines Day plans.  I was supposed to be playing tennis in Springfield on Valentine's Day (Sunday), so we decided to make a day/night of it!  My parents graciously agreed to keep the kids for us for about 24 hours and we enjoyed a quick get away to Springfield.  It snowed that morning, so my tennis got canceled, but we went anyway.  And I'm so glad we did!  You can fit a lot into 24 kid-free hours!!  We had lunch, did a little shopping, checked into our hotel, caught a movie and had a wonderful Italian dinner.  And that was just the first half!  On Monday, we walked from our downtown hotel to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library, had lunch and met my mom to get the kids back.  What a fun time with my Valentine of 16 years!

I was ready for Zoolander...I don't think Jared was ;)
(Also, wait to rent!  Not worth theater $$)

We walked to dinner...in the snow!  We had a nice, romantic Italian dinner at Saputos.

Jared and John Wilks Booth giving each other the stare down!

The Lincoln family and I.  They were tall!

A Preschool Valentine's Day Party

Nora's class Valentine's party was this morning.  And today also happened to be pajama day!  Atley and I came to help out and it was a great time! The kids handed out their Valentines, played games, made a craft and had a topping full ice cream sundaes!

Passing out Valentines

Making her fingerprint heart!

Finished product :)

Atley got some time in the bounce house!

Nora's turn 

Ice cream sundae time

Some of the girls in Nora's class

Cheesy Nora at the Photo Booth :)

Class picture!

After everyone finished their snack, all the kids sat in a circle singing song with Mrs. Barney.  They sing such fun songs!  Atley thought she was part of the class and joined right in :)!

Singing some songs

Now some dancing

Here's a video.  Atley was cracking me up!

Abby's Baby Shower

Last weekend, my cousin, Libby and I hosted a baby shower for my sister, Abby.  Abby is due on March 20 with a sweet baby girl! And I can't wait!!  We had her shower at The Badollet House in Salem and Jody outdid herself with the flowers and the food!  It was a beautiful shower and I think everyone had a great time (and ate too many sweets- or I did, at least!).  Enjoy some pictures from the  afternoon!

Nora was in heaven ;)!  Look at all those sweets!

Abby was pretty excited too ;)!

Love this sweet girl.

Showered with gifts!

With Abby and Libby

Love these 2 beautiful ladies!!

We asked everyone to bring a book for the baby instead of a card.  We filled this crate with books for baby Margo!

Golf Class

Ethan has been going to golf class for the last 4 weeks (he has 1 more week).  He's really enjoying it and he's a natural at the sport.  The instructors are impressed with his skills- which don't come from me!!

Waiting his turn for the simulator

This is how Atley entertains herself :).  Playing with the golf tees!

About to drop in the hole

Putting practice

Nora and Atley- playing in the simulator 

16 Month Atley

Atley was 16 months old on Saturday (January 30).  I had every intention to post about her at 15 months...but never got to it.
She is such a joy!  I love watching Ethan and Nora play with her.  I love watching her learn new things.  I love hearing her say new words.  And I love how she makes our family complete!

 A few things about Atley at 16 months:

• She has 7 teeth (4 on bottom, 3 on top).  She's got at least 2 more that are so close to popping through.
• She's generally a great sleeper 8pm-7:30(ish)am - We've had a few inconsistent nights lately ;).
• She's a good eater.  Some favorite foods are mac & cheese, pb sandwiches, cooked carrots, cheese of any kind, grapes, bananas and most other fruit, pizza and crackers.
• She's walking everywhere and beginning to run.
• She's talking a lot and has quite the vocabulary.  Some of her favorite words:  Daddy, Mama, Nora, cracker, doggy, cookie, cheese, hi, bye bye, shoes, ball (baba).  She's also pretty much a parrot and will try to mimic most of what you say. 
• She waves to everyone (when she's in the right mood)
• She blows kisses, with sound and all!

Petting the bunny :)

Smiling sweet girl!

She has the best facial expressions!  I tried to capture some during lunch today.

Such a big girl!

Atley Jane, we love you so much!  You make us so happy and bring so much joy to our family!