Our house at 10:45 pm on 5/5/08

All is quiet and well in the Williamson house tonight. As it should be, right?

Here is what I came across as I was checking on everyone tonight:
My Miranda with her ever-present "silkie".


At her feet, lies our newest addition. His name is Buddy. His name WAS Frisky, but none of us, except Bella, could remember it when we were calling him. He is the sweetest thing, ever. Tonight when Miranda was going to bed and Buddy was asleep on her feet, she said, "Mom, it is my dream come true!"


And then there is my Bella (note the ever-present "Blankie". (Can you tell they are sisters?) How can you NOT love this little girl? Even when she is a little terror (like she was tonight), you can't help but laugh and hug her.


And last but not least, is my Ricky. My eternal love...mushy, huh? Ok, the love of my life, is that better? He has been working SOOOO hard lately...poor thing, he could barely stay awake for scriptures tonight. I think he actually read them asleep!


And did I mention that we have a new dog? Let me repeat that: WE HAVE A NEW DOG!! I know, I know...I've heard it all already, but I couldn't let him go. My Miranda needs him. Alot!

Helotes Cornyval 2008

Well, we went last night with Mary, Mike & Nicole to the annual Cornyval in Helotes. We had a blast. Aunt Emily watched Bella so she wouldn't get bored. Miranda got to ride a bunch of rides (the big swing is her fav.).

Miranda wanted her face paint on her hand so that she could see it. Smart girl....she knows exactly what she wants! I love that about her!


The girls all got their faces painted. Here is me and Mary. I chose mine in honor of Bella, because she had told me when I was planning on taking her that she wanted flowers painted on her face.


After we got home and Bella saw my flowers, she REALLY wanted her face painted. So, I promised her that I would paint it the next day. Let me tell you, as she was climbing out of bed in the morning, she was asking to have her face painted with flowers. So, I dug out Rick's paints and attempted to replicate the flowers from my painted face. Not bad, huh?


Miranda and Nikki just loved the rides. Here they are on the "Tilt-a-Whirl". OMG....they were laughing the whole time and Miranda's face looked like she was having the time of her life.

Spring Break 2008

Ok...here is one of the other exciting things that has happened in our life over the past few months. We got to go to Utah for Spring Break! It was the week between when Rick quit his job at NuPrints and when he started Market Vision. So, we decided to just GO! We went with my Mom and her sister, Aunt Dorothy. Now for the following pictures, keep in mind that my Miranda is nine years old and had NEVER seen snow in person before. We had a BLAST! Such great memories and wonderful times. I absolutely loved going on this trip with my whole little family. Usually, I will go with my Mom and my girls and Ricky has to stay home. NOT this time!

Miranda and Bella's first time in the snow. They just couldn't get enough. You know when it is a hot summer day, and your kids constantly bug you to get in the pool or go to SeaWorld, well, once Miranda was in the snow, she begged to go back to this park everyday. I have never seen her so happy.



No lack of smiles here.



Our little cold family. Notice how Bella looks like a ragdoll!



Miranda and my sis-in-law/BFF Leanne got Ricky caught in the middle of a snow throw!



Cuddlin' in the cold. Nothin' better!



Me and my Leanne. I miss her so much! This is the lady that changed my life. She was my roommate at Ricks College and we instantly knew that we were meant to be BFF's forever. I made her marry my brother so that we would have a real eternal bond. I am so glad that she is in my life. Forever!



Daddy and Miranda enjoying the snow. Miranda had a smile on her face ALL DAY! It was awesome!



Bella got into the snow throwin' business, too. She had a few for her Daddy.



My message for my family and for you!



Ricky's favorite pic of me. He says I look like a ski jacket model...whatever! But I sure felt great!

Rick's new digs at work!

Over this past month or so, life for the Williamson's has brought about a few changes. First and most importantly, Rick has a new job. He started with a company called Market Vision on March 24th. He is an art director for this company, which is a marketing/advertising agency. He is assigned to work on the Coca-Cola account, as well as AutoZone, General Mills, and others I think. He is loving it. He is able to be creative in a way that he loves. He has always loved the ad agency type work and has missed it for a long time. (He worked production at an agency back in 1997). Anyway, to sum it all up...he is loving his job and the people at his job LOVE him! We are so excited for this new adventure!
(Did I mention that this new job now affords us to have full benefits!!)

Ricky designed and assembled his entire office (the assembly was part credit to me, also ;) )


Now he finally has a proper place for all his Darth Vader/Star Wars memorabilia!!

Bouncing Babies

Molly was visiting the other day and I just love how these two girls can find the simplest thing to entertain themselves with. They jumped on these pillows for probably 10 minutes before I grabbed the camera. The laughing just kept getting louder and louder. Too much fun sometimes. But I love it!

Happy Birthday Bella!

On March 1st, Bella turned 3. She woke up and had a few presents on the table. Her sweet sissy, Miranda was more excited for Bella to open the gifts, than even Bella was. Miranda loves presents...don't we all? :)

One of Bella's favorite things right now is Playdoh. Miranda has always loved it, so now she has a little creative friend to play with. They both are so cute when they play together. No matter what they are doing, you can tell how much they absolutely love each other. Just the other day, Miranda told me that she doesn't even remember life without Bella and that she is SOOO glad that she is not an only child. She really loves her sister.

After breakfast, and presents of course, we took our little family to SeaWorld for opening day. I mentioned to the lady at the turnstiles that is was Bella's third birthday, so I had to buy her a season pass, and the lady asked me to wait there for just a moment while she went to the offices. She came back with a pin that reads "It's my birthday" and has Shamu on it with a birthday hat. She also gave Bella a little pack of souvenir cards just for Bella. She was so excited.
We were happy to learn that Bella is now tall enough to ride the little Shamu roller coaster. (At least it looked like she was when she stood at the marker for height, and she tip-toed to make sure she was tall enough....NO LIE...she did that all on her own...we were laughing so hard. She is a little stinker!)

We ran into my mom while we were there. She was with Molly and her daddy, Harry. So, we spent the majority of our time hanging with them. Here is Rick with my mom and Bella at the dolphin area.

Here is Miranda trying so hard to get the dolphins to come to her so she can pet them...no such luck...EVER! Poor thing.

Bella had a couple dolphins swim by pretty fast and they splashed her pretty good. But, no petting for her either. Oh well, there is always next time, right?

Here is most of the gang (minus my mom and Harry). I am holding Molly. Notice the love on Bella's face. She absolutely LOVES the characters. She will run up and hug any costumed character, anywhere.

Then, she found Penny Penguin. I had to literally pull her away from her so that other people could take pictures and say hello. She would have brought one home if I would have let her.

Do you think she could squeeze any harder?
We had such a good time. I am looking forward to this summer....I love SeaWorld!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY BELLA....WE LOVE YOU SWEET GIRL!

Bella's Birthday Party

Well...my littlest baby is three now!! She has grown so fast. We had a joint birthday party with her cousin Molly, this past Saturday. It was a lot of fun. We had a bouncy that the girls enjoyed all day, prior to the party. Bella jumped all day long and totally wore herself out. Since she was so tired, she was a wee bit cranky at the actual party.
So, while we were opening presents, she was crying nearly the whole time....here is the proof:

So, poor baby, while she wasn't playing between fits, she was only content in my arms. So, needless to say, this is how we looked for a good portion of the party:

My only saving grace, was her birthday cake. My sister Sue, made this AMAZING Barbie cake with Little Mermaid accents. Bella absolutely loved it! She attacked it like it was only for her and NO ONE else. It was awesome!


The major regret that I have is that I didn't get very many pictures. The party was combined with Molly, and I didn't get even one picture with the two birthday girls. They looked so beautiful. Molly is such a good little friend to Bella. They even have their own language when they see each other. It is just pure joy. I love it!