Green

It was about a week before St. Patrick's Day when my boys started to remind me that "Next Wednesday we need to wear green so we don't get pinched". They had planned out exactly what they would wear on the big day and made big plans to catch leprechauns. We had a couple of friends come over to play after school and I looked outside just in time to see the five of them "dancing a jig"!


Cohen was super sick! Look at his sweet little snot face, so lovable!


Aunt Laura came over and helped the boys with their leprechaun trap. They almost caught one! Unfortunately he must have heard them open the front door and ran off before they could catch him. The good news was that some of his dollar bills fell out and landed right in their trap! They thought that part was awesome.


I made Green Fettuccine Alfredo for our special dinner, because I thought that the kids would think it was cool. They did not think it was cool and complained the whole meal instead. We finished our day up with a trip to parent teacher conference for Jack. He is doing great! He had all 4's (that's a great thing) and is reading at a level K. Happy (late) St. Patrick's Day!

5K

I'm working hard to catch up! Last month, on the 27th of February to be exact, Chad and Jack ran the Fafard 5k together. I chickened out, not knowing what to do with my other two boys in the cold weather. Chad said that maybe a quarter of the way into it Jack was asking if it was done yet and said that he was ready to go home. Chad didn't let him quit though. They walked a little and ran a little and finished the race in 43 minutes and 30 seconds. Way to go guys!

LEGOS

Okay, so it was over a month ago but I have obviously not been on on a great blogging streak. Jack had his 7th birthday! This year it was all about LEGOS. We invited his friends over for a LEGO themed birthday party, invited our family over for pizza and LEGO cake, and bought him a great set of LEGOS and a LEGO Star Wars video game for our Wii. It was a very eventful day. Jack had a great time and grew his LEGO collection, which is just what he had hoped for.

3 at 6

Everyone askes me if Cohen looks like his brothers looked when they were his age. I ran into a few pictures of Jack and Nixin when they were 6 months old. What do you think?

Jack 6 months:


Nixin 6 months:


Cohen 6 Months:

February in a Nutshell

In an effort to get Favorite Aunt Sarah to blog, keep my promise to Grandma Becky that I would blog, and as a confirmation to my cousin, Hollee that I am not MIA, here I go:

Our baby is growing so fast!


Jack received the "Principal's Pride" award from school:


Nixin taught himself how to blow awesome bubbles in the bath:


Cohen is getting more and more adorable every day:


Jack finished up his basketball season:


A little bird found Nixin's homemade bird feeder:


Cohen loves bath time:


Jack visited the book fair at school, he LOVES to read:


Nixin has a new favorite hobby:


And this little face just melts my heart, I'm so happy we have him!

To My Valentine

I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband. He is loving, kind, humorous, a great provider, dad and friend. I love you Chad! Thank you for all that you do for our family, I am so lucky to have you. Happy Valentine's Day!

Common, you know you want to help!

To My Dear Family and Friends,

You may remember me mentioning a few months back about my very talented photograspher friend, Carrie Butler, and her little brother Brett Fafard. Brett was diagnosed with STAGE 3 testicular cancer in June of last year. He has since undergone surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy. Unfortunately this fall, his doctor found residual cancer and has decided that the next step is salvage chemotherapy, which will come in the form of back to back stem cell transplants. His doctor has said that while he has a negligible chance of beating the cancer without these transplants, his chances increase to 70% if he has the transplants.

While Brett was very blessed to learn that he was approved for a primary insurance with medicaid as a backup, his primary insurance company has denied the first request for the procedure. Medicaid has agreed to move forward with the first transplant but is declining to provide the second. While one transplant is better then none, the Doctor feels that in order for Brett to be cancer free and return to leading a healthy life that he must have both transplants.

Carrie and her husband, Mike have been doing everything they can to help Brett with all of his medical expenses. But the fact of the matter is, they have a family of their own to take care of and they simply cannot come up with this money all by themselves and in the short amount of time they have left until Brett needs his second transplant. Brett has just begun his first transplant this week, and with your help, he will be finishing his last treatment at the end of March. There are a couple of ways that you can help...

1. There is a paypal account set up at http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpages%2FSave-Brett%2F258561409913%3Fref%3Dsearch%26sid%3D607896555.2896082454..1&h=1d9433b19c8cff1caf8b1ad50f9dcb74 where donations can be made. If they could get 120,000 people to donate just one dollar, then they will have made their goal!!

2. Come eat at the Taylorsville Souper Salad on February 19th. Carrie, and her family and friends, will be there clearing tables and filling drinks, a portion of the proceeds and tips earned that night will go to help Save Brett!!!

3. Carrie is organizing a "Fafard 5k" to help raise money for Brett. It will take place on February 27th at the Riverwoods in Provo. It is $20.00 a person. Register at www.fafard5k.com. There is going to be live music, cookies and fun! They need to get a head count so if you would like to come but can't yet register, please shoot Carrie a message or email at carrie_butler@msn.com. I know a lot of you out there are runners or else know of people who are so please join us in this race! It is for such a good cause.

* Chad and Jack will be running the 5k and would love it if there are other Father/Son or Daughter pairs out there to run with them. I am not a runner in the least, but am planning on walking it... It's only 3 miles or so... I should be able to handle it, right? Will any of you walk with me?

4. Pass this message on to all of your family and friends! I'm sure there are many out there who would love to get involved.

Thank you so much for your support! Any efforts to help will be greatly appreciated.

Catching Up

I'm a blog slacker. I don't want to be, but the time just flies by so fast! As I sit here eating my cheese and cracker lunch, I am thinking of the past couple weeks. A lot has happened, and here's what I am coming up with:

* Chad passed his cold on to Cohen and I. We have had lots of green stuff coming out of our noses. That has now developed into little coughs. We are feeling much better the past couple of days, but it sure wiped us out at the beginning of the week!

* Jack is off track. We have been trying to occupy our time with play dates, trips to the library, and special treats from the kitchen.

* Chad sold his 91 Lexus and bought a new Jetta! He is thrilled about it. Maybe one day he'll let me take it for a drive. It looks great from what I've seen so far.

* Cohen is getting his first tooth. Here and there I'll catch a little glimpse of it peeking through.

* Just yesterday, Nixin started Break Dancing classes! He has a lot to learn, but I think it could be just up his alley if he sticks with it. Talk about cutest thing ever!

* We bribed our older boys with a trip to Pirate Island in Orem if they each earned 20 good behavior pennies in their jars. They made it with no time to spare, and so Friday we made the drive. They love that place so much. The food is pretty good, very reasonably priced, and the kids love the ambiance. The arcade after dinner doesn't hurt either. They were giddy with excitement and I loved it!

* I got my first cavity filled :( I didn't enjoy it, but thank goodness we have a great dentist and so the experience wasn't horrible. I will be giving up Dr. Pepper (my caffeine savior since Cohen was born) and hopefully prevent future needles, drilling, and soreness.

* Jack is playing Jr. Jazz. He is usually very timid... but not yesterday! He scored 2 baskets (his firsts!) and he also made a couple of assists and rebounds. It was the best game so far!

* Cohen started rice cereal a couple of months ago and loves it. Yesterday we pulled out the baby food peas and gave them to him. He seemed to think they were great. He is growing so fast!

Okay, I think that sums it up for now. Cohen sounds like he needs me :)

Fafard 5k

You all may remember me mentioning a few months back about my very talented friend, Carrie Butler and her little brother Brett Fafard. Brett was diagnosed with STAGE 3 testicular cancer in June of last year. He has since undergone surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy. Unfortunately this fall, his doctor found residual cancer and has decided that the next step is salvage chemotherapy, which will come in the form of back to back bone marrow transplants. His doctor has said that while he has a negligible chance of beating the cancer without these transplants, his chances increase to 70% if he has the transplants.

While Brett was very blessed to learn that he was approved for a primary insurance with medicaid as a backup, his primary insurance company has denied the first request for the procedure. Medicaid has agreed to move forward with the first transplant but is declining to provide the second. While one transplant is better then none, the Doctor feels that in order for Brett to be cancer free and return to leading a healthy life that he must have both transplants.
Carrie and her husband, Mike have been doing everything they can to help Brett with all of his medical expenses. But the fact of the matter is, they have a family of their own to take care of and they simply cannot come up with this money all by themselves and in the short amount of time they have left until Brett needs his second transplant.

If they could get 120,000 people to donate a dollar, then they will have made their goal!!

Carrie is organizing a "Fafard 5k" to help raise money for Brett. It will take place on February 27th at the Riverwoods in Provo. It is $20.00 a person.

I know a lot of you out there are runners or else know of people who are so please join us in this race! It is for such a good cause.
Brett will begin his first transplant at the beginning of February, and with your help, he will be finishing his last treatment at the end of March. If you have any questions about the race or how you can donate please visit (I don't know how to add a link...):

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Brett/258561409913?ref=search&sid=607896555.2896082454..1#/event.php?eid=278286439438

December 25, 2009

Christmas is here!

I woke up to Jack and Nixin rummaging around in the front room this morning. Chad and I slowly came out of our deep sleeps and then Jack so adorably woke Cohen up. The missing cookies, carrots, and milk could only mean one thing- Santa had been here!


The boys got exactly what they had asked for. Jack got a Didj, Nixin a Leapster (although he later decided to trade in his Leapster for a Didj), and Cohen an activity center jumper thing. Chad got a watch that I'm not 100% convinced that he loves and I got a watch too, which I do love.



After the present opening, I headed into the kitchen to get the breakfast together. The craziest thing happened. All of the sudden the front door slammed! We went into the front room and there were a couple of new presents under the tree addressed to me from Santa! I got a new camera!!!


It was not something that I had asked for, but something that I am super excited to learn how to use. The pictures that I have taken so far are awesome! Here are a few of them from our Christmas Day:





Our day was full of company, good food, and fun. We could not have asked for a better Christmas. Merry Christmas from the Williams family! We hope your holiday was a wonderful one.