Big News

Those roses came out of our backyard which has absolutely nothing to do with my horticultural skills and everything to do with the dirt, the sun, the rain, and the swarm of chubby bumblebees that circled furiously around the bush a few weeks ago.

and...

There's going to be another baby at the Williams' house!!

A baby bird. More specifically, a baby dove. It's not quite the species we were hoping for, but new life is always magical and we'll take what we can get. Yesterday, as Nate was whacking through the Wisteria that's conquering our backyard one tendril at a time, trying to make room for our garden, he noticed that the cute little doves that perch on our back fence are officially our closest neighbors as they've made a twiggy home in the privacy of the leafy vine. Do you want to see it? Ok.

We'll be sure and post more pictures when the little one makes its debut!

The birds' nest wasn't the only pleasant surprise of the week. Deloitte also surprised us with some employee schmoozing at a family carnival at the ball park Saturday night. There are a lot of irritating things about being a peon in a behemoth corporate operation, but every once in a while there's a shiny perk. It's amazing what a little free food and entertainment does for employee morale. We had buckets of All-American fun at the carnival and the baseball game. Henry bounced his brains out in the bounce house, and was captivated by the bubbly turtle that the balloon artist fastened to his wrist. We enjoyed hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner, got our picture taken in front of a neon green sheet, which by some photographic miracle magically morphed into a backdrop that very nearly resembled the upper deck of Wrigley Field, and Nate set the company record in the "hurl your hardest pitch" contest with a whopping 67 mile an hour fast ball. Good job, sweetie! We were also delighted to learn that we could use the "Deuce Bucks" that came in our admission packet at the snack shack--and that they gave us real dollars for change. Real dollars! That we could spend on other, more important things like Taco Bell burritos and chocolate milk at the grocery store. We ended up making $7.00 on the night. Not bad, not bad at all. I couldn't tell you a thing about the game, but what I could tell you is that peanut M&M's taste better at a ball park and that Gloria got her new coffee table at Goodwill for $30. Oh, and Wendy's landscaper slashed up her sprinkler pipes while planting their new trees, but don't worry 'cause they were still under their one year maintenance warranty and their builder repaired it for free. Phewph! Sometimes I just can't resist the corporate wives' prattle. Here's a picture of the night that was, in every way, better than Disney Land for the three of us:

I regret to inform you all that Henry's found his agression in recent weeks. He asserts his strength and independence at every turn. And he seems suddenly aware of his own brawn, realizing that his density and girth can work to his advantage. Much to my dismay, he's started doing things like taking other children to the ground and laying on top of them until they relinquish the toy he desires. Another of his trademark moves is to grab onto the collar of their shirts and jerk them around until they finally grow weary of the subjection and comply with his wishes. I'm trying to teach him that sharing is fun and that said bullying makes people sad and gives them owies. Hopefully he'll understand sooner than later; it'd be a blooming shame to go down in playgroup history as "that violent hooligan's mother." Even so, I'd still describe life with Henry as mostly sweet, punctuated by an occasional demonstration of his new-found brute.

The other night we were winding down after his bath and I was asking him to name features on my face. He said, "Mama nose, mama eyes, mama keeks" (cheeks,) and then I pointed to my lips, puckered them slightly and asked, "And what are these?" He said, without a moment's hesitation, "Dat's mama kiss!" And then we had a SCHMOOCH-A-ROO! Only a child's own mother could tolerate a kiss like this:

The only explanation that I've been able to come up with for this behavior is that he's been watching his father more closely than we thought. (wink!)

Oh, and if you're curious, Nate and I picked out some new light fixtures on our date on Friday night and chose a paint color for the bathroom. Here's the track light we're going to put in the kitchen. Here's the paint color we chose for the bathroom; it's called Silver Sage, (you've got to click on the second little color sample box to see it in the room.) I think it will go nicely with white cabinets and brushed nickel hardware, do you?