Two Peas in a Pod

In order to make all this:

We first had to go here:


After a whole year of enjoying the jam made from last year's strawberry picking escapade, we decided to make it a yearly tradition. Homemade strawberry jam is seriously yummy and Will now turns his nose up in disgust at even the thought of store bought jam. So we got the group together (Paula, Lydia, Grandma, Wendy and Tyler) and headed for the strawberry patch. The weather was beautiful and sunny and we all picked to our hearts' content. Well, except for maybe Everett and Tyler, who decided it would be more fun to hug, play, push each other, run in the woods, etc. Basically everything EXCEPT pick strawberries. Oh well, such is the life of and 2 and 1/2 and almost 3 year old.


We brought along Grandma so she could watch the girls while the moms picked the berries. The girls did so well and played in a little makeshift playpen and spent the time soaking up some rays.

Afterwards we munched on some goodies, which Tyler and Everett simply LOVED. Check out Tyler's cool shades:

And then it was home to make the jam. We picked six buckets of strawberries which means in addtion to what you see here, we now have five gallon-sized bags of strawberries in the freezer and two more buckets I need to get to in order to make more jam. Uh, yeah, just call us some jam-making fools!
PS-Thanks goes to Wendy for the title of this blog post. Of course, in reference to Everett and Tyler.

Gratitude for Will

Ahh, good 'ol April 19th. A date that will live in infamy - in the Giddens household at least. April 19th is one of those anniversaries that we can't help but look forward to, even if it does commemorate a less than happy event. April 19th, 2003 is the date of Will's rock climbing accident. The accident that has had such a ripple effect on every other aspect of his life. I've been ever mindful that it was this Saturday for about a month now. I don't really want to repeat everything I wrote last year, or bore those who already know the story, but I would like to record my feelings about this date, especially for posterity's sake, so here I go...

Whenever April 19th rolls around I'm always filled with so much gratitude for Will. I always love, admire and respect him, but when April 19th gets here, I'm filled to the brim with love and gratitude for this amazing person I'm lucky enough to call my husband. How lucky am I that he survived the accident and came back to Georgia and met and married me? How lucky am I to have a husband who is so perfectly suited for me and my personality? How lucky am I that we have such a wonderful, happy and fulfilling marriage? How lucky am I to see him be such a devoted and loving father to our two kids? I call it lucky here, but I truly know that Will's life was spared for a reason and there really wasn't any luck involved. I firmly believe Heavenly Father had and still has a special plan for Will's life and that April 19th, 2003 simply wasn't his time to leave this earth.

Will is such a example of strength. For those of you who know him personally, you may have noticed he rarely mentions the pain he's in or that he's uncomfortable in any way. In fact, a lot of folks have told us that they even forget Will's disabled at all. As his wife, I get to see first hand the hardships he endures on a daily basis. From getting out of bed, going up and down stairs, to working in the yard, or running around with Everett. All very simple tasks and yet each provide their own challenge to him and his feet and legs. He rarely complains - even to me. In fact, he usually has a humorous comment and a ready laugh for everyone he meets. I often look at him in sheer amazement that one individual could be asked to endure so much. And yet he does so, with hardly a complaint.

As April 19th is a Saturday this year it's been especially poignant as it was a Saturday five years ago. Sometimes I wish we could turn back time and have things turn out differently, but then I remember that although the accident was terrible, it brought Will and I together and that has been the biggest, most amazing blessing to us both. And so, today marks another year that I've been able to enjoy Will. Here's to many more and happy April 19th to everyone!

I Should Have Known

Sometimes I wonder how many times I'll have to be taught certain parenting lessons. Like this one: Don't let a 2 year-old feed the baby. Because if you do, here's what you'll get:

At least she looks happy about having rice cereal all over her chin, mouth and even on her nose. What a good sport!
And here's a picture of our happy gal sans food. Will keeps remarking how similar Juliana and Everett look, but I'm not so sure. So I dug up this puppy from the archives of Everett at roughly the same age. Hmm...

Everett the Inventive

Dear Everett,

Do you know that I think you're one of the coolest kids around? Because I do! You have no idea how thrilled I was to turn around in Marshall's last week and see you with that batting helmet on - backwards. How creative! Who says you have to wear it the standardly accepted way? Props to you for thinking outside the norm and marching to your own beat and all that jazz. I especially loved how once you put it on you acted as though everyone SHOULD wear it backwards and upside down. Like, "Duh!"

You keep it up with this 'outside the box' thinking and who knows what you'll think of next? I can see your future now - science fairs! Lemonade stands! Fundraisers! College paid for by age 16! Entrepreneur by age 19! Your own business by 25! The next great, life-changing idea! Gosh, I can hardly wait!
In the meantime, thanks for the laughs. And for keeping me on my toes. If you're doing this at 2 and 1/2, who knows where we'll be by age 3??? You rock!

Love,

Mom :-)

My Confession

In light of the return of NBC's The Office tonight, I thought it was due time for me to fess up. I consider myself a pretty level-headed, sensible gal. I try not to get too worked up over most things and all around, I think I'm a pretty easy-going person. I'd like to call myself an optimistic realist.

So what does it say about me that I have a huge celebrity crush on Jim Halpert/John Krasinski (For my purposes, they are pretty much the same person)? I suppose it's because he simply seems like a very normal, super average kind of guy. Plus, he's really funny (or at least he plays a funny guy on TV). I find myself getting all giddy and excited whenever I find out he's going to be interviewed on some show. Any show. It doesn't matter which one. It could be something as silly as one of those 10 minute shows on the TV Guide Network. Whatever. The entire time I'm watching him being interviewed I have a super cheesy grin on my face and I find myself giggling like a teenage girl. And then I think, "We could TOTALLY be friends!"

Will thinks this is all pretty humorous. Especially when I told him, thanks to my good 'ol friend imdb.com, that John/Jim's birthday is October 0f 1979. A mere TWO months before mine. Will laughed out loud when I told him that little fact. "Like that makes a difference?" he asked. "Heck yes," I exclaimed. "We're practically the same age which means we could totally be friends!" Because, obviously, it's like we're in elementary school and you're only friends with the kids in your grade level. It also means had we lived in the same town growing up, he totally would've been in my grade! We would've graduated high school together! We probably would've be friends way back then. Plus that means he's 28 right now just like me! I mean, seriously, could we HAVE more in common? Plus, I think I read somewhere that he played basketball in high school. I played basketball in high school. Again, all the similarities are simply uncanny.

As this week has taken its sweet time getting to Thursday night, I've been getting more and more excited. FINALLY I'll get to see my TV boyfriend! Plus the kids will be fast asleep and it'll just be me, Jim and the rest of the Office gang - together again. Yea for Thursdays!!

Cousin Photoshoot

Tips for taking funny pictures of 6 and 1/2 month old cousins:

1) Take them on a walk

2) Let them sit face forward in their strollers

3) Have the sunshine work its magic

4) Let the fun begin!

Imagine what fun we'll have come summer when we add a pool to the mix!

A Dinosaur, Obviously

This video is mostly for Will. He's asked me to try to get more videos of the kids, especially Everett since he can talk. Always up for a challenge, I realized I was ahead of the game when I discovered this "forgotten" clip from our outing to the park last week. Everett's on a real dinosaur kick lately, so when he sees anything that even remotely resembles one, he has to shout out, "Dinosaur! Dinosaur!" I'm pretty sure the playground people meant for this to be an alligator, but who am I to dash a young boy's dreams?

(As an interesing sidenote, Everett was fascinated watching this video and asked to view it at least 10 times in a row. He also found it fun to answer my questions in real life. We had a few minutes there where it felt like Everett Surround Sound. You should be so lucky.)