Mom vs. Dad

Here's what Juliana looks like when I'm in charge of her:



Here's what she looks like after Will's had her for about five minutes:


Any questions?

Happy Mothers Day!!

Mommy, I love you For all that you do.

I'll kiss you and hug you'Cause you love me, too.

You feed me and need meTo teach you to play,

So smile 'cause I love you On this Mother's Day.

This is a special post for a special woman. Happy Mothers Day Natalie, we love you!

Natalie, you are such a wonderful wife, that I could not have imagined that the Lord would bless me with such a perfect bride. You are always happy and cheerful. I have never had so much support from anyone like I continually get from you. I knew you were wonderful from the moment I met you, (which was EFY 97 and to this day you have absolutely no memory of me beign there whatsoever) but it wasn't until I saw you become a mother, that I truly saw that you are the greatest blessing my Father in Heaven could give me, and the world's greatest mom. You are the mother of two of the sweetest children in the world, and again I feel blessed beyond measure because of you.

Here is a message from Everett:

The lighting is bad but you can hear the little man talking. I know sometimes you get frustrated that Everett begins and ends EVERY sentence with Mommy, but it warms my heart to see the two of you together.

Then there is Juliana. She is so sweet and beautiful and amazing. She is always happy and smiling and very content. I know she gets these characteristics from you. I know she is still little, but she knows her mommy and loves her very much. You seem to think that our children prefer you to me because they are with you more, but it is a lot more than that. They can feel the Spirit with you and know that you are willing to do anything from them and can feel how much you love them. Our children are very blessed to have such a cool mom, especially one that shops at H&M. A mother is one who loves, serves, and sacrifices constantly for her family. You are always thinking of us, us being your three children, and rarely have time or energy to think of yourself. I am grateful for you and I know that Everett and Juliana are too. We love you very very much and hope that you have a wonderful mother's day!

H&M Bestill My Heart

Ahh, wonderful, marvelous, totally cool and amazingly trendy H&M. How I love thee. You are my first real fashion love and even now, after all these years of little to no contact, when I was afraid that maybe I had forgotten just how neat and hip you really were, you did not disappoint.

For those of you living under a rock, H&M is one of the greatest clothing retailers known to man. I remember both Emily and Heidi, who were lucky enough to go while we were in college (well, Heidi, yours was a college-related trip, so even though we had graduated, I'm still counting it) relating their experiences of shopping at H&M. It sounded like heaven on earth. Cute, trendy clothes at inexpensive prices? Bless those Swedes! Between Ikea and H&M, they have U.S. consumers on lock. (Do you like my use of the trendy vernacular? Yeah, I'm still with it...)

My first time actually shopping at H&M was in February of 2003. My friend Mandy and I took a four-day trip to the Big Apple and I fell in love. We literally spent hours in the store, trying on anything that caught our eye. It was neat because everything seemed so affordable. A bounty of shirts for less than $10, a plethora more for less than $20. And we're not talking cheapo plain-colored t-shirts here, we're talking cute shirts, made of more than just cotton, with neat cuts or cool designs. Not to mention all the jackets, pants, jeans, skirts, dresses and accessories. Heaven!

Imagine how thrilled I was to discover my personal shopping heaven was finally, FINALLY making its way to my part of the country. H&M, as cool as it is, doesn't do online shopping. It's strictly in-store only. So when they announced Atlanta would be welcoming not one or two, but FOUR H&M's in the metro area, I was overwhelmed.

The big day was yesterday, the 8th. The first H&M in Atlanta celebrated it's grand opening. And guess which totally cool moms were there with babies and strollers in tow?

Thankfully, my mom convinced me to leave Everett at home, and good thing I did because when we got in line at 9:45, we thought the store was going to open at 10. We soon found out that it wouldn't open until noon. We made a quick, unanimous decision to stay put and see out our dream of local H&M shopping. And we weren't disappointed. Juliana and Lydia did fabulously! They ate and smiled and played with each other. They totally wooed the other women standing around us in line. So much so that after we had gotten into the store and were shopping, one gal, who had been standing near us in line, came up to me, asked me what I was planning on buying and then played with Juliana one last time. She even remembered her name. "Bye bye Juliana. Be a good girl." Ahh, the bonds that come from standing in line like a crazy person waiting for a clothing store to open. Those are the ties that bind, I tell ya.


We even had a slightly famous person show up for the grand opening: Robert Verdi, celebrity stylist.
For all its grand openings, H&M hands out gift cards to the first 200 people in line. These cards range from $10 to $250. Paula and I got $25 and $50, respectively. We also scored a black H&M bag, H&M bottled water, a black H&M t-shirt and an H&M umbrella. Hello? Score!

Once the doors opened the inside quickly turned into a madhouse. I have to give us props for maneuvering well with our strollers. It was nice to have a built-in shopping cart and they also helped us to bully people out of our way.
Whew, it was a full-day affair. We didn't get home until after 3 p.m. and we were exhausted. Exhilarated, but exhausted. I scored a pair of black capris and two patterned shirts for a total of $49.73. Did I plan that well or what? We had so much fun, we're contemplating going to the grand opening of the next Atlanta location to see if we can win a bigger gift card. What do y'all think? Would it be worth it?

One of my new shirts. I was home with the kids, so this was the best shot available. It was either this or let Juliana try her hand at photography at the tender age of 8 months. I took a chance that I could take a better picture than my infant. Looking at this picture makes me think Juliana's old enough to use a camera.

Everett's Dating Do's and Don't's

As Everett is fairly mature for his age, he kindly offers the following advice to all the fellas out there who may be a bit confused about dating etiquette.

DO: Offer your date a hand. Women love for men to be chivalrous and holding her hand can be sweet and charming.

DON'T: Ignore your date when something more interesting catches your eye. Being rude is never in style.

DO: Offer to help if she seems to be struggling. Women appreciate a man who can help when they can't do something on their own.

DON'T: Force her to do things exactly like you do them. Women love to be independent and being a dictator is not appreciated.

DO: Appreciate nature together. Ladies love a guy who can stop and smell the roses.

And Everett's last piece of advice?

DON'T: Hang your head in shame if one relationship doesn't work out and she goes running for the door. There are always other fish in the sea!

*Many thanks to Aubrey for agreeing to pose with Everett for this tutorial. Your check is in the mail.

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.)