Christmas Cutie

My cousin Katie is a professional photgrapher and she snapped this adorable picture of Sydney at our last family Christmas celebration. I absolutely love it and plan on owning it as soon as possible to put in the living room. Thought I'd share it with you all. Good job, Katie!

The Many Faces Of Sydney

I am so sorry it has been so long since a post, but things have been crazy around here. My best friend Melissa was recently put on bedrest since she is pregnant with twins, my mom has been running a campaign for re-election to the school board, I've been working a ton, and then the majority of the plumbing in our house decided to quit...all within the last 2 weeks. Throw in a visit from Chris' dad from California and us hosting Easter dinner...I'm pretty sure this is what it feels like to have a stroke. I am tired! WHOOPED, I tell you. So, this is an all-in-one post, your one stop shopping for Happy Wills Family.
First up, American Idol from 2 weeks ago. The theme was songs from the year of your birth, mine being 1981. Not knowing the next week would be movie week, I picked Dolly Parton's "Nine To Five." I would perform it Matt Giraud style, playing the keyboards in the section behind the judges. I have no time to think up a cute outfit or witty judge responses, but you get the idea.
Second, here are some pictures of Sydney clowning around last month while eating her lunch. She is such an expressive child, and as she gets older it gets more dramatic! Wonder where she gets it from.






Finally, these are from a recent bout of good weather, we went to play outside and Sydney had so much fun! Even though I detest the summer and warm weather of any kind (give me a sweater, a book, and a roaring fireplace anyday), I am happy that she'll be able to play outside more. And, summer means BBQ's, 4th of July, and the zoo.



Stay tuned for movie week of American Idol, pictures from Easter, amd pictures of Sydney and Madison playing. We've been spending lots of time at Melissa's house to help while she's been on bedrest, so the girls have had lots of play time!

Hair Fun

Can I just say how thankful and blessed I am to have a daughter? Especially a daughter like Sydney? She is so much fun and I was just born to have a girl! All the pink, the frills, the tea parties, it is so much fun! Not to say that I wouldn't have as much fun with a boy, but I am thankful that I get to experience this part of parenting, too. Sydney is becoming more of a girly-girl each day. She loves to have her hair done and as she gets older and her hair gets longer, we can do more with it. Everyday she wants to have some sort of ponies or clip in her hair, and we usually have to curl it and hairspray it, too. It makes her look so much older to have her hair up!



Today's hair was especially cute. This is the before picture, with her bun ponies.


Then when we took out the ponies, this is what we got!


She had lots of fun looking in the mirror at her big hair! She just stood there and played with her hair like she was 16!

Free Style

Aww, yeah, dawgs, it's American Idol time again! Yo, yo, yo! For all of you who don't watch the show and think I just officially lost it, that is quoting AI judge Randy Jackson. I have been so super excited for this week because it's free choice week! Sort of. It had to be a Billboard Top song, which is basically free choice. This week's song selection was actually picked a long time ago. When I first heard this song, I thought to myself, "If I was on American Idol, that's what I would sing." And ta-da! I would sing Pink's song Sober. It's actually co-written by new AI judge Kara, but I didn't know that when I picked it. It is such a powerful, sad, but somehow uplifting song, and I just love it! I was going to post the video, but alas, my moral compass wouldn't allow it. There's a bit too much lingerie and a full on lesbian love scene that is SO beyond wierd, I just couldn't do it, and I didn't want the video to in any way influence your opinion of the song. Hopefully you've heard it, if not, download it. This week I would wear a black sleeveless dress and black knee high boots, keep it simple so as not to distract from the power of the song. I really hope you can all find and listen to the song because it's a great one!
As for my predictions, which I have been forgetting to do, I am thinking the top three is going to be Kris, Danny, and Matt. I can't wait for this week!

DWTS

So Chris and I have started watching a new show this season, Dancing With the Stars. We've never watched it before because it's on 2 nights in a row, and so is American Idol, so it all equals a lot of TV. But this season there were some interesting celebrities, and we really like Holly Madison, so once she joined the show we decided to watch. We got to talking one night...sort of on the same lines as my fantasy run at American Idol, who would we choose to dance with if we were professional dancers on DWTS? I originally thought Ryan Seacrest or Simon Cowell, but since it's on as the same time as American Idol, they probably couldn't do it. So, I choose Prince! We all know he's got moves, and he can dance really well in high heels already, so there you go. Chris thought long and hard about his choice and finally decided on Fergie! I thought that was pretty funny. Next time you watch DWTS you can picture me with Prince and Chris with Fergie!

Motown Schmotown

Hello to all my American Idol fans! This week we venture on to motown week. I was actually a bit nervous for this one, it's kind of a tough genre, but the real contestants did fabulous! Not that my imaginary participation isn't real in it's own way, but you know what I mean. I was actually really excited that no one picked my song, but surprised, too, since it's a classic. I picked "I Heard It Through The Grapevine." I am not posting a clip or video of this song because I assume everyone not born in a barn is familiar with it. As for the style of how I would perform this song, I am posting a clip that might seem a bit odd. Many of you know I love Amy Winehouse, God bless her drug-infested soul. She's crazy, I know, but I love her music, and if most people would get off their high horse and forget about the dysfunctionality of her life, they might like her jazz influenced music. So, I am posting a clip of her performing at last year Grammy's. Unless you want a good laugh and some hair styling tips, you don't need to watch the entire thing (even though I recommend it to get the full effect), and you don't even need to watch Amy. Just watch the 3 guys to the right of the screen, the back up singers. They are dancing their hearts out and shaking what their mamma's gave them! That is how I would perform this song, just a little bit toned down! Enjoy...


And finally, this is a picture of me as Amy Winehouse last Halloween. She's a lot skinnier than I am. Crack will do that to you.