Adam Lambert and Nellie Oleson

Yes, the title of this post is "Adam Lambert and Nellie Oleson." An odd pairing, I know, but what do Adam Lambert and Nellie Oleson have in common? (that's a question I never thought I'd ask) They have my little Sydney in common. At least in one respect. The other day Sydney got into my make-up and took out my eye-liner. She had good intentions, I'm sure, but here is what it came out as...


See? Adam Lambert likes to bust out the eye-liner, too, or in his case I think it's called guy-liner. Second, Sydney likes to have me curl her ponytails in the morning. On Tuesday her little curls were so blond and the way the one on her right side kept in perfect curl form and fell forward just reminded me of Nellie Oleson's curls!


I almost hate to make that comparison, because Sydney is nothing like Nellie Oleson, it was just the hair!


It's been a busy week. I was doing some laundry and Sydney of course wanted to help. This is what she does when she's getting the laundry out of the washing maching to put in the dryer...

So cute! And then we have been getting her room ready for her new big-girl bed, and she got a new dresser, too. She loves it, as you can tell!

Very Grown-Up, Indeed

Today Sydney is officially 2 and a half. She is getting to be so grown up! I can't even tell you what a difference the last 6 months has made. She talks in sentences, she can joke around, and she is becoming a huge help to me, even at a young age. She puts her dishes in the sink, she helps me with her silverware when I unload the dishwasher, she put her laundry in her basket and helps to put the laundry in the washing maching, too. She even helps me with dinner almost every night. And when I say she "helps with dinner," I mean she stands on her stepstool and samples whatever I am making and generally gives out orders and helps with stirring sometimes. It's very cute! She is quite the little chef. Today she helped me make bread (my first attempt at homemade bread and it was SO GOOD)and some homemade soup. She loves to sample the cheese from the soup, and she helped me "mush," aka knead, the bread. When she was done, she had some blueberries with her lunch and we had a good laugh over what they did to her hands and face! I am so pleased with how responsible she is becoming, but I miss my baby, too!




Here are some more random pics from a recent picnic we had at the park. I meant to share them last time and forgot.

"Beach" is Not A Bad Word

A few weekends ago Chris and I decided to take Sydney to the beach for the day. She was so excited, even though she had no clue where we were going, and she kept yelling out "Beach, beach!" Except it sounded like she was shouting out a not very nice word, a word that we definetely don't use in this house. It was so cute and Chris and I kept having to cover our mouths when we were laughing! It was such a nice day, by Oregon standards anyway. It was sunny, only a tiny bit windy, and not too cold. We had lunch, did some shopping, played on the beach, and went for a very long walk. On the way home, Sydney fell fast asleep, no doubt exhausted from her strenuous day of being adorable.

The water was a bit too cold for her.


A pathetically sad little sand castle, but still cute, nonetheless.




Doesn't she kind of look like Emma Thompson here? Weird much?

Long Time Coming

Hello, faithful fans of Happy Wills Family! I know you must be so thankful to finally see something other than a picture of our toilet! I am sorry for the recent lack of posts. My Aunt Carye sent me an email today to check up on us since there hadn't been a post in almost a month. She gave the following reasons for our absence from the blogging world:
1. Been co-parenting the twins with Melissa.
2. Are in the first trimester of your next pregnancy and just to exhausted to type.
3. No longer willing to put the work in when you get no responses or visits from your Aunt Carye.
4. Decided that Sydney is simply too special to share with the rest of the world and we must wait for her biography to come out when she is 7.
Clever, but no. For the first reason, I am happy to report that Melissa, the twins, and the entire Marteney family are doing great! I was over there today and her house was cleaner than mine, actually, and I don't have three children under the age of three like she does. She's pretty much wonder woman and while I do go over to fold the occasional load of laundry and snuggle with a baby, she's doing great and doesn't need the help like she did on bedrest. For the second reason, I am absulotely, positively, NOT pregnant! While we have been thinking and praying about expanding our family, the time just hasn't been right for us yet. And as for 3 and 4, no responses are required, I really do enjoy blogging, and the biography is a good idea! Actually, it's just been a really busy month. Sydney was really sick for about 2 weeks and got to go see her doctor twice in a week, and got put on her first antibiotic. She's much better now, but it was a rough 2 weeks for our girl. I worked a lot more the last month, and then there was the starlight parade and the beach, which I will post some pictures of soon. In the meantime, here are some very random pictures from the last month.
My aunt and grandparents came to visit a few weeks ago. Sydney hitched a ride on Grandpa's walker. She knows a good thing when she sees one!


We have been having really nice weather lately. Here's Sydney ready for a picnic lunch we went on in the middle of May.


My mom recently won her re-election to the local school board. I always think it is so fun to vote for my own mom! Here is Sydney with our ballots.

Tales of a Toilet Gone Horribly Wrong

Or I should say, tales of toilets, plural, gone horribly wrong. I mentioned a few posts back how a good chunk of our plumbing recently decided to die, all at the same time, and finally here are some pictures. Oh yes, this is our toilet, in our yard. Isn't that so trashy? I thought it was so funny, though, and had to take some pictures.


Sydney must have thought we were crazy, hauling our toilet outside, so she got her snack, took a seat, and watched Chris try to wrestle with the unyielding porcelain.


In one day, our master bath toilet, sink, and shower all died. Chris and my dad were able to fix the shower and sink, but the toilet was another matter. We were using Sydney's bathroom until it died, too. On Easter Sunday. At 9:00pm. Which meant that we were without a toilet for 12 hours until the plumber could come in the morning. Never once have I wished I was a guy until I was without a toilet. It's so easy for them, they just go outside. I, on the other hand, am not accustomed to peeing on a bush, let alone peeing on a bush in the middle of the night when it's raining. So, please don't laugh, but I used Sydney's little potty seat. Very humbling. Thankfully, the plumber came out and fixed the first toilet in about 2 minutes, then Chris was able to fix the other toilet after about 2 hours with it outside. I am SO GLAD that is all done! What next, the water heater? (knock on wood, knock on wood, knock on wood...please don't let the water heater die now.)

A Very Late Easter

I know it's like a month late, but here is a small slide show of pictures from our Easter celebration. We went to an egg hunt at my mom's work, where Sydney got to meet the Easter Bunny (which did not go over well) and see a real bunny (which went much better). We went to church of course, and had my parents and Abbie over for a ham dinner, egg decorating, and another egg hunt. Sydney had lots of fun the entire weekend! She has a few little books about Jesus and Easter and she sort of understood for the first time that Jesus and Easter have something to do with each other. It was such a great weekend!

More Twin Pictures

Here are a few more pictures of the new Marteney twins. I love this family picture, their first picture as a family of five. Also, here are Micah and Mason with their "A" and "B" hats that I made for them and gave to Melissa at her shower.In hospitals when twins are born, they use a sharpie and write "A" and "B" on their little caps, but I think that's ugly, so I did these for the boys so they could look sharp from the get-go. I love those boys already and can't wait for Melissa to come home so I can spend some time with them!


Micah John is "A" and Mason Russell is "B."

Double the Blessings, Double the Fun

Hello, fans. I know I am dreadfully behind on my posting, I apologize. Life has still been crazy, but I do have tons of pictures from Easter on to post on here, plus my American Idol predictions. I will post them soon, hopefully this week, but first I have the best news! My best friend Melissa finally had her twins last night! Micah John was born at 8:43, 5lbs 9oz, 18in, and Mason Russell was born at 8:46, 5lbs 14oz, 18 3/4in. They are both healthy and Melissa sailed through labor like a champ. She said it was actually easier than giving birth the first time. We were all worried she would need a C-Section since Mason was head up, but Micah came through first head down and they were able to extract Mason feet first. We went to see them this morning and it was so special! It was just 2.5 years ago that we were on our way home from the hospital with Sydney and we stopped to see Madison. In case you don't remember, the girls were born one day apart. Here is the first picture of Sydney and Madison together, and then a few of all of the kids. I can't believe Melissa has 3 children!






I found myself surprisingly emotional yesterday while Melissa was in labor. The last time she was in labor I was recovering from my own, and while I thought about her then, it was different. The physical pain of my own recovery along with trying to figure out how to take care of one-day-old Sydney was first on my mind, while in the back of my mind I was thinking of Melissa and her delivery. This time, I was at home with nothing to do but worry. God be praised that she has three healthy children and that she is recovering well!

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.

Opry Week

Hello, fans! Back to my continuing American Idol journey. Last week was country week, but more specifically, Grand Ol' Opry Week, which significantly narrows the choices. If it had been just normal country week, I would have done a Sugarland song. But, since it was a much narrower selection, I chose an oldie but a goodie. I picked Diamond Rio's What A Beautiful Mess. I like this song a lot, but it's not super well known so I could put my own spin on it and not be accused of messing with a good thing. I couldn't get the video to copy on this blog, but click HERE to see the video. I would take out the second verse to shorten the song for the time allowed. As for the most important part, my outfit, I don't have a picture for you today, but I would make it simple and wear a creamy babydoll dress with brown cowbow boots, with big Loretta Lynn hair, because come on, it is country night! I forgot the judge's comments in my Jackson 5 post, so here goes: Randy said he liked my hair and the boots, and he thinks my interpretation of the song is dope. Kara liked my rifts and artistry. Paula liked that I was true to myself but she would like to see me challenge myself with a faster paced song next week. And Simon argued with Paula and said I was the frontrunner for the competition and I singlehandedly make him want to like country music.
(I know I know, it's a little much, but a girl can dream right?)