Ben's Shark Party

Ben asked for a shark (pronounced "shike") party for this 4th birthday so, of course, we had to comply.

Our front lawn.

Here is the cake. My first attempt at cake decorating. It was going really well but the icing on the shark, including the eyes as you can see, started to run immediately after being taken out of the freezer. Any cake decorators out there can let me know why and how to avoid it if I ever try it again. The kids loved it though.

Taking a break from playing to get a drink.

The Birthday Boy with Bear, of course!

The adults trying to stay in the shade and not get splashed by all the kids in the little pool.

Cool present Uncle Brian!

Nice form!

Notice Ben's posture. Hmm. It isn't that bad to be hugged by a girl!

Nana seems to be blown away by something Ben is saying. Good job Nana!

And the lifetime of being coached begins...

It was a great day. A little chaotic with 10 kids to entertain but all had fun and that is what matters. Maybe next year an easier cake...

Ben is "FOY!" (four)

Happy Birthday! We started the day with special Birthday pancakes.

So many phone calls!

And then presents.

We ended the day with coldstone ice cream in a cone! It was serious business...

Daddy had to help a little.

All Done! What a big boy!

We have grass!!!

Thanks to Dad 1, Dad 2 and Peter S. we have grass for Ben to play on! YEAH!!

Ben's Mothers Day Pics

Well, Mothers Day has come and gone, yet we still need to thank our mothers more often than once a year...so thank you mothers. There two days in a row...that should do it. I'm kidding.

For this year Ben and I worked together to surprise Krista, Nina and Nana with a gift from the two of us. So my buddy Josh, who will someday be a top tier photographer if he isn't already, met Ben and I at a local park near my office for a photo shoot. The first task was to get Krista to bring Ben down to Irvine without her knowing anything. Enter good friend #2 in the plot, Leah, who took Krista to dinner in Costa Mesa, while we were at the park taking pictures.

So that portion went smoothly and Ben never said a word to Kris. So, Sunday rolls around and all three mothers are surprised with their gifts. To see the pictures and some of the others from that day please go to my friends blog below:

http://www.liftmylife.com/blog/2008/5/10/lifted-bens-mothers-day-gift.html

Hope you all had a good Mothers Day, whether you are Mother or not. God Bless!
J

House pics...

Hello,


Well its been a while, I was hoping to have some grass down before this post, but my Uncle Bill wants to see some updated pics, so here we go! (Love ya Bill!)


Here is our house at night...


Here is our front entry way with our street numbers...

Here we are inside of that front entry way, at some point we will have a formal living area here..


Here is the dinning room that is need of some chairs, but my wife, the seemstress, has made a very nice table cloth. Her next job is some window treatments (only 14 windows to go...)


Here is the kitchen, this picture turned out a little yellow, not sure why, but you get the idea...

Here is the family room off of the kitchen...

Here is the back of the family room with freshly hung family pictures...
Say goodnight to Ben in his bedroom...

Here is Ben's/guest bath...


Here is the master bedroom...

And the master bath, with the much anticipated vanity...

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend and may God Bless you all.

J

Some pics...

Here are some pics of the house for those of you that are interested. Krista, of Williamson Design, wanted to let you know that none of these rooms are completely decorated, so do not hold her or her firm accountable for these pictures as they are not a complete representation of her and her firms abilities. Ok now that the legal stuff is out of the way....

Here is the front of the house at night...

Here is the front door...

Here is the dining room, with table, w/o chairs...
Here is the master closet w/o doors

Master Bed

Guest/kids bath...


Here is Ben's room...


Master bath....

Master bath part 2 (no vanity yet....4 months and counting...)

Laundry...

Front bedroom (aka staging room...)


Family room...

Kitchen...

Pantry...

Pantry w/ door open...

Phone/family schedule station/desk...

Well thats the virtual tour...we hope to be ready for live tours soon. We will keep you all posted...

J

Mark it, Feb 7th move in day!!!!

Tonight will be the Williamson's first night in our new home! Words do not discribe the feeling of this, but it is AWESOME! Here a just a couple pics, more to come once we have cleaned up a bit and unpack the camera charger. Feel free to stop by anytime and check things out.

Bye for now...

J

House Update Jan 16th

First off, I have no pics to show you today, but use your imagination.

The last blog was when we started laying the hardwood floor on Monday the 7th and finished the dinning room. On Tuesday Ron, Brian and Brian and I extended the hardwood into the kitchen and family room. On Wednesday Brian D and I finished the kitchen and family room. On Thursday Brian W, Blair, Steve and I finished the front room and started the hallways. On Friday Krista and I finished the hallway leading to the master bedroom (fitting that Krista and I did that together). On Saturday Steve, Dave, Brian D and I finished the rest of the hallways and front bedroom to complete the laying of the hardwood. My best guess would be a total of 88 man hours went into that flooring, all of which was after hours or weekend time.
Special thanks to all those who helped on that project, and the wives & girlfriends that let them help (Marcy, Sarah, Karen, Beth, Tina and Avery).

Also going on on Saturday, Brian W hung our last door leading from the garage to the house and my dad and mom started our finished electrical. (If you need outlet and switch plates hung, my mom is pro at it.)

Sunday we rested!

Monday brother Brian and I hung our siding on the front of the house, while my dad kept moving on the electrical.

Last night was base board night. Justin, Brian, Brian and I blew through 98% of the baseboards. We would have finished but I under estimated by one stick. Mean while, but dad kept rolling with the electrical and Matt Ely came by and hung all of our registers HVAC.

Today between 1&4 we will have our counter tops installed and tonight we will install some closet doors and door knobs.

I'll post some pics as soon as I can.

House pics as of Jan 8, 08

Here are a couple of updated pics (low quality camera phone pics) of the latest happenings at the Williamson house...
Brian Douglas, Brother Brian and I started laying the hardwood floor last night...only the living room, family room, kitchen, hallway and front bedroom left to do...

The blur you see is Jaime finishing up the grout in our master bath...

House Pics as of Jan 3 08

It has been a long time since many of you have seen any pictures of the house, so here you go...

Here is the front of the house with a close up of the door. The door looks a little purple, but that is just the primer and will eventually be black.
Moving inside you can see the paint on the walls, which is similar to Restoration Hardware store colors.
Front entry area...

Here is the dinning Room...

Guest Bath...

Kitchen...

Family Room...

Master Bath Tile Floor...

Master Bedroom....

View from the back yard. Door on the right leads to the master bed, the door on the left leads to the family room...

We are hoping to be moving in the house within the next 4 weeks or so...assuming the weather doesn't hold us up...