"Knock-knock"

My sweet little (actually off the charts, tall) William! Sometimes he comes up with the funniest, silliest, and even sassiest things to share. Here are a couple from just recently that I needed to document so as to never forget them.

I thought this was one of the profoundest things he's ever said especially considering his autism and the way I, sometimes, see him as a bit "trapped in his own head.
"Mamma, did you know that imagination can set you free?"
We spent a while today seeing shapes in the, rare in PS, clouds. He saw 3 Humpback Whales and said it was daddy, me and him before Benny was born. Even though he's the younger brother...I just let him have it. Everyone deserves a little alone time with their parents, even if it's only in his head right. I think we need to start our daddy/mommy taking turns with the boys date nights again.

The funniest thing was a knock-knock joke he told me recently, turned vulgar because of his speech delay. It went exactly like this:

"Knock knock",
"Who's there?"
"Shitand" (chicken)
"Chicken who?"
"Shitand poop"...followed by hysterical laughter by both of us. Good thing laughter was an appropriate response, this time.

Gotta love little boys!

I found her...and our favorite song. Yay!

She's the super cute one on the left. A little blondy thru and thru. I remember this Stevie Wonder song very well because we used to dance around the house to it because it made us so happy. As we got older we loved to use a wooden spoon and dance around to, yes, Whitney Houston's "I wanna dance with somebody". Good memories!

My love to Onica Kelly Wright...8/28/74- 4/24/1998

As her family we are all aware at this time of year, that it's been 22 years since we lost our sweet sister Onica. Sometimes I still find it hard to talk about her or even remember my childhood, because all of those memories include her being right beside me. She was my partner in crime (literally), my best friend, roomate, and some days my worst enemy. We were yin and yang...and I like to think that over the years I have become more like her. She was forever bubbly, full of energy and very social. She was sun-shiny but could pout like no one else when she wanted to get her way. She was feisty but very loving and kind. She was always ahead/part of fashion trends and was a boy magnet at way too young an age.
Part of me is very sad that I wasn't with her when she left this world...that I didn't get to help her and comfort her, to tell her that I loved her and to say goodbye. But I want all of you to know that I still feel her with me. A lot of that is because of all of you. I see little bits of her in each one of you and and am reminded of how blessed I am to have sisters. Sisters that I love, admire, and hope to become more like as I progress in this life. Sisters that have been there for me through all of it and still love and hopefully, at times, can admire me for my strengths and look past my blaring weaknesses. I love you all, so dearly. I love our parents who's loss of a sweet daughter I could never imagine living through. You've struggled with it, tremendously, but ultimately I hope you feel stronger and closer to Heavenly Father because of it. We can be with her again someday. I know it's true. We can honor her life by making the best choices we can, and by forgiving ourselves of the bad ones. I know we are God's children and that he loves each of us, unconditionally. I believe that Onica is with him helping him on the other side.
You really are my sister-soul mates, my examples and my best friends.
Here's to Becca, Heather, Ariana, Janelle, Onica, Amy, Jessica and Kimbriana and of course our lovely parents Jerry and Christine.
Love to you all!
Rachelle
PS...someday I will find a picture of Onica and put it up here too. So sad, cried all morning when I couldn't find one.

My latest post-pregnancy nesting project...

So this is my overstimulating baby's room that I'm still working on, and he's 3 mo. old now. Better late than never, right! I'm not quite sure about the layout yet...am still playing around with it, but this is the general idea. Bummer that I'm just now noticing that the blue/red striped one is kinda crooked because I already hot glued the fabric to the back. Oh well.
I'm also soooo excited because my sister-in-law, Anne, is making me the cutest fabric bird mobile out of fun coordinating, and also a bit overstimulating, colors/patterns. If you're interested...she might start selling them. They are amazing. I will definitely put up a picture when she's done but for now you can go to her blog to check them out.

More of my silly boys!

T-ball pics with Ben and daddy...isn't he the cutest coach ever!!!

It has been so fun/cute/tender to have David be the coach of the boys t-ball team. It's Will's first year and so it's worked out so nicely to have his daddy be the one teaching him "the ropes", while being able to understand some of his challenges and help him develop his strengths. It has also been so much fun to see what an evolved player Ben is from last year to now. He's so much more coordinated and sure of himself and as you can see above and takes the game very seriously. My favorite is to watch him practice swinging his bat when he's up and then to see him run like the wind and ultimately do his dramatic slide into home base. They are all so cute out there, I could just eat them up!!!

Will got to be on the team this year too...so fun!!!

More fun family pics at g-ma's house...with a smiley baby

It's so much fun to see this sweet new baby so naturally become a part of our family. The older boys love having a baby in the house and have been surprisingly helpful...but definitely more loving and nurturing than I would have expected. They are both amazing big brothers.

Playing at grandma Woolf's

A fun change to our front room...

As you can see below, these are some of the pics I took on our Kauai trip at a botanical garden and it's been so much fun to blow these up and decorate my house with them. They definitely add great color and it'll be nice to have the reminder of one of the highlights of our trip...for me.

The epitomy of our wonderfully relaxing trip...

Kauai is BEAUTIFUL...

Just some fun with my camera in Kauai!!!