Summer Update...

Well, I have my last Youth Ball League to photograph for the season tonight at Whiteman Air Force Base and then I will have almost a month off of work. It is nice to have some time at home to get things done, but it makes it tough on the finances for a few weeks. I will go back to work taking Senior Pictures in late July and then spend the first two weeks of August making the rounds taking staff group pictures. Then by the middle of August we will be taking Fall School Portraits every day and doing sports teams after school and on the weekends. We added two large school districts (Warrensburg and Clinton) to our territory this year so we are going to be stretched on our schedule even more than in the past. I am looking forward to the new challenges and experiences that we will encounter with the extra work load.

Kendall has just three more T-Ball games. He is really enjoying the season and asks every day "do I get to play T-Ball tonight?" I think most of the team is getting a little more tired though, I am seeing a lot more playing in the dirt and rolling around in the grass than I saw earlier in the season.
Lizzy has Stunt Camp at Cheerleading this week, so she is missing a few hours of Summer School on Tuesday and Thursday morning. I'm starting to think that as much time as she spends at Cheerleading that she might as well just move her bed up there... Oh well, she is really enjoying the whole learning experience and meeting lots of new friends. I can't wait until the competitions start.

Fonda is enjoying her new job although she is meeting new challenges every day. She is gearing up for a Grand Opening towards the end of July, so she is trying to get the store layout how she likes it and more inventory ordered to fill the store before school starts. If you are in the Blue Springs area stop by to see her at The Little Teachers Store at 1006 West Main Street.

Day 5...

Friday we had the chance to spend the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa Crooks to see Grandpa use his Racing Experience Gift Certificate at the Kansas Speedway. As much as he enjoys racing, the kids all went together and bought him a Gift Certificate for a 6 lap ride to see what it is like to go 160 mph in a NASCAR Race Car. We all enjoyed getting to see him do this, and it was neat to be down in the Pit Area of a Major Speedway.

The Grandkids cheered as Papa made his racing debut!

Day 3...

Another day of Fun for the boys...
We started the day by hitting a few (ok, quite a few) Garage Sales in the area, and Kendall is such a sport by walking with me and looking through any toys that he might find and is pretty good about realizing what is good and what is Junk!

Then we picked up Kaiya and headed to Mom's work to help her out for a little bit before lunch. Kaiya and Kendall came back to our house to play for a while before we had to pick up Lizzy from school. We stopped for Ice Cream on our way home from school and then came back to get ready for Cheerleading and T-Ball Practice. After practices we had a nice dinner as a family and then Lizzy went back to Cheerleading practice from 9-10 (Wow- she practices alot, no wonder they are so good). Kendall practices that great form at T-ball Practice...

Day 2 of Daddy Daycare...

Well, we decided to go to the James Lewis Elementary playground today, but due to some construction work at the school they had the school property closed. We then headed just down the street to the Pink Hill Park to spend some time on the playground equipment for a while.
After 45 minutes of playing at the park we decided it was time to drop by and see if Mom needed any help at the store, but on the way Kendall spotted a large helicopter coming in for a landing and it actually landed at the James Lewis Elementary where we originally wanted to play so we stopped to see what was going on. The school was replacing some Air Conditioning units on the roof and the helicopter was removing the old ones and lifting the new ones into place on the top of the school. The helicopter company from St. Louis was very nice and brought Kendall over a sticker while they were hooking up the chains to the first piece and another guy brought Kendall some Safety Glasses to wear to keep the dust and dirt out of his eyes when the helicopter was down so low. It was very cool to see the helicopter lift them up and hoover over the school to put them on the roof.
Well, Kendall's T-Ball game was rained out last night so we hope to get his game in tonight. Lizzy has Cheerleading Practice during the game and I have to work in Knob Noster so we will miss the game, but I am sure he will do as well as he did the first game. Good Luck Buddy!

Daddy Daycare...

Well, its that time of year again when Daddy gets to keep his little one at home while Miss Ami is on vacation. We plan to do something fun and exciting every day while still helping Mom out at her new store when we can. We will also be dropping and picking Lizzy up from Summer School and taking her to Cheerleading Practices and getting Kendall to and from his T-Ball Games and Practice, since that does not leave us much time to do anything too demanding - we will be spending our time at local parks again this year and doing some fishing when we can.

Today we spent about an hour fishing at the little pond in our subdivision and we caught about 10 Bass and one big Perch. Kendall really likes to go fishing with Dad, but does not like to put them back in the pond because they are too "Sluggy" (which I think means that they are too slimmy). We have a T-Ball Game tonight if it does not rain anymore, so we are going to take it somewhat easy the rest of the day...

Ball Season...

The summer is in full swing!

Lizzy is attending Summer School through the day and has Cheerleading Practice three days a week at GAGE. She has made a Competition Cheerleading Squad that will practice throughout the year and Competes throughout the midwest in the Fall and Winter. We are looking forward to seeing her compete in something she really enjoys.

Kendall has started T-Ball this year and is quite the little athlete. He has one game and one practice a week unless they have a rainout to make up the next week. The first game his coach put him on third base and he had numerous balls hit to him and decided that if the first baseman would not catch the ball, that he would just run it over to first and get the batter out (he did this three times in one inning). He hustles to the ball, in fact he was the first one to the ball from third base when the ball was hit to right field....? It is great fun watching them play and he is learning the fundamentals of where to throw when and how to run the bases - we have a new nickname for him and it is "The Defense."

We have a Name...

Puppy has a name!

"Princess Isabella"

But we call her Bella...

She has come a long way the first week of being in
her new home. Last week she had never done stairs,
and now she handles them like a pro. She likes Kendall's
Hot Wheels collection - she picks one up and carries

it around the house with her. She likes taking long walks

around the neighborhood and chasing Kendall all around

the house. If he stops or gets down on the floor they end up

rolling all over the place together and she likes to give him kisses.

All in all, we are all really enjoying her - we just have to get

used to puppy proofing the house because she chews on anything.

Family Addition

After lots and lots of consideration,
we've decided to grow our family again!

Lizzy and Kendall have been wanting someone
to play with for a long time, and the fish last year

did the trick for a while, but we finally broke down

and added another warm body to the household.

She is cute, playful and Black...

She is a 12 week old Yorkie-Poo that is a ball of joy.
The kids have not given her a name yet, but will
decide on a name in the next day or two.

More Snowy Fun!!!

Well, another substantial snow...

We had tickets to see the MonsterJam Tour
at Kemper Arena Saturday night and we were
afraid we were going to get snowed in while we
were there, but by the time we came out we had
about 4-6 inches of snow on the ground and it just
made for a slow trip home. Kendall had a great time
and liked the Black Stallion and Grave Digger

trucks but liked the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

truck the best.

We received about 6-8 inches of snow total
and it was lots of fun playing in it this morning.
Kendall has been sick lately so we didn't get to go
sledding or anything this time, but I did take the
time to build a snowman and let the kids decorate
her while I shoveled the driveway (that doesn't
seem to be a fair trade) and they had a good time.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from
The Williams Family

The kids are ready for Christmas, they had a
chance to visit with Santa to tell him everything
they wanted this year. Kendall wants everything from
a Monster Truck to Dinosaurs and anything in between.

Lizzy really wants a puppy, but I don't think Mom and Dad
are quite ready for another pet right now... so, she has
decided that CD's, Clothes and Games would be better.

I am done with work for 2006 and I am looking forward
to a change of pace when I return in January. My job will
change from taking School Portraits to more groups and
sports for a while, then towards the beginning of March
we will start taking spring portraits until the end of the
school year when we will start Proms, Graduations and
Summer Sports Leagues until the end of June...

Happy Holidays!!!
Tim, Fonda, Lizzy and Kendall

Sledding Fun...

Our little daredevils talked me into taking them sledding
this morning while we had some good snow on the ground.
So we bundled them up and headed to the local sledding hill
at the Middle school where they both had a great time.

Kendall was like the Energizer Bunny...
He just kept going and going and going!

He was such a sport and kept climbing the hill for
more even when he would tumble down the hill.

Lizzy liked spinning around and around all the way
down the hill (she's a little dizzy most of the time anyway),
and going down head first until she took on a face full of snow.

Let it snow...

Well, we got our first good snow of
the season (is there really such a thing?).
I think we received just over 8 inches at our
house and they are reporting up to about
15 inches or so near Sedalia, Missouri.

Lizzy has been out of school Thursday and Friday
because of the weather, and both of the schools that
I have been scheduled to photograph these two days have
been cancelled too. This gave me the weather I wanted to
photograph our house with the Christmas Lights
all lit up. I hope to get out later today to take
some other scenics in the snow too.

Christmas in the Sky...

On the night before Thanksgiving,
Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department
had it's Annual Christmas in the Sky Fireworks Display
at Longview Lake. This is the kickoff to the Christmas Season.
Following the fireworks, they open the Festival of Lights around the
Longview Lake Campground and with the unbelievably warm weather,
the turn-out was crazy. We ended up parking along the road
and walking down towards the lake to view the fireworks.
We all had a good time and Kendall and Lizzy
really enjoyed the Fireworks.

Thursday we had Thanksgiving Dinner at our house
and enjoyed having the family together for the day.
Fonda and Ramona fixed an awesome feast and
we all spent the day around the house while the
kids enjoyed playing outside in the 60 degree weather.
Ramona and John left for the Chiefs game and
after it got dark we went back to the Festival of Lights
to view the Christmas Lighting Display - it was just
too busy Wednesday evening to fight all the extra traffic...

Friday, I got up early (2 a.m.) and went out on my
Annual Black Friday Shopping Spree. I ended up
getting what I had hoped for and made a
good start on the Christmas shopping list.

Happy Halloween!

Well, we've been a little busy the past few months...

I had hoped to keep this website updated
a little more often, but I have obviously not kept up!

Friday evening we were able to spend some
rare family time carving our pumpkins.
Kendall made the ghost and Lizzy made the Bat.

The kids all dressed up in their
Halloween Costumes!
Lizzy is Miss America and
Kendall is a Football Player.

First Concert...

We recently surprised Lizzy with tickets to
the Carrie Underwood Concert at the
Missouri State Fair for Friday Night...

It was so hard to keep this secret because we
have had the tickets for a couple of months
and didn't want to tell her until closer to time
so she didn't drive us crazy until the concert.

Well, we bought one extra ticket for her to
take a friend and since the concert was
scheduled on the second day of school,
we decided to take them out of school after
lunch and spend a few hours at the fair
before the concert. It was Hot, but Fun!

Fonda and Lizzy had made them cute
little shirts to wear and they were the
talk of the Fair that afternoon before the
concert. Everyone loved them!
After the Concert was over, Carrie came
out to the Souvenier Table and signed
numerous items for the fans...
Lizzy and her friend had their shirts
signed while they were wearing them,
and we also had her sign their concert
shirts that we bought at the booth.
To say the least, the girls were flying
on cloud nine the rest of the weekend!

It was very exciting to take the girls to
their first concert and it be an
experience that they will never forget!