Don Sr. Obituary

Donald H. WilliamsA former longtime Redlands resident, passed away peacefully, at RCH from complications due to congestive heart failure, he was 83 years old. His sons and their wives were at his bedside for a final farewell. 
Don was a San Diego native and graduated from San Diego HS, class of 1947. He was preceded in death by his parents, John D. & Sarah M. Williams of San Diego, his brother John D. Williams Jr. of St. George, UT. He is survived by Wanda S. Williams, Gloria J. Williams, two sisters; Bonnie Hubbard of San Diego, Judy Isaacson of El Centro, 5 sons, 2 daughters, 38 grandchildren and 69 great-grandchildren. 
Funeral services will be held, Thursday, December 27th.- 11:00 AM, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 7000 Central Ave., Highland, CA. 92346. 
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Emmerson Bartlett of Redlands, 

Published in Redlands Daily Facts from December 22 to December 23, 2012

Ears

We saw the ENT on December 17th.  It was funny, they took an oral history from me and said, "We are going to give her tubes, probably in March."  Then he did the physical exam and said "Nevermind, we are doing tubes next week, if you will be around."  Sure thing Doc.  Of course it is scheduled for Tristan's birthday. And we have to be in Baltimore at the hospital at about 6am.  So Tristan and Lorelai are going to spend the night at a friends house. And I should be home around 2 that afternoon if all goes well.  It is going to be a long boring day for me.

Payton finished a round of antibiotics 2 days before her ENT appointment.  The doctor said she had lots of fluid in her ears but that they were not infected.  The next day we had a pre-op appointment with her regular pediatrician and same thing, fluid in ears but not infected. Wednesday she was grumpy and Thursday she woke up with a huge fever, 102.1.  So Friday morning I got her in with her pediatrician again and she said that she had a double ear infection, again!  She hadn't even been off the antibiotics for a week!  Technically the antibiotics should have still been in her system since it was azithromycin and that stays in the system 10 days.  She just can't seem to get her ears to clear ever.  So they gave her another type of antibiotics. Her 4th kind since she was born, 7th time on  antibiotics period.  Her poor body. She has been on constant antibiotics for a month so she has horrible diarrhea and doesn't want to eat because the minute she eats, she poops it all out, so she has a horrible diaper rash.  Thursday can not come soon enough and I am praying that she will not have a runny nose or cough, as those are the only two things that will cancel surgery.  These tubes better work.

I am a little nervous about the surgery. It is general anesthesia after all. But at this point she is so sick all the time, that the benefits out weigh the risks.  Everyone I talk to say the surgery is common and nothing too it and super great, so as long as they are right, I am good to go. She is just so tiny and so young.  

Christmas

Christmas has been real low-key for us this year.  The kids were SPOILED so much! I had to keep all the presents in my room so Payton wouldn't eat them and it was overflowing.  Tristan woke me up around 2am to tell me that Santa had come and there was a big white thing in the living room (the easel).  At 6:30 I woke up and at 7 Tristan came in.  7:15 Lorelai came in and I said as soon as Payton woke up we could go out to the living room. She woke up a second later.  We had to wait for Mike to watch us, so we had some time. I made some from the can cinnamon roles and we had some breakfast.  Finally Mike was ready.  It became a kind of circus. Between making sure Mike's video was working, taking pictures with the camera and video with the camcorder, I feel like I didn't get to see anything!  They got everything they asked for and then some. It took 2 hours to open presents, and then 2 more hours of taking things out of boxes and putting things together.  I bought an 11 lbs ham for dinner tonight, but after about an hour of it in the oven, our friends called and cancelled cause they were all not feeling well.So I have this enormous ham and I don't know what to do with it.  I am making Portuguese Bean soup with it, but I don't need that much!  So we spent all day playing with toys and sitting around in our pajamas.  A nice way to spend the day! Payton was a little overwhelemed by the entire thing. So many new toys, so much movement and craziness from the big kids, and she is still not feeling 100%.  She still wanted nothing to do with opening presents, she just wanted to chew on things like wrapping paper and boxes.  Lorelai's favorite toy is this little doll that repeats what you say to it. Tristan is trying out everything. We played battleship today, since he got that for Christmas.  A nice relaxing Christmas! Mike got to watch about 20 minutes of the kids opening presents before he went back to work.  

Christmas Eve

I really really really wanted to make ginger bread houses this year. And for about a week I entertained the idea of making the gingerbread from scratch. I did it before I had kids. But then the reality of 3 kids, one that is constantly sick, set it, and I scrapped that idea and opted for graham crackers!  We asked Ronda and the Moon family to make some with us, and we headed over Christmas Eve afternoon.  It was so much fun! All the kids made one and me, Ronda and Jared didn't want too. It took a bit to get the graham crackers to stick, but finally we got it working and we each made our very own masterpieces.  Then it started snowing! First snow of the year. The kids played for a good two hours before it turned to rain/sleet and all went away. But as Ryan said "It's a Christmas Miracle!"  We went home, opened the Christmas Eve presents from Grandma Chris, then watched a movie and skyped with Mike's family in California.  Payton had no interest in opening presents, but she could have just been tired.   

Christmas Sing

Last Wednesday and Thursday I got to volunteer in Lorelai's class for almost the whole day! I helped the kids make handprint Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer ornaments for their parents! It was fun, and I realized just what a control freak I am!  On Thursday was the school Christmas Sing, and parents were NOT invited.  But, since I was helping in her class with another mom, we snuck in the back and the Princiapl said it was ok.  It was cute. It was Pre-K through 2nd and they each sang 2 songs and then a bunch together. Very cute.  They sang some songs I had never heard of! The one Lorelai sang was called "Must Be Santa". It was cute.  I forgot my camera at home, so cell phone pictures must do. I must say, I do not like my cell phone camera.  

Pictures with Santa

Just the good pictures with Santa that were take at our ward Christmas Party. We didn't get to go to the mall or anything this year. Too busy!  But they turned out great! 

Ward Christmas Party

Our ward Christmas Party was this last Saturday nigh, December 15.  It started with a a video in the Chapel that was so cute from mormon.org.  Then everyone split up and the whole building was used. I have never seen a ward Christmas party like this, but I guess with a ward this big it had to be done. I have to say, it was kinda nice. The side rooms all had mini games in them for the kids and they had a sheet to fill out for each game, if they did them all they got a prize bag.  There was a room for just Santa, there was a room with just cake, there was a room to make candy lei's. In the cultural hall there was table set up with crayons and markers for people to write little messages to the missionaries or to Mike and Brother Anderson who are both in Afghanistan.  Also in the Cultural hall was the "adult" entertainment. It was silly little games, trivia and stuff with Christmas carols in between. I get a little excited during games.  Lets face it, I get alot excited during games.  So i decided to volunteer for a game. At 10 pm that night, after the kids were in bed, the house was clean and I had a chance to think, I regretted it!  I had a moment that I thought I could never go back to church. lol  I blew up balloons and put them in pantyhose, stuck the pantyhose on my head and sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer in front of my ward.  I won an already used gift card for my effort and a life time of embarrassment! lol  The next day no one mentioned it at church, so I guess I am good. But for a minute I was mortified! It was fun, we won, and that is that! I couldn't get good pictures of the kids with Santa, cause my flash wouldn't work. Of course the minute I got out of the Santa room I got it working. Katri was taking photos and assured me she got good ones she would email me.  Payton had no problem with Santa. Just kinda stared at him. Maybe cause Lorelai and Tristan were with her.  Lore spent most of the night drawing cards to the missionaries and Mike. She loves to color.  

Gymnastics Review

Tristan's last day of gymnastics for the session was on Saturday December 15.  I totally forgot my camera and didn't realize that parents got to go in the gym to watch a little show or I would have gone home to get it.  I missed the announcement last week since we didn't go. My phone take ok upclose pictures but not far away action shots.  Darn it.  It was so cute though. Each kid got to show one skill infront of the whole gym and all the parents. Then they jumped up on the podium thingy, got a ribbon and posed for pictures like a real gymnast.  Tristan did a backward roll handspring thing with help. Its what he has been practicing for weeks.  He got on the podium and jumped right off, I couldn't get a picture. He was so fast. He said later it was because he was embarrassed with all the people there.  The pictures are bad! Sorry!

Coach Don.  Tristan loves him and we are glad to know he will still be coach in Jan when we start back up!

Girl Scout Badges

On December 12, 2012 (12/12/12 for those keeping track) Lorelai had her last Girl Scout meeting of the year.  We had a pizza party, the girls got the badges they earned and then all the kids decorated cookies.  I am so funny about badges. I want them all. I think I am more excited for them than she is! She has earned every badge that she can at at this point! Some of them she has earned they haven't sent us yet. Daisy's don't earn badges like the older girls. They learn attributes, like respect, charity, kind words, etc and they earn a daisy petal to represent it, and that goes on the front of their vest.  Then the earn "fun patches" on the back for things like parades and cookie sales and hoe downs.  The troop earns the daisy petals together, and they are not done with the daisy yet, I think they have 3 more petals to earn.  But Lore has all the fun activities that she is eligible for.  I can't wait to sew them on. I am such a dork.  The girls were cute, they did their pledge and sang their song for us.  At the end all the parents and siblings were invited into the friendship circle to do the friendship squeeze. So cute!  It was a fun night.

 Ms. Jennifer the troop leader explaining patches.

 Singing their song.

 Getting her first badges!

 decorating cookies!

The friendship circle.  

Kennelly's Come to Town

Our friends the Kennelly Family moved from SoCal to New York City a couple months after we moved to Maryland. They are only 3 hours away!! Woo hoo!  They were on their way to visit family and stopped for dinner to see us and catch up! We spent a fun 2 hours at Ikea, mostly sitting in the restaurant talking. Then a quick walk around dreaming of stuff to get before I had to whisk Lorelai away for her Girl Scout badge ceremony! It was great to see them again, it has been almost 2 years since we have seen each other.  The kids have all gotten so big!  Of course, my camera was acting up so I only got two pictures.