It's All Fun and Good

An unedited story by Janai Williams (Age 6):

One day a family went to the beach and They where having fun at the beach They where having a good day That day they where having a fun day The parents and children where having a very good day and it was hot that day and after they where playing They got out of the water They where having a very very good time at the beach that day It was a good good day to day and They where surfing and surfing is fun to.

The End.

The "Egg"speriment

Janai turned in her first grade science project today. Perhaps you are thinking the same thing that I was... and the answer is yes, these days kids have science projects in the first grade! And no, you didn't have to do such a thing way back when. Anyhoo... the only instructions were that the project be neat and age appropriate. I don't know about you, but there's something about neat and age-appropriate first grade science that left me a little stumped. But, we finally came up with a project idea for our little scientist. Of course, it ended up being simple kitchen chemistry at it's best.

Problem: Can I remove the shell of a raw egg without breaking the whole egg?

Hypothesis: Right inside the shell of the egg is a part of the egg called the memberbrains (that would be membranes). Memberbraines are tough and there are two of them. if I can remove the shell without breaking the memberbrains, I think the egg will stay together.

Materials: Glass jar, egg, vinegar

Procedure: I cleaned the jar. I filled the jar with vinegar. I added two eggs to the jar filled with vinegar. I let it sit in the refrigerator for 2 days.

Results: See for yourself! The vinegar ate away the shell and I made a naked egg! It feels like jello and I can see the yolk moving around.

It turns out that a second grader also did a naked egg project with a different spin on it. She looked at different liquids that could be used to remove the shell (water, vinegar, sprite) - what an overachiever! Of course, only the vinegar works. It's the 5% acetic acid in vinegar that reacts with the egg shell which is made of calcium carbonate. So she did all of that work for nothing!

The Five Love Languages

On Tuesday night as I was leaving a late dinner for work, James called to let me know that we had received a request to share our "love language" story in front of several thousand people at the Wednesday night service at Lakewood Church the next day. Dr. Paul was planning to teach the fourth message in a series entitled "What's Love Got to Do With It?" and he was looking for a couple to share their story. He thought of us.


So the pressure was on. I stayed up late Tuesday night typing up our story - that James and I speak two very different love languages (http://www.5lovelanguages.com/). James' love language is physical touch, and mine is acts of service. As I tried to craft the story, my very supportive and loving husband went to sleep on me. Go figure. So just like I'm the designated family blogger, I was the designated speaker on Wednesday night!


When we took the stage, we were pretty nervous. I've given many technical talks and presentations, but usually I have Powerpoint to lean on, and never have I had an audience of 5000 staring at me. The lights were bright and even though I have near perfect vision, that 11-point font that I typed in turned out to not be the best of ideas! I stumbled over a few words, but I guess that was to be expected.

All in all, many were touched by our story. Watch us online at www.lakewood.cc/pages/watchonline.aspx. Look for the April 7, 2010 message. We show up at around the 50-minute marker. Enjoy!

Extreme Makeover - Williams Home Edition

As is always the case at this time of the year, I began to get a decorating itch. But I'm usually too cheap to do anything to soothe the itch. So this year, we decided on the cheapest decorating option ... painting. After looking through every color swatch in Home Depot and Sherwin Williams and tapping the inner-interior-decorating-skills of a good friend, we decided to go bold, yet warm. The colors don't show up accurately in the photos, but take a look:

Almond Toast for the living room and major halls:

Brown Cinnamon for the kitchen:

And my all time favorite... Baked Clay for the master bedroom:

Easter Sunday 2010

My children would not really cooperate for a nice Easter photo, so this is the best I have to share with you this year! Nana Cathy visited us in TX a few weeks ago. As always, she came bearing gifts. So we had our share of Easter outfits to choose from. We picked these because... well, they both matched!

We hope you had a great Easter. He is Risen!

Kinky to Straight!

I finally couldn't take it anymore! Managing Janai's hair was beginning to take it's toll on me. So I gave in... I did it... and there's really nothing any of you can do about it! But if it makes you feel any better, I didn't go all the way. Instead of an all out "relaxer", I had my stylist put a "softener" on Janai's hair. It's essentially a mild chemical that texturizes the hair. So ya see... chemistry is great for alot of reasons!

A work in progress...

The final product...

Skates and Snakes

Well... it's time to catch up on blogging! I've spent a few posts talking about the many birthday parties that Janai gets to attend. Earlier this year we (ahem...I mean, Janai) had the most fun at two of her classmates' parties. I refer to these as SKATES and SNAKES.

SKATES - Speaks for itself. Remember Princess Hilary from last year (see 3/17/09 post)? Well, this year she had a skating party at the local rink. And while there was nothing super special about the party, I realized that at six years old, Janai had never been skating. And even more funny, Janai's mom (that would be me) had not been on a pair of skates in probably 20 years. And that, my friends, was entertainment! Here's a blurry shot of Janai working on her skating skills!

SNAKES? Well Little Mr. Matthew's parents hosted his 6th birthday party in their home. They invited a number of guests, including a few slimey friends. Here's a shot of Janai with one of the party crashers. Kids... they have no fear!