On The Sunny Side with the Williams Family: We are family

When glancing at the handful of photos I have to share today, one word came to mind. Family. Family is the single most important thing in my life. I reflect on it a lot. I remember at an early age realizing how cool it was that my immediate family has known me my whole entire life. I thought it was so neat to realize that my parents, grown ups, knew me so well. Better than anybody. Today, similar thoughts have me spiraling through such surreal revelations. I just love how families are made up of so many different personalities, ages, and well, characters. People who may never have been friends in other circumstances are bonded together with such love. I try to explain to my children just how lucky they are when it comes to family. Not every child has so many grandparents who are so engaging, so energetic, so willing to meet them on their level.

Mine have five grandparents like that.

Then of course, they are also blessed with the most amazing relationships with their cousins. They may not have many cousins, but boy did they ever luck out with the ones they have! To have a cousin so close in age, the same gender and living 5 minutes from you is rare, and each of my children have a cousin like that.

I remember when Grace and Taylor were so young Jessica and I would fantasize saying "one day, they'll be able to play on their own and get along without our refereeing." Well that day has come. The girls love to disappear in each other's rooms and work on a project. Their latest endeavor was this book they made while their Grandma was in Chile.

The boys are the same way only instead of projects, it's secret spy missions or super hero adventures. And let's not forget their mutual love of all things electronic.

This is an old photo from the summer. Nowadays, they seem to prefer ipad, ipod touches and nintendo wii.

The baby girls have yet to bond in friendship, but their day is coming. If Addison is lucky, maybe Morgan will even share her cool hat from Chile!

If the children don't appreciate the value of their cousins, it's even harder to explain how lucky they are to have siblings. I know from experience how easily that is taken for granted until you are older. Still, my heart smiles when I see them playing with each other and looking out for one another.

Last night Taylor, Charlie and I played volley ball for a half an hour (or as Taylor refers to it, Bally Ball). They were so sweet trying to serve it to each other and cheering for one another.