Jack's Little Gym Show

Sorry it's taken so long to get this posted, but I had trouble uploading it and then got distracted. Better late than never, right??

Jack's Birthday video and pictures

Sweet boy Jack turned turned FOUR this past Sunday. It's amazing to me because I totally remember being awakened by Michael's phone call and promptly realizing I was in heavy labor JUST LIKE it was yesterday. Except that it wasn't yesterday, it apparently was FOUR years ago!!

To celebrate we had our Life Group from church over since the kids from that group are fairly close in age and relationship. Michael grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and I baked the cake. We blew up our pool and the kids swam most of the evening and when they weren't swimming they were making a mess with bubbles...talk about cheap entertainment!!!

We had such a fun evening together with our friends. We had several comments the day after about what a "FUN" evening it was to be together.

Without further ado, pictures:


My Lightening McQueen masterpiece:


The kids eating:


His new Lightening McQueen "tractor tipping" launcher toy:


Another McQueen launcher:


Jack receiving his Leapster 2 from RoRo and PawPaw and a game from Samantha:


Jack's big gift:


Jack finding his big gift:


Jack driving his truck:


It was a VERY busy day for this pregnant mama, but it was sooo worth it to see our boy so happy and growing up surrounded by so many friends. We thank God for your noisy, crazy little boy self everyday, Jack Wilson. Thanks for being a super boy!

Some videos for your viewing pleasure

In kinda random order, I'll post some videos that we've taken of the children's performances over the past month.

Samantha's Little Gym Show -- May 28th
This was the last day of school, which required that we spend two hours outside prior to her show...which didn't lead to our best performance, but seriously she's six so we're just glad she hung in there and cooperated.

Our first swim of Summer 2009

We had our first swim of the summer today at our local YMCA. They've installed a new "family rec pool" that's about 3.5 feet deep everywhere, except under the slide which brings me to my story. Jack (remember he's only 3) WANTED to do the slide BAD! So, I ask the lifegaurd what the rules on the slide are. To which she replied: just pass the swim test (swim the length of the lap pool without touching the side or the bottom). Okey dokey. I explained this to Jack and he, in his three year old boy way, started rambling on about something else. So, I said, "Son, let me show you what they are talking about and we'll practice." So, we leave the rec pool to go the the lap pool. We get in a lane and this dude swims the entire length of the pool for practice, TWICE.

Finally, the time arrives to actually take the swim test and he does it AGAIN, no problem. A little tired, but he passed. He gets out of the pool and we wait in the line for the wrist band only to be told at that point that he's not tall enough for the slide. WHAT!!!!!????? I had a discussion with them (the life gaurd I had originally spoken to was there and I addressed her) and told them what the life gaurd had JUST told me and they were moderately apologetic. Michael had met up with us at this point and I sent HIM to talk to them, to no avail. The explalantion they gave him was that the slide manufacturer had REALLY emphasized the height rule recently (because they'd been letting kids go in previous years who weren't tall enough...Hello, Samantha!) that littlier kids can get thrown out of the slide because they don't weigh enough.

I was okay with that explanation b/c I really didn't want him to get hurt, but I wasn't very happy with the gaurd that told us otherwise. Michael suggested that they measure kid's heights PRIOR to the swim test so that the kid will know whether they're tall enough or not. DUH!!

Jack cried, I WANTED to cry, but we all got over it, thankfully, and had a super fun time at the Y. We ended at the perfect time because no one cried over leaving...they were as tired and hungry as we were!

And we all now know that Jack's as good of a swimmer as his sister...he just lacks a bit of the focus during class. :)

A conversation with Jack

Yesterday afternoon:

Jack: I'm going to wash my hands (he'd been playing in the sand) and go poo poo.
Me: Okey-doke.

minutes later, he comes back in from outside
Jack: I'm going to wash my hands.
Me: ...and go poo poo?
Jack: No, it drained.
Me: Drained? Did you go poo poo in your underwear?
Jack, very annoyed with me for asking such an intrusive and belittling question: NO!
Me: Well, then where did your poo-poo drain?
Jack: There's poo-poo in the sandbox.
Me: You poo-pooed in the sandbox?
Jack: NO! The dogs did it.
Me: So, where's your poo-poo?
Jack, very matter of factly and non-chalantly: It drained.
Me: So, you don't need to go anymore?
Jack: Nope!
Me: Okey-doke.

Who knew that "drained" meant the feeling passed? Obviously not me! Kids are weird!

Pepperoni rolls

Michael clued me into one of his Internet friends, Debby, a long-while back. A short-while back, Debby posted about making pepperoni rolls (she even gave a pictorial tutorial here), a comfort food in their family. Loving my husband like I do and loving our Bible class like I do, I took it upon myself to bake pepperoni rolls for breakfast tomorrow. Here are the before pics (I'm hoping that they're rising like Debby says they will):





I have no idea if I did them right. But it's bread dough wrapped around pepperoni and mozzarella, so really, how bad could they be, right!?

Happy Easter, everyone. We are blessed EVERY day with a God that's good. May you feel it with all the fullness of His being tomorrow.

Another milestone

Yesterday, Jack and I had an event...one that brought me GREAT joy and a view of what is to come. It was monumental, if only in my mind.

I needed to put something in the mail, and with all the rain we've had, I didn't want it to sit in our mailbox, so I decided that we would walk to the post office. All together, round trip would be about .75 miles. I told Jack that he could ride in the stroller and we'd take the dogs with us, too. He considered my suggestion and then informed me that he would ride his Lightening McQueen bike (a 16: bike with training wheels). I was skeptical, but told him that he would have to ride it there AND back because I had the dogs and wouldn't be able to help with his bike. He assured me that he could do it and off we went. I want to proudly proclaim: HE DID IT!! And without one complaint!! I was sooo proud of him.

So, here's was my vision: Jack on his bike; dogs on their leashes; Baby So-and-So in the sling/pouch; all of us walking in late summer/early fall. Now that is was a beautiful site to my wondering-how-I'm-gonna-manage eyes!!

A sweet story by my sweet girl

I don't know why this story Samantha wrote made me say, "AWWWW!" but it did. Maybe it was the intricacy of writing the whole thing (she's a bare-bones kinda gal), or the thoughtfulness of returning the bear or the sweet way she misspells things, or the confidence she has in her own writing ability...I don't know. But I loved it and thought I would share it with you.

In case you can't read her writing it says: One day I lost my teddy bear and "I went to the groshry [grocery] sorte [store] and botte [bought] a new one Aftr theat [that] I fond [found] it so, I went back and sood [sold] my new one back."

They're growing up...

I only have a few seconds before I fall into a deep afternoon slumber, but I wanted to get this post started. For a long time, I've been keeping a list of things in my head that are markers for the children growing up. Here's a brief list (one I hope to continue adding to).

1. Jack: Went into the dentists office today BY HIMSELF with not ONE tear shed. Utterly amazing to me. He must have asked the hygenist 15 times, "Are we done, yet?" and I did hear one, "I want to go see my mom." but not nary a tear! So proud of you today, Jack!!



2. Samantha has her first loose tooth. It got loose about 3 weeks ago, but it's still hanging in there. Her permanent tooth is well on it's way to being fully in behind the baby tooth, so the dentist said it needs to be out this week.



3. Jack can turn on any light switch in the house without a stool.



4. Jack can get himself totally undressed and dressed!!



5. Samantha is standing up for herself in school! There's a little boy who "loves" her and has talked her into buying her lunch...except she doesn't "like the way Herod Elementary cooks their lunch" so she's moved back to bringing lunch. I'll tell you it was SO AWESOME not having to pack her lunch each morning, but it was EVEN BETTER to hear her tell the little boy, "I didn't trick you, I just changed my mind!" Thatagirl, change you mind, any time!!

I have more floating in my head, but I need to rest before I miss my chance. Baby "So-and-so" is taking quite a bit of my energy!!

UPDATE: It's out! It's out!

These are the door decorations I made for the kids. Not perfect, but homemade with lots of love. I think they like them and hope they'll like them for a long time.

My newest creation

I blogged earlier about my Christmas project. It actually turned into a Christmas 2009 project, but oh well. When you don't know what you don't have, you can't miss it, right!?

Well, I finally finished Mr. Snowman tonight...maybe 10 minutes ago. I'm so excited about him I can hardly wait another year to use him! We may have to use him in February or something?! ha!

Without further ado...

This has to be one of the most creative things I've ever pulled out of my head. I've made nap mats (with blankets and pillows attached) for the children, but this guy surpased even those. As much effort that I put into this guy, I'm really glad that Pottery Barn was out of their tree calendars!

I hope this is something the kiddos fight over when I die! :)

What is this world coming to?

Three posts to my blog in one day!? What in the world!? AND it's snowing in HOUSTON, TEXAS! What???

Here are picts for proof:

White dots on my hair and shoulder

This is an old couch cushion someone dumped in the empty lot next to Mom and Dad's house

White dots on the puppy

White flecks on Samantha's hair and jacket

And snow sitting on our gate

Christmas project

I have wanted an "Advent Calendar" for my kiddos as long as I've had them and this year I finally had the extra cash to buy one this year! I was looking through the Pottery Barn Kids catalog in November and decided that I would buy this. But being late to the party as usual, when I arrived on December 1st to the store to purchase the long awaited new family tradition, they were, of course, OUT...company wide out, no more to be made this year out. It was a MAJOR bummer, as I was already a day late of course.

So, I have decided to MAKE my own Countdown to Christmas Calendar. I am still not finished, but it has all the things I'm looking for: large pockets (other calendars I found had teeeeeeny-tiny pockets; HEEELLLOOOO! How can you fit any sort of gift in that thing, much less gifts for more than one kid??? Anyway...). And I can't wait to hang it on my wall. I'm getting closer, so I thought I'd post picts of my handy work. Enjoy!

It's in the shape of a snowman and each of the pockets have the numbers free-hand embroidered. Green pockets have white thread and white cording across the top. Red pockets have blue numbers and blue cording.

Once I get the pockets attached, I'll move on to his face. I'm invisioning blue button eyes, a carrot nose and maybe brown stick hands.

All's clear on the ECHO front

Jackie had his Echo on Monday morning. He was NONE too pleased about the process, although all it involved was laying on a bed watching TV for half and hour. He even agreed to a spanking rather than laying on the table...for a minute. :)

The doctor wasn't in on Monday to read the results to me, so he called last evening to tell me that everything was normal. No hole in his heart, no mitral valve prolapse...nothing. He would like to have him re-listened to in a couple of years.

Yeah!! We say thank you to God for walking with us down this potentially scary path! Thank you to all of you that prayed with us for Jack's heart...it seems to be perfect, just like our boy!

Hugs!

The Wilson Famole

Sweet Samantha drew this picture for us today. She's getting to be quite the artist. Please notice Daddy's red-square hair.

Back from the doctor

Well, he definitely has some noise going on (a squeak and a grind, I think). The doctor thinks he's fine as he sees this "probably once a month, weeeellll, I haven't seen it in a couple of months; so maybe more like couple times a year." After that commentary, I was encouraged that he offered to set up an Echocardiagram for Jack to see what's going on. Neither option (a hole in his heart, or Mitral Valve Prolapse) seems life threatening...obviously since we've gone several months since the initial diagnosis.

So, now I'm just talking myself out of being really worried. He'll be fine, as he's already fine. It's just worrisome.

The ECHO is set for December 8th at 9:40 a.m. Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts this morning! They were comforting.

Headed to the doctor

This summer Jack was diagnosed by a doctor in his pediatric group with a heart murmur...something that was a bit worrisome since that kid has been listened to I don't know HOW many times and nobody's ever mentioned it. But this summer it was loud and proud, and today we're finally being seen by someone in the "Murmur Clinic" of Texas Children's Hospital to see how/if we need to proceed this this issue. Our appointment is at 10 am today, so if you think of us today we'd appreciate a prayer.

I'll update this afternoon with our (hopefully good) news.

My sister in law tagged me for a fun photo meme.


It's easy, so if you wanna show us your random photo feel free (as I don't tag others...read the next post for why).


The rules:

1. Go to your pictures
2. Upload the 4th picture of the 4th folder
3. Post it
4. Tag 4 friends


Here's goes nothing:

That's my baby playing in the hay maze at the Oil Ranch Farm. Such a fun day, even though he stood in an ant pile whilst throwing a typical three year old fit. Thankfully I had very helpful fathers that helped me stripe him down and get all those nasty boogers off.

Thanks, AJ, for the great idea!

p.s. Michael, I'm tagging you. Fourth photo from your funny photo file.

I've been tagged

My sweet husband tagged me and here are the rules:

1. When I’m in a time crunch and my hair is greasy, I sprinkle powder at my roots to soak up the oil. I learned this trick in a mom’s magazine and LOVE it.


2. I’m taking a parenting class on Tuesday mornings at the 2nd Baptist church. The title is something about joyful parenting and I sooo love this class. The focus of the class is on influencing our children instead of controlling them. The point that has stuck with me the most is about not micro-managing my children’s mood, because God doesn’t do that to us. Just look at the psalms for proof that God listens (empathizes) no matter what we feel. If my home isn’t the safe place where Jack and Samantha can’t vent or process their emotions now, where can they do that when they are teenagers?


3. My hobbies include weight lifting, gardening and reading. None of which I’m really finding time for right now.


4. One of my self-improvement foci right now is on being prompt to my meetings and time commitments. I have a tendency to just do “one more thing” and make myself late, which annoys me.


5. I cried at every letter in P.S. I love you. I loved that sweet, sweet movie, except I thought it was kinda creepy at the end that she was going to start a relationship with her husband’s almost twin.


6. Drinking too many water bottles with the “Crystal Lite on the go” flavor packs gives me MAJOR tummy trouble.


7. I’m terrible at Wii Mario Kart.

I have to tell you, I'm going to break rule number 3. I'm my loser self and don't really know 7 people on the internet with blogs (other than Michael's friends) so...if you read mine and wanna play, feel free to go for it and post a comment so I can read yours!!

Have a super great week!!

Introducing myself again

Hiya! Sorry it's been so long...it's been a crazy time since...May, oh yeah. Hmmm. Guess I've been slacking a bit. Eeeek!

Here's some picts to make you all a bit happier--if you're still reading.

Halloween Pics: The Pit Crew and his Princess

Samantha's first Kindergarten field trip to Oil Ranch Farm
I wish you could know just how bad this baby felt on Friday, but she was dying to go so we made do and popped some Pepto. She must have gotten two short doses of the stomach bug. The rest of us got one harder dose. I'm not sure which I would have preferred her to get as it was a bit worryisome as to why she was "randomly" vomiting!? Anyway, I think we're all better, but look at these pale lips! Sweet baby!

Riding the horse

Jack having his turn to ride. He was only convinced that he should ride when he remembered that he'd already done it once at RoRo's house just last month.

The haymaze was a lot of fun, although Jack got in trouble for "bumping the hay" which was as much fun as anything else we did.The last thing we did was pick out a pumpkin; she looks pleased to me!

The following day, we attended three (holy smokes!) different halloween parties. This picture was taken at the first one. Bless her heart, you can see she's started the parade-o'parties tired. But beautiful all the same.

And finally, my latest baking prowess: two pumpkin pies for Samantha's class to taste tomorrow.


I TOLD you it's been busy!!! :)

Love you all!