Just one of those days

Yesterday was one of those days that just went completely different that I thought when we woke up. My dad is in town a couple of days and this was his last full day with us. (He left before noon this morning).

Riley had coughed a lot the night before so I thought I'd run her to the doctor. I had a doctor appointment in the morning and right after mine I ran her to hers. Turns out she has pneumonia. Riley just kinda gets sick easier than most people, she gets a little tiny virus and it just takes over her body. So they wanted us to go directly to the hospital to get IV antibiotics...they needed to aggressively attack it. But first, I had to get Cade to pre-school. So I ran home, picked him up, ran him to school, and let dad stay behind and put Brooke down for her nap. I took Riley up to the hospital we got the IV (torture), spent a couple of hours getting the drip and doing some other tests...they left it in so if she had to go back today they wouldn't have to re-poke her. On the way home, I got rammed (from behind) at a red light by a lady who "speak-y no englisse" and had to wait for an interpreter to get there...I mean it was just an awful day. Today at the doctor they said she was doing better and could switch to oral antibiotics, breathing treatments, mucinex and Robitussin...sheesh. They have scheduled an upper GI for her on Monday. Poor thing. She refers to this incident as her "surgery" and her IV (that is all wrapped up so it doesn't come out) as "her cast".

Missing Mike

If only we could all just blog about sunshine and roses, but unfortunately life doesn't work that way.

Into each life, a little rain must fall...and we've had a downpour for the last 2 weeks.
Most everyone that reads this already knows, but Wade's brother passed away 2 Saturday's ago.

It has been the hardest thing Wade and I have ever been through.

We still don't have any answers to why this has happened, the medical examiner said it could take up to 12 weeks to get all the reports back. We did have a very nice service for him with a packed church which just shows how many people he touched.

We've had so much support from all over. Our neighbors have been AMAZING, from bringing food, to watching kids, and beyond. All my 'bus stop moms' even came to the "viewing" we had the night before the funeral. I called my mom at 3:30 on Monday and asked her if she could get on a plane that night at 8:30. She did, and took care of the kids, got them to school and gymnastics, tried to give them attention and keep things as normal as possible for them while the world was turned upside down for us. She even did 6 loads of laundry for me. Thanks Mom!

We've been trying to get back to everyday life, but it's a struggle.

Wade spoke at the funeral and had the greatest line in his eulogy--"Everyone has one of those friends they know they can call at any hour to come and bail them out of jail. Mike was NOT one of those friends. Mike was the kind of friend sitting in the cell right next to you, saying, "Boy, wasn't that fun".

That truly captures Mike.

Our kids will no doubt miss "fun Uncle Mike",

but there's no doubt that he'll live on in the countless stories we'll be sure to tell them.

Heee's Back!

If you haven't heard, my Jason is coming back to be the next Bachelor! Woo hoo!

TU friends...doesn't he remind you a little bit of McCord? Wade thinks I'm crazy when I say that, but he does to me (somewhat). Maybe that's why I like him so much, cause he reminds me of McCord and he was so much fun to hang with.

I just adore this guy, I can't wait to watch.

Summer is Over, schmover.

So it's official. Our summer has come to an end.
Riley and Cade have been in school for a whole week now.
Riley - a super excited 1st grader
and Caden started the Pre-K program.

The 1st week Riley rode the bus to school and I dropped Cade off after lunch (he only goes for 2 and 1/2 hours)

then I picked both kids up in the afternoon.
That quickly changed...the line to pick up kids is absoultely outrageous. There's 1000 children in the school (and growing). I sat for over an hour each day waiting to pick them up. Mommy and Brooke are just not that patient to do that every day. Hence we now have 2 bus riders. I really struggled with the decision. Cade is still 3 (at least for one more week)...who lets a 3 year old ride the bus with 5th graders??? But Riley is on the bus as well as several friends from our neighborhood (mostly younger ages). There are 9 kids at our bus stop alone (4 of those who were in our weekly playgroup and he knows very well.) Monday was the first day he rode the bus. I was crazy psycho mom and drove up to the school and hid (so he couldn't see me) to make sure he got on the right bus. I had a teacher come up and ask me to leave (I channeled my George Bush Sr.) "Sorry, not gonna do it". He got on the right bus and I booked it home so I could get this shot.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. We've got birthday parties this weekend for Brooke and Cade. But I have lots of pictures I want to put up of some of the fun things that have kept us busy this summer. I can't believe how fast it went...

Slideshow mentioned below

If you're having trouble seeing the slideshow at the bottom of the last post you can either click "view all images" or refresh your page and scroll down right away to watch. After it scrolls through them it stops and since I wrote a novel you wont be able to see them if you've read through the text.
Sorry

O State Travelers

From one O-State to another

OKLAHOMA to OHIO
10 days +
5 states +
1 minivan =
2,183 miles driven (and we'd do it again, it was that great a trip!)

This was our family vacation this year. We decided we'd make the drive and have us a 10 day, mid country, Griswald family journey. My big Wilson family reunion was in Ohio at the end of July, but it all started the weekend before with a friend's wedding in St. Charles....

Here's some of the highlights:
Stop 1 - St. Louis (4 days)

• Six Flags (serious fun...not just for the kids but the adults). We went with Chad, Annette, and Kate' so we all got to go on some "big kid" rides too. We had a blast!


• Jennifer's wedding (and celebrating with good friends)


• Catching up with Christine, Micki, Derek, Christy and Mandy. Wish there was more time for me to see everyone else but sadly theres just never enough time. And of course spending time with Family, that always comes first.

Stop 2 - Indianapolis (2 days) And home to the most expensive gas along the way (4.18/gallon)

• Indy Motor Speedway -- We took a lap around the track, and one little boy I know was in race car heaven!
  


• Indianapolis Zoo. This zoo was incredible, probably one of the best zoo's I've ever been too...better than San Diego. It has a combined aquarium so they had this dolphin show (smaller scale, but similar to what you see at Sea World). The kids got to pet sharks! We took a train, rode a roller coaster, played in the splash park, fed giraffes... There was a butterfly house with hundreds of butterflies and the kids favorite part...playing with the walrus. This walrus would look through the glass at the kids and do whatever they did. So if Riley leaned to the left, he would lean with her, he'd play peek-a-boo with them. So cool!


• The Children's Museum (the biggest Children's museum in the world). And really the reason we decided to drive rather than fly...we knew the kids needed to check this place out. We knew it was gonna be cool when you see the entrance...

Stop 3 - Columbus (3.5 days)

• Meeting my newest nephew Garrett! Isn't he a doll?

  

• Cosi- We worried that it might be too similar to the Children's Museum in Indy, but they both had very different things. It couldn't have worked out better. A "must-visit" for kids in Columbus.

• Cookout at Todd and Lori's House -

• Hanging out with my dad and brothers's families before the massive family reunion. We had great food, great weather and we all had a ton of fun.

One of the greatest things is that all the cousins are all close in age.

Riley has Kate' who is 3 months younger.

Brooke has Kelsey who is 3 weeks younger.

Cade has Aiden who is 1 year younger (but were the only boys until Garrett). Seriously, these 2 are going to be lady-killers. Aren't they the cutest little ones ever sporting Grandpa's soccer jerseys from Italy.

Now Heath and Pearl will have their little one soon which will be about 8 mo. younger than Garrett...so everyone has a buddy. I have a jillion cousins, but all alot older than me. I love that they all have each other.

• Family Reunion- This is just from my Grandma and Grandpa down. I couldn't tell you how many people we had there, well over 100 (pretty good considering it stems from just 2), but we have the smallest of the families (16 and a half) but we're still cranking them out. And no we're not Catholic.

Stop 4 - STL (overnight Sunday)

Stop 5 - Tulsa (.5 days - Monday) (the longest part of the journey)

HOME!!! There's truly no place like home! And home to the cheapest gas on the trip (3.82/gallon).

I had a ton of pictures I wanted to share, but I know they are a lot more exciting to me than all of you, but here are a few other fun ones in case you wanted to see just a few more.

Better off...

Ok, so Jason was too good for DeAnna anyway.

*And thats all I have to say about that (Forrest Gump)

My Bachelorette Prediction

I'm a Bachelorette watcher (yes, I admit it) and I'm making my prediction...
Jason, Jason, Jason.

From the very first episode he has been my fave, Wade can back me up on that. Of course, Graham was my 2nd favorite so since he's out - the choice is easy. Poor Wade got a bit sucked into watching it with me this season. We have very few shows that we watch together (in fact I can only think of one) but Wade knew one of the bachelors from this season (Twilley) and so he got roped into watching him act like a goof. Once Twilley was gone Wade could care less about any of it, so I'll be watching alone. But this house is rooting for Jason tonight!

I Heart NY

We're back from the Big Apple and finally settled back into our normal routine.
We had an unbelievable trip. More than ANY other city there are SO many things to do and see, and we did everything and more than we had planned to do. I won't bore you with the details of all we did (you name it, we did it) but I've included a slide show (at the end) if you have the time and want to see a few pics. But I'll share with you a few favorites...



Top 10 things to do in NYC... (in no particular order)

1. St. Patrick's Cathedral -- We really love our church, but the architecture here was gorgeous. Our church is absolutely industrial next to this church.


2. Rockefeller Center (Top of the Rock) -- Best Views of NYC. Better views that the Empire State Building.

3. Staten Island Ferry -- the cheapskate in me loved this...it's a free ferry ride to Staten Island and it goes right past the Statue of Liberty. They don't let you up inside anymore so this is the best way to see/get pictures of Lady Liberty (A bonus was we got to see THE most flamboyant (and scary looking) trans-sexuals on the planet).

4. Apartment roof tops -- We met a buddy of Wade's the first night at his apartment. He took us up to the rooftop and showed us how they have a common area or people can get their own private area and can have gardens, or sunbathe, or whatever...some of the private ones were pretty cool.

5. Central Park -- this park is MASSIVE. Truly one of the best things in NYC. (Don't try to see it all in one day)

6. Grand Central Station -- I loved it here. Of course as soon as we entered the main lobby we both remembered the scene in Madagascar where the animals that escaped from the zoo are caught. Funny that's what we recognized.

7. China Town (Canal Street) -- Where I met and brought home many friends (Coach, Gucci, Prada, etc...I'm not sure if they are knock-offs or stolen--but the quality is amazingly good if they are knock-offs).

8. Fifth Avenue was pretty great too. Here I am (purchase in hand) at THE Saks on Fifth Ave.




9. The Today Show -- I love Matt Lauer (seriously... I love him). We didn't spend a lot of time there but here are Ann, Al and some other fill-in anchor, so I did get a picture of a quasi-celebrity. I also saw Lou Gossett Jr. --is he still considered a celebrity? He is in my favorite movie of all time (An Officer and a Gentleman), so I say he still counts.



10. St. Paul's Chapel and Cemetery. Possibly my favorite. We stumbled onto this place on our way down to Battery Park. This chapel was built in 1766. President George Washington was one of the worshippers at St. Paul's. It's directly across the street from what was the WTC. Cool story, this little chapel survived the collapse of the WTC without even a broken window. One sycamore tree that was destroyed by debris on 9/11 fell and didn't disturb a single headstone in the cemetery (there definitely was a higher force protecting this little place). Here's a great little article on it if you care to see how special this little place was http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_28_118/ai_79514972


This doesn't even touch all the other things we did in NYC. I literally got blisters on the bottom of my feet from all the walking and sight-seeing we did.

5 things I learned in NYC

1. Subways are the best way to get around the city (and yes there are rats, I've got pictures for proof).
2. DO NOT go to NY during the Pueroto Rican Day Parade...trust me on this...80,000 participants, 2 million in attendance. It was craziness, seriously. This parade lasted HOURS...seriously how many cars/floats can you see before they all look the same. It was 98 degree too, never thought it'd be hotter in NY than in Tulsa. We didnt watch, but we could not avoid them.
3. People there love Giuliani and credit him with all things good in NYC.
4. One too many sushi, make me want to barf-y. (For Wade change sushi to mackerel sashimi for same statement).

5. Old mixes with new like no other place I've ever been (check out this pic...the skyscrapers built up around this little building)

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

The one thing I feel like we could have skipped was Ground Zero -- Nothing to see, then again...maybe that's the point.

The only thing I would have liked to have done and didn't, was catch a show, everything else was a bigger priority to me...but I did go see a movie in Times Square by myself ($13.00). Wade had to go to the Webby Awards for a work thing so I went to see Made of Honor (my kind of movie). I'm not sad about missing a show cause we're going to see Phantom of the Opera in a couple weeks...doesn't get much better than that (unless you're going to see Les Mis...can't decide which one is my favorite, it depends on which one I've seen last).

Here's the slideshow.

And I'll try to get better about posting so I don't have to write a novel each time.

High's and Low's

We've been through a lot of MAJOR changes this month. The highs and lows of the circle of life have hit us full force.

The lowest point was when Wade's grandma passed away. She had been sick for awhile when Hospice called and told us she was within a day of passing. That night we all went up to to see her and she was surrounded by her family when she took her last breath. It was tough to watch, but as the circle of life continues we were blessed with a new nephew to add to our bunch. The boys now outnumber the girls (2 nieces, 3 nephews).

Lots of other major events (in our little world) have happened too:


Our family ran in our 1st sponsored run together. We did the 1 mile "fun run" and spent the rest of the day at the Aquarium in Jenks. It really was one of the funnest days. We ate burgers and dogs, there was face painting, bouncy's, and clowns making balloon animals. Then we spent the afternoon touring the aquarium. Wade and I had just as much fun as the kids did!

Riley had her last day of school and Kindergarten is now behind us. She is slowly learning to put words together to make sentences. We enrolled Caden in the 4 year old preschool program so he'll be going to school everyday at the same school (not a full day). Both Riley and Cade joined the summer reading program at the library and hopefully she'll go into 1st grade with a slight reading advantage. No one in her class is reading yet.


Wade's cousin Amanda married Daniel after their 1st "planned" wedding was put on hold until after he returned from Iraq. As I write this they are off on their Mediterranean honeymoon (I'm so jealous!)
I guess we better start saving cause Riley caught the bouquet!

Another bit of big news is after nearly 5 years, I have resigned my position at my scrapbook store. A lot of factors went into my decision, but with summer coming, bottom line is I wanted my weekends free to be with my family. I'm going to miss it, but I hope that I will have more time to scrapbook there, rather than be on the clock. The owner told me I was an "Icon" at ScrapHappys and she'd still like me to help with special events and retreats. I've been there longer than anyone else (even her) as I was hired under the original owner and the store has since changed hands.

And looking to the future...Wade and I are headed to New York (sans kids) for a little culture and relaxation in the city that never sleeps. I've never been there so I'm looking forward to the touristy stuff (Statue of Liberty, maybe a Broadway show, Greys Papaya Hotdogs)...if you have suggestions of something we should see or do let me know!

It works!

For those of you that are faithful readers, you may remember the cleaning solution I bought last summer for nearly $100. I've been using it for little things like windows, counters, etc... But what sold me on it was that he was able to get a sharpie out of a towel. This week we had our biggest cleaning challenge yet (other than the red candle wax in the carpet at our last house). Brooke found a furniture pen (the ones that you fill in knicks in the furniture with). She managed to "color" all over the fronts of the cabinets, the tile, the counter top (she climbs on the bar stools to get up that high), and everything that was sitting on it (my mothers day card, a glass candle, a purse, etc...). She also colored the bar stool itself (cushion seat and the metal back). Well I turned to my special solution and everything came out except the metal back on the bar stool. Pretty good! Oh and she colored the train table in the kid's room, and it didn't come out of the base of that but it is like thick cardboard and if I scrub too hard the kids wouldn't have a picture on the base of it. But that was a separate occasion when she drew on that. I've moved the pens once before and this kitchen incident was when she found them.
They are now in a childproof drawer.
Wish I had thought to take a picture...I've been slacking in that area lately.

So it looks like my last post was a month ago today. Here's a little glimpse of what's been keeping us busy.

Riley had her 6th Birthday!

We've always done family parties for the kids but since she's been in school she wants 'all friends' parties now. She invited all the little kids from her class and they had a great time. The highlight for the kids was the pinata.

This little girl (Alexandria) had the right idea with the pinata...catch it at the top. She's a triplet, so she's used to having to fight for the good stuff...I'm sure it started in the womb...with space.

We've been heavily involved in t-ball the last few weeks. We've had either games or practice 3 nights a week.

Riley is really good, although her attention span is a bit short. If they're in the field you can find her twirling around, covering up the bases with dirt, or hugging the other girls. She's scored several runs and can actually hit the ball pretty far. The last game she even got a girl out at home base. She must have a pretty good coach! (see below)

TU had their spring scrimmage game and our dinner club tailgated before the game. Here are the Bradshaw's kids and ours with their faces painted. If you look close up the red dots on the boy's cheeks are supposed to be footballs. They actually look more like eggs, I'd say the cheerleaders need some art lessons.

We babysat our nephew Clark and the kids had so much fun with him. I think Riley thinks he's her own personal baby doll. And I got a little taste of what 4 kids will be like (some day). I think we need a bigger bathtub. Clark has the greatest legs...so chubby. I love it. It's hard to not squeeze him.

I had to run to St. Louis unexpectantly. My dad came back to the states to have surgery (yes, he is fine), but the kids and I went to see him during his time back. So I took Riley out of school and drove with the kids. Wade couldn't make the trip, he was in Colorado, he's still traveling A LOT for work.

My girls each have a cousin their age.

Riley and Kate' are 3 months apart

Brooke and Kelsey are 3 weeks apart.

Poor Cade was left out of almost everything. But we all had a lot of fun and as always with any Wilson get-together had some really great food. My mom makes THE best peach pie.

It just so happened that one of my best friends was having a surprise birthday party that week so I was able to show up and had a really great time seeing everyone again. I didn't take a camera but Derek's girlfriend sent me this a couple of days after the party.

Derek is 30 now. Welcome to the club! He went home after Tubby's closed but I went out with some of our other friends and stayed out WAY too late. It was really rough driving back to Tulsa that next day (3 kids for 6 hours with little sleep and a headache = grumpy mommy). But it was just so much fun catching up with everyone I just didn't want it to stop. One of our friends just had a double lung transplant in January and he was at the party. He has cystic fibrosis and things were scary for a while, but he looked and was feeling so great.

I got a jillion other things I could tell you about but the munchkins are craving attention.

Until then...

And Pearl...I heart David Cook too!

Catch up --- (Warning: lots of photos)

Been a while. I haven't put up any pictures since Christmas, because I didn't know how to move pictures from my camera to my new computer...not hard, just been delaying it because it was a new process and I wasn't sure how to do it. But it's pretty easy...easier than it used to be actually. So here's a bit of catch-up.

Riley's School Valentine Party

Isn't she cute?

Cade calls this his "hunting shirt".

Funny lookin' Snowman


Don't they look alike here? Even their smiles are the same...


Funny story...
Riley yells that Brooke has gotten into the "dirt"...only it wasn't dirt...it was her diaper. How gross...you can't tell from the picture but she smelled worse than she looks. I don't know why, but she loves digging in her diaper...we had to put her in onsies to keep her out.

Cade took his shirts off then "helped" Brooke take hers off. Cute finding them like this.


Here are some from our spring break.

We went to Kansas City to visit friends and family for a couple of days. We had to scratch our Easter Egg Hut at Levi's church - we woke up to snow (not exactly egg hunting weather), and we also had to scratch the parade on St. Patrick's Day because it rained all day. But instead we went to eat at the Crayola Cafe in Crown Center - which the kids thought was pretty cool.

And of course, the latest and greatest...Easter.

Hope to be better about posting now.

Hope all had a blessed Easter.

We are SO ready for Spring...(hence the new colors)!