To Our Peeps

Luke and Nathan are sending a shout out to their cousins in Doha, Qatar! We are thinking about you and love you.

Waiting for Daddy

Friday night Luke was waiting for Jeff to get home. I was feeding Nathan when I looked over and saw this. What you can't see is that he is watching Wheel of Fortune. It was so cute that I did not even tell him to get down.

Helping Daddy

Saturday Jeff was tightening the screws on one of Luke's chairs. It was his Time Out chair that had come loose from frequent use (from playing in it, not using it for Time Out--we have not gotten the hang of Time Out yet). Anyway, Luke is in love with Daddy's tools and had a great time "helping."

Loads of Fun

It's been a nice week around the Wilson house. Not much has happened, which can be great sometimes. Over the weekend we did normal things like clean, hung some pictures, and went to Walmart (twice). So, it's been a little boring I guess. We like to think of it as peaceful and calm. :)

Here is a little set of pictures I took of the boys playing last week. They were having a lot of fun.

Who Nose Why?

Last night was an eventful night at our house. The boys were having dinner and Jeff had just gotten home from work. I was making dinner for Jeff when I looked over and Luke had a funny look on his face and his finger up his nose. Nose picking has lately become a favorite past-time of Luke's so the sight did not totally surprise me. But Luke soon started getting upset so I went closer to check things out. Upon closer inspection it was clear what had happened. Luke had put corn in his nose and could not get it out. He was beginning to panic and, I have to admit, I was a little upset too. Thankfully I remembered what Jeff's Uncle Jim told me once about a boy who had stuck a band aid up his nose. Uncle Jim said, just plug up the other two holes and he will probably blow it out. So, I did and Luke did. Crisis averted. Thanks Uncle Jim.

Unfortunately, I must admit, Luke probably got that from me. There is a story my family likes to tell about the time I stuck popcorn up my nose and had to go to the emergency room to get it removed. I was probably about 3 or 4 years old. Luke is only 22 months. I guess that makes him "advanced" for his age.

As you can see from the pictures, Luke was not too traumatized by the incident. I've also included a picture of what Nathan was doing while this was going on. Such a compassionate little brother.

Easter

We did not get many Easter pictures. Here are a few we did manage to take.

Thanks!

Nannie, I really love my water bottle with the strap so I can carry it with me, everywhere!

Rehearsal Dinner

Here's one that is sure to make the Rehearsal Dinner slide show one day.

Help!

Nathan's "don't you feel sorry for me, get me out of here!" pose. It works every time.

True Love

You know you love trucks and cars when you even use them for animals on your farm.

Favorite Time

My favorite time of day is right after breakfast. The boys play so sweetly and even play with each other sometimes. Here are some pictures from a couple of mornings last week.

Confession

Sometimes, when non-perishable food falls on the floor (most commonly Cheerios or grapes), I find myself thinking, don't worry about that, someone (Luke or Nathan) will find it later and eat it. That must qualify me for Mom of the Year.

Bear Wrestling

When Daddy is not around, the bear is a nice substitute. It's a favorite pasttime of Luke's. I wish you could hear the squeals and giggles!

1,000 Words

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? For me it is worth a thousand memories too. I discovered my thousand word treasure a few weeks ago while moving furniture. The sticker in this picture was on a bed slat from a bedroom suit first belonging to my great-grandmother and then to my brother. One day soon I will proudly set up the beds for my own little boys. The sticker is a relic from a move we made while I was growing up. It’s either from our move to Germany or our move to Tulsa, from Germany. Either way, the thousand words came pouring in.

When I was twelve my mom and Charles were married and soon after, we moved to Germany (can you think of anything worse than taking on two teenagers-my brother was 15 and I 13-and moving them and their mom overseas!). I had never been in an airplane before, much less to another country. I’ll never forget the day we left Mississippi and headed to New York (our first stop). Charles knew I was nervous so he sat next to me. He explained things like how a plane flies (he is a pilot), what the barf bag is for and other useful information. So, as we checked the emergency safety card and plotted our escape from the plane, (just in case) the plane took off and we were safely on our way to New York (I tease about that but to this day I still plot my escape each time I fly).

The next three years were full of adventures, learning and growing. Whether it was going on a bus tour to Paris with my brother and scaring the tour guide half out of her wits when we decided to go exploring on our own, or the time my brother and I took a bus to Heathrow airport from the base in England where we were staying for a few weeks, and then a train into London and a man on the train sketched my portrait- my brother teased me all over London about that!-those three short years hold so many treasures! (Sorry Leanne for the run-on sentence and fragments, she is Grammar Queen is case you don’t know.) Speaking of Leanne, once Leanne, David, Chuck and I took a tour to Italy. We had no idea how expensive Italy is and we ran out of money. My mom had sent emergency money but that was soon gone. Instead of window shopping for expensive shoes in Florence, as the other tour participants were doing, we were window shopping the pizza! We were really glad to get back to Germany so we could eat :) There's also the time we (mom, Charles, Leanne, David, Chuck and I) went to Austria in our Toyota van. Charles would have made a great race car driver and was taking those small mountain roads at breakneck speed. All I heard across Austria was Leanne in the seat behind me, praying! Another gem is good old city bus number 18 that would take you from downtown Wiesbaden to our neighborhood, to Sonneberg stop which was right down the street from our house. “memories, all alone in the moon light…” (haha)

I had the opportunity to return to Wiesbaden in 2002 and everything was different of course. Most of the Americans were gone and what was still there was much more protected, due to 9/11. I was glad to go back to compare the memories to reality. All in all, it’s a time I hold dear and I just wanted to share a little of it.

Giggles

Often, when Luke has something he is not supposed to have, he gives me a sly look with a big grin. Then, he takes off the other way giggling while running. He likes to run to a specific place in the bedroom where he can "hide" (if he can't see me, I can't see him, right?). Still giggling, he squeals when I find him and take the forbidden object from him. Then he jumps up and laughs while he follows me back to the family room. It's a lot of fun and much better than a fit. I hope he keeps it up! T minus two months until 2 years old!

A Couple of Cute Pictures

Lessons Learned

Here are a few things Luke and Nathan have taught me over the last several months.

1. Red ravioli sauce makes great hair gel.

2. Just about anything can be a hat, including a pancake breakfast plate that still has syrup on it. Mixed with red ravioli sauce from the previous night makes for very stylish hair.

3. When followed around by a crying baby, just vacuum. The baby will still cry but he will run the other way.

4. You can dance to the rhythm created by the vacuum moving back and forth on the carpet.

5. A 9 month old can unplug the vacuum, repeatedly (while you are vacuuming of course).

6. A 9 month old will pull up on anything, including the toilet seat (note to self: increase toilet cleaning from bimonthly).

7. Screaming at the top of your lungs is super fun.

8. Two Excedrin Migraine pills can make for a great morning.

9. A 22 month old will eat just about anything if you give him a fork.

10. It is possible to strain a chest muscle from repeatedly reaching behind you on a long car trip to feed a screaming baby "crunchies" to get him to stop crying (totally worth the pain by the way).

11. Sweet hugs, big smiles and precious giggles make it all worth it.