October in pictures

Bella finally got to have her spa day that she has been wanting to have for months. in early October. She took her friend Lilly and they had a great time getting pedicures in the little girl's spa.

Elias saved money for about 2 years and took lessons for over 6 months and he finally was able to bring home his drums in mid-October.

He sounded great. I am so glad he can already keep a beat!

Bella did a better job than I thought she could, since she ended up slamming her finger in a fire door at school and broke the tip of her finger. I was amazed at how well she was able to cut with the splint on her finger.

Josh was the stencil maker, but the kids did the majority of their own carving themselves.

This is Bella's pumpkin. Besides a little bit too much cutting by the eye, it is really impressive that she was able to cut it herself so well.

This is Elias' pumpkin. This pumpkin was supposed to have little pumpkins sitting in the big pumpkins mouth getting eaten. But we didn't carve them until 2 days before Halloween, so I was not able to find little pumpkins to buy.

This is Josh's pumpkin. He drew the stencil for this himself. A lot of people enjoyed it during trick-or-treat.

Bella was an adorable bat girl. I got this costume at Gabe's for $5.99 and it was a really high quality costume.

We had trouble finding Elias a costume. He felt he was too old for super heroes, but I wasn't crazy about him being a ghoul or zombie. He loves the cartoon "Tron", but we couldn't find a Tron costume that actually lit up. So Josh decided to make one for him. It took Josh a lot of time and a lot of boxes from Amazon, but it looked really nice in the end. Josh wasn't pleased with his work, but Elias was.

This is the costume lit up. It really did look pretty awesome.

This is their loot. It is actually a little less than last year, but still way too much!  Of course, we had about 1/2 of the trick-or-treaters we normally do because it was raining, so we also had plenty of the candy that we were giving out left over too.

In other news...

So here is the news of our lives in a list, to save time on my part and yours:

1. Today is Josh's 38th birthday. I am thankful to celebrate another year with him.

2. Josh is still working, despite the government shutdown. And it seems that he will be able to continue working for now. We are thankful that he still gets a paycheck, but it has been stressful for him to be working with so many off. Since he is a contractor, he would not get paid if he wasn't working. I feel bad for all those who work in the retail stores and restaurants who live paycheck-to-paycheck who are losing hours or being laid off from lack of sales. They will not be receiving any back pay.

3. There have been break ins all over our town. Over 30 houses have been burglarized within a 5 mile radius, 3 in our neighborhood alone. All of these burglaries occurred during the day.  I am more concerned about having them walk in on me or me on them then what they could steal. So last weekend, Josh installed a security system. It only took me two days to accidentally set it off!

4. My sisters and I are planning a 50th wedding anniversary party for my parents. Because the facility where we want to have it was booked up for every date in November and December, except November 9th. So we are having it on November 9th, even though their anniversary is actually on December 23rd. We have less than one month to get it together, but I know my parents will appreciate it in the end. Fifty years of marriage, through good and bad, is definitely something to celebrate.

5. Soccer season is almost over and then Elias will begin basketball. This year, he is moving up to the school league, so he is really excited. He wants to try baseball in the Spring, which we are not looking forward to much, but we want him to have the opportunity if he wants to try it. But Bella wants to take the Spring off of dance and try soccer again - or at least she says she does now. I guess we will see.

6. My favorite show is Psych and we have been trying to wait patiently for the latest season to be put on Netflix. We are beginning to consider buying the season. In the meantime, I have been rewatching the old episodes. (I feel a little sorry for myself that this actually made it into my "news of my life" list!)

7. Elias and Bella are having a pretty good school year. Homework is still painful for everyone involved, but we are managing. Elias is really learning a lot this year and I feel better about where he will be academically when he goes to middle school next year. Bella is trying to appear not as smart as we know she is. We haven't been able to pinpoint why exactly, but it has been a new hurdle this year.

8. We have a bazillion little flies in our house. I have poured boiling water and vinegar and baking soda down my drains to kill their eggs. We have set out vinegar traps. We have swatted them with fly swatters. Still they are buzzing around and landing on any food we leave out on the counters for even a minute. One just flew up my nose and I accidentally sucked it in. It was stuck in that area between my nose and my throat. I tried to blow it out, but it wouldn't come out. The only choice I had was to swallow it the rest of the way down. The sad part is, this is the second time this has happened. These flies must think I have something really inviting up there! Forget stink bugs! These little flies are about to put me in the loony bin!

Wow, that is really the only real news I really have! Of course,15 minutes after I post this, I will think of 20 other things I could have added. But I have to get ready to go have lunch with my birthday boy!

The snake saga

I posted this story on Facebook and meant to post it here the same day for those of you who still read my blog (no matter how far and few between the posts are!) and are not on Facebook. But I ended up working every day last week, so I never got the time.


There is never a dull day at the Wilson home! I got called last minute to work. So I was trying to rush out the door and was on the phone with the plumber, who I thought couldn't come, but now was. As I walked into the garage I see one of our glue traps from the pest company moved out into the middle of the garage floor. Did I mention that Elias got a prank book this week? Well, this glue trap had a black snack hanging out of it. Elias has a black rubber snake, so I thought that Elias was up to one of his pranks. So I moved in to put it back in the corner and the snake started wiggling all around! It was not a rubber snake and it was not a prank! So I did what any logical person would do, I started kicking it out of the garage door at which time, the snake, trying to get his bearings gets his tail caught in the other side of the trap. I decide to leave it in the driveway and pray he is dead by the time I get home. So, I leave for work, plumber comes, I come home, kids get home. The snake is very stuck on both ends now, but is still wiggling. I take Elias out to show him the prank that he didn't know he pulled on me. He and the neighbor kids begin taking pictures of it and Elias is trying to get a better vantage point for his shot, while I chat with my neighbor. The next thing I know, Bella is running toward me shrieking that Elias has let the snake loose. For being caught in a trap the whole day, this guy didn't seem any worse for the wear. He proceeds to slither off toward our open garage door. So, I do the only logical thing, I pick it up by the tail and fling it out into the road. Then I am standing there while Bella is practically sobbing and Elias is chasing after it to get pictures. I am standing there trying to decide if I should kill this recently freed prisoner as my kids watch. All the while, I am wondering how in the heck this thing isn't even showing the littlest injury, since I had my heel caught on one of these traps one time and thought I may have to have it surgically removed! As I am trying to decide, Elias keeps picking it up and flinging it into the road every time it tries to go into the grass. So the plumber walks out visibly amused by our shenanigans and says, "Oh, that is just a little gardener snake", which makes me feel like a truly horrible person and a girly girl for considering murder. In the end, I let him slither back into the yard, but I made sure the glue trap was put back, in case he gets the idea to make his way back in the garage again. Hopefully, after being flung into the air multiple times by me and Elias, he'll decide he has had enough of the Wilson home for while.

This picture was taken after my initial effort to evacuate the unwanted visitor that resulted in both ends of him being trapped in the glue. I felt that he was stuck enough to take a picture, without fear of escape.

 

This is one of the shots Elias took after he released it.

And then the school year began...

The kids were up and ready for school well before 7:30 the first day. Each day, that time has went down by 5 minute increments and we will soon be rushing them out the door to get to school on time.

Even though our summer ended, the summer time fun did not. The weather has taken a last swing at summer like conditions, so the kids have been out almost every evening playing, which makes it very hard to do homework. Since they are in 2nd and 4th this year, both of them have their fair share of homework and I feel like if they have it, than I have it too! These first few weeks are an adjustment - the kids realize they have to do something other than sleep, eat, and play! But so far they are doing really well overall. There are some grumpy moments, but they both seem to be enjoying school and they like their teachers.
The first weekend after school started was an exciting one for us. Unexpectedly, the kids and I went to the pool with friends - one last time before the end of the season. We hadn't been to the Bridgeport Pool this summer and Elias really wanted to try to dive off the high dive. He had jumped off of it last summer, but had been a little too intimidated to dive off of it. So Elias was thrilled when he knew he'd have his chance this summer. As soon as he arrived, he went right up onto the high dive. He jumped off the first time to get his bearings and then went right back up and dove off of it. Bella jumped off of the smaller diving board. She just learned this summer to really swim on her own in the deep end and so diving off of the diving board without assistance is a major milestone that she has been enjoying this summer too. I am really proud of both my swimmers!

Unfortunately, Josh decided to stay behind to work on the railings some more, but he made great progress and there are just a few more pieces to put in place and he will be done. It is amazing how much work and money it is to put up a few railings. We have probably spent almost as much time and probably more money on these railings than we did on remodeling our family room! Now all we have to do is paint the exterior of the house. We had planned to try to paint at least the block this summer, since it is chipping, but I think it is a job for next summer.

On Sunday, Elias was baptized. This is something he has talked about wanting to do for a while and now that our church has a baptismal, he decided that it was the time. The church decided to bring all the kids from the children's ministry to watch the baptisms, since there were three kids being baptized. Elias' face was priceless when he saw all of his peers walking into the sanctuary. He said, "They are really coming in to watch the baptisms?" He has really been growing in his faith and has been more vocal about his thoughts and how God effects his life, but when it came time to tape his comments for a video they showed before the baptism, we could hardly get 20 words out of him! He just didn't know what to say or how to say it. I think that was one of the only times I have truly seen him speechless! He added the comic relief to the video, though, because when they asked what it would be like to be baptized, his answer was, "Wet!". But he came home and immediately went and told our neighbor's boy, who he's friends with, that he was baptized. I pray every day that the seeds that are planted in my kids' hearts when they are young will bear much fruit in the years to come.

It seemed like I had plans almost every day the kids were in school so far and I have actually already subbed twice this year - the first being on the 2nd day of school. One day last week I took my dad to a dentist in Bridgeport that makes low cost dentures. My dad got his first set of dentures when he was in the military in Germany when he was only 23 years old. He has had that same set of dentures for 50 years! People cannot believe that he had them that long. They held up pretty well for many years. But in recent years, dad had to super glue teeth in and do other repairs to them and the molars were pretty much worn to the gum. He looks younger with his new teeth. His smile is more like I remember it when I was a kid. I am so glad that I was able to spend the day with my mom and dad and help them out. It feels weird that I am now their driver and such. I feel too young to be turning the roles around so soon. My dad is a jokester and he had a ball gabbing with a fellow who was 88 and full of stories while we waited at the dentist.

A picture with my dad and his new chompers - just after he enjoyed a hearty helping pot roast that I had left in the crock pot that morning.

Then one of our last hurrahs of summer was to go to the Seattle Sounders major league soccer game while they were playing the Columbus Crew in Ohio. This is an early birthday gift for Josh, since his birthday is in October. It had been scheduled months ago. It is also something he has wanted to do for a long time. We left the kids with my mother-in-law again. (I thank God that I have a great mother-in-law who drives over an hour each way to come watch the kids!) I am so glad that the kids were not with us, because right before the game started while the teams warmed up, the skies grew black and the wind picked up. They made everyone go under the bleachers and for over an hour we stood and sat next to thousands of others while the rain passed. Luckily, after the storm passed, the weather was absolutely beautiful without another drop of rain and since our hotel was within walking distance of the stadium, we still were back before midnight. It was fun to watch the game and the Sounders won, which makes it even more fun. Some Sounders fans in front of us almost got into a fist fight with a drunk Crew fan, so I was glad that Josh had left his Sounders jersey at home, even though he said he felt like a sell out!

We were really worried that they were going to cancel the game and there were no refunds for the tickets. He was pretty bummed, but I told him to make a sad face while we waited under the bleachers. This was the best he could do.

Barely even damp after the rain delay. Waiting for the teams to warm up...again!

The rest of the summer break

The last 2 weeks of July were less eventful than the first 3, though there were a few highlights. Josh ran his first 5K. He participated in the Run to Read 5K that started at the stadium by our house. The kids and I waited until the 5K started and then we went to the 12th street pool, which was free for the family members of the participants. It was so cold by the time it started that I didn't even try to get in, but the kids enjoyed it.
We also visited a newly remodeled pool in our area. It is now more of a mini water park than a pool, complete with a lazy river, slides, diving board, and several splash pad areas. It was a little chilly the day we went, so there were not many people there, so we were able to use all of the park with little to no wait time.

We finished up the library summer reading program, which was a bit anti-climatic. The didn't have any ending celebration or anything, so the kids were a bit disappointed. I realized a little too late that I was pretty diligent to make sure the kids read over the summer, but I really didn't make them do any math or work on any other subject. I tried to throw in some card games that would give them exposure to numbers, but I really need to pay attention to this next summer. 

This is one of the few pictures I got of the reading program. The man in the back is a paleontologist and the kids were looking for shark's teeth with excavating tools. The library program was themed "Dig into reading" and all the programs were digging related.

August really is when I feel we begin gearing up for the new school year. We began the month with the soccer draft, which Josh coordinated. Then came registration for Bella's dance class. And the inevitable school shopping. The kids really didn't need that many clothes, since they received a bunch of nice hand-me-downs over the summer, but they needed new shoes, backpacks and pencil boxes, and one outfit. We were at the mall for about 5 hours for just those few things! And even though we had intended only to get them one new outfit for the first day, the sales were so good, we ended up with about 3 each! Also, in early August, I tried to fit in a bunch of appointments - dental and allergy check-ups and haircuts - so we wouldn't have to do them after school started.
My birthday was also in early August. Most of my birthday was like any other day, since Josh had decided we would celebrate on the weekend. But he made me dinner, shrimp scampi with pasta (so good!) and we had chocolate cupcakes with an ice cream filling for dessert.  The kids had picked out gifts for me. Elias had picked a pair of sunglasses because I had lost mine (but had actually found them) and Bella got me bobby pins. They are so sweet to always try to think of things I use or really like. Josh is always a very thoughtful gift giver. He is very sentimental and I am so lucky to have a man who thinks outside of the box. He had roses sent to me that day with a very sweet message attached and then he got me a jar that had "37 wishes" on the outside. Inside the jar, there were 37 cards of people's personal sentiments and birthday wishes. I cried many times while reading them. But Josh's were the ones that made me cry the most. He had not only included his personal thoughts, but also quotes from people that he knew would mean something to me.  He included a ring and hole-punched each card, so that I could keep them on the ring when I was done reading them. Since my birthday, I have went back and read through them many times.
Then on the Saturday after my birthday, we went to see "Noah" at the Sight and Sound theater in Pennsylvania, which is something I have wanted to do for a while. Since we went up and back in one day, which equated to just over 8 hours driving, we opted not to take the kids. When we were on our way home, we decided to stop at a place we had never been before to eat called "The Hen House". The food was delicious and the atmosphere was not what I had expected. We sat out on the deck and ate while the sun was setting. It was a beautiful end to a wonderful birthday.

Then just before school started, we took a trip to see friends of ours that we had planned months before. Justin and Elizabeth were our closest friends in college - metaphorically and physically, since they lived right across the street from us and we spent the majority of our free time with them. They no longer live in the states, so we get to see them very little, but they are still some of our dearest friends. We met up with them and we all stayed together in a hotel, since they have many people to visit and so little time. I was amazed at how fast our kids took to each other, since they have only spent time together a handful of times in their lives - and a few of those times they were babies! It was so great to see them again, but the time was too short, as it always is. We ended up eating at a place called "Fat Patty's" which had great food, reasonable prices, and wonderful service. If you ever are in the Huntington, West Virginia area, you should try to eat there.

Thankfully, we had a pretty low-key weekend before school started. Bella and I went to a baby shower that other little girls were invited to also. It was so cute to see all the little girls in their dresses practicing being little ladies for the afternoon, until they were freed to go watch a movie and color in an adjoining room. Josh and Elias worked on replacing our front porch railings while we were gone. He has done a great job and they are almost finished. They look so much better than the old ones did! Then on Sunday, I picked up some school supplies, while the kids stayed home and played with the neighborhood kids.
It seems like every summer, we tend to have a soundtrack - songs that we listen to over and over - in the house and the car. This summer, the songs that were on the top of our list were Boomin' and Steal My Show by Toby Mac and Waving Flag by K'Naan. If it were up to Elias, there would be other songs added to this list, like The Tweezy Dance by KJ-52, but only the songs that I can stand to listen to more than one time make the list!
It was definitely a rainy summer, but I look around at how green and lush everything is now and I am glad that God takes care of the earth and knows what it needs. Even though we didn't have as many pool days as last summer, we still got to go a few times each month. This summer we also got to visit my hometown and my family more than we did last year and Josh's mom came and watched the kids several times, so they were able to spend time with her as well. My parents are getting older and they have been thinking of selling the house I grew up in, so I want the kids to have as many memories there as possible.

Being silly with Pappy and Mamal

My parents have all kinds of random stuff sitting around. Elias found this wig and proceeded to model it for all of us.

He realized that it can be worn different ways to vary the effect. This is his rock star smolder.

The kids were at a great age this year. They were independent enough that I didn't feel I had to wait on them at every turn, yet they still love to hang out with us and think that home is one of the best places ever. They are both good swimmers and bike riders too, which made trips to the trails and pool much more relaxing and enjoyable for everyone. They did their share of bickering, but they also had times where I saw that they have a real friendship that is separate from Josh and I. I also see them understanding things at a deeper level and understanding the why behind the things we have been teaching them all their lives.

Biking on the rails and trails. This is the first year that we were all able to bike together as a family, since Bella no longer needs training wheels. It is a lot of fun and great time as a family.

One day when we were at the pool, this baby monarch visited us. It was still learning to fly and kept landing on and around us. Elias was upset that it never actually would go onto his finger like it did Bella's.

One day the kids had the idea to have a circus in our house, so they made all these signs and set up all these different stations and then invited our neighbors Chase and Lilly to join them. The boys were the magicians and the girls were the face painters. I was really impressed by their creativity!