What's a Birthday without a trip to the Urgent Care!

In true Wilson fashion we went all out for Dane's 2nd birthday party. We invited out closest friends and of course our family members to celebrate a "quacky" birthday for Dane. We have a pond across our street that has a group of ducks swimming in it a few times each day. Dane LOVES to go and watch the "quack quacks" as he calls them and they provide good distraction for him when a temper tantrum is coming on as well. So this year I attempted to decorate a 3-D duck cake for Dane and it actually turned out very well. I also decorated some mallard sugar cookies as well.

The evening was going as planned. Everyone had arrived, kids were playing in the backyard and food was being served. Nolan wanted to show Grandpa his new golf clubs which were in the garage and as always Nolan was running around barefoot. Somehow he stepped on the metal edge of an old table and cut his foot. I'm thinking, "let's put a band aid on it" but it was more than a band aid and was becoming quite messy. Thank goodness for our great friend and neighbor, Meredith, although a Pediatric Oncology nurse she was very calm about helping to stop the bleeding and wrap up his foot so we could take him to the Urgent Care clinic. So, with a house full of people we put Nolan in the car and took off. This was a bit of De Ja Vu for us because right before Lukes' 2nd birthday he fell off the swing while we had friends over for dinner and we had to take him to the Urgent Care to glue his chin back together! In any case, the doctor had to make 3 stitches and continued to tell us how deep the cut was and how he "fileted" his foot. Nolan was a champ because we knew it hurt, the doctor even said when he was getting ready to give him the numbing treatment that he wasn't going to lie because it was really going to hurt. Nolan and I practiced some breathing exercises and for a moment you would have thought he was birthing a child instead of getting stitches in between his toe and bottom of his foot.

We managed to get home in less than 1 hour but by this time many of our party guests had left. Thankfully Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Lizzie, Hunter and Weston were still at our house when we returned to sing Happy Birthday and open a few more presents. All in all, we are thankful for healthy children and great friends and family!

3 Wilson boys posing before the party got started.

Dane's Mallard Duck birthday cake

Mallard duck sugar cookies

Dane posing for a quick picture

This is what happens when you leave your camera unattended.

Dane was sad when his party friends were heading home and he couldn't find his Mama and Daddy! Look at that face. Breaks my heart.

Happy Birthday to Dane!

Cake time!

Just love this picture and how he's sitting. He LOVES ducks!

Nolan getting some TLC and attention from Grandma Sally.

Mama, Dane and Daddy!

The Blizzard of 2011

Being the skeptic that I am, when the newscasters were calling for bad weather this week I took it very lightly expecting it to miss our area completely. Hindsight...I probably should have gone grocery shopping on Monday afternoon! It was about 3:30am Tuesday morning when we woke up to the sound of sleet hitting the windows and by 7am we had a light covering of snow. School was cancelled for the day so we pulled out the box of ski clothes and we all bundled up to go outside. We took our sleds to the top of this hill on a street near our house and let 'er rip! The sledding on ice was pretty good but the wind was harsh. We could barely hold onto our disks! There wasn't much snow to play in as our winter weather was actually a few inches of ice! Then at 4pm school was cancelled for Wednesday. Wednesday morning the rolling blackouts began but thankfully they never lasted more than an hour. School was cancelled on Thursday and again on Friday (4 days in a row may be a record for schools in this area). We woke up to about 1" of fresh snow on Friday morning and it continued to snow through lunch time. This time the cousins came over and we bundled up once more and did some more sledding, snow man building (but the snow was too dry) and snow angel making. I've decided that although we live in Texas it's always a good idea to have really warm snow gear no matter what so you can really enjoy these rare snow days!

I snapped a picture of our house just as the sun was coming out because I suspect the snow will be gone by tomorrow!

Dane sledding

Dane and Lucy withstanding the horrible winds on Tuesday. Look at the fur on Lucy's legs standing straight out. It was crazy windy!

Luke and Nolan trying to make a snow fort!

Can you see Luke behind all of his "gear"? He does not like to be cold!

Nolan did the best he could to make a snowman this year. Notice his lack of scarf, goggles and neck gator. He never gets cold!

T'was the Night Before Christmas

This year Christmas Eve in Texas was relatively calm. The boys and I spent much of the day decorating a gingerbread house and then sugar cookies for Santa. Nolan has been wanting to leave a present for Santa and we settled on a "to go bag" full of cookies and carrots for the reindeer (beyond those left on the platter with milk). The boys took a good look up the chimney to make sure it was clear and finally hit the hay. Santa did indeed come and I thought I would share with everyone now while "not a creature was stirring"... Merry Christmas y'all!

You gotta love this picture the way Luke and Dane are eying each other!

Drew his his boys!

Family picture

Cookies & milk, complete with a "to go" bag!

Santa, are you sure they were THAT good this year?!

Santa was a hungry fellow!

Doc Brown? Is that you?

It's hard to tell by these pictures but Dane actually has very fine, white/blond hair which was very long. He woke up from his nap on Thursday and his hair looked like Nick Nolte's mug shot! Drew even refers to Dane as "Doc Brown" from the movie Back to the Future. So, off to the salon we go! It's one of those, sit in a fire truck, watch a movie kinda place. He tolerated the experience, watched his movie and furrowed his brow frequently. All in all I'd say he was a fabulous client! Our hairdresser was kind enough to collect his baby fine hair and presented Dane with a 1st haircut certificate. I think we're good for at least 6 months!

Before

After

Hey, that's not the Polar Express!!!

If you aren't aware, Grapevine, TX is hailed as the "Christmas Capital of Texas"! And, I have to say, it is a wonderful city to live in. This year we had tickets to ride the "North Pole Express" so we dressed the boys in their PJ's and went to downtown Grapevine/Main Street and started our evening by grabbing a bite to eat. Oh what fun...eating in public in your PJ's! Afterwards we walked down to the gazebo to watch the light show set to music. It was so much fun we finally had to join in on all the dancing. After we were all danced out we went to the train station where we were to board our train promptly at 7:30pm. Luke (our "train kid") was so excited to take a ride on the Polar Express. He was ready to drink hot chocolate and go the North Pole to see Santa. Our train departed the station and sure enough, Santa made his way down our train car and it was all very exciting until we returned back to the station where Luke said, "Hey! We didn't go to the North Pole!" (There's no fooling this kid!). We walked back to our car and they were parking the engine for the night and as quick as a flash Luke was sure to inform us that that train was an imposter! It was NOT the Polar Express! Lesson learned...we now know better than to suggest to a kid who LOVES the movie Polar Express that we were indeed riding that very same train!

3 brothers watching the light show.

Dancing at the gazebo.

Look at those monkey slippers!

Sam & Luke

Riding the train with friends and cousins!

Drew and Dane

Wilson Annual Trip to the Gaylord to see Santa

Every year we make our Sunday morning trek out to the Gaylord to see Santa. My most recent memory of an 18 month old (Luke) sitting on Santa's lap resulted in a picture of an open mouth and the vision of 4 giant molars and that dangly thing in the back of your throat...needless to say, my expectations were fairly low. I fully expected to watch Dane slither off of the "Big Guy's" lap but not so. Luckily, this year Santa was extremely jolly and allowed Dane to slowly approach. Dane lowered his eye brows but did not cry. Nolan took the first seat, then Luke and then Dane decided he was an O.K. guy. It's good to have big brothers! He knows they'll take care of him!

Another attempt to get a picture of all 3 at the same time. I was so close until Luke looked away!

Luke is fully concentrating on the train watching.

GQ...enough said!

Wilson Family Christmas

All I can say is WOW! Bring on the presents! Christmas present unwrapping has gone from a record setting 4 hour event (in 2003) to a 4 minute event (in 2010). The boys ripped packages faster than we could see what was behind the beautiful paper! We had a wonderful Mexican themed dinner with traditional tamales and green chili stew. Only in Texas! And to think that this was the first of many Christmas gatherings yet to come!

The loot!

6 Wilson grandsons (as you can see, Luke has learned the art of "bunny ears").

Dane got a 4 wheeler (powered by his 2 legs, of course!)

Luke got more train track and he was happy as a clam!

Nolan got a Brett Bros necklace which is going to drastically improve his baseball game! :)

Yes, that is Dane sporting a pink drink cup. Apparently Cabela's ran out of different shades of blue!

Nolan just "hanging" with Grandpa

That's Dave doing dishes! I had to capture a picture of this!