Snow Sking in Santa Fe

It's the weekend before Christmas and where do we go, we head to the mountains to see lots of SNOW! On Friday, December 18th Nolan was officially beginning his 2 week Christmas break so we packed up the family truckster (aka minivan) grabbed 2 of 3 boys (Luke got some extra special Grandma & Grandpa time as he got to head to Santa Fe 2 days earlier than the rest of us) and headed to Santa Fe (with an overnight stop in Amarillo). During Luke's alone time with Grandma and Grandpa his wishes came true when not only did he get to SEE lots of trains on the way to Santa Fe he actually got to RIDE a train to Albuquerque! The rest of us arrived in Santa Fe on Saturday afternoon and after a quick stop to the cutest little book store in downtown Santa Fe (and yes, I purchased 3 of the cutest children's books ever!) and a brief exploration of all that downtown Santa Fe has to offer we retreated back to the "casita" for dinner and headed to bed early to rest up for our first big day of skiing!

Sunday morning we got up early, got some warm oatmeal in the boys tummy's, got dressed as warm as possible and headed to the slopes. I highly recommend Santa Fe for skiing with kids...the accessibility to their children's ski program made the process of getting all their gear to the mountain so very easy! Nolan and Luke joined ski school and made good progress by the end of day 1. We were all in bed by 8:45pm that night! The next morning we woke up and did it all again. Luke was a little sad that he wasn't going to ski with "his Daddy" so we promised to come get him in the afternoon and take him skiing. Nolan's class got to do practice runs on "Easy Street" and he got to ride a real lift! At the end of the day both Nolan and Luke got to ski several runs with us down the mountain and Nolan was in heaven! Nolan even jumped over a level and when we return he'll be a "black bear"! Growl! What a wonderful trip! Now we're just trying to figure out how we might be able to squeeze in one more trip this season!

It's never too late for an update!

In December Nolan and Dane had their 6 year and 9 month check ups (respectively) with our family Pediatrician, Dr Robert and both checked out to be fabulously healthy and here are some of their stats:

Dane - 9 months old

Height: 27 1/2" - 10th percentile (a jump up from the 5th percentile last visit!)

Weight: 19 lbs 6 oz - 25th percentile

Head: 18" - 45th percentile

Dane turned 9 months old on December 10th and 2 days later took his first independent steps! Over the past several week's he's been practicing his skills and just this week we've seen him attempting to walk more than crawl. And, after 4 weeks of "we need to get the video camera out" we finally did! I'm pretty sure that Nolan's first steps were video taped the day he took them. Oh to be the 3rd baby!

Nolan - 6 years old

Height - 46 1/2" - 60th percentile

Weight - 51 lbs - 78th percentile

Nolan continues to grow up, up, up and should be at least as tall as Drew when it's all said and done. (Not sure Luke and Dane have the same prediction based on their doctor visit height percentiles!) I suspect that Nolan will also mimic Drew's love for adventure. Speed is Nolan's personal motto! From snow skiing and water skiing, water slides and rollercoasters to riding his bike and scooter his latest request is to do gymnastics. He got to take an introductory class last week and his favorite part with the trampoline! Of course it was, why wouldn't it be!!!

Nolan turns 6 years old!

Wow! 6 years have flown by and I find myself often thinking back to the amazing changes which were in store for us back then (and still today!) First and foremost, we have been blessed with a healthy baby boy who is growing into a handsome (yet spirited) boy. From the sleepless nights to wondering if he'd ever be potty trained we have enjoyed watching him witness so many things for the very first time! Over the past year he welcomed with open arms his baby brother Dane, has learned to ride his bike, has become an independent swimmer and a pretty good t-ball player too! He graduated from pre-K and joined the world of the big kids when Kindergarten began in August. He is learning to read (I actually found him doing flash cards in his room over the past weekend) and celebrated his 6th birthday with his best buddy Brian at the Great Wolf Lodge's indoor waterpark! Nolan is a no-fear kid when it comes to thrills and would have ridden all of the water slides but he was 1" shy of clearing the height requirement for 2 of the slides. Next year he'll be good to go! After we left the waterpark we picked up some pizza and invited our friends and Texas family members over to celebrate and eat Nolan's "wolf" cake! I hope you enjoy viewing pictures of Nolan celebrating his birthday over the past 6 years!

We were ratted out!

Nolan's t-ball team played their All-Star game last Monday evening and it sure was a lot of fun. It was played in the evening under the bright lights with announcements (favorite player, food, tv show, etc), music and lots of hoopla! Even though Nolan's cast was removed earlier that day he is still on 4 weeks of restricted activity (sigh). So, he attended the All-Star game in an "honorary" role and got to join in on most of the festivities (besides the actual game).

So, how were we ratted out you ask? This past Sunday afternoon we went to the park to hit some balls which technically was off limits but because the cast was coming off the next day we thought, what could it hurt (famous last words!). During the visit the doctor informed us that his activities were to be restricted for another 4 weeks and we agreed but leave it up to a 5 year old to gleefully chirp in with the following..."I got to play t-ball last night!" I thought I was going to crawl under the table when the 20-something nurse practitioner who was attending to Nolan's factured leg enforced her rules again "NO ACTIVITY"!

As for his leg, it healed very well but I swear, it still stinks! His skin is peeling and the skin on his foot is dry and cracked but otherwise all is good! I just set up our health insurance policy for 2010 and I'm going with the optimistic, glass half-full approach that there will be no broken bones next year! Now...where's the wood at? I have some knocking I need to attend to!!!!

Batter up!

Look at this cutie patootie! Have you ever seen anything so adorable in your life? Luke just finished his 1st season of Blastball. The goal? Hit the ball and run to the squeeky first base and then return to the dugout! He had such a good time! After his last game he got his first trophy ever and he couldn't wait to put it in his room!

Happy Halloween y'all!

We truly lucked out this Halloween with the wonderful weather we had for trick or treating! I think it rained 30 of the 31 days in the month of October and was unseasonably cold most of those days. I totally felt cheated out of our beautiful Texas October weather but in just the nick of time, mother nature treated us with a mid-70s degree day to ensure a successful trick or treating event!

Jackie and Jeff joined us again this year for our festivities and we enjoyed a weekend with just enough activities! This year's Halloween costume theme was "what's cookin'?" Nolan and Luke were chefs while Dane was their lobster who almost got away! We had a lot of fun this year as you can see in the pictures I took right before we set out to gather our loot! We walked our entire neighborhood with the boys next door and when we returned home at 8:30pm Luke requested to be put to bed, no tv, no books, just bed! That has NEVER happened before and I LOVED IT! We should trick or treat every night!

Homecoming, Baptism and the Farm, Oh My!

I sure wish I could get to making my posts in a more timely manner however until my children graduate from college I suspect my life is always going to be about playing "catch up"! A few weeks ago we Wilson's made the long drive to MO and after arriving were so glad we did! We spent Saturday watching the MU Homecoming parade with many extended family and friends. The boys LOVED catching the candy thrown by those in the parade and it wasn't even Halloween yet! Nolan has really become a fan of Truman the Tiger so after the parade we walked through campus, took a few pictures at the columns and looked in the windows of Jesse Hall because Nolan just knew Truman would be inside (he believes that Truman's home IS Jesse Hall)! I snapped picture after picture of the beautiful fall foliage which we simply do not see in Texas. While I enjoy the extended "green" of Texas the color of the trees is like candy for my eyes! Of course the loss to UT was a bit disappointing but Nolan didn't care, he proclaimed this football game to "the best football game EVER" and why not, right? He got candy at the parade, had extended time to hang out with all of his cousins (are they once removed or twice removed?!?!) and at the very end of the game got his picture taken with Truman the Tiger!

On Sunday we attended the baptism of Amelia Grace, daughter of Drew's cousin Susan and Michael. Drew and I were choosen to be her Godparents! What an honor this will be and what's even better is that I now have a little girl to spoil with pretty dresses and frilly things! Sunday afternoon we made our way down to the Wilson family farm (not to be confused with the funny farm) and sloshed around in the rain. We took the biggest family picture ever and I even captured a picture of what I refer to as "the crop of 2009". Great Grandma Beulah was blessed with 5 new Great Grandbabies in 5 months bringing her total of Great Grandchildren up to a whopping 16! G-ma looks great (as always) and I love it that our kids get to know her! Keep up the good work Grandma!

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end so we headed home to Texas on Monday morning. We can't wait to see everyone again at the next Wilson family reunion...wherever it may be!