Thursday, December 02, 2010

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Molly & Spencer

Our puppy is so smart she can do math! : )


(How adorable is this picture?)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

POST 600!!!!!

I wrote this in November of 2006. I came across it today and it made me smile. It was published in our church monthly newsletter. (Man, they gave me some leeway on this one)
The Background on this story is important! Miles had pulled his hip out of socket. His muscles were so tight so when he had a growth spurt it pulled his hip right out. It was terrible! He had to have surgery. Then he was in a Spica Cast for 3 months so his hip could heal. The Spica Cast went from his chest to his toes with a bar that held his legs apart. There was a small hole left for diapering. Did I mention that he had it for 3 months??? Actually within the three months he ended up having 3 different casts. He turned 2 while he was in that cast. We had to carry him around in a pillow filled wagon. The whole process was horrible! Praise the Lord that even in the middle of horrible, God has given us a sense of humor! ENJOY!




S-T-I-N-K-Y!

Oh my goodness Miles stinks! He has a sponge bath every day but it doesn't help on the odor! Starting last Wednesday, which was 3 weeks and one day after he had his cast put on, he started smelling. The smell is definitely a sweat and urine mixture. It's so yucky and over powering! Yesterday at church Randy asked me if I thought Miles had a dirty diaper. I leaned over to smell him and I said, "No, it's his cast." Well, I thought for a minute and decided there was no way just his cast could be that stinky so Randy took him out of the service to see if he had a dirty diaper. He quickly returned and it was just his cast that smelled. I held him all during church and I left there so nauseated! Last night I was holding him and my stomach hurt from the smell!

I've been telling people that he stinks and here are the suggestions that I've received. Someone said that I should sprinkle baking soda down the cast to absorb the odor. That wouldn't work because the powder gets cakey. Then someone said Febreze. I thought that might work, but I didn't want to spray it on his skin. I thought it might irritate it. Then, someone said, "Why don't you spray him with feminine spray?" You know Summer's Eve stuff? Randy said, "Well, it is for sensitive skin!” :) So, last night we all went to Wal-Mart and shopped for feminine spray. We didn't have anything else to buy there so all seven of us were staring at the feminine product in-cap. Randy couldn't take it so he sent all the kids to look at the Band-Aids while we figured out what in the world to buy.

I told Randy that I didn't want to get a scent that smells like a woman. He thought we should find a manly smell, but believe it or not they don't sell manly feminine spray! They had scents like Tropical Rain Forrest, Baby Powder and something floral. Randy sprayed the floral and I had to put my foot down! I did not want my son smelling like a panty liner! Then we found a scent that was called "SUPER ULTRA". We laughed so hard! That was the smell! SUPER ULTRA! We thought about the woman that would buy such a product! It had to be a serious problem if only the scent SUPER ULTRA would work. We smelled SUPER ULTRA then sprayed some on his cast. We decided this was the scent for us! It actually worked!

So we went through the self check out. I was not about to go through a line with five children at 8:30 on a Sunday night only buying SUPER ULTRA feminine spray! As we were walking to our car we saw two college age friends of ours going inside. Both Boys. Randy went to go chase them down and before he went through the door he threw the bag of spray at me. I picked it up and the whole time we were talking to the guys I was hiding the spray behind my back! I didn't want to get into the reasons we were buying SUPER ULTRA feminine spray.

When we got home Randy was changing Miles and Spencer went over to take a big whiff of Miles cast. He started making gagging noises and yelling about how bad Miles smelled. After Randy sprayed Miles all over I told Spencer to go smell him again. "Much Better" he said. It really does work!

So, if you have SUPER ULTRA odor problems of any kind...Summer's Eve feminine spray for $2.86 will do you nicely.

You may be asking, “Why in the world is a story like this in a church newsletter, and what does it have to do with my walk with the Lord?” Well, if you think about it, how many times do we have sin that is “stinking” up our lives; but instead of letting the Lord clean us up – we try to mask the symptoms of our sin with other “sprays”?

Let’s say you have gotten into the habit of spending more money than you make. Do you repent (change your mind) and get help to put your finances in order, or do you “spray” over the problem by using credit cards to keep up the spending? Just like I was holding the spray behind my back so our young college friends wouldn’t know our problem, it’s the same as trying to cover up our sin so others won’t know what’s really going on in our lives. I could go on and on with examples like this one. The point is that instead of trying to cover up our stinky sin, let’s try to take those things to the Father with real repentance and let Him clean us up! Lord, please clean us up in a SUPER ULTRA WAY! We need you!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Who Knew?

When I was young I always said that I wanted to go to NYU, drive an old turquoise Mustang convertable and be a Flight Attendant.



I never thought about getting married. I never thought about being a mom.

Previously I had always been bewildered by people who wanted to be a nurse.

I judged parents that home-schooled and thought they were control freaks.

I remember the horror on my future in-laws face when I advocated a woman's right to get an abortion.

I was dumbfounded about people who only listened to Christian music and thought they belonged on the set of Little House on the Prairie.

I am a walking Contradiction.

Good thing I wasn't made a few inches taller. Maybe I would have pushed the Flight Attendant issue. : )

Friday, November 12, 2010

My Week In Pictures

Man, what a busy week! Here's my week in pictures...1/80th of my week anyway. It's funny, I usually don't have many pictures of myself, but for some reason I have several of me this week. I know Joey and Jocie were around this week, but they weren't around for pictures I guess. That's probably because Joey was buried in homework this week! I don't know what Jocie was up to.

We had eye appointments and dentist appointments. Miss Mella here is going to have to start wearing glasses. She's going to be so adorable! She picked out a great pair. We had to order them and they should come in next week.


I got to go to Houston with some lovely ladies from our church. We went to see Joyce Meyer at Lakewood Church (Joel Osteen's church). Man! I haven't listened to Joyce Meyer much in the past, but she blew me away! I've thought daily about some of the things she talked about. I love the ladies at Grace Point. They're fun and faithful!


No more Blonde! I'm still not sure about the change...


Spencer and I Homeschoolin' It and me sporting some rollers. We have officially completed 58 school days! The kid is a genius which makes my job much easier. I always tell him that and he smiles.


Miles in the doctor's office listening to Jars of Clay sing "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet."


Today Miles was put in the hospital. He has pneumonia. We were in the pediatricians office 3 times this week. He's been sick for about a month and we've been trying everything we can to get him well, but he just couldn't kick it. When we got to the hospital his temperature was only 86 degrees. The warming saga continues. After they got him warmed up some he perked up and smiled. I love that smile!



And there ya have it. Never a dull moment and the WIlson House.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Spencer is the Man!

(This was actually several weeks ago, but I just now finished writing the story.)

I'm so proud of Spencer!
Last Thursday Spencer and I were reading a story about the missionary J. Hudson Taylor. He was a missionary to China in the 1800's. He was a missionary, but he did not have people support him. He fully relied on God to meet his needs. Taylor lived on whatever he had. Sometimes he only had very little.

After reading the story Spencer starting talking about how little he thought he could live off of.

Soon he said, "I bet I could eat off of $10 for 2 whole weeks! If I had 2 gallons of milk and a big bag of Rice Crispies I could live off that for 2 weeks!"

At first I just agreed and went on with more school work, but Spencer's mind just kept spinning. Every couple of minutes he would interrupt me with another idea or detail. He thought of other foods besides just the milk and cereal that would help him make it through the 2 weeks. He was getting so excited. Finally he said, "I really want to do it!"

The more he talked about it I realized that it would be a great thing for him to try. I agreed and after we got done with school I took him to Wal-Mart to buy his groceries.

Before we went to the store we made an agreement:
*I would give him $10 of my own money for the project.
*For the whole week (we changed it to one week instead of 2 because I thought it would help him be more successful) he would eat NOTHING except the food he bought with the $10. That means that if we went to another place where there was food, even if it was free he couldn't eat it.
*If he made it through the whole week then I would take him out to dinner any place he wanted.
*If he quit then he would have to pay me back the $10 by 1.) Cleaning all the baseboards in the house and 2.) Cleaning out my car.






When we got home we labeled all his food and made sure everyone knew what he was doing. The whole family was excited by the challenge. Spencer made it through the week like a Champ! I'm telling you...this kid blew me away! Not only did he make it all week only eating the food he bought, but he did it with an amazing attitude! Since we are homeschooling this year he's home all day. He ate every meal at home. He didn't complain. He was creative with his food combinations. The rest of the family had Taco Bell one night and he still ate his own food. We went a few places where the other kids got snacks, but he didn't eat anything there or whine and about the situation. The whole time I was so impressed with his determination and attitude. We all cheered him on during the week. There was only one time when he had a mild break down. The rest of the family was with me while I was grocery shopping and the kids asked if they could get a ice cream bar to eat in the car on the way home. I never say yes to this, but that day I actually did say yes. Well, Spencer didn't say anything, but as the kids were picking out their treat I happened to see Spencer crying. You could tell he was trying to hold back the tears, but it wasn't working. I was hugging him and telling him that I wasn't going to get any ice cream either. When the other kids saw him and how upset he was they each decided ON THEIR OWN they wouldn't get any ice cream. I can't tell you how overwhelmed this made me feel. I was such a proud mama! They chose to support Spencer by putting their own treat back. Even typing that right now makes me feel a little teary eyed.




I love that this project wasn't a scheduled or a curriculum based project. Also, I'm glad that I just didn't pass the idea up. It was one of those great "Living in the Moment" days. We had so much fun at the store while he shopped. I let him lead the shopping. I told him that if he wanted advice I would give it to him, but that ultimately it was his decision. Everything he picked out was calculated. He ended up spending $9.94. He even used the self check out line by himself.




So, he made it!!!! Randy and I are so proud of him! He had an idea, made it happen and followed through with his commitment, AND he did it with a great attitude.

I know the Lord has amazing plans for Spencer. I'm so pleased that I get to have a front row seat to see those plans take form.

*Kim brought up a great question in a comment. She asked where did Spencer decide to eat after the challenge.* I will have to write a separate post about that one! I will say though, he decided to eat anywhere! : )

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Whoop Whoop!


I gave birth to a Genius!!
I'm just sayin'.

At Joey's school they have a Million Word Challenge.
The goal is to have read a Million Words by the end of the year.
Last year the school had 30 people make it.

The student has to read grade level appropriate books, take an AR quiz about the book in the library and that's how they keep up with how many words they've read. The computer calculates the number of words of each book then keeps a running total of the words read.

Any Who! Yes, as you've guessed already!

MY SON HAS ALREADY READ A MILLION WORDS...IN THE FIRST 6 WEEKS!



That is a lot of reading and a lot of words...a Million words actually. : )
I'm so proud of him! The kid amazes me!
Yes, he's smart, but he's so many other things besides smart. He's loving and creative. He cares about other people. He's thoughtful. He brings joy to me all the time. I'm a proud Mama.



Can he be a 6 Million Word Man by the end of the year...

To Be Continued.

Saturday, October 02, 2010

Utter Nonsense

Joey has been making up comics. I think they're so cool and creative. I just thought I'd share them on here. If you click on them you should be able to read them a little better.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

7th Graders...Who Knew?



I took this yesterday at Joey's Tennis Tournament. Miles' white skin was baking in the sun. Someone there offered to get him an umbrella from the car. I thought that was so sweet. Then a bunch of middle school boys kept helping me get the umbrella just perfect to cover up Miles. They were being so kind and enjoyed playing with Miles. They were so happy when we finally got it in the right position where it would stay. Miles kept smiling at them. Who knew middle school boys could be loving? I never asked for their help. They just wanted to. They said Miles' umbrella was "stylin'."

Monday, September 20, 2010

It's Official!

IT'S OFFICIAL!

I'm a Homeschool Mom.

No, that doesn't mean I'm now making all our clothes out of curtains or churning my own butter. (wink to Becky)

However, I did do something today that I never would have done before.



This morning when I was driving back home after dropping the girls off I noticed that I caught a huge dragonfly in my windshield wipers. I slowed down so he wouldn't fly off then I turned down a side street so I could try to catch him.I thought that Spencer could check out all the dragonfly's unique details. I got one of Miles' blankets from the car and scooped the dragonfly up in it. I thought it was dead. I carried it inside and Spencer thought it was so cool. While we were looking at it the dragonfly started to flap its wings. We took him outside so in case he could still fly he would be able to be free.

We kept checking on him but he stayed on the porch. He kept flipping himself upside down. We prayed for the little dragonfly to be healed, but it didn't happen. We saw ants trying to eat him so we brought him back inside for awhile, but later we put him back on the porch when his wings were flapping more. The ants ended up killing him. : (

Still, I'm glad I brought him home. We had a good time watching him and checking out all the details of his eyes and wings. Plus, it was neat to see a learning opportunity and to take advantage of it.

God is so creative!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Like Totally...

I'm like totally popular.

Really! I'm the most popular person in my house.

Everyone likes me.

Everyone "calls" sitting by me at the table.

If I'm going somewhere they all want to go with me.

If I'm in the bathroom they can't even wait to get out before they have more to say to me.

They all want to sit next to me in the car when I'm driving.

I get a million texts if I happen to be away from them for too long.

They try to sneak in my room when I'm asleep.

I even get kisses before I brush my teeth in the morning.

What can I say?

They Love Me.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

HUH???


Last night Randy had me type out an email to his friend Brian. As I was typing I began to giggle at how little I understood of the electricity world. Randy's not an electrician, but he has such a mechanical mind that he can figure these things out. His friend Brian used to work with Randy and recently moved to Canada where apparently they have outlets that work differently than ours. (I wouldn't really know because I don't know how the outlets here work.) I just like to think of electricity as magic. I like magic and I'm pretty sure I like electricity more than the average person. The AC and I are tight.

Anyway, I copied his email so I could share it with you.

Brian,
In donned on me why you would have a red and a black on your outlets. If the little wing that connects the two screws on the gold side of the outlet is removed, then the top plug works independently of the bottom plug. By removing the little wing on the hot side of the outlet and adding another hot wire (the red one), the top plug of each outlet will be powered by one of the 15 amp breakers and the bottom plug will be powered by the other 15 amp breaker. The white wire carries no load or very little load so it can be your return for both 15 amp breakers. This way you could plug a toaster and a microwave into one outlet without putting too much strain on one breaker. You could also just power one complete outlet using a red wire instead of a black one to lighten the load on one 15 amp breaker. I've never seen this setup before but I'm sure if you look at your old plugs your gold screws are not connected to each other.

Randy

P.S. Sorry if anything is misspelled but I had Brandi type this for me and my email doesn't do spell check in Canadian


Monday, August 30, 2010

Funny Girls



This morning at breakfast Jocie was telling me about a show that she was watching at her Grammy’s house the night before.

Jocie: Have you ever seen the show Reba?

Me: Uh, I think I’ve seen part of an episode before. What about it?

Jocie: Well, her daughter on the show has a husband that smokes pot so the daughter says, “I’m married to a pothead!”

(the girls giggle)

Randy and I glance at each other and smile.

Me: So, what is a pothead?

Jocie: Um, I don’t know.

Melody: I know! It’s someone who drinks a lot of coffee. Ahhhhh you two are potheads!!!

(the girls giggle wildly)

Jocie & Melody: Potheads. Potheads. Potheads.

"The Perfect One"


Melody's teacher from last year, Mrs. Black has a daughter Kara that's a senior this year. She has some sewing experience, but she's still learning. Mrs. Black told me that Kara wanted to make dresses for my girls so she could practice. I thought that was so neat. When I told the girls they were so excited. On Saturday we met Mrs. Black and Kara at Wal-Mart to look at patterns. They let the girls look through all the books to find "the perfect one." They were so sweet to Jocie and Melody. Jocie ended up picking a pattern with flowing princess sleeves (of course.) Melody picked a cute summer dress (of course.)

After that we went to Hancock Fabrics where we spent the next few HOURS looking at fabric! I'm totally not kidding. We looked and looked and looked at almost every bolt in that place to find "the perfect one" for each girl. When Jocie found her "perfect one" there was no doubt about it. She found it, held onto it and that was the end of it. She picked this very elegant fabric. It's turquoise with a rich brown pattern of flowers. It's going to be stunning!

Melody however had in her head what she wanted and although there were about 2,000 fabrics to choose from...she couldn't find "the perfect one." She loves purple. She loves polka dots. She wanted a WHITE background with PURPLE polka dots. It had to be the right purple and it could NOT be a purple background with white polka dots. Well, they didn't have that. We had decided that we would have to go to another store and look there. The girls were wilting by this time. We went to look for the ribbon for Jocie's dress before we left and that helped motivate Miss Mella. She loved looking at the ribbon and wanted a dress material to match ribbon to.

Mrs. Black had to go to the bathroom and on her way back she found some material that Melody decided she loved. It was bright pink and orange and had vibrant fruits all over it. Melody quickly matched some rainbow rick-rack to the dress and then found some buttons for accessories.

Mrs. Black and Kara paid for everything. They totally could have bought new dresses at Dillard's for the price they paid for the material. Jocie's alone was $9 a yard! I'm so very excited to see how they come out...did I mention that Melody also wanted a matching hat to go with her dress? That girl is so funny. She knows what she wants.

I have no idea how long it will take for Kara to finish the dresses. I'm sure she will also be busy with school. I look forward to seeing them...pictures will follow I'm sure.

After a long afternoon of shopping Cold Stone was in order. Mmmmm....Coffee Lovers is The Best!

I just felt so blessed that they would want to do that. The dresses are going to be very special!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

1st week

A quick update on Homeschool while Spencer's working on his Penmanship...

Already it's been such a sweet time. I know that's a strange way to describe school work, but it's the word that seems to fit perfectly. Yes, it takes a lot of my time and attention, but it's been so fun at the same time. We start out the day with Bible, which I felt like I got a great idea from the Lord on what to do during this time. Later I'll probably fill you in on what we're up to. Anyway, we have Bible, Math, Language, Penmanship, Reading, Spelling/Poetry/, History and then Science.

I'm so impressed with how smart he is. I'm sure this helps dramatically.

Our home has been filled with peace. I just have a feeling of "rightness." I feel like we're doing exactly what we're supposed to be doing in this season. In the morning I drop the girls off to Cornerstone which is a private school, Joey off to a public middle school, homeschool Spencer and have decided to keep Miles home another year as well.

There are several things that I could do to make this school year easier and cheaper, but I'm thankful that God provides your needs when you're doing what He wants you to do.



Spencer working on Penmanship.


Miles working on...a nap.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Camp Picture...WAY Too many of them!

This summer we got to go to CAMP EXPERIENCE as a family. It's a camp through the Division for Blind Services. They allow families with special needs children to go to the camp so everyone can "experience" camp. We've been invited each year, but this was the first time Miles was well enough/I was brave enough to go. I really didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be so much fun. Honestly, I wasn't even ready to come home after a week of being there. We had our own 13 bed cabin. : ) There was a ton to do at the camp. We were free to do all of it or none of it. We ended up doing almost everything available. They had a Zip Line, Rock Climbing Wall, Crafts, Swimming every afternoon, Slime Olympics, Horse Back Riding, Petting Zoo...and several other things. We had a ton to do, but it was also relaxing. The whole camp was totally free for us which was a total blessing. I should also mention that Randy was in a "Womanless Beauty Pageant" on the last day of camp. I'm disappointed that I didn't get a "before" shot when he had all his gear on A.K.A his boobs. Also, he has on shorts in this picture. He was showing quite a bit of leg in the "before." I didn't get a good shot of him while he was in the Pageant because I was laughing so hard I was crying!
Anyway, we had an amazing time. The camp goes on every year. I'm already looking forward to next year! (Tons of photos to look at.)