First Campout, Last Football Game & a House

Like most of you, we had a very busy weekend! Christian went on his first campout with the church youth group. I had scrambled to find him a sleeping bag (we have one it is just in storage!), borrowed one from a friend and then had to make a quick trip to purchase pajamas, warm up pants and a flashlight (yes we have flashlights they just must be in STORAGE!). Dallas had a cold front BLOW in on Friday and I mean BLOW. The wind was gusting around 40 miles per hour and it was in the 50's when they left! They went to a state park and camped out in tents with a bonfire and the whole nine yards. He had an absolute blast!! (I don't have any pictures because like most pre-teens he does not want his picture taken - I did ask!).

Saturday morning was our last green-gator flag football game. Unfortunately, Joel got up coughing that morning and after watching him Craig decided he did not need to play in the freezing cold that morning. In fact by the time the game started that morning he was wheezing. Caleb did play and had a GREAT game. We had several players missing so Caleb got to play both offense and defense most of the game. He got several flags and even caught a pass for a few yards! The gators WON!! It was a great ending to a good season. (I took the picture of them in the car since Joel wasn't playing and also because it was SO COLD!)

As the day progressed Joel got worse. Craig took him to a Care Now center and they diagnosed him with asthmatic bronchitis. (He does not have asthma and has only had one other experienced where he did the same thing when we lived in Sugar Land. He will start wheezing and starts having trouble breathing.) They prescribed him breathing treatments and a steroid. I made several phone calls trying to locate a nebulizer (yes I have one but it was guess where - STORAGE). A night in shining armor went with me and crawled all through storage and FOUND it in the very back in the box with the blender!! Joel is doing much better after 2 days of treatments.

We made our usual trip to see the house on Saturday after the green gator game but we couldn't get in because they were painting!!! YEAH. Craig and I went back on Sunday and took these pictures. We really like the paint, the cabinets, the stairs and EVERYTHING and are getting really, really, excited to see a finish in the future! (The first picture is looking from the living room into the kitchen - the cabinets where covered because of them painting. The second picture is looking up from the living room - the stairs are covered as well because of the paint.)

This week is just as busy - Joel is home with me today so we could get him some more breathing treatments but much to his dismay he will go back to school tomorrow. Caleb has a field trip on Wednesday and I am leaving to go to Houston to teach for the Wednesday Womem's Workshop at Lakewood (my old job!). I will be back on Thursday just in time for Joel's first ever school program Thursday night! Then the kids are really looking forward to being off for the whole week of Thanksgiving and traveling to Grandpa Billy & Jo's!

Brick House!

A lot has happened on the house this week. As I mentioned we had our pre-drywall meeting last Saturday. And today the house was completely sheet rocked!! Also, the brick was actually delivered a day early so by tomorrow the house will be completely bricked - we LOVE progress! Craig and I are a little disappointed in the brick. It doesn't look anything like we thought it would. Craig really likes a "red" brick. We thought when we picked it out it had a lot more red in it then it actually does. It is very hard to pick out brick from a small sample (The 2nd picture is what we picked out at the design center the brick, trim color and stain for the front door - it looked good then). Hopefully once the landscape is in we will like it better but oh well too late now!!!

Awards, Halloween & Football!

We have had a busy weekend - just like most of you I am sure.

Joel was awarded the Star Student of the Month for the month of October. He was honored at an assembly this past Friday afternoon. It is given to students who work hard in class and are kind and courteous to other students. He really enjoys school and helping others so it was a true honor for him. He also LOVES attention and having his picture made so it was not a problem for him to go up in front of the whole school! (Caleb would have been mortified but not Joel!). The school announces their name, has the come up and stand on the stage and then they get to lead the "cha cha slide!" Joel is all into that dance so he had a great time! (Couldn't get any pictures because they were moving to fast!).

Friday night was of course Halloween. Grandpa Billy & Jo came in to see the Green Gator's play and see our house so they joined us as we went around our soon to be neighborhood. Joel was a ninja and Caleb was the incredible hulk! Christian decided he was to old to dress up so he just rode his ripstick along with us. Joel told me right before we left that this was going to be Caleb's best day ever. I said really why Joel and he said because Caleb loves candy and I really don't so I am going to give him all of my candy!!! Wellllllllll, there has not been any distribution of the candy yet but Joel really doesn't like candy he is much more into donuts, ice cream, honey buns and that sort of thing!

Saturday morning was busy as well. We had our pre-drywall meeting with the construction manager. He took us through the whole house explaining what all of the wires and lines were for. After giving our approval they should start sheet rocking the house this week! Yeah!! They are projecting a move in date of December 19th but we could possibly close on the 12th. Please pray with us that we would be able to close on the 12th!! I really, really want to close 2 weeks before Christmas.

After that meeting we headed to the Green Gator game!! We were joined by my grandmother from Kilgore. My mom went and picked her up on Friday and she spent the weekend with her and my dad. She recently had shoulder surgery and was such a trooper through the whole day.

We were a little late to the game because of the meeting. Therefore both Joel & Caleb were on offense (not Caleb's favorite). Joel was the center and hiked the ball the whole half (don't know if you can tell but in the picture Joel is hiking to Caleb). The second half they played defense (Caleb's favorite). Caleb was able to get one flag while he played defense. The green gators WON!! They only have 2 games remaining!

Christian gets his first piece of music today from band! He is very excited as they prepare for their Winter Concert. Look for more pictures through the week of the house!

It's beginning to look a lot like a - HOUSE!

I was going to say it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas because that is how I feel as the house continues to progress. While we are very thankful to have found an apartment, apartment living with 3 boys is getting OLD very FAST!! We still make daily visits to the house (sometimes 2x a day) and this past Saturday walked all through it as they have finished the electrical, duct work, framing, roof, and window installation. It finally has enough shape that we can start to think and dream about where we will put things and all of the room we will have. The boys are also loving watching it go up and deciding which rooms will be there and where they will put their stuff, etc. We haven't heard if our completion date has been moved up any or not but we are hopeful!!!

The green gators continue to play weekly. The lost again this week but as always had fun playing. Joel spent most of the first half as the center. He doesn't care where he plays as long as he has a "job" to do. Caleb spent the majority of the game on defense which is what he loves. He didn't get any flags this week but played really hard. (I didn't blog last weekend about the game but Caleb got 4 flags on defense and made 2 complete passes - one for a touchdown as the quarterback last week; Joel had the opportunity last week to carry the ball twice.)
Christian is working hard in school and is LOVING band. He recently passed the test to become a Super Master of the alphabet in band. In my limited knowledge it has to do with memorizing the alphabet of music notes and knowing their order forward and backward. He worked really, really hard on it and he is one of only a handful of students who accomplished it. The band is preparing for their first Christmas Concert in December. Along with Caleb & Joel, Christian is looking forward to having his own room again. Plus Christian will have his own bathroom and not have to share! Craig made it home from Houston and his deposition this week. We are ALL (especially him) glad that is over and he is done unless the case goes to trial.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Very Busy Week!

The Wilson's have had a very busy week this week. Last Saturday the green gators took the field again! Caleb still enjoys playing defense the best and Joel really doesn't care - he just likes to be on the field. After a hard fought game they ended up LOSING but they had a fabulous time! (The picture is of them saying the pledge of allegiance before the game). Tomorrow they have a double header so it is sure to be fun.

On Tuesday they poured the slab for our house!! YEAH. They had put the plumbing in last Friday and we were waiting for the inspection to happen before they could pour the slab. We were so excited to see some progress and as Christian says it is finally more than just a patch of dirt.

On Wednesday Christian had his first band concert. It was an event for the whole family. Each student in the beginner band HAD to bring a parent with them. They then took their parent and taught them a simple song. The parent then had to perform the song for the entire group. I volunteered Craig for this wonderful experience (ha. ha.) Craig actually played the trumpet for a couple of years so it was not completely foreign to him. All of the parents attempted to play their song and then the students played what it should have sounded like. Everyone had a great time.

On Thursday Joel had his FIRST field trip. It was actually my first field trip as well (since becoming an adult)! Because of working I had never had an opportunity to go on any of the kids field trips. All 5 of the kindergarten classes traveled to a near by Pumpkin Patch Farm. They were able to feed cows and goats through the fence, ride on a hayride and of course pick their very own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. We also enjoyed a picnic lunch by the lake. It was COLD here yesterday and the wind was blowing very hard so the parents were a little miserable but I don't think the kids noticed much! I was in charge of 4 kids for the day (3 boys including Joel and 1 little girl). It wasn't easy keeping track of all of them with so many other kids there (there was another school their, plus 2 day cares and we had over 100 kids just from our school) but I didn't lose anyone. (Yes, one of the chaperone's lost one of their children but she was shortly found by another parent). Joel had a great time!!

Christian and I have added a drive by the house to our morning routine of killing time between dropping off the little kids at school and time for him to go. We were SHOCKED to come around the corner this morning and see half of the house framed. We had just driven by yesterday morning and it was still just the concrete so to see half of the house framed up was VERY EXCITING. I am hoping as I drive by this afternoon that maybe they will have the rest done. Progress is always encouraging!!

I will update next week after the green gator double header tomorrow. I am sure it will be very exciting!

Green Gator Flag Football!

Caleb & Joel had their FIRST flag football game this past Saturday. There team name is the Green Gators. They did a GREAT job! They had only had 2 practices with a grand total of 2 hours in practice before the game. It was very funny as the coach tried to explain to them if they were playing offense or defense.

The first half Joel played offense and Caleb played defense. Caleb started off slowly but when he realized that as soon as the ball was snapped he could try to get the other person's flag he was "on it!". I think between the first and second half he grabbed 5 or 6 flags stopping the play. He loved defense so much that when the second half began rather than going to offense he asked the coach to stay on defense. The coach allowed him to play both for most of the second half - but he really likes defense the best!
(The picture here where he has his fists clamped is right after he got a flag. He was so pumped up & yes the guy with the Mohawk was our referee!)

Joel played offense the first half. He was used to "hike" the ball(which really in flag football they just hand it to the person behind them). He said he liked doing that but late in the 2nd half they had him as the quarterback and they hiked the ball to him and he immediately handed it off to someone else. He said that was his favorite! Joel is the youngest on the team but that doesn't stop him from playing any role he can. This is also his first time to play on a sport's team. He was so cute asking all of his questions (so Joel) and paying close attention to what was going on.

So, it was a TIE 13-13!! YIPPEE! The boys had a great time as well as all of the adults! Enjoy the rest of the pictures.

Birthday Parties

Well, after the dilemma and search to find a place to hold birthday parties for both Caleb & Joel - we had HUGE SUCCESS! On Saturday morning we surprised the kids when they came home (they had spent Friday night with Grandpa Billy & Jo at the hotel!) with a Play Station 2. (I know most of you are saying are you kidding - why feed the addiction - to which I can say talk to my husband!!!) Although it was a refurbished system and used games the kids were SO excited and loved it!! (As you can tell from the picture).

Now for the parties - we started with Caleb. We had his party at a park that had a spray park and a playground beside each other. He wanted a "Transformers" theme complete with a Transformer's Pinata! (I don't know why because he doesn't own a transformer nor has he seen the movie but that is what he wanted!) The only "hiccup" we had was when we got there the water was not on. Now I had researched and new that the water was supposed to be on until September 30th and we had the party on the 20th. After several attempts to get it to turn on, I hollered at Craig and he found a number and called the city. Now we had a spray park in Sugar Land and you rubbed the post to get the water to come on - but in Frisco you just hold your hand down on the post and sure enough the water comes on - YEAH. The kids had a great time in the water, playing in the park, and with the pinata! Caleb had 10 kids come (8 boys and 2 girls) which we thought was an EXCELLENT turn out since we had only been in Frisco 5 weeks and only in school for 3. (Poor Christian was not allowed a hit because he demolished Joel's pinata last year with one swing! But he was a GREAT help at both parties!).


We then headed over to McDonald's for Joel's party. We had a little harder time there because our party was scheduled for 5:00 but when we got there at 4:50 there was still a party going on. The management said oh they will be out in 5 minutes. But at 5:00 we saw the cake and ice cream go back so we knew it wasn't going to be over real soon. (It really bothered me because when I booked the party they said 5:00 was the earliest we could book a party on Saturdays.) But the staff came through and cleaned another area and got us going. Joel had the majority of his class come to his party. He was very confused that his teacher Mrs. Hodges was not there since most of his class was! I tactfully explained to him that Mrs. Hodges could not attend all 18 of their birthday parties plus she has a family of her own. I don't think he liked it but he FINALLY quit asking why she wasn't there. This was Joel's first kid party (not just a family party) so he had a GREAT TIME!

It was a VERY LONG day for the adults and the kids as well as you can see from this picture of Joel sleeping on the way home!

Stay tune we have our first Green Gator Flag Football game this Saturday so I am sure I will have many great pictures and FUNNY stories to tell!

These are just some additional pictures. (I love this one of my mom and Joel swinging - Christian took it and I think it is cool how you can see their shadows as well.)