Thanksgiving

We decided to put up our Christmas decorations early this year and started the weekend before Thanksgiving. It took us nearly a week to get everything put out though with the boys getting into everything! :-)

Sean was super excited as we decorated the tree. You can tell which ornaments he put on the tree because they are all clustered in one spot. There are 5-6 ornaments on each branch. It's pretty cute. For some reason, Sean calls ornaments "labels". I don't know where he learned that, but he says it just like that's what they are "labels"!

Sean kept telling Ryan all about Christmas and how much fun it was going to be for him. It was really precious. We are excited because we know that Ryan is going to really enjoy Christmas this year!

We had a low key Thanksgiving this year at home with Derek's dad, step mom, grandma, and our good friend Christie and her 2 girls. The weather was surprisingly warm (it was a blizzard last year) so the boys played outside most of the day.

We are so very thankful to God for all of the blessings he has provided the past year. We've had some tough times lately and He has always provided. Maybe not in the way we want, but in the way He knows is best for our family.

The night before Thanksgiving we learned about a tragic accident that happened on a men's outing with our Arizona church family - Northwest Valley Baptist Church. Derek and I were members of the church since before we were married. We were the first couple to be married in the church. The men were in Northern Arizona on rugged terrain when one of the vehicles fell off the road more than 120 feet to the ground. All 4 men were killed. One of the church's pastors and his 15 year old son were killed. He was married with 6 children. We did not really know the other 2 men who died. The pastor who died was such a Godly man. He was the church's Administrative pastor and the school principal. He always showed care and concern for everyone, it didn't matter who you were; he always had time for you. He helped Derek get a job one summer while we were in college. We went through 2 parenting classes with him and attended his Sunday School class for many years. He helped my sister and her kids so much at the school. I could go on and on. There are many great memories! This news made for a somewhat sad Thanksgiving day, but we are thankful for the time God gave us with these wonderful people and the impact they had on our lives. What a blessing that he is rejoicing with the Lord now, but he will be greatly missed! Here is an article about the accident: http://www.kpho.com/news/21734356/detail.html

Derek and I braved the Black Friday sales and waited for about half and hour at Target at 4:30 in the cold! We got some pretty good deals and got most of the items on our list. Some of those people are just crazy though! I talked to several people who had been out since 10:00 PM on Thanksgiving day.

We are looking forward to celebrating our family Christmas traditions this year! I can already tell that Ryan is really going to enjoy Christmas! Sean's ritual in the morning is to get up and examine the Christmas tree. I put some candy canes on it the other night and asked Derek how long he thought it would take for Sean to notice and Derek's response was "right away". Well, he was correct. Sean noticed it first thing when he looked at the tree and spent the morning asking how those candy canes got there even though I told him that I put them on the tree. He insists they are magical!

I'll try and be better about taking pictures of the boys!

Meet the Newest Member of the Wilson Family!

Don't be fooled by the title of this blog - we just got a puppy! :-) We recently got a new puppy Samoyed who we named "Timber". We've had him for about a month and he is 15 weeks old. We had a hard time coming up with a name, but ultimately decided on Timber because Derek and I graduated from Northern Arizona University and our college mascot was the Lumberjack. We also just thought it sounded like a Colorado dog's name!We decided that we wanted to get a bigger dog this time so the boys could play with him more. He will probably be about 50 pounds.

We discovered quickly that Timber loves the snow. When it snows, we can hardly get him inside. He loves to lay in the snow, roll in it, and just eat it! Samoyeds are cold weather dogs, so Colorado is perfect for him.

To be completely honest, after the first weekend with Timber we wanted to take him back. We completely forgot how much work a new puppy is, especially when you already have 2 toddlers! We are crate training him and he's doing really with with his crate. He sleeps in his crate and for the first couple of weeks we were having to take him potty once in the middle of the night, but now he sleeps through the night.

Potty training is another story. Just when we think he's trained, he has an accident. We started puppy training last week so hopefully it helps. Poor little guy is pretty much contained in the kitchen right now until we can trust him not to potty on the carpet. We don't know what to do with him right now! Our trainer has offered to take Timber once a week for a while to work one on one with him. He also has a Samoyed who is 8 years old.

He has a pretty mellow personality, but is still a puppy and likes to chew and gets hyper especially in the morning. His favorite thing to do is pull off your socks! He always seems to go after Ryan when I am holding him and just takes off with the sock. When Ryan is eating in his high chair, Timber usually takes his socks in no time!

All we can say is that this is tough work and look forward to the days when we can really enjoy him! There are many days when we wonder what we were thinking when we decided to get a puppy. It does help that he's one of the cutest pups I've ever seen.

We took him to the vet today and he gained 9 pounds in the past 4 weeks! He's growing so fast!

Here are some pics from when we first got him, but he's nearly doubled in size now. The top picture is from this weekend and the others are from the day we brought him home.

Halloween

The Wilson family is back! I'm such a bad blogger, but I can't find time for much these days. Between taking care of the boys (all three of them!) and a new puppy (post to soon follow), working, and my new jewelry business, I don't have time for anything else! That's why you'll find me updating multiple posts at once!

Okay, back to October when I last posted. Sean was super excited about Halloween this year and he couldn't decide if he wanted to be a Star Wars Clone Trooper or a GI Joe. He ended up being a GI Joe. He got to wear his costume to school and put on a parade for the parents. He was so cute!

The night before Halloween we attended a fall festival at a nearby church and the boys had a great time. Sean played games and won lots of candy. He played in a bouncy house and we ended the night on a hayride. Both boys enjoyed singing songs, especially "Old MacDonald" which is Ryan's favorite!

At the fall festival, Ryan had his first piece of candy. I hated to do it, but I needed to keep him occupied while we waited in the long lines to play games. Anyway, now he always ask for "andy" - that's what he calls it!

On Halloween night, Sean and his best friend Grace went trick or treating around the neighborhood. Sean wasn't going to stop until his pumpkin was full of candy! They were so cute together. They would run from house to house and say "the light is on and we can knock on the door!".

Ryan and his friend Mary Ashlynn (Grace's sister) went trick or treating too at a couple of houses. At first they were unsure, but once they realized that they got candy we couldn't stop them! They didn't understand that once the person put candy in their bucket, it was time to move on so they just stood there waiting for more candy!

If you're wondering why Sean is wearing 3 different costumes, it's because we found the Hulk and Captain America costumes after Halloween on clearance. They make great dress-up clothes! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Winter Weather Already???

Fall started with, well, winter weather! The first day of fall came with snow fall! I'm just not ready to put away the shorts one day and pull out sweaters the next! It also snowed on Thursday and this time it stuck to the ground. Derek took Friday morning off of work because we were supposed to go to a local pumpkin farm, but had to cancel our outing when we woke up to snow!

Today has been so cold and the roads are pure black ice. You can't tell from looking at them, but you slip and slide everywhere. There have been accidents everywhere and they even shut down the interstate for part of the day. Not to mention they postponed the Colorado Rockies baseball game! I would like to have a fall first please! Here are some pictures of the weather and Ryan dressed up all cute in his winter gear. I couldn't get Sean to sit still long enough to get a picture! :-)

Bargain Shopping!

Most of you know that I'm a major bargain shopper! I love finding great deals and it's been even more important since we've been living on 1 income! Over the past year, I've focused on reducing our grocery budget since it's one of the areas that we can decrease. I was so excited the other day when I went to Albertsons and here's what I got:

3 Freschetta Pizzas
3 Red Baron Pizza Singles
2 Gallons of Milk
1 Chex Mix
3 Cheerios Snack Mix
3 Barilla Pasta
2 Pillsbury Cookie Dough
3 Yoplait Yogurt Drinks (6 packs)
3 Green Giant Steamer Frozen Veggies
1 Box Mama Bella Garlic Bread
2 Dreyers Ice Cream (regular size)
2 Tony's Pizza's (smaller size)

Can you guess how much I spent for all of this? After all the sales and coupons (they were quadrupled this week!), my total was only $31.19! I saved $73.21! The cashier asked me if I had a coupon for every item and I literally almost did!

I just had to share my excitement! :-)

Weekend Trip to Estes Park!

A couple of weeks ago, we took a mini-trip up North to Estes Park. It was beautiful. We stayed in a cabin with Derek's dad and step-mom and it was a great getaway. Even though we've lived in Colorado for more than 2 years, we haven't had much of a chance to travel the state. There is so much more to see and we can't wait. It's getting easier as the boys get older.

We spent much of our time outside admiring God's beauty! We saw lots of elk and deer. It was amazing that they let us get so close to them. There was a big heard that just stayed on a nearby golf course all day. It was a funny sight.

The boys were content to explore their surroundings outside finding rocks, sticks, flowers, etc. We found an awesome park nearby; it was probably the best park we've ever been to. It had 2 big playgrounds, rocks to climb, fields to run, elk to see, and a beautiful view. While at the park, Grandpa found a little snake crossing the sidewalk and Sean held it!

Sean was most excited about making smores over the fire pit. We roasted hot dogs and made smores. I think Sean ate 2 of them! That's all he could talk about was making the smores!

One night we were awoken to 2 very large raccoons going through our trash. Those things can get mean when they are eating!

Look Who's 4!

Once again, I'm behind on updating our blog! I'm going all the way back to mid-September - Sean's 4th birthday party! I can't believe he is already 4! I remember when he was just a baby and we were bringing him home from the hospital (sniffle, sniffle!). We had a blast at his birthday party. The party theme this year was Star Wars. Sean wanted a GI Joe party, but we decided to go with Star Wars because the GI party decor was pretty much all black.

We decorated with the Star Wars theme, but added a few "princess" touches for the girls! The boys wore Captain Rex masks and the girls had princess wands. We had a Darth Vader pinata which we broke open with light sabers. We also rented a bouncy house and the kids had so much fun! The weather during the week leading up to his party was great - mid 60's - 70 degree temps, but it just so happened that the weather prediction for the day of his party was very cold and rainy! We couldn't believe it - the one day we needed nice weather. Our prayers were answered because the rain literally started 5 minutes after the guests left. Then, it rained pretty hard for hours. Sean's already asking how many days until he turns 5!

He got all sorts of awesome presents: GI Joes, Snake Eyes GI Joe sword and mask, Nerf sword, Star Wars action figures, Star Wars book, fishing pole, clothes, and more. Do you see the theme with his presents? Action figures and weapons! Lately, Sean thinks he is a GI Joe. I think he often thinks of our good friend and neighbor (we call him Mr. Tim) who is deployed right now and he wants to be a soldier too. Mommy and daddy got him a Leapster 2 learning handheld game system and 2 games. I scored an awesome deal on the system and games several months ago and could hardly wait until his birthday to give it to him!

Some things about Sean at 4 years old:

• Has endless energy!
  
  Favorite toys: any action figures especially Star Wars and GI Joe, weapons especially the ones that make sounds, play animals, stuffed animals, cars (not as much as he used to be though), any books.
  
• Could watch TV for hours if we let him!


• Likes to run around pretending that he is a GI Joe


• Likes to watch football with daddy and wears his Chicago Bears jersey on football Sundays


• Likes to play tackle football with daddy


• Already has an interest in playing video games (thanks daddy!)


• Has a large vocabulary


• Always asks "why"


• Likes to cuddle with mommy


• Favorite snack: popcorn!


• Loves to eat Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream


• Favorite place to eat: Chick Fil-A


• Hasn't learned to ride a bike yet, only wants to ride his 4 wheeler


• Loves to play outside
  
• Still throws temper tantrums


• Just started sleeping under the covers
  
• Is very picky about food

• Has an awesome imagination!


• Still has his Tigger and now he tells stories about Tigger and what he's done in his life. For example, I recently learned that Tigger used to work at Chick Fil-A!


• Is in his 2nd year of pre-school


• LOVES to talk!


• Doesn't care to wear shoes or a jacket


• Weighs about 33 pounds - tiny guy!


• Doesn't like to eat breakfast right away when he wakes up


• Just recently dropped his naps, but has "quiet time!" (mom's not so happy about this one!)

There's so much more, but this is all I could think of right now! We thank God for Sean and look forward to another blessed year! I don't have a whole lot of pictures to post right now because my friend who played photographer still has most of the pics!