Tales From The Wilcke Household

Fourth of July photos from Utah

2011-07-05T14:17:00.000-04:00

Mother's Day Tea 2011

2011-05-05T14:17:00.005-04:00

Kaitlyn's school is so great at making us mothers feel so special. The kids prepare each year by making fun things for us and singing to us. Today we ate a wonderful lunch and had pink lemonade. :)
Here is a video of the kids signing.

Also, in the hallway were the fun things they have the kids to each year describing their parents. I absolutely adore these as they are usually hilarious and not one thing is true except maybe our name.

Thank you, Kaitlyn, for all of my fun things you made for me and for singing so nicely to me. You are my special, sweet, beautiful, smart and silly daughter.

Mommy Kaitlyn

2011-04-30T12:20:00.004-04:00

This morning it was my turn to get up with the kids. My body got out of bed, but my mind wasn't really there yet. I suggested to them that they keep playing while I slept longer in Kaitlyn's bed.

Kaitlyn was proud to see that Mommy had chosen her bed to lay down in (that was where they were playing), and decided to mother me.

"Lie down, Mommy, and I'll cover you up, okay?" She instructed.
"Okay sweetie," I replied. "Can I cuddle with Lovie?"
"Sure!"

I laid down on my side, facing the wall. She covered me up, first with the sheet and then with the quilt and patted me on the side of my ribcage in the slightest, sweetest way.

She left my bedside and went on to create completely loud ruckus with James trying to build the alphabet squares squishy pad.

One more minute passed and she came back to me, patting me again, "Mommy, I'm going to get you another pet," she said in her soft mommy-like voice.
"Here is another pet, Mommy." She handed me her pink bear.

She went back to playing with James.

One more minute passed and she came back to me, patting me again, "Mommy, I'm going to turn the light off for you," again in her soft mommy voice. I've created a mini-me and I LOVE IT.

This continued for about five more minutes and I never did fall back asleep. I ended up having James beg me to go downstairs to eat breakfast and Kaitlyn needed my help at the potty. Turns out I still am the Mommy after all.

Sneaky sneak.

2011-04-19T21:54:00.003-04:00

Kaitlyn has decided to reinvent the "feel sorry for me when I get in trouble" act as she has done in the past. For a while when she'd get scolded she'd say, "I want you to hold-a meeeee." Now, probably for the second time, it's hard for me to remember, she is bringing up Grandma and how badly she misses her. "I miss GRANDMAAAAA!"
Ok kid. I miss Grandma too, but she's not here to bail you out right now sweetie.
Apparently she's getting pretty good at complaining to Grandma how much she misses MOMMY when she gets in trouble over there. Sneaky sneak!

So tonight I tucked the kids into bed and was ready to get a few things done when I heard the pitter patter of little feet upstairs. I knew it was Kaitlyn because she has been getting out of bed lately to go to the bathroom or peak down the stairs. She's testing boundaries.

I tiptoed up the stairs and quietly peeked into her room to find her not in her bed. I looked in the bathroom and found her squirting hair conditioner out of the bottle into her hand.

"WHAT are you doing?" I asked.
"Nothing." She looked at me like she had seen a ghost.
"You are playing with the conditioner, aren't you? Now come here and wash your hand because you are going to the naughty spot."

You guessed it. Here it comes.

"But I miss GRAAAAAAANNNNNDMAAAAAAAAA!" She blurts out.
"Yes, I miss her too but she's not here right now and you are in trouble."

To sum up what could be a long entry here, I had her sit on the naughty spot and apologize. She WREAKED like conditioner. I mean it smells good, but the waft coming from her was intense. I asked her if she had any on her jammies and she told me that it was on her nightgown on the sides of her legs. While putting on her new and clean jammies, I realized that she had the stuff slathered in her hair as well. AWESOME.

She got into the tub complaining the whole time how much she missed her Grandma. I literally had to hold back the laughs from sneaking out of my mouth.

Animal Kingdom

2011-04-11T22:12:00.000-04:00

When we decided to go to Disney for Kaitlyn's birthday, we ended up buying the Florida Resident pass that let us go four times by May 26. So now we have been trying to squeeze Disney into our already busy schedule.

We decided to go to Animal Kingdom because none of us had ever been there. What a great park! We had so much fun. I must admit- it was REALLY hot and it's not even close to the brutal summer heat that we experience here. I gladly traded the hot day for NO lines though. It was amazing. We pretty much saw everything we wanted to do in about 5 hours.

Kaitlyn and James both claimed that the Kali River rapids ride was their favorite ride... probably because we all got soaked. Nathan took James on the Mt. Everest roller coaster and when I went on it by myself after they had gone, I was shocked James hadn't thrown up! Ha. What a great ride though!

Note to self: don't take the kids on a really bumpy ride that is completely dark and full of scary dinosaurs. They might scream their poor little heads off.

We knew the kids were beat by the time we left at 2:30 ish. We tried to convince them to lay back, relax and enjoy the ride home. We knew Kaitlyn would be out in a matter of minutes. James insisted that he wasn't tired. About 5 minutes after that, I looked back and saw this:

I felt bad for the poor kid so I tried to wake him up to make him sit up straight. It nearly took a hurricane to wake this kid up he was so asleep. I finally was able to get him upright, and when I peeked at him one more time I nearly fell out of my seat I was laughing so hard. Poor kid... Disney will do that to ya!

Spring Break 2011

2011-04-04T21:41:00.002-04:00

OOOOOH la la! I just discovered this brand new beautiful way to display our blog photos! AND IT'S SO MUCH EASIER! YAY!

We had such a great Spring Break this year in New Smyrna. There were a few days of rainy weather, but we really had a great time playing on the beach and relaxing. Especially when we thought of our families freezing up in Iowa. Heee heeee... just kidding guys.

I hope you enjoy seeing the photos! Facebook users, click on View original post or you can click here to go to the link and see the gallery.

James whistles.

2011-03-26T21:55:00.003-04:00

James has learned to whistle despite not having two front teeth. He loves to whistle, ALL OF THE TIME. It's quite impressive actually.
So here's a sampling, enjoy. ;)

Kaitlyn's Birthday at Epcot

2011-03-20T21:31:00.005-04:00

Here is an awesome video that I put together from our day out at Epcot. We celebrated Kaitlyn's 4th birthday out there this year by having lunch with the princesses at Akershus in Norway.
What a celebration! Both kids were such troopers the whole day, it was unbelievable how smooth everything went.
We love you Kaitlyn, you will always be our princess. XOXO

First Tee ball practice

2011-02-11T16:56:00.002-05:00

Gasp. I've really been bad about blogging.

Tonight is James' first Tee ball practice. Is it Tee ball or T ball? Well whatever. You know what I'm talking about.

Nathan and I decided it would be good for him to do a team sport. We stopped taking him to karate in the fall when I had mono, and when I asked him if he wanted to go, he'd say no. After a break for a while, he was actually interested in going back, but we are opting for a team sport this time.

Backing up a bit to a few weeks ago.... Nathan and I were going to ask James together if he wanted to go register for the league this year. That plan changed one day when James was being very theatrical in the kitchen one day. He was singing to me instead of talking and using very LARGE arm movements to accent his voice. Yes, Mom, I know, maybe we FINALLY have a singer to follow your footsteps.

So at that point, in the kitchen, I asked him, "James? Do you want to be in theater? Do you want to act on a stage in a performance?"

He looked at me with a confused expression.

"Do you want to act? Do you know what I mean?" I kept going.

"No, I don't understand." He responded.

"James, would you like to play Tee ball?"

"YEEEEAAAAAAH!" He screeched.

Whew. Sorry Mom.

So now he's at his first Tee ball practice with Daddy. :)

Bad morning turned to good morning.

2011-01-14T12:24:00.003-05:00

My day started off pretty badly but thankfully took a turn for the better. James was in a sour mood this morning and didn't want to go to school. First he told me that he didn't have school and when I told him that he did, he insisted that he didn't want to go. I asked him to get himself dressed twice. He ignored me and remained on his bed in his PJs. He got to sit on the naughty spot for 5 minutes.

We got down stairs for breakfast and I saw what I had forgotten.... On the stove sat a lovely pot of chili that I had made last night for us to eat tonight for dinner. I forgot to put it away in the fridge before collapsing in bed. All that work, all that food, all that money, went down the drain... and I was TICKED.

It's been colder than 45 degrees the last few mornings, so James' school had "rainy day" drop off instead of a normal gathering in the parking lot for morning prayer.

He seemed a bit lethargic when he got out of the car, but immediately changed his tune when the cool air hit his face. He did his usual... he started running/bouncing towards the school entrance where the Principal, Mrs. Walsh, stands and helps direct traffic. He went over to her to give her a hug. He hugs her every morning, he'll even wait if she's talking to someone, and she is always so welcoming and sweet to hug him back. I remember being petrified of my principal in school, I guess times have changed. ;)

I went to mass at SMM this morning at 9. The Kindergarten classes had planned it, and James was a greeter, so I wanted to surprise him when I walked in. He was standing at a side door instead of the main door, so I didn't see him right away. I had to ask Mrs. Danagher where he was, she pointed me in the right direction. His face lit up when he saw me with the kind of expression that he only shows when he's elated. He asked me if I could sit with him. I told him I couldn't since he'd be sitting with his class and his eighth grade buddy, Jack (who I got to meet today, finally).

I took a seat in the last row in the back next to a friend of mine. Mrs. Walsh was walking by, spotted me, and stopped to put her hand on my shoulder and tell me, "Your son is the sweetest boy in the world!"

I popped. ;)

Applause, please.

2011-01-11T15:25:00.001-05:00

On the way to school the other day, we were listening to Lee Dewyze's new album. The song Stay Here played and as soon as it was over James said, "That song was WONDERFUL!"
Then he proceeded to give it a round of applause. :)

Kaitlyn is a licker and a picker.

2011-01-02T13:20:00.002-05:00

Kaitlyn really loves condiments, spreads and frosting. Whatever it is that you put ON something, she is more likely to eat that part than the main ingredient. Cake or cupcake? She eats the frosting. Bagel? She licks the cream cheese off of it. Sub? She picks out the cheese, pickles and tomato. Pizza? She licks off the Ranch dressing. You get the idea.
So Nathan bought sugar cookies from the grocery store. He got the really soft thick kind that are frosted with sprinkles. It was the type that elicited one of James' first words... "BITE!"
Kaitlyn asked for a cookie after lunch, and me, being tempted to eat the whole container of them about 5 times a day, was a bit anxious to get rid of them. I said she could have one and I practically begged James to eat one. No dice. He chose Pez.
Kaitlyn sat up to the table to eat her cookie, and... you guessed it... she started licking off the frosting. Nathan and I are constantly trying to get her to take bites of thing instead of licking off the good stuff or picking it out of a sandwich.
"Take bites, Kaitlyn." I told her. "If you lick the frosting off again, you're going to go to the naughty spot."
"Will you stop looking at me?" She asked. Then proceeded to try to "hide" from me by leaning back to obstruct my view with a chair.

Stinker.

Remembering Kona.

2010-12-30T20:44:00.009-05:00

We lost Kona on Dec. 27th. He was failing quickly, and the cancer was getting the best of him. He had stopped eating, couldn't breathe well, stopped caring to go for walks, and was truly lethargic. He wasn't himself anymore. It was time.
Nathan and I took him to the vet to have him put down and it was miserable. Everyone at the office was disturbed at what was happening, they all had bonded with Kona when he had been there in the hospital for pancreatitis. They all loved him. The tech that put the catheter in his arm even gave him a gigantic hug before she left the room. It was a very tearful goodbye, and we held him when he died, whispering to him how much we loved him over and over again. I felt the life leave his body and I sobbed.

Over the last few days I have noticed that even though I know he's gone, sometimes I think I hear him or see him out of the corner of my eye. I do a double take and remember that he's gone, then the replay of the life leaving his body haunts my thoughts again. Tears come and go, but I still am comforted by the fact that we did what was best for him. It was only a matter of time.

I want to write down what I loved about Kona so my memory doesn't fail me later in life. As much as I tell myself that I could never forget things about him, just like how I swore I'd never forget things about my kids, it happens. So the point of this entry is to celebrate Kona and what made him unique.

I remember:
- He loved socks. He never chewed them up, he'd just pick them up in his mouth and move them to a different location. He even found Harrison's baby socks at the bottom of Beth's diaper bag once. He did this with shoes too, usually only when Patty or Mimi came into the house through the garage door.
- He loved to snatch Patty's cleaning rags out of her bag.
- He loved the ocean in California. He would start whining when we'd get to the 101 and not stop until he was there. Then he'd poop in the ocean.
- He ate his own poop, and any other poop that smelled appetizing. NASTY.
- He licked people incessantly... especially after he had eaten poop. Just kidding.
- He loved the taste of lotion. But he also ate poop.
- He drooled a lot before we gave him his food dish.
- He ran figure eights in my yard in Cali. It was too small to do anything else.
- He loved to wrestle with Nathan. I had to put a stop to that when James was born. We didn't want Kona to think he could wrestle with James.
- He laid in front of the oven, only when I needed to cook on the stove or in the oven.
- He had circles of fur by his butt... like cowlicks.
- He was very sensitive about his paws. He didn't like anyone touching them, except Nathan or me.
- He was very gentle with the kids, except when he would knock them over since he didn't realize he was so much bigger than them.
- Walking him without the prong collar was impossible, he'd take us for a walk. Right, Marilyn? :)
- He loved to run around in the fields in Northridge Heights, especially in the snow.
- He loved to swim in the river in Ames and in the pond at Northridge Heights.
- He didn't really get in the pool at our house without me coaxing him a LOT. Then he loved it once he realized that it was fun.
- When he was excited about something, you could physically see his eyes dilate.
- He fake barked when he wanted you to throw the ball to him.
- He jumped in the air when he got excited.
- He loved to eat ice and would catch it 98% of the time when we'd chuck it into the air.
- He jumped on everyone that came to our front door and even knocked the kids over a couple of times. I never said he was a well trained dog.
- Every time the kids would play with a toy that made noise through a speaker, he would howl/sing. My mom could get him to sing also by belting out a few notes.
- If I winked at him, he'd sometimes wink back.
- He took two rounds of obedience classes in CA and knew commands by hand signals. We used the sit and down hand signals.
- After fetching the ball, he would always loop around to the left.
- He loved tennis balls more than anything. He would rather get foamy at the mouth than give it up. We'd have to bribe him with a treat bone to get the ball.
- If he had a rawhide bone and I got to close, he'd growl at me. I didn't like that at all.
- When he was a puppy, he chewed up my coffee table. He also peed on the couch when Nathan and I were watching an ISU football game and we both jumped up when they scored a touchdown. We scared the pi$$ out of him. ;)
- He got a stick stuck in between two of his upper teeth when he was a puppy, and we had to have him put under so the vet could get it out. That was an expensive stick.
- When we'd take him to the dog park in Santa Barbara, I'd pour water into a fabric travel bowl. He refused to drink it. He would only drink water coming out of my water bottle as I squirted it out at him.
- He pouted when I bathed him in the shower.
- The first time he felt cold weather (when we were driving from CA to IA) he could hardly walk he had stiffened up so much.
- A dog took a chunk out of his ear when he was boarded one time. He had to be rushed to the vet to have his ear stitched up because the other dog had hit a main artery in the ear.
- He chewed his way out of the back yard in Santa Barbara once, and took himself for a walk. A neighbor found him (across APS, the busy street I lived on) and took him to the vet. They called me and I panicked.
- Whenever we would put a pillow in his kennel and didn't walk him enough on a certain day, we would come home to a feather snow storm. We finally stopped putting pillows in the kennel.
- When I would rub his ears, he moaned. Every time.
- When we brought James home from the hospital, he would not look at me in the eyes. He was MAD at me.
- When Nathan would come home late, he would always go greet him when he walked into the bedroom. It didn't matter what time it was or how hard he had been sleeping.
- When he was dreaming, he growled and barked in his sleep, very high pitched barks.
- Words he knew were: walk, eat, hungry, dog, ball, kennel, go, car, ride, stick, cat, Nathan, Meredith, shake, down, sit, roll over, ice, treat, wait, bone, bed, outside, potty
- He found Saki under the deck in Iowa. We had been looking for the cat and I took Kona outside and told him to find Saki. He ran around and stopped where Saki was hiding.
- When the kids would blow bubbles outside, he would eat them out of the air.
- He loved to have his belly rubbed and would roll over when I'd walk up to him, especially at night.
- He loved to run around my parents' yard and find tennis balls that were hit over the fence.
- The day he died, he walked into the vet's office with a tennis ball in his mouth.

This list could go on forever, and there isn't any doubt I will come back and add to it.

We love you Kona but know you are in a better place. We will miss you forever buddy.

A delightful story.

2010-12-30T08:31:00.003-05:00

Mom told me a story yesterday that is completely blog-worthy because the caliber of cuteness is off the charts. ;)

She and Kaitlyn were out running errands in Mom's car yesterday. Kaitlyn always sits on the left, which put her behind the driver's seat. They pulled into the Walgreens drive-through to get some prescriptions. She put Kaitlyn's window down just for fun. Mom did her business with the guy working behind the glass, and then this happened....
"Excuse me? Excuse me!" Kaitlyn piped up.
"Yes?" the guy answered.
"We would like some cottage cheese and some Gogurts, please!" She asked, as if they were going through the grocery store drive-through.
I guess the guy working behind the glass covered his mouth with his hand and was really trying not to laugh. He was stricken with the cuteness factor.
"Kaitlyn," Grandma said, "Remember we have to go to Publix for that stuff?"
"Alright." She replied.
On they went to Publix to get cottage cheese and Gogurts. ;)

Hilarious!

Christmas morning 2010

2010-12-27T09:34:00.003-05:00

I didn't get much video or photos on Christmas morning this year- I intended to, but we just sat and watched the kids unwrap stuff. We had a ton of fun and are very thankful for our blessings.

James loses tooth #2! :)

2010-12-19T09:18:00.004-05:00

The Tooth Fairy made an appearance last night for the second time!

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth..."

Nevermind the awkward crop... he moved. It's not like I am a pro or anything. ;) Ha.

We love you Kona!

2010-12-19T08:21:00.008-05:00

When you adopt a pet, you go into it with the understanding that they won't live forever. Eventually they will die, it's just a matter of when and how.
We are experiencing that with our sweet Kona. We adopted him in Paso Robles, CA in 2002 when we were living in Santa Barbara. We were instantly in love with the fur-ball and he has remained a family member ever since, traveling with us to Iowa and then to Florida.
His favorite things in his life are his walks at night with Nathan and playing fetch with tennis balls. When were in Cali, going to the dog park and running on the beach and galloping in the ocean were his most treasured moments. He whined in the car the whole time we were driving there. :)
On with this story.... After we boarded him over Thanksgiving break when we went to Iowa, he started coughing. We thought he had "kennel cough" which is vaccinated against, but like the human influenza, the vaccine doesn't cover all strains. So we brought him to the vet and started treatment for it.
A week and a half or more went by and he was still coughing, but it seemed to be getting worse. One evening he didn't eat dinner and then the next morning, again, he left his food in his dish. If you know Kona, or any other Lab for that matter, they DON'T leave their food. ;)
That was it for me. I called and got him an appointment as soon as I could (side note: if you don't go to the Winter Park Vet Hospital, you should- they are awesome).
Doctor Morford was working that day, so she was helping us with Kona. She examined him and then suggested that we move forward with some blood work. If that came up clean, they x-rays would be in order. I was okay with all of that, so Kaitlyn and I left Kona there and went to the post office and then home.
A few hours later I hadn't heard from them, so I called. They had done the blood work, and it came up clean, so they did the x-rays. She said that it looked like he has nodules on his lungs and that it was either pneumonia... or... I had to suggest it... the "c" word.
We decided to send the x-rays to a place that can read the x-rays with more detail to see what they thought. Meanwhile, I took Kona home. The x-rays would take a while, maybe 48 hours at most, to be read.
When we got home, Kona was significantly fatigued (it seemed to me). He looked like he was falling asleep with his head up. I still think my frame of mind made me a bit sensitive to his actions, but I literally thought he was going to die right then. I called the vet back, and since we still thought it was pneumonia, asked them if we could start treatment for that right away. I was sure he wouldn't make it until we got the x-rays back if we didn't treat him.
As soon as I mentioned to Kona that we were going in the car, he jumped up and ran out to the car. Ah, now, I saw, it was just me and my imagination. However, since they were expecting us at the vet already, we went anyway.
Dr. Morford showed me the x-rays when we got there. Sure enough, his lungs had strings of white in them (when they should be black), and there were little spots everywhere. I really still thought pneumonia would be the culprit.
Kaitlyn and I left Kona there again to start treatment for pneumonia (IV fluids and stronger medicine) while we waited for the readings.
I got a call from Dr. Morford around 2 p.m. with the results. She told me that the doctor reading the x-rays was pretty confident that it was cancer. She told us a bit later that they don't say that unless they are sure, to cover themselves. That's understandable.
Nathan was out golfing, so when he got home, he and I went to the vet. I had called Nathan in tears and had to tell him on the phone that Kona had cancer. I was sure we were going to have to put him down that night, and even went so far as to tell the kids that Kona may not come home. I bawled all day long. You should have seen my eyes. I looked like a crack addict by the end of the day.
Nathan and I sat with Kona when we got there (he was still hooked up to the IV giving him some fluids since he hadn't been eating). We cuddled and waited for Dr. Morford to be able to chat with us for a while. She showed the x-rays to Nathan and explained everything to him as she did to me, but this time talking about how it was cancer instead of pneumonia.
Nathan and I talked with her about what we could do, and we decided to take him home. He's not in any pain, and he's okay for now. We are giving him steroids to help him be more comfortable with is breathing, but they won't work forever. Eventually they won't help anymore.
We talked with Dr. Morford about Kona's quality of life and all decided that we'd know when enough is enough. At that time, we will say goodbye to our beloved dog.
For now, we are loving him and petting him a ton, taking pictures and enjoying his presence. My clothes are covered in dog hair and that is fine with me. We have had a great 8 years with him. As far as the kids go, they don't really understand. They know that he will be going to live with God soon, but that's it. James said that God will play with tennis balls with him.

Here are some shots from the last few days....

"Can I eat, please?" He's being spoiled with canned food with his dry food... and he LOVES it. :)

At the hospital...

Snoozer... he's acting like an 8 year old dog now rather than the "puppy-hood" that lasted 8 years.

Kaitlyn loves Kona.

"Kona, do you want a treat?"

Such a handsome boy.

That Tooth Fairy can be just plain tricky!

2010-12-12T08:32:00.002-05:00

This morning I woke up to hearing James cry out, "The Tooth Fairy didn't leave me anything! WAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He was CRYING!
I told Nathan that James was crying so he hopped out of bed to go investigate.
This is the conversation I heard over the monitor (given my sleepiness and difficulty waking up this morning, this is not verbatim. ;) )
Nathan, "What's wrong, buddy?"
"The Tooth Fairy didn't leave me ANYYYYTHIIIIIING!" James cried out.
"Well, let's look around," said Nathan.
They ended up finding the tin box that the tooth had been in under James' bed. My guess is that after the Tooth Fairy had put the money in the tin, someone's lashing around in bed may have caused it to fall off of the bed and roll under it. JUST a GUESS now, right?
So Nathan found it and let James open it. I heard a child-sized high pitch gasp. There it is!
"Two dollars!" James said and then, "Why isn't there five dollars in there? It's my first time!"

Oh for goodness' sake. How much are these parents paying their kids for teeth now? He has to lose 19 more! Sigh. I just wanted to put one dollar in there, Nathan convinced me to do two! :)

Nathan and I were a bit worried about what his friends were gonna be saying how much they got... and apparently we weren't thinking high enough. I might need to set up a separate Tooth Fairy bank account. Sigh.

Just pull it out!

2010-12-11T22:40:00.004-05:00

James lost his first tooth today! His bottom two front teeth have been loose since before Thanksgiving, and apparently today one of them lost it's root. It was really wiggly when Nathan and James came into the bathroom where Kaitlyn was watching me put on my makeup. Nathan told me that I HAD to see how wiggly it was... so he showed me.
"That thing has GOT to come out." Nathan said.
"James! Just reach in there and pull it out! Grab a hold of it and pull!" I told James.
We were shocked when he actually did, he grabbed a hold of it and pulled! When he pulled his hand away from his mouth and was holding his tooth, I screamed! Ha! I can't believe he actually did it!
He was so cute. We were all laughing and he was a bit shocked at himself as well, he even got a little teary-eyed. I think he got a little weak in the knees when he was spitting the blood out into the sink.
We immediately called both Grandmas. :)
My boy... I remember like yesterday that he cut those two bottom teeth right before Thanksgiving, and now, 5 years later, they are falling out. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Awww, how cute!

2010-12-11T14:31:00.002-05:00

We found the kids huddled up together on the chair reading together with the Poingo pen. Kaitlyn is dressed up as a princess, she does this EVERY day. :)

SMM Advent Concert

2010-12-06T22:03:00.003-05:00

Kaitlyn had fun playing with my phone while we waited for the concert to start...

... and then the anticipated moment. HOW ADORABLE! Don't miss James winking at us... :)

Game Day with a corny ending

2010-11-14T07:28:00.005-05:00

Nathan had me snap a few photos of him and the kids before he went to go watch the game. He had already taken them to the Farmer's Market in the morning in their team shirts. James went up to a lady at the park that they play at after the market and said, "It's game day because Iowa State plays football!"

Then we had corn for dinner from the market. Kaitlyn LOVES corn. She nearly ate two whole ears all by herself. I'm glad she doesn't wear diapers anymore. ;)

James and Daddy shared a quesadilla because James was having a hard time eating the corn off of the cob. His bottom teeth are getting wiggly!!!

This is so funny. I'm glad Nathan found a fellow corn lover with whom to share the pure joy of eating fresh corn. (Click View Original Post on Facebook to see video)

Don't trust this one

2010-11-12T20:41:00.003-05:00

Nathan's Story:

So Kaitlyn is a little con artist. Unfortunately, she can get away with it.

I was doing laundry, folding sheets, and she had gotten into the Halloween candy. She brings over a full size bag of M&Ms and tells me, "Daddy, you haven't had any candy for a while. You should eat these."

I knew full well where she was going with this, but I decided to let it play out. I finished folding the sheets and went to sit on the couch. I proceeded to open the bag and eat a few M&Ms, all while Kaitlyn watched.

"Aren't those good? Those are M&Ms. They are really chocolatey." (really, she said chocolatey)

"Yes, Kaitlyn, they are good." I said. "I like M&Ms."

"I like M&Ms too!" she says.

I let a little time pass, eat a few more pieces.

"Yep, I really like M&Ms," she says. And this is what I was expecting for a while now. "Wanna share?"

And would you say no?

Letters

2010-11-12T20:27:00.002-05:00

Kaitlyn has been singing the alphabet with Mimi a lot lately, it's adorable. Since I work upstairs I hear her singing because she's usually belting it out. We have a puzzle that has the letters on it, so they go one by one putting their fingers on the letter as they are singing. The great thing, and the weird thing, is that it's working.
Tonight, after reading a Star Wars book (her choice, yes), she started to point out letters of the words on the back page. Why I said it was weird is because the puzzle letters are all upper case, and these were mixed, starting with upper case and then lower case letters like usual. She knew almost ALL of the letters! I was SHOCKED! I am so proud of my little girl, she's so smart! :) She even trumped James at one point when he didn't know the "d" right away. WOW!

Honey Bee

2010-11-07T17:02:00.004-05:00

Honey got to come home for the weekend with Kaitlyn. She is the class "pet" from Mrs. Santilli's class at the Methodist School.
The kids were with my mom for most of the weekend since I'm still battling mono and can't seem to concentrate on one thing for longer than a minute. So I'm not sure how the rest of the time went. I do know that as soon as James got home from school on Thursday, they were fighting over who got to play with her. I had to tell James a few times that Honey got to sleep in Kaitlyn's bed and not his. He was slightly heartbroken. Ha.
Here are some cute pics of the kids with Honey while they WEREN'T fighting over her.

Kaitlyn Sends a Message to Bennett

2010-11-04T12:34:00.003-04:00

Harriet Potter (aka Kaitlyn) wanted to send a message to Bennett, her cousin. She needed some prompting, but I think she got all of it in there. ;)

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T20:19:00.004-04:00

Kaitlyn really enjoyed trick-or-treating tonight because she understands it for the first time. Nathan said for about the first 15 houses, every time she'd run back to him yelling, "Daddy, I got more candy!" :)
Nathan's philosophy is to "save" the kids from having to eat all of the candy by eating it for them. ;)

Halloween Party at MSEE

2010-10-28T14:09:00.000-04:00

Kaitlyn and her friends got to celebrate Halloween with the traditional parade and party! She is a fairy this year! :)

James' Field Trip to the Corn Maze

2010-10-27T13:57:00.000-04:00

Since I have been flattened by another case of mono, Nathan took my place at James' first field trip. All of the kindergarten classes went up to the corn maze for the day, and it looks like they had a great time.

James standing with Ashton in front of the tractor made of hay:

One of James' favorite friends, Giancarlo:

James' KC friends:

SMM and MSEE Fall Festival 2010

2010-10-23T18:10:00.000-04:00

The ABCs According to Kaitlyn

2010-10-19T18:03:00.000-04:00

Our nanny Mimi has been working with Kaitlyn to sing her ABCs. She's getting better- but I wanted to capture this while it's full of mistakes. It's just SO much cuter. ;)

A Girl in a Projector Screen Box

2010-10-13T17:56:00.002-04:00

I got my projector screen and Kaitlyn immediately started getting into the box. What is it with kids and boxes? Why have I EVER bought toys? Geez.

It Evens Out

2010-09-23T09:40:00.003-04:00

So you read my blog about me going to die because I'm old. Well... since I'm senile already, I can't remember if this happened before or after that story. Anyway, he ended up negating that one by doing this....

Preface: I'm addicted to having water with me wherever I go so I usually get a cold bottle of water out of the fridge in the garage before I get in the car.

We were getting ready to go somewhere (senility kicking in), and I told James to go out to the car and buckle in while I finished getting Kaitlyn's shoes on her. We got out to the car and James said to me, "Mom, look what I got for you!"
I looked up in the front of the van and sitting in my cup holder was a cold bottle of water waiting for me.

Sniff, sniff. I was so proud of him for thinking of me. :)

Chillaxin in Daddy and Mommy's Bed

2010-09-21T18:02:00.002-04:00

I Guess I'm Old

2010-09-21T17:52:00.002-04:00

The kids and I were heading towards the dentist's office this afternoon when James decided to tell me, "Mom, when you die, we're going to erase you from the Wii."
"What? James, do you think I'm going to die soon, honey?" I say with a bit of an aching heart.
"Yeah, because you're getting old."

I should have known better. HA!

I tried to explain to them that 32 is NOT old, as a matter of fact... who knows if they actually believe me though, since apparently I'm old enough to be senile. :)

Three Year Old Wisdom

2010-09-13T11:02:00.003-04:00

Kaitlyn and I were passing time today before her school started. I decided to go get money out of the ATM machine since I was running a little low on cash. I slid my card, punched the numbers and and when it started spitting out my money, Kaitlyn said, "YOU WON!"

The Things We Do for Love of Toys

2010-09-04T21:37:00.001-04:00

"Lovie" gets a bath...

Yellow Belt Boy! :)

2010-09-04T21:07:00.004-04:00

James got his yellow belt last weekend, and here I am finally posting these videos. I had a chaotic time taking photos and videos since SOMEONE'S three year old hands kept wanting to help and watch. :) Also, some pictures of us in the peanut gallery.

James misses Harrison

2010-09-04T11:46:00.003-04:00

This makes me cry every time I watch it. :(

Karate! James tests for his yellow belt!

2010-08-25T19:55:00.003-04:00

On Tuesday, James tested for his yellow belt in Karate. He is currently a white belt (the first belt) and appeared to pass the test with flying colors. If all goes well (in other words, if they don't call us to have him come retest) we will be going to his "graduation" for his yellow belt on Friday night. I hear it's a big deal, a pizza party and everything.
Sensei Adam asked Nathan after class, "Which one of you has taken Karate?" Apparently he had thought that Nathan or I have been practicing with James, but the truth is... it's all learned in his class. He seems to be absorbing it like a sponge. It's very exciting!
Here is part of his test with Sensei Adam:

And here is Kaitlyn spinning into an oblivion (watch her eyes after she falls down- hilarious!):

First Day of School

2010-08-18T10:22:00.004-04:00

James is mad because Nathan and I made him buy "boring shoes"...

Forgive the fog on the lens from the humidity of this crazy hot August day:

... as the meatloaf cooks...

2010-08-17T17:28:00.002-04:00

I thought I'd throw in the blog that Kaitlyn had her first day of school yesterday, and James will have his first day of Kindergarten tomorrow!
I can't believe my first born is 5 and already going into Kindergarten. Before we know it 8th grade graduation will be here.
We went to his orientation today, and he hot to meet Mrs. Danagher (pronounced with the g silent: Dan-a-her). She has been at St. Margaret Mary for 22 years! She is very nice, and I think we're going to have a wonderful year.
I was a bit sad to see that we weren't in the same class as some of our friends from the Methodist School, however, I am excited to see that we are in the same class with some of my friends' girls. James will make wonderful friends and be able to play with all (the others that he knows) the Kindergartners on the field and eat with them during lunch.
Kaitlyn started at the Methodist School yesterday with Mrs. Santilli. She will be going three days a week, and perhaps attending lunch bunch a few times. She had a fun first day, telling us about what she did (played on the orange slide, in the sand box, played with Ava, etc.) and even told us enthusiastically what she had for a snack. It was cute since while they were sitting at the table for lunch together, it was James who asked her about what she had had for a snack. It'll be a lot of fun to watch and hear their conversations about school over the next year.
Tomorrow morning will be an early start for all of us. That part I'm NOT excited about. I am excited for James, but nervous for him too. It'll be a long day which will probably make for a crabby boy at the end of the day.
I promise to post photos of the first days of school!

Quotes from Utah

2010-08-12T09:05:00.002-04:00

I thought I'd share some hilarious quotes from the beginning of our trip to Utah...

As we were driving to the airport on our way to fly out of Orlando, I had forgotten to put a drink in the car for James. Kaitlyn had Gatorade, and I was supposed to run back in the house and get some for James. I forgot. So the whole way to the airport James was complaining in the back seat, "I'm going to DIE. I'm so thirsty!" A minute later, "I'm DYING!" Sigh. We kept telling him that we'd get him something when we got there, but he complained the whole car ride.

When we did get to the airport, the kids and I left Nathan to tie up the rest of the loose ends with the skycap, and we went in search of the water fountain. James took about 4 long drinks, stood up, put his hands on his hips, puffed out his chest and said, "There! Healthy AND strong!" Think Mighty Mouse. :)

It's fun to try to think back to when you were three and remember how not much made sense to you at that age. We had to rent a car, obviously, to get from Salt Lake City to Park City, but Kaitlyn really didn't understand WHY we didn't have our cars with us. "Why do we have to rent a car, we can take Daddy's!"

We were leaving the airport, and just as we got out of the rental car parking garage, James blurts out, "Well... looks like Utah is BRILLIANT SUCCESS!" Two minutes later called the mountains a brilliant success also saying, "This is wonderful! I love the mountains, then I can reach up and touch the sky!" He then proceeded to say (while giggling at the beautiful sight of the mountains), "Isn't it great to live on this planet?" Nathan and I were DYING of laughter.

Kaitlyn was scared... "I'm afraid of the mountains! I'm scared!" I think she thought we were going to LITERALLY drive INTO the mountains when we were talking about driving to Park City.

We had a blast there, with the Neiperts, the Wilckes and my parents. I'm sure there are tons of funny quotes that I'm leaving out, but this will do for now. :) I'm still working on the photos.

COMING SOON!

2010-07-27T08:18:00.002-04:00

A new blog for my family. It's not even created yet, but stay tuned! :)

iPhone photography

2010-07-21T21:43:00.001-04:00

James was playing with my iPhone the other day and he was snapping photos of Kaitlyn. He told her, after a small sigh, "Kaitlyn, you are so beautiful."
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Stop it leg!

2010-07-21T21:30:00.002-04:00

James has been suffering from growing pains lately... and since he measured at 46.5 inches today at his wellness checkup, it's most likely those crying spells at night actually DO mean something. He is in the 97th percentile for his age group, which has been constant since he was born.
Last night he cried out at around 11 p.m. so I gave him a dose of Tylenol to help him sleep better. Poor kid, I remember those pains and they aren't fun.
It seems though, that the pains are starting to happen during the day too. We were sitting at the dinner table tonight when James started squirming and making ow sounds.
"What's wrong, James? Are you okay?" I asked him.
He looked down at his leg and commanded, "Stop hurting LEG!"
Nathan and I looked at each other and almost spit out our food.
"Well it's not that simple, James. You can't just tell your leg to stop hurting!" Then we all had a good laugh and Kaitlyn also told her leg to stop hurting about a dozen times.
Whew. For a minute there, I thought I maybe had given birth to Billy Madison.

A conversation with Kaitlyn

2010-07-17T10:08:00.004-04:00

Forgive Kaitlyn's manners as she CHOMPS with her mouth open. :)

Ovarian Cancer BRCA Know the risk

2010-07-15T10:48:00.002-04:00

Hi friends,

About a year ago my cousin Maureen passed away from ovarian cancer, and our family has taken on the mission of spreading awareness of BRCA, a genetic mutation that is closely linked to ovarian cancer. They now have a simple blood test which can let people know if they have the BRCA gene (which increases your chance of ovarian cancer by 50%), but not many people - including my cousin - even knew/know that such a test exists. Ovarian cancer is called a "silent killer" because of the lack of symptoms. When Maureen was diagnosed, she was already at stage 3. If she had had the test done, she would have been able to prevent the cancer from even having a chance to harm her.
Maureen's husband Mike and his oldest son, Joe recently completed this incredibly powerful video which you can now find on YouTube, and Joe told their story at the National Ovarian Cancer Conference this week in Washington DC. I encourage you to watch it and please spread the word to all the women in your lives. We can't have Maureen back, but by spreading the word and educating people we may be able to help other families avoid such senseless tragedy.
The photos below were taken in Phoenix in January of 2009, 5 months before Maureen passed away. She is photographed with her first grandson, Aiden. I love you Casey family!

PLEASE WATCH AND SHARE THIS VIDEO!

James lies.

2010-07-12T08:56:00.000-04:00

"There are NO toys in this bed, Mom."

We went to the beach with the Bert family this past weekend. The whole weekend was one huge game of musical beds, but the first night we were there, James and Bennett were going to sleep in the twin beds.
I was getting James ready for bed while Bennett was in the other room prepping for bed also. I gave James a choice of which bed he wanted, nicely suggesting that he take the one on the left since that's the one he usually sleeps in when we are there. He asked me, very nicely, if he could sleep in the OTHER bed. I obliged, since it really isn't a big deal and he had asked so nicely.
I was getting him tucked in when he looked at me and said, "There are no toys in this bed, Mom."
"James? Are there toys in here?" I peeled back the covers and saw it... the water gun that was given to him by our gracious guests. HE HAD PLANTED IT. He had planted the gun in the bed that he would be choosing to sleep in.

Last night when we got home from the beach, Nathan was tucking James in, and once again, he says, "Dad, there are no toys in this bed."
Nathan reached under James pillow and pulled out two toys. Ooooh James. You little liar. ;) Nathan had a talk with him about what lying is, but we'll see if it helps or not. If he had only caught on to NOT telling us that there weren't toys in the bed, we never would have checked in the first place! Ha.

New Smyrna with the Berts!

2010-07-12T08:55:00.001-04:00

We had a great weekend at the beach with the Bert Family. I am so grateful for my friendship with Kelly, and our kids hit off very well! Of course there were a few arguments throughout the weekend, but mostly they were between siblings. ;) James did get a little ticked off at Bennett for pushing the button on the elevator, because HOW COULD HE? :)
I realized I don't have any pictures of Bennett because while my camera was out, he was up on the sand building a castle.
Thanks for joining us Berts!

Sammy enjoys the sand? ;)

Kaitlyn and Anna play with their Barbies in the ocean- thanks for the Barbie, Anna!

Sammy in the water.

Anna is mastering advanced Yoga moves at the age of 3.

Nathan took the kayak out for a spin.

James enjoyed playing with is new water gun from Bennett until it got taken away for shooting at other kids. ;) We gave it back, don't worry.

James and Anna play together.

Kaitlyn helps Barbie take a dip.

Fun in the water!

Kaitlyn enjoyed (probably) her last sink bath. It was so funny.

The Wilcke Kids!!! My most amazing accomplishment....

2010-07-09T10:48:00.003-04:00

Of course there are no words to express how much you love your own children. Hopefully you can see my love through this project. Thanks, Nathan, for being my assistant... twice. ;)

"Tea" Party at Grandma's House

2010-06-29T21:36:00.003-04:00

The kids like to have tea parties at Grandma's house. However, there is no tea involved... it's chocolate milk. :)
Two different times this has happened, the first with cookies, the second with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Gotta love Grandma's house!
:)

Memories of childhood

2010-06-29T20:16:00.002-04:00

My mom used to play these songs for me, Cindy and Carey to dance to when we were little. It's so fun to do this now with my kids! :)

You've got a friend in me!

2010-06-28T20:56:00.003-04:00

James received a few fabulous birthday gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Wilcke for his birthday. One of them was a snorkel set (which he has been bothering me to use in the pool already), and the other was the complete Toy Story gang. Woody, Bullseye, Jessie, Buzz, Rex, etc., everyone. Such a great gift! When we went to the movie on James' birthday, the girl behind the ticket counter gave James a set of 4 collectible something-or-other paper books about Toy Story that has a list of character toys in them. He has been checking the box by the ones he wants next. Silly boy. He tells me some of the details from the movie, which I am surprised that he remembers.
James came up to me yesterday and asked me if we could write his name on the bottom of Woody's shoe. I told him we could write it on them all. He was VERY excited. :)

Seiza!

2010-06-28T20:42:00.002-04:00

James is taking Karate. We started going to The Dogo in Baldwin Park after it was suggested to us by some of my closest friends. He really is enjoying it, and Sensei Adam is fantastic! He is so great with the kids, is fun, tells jokes and entertains them as well as teaches them.
James really wants to wear the green belt (since it's his favorite color), but he has a few years to learn before he'd have that privilege.
James really likes to learn the new kicks, and usually is the loudest in the class when Sensei Adam has them respond. In fact, sometimes he's the only one to respond. In such an instance, the word seiza (sounds like say-zol when Adam says it) means to sit on your knees. Most of the time, after Sensei Adam yells, "Seiza!" the rest of us hear one voice yell, "ZA!"
Get it? Say-za! ZA!!! ;)
We look forward to going to Karate twice a week now, that is, if we don't forget to go. Ha.

James' 5th Birthday Part 2

2010-06-26T20:16:00.004-04:00

We had a very successful party today for James! We had some friends over for cake and ice cream and then we went over to Monkey Joe's (a very large place full of bounce houses and games). Then we came home and had pizza with the family and then present time.
This is James in the box that Grandma and Grandpa Wilcke sent from Iowa. You can't get any better than packing peanuts. ;)
Mom has more photos from the party so I'll be posting hers when I get them.

... and the CAKE! He wanted a Darth Vader cake, so we put some action figures on it, a mask, some storm trooper and Vader rings and candles to make a 5 (although it's hard to see that).

Here is the video of James blowing out his candles... which were a LITTLE bit too close together. :) We removed the mask before the song for fear of it lighting on fire or melting. HA!

Happy 5th Birthday, James!

2010-06-23T21:34:00.007-04:00

I love my son. Five years ago, when he was born, I became a mother. I never knew I could love a human being so much, and to now have two, beautiful, healthy children, I feel spoiled by God. Thank you Lord, for this blessing of being a mother.
James has had a wonderful birthday today. We started out the day with pancakes with M&Ms, a new tradition we started a few years ago. We went to swimming lessons with Mrs. Holly, and then James got to watch Nathan play Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii (his favorite thing ever). We went to see Toy Story 3 this afternoon, which scared the living daylights out of both children. It scared Kaitlyn so much I literally had to take her out of the theater twice. Poor thing. Even though James was horrified during the movie, afterward he claimed that it was GREAT!
Then we headed over to James' favorite restaurant, Steak and Shake. He had a hot dog and fries, but no shake. That was tough. We had told him that since I had made dessert here at home, that we had to skip the shakes.
After we got home, he opened his presents. He was totally exited about all of this new stuff: a Storm Trooper helmet, a soccer ball, a helmet for riding his bike, monster trucks, a new Toy Story game called Kerplunk, a Green Eggs and Ham puzzle, and new diving rings jut like Mrs. Holly has at her pool. He was most excited about the Strom Trooper Helmet and the diving rings. "WOW! Thanks!" He said about the rings. Had we known, we could have just spent $2.99 at Publix and called it a day. :)
James loves Oreos. He tries to find a way to have them for dessert at least a few times a week, although we never really give in. Maybe sometimes. ;) So, I made him an Oreo Ice Cream pie for dessert. It's a layer of Oreo cookie crust, then the Oreo ice cream, and then I topped it with a chocolate candy shell layer and then Cool Whip. When he was eating it, he said, "I like it, but I will eat it when I'm older." In other words, "I don't like it, but I like the ice cream." :( Oh well... the cake we plan on having on Saturday for his party will be good ol' chocolate. I'm going to attempt to make a fondant cake with Darth Vader on it... somehow.
The highlight of the day for me was when James blew out his candles (see video at end). I told him to make a wish. After he blew them out he said, "I wished that I could be with you guys FOREVER."
I love you James, Happy Birthday my sweet 5 year old!

Batman James showing off his flashlight in his Batman shades.

Steak and Shake!

Presents!

Year in Review: Artwork

2010-06-21T14:59:00.006-04:00

Here are the highlights of this year's school art work. Enjoy. Definitely read them. :) Hilarious!

This is James, in Spanish. :)

Sweet Kaitlyn

2010-06-17T20:45:00.003-04:00

Kaitlyn has started realizing that she can tell someone she loves them at any point in time, whenever the spirit moves her. At totally random points during the day she'll look at me, grinning from ear to ear, and slowly say, "I love you, Mom." Then she gives me a hug and sometimes even a big fat kiss on the lips.
I have tried, very hard, to always stop what I'm doing and let her express this to me with my undivided attention. What a sweetie!

Summer is here!

2010-06-17T20:33:00.003-04:00

Well the kids have been taking swimming lessons for the last three weeks. Our routine in the morning revolves around waking up, eating breakfast, going to swim lessons and then to the Y so I can exercise. It's been a great routine!
I have started with a personal trainer that trains out of her house, so that has replaced the Y on some days at this point. However, I will still be going to the Y on the days I don't train with Jacqueline. I am trying to get into Yoga, I think I MAY need the breathing and stress reduction- MAYBE.
James is doing an awesome job swimming with Miss Holly. He is learning quickly, but still apprehensive when floating or jumping to her in the deep end. He loves his (green) goggles, and is a good sport. One day he actually surprised me and asked to go first (we alternate who HAS TO go first), and today, when Kaitlyn was swimming, he told me that he really wanted his turn to start. That's great, sounds like it'll be promising that he'll like the pool. ;)
Kaitlyn, on the other hand, has reverted to crying the entire lesson and pitifully calling out for me. "I want MOMMY!" Or she calls out for Miss Holly repeatedly. It's gut wrenching. However, the lessons keep on going, and I know something will click in little Miss Kaitlyn's head that swimming is actually FUN... someday. That's what happened with Kaitlyn when she was in Safe Start. She cried for the first 3 weeks and then by the end she never wanted to get OUT of the pool. Poor Miss Holly- she just can't seem to get Kaitlyn to put her face DOWN in the water very long. We both keep trying to explain to her that if she puts her head down in the water instead of craning her neck up, that she'll swim easier and faster. She's 3. What can I say?
SO... we have one more week of lessons, and then I think we'll give it a rest. Unless, of course, Kaitlyn makes a complete 180 in her attitude toward swimming. We'll see.

In other news... I'm going nuts with these kids around here all day long. ;)

Memorial Day weekend

2010-06-01T22:11:00.004-04:00

Lots of beach photos lately, and guess what... here are more! Including lots of first-ever things....

James' first ever Slurpee!

Kaitlyn's first ever Slurpee, too! Mmmm, with Doritos!

Kaitlyn's first ever French braid.

James' first ever time wearing fuchsia! That's Grandma's jacket. :)

Kaitlyn's going to be a gymnast.

Ready... steady...

JUMP!

Your Attention Please!

2010-06-01T21:33:00.003-04:00

We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend in New Smyrna Beach with my parents. We played on the beach a lot, thankfully, now that the kids don't mind the sand and actually like to dig in it. There was a time when James wouldn't even walk on it. We thought for sure we were headed down the path of having one of the only children on the planet that didn't like the beach. After all, I was one of them. ;) Just kidding.
My parents' condo has an elevator that we must take to get to their floor (seldom is it broken, but when it is- watch out... I'm not a very nice person). Nathan was usually accompanying the kids down the elevator to the beach because I wasn't ready to go down to the beach yet. Nathan asked me at one point if I had heard what James was saying every time he was in the elevator. I looked at him with a puzzled look and he said to me, "Your attention please..." and then trailed off. I had no idea what he was talking about.
Until... I got on the elevator with James.
James was in charge of pushing either the 8 button or the G button depending on which direction we were headed. He would press the button, wait for the doors to close and then perk up and start in with his lines.
"Your attention, please. Do NOT press open while the elevator is going up." He delivered it happily, clearly, crisply, and it a BRITISH accent. EVERY time.
Where does this kid get this stuff?
We left the beach on Monday around noon to beat the traffic out of there (and it's a good thing we left when we did). James wanted to bring a car home that he had been playing with in the condo. Nathan and I had told him that no, the toys that we play with at the condo need to stay at the condo. There were tears. Lots of tears, and very weary James. He moped around the condo for at least 5 minutes while we were getting our final things together, and he continued to mope all the way into the elevator.
When we all were in the elevator, Nathan and I looked at each other, each wondering if James would deliver his piece once again.
The doors shut.
"Your attention please," says James, with his head bowed down, with a very solemn and slow voice, "do not push open while the elevator is going down." He was on the verge of tears, but still, finding the strength to deliver to his audience.
We heard about the car for about the next 20 minutes in the car. He was so sad, so so sad. And then he fell asleep.

Green Eggs and Ham

2010-06-01T21:21:00.003-04:00

Yes, this is real. No, I didn't paint them with ice cream.

2010-05-27T21:42:00.002-04:00

It was a Baskin Robbins day a few days ago. This is real. This was not on purpose. Kaitlyn was making kissy faces into the ice cream and James was trying to lick the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone. Hysterical!

We had a good laugh at these pictures!

Enter: Summer Vacation.

2010-05-27T20:47:00.003-04:00

Sigh.

I haven't been very good at blogging lately. There have just been far too many season finales on TV, busy days and sicknesses and injuries to deal with in the last few weeks.

I have been helping Mom this week by getting her to her MRI appointments and such. She injured her back/sciatic nerve about 6 weeks ago and has been in intense pain since then. It all seemed to peak about a week ago when Dad left for Utah. She was sent to get an MRI which we thought would show the need for surgery. It doesn't look like surgery is needed at this point, and the pain is subsiding. Thank God. She was miserable!

Kaitlyn and James finished school this week, and tomorrow is our official first day off. We are starting swim lessons next week, I'm very excited to get these kids in the pool! I hope that by the end of the summer they will be jumping in by themselves and swimming like fish!

Kaitlyn has seemed to grow up overnight. She is really a three year old now. She is fully potty trained now (FINALLY!) and seeing her wear "big girl" undies is the cutest thing ever. AND even though she's adorable she can pick some nasty fights with James. Every day. Stinker!

They are both into bragging and taunting now. If one of them has a toy and they know the other wants it, they skip along merrily, hold the toy up in the air with a smug look on their face just to tick off the other one. It's so annoying. I've been trying to teach them not to brag, but so far I think only James understands the concept of bragging. James purposely pushes Kaitlyn's buttons by staring out her side of the car through her window. Why does this bother her? I don't know... but HE knows it bothers her so he does it. It usually goes something like this....

James says, "I want to look out Kaitlyn's side."
"No, James! Don't look out my side! Mom, I don't want James to look out my side!"
I try to intervene, "Kaitlyn, James can look out any window he wants to look out."
"But I don't want him to look out my side!"
When I look to the back seat, James' body is leaned as far forward as his seatbelt will allow, head turned to the left, gazing out Kaitlyn's window... GRINNING ear to ear. All because he knows it makes her mad.

Oh, and Kaitlyn likes to taddle. "James isn't listening!" Like I said at the start... SIGH.

It's gonna be a long Summer.

Always thinking ahead.

2010-05-11T20:29:00.002-04:00

This afternoon the kids and I went to the Y. We were walking hand-in-hand with James in the middle from the car into the building when James turned to Kaitlyn and said in the sweetest voice, "I love you, sister."
She looked at him with her pig tails bouncing and said, "I love you too, James."
I about cried. I told James, "That was SO sweet and nice of you to say to Kaitlyn, James!" I was nearly bubbling over with pride in my son.
Then he shrugs his shoulders and says, "Be nice for Christmas time or you won't get any presents.... That's what I told her this morning when I woke her up."

I love him!

I need TWO songs to sleep.

2010-05-04T21:29:00.003-04:00

James likes to try to keep Nathan or I in his room as long as possible before bedtime. Whether it be needing a drink or another hug or a toy placed in a specific place, he uses them all.
He'll even call us back upstairs sometimes if he's needing something, and if we can't ignore it, Nathan or I will go back up there to see what he wants.
The example the other night was this story....
I heard over the monitor, "Mom? Can you come up here, please?"
After I had just gotten very comfortable on the couch, I got my rear up and hiked up the stairs.
"What James, what do you want?"
"Daddy only sang me ONE song and I need TWO songs to fall asleep."
Oh geeeez. Ok, so whatever, I was feeling nice and spoiled him with another song. After that was over, I gave him some goodnight kisses and told him I needed to get back downstairs.
He might as well have ripped out my heart because then he said, "Mom? Can you go down stairs and draw a picture of you and me holding hands?" AWWWWWWWW.
I hugged him a bit tighter recognizing that he needed me, not for the song, but for more hugs. Sniff... sniff....

You YELLED at me!

2010-05-04T21:20:00.002-04:00

Kaitlyn is and always has been an independent and strong little girl. However, when she gets in trouble, all of that seems to disappear. Most of the time when she gets in trouble she says to me, "I want you to hold me!" It's long, drawn out, and sounds more like 'I want you to hooold-uh meeee.'
It tugs REALLY hard at the heart strings when she's sitting on the naughty step and crying out, "I want Mommy... I want Mommy!"
She also is a bit of a softy when it comes to me or Nathan raising our voices at her. A stern voice is all it takes to prompt the response, "You YELLED at me!"
I have to admit it's really cute and a bit heart breaking all at the same time!

Beach Day!

2010-05-02T09:13:00.005-04:00

Last weekend we went to the beach... or was it two weekends ago? I'm losing my mind- but anyway, here are the pictures. :)

Potty news- uh, for Kaitlyn, that is. ;)

2010-05-01T08:17:00.004-04:00

I am so shocked at the progress Kaitlyn has made over the last week with potty training. She hasn't had many accidents- the only ones worth reporting were only in Pull-Ups while she was at school or at the Y. Understandable... there are SO many other things to think about while out of the house.
This week I have been slightly worried about how she's going to learn to start telling me that she has to go potty instead of me just taking her there and sitting her down. She has only told me twice, in history, that she had to go potty. When, you ask? Well, I'll just say that the seat belt sign was illuminated... BOTH times. We were taking off and landing on our flight from Des Moines last month. Really, Kaitlyn? The only time in the entire world that I CAN'T take you to the bathroom do you tell me you have to go? Silly girl!
Anyway, so back to this week.... Yesterday, as I was preoccupied with my brother Kevin being at my house, I heard the toilet flush in the bathroom and the door was shut. I asked Kevin if Nathan was in there (I had been outside) and he said no. I peeked inside the bathroom to see what was going on.
There was Kaitlyn, standing pant-less by the toilet looking at me.
"What are you doing Kaitlyn?" I asked, hoping not to see a bunch of water everywhere.
"I went pee-pee and poopie and then flushed it away!" she replied with a grin.
Seriously. She had gotten up from watching Peter Pan, gone to the bathroom, used the little potty, and then dumped it into the big potty and flushed it away. ALL by HERSELF.
Granted, I had to help with a little "clean-up" of the rear, but she did is alone! ALL ALONE! But wait, it gets better....
Later, about an hour later, she was walking by the bathroom, stood still for a second, and then changed direction and went into the bathroom and proceeded to use the potty again, without even cluing me in. I just happened to be watching!
I guess I don't need to worry anymore about this peanut... I'm amazed. Of course, today, she'll probably have an accident now that I've shared this with you all. ;)

The Tweeties Flew the Coop...

2010-04-27T14:41:00.003-04:00

Here is the last photo of the birdies.... They flew the coop on Saturday just before we headed to the beach. Nathan peeked outside to see the last one on the ground and then fly to the pool fence. I can't even take credit for this photo... Nathan snapped it! :) We seriously think they were only hatched and in the nest for two weeks.
Bye bye birdies!

Making progress!

2010-04-20T22:26:00.003-04:00

Kaitlyn is definitely making progress in the potty training department!
Today she used the potty all day long, and only had a wet diaper after we had been at the Y for an hour.
I'm SO proud! :)

How about a weekend in Iowa?

2010-04-20T21:52:00.004-04:00

Kaitlyn sure enjoyed playing at the Neipert's house, and she really loved the DIRT. She's obviously not my daughter. Ha.

Kaitlyn really also loved their swing.... Get a load of the videos at the end.

Mattie and the cherry tree!

Bennett was lying on the cement playing completely and contently by himself until I butted in with my camera. This is him, getting up to walk away from me. :)

Bennett's 3rd birthday party!

Look at those extremely jealous onlookers. :)

Kaitlyn took a break from present opening to practice "bags" for when she's in college.

Bennett opens a basketball hoop from Grandma and Grandpa Wilcke.

Kaitlyn and James sacked out after the long day in Des Moines.

Drool! :)

Surprise on our back porch!

2010-04-14T13:10:00.003-04:00

Our back porch holds a surprise... can you see it?
No, not the horrendous mess... look closer...

No, not the deflated and faded pool innertubes... look closer...
Closer still...
Now do you get it? It's a nest!
Birdies!!!! Tiny little fuzzy birdies! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET!

Actually, they are still too young to tweet yet... we think they just hatched a few days ago! I get this response by going over to the nest and making kissing noises. You can only see 4 here, but there are 5 lil' ones! They are right outside our bedroom doors (french doors on pictures). I can't WAIT until they start tweeting at 6 AM! ;) AND pooping all over! Ha ha ha.

Spider web!

2010-04-14T12:58:00.001-04:00

Check out this spider web that Nathan found in the backyard!

Kaitlyn's sensitive side.

2010-04-14T09:29:00.002-04:00

This morning a few things happened that I had to blog about. They are just so sweet!
The kids woke Nathan and I up by playing loudly in James' room. I heard them talking about St. Margaret Mary school, but really didn't know why. I heard James say, "When I am 5 I get to go to school at St. Margaret Mary." Kaitlyn replied, "I get to go to St. Margaret Mary too!"
When I walked in and was talking with them, Kaitlyn pointed at their school toy set and told me, "This is St. Margaret Mary!" SO sweet.
Yesterday, the kids both went to school and both brought home the paper Scholastic book order forms. James, for some strange reason, grew very fond of these tiny booklet and wanted to keep it forever. It was on the floor of the family room while the kids were munching on Cinnamon Life. Unfortunately it was in range of Kona's back paw when the dog decided to scratch himself, and his claws ripped the corner off of the back page of the pamphlet. All hell broke loose in James' world.
He cried and cried and cried. I tried to explain to him that it was just paper and it wasn't meant for us to keep forever. "It's something that you can look at to order books, but then you're supposed to throw it away." I tried to reason to him.
Kaitlyn says to him, "James, are you sad?"
"YEEEES," James cried.
"You should have Mommy hold you." She told him.
SO SO sweet! She is becoming more aware of how other people are feeling! At a different point this morning when we were up stairs getting teeth brushed and I was changing a dirty diaper on Kaitlyn (YES- still using pull ups- that's a whole different story), James was mad at me and she told me, "I want to go give James a hug." Unfortunately she was mid-changing and I couldn't let her get up or I would have. She's such a girl!!! ;) I love it!

Potatoes Tomatoes.

2010-04-08T22:16:00.002-04:00

Kaitlyn LOVES tomatoes. She doesn't like potatoes. However, she can't seem to get it straight that tomatoes aren't potatoes.
For months now, she has called tomatoes "potatoes". We'll say to her, "Kaitlyn, these are NOT potatoes, they are TOM-A-TOES." She repeats, "tom-a-toes." Yes, good job.
Next time, it's the same thing all over again. She knows too, she KNOWS that she gets it wrong and now is starting to try to get around trying to actually calling them what they are.
Tonight's dinner was a hodgepodge of things. I put together plates for the kids, James got zucchini leftovers from last night (with chicken and rice) and Kaitlyn got a diced tomato (also with rice and chicken). James doesn't like tomatoes, and Kaitlyn isn't so fond of zucchini, so I humored them a little and gave them what they liked.
Nathan had the pleasure of putting the plates down on the table in front of the kids. Kaitlyn got excited when she saw the bowl of chopped red things that she loves so much sitting in front of her.
She said to Nathan, "Are those potatoes?"
"No, Kaitlyn, they are not. Tell me what they are."
Kaitlyn replied again, "Potatoes!"
"No, try again."
"(insert mumble here)-ta-toes."
We laughed a bit under our breath, and then Nathan said to her again, "Tell me what they are Kaitlyn and then you can have them."
Then she busts out with, "Just trust me, Daddy."
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Seriously... potatoes/tomatoes.... what a cutie.

Polishing off the house!

2010-04-06T22:02:00.003-04:00

This was a conversation between James and me on the way to school this morning....
James: "What are those trucks there, Mom?"
Me: "Those are landscaping trucks. They are bringing trees and bushes to plant to make that new house's yard look pretty."
James: "Our house isn't pretty."
Me: "You don't think our house is pretty, James? Why not? What can we do to make it pretty?"
James: "Make it sparkle."
Me: "How do you think we could make it sparkle?"
James: "Wipe it off."
Me: "Are you talking about the inside or the outside?"
James: "Both the inside AND the outside."

So apparently, to make your house sparkle, you need to wipe it off. ;) There is your DIY project for the weekend.

Look at me!

2010-04-05T20:20:00.002-04:00

Kaitlyn has been doing one of those "copycat" things lately, and it absolutely cracks me up every time.
If she tries to tell me something and I'm not looking at her she says to me, "Mom. Look at my eyes." and then starts in with whatever she was going to say.
:) CRACKS me up.
I won't be reporting on the bad things she picks up that I do or say. ;) LOL.

She is making progress with "going" on the potty. It's still a hazy road that lies before us... but it's becoming a bit clearer. I just keep thinking, NO MORE DIAPERS! YESSSS!

In other news, James was officially accepted into St. Margaret Mary Catholic School! My heart swells with pride as we start this journey with Christ as the center of his education. How sweet HE is!

Kaitlyn and James see the Easter Bunny!

2010-04-04T22:31:00.000-04:00

Dying Easter Eggs!

2010-04-03T21:04:00.004-04:00

We had a lot of fun today dying eggs for Easter tomorrow. The kids really enjoyed it... I think Nathan and I enjoyed it a little too much too. ;)
This is the first time we dyed eggs at our house as a family!! Happy Easter everyone!

Easter is upon us!

2010-04-03T08:26:00.000-04:00

James and Kaitlyn have been on spring break this week, but someone (Barbie-:)) posting on FB that their daughter had a dream that she died reminded me of something completely blog worthy.
Easter is coming, and The Methodist School that my kids attend are very good at telling the kids about Easter and what it means. Jesus died upon the cross for us....
If you read back to one of my blogs a month or two ago, you'll read about how once I told James about my brother's cat having to be put down. "Speedy died today," I told James. He replied, "Upon the cross?"
Well, last week, probably because of all the "Jesus died upon the cross" talk at school, James asked me as we were getting ready to go upstairs to bed, "Mom? When are you going to die?" *Thunk* my heart hit the floor. I told him, with my most honest sincerity, "James, honey, I don't know. Nobody knows when they will die, but honey, you don't need to worry about that." I'm pretty sure my mouth hung agape after he turned around and walked up the stairs.
Kid, you're only 4! Why are you starting to worry about that already? I remember when I was a kid and that feeling of anxiety of not KNOWING when my parents could die. I would worry, worry and worry, that something bad would happen to them and they would die in a car accident or something. Poor kid. Him asking me that brought back all of those feelings of uncertainty that I used to have as a kid.

James has packed our bags for us, and he's sending us out to live somewhere else.

2010-03-29T21:36:00.000-04:00

James... poor James. He was so tired today. He must not have gotten nearly enough sleep last night. He and I went over to my parent's house for dinner (crab! yum) and we didn't get home until 9. He went to bed then, but got up a bit early for a usual morning around here, which was around 7. Yes, I know several of you moms out there want to kill me right now because sleeping IN until 7 a.m. is a luxury to some of you, but just keep in mind the hell we'll go through when he starts Kindergarten next year. ;)
Anyway, he was tired.
He and Kaitlyn were fighting a lot this morning while our nanny, Mimi, was here. She had told me about it when I got home from my amazing, kick butt workout at the Y *hooray*, and they were still bickering as she was telling me. After lunch time it got pretty bad, so Mimi made the ultimate decision that both of them needed to go take naps. This went over like a lead balloon for James.
"I am NOT going upstairs! I am NOT taking a nap!" was what I heard from his mouth when I was upstairs trying to print my grocery list. Then I heard Mimi call my name. "Meredith... he kicked me."
UH OH. NO, you didn't James... :(
I hauled downstairs and put him on the naughty step immediately which sent his verbal rant up about 50 decibels.
"I am NOT going upstairs to bed. Mommy is NOT a good girl. Neither is Mimi. Mommy is usually a good girl but NOT today. I'm going to do something to them. I'm going to send them to bed with NO dinner."
Oh the foreshadowing irony.
He didn't nap, but he did rest. Kaitlyn didn't nap either. Sigh. But, at least they rested, and then later Mimi took them to the park to get the ants out of their pants for about an hour. She said they didn't stop once... which showed on their red faces when they got home.
Enter dinnertime. While they were gone at the park, I had made Broccoli Cheese soup and a Chicken and Rice Casserole (Paula Dean on FoodNetwork) that has lots of fun stuff in that is very good... to some people. :)
James has been complaining about dinner pretty much every night. He makes gagging sounds when he sits at the table (although it's totally fake), and says, "YUCK!"
I had mentioned this problem to a few of my girlfriends the other day and got a few good pointers. One was that I should explain to him that when he says that he hurts my feelings... like it would hurt his feelings if I said that I didn't like one of the paintings that he made for me. The other was a much more stern recommendation.... She told me that if he complains, take his dinner away and ask him to leave the table. I tried explaining to him about the "feelings" a few times before today, but it just didn't seem to sink in.
After about 10 minutes of all of us sitting at the table and James not eating and complaining, I did it. I took his meal away and put it by the sink. "Okay then, if you're just going to complain, you won't eat." Of course he started howling and crying, and then I told him that he was excused and he had to leave the table. Then he pipes up mid-blubber "... But I think I'm ready to eat my dinner now."
I looked at Nathan, and we agreed... too late kid. You had your chance. This sent him wailing and screaming off to the couch. Then he started in with the verbal stuff again, telling us, Nathan and me, that we had to go live somewhere else and that he was NOT going to eat EVER again. Ha!
Nathan took him up to take a bath and put him to bed. He cried through his whole bath. He spent a while hanging out in his bed and talking, then started asking for me to come upstairs. "Mommy, I'm hungry."
"Sorry James. You didn't eat dinner, you just complained so I took your dinner away. That will teach you a lesson. Go to sleep." He talked me into, well, more or less I talked myself into, giving him a drink of water and tucking him in.
Humph. I'm happy this day is over.

Only a month!

2010-03-28T14:54:00.000-04:00

Okay, it's been ONLY a month since my last post. UGH. I'm a loser.
However, I do have an excuse.. ha.
I have been facilitating a MOMS group and a retreat at St. Margaret Mary for the last 8 weeks, and now that it's over, I should have more time to blog and keep you all updated on what is going on in our lives. Facilitating the group and retreats at SMM are a bit time consuming, then when you throw in a part time job, two kids and a husband to cook for and take care of, life gets busy. No, I'm not complaining, I'm just "sayin'".
Kaitlyn is three now, and I do plan on posting about her birthday, plus pictures, so stay tuned. She's still struggling with potty training, she's finally interested in actually sitting on the little potty, but we've only made a small amount of progress. We were planning on trying to keep her in undies this weekend, but due to a last minute shopping trip yesterday/evening, and then her throwing up this morning (???) it's just not getting done. She may have a tummy bug, so we're on a holding pattern for a while.

Kaitlyn's speech is getting better and better. She is fine tuning her sounds, and when she talks she sounds like a kid instead of a toddler. My baby... she's growing up too fast! She is still Miss Independent, she has to do everything herself... and if you don't let her... watch OUT. Tantrums'R'Us.

James is doing very well in school, he still loves it so much. In fact, it's Spring Break this week, and I'm not sure what we're going to do with him! :)

Class Easter parties

2010-03-23T20:55:00.000-04:00

Pics from the kids' Easter parties at school!
Kaitlyn had a class egg hunt in the courtyard. You should have seen the place, there were WAY too many eggs... and not enough hiding spots! Ha.

Kaitlyn and her class (she's in the middle on the ground):
James makes a paper maché egg, ONLY with green tissue, of course!
Mrs. Roach reads an Easter story to the kids... where is James? He must be in the corner behind Mrs. Roach... Hmmm.
James eating the frosting off of a cupcake. I made the treats for the class this year! Cupcakes and sugar cookies. I was up 'til midnight. Ha.

Blog? What blog?

2010-03-20T08:48:00.000-04:00

Wow... sorry followers. I'm slacking!

Kaitlyn's 3rd Birthday Party!

2010-03-15T21:18:00.000-04:00

Our sweet girl turned 3 on March 15! Here is a video of us singing to her, and quite possibly, the world's longest "blow out the candles" session, EVER. ;)

We love you Kaitlyn Beth Wilcke... aka Kaitlyn Bef Wiwke. :)

Disney!!!

2010-03-14T22:03:00.000-04:00

Here is a series of photos of our kids' FIRST trip to Disney!!! :) We sure had a great time! We went with the Devitt family. Ted is my cousin on Mom's side. He and Jen have two boys, Riley and Carson. They are SO adorable!

Waiting in line to drive the cars... although we had to actually leave the line since they shut it down due to pretty bad crash that required a stretcher. Yikes.

On to DUMBO!!!

I LOVE this shot of the boys!

An HOUR and a half later:

Kaitlyn's face when seeing Mickey and Minnie at the "Meet Mickey" house...

We meet Mickey and Minnie! Never mind James' need to go to the bathroom. :)

The Parade!

Look! There is Woody!

James is excited for the parade! Strange look on his face! :)

Kaitlyn holds her new Snow White doll.

Time to chill on the monorail.

... and ZONK. Success.

Bobble Head James!

2010-03-14T20:30:00.000-04:00

I still have YET to post the pictures from our trip out to Disney with the Devitts for Kaitlyn's birthday. BUT, I do have this to show you!
This is James trying OH so hard not to fall asleep on the way home. Notice Kaitlyn's rumbling snore coming from the other side of the car. ;)
FACEBOOK PEOPLE: Click on "view original post" to see the video on my blog.

The Olympics and Lemonade

2010-02-27T15:05:00.001-05:00

James has taken an interest in the Olympic downhill skiing when it's on the television.
I just turned on the television to see if I could catch some of the recaps of the figure skating, I wanted to see some of the gold medalist's performance. Instead, cross country skiing is on.
James saw this and he was audibly excited, "Yippeee!" he said.
I thought about him learning how to ski and told him, "James, if you want to learn how to ski, you can learn when we go to Utah."
"No," he replied. "I want to be a lemonade seller."
I laughed, hard.
"I want to be a lemonade seller like at the Farmer's Market... and then when I'm really really really hot, I want to ski."
That was followed by a chant, "Let's go to Utah! Let's go to Utah!"
:)

Off the charts!

2010-02-17T16:08:00.001-05:00

Nathan measured James the other night after dinner because he's been eating a lot lately. We thought that maybe he'd been in a growth spurt. Sure enough, he's grown. Remember, he's 4 and won't turn 5 until June, 4 months from now. He's measuring 45 inches in height (he almost takes up the entire bathtub when lying down). Nathan wanted to see how he was comparing to other children his age, so he looked up the percentage charts online. James is OFF the charts for 4 year olds, meaning he doesn't even fall into the percentage range for 4s. He is already at 50th percentile for 5 year olds and he's not even 5 yet!
Like Grandma Kathy says... those basketball scouts will be knocking on our door by the time he's 10.

Kaitlyn has an obsession with...drum roll please... cottage cheese. She eats it every day and prefers it to almost everything except chocolate. ;) Yesterday when we were at Publix I put more in the cart, and Kaitlyn was perfectly content to hold it in her lap. Here are some photos for you of her latest indulgence.

Rah rah ah-ah-ah! Ro mah ro-mah-mah! Gaga Ooh-la-la!

2010-02-12T09:30:00.000-05:00

We are in a ton of trouble.

Kaitlyn and I drove James to school this morning and since Kaitlyn is sick, she is staying home with me today. On our way home Lady Gaga's Bad Romance came on the radio. I immediately changed the channel since I'm not the biggest fan of Lady Gaga.
AS SOON as I turned the channel, Kaitlyn says, "I want the RA RA RA song! I like that song."
"You want me to put that song back on Kaitlyn?" I asked.
"Yes!"
When the song came back on she was happy as a clam... she seemed to think that the melodic part of the refrain was a different song and wanted the ra ra ra part again, so I assured her that it would be back. When it was on again she'd say, "There it is again, Mommy!"

So... we're in trouble because my two year old's two favorite songs are Tic Tok by Kesha, about clubbing, alcohol and sex, and Bad Romance by Lady Gaga about love and revenge. AWESOME. Ha ha ha.

Movie Night!

2010-02-06T21:21:00.000-05:00

Nathan and the kids and I watched Peter Pan tonight. We have never all sat down and watched a movie together. It was so fun! I even made chocolate malts for them... and for me, a protein shake (gah- I know... but I did put a little bit of ice cream in it and a small amount of malt powder).
I have not watched Peter Pan in a LONG time, it was like watching it for the first time. In fact, it may be the first time I'd ever watched it from beginning to end.
It was sentimental... our family, complete, sitting together, watching one of the most classic movies of all time. THIS is what I never want to forget.

Foreshadow to Teenage Years!

2010-02-02T13:00:00.002-05:00

For lunch, this is what James just ate:
- two mini cinnamon raisin bagels smeared with thick layer of cream cheese
- a cup of apple sauce
- a cup of green Jello
- a string cheese
- three handfuls (my handful) of chocolate Teddy Grahams

What am I going to do when he's a teenager?!?

Terrible Twos?

2010-01-29T13:13:00.003-05:00

Kaitlyn lost it this morning. She loves her "lipstick" which is hello kitty clear lip gloss that I bought for her on clearance at Target. She really really loves it. She is obsessed with unscrewing the cap by herself and putting it on by herself, and it takes her a while to do this... as it should a two-year-old. Sometimes my patience for this runs thin....
We were running late this morning and needed to get out the door for school. She was still in my bathroom holding the tube of lip gloss and insisting that she put some on by herself. I told her that since we were running late, either A. Mommy would help her do it quickly, or B. She wasn't going to get any lip gloss. Ooooh that made her mad. It was the kind of tantrum that requires a bit of restraint to get her to stay in her seat in the car to get her buckled, and restraint from the belt to even think about putting her socks and shoes on. It was a tough one. I held my own though, and eventually she did calm down once we were driving to school.
I posted a blog about a week or so ago about how Kaitlyn likes Tic Tok by Kesha. Well... I turned the XM station away from my favorite station to see what else was on and whamo, there was Kesha. IMMEDIATELY, Kaitlyn says, "I like this song!"
I giggled and left it on the station (I'm a bit ashamed to admit I like the song too, even though the subject matter is SLIGHTLY inappropriate for a toddler's ears-ha). Every time the refrain would come on Kaitlyn would say, "Hey, it's that again!" She sure likes to jam in her car seat to Kesha. Ha.
She threw another tantrum while getting out of the car to go into school today too. Usually it's a piece of cake to get her out of the car and handed off to a school staff member to walk her to her classroom. Today, though, she acted like it was the first day of school again. I guess she just wasn't having it today.

When I picked up the kids at noon, I picked Kaitlyn up first and then swung around to the other side to get James. Mrs. Magough (is that right? Sounds like McGoo) put James into his car seat.
He looked at her and said sweetly, "I love you Mrs. Magough." It was precious. My sweet little boy!

Star Wars and sheet

2010-01-24T22:14:00.002-05:00

For some reason, Kaitlyn doesn't like sleeping with the sheet on top of her. Her quilt is fine, but always insists that the sheet be down closer to the foot of the bed. "I don't want that one," as she points at the sheet, "I want that one," she points at the quilt.
Nathan went up to check on her after they were sleeping last night and he tried to cover her up with the sheet and the quilt. She woke up enough to realize what he was doing and still told him NO to the sheet. Silly girl!

I went to Nashville a few weeks ago for the Professional Photographers of America convention so Nathan thought it would be fun to watch the Star Wars trilogy with James. While I was gone, they watched A New Hope. Last weekend they watched Empire Strikes Back. I found great humor in watching the two of them cuddled up on the couch with James firing off the questions one after another... "Who is that? What is he doing? Why is he doing that? Who is that? What is he doing? Why is he doing that?" Over and over and over again. So funny.
They wrapped up the trilogy this morning while I was out for a bit at mass then the Y. It's just so funny that we, Nathan and I, know that for sure, James doesn't understand ANYTHING about the three movies. He's just watching them for the sake of watching the TV. I even asked him after the movie was over, "James, did you like the movie?"
"No, I didn't." Ha ha ha.

A bit later, the kids were doing what they do best... arguing over who had more popsicle sticks to play with. I ended up taking them away from both of them, and that sent them both off of their rockers. Kicking, screaming, throwing and knocking over laundry baskets, etc... the whole bit. James ended up on the naughty step for throwing the popsicle sticks, and while he was on the step he was bawling his eyes out and shouting. I felt pretty bad for the kid until he came out with, "I'm going to cut my mommies head off!"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" I snapped back around the corner at him.
He got a huge scolding... and guess what... NO MORE STAR WARS! Geez. Of course he doesn't mean it, but it is a bit scary to think that only watching one thing like Star Wars (rated PG by the way- man their standards were a lot more liberal back then) could make him come up with ideas like that.

Tic Tok Car Talk

2010-01-20T21:00:00.007-05:00

Well it seems like James is stealing the thunder on the blog lately, so I thought I'd throw in some really cute things about Miss Kaitlyn.
She is so funny, so cute and she knows it. :) Today in the van she was busting a move (while strapped into her car seat) to Tic Tok by Kesha. Check out this hilarity:

Here is another video of her doing the COMPLETE opposite a few days ago... turn up your volume! :)

She also is into doing EVERYTHING herself, even if it's a complicated task like zipping up her sweater. Patience, patience is a much needed thing around here lately. :)
She is NOT at all interested in potty training, and is actually scared to even go sit on the potty. She gets so worked up that it's not even worth putting her through that insanity. We figure that she'll let us know when she's ready... even her teacher agrees that she's just not interested.

I'm not sure if I've posted this before, but whatever, it's my blog. :) Kaitlyn is named after three people... her grandma Kathy (Kate), her grandma Marilyn (Lyn) and her aunt Beth. We spell it Kaitlyn so it's more of a common spelling rather than Katelyn. Anyway, I digress....
When we were up in Iowa for Christmas and we were around Aunt Beth, Kaitlyn kept telling everyone that her name was Kaitlyn Aunt Bef Wilcke. We all thought it was pretty hilarious, and still do.
Tonight, we were going out for dinner and to shop a bit for a new blender and a new TV (fun stuff). We thought Best Buy would be the place to go to get the TV, so we told the kids that after we ate dinner we would go there. Kaitlyn was asking us in the car, "Are we going to Aunt Befs Buy?" Oh she is so funny!

On a side note... if you car breaks down at 7:30 pm because the battery goes kaput, it's not too shabby to be stuck at Best Buy when they have Wall-E playing on the 55 inch flat screen inside the store. At least that passes the time while you wait for AAA. :)

... when I am 5...

2010-01-19T11:50:00.002-05:00

James must think that tuning 5 is when he becomes a big boy instead of a little kid. He has commented on a few things that start with, "Mom, when I am 5, I'm going to...."
The one that sticks out in my mind the most is, "Mom, when I am 5, I'm going to watch Ratatouille!" He usually watches Cars, but has decided that Ratatouille should be the movie of choice when one is five years old.

He came up to me yesterday and asked me, "Mom, when I am 5, can I live in Iowa?"
I giggled, thinking of that constant battle between Nathan and me, and asked, "Why do you want to live in Iowa?"
"I like it there," he replied.
"But what would you do about all the friends you have at school?"
"Well I can come back and visit all the time!" he said without doubt.
Then I asked, "Well what would you do about Grandma Kathy?"
And without hesitation, James said, "I want to stay here."

:) Off to work.

King James

2010-01-18T22:16:00.004-05:00

Our nanny, Mimi, took the kids to the "Green Park" today. That's what we call the new park near our house on Howell Branch. We named it that that because of the giant green slides that are super fast and bumpy.
Apparently they weren't the only ones with the idea of going to the park, she said that there was only one parking spot left. She also tole me that once they walked into the fenced area, James went up to the top of the gigantic green slides. He then put his hands up in the air like a King would do when greeting his people and loudly stated, "My name is James Wilcke, and I am here to meet new friends!"
:)

Play on player!

2010-01-17T16:03:00.001-05:00

For James, it is no longer “nap time” or “quiet time.” He decided today that we should call it “book time.” He can sit in his room and look at some books for a while instead of laying in bed.

So Nathan goes up to check on him after about 45 minutes, as it has been quiet up there. James is sitting in bed and setting his books up like houses so the big bad wolf can blow them over.

“So you didn’t feel like reading the books or taking a nap?” asked Nathan.

“Well, I’m not a reader, and I’m not a sleeper,” quipped James. “I, uh, I’m just a player.”