Snow Day

Last Thursday night, we were suprised with a blanket of snow on the ground. We hardly ever get snow days around here so when we do, it shuts down the city. It unfortunatley took David 2 1/2 hours to get home. Since he didn't make it home in time to play with Asher that evening, he took him out early Friday morning before heading to work. What a great way to start the day...playing in the snow at sunrise!



Asher loved walking through the snow but needed some help at times with how deep it was (probably 2 inches).

Sliding is much more fun on the snow!

Asher had a fun morning in the snow. Later in the day, we went out again so that we could build a small snowman. Asher also enjoyed tasting the snow. I don't know if enjoyed playing in the snow as much as he enjoyed putting on his snow gear. He loves to wear his hat and "mits" (what he calls his mittens). Unfortunately, we probably won't see snow like that for a long time if even again this winter. It is the one thing I miss about Ohio winters (although I do not miss the cold that burns when you take a breath outside).

Catching up

I finally had some free time so sorry for so many entries on the same day. I didn't want to miss the chance of getting caught up. Still more to come but it's getting late. Thanks for being patient with me.

Jonas is 2 months!

His is quite the smiler already! We are enjoying every minute of his awake time, hearing his sweet cooing and cuddling whenever possible.

Reunion

One of my best friends from college, Melanie, and her family were in town over Thanksgiving weekend. We don't get to see each other very often since she now lives in Florida. However, it seems like I don't loose touch since she is a regular blogger. I am thankful though that her sister not only lives here but goes to the same church we do. So, we met up in the lobby of our church and finally met each other's children. Some of our other friends, Becky and David, (in the middle of the first picture) also were able to hang out with us. Asher quickly made friends with Melanie's daughter, Daisy. He is so fascinated by older kids these days and wants to hug them or hold their hand as he is doing in the last picture above.
(My apologies again for the separation of comments from the pictures. Is anyone else having the problem of your pictures coming up as text on the create post page and then as a picture on the preview page? So frustrating...)

Wilson Thanksgiving (part one)

I apologize for having my comments in one post and the pictures in the following post but Blogger is NOT cooperating with me. I am sure that I am not the only one who has ever had problems with Blogger and downloading pictures. :) So, I hope that you can follow along.

This was our first Thanksgiving to celebrate with the entire Wilson family (immediate family that is). David's brother, Greg, and his family were with us this year for the first time. David's sister, Julie and her family were also with us from Atlanta. The cousins had a great time playing together and we had an early preview of what to expect at Christmas this year.

The first picture in the following post is of David's dad, Grandpops, with some of the grandkids. Nana has a "quiet box" that was keeping the kids engaged for quite some time. They enjoyed painting and playing with playdough.

While not engaged in "quiet" activities, the kids enjoyed playing outside (thanks to the nicest weather we had had in weeks) and getting their energy out.

We also spent some time in front of the tv. This is why you see some of the kids all looking in one direction and having a blank stare on their faces. HA!

Asher really enjoyed playing with his cousins this year. Jonas can't wait to get into the mix but until then enjoys being held by anyone who will offer.

Wilson Thanksgiving (part two)

Do Christmas Differently This Year

Ohio Thanksgiving

This past weekend we traveled for the first time with both boys to Cincinnati to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with my family. Asher enjoyed playing with all of my cousins' children that are pictured above.

Asher was busy all night long playing with the toys in my mom's basement. When I was growing up, I used to play "school" with the chalkboard that Asher is writing on. Glad to see toys that can cross generations.

This is Asher's first attempt to ride a bike (would help if his feet could touch the pedals).

A sweet picture of Asher with his cousin Ayanna. He is still talking about "yanna" (what Asher calls her now). He enjoyed chasing her around and giving her hugs.
Before heading back to Nashville, we met my dad at a Starbucks. Jonas slept the entire time but Asher kept us all busy as he enjoyed running around the tables and kept asking to be chased (thankfully there were very few customers). We made it back to Nashville safely but are not in any rush to take another road trip. Traveling with two little ones is not easy, especially when you have to stop twice on your trip to feed a baby and a toddler who doesn't understand "we are almost there." However, David and I did have a fun time singing every nursery rhyme, children's song and even Christmas songs that came to mind to keep Asher entertained.

"Waterfall for a dishwasher"

Picture from here.

Some of our dearest friends that we made while living in Kenya were the Conways. The Conways have two sons, who grew up in Kenya. We often dream of what it would be like to raise our children in Kenya. We believe that it would open their eyes to an entirely new world. David spoke with their oldest son, Andrew, yesterday and learned about his last big adventure. Andrew now attends ACU and for his spring semester, he traveled to Australia with the National Outdoor Leadership School. "For the Australia program the students canoed for 40 days, backpacked for 23 days and lived with Aborigine guides on an island for seven days." You can read about his adventures here. It's not what most parents expect their children to do when they go off to college, but I find it to be so amazing that a college student would take this challenge and discover a simpler way of living.

Moving

We have been very busy the past few weeks packing up our home and getting ready to move. To make things a little more fun for Asher, we would let him color on the boxes with his crayons (one of us drew the mower, which is something he always asks us to draw). We also would let him play inside the boxes and he really enjoyed being pushed around in them. Tomorrow is our moving day! We will miss our sweet friends in our neighborhood but enjoy spending time with family and friends we normally don't see on a daily/weekly basis. Thanks to all who have brought us dinners, watched our kids, helped us pack, or brought us packing items. We could not have done this without you.

Jonas is 1 Month

Jonas turned one month this past week. We love having him in our family. He is such a sweet baby and is sleeping well, which makes our days so much easier.

When not swaddled, Jonas often sleeps with his hands in the air. We find this to be quite amusing.

Happy Halloween

Hope you all have a fun, safe Halloween. Asher is a lion this year and Jonas is a ghost. Asher has been enjoying wearing his costume several times this week. His costume acutally makes a roar sound, which makes it even more exciting to wear. (Thanks cousin Luke for letting us borrow your costume.) We are going to go in to David's work today for a little trick-or-treating. The secretaries all bring candy for the kids.

Pumpkin Hill

My friend Rebecca from our neighborhood playgroup arranged for us to all go to Pumpkin Hill for a hayride. Nana (David's mom) was so kind to watch Jonas so that Asher and I could go on this fun outing together.

Asher with one of his friends, Sophia, are checking out the pumpkins.

During the hayride we were dropped off at a pumpkin patch so that each of us could pick out a pumpkin. This farm was very creative with their bails of hay. You can see in the background of the picture above how they painted them like pumpkins. Along the hayride, they had made a spider, turkey and tractor out of hay bails. We had such a beautiful fall day for our outing!

Sweet Brothers

Pictures of Asher and Jonas getting dressed for the day. It's amazing to see the difference in their sizes. This was the first week of Jonas' life and they already were bonding. Asher is so sweet with Jonas and is always trying to touch him and give him hugs. We are working on the understanding of "gentle" these days.

Jonas Pax

Jonas Pax was born Saturday, October 4th at 7:14pm. He weighed 8 1/2 pounds and is 20 inches long. (Asher was only 6lbs 1 oz.) We had quite an exciting day leading up to his birth. David's sister's (Julie) family was in town for us to celebrate our neice Katie's 1st birthday. We were at David's parents house, which is ~40 minutes from our house. After the birthday party activities had slowed down, we layed Asher down for a nap and were relaxing when my first contraction hit. After the second one, I decided we probably should head home. We left Asher with David's parents and headed back to our house. My contractions were 10 minutes apart when we left and were 2 minutes apart when we arrived home. We were home maybe an hour before we left for the hospital. We had just enough time to pack our bags AND sign papers to accept an offer on our house! Yes, we put our house on the market last Saturday and a week later found a buyer. We like to do as many things as possible at once. :) So, we made it safely to the hospital and I was able to have a natural labor that was about 4 hours long. Just shortly after the birth....notice David is wearing his Notre Dame t-shirt and thankfully there was a tv in the delivery room so that AFTER the birth (although David was hoping we could have checked scores during the labor) we were able to catch up on college football (I am sure most of you are not surprised by this.).
Sweet Asher came to see us at the hospital and brought me flowers. He keeps saying "baby" and being so sweet to Jonas. He is already a terrific big brother.
Our family together for the first time. My mom brought a stuffed dog for both Asher and Jonas but Asher has claimed them both. He does like to share the dogs with Jonas though.
Asher having a "picnic" lunch with us at the hosptial.
We came home from the hosptial today and all is going well. I probably should head off to bed now since both boys are asleep.

For Sale

Our house is officially on the market. With a second baby on the way, we are finding that our space is getting a little tighter. David and I have really enjoyed this home and will be sad to leave it. It is the house we moved into after moving back from Kenya, where we brought Asher home and where we will bring our second baby home. We can't be too sad though since we won't be moving far away. We love our location so much that we bought a lot on the street behind us and just a couple homes down. David is able to come home for lunch since he works so close. We have grown close to our neighbors, and I have found a great moms group for Asher and I to hang out with during our week. Our new home will hopefully be finished by February 2009. Meanwhile, I am trying to keep our house clean and picked up, which isn't easy to do with an 18 1/2 month old and being 38 weeks pregnant!

"Mower"

This is what I hear all day long from Asher, "Mower." The boy loves mowers. I don't know what has created this obsession. We will be inside and he can hear a mower start up several houses down and want to go outside to see it. When we go to the park, it is the first thing he wants to see (we do have some really big mowers at Centennial Park that he is fascinated with). Last night, he stood by our front window and watched our neighbor across the street mow his lawn, trim his lawn, and sweep the grass trimmings. It kept him so entertained, and Asher would occassionally turn to me and say "mower" and "grass" and "broom" (when he was sweeping). He enjoys looking at mowers in catalogs, and when we color, it is the first thing he requests that I draw. I know David hopes that he will continue to like mowers this much when he is old enough to actually mow the lawn!

Picture from here.

International Day of Peace

You might not know that today marks the International Day of Peace. Though our first thoughts may go to our own country in conflict, I would like to take this opportunity to share about children around the world who are being forced into soldiers.

Today, there are approximately 300,000 children serving in government forces or armed rebel groups. Some of these children are taken from their homes as young as eight years old. To date, approximately 2 million children have been killed and 6 million have been left permanently disabled while serving as soldiers in their country’s conflict. Currently, 18 countries involve children soldiers in armed conflict.

International Day of Peace is also a Day of Ceasefire –both personal and political. Consider taking this opportunity to make peace in your own relationships as well as impact the larger conflicts of our time. Imagine what a whole Day of Ceasefire would mean to the planet and the number of lives that would be spared as a result. Today (and even after today) I ask you that you pray for these 300,000 children who have been so brutally robbed of their innocence.

Water Fun

Many times throughout the day, Asher will bring me cups to fill with water (not to drink but to play). So, I have been trying to come up with a way to play in water but not make a total mess in our house. Another mom in our playgroup and I decided that we would fill up an "under the bed" storage container with water. We set it on my friend's porch and then let the boys at it. They had a fun time and we were able to keep them and the water contained....not to say that they didn't get wet themselves. We hope that we can have more fun days like these!

Who is Nervous?!

Football season is my favorite time of the year. David and I enjoy the excitement of Saturday mornings and watching "College Game Day" to see the upcoming games of the day and to see Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso's picks for the day. This Saturday night is a BIG night for me. I am a huge Ohio State fan and am quite nervous about them facing #1 USC. It's not making things any easier that Beanie Wells is doubtful for Saturday's game (but it may be a great excuse if we lose :)). So, Saturday night I will be sitting (or standing or jumping in front of the tv screen....probably not jumping since I am almost 36 weeks pregnant) watching the game and hoping that the Buckeyes can pull out a win. Will anyone else be out there watching the game?

Fall recipe

After spending the weekend in South Bend, the cooler weather has me craving fall recipes. I discovered this one below from my good friend Mary. I made it a couple of times last fall and just made it this past week. Sooo goood!

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta

Ingredients:
3/4 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp pepper
3 cups (1-inch) cubed, peeled butternut squash
6 sweet hickory smoked bacon slices ( I used turkey bacon)
1 cup thinly sliced shallots
8 oz. uncooked mini penne
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups 2% reduced fat milk
3/4 cup shredded sharp provolone cheese (I never could find this so just bought slices of provolone and cut into small pieces)
1/3 cup (1 1/2 oz) grated fresh parmesan cheese

1. Combine 1/4 tsp salt, pepper and 1/2 tsp rosemary. Place squash on foil-lined baking sheet w/ cooking spray, sprinkle squah with spice mixture. Bake at 425 degrees for 45 min.
2. Cook bacon over med heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 1/2 tsp drippings in pan; crumble bacon. Increase heat to med-high. Add shallots to pan, saute for 8 min or until tender. Combine roasted squash, bacon, and shallots. Set aside.
3. Cook pasta. Drain well.
4. Combine flour and 1/2 tsp salt in Dutch oven over med-high heat. Gradually add milk stirring constantly with wish, bring to boil. Cook 1 min or until slightly thick, stir constantly. Reomove from heat. Add provolone, stir until melts. Add pasta to cheese mix, and toss well. Pour into sprayed 11 x 7 dish; top with squah mixture. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 min.
Serves: 5

South Bend, Indiana

David and I headed to South Bend, Indiana this past weekend and left Asher with David's parents. This was our last weekend get-away before the baby arrives. David lived in South Bend for 5 years while working as an engineer. On Friday, we were able to visit where he used to work and see a few of the guys he used to work with. Then we spent the rest of the weekend with Sam and Kelly Barrington (and their three children). We had a really fun time hanging out with them and I was glad to get to know them better, especially after hearing so many great stories about David's time with them in South Bend. Sam, Kelly, myself, and David at the Barrington's home just before leaving for the Notre Dame game.

We were able to get on campus early enough to see some of the pre-game traditions and highlights of the campus. David and I are standing in front of "touchdown Jesus"(the Notre Dame library, which also had a great bathroom :)).

David in front of "First down Moses" (not sure why David is lifting his arms unless to question why it looks like Moses has horns).

While watching the Notre Dame football team head to the stadium after attending mass, we caught a pretty good view of Joe Montana.

David and I at the game. We had pretty good seats (35 yard line and on the Notre Dame side). I should clarify that the seats were "good" because of their view not because of their comfortableness (we were on a very small wooden bench).

Joe Montana and his wife down on the field. They kept us entertained when the game wasn't exciting.

Coach Charlie Weis with the team. It appeared that when Notre Dame finally came back and the game was getting more exciting that Coach Weis had taken over the play calling.

Clausen trying to convince his teammate that his long hair this season was not what was affecting his game playing. HA!David relieved at the end of the game that Notre Dame had rallied back and the win was in sight. Now I have a good feel for David's life when he lived in South Bend. Our weekend couldn't have been better with such hospitable hosts as the Barringtons, a win by Notre Dame, great fall weather, and knowing that Asher was in good care by David's parents (thanks for keeping him for us)!