November 2012

 On Thanksgiving Eve this year we decided to put up our Christmas tree.  Micah is on weekend duty the month of November, so we put our tree up on Wednesday night. 

 We rearranged our living room to make room for our tree which looks huge in our tiny apartment!  Micah enjoys doing the garland.  Luke enjoys helping Micah do the garland.

 I get the job of rearranging the ornaments after the kids put them on the tree.  They do a pretty good job but can only reach so high.  :)

 Tucker focusing while placing an ornament in the perfect spot.

 Very proud of his work.

 Luke and Micah left after putting on the garland for karate class and when they returned we finished decorating our tree.

 After decorating the tree the boys had a battle in the hallway. 

 Two things we have learned while being part of the military is that you do not have to be lonely through the holidays and just because you're not related doesn't mean you're not family.  Every holiday we have had here, this is our third Thanksgiving and it will be our third Christmas, we have celebrated with different families.  Families constantly PCS and our friends come and go.  We have celebrated Thanksgiving with great families over the past 3 years and this year we got to celebrate with the Barber's.  We have become very close to Hope, Daniel and their 3 kiddos the past 6 or 7 months.  Their two boys, Han and Hecter, are in Luke's karate class and they both attend RES with Luke and Tuck.  Our kids are great friends and we are so greatfull to have have them this year to hang out with. 

 Hope making gravy for the turkey.

Their sweet little girl Ariana.

 Tucker eating a turkey leg.  Micah fried his first turkey this year.

 My sweet Luke.

 Another picture of the spread.

 Micah with the only girls.  Ryan and her mom Mary and her brother came over to eat too, her dad is deployed.

Some of the kiddos watching cartoons.  We stayed at the Barber's house until around 10:00 playing Just Dance 3!  Not to brag or anything but I never lost a match.  :)  Here's to the start of the Christmas season at the Wilson house.

Nice Artwork

Luke:  Hey mom look!  It's you and dad!
Me:  Oh Luke, that's so good.  What are those blue things on my arms?
Luke:  Those are your muscles.  (Smiles)
Me:  Oh, okay.  Thanks.
Luke:  I knew you'd love it.  I'll just go put it on the fridge for ya.

I love being a mom.

Week 2 in Kentucky

We finished off our second week in Kentucky with more fun.  Kenton took the boys to Hubers Orchard and let them pick out pumpkins.  They picked out the biggest ones they could get their little hands on.  We spent Saturday late afternoon carving them.

 Neither kid wanted to put their hand into the pumpkin.  That's the best part!

 Tucker was pretending he was doing it for the camera.

 The boys with their carved pumpkins.  Mom carved one and I did the other. 

 Can you guess who carved which one?

 I carved Tuck's and mom carved Luke's.

We celebrated birthdays with family.

 My parents and Grandma Pogue were there along with Micah's sisters and their families and his dad.

Oh how I LOVE a good cookie cake.

 There were lots of presents.

 Star Wars are a favorite.

 A 3ds is exactly what Luke wanted.

 Can't go wrong with Skylanders.

 Tucker got a 3ds also.

Two lucky little boys.

 Uncle Wes helping put together Lego's.

 We spent a day at the Louisville Science Museum with my dear friend Jennifer Metaxas Conway and her kiddo's.  My kids love hanging out with them. 

 Tucker loved this crazy thing.  That's him in the white.

 All the kids loved this crazy thing.

 Luke and Seth wrapping themselves in a bubble.

 Tucker and Sara taking their turn.

All the kids out in front of the museum.  I didn't get pictures of everything we did while at home.  I don't have pictures of us bowling, which was so much fun.  (Mostly because I won.)  Jennifer and her boys took Kenton and Luke to Lazer tag one evening while I had something else I alumni softball practice.  Luke had the best time with Kent, Jenn and her boys, he even won one of the six games they played.  On Friday night the boys stayed the night with their Grandpa Wilson and got to hang out with their cousins.  They spent Saturday morning at an art fair jumping in bouncy castles, playing cornhole and hanging out with their cousins Eric and Rachel.  On the Saturday before we headed home I got to play in the Southern High School alumni softball game with a few girls I played with and alongside girls I coached.  I had the best time...I even got a couple of hits!  I got to spend time with some of my closest girlfriends.  (Missy Hall Weeks, Brittany Humphrey and Brooke Ruffra)  Saturday evening we went to the Immediate Care Center with Luke who caught strep throat, poor kid.  We left there and ate at Tumbleweed, one of my faves!  I spent most of Sunday packing and running around town getting everything we needed and charging electronics for our trip home on Monday.  I even got quite a bit of my Christmas shopping done.  We left Monday for Baltimore and took mom with us just in case we didn't get on our plane and had to stay the night.  We got lucky and got out on our first try and arrived back in Germany Tuesday morning.  It's good to be home, but man we miss our families.

Louisville Slugger Museum

Day two me and Luke began tackling the mound of homework Mrs. Marksberry sent home for Luke for two weeks.  We spent about 2.5 to 3 hours a day doing homework.  Fun.  After we finished our homework Kenton agreed to go with me and the boys to the Louisville Slugger Museum.  Kent and I learned a lot and really enjoyed ourselves.  I think this may be better when the boys are older and can fully appreciate what they are seeing.  Luke liked it okay and Tucker was bored to death.  :) 

 In front of the huge bat.

Kenton doing his best impersonation of Derek Jeter.  I really wanted to get the boys picture with Jeter, but they didn't think that would be as much fun as I thought.

What in the world?

 Wow, he hit that one hard.

Could it be?  Is it possible I had a family member that played pro baseball?  Hmmm?

Luke did enjoy the dugout.

The boys spending some time with Uncle Beana.  At one point the boys got to hold and swing bats made for Derek Jeter, I don't know what happened to those picture though.  :(  I ended up getting the boys, and Micah, a t-shirt from the gift shop and a key chain in the shape of a bat.  It was a great afternoon for me. 

A Visit Home

What do you guys want to do for your birthdays this year?  WE WANT TO GO TO KENTUCKY!!  Okay then.  We didn't get to come home for the summer, so I was more than happy to make their birthday wishes come true.  The boys had been in school for about 3 weeks when we headed home.  We left the first of October, we tried to get out on September 29th with no luck, but we made it home early in the afternoon October 1.  I don't know who was more excited the kids or my parents! 

 On day one we were all pretty exhausted from the LONG day of travel and decided to relax and hang out at mom and dads and just enjoy the day.

 The boys love riding their go-cart and this year they were the perfect size.

 In the past they have needed a little padding behind them to help them reach the pedals, this year they were both a perfect fit.

 Tucker doesn't care much for driving, so Luke gets to have all the fun.

 Not that mom and dad mind the boys wearing out their grass driving around their yard, but we thought it would be fun to take a cruise up and down Pina. 

 Me and dad rode on the golf cart and Luke thought he was Mario Andretti.  We raced up and down the street and Luke did everything in his power to keep dad from passing him on the golf cart.  We had a blast!