Merry Christmas

I love Christmas time. There always seems to be so much excitement in the air. There are decorations adorning almost every building. All of the stores are playing Christmas Carols It is hard to escape the enthusiam. Last year I taught the kids in our church a song called Picture a Christmas. They are practicing it again this year to sing in our sacrament meeting. I love hearing their sweet little voices and I love this song. In the midst of all the excitement and enthusiasm it reminds me of what Christmas is all about.

Picture a stable in Judea.

Picture a sacred silent night.

And can you hear the angles near and see the star so bright?

Picture the little baby Jesus.

Think of his life and words so dear.

Sing praise to Him; remember Him,

As you picture Christmas this year.

Picture the kind and gentle Joseph.

Picture the mother Mary dear.

And can you see so reverently the shepherds kneeling there?

Picture the little baby Jesus.
Think of his life and words so dear.
Sing praise to Him; remember Him,
As you picture Christmas this year.

Here is a link if you would like to hear it.http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=50&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=50&searchsubseqend=ZZZ

Viva Mexico!

Jim and I had a wonderful time in Mexico (Thanks to my wonderful mother who watched our 3 kids for us) at our friend Mitch's wedding. We welcomed a new friend into our little westpoint family...the lovely bride that you see pictured is Heather. She is a sweetheart! The wedding was in Mexico just south of Cancun. We had a great time catching up with our friends and celebrating Mitch and Heather's wedding. One of the highlights of the trip for me was beating Sparky at a game of Texas Hold'em. It was pure luck but it was still fun! Jim and I got to go snorkeling together and for runs on the beach in the morning. It was pure bliss! We can't wait for our next vacation together!

Halloween Treat!

It's that time of year again. Here in Pennsylvania we do not trick or treat on Fri. night. Evidently, it interferes with High School football games. So, we had our trick-or-treat last night. Katie wanted to be something scary this year so she went as a mummy.

Ryan did not want anything on his head (hard to find a toddler costume without a hood) so as Nicole says "Ryan's a super hero"

Of course our little Nicole was a princess (not really a change from every other day of the week.) Trick-or-treating is always more fun when you get to do it with friends. Katie went trick-or-treating with her friends and as you can see they had a great time.

See Ryan Groove

Ryan was so cute the other day. I had to share. He doesn't really know that he's white and can't dance. He trys... maybe one day he'll find some rythmn.

Dance, Dance, Dance

Nicole was being cute yesterday and I thought I would share. You'll have to lean your head a little. I made the mistake of moving my camera half-way through. Of course, I could not get her to do the dance again and re-film. You only get one chance with kids.

Pumpkin Picking

On our way home from camping we stopped at a little farm in PA for lunch and pumpkin picking. Katie was such a good big sister. She helped Ryan and Nicole through the kiddie maze and then she helped Ryan climb to the top of the hay bale pyramid. Nicole, being her independent little self, needed no assistance. The kids rode the cow train and then we got on the tractor wagon which took us out to the pumpkin patch. While we were on the tractor wagon I asked Nicole excitedly "Are you ready to go pick a pumpkin?" I recieved the sharp reply "No! I don't like pumpkins. I want to pick apples!" She did eventually pick a pumpkin but it took much coaxing. We compromised by picking an apple from the farm store. Kids!!

Katie decided to try and find the largest pumpkin she could carry. She didn't even complain too much when I made her carry it all the way to the wagon.

Camping

We went camping this past weekend with some friends from New Jersey. As you can see from the picture Katie had a fabulous time reconnecting with her friend Mirriam. It was fun to see our friends from NJ and the setting was picturesqe! My only regret is not having enough time to visit with everyone.

Soccer

Katie is playing soccer this fall. She loves the sport. It is even better this year because Dad is the coach! Or so she thought... I think she thought that having her dad as the coach would allow her special privelages. She was a little dissapointed to find out that it didn't quite work out to her advantage. Jim is really enjoying coaching Katie's soccer team. He loves getting outside and running around with the kids. It doesn't hurt his competitve spirit any either when they dessimate the opposing team at each game. The whole family gets into the game. Literally sometimes. Ryan likes to play the game: run out onto the field and watch mommy come running after me. Nicole occasionally likes to run out on the field and help daddy.

The gym

Part of our daily routine is going to the gym. Ryan and Nicole love going to the child care center at the gym and playing with all of the toys. There are a few sets of stairs that we have to navigate in order to get to the child care center. The first set has 15 steps, second-9 steps, and third 9 steps. I know this because we count them all every day! Nicole loves counting. Ryan just loves being a part of it all!

Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation

This past sunday was the Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation in our branch at church. This happens every year about this time. However this year was different because I got to plan the whole thing. Not an exciting task for someone with my limited musical background. I was called as the second counselor in our Primary last year. In a branch this means that you also get to be the music instructor during sharing time. It was somewhat of challenge getting all of the kids to know the songs well enough to preform them in front of the congregation. I wish I had a picture. They all did a fabulous job. Each child had their own talk to give and they even sang individual parts for the song "Follow the Prophet" Some of them were a little soft but they all did it and I am so proud of them for what they have learned and accomplished.

Joy School

Nicole, Ryan and I started Joy School this year.

We start our school time off with circle time which usually includes our school house (it has pictures of each of the kids in the windows), weather chart, calendar, and songs. So far it hasn't lasted too long because Ryan has a habit of trying to crumple or rip anything placed in front of him.

Next we do an activity like playdough where I can strap Ryan down in a chair. This part works a little better for us. Ryan is contained and Nicole's hands are active. This is when I try to to talk to them about the lesson. We like short lessons.

Last week we went on a circle hunt. It was lots of fun Nicole and I discovered lots of circles in our house. Ryan discovered some shoes(It's a favorite past-time of his)

First Day of School

First Day of School 2007


First Day of School 2008

The years go by too quickly sometimes...

Kaite's Baptism

Katie turned 8 this year. We had her baptism on Aug. 23rd, 2008. It was held in the morning at our Stake Center in Reading. It was a great day. Lots of friend from our church were there and Grandma and Grandpa Wilson were also able to be there. I am so grateful for my sweet husband who holds the priesthood rightously. Because he holds those sacred keys to the priesthood he was able to baptize Katie. It was such a sweet moment. I love my family.

Fireworks at the Mall

We were going to have a picnic dinner on the National Mall with our friends John and Kate. We had planned on picnicing and waiting for the fireworks. However, when we left the hotel it was raining. So we had our picnic at Subway and waited for the rain to stop. Once it stopped we walked down to the mall and hoped for the best. The kids had a great time runing around for a little bit. Nicole busied herself meeting everyone within a 1 mile radius of our picnic blanket. Ryan went in search of anyting with a round shape that he could throw. Katie was tackling John and Kate was capturing the whole thing on film! Needless to say we didn't get a lot of time to chat.
Then it started to rain. We hoped it would stop but it was not to be. The rain started pouring through our little tarp. Although the kids looked happy we knew it would not last long. We packed up and said goodbye to our friends and headed back to the hotel. We had just enough time to clean up before we headed up to the roof of our hotel to see the fireworks display. It had stopped raining just long enough for a fabulous fireworks display.

4th of July in Washington D.C.

We took a trip to Washington D.C. over the 4th of July. It was great to be in our Nation's capitol on the 4th of July.
We met our good friend Johnny B there and he joined us for the day. We started the day with the D.C. parade. The kids loved the parade.

Nicole and Katie smiled their way to the front of the crowd and had front row seats on the curb of the street!
Of course what is 4th of July without snow cones?
After the parade we had lunch on the mall and headed to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum. We saw an awesome 3-D I-max film on Dinosaurs. In hindsight it may have been a little bit scary for Nicole and Ryan. They were cuddled up pretty close to Mom and Dad. They don't seem to be having re-curring nightmares about dinosaurs eating them so I guess it wasn't too bad.
We couldn't leave the museum without seeing the butterfly exhibit. There were lots of neat butterflys and one even landed on Katie's head. The kids really enjoyed the butterfly house.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

The entire time we were in Washington D.C. Nicole was singing this song. It took me a little bit to figure out what she was singing but it is definately Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Thanks to my new camera I was able to catch it on video as she ran around the pizza playground singing at the top of her lungs!

A Day at the National Zoo

We finished our trip to Washington D.C with a trip to the National Zoo. As you can see from the pictures the kids were very excited to see the animals. I was a little worried when we left the hotel as it was raining. It was still raining lightly when we arrived at the zoo; however, soon after we arrived, it stopped raining and the weather was just perfect.
Our first stop was the panda exhibit; this was Stephanie's favorite. Next stop was the Hippos. We had been on a quest to find hippos ever since we left Colorado. This day, we found both little pygmy hippos and one giant hippo! Katie was pretty excited.

Nicole's favorite animal was the elephant. I couldn't get her to stop looking at the elephants so that I could take her picture.


Ryan's favorite part of the zoo was getting out of the stroller and playing at the giant pizza playground. The kids had a great time playing and getting some of their energy out before the long trip home. I think that was Jim's favorite part (knowing that we were going home).