Our Christmas Card

To see our Christmas Card
click here.

Its always fun when Grandpaarents come, Hooray!

When Grandparents come we play!

Yes, that's our baby climbing that wall. It was sooooo cute to see him fly up that wall. Is there any physical trick this kid can't do? He's lucky it was weight and not height that qualify you:)

Cara and Shawn each got to climb twice. It was a school night, so we were practically the only people there.

Skyscraper. Their faces were hilarious as they swung around and around.

Air Force Museum and Zoo

Saturday was about 60 degrees, so on our way to the children's museum we changed routes and spent the day at the zoo instead. We were there at the perfect time. Right as we were finishing up it was getting dark and the light display began. It got suddenly crowded. Wilkeys and crowds don't mix- so we were happy to be heading home.

The Air Force Museum is soooo huge. We could go back and learn more everytime!

Thanksgiving Dinner

The kids waiting for Gma and Gpa at the airport!

We had invited our neighbors to join us, but by the time Ryan was back from picking up Grandma and Grandpa he had a fever. Since their daughter had just had her tonsels taken out they didn't want to chance it. The kids were BUMMED! And I felt bad that they ended up spending Thanksgiving at Cracker Barrell. We had LOTS of left overs. Including 2 quarts of gravy!!

What do you call your dad's cousin? Well, we call her Shaunice and she came to Cincinnati last month! She coaches womens basketball at ASU and the Sundevils came to play Xavier. She got us in for free and we had a good time. Well, Nate and I did. The kids unfortunately are not into basketball. I am determined to convert them one day!

We took Shaunice to dinner and to Graeters! It was good to see her.

Cara was a dancer at the High School Basketball halftime. She had a blast and we loved her smile. Sorry the photographer didn't capture it very well.

Nativity

I worked on the Nativity Display our Stake does each year. After a lot of work I was glad to know I spent my first week of Christmastime helping others see the Christ child displayed so beautifully.

Wacky Wednesday!

Cara and her great friend/neighbor: Emerson. We love having friends in our backyard!!

They were twins this day and we had a snap a shot of it!

Shawn's zoo trip

The 5th grade field trip in our district is an overnighter to the Cincinnati Zoo. I gave Shawn our old camera with a broken LCD to take with. Her are a few of his pics. I didn't think to check the memory card and he ran out of room pretty quickly. oops.

Merry Christmas!!

blogger....facebook....skype....email

Keeping in touch is sooooo easy and sooooo FREE. Who wants to buy stamps? I can think of a few dear friends that love to do just that, buy stamps. My friend Katie comes to mind. She loves to pick out the new Star Wars stamps for Alex, the appropriate holiday stamps for her cards, or the whatever-suits-your-fancy stamps for the girls, too:). She does use them, though and I applaud the joy she can find in even this necessary purchase.

This year, however, I am seeing, forty-what? cents in my mind-to mail a picture to our loved ones who can see it through one or all of the above ways. I love getting the mail in December. I look forward to finding cards in our mailbox and reading all the goings on of friends missed and then bury myself in memories of times gone by. Yet, this year, our Christmas Message goes out to all of you through cyberspace. I hope nobody is offended.



Family Footsteps is here to keep a record of our life and share it with our family. Follow this message and click on links to older blog posts. Or, just follow along chronologically. Either way, enjoy our blog and if you have a blog we don't have listed, let us know! We look forward to hearing from you!

Wilkey News 2009

Half the year was spent deciding which home to buy. The perfect one really doesn't exist, so we are happy for our little home and the fun we've had making it our own since June.

The neighborhood is full of kids and our yard is open to the neighbors creating a gathering place for friends of all ages and all sorts of fun. Kickball, football, baseball, Frisbee, and all sorts of pick-up games occur regularly and we love it!

Our activities keep us coming and going:

School,

baseball,

gymnastics,

soccer,

piano,

cub scouts,

swim lessons,

dodge ball,

dance,

Church,

and more.

We're all healthy and happy to be together. We miss our parents, cousins, siblings and friends! Families really ARE forever and we're glad that forever for our immediate family includes right now!!

Joy and peace come to us as we come to know the Savior born over 2000 years ago. As we share this celebrated season with all of you, we thank Him for his life and that ours has crossed paths with you!

Howdy Partner!

Stick 'em up!
I surrender! This is Ryan's favorite photo:)

It is so hard not to run out and buy a proper hat and boots for this little buckaroo. However, a cowboy costume is second only to a bike on Ryan's Christmas list. So... we wait.
This year's list reminds me of Christmas 2 years ago. All Ryan asked for was a Teddy Bear. His preschool teachers loved the simplicity of that request, especially that his reason for wanting one was that his Teddy had a hole in it. When he got a piece of paper out to write his very own list last week, I was conflicted. Was I more proud of him writing on his own or sad as he has never really asked for much at Christmas? I didn't want that stage to end.
But what to my wondering eyes should appear on his list, but a
1. Bike
2. Cowboy costume
He spent the remainder of his pre-bus time trying to think of another item.

Ahhh...Innoncence! I'll take every bit I can get!!!!

Aren't these fun!

If I didn't have a line up of sewing projects, I would attempt a skirt just like this!

Ryan has been dressing up like a Cowboy everyday this month. Literally. So when I saw this picture I thought we could be a pair. I love the skirts and I have some cowboy boots just like those from my shoe-store-working days in highschool! Yeee Haw!

I know, you'd rather see pics of my little 5 year old Cowboy, but the camera hasn't made its way out lately. Will take some, I promise. His jeans and flannel shirts are in the dryer right now as he woke up and asked me to wash them since none were clean:)

Brazil!!!

Meu coracao e brasileira!!!

I've been is a Brazilian mood lately! I got a letter from one of my favorite companions, Joyce de Oliveira. She is now a police officer. My kids loved her photos.

I have also been spending time studying Portuguese to freshen up.

I've found some Friends on Facebook from my days as a missionary and a brazilian family we met in California when I was pregnant with Cara.

Then Brazil won the Olympic Games.

If you see any deals from Cincinnati to Brazil, tell me!

Quero ir!

So... When I heard Wonderful Tonight from Michael Buble singing with Ivan Lins, a Brazilian singer on Pandora today, I had to add it to the blog. Hope I don't annoy you all too much. I'll change it soon.

Abracos!! (Hugs)

Jen

Happy Halloween 2009

What a wonderful day! We woke up this morning to Saturday giggles. Kids getting along and trying to be quiet so Mom and Dad could sleep in. We had a Rokenbok and Imaginex building marathon for about 2 hours. That was all before 9:30.

Our last minute Halloween decoration turned out really well.

Trick or treating with some great neighbors! We didn't get a photo of the whole group for some reason. But the Farleys and the Pughs let us join their annual tradition along with the Gartsides.

The boys spotted our neighbors raking leaves and Shawn couldn't wait to finish his lunch and join them with our rake. He really took charge and when the pile was big enough for them, they had a leaf jumping party.

This "Teen" is now 91!!!

Having been born in 1918 and 1919, Grandpa and Grandma are considered eternal teenagers! Today marks the day of that special birth 91 years ago. I can't imagine being alive in 1918, but at my young, tender age of 34 I can see more and more being Grandpa's age:). In fact, looking at Charles and Mable makes me look forward to it. Well, at least parts of it!

Grandpa retired when I was 8 years old!! I can remember visiting his Gas Company office one day. I'm not sure why I was there, but that is etched in my memory. Although he has been retired most of my life, I have never seen my Grandfather sedentary. In fact a whole part of his life began then. He joined two prestigious chorals and sang all over the country with Grandma cheerfully at his side, seeing the world.

My post today is in his honor.

We love you, grandpa and all your charm

We also love the girl on your arm!

We wish we were near you with such frequence

That you'd get a hard chair to stay awake for our eloquence.

We're far from our family like you were one day.

And we look forward to seeing you at Christmas and say

In person how glad we are that another year you have seen!

And we hope next year is even better than this has been.

Happy Birthday, dear Grandpa,

our kids call you "Great"

We hope always your milk equals the cake that you ate!!

Fathers n Sons

Cara was really excited for the Fathers and Sons campout so she and I could go on a date. She made an agenda for our evening with 11 things on it. Thanks to IHOPs snail paced service, we only did 2 of them. We went to the Watabe's for a movie and games. She slept in Daddy's spot and we had a great girls' night in.

Her pants were too long and we hemmed them She thought the cut-off made a perfect head band. She wore it all day Saturday.

Shawn and some of his buddies.

Ryan didn't want to go to school Friday and ran home as the school bus pulled up. I drove him to school and after many tears and a phone call to dad, he decided the campout that night was worth a day at school.

WeBeLoS

We Be Loyal Scouts

Nate reserved the new Scout hall for our pack meeting last month. Most of the boys were receiving their religious knot- so it was a special evening. Shawn has gone on a passing off spurt trying to earn his Webelo and arrow of light. Keep it up!!!

Happy Birthday last month!!

We celebrated Nate's Birthday Eve with a simple dinner with our friends, the Greens. The real day was spent canoeing down the Little Miami river. We had a great time. It was the end of a wet week and eventhough it was grey and cloudy all day, we didn't get rained on! His present was season tickets to an organ concert series at Cincinnati Union Station. Here's to another great year to the best husband and father in the world!!!

In a galaxy far far away.....

Friday night we surprised the kids with a special family date. The Cincinnati Pops was having a John Williams concert and so we dressed the kids in their Star Wars best and headed to the music hall. It was fantastic! Anthony Daniels (C3PO) was the narrator. It made for a LATE night before an early Saturday, but was well worth it!

Root, root, root for the Dodgers, if they don't win its a shame...

The first time I heard this song sung with "home team" I thought it was funny they changed the Dodger theme song to fit their own team!
The Dodgers came to Cincy and having grown up in a "true blue" family, we had to go!
We had a great time cheering our Dodgers to a victory. I had this big craving for a "Dodger Dog" the whole time! I didn't give in, though thinking it just wouldn't be the same with a red wrapper! Events like this are even more fun with some cousins! Wish we had a few to share it with. At least we felt bonded to our fellow LA fans! Go Blue!

TJ

Today as I was furniture shopping I realized that I was accross the street from Trader Joes. Now 20 minutes away instead of 5. I hopped right on over for a few favorites and some browsing. The "galley"had this recipe for sample and I loved it and ran home to make it. Quinoa is something I have actually never made at home. However, I have cut out red meat since May and am trying to eat more "vegetarian" meals, so I am always looking for a food high in protien and fiber. I don't blog about too many recipes, but I thought this was unusual at least for me, so enjoy!

Quinoa & Black Bean Salad

• 1 cup quinoa


• 1 can black beans


• 1 can corn


• 1 1/2 TBs red wine vinegar


• 3/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper


• 2 jalapeno chilies, minced (I left this out)

Prepare quinoa as directed on box. Toss beans with vinegar, salt & pepper. Cool quinoa and toss with beans, corn, bell pepper, jalapenos and dressing.

Dressing:

• 5 TBS fesh lime juice


• 1 tsp salt


• 1 1/4 tsp ground pepper


• 1/3 cup olive oil

Fire

This is a picture taken from my High School in La Crescenta CA. My parents and brother's family are far from the lines of fire and safe. But many close friends have been evacuated and are scared for their homes! Luckily they have kept tragedy at bay for many- but 2 firemen lost their lives and some homes have been destroyed. The last I heard it is burning 85,000 acres- that's 150 square miles and it's only 5% contained. In southern Cali, forest is hard to come by so it's hard for me to imagine what this must be like. This picture is apparently as close as it has gotten and its now heading back up the mountain.

Our prayers and thoughts today are with the families and firefighters in La Crescenta and the surrounding towns.

Kindergarten

Ryan didn't start school until Friday. He was SOOOOOO excited to go. Which did mom's heart good. I got nervous toward the end and considered keeping him home one more year!
He woke up just giddy and talking about school, the bus, and the playground

Ryan did little projects for me all morning. He was writing on this cardboard with a screw and decided he needed a screw driver to put it right in. It ended up being great fun and a wonderful idea. He nailed and screwed 30 nails and screws into the box with a little help from our neighbor, Miles. They felt very well trained for assisting Dad with any needed jobs.

First Day of School

Shawn and Cara started school on Thursday.

This picture perfectly describes Cara's feelings about heading off to 2nd grade!!

Shawn is the first to head out each morning. Good thing he is our early riser. He wakes ME up!

He was not thrilled the summer had ended. But was so anxious to get out the the bus stop with his 5 friends from our street that we both forgot his lunch.

Perfect timing...

About a week ago the kids did some extra chores to earn money. They even washed the van for a buck each. Why?
Because after begging all summer I finally agreed that if they earned enough money they could buy ice cream from the ice cream truck. Only problem, our Ice Cream truck went missing for days! Saturday he came while the kids were inside for a consequence of some typical childhood wrongdoing- so they could not cash in, Tears. Then he came again on the Sabbath, talk about TORTURE!!
Well, on Wednesday- First day of school-EVE!!! The ice cream truck pulls into the neighborhood right as I finish making dinner. Like a good mom who keeps her word- we tromped out to the curb, cash in hand, to make due on the treat of the summer!!! Joy! They even ate dinner just fine after dessert.

More summer fun

We went to the farm to pick apples per their website. Apples are easy to pick and quick in the hot sun. When we arrived, however we learned that the apples were only available on weekends, so this is what we found:

Photos care of Cara

pigs, a llama, bunnies, peacocks, horses, donkeys, ducks, geese, birds, chickens, roosters...

Not enough shade.

4 pints of raspberries (now canned jam!!!)

My favorite photo!