A Beautiful Tuesday at the Park!

We decided to go to the park today since the weather was beautiful for once and we probably wouln't have an opportunity to enjoy the park for sometime. The boys were excited and we all had a great time.

Andy swinging on the monkey bars...

Will upside down on the monkey bars...

Andy playing on the monkey bars. (Ben behind him going up the slide).

Ben stopping to smile at daddy before he crossed the monkey bars.

Andy trying to stand on the rolling thingy... ???

One of Andy's favorite things is for me to stand up on this rail and swing him. Ben was laying underneath and Andy was having fun swinging his legs over him.

We took a little break and got ice-cream. Yum!

Will on top of the monkey bars. He definitely is that ... a monkey! He'll climb on anything no matter how high.

Andy lost his shoe and was looking for it. So cute!

My happy Andy! This is him! Always happy, always smiling!

Ben lost his 3rd tooth

Benjamin told me yesterday that his tooth was loose. He showed me and it definitely was hanging by a thread. So then he was eating his lunch - and came and asked me if I had seen his tooth. I was a little confused - but soon realized that it had fallen out when he bit down on his hot dog and was stuck in the bun.

Here he is w/his 3rd tooth missing....


He's putting the tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy. We have a tooth fairy pillow - just can't locate it at the moment : )

The boys were going to bed and Will had his powerranger in bed with him. He sleeps with a different toy everynight.

My sweet boys being nice! A rare moment : ) Ben sleeps on the top bunk and Will on the bottom... at least that's supposed to be how it works. But they both sleep on the top together. Will doesn't like to be without Ben. So sweet!

Granny turns 68!

My mom wanted to have a girls day out for her 68th birthday! So ... I'm thinking, a nice lunch somewhere; a day at the spa; even a trip to the mall .... but no - she wanted to go to Chuck e Cheese to play Skiball. Yes ... we went to Chuck e Cheese w/no kids. Quite funny!

My mom and my Aunt Charley playing a game trying to get as many tickets as they can.




My mom wanted a chocolate cake. I got her a princess candle.

Me and my mom taking a photo. Not a good look for either of us : )

Christmas at the Wilke's

Christmas Eve was a nice day! Ben and I went to Christmas Eve Service at Church. We had a great time. He went with me last year also - so it was nice to have this time with him again.
Here's a few photos we took at the service. (1) They have a huge Christmas tree in the foyer so I had to take Ben's picture in front of it. (2) The stage was all decked out with Christmas trees and snow. I tried to grab a picture of Ben with snow on his shoulders and head to make it look like he was really in the snow - but it didn't go so well ... we just had a little 'snow' fight in front of the whole congregation .. alittle embarrasing, but fun~ : )



Ben and Will had to write notes to Santa. The first one is Will's (I wrote it), and the second is Ben's. Sorry they are sideways. I forgot to rotate.


(1) Andy had gone to bed, and Will and Ben were leaving cookies, milk, a photo and a nativity (in case Santa wanted to play) for Santa; (2) Santa came to OUR HOUSE!

(1) Christmas morning. The boys got up bright and early. We decided to wake up Andy early too, which was a little bit of a bad idea. He was a bit grumpy b/c he usually sleeps in; (2) Will got an Imaginex Fire Station and he was playing and Ben was bothering him - as usual.

Ben asked Santa for an xbox and games and Will wanted a spiderman motorcycle and spiderman jet. They both got their wishes! (1) Will opening a powerranger that he was very excited about; (2) Ben asked Santa for an Xbox and he got it. The boys first time to play. BIG FUN!

My brother, Christopher, and his partner, Robert came by .... along w/my parents and my brother, Stephen and his family. The boys love to jump on the trampoline - so of course, they had to take Uncle Christopher and Uncle Robert out to play.

2008 Christmas card

Merry Christmas from the Wilke's!

Front of our card:


Back of our card:

Happy Birthday David!

Happy 44th birthday to David! As his gift he bought an electric guitar from our neighbor. He already has one and he wants to get more serious about it - so it was nice to add another to his beginning collection.

Andy and Kuma

Kuma was laying on the couch, minding her own business when along came Andy. He wanted to

pet her, pester her, love her ... and all Kuma wanted to do - was nap!

(1) Kuma sleeping peacefully;

(2) Andy waking Kuma up from her nap and trying to love on her;

(3) Andy getting smooches to Kuma; I love this!

(4) Andy trying to give Kuma his milk. She's evidentally thirsty!

Andy's favorite animal by far is the dog. It was one of the first words he said and the first animal sounds he made. He loves, LOVES kuma and all dogs for that matter. If we are out for a walk. He literally jumps for joy when he sees a dog.

Andy - 20 months

Andy loves markers!

Andy loves to play with crayons and markers. Sometimes he gets them without us knowing ... like this day. He got a red marker and managed to get it all over himself from head to toe. In the last picture, I was telling him to show me his hands - he thought it was pretty funny.

Andy - 20 months old

Ben's Christmas party at School

I am not the room mom for Ben's class, but I'm on the PTA and I do get to help out. I wasn't sure what to expect since this is our first year at the Academy. Most of the kids came in as kindergarteners and since it's small, they all know each other as do the parents. So I'm just feeling my way around, trying to figure out the rules and what is allowed. They aren't allowed to have too many parties - but they are allowed a 'winter party.' It was a fun day. The kids had snacks and crafts. And I actually got to help out - which I appreciated. I had Will's party that day - so I brought him along to Ben's party. Everyone was super nice and even let Will particpate in the snack and craft.




That's Will there behind all the books. Ben is learning so much about other countries and cultures. They are really going into depth about alot of stuff and he's having a great time learning.

Ben, and a couple of his friends that he enjoys hanging out with.

Will's Christmas Party at Pre-K

Will goes to Pre-K 5 days a week, so he actually has 2 parties and pretty much 2 of everything. They have a TTH Class and a MWF class. I am the TTH room mom so I was in charge of one of the parties. We had pizza, cookies, a book exchange and played Christmas bingo. The kids seem to have enjoyed themselves quite a bit. It was a fun day!

I moved the tables around to try and get the kids more together - facing each other. I think it was well planned and went well.


We had pizza, cookies (from another mom's cookie store) ... yum! And we had a book exchange.


Will and his friend Kaden

Will was showing his friend, Kaden's, mom how big his tummy was from the pizza and cookies.

My goodie bags that I made for the class. The were filled w/snowman straws (which the kids used for whistles), playdoh, pencils, stickers, suckers w/Christmas covers. The tag had Will's picture on it.

An overview of the party

Playing Christmas bingo with cheerios.

The kids opening their books.

Will got a Diego book. Yea for Diego!