Wilke family: 1965 & 1966 Maryland, California, Hawaii, Japan

David family photos

Wilke family: 1962 Germany

David family photos



Annemarie, Claudia, and their dog





David's family

David's Uncle Roland sent him a condolence card about his mom's passing. It was really sweet and thoughtful. We thought it might be nice to reconnect with his family on the other side of the world. David told me his cousins names, and I got online and searched for them. As soon as I pulled up Kilian, I knew he was David's cousin. He and David could be brothers they look so much alike. Crazy! That Wunder gene is strong, for sure.

Kilian

Soccer Season has started!

Well .... our days of a calm, relaxed lifestyle have ended. All 3 boys have decided that they want to play soccer. It will be Will & Andy's first time to play soccer or any organized sport. Ben has tried a few (soccer, baseball, basketball, and golf) and didn't stick w/them too long. But has decided he wants to try soccer again.

Ben has started practice, and has been to one practice. It was tough on him b/c he's not in the best of shape. He's been very sedentary for awhile. Playing too many video games. It was an hour and a half of running and doing drills. He made it through but he was tired. He was sore for a few days and it took him awhile to recooperate. He will practice 2x's a week for an hour and a half. His team name is Venom.

Andy had a meeting and got to meet his team and coach. We met at McDonald's for the meeting. All the kids got along really well. I am really excited about the coach. He's from Peru and played professional Soccer in Peru. He's excited to teach the kids the fundamentals of soccer instead of just running the field and kicking the ball around. Pretty excited about that. He will practice 1x a week on Sundays for an hour. His team name is Fusion.

Will had his first practice tonight. He had a great time and was so excited to go. He will practice only once a week, on Thursdays. He really liked his coach and all his teammates. It was such a joy to see him so excited about soccer. His team is the Rascals.

I am excited for them all to play. And Andy and Will are really excited. It's going to be a busy season for us, but it will be great. Practices 3 nights a week, and Taekwondo one night a week. Let the fun begin!

Happy Soccer Season!!

Good-bye, dear sweet Mutti!

Today we say good-bye to our dear sweet, Mutti.

She was diagnosed a year ago with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), but had symptoms for 2 years. Her health started to decline quickly and so we knew she could no longer be alone in El Paso. David and Claudia worked w/her to sell her home in El Paso and then get her moved here to a retirement home. She lived here for 9 months. And then after a 2 year battle with ALS, she died peacefully at her home. We are so sad to lose this amazing woman. She will be forever missed by us all! We love you forever and always, dear sweet Mutti/Annemarie/Oma.

This is a photo of David and his mom a few weeks before she died.

 

Homeschool for Andy

After 3 months of going to Primrose, we have decided to homeschool Andy for the remainder of Kindergarten. He has done really well, but has missed a lot of school due to illness. It's tough to pay for private school and then have him constantly missing b/c of sickness.

Luckily, he's already way ahead of where he should be. So just picking up where he left off will be easy. We will finish the Kindergarten Primrose books and then move onto 1st grade. He will definitely be ready for 1st grade in the Fall.

I am excited to be able to do this with him. I think it's going to be great for both of us. I think the toughest part for him will be the social part of it. We will definitely find some homeschooling groups and do field trips and playdates. Plus, he's playing soccer. I think he will do great!

He's tested for the GT program for 1st grade. Hopefully he gets in, but if not - he will be fine at his old school or private school. Just not sure what we will do yet.

10 years!

David and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary yesterday. It was a quite day and we didn't do much. We were actually supposed to go away for a few days, but everyone has been so sick - we just couldn't make it happen.

We were able to get away for a dinner, which was great. We went to Cheesecake Factory - which was yummy!! We had a nice dinner and enjoyed our time together.

Here a few pictures that we took on our night out.

 I am so blessed to have such an amazing man who loves me so much and puts up w/all my craziness. You are my everything. My world.

I love you with all that I am. Happy 10 year Anniversary my dear, sweet husband.

Andy's Eye!

Andy and Will were playing around, and Andy accidentally got hit in the eye by the door knob. Poor baby. It was so, so sad.

These pictures are a few days after. He was left with a big black eye : (

Superhero Andy!

My girlfriend, Shauna, gave Andy the cutest Superhero kit for Christmas. Andy loved it! He immediately had to put it on and had to spin around the room.

I love how everything is so magical for him. He's got the best spirit and laugh. His laugh is contagious. I love watching the joy in his eyes. I don't want to ever forget how precious this boy is.



Mini-Holiday Vacay

We were all sick over Christmas break and didn't leave the house. The flu hit us all pretty bad. Once we were finally well, I decided to take the boys for a little mini-getaway just so we could get out of the house and enjoy what was left of their Christmas break.

I found a great deal on a room sat Embassy Suites. We've actually stayed there before, so I knew the pool and breakfast would be perfect.

Our first day/night, our friend's, the Weiners, joined us. Robert is one of Will's bestfriends, so Will was pretty happy to have him there. We met at the Galleria and went Ice Skating. It was fun, but alot of work and the kids didn't last long w/it. We had lunch at Chili's, then to the hotel, then went for a swim. The kids were having a great time.

We also met a really great family on our first night, the Hall's. It just so happened that they had 3 children, the exact ages of mine and my boys LOVED them. Ben and Casey (who is also 10) hit it off great. Then Andy and Jacob (who is also 5) hit it off great. Their middle child, Alexis is 8, like Will. They seemed to play well together - along w/Robert. They all had such a great time. We swam in the pool for quite sometime and the kids had a ball.

The second day/night, the Weiner's left - but we stayed. We actually got together w/the Hall's. We went to Jump Town (an indoor Jump Place) so the kids could play. Everyone had such a great time. Then swam later in the evening. And for our second night, we had to change hotels b/c I only booked one night and there was a big college football game in town and the hotel was full. We stayed at another Embassy Suites just down the road.

The third day/night, we got together w/the Hall's again. We actually went to an indoor trampoline park. Which was a blast. We had never been to one before. It was great exercise and great fun. After that we went to McDonald's for ice-cream and more playtime. Then we all headed back to the hotel. We stayed our third night  back at the first Embassy Suites, so we could be near the Hall's.

New school for Andy

Andy currently goes to the same school as Ben & Will. However, there has been alot of change in the school, and unfortunately, his class has suffered b/c of it. In the 2 months school has been in session - he's had 10 teachers. Which is difficult in itself - especially for a Kindergartener. Kindergarten is the foundation of learning. Everytime a new teacher came, he was being taught as if it were the first day of school again. He wasn't progressing, and we were afraid he would get behind - and not be ready for 1st grade. So, after much consideration, David and I decided to withdraw him from school and put him in a private school, Primrose.

He starts Primrose on Monday. We are excited that he will be able to learn and progress more at his speed. Andy is so intelligent and we just want him to have every advantage possible to him.

We are excited for this change, and pray it will be the best place for him to excel!