Tag Archives: wilson

Fireflies and Lemonade Stands

One of the kids’ favorite things to do in the summer is to have a lemonade stand. They could sit for hours on the corner and wait for customers to buy a lemonade.  This year, instead of lemonade, they sold sweet tea (I didn’t have any lemonade).  Everyone loves sweet tea.  It is much easier to make and is super cheap.  I think that it will be our new product to sell.

Because we live on a cul-de-sac, the kids moved their stand up to the corner where there is more chance for business.  Amazingly, they made $22!  Yes, $22.  We have very generous neighbors at the new house.  One person gave them a $5.00 bill and someone else gave them a $10.00.  I don’t know who these people are but they have motivated my children to have a lemonade stand every day.   I told  the kids that they could only have a stand on Friday afternoons because novelty wears off when neighbors see them out there everyday trying to make money.  Here is a picture of them with Faith’s friend, Kelsey….

Another fun summer activity is catching fireflies each evening.  Our front yard (and the neighbors yard) is full of them.  Firefly catching only happens during June and only for about 30 minutes each day.  We are motivated to catch them as long as we can and as many as we can.  I think Wilson had four in his hands at one time.  After catching them, the boys let the fireflies climb all over them.  It is amazing how God created these fantastic little insects that glow and then He made them slow fliers so that they would be easy to catch.  God was really thinking ahead and was giving us a wonderful gift all at the same time.

Wilson has one on his arm….

The boys hunting in the neighbors yard.  They rarely have shirts on, if you haven’t noticed already….. 

End of year

I am so proud of Faith and Wilson. They finished out the school year in amazing ways. They both got awards in various areas and proved that they could excel in being both a student and a friend.

Wilson received an award for media and PE (not surprising). In his kindergarten class, his teacher gave him the “Bubbly personality” award. She described him as being a friend to everyone and skilled at bringing others into the group and making them feel comfortable.  Wilson is such a sweet little boy with such a big heart. He is rough and tough on the outside, but inside he truly cares for others and is a friend to all.  I saw this first hand when I went to school to have lunch with him one day.  Wilson could invite one friend to sit with us and he chose a little boy that he had said many times that he didn’t particularly like. I was surprised by his choice. Later on I asked Wilson why he chose this little boy to eat with us and he said, “because he doesn’t usually get chosen and I wanted him to get a chance to sit with a friend at lunch”.  That is my little Wilson.

Here he is all ready for his kindergarten graduation and with his fabulous teacher, Mrs Fields.

Faith received two awards. One was for Art, again, not surprising.  The other award was the Fruit of the Spirit award for Goodness. I loved her teacher’s description for the award, “You model His goodness by doing things God’s was instead of the way everyone else might do them.”  Faith sometimes told me about how the kids at school would say something mean or tease another child. One day she said, “I would never laugh at someone like they do.”  That is why she won this award. :)

It was difficult for Faith to switch schools this year, but she did it with style and confidence. I am very proud of her success.

Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Vandergrift…..

Our family had a great experience at Metrolina Christian Academy.  The kids enjoyed the school year and they learned a good deal both academically and spiritually.  I am very proud of them both.

Wilson

I have learned so much about Wilson over the last six months.  He seems to be growing up and changing right before my eyes.  Between school and my job, I think that sometimes he gets a bit overlooked as well.  That is why I am giving him his own blog post today – I want to remember all of the great qualities that he has.  

For one, he has become a great soccer player.  Last season he would run around the field and play, but he was more interested in the snacks AFTER the game than what was actually going on IN the game. This year, however, he was scoring goals, passing the ball, and taking charge on the field.  I was so proud of him.  I am looking forward to what he will do in the spring.  Here is his team picture….


Wilson can be so tough and yet so sweet and sensitive.  He loves to give gifts, especially flowers. If he sees a bush or plant with flowers on it he will walk over, pick one and bring it to me.  He has even begged to jump out of the car at a red light because he really wanted to pick a certain flower that he had seen the day before at that same light.   He ran around to the back of the school last week to pick a pink flower that he had seen on the way to lunch.  He is a giver.  After school on the first day of school he wanted to use his own money to take everyone to Chick-Fil-A for a snack.  He cried when I drove past the first Chick-Fil-A because I didn’t know that he was serious.  We went to the next store, went in, bought snacks and enjoyed the afternoon.

He has also been asking me for piano lessons.  After numerous times of asking, I finally signed him up for a short music class that was offered at his school.  He loves school, which I knew he would.  He is an eager learner.  His teacher said that she wished that every student was as eager as Wilson and that he makes her “want to be a better teacher.” WOW.

He has also begun to really enjoy drawing and coloring.  I attribute this to his going to school. Many pictures include some sweet messages. Here are some of his works… 

   
And finally, and most interestingly, Wilson wanted a white bedroom.  WHITE.  We tried to talk him out of it, but we finally gave him what he wanted.  It was his room.  He told my friend Yolanda that his room was “the most beautiful white color.”  I bought a new bookshelf for his room and he said that he wanted it to be white with white baskets.   I love white because it looks very clean, but I am not sure why he likes white. Either way, I am happy to oblige. 

 I am bragging on Wilson a bit, but only because these are things that the casual on-looker would never know about him.  Yes, he is energetic, loves mischief, tv and sword fighting, but these other qualities over rule it all.  He is super intelligent, endlessly sensitive, and full of originality.

Wilson’s birthday

Wilson turned six on October 12.  My little wilson is six. I guess he isn’t so little anymore, but he is still super sweet, loves to cuddle, loves to sword fight, loves school, and loves to watch TV.  I tried to talk him out of having a birthday party, and I thought that I had thoroughly convinced him, until five days before his birthday he told me that he wanted a party.  How was I supposed to throw him a party when I didn’t know any of his new friends from school and it was already a Thursday?!?  

Being the super mom that I am, I scoured old emails and the MCA school directory for the six kids that he wanted to invite to his party.  I was able to get in touch with two preschool friends and three families from his new school, including the triplets – six kids. Perfect!  From now on I will be planning all parties five days in advance because it significantly reduces the number of attendees and pressure to entertain them.  

Because our house is such a disaster from packing and moving my mom graciously offered up her house again this year to hold the party. We had a small bounce house, a trampoline, a swing set and some chickens to entertain the kids. They loved it!  The party was a success!! 

Wilson and my mom baked the cake that morning….

 My dad helped bounce the kids….   Wilson and his new best friend, Allison…

 In the middle of the party wilson came to find me so that I could play his new favorite toy, Rockem Sockem Robots, with him. I was flattered that he wanted to play with me during his birthday party. I was so touched that I got a picture of it…. Wilson is truly a blessing to have in our family. He has really grown up over the last few years and I am very proud of him. His smile is contagious and I am so thankful that he is mine. 

Annual beach trip

Each year we go to the beach with my parents, Doug’s family and Grandmama.  This year was no exception.  Everyone arrived in Murrells Inlet, SC on Saturday morning (except Tom and I, we drove in late Saturday night after working on the house all day). We rented a large house right on the beach, which is necessary due to the number of small children that we have going back and worth from the beach to the house all day. Because the rates are much less expensive in May than they are for the rest of the summer, we pulled the kids out of school and took off for the beach.  Hands down, we had the most beautiful weather this year.

The cousins were so excited to see each other again.  Now that Doug, Jacqueline and the boys live in Maryland, the kids really appreciate the time that they have together.  I could put thirty pictures in the post to show how much fun we all had, but that would be a bit excessive.  I will show the highlights:

The five cousins having a grew time together.  The ocean was fun, but a big hole and pile of dirt was equally as entertaining….

      

Doug had his surf board with him and we rented a paddle board for two days.  The kids learned how to surf and ride the waves.  We all briefly tried paddle boarding.  The water was a bit choppy which made it hard to stand up on the paddle board.  Frankly, I was too afraid of what might be swimming under me to fully enjoy the experience.

  

 

The best part of vacation was that it actually felt like a vacation.  Many times going to the beach is more of a “relocation” than an actual vacation.  This time I sat in a chair more than I stood up. It was awesome!  The kids were finally old enough to play in the water and not need me hovering over them making sure that they didn’t drown.  The sun shirts that we all have on became the unofficial uniform of our vacation – they were on sale at the beach shop so we all bought one.  By the third day I had on a giant floppy hat and a sun shirt….gone are the days of bikinis and laying out to get a tan.

  

Tom and I did get our date night out on the boardwalk.  We deemed it as one of our best dates. :)  As for the other nights, we ate well, drank many margaritas, ate ice cream and watched a comedy on TV with Doug.  I hadn’t laughed that much in a very long time.  It was good to hang out with my brother again.

Vacation at the beach was amazing and unforgettable.  It was hard to go home, but I was very glad that the house was immaculate when I got there. (although no buyers for the house yet).  I have to thank Mom and Dad for starting this beach tradition and for carrying it on each year.  Thank you!!

Schools Decision Update

As you know, when it comes to which school the kids attend next year we have many options to choose from, sort of.  There are many options but not all of them have worked out.  The options have become more and more narrow as the weeks have gone on.  First, the kids did not get into Union Academy, which is a charter school in town.  Then, they both were offered a spot at Metrolina Christian Academy.  I had applied here during my short, but very real panic attack back around Valentine’s Day.  I freaked out because I realized that they may not be going to a Christian school, which is what I love most about Faith’s school now.  The woman from Metrolina called me one Tuesday and said that I had four days to decide whether or not I wanted to enroll them for next year or else the spots were going to go to the next child on the wait list.  (We had already bumped Wilson down a spot once before because we didn’t want to commit.) I had to decide whether or not to spend the deposit money to enroll the kids at Metrolina when I didn’t know if we were going to move into a good school district or not.

I am usually able to hear fairly clearly what God wants me to do in life.  I have no trouble knowing what He is telling me what to do each day, where to work, if we should move, etc. This decision, however, stumped me.  There were so many factors: money, religion, us moving, us selling our house, public school districts, leaving CDS, etc.  I had a really hard time separating out all of the many factors that were contributing to my indecision.  I think I cried for a majority of morning that Thursday, which was my last day of decision making.  I felt like I was determining the rest of their lives with this one decision.

I had to tell Metrolina by 3:00pm whether my children would be going there or not.  I prayed that God would make it “abundantly clear” what my decision should be.  Even at the end of the day, I was still unclear, and I still am, somewhat.  I continue to wonder – Did God tell me months ago to “wait”, but I didn’t and now I have caused all of this strife in my life by not waiting?  I will never know. What I do know is that I was emotional about this decision for many, many reasons.  Probably the biggest reason is that I am a mom and I want the very best for my kids – just like every other mom on the planet.

A couple of events helped make my decision clearer (and the fact that at 2:45pm my mom and Tom both said “Enroll them!”) :

1- I cried every time that I thought about them going to a non-Christian school.  This is not because I thought that they would be miserable or mistreated at a public school, but because I love the community of the Christian school, I love that the teachers pray for their students, and I love they look at each student as a child of God with different strengths, talents and weaknesses.

2- In Bible study I read the verse. “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  2 Corinth. 4:18  This spoke volumes to me in regards to spending the money on private school vs spending the money on a house and vacations.  I may not be able to see with my eyes the value of a Christian-based education, but I will see it in eternity.  I will know that I have given them a solid foundation in Christ that is immeasurable in earthly terms.  The vacations and a nice house are not what are most important in this life.  (Although, I am sure that God will provide for those as well.)

3- My mom went with me to the school to tour it one more time.  I was going to go alone, but since I was such a basket case of emotions I thought it would be best to bring someone along with me.  I value my mom’s opinion on just about everything (especially on Godly and financial matters) and knew that if she left thinking it was a good school then it must be one.  The tour was given by a woman named Monique who was so sweet and kind.  She knew my struggle to make the decision and empathized with me.  At the end of the tour she held our hands and prayed for me, my children and my decision.  Later that afternoon, my mom said that they should be going to Metrolina because it is important to send them to a Christian school during their formative years.  Coming from my mother, and my accountant, that was a big vote of confidence that we would be making a good decision both financially and spiritually for our family.

4 – I didn’t want to leave it all up to us moving and being able to change school districts.  (Maybe  lack of faith on my part, but no one likes the unknown.)  I didn’t know where we were going to move or even if we were going to move to a new house this summer.  I didn’t want to send them to the school that we are currently zoned for due to the school’s late hours. I wish that there was a school that had only a 4-5 hour day.  That would be perfect!  I would love to homeschool, but I know that I wouldn’t be very good at it.  The day would end with me saying, “Oops, we didn’t get to our work again today.  Oh well.  Maybe tomorrow.” I have a vision of what a homeschool mom and family are, and we are not it – well organized activities, maps on the wall, a flourishing garden, well attentive children, etc…..not us!

In the end, all of these things added up to help make my decision clearer than it was that morning.  We decided that we would enroll Faith and Wilson into Metrolina Christian Academy.  As the weeks have passed, I am feeling more and more comfortable with our decision.  Faith and Wilson both know that they will be going to this school in the fall and are excited to be together.

The bottom line is this:  God is in control of ALL things.  I have to have enough faith to trust that God is going to provide the money for the upcoming year(s) of private school.  I need to trust that He will take care of my kids no matter where we live or where they go to school.  Even if we change our minds this summer after we move, I know that my children will be taken care of and that they will learn to know and trust God in their day to day lives.  I am thankful that we have the ability to make this type of decision. Never in a million years did I think that this would be something that would be an option for our family.  I know that we are very blessed….no matter where we end up.

Play Time

Now that Wilson is not in preschool, Miller and I have another playmate during the week.  We all had a great day together on Thursday.  To start, I was in Miller’s class during CBS because it was our group’s week to help out in the children’s department.  If I have to be in Children’s then I really like to spend that time in my own kid’s class.  It is always nice to see how he interacts with his classmates and teachers.

After CBS the weather was gorgeous!  We headed straight to the playground next door to spend a few hours.  During that time, Wilson and I had a good game of “throw the gum ball” going.  Now, this isn’t gum that you chew, but the gum balls that come off of a gum ball tree – they look like round pinecones.  At first we threw them at each other, but then began to try to make baskets into the trashcan with them.  This took up at least thirty minutes.  Miller caught the moment on camera.

After the park the boys began to beg me to take them to Chick Fil A.  Now, I usually don’t take the kids to a fast food joint, especially now that I read the ingredients to a Chick Fil A nugget.  (Did you know that MSG is the third ingredient! Yuck!)  But…..the weather was great and I knew that they would continue to play which would allow me to sit and take a short break, so I did it.  We headed over to Chick Fil A for some nuggets and an ice-cream cone.  It was heavenly.  The boys played while I sat and basked in the sun.  Here I am with my boys…IMG_4337

The boys were so tired when we finally got home that I laid in bed with them to take a nap.  Wilson fell asleep immediately and I tried to sleep while Miller continued to climb all over me.  Eventually Miller did find something to entertain him so that I could sleep for a short while.  A ten minute nap is all that I require in order to rejuvenate myself and make it through until the end of the day.

It was a wonderful day.  The best part was that I got to spend the afternoon having fun with Wilson and Miller.  We spent lots of quality time together doing things that were fun and exciting.  I have really enjoyed having Wilson with me and look forward to more days like this. one.