African Adventure

Tonight was the second grade music class performance, an adventure in Africa. It was hillarious to watch Kaity rocking out to the music and singing her little heart out. She knew every word and looked like she could fit right into the African culture. Looking at all the performers, Kaity is the only one with a hair bow and clean clothes. It was heartbreaking to see so many children that are neglected and just begging for some love and attention. I hope that my children realize how important they are to Travis and I and that our whole world revolves around their welfare. The majority of those kids tonight looked like they haven't had a bath in at least a month. It made me want to bring them all home and give them a little tlc!

Memorial Day Weekend!

Well I think that this is the first Memorial day weekend that we have stayed home instead of celebrating the beginning of summer with a 3 day mini vacation. With the cost of gas prices shooting up to almost $4.00 a gallon, we decide to do our part in conserving gasoline and stay at home for the 3 day weekend. I being the brilliant mother that I am, (well maybe just a desperate for peace and quiet mother) came up with the idea to build the kids a club/ tree house/ swing set in the backyard. With school out in 7 days and the endless summer afternoons filled with "I'm bored" looming on the horizon, I decided to take advantage of Travis' days off along with my dad's and brother's. We had a very successful weekend with so far, only 4 trips to Lowe's, no major injuries and only a couple boards cut the wrong length. Granted we are only halfway done building this ginormous play structure, but I figure that if stay on schedule we should be able to finish it up next weekend with only 5 more trips to Lowe's, two more cases of diet Dr. Pepper and only one box of band aids. To be continued...

old lady

This morning as I rolled over in bed and cracked open an eye, I saw the sun brightly shining through the window. I seriously contemplated pulling the covers over my head and staying that way for the next 24 hours, when a little voice chirped "happy birthday mommy!" Now how can a mommy resist that sweet sound even if it is her 30th birthday?! Yep 30. I am officially old. I have been dreading this day for the past year. In fact, last year I threw myself a birthday party and decided that I wasn't celebrating any more birthdays- I would forever be 29. I guess that my kids didn't fully understand that concept because this morning I awoke to balloons, a chocolate cake and a sparkly tiara. I was informed that I was the princess for the day and I could do what ever I wanted, but please please please can we go to Magic Kingdom? Well since I now had a tiara, off to the magic kingdom we went-again. I was expecting it to be like always - long lines, humidity, delicious smelling food that is not on a diabetic diet and of course my bad luck-the first day of my menstrual cycle! But being the good sport that I am, I downed half a bottle of Advil, cracked open a diet coke, firmly secured my princess tiara onto my head and climbed into the van. We entered the main gates and for the first time EVER got to park in the front of the car line. Next we didn't have to wait in line to actually enter the magic kingdom. We were on a roll! This isn't going to be so bad I thought. Next we hurried over to splash mountain to try and beat the lines at the most popular ride in the whole park. We were in line by ourselves which meant we had the whole boat to ourselves. As we got off the ride we were greeted by Disney staff that presented us each with a dream fast pass necklace. We were given passes to the front of the line to every ride in the whole park. After the next ride, a stranger walked by and offered Kaity and Brayden a set of Mickey Mouse ears that he had just won. Wow! We really were in a "magic" kingdom. We are Wheeler's. We do not have this kind of good luck! Now I was anxious to get going home- I needed to go buy a lotto ticket!

What a great day I had! I may be old now, but I realized that just means that I have 30 years full of blessings and things to be grateful for! I have the most loving husband any girl could ask for, two beautiful children, a close knit family, a fantastic mother in law and grandma in law that remembered my birthday, and good girlfriends (thanks for the blog tribute Wendy! I don't know what I would do without you). Thank you everyone for a wonderful birthday! I love you!

Talent show

What a busy week we had! Kaitlynn was part of a talent show on Thursday and Friday with her friends from school. We had a little bit of drama earlier in the week with me trying to come up with matching outfits for all three. Thankfully at Ross (hate shopping there) I found three shirts that didn't cost an arm and a leg and matching skirts and leggings. I was surprised that the girls were picked to be in the talent show after witnessing their audition a couple weeks ago, but decided that even if they couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, they were going to look dang cute!
They did great! Surprised us all. Still didn't really sing on tune but were sooo cute!

Wednesday night while getting ready for bed, we heard a loud bang and the power went out and then came back on. We couldn't figure it out and after searching our house for smoke or a fire we went to bed. I discovered the problem the next morning when I jumped into a FREEZING cold shower. Yep, the water heater blew something inside. Finally by Friday afternoon after a plumber didn't want to fix the problem an electrician was our hero! Never will I take hot water for granted again! I would have been a rotten pioneer because boiling water just to do dishes seemed like the end of the world!

I love him

Yesterday I had to take Brayden to the doctor to get his shots for kindergarten. I knew that he was very nervous because he kept hiding all morning long. When it was time to get in the car he was missing again so I went looking for him. I found him in Kaitlynn's bedroom closet hugging his Mickey Mouse doll. I agreed to let him bring Mickey along if he promised to quietly get into the car. Now I must mention that Mickey has seen better days. He has been an important part of our family for almost 4 years, yet he looks like he has been around for about 25. His peach face is now a deep gray, his red trousers have long since faded to a dull pinkish color and his white gloves are almost black. Upon arrival at the pediatrician's office I suggested leaving Mickey in the van where he could take a nap. Brayden wouldn't hear of that and informed me that it was "too hot and Mickey will be dead." So into the office we ALL went. We had to wait for an eternity before our name was called and the waiting room just kept filling up. Every time a new patient would enter the room they would come sit beside me in the only empty chair. They would take one look at the disgusting germ filled mouse on my lap and quietly get up and move. Needless to say I was mortified! When it was finally our turn, Brayden sitting up on the big table said "I need to hug Mickey." The nurse said no problem and turned to get it for him. In mid reach, she jerked her hand back and said I think that mom better do that. Okay, if I hadn't completely died of embarrassment in the waiting room, I surely did at that moment.

Once we made it home I decided that I didn't care that the tag on Mickeys pants said "Wash with a damp cloth." He needed a full bath. Brayden saw me head to the laundry room with mouse in hand and FREAKED out. I told him that I was going to put him in the washer so that he would be clean and new again. Brayden crying said,"No mommy. It will make him be broken when he comes out." I told him that was a risk that we were just going to have to take and if the worst happened I would buy him a new one exactly like the old one. He yanked Mickey out of my hands and sobbing cried "but I love him. I don't want a new one. I don't want Mickey dead." I am not proud to say I gave in. His sobbing over his best friend broke my heart. My child will probably contract some weird disease from his germ covered doll, but at least I am still a hero in my baby's eyes and not a killer!

Happy Mother's Day!

What a FANTASTIC mother's day I had! Travis and the kids surprised me with breakfast this morning. Wow that omlette was a welcome change from the power bar I choke down every morning. He even remembered to get me an avacado. Pretty impressive to me since I know he hates avacados. Kaitlynn asked me last week what my favorite flowers were. When I told her it was tulips she looked at me kind of worried and said,"I didn't think that tulips grow here." I told her that they didn't but sometimes daddy orders me some from far away. Well she wasn't about to let a little thing like climate stop her from getting me my favorite flowers. She had Travis go from store to store until he found me a pot of tulips. Travis ordered me my own mp3 player (in a pink of course ) and had my favorite song inscribed on the back. So kissable, lovable, huggable... He did great! He usually out does me on the romance department. I am one lucky girl!

We finished off the day with dinner at grandma Davidson's and helped her celebrate her birthday which is today. Happy mother's day!

Dinner

I have a new resolution. Yes I know that it is way past January and the time where everyone sets their new year resolutions, but I figure better late than never. Right? I am going to try and post on my blog at least twice a week. That is probably not great news to the rest of you because we lead pretty uneventful lives which may translate to boring posts. So why am I doing this you ask? I do not keep a journal. I do not like to scrapbook. I have tried many times but I just can't seem to stick to it. I have decided that I will turn my blog into a book every year after Christmas. It will be a Christmas present to myself and hopefully one that we will cherish for years to come.

Last night I was so frustrated. I reorganized closets all day long which resulted in many loads of laundry and garbage bags full of junk. While doing this I heard "I'm starrrrrving. I'm going to diiiiiie!!!" ALL afternoon. By dinner time I was so frustrated I could hardly stand myself, my kids, the neighbors dog and anything else that had the potential to make a sound. I didn't have any mac and cheese in the cupboard or any other quick and convenient boxed dinner so I had no choice but to spend 45 min slaving over a hot stove. Meanwhile the dryer is going and the poor air conditioner was going full blast trying to keep up with all the hot air being pumped into our house. Keep in mind the outside temp yesterday was 92 degrees. I was fighting a losing battle! I had long since run out of diet coke and the ice was gone in the freezer. I was NOT in a good mood. Finally dinner was done and I thought the whining would subside while the kids ate. NOPE! Kaitlynn thank goodness gobbled hers up and went to play in her room which left me with the littlest turd! He took one look at dinner and yelled gross! He refused to take even one bite. So now instead of the "I'm going to die" whining, he exchanged it to the "I want maca rooooni" whining. I told him he was going to sit there until he ate or until bedtime. Two hours later, the noise stopped. I went to check on him expecting to see him eating but found him asleep at the table. I picked him up and put him in his bed and he didn't even stir. This morning he asked me what was for dinner. I told him leftovers. He just looked at me and said "I guess I better have two sandwiches and two cookies for lunch."

snakes and motor bikes!

This will be a very random post but I don't care because I am in the mood for some blogging! :)


So I looked out my back door today and what did I happen to see? A big long disgusting snake sunning himself in the middle of our backyard. GROSS! Luckily for me Travis had the day off today and he came running when he heard my shrieking. Sorry about that dad! (I was on the phone with my dad at the time planning some top secret business) Anyway, back to my story. Travis came running to see what the catastrophe was and I pointed out the snake. Then I very sweetly handed him my camera and asked him to go outside and take a picture so that I could blog. I didn't even have to beg he just took the camera and bravely made his way into the backyard. I forgot to point out that our backyard resembles a jungle and that I NEVER venture out there. Not even to pick the fruit off the trees. I know that he was a little scared but he was determined to show me how brave he was. As soon as he had snapped a couple pictures the snake took off back down to the lake. It made a very exciting morning!

Now if you want to see some pictures of my mother on her new motor scooter, click on the link that says NANA'S HEART. I went with my dad this afternoon to get my mom her birthday present. Now I am waiting for my kids to grow up so that I can get my own scooter- a hot pink one of course. Oh a girl can dream...

One last note on this post. Thank you Holly for introducing me to the MEANEST MOM BLOG. I get up every morning anxious to check out her site to read her latest blog. She is hilarious and my new idol. If anyone needs a good laugh, check out her blog!! Really I mean it. CHECK OUT HER BLOG! You won't be disappointed! :)

Practice

So Kaity turned 8 years old two months ago and she still hasn't been baptized. She is absolutely terrified to put her head all the way under the water. We tried to get her to practice in the hotel pool over spring break but she shrieked and yelled until I thought for sure we would be thrown out of the pool. Yesterday we went over to a friends house and they let us use their pool for practice. I told Travis that he just had to force her under because the dress I bought her two months ago is getting small and we are not putting this off any longer. Well daddy and grandpa are a bit more patient than I am and so they nicely convinced (bribed her with a treat from 7-11) to give it a try. After the first dunk she was fine and begging to "go again daddy!" What a stubborn little stink she is!