New Adventure...

Josh has decided to accept a position in Iraq. He will be leaving sometime in February (tentatively on the 18th) and will be gone for about 6 months.

Adventures with Chase

Chase is now up on his hands and knees crawling. The pediatrician said he was a little behind because he wasn't standing much but right after his check up he really started standing a lot. He crawled into the bathroom the other day while Cady was in the bathtub and I stood him up holding onto the tub. BTW, for those of you who don't know, the tub is plastic and the sides are very thin. Not as dangerous as a porcelain tub. Anyway, he immediately leaned over and tried to dive in. I caught him and set him down on his fanny next to the tub and ran out to get the camera. I walked in just in time to see him pull himself up and dive head first into the tub. He didn't appreciate the water he got up his nose but there wasn't much water in the tub. He's so determined. When he wants something he does things he didn't know he could do to get to it. Before this it had taken him forever to pull up on something in order to stand. He does love his baths!

MUST SEE TSO-WOW Contest - GUITAR

Vote for Josh!!! 5 stars

Vote for JOSH !!!!!

FIVE STARS!!!!
Hello All,

I have entered a contest for playing guitar along with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's hit song "Wizards of Winter" (you may recognize it from the beer commercials.)

View the video and help me win by rating it and adding your comments!!! Also, please forward this link to your friends to help me reach more people and get more ratings!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQJ8VtOtgoI
Thanks to everyone,

Josh Wilson

Chase's 9 Month Well-Baby

Chase had more shots today :( He was very brave poor thing. He is 24 1/2 pounds and 29 1/2 inches which confirms my suspicions: he's HEAVY! Otherwise, he's healthy and on track developmentally.
Tonight he decided that since he got a clean bill of health he should get moving. He did his first lap around the house. He's been low crawling from one end of the living room to the other but he has gotten bored with this apparently. He started in the living room and went into the kitchen, around the island twice, over to the dining room to try to take away Cady's Aquadoodle pen then down the hallway. He is there right now trying to figure out what he's NoT supposed to touch. He's so funny. He is moving but he fusses the whole time. Ack, Cady's mad because Chase is drooling on her aquadoodle. She is requesting that I put him in bed so he can't get her stuff. I think he needs more Tylenol for his shot owies.

A Little Dish of Texas Tradition

Blackeyed peas have long been a tradition for the New Year's table. They supposedly bring good luck for the coming year, and eating them shows "humility". Some Southerners have been rumored to eat one pea for each day of the year to insure good fortune! They are a humble food, therefore, eating them represents humility.
This is a tasty way to incorporate black-eyed peas into a New Year's celebration:
Texas Caviar from Southern Living 2001 Annual Recipes (given to me by Jen Miller)
2 (15.5 ounce) cans Black-eyed peas with jalapeno peppers, rinsed and drained
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomato and green chiles (Rotel)
2 avacados, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
1/2 purple onion, diced
3/4 cup zesty Italian salad dressing
1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice (this makes the dip for me)
1/4 teaspoon salt (try it without it first)

Stir together all ingredients. Cover and chill, if desired. Serve with corn or tortilla chips. Yields 6 cups!

Another successful Cookie Swap

Yesterday was our second annual MOPS Cookie Swap! Most of you know I coordinate the MOPS program at our church. MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers and it is an international group. Anyway, I had about a third of our group over to our house yesterday which is about 12 people and all their kiddos! It was hectic fun. We drank coffee and cocoa and sampled cookies and candies. We each took home about three dozen. This is my tray afterwards. It's a little picked over:)
The kids decorated sugar cookies and played outside! It was 75 yesterday! That's Texas for you! Never sure what you're going to get. I almost turned up the AC so that we'd be in the mood to drink hot drinks :) Nothing like a white Christmas!

Smiles in the Morning

I love getting my son up every morning. The best part of being a mom is the unconditional love that you get, just because you're mommy. Every morning I go into Chase's room and am greeted by his 1000 watt smile. It makes my day. I'm enjoying these precious moments because I know soon, it will get complicated...:)

Almost mobile...

Chaser is almost crawling now! He can spin around on his belly and inch himself forward. The other night I caught him under the Christmas tree trying to open his presents! It won't be long until he is completely mobile and I'm in BIG trouble!

Trip to MI and the Wedding

Hi Everyone- time for me to play catch up! It's always hectic this time of year! We had a great trip to Indianapolis for Joe and Jen's wedding and then a wonderful time in Michigan visiting family and friends like www.cindy50.blogspot.com! Cadence was one of the flower girls at Joe and Jen's wedding and I got to stand up with them as a bridesmaid. They don't have the pix back yet but when they get some, we'll post them. Cady slept with pillow rollers in her hair so her hair would be curly.
The wedding was beautiful! It was a unique wedding in a good way and everyone had a great time.
Ahhhh, two down, one to go!

The bride and bridesmaids get ready...

Yeah, is it time for the honeymoon yet?

I also had a chance to catch up with family like a cousin-in-law that I had barely met and some other cousins that I don't get a chance to see often enough and my aunt and uncle and grandpa and grandma and brother. It was a lot of fun. AFter the wedding, the me and the kids stayed with grandpa and grandma Tanner for a night and that was great!
Then we went to Josh's sister's house and the kids got to meet their cousins. It was the first time most of our families had seen Chase.

Cadence and her cousin Cydney.
We spent almost a week with Grandpa and Grandma W. and visited Josh's sister and her family, saw Josh's aunt and uncle and their kids and Granpa and Grandma S. We had fun and hated to go.

Trip to MI

Hi All- Most of you know me and the kids will be in Michigan after Joe's wedding November 11th. If I haven't made plans to see you and you want to see me and the kids, call my cellphone!

Urgent Prayer Request

Please pray for Grandpa Shellhouse-Josh's grandpa. We just found out he has an anuerism below his heart. We are waiting to hear if it is operable. Pray that Josh can get some time off to go to Michigan with me. Pray pray pray please
UPDATE: Grandpa's tests shows that the anuerism is too small to operate on right now so he has been instructed to go about his normal activities and will have a check up in six months! Thanks for your prayers!

A real stinker

Chase was dressed as a skunk for our church's Family Fun Festival.
This is him last night.

Why Mom?















Just wait until I'm old enough to dress myself...

















At the festival.

Sweetberry Farms

There is a berry patch about an hour from us. In the fall they sell pumpkins, gourds, jams, potatoes, etc. They also do pumpkin painting, scarecrow stuffing and hayrides. I organized a trip for MOPS and some of us went together. Afterwards we enjoyed lunch at Bluebonnet Cafe, a 76 year old Texan restaurant with award winning homemade pies and chicken fried steak.

Cadence and Tyler washing pumpkins.











Farm cat running away from the kids.















Something worth fighting for...








Turtle.....Turtle.... Chase in his turtle shell.











A smile between the pouting...





































Why am I not in bed?













Cadence and her friend Tyler.

Things around the house...

I went to our once a month scrapping meeting on Friday where we scrap from 6-midnight. It got me thinking about preserving memories so I went around this week just taking pictures of normal things we were doing. I HATE scrapbooking by the way. I don't have the time to make these gorgeous pages for one or two pictures. Maybe I'm just mad because I thought I'd be really good at it and I'm not so much or maybe it's because I just can't seem to get things organized or decide what I want to scrap and what I want to put in albums or maybe (this is what I think it is) it's because it's a guilt hobby. Everyone is so into scrapbooking that they make you feel like if you're not scrapbooking all the precious memories, you're not a good mom. Come on, what did we do before scrapbooking? I'm just happy we have pictures. Maybe I'll get organized and caught up and then feel a little better about scrapbooking. It's just soooo expensive and time-consuming and ughhhhh. Everyone knows I only go to scrapbooking for the food anyway. I do get some scrapping done. Just not as much as I could....
Anyway, I almost got lost down that rabbit trail. So, I took pictures of normal things. Cady coming out of her room with a headband on all funny, cooking, laughing etc.

This week I cooked 28 meals doing Once A Month Cooking. We got a freezer so we're filling it up. I got halfway through Chase's skunk costume.
I went to Lampasas and bought some goat milk with the intentions of starting Chase on goat milk formula. I gave it to him straight which I guess you're not supposed to do so I cleaned up projectile goat milk vomit all weekend. Have you ever smelled goat milk upchuck? Don't. It smells like Feta cheese. So disgusting. Anyway, you're supposed to mix in some things to the goat milk to make it more easily assimilated. It's closer to human milk in its make-up and I buy it raw so there are still the live enzymes in it which is good for the colon. Since I'm not breastfeeding anymore due to so many problems, I will be making the formula from now on. The iron in Enfamil clogs the poor little guy up.
Cadence loves to help vacuum.

Hmmmm....

A 17-year-old girl just came by to try to sell some overpriced junk for a fundraiser. I asked her if she was selling stationery? She said "what's stationery? I've never heard that word before." Wow.... Even after explaining to her what stationery is she still maintained that she had never heard that word. This is a senior in high school people! I think I was learning how to spell stationery and stationary in THIRD grade!!!! Sorry, just wanted to rant a little bit.

The best dress-up closet ever

In this room, the kids could dress up in clothes, hats and shoes from all over the world.

Pioneerin'

Cadence and Elizabeth makin' music the pioneer way












Raegan milkin'

Even Chase...

A Good Time Was Had By All

Cadence and Raegan looking at the Guinea Pigs














This is Cadence dressed as the Fire Chief















Beatrice, Elizabeth and Cadence look at the turtle that Sue is holding















Cadence pets the turtle while Pop-Pop holds it















The whole gang: Top: Beatrice Second row: LtoR Raegan, Cadence, Elizabeth
Third row: Sydnie, Sarah, Tyler Bottom: Chase