The Wisely Family

Bowie Bulls - May 2011

2011-05-29T23:05:00.005-04:00

Jakob recently moved to a new baseball team this month and we're super excited! It is a much better fit for us, and we know he is getting the best instructional baseball where he will learn not only to be the best baseball player he can be, but the best little man he can be. We are with a team out in New Braunfels that just formed. I'm so excited to watch Jakob grow and develop with this great group of kiddos and coaches, he is already an oustanding baseball player, but to be with an organization that has an MLB coaching staff and solid values, we just know he's going to achieve great things. While it's year-round baseball, which can be super intense, I am not complaining..I love every second of it. GO BOWIE BULLS!!

Bowie Bulls 9u team - 2011

Catching Up..

2011-05-29T22:51:00.003-04:00

Lots still going on in this crazy house. Kids are getting so big, they are keeping us absolutely 150% busy every day and weekend. I wouldn't change it for anything, we are so incredibly blessed and are having the time of our lives. Life is just awesome, and it gets better each and every day, despite the craziness! Summer is almost here and we're gearing up for another fun-filled one!

These are just a few of the pictures that I've snapped with my handy iPhone over the last few months. It seems that lately I take more pictures with that than my regular camera just for convenience alone!

Ella's 7th Birthday dinner with family and cupcakes at school..her birthday party was at the Magik Theater to see Pinkalicious..photos to come!

Easter 2011 at Mom and Dad's house!

Rangers vs Yankees - April 2011 in Arlington!

Big Snow 2011

2011-02-19T09:25:00.003-05:00

On February 4 2011, Schertz got SNOW!!! The entire city got snow, but we seemed to have gotten more than they did in San Antonio. It was a very exciting day. The kids didn't go to school, we didn't go to work..the entire city was shut down until around noon. It wasn't as exciting for my kids as it was for others since they've seen snow so many times, but they were excited to play and have the day off. We were up pretty early and were able to go outside and play early in the morning, then we spent the rest of the day cuddling on the couch and watching movies.

It didn't last very long, as a matter of fact it melted pretty quickly and by around noon you couldn't tell that it had ever snowed.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T21:59:00.006-05:00

Rob and the kids made me a special Valentine's day dinner tonight and it was awesome. They go all out with the imagination stuff and they get really into their characters. It's difficult to explain the enthusiasm they get over pretending to play 'restaurant', but Jakob was so cute in his tie over his polo shirt, Ella in her apron and their handmade name tags. They even made notices to put on her bedroom door for 'Enployies" only and their cute "Ella and Jakob's Steakhouse" sign. They had the jazz music going, they took my order and served dinner and drinks. The best part was Ella bringing me my cupcake for dessert and dropping it right on my new dress (that is especially funny because Ella is SO clumsy and we knew somewhere at some point something was going to go wrong!)

After dinner we moved to the dancing portion of the evening with some slow dancing and then we got a little crazy with a little dance that Ella does at cheer. It looks very much like the African Anteater Ritual from Can't Buy Me Love!

My kids are the sweetest things on earth, and they have such great imaginations. This was definitely the best Valentine's Day ever! I love my family!!!!!

Enchanted Rock {Fredericksburg}

2011-02-08T21:11:00.002-05:00

Another old post alert! In October 2010 we went to Fredericksburg, which is not unusual, though this time we climbed Enchanted Rock and were able to make it to the very top..finally!!! We worried that the kids might not make it, but they kept going (Ella had a really difficult time the last little bit, but she kept truckin'!) We made a few stops along the way and even had a picnic in a cave. It was a significant trip for the Wisely family, we're excited to go back and do it again!

RBI Rattlers!

2011-02-06T12:16:00.004-05:00

Jakob started select baseball last fall with a local team called the RBI Rattlers. We had decided he was ready for select, and we were finally ready for the time and money committment. There comes a time in every little boy's life where you need to start learning from coaches that aren't your DAD! I think the whole concept of that was more difficult for Rob, rather than Jakob, but they are adjusting. Rob is actually going to have to sit in the stands with me now; though that hasn't happened yet since all Fall he stood up and paced... he just can't help himself. He will probably never be able to 'sit' and watch like a normal parent! Jakob's team competed with older kids since most competitors did not have a 9U team (9 and under), so they got their first experience playing older kids. They did not have a good record, understandably, but they were always close, showing how great our boys really are. Jakob is a born natural when it comes to baseball and I love nothing more than watching him pitch! Spring season has just started so I'll have more pictures from this season up soon; I'll have plenty of opportunities being that all games are weekend long tournaments!!! Between this and cheer I've accepted the fact that my weekends no longer exist; I'll have to find 'me' time sometime during the week..probably at 11pm at night! :)

Stars VIPERS {Pythons}

2011-02-02T09:00:00.002-05:00

Ella is on a new team this year, she moved up to Youth Level 1 and her team is called Precious Pythons (last year she was a Button Babe). Her team is a relatively new group of girls, most had never cheered together before so we weren't so sure what to expect at the beginning of the season, but let me tell you, this team of little girls ROCKS!!!! They are sooooo good! The youth division is 11 years and younger, so Ella is very young to be on this team, but she is so good and can stand her ground. Unfortunately because she is so tiny she is a "flyer", which means she goes in the air. I don't particularly like it, but she's tiny, there's no getting around it..and she's got tremendous balance and flexibility so that helps. Her team has competed 4 times and they have won 1st place every single time, they are that good. I love that she works so hard and it pays off. The gym is tough and the coaches are hard core, but they care so much about our girls and really want to make sure they always work to their fullest potential, which is a great life lesson. I'm so excited for the rest of the season! I'm so incredibly proud of my baby girl! Go PYTHONS!!!

Freezing at their last competition...then out like a light when it was over!!!!

Baseball Games (another old post)

2011-02-01T20:21:00.005-05:00

So with my boys' love of baseball it is safe to say that we spend A LOT of time at baseball games, at every level, college, pro, minor league..you name it! Lisa was lucky enough to get us tickets to the Rangers World Series playoff game, actually the series before the WS, but still a great game. Tickets were going for upwards of $500 each so we were very lucky!! We had the best seats for an exciting game and I'm so glad we could share that with her!!! Jakob will never forget it, Rob either!

Last year, and just last weekend, we were able to take Jakob to UT to a few events where he was able to meet the players. This one last weekend was a fan appreciation day, so we got to all go on the field and throw the ball around, run the outfield, meet the players and watch an alumni vs current player game. Jakob said it was "The best day of his life!!!"...nothing can make you feel better as a parent than watching your child with that much happiness and joy. Even Ella had a good time because she was flirting with the players the whole time, and could't wait to get autographs!

October 10 UT baseball game...

January 2011 UT Baseball Fan Appreciation Day!!!

Catching Up

2011-02-01T20:15:00.003-05:00

So I just realized I totally skipped the entire month of October last year in my blog, and there are some important events that I want to always remember, so I'm going to dedicate of a few of these posts to those trips, even though they are way out of date. For this first one I will focus on our favorite holiday, Halloween!!! Halloween 2010 was full of activities. We had our annual pumpkin patch trip, Halloween festival at OLPH, a few halloween parties to go to, and we then had a party on the actual day here at the house with our great friends. We also took the kids to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse to celebrate our anniversary. This was the first time they'd ever eaten at such a fancy restaurant and they were really excited to be treated like royalty!! Of course, the royal bill was OUTRAGEOUSLY EXPENSIVE...so we will only be doing that on special occassions in the future. I mean, $30 for each kid's plate, really?!!

Here are some pics from the frightful festivities!

Ruth's Chris Dinner for our wedding anniversary!!!

MLK Vacation Day!

2011-01-24T23:59:00.002-05:00

We took the kids bowling on MLK and it is one of our favorite things to do. The kids have actually gotten really good and even though we use bumpers for them they rarely ever have to use them. I want to capture these fun days of us just hanging out together as a family and enjoying a little competition. Of course are are all HIGHLY competitive so there is a lot of trash talk going on, but it's all in fun..unless Ella gets low score and then everyone has to deal with the emotional breakdown! And if Rob doesn't win the excuse store is open for business as Jakob likes to say!!! :)

Jakob and the BEE

2011-01-14T16:26:00.003-05:00

Jakob participated in his first spelling bee this week and he was in the final 4 group. We are SO proud of him. I personally feel his word wasn't fair as it isn't actually a word we use anymore (kerchief), but it is what it is! :)

He was very, very nervous and didn't study his word list at all or he probably would have done a lot better, but we were more than happy with how long he lasted and it was a great and confidence building experience for him!!! Way to go, Jakob!!

He looked like a total rockstar the way he held the microphone, it was so cute!

Jakob and Principal Miller

Random picture

2011-01-11T20:04:00.000-05:00

I found this picture in my camera and it is from the day last week when we went to the zoo. I love it because they are so cute with their animals. Again, I will cherish these moments, they are growing up way too fast and when I start to get sad about it, I realize that in so many ways they still are VERY young and VERY innocent and sweet and they are still my babies!

Bieber Fever

2011-01-10T08:35:00.002-05:00

Well, Justin Bieber has been around for quite some time but Ella never really was into him the way some little girls are. I hate to say she's into more 'sophisticated' rock music (she is) but she never really had an ear for pop music until recently and it's something that she can't get enough of. She still loves alternative rock like her momma, but she's actually getting me into some of the more 'pop-y' music out there, Jakob too, they are so cool and love a variety of music, but I didn't see this coming. She's become sort of fascinated with the Bieber kid. He actually is the cutest thing I've ever seen and he's really talented, so I don't like when people make fun of him. We all wish our kids could be like him, despite what everyone says.

We were at Walmart today and came across his CD which of course we had to buy and then we see a rack of tshirts so I told her she could get one. Rob sees that there are actually different styles so he starts pulling out all the ones they have so she can make sure she gets the one she likes. It was hilarious to watch him stand there with 15 shirts in his hands, and she just couldn't decide. He's such a great Dad..we were missing football and while he started getting frustrated, he waited till his little princess made up her mind, and I'm actually shocked she didn't ask for ALL the shirts. I just love these moments of watching Daddy with his girl!

This was a crazy weekend, as they all are. Jakob had baseball tryouts for the select team he played with in the Fall. He made the team and is going to be SO good this year it gives me chills, he has definitely found his calling. Of course select baseball is VERY time consuming and VERY competitive, but I'm looking forward to it, though we'll be traveling pretty much every weekend for tournaments so the expense won't be that fun and trying to juggle that and cheer is going to be super tough. I'm so proud of him. He works so hard to be good at his sport, he is so dedicated, he's got such a great work ethic at such a young age, I hope he always keeps it. I will be taking LOTS of pictures of him this season, so more to come on that!

Family Movie Nights

2011-01-09T19:48:00.003-05:00

One of the things I cherish more than anything are family movie nights. We have them every weekend, and it seems that every single weekend the kids sleep in our room on an air mattress for sleepovers. They LOVE sleepovers with us. We used to just have them in our bed, but the older they are getting the more difficult that is. I sometimes wonder why we waste money on bedrooms, we should have a one bedroom house and the kids would love it. They end up coming and getting in our bed all the time, usually in the middle of the night. Rob thinks Jakob is getting too old for that, but I'm secretly hoping he does it for a few more years. Anyway, we usually watch a kid friendly movie, but because we're rebels and have a more relaxed view of parenting when it comes to movies and music (hello, my son has seen the Hangover and quotes it as one of his favorite movies and they have been in more than one mosh pit to date) we watched The Good Guys..which is of course another Will Ferrell movie and it was hilarious!

Of course all was good until the morning when Jakob got in our bed and smelled like dog poo and we realized that Wolfie had it on his butt and was lying on Jakob all night..GROSS!

Another boring day

2011-01-06T21:45:00.002-05:00

So this 'write something about everyday' is getting really old, really quick. We actually did have an exciting night yesterday as Jakob's basketball game, but I didn't have a chance to blog about it. This is his 3rd year playing and while it's not his best sport, he's still pretty darn good, but I don't have high hopes that he will ever play for the NBA. Maybe I'm wrong. He hit a good 3 point shot and played great defense, and his team, Magic, won 22 - 10. I always forget to take my camera to the games, I will get a shot at some point before the season is over.

I took some snapshots of Ella singing again, it's all she ever wants to do, sing and play dress up.

We went out to a new Mexican restaurant tonight in Cibolo, La Cabana, and it was really good. At the end of the meal I looked at Jakob and just couldn't believe that his hair actually looked as bad as it did. I can't believe we let him out of the house like this, but he doesn't want to cut it so we don't really care that people stare at us like crazy people for allowing it. Oh well, it's his life!

Books, Books, Books

2011-01-04T20:17:00.002-05:00

One of the things that we ALL are going to focus on in 2011 is reading more. I actually love reading, I have sooo many books all over the house. Unfortunately I can never find the time to read and when I lie down for the evening and get my book out I'm usually asleep within the first 20 minutes. Ella is going through a thing lately where she's reading all the time, I walk in her room and find her reading and I get chills..I just love it. And she's reading far above her reading level, so I'm even more proud of that. Jakob and Rob we're working on. Jakob has to read so he does, but Rob has made a resolution to read more and he's got 3 books waiting to be read so hopefully he'll do it!!

Ella loves to read to all her animals!

Jakob is currently reading my ALL TIME FAVORITE kid's book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by the fabulous Judy Blume. I am so excited that he's reading this and he likes it as much as I did when I was his age. Amazing that the book is still relevant to today! :)

Lazy Sundays

2011-01-03T22:34:00.001-05:00

One of the things I love so much about Sundays are typically our ritual of going to church, grabbing brunch, going to HEB and then heading home to be lazy the rest of the day. We truly enjoy our Sundays together, although today was bittersweet because it's the last day of the Christmas break for the kids and after two weeks home they are returning to school tomorrow. And I am returning to work. Womp Womp!! But I refuse to let my sadness get me down, I'm really lucky to have been off this past two weeks with the kids and I'm ready to see my coworkers and do some cool things at work. Today we just went to IHOP after church and sat around watching football and playing cards. We need more days like this!!

Here are more pictures for my 'photo a day' collection! Ella was really into taking pictures today at IHOP, she wants to be just like Mommy! She's pretty darn good!

Ella Bella

2011-01-02T18:02:00.003-05:00

Ella got a trampoline for Christmas this year. We had one years ago and no one ever wanted to play on it, but they both really wanted one again so we got it and they have been playing on it daily. I wanted to capture some cute Ella pictures on it, it's really sad to me that she's growing up so fast. I cannot believe next year she will be in 2nd grade (Jakob will be in 5th and out of elementary school...which I can't even begin to think about!)

She is so cute on that thing so I took some pictures of her to start the new year with my photo project, which is that I'm hoping to take a photo a day (if not more) so that I can have an entire photobook filled with each day of the year! I really hope I can stick to this, how special to be able to capture even the most mundane aspects of our lives every day for an entire year and then share it with kids when they're older?

Happy New Year {2011}

2011-01-01T22:13:00.002-05:00

Wow! A new year already, I cannot believe how quickly it seemed 2010 went by. It was full of incredible memories for us, we are so blessed in so many ways. At the end of the year I went back to work for UIW full time, though it was only as a favor since I wasn't really wanting to work again..but luckily it's a dream job and I have the flexibility to still make family my number one priority. I don't think I will do it forever, I want to get back to my work from home only job at some point, but for now it's a very fun job and I love it. Unfortunately I don't have all the time in the world for everything like I used to when I was staying home, so I've got to learn how to simplify my life somehow for the next year or so that I continue to work. I am getting better at 'remembering' what it was like to work outside of the home, but it's a work in progress.

We kicked off this year with a trip to the zoo and a picnic at Brackenridge park. The kids absolutely loved it and it was a nice, relaxing way to ring in the New Year. After we ate we just played football and had so much fun. We have a lot planned this year, as we always do, we're busy people..what can I say! I just know this year will be even better than the last because that's just how we roll! I hope to capture as much of it on film as possible!!! I have come to the realization that I don't always have to take 'good' pictures with my huge camera, the new iPhone has the ability to capture some pretty cool shots of everyday life so that's what I'm going to try to use more often!

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-01T22:02:00.002-05:00

I feel so bad that I never got back to blogging like I had hoped. So much happened this year (all good stuff!) and I got away from the things that I loved the most..writing and photographing my kids. I am going to really try to get back on board for the new year!

Christmas was great, same as usual with our 3 Christmas mornings and the kids getting way too many gifts, even though everyone vowed not to go overboard. I don't know why we bother saying this every year...it NEVER happens. The kids got a lot of great things this year and so did the adults. We were very blessed to spend another Christmas all together with everyone healthy and home all in one place!

Christmas Eve...

Christmas Morning...

Just a few...

2011-01-01T20:29:00.001-05:00

A few family pictures we took at Christmas time!

Thanksgiving 2010

2011-01-01T19:37:00.003-05:00

This Thanksgiving was very special for us since we had two American soldiers come and spend the day with us. We fell in love with our new family members Private Christian and Private Daniel. They had so much fun over here and the kids loved spending time with them. It was very sad when we had to return them to the base, but we've stayed in touch and hope to spend time with them before they are stationed somewhere else.

As usual, we had a great time here at the house with the whole family!

More to follow....

2010-11-28T14:11:00.002-05:00

I will be posting more pictures and catching up with my blog soon, MOM! This one's for you!!!

Back to School {August 2010}

2010-08-30T09:39:00.002-04:00

Well, as all great things do...Summer had to come to an end. We actually had a great Summer this year and I was sad to see it go. Granted the kids were driving each other and me nuts, but for the most part we really loved each other's company and had lots of fun. But the kids were ready to get back to a routine and I need my routine back! Jakob is entering 4th grade, which is really sad because it is the last year of elementary in our school district. He will go to an intermediate school, then junior high. Ella is going into 1st grade, and again sad because I'll never have another "kindergarten" moment..my babies are growing up. It's a beautiful and stressful process to watch, but I wouldn't change it for anything.

Here they are, Jakob with his new short haircut and Ella with her glam rock look that she's been cultivating all summer.

We love their new teachers and are so excited to get the school year kicked off!!! Good luck little Wiselys!!!

Summer Fun in Dallas {Grand Prairie}

2010-08-23T13:58:00.003-04:00

Lisa invited us to go up to Dallas before Summer was over so we could go out on one of the great lakes in the area. She was also kind enough to get us tickets to the Rangers game! She rented a boat and we along with Michelle and the twins went out for a ride. The kids absolutely loved it, they have been out on boats before but not with their cousins so that was really cool. Rob was a pro at driving the boat and there we no major injuries, though Michelle and I got knocked in the head and face several times by a floatie thing hanging off the side of the boat.

It was so fun and just reminds us of the fact that we need to buy a boat. I'm positive that come next Summer we or my Dad will own a boat, mark my words!

The Rangers game was at 2pm with about a heat index of 105. It was MISERABLE. I literally have never been so hot in my life, our seats are very close to homeplate and completely exposed in the sun, we were soaking wet...but what are you gonna do? Jakob didn't care, he loved it. Next time I think I'll stay at home!!!

Lollapalooza or BUST! {Chicago 2010}

2010-08-22T17:03:00.002-04:00

Rob and I were trying to figure out what big trip to do this Summer and we heard about the lineup for the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago. It was going to have Soundgarden, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Social Distortion, MGMT and a million other really great bands. The kids had been dying to see MGMT (their favorite at the moment!) and so we looked into possibly taking them. Well tickets were over $200 so we knew there was no way we could justify that price. We looked into it and found that kids actually got in free with adult admission. So let's just say it was a no brainer that our trip would be to Chicago, our favorite city, to expose the kids to one of the best music festivals on the planet. Yes the thought crossed our minds that we were insane for taking kids to a 3 day festival with over 100,000 people attending. When we found out about Kidzapalooza, which was set up just for kids we knew there was no way we COULDN'T take them.

We are SO glad we did. This has to be the best vacation we've ever taken..or really close to it (the Notre Dame trip was pretty phenomenal!) We stayed in a great hotel directly across the street from the music, we ate lots of awesome Chicago food and the kids just had so much fun. No words can describe how special it was to experience this with them..we love music so much and now they have same appreciation for live music! They rocked out hard core for 3 days, until the wee hours of the night and they never complained. They were very into Lady Gaga and of course MGMT. They got cool hairstyles and pretty much felt like rockstars. Everyone was coming up to Jakob and asking to take his picture because he had the tallest mohawk I'd ever seen..so much hair! I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up on YouTube..everyone really was going crazy over it and the kids looked so darn cute!

The weather was perfect in Chicago, the bands were awesome and there is just really nothing bad I can say about the experience. We are planning on doing it again next year as well! The worst thing about the trip was having to come home to 100+ TX heat...not so fun, we once again want to move to Chicago, as we do everytime we visit. Here is our Wisely rockin vacation in pictures...

Sleepovers and playdates!

2010-08-04T19:31:00.002-04:00

The kids have had lots of playdates/sleepovers this Summer and I wish I had videotaped most of them, especially the girls. When they get together they always want to dress up and sing, or pretend to be Moms or teachers. It's pretty funny to listen to the way they speak to their "babies" and their mannerisms. It shows they pay A LOT of attention to us real Moms and the things we say and do. It's pretty eye opening, in mostly a good way, but sometimes it is like looking into a mirror that I don't like the reflection of! But hey I'm not perfect...never pretended to be! :)

Here are just a few pics.

Ella and Alexis, hard core rock chicks. Love Alexis' face in the second..I'd make that face if I was listening to Ella scream too!!! :)

Ella and Kayla getting ready to take a walk with their babies.

Jakob Turns 9!!!!!

2010-08-02T14:42:00.003-04:00

Wow, Jakob turned 9 in July and all I can say is....well...wow! I cannot believe I have a 9 year old. This was all made worse when Rob said "in a year he will be halfway to 20!"..way to make a Mom cry there, Dad! My baby will always be my baby, period. It helps that he's still so sweet and innocent. Don't get me wrong, he also drives me INSANE with the whining and constant superiority complex he has, but normally he's my sweet, affectionate boy. Just the other day at church I was getting aggravated because he was constantly snuggling against me, kissing my arm, my cheek..just literally all over me. And of course Ella was doing the same thing on the other side. This is how my kids are with us ALL THE TIME! It sounds cute but when it is non-stop when you're trying to sit and listen in mass it can get overwhelming. But I felt myself getting aggravated and then told myself "hold onto this as long as you can because there will be a day when he won't want anything to do with you!!!"...and I let him continue to squeeze and kiss my arm.

We celebrated his birthday by taking about 8 boys to the Missions baseball game and then bringing them back over for a sleepover. Before we left we gave him is XBOX and he really thinks he's a big guy now! The kids had the best time at the game, and they even got to run the bases on the field. It was a perfect night...except for when a foul ball came our way and popped little Ella right in the arm. Things like this ALWAYS happen to poor Ella! 8 boys sitting there with gloves on and not a one of them was paying attention, they were too busy scarfing down nachos, soda and hotdogs...and missed the ball. She was fine after she got a snowcone, she's a tough cookie!

This picture is so perfect and makes me want to cry..it is so representative of Rob and Jakob's relationship..they are so loving together and love nothing better than sitting together watching sports. It's soooo sweet. I love my boys!

Go Precious Pythons!

2010-07-29T17:37:00.002-04:00

Ella is still with Stars Vipers and she made a level 1 team this year. Her new team (last year she was a Button Babe) is called Precious Pythons. She's one of the smallest on the team, again, which means she's considered a "flyer" since she'll be going up in the air. I'm tired of being scared about this, there's nothing I can do except pray that she doesn't get injured. At this age they can't really throw her up incredibly high so I guess that makes me feel slightly better. What can I say..she loves it, she's great at it..so all I can do is try to force her to eat so she can gain weight and be one of hte girls that doesn't go up top, but that's a long shot! She just recently finished camp and I'm so proud of her and the team. She did great and I can't wait for all the competitions. They are ALL DAY LONG affairs, but it's really fun to watch!!

Her camp clothes!

Her stunts!

Precious Pythons 2010-2011

The Coaches!

This is hilarious...Jakob had just gotten back from baseball camp, he was exhausted and tired, but of course she's always trying to get everyone to help her practice so he got suckered into it and he thought it would be easy...well as you can see from the look on his face it was anything but! What a good older brother!!! :)

4th of July 2010

2010-07-29T17:32:00.002-04:00

This year we spent the fourth with a lowkey get together at Mom and Dad's..bbq, swimming, the usual. Later that day we took the kids to watch the fireworks from a friend's warehouse parking lot with a lot of people and it was super cool! The kids had a great time, the company was great and surprisingly Schertz put on a phenomenal fireworks show. I don't know why I'm so surprised...I guess I'm not used to anything that great coming from a small little place. Don't get me wrong, I love it here, it's just not the kind of place that you'd expect a gigantic show from :)

Took some family pics and here they are!

Last Day of School

2010-07-25T18:39:00.003-04:00

Ella's first year of Kinder came to a close this year, as the kids celebrated the last day of school for the 09-10 year. I am so proud of both my kids. They had the best teachers, they know everyone at the school and everyone just adores them both!! Jakob earned every award you could earn at school, including perfect attendance for the second year...and for the second year in a row I was shocked because I had no idea he didn't miss any school. We were scared at the beginning of the year because 3rd grade was tough and moved fast, but he did fantastic. He passed his TAKS test which we were so excited about. He cried when he found out he passed because he really was scared as Math is so difficult for him. I can't believe how hard that little guy works to get good grades. Most kids wouldn't care about earning high grades, and he was working day and night to make sure he understood everything and wanted to always make us proud..which of course he did! Ella was a superstar, as I knew she would be. She's already reading way above her level, actually past 2nd grade level so we're really, really proud of her as well. She had to learn that she was not the teacher and she wasn't the one in charge, but she really became teacher's helper through her never ending persistence!!! I can't say enough about her academically, she just rocks!!!! She had a fantastic year and can't wait for 1st grade!

Welcome Wolfie!

2010-07-24T02:53:00.000-04:00

The Wiselys added another addition to the household. A dog we were supposed to simply "Foster" turned out to be a permanent resident. We were lucky enough to stumble upon an unwanted cocker spaniel puppy we named Wolfie. Actually his name was Huey, but no one could say it right and we always called him Chuy so we decided to change it. For the first few weeks we got him all he did was sleep. He is sooo sweet, but man puppies are a lot of work, he has chewed up just about everything in the house, including the edge of our sofa...gotta love it.

Happy Father's Day {2010}

2010-07-23T02:58:00.003-04:00

This Father's day was very special. My entire family went to Dallas to surprise Rob and my Dad with a BBQ at the Dallas Cowboy's Stadium. It was so much fun. We all went to Dallas and stayed at Lisa's house, which was cramped but I have to admit so nice for everyone to be under the same roof for a few days, we haven't been together like that in a long time. Rob and my Dad were so thrilled when they found out what it was and everyone had a blast. They were like kids on the field, so thrilled to be walking down there, pretending to be playing, it really was fun. There were former players there, cheerleaders, games. And Ella even suckered grandpa into getting her a real cheerleader's outfit! I think everyone will remember this one for a long time. Especially all the times my father fell down while trying to attempt to show off his football moves!!! :)

Ella's 6th birthday

2010-07-23T02:41:00.002-04:00

So I'm only a few months behind....but I felt the need to get back to blogging, once again. I am having deja vu..I swear I just said that I was going to get back on the bandwagon, but I fell off...only to now promise to get back on...round 2.

Ella turned 6 this year and it gets more and more sad with each day that they grow up. I can't believe how quickly life moves. I don't even remember why but for some reason I really procrastinated on a party for her. I tried to get away with no party, just a small family get together and she wasn't having it. So at the last minute I planned a party in the park and amazingly found a face painter who was willing to book with less than 2 days notice, add water balloons and sack races and you've got yourself a party! It worked out well, Ella had a great time and so did everyone else!

Race for the Cure

2010-05-12T11:09:00.002-04:00

Rob and I participated in our first Race for the Cure. It was a phenomenal day and time. We were part of the Rack Pack and walked with about 12 friends...it was truly overwhelming to witness the support and community spirit at this event. I had tears in my eyes all morning. I loved being a part of it and hopefully Jakob will walk with us next year. I didn't have my camera, but a few friends got some pictures. This one is me and my great friend Melissa. I can't wait to do it again next year!!!!

UT Baseball game

2010-05-12T11:01:00.003-04:00

Baseball fever is still in full force in the Wisely house. Once it starts it is on TV 24/7 (not kidding, Jakob wakes up to go to school and immediately turns on Sportscenter to see what he missed) and I honestly have to say I don't mind. I know more about the sport than I ever thought I would. We went to a UT v Baylor baseball game a few weeks back with our good friends the Durochers and we had a blast. We headed to Austin to eat at Saltlick, which is a fantastic BBQ place. Then we headed to the game. We got there a little late, picked up our tickets at will call and as we proceeded to go in the guy says "these tickets are for tomorrow's game. Ok, at this point I'd been up since 5am because we did the Race for the Cure that morning...then headed to Jakob's baseball game, then the drive to Austin...I was TIRED and the last thing I wanted to hear was that we drove all the way up there for nothing. Well Rob got it straightened out and we actually ended up with better seats than we originally had so it was all good.

And just when I thought the day couldn't be any longer the game went 14 innings..it wasn't over until after midnight, making it official that it was the longest day of my life! Despite that it really was a ton of fun and we can't wait to go back to another one!

Keeping up the Momentum

2010-04-29T14:56:00.003-04:00

Well, I decided to post even though I didn't have any pictures (yes, for those of you who only come out here to look at the pictures you can go ahead and stop now!) because I'm trying to stay in the swing of this. I really do love blogging, and the writing aspect has always been good for me, but lately I'm just finding life moving way too fast and I can't keep up. I don't even remember what happened yesterday. Well I do remember one thing, we won our baseball game thank GOODNESS because I was about ready to give up on baseball. Jakob played horribly, he struck out all 3 times up to bat, which is unheard of, he's never done that. EVER. It was not good times for awhile, but he made some phenomenal plays in the field so that made up for it I guess.

I think our expectations of him are too high when it comes to sports...I wish I could say the same for school. He took TAKS this week. TAKS is the devil. A stupid series of tests that tests what I'm not sure...all it is really successful at doing is giving the kids anxiety and the teachers depression...it's horrible the pressure that is put on these kids to do well and the lengths the schools go to in an effor to avoid "cheating"..really?

I told Jakob to do his best, but I refused to let him worry about it. He struggles in math and reading at this level because it goes sooo fast and he's a "take my time" kind of kid. He and his Dad should live on an island somewhere where they don't wear watches....I can't stand to move as slow as those two. Anyway, he struggles but he's passing so we don't worry. He told me he thinks he did well, and honestly I hope he did, but I'm not expecting 100s on any test.

Anyway...what else is going on??? Well, Ella has cheer tryouts next week to hopefully move up a level in cheer to more competitive cheerleading. Scary and expensive...that about sums up my feelings on that one. Actually I'm really excited, she really loves it and is good at it so we have to suck it up and realize that we will be giving up about every Sunday for all day competitions and spend more than I've ever spent on myself in my life. I still don't understand why it is so expensive. She is also about to lose her first tooth...and I'm very sad about it...that's all I have to say about that.

Oh, Rob and I are doing well too...I go to the gym everyday just about, have lost I don't know how much but I do know none of my old clothes fit me. Woo hoo! We're going to start trying to eat better and healthier, but I make no promises...and that's all I have to say about that.

I'll have more pictures soon!

2010 Baseball Season - GO ORIOLES!

2010-04-21T21:59:00.003-04:00

Well the baseball season is underway and I will say that we're off to a rocky start, we've had our ups and downs and at one point we feared we wouldn't win any games..but we've had a few good wins and I know our boys will continue to get better. There are a lot of young players not really sure about how to play the game but they are learning. The parents are great and we have a lot of fun at the games and so are the boys so it's all good! I absolutely love baseball, I love the food, the fans, and watching my boy do great things out there as shortstop. I also enjoy hanging out with my parents and Rob's parents, it's just fun at the ball field, even if I do get mad at my Dad for constantly buying Ella whatever she wants from the concession stand. She always leaves there with way too much junk food in her belly!

I also love watching coach Rob get frustrated and not be able to speak (because he can't speak from the pitcher's mound when he pitches.) It's pretty darn funny to watch him, he's a great coach though, the kids really like him and he really is teaching them a lot. And he hasn't hit one kid yet with the ball this season so we're on a roll!

Here are just a few pics I managed to capture one day but I hope to do a better job at another game. I'm seriously just too into the game and worried all the time to actually take pictures. I don't know how I will handle the pressure when he's in high school...at age 8 I'm having anxiety attacks! Doesn't help that we are such a competitive family.

In these shots Jakob was about to swing at a way too high ball, but caught himself and got back, perfect form..keep your eye on the ball!

All business!! Perfect throw to first base!

Easter 2010

2010-04-17T11:19:00.004-04:00

I'm sad to say that this Easter marked another notch in my kids' "growing up" belt. Jakob decided he didn't want to have a basket and hunt for eggs. He's only 8! I think I hunted eggs well into my tween years?! I didn't give him a hard time about it, I still have Ella, but who knows how long that will last. I was a little bummed, but hey I can't stop time no matter how much I try.

Anyway, it had been an ugly, wet weekend and I wasn't sure if we were even going to be able to do it, but we went to my parent's house and hid the eggs in the yard and Ella had a great time, the boys (Jakob and his cousins) who were "too big" to hunt still followed her around everywhere to help, so something tells me they still wanted to do it too, they aren't that grown up. They of course had more fun with the cascarones, even Dad joined in on the fun.

We didn't do too much, just spent time with the family as usual and had a very relaxed, laid back weekend...my favorite kind! Of course had to take time for some pictures!

We do a horrible job of taking pictures of the grandparents with the kids, probably because we're together all the time we never stop to think about it, so hopefully this year we will all get together for a big family picture but for now here are some of the parents with the grandkids. We were so close to having ALL the kids in the picture, but Ryan snubbed us to go hang out at his girlfriend's house..darn teenagers!! If my Photoshop skills were sharper I'd just add him in there..oh well!

Finally on the way home we stopped at a bluebonnet patch for some quick pictures. I still plan on taking more official ones, but this was a great opportunity. Unfortunately Ella had to go to the bathroom really bad (as you can kind of tell on her face) so we were super rushed just to get a few! Jakob thought he was hidden and we couldn't see him...while he's growing up he is still so young and I love that about him!

Spring is Here!

2010-04-08T17:27:00.004-04:00

And what does that mean.....BASEBALL!!! The Wiselys, we love our baseball. I must admit I was never a fan before until I had Jakob. Since the boy was about 2 years old he has been playing. This marks the 5th year that Rob and Jakob are teaming up for another season together. I love that they can share this together and I love that I have a husband willing to give up his life during the season because coaching takes a lot of work and a ton of patience. I could never do it, let's just say that!

Ella is not playing this year because her cheerleading is pretty time consuming and the two would overlap, and it's a shame because she is sooo good at softball, she plays with Rob here outside and I know she'd be a great player. But she chose cheer so we'll see how long that lasts, I hope at some point she'll get into other sports too.

At any rate, this year Jakob is still in coach pitch and he's doing great, he's the best player on the team and has declared himself the "leader" and wants a captain "C" on his uniform like they do in hockey....we're still working on his ability to be humble.

Here are a few pics from opening day, I will have more during the season. Oh and a few of Ella celebrating the warmer weather.

Spring Break 2010 {Ruidoso, NM}

2010-04-05T17:30:00.002-04:00

This year when we were considering where to go for our annual Spring Break trip many ideas came to mind. Last year it was New York and while the kids loved it, it was a little too expensive to go back so soon. We considered somewhere along the east coast, North Carolina, Virginia beaches...but those options were shaping up to be rather expensive as well when you add in airfare and we really wanted to keep it small this year. So we decided to head back to Ruidoso. We had so much fun a few years ago when we went and it is an easy 9 hour roadtrip. It was all settled that we were going there and we had rented a 6 bedroom cabin this time for our friends to join us. When we realized that we really had more room than we needed for just our two families we decided to invite Michelle and Lisa and the twins. We had just enough room in this cabin and we ended up having one of our best family trips ever.

We absolutely love Ruidoso, it is a quaint small town that is just perfect and the weather is gorgeous. We were lucky enough to get lots of snow this time, so the kids really enjoyed that. They decided they did not want to ski this time, so we spent all of our time sledding, which was soooo much fun! The rest of the time was spent relaxing and shopping. We also took the kids to a great place where they did a mountain maze, rode go carts and played mini golf! It was a great time for all and I'm really looking forward to our next trip because there definitely will be one! We didn't have too many injuries, but Michelle did sprain her wrist sledding, Ella flew out of the sled and scraped her face up and our friend Mark nearly broke a tailbone, but no broken bones so I call that a successful trip!

Ella's First Day of Kindergarten {4 months ago}

2010-03-10T11:35:00.003-05:00

What a loser Mom I am...I was going back through the blog trying to see what big moments I left out and I guess when the kids started school was right about the time (the first time) I stopped blogging. Better late than never here are pictures of my baby's first day of Kindergarten, which she had been looking forward to since she was about 2 years old!

Here are night before school pictures.....

First day with her friends Kate and Alexis..

Jakob's like...whatever...been there, done that...3rd grade here I come!!

She was so excited to be all dolled up and then by the end of the day this is what she came home looking like....she was spent!

I'm proud to announce that to this day she is still loving Kindergarten, she's exceeding all expectations and even reading on 2nd grade level and already doing math. She's definitely going to be my child that excels in school. Jakob on the other hand is doing very well, but he has to work at it a little harder. He is so great though, he works so hard to get good grades and NEVER complains about it, he wants to make me and Rob so happy that he will gladly do whatever it takes. Such a sweetheart!!!

Winter Pictures

2010-03-08T15:50:00.001-05:00

I must say my kids are gorgeous, and I don't care if that sounds conceited because it's not conceited if it's true! My kids are so gorgeous that I love taking pictures of them more than anything else in the world. Unfortunately they don't feel the same way. So imagine their excitement when I told them we needed to take Christmas card pictures...they are so fed up with the camera in their face I can't put it into words...but they obliged and we got a really cute xmas card this year. We originally intended to do a family picture, but neither Rob or I wanted to really mess around with getting dressed so we decided again to do kids only. Something about now being a semi pro photographer means I NEVER want to be in front of the camera myself. I'm so worn down trying to get good pictures of everyone else that I forget that my grandchildren would probably like to know what I looked like way back when.

We took their pictures in La Villita in November. I took many of my friends' pictures there so I knew what I wanted..I love doors and stairs..and just anything bright and fun. So these are just a few of the hundreds of pictures I took this year. I think my xmas card came out pretty cool too! It's so neat to be able to take pictures of them myself. I'm nowhere near the caliber of my friends who have taken their pictures in the past, but I'm ok with where I am right now. I would like to get better and maybe one day when I have the time I will focus on photography more..for now this will have to do!

These are just a few of my favorite shots from the kids...

Thanksgiving 2009

2010-03-08T15:18:00.006-05:00

Yes, it's late, but I want to put up some pictures for my blog book. We celebrated Thanksgiving this year again at our house with everyone. We're very fortunate to have everyone in our immediate family here with us so it's not a huge deal when we all get together, but it's still nice. And it gives me an opportunity to take lots of pictures!!

AACK!!!!

2010-03-03T22:54:00.002-05:00

Whatever...seriously? Surely you jest??? It has been over 3 months since I have blogged? I knew it was awhile but I had no idea. Well that just sucks, at this point it's almost like so much has happened that I don't want to go and try to catch up...maybe I'll just start fresh. I'll probably find some pictures from the last few months and just post them to document what's been going on. Anyway, it's been busy to say the least. I know everyone says that, and everyone is busy...but seriously, I'm freakin BUSY! Life as a work at home Mom is the most difficult life anyone can choose. I mean, I love every minute of it, but my part time small work from home job has turned into a full time job since I'm teaching like 9 classes each term...and on top of that the photography "business" was craziness during the holidays. I took so many family pictures and had a blast doing it but that's a lot of time and work. Oh and to add to that even more I started selling Scentsy which has kept me busier than I could ever imagine! So I was totally overdoing it before all that but now I'm seriously Super human it seems...I still love every second of my life and the constant craziness is right up my alley.

Kids are phenomenal, Rob is awesome, life is just great. That's all I can say...busy but great. Nothing more to report at the moment, I just had a thought that I had better get back to blogging soon and so I have. Let's see how long this time lasts.....

here's a family picture from recent times just so everyone knows we're still alive and well (like anyone is still following my blog, yeah right...I would have given up on me too!!!)

The Irish In San Antonio

2009-11-17T13:15:00.004-05:00

Once again I fell off the wagon, but not too bad I guess. I'm going to try to stay on it this time, it's just been such a busy month I can't believe it! I'll give a general status of what's going on with us in another post, this one is dedicated to the Fighting Irish!!!!

We spent our Halloween this year at the Notre Dame v Washington State game at the Alamodome. Luckily ND decided to take a game on the road and they picked San Antonio, which was so cool. We went to the pep rally the Friday before the game and it was sooooo much fun. Jakob, in true Jakob fashion, got a lot of attention and was singled out to play the drums of one of the drummers in the parade and it was so cute. He and Rob were so cute, they had a lot of fun singing the fight song and cheering for the team.

The next day we spent our Halloween (and 11th wedding anniversary by the way) at the game. Ella didn't want to go, she wanted to go trick or treating so she stayed with my sisters while we went to the game with my Dad. It was very memorable and we had incredible seats! The best part was when Rob and our friend Tim would do pushups with Jakob after each score..it's a tradition that they do at the games and Jakob loved it!

Halloween Party - 2009

2009-10-27T16:30:00.001-05:00

We went to a friends' Halloween party last week and it was a lot of fun. We actually all dressed up in costume! I tried to get us to all go as a family but didn't work out. At least Rob and I managed to dress alike. Ella has been wanting to be a rock star, so she about screamed when we found the Hannah Montana costume. Jakob really could have cared less, but he decided he'd be cool with the Shaggy costume. Unfortunately, I had to order it from Party City online and it didn't arrive on time. So he went as Babe Ruth instead. He spent the entire party inside watching the Yankees game! It was a very good time, I love my friends!!! Ella put on quite a performance for about 50 people without missing a beat, she really is my little rock star!

Ella Starts Piano

2009-10-26T16:26:00.002-05:00

This is old news, but Ella started piano this year too. Jakob has been doing it for over a year, and she's finally at a point where she wanted to do it as well, and her tiny little fingers very nearly can play an entire song!

Stars Vipers - Cheerleading

2009-10-15T23:18:00.002-04:00

Ella has started competition cheerleading this year and I'll just say one thing: She ROCKS! It never fails to amaze me how good my kids are at sports...she has really taken to this cheerleading thing. It's a lot of work but she's just really, really into it and it shows in her performances. There is a downside and that is it is stupidly expensive, but we support whatever our kids want to do so I guess we have to put up with it. She's on the show team which isn't "true" competition yet, that will be next year..at this age everyone gets a trophy, but she doesn't know that, she's got her eye on the prize. I can't wait to watch her this year, who knew cheerleading was this exciting??

Charlie Brown

2009-10-13T10:35:00.002-04:00

Last Christmas we got Charlie Brown..we call him Charlie..and he is a maniac dog. Whoever thought getting a terrier (ROB) was a good idea was mistaken. He is a lot of fun, and very affectionate but I'm hoping he grows out of this hyper stage really quick. He is a bouncy dog, constantly "bouncing" around the yard and I caught some pictures of him in the air..he can jump practically up to our faces at this point. But he is our family dog so I wanted to make sure he got his share of blog time...

I'M BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN!

2009-10-13T10:21:00.003-04:00

Wow, what a hiatus. Thanks, Lisa for even reminding me that I had a blog. In true Christy fashion, out of sight out of mind. There was a time there when I just stopped taking pictures and got addicted to another computer technology, Facebook, and forgot about my blog. Also, it was summer and I was never home...we had an incredible summer this year. We were busy everyday, spending days at the pool and lake. But I'm back and going to try to summarize what happened the last few months. I know I will miss a lot but oh well....I'll post a few pictures of our exciting summer in the next few blogs in an effort to catch up. Let's see...Jakob had a birthday party, he turned 8 and we had it again at my parent's house. He had about 20 kids there and it was madness but a lot of fun! We visited Cowboy's training camp and won VIP passes to go down on the field, being able to talk to the players and seeing up close was something that Jakob will never forget!!! That was truly special since my Dad and Jakob got to bond over their love of football and seeing my Dad like a little kid getting all those autographs was pretty cool! Here is my effort to capture some of it...this is July...

South Padre Island - 2009

2009-10-13T10:15:00.000-04:00

We took another trip to SPI with my sisters and nephews this summer. It was a lot of fun, and we stayed in a beautiful condo at the Isla Grande. It was so nice to not have to clean the room, every day it was sand free which was lovely. I (along with Lisa and Jamie) spent most of my days finishing up the Twilight series (OMG BEST BOOKS EVER!!!) while the kids and Rob played. It was soooo relaxing and the weather couldn't be better.

At night the adults had so much fun playing card and drinking games, it was a very, very fun experience and I can't wait till next summer to do it again!

I of course took the opportunity to get some great photos of the kids! :)

Demi Lovato Concert

2009-07-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

Well, Ella finally got to meet her idol, Demi Lovato! Demi is my cousin's step-daughter so when she came to Dallas on tour they hooked us up with backstage passes. It was so great to see everyone again, I hadn't seen her in about 4 years and Ella had never seen her. Rob and Jakob couldn't go, so we headed to Dallas with my parents, sisters and nephews. It was a really great experience for Ella, I'm SO excited for her...she really was having such a good time not only meeting Demi but at the concert too. And she brought back a ton of signed goodies so she's set!

I think the best part of the whole trip for me was watching my Mom cry when David Archuletta (who opened for Demi) came out on stage. She was like a 16 year old and it was sooo sweet. My Dad was pretty cute too, with his earplugs in. I will say that my eardrums were near bleeding. Those little girls at the concert were squealing and screaming so loud it was almost unbearable. I do not look forward to another teeny bopper concert..I told Rob that he has to take her to the next one!!!

We stayed in Dallas at my sister Lisa's really cool place in downtown Dallas and it was overall a really good trip. Although the drive up to Dallas and back with fighting children and arguing parents was way too much for me, but I survived and it was actually nice spending so much time with my family! Oh, we also got to see Madison De La Garza, who is Demi's little sister and plays Eva Longoria's daughter in Desperate Housewives! We're so proud of them and proud to call them family!

4th of July - 2009 Edition

2009-07-19T15:53:00.002-04:00

This year for the 4th we spent the day at our wonderful friends' lakehouse in Seguin. We lounged around, went out on the jetski's and the boat and watched the fireworks at night. It was a great day and the kids always love hanging out with everyone! Of course since I'm posting so late I have no idea whether or not there were any fun memories to share, serves me right for waiting so long! I really didn't take too many pictures because I was lounging around in an innertube most of the day, but I do have a few!

Basketball Camp & VBS

2009-07-02T16:04:00.003-04:00

Well we are in the midst of summer activities and the kids are keeping me pretty busy. They are both in swimming and piano lessons...and Jakob had a basketball camp and Ella did VBS so far. Next week we have baseball camp and art camp. Jakob did great at his camp, the boy is a natural born athlete and so he's good at everything. Ella had her first experience with VBS (Vacation Bible School) and she LOVED it. She got a cd with christian music and songs and she's been dancing and singing for two weeks now. She has turned into a mini-preacher, always telling us Jesus loves us and won't let us down. It's really cute, but she has her Joel Olsteen moments that are a bit over the top! :)

I wanted to post just a few pictures of what they've done so far...and hopefully will post more of our summer fun at some point!!

Ella with VBS leaders Jennifer and Jennifer...some of my workout buddies!

Ella's buddy Kate

Missions and UT Baseball Games

2009-06-15T13:56:00.006-04:00

So the same week we had 3 baseball games for Jakob we also went to a Missions game and then to Austin for a college world series playoff game at UT. It was like baseball fever weekend..an ultimate dream for huge baseball fans like Rob and Jakob. Ella and I not so much. However, we were invited to the Missions games by our Jupe friends and they had a suite so it was great to hang out and drink and eat all night. And then the next day the UT game was actually pretty darn awesome. I had no idea I would enjoy it so much. We're definitely going to make it up to Austin for more games next year because Jakob was out of his mind..he LOVED it so much. You'd think he was a UT baseball fan his whole life, when he only just recently started paying attention to college baseball. Ella of course was fine because she was allowed to shovel popcorn and cotton candy in her mouth the whole time! It was definitely a fun, whirlwind baseball weekend and I'm looking forward to next year.

2009 Baseball Season

2009-06-15T13:16:00.002-04:00

Well, Ella really loved T-ball, but with cheerleading and other things going on she missed quite a few practices and games. I feel bad that I didn't really take pictures of her first season, but I was so pre-occupied with being the team Mom for Jakob's team. Both kids had a great season, I think Ella might actually stick with it if we can figure out a way for her to play softball and be a cheerleader?! Jakob of course will stick with baseball his whole life I think. The kid literally eats, sleeps and breathes baseball. No one believes me when I say he'll watch baseball for hours and hours and he wakes up to Sportscenter to catch up on what he missed when he had to actually sleep...it's weird, he's so obsessed with this sport! He sleeps with his glove and/or bat on his bed at all times. He had an amazing season, he's grown so much as a player.

The Angels baseball team had a slow start, but they ended up winning 10 of their last 12 games..they were in a word, AWESOME! Jakob played shortstop and he'll probably always play that until he gets old enough to pitch, which is what he really wants to do. I didn't get many pictures this season but I did get some at the last game. I literally was doing the scorebook board every game...next year I will NOT volunteer to do this because I miss just being able to watch and relax. Though Rob will actually be head coach next year again so I may get stuck with a lot of the duties by default! Here are some pictures of his game and baseball pool party, which my parent's let us have at their house!! Now for a little break before Fall ball...Jakob has decided he doesn't want to play football this year (bittersweet for me, will LOVE not having that intense practice schedule...but will miss rooting for him at the games) so he'll do baseball in the fall too, then basketball. I've already accepted the fact that it will never end!

Jakob's AWESOME Second Grade Year

2009-06-12T16:48:00.000-04:00

Well, Jakob is officially a 3rd grader. WOW! Words cannot describe what a fantastic year he had. He had the most talented, awesome teacher on the planet who really spent time with him and challenged him and he grew so much because of it. I was worried at the beginning of the year because he was really struggling in math and didn't seem to care about school. He often daydreamed, talked too much and didn't really focus on his work. Well she kept working with him and he made a complete turnaround. He tries SO HARD to get good grades; it doesn't come naturally for him (he's my born athlete..Ella is the brain!) so I'm very, very proud of him this year. These are pictures of him at the awards ceremony...

With Mrs. White

He had such an amazing year and I want to always remember his accomplishments. He won 1st place in the essay writing contest for 2nd grade. He wrote an essay about why he appreciates his teacher. It was so sweet. Then at the end of the year he ended up with A/B honor roll, perfect attendance (which shocked both Rob and I because we had no clue he didn't miss one day of school!!) AND biggest shock of all...he was awarded the Principal's Award; which is an overall award passed out to one kid in each class who really exemplifies what a student should be and makes the school a better place for everyone, a mix of character and academics. We were so overwhelmed with emotion...for Jakob to get something like that we were so incredibly proud, because he truly did try so hard this year and gave it his all and he is the sweetest, most loving kid on the planet...and it was actually recognized and awarded; we couldn't ask for more!

with Principal Miller

Ella has been buddying up to Principal Miller for the last year too..she wants to make sure she's "known" next year when she starts Kinder!

We're so proud of you, Jakob..I know 3rd grade is going to be just as great (even though the TAKS is going to frustrate all of us!)

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

2009-06-10T20:46:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I'm so far behind that I have no recollection of the sequence of events the last month. I know I still need to post about Jakob's last day of school, our baseball stuff and other events I've probably forgotten about.

For now I'll post pictures from our Memorial Day. We went to our friends' lakehouse in Seguin and it was SO much fun. The kids loved the water, jet ski, boat..you name it. And we loved hanging out with everyone, just relaxing and having a good time. Thanks Jupe's for letting us crash your house and making the day very memorable for the kids and for the adults!! I want a boat and a lakehouse now...I can dream can't I???

Ella Turns 5 (Going on 15)

2009-05-25T20:49:00.009-04:00

Ella celebrated her 5th birthday a few weeks ago. Since we're so unoriginal we had it at the same place as her 4th, Artworks, but this time the one over here in Bracken..which is owned by our friends and much nicer! She had a bunch of her friends from school and of course all of our old buddies and wonderful families!

She had a great time; this time she was really more independent than last year so we didn't follow her around the whole time. We did some really cool art, and even had a Jackson Pollock exhibit with splatter paint that the kids loved. Jakob, though, being the neat freak that he is (he is SO Rob's child) was rather disturbed at the paint all over his legs and feet after that one.

She got a ton of things, but her big gift was her playhouse that she practically lives in. I feed her lunch out there, she wants to take naps in it..she loves having her own little "house"; and it's small, but she loves it and has stuffed it full of all her toys, tables, chairs, etc.

Thanks to everyone who was there to celebrate it with us!! Thanks Lisa for taking all the pictures!!

Ella Graduates Pre-K

2009-05-25T19:56:00.002-04:00

Out with the old and in with the new! Ella is officially done with Pre-K and ready for "real school" as she likes to call it. She's really been looking forward to this for a long time....me, not so much!

She had a great graduation program; she was in the front row center and she gave us a good performance. I didn't get ,many good pictures because it was inside the church, but I did get a few.

I can't believe how grown up she is!!! She also turned 5 recently and I'll post her birthday pictures soon. My little baby is all grown up...it's really sad because she's it..we won't have any more, and while we've looked forward to the kids becoming more independent, now that it's happening it's really sad. But all I can do is enjoy these years; there will be new experiences and adventures to look forward to...I'm hoping at least we're growing out of the tantrum years?!?!

I love you Ella Bella..congratulations!!!!!

With her Pre-K teacher, Mrs. Jackie

Jakob's First Holy Communion

2009-05-19T11:48:00.004-04:00

Jakob celebrated his Holy Communion on May 9th. He was all dressed up in a tie and he looked SO handsome. I don't know where the time went, but it's gone and he's become a big boy overnight. This was yet another milestone towards growing up and I took it pretty hard. It was a wonderful ceremony and he was so excited he got to eat the bread; though they didn't do wine because 500 people drinking out of the same cup wasn't a good idea right after the swine flu nightmare. So he's looking forward to when they bring that back so he can taste it. I wish I could capture a picture of his face the first time he does!

Everyone was there and it was a lot of fun. We took him to Outback Steakhouse (of course) afterwards with the whole family and he really enjoyed that.

Congratulations, Jakob. It's a big responsibility and an important step in your life. And it is a good thing because it will FORCE Mommy and Daddy to be better about going to church EVERY Sunday!! :)

{Belated} Easter Weekend II

2009-05-13T13:43:00.009-04:00

We spent Easter the same way we always have, going to my parents and Rob's parents. Though I must say this year the egg hunt was rather quick and uneventful. We didn't even dye eggs this year, the kids weren't really into it and Jakob didn't even want to have a basket. We borrowed one when we got to my parent's house for the egg hunt. I got no pictures of course because it came and went in a flash and It's just not as fun taking pictures of kids running and hitting each other to get the eggs than it was when they were little. At any rate, we managed to take a few much needed, way overdue family pictures, so here they are.

{Belated} Easter Weekend

2009-05-13T13:01:00.002-04:00

Gosh has it really been almost a month? What a SLACKER! I seriously need a time management class....and how ironic, I used to TEACH time management :)

Ok, so I have no idea what happened Easter weekend, since it was so long ago, so I'll just post some pictures. I know the day before Ella went to an easter egg hunt and tea party at Artworks. Our neighbors own the one here in Bracken so we're lucky, because it is awesome and Ella loves it there; she always gets to go with her friends.

Here are some pictures of the kids on that day, in case you all forgot what they look like! I'll post the pictures we took at my parent's house in another post.

{Sorry, Lisa...I'm a bad, bad sister...}

The Wiselys ♥ Morrissey

2009-04-18T22:43:00.014-04:00

I still have to post some Easter pictures, but I haven't processed them yet, I'll get around to it later! But I do have some pics of Easter night when we went to Austin to see Morrissey. It was the first time we took both kids with us to a concert. Jakob has been to a show before, but it was Ella's first time. All I can say is the kids were BLOWN AWAY! Morrissey is incredible in concert first of all, but they honestly do love his music, so they knew most of the songs and were singing and dancing away. It was sooooo much fun. I am now officially known as the "cool" mom and my kids have been pegged "the coolest kids on earth" for their love of fine music. We met up with an old friend up there and I also met up with an old high school friend who also is a big Morrissey fan. We actually weren't supposed to take a camera in, and they were searching all purses and bags so we taught our kids a horrible lesson and put the camera in Jakob's shorts pocket in the hopes that they wouldn't body search a 7 year old. We of course told him not to say anything. Sure enough, we get to the door and the guys asks me if I had a camera and I said "No" and Jakob said "I do!!"...such an honest kid. The guy luckily didn't hear him and we got the camera in. Though I couldn't really take pictures because for 2 hours I was holding Ella and/or Jakob as they stood on the seats and leaned on us.

Anway, it was a night that they will always remember. Unfortunately they had school the next morning so being the prepared Mom I am we took their pj's in the car and after they sang and played air guitar for a few minutes they fell asleep on the drive back home and we just took them from the car and plopped them in their beds when we got home around 11:45. They were OK the next day after we got out of the house...but getting them up was a horrible experience. Let's hope the next concert isn't on a Sunday!!!

Another Baseball Season

2009-04-13T17:49:00.006-04:00

I'm going to try to be better about blogging, but I have a lot of catching up to do. Baseball season is in full swing and Ella decided this year that she wanted to play t-ball too. I wasn't ready for that; Jakob was always the only ball player in the house. She is in cheerleading and t-ball now and with him being at a higher level we are practicing or having games 6 days a week with everything! I cannot imagine how people with more kids do it!! And poor Rob is on overdrive since he's coaching both of them. Yikes!

I have not had a chance to take any pictures because I'm usually running back and forth to watch games, or I'm keeping the score book or board because I'm Team Mom for Jakob's team. Luckily Lisa came in town and snapped some at Ella's game. I'll still have to try to get some of Jakob playing at some point.

NY Pictures Part II

2009-04-06T18:14:00.002-04:00

More pictures. The cupcakes the kids are eating are the WORLD FAMOUS (as made popular by Sex and the City!) Magnolia bakery cupcakes. They truly were amazing..who knew a cupcake could be so good?! The kids sat and ate those cupcakes like they hadn't eaten in weeks, without saying a word! :)

Jakob took this picture!!!

Ella wanted a picture with the fruitstand in the background!

NY Pictures Part I

2009-04-06T17:20:00.005-04:00

I know, I know..I'm incredibly late with these, but I have a good excuse. For the past two weeks I babysat my friend's 3 month old and literally had no time to do anything. It was a nice break from the computer to have a baby to snuggle with...but I was fooling myself when I thought I'd have all kinds of time to do things. I totally forgot how time consuming babies are. While he was a joy and the sweetest, happiest baby I've ever seen...I now know with 100% certainty I do not want another one! :)

Anyway, as stated before..I have no cool, artistic shots of NY. There was too much going on and I was terrified of losing my kids. So here's what I have so far..I'm still processing the rest of them. Most of these are Times Square and Central Park.

Just one of the many New Yorkers that Ella wanted to hug!

One of the million dressed up people on the street!

Ella took this picture!!

They loved nothing more than climbing on the "Shist" (Huge rock formations all over central park)

Eating PIZZA!!

Rockerfeller Center

This was right after we visited the Night at the Museum..they were saying NY is #1!! That was the most awesome museum EVER! None of my indoor pics came out..boo!!

Our Trip to the Big Apple!

2009-03-15T19:51:00.004-04:00

Early Warning: No pictures in this post...sorry. The pics are no good anyway, because I couldn't get my usual "artsy" shots because I was so worried about the kids and just getting around in the cold weather; we shot pics very quickly. Anyway, I'm busy so they're coming!!!

We spent Spring Break this year in NYC. Rob and I have been lots of times and I LOVE it; so when it was time to decide where to go for Spring Break we didn't have to think too long. We didn't want the normal Disney or beach thing, since we'll do a beach trip in the summer. Well, I know these are my kids because they LOVED it. All the people and noise didn't bother them one bit.

We started out with lots and lots of walking all over Times Square and Central Park. We walked hours and hours and Jakob didn't complain once! Luckily we had the stroller for Ella. The weather was cool and overcast, but not too cold. They loved all the crazy people hanging out in Times Square and the Toys R Us Ferris wheel, Hershey store, ESPN zone arcade and playground in Central Park. We spent a lot of time walking around Central Park and the kids didn't want to leave! We had tickets to the NY tour bus, so we were able to jump on that when we wanted a break and the kids loved seeing all the buildings and listening to the hilarious tour guides. It was so cute because Ella would hug every one of them when we got off the bus and they ate it up; so many of them said that she made their day! Our kids are so freakin' sweet to people, they definitely made an impression with almost everyone we came in contact with in NY!

We also visited the Statue of Liberty, Empire State building, and more shopping at FAO Schwarz and American Girl. I'm embarrassed to admit that in all the trips I've made to NY I never saw Lady Liberty...I was always too obsessed with shopping and Broadway. She's a lot bigger than I expected! And going up to the empire state building was neat, but kind of boring. Luckily there weren't any lines; I would have been really pissed because the kids were freezing up there so we didn't stay very long. And of course it was cloudy and I didn't get any good pictures at all. Shopping at those great toy stores was a blast! We spent soooo much money at the American Girl store, because it was Ella's first trip. Of course the doll itself is $110; the clothes and accessories were anywhere from $30-65. Ridiculous and stupid I know, but there was no way I was gonna say no to my princess! Although we did say HELLZ NO to the $40 dollar "hairstyle" they wanted to give the DOLL in the salon! Insanity!!! Jakob luckily only wanted one thing on the entire trip and that was a football so he could play catch with Rob in Central park. Oh..and he wanted lots of NY Yankees stuff; which of course he got!

We saw the filming of Gossip Girl going on and that was really cool; Jakob was intrigued with the actress, she walked right past us after her scene was over and she was going into her trailer. Of course, I have no idea what that show is, but little tweens everywhere can be jealous that I brushed elbows with Chase Crawford. No pics of course because they were yelling at us to put them away because the flashes were ruining the scene!

On our last full day there we walked through Soho, which is an incredible area. We visited the gigantic Scholastic store and bought the kids far too many books..but it's exciting to see all those books you normally only see in book orders! We stayed there for awhile reading with them. We walked around a bit and as we were getting on our bus Whoopi Goldberg drove right past us (she looked right at me out of the passenger window) and a man got her out of the car to escort her into her apartment! I'm trying desperately at this point to pull out my camera, so I only got her from behind (again, the no good pictures saga continues!) but it was cool to see her.

We stayed across the street from Madison Square Garden so we got to witness March madness first hand..it was CRAZY; I've never seen so many college basketball fans. Jakob was in heaven; he wanted to go to the game but we didn't want to pay a ton of money from the scalpers. It's a good thing because that game had like 4 overtimes and lasted forever!! We were also there to witness St. Paddy's day and that was fun. The streets were crazy and it was kind of like Mardi Gras.

What else??? OH..SHREK THE MUSICAL!! This was the highlight of the trip, it was absolutely amazing. I actually cried because I would glance over at the kids and they were LOVING it so much..clapping and getting so excited at every part. It was such a great experience, though terribly expensive even though we bought the tix from the half price stand in Times Square. We'd do it again in a second though, they loved it so much and are still "performing" here in the house for us. Jakob is Shrek of course and Ella is Fiona and Donkey; it's amazing what they come up with for costumes, pretty cute!! We actually walked back to the hotel over 20 blocks and they didn't complain..I'm still in shock at how much Jakob walked (Ella was in a stroller most of the time).

We will definitely be going back, but in the spring/summer so that they can enjoy central park more. It is by far the most expensive trip we've taken as a family because everything in NY is so overpriced..even the cheap meals were $50 for all 4 of us! We ate a ton of hotdogs and pizza too!

I'll have pics up sometime hopefully soon!!!

Holy Cow

2009-03-11T18:09:00.005-04:00

Well damn...I didn't realize how long I've been out of the blog world until I logged in and saw the millions of posts by my friends that I need to catch up on! It's a sad day when Michelle has more posts than I do. And also, I'm getting back into it so Lisa can get off my butt...HAPPY LISA? Well, this is going to be kind of discombobulated because I'm pretty much out of my mind at the moment. I'm sick for one, I'm finishing up 3 classes (which means I have about 50 papers to grade this week and then final grade calculations) and starting 2 more classes all this week, and I have about a million things I need to do and buy for our spring break NEW YORK trip. I have no excuses for not blogging since this week though....other than I'm just really busy. Not always doing productive things, but more like lunching and drinking, and lunching and drinking...OK, I'm not an alcoholic or anything but since I don't work out of the home any longer it's a lot easier to go out for drinks with my girlfriends on a weeknight! :)

Just a couple of things and then I'll post some videos for Aunt Lisa!

1. It's baseball season! Jakob's been playing forever, but this is Ella's first season in T-Ball. She is the only girl on the team and let me tell you, she wants everyone to be aware of that all the time. She is constantly asking the coach if she can go first, if she can stand in line first, etc. And she's always telling the boys what to do even though she's never played before! She was standing on the pitcher's mound and was supposed to be getting the balls that were being hit and she was too busy talking to all the boys around her telling them what to do that she missed every one...and got mad at US (Rob and I) when she didn't get one. Why is it my fault?! This is going to be an interesting season.

Jakob is going to play shortstop, which is, according to Rob, the hardest position to play. He's super good, and it's so amazing to see how he's gotten better even from last year. He's like a little man now, it's weird!

2. Ella is doing fantastic in tumbling. They have asked for her to try out for competition cheerleading..which I'm a little scared of. Not that I'm scared of her getting hurt (I guess I should be, huh?) but I'm scared of the commitment both time wise and monetarily. Competition cheer is ruthless and incredibly expensive. And they travel ALL THE TIME! I guess I have to do it though because she really, really wants to do it. She might not make the team because she's sooo young, but she might still make what they call "show team" which is for younger girls and not as extensive. She's so darn strong and flexible! I've seen her progress in just a few weeks to full on doing back flips on her own! Whaaaaa???? I remember when I was 13 trying out for junior high cheerleading and could barely do a cartwheel and the thought of a back flip made me pee my pants! I didn't make it..in case you were wondering. Glad though...dance was such a better fit for me! I tried to do a cartwheel the other day and I got stuck mid-air..my body just wasn't moving for some reason.

3. Jakob has gotten sooo much better in school. He started off pretty shaky in the beginning and we reallly worried that he wouldn't make good grades but he totally turned around. He's a great speller, reader and even gets good grades in math now! We have him at Sylvan because he struggles with math and it's helped so much. It's odd how his mind works. He has trouble with basic addition/subtraction word problems, but fractions, multiplication and division he gets with no problem? We're really proud of him!

Oh gosh..I had so many more things I had hoped to say but totally forgot. I'll do better next time. For now, here is a video of the kids singing Morrissey, Ella singing and Ella at tumbling practice. This video of her was taken awhile ago, she's already gotten so much better than this, she can do the flips by herself. She's FEARLESS which is a little scary.

♥HAPPY♥VALENTINE'S♥DAY♥

2009-02-14T17:14:00.002-05:00

Wishing all a happy love day! Rob and I celebrated our 17th Valentine's together at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse last night. We didn't want to mess around with the crowds today. It was so yummy...but man, we racked up quite a bill! Today we're doing absolutely nothing. Went to the gym..came back and took a shower and I've been in sweats since then. The kids are playing here, then going to friends, then back here, etc. Ella's room is a wreck but I don't even care; today is a lazy day!

I dedicate this post to my little valentine, Ella. She's been waiting patiently to wear her V-Day dress and so when she put it on she thought she was a movie star and was more than happy to let me take some pictures (well...I did also have to bribe her and tell her I wouldn't make her take a nap if she let me!) I can't believe how big she's getting; I'm buying her size 5 clothes now and oh my gosh..she's out of the toddler section pretty much. boo hoo. What am I going to do next year when she starts kindergarten?! I don't even want to think of it!

♥PS..Enjoy Lisa..these are for you!♥

♥Valentine's Day School Parties ♥

2009-02-14T09:08:00.004-05:00

I went to the kids' Valentine's Day parties yesterday and also took some pictures of Ella but want to put those in a different post. I started out at Ella's party and she was so cute. She was upset that she couldn't personally deliver the cards she worked so hard to write out (they had to stick them in the bags but not give them to the actual kid). It's really fun watching her interact with the other kids; she's really got a crush on a little boy who looks exactly like a little Brad Pitt; he's a cutie!!! They usually spend all their time together, but sometimes he ignores her and I think it really bothers her. But then we read a book in class about a little girl who always annoyed her crush and in the end of course they found he really liked her, which was why he was so mean to her and Ella had a look in her eye like "oh...so he really does like me?" Not good...and as the movie "He's Just Not That Into You" said...we set up little girls to believe that when boys are mean and ignore us it means they like us, and that's what makes us like the jerks our whole life..we have this silly notion in our heads that they actually will come around?! It's funny that I'm seeing that play out with my 4 year old!

She's serious about her praying!

After Ella's party we had lunch with Jakob then went to his party. Me and another mom made ice cream sundaes for the kids (of course Ella had to be right there directing traffic and telling kids what flavor ice cream they should have and how it should be decorated) and they actually got to deliver their valentines. Jakob was SOOO darn cute. Every card he got from everyone, he'd read it and say "THANK YOU" or "That's the best card ever" or something to that effect...he's so gracious and gets so easily excited about EVERYTHING! He's definitely the happiest kid in class, maybe in the whole school, the kid is just Mr. Happy Go Lucky; except of course at home when I don't let him do something he wants to do and then the sky is falling..he likes to tell me that I'm ruining his life on a daily basis.

Jakob's First Reconciliation

2009-02-08T18:28:00.005-05:00

Jakob received the sacrament of Reconciliation this past Monday and it was a very proud moment on his quest to become a young adult! He is going to be getting his first communion this year and this is one step towards that. Basically he had to go to the priest and confess his "sins" and show that he knows the difference between right and wrong and pray for forgiveness. He was so cute because he wouldn't tell me what he told the Father in confessional. He said it is between him and the Father and I couldn't know...I'm so nosy, I kept trying to get it out of him until Rob told me to leave him alone. I'm all up in Jakob's business every second of the day..I need to realize that he has a life of his own and I don't need to be involved in EVERYTHING!

I'm hoping my desire to blog kicks in gear soon..I'm just really struggling with getting back into it, I think it's because I rarely take pictures of the kids anymore and without pictures I feel like there is no reason? I'll get better though.

Who's That Dog??

2009-01-28T18:35:00.004-05:00

I'll get to that title in a minute...

Gosh it's been a million years it seems since I've blogged. I guess I've just been caught up in other stuff and got in a funk. I haven't even printed out last year's blog book; I'm SO behind. Well life with the new puppy has been crazy and he takes a lot of time. And I'm adjusting to life being home and I can honestly say it is the greatest thing EVER. I'm working a lot with the new school I picked up, so I am really busy with work, but being able to work in pjs is the best thing in the world. I've got a great routine going. I take the kids to school..go straight to the gym so that I can't talk myself out of it...shower and run errands or do shopping..go pick up Ella at 11...eat lunch..put Ella down for a nap..work for an hour or two on the computer, read email, etc..pick up Jakob..do homework and stuff then the kids either go to the park or to someones house for a little while, or kids come over here so I have some time to focus on house stuff, watch TV, get ready for dinner, etc....it's pretty much like that all the time; except sometimes I have someone else pick up Ella so I can go have a lunch date or go shopping. Last week I think I did that 4 times!! It's the most wonderful thing ever to have both sets of parents within 10 minutes!

Anyway, I'm going to try to start posting more often so that my 2009 book is big and thick!!!

We got Charlie his first haircut today. I took both dogs which was an adventure, and Petsmart called to tell me that I needed to come pick up Brady because he was having a nervous breakdown and was so upset that he was making himself throw up. Brady is such a drama queen. Charlie actually looks really cute. I couldn't get a better picture because the darn monster won't sit still long enough. He's a maniac. He's feisty and sassy and thinks he can fly. we start puppy classes on Saturday, and I've already been told that Fox Terriers are VERY difficult to train because they are sooooo independent and stubborn. Sounds like someone else I know?!

Before shot. Ella got herself dressed, hence two bows and you can't tell but about 10 bracelets..

Lisa's Going Away Party

2009-01-17T10:19:00.003-05:00

Well, my beloved sister left Sunday to begin her new life in Dallas and we sent her off with a great farewell party at my house. I swear we act as if she's moving to Europe (which would be very cool too) but she's only 4 hours away. We're not used to this distance..for the past 7 years or so we've all lived within 15 minutes of each other. I think it's going to be OK, Michelle is taking it hard because they were like Twinkies who did everything together and Lisa was the 2nd mom to the boys. I'm used to being the odd ball out of the loop half the time, but still, if I wanted to see her or go to the movies or dinner she was right there! Now I'll have to travel...but it gives me an excuse to get out of San Antonio every now and then which is nice.

Two things were against us as we were trying to pull off this party for Lisa. 1. LISA is the party planner, Michelle, Jamie and I are horrible at this kind of stuff..getting the evite sent out and the food prepared was more than I could handle...and 2. My mom was still in the hospital at the time so it was tough to get everything done since we were always with her. But her party was successful and had a great turnout. I'm amazed at how long she can keep close friends, she's had friends for over 20 years that were there; we (Rob and I) on the other hand have about a handful of people that we've known for years and we lose touch with just about everyone we ever meet. I guess we're just not that social!

I mostly took pictures of us and the people we knew, I'm a bad party host, but Lisa had her camera so hopefully she took pictures of her friends!!

We miss you already, Lisa!! Obviously you miss us too since you're already back for the weekend!

Proof that I slaved in the kitchen over those yummy appetizers that everyone loved!

Jeanne and Tim are Ella's godparents and they just love the kids and vice versa. Tim is a big kid; I think he spent most of the party upstairs playing Wii with them!

I love this picture. I hope Tim is giving Ella life lessons and not teaching her how to trick her parents (he's a magician)

Home Improvements

2009-01-09T17:55:00.003-05:00

I meant to take more pictures, but I'm lazy...you can see the new hardwood floors in this picture and the new paint. It's not as yellow as it looks in these pictures, but it's still pretty bold; which fits our lifestyle pretty well. We had the floors put in through the entire house (except where we already had time) and had the entire bottom floor painted, except for the rooms which were already painted. Here's a quick preview...I'll try to take more pics later.

Heart Surgery: Part Deux

2009-01-09T17:30:00.002-05:00

Well, luckily mom didn't have an actual heart attack like Dad, but she has spent this week in the hospital, having bypass surgery on Monday. She is recovering beautifully and hopefully will go home this weekend. It wasn't as dramatic as Dad's fiasco, but still scary nonetheless. This is not something I want to go through again, so hopefully they will both take care of themselves and their swanky new hearts too..well, not NEW hearts..but UPDATED hearts!! :) The kids have been up there with me a lot this time too and Ella even had her medical kit yesterday. At the very least, the only good thing about this is her continuing fascination with doctors and nurses so hopefully that will be the path she takes!

What else..I can't believe I have an actual moment to spare here. The only reason I'm alone right now is Jakob is at the park and Ella is at the neighbors. I've found I'm the "snack" house, so all the neighborhood boys come over here to eat and play in Jakob's "cool" room for awhile, but then they all migrate to the park, which is nice. And Ella has found that the neighbor (on the other side of us) has an awesome "jungle like" backyard so she is always over there. I'm alone, but loving every minute of it!! Since I've been home full time I'm SOOOOOO extremely busy...Ella's only at school 3 hours and that time flies, but I have managed to make it to the gym and walk the dogs pretty much everyday so I'm proud of myself for that. My New Years resolutions are to stay on a workout regimen and COOK. The cooking part isn't working so much, but it's still early!!

Here are a few of the kids just being goofy; they are into playing with the dog and shooting each other (and the dogs) with the bow and arrow, and Jakob somehow thinks if he has the mask on it's OK to shoot people in the face. I'm cursing whoever gave it to him for Christmas because I've been shot in the face at close range more than a few times. The dogs are also about on my last nerve; both of them! Brady because he's acting like a puppy again and the puppy for being, well, a puppy. We've got the potty training thing down, pretty much, which is surprising..the biggest frustration is the biting and chewing up my carpets. And when the dogs fight we all have to listen to it. They are so much like human kids (mine) that it's scary; I'm not liking the constant power struggles and stealing of the toys. But I'm sure they will learn to love each other soon enough.

These teeth are never coming in, I'm convinced!

New Year = New Look

2009-01-02T17:42:00.003-05:00

Don't you just LOOOOOOVE the new blog design? I sure do! Thanks, once again, to the fab Marina of Penny Lane Designs for updating it. I loved her first design, but as usual, was ready for a change.

We are starting the new year off to a bang with a lot of home improvements, and I'll be taking pictures of everything and posting soon. We had hardwood floors put in, today and tomorrow we're having the livingroom, halls and family rooms painted and we're putting up new curtains! It's going to be a whole new house!! It's very exciting.

Happy New Year blogworld!!!

2009....are you ready for the Wiselys?????

Welcome to the family, Charlie Brown Wisely

2009-01-01T22:42:00.006-05:00

I can't believe I didn't really take any pictures this year, when I look at last year's Christmas post I begin to feel bad...but things were different this year. We were all still sick from New Mexico that we didn't do a lot of hoopla on Christmas Eve like last year. I'm sad because Jakob fell asleep before we could finish making the cookies and he didn't get to put anything out for Santa. Of course, he didn't really even want to be a part of the cookie festivities because he was watching football...and for that I'm sad. I think I'm losing my baby boy....and there is nothing I can do about it, and it really kind of sucks.

Anyway, this Christmas was great, but I don't know what we were thinking when we decided it was a good idea to have hardwood floors installed the week before, then go to NM the weekend after that..then come home with two days left to get ready for xmas. It was insane to say the least. I did manage to take a few pictures of the biggest present the kids got this year, which is our new Wire Fox Terrier "Charlie Brown". Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that when we got back from NM, and I was sick as a dog I still had to travel to Austin to pick up our puppy so we would have him on Christmas morning. He is a very sweet dog and the kiddos love him to pieces. And Brady loves him too; I was worried he'd be really jealous but I think he likes having someone to play with. He was as much my gift as the kids' since I have been wanting a puppy for awhile now. The funniest thing about him is he sounds like a human trying to talk, it's really weird. He sounds exactly like Snoopy, it's hilarious..he's the cutest thing ever!

Our Trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico

2008-12-22T22:00:00.005-05:00

Well, we had a blast up in Ruidoso, NM this past weekend. We wanted to take a winter vacation somewhere close enough to drive and let the kids do some real winter activities. Well, we survived the 9 hour trip up there and back! Ella finally stopped asking "how many more minutes" after the first hour; up until that point she was asking every 5 minutes or so. It actually wasn't too bad; coming back was worse because 3 of the 4 of us were sick and sneezing and coughing all the way home. Rob is the lone "well" person in the house.

We stayed at Story Book Cabins, nestled away high up in the mountains; and it was an awesome cabin!! We cooked breakfast every day and ate at some really quaint, cool places at night. We spent a lot of time together just lying around by the fire and playing games; it was just what we needed since it seems like life goes by way too fast sometimes!! The kids got to go tubing down hills in the snow, have snowball fights and Ella was brave enough to try skiing. Jakob wasn't having any of the skiing because he had seen far too many people wipe out. And of course I wasn't complaining that I had to stay with him and not ski myself since the last time I tried I nearly broke my legs. I've never seen anyone fall the way I manage to fall, it's sad. Anyway, Ella was freaking out at first until she realized that if she fell it wasn't any big deal, especially with her padded snow pants on; in true Ella fashion she didn't want any help after awhile and was really good at it. Rob on the other hand, was far too cool for snow pants and proceeded to ski in jeans and after he wiped out about 3 times he finally realized that maybe he should have listened to me.

Ruidoso is absolutely stunning, and we had a lot of fun shopping on main street. And since Sunday was my birthday Rob even managed to surprise me with a Wii Fit; which is what I've been wanting for my birthday, but he couldn't find anywhere in San Antonio. Well, leave it to a Wal-Mart in NM to have it, he was so excited!

We will definitely make this one of our annual trips!! Christmas post coming soon....

The Nutcracker and other things

2008-12-15T13:53:00.004-05:00

I have so much I need to blog about, I'm having a hard time keeping track. But this week we're having hardwood floors installed throughout the house (YIPPEE!) and so I'm stuck in the office all day long so I'm trying to catch up on some things. Here are some events that I wanted to talk about that have happened over the last week.

1. I attended my first graduation as a faculty member. The University of the Incarnate Word finally acknowledged that Online instructors are REAL teachers too! So many of our students fly in to walk the stage and want their professors there, so we were invited. It was the coolest thing I've ever done. I had chills, I cried, it was SO exciting and I must say that for the first time in a long time I was truly proud of my accomplishments that led me to the job I have. I value teaching so much and I care deeply for all my students, even though I've never met them in person. To watch my students walk the stage and then get to meet them afterwards; I mean, seriously, words cannot describe it...I was totally overjoyed!! And of course they all have the same comment: "You're so YOUNG!" (that makes me feel wonderful!) And what made it even better was Rob took Jakob and Ella so they could see mommy all dressed up in cap/gown and get to see all the graduates walk across campus. They were THRILLED. If you've never been to a UIW graduation it really is a beautiful event. The graduates walk thru the campus led by a group of bagpipe players (I'm sure they have a name) and they cross the bridge where all their faculty are waiting and applauding them; then we follow them in. It is VERY emotional and special. And from now on I get to go to all of them so I'm super excited!!!

2. The day after graduation Jakob had an exhibition game at UIW's new football field with Mexico's #1 team; so it was a Tex-Mex bowl if you will. The best teams from Texas and Mexico battling it out! All I can say about that is those Mexican fans annoyed the crap out of me; they are hard core. I felt like I was at a soccer game, they get crazy and loud!! We won...of course.. :)

3. After the game (it was an incredibly jam packed day) we took the kids to see The Nutcracker for the first time. They loved it, even Jakob. Rob was a little shocked that they didn't "speak"; I had to explain that the ballet was not like a Broadway play!! It was a lot of fun and of course when we got home Ella put her pj's on, but then put her tutu on over it and made Rob dance with her and lift her up like the ballerina's on stage...She was all business; it was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time! Rob is already aware that this is his new nightly routine for at least a few weeks.

Judson Jr. Rockets Win STATE....AGAIN!!!

2008-12-13T23:32:00.006-05:00

Well, for the second year in a row our boys won state. The final score was 31-7 and we beat a team that was so determined to beat us this year that they formed a "super team" of all the best kids in the Austin area...and we STILL beat them!! I'm so proud of Jakob and Rob was of course one of the best coaches I've ever seen. They got to play the state game in the Alamodome, which was SO EXCITING for the boys. They got to hang out in the locker room, run out of the tunnel. It was an experience that I'm sure Jakob will always remember and I'm so happy for him. I got no pictures of course, because I forgot my camera!

Of course just as we thought it was over our team was asked to play an exhibition game against Mexico's best team in the Pop Warner league out at UIW's new stadium. It's a beautiful stadium and Jakob is so excited to play on a real college field. He think's it's going to be his "Rudy" moment! :)

And after this game football is OVER...thank the LORD! I love it, but man, it's a looooooong season of intense practices and long games. At least all that work paid off in the end; and the look on those boy's faces (Rob included) when they were jumping up and down as "We are the Champions" was playing is worth every minute of it!!! But woo hoo I finally get my son and husband back!!! Until baseball starts...of course..

Jakob is a WRITER!

2008-12-09T21:58:00.003-05:00

Well if anyone doesn't know (and most people don't know) I LOVE to write. I write all sorts of stuff, poetry, stories..you name it. I don't often share it because it's really personal to me and I've never wanted to, but the other day Jakob came to me and he had written his first original story. I swear, I have NEVER asked him to write, never encouraged him to write a story or anything. I know he likes to write me notes and stuff but he's never done anything like this. He made up the cutest story called "A Boy Named Joey" about a little boy who liked to ride horses and paint. It was such a proud moment for me! When he saw how excited he got he wrote about 3 more and it's now become something he looks forward to doing. I'm so happy. He's a total boy; loves nothing more than watching and playing football and baseball with his dad, but he's also pretty artistic too!

Ok, I know my son looks like Farrah Fawcett..

Also, I had high hopes for taking good pictures of the kids for the Christmas cards but was too lazy to go out and find a location. I had so many ideas (as usual) of all the holiday attire they would wear, all the cool backgrounds I could find, etc...but of course, I decided I just didn't have the patience for all that and waited way too long to find anything cute for them to wear. So here are some photos of my little 10 minute session (that's about all I could get out of them.) They aren't cropped or anything yet, but they will have to be good enough for the xmas cards. I think my fav is the first one. It's totally not Christmas and they aren't even smiling but I love it so that one might make it onto the cards!

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-03T22:09:00.007-05:00

I can't believe it...I'm actually blogging again! It seems like it's been forever. I've certainly been slacking lately, but seriously things are just so busy all the time. Since the day after Thanksgiving I've probably been shopping everyday or doing other stuff related to the holidays. Thanksgiving was great. We hosted everyone, so there were about 18 people here, and that's just immediate family! It was very nice because Grandma Talley (Rob's grandma) came down from St. Louis. She's 90 years old and the kids just love her to pieces. It was special to have her with us, even if it was just for the week. Here are some pictures; I didn't do a good job of getting enough of the entire family :(

I think this is so sweet..Ella had covered up my Dad, who fell asleep watching football with Jakob.

On black Friday, Rob and I did out annual 5am shopping trip out to Toys R Us and it was more ridiculous than we'd ever seen it! We saved at least $30 on each item we bought so at least it was worth it, but honestly, if we weren't buying such expensive things there is no way I'd put up with that nonsense.

We took the kids to Fiesta Texas for their Holiday in the Park festivities. That was the first time we'd been during the holidays and I must say it was absolutely gorgeous. And they had neat shows with Christmas carols and the kids got so into it! They had SO many lights. Jakob rode on the "for real" adult rides, he even rode his first roller-coaster (NOT the Rattler) and I just can't believe it; he's a thrill ride junkie. He and Rob rode Tony Hawk's big spin which is a roller coaster that spins as you go around. He got off and immediately wanted to ride it again so Rob let me go with him while he took Ella on the ferris wheel. I didn't want to ride because I have inner ear issues and get seriously sick if I "spin". Rob said, "Oh it's not that bad, you hardly spin at all...go ahead and ride it". Well he lied. I was so sick, but I didn't want to ruin the kids trip so we stayed a little longer. They also brought in 40k pounds of snow for a make-shift hill to go sledding on. The kids LOVED that! They are so pumped now for our trip to New Mexico, where we will be doing lots of sledding and skiing. We're going to NM in a couple of weeks and I'm trying desperately not to go overboard with clothes that they will literally only wear that weekend...but LLBean, Lands End and Hanna Andersson have the CUTEST snow bunny outfits. Somebody stop me, please!

Totally Random

2008-11-23T16:55:00.004-05:00

I haven't taken pictures of the kids in a while so I just stared snapping one day, just to make sure I can always remember what they looked like at certain times in their life and all those sweet expressions. I have no patience to try to get cute "posed" pictures anymore...I'm so overwhelmed with being home. Yes, staying home with your kids is the hardest job in the world...I always knew it and respected stay at home moms, but damn..seriously..this is really hard!! I'm not completely gone from Tesoro yet but I might as well be...I'm home most of the time. What is it going to be like when I never have an excuse to leave the house with makeup on?

Anyway, I've been catching myself just staring at Ella lately, kind of in awe of who she is turning into. She is by far more challenging than Jakob at that age, which I feel like I've said a million times, but she's got such a cute personality underneath the tough exterior. I just don't know how to handle her sometimes. She literally, seriously, LITERALLY, speaks every second of the day, she even talks in her sleep. I have never known anyone to talk so much. She also wants to be with me all the time..I don't have time to do anything! I know everyone thinks that about their kids, but she really is terribly clingy. The only reason she's not sitting on my desk talking to me right now is because she's having a play date at the neighbors house. She's doing this really cute thing now where she sings and plays guitar in her room and she's addicted to Jack Johnson music. She also has two or three costume changes. I always have to sit there and cheer for her during her concerts. It's pretty darn cute. Now I have to find a pink guitar with hearts and flames on it for Christmas????

Jakob is, well, Jakob. Again, there's no other kid like him. He's still struggling in school a little, but I have no idea why. He's gotten ten times better in math and now is letting reading go...he cannot concentrate and all he ever wants to do is talk about sports. He literally, seriously, LITERALLY, knows the name and number of every single NFL quarterback; I had to sit there and listen to each one at breakfast this morning. I can't believe that..he's kind of like an idiot savant of sports (is that mean? You know what I'm trying to say!) And he knows many, many other players from teams we don't even watch. We have decided that we need to turn all his homework into analogies about sports and maybe he'll care about school. Crazy!!

Why I Have To Do EVERYTHING

2008-11-18T15:05:00.005-05:00

Because this is what happens when I ask my kids to help with small tasks like "can you give the dog some food"

And it's not like we have the food in a bag and they just spilled it, you have to actually "scoop" it out of the big bin..so this was about 7 trips...

Ella as Flower Girl

2008-11-12T15:07:00.005-05:00

Well, Ella was a flower girl in Chris and Mandy's wedding (Mandy is my cousin; her twin Eddie got married last month) and I must say she started out great. She was flinging her flower ball side to side all the way down the aisle, but she did what she was supposed to do. When we got to the reception and they were doing the introductions things got a little worse. She did not want to walk in with the the "kids" when they called her name, she wanted to walk in with Chris! I told her she couldn't because Chris and Mandy were going to walk in together as husband and wife. She was NOT happy..so she didn't walk in. They announced her name, but she and I sat out in the hall. She eventually got over it and we went in and she had a blast. She was the dancing queen this time, dancing the entire night!! She apparently was telling everyone that night that she was the one who married Chris. I think in her little fantasy she was pretending that it was her wedding..how cute is that? This girl is something else!

The beautiful newlyweds!!

Sweet picture of Dad and Jamie

Dad with all his grandkids!

Mom wanted a picture too!

Ella not happy that she's not the bride

Me and Dad

Jakob was not in the mood for dancing this time, sadly; I think he was upset at all the attention he got last time so this time he wasn't interested in giving anyone a show, but he was interested in taking tons of pictures. He was flashing away and actually got some really good ones! It was a beautiful wedding, and we had a great time visiting again with all our family at the reception!

I wasn't in the mood to take pictures since getting Ella was a whole "to do"..but Lisa got creative with hers so I stole all the rest of these pictures from her!

Happy Halloween Anniversary 2008

2008-11-02T15:17:00.004-05:00

Well, it's seems October flew way too fast. Rob and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary and the kids had a great Halloween. I'm so blessed with everything we have it's just not even funny. I can't express in words how great our life is and how happy our kids are, which makes me so proud. I'm looking forward to what life has to offer in the next 10 years. I have a hard time believing it can get any better but you never know!

The Happy Couple!

Both kids had parades at their school during the day and of course Halloween night was a blast! Ella would go to everyone's door and say "Happy Halloween Anniversary", even when I explained that it wasn't EVERYONE'S anniversary. She enjoyed herself so much, she was so excited after every house. Jakob on the other had was a little upset that I didn't let him go by himself because he obviously thinks he's a big boy...that is until he saw someone in a scary costume then of course he pretends to have something really important to tell me and grabs my shirt.

After trick or treating (along with my sisters and the twins) we went to the carnival at OLPH and it was really neat. They had a pretty scary haunted house that Jakob of course wanted no part of and Ella was dying to get into. Rob took her despite my objection and sure enough when they came out Ella had the biggest alligator tears. Rob said she started bawling after the very first person jumped out and didn't stop. What made it worse was he kept telling her to close her eyes and she wouldn't...she just had to see what was going on even though she was scared to death! She's probably not going to enter another one for a long time and Jakob, after seeing her reaction, will probably never enter one in his entire lifetime.

Hill Country Trip

2008-10-21T21:13:00.008-04:00

Jakob didn't have a football game this past weekend so we jumped at the chance to get away for a little weekend trip! We took the kids, along with my sisters and nephews to Fredericksburg and Enchanted Rock. The kids had so much fun (all they need is each other and a hotel room and they are in heaven) and we actually had a lot of fun too. We had great food, did some shopping, visited a pumpkin patch, went to Wildseed Farms (this is a very cool place) to tag and release Monarch butterflies and climbed Enchanted Rock! We actually couldn't climb all the way to the top because we were afraid that it was going to get dark on us and we didn't have flashlights or anything so we would have had to find our way down in the dark. And unfortunately Isaiah hurt his foot earlier in the day playing football, of course, so he couldn't climb up with us. We went up pretty high though and the kids absolutely loved it. Then we ate in the dark and told ghost stories. For the record, the only person remotely scared at my stories was Jakob...I was disappointed; kids aren't scared of anything these days! I was even scaring myself. Poor Jakob is so much like me in that respect.

Anyway, we couldn't get a fire pit so we made s'mores the ghetto fabulous way over the BBQ pit.. but the kids didn't care, they had fun. Rob and I have decided to go ahead and buy a pop up camper to go camping more often, but I refuse to sleep in a tent..the camper is the closest thing I'll get to "real" camping. The kids are already begging to go back so I'm sure we'll be heading out there more this year while the weather is nice and cool!

FRIGHT FEST at Fiesta Texas

2008-10-15T10:02:00.004-04:00

Well, we still have 4 more trips to go on our Fiesta Texas passes so we headed out on the first venture to Fright Fest and I'm not sure we'll go again until the Halloween stuff is gone. The kids had a blast, but once Jakob realized monsters were walking around in costumes he freaked out. He was so paranoid..he was walking around in panic like me at DisneyWorld when I thought I was missing a kid every 3 minutes. Luckily, we didn't see the really creepy guys until the very end so he was able to enjoy himself. This first picture is funny because when they didn't see him he was acting all tough, but when the monster turned and looked at him he almost pooped his pants!!

The best part was when we went to the Looney Toons Halloween Bash and Jakob was dancing with the characters. When they came off the stage they walked right over to him and grabbed him (I guess they could see his hair shining in the dark the whole time) and he happily went. He started doing the moves that we saw at the wedding. I don't know when this kid became a dancing machine? He's actually pretty shy, but when it comes to dancing he doesn't care about big crowds watching him. Ella refused to dance because they did not pull her up there; she had attitude about them picking Jakob over her...so she sat there and watched even when other kids went up....she's SO high maintenance!

Jakob and Rob rode on some pretty big rides; I actually can't believe Jakob is at that age where he can ride "adult" rides?! Of course we still have a difference of opinion; I think just because he CAN doesn't mean he SHOULD..Rob says he's ready...we'll see.

Did I Go Overboard?

2008-10-09T20:02:00.006-04:00

Scholastic Book Club orders are EVIL! OK, at the time I was ordering from the 4..yes that's right FOUR order forms they sent home with Jakob it didn't appear that I was ordering that much. So many of those books are dirt cheap I was just ordering not really paying attention to how many books we were getting. I'm a bookaholic...I LOVE buying books, and occasionally reading them. Not that I don't love reading books, but I find that they have fallen very low on my priority list and by the time I have a spare second to read them I get through one sentence and fall asleep....but that's neither here nor there...LOOK at how many books Jakob came home with. Can you believe I bought this many??? I mean there are over 15 books! I remember when I used to order books I would get like 2 or 3 at one time at the most and I was thrilled. Jakob loves all these books, but he's got this worried look on his face like "Do you really expect me to read ALL these?" If you could see how many other books this kid has you'd die..I won't post his bookshelf here because it's too shocking.

I think my shopping habit has manifested itself into an addiction for buying things for the kids, while I tell myself that it's OK because it's "money well spent"...but I think even I have gone too far this time. Ella's book order comes in next week...and if I recall I think I spent more on hers so they'll probably send hers home in a wheelbarrow.

And you know the really sad part of this whole scenario...when they send them home again next month I'll probably do the same exact thing. I think I'm going to pass over book order duty to Rob...he has a lot more self control than I do!

The Lord of the Dance

2008-10-05T18:08:00.004-04:00

Wow, Jakob really surprised everyone Saturday by showing some serious moves on the dance floor. We went to Kenedy for my cousin's wedding (CONGRATS, EDDIE AND SANDY!!) and both my kids ripped it up on the floor. Ella couldn't wait to dance, but she did the normal kid moves of jumping around a lot, but Jakob was a whole other story! He was going crazy and everyone was just dying, myself included! He wanted me to be out there with him or he wouldn't go, but once he got out there he thought he was the only person on the floor. I wish I had a video camera! I'm sure some of it will be on the wedding video so I can't wait to see it! He refused to dance with Ella, but the twins did so she didn't feel too bad!

We had a blast, visiting with my gigantic extended family, which is always fun, and next month we get to do it again because my other cousin (Eddie's twin sister, Mandy) is getting married to Ella's #1 crush, Chris! And Ella is a flower girl so I'm curious to see how this will work. I would not put it past Ella to speak her mind when they say "speak now or forever hold your peace"!!

Here are some really crappy pictures because we were running so late due to the boy's football game earlier, so we rushed out and I forgot my external flash and good lens, so these pictures are with camera flash which is crappy and my zoom lens. I have no idea how to take indoor pictures in the dark. I'm sure no one cares, but because photography is my hobby it bothers me more than it should I think! Ella was so cute too, my sister has pictures of her taking pictures with my camera. She's actually really good, she had this big ol' camera and managed to not cut anyone's head off or anything....she has asked for a digital camera, not a "kid" one like the one's we've bought her in the past, she wants one like mine! Uh oh!!

The "Lord of the Dance" (if you could see his feet it looked like a Scottish or German dance)

The "Six Shooters"??

The ???

The Smooth Criminal

The white boy gangsta

The beautiful couple!

Dad dancing to "Brick House", wonder where Jakob got his dancing moves??

Ella and Chris

Ella and Isaiah

Sisters!

Ella and Popo

Rob and Ella

Nane and Jakob

Rare picture of Rob and I

Jakob and Sandy

Mom and Ella

Ella and my favorite uncle, Mr. Miyagi

Dad and all his girls

Me and Jakob

I Heart October!!

2008-10-02T20:23:00.003-04:00

We loooooove October in the Wisely family, it's definitely my favorite month. The weather is still way too hot in Texas, but at least you start to get some cooler weather and it's nice to walk to school in the morning and play outside in the evening and of course, Halloween is my favorite holiday! We will celebrate 10 years this Halloween!! We had huge plans for going to Vegas to renew the vows with the family and all that but somewhere along the way we got lazy, I think it's because we decided we'd rather see snow so we're going to New Mexico in December. We're also headed to Fredericksburg in a couple of weeks to hang out and take the kids to Enchanted Rock so that will be a blast!!

Anyway, while the boys were at football practice I thought we'd go outside so I could get some pics of Ella in her ginormous glasses that she absolutely LOVES. She thinks she is such a big girl. Also, giving you a sneak preview of the Batgirl costume. She was so excited when she saw it because Jakob is (was) going to be Batman, so she wanted to be like him...then when he saw her costume he decided he no longer wants to be Batman, but rather a Knight. He's such a mean older brother! This will go on all month, they will both change their minds a million times, but at least I already have hers out of the way..she's Batgirl whether she likes it or not! Yeah right, I say that and I'm sure I'll buy her one more before the big day. We've already decorated the house for Halloween too..we're so in the spirit right now!!

Happy October!!!

The {LOVE} of my {LIFE}

2008-09-26T11:02:00.003-04:00

Aside from Ella and Rob..of course! Jakob is beginning to be pretty challenging these days. He gives Ella a run for her money! It's so weird being a parent. I get so frustrated with him all the time, but look at him and can't help but melt....I just can't stay mad at this kid....AND he KNOWS it! He's having issues in school with paying attention and using his time wisely, which means he's exactly like Rob, because Rob is so slow at everything it drives me nuts!! Maybe I'm just too fast?? Who knows, but at any rate, he just isn't as interested in school as I wished he would be...like I was when I was his age. I loved learning, always have and still do. Jakob just doesn't care much. He'd much rather learn piano or sports. So I guess I have to come to the realization that he may not be the academic genius I had hoped for; he's going to be the athlete. Don't get me wrong, he's no dummy, the kid is actually quite bright but he doesn't apply himself in school the way that I know Ella will...because he really has no interest in it. I know my frustration is my problem because he's doing just fine, but my expectations are WAY too high.

I've been snapping pictures of him the past couple of days. How ADORABLE is it that he's in the football pants getting ready for practice, but also playing piano?? He was singing me one of the new songs he composed. I can't wait to share these with ESPN when he's famous! :)

This Girl is Gonna Kill Me

2008-09-19T15:02:00.004-04:00

This is pretty much all Rob can say about Ella these days. And he means it on so many levels. He's madly in love with her because she's so darn cute and fun...but man she's a handful, she's never satisfied and she's got expensive taste! I could go on for days about all the funny and way too smart things she says and knows at this age. As her teacher puts it "She has a very advanced brain for a 4 year old!" And because of this we really just stand around shaking our heads in disbelief half the time. Her attitude is off the charts, her fashion sense makes me think she could compete on Project Runway, she still sneaks off to her room to chop the hair off of whatever has hair left in her room when are doing "art", she comes out of her classroom yelling "You're gonna be so proud of me, I DIDN'T KISS A BOY TODAY!", she can read, she has started "composing" her own songs on the piano..the list goes on and on. If you ever want to have a 30 minute conversation about life you're more than welcome to see for yourself just what I'm talking about. I love her to pieces and she's my best friend but man...when is the constant power struggle going to end with her? I think I have my work cut out for me for a loooooong time to come!! I seriously need to go to a class on how to deal with her I think!

She and Jakob are working on "getting along" and being patient with each other and all I hear all day is "Stop interrupting me, you're going to have to deal with the consequences, use your conscience..don't you hear I'm talking (I don't know what that means), you're being disrespectful...etc..etc.. it's hilarious to hear them speaking to each other like adults. They are actually playing better together now; they're favorite thing to do is play "Teacher" and they each get a turn being in charge...it's hilarious to listen to! I'm glad it's improved, there was a point there for awhile when Rob and I both were ready to ship them off to some kind of boarding school for squabbling siblings.

The other day we went out to the park for a girl's day and she actually let me take some pictures of her!! Enjoy! Oh, and Jakob has started composing his own songs on the piano (he doesn't know all the keys yet, but knows what sounds good to him and he'll play the same bars over and over...even sings along with new lyrics). We're working on writing it all down so I can't share his lyrics yet because he keeps changing them!

Football Madness

2008-09-12T10:52:00.005-04:00

We have officially gone football mad up in the Wisely house!! Rob switched from Dish to Direct TV in order to get NFL ticket (which plays every single game played all season) and because our area doesn't get NBC in hi-def and there was no way we were going to go another year watching Notre Dame on blurry non-hi def!! Everyone makes fun of us but seriously, when you have a 70-inch TV you need your HD!! Anyway, so because we get 800 channels or something like that there is some type of sports on every single day. We watch football all day Saturday, Sunday, Monday night, sometimes Thursdays....JEEZ!! But it's all good!

The kids are doing great in school, except Ella is up to her old tricks again. She's had a talking to for kissing boys again in school. I'm not sure what to do, apparently no amount of telling her she can't do that is helping. We'll see how it goes but I'm not ready to deal with this again! I think it's our fault because we are an incredibly affectionate family and we're always kissing and hugging, so she wants to show her friends affection too, but she doesn't know how to do it appropriately. And she just thinks she's above rules which doesn't help much!!

I also went up to Jakob's school to help out the teacher by making copies, putting together book orders, and decorate the 2nd grade bulletin board in the hall. A friend of mine whose son is in the same class went with me. We had a blast, but what was supposed to be about an hour of work turned into 5 hours because we were so anal about our bulletin board. We actually left to go to a teacher resources store to try to buy our way out of having to be creative (and of course spent way too much time there wanting to buy all sorts of fun classroom stuff even though neither one of us is a teacher) but had no luck...then of course one stop to taco cabana for breakfast tacos..but after that it was back to the school. The faculty was laughing at us because they couldn't believe how long we were there, including Jakob's teacher because we would bug her every 10 minutes with questions. She would laugh hysterically when she saw one of our faces smashed up against the glass on her door. Poor kids...we were a total distraction...not sure if she's going to have us back or not! Jakob loved it, but during recess and lunch, and one trip to the bathroom when he saw me he'd go "You're STILL here!" What can I say..I LOVE that stuff!!!

I told you I'd add pictures!! But I really haven't taken any in awhile, I'm getting burned out because I have about 50 I need to order still, 100 to process...it's annoying! I apologize for only taking pictures of Jakob in his uniform but that's about all I'm going to get until the season is over.

The boys had their first REAL game of the season last week against Pfleugerville and we beat them 42-0!!!! The other team never even got a first down...and they were supposed to be one of our toughest opponents!! I'm so proud of our boys. All that hard work really does pay off! I didn't take any pictures during the game because I'm pretty sure it was the hottest day in history and I was sweating way too much...next time...plus I need to convince Rob I need a new telephoto lens in order to get really good pictures!! :)

Updates

2008-09-04T11:04:00.008-04:00

Well, I don't have time to do much of anything but tend to the kids so I've been neglecting the blog and taking pictures lately. Just a few things that are going on to keep you in the know...

1. Rob broke his foot after football practice. Well, fractured (is that the same thing?) it. So once again, we were all worried about Jakob getting hurt and here we are, I got pounced in the face and Rob breaks an appendage. He rolled it after falling in a hole in the grass. So I have no cool sport story on how it happened. He's in a boot for a month and he's not listening to doc's orders of course to stay off it..he is afraid what will happen to HIS defense if he's not out there at practices and games.

2. Jakob has had more warnings and time out in the first couple of weeks of school than in his entire life....for TALKING! I knew the time would come, my mother in law said every single progress report and report card of Rob's came back with the same comment: Talks too much! So unfortunately Jakob is the same way, but we're going to nip it in the bud early! He just has this need to be the funny guy (sound familiar?) and has a hard time focusing and following directions. His teacher says not to worry..all kids are going through this as 2nd grade is a big transition, they do actual work now! Graded work...he brought home his first assignment and it was an A so I guess I can't complain too much.

3. Ella took quite a fall on the balance beam (bean as she calls it) right where it counts...OUCH!! If she had family jewels they would have been shattered. She is such a trooper. After crying a whole lot she got right back up and moved on to the next rotation of uneven bars. I'm considering sending her next time with Depends on...might not look attractive but who cares. Just kidding..I wouldn't do that to her, but I am keeping my options open.

She is also completely obsessed with asking about babies being born and the process of growing up. She can't stop asking "Whose belly did you come out of? Whose belly did Daddy come out of? Popo? Brady? How did you grow? How did you get to be in our house?"..it's hilarious. She also is into talking about God and how he made all of us. She asked "If God made me, and you, and Big Lion...how come he made Big Lion so he couldn't talk?" She's just the most curious little girl I've ever met...I'm having a hard time answering all her questions. Note to self: brush up on the bible, the family tree and medical journals.

And me...well, I started my new 2 day a week schedule and it's great so far, though I'm busier than ever with kid stuff. Between football, gymnastics, piano...I'm running every single day! Not complaining..just whining a little. I'll have pictures next time. I'm going to go wallow in self-pity for a little while, then slap myself silly when I realize that my life is PERFECT...why the hell am I complaining?? I think I may have multiple personalities.