Puppy Playdate

Our neighbor friends Lelin and Sterling have been helping us break in the new playroom and recently brought their dog Sparkles along for a playdate. Sparkles is phenomenally tolerant...as you can see from the video clip below. She was bounced in Mia's Jumparoo and spun around and around in the spinning chairs. I think she actually enjoyed it ~ so cute!

Happy Halloween!

So the original plan was to dress the family as the Flintstones. That plan was scrapped when Carson very strongly stated he was going to be a fireman for Halloween. Plan B: "The Wilbur Fire Department" Carson was the firefighter, Mia the dalmation, Daddy the Firechief and I was firemomma. My mom and I decked out the double stroller in felt details and the kids hopped on and trick or treated the night away as the Firechief pushed and pushed and pushed. We visited our neighbors at the annual Halloween block party, then headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's. It was very nostalgic trick or treating the same houses I did as a kid. It was a lot of fun for Carson this year, he really got into the spirit of the holiday and Mia was a trooper in her costume on an unseasonably warm night.

Storybook Character Day

At Carson's school, all of the kids dressed up like their favorite storybook character for Halloween. Being a big Dr. Seuss fan, The Cat in the Hat, was a natural choice. The kids entertained the guests, then went outside for treats and playtime.

The Cat in the Hat!



Back at home, Mia (Thing 2) enjoyed listening to Carson's story time.

Pumpkin Patch

Our little pumpkin!

We met up with our neighbor girlfriends for some pumpkin patch playtime.

You can't tell from this picture, but Carson was such a very bad boy the he should have been banned for life from the pumpkin patch. Well, the pumpkins do look alot like balls and we were outside. Needless to say, there were a few casualties in the patch. Good thing those sweet folks at Heritage United Methodist are very forgiving!

Halloween Horror Nights

All of us girls met up a few weekends ago for the annual Halloween Horror Nights adventure. It was especially awesome because all seven of us girls were escorted by Rich (Karina's sweetie and a top exec. at Universal.) It was like going to the Chocolate Factory with Willie Wonka himself! We entered the haunted houses in ways you wouldn't even know about, without a minute of a wait. The average wait time in each of the eight houses was at least 90 minutes! Talk about being completely spoiled forever. We felt like celebrities :-) It was pretty scary and very cool. After that we went to the Red Coconut to shake our stuff. Too much fun.

Vette Magazine Features The Blue Beast!

After all of the extreme tweaking the Corvette has had inside and out, Greg was approached by Vette magazine to have his featured in the December issue. It is now on national news stands (Barnes and Noble has it) or you can check it out online at http://www.vetteweb.com/features/vemp_0912_2006_chevrolet_corvette_z06/index.html

Mia's Third Quarter Review

Time to put my HR hat back on and give a quick evaluation of Mia's third quarter: months seven, eight and nine:

At seven months, Mia has become a key player in the Wilbur house. She is fun-loving and enjoys getting out of the house to experience new sights and sounds. Her fine motor skills are quite accurate and strong ~ she can find a crumb of a crumb of a crumb on the floor and she can grab a handful of her brother's hair and won't let go without taking a few stands with her. Though still a novice eater, she manages to get more puree in her mouth than everywhere else and she finds giving us the raspberries with a mouthful of carrots quite hilarious.

She is improving daily on her physicality. She can sit up all by herself without falling down...look, Ma ~ no hands! Her favorite toys are her Jumparoo, Carson's toy cars, and little board books.

Not easily discouraged by the difficulty of learning to crawl, by the end of month six, Mia can pull up into the rocking position...she will crawl before long!

Mia is also eager to help out where needed. She likes to help her Mommy in the yard and is also a lovely addition to the garden...click the arrow below for a video.

In her eighth month, Mia conquered many milestones. She started crawling, imitating sounds and perfected the art of the scowl. Baby fruit puffs are her new obsession...they make going to a restaurant a whole different experience for the family. Fruit puffs = happy baby. This month, she also pulled up all by herself to sit in her crib...the next day, we found her standing in her crib. Uh-oh!
Good thing Daddy came home that very day. He was able to lower the crib before she made her escape!!!

Mia caught a pretty bad upper respiratory infection with a weazing cough. We got through it with the help of nebulizer treatments and antibiotics. She could have been a poster child for the breathing treatments, but swallowing medicine was a battle and a half.

Mia always presents herself in the cutest of baby attire. She has a fondness for hair bows and girlie gear. Mia gave us quite a fashion show wearing just feathers and cuteness...crawling the red carpet just may be the newest craze. Work it, girl!

Nine moths old now, Mia is growing by leaps and bounds. She can pull herself up and walk around holding on to furniture. Give her your hands and she will run! She is way too busy for naps and quite literally will fall asleep sitting or even standing up in her crib. Click the arrow below for a video clip of this amazing skill...

Mia happily utilizes pre-loved resources. Carson's little push car is now Mia's favorite mode of transportation. She adores cruising the neighborhood and spinning through the water park in her new wheels.

Mia is eager to learn new things. She is currently enrolled in a baby sign language class at the library. She can also blow kisses, wave bye-bye, and show us how big she is by putting both hands high in the air.

Mia is very self motivated. Within days of learning how to crawl, she took it upon herself to open the doors to the entertainment center and rearrange our DVD collection.

It has been a wonderful third quarter for our little girl and we look forward to many happy reviews in the future!

Summer of 2009 ~ Carson

Our sweet little prince...now 3 1/2 years old and such a love. Here he is ready for "Prince and Princess Day" at school. At last check, he was 36 lbs and 40 1/2 inches tall. His top ten list: the twins girls next door, the movie Cars, toy monster trucks, spaghetti and meatballs, Saturday mornings with his daddy, smacking a baseball, the water park in Dunedin, Phinneus and Ferb (a Disney TV show), his binkie and blanket. The big news of the summer is he is 100% daytime potty trained...YIPPPPEEEEEE!!!!

Funniest thing he said recently: I made him a crispy taco with beef and cheese and put it in front of him at the table. He responded, "No thank you. I don't want a chip sandwich, just the chips please!"

First day of school at Ivy Prep Learning Center. We decided to make the switch to this awesome school after attending private academic tutoring here over the summer. It is such a loving and fun learning environment and he really loves it there.

Carson really honed his skills in the water this summer.

Gymnastics...a great place to burn some serious energy!

Popcorn: check. Soda: check. Lollipop: check. 3-D glasses: check.
Ready to experience "Toy Story" in 3-D...loved it!

Blog Break

Well, it seems that I have taken a summer vacation from blogging and it is definitely time to catch up on some happenings! We filled our summer days with lots of fun stuff...I'll just let the pictures tell most of the story...

Now that the entire family is outfitted with wheels, we have been hitting the road for bike rides with the kiddos. Carson trails behind Greg on a crazy cool 1/2 bike and Mia rides behind me in a baby seat. Our favorite ride is on Saturday mornings to an awesome little breakfast place for fresh OJ, egg sandwiches and homemade pastries...then we ride a little more ;-)

Mia seems to really enjoy her little spot on the back of my bike. She never seems to complain anyway...

Maybe that's because she sleeps almost the entire time!!!

We beat the summer heat at our new favorite place...the Dunedin Sprayground.


Hangin' with Daddy.

Having fun at a MOPS playdate.

Hey, this floor has sprung a leak!

It's the newest craze...

We loved spending our summer evenings on the beach...it's just too crazy hot during the daytime hours (especially for Mia.) We met up with Aunt Andi and Aunt Becky at Fort DeSoto to check out the newest, coolest way to get a serious core workout, hang out with dolphins and get a great tan. It's called paddleboarding and Andi is hooked!

Carson loved trying out his skills on the board...he is such a little beach bum.

Oooh, what a pretty sunset!

Click here for a photoshow of our paddleboarding adventure:

http://www.photoshow.com/watch/Jq5Ac7FZ

More summer fun

We spent a couple of days at Disney with friends from Texas. It was such fun for the kids and we saw things this time that we missed the last. We even had breakfast with some of the Disney characters...who is the biggest kid of all?

Magic Carpet ride...where's the nitrous on this thing?

A big splash at Typhoon Lagoon

My brother went to Disney World
and all I got were these silly ears!

We spent a lot of time in the pool this summer too.

Another fave destination...the Hands On Children's Museum.

Bye-bye pink bathroom!

We spent a few weeks this summer remodeling my parent's bathroom (circa 196o's.) It was a bittersweet moment prior to the demolition hammer's first swing. After all, this is the bathroom I learned how to potty train in, got ready for my prom in, and could position the three mirrors to get a perfect view of the back of my head.

This bathroom served us well...all seven kids and Mom too. Countless showers, flushes and arguments over who goes next in line!

The cabinetry came from Ikea. Very cute and economical too. The only problem is you have to assemble it with these crazy picture instructions. At times it was very frustrating, but Greg and Dad managed to get it all together.

Can we fix it? Yes we can!

Ta-dah!!! Mom is in love with her new bathroom with stylish grab bars, extra tall sparkling toilet and pretty onyx mosaic tile accents. She says she spends more time than she needs to in there just because she loves it so much!