Can you imagine if I was deranged?
Antarctica 35, Alaska 34, Moscow 26, North Pole 7, Waterloo… -9?!?!?!
So we’re sitting here and the KWWL News at 10 is on, and they reported on how cold is has been here in Iowa. Well, Kate got a little upset when they flashed this on the screen:
Somehow to Kate, that just doesn’t seem quite right.
OK, so here is the deal… I was updating our blog tonight, and I was deleting some plugins that we no longer use, and I accidentally deleted the subscription plugin. What that did was deleted all the email addresses we had stored for the subscriptions.
Kate and I went through our email contacts and added a bunch of people. Some of you were people who had been subscribed to our list before, some of you are new people that we have added.
If you are not interested in receiving these emails anymore, just go ahead and delete yourself from the list.
You can do that here: http://www.chrisandkatewheeler.com/subscribe/
Just enter your email address, click UNSUBSCRIBE, then click the SEND button.
If you want to keep getting these emails, just do nothing and they’ll come to you automatically. We only post about 2-4 times per week so its not like we’ll fill your inbox.
Thanks!
We hope this day finds you happy and healthy and enjoying friends and family!!!
Love,
The Wheelers
So, no, today is not Jacob or Elise’s birthdays, but this weekend we spent some time up in Ankeny celebrating their blessed arrivals in our lives! Unfortunately, I am a total doof and forgot to take my camera and get some pictures!
Friday we arrived just in time for the men (BLESS THEIR WONDERFUL AND AMAZING HEARTS) to load up the children that were not involved in the Pokemon party to see the Christmas light display that just decided NOT to be there beautiful countryside of outer Des Moines! Becca and I stayed back at home with Michael and Jacob and several of his friends to decorate Pokemon shirts that Becca so craftily made and eat Pizza and RED VELVET pokemon cake! Once the boys were gone, the men returned with the other children and we went about putting them to bed. Once they were in bed, the adults got to play some cards–YAY!
Saturday came, all too soon, and it was time for the men to yet again (SERIOUSLY, BLESS YOUR HEARTS!!) take the superfluous children to the yearly Iowa BBQ Society’s Tree Giveaway in Des Moines. Once again, Becca and I stayed behind to give 6 little girls pedicures and makeovers! After we dolled them up (or Speared them up… good gravy lol) it was time for the photo shoot! After that there was POKEMON cake LOL! Once THOSE children were gone, we played some more cards and tried to talk Josh into spending a relaxing evening at home, but being the incredibly good hearted man that he is, he talked most of us into attending the Ward Christmas Dinner. So, we braved loading all of the children plus one extra friend of Jacob’s into two cars and set off! After the dinner we came back and bantered about what we should do and decided that watching a movie might be nice, so we chose American Dreamz. It had some funny parts (“Ohhhh Poopie!”), but I would have to give it a big thumbs down otherwise… still it was fun to catch a movie with the Thraps! Once the movie was done there was an attempt to play some more cards, but we soon realized that kids up late+adults trying to play cards does NOT = smooth night lol! So, we all just called it a day and headed off to bed. Right before we fell asleep we checked the weather to see that there was a potential ice storm coming our way, so in the morning we gathered up our things, played ONE last ROOK game and set off for home!
As the kids get older and I get more tired these weekends take a lot out of everyone, however, it’s always great to get to spend time with loved ones so THANKS Thrap Family for hosting!
Yes, for whatever reason (gee, I don’t know, I guess we’re busy or something) our blogging has been less than active! Chris is in his second semester of nursing school and it is definitely keeping him on his toes. He’s started his clinicals for this rotation at Mercy Hospital and he was blessed to have most of his clinical mates from first semester with him again!
I am in my final year of graduate school and doing my advanced practicum at Four Oaks. It is a wonderful placement and I am so excited for the work I get to be doing! I sincerely never thought that working in a therapeutic setting with children was something that I would be doing, but I am loving it. It keeps me busy working 3 full days a week and classes on top of that.
Michael has been so busy this fall! He’s been in cub scouts as a BEAR! He’s been working hard and enjoying spending time with his friends at Church. He’s also been working weekly with some new friends at the Children’s Center for Therapy. He looks forward to this every week and feels like he is making some excellent progress. School has been going fairly well. He’s made some new friends this year and GASP, even misses school on the weekends!
Audrey is doing great in school too! She enjoys her teachers and has been doing well on her spelling and math. We were hoping to get she and Michael into Tae Kwon Doe this semester, but our schedule’s just didn’t have any give. We’re hopeful that the spring semester opens up a little and that maybe we will be able to have a few more extra-curricular activities for the kids!
As for the pregnancy test, it was not mine of course, but a friend of mine who with her husband has been trying to get pregnant for years. Happily, last month they found out that they are finally with child and we couldn’t be happier!
Thanks so much for keeping up with us! I will try to get a little more blogging in from time to time!
Well, the kids have had several fun family activities lately and I didn’t post them on the blog because I did not have pictures, but the kids had such great fun so I am posting about it anyway!
First was their fun day out with my Nikki, a friend of our family! Nikki took great care to get all the foods I said they would like! So on the menu was pb&j sandwiches, sun chips, and root beer! So Nikki took both kids on a picnic and then off to the North Liberty Aquatic Center for a fun filled afternoon of swimming! She reported that the kids had a great time and were mostly behaved! Thanks Nikki!!!
Second was their fun weekend with Aunt Sue, Uncle Pat, and Grandpa Wheeler! We dropped the kids off on Friday night and stayed for dinner and some euchre (the girls lost AGAIN…ugh), then the kids happily sent us on our way so they could have Aunt Sue all to their selves! Saturday, Michael helped Grandpa and Uncle Pat take some furniture to Great-Grandma Marje while Audrey had girl time with Aunt Sue! After they did that then they went to visit some friends in Eldridge where they had a great time playing with their kids and playing at the park with the SUPERHEROES! That’s right, apparently the drama club was having a scavenger hunt where they were dressed up as superheroes! After all that Aunt Sue reported that the kids were completely tuckered out and ready for bed. They will be coming back home tonight, and while it was nice to have some time with just me and
Chris, I really, really missed them!
I know it’s late, but it was such a fun day and such cute pictures, I had to post about it! So, my mom had brought up this idea to me after Chris’s graduation party when my cousin Will brought some of his kids to the party and they wanted to ride. My mom thought it would be super fun to have my kids and Will and Callie’s kids come for a day of FUN on the Staley Farm! I thought this sounded like a fabulous idea, so the plans were made!
The BEAUTIFUL day arrived (seriously, it was SO nice that day) and the kids and I arrived to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. We were a little late, but relieved to hear that Callie was running late too, so I didn’t look as bad! Soon the troops arrived! They were decked out to the NINES!!! Everyone seemed to have some sort of “horsey” paraphanalia and I felt kind of bad that my kids only had blue jeans and sneakers on!
Our first order of business was RIDING of course! We gathered up the horses and headed up to the arena where the kids had to brush the horses off and saddle them up! For probably an hour and a half the kids took turns riding horses and complimenting each other (Thanks, Michael) on a job well done! After awhile a large portion of the children started speaking of the immense hunger that they were experiencing so Grandma/Aunt Linda went and started the BONFIRE for our hot dogs and SMORES! The kids were excited to cook their own hot dogs around the campfire, while the adults found the bonfire fun, but very hot!
After lunch, Aunt Linda/Grandma got out the hose and let the kids play in the water for awhile before starting the next phase of Cousin Kamp which was tie-dying t-shirts and scrapbooking! Each of the kids got to tie-dye their own t-shirt with the help of the AMAZING Callie (check the link above to get your OWN shirt) and make their own scrapbook!
The kids had SO much fun! And of course… I have pictures!
Audrey and Grandma/Aunt Linda discussing the plans for the day…
Audrey, Alex (One of the 4-H Helpers) and Audrey cut out the boards for the scrapbooks…
The Valets ARRIVE all decked out…
Grandma/Aunt Linda talking to the kids about how to behave around the horses…
Will having a talk with Sy…
Brandon and Aunt Linda cleaning Sy’s feet…
Nora and Michael cleaning Ruby’s feet…
The well designed and safe saddle held on by twine…
Brandon riding around the arena in Ruby…
Isabelle riding Ruby (ALL by HERSELF!)…
Gabby on Ruby…
Michael and Brandon on the “compliment chair”…
Michael riding Sy…
Lunchtime!!!
Playing with the water…
Tie-Dying!!!! (forgive me if I’m spelling that wrong lol)…
Scrapbooking!!!
It was such a FUN day and I look forward to Cousin Kamp 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, I am behind on blog posts… soon to come is “Cousin Kamp” and “Nasa exhibit” (I’m sure you will be waiting on baited breath lol). However, today is the first day of school so I must post WITH pictures because Becca has set the bar for me with her beautiful pictures of her adorable kids.
Michael going into FOURTH GRADE
Audrey going into Second Grade
Tank (Michael’s friend from school who we’ve been carpooling with since Kindergarten)
All three heading off…
I was a little verklempt as they ran off to school today but I think it is because this is a big year and a half coming up for us and things are so unknown. I will miss this summer where I got to spend a great deal of time with my kids, enjoying them, doing fun things with them, spending time with our friends, and just being together. And, even though I will miss them and love them, it is SO nice to say,” I’m free between 8 and 2:30, my kids are both in school.” 
So, we’ve been fairly busy lately… the week before last the kids and I spent a week at the Thraps house and had lots of fun as you can see on their blog. We returned Friday morning and then Saturday spent time with my nieces and nephew at my parents house… just lotsssssssss of stuff going on. Monday and Tuesday were our “vacation” days. Sweet Cousin (or as the kids call her, Aunt Sue) Sue had invited us to come visit so that she could take the kids to the zoo and the children’s museum! Before we headed up there though we stopped to see Kurt and Missy and play some Guitar Hero!
Then we headed up to Aunt Sue’s (and Pat of course 
). Sue’s main goal for the short time we were there was to spoil my children rotten to the core! Audrey and Michael were LOVING the special attention. First, she gave Audrey the spare bedroom and deemed it the “Princess Room”
It was a cute room with a daybed and a TV (complete with a stack of children’s movies)! After rooms were handed out, Audrey, Michael, and Aunt Sue poured over their scrapbooks 
during which Aunt Sue exclaimed at almost every page how the children got cuter and cuter! After the scrapbooks were looked at (and MORE than adequately swooned over) Aunt Sue picked up on Chris’s subtle desire/obsession for Harris Pizza and decided to order in for dinner…
and, as though it could get better… THEN Sue and Pat revealed that they love EUCHRE! The children were put to bed (don’t worry, not REALLY to bed, Aunt Sue would have none of that… the only rule at Aunt Sue’s house is that there is no rules, which of course takes care of bedtime) and the adults played EUCHRE! The girls kicked butt on the first game, but sadly the last two games the guys took it… but we had fun anyway!
The next day we got ready for a full day of fun! First stop was Naibi Zoo in Coal Valley, IL 
The kids enjoyed the Koi pond where Aunt Sue supplied them with lots of quarters to buy the fish/duck food 
Then we prepared for the train ride around the Zoo 
it was Audrey’s big hope that she and Aunt Sue would snag a back seat on the train, but sadly they were beat by another couple! They still found a good spot! I sat by Chris and Michael rode with Grandpa Wheeler 
We enjoyed a leisurely ride around the zoo until the scary tunnel… everyone kept it together except for Chris 
luckily he survived and moved on! Next up was the petting zoo which everyone loved…
Aunt Sue had to run a quick errand so Grandpa Wheeler led the way into the Australian Walkabout 
where we saw Kangaroos and Dingos! Then we made our way into the Aviary where someone handed Michael a cup of nectar to feed to the birds… this enticed a bird to LAND on Chris and enjoy the snack. This is Chris’s pirate face 
don’t worry, he won’t give up his day job!
Then it was on to Africa 
where we saw a Giraffe trying to do the SPLITS 
so he could reach the yummy grass!
Near the lions, poor Audrey got tired 
and hungry 
so we stopped at the Desert Oasis for a quick snack and break! On the way back to the front of the zoo we spotted a misting fan 
and the kids (and Chris) enjoyed a quick jaunt in front of the fan to cool off. As we made our way to the front of the zoo to leave, Chris decided his tootsies needed some pampering so he had a seat and let the foot massaging chair do its $0.25 job 
but to his horror it TICKLED! He could NOT stop giggling the entire time and EVERYONE around us was staring at him! Luckily, we were ready to leave the zoo and rejoin Aunt Sue back at the house for lunch! After lunch Aunt Sue, the kids, and I set off for the Children’s Museum! Once we got there, we realized we only had one hour to play because we had to get back for Grandpa Staley’s birthday dinner (Happy Birthday DAD!!!). We checked in 
and then set out to discover all the fun stuff! There was SO much to do including the centrifugal ride 
and the kids’ favorite the Magic Mirrors Room! Sadly, my camera’s battery had given out on me after a loooooooooooooong day of picture taking at the zoo!
After the museum, we headed back to Sue and Pat’s house to pick up Chris to head home. Audrey was beside herself with sadness, she just did not want to LEAVE! I had to PROMISE that I would let her and Michael come back again sometime WITHOUT me and Chris so that she and Michael could have Aunt Sue all to themselves! We were sad to leave too, but we sure had a fun time!
So in the past few days, Kate has been to Wal-Mart, as well the three different Hy-Vees in town, and apparently NONE of them have any pork rinds in stock… very disappointing.
