Catching up!!!

To all my fellow bloggers and blog followers (yes that is you Maria and Nicole), I am so sorry for neglecting my blog. The last three months have been extremely busy for the Wilkins household. So we've got some catching up to do. What's been going on with us:

Riley has been hard at work with his apprenticeship with Avista. He had the summer off but now is busy back at school on some Saturdays and some evenings during the week. He's been working out of town a lot lately, so he's only been home on the weekends. He just took a huge vacation and went to hunting camp with my brother-in-law Rod and his friend Mike. Although they had a great time hunting, Riley still has yet to get an elk or deer. I'm sure he's postponing shooting something so he can still go out every weekend until hunting season is over :)

As for me, I've been busy being a mom and working. I work about 37 hours a week at Lake City Surgeons and the other 131 hours a week being a mom. I got to take a trip to Seattle about a month or so ago for work. It was a great conference and I also got to go to a Seattle Mariner's game while I was there. First time for me in Safeco Stadium, so it was pretty exciting.

Well, Cole's been busy being a 4.5 year old. He's back in preschool for his second year. He's so much more outgoing this year and is learing lots. Although there are some things I wish he wouldn't learn. We've been trying to work on our manners and not talking naughty(so hard for a little boy). He loves playing dress up and his favorite toys right now are his gun and knife(go figure).


Finley's busy doing what 1.5 year olds do. He loves trying to keep up with his big brother. He is my little monster that likes to run, and I mean run, from room to room destroying things, pulling things off shelves and out of cupboards. He rarely will sit down and play with them, just likes making a mess. He's just starting getting a little pickier about the foods he will eat and in the last week has actually started throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his way. Not really sure how to react to that since Cole never through tantrums. Most of the time he's a pretty good little guy.

Happy Birthday Finley

Sunday was Finley's first birthday. I can't believe how fast a year goes by. He is so much fun. Crawling all over the place, trying to walk, trying to keep up with big brother. He loves food. For the most part, he is a pretty happy baby. Loves to push cars around and make the vroom vroom sound, says mom and dad, and claps.

We had his birthday party on Saturday in our backyard. My mom and dad and sister Kristin with her baby Brodie came as well as our neighbors David and Stephnie and their two boys Cory and Blake. It was a really nice day. We set up the pool and Blake and Cole spent most of their time there. Finn just had fun being outside eating his two cupcakes, which later caused him to puke all over his crib when he went to bed. But, I'm sure he'd say it was all worth it. Happy birthday baby.

learning T-ball

So my boss is taking all of his employees to Avista Stadium in Spokane to watch and Indians game this next Wednesday. Family is invited, so I thought Cole should get some practicing in. I bought his this T-ball set today and he's doing pretty good already.

Silverwood

Silverwood was a blast. My good friends Rick and Nicole and their boys Dallon on Todd came to our house Friday afternoon. The boys played outside riding their bikes and swinging most of the evening. Saturday morning we got up bright and early. I had to make the big boys breakfast in order to pursade them to get out of bed and get going so we could get out of the house by 9:00 am to get to Silverwood. First we rode the big train. Then we headed to the rides. Cole was so good. He rode every possible ride he could for his age, which is a huge improvement from last year, since he wouldn't get on one. Then we headed to the waterpark for lunch and swimming. Dallon was pretty much glued to the red slide. Cole did a little expiramenting with his dad. He didn't much care for the yellow slide. I think it was a little too big for him. Rick and Riley stole away as much time as possible to head to the adult waterslides. They had a great time. Then it was back to the rides and back to the waterpark and then back to the rides. We were exhaused by the end of the day, but totally worth it. Cole keeps asking when we are going back. Thanks again Rick and Nicole for sharing Silverwood with us.

Happy 4th of July

We had a great 4th of July with the kids. This was Finley's 1st 4th of July. We went to Riley's family cabin up at Three Rivers. We had so much fun. Cole got to bring his 4-wheeler and what a show-off he is. He was riding with one knee on the seat yelling at his girl cousins "sound good, right on, and heck yah." We played down at the beach and the kids had a blast. Cole got his first experience swimming in the river and Finn had a great time eating sand. Saturday night we went out to Three Rivers and watched the fireworks show over the river. Cole thought the sparklers were pretty amazing.

Trip to Cascade

So over Memorial Day weekend, Riley and I thought it would be a great time to take a few extra days off and make the long trip to Cascade to do some work on our house. Yes, we still have that house. We have renters in our house, Andrew and Brittany and their two children. How strange is this, but like us, they have two boys, almost identical in age to Cole and Finn. We pitched a tent in the front yard as to try and not intrude too much on our renters, who by the way were very hospitable. I was very thankful for Brittany letting me shower and use the bathroom. I told Riley that if I was going to have to use the outhouse, he was going to have to remove the spiders from their home.

Well Cole had a blast. He had a little buddy, Ian, to play with the entire weekend. He was pretty much covered in dirt the entire weekend. We had great weather and got quite a bit of work done. Riley had two loads of gravel brought in to smooth out the driveway, which the kids thought was their own personal playground. Cole was a little disappointed when Riley took the dirt away, but did have fun on the backhoe helping out. I got the flower beds weeded and looking good. Riley started building a walkpath from the backyard down to the river. It's going to be amazing when he gets it done. Now we just need somebody to buy the house. Let me know if you're interested, I'll cut you a great deal. LOL!!!

Thanks again Andrew and Brittany for all your hospitality.

Cole's preschool music program

So last week I got to go to Cole's preschool and watch their music program. Since school is almost over, they wanted to show the parents what songs the kids has learned this year. After watching, I'm not sure Cole learned any. As you can see from the pictures, he pretty much just sat there trying to look invisible. I definitely don't think I have an actor on my hands. Oh well, I guess he'll have to be a surgeon.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mother and all you other mothers out there. I have to say I had a pretty good day. Cole made me a mug and gave me some tea that his preschool put together. Riley let me sleep in and he got up with the kids. He went to the store first thing and got me a hanging flower plant just like I asked for and then came back and made me breakfast. He did a bunch of yard work and I just relaxed most of the day. I had planned on finishing Twilight, but I just couldn't stand it and stayed up until 12:30 Saturday night to finish it. I can't wait to get started on the second one.

My kids Rock

Aren't they adorable!!!

Birthday Party

So one of Cole's preschool friends has his birthday party this weekend and the kids got to dress up as their favorite superhero. Thank goodness Cole was spiderman for Halloween. It was the biggest birthday party for a five year old I've ever been too. They had a huge bouncy house that all the kids loved and enough food for an army. Too bad my son had to throw a fit when it was time to go. He apparently wasn't ready and I got to carry him out kicking and screaming infront of everybody. I was a little mortified, especially since he goes to school with a bunch of the kids that were there. I'm sure all the moms were either laughing at the situation because they've been there themselves or talking about me behind my back. Either way, Cole got a spanking when we got to the car and a nap when we got home.

Rainy weekend at home

Well we had a pretty good weekend. Saturday was actually pretty nice when the wind wasn't blowing. We got up early and went to Winco over in Spokane. I'm very excited that they opened one up over there. It really does save money grocery shopping there. At 11:00 I took the boys to the park and met one of Cole's preschool friends there for a playdate and picnic. That afternoon while the boys were sleeping Riley and I moved the lawn just in time for the rain to come down. We watched Australia Saturday night. It was a very good movie. Sunday was pretty rainy. Besides leaving the house for Cole to get his hair cut, we pretty much stayed indoors. Cole and I built him a fort in the living room while Finn took his nap. Hope everyone else had a good weekend too.

Happy Easter

We had a great Easter. Cole was so excited. He told me "Mom, I can't believe how good the Easter bunny was to me". That made me feel really good. He got money and candy, so he's a very happy boy. He loved coloring the Easter eggs, but got upset with me when I went to make deviled eggs out of them. He didn't understand why I was ruining his eggs he colored. We had our friends Trevor and Tina and their kids over for Easter dinner. It was a really nice day.

Welcoming Brodie

My sister Kristin finally had her baby last night, a little after 7:00 p.m. She'd been in labor since 1:30 a.m. so it was a very long day for her. Her doctor finally decided she needed to have a C-section. Thank goodness. Brodie Joseph weighed in at 10lb7oz, 22.5 inches long. He's definitely a healthy little guy. Hopefully I'll have pictures to post soon.

Triple Play

Monday after work; the boys and I met Adrian, her mom and the kids at Triple Play in Coeur d'Alene for a fun afternoon of swimming. Fallon's on spring break, so Adrian took the kids for a little vacation. Triple Play is a hotel with an indoor swimming pool with slides and tunnels, and lots of other games for the kids to play. Cole had a blast swimming. He was going down the slides all by himself, which is a huge improvement from last year. Finley was just conent hanging out by the pool naked in the stroller. After two hours of swimming, which I was completely drained, we went to dinner at Tomato Street. It's a fun little Italian restaurant where the kids can color on the tables and play with playdoh. Thanks for a good time Adrian.

So we had a nice weekend staying at home. It's been pretty rainy here all weekend, so we've just been hanging around the house. Saturday we got a break in the rain so we went outside and flew our kites. Cole really likes that, especially since he kept getting his kite to go higher than Riley's. Riley also bought him a cap gun, so he had fun playing with that, although they were playing with it in the house and it makes a huge mess.

So Finn is crawling now. He can pretty much get anywhere he wants to go. He knows exactly where to go to get into Cole's room now, which sometimes is not always the best thing. Cole is trying to be more patient with him though. Now we just have to make sure all the little toys are picked up off the ground. He's some pictures from the weekend.

As promised, pictures of Cole's 4th birthday party. I know, I know, I'm not doing a very good job of keeping updated posts. I'll try to be more up-to-date.

Happy Birthday Cole!!!

So yesterday was Cole's 4th birthday. He had a great day. He got to take cupcakes to preschool and got special treatment at school that day. He got to wear a special star sticker and be first in line for the day. He got pretty spoiled. My parents got him a spiderman scooter that he's been riding all over the house. He also got a WWII tank with some little guns that he loves. I'll post pictures this weekend after his birthday party with his little friends.

So being 4 is pretty cool. He's in preschool three days a week. He loves doing school work, can write his name, knows all his ABC's, and can count to 10. He's a pretty good big brother and is trying to teach Finn everything he knows. If only he could get him to go bear hunting with him. He told my mom on the phone yesterday that he was growing up and when I asked him for a kiss before I left preschool yesterday, he looked right at me and said "no thank you mom"!!! I wasn't quite ready for that.

New to the blogging world!!!

Hello friends and family, my sister has finally suckered me into this whole blogging world. I will do my best to keep up with current articles and pictures. My sister Maria and her husband Rod and son Caden came in on Friday and are with us until Tuesday. We have been having a great time visiting and playing with the boys. The boys have been quite the handful these past few days, they tend to fight more than they enjoy playing together. Cole is really into pretend playing and knows exactly how he wants things played out. Caden on the other hand is a bit more lax and enjoys wrecking Cole's creations and doesn't quite get the "pretend play". They have had a few good moments, but for the most part, Maria and I have been at a constant battle of time out's and lot of crying. We both have headaches! I was able to crack open a few beers to relax myself, Maria on the other hand, had a regular Pepsi! Here are a few pictures of Cole and Caden playing with the kites we bought them, Cole's was Spiderman and Caden's was the Cars. They really enjoyed playing with them.