Help!

Um, yes. 911? I need a spot of help. My foot is stuck in the mailbox!!

Still sparkly shoes

Selah has dressed herself in quite the outfit today- a too-small sweatshirt of mine that she likes to wear as a dress, one of my necklaces, and of course, the sparkly shoes.

Give the girl some sparkle...

And she's happy as can be. She can't seem to take these shoes off. I was mean and said she couldn't wear them to bed. And then I said she couldn't even take then to bed. Worst though, was telling her she couldn't wear them outside to play. Poor Selah. She just loves her sparkly shoes. Maybe I'll cave and buy her a second pair so she can play in one...

Just me and my dad

I didn't get the good pic because the flash made him move. But it's still sweet.

~Sarah

Fish!!!

Noah asked if we could break the top and go fishing. I guess they look tasty. We are, once again, at the pediatrician's...that's 3 down with strep again. And we have a chest cold making its way through the family, too. What a winter.

Never Underestimate the Power of New Shoes

Selah: Mommy, can you cut the tag off of my shoes?
Me: Selah, you can't wear your new shoes to play at soccer.
Selah: yes, Mommy.

A minute later I walk into the kitchen and take this photo.
Me: Selah! What are you doing??
Selah: trying to get scissors to cut the tag off my shoes!
Me: what happened to your clothes?
Selah: I was changing for soccer and I needed to put my shoes on.

Pants are optional. Shoes are essential. Got it.

~Sarah

Noah's cake

Noah was very excited to eat cake today, though it wasn't quite as exciting as making his first communion, of course.

Tomato tea

Elijah made himself some tomato tea. He says don't knock it until you've tried it!

Just Selah

A rare opportunity to take pictures during Mass today...this is typical Selah. Practicing her water dog routine.

The Group

Selah and Her Godparents

Caught a quick picture of Selah with her godparents today at Noah's Mass. Not the best picture of Selah, but a great one of Mr Eric and Mrs Tammy!

As Good As it Gets

At least for now, that was the best we could get of all the kids. At least they're all accounted for.

Noah's First Communion

Noah said it wasn't as great as he expected, it was EVEN GREATER!

Growth Vhart

~Sarah

The Artist

Jonah and Noah have been begging for sketch pads for s while now, and I finally remembered to buy some for Easter. Here's a.picture of Noah showing his great grandma (GG) the sketch he did of her. I do believe she was impressed rather than horrified, though it is difficult to surmise from the picture.

Money, money, money

While cutting Noah's hair today:
N: how'd you get to be so good at cutting hair, mom?
Me: well, I'm no professional, but I get lots of practice.
N: what's a professional?
Me: someone who does something for a living, generally speaking.
N: so someone who cuts hair in a salon is a professional?
Me : affirmative.
N: I think you are really good at it and should get a job in a hair salon! That'd be awesome!
Me: I don't think you'd Like that, you'd have to go to daycare.
N: no, I'd just go to school. And I like school. Plus, school isn't that bad, you and dad went to school! And they get to have gym class.
Me: you're right, school isn't necessarily bad. But you'd probably have to go to school and daycare. And if you'd like to go to school, that can probably be arranged. I don't need a job for that.
N:I only would go to school if you went to work. Definitely not if you were home.
Me: why's that?
N: well, I just want you to work so we can have more money. Otherwise, I want to stay at home and do school.

Entrepreneur Noah, Finding  money every where he looks, even in my hidden "talents." (For the record, I don't think my hair cutting skills are anything I'd share with anyone other than my family or someone really desperate. That was not taught in any of my college classes!)

Squirt guns

After realizing Selah disappeared...
Me: Selah! Where are you?
(Hear door open, then close. Selah comes walking down the hallway...)
S: Hi, Mom.
Me: Hi, Mom? What were you doing in the bathroom?
S: Oh, I was just pretending to wash the walls with a squirt gun. But if you don't want me to do that, I won't do that again.
Me: I definitely don't want you to do that again, so I'd appreciate that.
S: Okay, Mom. It's just that I REALLY like to play with squirt guns.
Me: And you can. OUTSIDE.

~Sarah

Reading Time

Elijah was"reading" while I made the bed. Daddy's chair that grandma Wilhelm made when he was little is the perfect size for him. He's growing up, and if he grew some hair, you might even be able to tell!

More Snow

As we drive home, we have heard Detroit broke the previous snow record from 1880, and we have hit more than 96 inches of snow. Because it snowed today. And as we progress north through Ohio, we are staying to see evidence of this snow. First we saw cars with in, while still in Kentucky, and now we see it still on the ground. We are ready for summer, here at the Wilhelm house!

Fun in the Water Zone!

That's one wet kid. And it was snowing as we drove up. It's going to be a cold walk to the car!

Manual Labor

I did manage to convince him to allow someone else the controls and try a little manual labor on for size. Don't worry, he was barking commands as he shoveled. A follow he is not.

More Water!

Noah is ordering his workers to bring more water to fill the newly dammed area.

This Wet Hair?

I stuck it in the water, like Jonah did.

What a great example our 12 year old is for our 5 year old!

Constructing, Of Course

Noah disappeared and I went looking for him. I was not having any luck, then I saw a sign for the building zone. An aha moment followed and around the corner, I found Noah. Giving commands,  attempting to run a construction site. That's Noah.

Leave the Ball Section?

WHY???

People Always Ask

Well they ask a lot of things. Like:
"Are they ALL yours?"
"How do you do it?"
"Don't you just want to run away?"
"How can you possibly afford all those kids?"

And I answer
Yes.
Prayer.
Some days.
By not buying into the lies of our culture. Neither the kids nor we need nearly as much stuff or money as our culture makes it seem. Or as much entertainment.

But we do utilize entertainment for one specific question.
"How can you travel with them and not lose your mind?"
I present to you the Wii, and movies. Our kid have very limited screen time, so getting to watch movies or play video games in the car makes for some generally peaceful trips. Noah and Selah are watching a Flintstone kids movie. Jonah and Micah are playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Elijah is napping. No, this peace won't last forever, but it makes the trip bearable since they have quiet spurts intermixed with the fighting, whining, and crying.

Option 3

If options 1&2 are not feasible, I won't turn away option 3. The 2013 used in advertising. While it's a distant 3rd, and needs a paint job, I'll still happily accept this as a birthday gift.

Option 2

I now present option 2. 1962. Gorgeous. Probably not quite as fast as Option 1. But I'll happily write a nice thank you note if you buy it for me.

Option 1

Looking for a birthday present for me? May I present option 1.
Cyber grey 2014 sting Ray. This one was custom made for a raffle winner, to be picked up yesterday. I was tempted to buy a ticket, a friend from high school won back in the fall. And there were 10 winners picking up yesterday. Only a 1/1000 chance! Sadly, I didn't have the$200 for the ticket.

Dr Wilhelm and Brothers Car Repair

Does your car need some love? Bring it on by, the Wilhelms will be happy to share some of their brotherly (and sisterly) love with it! Reasonable rates, and family entertainment included!

Better chances

Micah figures he's more likely to drive a Corvette at 16... He has almost 12 years to save up. Plus, it's far more likely that mom will have one that he can borrow by then!

Job Hunting

Someone is trying to figure out how he can save up 60K in the next 3.5 years. A pretty sweet ride for 16 year old...

Souvenir?

Mom! Dad! I didn't get a souvenir at the caves...I think I'll take this fir a souvenir!

Feelings of Hopelessness

I don't think the future if this Corvette is very promising. Must have been at the bottom if the pile. Crash test results looked pretty good for them, at least comparatively, so stick with crashing your Corvette into a brick wall rather than into a sinkhole.

Heartbreaking view

Checking out the room at the corvette museum that contains the sinkhole was pretty crazy. Seeing the cars that had been pulled out was downright heartbreaking.

Perfect for Polo

The kids learned Marco Polo on this trip. It was a great poll for it since they could sneak outside. I was a bit worried someone would whack their head going in and out with their eyes closed...but no one did.

Swimming and Planning

Our hotel had a very cool pool, and we were fortunate enough to have it all to ourselves. It was an indoor/outdoor pool, you can see the little passage to go outside, which the kids loved utilizing. The water was gorgeous, it had to be at least 90°. (Even I went swimming, which is rare because I do not like cold water.) It was very warm in the pool area, but only in the 60s outside. Didn't seem to bother the kids, at least compared to the excitement of going in and out.  We spent almost 2 hours enjoying the pool and the kids were still sad to get out! Now they're planning how they can get an indoor pool of their own...

Corvette kids

Excited to go check out the Corvettes, can't you tell?

Pizza and a Psychedelic Bus?

Lucky for us, there's a mellow mushroom pizza restaurant in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It's almost safe (their gf crust contains Apple cider vinegar) so it's a rare, special treat to go out to dinner. And such a relief while traveling! Add in a cool bus to play in while you wait for your pizza and we're in business!

Don't judge

It's hard to stay awake when you partied with Mom all night. But Mom says nap time is over, time to see some Corvettes!

Corvette heaven

Hope it's as exciting as I'm imagining!

Snoozing

We made it to the Mammoth Caves yesterday, only to find that Elijah had just fallen asleep. And he was OUT. Car off, kids running around, and he's still snoozing with his mouth open. Jonah even got in his face and rubbed noses with him. Not a twitch. A shame he didn't sleep that soundly last night...

~Sarah

Orange Grass in Kentucky?

Noah: Mom, why is the grass so orange in Kentucky?
Me: umm...?!? It's not orange, it's green.
Noah: oh, I see, it's just a darker green in Michigan.
Me: no...it's brown in Michigan because it's dead.
Noah: oh. Hmm.

Life sure is interesting when you're color blind, eh?

Or when it's been 6 months since you've seen green grass. But at least the snow is finally gone.

Donuts while traveling

Nothing seems to excite our kids as much as donuts for breakfast...except perhaps a road trip. So donuts ON a road trip is pretty awesome. Add in waking up at 5 am, and it's a great day. Hey, they're kids, they're easy to please!

~Sarah

Comfy!

Elijah's sleep has been abysmal lately. Not surprising, as I'm eating a normal diet, minus strawberries, and he's eating a few things, mostly jarred baby food. But last night he decided after waking up at 10 and 1130, to sleep until...well, until I woke him up at 5! Of course Bryan and I were up at 430, as we are on our way to see some caves today. (Impromptu tag along with daddy on a work trip.) So it would figure he's finally decided to have a nice sleep stretch! I guess sleeping against that wood side is pretty comfy.

~Sarah

Gooder Than Brownies

In celebration of Jonah's half birthday this past Tuesday, that we weren't able to celebrate until Saturday, we made peanut butter fudge with chocolate swirls. While it's more crumbly than I think it should be, it's quite delicious. I'm unsure if the crumbliness is due to it being dairy free or the fact I added the chocolate. Either way, the texture did not affect Selah's opinion in the least. Our conversation was a bit entertaining:

Selah: Mommy, did you make this fudge or did you buy it?
Me: I made it.
Selah: oh, Mommy! Thank you so much! You are the best mom I've ever had! (Lucky for me, I've had no competition.)
Me: Thanks, Selah. I'm glad you like it. Selah: I love it! It's gooder than brownies! No. It's gooder than anything I've ever had before! (Mind you, the kids have never had fudge.)

So I guess you could say it was well received. We also had steak, baked potatoes, and pasta salad. It was a compromise, as Jonah wanted crab legs and fried scallops! This child needs to live on the coast!

Hard to believe he's 12.5. The "teenage years"are now less than 6 months away...

Rope ladders

Slowly making progress on the boys' beds. They can now climb into them without a ladder, thanks to their new rope ladders.

~Sarah

Lost and Found!

I realized I hadn't seen my phone in a while...
and while searching for it realized I also hadn't seen my daughter in a while...
No need to worry, they were found. Together. In the wiggly couch.
Obviously, she either knows the password or grabbed it right away before it auto locked. Never a bad time for a little video gaming, it seems.

Hair!!

Not the most adorable picture of Elijah, but proof that his hair is, indeed, growing! He looked a bit crazy after his nap today!

Just Glue It!

I asked Selah and Micah to put the eggs back that they were trying to play with as I made breakfast this morning.

Selah: why can't we play with them?

Me: because I don't want to clean up the mess when they break.

Selah: it's okay, I'll clean up the mess!

Me: well then, because I don't want to clean up the mess you make cleaning up the broken eggs.

Selah: Mom. I'll just GLUE it back together!

Me: raw eggs do not exactly just go back together.

I turn, and see her, glue in hand, prepared to clean up her mess she wants the opportunity to make. Sadly, I wasn't a fun mom today, and I didn't allow her to play with the eggs...and learn that you most definitely cannot glue them back together.

Nap Time!

One of the best things about sick kids is when they crawl up into your lap and just fall asleep. I sat Susan to feed Elijah, and even he crawled down, Micah crawled up. And all but immediately fell asleep. Unfortunately, it was lunch time and I could not stay and enjoy it for very long. Plus, if you didn't know, Mr Elijah us one JEALOUS little boy. NO ONE is allowed to share his mommy when he's around. It was a shame that circumstances were what they were...I was exhausted after a bad night with Elijah and was dozing off as soon as I shut my eyes. Would have been nice to nap with Micah for a while today!

Celebration!!

I don't know what we're celebrating- but that's the only explanation I have for all the "confetti" in the living room! Or maybe it was a celebration that mom finished the dishes. It surely wasn't celebrating that the laundry was all put away (as you can see).

I was washing the breakfast and lunch dishes (while holding Elijah, so it takes a while) and finished to find the two of them with scissors and this mess. Now you can see why I desperately wanted a kitchen that was more open to the rest of the house!

Let's celebrate!

New Baby!?!

Elijah and I were walking past the bassinet today (in the house because it wouldn't fit into the attic) and we find a sweet BIG baby girl in it! And here I thought she'd gone off to do her morning chores...