Gabi's B-Day Cake ....... Sophia at the State 4H Horse Show!
News from the North
Here’s another edition of “News from the North”, an informative, and sometimes entertaining look into the lives of the JR and Lisa Wilson household. Here’s just a little of went on the last couple weeks.
Bella recently had basketball try-outs for an AAU team (next summer). She did well and although the results have not been formally posted, the coach has contacted us and told us that Bella made the team. This team practices a little closer to home, and there are going to be three other girls on this team that go to school with Bella. We’ll be able to carpool, which was not a possibility the last couple years. Hopefully that means less driving!
A little more Bella news - she was selected by her class as one of the four finalists for Homecoming Princess of the freshman class of Rogers High School. The final results will be announced just before the October 7th Homecoming game. The boy who Bella "likes" is one of the finalists for the freshman prince. Their fear is that one will get it, and the other won’t … then of course that means … I’m not sure what!
Although we have a bunch of blondes in our family, Bella is our blonde who seems to have the most “blonde moments”! Some days after school she rides the bus home with a friend. She just confessed to me that she was wondering why the bus kept stopping at the railroad tracks, opening its doors, and no one would get off. Who was supposed to get off at that stop?
Now on to Jake - Jake attended a Basketball Exposure Camp a couple weeks ago. It was a day intended to give boys who want to play college basketball exposure to college scouts. The camp was limited to 100 boys. There were 34 universities in attendance from 7 states. I believe they were all D-II and D-III schools. After the camp Jake felt he did well. A couple days later we saw a Tweet from the President of the basketball club stating that he felt the MVP of the camp was … Jake Wilson!
Jake is receiving mail, phone calls, voicemails, Facebook messages, etc. from schools, almost daily. It is flattering for him. Hopefully it will turn into a scholarship! Lehigh University (PA) and University of South Dakota are the most recent D-1 schools to reach out to him.
The varsity team has started fall basketball. They will play two games every Sunday afternoon in a league until the regular season begins. In addition to that, Jake is also playing varsity football – the team is 4-0!
Luke (3rd grade) is also playing football. Luke is a big, solid boy. He’s not over-weight, he is just sturdy and tall. He is one of two boys on his team that have a red stripe on their helmet, indicating that they weigh too much to be eligible to carry the football on an offensive play. On defense he is dominating. He is just bigger and stronger than most of the boys – and on top of that, he is tough and aggressive. On offense he is the center. At this age no one is allowed to hit the center once he snaps. During the first game of the season Luke would snap the ball, then go down-field and hit the same boy almost every time. This was a smaller boy, and Luke would level him every time. After the game I said something about this, telling him I didn’t think he should have kept hitting that boy. Luke told me, “The coaches told me to hike the ball then go find someone to hit. That boy was always there, so I hit him.” I didn’t know what to say, but I think that poor boy is going to join the band next year.
Last weekend was a big event for Sophia. She participated in the Minnesota State 4-H Horse Show. She qualified for the show during the county 4-H show. Thursday night through Sunday she and Lisa spent the day at the State Fairgrounds, and the nights at a nearby hotel. Sophia participated in several events throughout the weekend. The kids and I came to see her on Saturday and Sunday. She did a great job and had a lot of fun. Her final event was Western Horsemanship (I think). She placed fourth in the event out of 18 riders. That was a great finale to the weekend. It is so awesome to see Sophia on her horse. She is a natural, and definitely in her element when she is around horses.
At the horse show, Eli began to react to the dust and all that comes with a horse show. His breathing became labored, and we had to take him out of the indoor arena. At the end of the evening Lisa stayed at the nearby hotel with Sophia, Gabi and Lydia (who had come back from college to see the show), while I took the boys back home. We got home late and everyone was tired. I must admit, my patience was wearing thin. I was looking forward to putting the kids down for bed, and having some time to myself. Before putting Eli down for bed, I gave him a nebulizer treatment to help his breathing. We also have a prescription steroid to give him when his asthma gets bad. I decided to give it to him. The medicine tastes horrible, and Eli was putting up quite a fuss. It was a battle, and he had completed about 2/3rds of the medicine. I told him, “Almost done! Just take one more quick drink and we’ll be done!” Eli tips back the medicine, quickly pulls it away from his mouth, and then starts to gag. I say, “Stop that!” Eli’s eyes begin to water, then he spits up a little. I firmly tell him – “Don’t throw up!” His stomach turns and up comes the medicine and … DINNER! It goes all over Eli, the floor and the bathroom rug! I grab him and place him in front of the toilet, but the damage had been done. I stand there assessing the best way to clean up the mess. Eli turns to me with a condescending look and says, “I hold (told) you Daddy!”
If you’ve read this BLOG before, you know that Eli is always saying something cute or funny. He’s still a toddler, but wise beyond his years. Having a bunch of older siblings does that to you. Here are a few examples.
On a very nice Sunday afternoon Luke and Eli were inside the house. I told them, “You boys need to go outside and get some fresh air.” Eli replied back, “There’s air in here.” How does a three year old know to say that?!
Eli has formed a sweet friendship with LeAnne (a friend of Lisa’s). He recently told Lisa that he wanted to buy LeAnne a Christmas present from an elf.
Eli was staying at LeeAnne’s house and she was knitting a cap. Eli looked at her work and asked, “Are you making a bra like my Mommy’s?”
After being outside, Eli came in and his allergies were acting up. His eyes were watering and itching. He was complaining and whining a bit. One of the girls asked him what we did last time to make his eyes better. In a pathetic voice Eli replied, “Gave me pop, cookies and water.”
He is getting better with his colors. As I was quizzing him, he got several colors correct. Then I asked him, “What color is Gabi’s shirt?” He looked at it, then replied, “I know’d dat holor, but I lost dat holor.” (he pronounces his C’s with an H-sound).
Eli saw a couple matches that had been used to light a candle. “Why are dose firesticks dere?”
He is developing the Wilson sense of humor. Eli was getting ready for bed. He was in the bathroom and I was in the bedroom. I called into him and said, “Eli, bring me a pull-up.” He yelled back, “I don’t know where the BIG pull-ups are.”
I won’t get into the details that led up to the conversation, but Eli recently asked Lisa if her peeny got cut off!!
Eli will be turning 4 years old in a couple weeks. I love his current age, and if there was a way to freeze time, I’d do it with him! Well … enough about Eli.
We just celebrated Gabriella’s 11th birthday. It is hard to believe she is 11 years old and in 5th grade! At Gabi’s request we got her a DQ ice cream cake. Lisa bought these cute star shaped candles to place on the cake. When she got ready to put the candles on the cake, Lisa realized that the candles spelled … H-A-P-P-Y R-E-T-I-R-E-M-E-N-T!
Love,
JR
Here’s another edition of “News from the North”, an informative, and sometimes entertaining look into the lives of the JR and Lisa Wilson household. Here’s just a little of went on the last couple weeks.
Bella recently had basketball try-outs for an AAU team (next summer). She did well and although the results have not been formally posted, the coach has contacted us and told us that Bella made the team. This team practices a little closer to home, and there are going to be three other girls on this team that go to school with Bella. We’ll be able to carpool, which was not a possibility the last couple years. Hopefully that means less driving!
A little more Bella news - she was selected by her class as one of the four finalists for Homecoming Princess of the freshman class of Rogers High School. The final results will be announced just before the October 7th Homecoming game. The boy who Bella "likes" is one of the finalists for the freshman prince. Their fear is that one will get it, and the other won’t … then of course that means … I’m not sure what!
Although we have a bunch of blondes in our family, Bella is our blonde who seems to have the most “blonde moments”! Some days after school she rides the bus home with a friend. She just confessed to me that she was wondering why the bus kept stopping at the railroad tracks, opening its doors, and no one would get off. Who was supposed to get off at that stop?
Now on to Jake - Jake attended a Basketball Exposure Camp a couple weeks ago. It was a day intended to give boys who want to play college basketball exposure to college scouts. The camp was limited to 100 boys. There were 34 universities in attendance from 7 states. I believe they were all D-II and D-III schools. After the camp Jake felt he did well. A couple days later we saw a Tweet from the President of the basketball club stating that he felt the MVP of the camp was … Jake Wilson!
Jake is receiving mail, phone calls, voicemails, Facebook messages, etc. from schools, almost daily. It is flattering for him. Hopefully it will turn into a scholarship! Lehigh University (PA) and University of South Dakota are the most recent D-1 schools to reach out to him.
The varsity team has started fall basketball. They will play two games every Sunday afternoon in a league until the regular season begins. In addition to that, Jake is also playing varsity football – the team is 4-0!
Luke (3rd grade) is also playing football. Luke is a big, solid boy. He’s not over-weight, he is just sturdy and tall. He is one of two boys on his team that have a red stripe on their helmet, indicating that they weigh too much to be eligible to carry the football on an offensive play. On defense he is dominating. He is just bigger and stronger than most of the boys – and on top of that, he is tough and aggressive. On offense he is the center. At this age no one is allowed to hit the center once he snaps. During the first game of the season Luke would snap the ball, then go down-field and hit the same boy almost every time. This was a smaller boy, and Luke would level him every time. After the game I said something about this, telling him I didn’t think he should have kept hitting that boy. Luke told me, “The coaches told me to hike the ball then go find someone to hit. That boy was always there, so I hit him.” I didn’t know what to say, but I think that poor boy is going to join the band next year.
Last weekend was a big event for Sophia. She participated in the Minnesota State 4-H Horse Show. She qualified for the show during the county 4-H show. Thursday night through Sunday she and Lisa spent the day at the State Fairgrounds, and the nights at a nearby hotel. Sophia participated in several events throughout the weekend. The kids and I came to see her on Saturday and Sunday. She did a great job and had a lot of fun. Her final event was Western Horsemanship (I think). She placed fourth in the event out of 18 riders. That was a great finale to the weekend. It is so awesome to see Sophia on her horse. She is a natural, and definitely in her element when she is around horses.
At the horse show, Eli began to react to the dust and all that comes with a horse show. His breathing became labored, and we had to take him out of the indoor arena. At the end of the evening Lisa stayed at the nearby hotel with Sophia, Gabi and Lydia (who had come back from college to see the show), while I took the boys back home. We got home late and everyone was tired. I must admit, my patience was wearing thin. I was looking forward to putting the kids down for bed, and having some time to myself. Before putting Eli down for bed, I gave him a nebulizer treatment to help his breathing. We also have a prescription steroid to give him when his asthma gets bad. I decided to give it to him. The medicine tastes horrible, and Eli was putting up quite a fuss. It was a battle, and he had completed about 2/3rds of the medicine. I told him, “Almost done! Just take one more quick drink and we’ll be done!” Eli tips back the medicine, quickly pulls it away from his mouth, and then starts to gag. I say, “Stop that!” Eli’s eyes begin to water, then he spits up a little. I firmly tell him – “Don’t throw up!” His stomach turns and up comes the medicine and … DINNER! It goes all over Eli, the floor and the bathroom rug! I grab him and place him in front of the toilet, but the damage had been done. I stand there assessing the best way to clean up the mess. Eli turns to me with a condescending look and says, “I hold (told) you Daddy!”
If you’ve read this BLOG before, you know that Eli is always saying something cute or funny. He’s still a toddler, but wise beyond his years. Having a bunch of older siblings does that to you. Here are a few examples.
On a very nice Sunday afternoon Luke and Eli were inside the house. I told them, “You boys need to go outside and get some fresh air.” Eli replied back, “There’s air in here.” How does a three year old know to say that?!
Eli has formed a sweet friendship with LeAnne (a friend of Lisa’s). He recently told Lisa that he wanted to buy LeAnne a Christmas present from an elf.
Eli was staying at LeeAnne’s house and she was knitting a cap. Eli looked at her work and asked, “Are you making a bra like my Mommy’s?”
After being outside, Eli came in and his allergies were acting up. His eyes were watering and itching. He was complaining and whining a bit. One of the girls asked him what we did last time to make his eyes better. In a pathetic voice Eli replied, “Gave me pop, cookies and water.”
He is getting better with his colors. As I was quizzing him, he got several colors correct. Then I asked him, “What color is Gabi’s shirt?” He looked at it, then replied, “I know’d dat holor, but I lost dat holor.” (he pronounces his C’s with an H-sound).
Eli saw a couple matches that had been used to light a candle. “Why are dose firesticks dere?”
He is developing the Wilson sense of humor. Eli was getting ready for bed. He was in the bathroom and I was in the bedroom. I called into him and said, “Eli, bring me a pull-up.” He yelled back, “I don’t know where the BIG pull-ups are.”
I won’t get into the details that led up to the conversation, but Eli recently asked Lisa if her peeny got cut off!!
Eli will be turning 4 years old in a couple weeks. I love his current age, and if there was a way to freeze time, I’d do it with him! Well … enough about Eli.
We just celebrated Gabriella’s 11th birthday. It is hard to believe she is 11 years old and in 5th grade! At Gabi’s request we got her a DQ ice cream cake. Lisa bought these cute star shaped candles to place on the cake. When she got ready to put the candles on the cake, Lisa realized that the candles spelled … H-A-P-P-Y R-E-T-I-R-E-M-E-N-T!
Love,
JR
Dakota trying to take a bite out of Gabi ....... The family at Valley Fair!
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