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The JR & Lisa Wilson Family

A Blonde Oil Fill

11/21/2011

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News From the North


It’s been a long time since my last Blog.  I guess I had writer’s block … or maybe it should be called blog clog!

We got our first snow of the year on Friday night.  Minnesotans pride themselves in being able to drive in winter weather.  We got somewhere around 3 to 4 inches and there were 442 accidents in MN.  Coincidently, I remember mentioning the first November snowfall last year in this Blog, and guess what – there were over 400 accidents that came with that storm. 

In my life I have driven off the road 3 times.  All 3 times it was because of ice.  Actually it was because I was driving too fast on ice.  The first time I was a junior in high school and I went into the ditch on the way home from wrestling practice.  It was a snow day – school was canceled due to bad roads, but we still had wresting practice.  I drove off the road on a big curve with my monster-1968-faded-blue Bonneville.  I took out two mailboxes!  Some guy by the name of Joe Reisinger (he’s my brother ‘n law now!) was behind me.  His sister was driving and they got a farmer to get me out of the ditch.  He came down with a big John Deere tractor and didn’t bother towing me.  He went down in the ditch and put his tire up against my bumper and pushed me out of the ditch.  Bumpers were made a little sturdier than they are today.  Later my Grandpa and I came back and put the mailboxes back up.  An elderly man who lived in the house came out to make sure we did a proper job.  Once we were done he said, “You too young men are good workers!”  Grandpa was in his late 60’s.  It’s all a matter of perspective.

The last time I drove in the ditch (a couple years ago) I was driving my entire family.  It was about 35 degrees, raining and the sun was going down.  I had just finished saying, “When it gets a little colder tonight, this road is going to be slick.”  Less than 30 seconds later I was in the ditch, my heart pounding, and my ears ringing from my daughters all screaming as we went off the road.

Now when there’s ice … I slow down.  I am a proud man … a competitive man.  Do you know how hard it is for me to drive slowly when people are following behind, frustrated and impatient at my speed (or lack of)?  I don’t want to be that old, slooooow person!  But I have also gained wisdom – ice and speed do not mix.

I have been known to share a few gross child-rearing stories on this Blog.  Well sorry, but here’s another gross child-rearing (or should I say rear-end) story.  Eli (4 years old) had double-ear infections, so he was on antibiotics.  Of course antibiotics can do a number on one’s stomach, and that is no different for a four year-old.  The one difference is a four year-old doesn’t necessarily have the discretion of holding back on passing gas - in case its not … gas.  It wasn’t!  We heard very loud shouts of disgust and panic coming from upstairs.  The words I heard were “diarrhea all over the floor.”  I expected gross, but as I arrived to the top of the stairs it was clear that this accident was a bit more serious than an accident in his pants.  Foot prints of diarrhea came down the hall and into our bedroom.  I yelled for Lisa!  I followed the footprints into our bedroom, which went all the way through our room and into the bathroom.  I used my tracking skills to continue on and find Eli.  He was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and socks.  Eli was trying to remove his t-shirt as the diarrhea had escaped up his pants and into his shirt – just a little.  His hands were a mess, his socks were covered.  The stench was bad!  I peeled off his shirt, then picked him up under his arms and held him as far away from me as I could.  I carried him into the kids’ bathroom to place him in the tub.  I carefully stepped around the tracks Eli had left, and Lisa had already started to clean.  I turned the corner to find … “Ground Zero!”  Without being too graphic (hard to believe I don’t consider this graphic already), there was a pile that had come down Eli’s pants and onto the floor.  I yelled for Lisa again!  I instructed one of the kids to get me a plastic trash bag.  I put Eli in the tub and removed his socks.  I tossed the socks into the trash bag.  Not worth saving considering the cost of socks compared to the gross factor.  I pulled off his pants and started to gag!  The smell was awful.  Lisa was gagging just outside the bathroom cleaning up “Ground Zero”.  You should have seen and heard us!  Both of us were gagging and doing everything not to throw-up.  I pulled off his underwear and tossed them in the trash bag.  I looked inside the jeans and the inside legs were literally coated all the way around in diarrhea.  I rationalized, “these pants were getting a little small on him!”  In the trash bag they went.  Sealed up and outside!  If this story sounded gross – then multiply that feeling by 100, and maybe you will understand just how gross it really was.  Ugh!

Funny communication errors: 

Lisa was reminding me that we needed to go to the Manda Torri basketball meeting for Isabella.  I asked, “Who is Manda Torri?”  Lisa looked at me confused and then smiled.  “Not Manda Torri … mandatory!”

Lisa texted me and asked if I could pick up Isabella at 9:30pm.  I texted back, “Where is she going to be?”  Lisa text’s me “Dr Ed in Rogers”.  I start thinking, who is Doctor Ed?  Why is Isabella going to the doctor?  It is 9:30, why would she be at the doctor’s office so late, and without Lisa?  Then it occurred to me – Dr Ed actually meant - Driver’s Education!  I felt stupid and confessed via text that I was wondering why Bella was going to the doctor.  Lisa text’s back, “She is going with Manda Torri.”

Ok – my last funny story … and I saved the best for last!!  Lisa calls me at work and asks if I have checked the oil lately; the oil warning light is on.  Her Suburban burns oil and needs oil added every few weeks. 

    I tell her that I haven’t and she should check it.
    She says, “But I haven’t taken a shower, and
    I’m in my
jammies.”
    “Lisa, you can’t drive if the warning light is on.
    You have
to add oil.” 
    Lisa agrees.

    I ask her, “You know how to do it – right?”
    She replies, “Yes, but remind me.”
    I tell her that the dipstick has the yellow handle on it.
    No – step back – start with - how to get the
    hood open?

    With a little coaching she and Isabella figure out
    how to
pop the hood and then pull the lever to open
    it up.  They
quickly discover the dipstick.
    “Make sure you don’t overfill it.  Ok, you have it from
    here?”
    Lisa hesitantly confirms that she can figure it out
    from
this point.

Lisa and Isabella together check the oil and determine that they need to add a quart.  Isabella goes into the store and buys a quart of oil and brings a paper funnel with her. 

    They study the funnel and Lisa says, “The hole
    in this
funnel is too big.”
    Together they try to make it work, but the funnel
    hole is
bigger than the hole that the oil goes into.
    Lisa goes into the store and asks for another funnel.
    “The hole was too big in the first funnel you gave us.”
    The guy in the store is puzzled and asks if he can
    take
a look.
    Lisa gladly accepts his offer, even though she is
    embarrassed by her appearance.
    They walk to the Suburban and look under the hood.
    Lisa happily exclaims, “Oh she got it to work!”
    Isabella had folded the end of the funnel and fit it
    into
the opening of the dipstick and had begun to
    pour the
oil down the dipstick shaft.
    (If you don’t think this is funny yet – I’m guessing you
    are also blonde!)
    The guy smiles, and says, “The oil actually goes in
    here,” and opens the oil filler port.  “This should go a
    lot faster! "
    Lisa and Isabella almost pee themselves with
    laughter. 
Isabella says, “I tried to read the container
    and see if
there were instructions for blondes!”

We are now immersed into basketball!  The girl’s high school season started last week, and the boys’ started today.  We purchased a dry erase calendar to keep track of all our commitments.  Here is an example of one evening (last Friday).  Lisa takes Gabi to basketball practice at 6:00pm, drops her off, then takes Eli to the Veggie Tales Premier at church.  I pick up Luke, take him to basketball practice (same location as Gabi) and drop him off.  I then drive to Rogers (20 minutes) to pick up Bella from basketball.  I drop Bella off at church to join Lisa and Eli.  I then go to pick up Gabi.  As I arrive, Luke and his team are exiting the building.  They got the location of practice wrong, and they were going to the other elementary school.  I got Gabi and Luke and drove them to the new practice location.  I then took Gabi home.  A half hour later I go back and pickup Luke.  Now its time for dinner!

Even though we are busy, we are looking forward to the basketball season this year!  It should be fun!

Have wonderful Thanksgiving!!  We will celebrate at home with just the nine of us.  Lydia will be coming home on Tuesday.  Then on Friday – its Sophia’s birthday!  13 and a real teenager!

Love,
JR

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Happy Retirement!

9/26/2011

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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

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Dakota trying to take a bite out of Gabi ....... The family at Valley Fair!
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Bugs and Salamanders

9/8/2011

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Lisa and Eli on the roller coaster, JR & Lisa, Eli stuck in the gate, Family at Valley Fair (Lydia is off at college), Gabi & Sophia.
News From the North

It’s officially football season – my favorite time of year!  Jake is playing for the Zimmerman High School Thunder.  They had a couple scrimmages the past two weeks, and their first game was last Thursday, which they won 12-7.  Luke is also playing 3rd grade football, and his first game will be on September 12th.  In his grade they have a rule that anyone over 80 pounds cannot carry the ball.  Luke weighs 90lbs.  That disappoints him because he wanted to play quarterback this year.  And … of course Saturday was the opening game for The Ohio State University!  Although the team continues to struggle with those pesky NCAA violations, and the season may not be a typical TOSU year – I’m still excited to see the Scarlet and Gray take the field each Saturday.

I arrived at an event called “Meet the Thunder”, which is a kick-off for the high school football season.  As I arrived, I walked up to Bill Korlath, another player’s father.  He handed me a mysterious item.  I took it, turned it over … to find his gift was a bumper sticker specially designed and made for me.  It contained the OSU logo on each side, and in the middle it read, “Cheating Our Way to the Top Since 1870.”  If you could remove friends in real life like you do on Facebook, I might have considered it.  ;)

I think Eli is the most popular football fan in Zimmerman.  When you arrive at the football game, you first walk in front of the student section to get to the parents’ section.  As we did, the chant of “Hey Eli!” could be heard through-out the student section.  Eli just gave his fans an indifferent wave.

Luke is at that age where he tries to act cool like a big kid, but he stills likes to cuddle his mom and dad.  Right after football practice last week I had him sit on my lap and was cuddling him.  I asked him about practice and he started to tell me a few things.  Then he said “There was goose poop all over the field.”  I think I said something about that being gross.  Then he asked, “Do I smell like diarrhea?”  I quickly pushed Luke off of me and sent him to the showers!!

When you enter the local car wash, the first thing they do is spray something on the front of your car and use a mop-looking tool to clean off the bugs.  Lisa and some of the kids went to donate/get-rid-of some items at Goodwill.  Goodwill has a drive-in drop off station.  Lisa drove in, and the employees came out to help unload.  Eli then asked, “What about the bugs?”

Lydia has been off to college for 3 weeks.  She is doing well, and really liking it.  She has met many new friends.  She came home over Labor Day, but worked two babysitting jobs, and at Becker Furniture World both Saturday and Sunday - so we didn't see a lot of her.  All the other children, except Eli, began school on Tuesday.  That was a big change for Lisa to be home with only one!

Gabriella had her annual cardiologist visit last week.  Everything “remains stable” are the words the doctor used.  There are several things that they continue to watch (the slight leaking of the valve, the tissue growth under her valve, the flow of blood in the aorta where it was surgically widened, and the thickness of her heart).  The cardiologist that has seen Gabi since they first discovered her heart defect just retired and we saw a new doctor this time.  Her name is Dr. Dummer.  Seriously!  If she and her husband went into practice together, they could call it Dum and Dummer.  Actually it is pronounced Dūmmer.  And she is very nice, but seems to speak more carefully when she describes Gabi’s condition.  Her previous doctor would have been very positive, because “everything is stable”, means that her heart remains in the condition it was post-surgery (which was good), and pleased the surgeon and doctors at the time.  We are thankful to God that he continues to watch over Gabi!

Eli was trying to explain to me what happened to him the other night.  “I wide her dooter.”  “What?”  “I wide her dooter!”  I later find out that our friend LeAnne gave Eli a ride on her scooter.

I received some good advice from a 10 year old friend of Gabi.  She told me that I should make sure to wear my shoes when I went to the bathroom on an airplane … because that isn’t water on the floor!

You might have seen the photo on Facebook, but it is worth repeating.  We heard Eli crying and whining.  We ignored it for little while, but the whining became more urgent and started to include a cry for help.  Bella went to investigate.  There was Eli, who had somehow closed the child safety gate (which is in place to keep the dog out) with his head and neck in between the bars.  You might think we would run to Eli’s rescue.  We probably should have run to his rescue.  We did run, but for the cameras.  We had three different photographers taking pictures of Eli’s predicament.  He just stayed there (although he didn’t have much choice) and looked at us like – would someone please save me!

I had gone to bed.  I was on my iPad and had texted Jake earlier.  He texted me back and told me that we were being invaded by salamanders.  He said he killed about 15 of them and saw 30 more in and around the garage.  I was curious, but not enough to get out of bed.  Then we heard blood curdling screams.  “There’s a salamander in the basement!”  I then got up and went downstairs.  There sat a big fat, slimy-looking salamander on the hearth of the fireplace.  As I was catching that salamander, Bella screamed the loudest scream I’ve ever heard.  "There’s another one!"  Then another scream, "Another one!"  Earlier in the evening Jake had a bunch of friends over.  It must have gotten warm, because someone opened the sliding glass door of the basement.  The salamanders took the opportunity and came inside.  I looked outside, and there were several salamanders outside the basement door.  I then looked in the garage and they were walking around everywhere.  These are big, fat salamanders about 6 to 9 inches long.  We had never seen salamanders around our house before.  After some research I learned that these salamanders live underground and rarely come out in numbers; only on a rainy night in the spring or fall.  The next night – no salamanders.  It was pretty wild!

We were in the car and I said something to Lisa.  
    - Eli asked, “Daddy, what did you say?”  
    - I replied, “I wasn’t talking to you.”  
    - Eli then asked again, “Daddy, what did you say?”  
    - I again replied, “I wasn’t talking to you.”  
    - Eli says, “I was saying, ‘what did you say?’ ”  
    - I then told Eli, “When I say ‘I’m not talking to you’, that
       means I’m not going to tell you what I said.”
    - Eli waits a second, then asks, “Daddy, what did you
       say?”

A few Eli quotes: 

Lisa was giving Eli a bath.  She was using Burt’s Bees soap.  He protested.  He did not want to wash with that "bug soap".  Maybe they could have used that at Goodwill!

As Lisa was driving to pick-up Luke she drove past the road we typically would turn on to go home.  Eli says, “We missed our level!”  Funny thing, I’m not sure Isabella would even know that was the way home.

Eli was looking in the mirror and asked Lisa if his ears were getting bigger.  Lisa thought he was thinking that bigger ears meant he was growing bigger, so she said his ears were getting bigger.  Eli exclaimed, “Nooo!  I don’t want my ears to get bigger!”

Love,
JR
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Bad Bumper Sticker!
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Top to Bottom: Friends over for Jake's 17th Birthday, Sophia, Friend Dani, Gabi & Bella on a ride at Valley Fair, Cowboy Eli, & Cool Jake!
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“Who doesn’t have a bruise on their head?!”

8/21/2011

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News From the North

Our big event this week was driving Lydia to MN State University – Moorhead, helping her unpack and get settled in her dorm before we left her to begin a new exciting stage of her life.  As we left Lydia, there was a big smile on her face.  Classes will start for her on Monday.  It now seems like something is missing in our home.  I know you wouldn’t think that going from 9 in the house down to 8 would seem like a big change, but it really is.

On the topic of a big family, Lisa and I were in Trader Joes shopping with the 4 youngest children.  A lady looked at Lisa and said, “Wow, you have 4 kids.”  Lisa smiled and said, “I actually have 7.  These are the four youngest.”  The lady just kind of looked at Lisa like she was not normal (which is actually true).  I always said that when we had four kids, people would look at us and smile.  When we added number 5 we got the “you must be Mormon, Catholic or too dumb to realize that birth control exists” look.   Then when we went to 6 and 7, we would often get a frown and a look of “how dare you over-populate the earth”.  Well, at least we are over-populating the world with Buckeye fans!

But just think, without a bunch of kids I wouldn’t have near as many stories to tell.  Like these:

We are at the table eating and Luke looks down next to Eli and sees a gross mess of something on the floor.  He shouts, “Eww, there’s snot on the floor.”  Eli says, “No.  I went choo (and mimics a sneeze) and all my food came out.”

Isabella is deathly afraid of worms.  That makes for good fun when it rains and there are worms all over the driveway.  Sophia is super afraid and grossed-out by frogs.  In the summer, we have frogs and toads all around our house.  Little tree frogs climb on the windows at night.  We leave lights on outside our garage.  Frogs and toads gather there for an all-night dinner.  When we arrive home after dark Sophia jumps out of the car and runs as fast as she can inside to avoid seeing any frogs.

That brings me to this story.  Sophia is sitting in the basement watching TV.  Eli brings over something and throws it on her.  Sophia thinks it is fuzz and picks it off of her and inspects this odd item.  At that point she realizes it is a dried, dead frog.  She goes berserk, screaming and shouting as she jumps up and runs away.  Brothers!

Eli told me he wanted to go to the zoo, but he didn’t want Luke to go.  I asked him why and he said cause Luke would throw him in the shark water.  Brothers!

Luke and I are lying on the bed.  I touch the side of his head and he jerks back and says, “Ow, that’s where my bruise is.”  I ask him, “How did you get a bruise on your head?”  Luke looks at me like I’m crazy and replies, “Who doesn’t have a bruise on their head?!”

Luke has been obsessed with playing football.  This week was his first week of practice and he can’t stop talking about it.  He wanted to be a QB.  Unfortunately at his age group, no one is allowed to be in the backfield if they are over 80 pounds.  Our sturdy Luke is not fat, but weighs in at 90 lbs.  He is disappointed.  He’ll have to be a lineman this year.

We were eating in Red Robin.  We left and got in the car.  Eli asks where his drink is, and we have to tell him that we left his drink in the restaurant.  He gets upset and expresses his displeasure.  As we begin to drive off, one of the kids says, “Thank you for dinner!”  The rest of the kids in unison also express their thanks.  A short moment of silence, and then Eli says, “Not thank you for bringing my cup.”

Last Sunday we are driving in the car and see a beautiful rainbow.  We try to get Eli to see it, but he can’t find it - mainly because he doesn’t know what he is trying to find.  Then all of a sudden he sees it and is mesmerized. As he looks at the rainbow his first words were, “Why?”  I think that is just the perfect, most innocent question.  As we drive along the road, the view of the rainbow would disappear as we went by trees, then it would reappear.  After that happened several times, Eli says, “There are a lot of them.”  Then after a few more times of the rainbow coming in and out of view he asks, “Is it following us?”

Jake was leaving for the weekend so I text him from work and ask him to do the hand-mowing and trimming before he leaves.  He first tries to get me to let him delay this task until he returns on Sunday.  I insist.  When I arrive home the hand-mowing is complete, but the trimming has not been done.  Jake had already left to go up to his friend’s cabin so I text him and ask why he didn’t do the trimming.  He then texts back, “The trimmer wouldn’t start!”  The next day I go out to mow, and quickly fix the trouble causing the trimmer not to start.  I put gas in it.

Jake’s football season started last Monday.  He had two-a-days all week, and will again this week.  Jake is not fond of football practice.  He loves the games, but not practices.  Jake will be playing wide receiver this year.  A 6’6” target.  That should be fun.  The first game will be played on Sept 1st.  That game is on Thursday, and the remaining games are on the traditional Friday.

Something really exciting happened to Jake recently.  Minnesota Preps released the, "Top 50 Minnesota Basketball Prospects - Class of 2013."  Jake was listed at #25!

Isabella will begin Driver’s Ed shortly.  She is old enough to drive with a Learner’s Permit. This is very, very scary!  Seriously – this is scary!

I recently helped organize a charity golf outing and Jerry Burns was in attendance.  Jerry Burns coached the MN Vikings, 18 years as their Offensive Coordinator, and 6 years as their head coach.  He was also an assistant under Vince Lombardi for 2 years – Green Bay won the Super Bowl both of those years.  In college he played 4 years at Michigan, and won 4 Big Ten Championships.  Jerry is 84 years old now.  I pulled up in a golf cart next to Coach Burns and said, so you played your college days at Michigan.  He replied, “Yes I did!”  I then said, “Well I’m an Ohio State Buckeye!”  He walked over to me and said, “I knew Woody Hays well, and I’ve never been able to say this … but …” He hesitated for effect, pointed his finger at me.  Then in a loud gruff voice, says, “You’re a bunch of cheaters!!”  He then laughed and then pointed his finger at me again and repeated, “You’re a bunch of cheaters!!”  He laughed and laughed.  Later at dinner he stood up and spoke to the group.  He finished his short speech with this.  “I’d like to end by giving you a word of advice about golf.”  He hesitated, then in his gruff voice shouted, “Quit!”  He was a nice man.  It was cool meeting him.

We discovered something awesome – Face Time.  It is basically the same as Skype .  You can call someone - talk to them and see them at the same time.  Yesterday we called Dad and CJ, had a fun conversation … and the best thing … it is free!

Last weekend I’m trimming the shrubs with a gas powered hedge-trimmer.  In front of our house we have three arborvitaes that were a bit over-grown.  I started cutting away at them.  As I did, suddenly I felt a sharp pain on the back of my leg just below my shorts.  Something had stung me.  I took one hand off the trimmer and started to reach behind my leg.  As I did I looked down and realized that I was standing in a swarm of hornets.  I dropped the trimmers, and ran.  I felt another sting on the side of my head above my ear.  I had a ball hat on and took it off and began to use it to get the hornets away from my face.  I kept running until I didn’t see any more hornets.  Witnesses say I was also yelling as I was running.   After the swarm began to subside and we could get closer, we could see a nest bigger than a soccer ball hanging from under the arborvitae.  I had cut into the nest with the trimmers.  I only got stung twice which was amazing.

Lisa is ready for us to leave to go shopping at the Mall of America and I need to take my shower.  As a way to let me know that she would like me to stop typing and start getting ready she just yelled, “What time tomorrow are we going to leave?!”  Eli yelled back to her, “45!”  I guess I better go.

Love,
JR
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Where Do You Go When You Are Desperate?

8/8/2011

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News From the North

This summer is flying by!  You wait all year for Shark Week, it comes and goes … and then you have to wait an entire year before you can watch another 168 straight hours of shark related shows.

2011 AAU basketball has come to an end for Jake and Isabella.  It’s been a lot of travel, a lot of time, and a lot of money.  Right now we are in the only extended period of time (if 4-weeks is an extended period of time) that our children don’t have weekend activities.  We have actually been able to get some yard work completed the last two weekends.  Now - I don’t want to get too carried away, so I should say that I’ve paced myself.  It also so happens to be my only chance to sit around and do nothing as well.  I need to keep a balance in my life.  Lisa would say that I should lean a little heavier to the work side.

One task I finished was cutting down a dead tree, and cutting some branches that always got in the way when mowing.  I used a chainsaw, and spent about 45 minutes cutting up the trees and branches.  Man, am I out of shape!  My arms were like noodles when I was done.  Today I am sore.  Good thing our heat this winter is not dependent upon me cutting wood.  We’d be freezing by late November!

Recently Eli was assigned the chore of picking up his toys in my office.  After he was finished, I noticed some toys under the sofa.  I thought he just missed them, so I drew his attention to those toys.  Eli then said, “Oh, you saw’d dat.  I was hiding dat from you.”  Three years old and he is looking for ways to short-cut work.  Oh no, maybe my “balancing act” I just mentioned above is setting the wrong example.  A day later I was sitting in my office and Eli came in and pulled several toy cars out from under the credenza and asked, “Did you see dese?”

Lydia will be leaving for college on August 17th.  She will be attending Minnesota State University Moorhead.  It is located in northwest Minnesota about 3-1/2 hours from our home.  It is on the North Dakota border, just across the river from Fargo.  Lydia will be majoring in film studies, and hopes to direct films at some point in her life.  She is very excited to go off to college and be on her own.  It is hard to believe my baby girl is going to college.  It seems like just yesterday when we brought our first baby home from the hospital.  We pray that Lydia will form relationships with the right friends, and her life will be Christ-centered and focused!

Speaking of Lydia leaving for college … the kids are behaving like vultures, scoping out the things Lydia will be leaving behind and trying to claim it as their own.  Her most valuable possession … her room!  Lydia was the only child with a bedroom to herself.  It appears that as things are shaking out, Luke and Eli will move into Lydia’s room once it is vacated.  That will leave Jake and Bella with their own rooms. 

Lydia was planning for the items she will need to purchase and take to school.  She made a comment about needing money to get ready to leave.  Luke jumped in and said, “I need some money to get ready for Lydia to leave!”

We picked Eli up from Sunday School.  As a craft in class they had glued a muffin cup to a picture of a river, and then glued a peanut inside the muffin cup to represent the story of baby Moses’ mother putting him in a basket in the river.  I asked Eli, “Is this baby Moses?”  Eli replied, “No it’s a baby nut.”  I think he missed the point of the craft.

Jake jumped on top of me to wrestle and made mention that he was now stronger than me (he is!).  I told him, you might be stronger than me, but I know how to wrestle and I’m gonna hurt you real bad.  Eli was standing next to us and yelled, “Do it Dad!”

Jake has grown another inch in the last month.  He is now at 6’ 5-1/2” tall! 

During church yesterday they had a children’s lesson.  All the young children went down to the altar, and the teacher began telling a story to the kids.  He asked them if they knew what desperate meant.  Once that was established he asked them who they went to when they were desperate.  Of course the answer was their parents.  Then he asked who their parents went to when they were desperate.  One kid yelled out, “The bank!”

Eli loves to ride on the tractor when I’m mowing.  This weekend we were mowing and riding, and Eli fell fast asleep.  As I mowed, Eli’s head was bobbing all over the place.  Lisa came out and took Eli inside and placed him on the couch.  The kids said at one point he woke up, lifted his head, yelled, “Who did this to me?!”  Then he put his head down and fell back asleep.  After I was done mowing, I trimmed some shrubs, did a few other things, then came in and sat on the screened-in porch to relax.  Eli woke from his nap and came out to the porch.  He was bugged.  He wanted to know who took him off the tractor, and he wanted to go back out and mow some more.

We had a nice lunch at Culver’s restaurant.  When we were done we made our mass exodus (Lisa, me, 6 of the children, and one friend) out of the restaurant and got in the Suburban.  I started the vehicle, put it into reverse and started to pull out.  As I did, Luke came running out of Culver’s.  I almost left him.  The funny thing, the kids knew, and thought it was funny and were just going to let me leave.  We are a compassionate bunch!

The place I work, Becker Furniture World, was having an after-hours sale.  Lisa and the three youngest kids stopped by to check it out.  I was walking through the area we display accessories with 8-year old Luke and pointed to a bouquet of flowers.  “This is what you should get your girlfriend.”  Luke raised the sleeve of his shirt, flexed his bicep, and said, “This is what I got my girlfriend.”  By the way, he has no girlfriend, …  and not much of a bicep yet either.

Love,
JR
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Photos all taken on Lydia's 19th Birthday. Lydia doesn't like cake, so we got her a pie!
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"Vegas baby, Vegas!"

7/25/2011

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The MN Comets at Hard Rock Cafe - Vegas
News From The North

As I post this Blog, I am sitting in my hotel room in Las Vegas at 8:40pm.  Tonight is our fifth night here, and I am so ready to get home.  If I was here on vacation with Lisa, we would have had a great time.  I’m not!  I’m here for Jake’s basketball tournament.  It would seem like a great bonding time with my son, but the boys on the team are always off on their own.  That leaves me and 6 other moms.  Not one of the dads came along.  They've been a great group, calling it JR and his harem.  But I’ve spent a bunch of time in my room by myself.

I gambled a total of $5.00.  I played the slot machines, built my $5 to $10, and then lost it all.  The entire process took about 15 to 20 minutes, betting $.25 at a time.  While in Vegas – the high temperatures have been 103, 104, 104, 103, 103, and 100.  Wow – I left the hottest week in Minnesota since 1966 – and took refuge in the dessert.

Vegas is different than I expected.  I was actually dreading coming.  When I got here, I really wished I was on vacation with my wife.  You can just ignore the gambling and enjoy all the other things there are to do.  The place is full of energy and activity at all times.  The negative … everything is expensive.  And they charge you for everything!  The other negative is the sea of humanity you have to wade through to go anywhere.

Coming here I experienced a first.  For the first time in all my days of travel, my luggage got lost.  You get that bad feeling when the baggage claim stops running and your bag has not arrived.  I walk into the baggage claim office and hand the lady my baggage ticket.  She looks at it and says, “This says Phoenix.  Is your name Russell?  Didn’t you look at your claim ticket when it was handed to you?”  I tell her, “No – I never have.”  She gives me a look that makes me feel like a little kid and says, “Well, you will from now on.”  My bag took a detour from Minneapolis, to Phoenix, to Salt Lake City, then to Las Vegas.  It arrived at the hotel sometime in the middle of the night.

I listened to an interesting conversation on our flight to Las Vegas.  Two young women in their early twenties were sitting behind me on the plane.  
    “What is that?”
    “An AM/FM radio.”
    “That’s weird.”
    “I like it when I ride my bicycle because I can change
    the station.”
    “Yeah, I guess you don’t need a playlist for a radio.”

Lisa and I were in the bathroom.  I stepped on the scale and checked my weight (not something I bother to do very often).  Lisa asked what I weighed.  I told her, and she says she wants me to lose 30 pounds (what a sweet wife!).  I reply back defensively, “I want YOU to lose 30 pounds.”  Lisa says we both need to.  I had my shirt off, and flexed like a body-builder.  “People would die for this body.”  Lisa without hesitation responds, “People with a body like that are dying.”

I usually wake Isabella up in the morning.  She sleeps right through her alarm.  The other night I asked her what time she wanted me to wake her.  She told me 6:00.  Eli ran over to me and asked, “Daddy, will you get me up at 41?”

We’ve had seven babies in our home the last 19 years.  After all those babies we’ve never owned a safety-gate for the stairs.  The children just learned quickly how to maneuver up and down.  Well – now we own two safety-gates.  We need them for the safety of our dog!  If he didn’t stop going up and downstairs to poop, we were going to kill him!

Isabella told me a story about how she and the others swimming ran in a circle around the pool and created a big “world pool.”

I have another Wal-Mart story.  For some reason Lisa sets off the alarms when she walks in and out of stores.  It is probably a government conspiracy, and they have implanted something into her brain or the filling of her tooth.  Whatever it is, it happens often.  As Lisa left Wal-Mart the other day she set off the alarm.  An elderly man (guessing he is 80 years old) is guarding the door.  He takes his job seriously.  First he tests the cart to see if it is something in the cart that is tripping the alarm.  Nope – the cart is clear.  Then he sends Lisa through, and the alarm goes off again.  The man decides he needs to wand Lisa and de-activate whatever is setting off the alarm.  He then wands each of Lisa’s pockets.  Nothing.  Then he begins to wand every inch of Lisa’s body.  The combination of the uncomfortable process, and the humor of this man determined he is going to find out what is setting off his alarm … made Lisa begin to laugh.  She laughed as the man continued to wand her.  Finally a store supervisor walks up and said, “Frank, that is enough, you can let her go.”  As he releases Lisa from custody, she says, “I think I’m de-activated.”  Frank not wanting to give up says, “No you're not.”

Eli for quite some time has claimed Isabella’s friend Dani, as his girlfriend.  He was in his swim trunks and one of the kids was trying to switch him over to regular clothes.  He rejected the idea saying, “Dani likes me this way.”  But I guess things have changed.    When Eli was told that Dani was coming over, he said, “Dani broke up with me.  We’re not dating.  We’re just going to have lunch.”   Poor Eli, having his heart broken so early.

I have created paranoid children.  They are afraid that anything they do or say that is funny (or at least funny to me) will end up on the website blog.  I guess their paranoia is well-founded.

Love,
JR
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8 of the MN Comets, plus Will - in Vegas.
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Are You Fweaked Out?!!

7/17/2011

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News From the North

Luke and Eli were eating pancakes one morning.  Luke likes to put powdered sugar on top of pancakes and waffles.  Jake was sitting on the couch in the living room and turns around to check on the boys.  There sat Eli eating from a mountain of powdered sugar he had poured on his pancakes.  He had dumped the entire bag.  Later in the day Jake was telling us the story as we traveled in the car.  Someone said, “That wouldn’t even taste good!”  Eli excitedly interjected, “Yeth it does!  I twyed it!”

I took Eli to the bathroom of a restaurant.  I’m thinking it’s a quick in-and-out, but Eli informs me that he has to poop.  As I’m standing in the stall waiting for Eli to do his job, someone walks into the restroom.  Eli loudly asks, “Who is that?”  I quietly put my finger up to my lips to tell him to be quiet.  Eli again asks, “Who is that?”  I try the "finger-to-the-mouth" again and quietly whisper, "I don’t know.”  Eli then calls to the unknown visitor, “HELLO??!”  No answer.  Then again, “HELLO??!”  Our visitor somewhat quietly answers back, “Hello.”  That satisfied Eli.  Then Eli has gas on the toilet.  He asks, “Did you hear that?” I shake my head yes.  Then there is a plop into the toilet.  “Did you hear that?”  Another plop.  This time louder, “Did you hear that?!”  Our visitor leaves the restroom - I’m sure with a story to tell.

I bought a very expensive pair of sunglasses.  I have never spent this much on a pair of sun glasses, and I have been paranoid that I am going to lose them or damage them.  On the Fourth of July we went to our friends, Andrew and Denise’s cabin which is located on a beautiful lake.  At one point Andrew took me out on his Hobie Cat catamaran.  It was somewhat windy, so the sailing was a lot of fun.  As we came back in from sailing Andrew was going to pull the boat up onto the shore.  Several people were swimming in the area, so he said let’s jump off and we’ll pull it into shore.  I then jumped off the side of the boat, and two things happened at once.  First I was surprised that the water was over my head.  Second, my hand got caught and pinched on a cable.  I disguised both my pain and the shock, and quickly began to help guide the Hobie Cat onto shore.  I then walked up to the cabin as lunch was being served.  When it became time to go back down to the beach I could not find my sunglasses.  I had no memory of taking them off.  I couldn’t imagine where they had gone.  I was sure that if they fell off when we were sailing I would remember.  After a great deal of searching … no sun glasses.  Apparently when I jumped off the boat my glasses came off and due to the shock and pain I didn’t even notice.  Although I tried to forget about the big sum of money I paid for those glasses, it was a little hard.  I couldn’t help but be a little depressed even though I was working hard not to be.  Later in the day Andrew went into the water to swim.  As he was standing in almost neck deep water he noticed in the very clear water something on the bottom of the lake.  He dove down and guess what … he found the sun glasses.  It was a miracle - he walked to the exact place the glasses had landed, and then actually saw them.

Luke was in one of his annoying moods.  I jokingly told him he better straighten up or I was going to thump him on the back of the head.  Eli yells from across the room, “Do it Daddy!”

Eli is a magician.  He can make things disappear.    His most recent trick involves my battery charger for my camera.  I had the charger and the battery plugged-in.  I went to retrieve the battery and both the charger and the battery were gone.  I immediately found the battery amongst Eli’s toys, but no charger.  A massive hunt was organized, but no charger.  We assumed that if time went by it would turn up.  After a couple weeks, still no charger.

Jake was playing an AAU basketball game and his team was winning easily.  During a late game break Luke ran out onto the court to take a few shots (this is an acceptable thing during some AAU games – depending upon the refs).  One of the referees approached him and asked which boy was his brother.  Luke told him, and then the referee asked Luke if Jake was mean to him.  Luke answered, “Yes.”  The referee smiled and said, “Then I’ll call a foul on him for you.”  There were only a few minutes left in the game.  As the opposing team brought the ball up the court Jake began to guard his man.  He barely touched him and the whistle blew.  As he promised the ref called a foul on Jake.  Jake gave the ref a look of surprise, and the ref smiled real big and looked at Luke and said, “That was for you!” 

Why is it that every child must cut their own hair at least once?  Eli just had his first self-haircut.  He hacked it up pretty bad!

A thunderstorm blew in and the weather changed dramatically.  The lightning was frequent and close.  The thunder was loud.  Eli was getting nervous.  He came to me and asked, “Daddy, are you fweaked (freaked) out?”

Lydia recently discovered that her favorite perfume she has been wearing for two years is actually not perfume.  It is bathroom spray.  She said she always wondered why it was so inexpensive. 

Sophia participated in the county fair this week.  She showed Dakota again this year, and had a great time.  She moved up a class this year, so the competition was much tougher.  Even so, Sophia won several ribbons and qualified for the state fair in western pleasure.  She is quite excited (by Sophia’s standards – Sophia is not a very expressive person) about getting to go to the state fair.  On Saturday Sophia and her horse had an accident.  As she was walking Dakota past another horse, that horse decided to take a nip at Dakota.  Dakota swung his head toward the other horse, but made contact with Sophia’s face.  Sophia ended up with a shiner and cuts on her face from her glasses.  Dakota also ended up with a cut on his face from the glasses.  Sophia was a bit shaken-up, but she was back with her horse in no time

Lisa recently made a social etiquette mistake that I will NEVER make!  She is checking out at Wal-Mart and the cashier (who happens to be over-weight) tells Lisa that she is very tired.  Then she gave Lisa a certain look (which Lisa misinterpreted), and says, “It’s not because I’ve worked hard today.”  Lisa then asks the question!  The question I will never ask a woman unless I already know the answer for sure!  Lisa gives her that knowing look back and asks, “Are you pregnant?”  She was not!

Speaking of Wal-Mart; I decided that after watching all the Sherburne County Fair attendees, Wal-Mart had to be empty.  The fair brings out the community’s finest.  Lots of big, hairy men without shirts.  I loved the very big man with a tremendously large belly, wearing a t-shirt which read, “With a body like this, who needs hair.”  I was approached by a transgender in-the-making who wanted to help me with financial planning.  He/she had a woman’s haircut, breasts, but a man’s voice and a 5-o’clock shadow.  The name on the business card was Rikki.  Rikki was very nice!

Luke enjoyed the fair.  He entered a pedal-tractor pull and finished second in his age group.  He also had his number drawn and won a new BMX bike.  Eli was crushed; he couldn’t understand why he didn’t get a bike.  The next morning he woke up and the first thing he said to me was, "Daddy, I had a dream that I won a bike."

That reminds me – Today I’m in Wal-Mart.  I know it sounds like we're there a lot, but we live in a rural community and that is the closet place to shop.  So I’m in the restroom and this guy is standing in front of the mirror putting on a tie.  Once he gets it on he comes to the urinal next to me and puts his arm (elbow to wrist) on the wall up above his urinal.  He gives off a manly groan of relief.  Then he asks me if my wife cooks for me.  I give him a glance and say yes.  He then produces a business card which he hands me.  Now, I politely take it, but I didn’t really want to.  It came from the “busy” hand - not the one on the wall.  He then gives me a very compelling sales pitch on the flatware and knives that he sells.  I then exit the restroom looking for Lisa to tell her the story.  Before I can find her, the bathroom salesman exits and begins to leave the store.  He runs into Lisa before I get to her and starts up his sales pitch with her.  I think that new Wal-Mart tie gave him some confidence!

Love,
JR
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Then I went bowling!

6/25/2011

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Gabi, Eli and Jake ... I told Jake to pose like a model. I suggest he stick with sports!
News From the North
I guess it’s been a mellow week in the Wilson household.  Blog topics are somewhat lean.  Today has been probably the most perfect weather day possible.  Awesome!!  Luke had a baseball game at 8:00am this morning.  Other than that, we spent the day at home.

My mother (Margit) is in the hospital with an infection just below her neck.  The doctor has determined that they need to remove the infection.  Because the infection is near her heart, they want a heart surgeon to do the surgery.  Please pray for my mother.  It has been one thing after another for her.  She is supposed to have surgery on her neck, but this infection is delaying that surgery.  Her neck is causing her great pain right now.  I wish I lived closer to her.  Brad takes great care of Mom, and I am thankful for that!
 
Jake’s AAU  coach received a call from Bucknell University (D-1 in Pennsylvania) asking about Jake and another player on the team.  The coach has no idea how the Bucknell coach heard about them – but somehow the word is getting out.
 
Eli had pizza all over his face.  Lisa was wiping his face off and teasingly said, “How are you going to get a girlfriend with pizza all over face.”  Eli replied, “I need a new girlfriend.”  Sorry Dani!
 
I played Wii bowling with the kids.  Sophia beat me!  That’s just not right!  When we first got the Wii we played all the time.  I got pretty good at bowling.  I actually began to believe that I was a good bowler.  Then I went bowling.
 
Have you ever played Mario Cart?  On the way
to basketball games Bella usually eats a banana and when she is finished she throws the peal out the window.  I always yell, “Oh no!  A car is going to come along and slide out of control!”  I have a good laugh and  everyone else in the car rolls their eyes.
 
Eli is sitting on my lap and says, “I wuv Mommy and Daddy.”  I ask him, “Do you love anybody else?”  Eli answers,“I wuv my fwiends.”  I then say, “I hope you love your brothers and sisters.”  Eli replies, “I will wuv them morrow when I get up.”
 
We were playing “Charades for Children”.  Lisa whispered the answer into Eli's ear so he could act it out.  The answer was “blowing up a balloon”.  Eli thought about it, put his hands to his mouth, hesitated, then turned to Lisa and said, “I need a balloon.”  The kids guessed it right away.
 
In a large family (or at least our big family) it can be frustrating that nothing is your own.  Someone is always taking your stuff and using it … and not returning it.  Lisa has that issue with her make-up.  She even has it now with her clothes.  I got tired of never having a pen, or highlighter, or post-it note, etc.  Every time I opened my desk drawer … they were gone.  I was going to solve that problem.  I bought a small locking box and placed it in the drawer of my desk.  Everything worked well for a while. Then one day the key went missing. I couldn’t find it anywhere.  I had to break open the box.  So I bought a new box.  Before I could even begin using it, someone (I suspect Eli) locked the box and took the key.  Nothing was in the box yet, but the key has never been found.  OK – so I bought a third box.  I placed my supplies in the box.  Everything was organized and I felt good.  I paid some bills and did some other work.  But, I forgot to lock the box and left the keys on my desk.  Guess what!  The box is mysteriously locked ….. and the keys are nowhere to be found.  This is the third box!  As Eli would say, “Take a deep breath and calm down.”  Very deep!

Love,
JR
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Eli and Luke
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I'm Tired of Having to Complain

6/19/2011

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News From the North
 
I had a nice Father’s Day.  The only negative –
Lydia was gone most of the day working, and Jake is attending a football camp with his team.  I had a nice relaxing day – even got in a nap!  I wish I lived close to Dad.  I would have really liked to have been at his house with my brother and sisters.  I miss those family get-togethers! Happy Father’s Day to Dad!  I miss you and love you!
 
You know those family figures that people put on the back windows of their vans and SUV’s to show you how many kids they have (and pets).  Well I found some dressed in Ohio State gear and purchased nine figures to represent our family.  I put them on our Suburban Saturday night.  The family stretches halfway across the back window!  As we drove in Minneapolis today we got the strangest looks from people as they passed us.  They just had to look to see what kind of people would have seven kids.  It was pretty funny.

The basketball camp the kids went to last weekend was attended by about 98% African American.  Luke was the only white boy in his group.  I was talking to him about the camp and he innocently tells me that there were so many black boys in his group that he had to “talk black”.  I would've liked to have heard that!
 
The kids enjoyed the basketball camp.  In their respective age groups, Jake won MVP, Isabella Best Attitude, Gabi Best Defensive Player and Luke the Hustle Award.
 
Isabella has a tendency to complain about her aches and pains after a game or practice.  She was whining and complaining after the recent basketball camp.  I jokingly said, “I’m tired of hearing you complain?”  Bella, without missing a beat says, “I’m tired of having to complain.”
 
Isabella and two friends decided to go for a walk.  Guess what supplies they took?  A baseball bat and two pair of scissors for protection … and of course the Garmin in case they got lost.

I hesitate to include this story in the BLOG.  Some of our family members find it funny.  I, on the other hand think it is abnormal behavior – not funny!  Here goes anyway … Eli is doing pretty well with his potty training.  He gets a little busy and has accidents now and then.  This past weekend we had an issue, but it wasn’t an accident.  Lisa had left with four of the kids.  I was home with Lydia and Eli.  Eli stood on a barstool in the kitchen, pulled his pants down, and pee’d on a paper plate.  Lydia heard the noise, thinking the faucet was on, turned and saw Eli in action. Lydia, who thought it was hilarious, came and got me.  As I said, I did not find it funny.  What in the world would make him pee on a paper plate in the kitchen?  I asked him that very question.  He said, “Because I was mad that Mommy left me here.”  Now I think he made up the reason after the act, but who knows.  I went to clean up the mess.  That kid had a perfect aim.  There wasn’t a drop of pee anywhere but on the paper plate – which was full.

Luke – “We can’t have cake.  Mom said we can’t brag for food.”
 
I got to go to a Twins game last week.  I went with a couple of the owners of the company I work for and our Ad Agency. We attended courtesy of WCCO, the local CBS affiliate.  They have 6 tickets in a section called the Champions' Club.  This section is right behind home plate.  First you pull up under the awnings right at the stadium for valet parking.  You walk into a restaurant with endless food and drinks all included with these tickets. Yes they have the typical food you’d expect at the ball park:  salads, fresh fruit and cheese, smoked salmon, filet oscar, carved prime rib, pad Thai, Asian dumplings, pasta and mutton, fried pork, broiled fish, veal parmesan and several other choices.  Then there was ice cream, candy, desserts, nachos and cheese, popcorn, hotdogs and other treats.  This is all served an hour and a half before the game, through-out the game, and one hour after the game.  If it happens to be cold, warm blankets are provided.  If it is raining, complimentary ponchos are included. Get there early enough and you can watch through a window and see players warming up in the batting cages.  It was quite a night.  The only thing that was missing –well – baseball.  The game was rained out.  We had our nice meal, sat around until we received the official announcement that the game was canceled, then left.  The good news – WCCO is going to provide us tickets to another game in the future.  Hopefully this time I’ll get to actually watch baseball … and sit in the 7th row seat … right behind the plate.  This is the third time I’ve had the privilege of using these tickets.  Talk about being spoiled!
 
Lydia says our house is like an orphanage.  She complains that there are all kinds of different kids walking in and out of the house.  Kids are coming in and out without knocking.  Someone new is staying all night almost every night.  She never knows when someone is at our house.  With seven kids, that usually means someone has friends visiting. Jake’s friends are now comfortable enough they just walk in – sometimes when Jake isn’t even here.  It nice that our kids’friends enjoy coming to our house.  I’d much rather have them here, than somewhere else!

Tomorrow is Isabella’s 15th birthday.  Happy Birthday Isabella (even though my children rarely read my Blog). She’ll be a freshman this school year! That just doesn’t seem right.  I’ll have a freshman in college, junior and freshman in high school.  Wow!

Love,
JR
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I Had No Choice

6/11/2011

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Luke ..... Sophia
News From the North

Jake, Bella, Gabi and Luke are all attending the Kammron Taylor basketball camp today and tomorrow.  Kammron played his high school basketball in Minnesota and is one of the top players to come out of the state.  He went on to play for Wisconsin and was a three-year starter for the Badgers.  He is now playing in Europe for a team in Cyprus.  Each year he returns to his home town of Minneapolis and conducts a free basketball camp as a way to give back to the community.  Kammron’s sister, Krystal, played D-1 basketball for Valparaiso, and is an assistant coach for Isabella’s AAU team.  Through her we learned about the camp and the kids have attended the last two years.  It’s a good camp with good instructors.  They provide lunch both days through local sponsors, Gatorade provides drinks and each camper gets a couple t-shirts.  All free.

This summer Lydia is working at Becker Furniture World part-time and doing some baby-sitting.  After seeing her sleep in until 2:00pm a few days I took action and got her a job.

Last weekend Sophia participated in a 4H horse show.  This year she moves up a class and competes against older kids.  She finished with 3 third place ribbons and one 2nd.  Sophia loves working with horses and she does such a nice job.  But, she is slightly allergic to them.  Therefore her nose runs the entire time she is riding.  Working with horses is a dirty job, and when she wipes her runny nose she gets dirt all over her face.  After a day of working with horses you should see her.  Her face is covered with dirt.  She’s a real horse girl!

In the last week of school Luke was packing his lunch.  He came up with a great idea.  He filled a water bottle full of ice cream.  Gabi, our official tattle-tale, informed me and he was stopped.  I told him the ice cream would melt before he even got to school.  He said he knew and that is what he wanted.

Our dog Leo is such a chicken!  We put him outside attached to a rope.  Our deck sits up high in our backyard, and a full flight of stairs go to the yard.  The rope reaches up the stairs, and we connect him at the top of the stairs.  He is then supposed to walk down to the yard.  Well - a small bunny rabbit is living in the tree line not far from where Leo comes down the stairs.  Leo is scared to death of this bunny.  He will no longer go down the stairs unless he is forced. 

After dinner one evening we were discussing what clean-up jobs each child would be responsible to complete.  Someone says, “I don’t want washing.  I want put-away.”  Someone else jumps in and says, “I get counters.”  Eli joins in and says, “I get toys!”

In Minnesota it can be minus 20 degrees, or it can snow 12 inches and they won’t cancel anything.  Last week it reached 102 and they canceled baseball!  If they did that in the south, they’d never play baseball in the summer.

Luke’s baseball team met at the varsity field for their team photo, and then were to immediately go across the street to play a game at the elementary school.  Lisa took Luke to the photo session, then drove him to the elementary school and dropped him off.  She then went to pick up Gabi and bring her to the game.  She went into the house and got a little side-tracked (she left her phone in the truck).  When she got back in the Suburban to go to Luke’s game, she had several messages letting her know that the game had been canceled.  Lisa hurried to pick Luke up and when she got about a quarter of a mile from the school … there is Luke on the street corner.  Luke was proceeding to walk the 4-1/2 miles home.  “Luke what are you doing?”  Luke’s response? “Walking home.  I had no choice.  I waited 10 minutes.”  “Do you even know your way home?”  “Yes, I know what I’m doing.”  Pray for us!

The kids are all done with school now.  They finished on Wednesday.  Now we have to get settled in for the summer.  It takes some getting used-to.

We have two graduation parties to attend this weekend.  Also, Jake is having 6 (plus him) of the players from his AAU team staying over tonight.  Lisa always feels she needs to have the house perfect for such events.  Even though the boys could care less, it is important to Lisa!

I started using Facebook because I felt it was important for me to keep up on the latest trends in technology.  I didn’t want to be left behind as technology moved on.  When my kids told me that no one uses e-mail anymore, I knew I better get moving.  I quickly discovered what Facebook was all about, and really enjoyed being a part of it.  Now I keep hearing that Twitter is getting more popular than Facebook so I set up a Twitter account.  So I ask you, is a tweet really a tweet if you have no followers?  I’ll let you know how it goes.  My Twitter account is:  jrwilsonjr.

Lisa and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this week.  The romantic that I am … we went to DQ!  I am married to the most wonderful woman in the universe.  I am blessed to be married to the woman I love, and like.  She is my best friend.  She is beautiful inside and out.  Lisa is a wonderful mother, a wonderful person, and I get to call her my wife.  Thank you Lisa for all you do. 

Love,
JR
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Isabella and Gabi ..... Jake
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