Is Daddy going to be safe?

This morning we had to go over to the Air Force Base to work out details of our move. Lucy had to go with us because she was home sick today. While we were getting our passes at the gate she whispered to me "I don't want Daddy to die in the Navy". That hit me pretty hard. I pulled her up in my lap and asked why she thought that. I was already tearing up. Then she told me it was because of the movie we watched. The one with the man that turned into a fish and had silly glasses. The Incredible Mr. Limpet. At first I had to laugh because that was so far from what I expected. The concern she has, though, is real and not very funny at all. Several people have asked me about the risks and dangers that Kevin might face in the next few years so I thought I would try and explain what we feel and to have something to look back on in case we forget somewhere along the way.
I will never promise my kids that nothing bad will ever happen to us or them. There is too much bad out there for that to be true. I will tell them that we will do everything we can to keep them safe and for us to be safe. Kevin will be stationed with the Marines and as we heard last week most Marines will end up in Afghanistan sometime in the near future. He will go wherever his unit goes. Among the list of men and women that have died in these most recent wars, none of them have been Chaplains. When he is deployed he will have someone with him that is armed to protect him. He also has to stay in the most safe places because he can't carry a weapon and would be a liability. It is obviously a dangerous part of the world but it is also a place where people like Kevin are needed. We can't make promises we can't keep and life in general is a risk. My kids aren't promised health. I'm not promised safe trips to the grocery store. What can be promised is love. So we are going to love each other through all of this. And, as Randy Harris suggested last Sunday, we are going to choose joy in the midst of terror. We choose not to be scared of life. We choose Joy. Now, hopefully we can get that message across to our kids successfully.
On a much lighter note, but the reason for the conversation this morning, here is a clip starring the great Don Knotts.

So.Cal. Ya'll!!!!!

We'll be heading to Camp Pendleton in April. Kevin will be serving as Chaplain with the 1st Marine Corps Division. Never in my life did I think that we would be doing this. It's going to be serious business but hopefully that laid back Southern California charm will rub off on us. Plus we'll be so close to Legoland. What could be wrong with that?

Welcome to the Boat Club!

As of Friday night we are officially in the Navy. Kevin took his oath and it's official. He's now Lt. J.G. Kevin Wilkinson. It's a little strange that he can be an officer before he goes to Officer Development School or has a uniform but, hey, we'll take it. We should find out this week where we will end up. Exciting times in the Wilkinson house!

November It List

Owen: making duck noises, Scooby Doo, starting every sentence with "I'm gonna tell you...." and bananas.

Lucy: hairstyles, saying the word 'hairstyles', drawing pictures for her friends, following the rules at school, Taylor Swift and playing in her room with the door closed "no boys allowed" style.

Jenny: getting ready for my final Abilene yard sale, learning Navy lingo, NCIS (we are finally on season 6) and Sookie.

Kevin: running, Wii Sports Resort, Chaplain books, Bobby Bowden debates and dreaming of living on a beach soon.

*This is for journaling purposes and is not intended for punctuation scrutiny.

Kevin's Patriotic Birthday

We've been trying to get our kids excited about the upcoming changes by talking more about the military and what soldiers do. We have also spent some time talking about important people and buildings of our country after Kevin made a trip to the Pentagon. All that talk must have made an impact because the kids chose to make Daddy a flag cake topped with army men and Lucy insisted on buying him a Commemorative Barack Obama puzzle that says "Yes We Can". Just listening to her try and say his name was worth buying the puzzle. After our cake we played our new Wii Sports Resort game. Lucy really got into canoeing because she fell off of the chair trying to get around a corner. I was sore for two days after from frisbee and basketball. I always forget to stretch before playing fake games. Lesson learned.

We're Back.....and we're in the Navy!

After a nice long break from blogging, I am back with some big news. Kevin is now officially going to be a Chaplain in the Navy. He will be starting his Officer Development/Chaplain school in January. He'll be gone for 12 weeks so during that time we will be staying with my parents in Oregon. We have no idea where we are heading to in April but hopefully we'll know by December. As we said goodbye this weekend to some friends moving to Peru, reality started to sink in a little. So for now I am happy, sad, happy, sad, happy, sad. We are very excited about our upcoming adventure but we really love Abilene. We've had the most amazing group of friends and the best church family ever. I'm not saying goodbye yet. Not just yet.
I'm going to start blogging again because I really liked looking back over my past posts like a journal and figured this would be a better way to record what we are doing. I also think that we might have some interesting stories come up that facebook just wouldn't be able to handle.
That's the quick version.
Here's a treat.

Hiatus

I've been in denial. Facebook has killed my blogging. I realize they are totally different and each have their place but Facebook has more instant gratification. I may not keep up the blogs anymore but I am not ending it either. So I officially declare a blog hiatus and encourage those two of you out there to get on facebook.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Lucy really likes to make Kevin a cake on his birthday. Owen even helped this year. Since Kevin was watching football, that was the obvious choice. It's fun to watch them get so excited about doing something special for someone other than themselves. Owen almost fell down when Kevin blew out the candles because he was so excited. I wish I had the camera on that one.

Halloween thus far

Today's Trunk or Treat at Highland was full of classic costumes. It warmed my heart to see Lucy choose to be Wonder Woman (she calls it Wonder Human). Owen had an amazing Astronaut costume but wasn't nearly as thrilled about it as us. We made it through the candy portion of the evening and managed a few pictures. Owen and Casen (aka Officer Awesome) are priceless and Lucy was ready to save the world (as long as nothing too scary got in the way).

Simple Play

I, like many moms, have gotten caught up in all the toys for my kids. I'm sure that we've all been frustrated after spending more than we wanted on a toy for our kids, nieces or nephews just to watch it be kicked to the side while they play with an old spice container. As much as kids want those toys, they don't need them and they don't always prefer them. Owen has two Batman capes but insists on using blankets. Lucy has a hundred dolls and still can be found in my bedroom lining up lotion bottles and putting hair bows on them. I found a book called Unplugged Play . It has a lot of ideas of things to do with kids that don't involve anything that requires batteries or an outlet. There have been a lot of great ideas that I never really thought of because I haven't had to use my own creativity for a long time (which is kind of sad). I might put a few of the ideas on our class blog.

Better Mood

Owen quickly recovered and decided to sing a different song.

Jesus Loves Me

I love how Lucy doesn't even miss a beat when Owen loses his cape and his cool.

September It List

O: Wii cow racing game, dressing himself, school, dinosaurs, Franklin, pirates and peeing standing up (with or without playing the harmonica).

L: Wii tennis, pre-school, hiding really well (seriously, half the time we can't find her), thinking about all the things she'll do when she's twelve, playing dress-up with Owen.

J: Wii, Tuesdays and Thursdays, my new kitchen windows, reading (this one is actually a shocker) and the weather on 9/10/08.

K: Wii, football, football, teaching his class, football, playing hide-and-seek with the kids and football.

Pretty Dresses

This is what nap time looked like today. Not everyday. Some days he's holding dinosaurs or footballs. The funny part is that Lucy has never encouraged Owen dressing up in anything other than his Batman suit. He loves wearing dresses and especially ballet shoes. I think it's cute. Kevin is dealing with it.

August IT LIST!

Owen: Playing pretend bitard (guitar), going on the 'big potty', dinosaurs, cheddar bunnies and doing somersaults.

Lucy: Ariel Barbie, the Jump Around, swimming pools, making up words (for example, as I am writing this she came in with a wet arm and said that Owen got 'laki' on her which she then changed to bubble guk which I finally interpreted as slober), eating apples that aren't sliced and somersaults.

Jenny: Re-watching Alias, making peace with my walls, greek yogurt with frozen blueberries and granola, any place that has an air conditioner and my small step back into the workforce.

Kevin: Batman, Rock Band (although I couldn't really tell that he liked it since his facial expression was similar to when he watched that birthing video but he swears he was just concentrating and had the "best time evs"*), not working Saturdays (yeah!) and Alias (yeah #2).

*My interpretation of what he said.

Dinner Time

This isn't necessarily an exciting video but it is a good depiction of what a typical dinner is like at our house (in case you were dying to know). It's typically messy and always includes a song and some reference to Six Flags. If you decide to watch this there are three questions for the quiz after.
1. Why might Lucy be in her pajamas at dinner time?
2. How many facial expressions can Owen make in one sentence?
3. From where does Owen get his last bite of Spaghetti?

Abilene Math

Visitors + Abilene = Trip to the Homeplace.





We had a lot of fun with Katie and the kids. I am very blessed to have her as my friend.

July It List

O: Cucumbers, Daddy Barbie (Ken), our car (seriously, every time one of goes somewhere he just yells "don't take my car"), playing post office and taking off his diaper.

L: Barbies, butterflies, Rainbow Dash Pony, using Owen's potty chair (regression-much?), playing trains with Daddy and Miss Suzetta.

J: Self-induced stress, Dave Ramsey, sharing cucumbers with Owen and wrapping my mind around the fact that I will be yet another year into my thirties next week.

K: New job, playing trains (and Barbies) with the kids and Daniel Plainview.

Six Flags and swimming pools

My friends came from Oregon to visit the great Thelma McClure (Mema) in Cleburne last week so I met them at Six Flags. I was a little hesitant because Kevin wouldn't be with us and although there were 10 other adults I knew that they would be split between doing what they came to do and helping cousin Katie with her two kids. It was a really fun day. Everyone was so great. It wasn't even like anyone was helping, just being a family. Owen rode everything that he was allowed to and Lucy caught on after a while. For whatever reason there were hardly any lines so that was an added bonus.

Kevin had been in Dallas all week training for his new job so we were excited to get to see him after our day of "big rides". All the kids talked about doing was swimming at the hotel with daddy and papa bear. Kevin's dad had taken a road trip with his sister to Texas and met us Friday evening so we swam our little hearts out. On Saturday we went to the Aquarium in downtown Dallas and ended the trip spending $4 at IKEA. Owen has been asking to eat meatballs at the big blue store ever since.

Handy Owen

The first time I saw this I thought that it was so annoying and unbelievable. The more I thought about it the more I laughed and now I know that it's based on a conversation with Owen.* Owen's conversation went something like this...

O: My Bob movie's brokten. (really whiney voice)
M: I'll fix it. Hand me the remote please.
O: Are you fixing it? (all of the rest of his phrases are said with much concern)
M: Yes
O: Are you pushen it?
M: Yes
O: Is it worken?
M: No
O: Is it brokten?
M: Yes
O: Are you pushen it?
M: Yes
O: Are you fixin it?
M: Yes
O: Are you pushen it?
M: (laughing) YES!
O: (smiling and touching my cheek) Is it worken?
M: No.
O: Let me try.(He shuts off the dvd player and the screen turns blue)
O: Did it. (throws the remote down and walks off)

*This conversation is one of so many like it. He uses this tactic especially when reading stories and when stripping off 6 pairs of "man-panties" and a diaper.