Wilson Words

We celebrated Annabelle's Birthday with my family since we were all together for Christmas.

On Josh's birthday (12/17) we went to Sakura, a Japanese Hibachi restaurant in Toledo.

The wait was long and the place was packed, but it was definitely worth the wait!

I am thankful to his parents for raising a guy who fears the Lord and desires to serve him with his life. I am thankful for the example they set to him as parents that has made him such a great Dad! I always watched the way he treated and cared for his sister and I knew someday he would be an amazing dad to a little girl!

I am thankful for the challenges we've gone through as a couple. They have drawn us closer together and closer to the Lord. Without the Lord in our lives I know we wouldn't be the same couple we are today. God has been very kind and gracious to us.

I am thankful for another year and I pray the Lord will bless us with many more!

Cute Story: Annabelle told Daddy that because he is a boy he should have a Cars cake, stay tuned to see pictures of his birthday party tonight with Annabelle!

This was my 4th time at the Sweet Shalom Tea Room. The last time I was at the Christmas Tea was the day before Annabelle was born!


I remembered how much I loved it, so when my parents got us this gift certificate a year and a half ago I couldn't wait to use it on the Christmas Tea. I am not sure what happened last December, but we never got a chance to use it until Saturday.

We had such a sweet time together. Annabelle love playing Tea party at home so she really enjoyed being able to enjoy a real tea party. Josh had never been to the tea house so for him it was a treat to be able to see why I like it so much.



Each time you go to the tea room there is a theme. December's theme is A Christmas Carol: Tea with Mr. Dickens. This was the menu for our tea:
* Steaming Hot Wassail
* Cream Scones
* Proper English Cottage Pie
* Red Leicester Cheese Tart
* Cucumber Sandwiches
* Egg Salad on Crackers
* Walnut Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches
* Rum Tea Cake
* Caramel Dream Tassies
* Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy Cake and a
* Grand Flaming Figgy Pudding !



We actually had to sing for the Figgy pudding...you know the verse of We Wish you a Merry Christmas that says, "Now bring us some Figgy pudding"? Well, they said if we sang it loud enough they'd bring it out. When they did it was literally on fire!

They also read a portion of Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol.

This year the night before Halloween we carved a pumpkin with Annabelle. The videos in the smilebox are hilarious because of her reaction to the inside of the pumpkin!

On Halloween night, we went trick or treating again with our friends, Dan and Gina, and their two daughters, Leah and Riley. We had such a nice night! Gina's mom had a dinner for all of us, some special treats for the girls and then off trick or treating we went! The girls did a great job walking this year, last year we remember having to carry Annabelle about 1/2 way through the night. The last video in the smilebox is of when Annabelle went up to the first house to trick or treat.

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On October 30th we got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. What an amazing sound and such evidence of the little life growing inside of me! It was a 160 beats per minutes. Annabelle's was about a 150 beats per minute. It took him awhile to find it, but when he did it was so cool. Annabelle seemed unfazed at the moment, but later she loved telling everyone that she heard the baby's heartbeat!

Side note: I am in scrubs because the 3rd grade teachers dressed up as medical professionals for Halloween. I was a nurse, and my appointment was right after school. I felt so funny walking into the doctors office dressed as a nurse!

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For the past year we've been praying that God would bless us with a brother or sister for Annabelle. If at night while praying with Annabelle we'd forget she'd always remind us to pray. So it is our joy and with thankful hearts that we announce that God has answered our family prayer! I will be expecting May 17, 2010.

Again this year, I went with my friend, Deb and her children to the pumpkin patch. The kids had a lot of fun on the wagon ride, feeding the animals, eating donuts and drinking cider. I think this is becoming a yearly tradition!

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Our friends from College, Chaz and Kari Dull are missionaries in Ecuador. Chaz and Josh were suite mates in the same dorm and played Soccer together. Kari and I were in the same dorm and one semester when I was an RA they redid the dorm and Kari and I were roommates! I remember she was so spiritually encouraging when I lived with her. It was such a blessing to have them stay at our house this weekend and speak at our church. They were an encouragement not only to us but to those at our church who heard their presentation.

L to R: Gabriella (2), Cademon (3), Davis(6), Hudson(7) Annie (2)


Kari has a blog, The Dulls in Ecudor, and does such a good job of keeping up with it. The big thing I learned this weekend about their ministry is how the church planting missionaries work. They have a tough job. They meet new people, disciple them in the Lord, and train them to lead their own churches. Once the churches are functioning under national believers they move to a new area and do the same thing.  God has gifted both of them for this ministry and laid it on their heart. You can tell from the way they talk that this is truly where God has planted them. It is so encouraging to see our friends serving the Lord faithfully!

As you'll see they have 4 kids. Their kids were awesome! Annabelle loved them and they were the most polite kids. Our home felt empty after they all left.

Since going back to work Josh and I've had a couple special date days!  Two weeks ago we went to the Michigan vs. Notre Dame game up in Ann Arbor. This was exciting for me as this was my first Michigan game! We stopped at the M Den on the way out and picked up Annabelle a Michigan T-shirt as a gift!


Last Sunday we went to the Symphony. The title of it was Lights! Camera! Music! Blockbuster hits from the big screen. A celebration of John Williams' soundtracks from movies including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jaws, ET, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark and more. The great thing about going was it made us want to go back! They have a Children's program that we are thinking about taking Annabelle to because if you look at the picture on the right she was so sad that we didn't have another ticket so we could take her! Not that she would have enjoyed it at her age. This concert we want to take her to is designed for young children, combining a narrated story, children's artwork and music performed by the symphony.

Every Labor Day weekend our Church goes to a campground for a Church Camp out. For many people in the church this is their vacation. They make a whole week out of staying at the campground. In the past they have gone to a campground in Michigan, but this year they switched to one in Ohio which was on the grounds of Sauder's Village. The benefit of this campground is that the Heritage Inn is right next door so that those that don't have a camper, that would be us, could still stay overnight with the church! So we had the enjoyment of camping out in a hotel for the night!

Sauder's campground has 37 sites and all 37 sites were taken up by our church! We had such a blessed time eating and fellowshiping with our congregation.

In the Smilebox you will see a video. It is of Annabelle participating her first White Elephant gift exchange.  They do it a bit different for the kids as you will see. Also there is a picture of Annabelle at the barn restuarant standing over a vent! She had so much fun letting it blow her hair!

We are looking forward to next year and think we might stay for 2 nights!

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Yesterday the Youth Group went to the Park. Annabelle and I had fun hanging out on the kid stuff. When she saw the moon she recited this nursery rhyme she has been learning.

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We were so glad we had a camera, just in time for the first day of school. My new school year started off so well. I have 43 students total and this year I am teaching Math, Social Studies, Character Education, and Art.

After school Josh took us out to dinner and on the way Annabelle started telling knock, knock jokes! It was hilarious! We were very thankful we had the camera!

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Over the summer, Josh and I got thinking about putting Annabelle into a preschool rather than a daycare. She just seems so eager to learn and her little brain is developing so quickly. My friend, Jordan, mentioned to me one day that a friend of mine from Church who home schools her children and has a daycare would be interested in doing preschool with Annabelle. We were thrilled because she will receive a biblical perspective through her education with Michelle.

She came home with a dinosaur sheet the other day and when we asked her who made the dinosaurs she said, "God did!" We feel very thankful to have Annabelle in Michelle's care and my friend, Jordan gets to work with her also! We are looking forward to a great year!

So my friends have been making these curly bows for their kids and I had to give it a try. After finding directions online and watching a video I attempted to make my very own!

Annie will be wearing this with a new outfit I bought her for her first day of Preschool, which is Friday. Check back Friday for pictures!

If you are thinking about trying there is a great video on YouTube that teaches you how.
For those that like to read directions you can find them at Instructables.

Lately Annie has been saying the funniest things! I had to write a few of them down!


Singing to herself: Mary had a little man, little man, little man.....


Annie: I have a headache.
Mommy: Where does it hurt?
Annie: (she points to her shoulder!)


Annie as we are returning from eating out: I'm really hungry
Mommy: Annabelle you just ate
Annie: I eat hotdog?
Mommy: you just ate honey
Annie: Hmmm.....I know, I eat lollipop, its on counter.


Mommy during a temper tantrum: Annie your being Drama
Annie yelling at me: It's NOT drama Mommy!
(I"ll let you decide if it was drama!)

Josh couldn't go on the Kovlak Family vacation this year because he had a ministry trip with the teens. Annie and I were so thankful we could go while he was away. We had such a blessed time with everyone, but Annie especially enjoyed all of her cousins!

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Annabelle had her first dental visit on Friday. I was curious as any mother of a 2 1/2 year old would be if she would fuss and cry, but she was great! She laid on the chair, let them in her mouth without any problems, and they actually cleaned her teeth!

When the hygienist was done Annabelle asked for more! She loved when the dentist counted all of her teeth and was trying to count along with her. She was so proud to sign her name to the wall of No Cavities!

Our biggest accomplishment there was that Annabelle gave up her pacifier! The dentist was concerned that the pacifier was creating a gap between her bottom and top teeth. If we wait until she is 3 the gap may not go back to normal and eventually would lead to braces. I had the dentist tell Annie the bad news. So now if you ask her what did the dentist say, she says, "The dentist said no pacifier." They have a dog at the office who takes all the pacifiers and Annabelle gave the one she had to the dog. As we find them around the house I am collecting them so we can bring them to the dog again. This hasn't been easy but she is being such a big girl about it!

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Josh planted 5 new trees on the side of our house. Annabelle wanted in on the action as soon as she saw Dad digging. I have to say I think the week at her Grandpa's house helping him dig holes for trees primed her for this job with Dad!

We had a family day at the zoo today. Annabelle wanted to see the monkeys, tigers, and ride the train. She told us she did not want to see the Crocodiles. This week was our VBS and the theme was Crocodile Dock. One of the hallways in the church was set up like a swamp with a blow up Crocodile and Annabelle would not walk through that hallway. She had to have either Josh or I carrying her throughout the week. Surprisingly, when we came upon the crocodiles at the zoo she wanted to see them!

As you'll see Josh also painted her face so she looked like a kitty cat. They have a new kids area at the zoo, where the kids can get involved doing a lot of different things from dressing up as animals, touching them, or even being painted as one!

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