Thanks, Husband of Mine

Ok, I've been wanting to write one of these for a couple month now but with certain events happening as of late...the opportunity has never felt more needed or appropriate. (thank goodness for spellchecker)




1. I am so thankful for a guy who will give me the spelling of a word anytime of day, even when I call him at work just for that.

2. I'm thankful for his patience with me and all my problems.

3. I'm thankful for his willingness to do the right thing regardless of what the "norm" would be.

4. I'm thankful for the loyalty that he has for every person that is dear to his heart (or has been in his past).

5. I'm thankful for his handiness and willingness to work hard around our house.

6. I'm thankful for his peacemaking nature.

7. I'm thankful for his ability to calm almost anyone.

8. ...for his natural ability to soften someone's heart, if even for a moment.

9. ...to know he'll never give up on me.

10. ...for his ability to laugh at my lame jokes.

11. ...for his willingness to come home and cook almost every night.

12. ...for his love of helping and serving others.

13. ...he understands my ability to love many people so deeply.

14. ...for knowing how wonderful he is when I hear others complain about their spouses and know he does so much that many other men don't do.

15. ...for his faithfulness to me and our marriage.

16. ...for his support of me following my heart and dreams.

17. ...for his pushiness that keeps me from loosing myself in motherhood.

18. ...that he can understand my mother (while I can't).

19. ...that he can't lie to me (whew, what a relief).

20. ...he is and always has been a wonderful father.

21. ...for his tender heart.

22. ...for his determination to change for the better, no matter how hard or long for the change to come.

23. ...for his continual mind set that there are many sides to every story.

24. ...for his testimony of how families can be forever and doing all he can to make that happen.

25. ...for his ability to adapt to the people he is around without compromising himself or his values.

26. ...that he lives close to the Spirit.

27. ...for his ability to see what I can become and to explain it to me again and again.

28. ...for his ability to overcome physical obstacles (just called him for that spelling)

well, that's just the tip of the iceberg but my kids are up and my time is over. Glad I remember to update this!

Today was a First

Well my son is not a calm kid, never believed he was. He tries to be very helpful, and often doesn't know his own strength. Today was a first for me.

We were at an indoor playground to avoid the cold and some parents yelled at me. They told me I need to get my son under control and that he was just too rough. Well the first time, I felt bad a little but I saw what happened and he was ok. He was just the only big boy playing on a slide with a bunch of girls....and we all know boys can be a little rougher but I didn't think it was out of hand. The next time I didn't see it happen but a man came and said Dee pushed a girl down the stairs....opps. Dee said he was helping her but I still put him in time out (for the second time). The 3rd time I think the parents were out to get him and a really sad thing happened. A bunch of kids were climbing on a structure clearly marked "please don't climb on" in many places. My son was not one of them...A little girl wanted to climb up so she started to climb up the wall to get to the structure. Dee saw that she was struggling to climb onto something and tried to help her up, not realizing he was pushing her over a wall. Well she fell over (not very far 1 1/2 feet) and went face first onto the tile floor.

I got verbally attacked by 3 sets of parents and what could I do but leave. I said sorry and quickly gathered our things. Thankfully my friend and her kids were there and she totally thought they were out to get my son. I was glad for her emotional support because I'm not sure what I would have done. I'm already an emotional wreck this week....sigh. Well I hope getting this out there helps me to move on....I've got 2 days to do 2 weeks of work. No time for weepy self pity right now!!!

Grumpy Now

Ok, I know I already posted today (with my record, I already posted this month!) but a funny think happened that I just have to share!

Chocolate Milk Mustache Man

My son was needing to go to bed for nap time. He was having a hard time settling down and I finally put him in time out for 3 minutes. I walked into the kitchen and set the time and stood there doing something quietly. My son couldn't see me at the time and after he heard the beeping of the timer being set he waited a moment. Not hearing me and thinking I left the room he says, "OOHHhh MAN! Momma's grumpy now!" I started to giggle so much I had to leave the room. Needless to say I pulled him out of time out early and placed him into bed. After one more song he finally fell asleep (or has been quietly playing in his room for an hour now). So great! My goal is to try to be extra pleasant today.

Happy!

And on a side note... after having had an accident every time yesterday, we have safely and successful make it accident free all morning and afternoon. WOOHOO! (baby steps) And as promised here are some cute pictures from a while back when we were playing with the camera. I asked him to show different emotions. enjoy...

Sad
(don't worry, I don't see it either)

Silly

Surprised!

Angry!
(my favorite because he can't help smiling)

there's a toilet in my Kitchen

Our toilet broke about a year ago and we've been putting off changing it because we tried to fix it....didn't work. The pipe below is broken and ...well there are lots of reasons. My DH (dear husband) was in Austin a week ago and he saw a home depot sale. They were moving locations so everything was 30-75% off. he walked in and got a toilet bowl for $25. Then he came home and we need to go get the tank (ouch! $100) but in the meantime the bowl is sitting in our kitchen until I get the tank and all the hardware and call a plumber to come fix all the problems. DH has tried repeatedly and to save time and a head ache I've finally ok with calling a plumber.

Any way, I have this toilet bowl sitting in my kitchen. We started to move potty training from passive to a little more aggressive Thursday. On the first day we had an accident every time, but the last time I counted as a success in it's own unique fashion. My son was trying to get to the bathroom, realized he wouldn't make it and so he stopped at the next best thing. A toilet.........in the kitchen. thankfully it was only urine. I was laughing so hard when I saw what happened, and of course his aim was awful so it was all over the floor but.... BRAVO sweet heart for using logic and your problem solving skills! (I have to admit it felt like a very "Mr. Bean" moment.)

just because she just can't leave the camera alone here are a couple more pictures of my girl...next time I'll be sure to have more pic's of the boy.

Deceitful Manipulator

This is the face....

so innocent, so pure, so conniving!
(and eating chalk)
This little fairy with her guiltless looks and sweet smiles is plaguing our home!

She smiles at you as she picks up the cat water, carries it over and pours it out onto the carpet....TWICE!

She giggles as you're chasing her with a "mysterious" piece of food she found in some forgotten corner.

She bats her eyes at you as you walk up to her to eating the cat food.

She cries crocodile tears at she sits in time out for 1 min, as if her arm is getting cut off.

She stares you down at she spits out her drink all over you, running away laughing.

She kisses you profusely as you try to sing her to sleep hoping you'll fall to her charms and change your mind about the nap.

She makes you want to hug her and play when she needs that firm hand of discipline to help her become a good citizen and honest person.

She vexes me.....I am greatly vexed.

Silly Olympics of '08

Let me give you an update of our family. At the beginning of August we had a mini GHW family reunion. We got together for a day with the exception of my oldest sister and her family and my parents. I really wanted to do an activity that engaged all my family (old and young). So I remembered that at my F Walker reunion (cousins) we had a silly Olympics and I was the only person from the GHWs to go attend that so....perfect!

As I was trying to gather the info about what we did I also did research and found more sports that I added to the events moving from 8 events to 15. There were team events and individual ones. Every team had to choose a person to represent their team in the 8 individual the events. Having four people on each of the 4 teams, everyone had to participate in 2 events as well as the 7 team events. Each team had a color assigned to them and had picked a name to represent them.

TEAMS
Psst (red)
Boo (tan)
Murmur (purple)
Champion (blue)

EVENTS
Long Jump (team)- measured one foot of each team member, longest feet won
High Jump (individual)- flat footed jump, highest won
Javelin (individual)- throw a straw
Shot put (individual)- throw a cotton ball
Shooting (individual)- blow the paper off the straw
Pole Vault (team) measured the height of all team members, highest team won
Weight Lifting (individual)- lean on the wall in a sitting position, longest sitter won
As I don't have a picture for this event I had to say...we never told what the event really would be until the participant was chosen and there were 3 big guys and one petite girl chosen to do it....regardless to say the girl CREAMED the men (GO HEIDI!!!)
Fencing (individual)- stand in a position like you're holding a sword, skip to the fence, and back
4x4 relay (rather then 4x400, team)- relay to fill a cup with water by the spoonful
"Bag"miton (team)- run from point a to point b, blow up a paper bag, pop it, and run back


Discus (individual)- throw a paper plate pictured, T throwing

Hammer throw (individual)- throw a stuffed paper bag over your head pictured, Jb throwing the hammer

Cycling (team)- stand in a line and unroll a toilet paper roll over your heads and in between the feet pictured, Team Champions cycling (Ch, Sa, C, and SE)

Gymnastics (team)- spell a word using your bodies Pictured, Team Psst Spelling the word TY (Ru holding T for the "t" and Ra and Hi make the "y")

Synchronized Swimming (team)- 10 counts of 8, come up with a route to dance to the sound of humpback whales and music pictured, Team champion

pictured Team Psst with all their creative props

Team Boo (GC, Jd, SB, and Jb end their "man" swim with a masculine tribal yell
Team Murmur (Ma, Ry, Mi, and Rb....M.R.M.R hence the team name)
Each team did so good on this event. I knew it would be a make it or brake it idea but everyone put their heart into it and the results were spectacular!!!

To tide the little kiddos over while all these events were happening, we put up a pool. Thankful our off spring didn't hurt the other kids (too badly) pictured, We, Dee, and Zee

We ended the after noon with the closing ceremonies where awards were handed out and homemade root beer and snow cones were enjoyed. I need to say that every team did so well! It was awesome.
Like the names predicted, team Champion ended up with the Gold medal for the day, here they are singing "We are the Champions"

After the Olympics were all said and done we found some babysitters to watch the younger kids and my siblings and in-laws when to the cheese cake factory for some DELICIOUS food.
To end the night we pulled both tables into the family room so we could have two games of Shang-hi going on while we all watched the Beijing Olympics. I'm sorry we didn't get a picture of that because it was quite fun. Over all it was a blast, I think everyone had a good time....at least they told me they did ;^)

Thanks everyone in the Wu family for your cheerful participation and support for a wonderful Olympic Day.

Pepcid anyone?

Well I felt prompted to get up to Utah for a couple of family reunions this summer. We planned it for almost a year but my husband became a Scout Master for a local scout troop and he used his leave for Camp. Left on my own I still pushed on to prepare for this 10 day trip.
With the help of lots of blessings we embarked on our journey. We were able to go, enjoy both sides of my family, visit many people from my mission, get sick twice, and drive all the way from Idaho back home....all alive....all still sane. Here's Wee sleeping in the car one morning.




While there I saw them....
"Trev" and "Cath" (from my mom's side)
Good sport "Trev", for holding my kiddo in the pic(I can be so cruel). "Cath" had to leave early due to her guy making a surprise visit to see her (long distance relationships are hard). Good to see them, it's been almost 10 years since I've seen "Trev" and 4 since I've seen "Cath" (both way too short of visits).





I also saw them...
Some of my dad's family eating in the dining area (no hard feeling Aunt "Lor"). Behind me over my left shoulder is the window to my bedroom (funny).
The kids had lots to go do....explore the stream and a playground. Crafts that everyone enjoyed. I had to add Surfter Dude Z...Everyone went to Bear Lake for the day, we have no pictures because the kids and I were sick :(



Of course no family gathering would be complete without the standard Shanghi game...here sits, grandpa, Uncle "J", Aunt "K", and future cousin-in-law "Dg."
We had the W Family Olympics at the reunion which spanned the GHW Silly Olympics 08 with my immediate family (thanks Aunt "P")....but that can only be done justice with it's own blog....more to come :) I promise!!!!

Hey! What are you doing with my lipstick!

Well it is past time that I update this thing. We got a new camera last week. Yes we have entered into the digital camera age (finally). Here are the kiddos. The funny thing about this picture is that Wee wants the camera so she is screaming at me to let her see it and Dee has learned that he can be patient then he'll get a turn....and I'm laying in the bathtub so that Wee can't reach me while I take a picture of them. (YES, the tub is empty and I'm fully clothed, smutty minds!)

We were able to take 2 pictures of Wee before she started screaming and wanting to play with the flashing thingy. So for the rest of our evening we were trying to get her to smile for the camera. She loves posing and saying CHEESE because she and Dee have been doing that since she was a baby. Back when we did take pictures of Dee and his new baby sister. And then he kept doing it when we didn't have the camera out. But alas...my lack of picture documenting of our family is now starting to show it's ill effects. Here is me trying to get her to smile by being silly...of course you can't SEE it when she finally does. Not only were we trying out our new camera but my parents live in Taiwan and have never met Wee so we are always getting in trouble about not taking enough pictures. I'm trying to repent and HONOR my PARENTS. (sigh)

Now for the apple of my eye. For those of you who know me not, I am not a makeup person...Waist of time and money, won't last more then a couple of hours a day. Not worth it! But I do own makeup; mostly I inherited it from my siblings 15 years ago but some is new. I wear it for special occasions and now I am running a business. When I'm selling I need to look professional so for the sake of success I wear makeup for the duration of the evening. And since we're usually eating I got the lipstick color stay stuff that lasts all day long...this is wonderful for work but not so good when you son "paints" himself with it...hence:

And not only that but you can't see the left side of his face and this was taken AFTER I put him in a body bind and scrubbed the right side of his face AND the left knee...so in essence you are getting to see less then half of the damage. Note: there is some to the left of his mouth and all over his right leg, using his rights and lefts. At least he didn't "paint" anything else around him. And I can put pants on him to hide his legs. Premake-up fiasco: he also is pretty darn good at rock band! On the drums...without petal. At least for an almost 3 year old for his first time. He kept a beat and was really good using both hands. But he couldn't figure out how to follow the color code for the drums. We guided him when he let us, usually half way through the song he was tired of us telling him what to do and would hand over the drum sticks. Sweet heart!

And not to leave anyone out here is a picture of See and Cassie:

Cowboys and Carpet Walkers

One of my sisters gave us a pair of boots about a year ago for dress ups and Halloween, what ever the need might be. Dee wouldn't even touch them so we put them on a shelf and didn't think about it again. Then one day he wanted the boots he put them on and it's been a battle ever since. That kid loves those darn boots, and jeans which he now loves to put on himself. He also loves hats and I'd bet if we had a cowboy hat that would be his favorite. He loves horses: riding, petting, and feeding them. When he's got on his boots, jeans, a baseball cap, and a t-shirt...I'd bet he's a cowboy. It makes be laugh because neither DH (dear husband) nor I am really into the whole "roper" thing (a roper is someone who dresses like a cowboy but is not a cowboy). Who knows.
...Mean while back at the ranch. Wee has been exposed to other children her age that are walking so she has gained a new determination to walk. Only up to 5-8 steps, she it starting to practice more then I've ever seen either child practice anything before. Although she is 15months I would say she is a bit slow on her walking except the girls says like 20-25 words AT LEAST, which, in my opinion is a bit more then average. DH is away as Scout camp. I'm here smiling, although about what I haven't figured out yet.

return from the dead

i am alive. My family is alive. We are well. DH (dear husband)  is a Boy Scout Master. He is getting ready to head to Scout Camp in the next couple weeks. I've started to take some iron supplements and wow, has that made a difference in my life. Wee is talking up a storm...for a 1 year old. I think she uses about 20 words (phrases) unprompted. Dee barely said that many at 2! She has decided to start walking. She was taking a couple of steps every ones in a while but after spending a couple of days with other kids her age that were walking all over, she is practicing like crazy. Wee handles Dee really well, better then most of the nursery at church. She doesn't let his physical activeness deter her or when he body slams her she'll only cry to get him off. She's starting to drink cups with out lids and has even made many feeble attempts to undress herself. Dee is doing well. He is talking better now (he was a bit delayed) and he loves doing things himself.... (getting dresses, pouring his own drink, cleaning the floor after pouring his own drink) He likes to get the step stool and drag it over to what he wants. I'm impressed, maybe he'll be interested in potty training soon (haha).

We went on a family vacation to Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was wonderful, I think that I truly needed that. We went for a week. We got to dig for diamonds (no luck). We saw Al Capone's car, and learned that hot Springs is where a lot of gangsters would go on vacation. I got to bath in the spring water, hot! We also did a lot of site seeing and just swimming. They had a little sand area with swings right by the lake on the property for our resort. The kids loved playing in the sand. Dee also loved horse back riding. It was an easy going trip, not too far from home. I highly recommend to small families, go on vacation where you have no one to please but yourself. Visiting our family is great and wonderful but we have absolutely loved every vacation that we have taken all by our small family's self.


P.S. Did I mention Dee pouring out all our rice in our living yesterday morning? Or a whole gallon of milk in the kitchen, we even had to move our stove and dishwasher to clean it all up.

All right all ready

ok ok ok I'm so bad at this again I need to write. I felt guilty for not posting more pics so I kept waiting to get some and now...here we are. Another year has started but look.... spot of hope on the horizon!!! I am trying to finish a role of film (no we don't have a digital camera yet) and Am promising to over come my issues of no pic and well...there is some glimmer of hope there for all.
Stay tuned for the...adventure of a 2 year old at a wedding...no nap...little sleep from the night before...and a sick sister who kept the parents up. Did they survive the service or was it a wedding and a funeral?