Camping at Center Hill

This past weekend we went camping with Trent's parents to Center Hill Lake. They have a fully equipped camper, which makes braving the wild outdoors very nice! We met up with friends and had 3 campsites to roam on. It was so nice to get away for a little bit and the food was amazing (as usual!!) You never go hungry camping with this crew!

Trent and I brought the boat and we got to explore a little bit of the beautiful lake ...that was, after we figured out how to actually get the boat in the water. The boat ramp we went to was a little crazy and STEEP. There was no dock so we decided it would be best to get everyone in the boat, put the boat in the water and then the person driving the truck back to the parking spot would just swim from the ramp back to the boat. That worked fine until we decided we were done and wanted to leave the lake. Drew and I jumped off the boat, swam to the ramp and walked up the mile high ramp to the parking lot. From there, I actually backed the truck and trailer ALL THE WAY DOWN...whew!!!! It took a little while but I did it! Anyway, we found a much better place for next time...it should be nice and normal!

Here are some pics...

The camper.

Memur is frying bacon and the best part was the fact that Wyatt was standing beside her eating it as fast as she got it out!!

Trent taking the boys to the river to go fishing.

nice and peaceful...just below our site.

The view behind the camper.

Will and Wyatt had fun playing with their buddy Bradley.

Of course there needs to be some dirt to dig in!

Wyatt was ready to eat...

the boys enjoying their meal!

Science Museum

A couple of weeks ago, we took a trip to the Adventure Science Center. Nana came along with us and we all had a great time! Will had fun exploring everything from the human body to outer space. He even got to lift a car off the ground!

Will and Nana throwing "food" into a giant mouth

Will and Wyatt exploring knobs and buttons on a space ship

The car actually lifted off the ground.....

...when Will and Nana pulled the ropes!!

Nana has some good moves for a great-grandmother!!

(they were dancing in front of a recorder where they could see themselves on tv)
Cool!!!
Wyatt, what do you think of the science museum?

Will's prayer

The other day we (me, Will and Wyatt) were in the car driving to baseball practice when Will's patience started running thin. It had been one of those busy days where we were going, going, going and the boys were exhausted. Will had been fairly short-fused all day and Wyatt did something horrible, like touched Will's air or something, and Will blew up at him. I told Will that he needed to work on his patience today because he was being very rude to his brother. I told him to pray to God and ask for more patience. After a little explanation on the meaning of patience, Will decided that was a good idea. He prayed, "Dear God, Thank you for all the trees and couches (he tends to thank God for random things during his prayers) I'm sorry I've been mean to my brother today. Can I please have some patience so I can be nicer?" Afterwards, he said very excitedly, "I feel better!! I have patience!!!" So on we drove for a few more minutes and things were pretty peaceful. As they were playing, Will said something a little mean to Wyatt and then said, "uh oh, I think I need to pray again". He bowed his head, closed his eyes and folded his hands,"Dear God, Thank you for the patience you gave me earlier, but I need thirds please." All I could do was laugh, it was so sweet!! I know I've been there before!

While I'm on the subject of Will and religion, I don't want to forget what he said a few months ago while playing in his room. He was playing trucks while I was putting away his laundry. One truck hit the other and truck 1 said, "hey, why did you do that?". Truck 2 replied, "I didn't do that, God did. I'm just the truck, God is the driver."

Our little 4 year old preacher! He loves to get in front of people and recite the books of the bible (both old and new testaments) and he doesn't hesitate to tell you the latest bible story he learned. I hope he always loves church and God as much as he does now!

Wyatt - foo foo x 4 days = exhausted Mommy and Daddy!!!

Today is day 4 without the foo-foo for Wyatt and it's harder on us than it is him! Why we are doing this... not really sure, I guess it just seemed like a good time. Wyatt has been pretty much without the pacifier for 6 months or longer, so when I dropped it at the movies (I only took it because I knew he would take a nap most of the movie) and was unable to find it, I thought, lets do this. We only had 1 left and it stayed in his bed. It doesn't come in the car with us or to church, etc. When he woke up in the mornings, he would say "bye bye foo foo" and put it safely to bed. Then after nap, the same thing. I didn't realize he was so attached to it for going to sleep! He cries for it and I say, "where is the foo foo?". He replies, "gone, dropped" and looks absolutely pitiful! The first couple of days, at sleep time (nap and night), he would cry for at least 1 hour, and then wake up really early in the mornings. His great sleeping schedule is completely out of whack! This makes for a very cranky Wyatt and very LONG days for Mommy! Trent is going through a very busy and stressful time at work, and after working those long hours, he comes home to a cranky family! He is still right there to play with the kids and give me a break for a little bit and he's great at getting Wyatt to sleep at night! He's very patient telling Wyatt over and over, "close your eyes and go to sleep". Wyatt will sleep for a few minutes then we hear "Mommy (and/or) Daddy hold me", Trent says, "go to sleep", Wyatt replies "k". This can go on for a while!
We're just hoping it gets easier because I'm way too stubborn to break down and buy another foo-foo!!

Awww....he's growing up....

Well...I knew it would happen some day...he's growing up! Today is a special day, we are going to watch our first movie at an actual theater. Will is super excited!! I went to Wyatt's room to get him ready to go and when I came out, Will was all dressed, complete with cap and everything! Will typically puts his clothes on by himself after I lay them on the bed, but today he actually picked his clothes out, got them out of the drawers/closet and put them on all by himself! I didn't even ask him to! I will still have to work on the whole matching thing...but I was so proud of him!! He makes his own bed, puts away his mess after meals/snacks and now gets his own clothes ready! wow...at least Wyatt still needs me :)

Will saying "wooo- hooo" (he was very proud too!)

The Stilz smile...it just comes natural :)

Make it a great day! Jennifer

I Survived The Buffalo!!

We made it!!! We successfully completed the 8 mile course on the Buffalo River with only a few scary moments and minimal bruising and sore muscles. This was done I might add, with Will and Wyatt in the boat too!! It was so much fun and I would love to go again!!

We had 4 boats in our group (8 adults and 3 kids) and not very much canoeing experience. This did result in 5 flips for the group, some funny and some scary but we all made it out okay.

Our flip was scary, all I could think was "where are the kids". I saw that Will was between me and Trent, then I turned to see Wyatt floating down the river face down. It was waist deep water on an adult and was dragging Wyatt very quickly. Trent and I were able to grab both kids and the canoe and get to the side (minus one shoe each!). Luckily, the guys came to help and retrieved our shoes, waterproof bag, paddles and life vests (probably should have been wearing those) - which had floated down river pretty far. They helped us get situated again and we learned to tie the loose things down! No worries the food was safe and dry! The boys were fine but Wyatt was pretty unsure of our steering abilities for the next 45 minutes or so. Even after that, he would start crying again each time we scrapped bottom. (which happened to us even when the other 3 boats got through fine...what's up with that?!?!)

Along the river, there were several sandbars to stop and play, picnic and cool off. The boys loved this part of the trip. They would swim in the river, toss the rocks and of course, eat their snacks!

One part they don't tell you in the brochure...when canoeing with a wife/husband, be prepared for lots of fussing and arguing! It seems like we were fussing at each other the whole time - for two inexperienced canoers, we sure were experts on what the other was doing wrong! However, we weren't the only ones. In fact, the only canoe that didn't seem to have any problems was the one with Mom, Landon and Kerry. Poor Jane and John...with 3 flips (2 of which happened during rescue missions), a few injuries and 1 pair of lost glasses - wheww....

Even Alan and Kyle didn't make it out dry!

Overall, a great time, good memories and well worth the ride!!

Will's favorite part of the trip - "the part where we flipped"

Wyatt's favorite part of the trip- "canoe"

Just a typical day....

Nothing really special to post about today, just a typical day in our lives. I guess if you think about it though...a typical day IS pretty special - every day is a gift from God. "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 119: 24

So to start off this beautiful Friday, Trent and I get a wake up from our little Wilson who "wants to watch cartoons", in our bed of course at 6:00am! But who does not want ANY lights turned on because it "hurts his eyes". So, we have the "when you come to our room, it's morning. Lights come on so Daddy can get ready for work" conversation. If you know Will, you know every conversation is an actual conversational debate with lots of "why's" and opinions from Will and lots of creative explanations from us! I knew then it would be a long day!

At least his brother is loving sleep at this point! Lately Wyatt sleeps until 8:00 or 8:30am and that's going to bed at 8:00pm and taking a 2-3 hour nap! How did I get so lucky!!

Will on the other hand was getting very antsy around 8:00 this morning with Wyatt still asleep and me doing housework. He was laying upside down and backwards in a chair (should have gotten a pic on that one) and asks me "mom, WHAT are we going to do today? I'm feeling that I'm bored and actually I am." (He is very into saying "actually" and "I'm feeling"!)

To curb the boredness after Wyatt woke up, we played outside - very hot and humid, even Wyatt said "moan, go e side" (in english...."come on, lets go inside") so we decided to go shopping. We needed some new cleats for Will our little ball player who has outgrown last year's cleats by 2 sizes! He has just started baseball for the first time and will start his 3rd season of soccer in a month.
Didn't realize it was tax free weekend!!! The store was packed and with 2 cranky kids it was almost unbearable :) We found the shoes and for a treat went to chick fil a for lunch.

The boys LOVE chick fil a, well at least the playground part of it! The rule is "eat first then play" so my smart little Wyatt flashes his big grin and repeats over and over throughout lunch "play first din eat". We played and played and both boys are successfully down for a nap!

It's been a fun morning, again, nothing special but fun none the less!

We are looking forward to babysitting sweet little Annie tonight and then canoeing on the buffalo river tomorrow!

Make it a great day! Jennifer

opps...lessons learned :)

Okay...so it's official- we have had our first opps moment with the boat. While the boys are napping and Trent is safely outside mowing, I will record today's story so we can later look back and laugh. :)
Let me start by saying that Trent and I went out last night for our anniversary (7 years on Monday!) and the boys spent the night with Mom and Dad. We had a great time and were looking forward to a beautiful Saturday to ourselves on the lake. Well, at least a saturday morning. We were to pick up the boys this afternoon so Trent could take Will to a Sounds baseball game with a friend. We only had a few hours and were going to make the most of it by going for a quick breakfast at Sonic and then straight to Old Hickory. We drove out to the boat ramp thinking it would be packed since it has rained for what seems like 2 weeks. It wasn't packed at all... yet! We backed the boat in the water and Trent trys to start her up....nothing. Luckily he has a jump starter battery in the truck for just such an occasion. He hooks it up...still nothing. By now, there is a line forming behind us to get in the lake. - no pressure or anything! He says, "We'll just pull it up and let it charge for a minute until everyone gets in and then try again." It's now our turn to "try again". I get to learn how to back the trailer down - which I did a great job! He cranks several more times to no avail. Checks the battery jumper and realizes it is now dead too! By this time, he was NOT a happy camper! He says, "just pull it up and lets go home." As we're pulling it up, we hear an awful scrapping sound...the prop was still in the "down" position and scrapping against the boat ramp! Trent was straight up MAD at this point. We are half way up the ramp, getting the jumper back out and hoping it has enough juice to at least run the trim to pull the prop back up and watching the nice line of boats form behind us waiting to enjoy their lake day!
Needless to say, we are now at home with the boat safely in the driveway and the battery hooked up to the "plug in charger". Trent angrily says, "I guess I'll go mow."
As he is weed-eating, it breaks too!

If everyone could say a little prayer for Trent today, I would really appreciate it! :)