I love these boys...

Because they pick up bugs

and share them with their little brother.

Because they pester the dog
(which the dog tolerates and for that I love him).

They smile at their mommy.

Because they have bruises from riding the tricycle

straight down the hill and into the fence.

They make the same silly faces.

Over and over and over.

Because no one gets more wildflowers

picked for her than this mommy.

And because they are as sweet and innocent and pure
as sitting on a hilltop on a summer afternoon.

And because they're mine.

The Wilsons are going PINK!

I'm giving into the pressure to post a picture of my baby-belly. (Mom, Jenn, hope you're happy now!) So, here I am at almost 31 weeks. As all three of my babies have showed up earlier and earlier, (Daniel on his due date, Caleb a week early and Eli two weeks early) I keep thinking in the back of my mind I only have 7-8 weeks left. But I realize that is a dangerous mindset to have! Nothing about this pregnancy has been like the previous ones so this little one will probably show up four weeks late!!!


I'm also convinced I will go way past my due date because we now have almost an hour long drive to the hospital. I am going to be so stressed about "making it", I'll never relax enough to go into labor!

After two ultrasounds we are fairly confident we are having a girl, although a little voice in the back of my head says, "They could be wrong. They could be wrong." Remember, we have over 80 years of history against us! But here are some of our first girly things. Patrick picked up the pink dress the other night and just shook his head. He muttered something about us entering a completely foreign world. Well... considering that I'm a girl I think I can handle it.

This is the outfit I went out and bought the day we found out Pistachio was a girl. And it's probably the outfit we'll bring her home from the hospital in. I love giraffes. The boys' nurseries were decorated with giraffes so I had to continue the theme.

Very excited as we start the countdown and suddenly realizing all the thing we still have to get ready!!! Ah!

Eli turns 2!

Eli turned TWO on April 2nd.

We celebrated with a feast of pigs-in-the-blanket, french fries, ceasar salad, fruit salad and cupcakes!

Okay... Eli is going through this phase (that the other two boys went through as well) where he does not like having his picture taken. So he looks mad in all his pictures! But he really was happy we were celebrating him!

Happy, Happy Birthday, Eli!! You bring so much joy into our lives. You are a constant reminder that God's ways are always so much higher than ours as we could not have imagined the blessing you have been to us.

Playing Outside!

These are some random shots of the boys playing outside this Spring. Just outside our yard is the Dirt Patch, their favorite spot of all. There are all sorts of roads and tunnels being created. Even a parking lot for all the trucks and construction vehicles. Recently, Patrick dug a hole in the Dirt Patch large enough to swallow Caleb and Eli. When I asked Patrick if the hole has a purpose, he said, "No, Daniel just asked me to dig a hole." Ah... so blessed to live in a spot where we can dig a hole "just because!"

Booster can jump the fence. He just knows we're watching right now. Notice the stack of tumbleweeds up against the fence? One of the boys' favorite activities is dragging tumbleweeds from all over the pasture and putting them in a huge pile. I don't get it, but it entertains them!

How Booster Became a Wilson

The story of how Booster came into our lives will go down in the annuals of Wilson history as just plain funny. Thirty years from now, we'll be sitting around with our children's children and start off with, "Remember that time we couldn't adopt a homeless dog?" We'll all laugh and then one of the boys (all grown up at this time) will wistfully say, "Yeah, but we ended up with Booster and he was the best dog ever..."


Patrick and I never had a dog before kids because our lives were so busy, we knew it would not be fair to the dog. Once we started having kids (and they started asking for a dog) we lived in a house with a postage stamp sized yard, and we didn't think that would be fair to the dog either. But! The instant we decided to move to the country we started thinking about dogs... No dog has been more researched. After six months of research we decided the Labrador Retriever was best. Really? Six months of research and we end up going with the most popular breed in America? It was kind of anti-climatic.


So how does one go about getting a lab? A puppy was not an option. I have three boys, age five and under with a baby due this Summer. I do not need to add training a puppy to the mix. We didn't want to just go to the pound and pick out a dog. I'm all for rescuing shelter dogs, but not when I have a two-year-old whose face is right at teeth level and no guarantee that the dog would be okay with him. So... that left us with a Lab Rescue. These dogs are in "foster homes" so they are well known. They were just as concerned with where their dogs went as were about the dog that came into our home. So after finding a rescue that was okay with us having young kids...

I filled out a lengthy application.
We did a phone interview.
We had a home visit.
And then we were told we couldn't have one of their dogs?

Huh?! The reason was because we planned to "keep the dog in a confined area" whereas their dogs needed to be fully integrated into the family and should be allowed to watch TV with us and sleep in our rooms, if not our beds. Yes, they actually said that. The confined area they were referring to is our very large mudroom and kitchen. Our thinking was that with small kids crawling everywhere, we just did not want to deal with the mess of dog hair everywhere. (If you have an indoor dog, there is dog hair all over your house. You won't convince me otherwise...) I understood where the rescue was coming from, but I also pointed out we have 13 acres of free range, rabbits galore for chasing, three rambunctious boys dying to have a dog and the fact our entire family is home all day, plus with us homeschooling, the day will not come that our kids are gone all day. After talking to another rescue they were okay with our situation, it would just be a matter of finding the right dog for it.

I was really heartbroken. I know it sounds silly in the grand scheme, but we were praying hard for a dog. Every night, the boys prayed for their dog. And in all the researching and getting ready for one to be in our family, I remembered all the pets in my growing up years and it brought back many fond memories. I actually cried when the rescue denied us. I felt lost at where else to look. In my mind, a puppy or shelter still were not options.

Then someone suggested I try Craigslist where people "re-home" their pets for a small fee. I typed in "lab" and up popped Booster. A 3-year-old lab/golden retriever mix. He belonged to a family with six kids. They were needed to re-home him because of neighbor issues. After talking with them, we felt comfortable with the issues and scheduled a meeting. They brought him over on a Saturday morning. It was a perfect fit. They left him with us that day and now Booster is part of our family.



And the coolest thing? Booster belonged to their 8-year-old daughter. When they realized they would need to get rid of him, she started praying he would go to a family with little kids who lived on a farm. Proof God cares about even the simplest of prayers.


And... Booster pretty much has free access to the entire house. Yes, we went soft! He has to endure daily brushings. I always tell him, "If you're going to be an indoor dog, you got to get brushed." But it's really because he is so well-behaved. Doesn't jump on us or furniture. He confines himself mostly to our dining room/entrance area. He does come lay in the boys' bedroom when we are saying good night and tucking them in.


He is incredibly gentle. The boys lay all over him. He lays down next to the table when we eat, but never begs. He quickly learned Caleb was the one who drops the most food so that's who he lays next to!

He is well-loved.

The boys bring out their "lovies" (blankets and stuffed animals) and drape him with them.

He loves to go for walks and is great on a leash.

And yes, there is dog hair in our house now. It just means we vacuum a lot more and have the added chore of brushing him daily. But you sacrifice for family members, right?

Farm Fresh Eggs!

One of my plans since going country is to raise my own chickens, or at least have laying hens so I can collect my own eggs. (The actual raising of the chicks will be a project in another year or two.) The advice I keep getting over and over in regard to my countrified adventures is, "Start slow. Don't do too much at once or you'll end up hating it." So my goal this year are to start a small vegetable garden (yet to be started, but we're under frost warning until Mother's Day!) and get chickens.

I admit my enthusiasm for the chickens has waned a little as I've researched types of chicken coops, providing electricity for chicken coops, cleaning chicken coops and keeping chicken coops safe from raccoons, coyotes, hawks and our dog! But yesterday re-inspired me... Our neighbor brought me seven of her little flock's freshly laid eggs.

At first I was captured by the color. They are so pretty! She had come over for an impromptu Easter egg hunt and I actually thought she was bringing dyed eggs for the hunt. I've never seen eggs other than brown and white. But these were pinkish brown with speckles and tan and a beautiful light blue.

BEFORE...

I've also heard how yummy fresh-from-your-own-backyard eggs taste so I was very excited to get up and scramble them this morning, although I felt a little bad about breaking those beautiful shells open. Especially the blue ones. Apparently, I'm egg color prejudiced. This morning I heard Patrick up before me and making himself breakfast. My selfish thoughts were, "Don't eat the fresh eggs!" and "I always appreciate it when he makes us all eggs, but please don't mix the fresh ones with the grocery store ones!" (I wanted a pure taste.) I know, probably not the best thoughts to have at 7:30 in the morning.

He made oatmeal.


The eggs have much thicker shells. And the yolks are a much darker yellow. Thankfully, no baby chicks inside. (I remember, when we were in New Guinea and my mom would get eggs from the nationals in the tribe, occasionally there would be a little chicken fetus forming inside, but my neighbor doesn't have a rooster so not much chance of that!)


The true test... the taste!

AFTER:

Well... the eggs tasted more like... eggs! They tasted like grocery store eggs, just more so, which might make you think they tasted "eggy" and that might not be good, but this is totally in a good way. Maybe less bland? A more dense flavor? I'm not a foodie. There's probably proper terms for what I am trying to describe. They also tasted "buttery" even though I did not use butter. I really, really liked them so again I feel my enthusiasm for researching and purchasing a chicken coop coming back.


The bacon on the other hand... I'm sure it came from some hormone, antibiotic injected hog off an assembly line type slaughter house. But I'm okay with that. I like bacon. But I have no desire to raise a pig!!

We take advantage of warm days here...

We love Colorado. One of the things we love is that even when it is freezing cold in the winter, unless it's snowing, the sun still shines bright! That was until this winter... We have had very little snow, but it's still been cold and it's been cloudy. Not a good combination in my book! So when we woke up to pure blue skies and 60-degree sunshine this morning, it was, "Everybody OUT and STAY out!" Thankfully, we have lots of fun things to do outside in our own backyard.

We are also blessed that Patrick works from home and he had an extra long lunch today. We got to go for our first walk as a family since moving into our new home. How sad it's taken us that long! But again, cold and cloudy....

I feel super blessed. If you know me at all, you know I'm still a little horse crazy. And our neighbors have a pair of super sweet ones that came running when they saw us walking down the road. Sadly, all we had was kisses and lots of affection for them. I plan to give our neighbors a call to see if they'd mind us giving them some treats.

And no sunny day is complete without a picnic on the back porch.

A picnic on the porch Daniel and Caleb promptly moved up into their playhouse.

As I was basking in the sunshine, watching the boys run around, being the wild, crazy boys God created them to be, I remembered a conversation Patrick and I had with a pastor shortly after we moved to Colorado. We were looking to become members of a local church and discussing with him how we could get involved. We were also very concerned that we not miss our "calling" for being in Colorado. He looked at us and said, "How do you know God didn't bring you here just to bless you?"

Today I thought, "Wow, God has so blessed us by bringing us here."

Yes, we are serving God. We continually check our calling and make sure it is in line with His. We are starting to see the reasons God suddenly moved us out to Denver four years ago... and now out to the sticks... but how amazing that He brought us to a place that we would love and our family would thrive.

Truly blessings beyond our imagining....