No Limits!

We went to the Lake House this weekend. This is the first time that we have all been at the lake house. We went last year when I was REALLY pregnant with Hannah and the year before when Noel's brother was getting married and I was REALLY pregnant with the triplets. So we were excited to see how everyone was going to handle it. We wanted some help so we asked my parents and Noel's mom and step-father to come as well.

Well my father got sick and was sick all week and so he could not make it and then Bobby and Gail decided that that would come late on Saturday. So we had my mother and us with 6 children, my nephew came.

On Friday we arrived and had dinner and then played in the bounce house with water and Noel and Elijah played in the lake water that was in the cove, lots of moss! NASTY!! The kids slept pretty well. On Saturday we got up and ate breakfast and played outside while we got the boat ready. The next door neighbor, Bill, came up to mow the lawn. He started to talk to Noel and mentioned that he got a new Porsche. Bill came to see the "safari" and I asked how he liked his car. He stated, "Do you want to drive it?" Yeah!!!



I want to thank my dad for teaching me how to drive a stick-shift. Bill told me that I could go as fast as I wanted and to enjoy myself. I did enjoy myself, I decided that 125mph was probably all I wanted to do. I drove by a cop twice and all he did was shake his head and smile at me. I love the country.

We went on the boat and swam in the lake. The "safari" loved the boat and the water. We had lunch and the "safari" passed out for nap time. After taking a nap we went outside for about 10 minutes because it was so hot. Later in the afternoon Noel's mother and step-father came up and the "safari" played with them and their dog. Then we loaded them into the van and drove home. Everyone was tired and fell asleep before we got out of Kingsland.

I packed everything for this trip, except the battery charger for the camera. So all you get is the picture of the Porsche that I drove. I was sad to find out that I remembered everything except that. We will visit the lake house a lot in the future and the pictures will come. We had a great time and the "safari" loved it, that is all that matters.

My tomatoes are learning and growing

Parenting is always a challenge if you have one child or if you have five like me. Each child is different and responds to discipline differently.

Joshua has a soft heart so if you change the tone of your voice he listens 90% of the time. Elijah just wants to be the alpha dog so with him you have to use a combination of discipline and teaching as well. Jacob hates being told he cannot play with is toys so time out usually works unless he is in a mood and then a good swat on the butt does just fine. Hannah you just have to tell her "no" for right now. ESTHER, well she an entirely different child all together. She is stubborn and strong-willed, and that is on a good day.

So I was researching techniques to not destroy her personality but modify her behavior. I came across this website. Now she has more children then I do and so I was curious how she disciplined her children. The neat thing is that she has subjects on the side that tell you how she handles numerous things, whining, tempers, sharing, etc.

For my sanity I decided that I would try some of the techniques that worked for her. Some of them have worked for Esther and some not so well. Parenting is all about trial and error, right? Esther hates to be in time-out because she has to stand in the corner and look at the wall and not everyone playing. That has worked for us. Also the fact that when she is being mean she has to hold the seam of my pants and go where I go and not be able to play until I can trust her again.

Parenting is a hard thing and there are techniques that work for some and not for others. It is like potty training, everyone has a technique that worked for them, but it does not guarantee that it will work on your child.

So my tomatoes are learning and growing and I just have to trust that the Gardner put me in charge of them for a reason.

The Love of Food

Have you ever made a meal that your husband just loves? I have several times; I try to make sure that my husband enjoys dinner. Well last week we had cheese enchiladas that were just great. There were some leftovers so Noel decided that he was going to take them to work for lunch.

Noel has been trying to ride his bike to work three times a week, yes all 12 miles one way. Well that morning he was riding his bike and so he was going to take some Advil with him so that he could take it at work. Now this is where the "man" side shows up. He did not have a place to put the Advil, now a women would have gotten a ziplock bag and put the Advil in there. NO that is not what Noel did; he decided that he would put it in the container that had the enchiladas and then take them out when he got to work. Yeah right, Noel is not good with memory unless it is really important. For example, I can tell him to please get the laundry when he is putting the "safari" to bed and he will come downstairs with NO laundry.

He gets to work and of course forgets that the Advil is in his lunch. At lunchtime he puts the enchiladas in the microwave and goes on his business. A woman would have opened the container all the way and looked but not Noel. He microwaved his LIQUID filled Advil with his lunch. BUT get this he still ate the enchiladas. He stated that the Advil was not going to keep him from eating the great enchiladas.

I am honored that he loves my food that much that he would eat the enchiladas, but that is NASTY!!! I love you honey but next time get a Ziplock bag or get a travel size container of Advil for work.

I thought I would share this story since I am still laughing and it has almost been a week.

Super Dad

Multiples and More blog decided that it would be fun for everyone to write about their father or their babies' father for Father's Day and post it. I decided to write about the "safari's" father.

I met Noel on E*Harmony. When we finally met we knew that we had a connection and were totally excited about it. We talked about everything that we had done and what we wanted to do with our lives. Noel wanted to find a life-long partner and have a big family. I wanted to get married as well with the OPTION of children. God knew Noel's heart and he gave us a big family, 5 children in 23 months, Elijah in 2006 10 months later the triplets and 13 months later Hannah.

As soon as people find out that we are the "Wilcoxson's" we get asked, "so who helps you on a daily basis?" The answer always surprises them, "it is just us." You see we have family that helps when we need a break or a just some time together, but we do it together. I have a wonderful husband that loves his "safari" and would not trade them in for anything. Noel does not stay late at work so that he misses out on dinner and bath time, he does not come home and tell me that he needs some "unwinding time" before he helps me with the "safari." No, as soon as he opens the door he takes his shoes off and jumps in to help. Most of the time that means that he gets beat up by the "safari" wanting to play rough with daddy. It warms my heart to know that I have a husband who is not a father but a daddy to my "safari."

The best thing is that I can leave the house and know that the "safari" is going to be safe and have lots of fun with daddy while I am gone. When we had the triplets we decided that I would still work and so Noel took care of the "safari" on the weekends when I had to work. He had a great time and enjoyed playing and teaching our "safari" things like watching football, playing ball, wrestling, and other daddy things. No matter who I am with I always get asked who is watching the kids when I am in public without them. Noel is watching our "safari," because he knows that mommy needs to escape as well.

I remember talking to Noel one night and he told me that he would not have planned our family this close but that he thought is was the best thing for us and that he has had a blast and is looking forward to the years to come. Noel loves his children and he misses them every time that he has to leave town. He calls to hear their voices and his heart melts when he hears them tell him that they "love him, miss him, want him to come home and bye bye."

God chose Noel to be a daddy and He molded him and got him ready for the "safari." Noel has become the daddy that I dreamed he would be and God continues to mold him to be the example that he needs to be and to make sure that God is in our lives and in our "safari's" lives.

Noel I am proud of you and want you to know that you are the best daddy to our "safari." I could not have received a better husband to fill that role. I thank you for loving and teach our children the right things and that God loves them. My heart overflows when I hear them ask "where daddy is?" and when they say they love you and love on you. I see that you are instilling in them early the importance of family and that you are making them a priority in our lives. May God continue to bless our family and continue to mold you to the man, husband, and daddy you are suppose to be. I love you, Happy Father's Day.

Diet Coke or Margarita

The last several months Noel and I have been trying to figure out the PERFECT room situation for the triplets and Elijah with Hannah in the mix, because she needs somewhere to sleep.

We tried the triplets together and that worked for a long time. Then the triplets would put their "strengths" together and destroy, open and play with everything. So we decided to split the triplets, then we had Elijah and Joshua together. That did not work and so we moved Esther with Elijah. Well guess what that did NOT work out either.

Noel and I have moved beds, removed wheels from beds, removed side rails, removed closet doors, reinforced the curtains to the studs in the wall, put a lock on the outside of the door, removed blinds, used duct tape and put a heavier mattress in with Elijah and Esther so that they could not put it up against the wall and bounce their bodies off of it.

The final moment came on Thursday. Look at the pictures and then I will explain.

Looks like stuffing from a pillow right? Oh I wish. You see Noel and I have been duct taping Elijah and his roommate, whomever it might be, because they always take their diaper off. Well the smart people decided that if you tear the diaper from the middle then it accomplishes the same thing and you can get around the duct tape if you suck in and pull down the torn diaper. So Elijah helped Esther with her diaper and that is the outcome. The beads that protect our "safari" from wetness was all over the room. So after making them clean it up and getting a punishment, a spanking, I called Noel.

So this is the living situation now. Elijah is in his room by himself. Joshua and Jacob are in a room together and then Esther is in the final room. That leaves Hannah and the "guest room" furniture in the game room upstairs. We were blessed with the fact that Hannah can sleep anywhere so she is in the game room. Now in our bedroom is the computer, books, the drawers from the cribs, side rails from the cribs. All the closet doors are in the game room behind the two beds for "guests."

What an adventure. Noel and I kid around when I call him in the afternoon. I tell him if it is a Diet Coke moment or if it is a Margarita moment. Thursday was a Margarita moment.

We are TWO!

Well it is official I have triplets who are 2! I thought that I would share some photos from those two years. I hope that you enjoy them and I will enjoy the memories that I have from them. Letters to the triplets later. Thank you for being apart of our lives either through personal contact or just through our blog we appreciate all the prayers, laughter and crying that you have shared with us. I promise there will be more to come in the coming years.

Separation Anxiety

For a couple weeks Elijah and Joshua were roommates. We thought that this would be a good idea because Joshua is such a mellow child and is very easy going that the transition would be good for both sides. That meant that Jacob and Esther were still roommates but without Joshua.

I spent the night at my parent's house the night before the big cook marathon, and I had Elijah and Esther with me. That meant that Joshua and Jacob were in separate rooms and their roommates were with me. Jacob did not have any problems with having Esther out of the room because that meant that he got to go to sleep faster and without any drama. Now Joshua did not take it so well. Noel told me when I called that Joshua was very upset and that when he went in to check on him this is what he saw.





Joshua had taken all the blankets, pillows and animals from both his bed and Elijah's bed and decided that he needed to sleep with all of them because he was all alone. I felt sad for Joshua, because really in his entire life he has slept alone maybe 2 times and I am counting this one.

Since then we have made some changes to the roommate situation. Joshua is a follower and gets in way too much trouble with Elijah as a roommate so we made a switch. Esther and Elijah are roommates and Jacob and Joshua are roommates, the E's and the J's. The current sleeping arrangements seem to be working just fine. Who knew that parenting was and is all about trial and error anyway. LOL

The Blocks are Done

When I was a child there were these blocks with the letters of my name on each block. My brothers has their blocks as well. I remember playing with those blocks, fights with the blocks and just having a good time with them.

After we had our "safari" my mother gave me my blocks from my childhood. The "safari" loves them but they have been in existence almost 30 years. The filling is not so filling any more and they are small. When I finished the personalized pillows for the "safari" I thought that it would be a good idea to do the alphabet with a new version of the block that I had as a child.

I looked for patterns and ideas on the Internet and could not find anything that I wanted, and so I made my own. I used the letters from the personalized pillow pattern and made my own blocks. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought the material and then went to Hancock Fabrics for the two fabrics that I could not find at Hobby Lobby, last night I had to get more filling and this morning I finished the pillows.

Each letter has a pattern that goes with that letter in the alphabet. So here is the run down.
A- Alphabet (because there were no Aggie Cotton patterns or apple prints)
B- Butterfly
C- Coffee
D- Dog
E- Elvis Presley
F- Frog
G- Girl
H- Hearts
I- Insects
J- John Deere
K- Kitty Cat
L- Ladybug
M- Mickey Mouse
N- Navy
O- Orange
P- Pinata
Q- Quilt
R- Roses
S- Stars
T- Trucks
U- Umbrella
V- Violet
W- Wolves
X- Alphabet (yeah I know but there were no Halloween prints out yet for x-ray)
Y- Yellow
Z- Zebra

Each block has four squares of fabric and two applique letters, one upper case and one lower case.

I have enjoyed this project and am very proud of myself for figuring it out on my own, since I am new at the craft thing. Who knows what will come next, maybe quilts.

I took these pictures last night after Noel stuffed the blocks. I sewed the sides closed this morning and the "safari" has already had a good time with them.

What did you say?

There are certain words/sounds a mother never wants to hear. Crying, screaming, pain, "no", "mine", well you get the drift. On Sunday night Bobby and Gail, Noel's mother and step-father, came over for dinner and to hang out with the "safari."

We ate dinner and played with their dog. Well they watched the dog and made sure that they were attached to an adult for protection. After playing really hard the "safari" went and took a bath with the assistance of Noel and Gail, while I cleaned the kitchen. I heard a lot of noises upstairs but nothing unusual.

I heard prayers and then Noel come down the stairs and the words that came out of his mouth where, "Honey do not get freaked out." Now that is not something that I want to hear especially when it comes to my "safari." So I come out of the kitchen to this site.





I was horrified. I have never seen a bump on a head that big. I was grateful that the bump was on the outside and not on the inside, but I was still worried. Esther stayed up with us for another hour to make sure that she was going to be okay, and the bump did go down a lot in that hour. Now Esther just has a bruise that her hair hides. I know that my "safari" are going to get hurt because I have so many and they are pretty rough with each other as it is. It still hurts a mother's heart when her children get hurt no matter how small or big. I am preparing myself because we are not even to the climbing trees part. Have a nice day.

A Day of Cooking

For the last couple of weeks I have been planning this huge cooking day with my mother, sister and sister-in-law because I thought that it would make our lives easier if we could do a batch cooking day. I planned the meals, made the shopping list and got everyone the information.

On Friday I went to my mother's house with Elijah and Esther, so that Noel did not have all the children. We did all the prep work for the next day. On Saturday we met at my mother's house and we decided who was in charge of what and we then started. Pam had to leave around noon to take Aiden to the doctor to look at his foot and our "babysitter", my dad, had to run a few errands before doing his "babysitting" job. So my mother became the babysitter for a while. My sister-in-law, Tracy and I were cooking up a storm.

My dad came home and he became the babysitter, then my mother had to go to the store because I based our cooking on pounds instead of pieces and did not communicate that well enough with everyone. Pam came home and left again to go to the emergency room because the doctor that she saw did not really do a whole lot and we thought that we should be safe. Her son, Aiden, was bitten by a spider and his leg was swollen and was leaking puss. The first doctor gave her sulfur and some steroids, but our family has reaction to sulfur, so she had to go to the emergency room and wait to be seen, 6 hours later, and my dad went with her for support. So my mother once again became the babysitter.

Tracy and I prepared 88 meals, 22 different meals for four families. At the end of the day we were tired and ready to go home. I was sore and tired the next day for sure though.

I thought that it went well considering all the outside factors. There are a few things that I would change. We would have a babysitter the entire time and I would not take my children next time, sorry honey. I would calculate the meat differently and we would invest in a food sealer. Besides that I think that it turned out well. At the middle of the month we will decide if we are going to do this again.

Safari=Destruction

Earlier I stated that the "safari" has decided it is there mission to destroy everything in their room. They learned that their cribs had wheels and where playing roller derby, then they figured out how to remove their side rails to the beds. Recently the "safari" has learned that the mattresses can come off as well as the sheets.

Outcome: The triplets were separated now Joshua sleeps in the room with Elijah and Esther and Jacob are roommates. The closet doors have been removed, the curtains are on 2X2 and hammered into the studs, so they cannot be removed. The wheels, side rails have been removed. All the clothes in the closets have been removed as well. Last week Noel and I decided after Elijah got hurt from jumping off his bed that it was time to remove the cribs from their room. So Elijah and Joshua sleep on their mattresses on the floor because they cannot be trusted with anything else. Noel is going to make them frames for their beds that do not have any hazards. Do not worry I am sure that the boys will find something. Now Esther and Jacob are about to lose their beds as well. The other night I went in there and found Jacob sleeping under his bed, his mattress on the floor and Esther sleeping under her bed. With them every night they are sleeping in different places.

Observations: When you put two toddlers in a room together they will find everything to tear up; it does not matter what it is attached to or what it is made out of. They say that boys are worse then girls but that depends on if the girl has a brother close in age, because my daughters are turning out to be just like the boys. Yep even Hannah is starting to act like one of the gang.

Last night was the straw that broke the camels' back. I went in to check on the dynamic duo to find that they had removed the sheets of their mattresses and then had begun to tear the material on the mattress up. So they were punished and I closed their door. I went down the hall to check on Jacob and Esther to find that Jacob was in his mattress and Esther had folded it in half and was laying on top of him; I am just glad that Esther does not weigh anything. After they got in trouble. I got to check on Hannah who is the best child with sleeping, for now anyway. As I was walking down the hall to go downstairs I checked on the dynamic duo again and now they had stripped their clothes off except for their diapers, because they were duct taped and they were tearing the mattress again. So I removed both mattresses, gave them a comforter and told them to have a nice night. I understand why so many people have written books about BOYS, thank you James Dobson, but I think that even he would laugh at Noel and I and tell us to pray more.

I thought I would let you have a picture of what the dynamic duo's room looked liked before last night. Every day is an adventure and I am glad that I can make you laugh. I know that is all that Noel and I can do and we laugh a lot.

New Experience

We have been busy lately with life and everything that goes on when you have 5 children in the toddler stage. If you know me I am addicted to blogs and creative sites that inspire me. Well I found one the other day and I was grateful for winning a pattern for a personalized pillow. The only thing that I had to do was write a comment on Quilting Ranny and be one of the first two people.

Well I received my free download and so I downloaded the pattern. I was so excited that I was going to do this for the "safari" for their birthdays that are coming up really soon. I went to the fabric store and picked out 5 different fabrics. The pattern stated that I could use my scrap fabric but since I am new to the sewing thing I do not have scraps. I got all the materials and I went home ready to get started.

The first night I traced all the letters and cut them out of the fabrics. The next day during nap time I appliqued all the letters to the background fabric. When the "safari" went to bed I put the pillows together. The third day I stuffed the pillows and closed them up. The "safari" was so excited that I did not make them wait for their pillows. Each one was excited to know they had their own pillow with their name on it.

At bed time the "safari" make sure they have their pillow and they seem still so excited which makes my heart overflow. Here is a picture of the 5 pillows that I made. I know that next time I will be more creative since I know that I can do this. If you would like the pattern here is the website. The good thing is that they send it to you in a pdf file.

So without further ado here is my picture of my 5 pillows.

Please Vote!

That day has come where if you read my blog I ask you to do something for me. I have been reading a blog that is calls "how do you do it?" or HDYDI. Well the ladies that write for that blog are looking for some help with writing and they have set up a competition for everyone that was interested. So here is my plea, I would like you to go to the web page, read the blogs or don't read the blogs that is up to you, just VOTE. Then get your friends to read and vote. I think you can vote until Sunday so get everyone you know to vote and check out my blog if they have not. Thank you in advance. Yes I even mean the ladies from Garza county that check my blog every day, I love you ladies. Now go and VOTE!

Cheap Entertainment

When you have 5 small children what do you do for entertainment. Well in our house we try to make sure that our "safari" is entertained, and the cheaper the better. So Noel bought some router bits on the internet and they came in the mail. To protect them they shipped us some bubble wrap, you see where I am going with this? So here it is without further ado this weeks free entertainment. Hannah wanted to join in but Esther just wanted to watch.