Finn's 6th

Sweet and cuddly Finnegan, I'm sorry that we drove in the car all day on your actual birthday. You were a real champ about it all and I'm thankful you're an easy keeper. When I asked what kind of cake you'd like you asked for a cake that you could decorate yourself. We thankfully found the perfect one and you enjoyed adding the frosting dots around the outside of the cake. You also got to go to Menchies and get anything and everything you wanted. Look at the size of that ice cream!!!You only ate about an 1/8 of it! We also played at chuckecheese for a good hour until they closed. Overall..that's not too bad of a birthday! I love you Finn. Thank you for still giving your Mama lots and lots of kisses, and for being such a good helper around the house.

We're still alive!

Whoa! That was a long blogging break! 

I am happy to report that all is well with us Texas Wischmeier's. We are busy playing, going to school, swimming, serving within our church, and just plain ol' living life. Finn just had his 6th birthday, we just arrived home after a two week long vacation, (the longest vacation we've ever had)

and Ben is working on an oil rig that is a two hour helicopter ride off the coast of New Orleans. He works two weeks straight on the oil rig, then he comes home for two weeks straight..no work! 

We decided to meet Ben in SLC Utah to start our vacation. I had the task of being the sole driver for three days. Thankfully the kids are wonderful little travelers, so it was mostly smooth sailing. While passing through South Utah, I saw a sign for Arches National Park, and the park looked like it was just right there off the freeway! I quick and flipped a U and bam! We we're in the park. I've always wanted to explore Arches National Park and we had time, so YOLO!! 

I can't forget our quick stop to see the cutest most tiny temple ever...Monticello Utah. 

 Jack dubbed himself "a mountain climber man" 

 Check that off my bucket list. 

 Seriously, so beautiful up here. Such a peaceful moment for us all. 

Now it was off to Orem to see Uncle Spud, Aunt Kendra, Tucker and the newest addition to the Wischmeier Family baby Annie. It was perfect weather in Utah, hot, but not nearly as hot at Houston. We ate Cafe Rio, tried Sodalicious (it was delicious), and played in Great Grandpas backyard and basement. Ben flew in late that night and it was so good to see him after two weeks. I am pretty proud of myself for being a pretty decent single parent those first two weeks! The next morning we took a family hike up to Donut Falls, which is up Big Cottonwood canyon. The drive up big cottonwood is pretty much what I imagine Heaven to look like. Lush, green upon green, perfect temperature...just dreamy! We found the trail leading to donut falls and off we went. Our kiddos have really never "hiked" so they were pretty excited! 

The hike up, was so much more treacherous than we expected! We had to crawl down a big ol' hunk of rock, and cross over the stream. The stream water was ice cold and felt so good after 30 minutes of hiking. The kids were up for the challenge of crossing the stream, and we all successful made it over. I'm so glad we had this experience together as a family. Next stop was Temple Square. 

Next day we were off to Montana, but first we had to make a must stop in Rexburg. Rexburg, has really grown in the last ten years! A new temple, the campus is much bigger and the town is just bigger in general! We made a quick stop to the temple and to our first ever home. 

Now, we were off to Montana. Ben's lifelong friend Tony and his family meet us at the Lewis and Clark Caverns. We hiked up yet another mountain to get to the cavern, at this point we are basically a family of professional hikers :) The cave was so awesome!

Next stop...Virginia City Montana to see Jessicca Wischmeier and her family. Creed our nephew got baptized while we were here (the main reason for our whole trip)Virginia City is the most cute and quaint town! We panned for gold, rode the train through the town, and took an adventurous ride in an Army truck. We got to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Wischmeier, Great Grandpa Jim and Grand Grandmother Kathleen, and Uncle Gabe surprised us when he showed up too!! So fun! We were just missing the Boston Wischmeiers and Aunt Kendra and Baby Annie..we missed them! Abby was in heaven spending time with Madison, and the same for my boys with Creed and Savannah..they all played and played for hours and had such fun getting to know their cousins better. 

We had such a wonderful vacation. Even though it did take 6 whole days driving.. I am glad we made the long journey. 

Sweet Abby

Today just before noon I got an email from Abby's teacher. She told me that over the weekend a mother of Abby's classmates had died. It was still a secret because the little girl wasn't back at school yet, but Abby overheard some other girls talking about it, so Abby went to her teacher to ask her if it was true. Unfortunately it was true and it was very hard on Abby. She cried and cried to her teacher. That's when the teacher emailed me to let me know Abby was having a hard time. I read the email and cried. I cried for the little girl mourning for her lost mother and I cried for a sad and scared Abby. I also cried because Abby's sweetness really is unmatched. She is tender, and kind. She is thoughtful and spiritual and brave. It was all I could do to not run over to school and bring her home and love on her like crazy. I still had to pick the boys up from preschool, so I couldn't go pick her up right away either. But my heart still needed a good Abby hug. Then I thought I could go pick up the boys and then run over real quick and still make it to Abby's lunch. So we did just that. We only managed to have a few minutes with her, but those minutes truly mattered. She was very happy and surprised to see me. I looked into her eyes and told her that I loved her, I gave her lots of hugs, and then I let her finish her lunch. She then asked why I came, and I told her that her teacher emailed me and told me she was having a hard day. Then Abby looked up at me and told me that her friend's mom had died, and Abby cried some more. So we hugged it out. She didn't want to me to let her go for a good while, so we talked about it. And she took a deep breath and finally did finish her lunch. When she had to go back to class, she hugged me extra tight and told me like she always does.. "I love you forever Mom."

I am so glad I went and saw her for those few minutes. Abby is my heart, and when she hurts I hurt. I am so thankful she has been given to me, she really is such a special person. And I love her forever too.

The Island

As long as we have lived here our children have especially loved our "island." Here they play under the three small oak trees gathering all the pine nuts their little hearts desire. They like to pretend to be the mailman and deliver each others mail. They like to tie ropes up into the tress and pretend to be pirates.But, I think most of all they love to bike, run, and scooter their way around the island to see who can win the race. It's the fall and spring season in which we take the most advantage of the Island.

Letting go

After a wonderful visit from an equally as wonderful visitor, I am finally free of a something that has bothered me tremendously over the last couple of years. This certain thing probably shouldn't be shared with the world, only because people find offense in the silliest of things, so I'll keep my mouth shut on specifics. But I will tell you this...People who tear you down, belittle you and talk horribly behind your back, are not worth keeping around. They are not worth the hours you spend worrying over why they don't like you, or why they say awful things about you. They aren't worth my time anymore. 

I have finally let go. I have let go of caring and giving of crap of what they say or think of me. It means nothing to me now, and it feels so good.

I am going to keep on being Allison, because that's how it's supposed to be. Love it or leave it. And I'll continue being thankful for those who love me, support me and laugh with me, because that is what life is all about. 

On the homefront

Since school and after school activities have started life on the homefront is busy. But we like it that way! Abby just finished her first ever season of Volleyball and she of course was amazing! She got most of the points for our team each game because she's such a great server! I had the opportunity to coach her team and I had a lot of fun. It's my first time coaching a sport, and at the end of each practice I would just thank my lucky stars that Abby got to go home with me : ) Some kids are just a little too much for me to handle sometimes..I'm thankful my kiddos are so good to me! Right now Abby is playing baseball and swimming, and taking piano lessons! She's a busy, happy girl!

Mac started taking Tae Kwon Do and he seems to like it enough. He's such a quiet kid that really I have no idea if he's enjoying it! He just started play basketball, and he's in his second year of preschool. He can write his name out pretty well now and he's getting used to his new bike that we bought for his birthday. Mostly he keeps to himself, playing with his legos or ninja turtles.

Finn started his first year of preschool, he didn't love it at first but he's come around! I am sure it helps that Mac is there with him. Finn is enjoying learning all about the alphabet and his writing his name out, it's cute because whenever he sees a "F" anywhere he'll say "look Mama my name!! He is super excited for his basketball season to start up and his favorite line to say right now is "that's not fair!"

Jack is getting into the monster/destroyer phase. It's not fun most of the time, I have to watch his every move. One of his favorite things is to open our junk drawer and find all the pens, markers, and sharpies and draw all over the couch, the carpet, the baseboards, the walls...really anything!! He is talking more and he especially likes the word No! He loves balls, like a typical Wischmeier kid!! It's really hard on me to watch him grow up, he's my baby and of course it goes by much too fast.

Ben is good, he wakes up at 4am to go workout each morning...now that's dedication! He's always so happy and positive, I admire him so much. He makes life so happy and easy for me.

Life is good for us. Busy, happy and having fun...with the occasional Mom melt down of course : )