New

It's been a long time since I last blogged.  A LOT has changed in the Wilkerson family.  Here's what is new:

1.  We live in a new town-- Katy, Texas.  It is a "suburb" west of Houston.  We moved here mid August.

2.  We bought a house!  We love the added space, the beauty of the home, and the neighborhood in which we live.  We are around the corner from my brother, and about a mile from my cousin.  Pretty good set up.  The boys have their own rooms, so they are FINALLY not waking each other up or keeping each other from falling asleep.  AND we have a guest room, so we would love some visitors.  Here are a few pics of the house:

I love our front door!

Jared's office:

Our builder added these shelves as a last minute upgrade due to a pretty big mistake the builder made in calculating the square footage of our home.  It was 300 square feet smaller than they originally told us, so they had to made up the difference in price per square footage that we had agreed upon.  The builder also put in more ceiling fans and covered almost all the closing costs.

Living room fire place:

kitchen:

The table I refinished:

(The project that took FOREVER!)

kitchen:

planning station across from kitchen:

LOVE the built-in desk!

3.  Jared has a new job.  We new big law has a brutal schedule, and adjusting to his new work load has been a challenge.  But Jared likes his work and he likes his co-workers.


4.  Luke has a new school.  Although he is only in Kindergarten, this is Luke's THIRD school.  I think transitioning to a full 7 hour day has been hard on him.  But the most difficult change has been the expectation increase and the need to be more independent.  Luke is struggling to complete his work.  He is, however, one of the top readers in his class!  And there aren't any behavior problems besides focus.  And, in all honesty, I knew focus was going to be an issue.  We'll just keep working on it.  Luke also started a new tumbling class-- his first non Mommy-and-me class.  Last week was his first class, and he really liked it.  Today is his second class.


5. Micah has new big boy underwear-- James underwear (the RED train from Thomas and Friends.)  In all honesty I think it may be Skarloey on his underwear, but since the train is red, Micah is happy.  He is not at all fully potty trained, but he can go potty by himself and doesn't have pee pee accidents as long as I am good about reminding him to go.  He just doesn't take himself yet when he feels the urge.  Micah also started a tumbling class.  He is in a mommy-and-me class, but I think he will transition to an independent class once he is potty trained.  Micah will very shortly be starting the long evaluation process to determine whether he qualifies for the public preschool program.  If he does not qualify we will put him in a private preschool 2-3 days a week.  He will have to be potty trained to do any kind of private program.  I hope he picks up on the potty thing quickly.


6. I have a lot of new responsibilities as well.  Phone calls that Jared has made in the past (to set up utilities, etc.) were my job this go-round.  That wasn't a big deal.  But the yard is now my responsibility.  I have now mowed a lawn THREE times in my life-- all of them here in Katy.  I also attempted to edge once.  It didn't go so well.  But practice makes perfect, right?  I also volunteered to be a room mom for Luke's class.  I thought my job would be to provide the napkins and cupcakes for class parties, but Luke's school is HARD CORE.  So my job includes making a giant scarecrow for a festival in October, putting together a basket for an auction and carnival in November, and doing lots and LOTS of cutting out for Luke's teacher.


7.  Living near family is a new experience that we LOVE.

Pics of family and tumbling to come.  I can't get them to upload today.