Desert Mama

Gingerbread House

2009-12-07T15:17:00.016-07:00

We had a busy week at the Wilbricht house this week. On Thursday the kids and I went to Michella's apartment to make gingerbread houses. Eli kept trying to eat the candy but we had enough left to make a cute house. Michella also had ingredients out for the kids to make their own personal pizzas. They loved putting the toppings on and had a lot of fun at the playdate!
On Saturday we went to Samantha's 2nd Birthday party at The Little Gym in Phoenix. There was all sorts of equipment for little kids to swing, jump, and tumble on. It was a wonderful party and the cake was delicious!
Sunday morning I took Eli to church where they had a big holiday celebration after the service. There was a s'more pit, cookie decorating, craft table, bounce house, face painting, and even fake snow so the kids could go sledding! Eli really enjoyed it. I think the s'more pit was his favorite.
Later Sunday morning my Aunt Shawna and Uncle Dave picked me up to go to Sierra Vista. My cousin Kensington was "Clara" in The Nutcracker ballet. She had a wonderful performance, and it was great to see her have such a big role. After the show my Aunt Krisite and Uncle Creden had a big party at their house. The house is decked out with Christmas lights and decorations so it was a very festive and fun party. The food was also very good....including the 10+ different kinds of desserts.:)
Here are some pictures from this week:

At Birthday Party...

Church Holiday Celebration

Sierra Vista

Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T09:17:00.011-07:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! I have so much to be thankful for........wonderful friends, family, home, fall weather, food, church....the list goes on and on! I asked Eli what he is thankful for and he said...."what" ...then I rephrased and asked what he likes the most. He said, "candy, Max and Ruby, and the airport." It is funny what a 3 year old will say!
The night before Thanksgiving our friends Alex and Emily invited us over for a big dinner. It was delicious and fun to hang out with friends without the kids. Thanksgiving day we drove to my grandparents house in Tucson. I love how close and gorgeous the mountains are there. We left at about 8:30am to beat the traffic, and it took us only an hour and a half to get there. It was a fun filled day full of LOTS of food, visiting, and the annual Bergsma kick ball game in the park.

Chuck made us take a pic with this snowman.

Kickball in the park.

Your up Reese...

The game is never complete unless Uncle Dave makes the small kids cry. LOL

Grandma letting Reese eat out of the Cool Whip container.

1 minute after we left Grandpa and Grandma's house.

2 minutes after we left Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Trip to Iowa

2009-11-16T20:10:00.008-07:00

Well, its been way too long since my last post but I would like to start blogging more again! I can't believe the holidays are around the corner. We are already in the spirit at our house b/c I put our Christmas decorations up already. We are celebrating Thanksgiving with friends Wednesday night, and going to my Grandparents house in Tucson on Thanksgiving Day. Should be delicious and fun!

Last week we got back from a really fun trip to Iowa. We went to celebrate my Dad's 50th birthday. We had fabulous party at my parents house, and I even got to catch up with some old High School friends who came to the party. I also attended one of my brother Theo's playoff football games. It was the first football game I was able to attend and it was a blast...they won and Theo ran for over 200 yards!

Brad and Eli drove to Davenport, Iowa to spend some time with Brad's family. It was the first time I was away from Eli for more than a day, but I knew he would get plenty of attention and have fun. Eli went to his first Iowa Hawkeye football game and had a great time!

Reese is finally walking and follows her big brother everywhere. Eli is an energetic and talkative 3 year old. Every time he is upset with me he says "mom, I am not happy with you". It makes me laugh every time! Eli is also at an age where if he sees something he wants in a store or on tv, he asks if he can have it for Christmas. I think there are about 75 things on his list so far.:)

Here are some random pictures from the last few weeks. Enjoy!

My little Fireman and Pumpkin

Go long Eli...

Father's Day

2009-06-28T12:25:00.014-07:00

Ok, so I'm not posting on my blog every week like I said I would. I joined this little site called facebook and it pretty much takes up all my free time. I'm sure most of you know what it is, but for those of you that don't, its a social networking website where you make a profile of yourself. You can view profiles of people you are friends with and send them messages. It is so fun seeing whats going on in the lives of old classmates and sorority sisters!

We had a very nice Father's Day last Sunday. Eli helped me make Grandma Marge's famous recipe for carrot cake and it turned out great! When Brad woke up I made him a big breakfast and Eli gave him a card he made. Then Brad opened his present which was 2 shirts he didn't like (its the thought that counts). Later we went to my Uncle Dave and Aunt Shawna's house for a yummy steak dinner. My cousin Matt brought his cute dog Ari, and Eli had a blast playing with him! Eli called the dog Dixie the whole time b/c it looks exactly like his Aunt Angie's dog.

We booked a trip to Iowa next month and we are looking forward to it! Eli can't stop talking about Papa Dave's boat, GG Jenny's rabbit and dog, and Grandpa Todd's 4-wheeler, tractors, and cows. I think he is going to have a lot of fun on this trip!
Here are some random pictures from the last few weeks:

Reese's 1st tooth

2009-06-09T21:14:00.014-07:00

Two BIG things have happened for Reese this week. She got her first tooth and slept through the night for the first time! One of her bottom front teeth came in and the one next to it is going to come through any day now. She was not even fussy or anything...hope this is true for all her teeth! Eli got his first tooth at 5 months so I was surprised Reese didn't cut her first tooth until now.

I am also soooo glad she slept through the night last night! I had been feeding her once during the night b/c I didn't want her to have to cry it out. Last time I went to the pediatrician and asked her if Reese still needed to be fed at night, she looked at me as if I asked her what color the sky was. The Doctor squeezed her chunky thighs and said she was certain Reese was taking in enough food during the day. So Sunday night I decided I wasn't going to feed her at night anymore. I mentally prepared myself for a night full of hysterical crying but she only cried once for 30 minutes and not at all the next night! It makes me mad I didn't do it sooner but an uninterrupted nights sleep was heaven.

Eli had a lot of fun the last two weeks. We had a playdate at my house last week and there were 6 moms and 9 kids that came over for pizza. Eli does a good job of sharing his toys and all the kids got along great! The weather has been very mild for June so we went to Tumbleweed Park as a family when Brad had a day off. Eli is so into throwing footballs around the house lately. He just chucks them as hard as he can anywhere. Yesterday he knocked over 2 glasses of water in the kitchen...needless to say there is NO more throwing balls in the kitchen or he gets a time out.

Today I took the kids and met Kim and her daughter Kendall at Peter Piper Pizza. They had policemen and fire fighters there for a special event and Eli even got to sit in the fire truck! There were lots of arcade games there so Eli was running around like a mad man. He liked taking the tickets out more than playing the games but had a blast!

ice cream, swimming, and friends

2009-05-27T12:08:00.011-07:00

We had a fun week. The weather was great so the kids and I went swimming for the first time this summer. Reese liked the water, but Eli wanted to run around the pool rather than swim in it. We also went to Cold Stone Creamery for some of their yummy cake batter ice cream. I let Eli pick one topping and he chose reeses pieces (in honor of his sister's name I'm sure).

Brad's good friend Alex and his girlfriend Emily stayed with us this week. They took a road trip from Iowa and are planning to move to the Phoenix area later this year. We had a lot of fun and look forward to them moving here! Eli loved playing with Alex and Emily and would follow them all around the house. Every time they would leave he asked when Alex and "Elmo" were going to come home...it was so cute.

Yesterday Eli had some friends over to play...being he is already such a ladies man, they were all girls.haha They all played great together and had a lot of fun!

Goodbye stroller days, Hello Summer

2009-05-17T17:52:00.003-07:00

Drum roll please...I have finally started this blog! I've wanted to start a blog for a long time and with some pleading from friends and family, I finally got it done! It will be a great way to share some of our family life with everyone near and far. I hope to update it every week so keep checking the site for updates!

So its been in the 100s for over a week now hence the title of this post. I used to always take the kids in the stroller to the neighborhood park after Reese's first nap, but now it is too hot to go! I'm so bummed b/c it made the morning fly by and gave me some good exercise. The picture is of Eli and Reese all set to go to the park. My mom got me that awesome sit'n stand stroller when Reese was born and I have gotten a ton of use out of it! Looks like I'll have to put it in the trunk and head to the mall. We still manage to get out of the house in the Summer for playdates and errands but I always miss our walks to the park.:)