Bring on 2009! The year of 6, 4, and 2!

It has been interesting explain a new year to preschool age children. What stuck is that it is the year that Lillian will turn 6, Arwen Grace will turn 4, and Emerson will turn 2! Though they are excited and are ready to plan their next party ... i am not too sure what i think of it! I mean Lillian JUST turned 5 and Emerson 1, not quite ready to have my baby be 2! and am i old enough to have a 6 year old??? lol

So what else is planned for the year 2009?

For Lucky and i this year is all about living the way God wants us to. We are trying to reconnect with a church since we weren't too connected before Lucky had his back sugery. We have our 5 year financal plan where it includes me going back to work part time in the evenings for about 18 months, getting out of all debt beside our mortgage and lucky's student loan, and getting a new house!

We are also planning on getting into better shape the best we can. Lucky has to be careful since even though he is doing SO much better, his back still doesn't allow him to do all that he wants to physical wise (mostly his ultimate frisbee!). So maybe we will just start by walking around SAS when we pick him up while the kids run on the soccer field or walk with us.

The girls were given lessons for Christmas from Lucky's parents. So that is their big thing this year. Arwen Grace is wanting to take Ballet and Lillian is really into Gymnastics since the Olympics, so that is what she wants to do. Emerson's plan this year is to probably get me more outside. He just loves being out there and has even started trying to say it (he is getting quite close!).

Well, that is what is to come with us in 2009. We had a wonderful holiday which you can find pictures of on our Web Album or on my Facebook page. I hope you were surrounded by friends and/or family during the holidays.

Wishing you the best always,

Natalie Wick

(and the rest of the gang: Lucky, Lillian, Arwen Grace, and Emerson)

Merry Christmas!

Life is so full it keeps us busy. My goal is next year to write just once a month on here (more if i am able) to keep everyone up-to-date on our life. Please come back after New Year's to hear how we spent our holidays! Until then ...

"We wish you a merry Christmas!
We wish you a merry Christmas!
We wish you a merry Christmas!
and a happy New Year's!"

May God bless you and your family during this Christmas season. We hope you find yourselves
surround by your friends and family. Thank you for being apart of our lives! We are blessed because of it.


Merry Christmas and God Bless,

the wick family

lucky, natalie, lillian (5), arwen grace (3.5), and emerson (1)

Where did we go ...

Sorry for the absence here. Lucky was having some major back pain and had to have some minor surgery done. I kind of quit all that wasn't necessary out of my life at the time, but we are back to "normal." Lucky is doing great with the back pain 90% better and still healing. So we are incredibly thankful for that.

So what else has been going on? I really don't know!!! It is such a day to day thing, that nothing seems exciting enough to post in a recap. :) The kids and I are keeping busy hanging with friends and traveling to places near and far.

We went to the beach for a weekend with a good friend of mine and her little girl that is Lillian's age. I got only a few pictures from that since my camera's battery died the first day. Typical.

Also we went the zoo with my cousin and her little boy who is just a few weeks older than Emerson. We all had such a good time. That time we got LOTS of good pictures. To see them ... don't forget to check out our Picasa Web Album.

Well, hopefully we are back and ready to keep you fully updated. So keep coming back for new updates. Have a blessed day!

and more ...

Happy Easter!!!

Here we are at Marbles (a museum in downtown Raleigh) having lots of fun ... can you tell?

fun times at home

we couldn't wait to go to the DC Zoo with Grandma and Grandpa. we love to see the pandas and the tigers!!! we don't have those in our zoo. :(

the warm weather is moving in and we get to play outside more often now.

now and then

so i just looked on here to see when the last update was ... and i am SHOCKED!!! i haven't updated our family one since November?!?!?! where are the Christmas pictures, the snow pictures, the pictures from Valentine's Day, Easter? i am so sorry! all i can say is that being a mother to 3 is a lot harder than i imagined. and having them all under 5 is a full time job with overtime and no breaks!!!

so to make up for all the lost time here are some pictures of now and then ...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
well, this was a Christmas gift i did ... so this is kind of what we looked like around Christmas (sorry no "offical" picture of the 5 of us then)

here is us at the park on day ... we love parks!!!

and here we are at another park, where we had a picnic there and then just walked around and enjoyed the day and each other ... very hallmark of us :)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!

and here is when Mommie was so brave and took us to the NC Zoo all by herself! we had a wonderful time and were all very tired when we were done.

birthday week!

lucky was off tuesday (the 27th) and we just hung out together as a family for lillian’s birthday … we opened present first thing (where lillian got lots of disney princess items and dress up clothes) and ended with going to Cold Stone’s for birthday ice cream (they give you free ice cream on your birthday! and a good size too!). we can't believe she is 4 already!

for natalie's, on the 28th, she and the girls made cupcakes and we sat down as family for a wonderful homemade dinner and decorated our cupcakes together. it was simple, homey, but absolutely wonderful! :)

thursday was full too … emerson needed to get weighed since his weight was decreasing since we started having issues with nursing (aka: thrush), then the girls and i ate lunch with lucky at his office and his co-workers stopped by to say “hi” to the girls and see Emerson,

then i took the girls to a park for an hour or so … they loved it so much!

and friday we took the girls (and emerson … who slept through it all, but one picture!) to the zoo! and then we ate at crackel barrel on the way home. (zoo was suppose to happen on lillian’s birthday but it was too cold … so we changed it to friday which was the prettiest day this week!)

so this weekend should be pretty busy getting ready for lillian tea party/luncheon. we have lots of stuff to buy and food to make, but i am hoping she will have a wonderful party! i will try to have her post some pictures and her thoughts on her blog site soon. keep a look out. :)

Happy Halloween!

sorry for this being so late. we have all been adjusting to our new changes in life. i didn't have time to take pictures of actually "trick or treating" but here are two pictures of the kids (ELAG) in their costumes.

the theme this year was Charlotte's Web ... the girls were both Fern, the little girl in the book/movie who has a pig named "Wilber," so they both took their favorite pigs and their pails (to collect candy, of course) ... Emerson was the spider, Charlotte, who befriends Wilber and helps him not become Christmas dinner.