Happy Spring!

I love to take Margie Grace's picture every year by the beautiful azaleas around Samford. Here are a few from a couple of weeks ago when the bushes were in full bloom. I can't believe she is getting so big!

The rundown . . . and a new look

I can't belive that it is already May! Where does the time go? Obviously, not spent on the Wilder blog. So, since I've been out of touch lately let me fill you in on our last few months. Our family had an extremely hectic start to the year! Aren't January, February and March supposed to be the slow months? Not for us. Here are our last few months by the numbers:

• 3 boughts with the flu-like virus (one for MG and two for me--luckily Neil was spared this year!)
• 1 torn (and might I emphasize the word "TORN" here) rib muscle for me from all the coughing after suffering two boughts of said virus.
• 1 discovery that I am allergic to Loratab thus complicating the recovery of the torn muscle (Seriously, the torn muscle was the most painful thing I have ever endured -- sounds ridiculous I know!)
• 1 triple by-pass heart surgery for my granddad -- he came through with flying colors and is doing well!
• 1 kitchen remodel -- we pretty much gutted the entire room and got all new everthing: cabinets, flooring, countertops, etc. I want to post pictures but we're still not done with some of the finishing touches.
• 3 wonderful weddings -- two in April and one in May as we have officially entered "wedding season." Neil was in his cousin Nick's wedding April 18 and Margie Grace is the flower girl in my cousin Rachel's wedding May 30. We also attended in April the wedding of a dear college friend of mine.

So we've been busy and life has gotten in the way of my blogging just a little bit. But I have still taken lots of pictures and hope to have lots of new things posted in the coming days. By the way, do you like the new look? I wanted something a little different and unique for our family. I think this does the trick! I love the picture in the header -- it was taken by Heather Carson in November at Kiesel Park. She does beautiful work!

Some delayed Christmas cheer

Did I mention that the battery in our digital camera died on Christmas morning? Yeah, right about the time Margie Grace was getting ready to make her way down the stairs at my grandparents' house to survey her Santa loot for the first time that day. So we had to go to plan B -- while Neil manned the video camera, I borrowed my Mam-ma's digital camera for the morning. Just last week I was able to make a disc with all of our Christmas pictures on it so I thought I'd share some. As I mentioned before, we had a wonderful Christmas season. Margie Grace was particularly entertained by the festivities this year as it was the first time that she really knew that something special was going on. And, having ample practice during her birthday in October, she was primed and ready for opening lots of presents! By the way, Santa did fulfill Margie Grace's two requests this year; she received her much-anticipated kitchen and some bubbles.

**Please note: The kitchen set and items on the couch comprised MG's gifts from Santa. While she was blessed, Santa IS on a budget :) The wrapped presents in the background were the stockpile of presents to and from members of both our immediate and extended family. This year we got to celebrate Christmas with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins on my mom's side. You should see the place after 20 people unwrap all those gifts -- it's incredible!!

A Daddy by any other name . . .

Recently we were driving in the car and Neil engaged Margie Grace with the following: "Margie Grace, who is your favorite daddy?" (as if she has lots of choices here) He, of course, was expecting her to answer "you!" and was surprised when, after a pensive moment, she replied "Neil!"

She's too funny!

Bundled Up!

Although Jack Frost's appearances in east central Alabama are usually few and far between, we have had a couple of days of severely cold weather this January (yes, one day our themometer on the deck said "10"). It was the perfect opportunity for Margie Grace to wear her hat, scarf and gloves (or "gubs" as she likes to call them). Now that we're back in the mid-60s, MG's cold weather accessories have gone back in the closet. However, if I'm willing to roll the dice on WSFA's five-day forecast then we actually might need them again next week.

New Boots

Neil and I gave Margie Grace some snazzy new boots for Christmas. She's enjoyed wearing them and showing them off. I didn't have to coax her much to take her picture in her new footwear.

We're back!

After quite a hiatus, I hope to now be back in the business of blogging regularly. I really hadn't realized how long it has been since I've written something new until my sister scolded me earlier this week for not providing her an adequate "Margie Grace fix!" So, here we go!

I hope your 2009 is off to a great start. Ours sure is! I can't believe we have already welcomed a new year. So what has the Wilder family been up to? For starters, Christmas was a joy and Santa blessed us with more than we deserve. We enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with friends and family. Also, during the Christmas/New Year's holidays, Auburn University closes for two weeks so I get a nice break from work. We typically use this time to catch up on projects around our house. This year we hung new wood blinds in the our living room as well as new window treatments. We also purchased some new furniture to help with overall organization in our home (a bookcase/cabinet for our living room, a wall cabinet for our back den and a set of shelving for my sewing area -- all from IKEA. If you've never been there, it is amazing!). In addition to these minor "make-overs" Neil and I have launched into a full-out kitchen remodel. We will soon be getting new cabinets, counter tops and tile floor and back splash. We've also been painting our kitchen and finishing some crown molding (thanks, Dad, for all your help!) that we started hanging last December. Anyway, in the midst of these projects we also decided to see if Margie Grace was ready to start potty training. Boy, was she ready! She has just done an outstanding job and has caught on really quickly. And while I still have to occasionally convince her that Little Mermaid panties are much cooler than diapers, we have made phenomenal progress. So that's what's been taking up the majority of our time during the last few weeks. I'm glad to be back on track!