Wilkins Christmas Update 2010

Since anyone reading this has access to the blog to check back and see what we've been up to over the past year, I'll just give a few brief updates on everyone. Plus, that's all I have time for because I have to be at court at 9am today. Don't worry. I'm not in trouble. It concerns the baby and I try to make sure to be at anything that concerns the kids.

So here's the short version of us:

Anthony will turn 6 in four days. He's in kindergarten and, for the most part, likes school. He loves to do anything Riley does, especially sports or playing the Wii. He loves to hug and snuggle and always has to touch everything. And I really mean everything. He lost his first tooth on Christmas day.

Zeke is recovering nicely from his surgery in September. He's ditched the wheelchair and now uses the walker. He has physical therapy twice a week at school and twice a week at the hospital. We take him back to St Paul in Feb for a checkup. He continues to do well in school and is pretty much up to 2nd grade level in math and his reading is about a 1st grade level. Since he turned 8 in October, he is now eligible to participate in Special Olympic sports and he's super excited to get started.

Taylor loves anything that involves people. She played soccer this year, more for the socialization than for a love of the game. She enjoys putting on makeup and fingernail polish but also holds her own with her brothers. For the past few months she's been sharing a room with Grandma Sandy. Taylor's great at helping in the kitchen and she is also a wonderful "little mother" to the baby.

Riley played soccer this spring and started piano lessons this fall. He played flag football and is currently in basketball. He's loves almost any sports. In school, math and science seem to come really easily to him. At home, he especially loves playing with legos, playing the Wii and his DS and wrestling with his little brother.

Brittney made the high school gymnastics team as a 7th grader so that takes up a lot of her time. They practice every day after school until 6pm. She took 1st place in All-Around at her first JV tournament. She is doing well in school and keeps up with everything she has going on. She loves hanging out with friends, texting and shopping.

Baby Sophia is still with us. It's been 5 months now. We're coming up on her birthday in a few days. I can't say a lot about her situation but I will say that she is still a foster child and is not legally up for adoption at this time. That may change in the future but for now she is with us as a foster child. She has physical therapy, early childhood, early headstart and numerous visits at Social Services each week so her schedule is pretty full for a little one.

Steve has been with Daktronics for 11 years but has decided to make a career change as of the first of the year. He has taken a position with Central Plains Insurance, a company based out of Yankton. He will be doing lots of traveling back and forth for a while while he learns the ropes but he will have an office in Brookings. It took a while to make the decision but the money is better, the stress is lower, the manager is awesome and the job will be much more condusive to family life. And the new work phone, computer and car didn't hurt either!  Steve is also still working part time at the Swiftel Center doing concessions for various events. He likes the interaction with people and gets in on some fun events.

Me - Sometimes it seems like all I do is run from one kids activity, event or therapy to the next. But I do have a few activities of my own. I'm on the board for Camp Adventure, the summer camp in our area for children with disabilities, and am in the process of writing some grants for them.  I was also elected to the board of the InterAgency Advisory Council in Brookings, which oversees various agencies and organizations in the community. I'm also still on the PPRT (Permancy Planning Review Team) for Social Services. Each month we meet with case workers, parents, foster parents, lawyers, CASA workers, etc and review cases of every child in foster care for a least six months. My other activities include laundry, cooking, cleaning, dishes, helping with homework & projects, transporting kids and just plain keeping a household of 9 running semi-smoothly.

And that, my friends, is a bit of our family.