keep on trucking...

so i know you haven't heard from me in a little bit. it's one of those times that you wonder waht in the world you should write about..because it is life as usual going on. we are all still getting used to each other, mainly me and avery are doing that. getting into sync hopefully with each other. ethan is doing well, he continues to say the cutest "adult" phrases, which i think is so funny. not bad "adult" just grown up things, like yesterday he's jumping up and down pretending to be a bunny or something and he says, "what do you think of that mommy? what do you think of that?" very funny.

kendall is studying like crazy for finals and i think it is going well. it's hard to say sometimes but he seems happy with how it is going.

i made a wreath for our door yesterday in an effort to inject myself with holiday cheer. it is harder this year than others for some reason. maybe because we actually get the chance to do things at our own home this year and we have never done that before, so i'm not sure how to proceed. on the one hand, i'm excited because that means we can start doing our own traditions etc. and on the other hand...what are those traditions? and which ones do we love and want to continue. this is a conversation i need to have with the "studying" one. we'll see when i can do that:) in the meantime, i'll do what i can and get more into the holiday spirit.

how are you all doing? if you are reading this and feel like writing a comment, but don't usually leave one, be daring today!

Pumpkin Bars...

these are my pumpkin bars...i believe the recipe filtered down to me from my friend Nikki, so i can't take credit for it really but i love them all the same, such a great treat for the fallish time of year. very tasty:)

Pumpkin Bars

4 eggs
1 C. oil
2 C. pumpkin (15oz can)
2 C. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 C. nuts (always optional, i don't put them in most of the time simply because so many people are allergic)

combine ingredients in the order listed, mixing well after each addition. Pour into greased jelly roll pan (18x12 roughly) and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting this recipe is from Better Crocker (which is where the Pumpkin Bars came from roughly as well, i think)

1pkg. cream cheese (8oz)
1/4 C. butter or stick margarine
2-3 tsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla in medium bowl until smooth. gradually add in the sugar, 1 cup at a time until smooth. spread on COOLED pumpkin bars, and enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving...

i must say it, even a couple of days late..

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

i am so thankful for all we have, for my children, for my husband and that loves me no matter what and a great family (extended and immediate). we have been so blessed and when days are less than perfect, just take a minute and enumerate the blessings...and all will be right with the world again. love to you all!

the Wilsons

mysteries of motherhood...

one of the things that is hardest for me to figure out about my kids is, are they sick? does anyone else have this problem. as ethan is older it has become easier but espeically when he was a baby and now with Avery, i am sometimes at a loss. why does she cry like that, it sounds painful and different than her other cries. she doesn't have a fever, does her ear hurt? why don't we ask her? oh wait, she can't talk:) so that's a quandry and while i don't want to be one of "those" moms that take their kids in to the doctor because they have a hangnail, it is hard to tell! i have recently been in a quandry, wondering does her reflux medicine need to be increased because she weighs more...does she want to be unswaddled (kendall's favorite option because ethan stopped liking it around this age), do her ears hurt...why does she cry that painful cry....

more often than not with Avery, at least, part of the reason is...she has to poop. she is VERY gassy and sometimes it's hard for her to poop. so she had a big poop this morning and (cross your fingers) seems to feel better. she's such a happy, calm baby, now that the reflux medicine is doing its job, so when she cries like that, we know something is up. but sometimes...it could just be the hangnail couldn't it?

New Pictures!

here are some new pictures of us! hope you are all doing well!

all's quiet on the southwestern front...

we seem to all be well now. thanks for all your support and for staying away from our house when we weren't well:)

anything new for the wilsons?

we were riding in the car today, avery was crying (she has no love for her carseat) and i was making shushing noises and some other noises (trilling etc.) to try to get her attention so she'd stop crying, and ethan says, " you be nice to avery, she's just a baby!" i thought that was cute that he felt he needed to stick up for her, protecting her from my shushing, using a phrase i am sure i have said many, many times to him.:)

other than the occasional sound byte from ethan, we are all doing our normal..i just went to a book club today, love that book club. it's so fun to talk with friends and eat and eventually get around to discussing the books we read...although that is not always our top priority and i like it that way:)

our kids are total gems. i love them so much. what nice little people they are. it is really sweet to hold avery and have her smile at me spontaneously and realize that she might recognize me for the milk and love i give her, by now. and when ethan busts out with his, "i yuv you mommy" during the day intermittent with the constant asking to watch CARS the movie, it just makes my day!

now i will gird my loins, so to speak, for Sunday, which is a wonderful day, but not always the day of rest it was designed to be:) happy sunday y'all....

ready to be done...

with this bug...last night i started feeling nasty and true to myself...can't throw up! that is sometimes a bummer, actually. i feel better as today goes on, so i think it was just a one day thing for me, but really, if the smallest of us gets this, i will be sad! it's certainly making a run through our family. i'm ready to be done:)

and daddy makes two...

kendall threw up today. kendall with the iron stomach and the never gets sick or stays home from anything attitude...went to the doctor today, got a shot in the bum of anti-nausea medicine and is still asleep from that episode...poor guy! when it hits, it hits hard.

i keep praying for avery and i to be delivered from this sickness...i can't stand the idea of a 10lb. baby throwing up like that! ethan threw up again last night and i took him in today and now he's on a probiotic because apparently anti-biotics kill good stomach cultures as well as bad and then he got this virus, so hopefully this helps. so far so good, cross your fingers. and poor kendall...that medicine makes him so sleepy. we are going on our third week of being sicky here at our house. if you need to come over for some reason, just do what Yolanda did today and knock and then stand about three feet back, so as not to catch a whiff of anything!

i'm totally sympathizing with Melissa on this one, hope you guys get better soon!

poor baby...

okay, so ethan is on an antibiotic and we think all is going well. then he didn't eat much at lunch. he's okay, i thought. then he took a 2 1/2 hour nap...red flag mom, why didn't i see this coming? then we go out to dinner with his mom and dad and brother who is here from out of town, and he doesn't eat again, really, and is very very sad/cranky/clingy/any other adjective of sickness...still not getting it, then he falls asleep in the car and wakes up about 3 minutes from our house crying and i say, "ethan do you feel sick" the answer is a resounding yes accompanied by THROW UP again. that poor car seat. my poor son. what is going on with the children in our ward? seriously, they are all being taken down by this thing...it's like the bug that wouldn't die. and now it's the weekend and where do you take him on a weekend? the answer, no where if he's not throwing up all the time, then wait until monday and take him in...no church for us on sunday...that would just be infecting more innocent children...

just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water....dun dun dun (dramatic music here).

maybe, friends that we hang out with, we just have to keep ourselves and our children at home until we are reasonably sure no one is sick anymore...but i thought he was over it, so how do you tell? this is sure a tricky bug. any suggestions?

we are back on the gatorade bus tomorrow...no food for ethan...that is so sad. hope you all are well, that were sick and i hope he gets well soon, too!

*As a Sidenote (in honor of audrey's awesome sidenoted post) HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALACEY!(NOVEMBER 3)*

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I, as usual, was a little late in getting everything together this year, not because of no good intentions...i was going to do it last week and then ethan was puking all week...so it didn't get done...there's always next year for getting done on time. But it was a lot of fun. I made our costumes and i think they turned out well:) we went to our ward's trunk-or-treat and had a lot of fun with our friends. Please see the pictures to observe us being a "modern stone-age family"! Hope you all had a great time as well!