Wilson's World!

So may I recommend the following as a super yummy breakfast:

I used this mix to make waffles the other morning.  You can’t even tell it has 5g of fiber – just the perfect tint of sweetness and super easy to make (just add water and oil).  I also made a really scrumptious topping, I put some frozen blueberries, peaches and non calorie sweetener in a bowl and put it in the microwave for about a minute then pulverized it in my Magic Bullet blender (I did leave a few bigger chunks of peaches that were oh so good).  This is what it looked like:

Yes, it looked like someone who had recently eaten spaghetti and meatballs yakked on my waffle.  So I decided to make it look a bit more appetizing (and a little less healthy) by adding some whipped cream:

See?  Cool whip covered barf looks much more appealing.  (Honestly, though - it was delish!!)  By the way, I am trying to keep up on my other blog, “Say What by Emily” so check it out.  www.saywhatbyemily.com

No Comments | In: General | | #

This morning Brooklyn was playing on the couch and fell off.  She hit the wall with her ear before she made it to the floor.  The whole top of her ear is blue and purple, poor thing.  Later today we had fun playing in her room.  She likes to get in the closet then open and close the doors, it is so cute!

Here are some pictures of my little look-a-likes!

Can’t tell they’re related, can you???

No Comments | In: General | | #

So Brooklyn’s newest thing is raiding my cooking utensils drawer.  It has a baby lock on it but she has skinny little spider monkey hands so it barely slows her down.  Here are just a few of the things she pulled out today.

Yesterday Chris had a client over and they did a video shoot for his website.  After the client left all of Chris’s video and lighting equipment was still in the living room so we put the gate up to keep the kids out.  This left no gate to put on the stairs.  We tried putting the ottoman in front of them but, alas, that is not enough to stop Brooklyn or little Scott.

Today I tried to take a picture of Brooklyn and Liam to put in my Valentine’s Day cards but taking a picture of them together is nearly impossible.  Here is one of the few decent ones.

I think I’ve decided to forgo the pictures in the Valentine’s cards.  Speaking of Valentine’s, this morning I discovered my sweetheart had done some very nice things for me!  First of all he cleaned the downstairs (I love waking to a clean home) and he had installed a Christmas present I got like 3 years ago.  It’s hard to explain what it is so I took a picture.  (What me take a picture?  Noooo!)

Basically it is a piece of hardware that holds a grocery bag and is used as a garbage.  We had one in our kitchen when I was a kid (it’s still there), a few years back my sister and dad figured out how to get it replicated and had them made for everyone in our family.  I didn’t want to install it in any of our rentals so it has been in a box since then.  So thank you Melanie and Dad!

Now that Brooklyn has learned how to climb she is climbing all sorts of things.  She is climbing into her old baby swing, and her old exersaucer.  The only problem with her getting in her exersaucer is she can’t get back out.  So I tried taking out the the middle seat and putting her in it.  She didn’t like that because then she couldn’t sit down.  So she climbed back out, got the seat off the couch and put it back in herself.  She continually amazes me!

In other super fabulous news, Liam slept through the night last night!  12 hours total.  So I got 9 hours straight – can you hear the angels singing “Hallejujah” in the background?  And here is a picture of a happy baby that got plenty of sleep.

2 Comments | In: General | | #

So I gave myself a Facebook intervention yesterday.  I came to realize that it was becoming more of a chore (for lack of a better word) and a real time waster.  I decided I would take a month or so and stop getting on altogether.  I figure that way when I get back on I will be on less.  I also plan on getting a lot done this month!  Hopefully, my mom and my sister, whom I just convinced to to get on Facebook won’t be too upset with me.  But I do plan on doing a bit more blogging.

Last week we got some snow (not much but even the smallest amount excites me!).

We also went to the park on one of the nicer days last week with Ann and Scotty.  Scotty let Brooklyn borrow his hat, what a nice cousin!  We had fun feeding the ducks (we’ll have to get pictures of them next time), swinging on the swings and going down the slides.  It was pretty cold so we didn’t stay too long.  But Liam even had fun, he was smiling and hanging out in his car seat.

So the past couple nights Liam has not been sleeping very well, and since he sleeps in our room we haven’t been sleeping well either.  He has been stuffed up so I think he is having a hard time breathing and he has also been talking in his sleep, which he must get from me!  He was up early this morning (6:30) so I fed him then put him on his lay down toy in our walk in closet (which is connected to the master bathroom) while I took a shower – he loved it!

He is also getting very close to rolling over. 

Since we were up so early and ready I decided to get Brooklyn up and ready too.  By 8:30 we were out the door and on our way to Walmart for a little grocery shopping.  Shopping at 8:30 am is awesome, we practically had the store to ourselves and all the shelves were stocked and the store was super clean.  I normally go after 8:00 pm when the kids are asleep, but a lot of times they are out of items I need and I have to try to get around all the employees stocking the shelves.   By the way, I bought the Great Value brand paper towels today, they were cheap (around $6 for 8 rolls) and they are like Bounty paper towel quality, which cost about $2 a roll.  Okay, now that I’ve completely bored you with my thrifty deal excitement…….

Brooklyn screams if I try to feed her yogurt, she only likes it if she can feed herself.  And here is the mess she makes – note the well placed yogurt in her hair…

Whenever I feed her Liam sits next to her on the floor and I do dishes.

It amazes me daily the interaction that my kids have.  I never thought that babies so young could be so social with eachother.  Brooklyn is constantly making Liam laugh, she’ll push him while he is in his swing then pretend that the force of the swing makes her fall down, then they both crack up laughing.  I LOVE my life….

P.S.  Do I ramble on too much?  Sometimes I wonder if I am the only person that thinks my blog might be slightly entertaining….

2 Comments | In: General | | #

Well I have really been grateful that up until now Brooklyn has not been much of a climber.  But today it happened.  It was close to bedtime and I had put a video on for her in her bedroom while I bathed Liam and put him to bed.  She got bored and went downstairs by herself.  One of the places I keep things that need to stay out of her reach is the on the couch by the back pillows.  Well tonight she found something worth crawling up for – my cell phone.  I came downstairs and she was sitting talking to herself and playing with my phone.  I acutally don’t mind her playing with it as long she keeps it out of her mouth and it is pretty hard to unlock for a one year old so not worried about that.  Guess it’s time to find a new place to put stuff – unfortunately she can now reach stuff on the table and the edges of the counters too.

Sooo funny, Chris is taking out the garbage right now and found a crumpled up one dollar bill in his office garbage can.  Really need to start watching Brooklyn like a hawk!   Apparently she thinks we have too much money!

Well here are some cute pictures I took this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Comment | In: General | | #

This month has been a trial of faith.  It seems like every year I make the goal to read my scriptures more but it only lasts a week or two.  However, this year has been different.  First of all, our family has been given some trials this month and I have really been trying to turn to the Lord and put my faith in him to get through them.  Second, I decided to give my life a mini makeover and change some of things I didn’t like about it.  This has included cutting back severely on the amount of television I watch (my goal now is only 1/2 hour a day except Tuesdays when I watch Biggest Loser), reading my scriptures more (I am already in Alma after just 2 weeks!), leading a healthy lifestyle by exercising and eating less processed foods and just having a more balanced life in general.  I am already starting to notice the positive changes.  I am more in tune to the Spirit and I am a lot less stressed about certain things than I probably should be. 

In nonconsequential news, I got a haircut this week, yay!  The long hair was really getting in my way and the kids just loved to grab it as an anchor – oww!  Here’s what it looks like now:

 

 

Good grief, I look more and more like my sister Ann everyday.  Good thing she’s pretty!

Brooklyn has been wowing us and challenging us everyday.  Some of her new “tricks” – she likes to pull up her pant leg and say “Mee, Mee” (knee), she likes to find any shoes that Chris or I have left out and try to put them on her feet,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She also likes to hug her brother and when she sees him she says “bebe, bebe” (baby), which is funny because we always call him Liam or Brother.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then we have Liam who isn’t doing much that is new but is still the best at what he does – SMILE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t believe that by this time next year he will be walking and talking just like Brooklyn is now.  Oh the fun we’ll have!  Yesterday Chris finally put together the slide my mom gave us for Brooklyn.  It’s more of an outside toy but it works in her playroom for the winter – she absolutely LOVES it!

 

 

1 Comment | In: General | | #

Well 2009 has come to a close – somedays I  thought it would never end, other days I wondered where all the time went.  This year has probably been the most stressful year of my life.  We were showered with blessings and trials alike and hopefully have come out the other end stronger.  I thought I would make a list of some of the life changes that we went through and reflect on this last year with humility and praises to God for his strength to help us get through it all.

January – Found out I was pregnant with Liam

February – Turned 31

March – Started looking for a home and job in Idaho

April – Found a home and job in Idaho

May – Moved into our first home in Nampa, Idaho.  Scott Michael Watkins (my nephew) was born, so my parents and sister Melanie came to Nampa for a visit.

June – Chris’s Mom’s health started to rapidly decline due to the Multiple Myeloma

July – Drove to Salem to see Chris’s parents, his mom was doing very poorly and was not very coherent.

August – On the 16th Chris’s Dad, Larry, fell in his home and died.  We drove back to Salem for the funeral.  Twelve short days later his Mom, Anita, decided to join her husband in heaven and passed away also.  We found out just before we were leaving on a trip to see my parents but Chris still wanted to go so we did.

September – On the 4th we were in Salem once again for Anita’s funeral.  Chris’s company had been very understanding about all of his time away but we were barely scraping by on his salary so Chris decided to go back into business for himself.  He quit his job on the 11th.  On the 13th our sweet little baby boy, Liam, was born.  My hospital stay was less than exemplary and without going into details, I will never be returning to Mercy Medical.  On the 28th Brooklyn had her first birthday.

October – We went to my parents for a visit, we celebrated Melanie’s 40th birthday and my Dad blessed Liam.  Chris turned 31 and had a really good month with his business – boy did we need that.

November – I spent a week at my parent’s home before Thanksgiving.  I got the rest and relaxation I needed, they are very hospitable.  Chris joined us for Thanksgiving (thanks to my Dad for picking him up).

December – Brooklyn finally started walking and Liam was smiling and cooing all over the place.  We went to my parents again to celebrate Christmas.  Got to see a lot of my family which I always look forward to, I am so incredibly blessed to have them.

With so many trials came so many blessings.  There were days I honestly wondered what more the Lord would give me as a trial and I felt defeated more than once.  I came up with a new saying that helped get me through, “Just because the Lord won’t give you more than you can handle doesn’t mean he won’t test your limits.”  I am so lucky to have such a great family with parents and siblings I can call whenever I need help, they are very reliable and help me a lot.  I am also grateful for the friends that support me too.  This is not a year I will soon forget.

 

No Comments | In: General | | #

I love my kids and I am a total shutterbug.  Brooklyn’s new favorite game is to take all the toys out of her toy box then climb in and grab the toys around her that she wants to play with.

 

 

 

 

She also likes to play with socks, my socks, her socks, Liam’s socks.  She’s not picky.

 

 

 

Liam has tons of cute moments during the day too.

 

 

 

Binky anyone?

 

So I haven’t gotten any comments on my blog in a while which means either my blog is broken or no one is reading it?

No Comments | In: General | | #

Christmas was so awesome.  This was the first year Brooklyn was old enough  to figure out what was going on somewhat.  Liam and Brooklyn and the cutest matching PJ’s.  Being and Grandma and Grandpa Collier’s home was wonderful!

 

 

 

 

 

The kids had a blast playing with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Melanie.

 

 

Grandpa had his hands full!

 

 

 

After all of the fun  was done it was time to go home.  Brooklyn had fussed for most of the drive there but she slept almost the whole way home. I was really excited about that until the next morning when I realized she was sick – had a fever a 103.5 and a cough.  She only falls asleep on our lap when she doesn’t feel well.

 

 

She still was not feeling well today, hopefully tomorrow she will be better.  I told my mom she needs an antibacterial gel pump by the front door because my nephew Tavon, sister Melanie and sister in law Carrie all got sick too.  Hopefully they will all be feeling better soon.  All in all it was a wonderfully beautiful Christmas with lots of friends and family good feelings all around.

No Comments | In: General | | #

Brooklyn learned to walk this past week, it has been so much fun and so long awaited!  Now she is saying a few words too, among them are: ball, bear, knee, grandma, water, more, daddy (which she has said for a long time) and mama (which she just recently started saying consistently).  However her version of those words sound more like: ba, beeh, ni, gama, wawa, mo, dada and mama, respectively.  Still having problems getting my videos uploaded.  But here is a picture of Brooklyn with her Care Bear (she sees him and gets excited, “Beeh! Beeh!”)

 

 

The other day I got Brooklyn’s hair into pigtails!  It was so cute, I had to take a picture right after I put them in because she always pulls out whatever I put in her hair.

 

 

I’m sure everyone has seen or heard about the news stories of finding Mary on a piece of toast or other characters in strange places but I can beat them all.  Brooklyn loves these new Cheeto Puffs (they are really soft and disingrate easily) and I found one shaped like a brontosaurus, it was so awesome.

 

 

Well we are off to Chubbuck tomorrow for Christmas, I am so excited I can barely contain myself!

No Comments | In: General | | #