IB with the Sampsons

We were a little short on friends in Cedar City, but the ones we did make were good ones. Em's little BFF from Cedar and her mom and brother came with us to the beach for a week to escape the husbandless loneliness. (Thanks again, Colt, for letting me borrow your family!) It was a PERFECT, AMAZING trip. And did I mention the weather was GORGEOUS. And the company was WAY too much fun. It was an awesome trip. Thanks for making the trek with us guys!!

all 4 kids looking at the camera. how often does that happen?

little beach bums admiring our view

happy, cheesy boy

em spent a lot of time as a mermaid

and you can't do the beach without ice cream all over your face and dripping down your arms.

and without sharing the twin bed with your buddy because you CANNOT be separated

cute buddies on the play

the beach babes

goodbye imperial beach! until next time!

Dual Nappers Today

Other moms of two: does it ever leave you in a slightly confused stupor when your kids both nap AND at the same time? Emery almost NEVER naps and definitely NEVER does it at the same time as Van.

So here I am blogging about it. I'm confused on how to just focus on one thing at a time. I'm used to juggling a munchkin while I clean out the closet or cook dinner. So weird.

I'm going to stop wasting time and try and escape my stupor and be productive. Even though what I REALLY want to do is finish my book. I only have like 40 pages left. No room for guilty pleasures here. Why is that a guilty pleasure for me anyway? Oh, I'm ridiculous.

when hubby's away, the wife will.... paint

since aaron's gone so much i've taken up amusing myself with re-doing more furniture. here's what i've recently attacked. i'll post after pictures soon. next up - the kitchen table. :)

this piece of lovely i found in on my neighbor's curb in the trash. yes, i'm a trash digger now. whoever tried to refurbish it the 1st time went awfully wrong.
and my trusty old bar stools. bought for $5 each at DI in Cedar City. they needed a new look. who wants boring brown bar stools anyway?

family picture outtakes

since I didn't do a family new years letter (whoops) I decided I'd at least better post some family pictures.

but that sounded too boring.

so, for your amusement, I give you the Wilkinson family picture outtakes.

way more fun than the ones we'd really hang on our wall. :)

to get the full effect you'll have to click on them to make them bigger.


Picture 1: what's in Van's mouth?


Picture 2: Britt mid-hair flip and Emery with the most fake smile she can muster

Picture 3: Aaron - "Ok, I think we're done with the kids on our shoulders now... the fake happy smile is gone..."
Picture 4: Aaron - "Like I said, can we please get the kids off our shoul....WHACK!"

Picture 5: Aaron and Emery having an ugly face contest


Picture 6: Van - "Ooh, dad, you have yummy bugs in your hair!"

Picture 7: Van - "What are we doing here again?"
Picture 8: Van - "Oh ya, posing! I'm good at that!"

Picture 9: Britt - "Van... it's hard to look happy when you're clawing at me..."
Picture 10: Britt - "VAN!!!" (notice Emery and Aaron completely oblivious to the battle occuring next to them)

Picture 11: things are getting a little crazy. Tickle attack gone bad and Van is no longer posing. DONE.
Picture 12: Ok mom, we're past crazy. We're done being happy....
Picture 13: okay, one last go. everybody HAPPY!!!!! (wait.... that's too happy...)
Picture 14: I leave you with a cute upside down boy and his dad...


Happy New Year (late) from our family to yours!

bathroom makeover

the bathrooms in our house needed a LOT of work. the 2 upstairs had the most awful white linoleum you can imagine and the faucets started deteriorating the first time i scrubbed them. we didn't do special to our bathroom but we did do some fun things in the kids' bath. i promised kimberly these TONIGHT! so here they are!

BEFORE:

awful, dirty, i could barely stand to have emery in there to go potty! disgusting floor - and no tub - just a gross shower.

so i enslaved my husband to tear out the nasty shower and hang out with van fixing the new tub (during pretty much the only free month of his life... he loves me!) if van looks little this is because Aaron did it in September.

i love this picture of my handsome boys

the kids were so happy to have their own tub that they couldn't even wait for dad to finish the dry wall

but he DID finish it!

so professional. i'd hire him out, but he gets home at about 11:30pm these days, so he may not be much use to anyone. :)

and then commenced the painting. moral of the story: don't paint your house boring colors if you really want color - because then you'll explode and paint something lime green!!!!

what we did:

• replace floors
• tear out old shower and put in new tub surround
• new faucet and towel ring
• paint it green!!
• and of course... new bathroom accessories.
  

AFTER:

and in case you're wondering where you can get one of those adorable over the toilet shelves for your kids' bathrooms - you can't. because i rennovated a Goodwill special! yahoo!! the first of [hopefully] many projects like this.

BEFORE: (I think this thing was born in the early 1900s. no joke.)


AFTER!!! (sand, primer, white spray paint, $2.50 - usually $5 - knob from Hobby Lobby and a little bit of scrapbook paper and Mod Podge.)


the kids and I LOVE the green bathroom! and Aaron thought I was crazy, but he actually likes it too! :)

for you pregnant girls out there

"he's an allergic little dude." that's what dr. mcknight, the pediatric allergist, told me about Van yesterday at his appointment. he is very allergic to eggs and milk. slightly less allergic to peanuts. again less to soy. and he's allergic to cats and dogs.

i asked him what makes some kids allergic and others not. is it something i ate when i was pregnant? did i pass the milk allergy to him genetically (i was deathly allergic to milk as a baby and i'm still mildly allergic, if you didn't know)?

here's what he said: there is some (non-definitive) research that shows that eating large amounts of high allergy foods when pregnant can lead to the baby being allergic to those foods after birth. i definitely could have passed milk to him genetically. maybe.

he also gave a disclaimer: you could go to the best doctors at each of the best 3 allergy research facilities in the country and get 3 different opinions on the subject.

here's the funny part - when i was pregnant with Van, i ate at least 1 egg a day and had a bowl (not a serving - a bowl) of ice cream every night of the last half.

not so funny to Van i guess. note to Britt - careful what you eat next time around. :) the doctor said not to blame myself. i think he's just being nice.

sorry, Vander. mommy loves you! but you have to admit. that is one seriously cute allergic little dude.

sisters

i wasn't blessed with any sisters. and i never thought i needed any... until i grew up and realized all girls need sisters. lucky for me i married into 5. we all got to be together over new years and it was so fun. i really love my sisters! and i have the world's best mother-in-law, but any of you who know her at all know that goes without saying. :)

and thanks for loving crazy britt as one of your own you guys!