wilkinsonquints

"Multitude of Multiples" Replayed (and Renamed)

2009-12-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

If you missed it the first time, the documentary formally called "Multitude of Multiples" which features our family along with two others, is being replayed this weekend. The show has been renamed "Expecting 15 Babies" (personally I like the first title a lot better!) It will air on the Discovery Health Channel on Friday, December 4th at 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm central time, and again on Sunday, December 6th at 11:00 am central time. There is a great "time-out" scene with Ryder and Rustin that you won't want to miss :-)

Also, it was brought to my attention that the Paypal button for the Calendars on the blog was not working! I think I have fixed the problem, so feel free to try it out! Order your copy of the 2010 Wilkinson Quints calendar today! Calendars are $12.99 each if you order 1 or 2 and only $10 each if you order 3 or more. Shipping is a flat $3 (US) or $7 (international) no matter how many calendars you purchase. To see pictures find out more about the calendar, click HERE or visit our website.

Rustin, looking guilty as usual! The day the calendars arrived, I left the boxes (still sealed) by the front door while I made a quick trip to the bathroom. When I got back this is what I found---I am still not sure how they got through the tape!

Partners in crime: Kyndall, Kassidy, Kaydence and Rustin

Kyndall, Rustin, Kaydence, Ryder, and Kassidy---they were sooo excited to see the pictures of themselves and they love to look at the pictures and name everybody in them.

Kyndall, Rustin, Ryder, Kaydence and Kassidy. The quints are at such a great age for Christmas this year---they are loving everything about it. They got so excited when I pulled out the Christmas decorations and started putting them up. In the process, I found these hats in one of the boxes and they wore them around for the rest of the day. Now the first thing they do when they wake up is insist I turn the Christmas lights on.

Grandma and Grandpa's November Visit

2009-12-01T19:30:00.000-08:00

Grandma and Grandpa Wilkinson with Rustin, Kaydence, Kyndall, Ryder and Kassidy

Jayson's parents came for a quick 4-day visit the first week of November. We always love having grandparents come! Here are some pictures from their visit:

Ryder (obviously this was pre-bye, bye binky party!), Rustin, Kaydence and Kyndall. Candice Park, the doctor who delivered the babies, gave them these adorable outfits for their birthday. I wanted to get a group shot to send to her, but Kassidy would not cooperate!

Sunday they wore their Christmas clothes. They were adorable, but they were more interested in playing with the shrubs than they were with getting their picture taken :-)

I can always count on Rustin to ham it up!

"Where's your head??" Rustin, Kassidy, Kaydence, Ryder and Kyndall

Group hug--Ryder, Kaydence, and Kyndall

Kaydence, Kaiya, Riley and Kassidy

Kaiya

Riley

Riley and Kaiya

Riley, Kassidy and Kaiya. Kassidy is usually my most uncooperative when it comes to group pictures with the quints (see group shot with green outfits above), but she loves posing individually and she kept getting in all the pictures of Riley and Kaiya.

Kassidy, Kaiya, and Riley

Kassidy

Grandpa and Grandma Wilkinson

Kassidy, Rachelle, Grandma Wilkinson, and Kyndall. No trip to our house is complete without a visit to Rudy's BBQ!

Do they look like brothers, or what??? Jayson's brother, Joel, and his two kids met us at Rudy's.

Alec and Riley with the quints in the background.

Rustin couldn't get enough of the BBQ sauce!

Pumpkin Perfection

2009-11-24T20:10:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Pancakes

With Thanksgiving just a couple of days away, I thought I would share some of my favorite pumpkin recipes.

Pumpkin Pancakes
2 cups flour
2 T sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs--separated
1/4 cup melted butter

Sift together dry ingredients. Combine milk, egg yolks, vanilla, butter and pumpkin puree. Stir into dry ingredients until just blended. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into batter. Pour onto hot, oiled griddle about 1/3 cup at a time. Cook until tops bubble and turn and cook other side. (Note: sometimes I don't bother to separate the eggs and the pancakes still turn out great!)

These taste great with syrup, but my kids favorite way to eat them is to sprinkle mini chocolate chips on the warm pancakes, let them melt a little bit and then top with a dollop of whip cream. YUM!

Pumpkin Dump
(It tastes better than the name sounds, I promise! It is kind of like a pumpkin cobbler.)

1 (29 oz) can pumpkin
1 can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp cloves)
1/2 tsp salt1 pkg cake mix (I like vanilla, but the original recipe calls for yellow or spice)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices. Stir in the milk, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Pour into prepared pan.

3. Sprinkle cake mix over the pumpkin mixture, then sprinkle on the pecans. Drizzle melted butter over all. Bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Allow to cool.

4. Serve with whip cream, refrigerate leftovers.

I have found that when I drizzle the butter, I sometimes get areas of dry cake mix in the end result, so what I do is take the butter (cold) and slice it thinly and cover the cake mix with the thin slices. It takes a little longer, but I think it is worth it.

Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes
(OK, so technically this isn't a pumpkin recipe, but it tastes a lot like pumpkin pie, so I am including it anyway)

1 40 oz can sweet potatoes
¼ cup orange juice
¾ cup all –purpose flour
½ cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch salt
½ cup butter or margarine
1 ½ cups miniature marshmallows

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place sweet potatoes in a 8x8 inch shallow baking dish and pour orange juice over.

3. In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt; mix well and then cut in margarine. Sprinkle over sweet potatoes.

4. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with marshmallows and broil until browned.

Even people who are not sweet potato fans love this recipe (how could they not---let's face it, by the time you add all the extra stuff on top, they can hardly be considered a vegetable!) If you have extra time, I think it tastes better to use "real" sweet potatoes rather than canned. Just peel and slice 2.5 lbs of sweet potatoes, then boil until soft.

Pentuplet Pumpkin Patch Pictures
(Yes, I know there is no such word as "pentuplet", but "quintuplet" doesn't start with a "P")

5 adorable 2-year olds
1 pumpkin patch
1 digital camera
2 adults who are willing to embarrass themselves, if necessary, to get a good shot

Kassidy, Rustin, Kyndall, Ryder and Kaydence. This is the "October" picture for the new 2010 Wilkinson Quints Calendar. To see more pictures from the calendar, or to order your own copy, use the PayPal link on the right, or click HERE.

Wilkinson Quints 2010 Calendar

2009-11-19T12:19:00.000-08:00

Announcing...
the Wilkinson Quints 2010 Calendar!

The calendar features 12 months of adorable pictures of the Wilkinson Quints. Photographers for this years calendar include Kristen Duke, Betty Ann Curtis (my mom) and myself. Below is a peak at some of the pictures included in calendar. To see thumbnails of all 12 pictures, visit our website at http://www.wilkinsonquints.org/.

Calendars are just $12.99 each or 3 for $30, and would make a great gift! All proceeds from the calendars will be used to support the consumption of diapers and wet wipes at the Wilkinson household!

To order, click HERE, or use the PayPal button on the right.

November

February

May

Bye, Bye Binkys!

2009-11-18T11:23:00.001-08:00

It has been a long time coming, but we finally got rid of the binkeys this weekend! Both Ryder and Kyndall were REALLY attached to their pacifier. Ryder's was almost a permanent extension of his face and anytime he lost it, MANY tears were shed. Kyndall seemed slightly less attached than Ryder, but she would wake up in middle of the night 2-3 times a week and cry for her pacifier. I was sure that taking away the binkys would lead to days of endless crying and torturous tantrums (the whole, "get worse before it gets better" idea) so it has taken me months to work up the courage to take the binkys away. I have always been able to come up with some excuse why we should wait.....illness, vacations, out of town visitors, etc. Last week, we finally decided enough was enough---no more excuses---it was time!

Sunday was D-Day and we talked with the kids all week about how we were going to say "bye, bye binkys". Sunday night we invited a few people over for dinner and managed to talk a few of them into staying for our "Bye, Bye Binky Party". This party was pretty similar to the "Bye, Bye Bottles Party" we had a few months ago. All the kids gathered around the table. We told them that it was time to say bye, bye to the binkys and that we were going to give all the binkys to Cassaundra, who would find a baby that needed them. We are big kids now and don't need binkys. Then each of the kids took turns throwing a binky into a big plastic bag, saying goodbye and cheering. Surprisingly, Ryder really got into it and thought it was great fun. Kyndall thought it was fun until we told her she had to throw the binky that was in her mouth into the bag also.

Next we sang several good-bye songs and took pictures of everyone saying goodbye. Finally, we had treats and ceremoniously handed the bag of binkys over to Cassaundra.

At bedtime both Kyndall and Ryder were distraught to not have their binkys. Ryder cried on the way to his crib, but I gave him a hug and reminded him that he was a big boy and that we said bye, bye to binkys. He looked up at me with a sad face and said, "Bye, bye binkys. Give it to a baby, bye, bye." Then he snuggled right down in his bed and went to sleep.

Kyndall cried for about 3 minutes when we put her down, but then she went right to sleep as well. We did not hear from anyone the whole night. We were so surprised! We had been anticipating meltdowns and struggles, so we were completely AMAZED by how smoothly things went. The next day Ryder and Kyndall each asked for a binky a couple of times, but as soon as we reminded them that we had said bye, bye to binkys, they accepted it and moved on.

I would never in a million years have guessed that it would be this easy to get rid of the binkys! Ryder actually seems like a much happier kid now that he doesn't have his binky. It is such a relief to be rid of them :-) If there are any of you out there who have been thinking about getting rid of the binkys at your house, my advice is DON'T WAIT!!!

Ryder, Kyndall, Rustin, Kaydence

Kaydence putting a binky into the bag.

Ryder and Kyndall put their binkys into the bag

Party treats

Bye, Bye Binky Party---group shot (Back: Cassaundra, Mimi, GG, Riley, Jayson, Ronnie, Front: Ryder, Kyndall, Rustin, Ellis, Kaydence, Kassidy and Kaiya)

And the winner is.....

2009-11-17T12:07:00.000-08:00

.....Rosalee Dougal from Orem, Utah!!! Congratulations Rosalee! Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway.

To hear a sample of Arian's new CD or to order your own copy, visit her blog at http://www.ariangjohnson.blogspot.com/. There is still time to get your order in before Christmas!

Halloween Video

2009-11-10T20:24:00.000-08:00

***Don't miss out on your chance to win a fabulous CD in my first ever giveaway! The deadline for entering the drawing is tomorrow (Wednesday) at midnight. For more details, click HERE***

See the quints in action in this little video that Jayson put together of our Halloween:

Funny Faces and the Fish Fiasco

2009-11-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

***Don't forget---the last day to enter the drawing for the AWESOME FREE CD is Wednesday! To read more about the giveaway, click HERE***

Kaydence, Kyndall, Rustin, Ryder and Kassidy

Within the last couple of weeks, the quints have started making these funny faces. I think one of my friends taught them to do it when she was watching them for me (although I haven't gotten a confession yet). Now whenever I tell them to smile for my pictures, they pull this face instead. They think they are being pretty funny, and well, they are!

Kassidy

Kaydence

Rustin

Kyndall--she is the best at making the face!

Ryder is the worst at it---he has a hard time letting go of the nuggie long enough to pull a good face :-)

If any of you have been wondering what it is like to have five two-year-olds running around the house, then you will appreciate this next story...

A few days ago I was trying to get the house clean because my in-laws were coming to visit. The babies were finishing up snacks in their high chair, so I left Riley in charge while I went upstairs to vacuum. I told him he could get them down when they were done, but he needed to put the boxes of snacks away. After vacuuming for about 5 minutes, I called down to Riley to see how he was doing. He said he had gotten all but one of the babies down, and again I reminded him to put away the snacks. When I finished cleaning and went back downstairs, this is what I found:

Do those look like guilty faces, or what?? There were goldfish crackers EVERYWHERE! They had taken the box (we are talking about the huge, 38+ ounce box which was at least half way full when I went upstairs), dumped out all of its contents and were having a great time hearing the fish crunch under their feet. Riley was nowhere in sight. I called out, "Hey Riley, did you put away the snacks like I asked?" and he said, "Oh, yeah, I forgot!"

Kaydence decided to go "swimming" with the fish

The pile of goldfish and crumbs---really this picture does not do the mess justice!

With five two-year-olds, it seems like somebody is always getting into something! I finally had to take the Butt Paste jar out of my changing table drawer because I got tired of cleaning it out of the kids hair and clothes (that stuff is so greasy!). A couple days ago, I left my in-laws in charge while I drove Kaiya to gymnastics. While I was gone, Ryder managed to get into the laundry room and pour laundry detergent all over himself and the floor. Just this morning, I found Kaydence and Rustin giving each other facials with a jar of Vicks vapor rub. Fortunately no one has done any permanent damage (to themselves anyway), and I certainly can't complain about life being boring!!

"Crazy Hair Day" at school:

Kaiya Front

Kaiya Side

Riley Front

Riley Side

Halloween!

2009-11-05T11:37:00.000-08:00

Halloween was so great this year! The quints were adorable as the "five little monkey's jumping on the bed". Jayson was the doctor and I was the mama monkey. The "five little monkey" theme must have been popular this year, because someone pointed out to me that the Murray Quads did the same thing (their costumes are even identical to ours).

Riley and Kaiya like to do their own thing. Kaiya was an angel and Riley was Draco Malfoy. He has already been Harry Potter twice, so he decided to go for something a little different. He really wanted to be something relating to Harry Potter because he just finished reading the entire Harry Potter series the week before Halloween.

Our Halloween celebration actually started on Friday night, when we went to our church Trunk or Treat party. Everyone at our church has been so great since we had these babies. Each of the babies has someone who has "adopted" them as their "church baby". At the Trunk or Treat, nearly everyone got whisked away as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. They each had a great time with their "church family" going from trunk to trunk. Riley and Kaiya had a blast too---of course they love that trunk or treating is the most efficient method for getting the most amount of candy in the shortest amount of time.

Kassidy on the way to the Trunk or Treat (she must be rubbing the spot where she "fell off and bumped her head")

Kaydence with Norm doing the cake walk

Rustin with Kevin

Barbara with Kyndall

Tammy with Ryder

Kaiya---she looks angelic enough that I ALMOST believe it...

Riley (aka Draco)---Expelliarmus!

For lunch on Halloween, we made cute spiders out of spaghetti and hot dogs.

While the babies napped, Riley and Kaiya carved pumpkins.

Yum----NOT!

Kaiya's finished product!

Riley's Masterpiece

Halloween night Jayson's brother and family and Jayson's parents came down to go Trick or Treating with us. We ate Jack-o-Lantern pizza's, drank "blood" juice and then headed out! This was the quints first real trick-or-treating experience. Last year we just pushed them in the stroller, but this year we let them do it all. They LOVED it! It did not take them long to catch on. (I did have to stop them from going all the way inside a few houses, though). The neighbors got a kick out of having them all come trick-or-treating. Riley and Kaiya quickly got bored of our slow pace and they went off with Grandpa so they could go at their own pace. In the end, we ended up with WAY too much candy. I left a ton of it on the porch, hoping some greedy teenager would come take it off my hands (it worked--at about 9:30, I heard a car drive up and kids jump out and run to the porch---when they left, there was not a single piece left in the bowl!)

Rustin, Ryder, Kassidy, Kaydence and Kyndall

All the kids--Ryder, Rustin, Kaiya, Kassidy, Riley, Kaydence, Tobi, Kyndall, Cora and Alec

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

After the trick-or-treating is over, I let the kids (well the older two anyway) pick out their top ten favorite candies which they can eat whenever and however they want. The rest of the candy goes into a big bowl for after dinner treats or lunches. My parents had a similar policy when we were growing up. I always had a strategy for choosing my "top ten"---I started with full size candy bars (if there were any), then I went for my favorite chocolate stuff (Milky Ways and Twix bars). I took this picture of Riley and Kaiya's top ten bags because I thought it was funny how different their preferences are---hardly a chocolate candy in sight, and Kaiya chose not one, not two, but SIX Dum Dums. She must have got her candy cravings from the Wilkinson side of the family, because at my house we were all about the CHOCOLATE!!!

Of course we couldn't let the moment pass without getting a picture of the Monkeys actually jumping on the bed. Here is a SNEAK PEAK at one of the pictures from the 2010 Wilkinson Quints Calendar!!! (Ordering information for the calendars will be posted soon!)

Kassidy, Rustin, Kaydence, Kyndall and Ryder (the fallen monkey). It is amazing how much they look alike when they have the costumes on!

PS Don't miss out on your chance to enter the drawing for my first ever GIVEAWAY! The deadline is next Wednesday, Nov 11th. See more details HERE.

"A Time To Love"

2009-11-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, I recently became reconnected with one of my dearest friends from college, Arian Johnson. Arian and I lived in the same dorms our freshman year at BYU and we later became roommates when we moved off campus. Arian is one of the most happy, likable people I know. My freshman year at college was really tough, and I would not have survived it without her!

Rachelle & Arian 15 years ago!

Arian is also one of the most talented people I know. She was a member of the University Singers, the top choir at BYU and played the violin in the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra.

Because I know how musically gifted Arian is, I was excited when I heard that she was making a CD featuring her violin music. The CD was officially released on October 16th. It is entitled, “A Time To Love” and it has eleven inspirational pieces ranging from sacred to classical favorites. I got my copy a little over a week ago and I have listened to it several times. The music is BEAUTIFUL and it brings such a sweet, peaceful spirit into the home every time I play it. I LOVE this CD and I quickly ordered copies to give to everyone on my Christmas list.

Now here is the really exciting part….Arian is offering to give a FREE, autographed copy of her brand new CD to one of my blog readers! All you have to do to enter the drawing is click HERE to find the answer to this question “What is the name of the song that Arian and her Granddad played together?” Send me an email (WQplus2@gmail.com) with the answer to the question and you will be entered into the drawing to win the CD. (Hint: the answer to the question is found in the “Why I Made This Recording” blog entry.) The deadline for entering is Wednesday, November 11th at midnight CST. The winner will be notified via email and announced on my blog.

Visit Arian’s blog (http://www.ariangjohnson.blogspot.com/) to hear excerpts from the new CD or to order your own copy.

PS--I have lots of great pictures from Halloween. The quints were the "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed" and they were so cute! I should have them posted in a day or two, so check back!

Lifting Burdens

2009-10-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

My sweet grandma is in a new video put out by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My grandma is one of the most kind, charitable people I know. She is always busy helping a friend, baking bread for a neighbor or serving a family member. Growing up, we did not live close to my grandparents, but when I went to college at BYU, she lived only 10 minutes away. We had dinner at her house several times a month and she was always willing to let me use her washer and dryer. She makes awesome chocolate chip cookies and sticky buns and her homemade bread is the best! She is very talented musically and I love to listen to her play the piano or the organ. My grandma is the biggest BYU fan I have ever seen. Sun, rain or snow she rarely misses a home football game. Her home is filled with pictures of her family. She has 7 children and 53 grandchildren (of which I am the oldest!) and more great-grandchildren than I can count.

I really appreciate the example she has been to me, and I think it is very fitting that she is shown in this video because she is such a Christ-like person. The video is entitled "Lifting Burdens: The Atonement of Jesus Christ". My grandma is at the 2:32 point in the video.

The Pumpkin Patch---Revisited!

2009-10-20T15:09:00.001-07:00

This weekend we went back to the pumpkin patch at Sweet Berry Farms. This time, Riley and Kaiya got to come. We also had my friend Brenda's kids with us---Joe and Luvinia. I have taken the kids to the pumpkin patch every year for the past five years, but I didn't realize that Jayson had never been before. Something has always come up that prevented him from going in the past.

When GG and I took the babies a couple of weeks ago, there was hardly anybody there---maybe 10 cars in the parking lot. This time was a whole different story! The place was PACKED!! Hundreds of people were there. The parking lot was overflowing and several cars had to park on the street. We had to wait in long lines to get tickets for the Hayride and other activities, but it was worth it. Everyone had a great time!

Kassidy, Ryder, Kyndall and Kaydence check out the pumpkins

Kaiya and Riley

Rustin and Ryder try to figure out how to overthrow Kaiya and take over the tractor

Riley hides in the corn field. He and Joe enjoyed finding their way through the corn field maze.

Luvinia helps Ryder and Rustin drive the boat.

Kaiya

Luvnia and Kyndall

Kyndall peaks through the slats of the old trailer.

Ryder takes a turn peaking out

Kaiya

Kaydence

Jayson spent most of the time behind the video camera---hopefully he will make a WQ+2 episode with all the footage!

Riley found a huge pile of hay to jump in

Jayson and I pose by an old truck, surrounded by Kaiya, Kaydence and Rustin. We met Jayson's brother, Joel and his family at the pumpkin patch. My sister-in-law Tobi took this picture, but unfortunately we didn't get any pictures with them! They were a little late getting there, so we didn't get so spend as much time with them as we would have liked.

Kaiya, Kassidy, Ryder, Rustin and Kaydence wait for the hayride.

While waiting for the hayride, we ran into Kristen Duke.

The Hayride! Jayson, Rustin, Kassidy, Ryder, Kaydence, Luvinia, Kyndall and Kaiya

Ryder, Kyndall, Kassidy and Rustin walk up and down the aisles of flowers. Notice Kassidy's backpack---she found it in Kaiya's room last week and it has become a permanent attachment to her back. She eats with it, sleeps with it and would probably bathe with it if I let her :-)

The flowers were so pretty and there were butterflies everywhere.

More flowers...

Kaiya enjoyed filling a cup full of flowers to take home. She also made sure each of the little girls got a flower in "their" color

Kassidy (with her purple flower)

Luvinia and Kyndall (Luvinia is holding Kyndall's pink flower)

Kaydence with yellow flowers

We also ran into Kaiya's friend, Vivian. Really, I think the whole city of Austin decided to go to the farm that day!

Kids Dinner Nights

2009-10-13T11:53:00.001-07:00

I have always enjoyed cooking, which is good--considering the crowd I have to cook for. I am somewhat of a "recipe junkie"--I like to collect new recipes to try. I also like to take recipes and "healthify" them, by substituting ingredients to cut down on fat and calories or increase the whole grains.

Although I like to cook, one thing I hate doing is deciding what to make for dinner every night. Because of this, I started doing "Kids Dinner Nights" at our house. Riley and Kaiya each have one night a week where they help plan and prepare dinner. At the beginning of each month, we sit down together and brainstorm a list of dinners, then we get out the calendar and the kids choose what they want to make for each of their dinner nights. They have to plan well-balanced meals that include fruits and veggies and no one is allowed to repeat the same meal twice in a month. So far, our dinner nights have been a big success. Riley and Kaiya enjoy the one-on-one time with me making dinner and there are two less nights a week that I have to dream up what to make!

Here are a few of the kids favorite "kid friendly" recipes that they like to make:

Chicken Bundles

These end up on the menu nearly every month. They are fun for the kids to make and they love how they taste.

8 oz cream cheese, softened (I usually use fat free to make it a little healthier)
2 cans chicken
1 tsp dried minced onion
salt and pepper to taste
2 cans crescent rolls (reduced fat work well too)

Combine cream cheese, chicken, onion, salt and pepper. Mix well. Open crescent roll cans and lay dough triangles out on the counter. Place a large scoop of the chicken mixture on each triangle. Fold edges of dough around the chicken mixture and pinch together so that there are no holes. Place bundles on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 13 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes 16 bundles.

Optional: to make this dinner a little fancier, use sliced green onions in place of the dried onion and add one can of mushrooms (diced) to the chicken mixture. Dip each bundle in melted butter and roll in Italian bread crumbs before placing on the cookie sheet. Serve with a chicken gravy made from one can cream of chicken soup mixed with a half can of water.

Another variation: instead of making "bundles", make "pillows"-- fuse two triangle dough pieces together to make a rectangle. Place a large scoop of the chicken mixture on each rectangle. Fold over and pinch edges. Makes 8 pillows.

Kaiya and Mr. Bear make Chicken bundles

Bread Bowls with Soup

These are a good comfort food for winter and the kids think it is so fun to eat out of the bread bowl.

Super Easy Version:
Thaw one loaf of Rhodes bread dough for about 2 hours. Cut into four pieces and shape into balls. Place on greased cookie sheet. Cover and let rise for about 3-4 more hours. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool. Slice off top and scoop out middle, then fill with your favorite soup or chili.

"From Scratch" Version:
Layer the following ingredients in a bread machine:
1 cup warm water
1 T shortening
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 cups flour
3 T sugar
1/3 cup dried milk
1 T instant yeast

Set bread machine on "dough" cycle. When finished, divide dough into four balls and place on greased cookie sheet. Cover and let rise about one hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Bread Bowl with Chicken Noodle Soup

Bethlehem Pork

We had this meal at our church Christmas Party last year (hence the name) and it has become one of Riley's favorite dinners. I know it is almost an oxymoron to call it Bethlehem Pork, since the people of Bethlehem were Jewish and did not eat pork, but from what I understand, there wasn't enough money in the budget to get beef for the Christmas party, so pork was substituted, and the name stuck at our house!

2 lb pork loin roast (I like the kind from Costco that comes individually wrapped in a 4-pack)
1 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. rosemary
1/2 T. minced onion
¾ t. salt
1 t. oregano
1/2 t. marjoram
1/2 t. celery seed
1/4 t. red pepper

Mix all the seasonings together. Sprinkle over meat and gently rub in. Cook meat in crock pot (with just a little broth/water to cover the bottom) on LOW for 8-9 hours, or until meat pulls apart easily. Shred and stuff in pita pocket and serve. The kids love the pita pockets, but I actually like it better wrapped in a tortilla or on the new Orowheat Sandwich Thins.

Fruit Sundae Cones

waffle cones (one per person)
mixed fruit (we usually use strawberries, bananas, grapes and blueberries)
vanilla yogurt (our favorite is the Archer Farms fat-free vanilla yogurt from Target)

Layer yogurt and fruit in cones and enjoy!

Riley displays his fruit sundae cone

Ryder, Riley and Rustin enjoying the results of Kids Dinner Night

Kassidy, Kyndall and Kaydence

Here are a few more recent pictures:

GG takes the quints out for a walk in the rain

Ryder and Rachelle

Kyndall

Kaydence

Kaiya fell face first off of her scooter :-(

Riley is doing Volleyball this season and Jayson is the coach. They both love it :-)

In other news, Jayson gave our website a new face lift. Check it out HERE. Now if only I can talk him into giving the blog an updated look as well!

The Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, Virginia and I took the quints to the pumpkin patch at Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls (about 45 minutes from our house). We were hoping to get a good picture of the babies for the 2010 Wilkinson Quints Calendar (yes, there IS going to be another calendar this year!! More details on that in a future post...). As luck would have it, it started RAINING when we were about one mile from the farm! It wasn't raining hard at first, so we got everybody out to look around. The quints LOVED it! They are really fascinated by pumpkins, so seeing that many in one location was soooo exciting!

Virginia (aka "GG"), Kaydence, Kassidy, Ryder, Kyndall and Rustin make their way to the pumpkins.

Kaydence, Ryder, Kyndall, Kassidy and Rustin

They treated the pumpkins as their own personal jungle gym.

I thought Rustin and Ryder were pretty funny in this picture.

The farm has every kind of pumpkin you can imagine.

Kyndall, Kaydence and Rustin

Ryder drives the mini-tractor

Kaydence, Rustin, Kassidy and Kyndall check out the old truck filled with pumpkins.

Kassidy, Ryder, Rustin, Kyndall and Kaydence

Rustin, my super-climber, actually made it to the top of the pumpkin pile

Kaydence

Ryder

Rustin

After we had been at the farm for about 30 minutes, the drizzle turned into more of a downpour, so we took cover in this old trailer.

Kassidy peaks through the slats of the trailer.

Kaydence

Ryder

Ryder, Kyndall and Rustin--I think they were watching a cat run for cover.

Kaydence

GG ran back to the car to grab some umbrella's. The kids had almost as much fun with those as they did with the pumpkins.

Rustin

Ryder

Kyndall and Kassidy

After the farm, we headed to McDonald's for lunch.

Despite the rain, we all had a great time. In fact, we plan to go back in a couple of weeks with Riley and Kaiya (I kept it a secret from them that we went without them this time because I knew they would be sad!). If you live in the Austin area, I highly recommend going to the pumpkin patch---not only are there fabulous pumpkins, but you can take a hay ride, run through the cornfield maze, pet goats and other animals, paint a pumpkin, stuff a scarecrow, and take lots of fun pictures!

Girl Hair

2009-09-29T19:31:00.001-07:00

I love girl hair. I always have. Growing up I was surrounded by boys--I am the oldest of six kids and I have four brothers. I always wished one or more of them were a girl so I could do their hair (sorry guys—I still love you). By the time my sister Tiare was born and her hair was long enough to do something with, I went away to collage (we are 14 years apart). However every time I came home for a visit, I forced my hair creations on her. The school bus driver always said that he could tell I was in town by what her hair looked like. I never imagined that one day I would have FOUR daughters of my own to play hair stylist with!

Kyndall’s hair length leaves a lot to be desired, at the moment, but Kaydence and Kassidy finally have hair long enough to play with (though they aren’t very good at holding still!) Recently they reached a very important milestone in a girl’s life….her first FRENCH BRAID :-) Here are some pictures from the occasion

Kassidy

Kassidy Top View

Kaydence

Kaydence--side view

Kaydence--top view

Ryder and Kaydence---I just love the expresson on Kaydence's face

Rustin doesn't want to be left out...

The kids were being so cute that day, that we decided to get the backdrop out and take some group shots.

Kassidy, Kyndall, Ryder, Rustin and Kaydence

Kaydence, Rustin, Kassidy, Ryder and Kyndall

For the most part they were less than cooperative!

I wanted to get a group hug with all five babies, but only Kyndall and Kaydence cooperated!

Notice the three babies in the back who are trying to knock over the backdrop!

Kaydence, Rustin, Kassidy, Ryder and Kyndall----with five kids, there is always at least one who is unhappy at picture time!

The girls: Kyndall, Kaydence and Kassidy

Kaydence

Jayson brought in the big guns---animal cookies to use as bribery, but not even that worked!!

A hairstyle I tried on Kaiya a few weeks ago. I had seen a girl in the mall with a similar hair-do and decided to copy it!

Isn't she cute??

A Trip to the Fire Station

2009-09-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

The first time I saw the fire truck from our local Cedar Park fire station, I wanted to take pictures with it. The name of the fire truck is the "Quint 2"--how perfect is that? Apparently "quint" fire trucks provide five functions--pump, water tank, fire hose, aerial device and ground ladders---hence the name. Whatever the reason for the name, I knew I needed a picture of my quints on the Quint!

With my mom in town this week, it was the perfect opportunity to go. I called earlier in the week to set up an appointment with the fire station. They were so friendly and even offered to bring the truck to us! I could just imagine the neighbors reaction if a fire truck showed up at our house-----I assured them that it would be no problem to bring the kids to the fire station!

The kids had a blast at the fire station. The firemen gave each of them a fireman hat and badge and they climbed all over the fire truck.

The back of the "Quint 2" fire truck

The Cedar Park Firemen with Rustin, Ryder, Kaydence, Kassidy and Kyndall

Future fireman Rustin tries out the hose

Ryder, Kyndall, Kaydence, Rustin and Kassidy

Kassidy

Kaydence

Rustin

Kyndall

Ryder

Not to be left out, my mom and I took a turn "driving" the truck too. They even let us turn on the lights :-)

Checking out the inside

The whole gang

The local Cedar Park Access station heard about our photo shoot and showed up to video the event for their news broadcast. You can see the video here. Ours is the second story and starts at about 00:57 minutes. If you are local and have Time Warner Cable---the story will be broadcast all week on CPTV-10 at 6:30am, 11:30am, 5:30pm, and 10pm daily.

Two Years Old Pictures

2009-09-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

My friend and favorite photographer, Kristen Duke, took some pictures of the quints last week in honor of their second birthday. They turned out so cute!! Here is one of the pictures she took: Kristen is amazing! She got some great group shots and individual shots. She also got some shots of the kids just playing. To see more pictures from the photo shoot, click HERE.

Arizona Vacation--The Quints First Road Trip!

2009-09-15T19:24:00.001-07:00

At the beginning of August, we embarked on our first-ever road trip with the quints. You are probably thinking 16 hours in the car + 5 two-year-olds + 2 big kids + 2 adults = TORTURE, and I have to admit that I was thinking the same thing before we went. In actuality, things went MUCH better than I expected! We had a great set-up with a dual screen DVD player (thanks to a Christmas present from my parents). Plus Riley and Kaiya had their own DVD player in the backseat. The entire 16-hour drive went pretty much like this: watch a movie, eat a snack, sing some songs, REPEAT. We stopped only to get gas and change diapers, but despite everybody being strapped in a carseat for hours and hours, there was not a lot of complaining.

Jayson’s biggest event of the year for work was happening right when we planned to leave, so I talked my friend Virginia into driving out with me and Jayson flew out to meet us a week later. Virginia is a saint!

Once we got to my parents house, we had a great time! My parents had just moved into a new house--and when I say “just” I mean the moving van got there 4 days before we did. This was great in some ways (they hadn’t unpacked everything yet, so there was less for us to break!) but it had its downside too (no hot water, no stove, no phone, no internet, no TV, and most importantly---no trash service!)

We got to see a lot of family while we were there. All of us were really excited to see my Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Rick again (whose house I stayed at when I went to Arizona to have the babies---they took care of me, and my kids at times, while I was on bedrest. They also let us take over their house as we brought all the babies home from the hospital). All but one of my siblings came for a few days while we were there, and my grandparents drove down from Utah for the weekend to see us. We also visited with my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Lloyd and several of my cousins while we were there.

One of the highlights of our trip was spending time with Dr. Candice Park, the resident who delivered the quints. She just graduated and is an official doctor now, but hasn’t started her new job, which meant she had more time to spend with us!! Dr. Elliott was out of town, so we weren’t able to visit him on this trip.

Here are a bunch of pictures from the trip:

Arizona, Here we Come! Kyndall, Kaydence, Ryder, Kassidy and Rustin

Off we go!

Our first day in Arizona we had the "great" idea to take everybody to Cheesecake Factory for lunch.

The babies had a fabulous time using the utensils as drumsticks, but I am not sure the rest of the patrons enjoyed their concert-----I think it will be a while before take everyone back there again!

Rustin and Mimi

Riley, Rustin, Kassidiy, Ryder and Kyndall play on the cart made out of Omagles (like giant tinker toys)

Lunch Time! No, you didn't count wrong---there are SIX two-year olds in the picture! My cousin, Cassie came over with her kids, including 2-year-old Jaeden who is only a few days younger than the quints.

Papa makes mashed potatoes in the microwave. Since the stove wasn't working when we got there, we all had to become very skilled at using the microwave---we learned how to make everything from pasta to scrambled eggs in the microwave :-)

We took the whole crew to visit my dad (aka Papa) at work. Picture above: Ryan (my brother), Tiare (my sister), Rustin, Kassidy, Papa, Gaile (my dad's secretary), Kyndall, McKay (my brother), Kaydence, Shane (another brother), Kaiya, Ryder, Rachelle and Riley

Papa with Rustin, Ryder, Kyndall, Kassidy and Kaydence

Papa with Riley and Kaiya

It didn't take long for us to wear out our welcome!

After terrorizing my dad's office, we all headed to Rainforest Cafe for lunch.

Most of the babies loved all the animals, including these gorillas near our table.

Kyndall was so afraid of the gorillas that she put her head down on the table and wouldn't look up--even to eat!

Kaydence, Kyndall, Rustin, Riley, Ryder and Kassidy. The kids loved to run from one end of the hallway to the other.

Papa with Ryder, Kyndall, Kaydence, Kassidy, and Rustin

The babies were excited to see Dr. Park!

Twins, Triplets and Quintuplets (plus 2)! We got together with my friend, Christina, who has twin 4-year-olds and triplet 2-year-olds. Christina and I lived only a few streets over from each other when I was in high school. Coincidentally, her triplets were born about a month before my quints--at the same hospital with the same doctor.

Christina and I with all the kids

Superdad (aka Jayson) singlehandedly feeds Ryder, Kyndall, Rustin, Kassidy and Kaydence

Rachelle and Candice (aka Dr. Park). My mom, aunt Jeanie, Candice and I all went to lunch at Oreganos---when I was in the hospital, Candice kept telling me how great Oreganos was, so I am glad I finally got to try it! (The Pablo Picasso salad and Pizza Cookie were amazing!!!)

Our favorite pastime is going to Costco, so of course we had to check out what the Arizona Costo's had to offer :-)

Trouble Multiplied! Rustin, Kassidy and Ryder check out the new cupboards at Mimi's house

Kaiya and Kaydence---this picture really shows how much they look alike!

"Nakey" Time! Kassidy, Rustin, Kyndall, Kaydence, and Ryder

Kaydence really took a liking to Grandpa Curtis!

Rachelle and Candice with Kyndall, Ryder, Kaydence, Rustin and Kassidy

While we were there, Candice made the babies five birthday cakes---the same five cakes that she made for their actual "birth" day two years ago. Not only is she an amazing doctor, but she is a baker extraordinaire in her spare time :-) Click HERE to read about the original "birthday" cakes...

The Cakes--Strawberry, Confetti, Chocolate Fudge, Carrot and Lemon Meringue (my personal favorite of the five)

Yum--the babies dig in! (Kyndall, Rustin, Kassidy, Ryder and Kaydence)

After Church on Sunday---Ryder, Kassidy, Rustin, Kaydence and Kyndall.

Kaiya and Carli. These two were best buds when we stayed with Jeanie while I was on bedrest. They were so happy to be reunited!

Riley the Pinecone Man

Rachelle, Betty Ann (my mom), Aunt Jeanie, and Ashlyn (my cousin)

Jeanie and Rick invited us over for brunch after church. It is a brave person who invites our family over to eat! They served pancakes (the quints favorite food) and even borrowed high chairs for all the babies to eat on.

Riley, Carli and Kaiya

The day before we came home it was my birthday. Anyone want to guess how old I am??? I celebrated by going out to lunch and getting pedicures with "the girls"!

Heading home! All good things must come to an end...

The awesome DVD set-up----how did people travel with kids before these were invented??

Arizona was awesome! We are already looking forward to going back next year!

News Article on the Show

2009-09-11T06:59:00.000-07:00

The Deseret News/Mormon Times did a story about the TLC show. Click HERE to see the article. I always like getting interviewed by the Mormon Times reporter---her articles are positive and she doesn't try to twist the things I say. :-)

Multitude of Multiples Replayed Tonight

2009-09-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

If you missed "Multitude of Multiples", the documentary we are featured in, it is being shown again tonight (Tuesday, September 8). In Austin it is on at 9:00 pm and again at 11:00 pm on TLC.

2-Year Check-up

2009-09-03T18:04:00.000-07:00

Shots x 5: Kaydence, Kassidy, Kyndall, Rustin and Ryder

Just before we left on vacation, the quints had their 2-year check-up. They are all doing great! Developmentally, all of them are right where they are supposed to be. I still marvel at what a miracle these babies are! Here are the latest stats from their doctor's visit:

(Note: The stats are about a month old, but the pictures were taken a few days ago)

Kassidy

33.5 inches tall (50th percentile)

24 lb 7 oz (25th percentile)

Kassidy is the "Queen Bee" or "Mother Hen" of the bunch. She definitely thinks she is in charge, but she is also very mothering to the other babies. Of all the babies, she has the hardest time dealing with change---she likes it best when everything happens right on schedule.

Kaydence
31.25 inches tall (5th percentile)
20 lb 10 oz (<5th percentile)
Kaydence is a sweet little cuddlebug. She takes life at her own pace. She sleeps snuggled up with as many stuffed animals as she can get her arms around.

Rustin
32.25 inches tall (10th percentile)
25 lb 4 oz (20th percentile)
Rustin is such a little clown. He is always making us laugh. He is also a true redhead and is very mischevious. He climbed out of his crib for the first time tonight, and I am afraid of what that might lead to!

Kyndall
32 inches tall (10th percentile)
19 lb 1 oz (<5th percentile)
Kyndall is the most independent of the bunch. She is full of spunk and always has a smile on her face. Despite her small size, or maybe because of it, she is the best climber.

Ryder
33.25 inches tall (25th percentile)
25 lb 2 oz (20th percentile)
Ryder is still my high-maintaince man. He likes to have lots of attention and it is rare to find him without at least one of his comfort objects (binky or "nuggie"). He is very sweet and loving and I can always count on him to come running for storytime.

Kaiya
Kaiya just started the first grade and is doing great in school. She is taking gymnastics this year and is in the running club. She loves to turn on music and dance with the babies.

Riley
Riley just started the fourth grade. He loves to read and even sets his alarm to wake up 30 minutes before he needs to, just so he can get some extra reading time in. He is taking piano lessons and is going to play volleyball this season. He is also in the running club. Riley is great at making the babies laugh. I always recruit Riley to help when I am trying to take pictures because he can always make them smile.

Kaiya and Riley on their first day of school on their first day of school. (holding up fingers corresponding to the grade they are in)

Rustin, Kaydence, Kassidy, Kyndall and Ryder----the babies got this great table for their birthday---it has 5 legs---what could be more perfect??

Chillin' on the stools: Rustin, Kyndall, Kassidy, Kaydence and Ryder

A taste of the "terrible twos"--Ryder pushed a chair over to the counter and helped himself to the Nesquik--he looks a little too proud of himself!

I have tried on several occasions to get the babies to drink milk from their sippy cups, but they always refuse. I put off "bottle graduation" as long as possible because I was worried that the babies wouldn't be getting enough calcium and other good stuff from milk if I took them away. With the babies turning two, it was definitely time to get rid of bottles. We had a "bye, bye bottles" party. All the kids took turns throwing bottles into a large trash bag and saying "bye, bye bottles!" Then we sang the good-bye song (from Monster Clubhouse). We clapped and cheered, took pictures and even had treats. The next few days, a couple of them would ask for their bottle, but we just reminded them that we said bye, bye to bottles, and they were OK with that. And, after a couple of days, everyone (except Kassidy, the change-resistor) decided that they could go ahead and drink milk from a sippy cup. Hurray! The next step is to get Ryder and Kyndall to give up the binky......I think that will be a little more difficult!

Bye, Bye Bottles Party! Ryder, Kyndall, Kaydence, Rustin, and Kassidy

New Quint Olympics

2009-08-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest Quint Olympics---the Quintathelon! The TLC documentary "Multitude of Multiples" showed some behind the scenes footage from this Quint Olympics Episode. Enjoy!!

Pics from the Quints 2nd Birthday...Finally!

2009-08-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

Two-Year-Old-Trouble times 5: Kaydence, Ryder, Kyndall, Rustin and Kassidy

We kept the quints birthday celebration pretty low-key this year, compared to last year. We set out their presents the night before, and they opened them throughout the day. In the evening, several friends came over for cake and ice cream. It is hard to believe they are already two! Everybody keeps asking me when I am going to potty train them, and the answer is NOT YET!!! I am going to have to work up a lot of courage before I attempt that one!

The stash of presents---it almost looks like Christmas! It seems like a ton of presents until you divide by five.

Since we already had a Little Tikes kitchen, we figured we needed to even things out with a tool workbench. We found a great one on Craigslist and the boys loved the hard hats!

Kassidy was more excited about holding the gift bags than she was about seeing what was in them. Of the five, she is the one that I think looks and acts the most like me, so it is only fitting that she looks like she just got home from the mall :-) I am going to have to train her in my bargain shopping ways...

Grandma and Grandpa Wilkinson got smart and gave all five babies the same thing so that there would be no fights----they each got a toy camera. If the cameras were real, we would have lots of pictures of foreheads, since they all (including Ryder pictured above) held the camera up backwards.

Kyndall

The most fought over gifts were the baby doll strollers. We got them three, thinking that would be plenty, but we were wrong :-) We even brought down Kaiya's old baby doll stroller, but we were still one short.

Kaydence makes her move

Kaydence is victorious, Kyndall is not happy about the defeat

Kassidy and Kaydence--Eventually they got creative and started pushing each other around in the strollers

Rustin and Kaiya with another favorite----Baby Elmo

The Birthday Cake

I made cupcakes in each of the babies colors so they could each have their own cake to eat.

Ready for Cake: Kassidy, Ryder, Kyndall, Rustin and Kaydence

The crowd of onlookers as the babies blew out their candles

Kassidy

Kaydence

Rustin

Kyndall

Ryder

The girls didn't care much for the cake, but the boys sure had fun with it! Rustin even started stealing cake from nearby siblings!

What a mess!

I'll post pictures of our trip to Arizona in a few days. In the mean time, watch us on TONIGHT (Aug 30th) in "Multitude of Multiples" on TLC at 7:00 pm/8:00 pm eastern. After the program, check back here to see the Quint Olympics episode featured in the show!

Multitude of Multiples

2009-08-27T20:05:00.000-07:00

TLC just published a blog post about the upcoming show. The blog gives a good preview of what the show is going to be about. Check it out HERE.

Set your DVR's....the documentary, entitled "Multitude of Multiples" airs this Sunday, August 30th 7:00 pm central/8:00 pm eastern on TLC!

New WQ+2 Episode & EXCITING NEWS!!!

2009-08-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I have been MIA on the blog lately! We took our first big road trip since the babies were born and drove to Arizona for a couple of weeks. We got back a week ago, but I am still playing catch-up! I have lots of great pictures of the birthday and beyond which I hope to post soon.

In the mean time, here is the latest WQ+2 SuperShort video--"Baby Dance Party".

We also have some EXCITING NEWS! Our family will be featured in a new documentary on TLC (The Learning Channel) entitled, "Multitude of Multiples". The documentary features three families with multiples---The Tabb family, from San Antonio with quads, our family with quintuplets and the Carpio family, from NY, with sextuplets. Our part depicts "a day in the life" and goes behind the scenes of the Quint Olympics. The other two families have more dramatic stories---I think they put us in to be the comic relief :-) If you have ever wondered what goes on in a house with five two-year-olds, this is your chance to find out!!

Watch us on TLC THIS SUNDAY, AUG 30th 7:00 pm Central/8:00 pm Eastern!! (check your local listings--it may be different where you live)