Our Christmas Tree Adventure.

We decided to cut our own tree down in Butte Meadows this year. Its only half an hour away and a permit is just $10- should be fun. I HATED it! There were so many times I just wanted to quit and go home and buy a tree but the permit said no refunds so on we went...
It was soo snowy up there! We had to stop the van about half mile before the chopping area and walk up hill to where we could start looking. Once we got there we had to walk another 1/2 mile or more to find a decent tree that had been combed through by tons of people already. The snow was so bad that even trucks with AWD and chains were skidding and getting stuck- and that was on the plowed road too!

We finally gave up and got a thinner tree than we wanted so we could turn back and go home. The kids were cold and tired of the snow and refused to walk so we had to carry them and drag the tree back too- it was an adventure!! Adam put Kiersten up on his shoulders and tied the tree around his waist to drag behind him and I carried Bradley. Getting the tree home was almost as an adventure as finding the stupid thing! We had to pull over a few times and re-tie it once coming down the hill.Here is Adam cutting down our tree.

Adam dragging our tree back and carrying Kiersten
sorry the picture is blurry. Some snow got on the lens and melted.
Bradley and me walking back to our car.

He kept pulling my hair and taking my glasses off. I haven't been able to find my contact case in over a week because the kids hid it somewhere in the house....Darn hooligans : )

So here is our tree before it is decorated- We haven't gotten the time to do that yet. It is not the type of tree I normally like but its better than what I remembered up the hill. I'll post a picture of our finished project later.

First big ouwie.

So I thought we were having a rough day on Wednesday and how could it get worse? Adam left for school before any of us woke up and he wouldn't get home till about 7 that night. It was a long day with crabby kids, problems with the apartment ( I am starting to hate this place), and we were all ready for Daddy to get home. So about 5 minutes before Adam got home Bradley was walking towards the kitchen and he stepped on a book on the linoleum and he slipped and hit his head in the book shelf. I got up to grab a pacifier because I knew it would comfort him and when I came back his eye was bleeding and he was still holding his breath. I first wanted to freak out and lose it but amazingly I calmed down and called Adam who was 5 minutes from home. So I packed a bag to entertain Bradley and got myself mentally prepared for a long ER visit with a screaming wiggly toddler.
But the visit was actually the opposite! He was so happy to be out of the house and to spend time alone with Mommy. We checked in and then sat down. I tried to get him to stay still and read a book but he wanted to play so he walked laps around the waiting room and waved to everyone he saw. Everyone loved him- especially the nurses! I mean, how often do you get a cute a red head toddler in for stitches that isnt screaming and is really happy?? He only cried for about 10 minutes the entire time and that's when we swaddled him tight and did the stitches.
So because he cut his eyelid right under his eyebrow, they couldn't put surgical glue or steri-strips on it so he has two tiny stitches. The Dr only wants them in for 5 days unlike normal stitches which are 10-14 days.
Kiersten enjoyed the time alone with Adam and she made him sit on the floor with her the entire time and read her book after book.

Not happy with Santa...

We took the kids a couple of weeks ago to Coscto to meet Santa. They were mad at us because we wouldn't let them explore the tree and get into trouble elsewhere. When we handed them to Santa it was like we had committed the ultimate sin against them. They screamed and screamed and wiggled and I was suprised we had gotten as good as a picture as we did.
So I thought, no big deal, two more opportunities to meet Santa.
We went to our Twins club Christmas party on Saturday and Santa was going to be there. I let Bradley and Kiersten mingle with the other kids right next to Santa to get them use to him and they were the last ones up in his lap. Did it work out this time? Well, see for your self...
We still have one more chance this Friday...

being silly and growing up fast

When we eat dinner they love to be silly and play with our bowls and spoons. Last week they wore our bowls like hats. Bradley's bowl fell off of his head while I was taking a picture and it turned out really cute. They refuse to wear bibs so we just strip them down to eat and they are happy as clams to be in just a diaper.
They eat almost everything we eat now and they don't like baby food anymore. Kiersten's favorite food is yogurt bites. When she sees the bag she gets all excited and does everything she can to get ahold of it. Walking by the baby aisle in the store and seeing dozens of bags of them is a huge tease! She starts screaming and tries to climb out of the cart to get them.

Bradley loves bananas and will eat one in less than a minute. I will give him one then go take care of Kiersten and when I turn around his banana is gone! I sometimes lift the tray and search the floor because I don't believe he could have eaten it that fast.
Kiersten had a huge teething spurt and got six teeth in two weeks- we were all miserable for her.
She now has 11 teeth and Bradley has 10. I can't wait for them to be finished cutting all of their molars.
They both walk very well now and rarely will crawl. Poor Kiersten walks like a drunken sailor and go back wards to both sides and then forward to get places. She couldn't walk a straight line to save her life! I try to let them walk to the car but one always runs for the dumpster and the other runs to tear the plants up the other way.
Its getting easier to take them to the park by myself now because they are more interested in playing on the slides then eating the bark and acorns on the ground.
Bradley knows 7 words now. He can say ball, train, uh oh, Ow, daddy, duck and quack. Kiersten only knows Uh oh and Ow. They babble all the time in their own language and are starting to follow commands. They are starting to get the concept of clean up and stack toys in their bins. We have been teaching them to fold their arms to pray and its a lot easier at home then at church! At home we say "prayer time!" And they put their hands together- but at church they scream as loud as they can and forget what to do- we are still working on it.

Bradley's First words

We have a few toys that work better on the linoleum than on the carpet so on Friday I cleared the dining area floor and put the table in the living room so we could play. We have a toy train that pops balls out and the train rolls and sings when you press a button.
So Bradley grabs one of the balls while I was still getting toys out and he says Ball and put the ball in the train. I drop what I was doing and said Ball? Ball?
And he looked at me and smiled like - yea Mom, I know you want me to say it again but you know I wont!
So this morning the kids were playing with our Duck bag dispenser that you keep in the diaper bag and then Bradley said- duck! And then of course we couldn't get him to say it again... so we had to run an errand before I dropped Adam off at school and when we were putting the kids back into the car Bradley saw the duck again ( he brought it with him into the van) and then said- Duck! Quack! Quack!
We started laughing and playing with the duck and he kept quacking- it was soo cute! Kiersten wanted to join in on the fun and said over and over duh duh- so close to duck! I almost want to count that as her first word because she hasn't said anything yet.

The Mischief Makers!

What do these three things have in common?

Well these are the things my kids have used this week to cause mischief!!

A few weeks ago we lost the remote and went crazy to find it! I searched everywhere I could think of- tore the couch apart almost daily looking for it, moved things around, looked underthings, etc! So yesterday morning I moved my sewing machine, which was sitting on the floor in the living room against the wall, and the remote fell to the floor! I was so amazed and happy I called Adam at school to tell him we don't have to go crazy anymore!!

Well Boy was I wrong... So later that day Bradley sensed somehow that mischief was at a low so he grabbed our Mac mouse which is wireless and he hid it from us! We looked for an hour for that stupid thing! We knew it had to be somewhere low and obvious so we got on our hands and knees to look for it- still no luck. So a couple hours later I decided to look through the blinds and I found it hidden in the corner behind the closed blinds. He must have stood on his tippy toes and stretched to put it there because the desk overlaps the window by over a foot.

Ok, found that- check! What mischief can we get into next??

So there are flip locks on our front door and back door below the door knob and also above it. When we first moved in I thought- hmm this might cause problems in the future but then I never did anything about it. So today I learned my lesson and did something about it!!
The twins woke up from their nap and were playing in the living room. I had done a ton of shredding papers during their naps and I wanted to take the trash out before they got into it and made a huge mess. So lah-dee-dah take the trash out....come back from the dumpster and I can't open the door!! WHAT?? The knob turns but the door wont budge! Bradley starts crying on the otherside so I knew he was there and was the one to flip the lock. I knock on my neighbors door because I started to freak out that I was locked out and Adam was at school so he's no help. I had her get her step ladder so I can jump the patio fence and go through the back door ( thank goodness I live down stairs now!!) I thought, hmm let me try to open the door one more time before I make a fool out of my self jumping the fence and then the door opened! So first thing I did was put the kids in their high chairs and I unscrewed those stupid locks off of both doors so it couldn't happen again!

Next question is- What does tomorrow lay in store for us?? I hope you won't see us on the evening news for our house being burned down!

Double Trouble is an understatement!!

Warning, this post may be gross.
Our fence on our patio had to be fixed so we had our bikes and BBQ in our master bedroom. I kept the kids out of my room the whole weekend so they wouldn't knock the bikes over or something of the like.
Today I got the kids ready and then I was getting ready in the bathroom. I came out and Kiersten had gotten under our BBQ and grabbed the grease can and stuck her hand in it. It was very gross and her hand was all black. I picked her up, put the can on top of the bbq, and took Kiersten in the bathroom to clean her hand. When I came back out this is what I found.
I grabbed my camera because I wanted to cry and thought one day I will have a bad day and I will think back to today and feel better. By the way, He had only wore that outfit once maybe twice.
So their one nap a day is two hours. I was planning on shampooing the carpets because I only had time to quickly scrub the area with a wet cloth and then I wanted to wash his clothes. They only slept 1/2 hour. Luckily, when I shampooed my carpets it came out. Still haven't done the laundry yet.

So when I was cleaning Bradley, his clothes, and the carpet Kiersten was in her bedroom dumping out a bin of clothes. I put that back together and came out to the kitchen. Bradley was trying to go through the trash can and pull things out of it. Thank goodness I had dumped it this morning! All that was in there was an empty milk jug and papers.
They are so mischievous today!!
But I guess to make it up for the hard day Bradley kept hugging Kiersten. It was very cute! This was the best picture I got without it looking like he was choking her. They love to climb into their high chairs and recently they want to climb into the same one together.

Oh and a funny side note- When I play with the babies I'll pat them on the butt sometimes. Not spanking, just taps when they climb on my lap. So when the twins were in the chair like this Bradley reached over and patted Kiersten on the butt twice. I laughed soo hard!!

Piggy tails and Cars

I gave Kiersten her very first piggy tails this week! However, in between the two of them they didn't stay in till Adam got to see them. They are a little crooked in this picture but I readjusted them after this.

Every Sunday evening for dinner we go to the Doughmans. Afterward all the kids play with toys while the adults visit. This week Knox brought out the Chevron cars and we found Bradley's new love!


And by the way, Bradley spilled water all down his overalls when he tried to drink out of one of our cups, he didn't wet himself.

baby chicks!

I went to Northern Star Mills in Chico to pick up some things with my friend for her dog. One of the workers told me there were baby chicks in the back and I could take the kids to go see them. They Looooved them! They kept trying to climb inside the tub or grab them. Thank goodness they were too short!

First Camping Trip!

Adam had Leadership training for Chico State Band so we thought we should make it a family event. We went camping at Bucks Lake and had a ton of fun! The twins were mad that they couldn't crawl on the ground and play with the fire but they loved sliding down our air mattress in the huge tent we borrowed from our neighbors at home. When they did training I took the twins and went on walks or played in the tent with them and Saturday I drove to Quincy.

We got two clip-on high chairs and put them on the picnic table and put place mats down. They worked so well!! I could not get both Bradley and Kiersten to look at me at the same time!

The Climbing Phase!

Kiersten's newest love is climbing- EVERYTHING!

Bradley doesn't quite get it but tries to follow her and do it also. She's also gotten about 6 inches high on the gate behind her in this picture.

Her favorite thing to climb is the toy bucket. She will pull it off the shelf, flip it over, and sit on it. She has even dragged it somewhere and stood on it to reach a toy that was out of her reach.
The living room is so hard to keep clean with these two! They come behind me and drag everything off the shelves again.

Kiersten's greatest climbing accomplishments were pushing the umbrella stroller to the couch, climbing in it, and then onto the couch. I quickly got her down and took the stroller away. Her 2nd was climbing on me and then into her walker.

Teething and Crawling

The babies are now 10 months! Its been 2 months since my last update, sorry!

Life with twins is busy! It gets so much easier in ways and so much harder in others! When they were born I couldn't wait till one or both could hold their bottle so I could make the other's bottle or just have one hand free. Now they hold their own bottles but Bradley (who is now 5 pounds bigger which is an improvement from 6 1/2) will finish his bottle first and then steal Kiersten's and finish hers too if I'm not watching.

The reason it gets harder is they are both crawling and pulling themselves up to stand- everywhere! And they find the tiniest things I thought I had picked up to put right into their mouths! Oy Vey! The babies favorite thing is to chase me around the house and see what I am doing in the kitchen or back bedroom. First Kiersten will pop her head in the room and then Bradley is always a second behind.

Kiersten started crawling almost two months ago and Bradley would just roll after her. When we visited Modesto and the end of May/beginning of June Bradley started to hop like a frog on hardwood floors- it was the cutest thing! I never got it on camera because he would always stop and look at you and smile and then when the camera got put away he would go back at it. Also while visiting family the babies fell in love with dogs! Every time they see a dog now they kick and scream and wiggle around- it is VERY cute! Kiersten tries to chase our friend's wiener dog Pete- a very loud, very annoying, small and fast dog.

Kiersten standing up using my sister's boxer Tyson.

Bradley got his top right tooth in this morning and now has all four front teeth. He has been making everyone miserable with these last two teeth! I am so glad they are here and I am so not looking forward to his molars coming in- I hear that's even worse.

Kiersten only has her bottom two still but her top gums are sore so they will probably be showing up in no time.

The babies love to talk to each other and they babble all day long. They mostly say Dadada which I say "no its mamama! I'll give you a cookie if you say mama!" :)

Actually, they were being nice and playing together this morning which is rare because they fight over the same toy ALL the time! They started by standing and playing with this block toy and then they moved together to play with every stand up item in the room until they had visited each one. It was so cute to see them crawling and talking side by side on the toys.

I have been taking the babies swimming once to twice a week at my friend Michelle's pool in her apartment complex. The babies LOVE the water! Kiersten is just a natural and when you hold her on her tummy laying in the water she kicks her legs like a frog.

Bradley has fun but gets scared easily. He's not too much a fan of the big turtle head and prefers to use Kiersten's star or to turn himself around and see what is going on in back of him.

One more thing about their weight differences- people are so nosey! I have been collecting the funniest stories from people's curiosity. When Kiersten was 4 months I took just her to the grocery store and everyone asked if she was a newborn. I said no she is a twin and was born 6 weeks early. One lady asked- where's her twin? Did it die?? I replied- nope probably playing video games at home with his Dad. Then it evolved into twins eh? Oh good your done! One lady made me so mad at Costco! She saw the twins and said oh twins, your done then. What are they boy and girl? Good your definitely are done and don't need any more kids. I said- Well thanks! I'll go home and tell my Husband you made that decision about our family for us!

I know it was rude but its frustrating to get that said to you everywhere you go! I must have heard "Oh good, your done!" statement at LEAST over 100 times- no exaggerations!

The new question from strangers is- "How far apart are they? They can't be twins. Are they both yours?" This one is funny. I just say that they are and he is 5 pounds bigger. Once I teased a lady and said "They are nine months to the DAY!" but then I laughed and said the truth.

Traveling and 8month update

It has been a CRAZY two months since I posted my last blog! The twins are sick and tired of traveling and Kiersten has stranger anxiety and at times only wants Adam or I to hold her. After we got home from Maryland then Modesto for a week we were home for a little bit but then went to Utah for Adam's mission reunion and then we were lucky enough to get tickets for Sunday morning session- SCORE! After we got home from there we took ANOTHER trip down to Modesto for a funeral for Adam's cousin Kimmy.

Back to the Utah trip- the four of us rented a car (because the van is a gas hog) and that little Kia Sorento has a LOT of room! We got almost as much stuff as our van would in the car. We drove all night and got there about 8 in the morning. Bradley cut his first tooth during the drive and those last four hours were miserable!! At one point we pulled over to calm Bradley down and while burping him he threw up all over me, himself, my blanket- ect! So Adam had to go unpack the trunk get me a change of clothes and repack the clothes in snow and bitter wind- what a trooper!

On Saturday before Adam's mission reunion we went and toured Temple Square because I have never done that before. When we walked in the first people we saw were Richard and Krisha Jones! So we took the tour of the visitor's center and Tabernacle with them. The stake had given them extra tickets for conference so they gave them to us for the Sunday morning session.

Later that night Adam and I went to his reunion which was a ton of fun. But on the way there I could not believe how church buildings are EVERYWHERE! And I saw 3 temples in 15 minutes. It was ridiculous! As we were driving I would go ok there are...7 on this side on the freeway and ....5 over there oh and look, another temple. It was crazy! Utahans- What is your excuse to not go to the temple all the time???

ANYWAYS- so at the reunion is seemed like almost every companion had a baby. There must have been 15-20 babies under the age of 1 at the reunion. Two guys sitting behind us whispered- look at all those kids- it makes me want to throw up!

We went to conference which was AMAZING and saw Music and the Spoken Word live. The only part that I did not like about going to conference were how many people were begging for our tickets on the streets. From the parking garage about 2 blocks away to the conference center we must have been asked for spare tickets about 200 times- Signs, begging, chanting, singing- its ridiculous!

We got back to Adam's Dad's and had dinner and then his stepmom Trina and I went and fed her dad's bum lambs which was easily my 2nd favorite thing on the trip.

Adam and his Dad are SO much alike! Trina and I kept comparing them the entire weekend. The weird part is that Adam's Parents were divorced when he was 6 and he lived with his Mom so I don't know how Adam and Ken are so similar!

On the drive home we had to put chains on passed Reno to be told another mile down the road the freeway was closed and to turn around and find shelter for the night. We got a room in Boomtown at 1:30 AM woke up at 6AM and got back on the road because Adam had class that morning.

Adam's cousin Kimmy passed away a week and a half later in Modesto so the kids and I packed up for another 4 days. She was 30 years old and had Cebral Palsy. She passed away from a severe bladder infection that they had been fighting for almost a year. It was so nice to see Adam's stepdad's family- AKA the Porter Party. The funeral was nice but it made me happy to be a Mormon because there were a few amen-Amen!'s and there might have been a hallelujah in there. The preacher gave a sermon for 45 minutes and then Kimmy's eulogy was only 15 minutes. Anyways, I will miss Kimmy but glad she is home with the Lord. Her mom found an amazing picture of a child with cebral palsy running out of her chair to hug Christ. I tried to find it but couldn't and the picture was amazing!

On to the update about the babies!!

They are 8 months today and Bradley is 17.5 pounds and Kiersten is 12.5 pounds- five pounds difference! He has his two bottom teeth now and she just cut her first tooth Sunday ( lower left)

She doesn't babble too much and he just talks away!! She is starting to crawl and can army scoot across the room to get her toy. Bradley is a very fast roller! You set him down in one spot and 2 seconds later he has rolled across the room and is getting into things he shouldn't be in. Kiersten has started to get this blood curdling screech when she wants something- It drives me crazy! And she looooves her solid food. Every other feed is solids and when I skip a solids feed she refuses her formula and wont eat- very inconvenient for traveling. Bradley likes formula more because its faster. Here are some current pictures:

The babies are actually sharing in the picture. Most of the time Kiersten steals Bradley's things and rolls away with them.

I wanted to see if her sunhat fit her so we could go to the park but it was big and floppy on her. She's sticking out her tongue and I think she is so cute!

Adam was giving Bradley a bath and put his football numbers on his back and then yelled "quick! get the camera!!" He was so proud of this picture I had to post it!

visiting my parents in Maryland!

For the last 3 weeks I have been visiting my parents in Southern Maryland. I'm going home in a week and am really excited to have Adam help me with the night shifts again! I couldn't stay just a week in Maryland because I needed someone to help me on the plane. Legally you can't fly with more than one baby in a row because there are only 4 oxygen masks per row. So my Dad flew out Wednesday and flew back Thursday. My sister Danielle is flying out this week and will go home next Monday and we will travel together.

My dad reserved a "full size" rental car for the day but when he got there they gave him a Nissan Cube. What a joke of a car!! We had to shove two huge suitcases our 3 carry-ons, a twin stroller, the two car seats, and us. It was a serious puzzle!

We got to the airport with less than an hour before our flight took of and when we weighed our suitcases I was over 4 pounds and my dad was over 9. Let me explain why: When my dad comes to California he has to make a bunch of crazy errands and buy stupid things. In my Dad's suitcase he had Berry plants, a 14 pound tri tip, oranges, jalepenos, and Ghirardelli chocolates from the factory in Tracy. He might have had other things too. Anyways, we had to do a crazy shuffle of taking things out and putting in our carry-ons and run through security where they had to handcheck our stroller, then run to our gate where they were already done with pre-boarding. But the nice people in line let us cut to the front so we could get on before them because we had a bunch of stuff!

So once on the plane and everyone had boarded but they hadn't closed the doors yet, no one had sat in my dad's row besides him! I was so excited that I could sit next to him and lay the babies in the middle seat. Every time someone late got on the plane my heart dropped thinking they were going to sit in his row. So when they finally shut the doors I could have shouted!

The babies slept wonderfully on the flight! We actually had to wake Bradley once we had gotten to our gate.

I buckled them into the seat so they wouldn't fall off while we slept too. I love their swaddlers or AKA "baby straight jackets". It makes them sleep so much better!

So once in Maryland there was snow EVERYWHERE! It was so awesome! But the snow has melted and is all gone :( and the last two snows melted as it hit the ground so no sledding down my dad's steep driveway!

Adam has been going crazy without the babies and we try to skype everyday so he can see them. Poor Kiersten tries to jump in the computer everytime she sees Adam. While I have been gone, you might have noticed at church if your in our ward, Adam has grown a beard- he hasn't shaved in almost a full month. I wish I had a picture to post because it just keeps getting funnier as time goes on.

If you read my last blog you know about me trying to feed them solids. I finally gave up because it was so difficult with Bradley and I thought Kiersten didn't know what to do. What they really needed was their grandma Kelly!

Kelly fed Bradley carrots one of the first nights here and he LOVED them! Kelly thought it was hysterical- I kept calling Bradley a faker. We tried Kiersten the next day and she went crazy over it!! She loves it more than Bradley does. Her acid reflux got worse when I gave her carrots but when I switched her to sweet potatoes all her problems went away. When I feed her she reminds me of a baby bird. Every time the spoon comes near she opens her mouth as wide as she can and when I give that spoon to bradley she gets upset. Once while feeding them sitting together she leaned over in front of him trying to steal his food. When I gave him his bottle for him to feed himself she whacked it out of his hands. When I gave it back to him she knocked it out again. When I feed Bradley he tries to grab the each spoonful with both hands making it extremely messy!

She has been loving food so much I have been trying to feed her as much as possible to pack on some much needed pounds!

Another milestone the babies have reached is they are now starting to sit up on their own. They can't do it very long before they topple over and Bradley can do it longer than Kiersten. We've been having them practice sitting when they play with their cousin Kyla who is 10 months.

Five month update

The babies have grown so much within just the last month!

Bradley has been eating cereal and peas now. The first two meals with peas went great- the last couple meals he has thrown fits when we try to feed him. I switched to squash last night after starting the meal first with peas. He of course was mad again so I tried to switch to the squash mid meal to see if he would like that one more but he was so mad he didn't want anything but his bottle.

Kiersten has no clue what to do with solid food. When I give her a taste her eyes get big and she gets a look of panic- its very cute actually.

Bradley now blows raspberries all the time and is so cute! We rarely blew raspberries at them so he must have picked it up on his own. But now that he is started, we blow them back at him whenever he does them.

Last Sunday Adam was holding Kiersten in church and she started to cry during the sacrament. He tried to calm her down and moved his finger up and down on her lips and she was shocked by the noise she made that stopped crying and started laughing- which got everyone in the row to start laughing with her during the middle of the sacrament. The next day every time I held her she would start talking then squawking until I made that noise with her mouth so she sounded like wah wah wah wah wah. Needless to say, My arm got very tired that day! She has fazed out of it a little during the week so I don't have to do it all day long but she still enjoys it. Another thing she enjoys is her crinkle book! I was talking with Savannah Herger in the Mothers lounge one Sunday and she handed Kiersten her daughter's crinkle book. Kiersten was so intrigued by the book that I decided to go by her one. I was at Walmart ( I know I cheated on my love, Target but they don't have everything I need sometimes) and I went to the baby section to get one of the books. I met up with my friend Debby who was doing some returns and she asked what Bradley thought of it. I tried to take Kiersten's book away she started crying so I went back and got another book for Bradley. They were so quiet throughout the store and the only noise they made came from the crinkling of the books. When I checked out I handed the cashier the two books and Kiersten had a melt down! As soon as I handed her book back she calmed down and then fell asleep on the drive home. She can always be entertained by that book! She just loves staring and turning the pages.