Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

We had a great Christmas with Mom and the kids. They spent Christmas Day and Christmas Eve Day with us, and were so fun to have around. They were also a great help. The day after Christmas we put them on the train to Nebraska to see Shane and family. I'm sure they will post all about that.

Many thanks to Mom and Dad who were so good to us and this year. The twins loved the cars, bugs, books, Wonder Pets, fishing puzzle, etc, and we loved the clothing.

Janine opening her maternity pants from Mom & Dad.














Gage and Reid playing with the bugs and books.














Ahhhh bath time, and the cleaning of stinky boys.














Daddy and the boys and their new musical instruments.


I know, the boys never seem to have pants on.

We didn't take a single picture this week

Which probably says quite a bit about our week, doesn't it? The boys are loved, and spoiled, but are pretty challenging, let's be honest. So Christmas is in two days and we've got an unfortunate backlog of undone holiday work. I bought ingredients today to make caramels, but alas...Nick is working late and Reid was...um...I didn't get anything done. Perhaps Christmas can come even to a dirty house and lazy/cranky/overwhelmed and underpaid mommy?

A Day Late...

This post is a day late and a dollar short when it comes to the number of pictures I've posted. Sorry about that. We've been really busy around here. I'm sure you can all understand being really busy around the holidays. Hope you are all having a happy Christmas season.

ONE BABY!

Just got back from the Doctor, and we are officially having one baby. So all you mean-spirited people who wished us triplets were WRONG.

Everything looks great and healthy and our due date is officially July 9th

A Little Bit of Everything

This has been a very SLOW week. Meaning, I have been sick on the couch for much of the week, so things have pretty much been at a stand-still. Except the amount of dirt I'm behind on: that has grown exponentially. I should NOT be complaining though--many others have it much worse. The first two days I was sick all day, but otherwise I've been mostly sick in the evenings. I worked harder at eating more substantial meals closer together today, and I'm doing better. I'm already blowing up like a balloon, and Nick keeps eyeing my tummy warily--wondering about multiples, I know. I have my first Dr. appt tomorrow, so hopefully he'll decide it is medically neccessary to check for twins early. We'll see.

We have no Christmas decorations up yet, although there were briefly lights in our window. The strand half burnt out and we couldn't find a replacement bulb so....We've had two failed attempts to get a tree (well, one really, but we planned another attempt and the plan failed) but I want the tree up so it will happen tomorrow. Even if it is a silly little Charlie Brown tree. The boys think Christmas lights are about the coolest thing ever, which is not really a good thing. Plugs. Argh!

A couple people have asked for this recipe, so I decided to just post it here. Saves time....

Also, I have two great turkey-leftover recipes if anyone would care for them. I can post them later, when there are more handy to the computer. BTW, Dell sent me an email saying our laptop shipped. Wahoo! No more sighing about the dinosaur. Perhaps I'll even get the Grandkid's Christmas Book done by like, February. We can dream.


This is a copy-cat for an Olive Garden soup. You might have the recipe already even--many do. It's a fave around here. I got the original here, but I made some minor changes, so my version is below:


Zuppa Toscana
INGREDIENTS
1 lb ground Italian sausage (um, I often just use Jimmy Dean or whatever I have on hand. You can also use reduced fat sausage...you can't tell. It's all yummy in this)
1½ tsp/to taste crushed red peppers
1 large diced onion
4 Tbsp bacon pieces (I usually use the bacon bits from Costco. I keep a bag in my freezer & they last forever, and you can use them straight from the freezer. That's a tip from my mom, btw)
2 tsp garlic (2-4 cloves), minced
10 cups either chicken base reconstituted w/ water or chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
1 bunch of kale (use the kale! It makes the soup. Trust me.)


NOTE: This makes a meatier, more kale-ful soup than Olive Garden's. I usually make it nice and chunky, even adding more potatoes as needed
1. Sautee Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.
2. In the same pan, sautee bacon, onions and garlic for approxiamtly 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
3. Mix together the chicken bouillon and water, then add it to the onions, bacon and garlic. Cook until boiling.
4. Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
5. Add heavy cream and cook until thoughouly heated.
6. Stir in the sausage.
7. Add kale just before serving. Delicious!



Here are a couple pictures/videos of the stinky boys being cute. Does anyone have good discipline strategies for SUPER stubborn 2-year-olds? They turn everything into a game. Time outs aren't so far super helpful, even though I've changed the time out spot to an uncomfortable, lonely place. Sigh.

Reid and Gage playing with the now broken lights. Does one thing relate to the other?

My moody after-nap almost teenager? He loves the iPod

Dancing lessons

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. Joel and Brittany came to spend the week with us during their break from school. The boys spent the whole week acting like we fed them nothing but pure sugar and caffeine, and made certain Joel and Brittany didn't get to relax for any significant amount of time. (Truthfully, we feed the boys healthy food most of the time.) The boys love visitors, as do Janine and I, and it was really fun to have the newly weds stay for the week. (Thanks for all your help guys. Sorry we worked you like crazy.)

We also had several friends come for the actual Thanksgiving dinner (see picture below). It was great to see everyone, and Janine cooked a fantastic meal!

I worked Friday, but on Saturday morning we (Janine, the twins, and I) drove up to Idaho to see Mom, the kids, and the Bengoa crew. I don't have pics of that part of Thanksgiving weekend yet due to a full memory card, but I will get some from Tiff and post them later. It was a fun, but brief, vacation. Tea and the boys were absolutely adorable playing together. Gage also really loved Sierra because she let him listen to her ipod. Also, Tina deserves extra thanks for giving me her hat. Thank you Tina. I love that hat.

Anyway, now to the part you really care about.

Gage loving Gwen.















Kirby, Naomi, Carrie, Gwen, Brittany, Joel, Molly, Brian, Me, Janine, & Gage (left to right)













(If you are wondering where Reid is, he took the picture....
Not really, he just ran off.)

As Promised, Just a Little Slower...

here is a cutie-pie video that will make you remember why you check this blog so regularly:

Gage discovered the boots Laurel sent...he loves them. Mostly when he's not wearing pants. Makes a fun fashion statement, don't you think? Note the sequence of events:

I've actually got two more cute videos, but they aren't uploading, so this will have to do. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are grateful for all of you!

Cute post coming...

later today. I've got to upload the pics still, and let's be honest: I always put them in the wrong file, or don't copy and paste it right, so I'm waiting until Nick gets home. But I promise a cute video within 24 hours...

No Way!

Reid's newest thing is "no way" as in:
Mommy: Do you want some food?
Reid: No way
Mommy: Will you come here?
Reid: No way
Mommy: stop hitting your brother!
Reid: No way
Daddy: Come give me loves
Reid: No way

We don't know where he got it from, I'm not sure if I say it or Nick says it, but Reid says it now. We try not to laugh, but that attitude has been there for awhile, so the root problem is bigger than just the "no way." Sometimes he growls it. Watch the video--it is SO cute.




Gage doesn't yet have a catch phrase, although he does say "here you go" quite a bit. It doesn't have the same effect.

I'm already planning my Turkey Day menu. Well, not really, I'm just thinking about it. Does that make me crazy? Because I'm not uptight or worried about it. I just think it's fun to plan...so, crazy?

Here are a couple cute pics this week:

Playing Together

They wore hats quite a bit this week

This is a cute hat inherited from Mason. Laurel made it!

Scared Silly

Thanks to all who posted congratulations on the pregnancy. Truth be told, we apparently need another lesson in biology, as the pregnancy has been quite a shock. It is the classic example of reality being different from imagination. In my (our) imagination I was ready for another baby, wanted to have one and felt confident in our ability to take of a new one. I even thought I could handle the off-chance that there would be twins again. Reality is that none of those things are true. Now that a baby is really on the way, I can see we are not ready and probably can't handle this. HA! Pretty nifty to figure it out after the fact. Don't take all this too seriously, btw. I feel overwhelmed at the moment, but I'm sure it will be fine. Let's be honest here: one little baby can NOT be as tough as the twins were when they were born. AND, I have nine months to get my head around having a tiny baby and the life changes it will bring. I will say, I did that pretty well organizing my thinking the first time. Even though life was pretty freaking miserable for a good portion of the boys first nine months, I wasn't miserable because I'd prepared myself to do only two things with my time: take care of babies and myself. Slowly over the past two years I've added more tasks to my daily list, and it is those new freedoms I'll be sad to let go of again. But, the lesson is this time is temporary, babies are special, and does it really matter if I can't, say, go to the gym for six months? I mean, when the kids are older and I can be a little more independent, will I really feel like those six months ruined me? I doubt it. This is how I'm convincing myself people. Feel free to join me in this effort.

Meanwhile, because this is a family blog and not a political rant I won't say anything about the election. Just know that I want to. But I won't. Except (you knew I couldn't resist) it wasn't my favorite week to find out about the pregnancy. That's all.

The boys have been coloring lots lately, which is a skill they are learning to enjoy more and more. We all reap the benefits of this new activity, which keeps the boys busy for long stretches. Reid especially enjoys it when I draw pawprints on his paper, and he can point to them and call them "blue" or "clue" depending on his mood. Sadly, "Blue's Clues" is such an old show Nickelodeon doesn't have it on in the mornings anymore, and we don't get Noggin, which does show it. Thank heavens for the library.

They have also been chasing each other around and just generally playing together more. Since it is cold and dark now (I do hate winter, I'm not going to lie. Can we have spring yet?) Nick and I did our old standby the other night: take the boys to the mall for some energy release. We strapped on monkeys and let them chase each other. Squeaky shoes and all. It was a spectacle, the boys, attached to parents, chasing each other down the mall. When caught, there were usually attack hugs and kisses. Pretty fun.

BTW, (sorry this post is turning into a book) we saw on the news the other night a report about blog security. Basically, we aren't doing much right in the way of security. Still, from what I've heard making blogs private doesn't help tons. So, we're just going to work on being vague about specifics in location, etc. It is true there have been many more hits lately from people we don't know, as evidenced by the map. Who are you?

Enjoy the pics:



Snuggle Mommy:

Yes We're Pregnant!

Yes, we are pregnant. We just found out. I know I mentioned it in the last post, but Janine said I buried it at the end. So, I'm reiterating the fact.

Yes, we are both excited and really nervous.

We hope you are all well.

Trick or Treat?!?

Hopefully you all had a fun Halloween filled with copious amounts of your children's trick-or-treated chocolate. I know we did.

The boys were Thing 1 and Thing 2 from the Dr. Seuss book. Well, they were almost Things 1 and 2. We bought the purple hairspray to put on them, but then read that it won't wash out of fine or light colored hair. Obviously it would be a mortal sin to scum up Reid's hair color, so he was excluded. Then we tested the spray on Janine's hair and found that it takes a while to dry, and reportedly stains things quite easily. So, we excluded Gage from the hair coloring too. Anyway, the end result is that Gage and Reid were almost Things 1 and 2.

In other trick-or-treat news, Janine and I started trying to get pregnant this month, though we've been pretty busy and didn't get around to trying very diligently. Despite the limited trying, Janine was a day "late" yesterday, and much to our surprise was confirmed with child (emphasis place on the "child" - not "children") by a pregnancy test. Anyway, I guess October was a treat after all. We'll keep you posted on the progress of the newest Clayson.

Thing 1 (Gage - he was born first) and Thing 2 (Reid)














The boys "helping" mommy cook.














Gager being a goofball while playing with his cars.














He really loves lining them up for some reason.

Ooops! Wrong Video

Sorry, I posted the wrong video last time. I know it shouldn't be hard to get it right when there were only two videos to choose from. But what can I say? I'm talented.

One Picture OR 1,000 Words?

For some reason we only took one picture this week. I'm not sure why. We did get a couple of videos, but the lighting is really poor, so they are hard to see.

Hmmmm... when written like that it makes us (Janine and I) sound like slackers. Since it is a political season, I'll put some spin on what I just wrote.

In the short space of just under a week, we managed to document a thousand words on the boys lives. Furthermore, we preserved two video clips for future generations, and we did that with nothing but a camera and perseverance. That's why we're qualified to be the parents. Now, if you support our continued parenthood, I propose a 10,000 fund (*thinking in my head* "paid by the blog readers") to fund a new set of camera equipment, so that you the blog readers--the people--can get more documentation of the twins lives. Furthermore, I want to establish an oversight committee to ensure a continued stream of pictures, videos, and supporting text continues to be posted each week.

How was that as a spin? Well, maybe it only works for politicians.

Here's the pic of the boys relaxing on the couch.














Sumo wrestling.

Kisses

I think that this is a post title I've used before...

I'm trying to remember this past week, but the only thing that stands out is the terrible, awful, no-good day on Monday. And you probably don't want to hear about that.

Ha!

Too bad for you. Here's a quick run down: The electrician that Nick was waiting for showed up 45 minutes late and proceeded to chat all about his horrifying personal life while fixing our broken outlets, one of which immediately resumed its nonfunctional state. I got to hear about all this on the way from the gym, when Nick called me from the top of Highland Drive to say the purple car died. Luckily (bright spot!) Erik helped him get it towed to Big-O, where they replaced the distributor cap for $550. Fun. Meanwhile, I had a terrible Costco trip, came home & fed the boys, and put them down for their nap. Whew! Ah, not quite...seems that oh, an hour later (after repeated warnings from me--I didn't just not check on them ever) I peeked at them to discover two boys naked from the waist down, with gooey brown stuff smeared all over their cribs...uh oh...

So that was the end of nap time for Monday, and the start of bath time. I think something else terrible happened, but I probably blocked it out because at this point I was laughing-to-keep-from-crying, you know?

The rest of the week was much better, thanks.

Here is a cute pic of Sarah, who watched the boys for us on Weds so we could take yoga together. Fun.

And, the video is Reid giving the camera kisses. He's a sweetie.

5 Years

Five years and two kids later, Janine and I are still alive and in love. We are also more occupied than previously, which is why there are no pictures of our five year anniversary yesterday. Despite the lack of pictures, we had a fun day and have a little getaway planned on a different weekend.

We had a fun week with Michelle visiting from Phoenix, although we secretly resented the beautiful weather there and snowy weather here--yes it has already snowed here. Actually, I think we openly resented the weather. Anyway, she stayed with us from Wednesday until Saturday; we had a great time playing games and hanging out.

We took the boys to the zoo this last week. They seemed to really like it, although Reid had the attention of a fig newton. His longest look at any given animal was 1.325 seconds, which is as long as he does about anything "nondestructive."

Reid knows "hot" since the foot burn incident, and practices limited caution when assaulting the oven.














Janine and Reid checking out the animals at the zoo.














Gager-bear hugging his toy monkey.














Michellecula.














Gager says "bear."

Lovin'

I always compose lots of funny and interesting posts in my head during the week, but when it is my turn to finally sit down and type something, every clever anecdote I mentally created completely vanishes. Which is why the actual posts I write tend toward random weirdness. That and I usually post late at night after a long day of mind-sucking chaos. But really, I love my kids. Wait! I just remembered one. I was going to make a list of great things about being a stay-at-home mom. I tend to complain a lot, as do many moms I know, because this job is incredibly hard and--let's face it--unpaid. But, the truth is, most of us would fight to continue, and it is because underneath, we know it really is a pretty sweet deal. Here are a few reasons I came up with:
1. I can stay in my pajamas if I want to. Not that I recommend doing this on a regular basis--it is demoralizing. But, sometimes you've been up all night, or the kids get sick, or something happens to throw everything out of whack. And it is great that you don't have to call or make excuses to anyone, you can just relax and have a bummy day. Because even if you just make Mac 'n cheese and slim fast for dinner (I have never nor do I know anyone who may or may not have even thought of doing this)you are still there with your kids.
2. I can pick at projects. Meaning, except for essential stuff, if I have a project that consumes me, I can spend all my free time (currently 24 minutes and 11 seconds somewhere between 9:00 and 10:00 pm on nights with a full moon) working on it. Which is fun. Sure, there is always other stuff to do, but I don't have a deadline.
3. I see all the funny things my kids do. This is obviously a given, but seriously, I have the cutest kids in the world. The rest of you are just biased towards your own kids, and can't see clearly that mine are, in fact, the cutest. Reid will grab your face with both hands and pull you in for a kiss. Gage is trying so hard to speak that he delivers soliloquies in his little language all day long. He's probably making very deep philosophical comments--mostly about shoes, as far as I can tell.
4. I get to read books. Sometimes. Still, what a bonus.
5. I can go outside, take the kids for a walk, go shopping, etc. whenever the mood strikes. As long as I'm willing to pack around two toddlers who will in all likelihood bite and/or hit each other if placed adjacent for more than three minutes. It gets boring at Costco, but mommy and brother's reactions are funny. Violence=entertainment. Apparently.
6. I don't feel like I'm killing time waiting to get back to real life, which used to happen all the time. Not at my last job, but before that--even at school sometimes. This is real life.
7. Everyday something precious happens, something funny happens, something frustrating and something sweet.
8. I get to fill the boys heads with the things I think are important. Sure, they will stop listening soon (maybe they already have) but for now I am their #1 source for information. I am Google.
9. I get to drive a minivan, which may sound geeky to most of you, but that's only because you are still clinging to your coolness and haven't embraced the incredible utility that is a minivan. Seriously--a Swiss army knife on wheels. Try it.
10. My job performance isn't measured in statistics and reports. If you need any further proof of #'s 3 & 7 check out the stuff below. Feel free to add to my list--it was better before, when it was just in my head. Joel and Brittany came down for Conference. Reid loves them: Because Joel & Brittany where here, and graciously watched the boys for us quite a bit, Nick and I were able to lock ourselves in the boys room and paint while we listened to conference. Apparently I was channelling Grandma Skousen when I picked out the paint color--it reminds me of Grandpa's den. The plants (which I was painting, on my knees, until 2 am. Yes, I did it free hand. It's just curvy lines with footballs on the end. Don't be impressed with my artistic prowess) really help soften the abundant green. We like it. Reid seeing his room for the first time:
We love this video--but heed the warning: you might want twins after watching this. Don't be fooled.

Normal Life

I'm only posting one quick video. It is about nothing in particular, but is right inline with normal life.

I'm Tired and Have a Headache

And, I promised Nick I'd be done tinkering around on the computer in about fifteen minutes. Taken the current upload time on this antique, I should probably be quiet and post pictures. Turns out, nothing much happened this week and I only took about three pictures. Boys are still cute, Nick is still working hard, I am still slightly deranged. On the plus side, I got new shoes so hopefully my hip-knee issues will be better. I tell you, babies mess up your body.

The boys destroyed two different pairs of headphones this week. Both were basically broken before the little nuggets got them, but still...seems sort of like having a puppy.This is Gage, "listening"

As Nick posted earlier, the boys babble lots and lots--Gage is really trying to communicate. I just can't quite understand...

Birthday Wishes

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! I really enjoyed hearing from you.

I've posted Tea's B-day present to me.


P.S. If anyone in the area needs pics, Marianne's blog is http://marianneblackham.blogspot.com

Family Pictures

A friend of ours took some family pictures for us recently. (Thanks Marianne!) I'm posting several of my favorite shots. Hope you like them.

Language, Vacuum, & Dance

I've been told that twins commonly have a language that is known only to them ("twin speak"). They also tend to be behind the curve on their language use. Anyway, I've been paying attention for a long time, trying to decipher their language. So far I have picked up very little, but I have a couple of good guesses. I'll outline those guesses below.

dugga degaaa (drag out the last "a" sound) = "look what I did" or "look at that"
geek you = "thank you"
dO = "no"
Gaer (very soft "g" sound) = Gage or Gager
Ree = Reid
dOcle dOcle (make the "O" a throaty sound) = ??
spnbob = Spongebob
graaa = "let's play tag, you start running. But, not to fast, or to far, or I'll stop chasing."
kissing sound = "I love you"
shuber = ??
gaco = taco = ?? (because it doesn't mean they want a taco)

Those are just a handful of the words that I can remember at the moment. As far as actual English that I have heard Reid use: daddy, mommy, no, go, milk, doggy, Spongebob, Gage, backpack (while watching dora), thank you, bye, and hi. I can't remember hearing any others, but Janine probably has.

Gage hasn't put as much effort into the communication. I have only heard him say: hi, bye, mommy, daddy, no, go, and Reid. At least, that is all I can think of off hand.

This evening Janine was changing the sheets on the boys beds, so she pulled a mattress out of the crib. It's a lot easier to change them that way, and the boys have a great time jumping on the mattresses while they are on the floor. A moment later Reid ran out of the bedroom with a look of concentration and purpose on his face, and I thought, "That's weird. I'm surprised he stopped jumping on the mattress already." Only seconds later Reid was dragging a little vacuum into the bedroom so he could vacuum his mattress. I'm sure his little mind thought, "Aha. The very moment I have been waiting for has finally come. It's time to vacuum where no twin has vacuumed before." The story really loses something in the telling, but it was pretty funny to watch.

On to the multimedia. I don't remember putting up any videos of the boys dancing in the past because they hardly ever do it. But, today I am posting video evidence that they may have a tiny shred of rhythm. It's the only media I have to post today, so I hope you like it.

Visitors

We had a few visitors this past week, but we hardly took any pictures for some reason.

Jeff was up in Ogden for work and came to visit us Monday evening. We had fun hanging out and playing Settlers. Jeff and Michelle were nice enough to get me the new Settlers expansion for an early birthday present ("Traders & Barbarians"), which is really fun. The pajamas they got the twins are so dang good looking on the boys that Janine practically wants to get the boys up in the middle of the night to kiss their little handsome faces. Thanks for the birthday presents guys. We all loved them.

Tina flew in on Tuesday and was here very briefly on her way back to Pocatello. Joel and Brittany also drove through this week on their way toward Rexburg, and stopped by for a day. It was great to see all of them.

In other news, Janine gave Reid his first haircut, which came out pretty well. I've got pics of his new do below, as well as a few others.

Reid giving me snuggles (and probably watching either Fox News or SpongeBob).















Ever wondered how Gage got so big. Take a look at him using both hands to shove that burger in his mouth.















The result of the shovery. (I made that "shovery" word up just now.)















Reid's curly little red head before the haircut.















And, after the haircut.