Mirror Images and Walking

So, we are finally seeing the reason behind the ultra saturated-with-drool clothing that has been happening lately. And we discovered something interesting about it along the way.

Ryan and Nathan are both getting a top tooth in--finally. You'd think by 14 months they'd have a full mouth of choppers. Nope. Just the bottom two and now one on top. It's interesting to note, though, that Ryan's tooth on top is on the left side and that Nathan's tooth is coming in on the right side. How crazy is that?

Ryan's top tooth coming in on the left (sorry about the boogie in the nose)

Nathan's top tooth coming in on the right (it looks like I'm inflicting pain on these boys but I'm not:)

I guess it's true how people have been telling me that identical twins often mirror each other in certain aspects (one parts hair on left side, one on right; one rights with right hand, other with left; etc...) It'll be fascinating to see if this carries on as the boys get older. I've been watching to see if one twin will be a lefty and one will be right handed, but I think it's too early to tell. They still switch on and off quite frequently.

Anyway, speaking of changes, the boys have officially started walking! Ryan actually started about 2 weeks ago, and Nathan is now wanting to try it out. It's so cute to see these guys cruise around the house. They are getting really good at it!

Ryan

Nathan being a little bit more hesitant about it

Good job, buddies, on all of the advancements you're making. We love you and are proud of you (x2)!!

So That's What It's Like...

Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner. We had a nice time visiting, but then came time for them to go. They asked for a ride to their next appointment (apologetically, I might add, because Ben was the only one that could drive them due to mission rules and the missionaries could clearly tell that I needed Ben's help at that point.) There were dinner dishes to clean up and it was bedtime for the kids as they were showing it big time. Addie was huddled up next to me because she had fallen and gotten hurt, Nathan was hanging onto me because he was ultimately just plain ol' tired and Ryan (thankfully) was cruising around the house with his little walker. Out of desperation, I said, "Do you mind taking Nathan with you?" "Nope, I don't mind." (BLESS YOU, my dear sweet husband). So Ben grabbed Nathan, walked out the door with the missionaries, and I got busy cleaning up dinner dishes (as soon as Addie was okay to let me let her go).


Ryan saw that I had the dishwasher open and came crawling over (the twins think this means an invitation to come and pull everything out and onto the floor. What good helpers they are!) and Addie became interested in looking at pictures that were sitting on the table. Ryan saw a clean, empty sippy cup and its lid and began the task of putting the lid on the cup. This kept him entertained for quite some time. Addie was sitting quietly at the table, Ryan was busily working, and for one brief moment in time, I stopped. I stopped and realized that this is what it would be like to have only two children. Now mind you, it's not that I don't love my children and not that I don't think twins are the cutest thing ever, but I thought to myself, 'I could totally do this.' I know it wouldn't always be calm with just two children in the house, but the intensity level seemed to decrease by one million just because one baby was gone with sweet hubby (I heart you!) Wow. It was the most amazing feeling.


Sometimes in the craziness of having 3 children in a time span of 26 months, I often wonder what it would be like to have experienced it the way that most people do. One baby at a time. That I will never truly know. With twins, one plus one does not equal two. The degree of difficulty and intensity becomes exponential (remember learning about that stuff LONG TIME AGO?) And it is truly only something that one can understand if they have been through it/are going through it. I often hear people tell me: "I have two kids that are only 16 months apart so I totally know what you're going through." Sorry. Nope, ya don't. Not even close. But I guess that it DOES mean that our happinesses and joys are exponentialized (is that a word?), too. And for that I am grateful because we have some crazy good times at our house.
So, to sum up this whole experience for me that happened within a mere 2 minutes, I decided that I love my children with all my heart (always have), wouldn't want things to be any other way, but that I will be having Ben take trips with just one baby more often. Usually I send Addie with him and the twins stay home with me, but that experience last night put a whole new perspective on things.
Ryan, your turn with daddy is next.

What do you get when 3 Mormon families find out there is unlimited FREE CORN in Greeley, Colorado?

2000 EARS later...


(The baby corn asks his mama corn: Where do baby corns come from? Mama says "I told ya before, the stalk brought ya.")

THAT'S RIGHT!! FREE CORN was what it was. Whatever you could gather and take home with you from the church farm in Colorado. So that's what we did! The Petersons, Gridleys, and Webers all piled into my dad's classy 15 seater van at 6:30am and headed out for Greeley. (DARN IT, I stayed home with the twins because they can't walk yet and it wouldn't have been fun for ANY of us if they had come, now would it?).

(Two corn cobs were walking downtown and the first cob noticed that they were being followed by another strange cob everywhere they went. The first cob whispered to the second cob, "Don't look know but I think we are being followed by a stalker.")

SO THE TACTIC WAS to gather as many ears of corn in a laundry basket as possible, bring the full basket to the 'shucking' spot-where all ears were shucked of their husks-and then go out and get more ears of corn until your poor body aches so much that you can't move, OR until you get so sick of looking at corn that you never want to see another kernel in your entire lifetime.

(How is an ear of corn like an army? It has lots of kernels.)

This gathering and shucking process went on til about noon and then it was back to Cheyenne where more fun was in store. How many ears were gathered, you ask? Well, how about 2000? Which equaled 50 white garbage bags full of 30 ears of corn. Now, no one (in their right mind) can eat that much fresh corn before it goes bad, so the next job was to get all of those little hairs off the corn that really can be quite annoying (especially when you're dealing with 2000 ears!), blanch the corn for 2 minutes, immediately dump the corn in cold water and let it sit there for a few minutes, then take the ear of corn out and cut off the corn from the cob, then bag the corn, label it, and stick it in the freezer.

What did the farmer say when he picked up the corn? "Aw, shucks!"

That's a lot to do. Thank goodness there were lots of us to help (I came out to help after everyone got back from Greeley. Don't think I completely took the easy way out:) So we assigned jobs to make it easier: 1)The hair remover: Bruce and Jacob. 2)The cooker: Mary, Joseph, and I even helped with that one. 2) The cooler: Hannah. 3) The shaver: Ben, Jacob, Hannah and myself. 4) The bagger: my dad, me, and Joseph. Where is my mom in all of this you may ask--she just so happened to be conveniently out of town that weekend. Sorry mom, you really missed a good time :0) In all fairness to her, though, she was helping Rachel's family move into their new home so she was busy busy in Tennessee instead of Wyoming.

What did the baby corn say to the mom corn? Where is my pop corn?!

By about 4pm, everyone was really getting tired, but we weren't even close to being done. The twins were even helping (see center photo of collage) but to no avail, those bags of corn just NEVER seemed like they were going away. Finally, with persistance and the evening hours upon us, we ended our corn plight at 8pm. That was a 14 hour day and we really didn't stop unti it was over!!

What do old people and farmers have in common? They’ve both got corns!

So, anyone want some corn? We officially have 200 quart size baggies in the freezer full of corn. I'm thinking we won't need to be doing this next year. Whadoyathink?

How much does it cost to buy corn from a pirate? A buck an ear!

(Hope you enjoyed the 'corny' jokes. Just thought I'd 'shuck' those in there!)

Keep Warm, Little Doggie...

Ok, so today Addie was carrying around a little stuffed animal doggie. She was saying that she needed a blankie for her doggie so that it wouldn't get cold. How sweet of her to think of her freezing cold puppy and a way to keep it warm. That's my girl.. Always thinking of others...
Anyway, the next thing I knew she had her puppy all wrapped up and cozy in a soft, little blankie. And when I looked closely, I could NOT believe what I saw.

It's a PAD!! A Kotex pad with wings!! Where in the world did she come up with that?? And how did she even know where to find one, how to unwrap it, and then wrap it around her sweet doggie friend? I KNOW I didn't teach her that!

Now it's not the same kind of blankie that you might think of when wanting to keep someone/something cozy, but I think it's an amazing contraption for a little pooch that needs some warmth. I have to say, I am quite proud of my little girl for thinking of this one...

Addie was worried about one side getting her dog all sticky, but she got over it when she realized that the 'sticky' wasn't going to come off and that this little blankie really was quite the perfect fit for her pooch. Plus, the 'stick', along with the beautiful side wings, actually keep the doggie in tight and secure. Little poochy definitely is not going anywhere!


Way to go, Addie. You gave mom and dad a really good laugh today. We love it when you do that... And here's to a long and cozy life for a little doggy that got all wrapped up today in a comfortable Kotex pad (with wings).

WII Did It

So wii finally broke down and bought one. And the best part about it was, I surprised Ben throughout the whole process. He has been wanting one forever and I just kept thinking that wii didn't need one--wii really didn't need one. Becca, "I need a wii" he would say week after week. "Well, that's fine," I would say. Wii've got three in our house for you to choose from. (Let me know if you don't get this joke). I guess it's not always about what wii need, now is it?

Well..GOTCHA, babe! (He really didn't have any idea that I was pulling off a stunt as cool as this one). Aren't I a tricky, clever girl? Honestly, I didn't think I would give in to this one, but it was so fun to surprise my guy. Admittedly, he's as happy as a clam right now.

Well, I'm off to bowl. Anyone wanna join? I've got an extra wiimote for you!!