10 months....Oh BABIES!!!

Yep. We have survived!!! Yes we have!! The twins turned 10 months old today. I actually feel very proud that I did not torture them too much. A dear friend at church stopped me and asked me how I liked being a "mother of three". I told her I loved it! I meant that with all Sincerity of my heart to. She said that she felt I had adjusted well to three kiddos. Why thank ya!!

Here are the boys stats from last month at their nine month check up:
Rylen
wght: 21.61 lbs
length: 30 inches
Percentage of ideal: 89% (the pediatrician told me this was off and should be actually higher).....ok.


Caysen
wght: 20.72 lbs
length: 29 inches
percentage of ideal: 95%

Since the twins are 10 months old today....just thought I would share, as their mom, my top ten favorite things.

10. I loved the day last month I was stopped in the grocery store and was told by some random stranger that..."your boys are too old to have a pacifier". I asked the lady how old she thought they were. She replied that she would guess they were almost two! I actually bellied laughed so loud that several heads turned in our direction. When I explained that they were only almost 10 months old, she quickly turned her little cart and went the opposite direction.

9. I love watching the twins play together. They are learning to share more and don't seem to get too upset if they steal each others toys. I am sure that their first full word will be...."share!"

8. I still do not listen to advice from others that have no clue about twins, taking care of them....etc. If you are not sure what I am talking about, see my post from 10.05.09.

7. A child's laugh can heal a wounded heart in less than 30 seconds! It is magic!!

6. Teething sucks & drool happens!!!

5. Not all babies like to sleep through the night...even at 10 months old!

4. A simple toy ball will keep a 10 month old boy occupied all day!

3. Even at 10 month old, some kids prefer their mommy!

2. 1 p.m. church is much better than 11 am church for 10 month old boys that need a little nap before we sit through 3 hours of meetings!!

1. The bond between twin brothers only grows stronger as they grow older together!!

Hold on.......I need to catch up!!!

I cannot believe that it is already January and that Thanksgiving, Christmas and the new year is already here. What in the world happened?

Let's see if I can catch up a little here. I really have not meant to ignore our family blog. I just feel that life was a little crazy and there seemed to be way too much drama around certain events. So.....let's start with Thanksgiving.

With Thanksgiving, we rotate which family we spend it with each year. Last year we went to Idaho and spent time with my family. So - this year we spent time with the Andersen's. It turned out to be very interesting. I learned that I really, really, really, LOVE a more traditional type Thanksgiving. It was the twins first Thanksgiving, and I guess I really wanted to have something more traditional. I also realized that when you are in a family......that is not always the case. Here are some pictures from that day:
Madisen enjoying all the ice cream she could eat.
Caysen showing a rare smile. Even the people in the background are amazed!
Mr. Happy all the time Rylen!

So from the pics you can see that we went to a restaurant. It was different....very different. That is all I am going to say about that adventure.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we were able to go down to Temple Square and listen to Madisen perform with the Riverton Children's Choir that she sings with. It was VERY amazing!! I must say that I was outstandingly suprised!! I had heard how good the choir was.....but I honestly just thought is was mom's blowing their own horns for their kids. I was WRONG!!! It was a cold, but fun night.....


The twins turned 9 months old on the 5th of December. Madisen and I have been joking because she is 9 years old in December 2009 and her brothers are 9 months old in December 2009. I don't think that kind of number stuff will ever happen again. We adventured to Kiddie Kandids for some photo opportunities that Caysen of course did not like too much! I still think the pics turned out cute though. (I realize of course that I am very biased!)




Christmas morning came all too quickly this year!! We did however manage to get our tree decorated and our Christmas cards sent out early this year!! Thank goodness! We decided to set our tree up downstairs since the twins rarely venture down there. Guess what? We did not have even one broken ornament. I felt it was important to record that moment, because with our boys there is no guarantee that it will every happen again!!!


Just before the madness began!!!

Madisen has been wanting an "American Girl" doll FOREVER!! Santa finally brought her just the one she wanted. I am glad that santa finally came through!!

The twins were a lot of fun this year!! They loved, loved, loved all the wrapping paper and new presents they received! It was a great Christmas for our kids!!!

Jared and I rang in the new year 2010 by both working the graveyard shift! Thanks so much to my sister Summer and her family for coming down and watching the kids overnight! I don't know too many people that would give up their New Years' Eve to watch three kids for free! Thanks again....you saved us!!!

So - this is my post to bid 2009 farewell. You have been good to our family and you will forever be filled with many, many memories. I am anxiously excited for the new year of 2010 and all the possibilities and milestones we will meet! Let's go!!!

8 Months and counting....

The twins turned 8 months old earlier this month. We have had a lot of "firsts" the last few weeks.

Madisen went back "on-track" after having her first 3 week break from school this month. Oh how the boys miss their big sister who would make them laugh when they wanted to cry. I have missed Madisen's help and companionship!!!!

Caysen has been acting like a little flipper! Dang him! Oh, guess what? He cut his first tooth. I guess that explains it. He has also started "hopping" around. He lunges forward when he is on all fours, hence why we call it "hopping". He and the dog have a love hate relationship. Caysen loves the dog, but the dog is not sure if he loves Caysen.

Rylen has decided to grow out of the 12 month clothes he has been wearing. He made his first appearance in 18 month outfits last week! I thought the growing thing was suppose to "slow down" by now!! He also cut his 2nd tooth. He is no longer my one tooth wonder.....he is now called the two tooth wonder!! He is "talking" non-stop. His favorite word is "da-da"....go figure!!

We are excited for all of the upcoming holidays. This year is flying by all too quickly!! We are still trying to decide where to put our Christmas tree up that it will be "safe".....if there is such a place!!

Before and After......

So our little blondie has needed a haircut since he was born. Jared has given him a little trim here and there. His hair was driving me crazy! It could not decide if it wanted to stick up or stick down or both!!! The top was so long and the sides hung shaggy over his ears. It was definitely time for a change!

I found out that a gal in my ward cuts hair. She said she would love, love to give Caysen his first haircut. Sweet! She is a super talented lady and I was very happy with the results. Thanks Kay!!

Before:

After:

Now his cheeks stick out even more!

Halloween 2009

I for one really love Halloween! I am not sure why, other than I loved, loved, loved that my mom always decorated the house for Halloween - and then I knew that other holidays were on their way. There is just something special about the holidays and sharing those with family!!

On Friday we went to Kathryn Michael's Photography in Riverton because she was holding an awesome "charity bash". If you brought in some canned goods, she would take your kids pictures for free in their Halloween costumes. This gal is simply amazing!! She did our family photos last July and she is the one and only photographer that has ever taken a picture of Jared with a great smile!! Here are pictures from that day.


You should totally check out her website here: http://www.kathryn-michaels.com/
If you decide to use her, tell her that Heather Andersen sent ya!

Friday night we carved our pumpkins. Madisen had been bugging me FOREVER to get these done. Her Grandpa Ruby brought her a monster of a pumpkin from his Idaho patch. I told her that she had to clean it out. She did a great job. We pulled some patterns off of Hershey's website and had some fun. I think they turned out great!


On Saturday we went trick-or-treating with some of our cousins. It was a lot of fun. The twins only lasted about 40 minutes, but hey, I was glad they lasted a little while. Here are some pictures of the spookies:




On our Spooky tree we have some fun glasses. It has kind of become a tradition that each kid needs to have their picture taken at least once. I love this picture. It makes me smile every time I look at it!! :0)

I hope everyone out there had a safe and Happy Halloween!!! Bring on the turkey day!! I am always up for good food!

More Family Time.....

So if you ask Madisen she will tell you that I am "cheap". Not in a naughty sense of the word, but I am a true at heart sucker for a really good deal!!! I LOVE to be the bargain hunter and find the steal of a lifetime for almost nothing.

So we have been trying to do "cheap" family outings. These have proven to be some of the best. Two weeks ago was our stake conference. Jared was all gung-ho to go, while I refused. I just did not want to wrestle on the hard chairs with two 7 month old boys. SO - we did not go. I kinda feel guilty about it, but we had some "family time" instead which was a lot of fun.

We went up American Fork canyon for a drive. We wanted to see the leaves changing colors. At the mouth of the canyon it was absolutely beautiful!! At the top, most of the leaves were already gone. We drove to Canyon Springs (I think that is what it is called) and then came back. It was a nice afternoon and not too cold.



The kids, especially the boys were fascinated by all the leaves. Such a new world for them. It was great!

I love this picture of Madisen. The car was mostly quiet on the way home and when I looked to see why...(this of course is rare with three kids), I found Madisen mesmerized by the colors she was taking in. I asked her what she was doing and she said....just soaking it all in mom, just soaking it in.



My husband turns into a different person anytime we go up American Fork canyon. He changes in a good way. He grew up in AF and spent a lot of time riding the canyon on his bike, camping with friends and driving to get away from life. I love to watch his love of the canyon come out whenever we go. Maybe we should go more often!!

Family time....

Last weekend we went to Gardner Village because "the witches were out!" It was a lot of fun and did not cost us a thing! If you have not checked this out yet - you really should go! We went on a Saturday, which I would not recommend because there were so many people, but other than that we had a lot of fun.

So some updates on the kiddos.....
Rylen FINALLY cut his first tooth. My goodness it has taken forever for that stink'n thing to break through. It is the bottom one on the left. It looks like the bottom one on the right is not far behind. No wonder we have been changing shirts 3-4 times a day!!


Caysen is getting up on all fours now. He rocks back and forth. We are betting that by Halloween he will be crawling. Heaven help the Andersen house. He REALLY wants to be able to get to Scoobie. I really feel sorry for the dog.


Madisen is getting ready to go off-track. She has this next week in school and then she is off for 3 weeks. Short break for Thanksgiving. Back at school for another 3 weeks and then 2 weeks off for Christmas holidays, then back for like 4 weeks and then another 3 weeks off. She is really excited to be off track. We cannot wait to have our official "helper" back home full-time; even if for just a few weeks.


We have almost completed all of our Christmas shopping. We are just focusing on putting it altogether. We are usually completely done by now, but we have been a little busy. We are really excited for the upcoming holidays. I especially love them!!!