Just a few reasons why......

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


I have been a bad blogger lately! But it seems life has just been really hectic with Christmas coming and going and all! From the photos above I guess that is just a little piece of what I have been up to, so you all wouldn't think I fell off the face of the earth!

Photo 1: Our house late Christmas Eve after Santa had made his visit and left some great loot for the kids. Note the empty milk glass and cookie plate on the coffee table and the note he left the Clay Kiddos! They are soooo spoiled! :)

Photo 2: Keaton and I at the Lee's we had a great night with them before Christmas. We ate at our favorite restaurant and then went back to their house to exchange gifts and eat some yummy pumpkin pie!

Photo 3: Kyndall had her first Christmas program at Church. This is the best photo that I got of her and one of the few times she was still. Luckily the program involved the parents so Jordan was able to sit with her up near the stage! :)

Photo 4: We took the kids to see Santa at my old work (South Central Bank) and of course Kyndall ran off screaming and crying even though she had talked really excitedly about seeing him all day long. The twins did better, but we just couldn't get any great shots of both of them at the same time! Imagine that.

Photo 5: Christmas Eve and the kiddos opened up their Christmas P.J.'s to wear to bed that night. I never realized how long it would take three kids to open up all of their gifts! Totally a new experience for this momma! :)

Anyways, that is just a little glimpse of our lives this past week and a half. There will be more to come soon, when things settle down a bit. Jordan is off all of this week too, so we will get to spend more time together as a family. Super excited to have him home with for awhile longer!

I will post again soon! TTFN! Hope everyone had a joyful Christmas and is gearing up for a fabulous 2009!!!

HO, HO, HO!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Hope everyone has a holiday full of fun, family, friends, laughter, good food, heart felt gifts and lots of memories to last throughout 2009!!!!!!

I never thought this day would come.....

But tonight Kyndall is out of her crib and into the toddler bed. She absolutely adores it. From the moment Jordan brought it through the front door she has sat on it and talked about it and layed in it. As soon as we put it in her room she asked for a blanket, her silky bear and her paci! She was ready to go to bed.....fully dressed! The girl is a nut and me, well I am an emotional mess!!!!! I have cried all night over it! I feel like she is so grown up. It is breaking my heart. But I will get over it. It's not like I don't have two babies in cribs in the room right across the hall. Still Kyndall is my first baby. The one that I made all my first time mom mistakes on. The one that broke me in. The one that gave me lots of new experiences. The one that was little just the other day. So here I sit typing and crying. Resisting the urge to go into her room and set up camp for the night next to her bed. I guess a little part of me wishes that she didn't like it so much. That she didn't move from babyhood to the big-girl world with such ease. It took no effort on my part to convince her the bed was the place to be. She just knew it was the next step and she was ready to roll with it! I wish that maybe she would want to stay little just a little while longer. To make her old momma feel more happy, and a little less like she is losing her baby. But we all know that kids grow up. This is the first of so many "firsts" and so I need to put on my big girl panties and accept the change. But going in for one last goodnight kiss and extra pat of the head won't hurt so I'm off to do just that. But I am going to blow my nose first! :)

Take a minute to love your little ones while you can. And remember to remember the small things they do that make you love them so very much!!!! TTFN!

Our newest member of the family...........

Kyndall got this dog from Brittany and Jacob and loves it to death! She won't even nap without it. Once she gets up the dog gets up too! It is the funniest thing. It even has on a shirt that is fullsized with Kyndall's name on the back. I think they made it with iron-on letters! It is too cute! As you can see from the photos the dog takes up over half of her pack and play. We need to go pick up her bed this week so that they both have more room! We are still in transition mode from her crib being recalled to actually getting her a toddler bed. I am reluctant to move her into a big bed, but I know we need to. So we are getting her bed this weekend for her to try out! Wish us luck on that! :) TTFN!

Happy weekend everyone! Get all that last minute stuff bought, wrapped and ready to go....the days are getting less and less! HOORAY! :)

Check out these stats!

12-17-2008--nine month check up (which actually happened @ 9 & 1/2 months old!)

Keaton Weight: 19 lbs 2 oz.
Claire's Weight: 17 lbs 15 oz.

Keaton's Height: 27.25 inches
Claire's Height: 27 and a half inches

Keaton's Head size: 44.5 cm
Claire's Head size: 44 cm


They are at the following percentiles based on their gender:

Keaton Height: 25th
Claire Height: 28th

Keaton Weight: 15th
Claire Weight: 15th

Keaton Head Cir: 44th
Claire Head Cir: 45th


Overall both babies looked great. Other than the winter colds they are both battling, things developmentally are right on track for both of them. I have always worried since they were born so early that things would be more difficult for them, but they are little miracles. I guess since they are both mobile now the next thing we know they will be pulling up on stuff to stand and walk! My babies are growing up, whether I like it or not! I am a proud momma for sure, I just wish it would all slow down just a bit and they could stay small for a little while longer. Well I am off to boo-hoo now! TTFN!

Christmas card out takes!

Kyndall and her grouchy face!


Claire looking constipated and Keaton wishing he was somewhere else!


Hey Keaton, the camera is over here!!!


Chewing on the darn ornaments AGAIN!!!


Claire showing off her new found talent of waving!

It was a big job to get a few decent pictures of the kiddos this year for our Christmas card. Most every other year we go to have professional photos made. But this year since I am staying at home now, I tried to be thrifty and do photos of the kids in front of our Christmas tree. I thought I had a good plan to try to do Kyndall and the twins each separate in hopes of getting a good photo of each to combine onto one card. I figured Kyndall would be the hardest, so I did her photos first and surprisingly got several that I liked and it only took us about 15 minutes. I was so glad she cooperated. But the babies more than made up for it! It took me two days and several different outfits before I even got a so-so photo of each! Which is funny to me, cause it seems like I take good candid shots of them all the time! Just goes to show that when you need a good picture the subjects won't always play along! So needless to say after several days of photo taking and three hours on the computer trying to find a card that accommodates three photos I am finally done. Now I am just sitting here with my fingers crossed hoping that they arrive from Shutterfly before Christmas Day :)

In other news, our weekend was pretty busy as always. We spent Friday and Saturday shopping until nearly midnight both nights in an attempt to knock out our last few Christmas purchases and doing a major grocery restock! It had been awhile since we had a BIG grocery shopping trip and I had some Christmas gifts that needed to get bought and passed out! We are mostly done and I can't wait to get it all wrapped and under the tree. The late night shopping trips got the twins a little off their sleep schedules so I will pay for that this week as I try to get them back on track.

Sunday was church for us as usual and we experienced the most wonderful Christmas Cantata at our service. It was a beautiful combination of old Christmas songs along with some new that I hadn't heard before. It was titled "Welcome to Our World" and was created by Craig Adams. In each medley there were soloists and after each of the medley's was narration that told the wonderful story of the birth of Jesus. Even though the story is familiar to every Christian it was amazing to hear it put to music and singing. It was an absolute blessing to us!!! We had several amazing soloist perform, but I have to say that one in particular brought me to tears. Lisa Bryant had lost her voice and was unsure if she was going to be able to sing. But she was going to give it a try with Nathan's help. She got up there and was going to start out slowly, but her voice was suddenly there and strong for the song "AMEN". Nathan didn't even have to help her! It was truly a miracle from God. She couldn't even talk prior to that song and the Lord gave her the power to sing that song strong, beautiful, and clear. It was upbeat, inspiring and my favorite part of the cantata. Her voice is a blessing and I am so glad that she was able to share it with us! Good job to all the cantata participants it was a great way to celebrate this joyous season!

Well that is all for now. I have two babies that want to get up from their naps. So I hope everyone has a good week and gets lots of holiday tasks accomplished! TTFN!

Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is........

This totally awesome wall unit, which I would put in my bedroom to show off anything and everything! And it is a steal for only about $5,000.00!


A pink (which is of course my favorite color) Ipod to get me motivated to workout and have all my favorite music close at hand always! Oh and if you have any nice looking personal trainers that would be appreciated as well.


The Ultimate in camera bliss....the Nikon D60. It will be mine one day, even if I have to sell a vital organ to make it happen! LOL! So please Santa don't let it come to that and make it happen for me! :)


A totally comfortable, cozy, relaxed bedroom with sound-proof walls, that I can slip away into and get some quiet time for me each day. And the bed doesn't look to shabby for napping either. I think Nate from the Oprah show would be willing to come and do the decorating. Especially if he got a personal invite from you big guy!


And last but not least this awesome scrap-box! I know, I know I already have a studio, but I think I would be soooo very organized and get lots accomplished if I could organize my most used stuff into each of these little cubbies! Plus I just love the black beadboard!

Oh and I couldn't get a photo but would also like the 2009 Chevy Corvette ZR1. I think you can get them for next to nothing right now....just a little over 100g. Color doesn't matter as long as it is silver or white! LOL. And please bring me a babysitter too, cause when I am out driving my car with two seats I won't have any room for three carseats so the kids will have to stay behind.

Well that about covers it. I am sure Jolly old Saint Nick remembers my long list of years past so I am sure he will appreciate the shortened version. So Santa if you happen to be a regular reader of my blog, I think I have been good all year. So please check your list for my name. And don't worry about bringing the big stuff and fitting it down the chimney....bring it all I will leave the front door open and the porch light on for ya! :)

Ho! Ho! Ho! or should I say HA! HA! HA!


p.s. Not to try to sway you or anything, but no good mommy present, no good cookies at the Clay house. And I can't promise that the milk will be in date if i don't get something off the list! Just a thought Santa. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Keaton @ 9 months old

My little man is getting big too. It is hard to believe that when he came home from the NICU he was under 5 lbs. He has defintely made up for lost time. Here are some of the things he is doing now that he is a big boy of 9 months.

*He enjoys the view from his exersaucer quite a bit. It keeps him out of Kyndall's direct line of fire and he has taken a liking to several of the toys that it has on it.
*His favorite activity is spinning the dinosaur wheel on the exersaucer. He is quite good at it and can make it go really, really fast!
*Although he isn't crawling yet he can roll or pull himself pretty much anywhere he wants to go.
*I wish I could say that he is sleeping all night, but that isn't true. He still wakes up most nights and needs his paci back or for one of us to tuck his taggie back into his blanket with him.
*When it comes to mealtime Keaton still prefers the bottle. He enjoys table food more now than when he first started eating but his favorite is to kick back and be held and eat his bottle. He will hold his own bottle, but still likes for someone to hold him while he does that.
*He also started eating puffs over the weekend and is still working on chasing them down and picking them up. He does well chewing though and seems to be enjoying this new adventure in food.
*Yelling is his fortay. I guess in a household full of sisters you have to do something to get noticed. I think the picture above shows him in mid yell! He should have very strong lungs!
*Keaton is a little more tender hearted than his twin sister. He still enjoys mommy holding him and laying his head down for a few minutes at a time. I have absolutely no problem with this and will continue to baby him as long as he will let me! LOL!
*Naptimes are good for Keaton. He enjoys a morning and afternoon nap and goes to bed usually with no problem.
*He is also easy to put to bed in the evenings much like Kyndall was. He just enjoys getting his taggie, paci, and fluffy blanket then he rolls over on his side and usually is asleep within a few minutes.
*Right now he is cutting his two front teeth and is also sick with a nasty cold so life for him is a little rough. We are all singing "all I want for christmas is my two front teeth" right now. It is funny that he is cutting his first teeth much earlier than Kyndall did but he is cutting the same two that she got in first as well. Most kids get their bottoms first but mine prefer the top!
*We still call him Big Bubba and his title holds true, he weighed 19 lbs 2 oz at Dr.Simmons office this week. But he still looks short to me. Max, Morgan and Bradley at church all call him "chunker" which fits him well.
*Although things are a little long, Keaton is wearing 9month and 12 month clothes comfortably. He even got two new pair of Nikes this month finally, after a long search for shoes to fit his wide "fred flintstone" foot!


I am so happy that God knew better than I and put this little boy in my life. I never thought I wanted a son until he came along. I couldn't have been blessed with a better one. He loves his momma and I love him soooo much. No matter how big he gets, he will always be my littlest baby, my youngest child and my buddy! I love you Keaton Tyler!

Claire @ 9 months old

Hard to believe that the twins turned 9 months old on the 4th of Dec. I am starting to see their baby-ness slip away and they are turning into mobile, spunky, sassy almost-one year olds! I am not sure where the time has gone exactly but I thought I would make a quick record of some of the new things in their lives right now as well as things that have been highlights for them from this past month. Because I have a feeling that these things are going to be a distant memory soon just like them being tiny babies is! :( But with all the fun new things they are learning and doing I don't have time to be sad much about when they were small. So here is what little Ms. Claire has been up to since turning nine months old!

*Claire had her first puffs on Sunday night. She loved them and is a lot better at grabbing them and chewing them then Kyndall was when she first started.
*We have also started giving her a sippy cup and she seems to enjoy chewing it more than actually taking drinks. But she is getting the hang of using it herself.
*Also on Sunday (12-7) she officially crawled. She has been roaming the living room commando style for some time. But Sunday she did an honest-to-goodness hand and then knee crawl. She is now getting everywhere. Today she crawled into Kyndall's room.
*She and Kyndall play quite well together. Claire is more even tempered so when Kyndall takes toys and then gives her something else it doesn't bother her much. She is just glad to be down in the middle of the action.
*She weighed 18 lbs 2 oz. at the dr. on Monday. We went because both she and Keaton were sick. They don't officially go for their nine month check up until the 15th. I will be curious to see about the height difference in the two. Claire seems much much longer.
*She still fits most of her six months clothes, except for the length in pants. I never thought I would have a long legged baby, but Claire has proved me wrong. She takes up every inch of a 6-12 pant or 9 month romper lengthwise.
*Napping is not something that is usually on Claire's agenda. She may catnap 15 minutes here and there but mostly she likes to be awake and doing something.
*There are very few times in her day that she is sitting still. Most of the time she is either in route to a new toy or munching on one she just picked up.
*Claire prefers to be loose in the floor over being in the walker or exersaucers. She likes to be in charge of her location! LOL!
*At the beginning of the month she and Keaton officially quit sharing a crib. She has her own big space now and seems to be enjoying it quite a bit.
*Food is something that Claire really likes, but she prefers the solid kind and sitting in her highchair over laying back and having a bottle. It is like wrestling a cow to get her to finish a whole bottle at one time. She is constantly trying to sit up and see what everyone else is doing. I told you she was nosey! :)
*She is very strong and can pull herself up to sitting from almost any position. She also enjoys getting wwwwaayyy up on her tiptoes and putting her hands in front of her and holding herself up.

These are just a few things define Claire at 9 months. It is so fun to see her personality emerge more everyday. I am blessed to have such a beautiful, fun, and outgoing baby in my life! :) I love you Claire Elizabeth!

A day in the life of a cow in the Christmas Parade!

All bundled up to head to the Miller's and get our float to town. By all bundled we mean: tights, a pair of p.j.'s two more pair of socks, fleece pants, then jeans, two shirts (not including p.j. top) and then jacket. Hat on her head, furry croc boots on her tootsies and mittens on the hands! I can't even believe she still fit into her carseat!!


Spending a little time with Ali and Maddie before we hop on our float to get judged before the parade! Man is is cold outside!


Running around with Daddy who is much colder than Kyndall cause he isn't in a fuzzy cow suit!


Waiting for the judges to check out all of our hard work! Don't you just love the greenery on the manger in the background? That was mommy's favorite part!


Done with judging and waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the parade to begin! This is one patient cow!!!!


Okay, so the patience comes in spurts...but all in all we had a great afternoon/evening and finally got to head out onto the parade route. Kyndall loved riding through the crowds and waved at lots of people. She and Daddy sat on one side of the float and mommy and Patricia sat on the other along with all the other kiddos who made up our live nativity and heaven scences on the float. It was definetely worth all the work that we put into building it and we can't wait to come up with a new float for next year!!! Moo-rry Christmas Everyone!

It's officially Christmas at the Clay house!

Close up of some of my favorite ornies


Our tree which after three years of begging from Jordan I still won't part with. He wants pre-lit, but I just can't imagine life without this tree. We bought it together on our first Christmas dating! :)


View from the side. I moved the tree into the middle of the window this year instead of putting it in the corner for more ornament coverage! LOL!


My special Precious Moments nativity. It was given to me by my Aunt Amy, it had belonged to her mom who died of breast cancer a few years ago. I plan on checking out Ebay and someday making the entire collection complete for my kiddos to fight over someday! (yeah right)


A few of my special snowman buddies!


The special plate where Santa can always find some cookies on Christmas Eve!


Just a few of the extras I put out this time of year. I love the believe star pillow.


My very favorite snowman. (I know mom's aren't supposed to have favorites) But this fella came to live with us after many dropped hints to Jordan one year about what I would like for Christmas. He totally came through and this fella has been a member of our family ever since!


The kiddos stockings hung on a peg rack, since we aren't lucky enough to have a mantle or fireplace! Maybe someday when I get to renovate an old farmhouse somewhere!


Another fun snowman that hangs out in our dining room.


Love the spray with the jingle bells and berries!


My believe sign is usually in my tree, but little hands have lead me to find a new home for it this year! I would hate for it to fall out of the branches and knock and unsuspecting baby on the noggin!


My dough bowl of Jingle bells on my dining room table. I am not sure why, but I absolutely love jingle bells. I seem to hunt them out where ever I go this time of year and my collection has been growing and growing. I think in a few years this bowl may have to be replaced with a bigger spot for all of them!

So as you can see Christmas is clearly my holiday of choice! I must admit it took a little extra motivation this year to get into the spirit. But I am glad that I finally did. The kids have been extremely good with the tree and new decorations. A house just always seems so much cozier when it is lit by the glow of christmas lights!

Hope you all have a great Friday!

Thoughts on a snowy Monday afternoon---

I give up!!! I tried a few practice photos the other day just to see what was going to happen when I take the kiddos to have their phots professionally done for Christmas. So these are the shots I got. Not exactly what you wanna see coming at ya on our Christmas Card! SIGH!!! I am pretty sure my only option at this point is to photograph all of the kids apart and then do one card with multi photos. So much for family unity and love! HA! :)

Hope everybody had a fun Turkey Day. We were pretty low-key. Enjoyed the beautiful weather with all the family and kiddos on Jordan's side. That night we headed to The Lee's to eat again and just relax. It was nice to not have to rush around as we have done on lots of holidays in the past. Just a laid back day. What every holiday should be in my opinion.

I resisted the urge to partake in Black Friday and instead stayed home with the kiddos so Jordan could go hunting and to the playoff ACS game that night. I don't really think I missed out on too much. After looking over the ad's I had pretty much decided there was nothing I "had" to have anyhow. I did get out Saturday to shop, after I spent a few hours that morning decorating our church for Christmas. I still got lots of great deals and was even surprised that Wal-mart had two of the things that I was assuming would have been sold out on Friday. So I picked up two of the kids Santa presents at good prices. The mall wasn't insanely busy and we even managed to drag ourselves to Toys R Us before we went home. So it was a productive and fun day!

Well off to get Kyndall who is up from her nap. Have a good Monday!!!

Hugs-
Ivana