I added lots of video clips especially for grandparent viewing. Clayton misses his grandparents. He can't wait for Brock grandparents to come for Christmas! He loves talking to Wilkey grandparents on the phone. We really need to set up skype.
This is the insert I added to the Wilkey December newsletter.

Don't grow too fast!

Clayton is such a story teller these days. He has always had such a good imagination but lately his stories have gotten better. I find myself some times at the edge of my seat. His eyes are huge when he gets to the climax. He spends a lot of time walking around the house with random objects or toys talking out loud about the action and commentary (but not in a weird way so far :) He would do well in the Story Telling Festival. Despite the ease of keeping him entertained he has come to me a couple of times already with the "I'm bored" phrase but he says, "Mommy I am boring." Humm...interesting problem. A couple of weeks ago I found him on the stairs with his head down. I asked him if he was okay and he said, "I am just praying for the people that don't have food." Anytime Collin does anything like a 'big boy' Clayton calls for me to watch him and he cheers him on. When I get overwhelmed with the boys I say sometimes, "You guys are going to give me a heart attack." I have been working with Clay to instead of pushing or yelling at Collin to come and get me to help when Collin is in the way. The other day he came to me frustrated with Collin, "Mom I am having a heart attack." We got the decorations out for the Christmas tree but then got distracted with other things so Clay decided he would decorate the tree without us. He put up about 15 ornaments by himself, well spaced too. Three words to describe Clay: funny, sweet, and feisty.

Collin is becoming our little-big-boy. He turned 1 on Thanksgiving! We have been surprised at what a little boy can learn in such a short amount of time. Showing him the sign for "more" just a few times he was able to copy followed by the cute head tilt and big smile. After night time family prayer we say, "Sure love Ya!" (Sound familiar?) Collin now makes fluctuated noises right after that mimicing our fluctuations in the phrase. The three of us were putting money in Clayton's piggy bank and Collin concentrated so hard to get those coins into the narrow slot. He picked it up and stayed with the job the whole way through. I kept wondering when he would get tired of it. A month ago he started taking steps without any coaxing but he still mostly gets around with his amazing crawl. I find him often inside a box or up onto a chair rocking it (giving me a heart attack). He loves his mom but he also loves to play and be in the company of other kids. His ear infections have been cured.

Eating snow

After an easy snow shoveling morning Clay still wanted to play. When I went out to check on him he was bent over eating snow. His lips and nose were pink. He is a little camera shy but still cute. Last year I was shoveling a ton of snow at this time! We just got a light snow fall but it was exciting! As long as the sun still makes its way through the clouds I don't mind a snowy winter as much!

giggle boy

love this boy

At least once a day the boys want to get on the bed to tackle and be tickled. We usually do so after bath time, which is usually an everyday occurrence. They love baths! Collin screams and tries to get in if anyone else is taking a shower. He gets bad that he wasn't invited.

leaves

Our first pile of leaves! It brought back last year memories of being 9 months pregnant and raking and raking!

Picking Raspberries

If you drive past our house you will often see me feeding my children off the vines or branches. It didn't take Collin long months ago to know where I was finding the delicious food I would stuff in his mouth so if I was holding him at the time he too would pick. A couple of days ago Devin was home and we were all out picking weeds and we found Collin picking his nummy fruit. Pretty impressive that he would grab the thorny raspberry plant and then with his mouth.

Toilet bowl cleaning

I was sweeping the kitchen and heard noise in the bathroom and found this little munchkin having a splash.

Slip n slide

Happy boys

Collin has a funny/silly bone. He will laugh at silly things and has some great tickle spots.

Play house

I love how playful and imaginative Clayton is. He asks to play house and tells me where my house is and when to come over to his. He always says that his parents left him at home but that I can play with him. Sad, I don't know why he says that he has been left all alone. This is one of the last times that we played in the play house before it was taken down. See pictures below.

Coming to an end

Not only did our summer come to an abrupt end but so did the 20 or so year old play house. Devin with some help from Clay tore it down. We had parental consent but I know everyone is a little torn from the tare down. Devin found close to 20 wasps nests and it was just getting old so it will be okay that a new one will replace it. We went to the Space Museum in Salt Lake and took pictures of the boys on Mars. They look like they are sad about the idea of us leaving them on Mars. Little Collin is getting big too fast. It is fun though to see him learn and grow. He looks like he wants to walk already. He has two bottom teeth and only wants to eat food that requires him to use them.

Summer ending

Ending the summer I wanted to put together the last of some of our summer pictures. Clayton spent many days playing outside with his friends Mac and Carter. I always had as much fun talking to my amazing friend, their mom. Clayton enjoyed the slip'n slide and little pool along with Collin. Clayton spent some time at his desk working on school work. He is enjoying his "school year" of a co-op preschool. Devin and Clayton not only look alike but have similar personalities/interests. Devin and Clay got some fishing in too. On one fishing trip it was Clayton who had the idea and pleaded to take home some fish to eat. He usually eats more than I do of the fish. Collin is in to shoes, literally. He pulls them out several times a day. Do I move them or do I make them accessible for entertainment sake? Leave them :)

1-2 Buckle my shoe and ABC's

Clayton loves to have school time. I liked this version of the cantar 1-2 Buckle my shoe. I read it in a book and taught it to Clay.

Camping

Blain and Heidi are good at getting together a family camp out. Devin and I are probably vetoed from the coordinating committee after we chose a camp site with lots and lots of biting bugs. Clayton came home with bug bites along his forehead and huge ones in his hair. We had fun at a couple water spots. The kids loved fishing. Devin brought his dad's 22 gun. The picture of me shooting is so funny because it looks like we were careless shooting in camp but there really was a clif side and just a couple of deer running past to dodge. Also if you can't tell I am trying to look with my left eye open and right one closed. I shot 5 times and then said to Devin, "I can't get things lined up. Oh I'm using the wrong eye." (I don't even have the blonde highlights:) After I switched eyes I shot the water bottle with my first shot. Great Grandpa Wilkey came up for the first night to have dinner with us. He gives great hugs.

July

I love the pictures of 8 month old Collin next to bigger 4 month old Lydia. We played with my friend's kids at the park one day and I laughed at the fact that her two kids that are younger than my two but are bigger. It was pretty cute though to see the two babies hold hands and try to eat each other's hand. (We still have to go the splash pad Shelly.) We have had some fun pre-school days with Janie's boys, Mac and Carter. It is fun to see Collin's personality come to life. He is so alert to his surroundings. He laughs at silly actions and noises. He and Clay play pretty well together. I hear Clayton from the other room trying to get Collin to look at him do something or to see what he made from his big lego set. Both Clayton and Collin love water. Collin jumps and reaches for the tub when the water is going.

Limp crawling

Collin has a funny way of crawling. It gets him around though.

Devin's Entertainment

Devin had a long recovery from his surgeries and I came home one night to Devin laughing at Collin trying to figure out what is on his forehead and how to get it off.


Devin spent some recovery days taking apart my kitchen. He organized cabinets, refrigerator, and down stair's food storage. He also baked two kinds of bread, rolls, crescents, and fried doughnuts. So I had to take a picture of him in the kitchen with it turned inside out. He is really good chef, which I have no problem handing the pots and pans to him.

A little about Devin

On July 6th Devin had two surgeries: a tonsillectomy and a large cyst removed from his neck. He reacted sickly to the percoset so he hasn't been taking much to help numb the pain. He has been so sore and just feeling awful. But isn't he a cute dad with his boys? Thank you for your prayers.

Fouth of July

We meaning the two little ones and I had fun with the other Wilkey's and Nilssons even though we missed having Dev with us. We went to the Lehi parade, had a couple of barbeques, water fight, swimming, and topped it off with the fire work show.

A quick visit from Sister Wilkey

Our Sister missionary mom came through for a couple of days before stopping in Vegas to help Erin with her peculiar situation. Clayton had so much fun talking and talking and playing some games with her. We miss you!

Collin loves animals. This is him with doggy Max. Collin at one point crabbed Max's ear and Max started biting his hand while Collin wouldn't let go and smiling at smiling the whole time. Clayton is our adventurous boy but he does fall a lot. He is my big helper. I had just asked him to take the clothes out of the dryer but he insisted on taking it to the dumping grounds, my bed.

We had fun at the Hogle Zoo! We got to see the new dinausor feature, ride the train and carousel, and enjoy the normal zoo creatures. Clayton loves to play with play dough and I was impressed by his airplane he made all by himself. Devin got to visit with grandpa Wilkey for a bit on his way home from scout camp.

giggles

It is amusing to watch how silly these two boys can be.

Enjoying a cool evening.

Out side fun!

My boys are getting big. Clayton is a doll and Collin has a melt your heart smile. We have enjoyed playing and working outside. One day I found a nest of 13 quail eggs under some previously picked weeds. Collin has discovered the thrill of swinging. It is cute to watch his worried face when he gets pushed a little to high. Not that I do that on purpose :)