A Day in the Life

Well, it's 3:30 on Saturday. The boys are taking a nap (they're still in their pajamas!), Bob is taking a shower, and when the boys wake up we'll go on our exciting adventure for the day -- grocery shopping! It's been a lazy day around here, but one we all desperately needed. Below are videos, some from today, and some from the last few weeks. They depict a regular day in the life of Chilsons at home.

Jakey LOVES books. His favorite place in the world is a lap (pretty much anyone's lap), as long as there is a book involved. Recently, his favorite is the "Baby Blessings Bible." I wish he'd talk more about this in public... it might go a little way in negating Robbie's very public statements about sitting through church. Every time we go from sitting to standing during mass, Robbie says, (read: 'yells') "All done? Go?!"
Jakey reads the Bible

A couple of weeks ago, the boys went through a phase where their favorite place to be after dinner was in a pack-n-play, together. They would ask to be put in there, just so they could hang out. Why two little boys would choose to share this small space is beyond me. But it's terribly cute.
Fun in Pack n Play


Our guys don't always get along. Working on sharing and taking turns has become a part of our daily (hourly) vocabulary. We waffle between making our "often-too-wimpy-to-fight-for-it" Jakey actually speak up for himself, and making his "often-too-aggressive-and-bossy" brother Robbie settle down and wait his turn. It's often hard to tell who had it first, or whose turn it is, as toddler rules are very complex! So, many of their similar or identical toys have identifying features, so there is no doubt what belongs to whom. For some reason, though, we never assigned a particular rocking chair to a particular boy (one chair was mine as a child, and one was Bob's). So, the rules of "I had it first" or "I want it more" usually apply! The video that follows is a disagreement over who should sit in one chair. My favorite part is when Robbie tells the camera, in no uncertain terms, that the chair he's sitting in is his, and the other is Jakey's :)
Rocking Chair Wars

Every once in a while, I sit down to play the piano for the boys. This generally ends in disaster, as a fight will break out over who gets to sit with mom, or it turns into a race to see who can jump on and off the bench the most times during one song, or any number of other non-musical issues.  Today, there was no fighting -- because once they decided they wanted to play, they also decided there was not enough room on the piano bench for mommy. So, play us a song, little piano men...
Little piano men

"Simon says" has become a favorite game since Grammy played it with the boys around Christmas. Here are our boys after lunch today (yes, they're still in their jammies!)
Simon Says

A short while after the Simon Says game ended, we put the boys down for a much-needed nap. They were exhausted/crabby, and both practically jumped out of our arms and into their cribs. 5 minutes later, however, they were in their room chatting from crib to crib, so I went in and laid down the law (mostly to Robbie, who was standing up and jabbering to Jacob, who was at least laying down and believably trying to sleep!). 10 minutes later, they were up to their old tricks. So, we grabbed the camera --- not exciting video (it's basically a still of our monitor), but the audio is quite entertaining (sorry about the obnoxious fan noise in the background - the boys have a space heater in their room to keep the chill away). We did eventually go back in there and "make" them sleep (they've been sleeping now for almost 2 hours!), but first we let them goof around a bit. Those moments are so precious -- when they just chat away to each other, oblivious to the fact that we'll post their "conversation" here for all to hear. It's one of those twin moments we just love. :)
"Nap" time

Here's to all of us enjoying such happy, restful moments during each day! :)

Thanksgiving and Christmas 2011

OK, so this is a bit out of order, but we wanted to tell you more about our Christmas tree story (story is on our last post). Because, you see, Jakey tried to warn us...

Jakey was cold and crabby when we were out tree hunting... until he found this "tree." He was SO proud of this little branch. Adorable. Well, kiddo, we should have taken your tree home instead of ours...

We put our tree up Thanksgiving weekend. We decorated it, and decided it really was the prettiest tree we'd ever had. But two weeks later, it stopped taking water. We finally gave up on it on Dec. 29, and took the decorations off. This is how many needles were left after the decorations came off.

THIS is what it looked like after the lights came off. No one we know has EVER seen a tree lose needles like this one did. It's so pathetic, you just have to laugh!

Below are a few pics from our hectic holidays. We've realized we did a pretty crummy job of taking photos, but on the other hand, we truly enjoyed every minute, whether a camera was charged and close at hand, or not! Here are a few moments we managed to capture...

Our first gift opening of the season was in Litchfield, with Grandpa Jack and Sarah. The boys got an introduction to the whole "opening presents" thing (auntie Beth, these blocks were a BIG hit!)

Robbie likes these trucks, too!

You know it's a good toy when toddlers play TOGETHER!

This doesn't look like a Christmas photo because there's no snow! This was December 22, my first day of winter break. The boys were bored, so we bundled up and went out to play with the summer toys on the deck!

Robbie looks like a little bag lady, all bundled up with his little toy grocery cart. As it turned out, Mommy got cold LONG before they did, so we ultimately headed back inside for more "normal" winter activities.

The boys got all cleaned up for all the out-of-town guests we were expecting.

I played some Christmas carols on my clarinet for the boys and Grandma Kathy. Jakey wanted to get in on the action!

By Christmas Eve, the boys truly understood that there were TOYS inside all that wrapping paper...

...and they loved their bean bags from Grandma Kathy.

Captured on film: The moment that Robbie realizes there's an Elmo in there!  (Thanks, Uncle Gary!)

Jakey kisses his Elmo!

Suzy, thanks for the Godson gifts for Robbie (he wanted to share with Jacob, too!) They LOVE things that "go", so you chose perfect gifts with the noisy car book and cool bus!

Bob relaxing on Christmas Eve with a couple of friends!

Christmas morning with Jakey (yes, that's MORE Elmo...)

Robbie on Christmas morning (Elmo stickers in his hand!)

After Christmas, we welcomed nearly all of the Chilsons for a packed, chaotic houseful (we missed you, Don and Amy!)... and took a huge group to the Children's Museum. The boys found a life-size "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" book to play in!

Playing percussion instruments at the museum.

It's hard to tell from this photo, but the "big boys", Bob and Mike, were showing the little guys how to start a food fight (foam food, thank goodness!) in the middle of a museum.

Yay for cousins. Here are Jakey and Robbie playing in the museum's toddler room with their cousin Ollie, who's just 2 months younger. We all can't wait to see them all grow up together!

Jakey LOVED the water part of the museum!

Ollie and Robbie played hard in the water, too. I choose this picture because you can see how soaking WET Robbie is!

Bob hangs out with some of his nieces and nephews: Jack, Elise, Ella, and Ollie.

ANOTHER gift opening??? The boys dig into their kid-sized table and chairs from Grandma Jean and Grandpa Don.

Ella organized some of the little ones so we could put that table to good use right away! And, it's been used many times a day ever since!

On Dec. 28 we still had no snow, so we settled for what Bob has dubbed "southern sledding." All you need is a wagon and a hill (and a willing eldest cousin, who made LOTS of trips back up the hill, lugging the smaller ones around -- thanks, Jack!)


Here are a few fun moments, caught on video:

Boys dance to an annoying toy (this went on for a half hour or more!)

Our electricity went out for an hour on Christmas night. At first the boys were nervous, but they got over it...

The boys received talking, stuffed Elmos from my uncle Gary. Robbie was so excited he couldn't even open his!

Robbie was a bit "starstruck" by Elmo. Maybe he thought he was real? He LOVED his Elmo, but was also seemingly terrified to touch him!

Jakey had no such trepidation about his Elmo. He gave him kisses, and repeated everything that Elmo said!