9 months

I heard it said that the days go slow but the years go fast. I can't believe how fast the last 9 months have gone. We have enjoyed it all.... well the first 3 months were really tough but we would do it all over in a second! Clay and I are thankful for each day that God gives us together and with these 2 girls!
Adelain and McKinley are in a really fun time. As the girls get older the more we see differences in them. I have had people tell me that they have never seen girl twins look more different! Other people have been surprised when I tell them that they are twins! Not only do they look different but they are different in about every other way!
At their 9 month doctor check McKinley was 26.5 inches and 16.1 lbs which was 50% for length and 20% for weight. Adelain came in at 28 inches and 14.14 lbs which was 75% for length but didn't make the chart for weight! McKinley is a bit shorter and chunkier than Adelain who doesn't have any meat on her bones! McKinley continues to love sleep and enjoys naps as well. Adelain sleeps well at night but doesn't seem to need as much sleep during the day. I do keep her in her crib for naps and when I check in on them during their nap, Adelain will often be talking, practicing her crawling, or playing with her toes. McKinley is our cuddler. I think her love language is touch as she loves to touch people, especially Adelain. She loves to pat (or hit) people, especially their faces. If we put her to bed for nap or bed and she is really crying, all we have to do is touch her back like we are going to rub it and she is instantly quiet. She loves her back rubbed and her bottom patted! Adealin on the other hand doesn't sit still enough to be cuddled. She is always moving. If she is sitting her hands and feet are constantly moving in circles! Clay says that she has jazzy hands. People notice this a lot and like to stop and watch and laugh! McKinley is our curious girl. She wants to touch, taste, look at, feel.... everything! She is interested in everything! It can be a challenge to feed her sometimes because she wants to look at things and not miss out on anything! Adealin.... not as interested in things. She is content to watch McKinley do her thing and play where she is sitting and she likes her food a lot so its not as hard to feed her! McKinley is about 2 weeks ahead of Adelain on development, which she used to be 4 weeks... so Adelain is catching up to her. McKinley started sitting and 3 weeks later Adelain did. McKinley started crawling and it took 2 weeks for Adelain to join her. McKinley is fast at crawling and I can't leave her sight for long before she is across the room. Adelain is still learning but when she does.... we may be in trouble! We think that she is going to be everywhere and into everything. McKinley has learned no and will obey with tears sometimes, but nonetheless she doesn't usually get into things when we tell her no. Adelain hasn't learned no. She is kind of "spacey" and just smiles at us. To her credit, we have worked more with McKinley just because she is more curious of things and we have had more opportunities to train her in no. The girls both enjoy outside, going on walks, food- especially table food (cheese, yogurt, bread, cheerios, mash potatoes, banana bread), going to church and ball games where they are played with, playing with dad on the floor where he makes up games- his favorite being that the ground is lava and that he rolls around with them and says "not in the lava" as he holds them till they almost touch the carpet, music (McKinley dances), toys, crawling, and any silly games that we play with them. A new thing that McKinley has learned is clapping which she loves to do.
The girls are already good friends. Right now they are half way into their nap, I heard someone so I peeked in on them. They are laughing hysterically at each other- mainly Adelain laughing at McKinley. I can hear them 3 rooms away laughing! McKinley often tries to get Adelain to laugh at her and loves when people laugh at her. Most of the time when I get them from naps or when we wake them up, they are looking at each other and talking.
Clay has been busy with football and school but I'm thankful for a husband who is so active with his kids. The girls love when he comes home and often start looking towards the door even before he gets home. Clay works really hard at school so that he hardly ever has to go back up to school to prepare for the next day. The football team is 5-1 and has 2 regular season games left. Then, hopefully playoffs!
I have started going to a women's Bible study and we are reading when sinners say I do. It has been really good so far as it has talked about the sinfulness of man, Jesus Christ substitutionary death on the cross for our sins, and how marriage like everything was designed for Gods glory. I am excited to continue in the study and for God to continue to show me how I can be the wife and mother and friend, sister, daughter... to the glory of God. I'm thankful for a husband who also consistently points me to the cross and who does this by word and action.
We are hoping to get some family pictures done soon as the girls are getting so big. Here are some pictures to share!


McKinley likes this pose a lot! Adelain has recently been doing it as well
Daddy with the girls
Mommy and girls
Grandma Jones and girls
Grandma and Grandpa


Adelain
McKinley




Daddy and Adelain cuddling

4th of July

Jones Family Reunion 2010

We have been looking forward to the annual Jones reunion at Johnson lake for a long time. We really enjoy spending time with family and treasure the times when we all get together. There was a full house at my parents so Clay and I and the girls slept our nights at my grandmas house along with my aunt and uncle Sheila and Kent. Their girls Sydney and Cecily stayed at my new grandmas place with my grandma and my uncle, aunt, 2 cousins, a husband and a boyfriend (Scott, Starla, Kelly, Marco, Shawna, and Jon) stayed at the cabin at the lake.
We enjoyed: swimming at the pool, ultimate frisbee in the lake, annual soccer game, meals together, fireworks, but most of all we enjoyed getting caught up on what everyone is doing and how the last year went. It was fun to catch up with my cousin Kelly and her husband Marco from Texas. They are going to be naturals when the time comes for them to have children!

Shawna, Kellys sister will be leaving for El Salvador where she will be serving in the Peace Corps. Please keep her in your prayers as she will be gone for 2 years. Sydney, my aunts oldest daughter graduated 1st in her class and will be attending Oklahoma State next year. We have been giving her a hard time about being a Sooner but we are glad she will be close. Cecily, Syd's sister will be a junior next year and will be missing Syd but convinced her family to get another foreign exchange students next year.
My aunt Starla was really excited to do a new "Jones event" and enter our boat in the 4th of July boat parade. She is the one standing up waving the flag!

It was fun to see my sisters and their kids and see, watch, and tell kid stories. We have great parents for examples around us! It is always fun to see the 4 babies together and see how they have grown.
Amelia- Megan & Conrads (December 20) Isaac- Michala & Jareds (March 18) Adelain, McKinley- ours (December 20)Adelalin, McKinley, Isaac, Amelia

This years 4th of July celebration we missed our grandpa Jones who passed away in April. We think of him often and what great memories we have and what a great legacy he left us. We miss and love him so much. Grandma Jones is doing well and is always a big help when we all get together.





My grandma, parents, sisters and brothers in law, brother, and the nieces and nephews
Papa with Mckinley and Adelain


Fun at the pool



We would ask you to please pray for our friends Jennifer and Josh Jones. They are in the midst of a complicated adoption. Please pray for peace for them in this uncertain time.

6 months

It is hard to believe that 6 months have already gone by. The girls are getting so big and doing new things every day. It is exciting for us to watch them grow and learn new things. The girls are very different and some of our friends say that not only do they not look like twins but they don't even look like sisters! Their personalities are as different as their looks!
McKinley started out as our easy-going, chill girl but has changed into our more demanding girl. She continues to love being held and has discovered her toes, which we often find her sucking on! McKinley has been rolling from her back to her tummy for awhile. She flips over very fast but cannot get back onto her back. McKinley has also started to eat vegetables. She gets more on her than in her but she is getting better.
Adelain started out very demanding and cried a lot. She has turned into our very smiley sweet girl who loves to giggle when her dad plays with her. Adelain is more independent and is often satisfied to play by herself on the play mat. She is not near as flexible as McKinley and although she was the first to roll over, about a month ago, hasn't since. Adelain is much smaller and not interested in food like McKinley is.
Clay and I decided to take a family vacation to Colorado. We were excited when Clay's mom, Kathy, agreed to come with us. We spent a week in Avon Colorado where we went to Vail, Breckenridge, Edwards, Leadville, and Beaver Creek. We spent a lot of time in the car but the girls did great, although they still cry when they see a car seat! The girls got to experience a lot of new things such as swimming. I was super excited to get them into the water and when we did they didn't really respond. I take no crying as they loved it even though they were pretty indifferent. Some of our favorite things that we did were: riding up and down a ski lift, walking around the lake at our hotel, fishing, eating ice cream and pizza, and playing cards.
When we were in Vail some people stopped to look at the girls and one lady said, "twins! Wow... O-come look at the chubby one!" McKinley gets that a lot! We had a great time and although there were more obstacles with little ones, we would recommend it to all new parents! Here are a few pictures from our trip:
Adelain and Mckinley All of us in the poolClay and Kathy fishing by our motelMe and Mckinley hanging out while Clay and Kathy are fishing in BreckenridgeThe four of us outside our motel on a walk around the lakeWe enjoyed relaxing by the lake together

On the way back from Colorado we spent a few days with my family and with some friends at my 10 year class reunion. There were about 30 classmates I was able to see.We got to spend some time with my best friend from high school, Jessica and her husband Chitty and daughter Evy. It was fun to look back and laugh at the memories. We also were able to attend my high school basketball coach- Mr. Carpenter retirement party. Coach Carpenter was the first and only girls basketball coach in Lexington. There were a lot of his former players there and it was a fun time celebrating him.
Clay has been busy this summer. He is painting his sisters house in Aurora when he can, coaching basketball and football camps, has open gym 1-2 times/week, and is looking to take classes to get his CDL.
The girls had their 6 month check a few days ago. McKinley is 10th percentile on weight and length: 13'6 and 24.5 inches long. Adelian is 5th percentile (barley on chart) for weight and 50th percentile on length: 12'12 and 25.5 inches long. Most people think there is at least 2 LLB weight difference between the girls but Adelain is quite a bit longer.
We are excited to go to Lexington for the Jones family reunion every year during the 4th of July. The entire family will be back which means my dad, his brother and sister, their 4 kids and one son in law and a boyfriend, and my 2 sisters and brother and their 5 kids. It will be a little crazy with 7 grand kids 2 1/2 years and younger but we love it!
We enjoy looking back over the 6 months. We remember when we didn't think we would be able to have kids and we praise God for the incredible miracles that he has given us. Praise the Lord!

Tribute to Grandpa Jones

The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away, blessed be the name of the LORD.
Job 1:21b

We thank God for the 85 years that Grandpa Jones had on this earth. Grandpa Jones was born February 24, 1926 and passed away on Friday, April 15, 2011. He is going to be missed by so many people. Grandpas family has so many good memories of him. My grandpa loved to dance with my grandma, loved to play bridge, go to grand kids activities, and to golf.
My grandpa was famous for saying "love you to pieces" which we would love to continue to say! I remember him calling us grand kids "little runtz." Another thing I remember him saying a lot when he would see people is "well Hello there." Grandpa was also famous with the grand kids by being a crazy boat driver. One time he was driving the boat as 2 of us were tubing and he drove the tube over a buoy. It was always important for the people in the boat to let grandpa know if he was about to drive into a deck! He was always trying to dump the tubers in record time!
Grandpa along with his "lovely bride" as he would call grandma were at many of his grand kids activities. I remember him at all of my games that he was in town and how he would take my hand- or pull my pony tail and tell me that I did a good job. He was always encouraging us and never focused too much on how good or bad we did.
The funeral was very hard. Almost the entire family was there and many people talked about grandpa during the funeral. What was focused on and what I will remember most about my Grandpa Jones is his legacy of love to my grandma that he left behind. My grandpa loved my grandma with all of his heart. They were two peas in a pod and I can't remember an activity or event that they weren't there together. My grandpa would often hold my grandmas hand as an act of love. Grandpa will be forever missed and I look forward to telling our kids about their great-grandpa and the wonderful man that he was.

So fast!

No confusing our girls!! McKinley is our girl with the chubby checks!

Psalm 39: 4,5
"O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!"

I need to read this scripture every day! To be reminded that our days are numbered and that life is so fast. To live a life pleasing to God and to live while we are alive! I don't want to miss a moment. Clay has been dancing with the girls as he sings or listens to the song- "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman. It is really good and to think that it was written right before one of Stevens little daughters died in an accident. Good reminders to not waste our lives and to treasure the good things that God has given us and to use them for His glory! Thanks be to God!

McKinley and Adelain are getting so big! They have doubled their weights! Last time we went to the doctors was 4 weeks ago and McKinley was 9-11 and Adelain was 8-10. Adelain- our little peanut weighs more than what they weighed combined when born! It is hard to imagine since she is still so little, especially compared to McKinley- what a tub! They change each day and are so fun to watch. They are enjoying playing on their play mat, especially McKinley. They kick their feet, move arms all about, and turn their heads back and forth. They have started to really focus on us which is great except when one is getting fed and the other looks at her sister and mom and starts crying- the jealousy has already begun!
About 2-3 weeks ago they started sleeping through the night! They are currently sleeping 9-10 hours- what a blessing. They enjoy eating, being held, their car seats- after they have been buckled in, walks outside, dancing, bouncy seats, smiling, grandparents and friends, their binky's, and their play mat.
The countdown is 10 days till we see the doctor and hopefully get released to take them out. We are looking forward to going to church together as well as everything else. We have been able to take them to grandma Mankins which has been fun for all of us. We are looking forward to taking our first over night trip to Grandma and Papas house in Lexington tonight.
Clay and I continue to read books about bringing up our girls in a God centered way. We pray for our girls that they would grow up to love God with their whole heart and to trust in Jesus as their Savior.

Mankins