This weekend was the Grand Rapids Mothers of Twins Group family picnic. The twins didn’t participate much, but Jayden had a good time. As you can see below, he was brave enough to get his picture taken with “the big bird” who is also the Grand Rapids Griffins mascot. I don’t like “things” that I can’t see their face, and of course Griffy kept hanging around us which I didn’t care for. We didn’t get a picture of Jayden in the bouncy house, which turned out to be not so fun after a while. He got bounced into another kid’s knee and ended up getting a bloody lip. It was tragic at the time, but he has recovered and doesn’t even notice he has a cut on his lip. 
Jayden really enjoyed the pony rides or “yee ha” ride as he calls it. He didn’t want to have anything to do with it at first but after a while he decided he would give it a try. I’m glad he did, as he was really enjoying himself.
He also enjoyed the petting zoo. He was able to pet a turtle, donkey, sheep, bunny, goat, horse, and chickens.
Jayden was also excited to get a first hand view of a firetruck. He looks pretty happy to actually go inside the truck.
As you will see below, Tyler was in mid play in his bouncy chair and literally fell asleep while playing with the bird. He is still holding on to it while sleeping. He ended up taking a 3 1/2 hour nap this afternoon since he took a very short morning nap after getting up at 6:00 am. On the bright side, he and Alyson have been sleeping through the night lately. They just get up earlier now, which Scott is not a fan of.
Jayden enjoyed his chocolate cupcake tafter lunch today hat he received at Abby’s birthday party yesterday (thanks Lori). As you can see, he has a bit on his face.
Lastly, we ended Sunday evening by reading a few books. We are thankful all of the kids really enjoy books and like to be read to.
Actually, they are 5 1/2 month pictures of Alyson and Tyler. Scott’s brother, Steve, took pictures of the twins this past weekend and they are wonderful!! We wanted to shares Steve’s work with everyone. Hope you enjoy.
http://picasaweb.google.com/spartanfamily/TylerAndAlyson6MonthPictures?authkey=Gv1sRgCM_Ak57q1fr_Ag&feat=email#
Summer is a wonderful time of year…
Here are the pictures that Amy never added 
So here they are, she should give me more pictures to add.
I can’t believe it has been over a month now since the last time we posted anything. Time sure does fly, and even faster now having three kids. I can’t believe that Alyson and Tyler will be five months old already on Sunday. I apologize as there won’t be any pictures with this post. Scott always needs to do that for me and right now I am relaxing while all three kids take naps. It is a glorious day when that happens. We’ll post a link to pictures or put actual pictures on another post in the next day or two.
Tyler and Alyson were weighed yesterday by the maternal support nurse that comes to the home. Tyler weighed in at 16 lbs even and Alyson was 15 lbs 5 ounces. I knewTyler was going to weigh more as he seems to have hit a growth spurt lately. They were both 24 1/2 inches long. Alyson rolled onto her tummy for the first time last week and Tyler rolled over on Monday evening for the first time. Now I can’t get them to stay on their backs. We also had to resort to letting them cry to go to sleep. They have been in swaddle blankets since they were born, but many times lately I have found the blankets wrapped around their necks or their arms out anyway, so we went cold turkey and have put them to bed unswaddled. Tyler cries a lot longer than Alyson but they both eventually go to sleep. Today for their nap, neither of them cried and they just rolled onto their tummies and went to sleep.
Jayden has been enjoying the hot weather we have had recently. He loves his spraying elephant that Uncle Brandt and Aunt Brenda got him for his birthday. He is still enjoying his sandbox that Scott made for him. We may be getting a wooden swingset from a guy Scott works with as well. Our backyard looks like a park these days.
The nighttime feedings have gotten so much better in the last few months. Alyson was sleeping through the night for a few nights in a row but is back to getting up once a night. Tyler also still gets up once a night. We can handle that as we were getting up every hour and a half for a while.
We are very excited to travel to Alpena for the 4th of July to enjoy all of the celebrations, parade, and fireworks. Jayden keeps asking if he gets to see the fireworks. Hopefully it is nice weather. We are excited for everyone to be able to visit with all of the kids as well.
I guess my relaxing is done and I need to get busy cleaning the house, which is a never ending job these days!!
Scott has been very busy working on the backyard this spring. He decided he wanted to build a sandbox for Jayden, as the turtle sandbox just wasn’t big enough for him anymore. After spending hours chopping through tree roots, he actually had an area for the box. It didn’t take nearly as long to put together as we thought. He is quite a sandbox maker!! 
Jayden has been enjoying the sandbox!!
This picture shows the final product of the sandbox as well as Brandt and Scott searching for the ball over the back fence. Notice their size difference?? haha
After the sandbox was done, Scott was even more ambitious. He and a friend from GRCC, Mike Gross, put in our new patio. This was quite the project. Unfortunately there isn’t a really great picture of the patio but as you can see, we are enjoying it.
Jayden was a big help in building the patio. He was sporting his hat and sunglasses while eating his new favorite snack, Twizzlers!!
Everything was completed in time for Jayden’s second birthday which was on May 16th. We didn’t have a party, just immediate relatives that could make it. He of course had a great time and received lots of presents. He is very into the Cars movie and received a ton of toys from cars to a Lightning McQueen big wheels!! Aunt Kelli got him a music set that includes a drum, harmonica, and tamborine. He is really good at playing the drum and tamborine. I think he is going to be musically inclined.
He also enjoyed his balloons!! We forgot to give cousins, Emily and Grace, balloons when they left (sorry guys). Jayden had just as much fun with his balloons as with his toys.
On Monday, the City of Wyoming Public Works had an open house in which the public can view firetrucks, police cars, bulldozers, etc. We took Jayden as he is into trucks and cars. He had a good time. Hopefully this is the only time he is ever sitting in a police car!!
Finally, Alyson and Tyler had their 4 month check up (even though they are only 3 1/2 months old) and Jayden had his two year check up on Tuesday. Everyone got their shots. Alyson cried the most, followed by Jayden (he only got one) and little Tyler didn’t cry much at all. Jayden is now 29.8 pounds and 35 1/2 inches I think it was. I don’t remember the exact length on Tyler and Alyson but they were both right around 24 inches. Alyson weighed in at 13.13 pounds and Tyler is 13.8 pounds. I can’t believe how big they are already. We had a significant event occur last night, both Alyson and Tyler slept through the night!! We aren’t expecting that again tonight as Tyler was screaming for almost an hour tonight before I got him to go to sleep.
Alyson continues to smile all of the time. Tyler smiles a lot and talks all of the time. Alyson almost completely rolled over tonight. Her big head was the only thing holding her back. The picture below of Alyson is her usual self!!
Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anything and you enjoyed the pictures. There is never a dull moment around here and we are always having fun with Jayden and the new things Tyler and Alyson are doing.
Last week I went back to work. I was suppose to be working 20 hours per week but due to an increased staff I have to supervise as well as needing my vacation, sick, and holiday pay I am now working 30 hours per week. I work all day Monday, Wednesday morning, and all day Thursday and Friday. The week went pretty well and it felt like I had never left. I do feel bad leaving three kids instead of one.
I don’t want to jinx anything but the nights seem to be getting quite a bit better. Each night varies from but last night Tyler and Alyson went from 7:30 pm to 3:30 am for their feeding. It is always Tyler that gets up and we wake Alyson up to eat at the same time. It took Tyler a bit to get back to sleep but they ended up sleeping until 7:15 so we got a decent sleep last night. We can handle getting up once a night!!
Alyson continues to be the most content baby ever. She rarely cries or fusses and smiles all of the time. Tyler likes to talk all of the time and is most smiley after he eats. He is very impatient and screams until he gets what he wants. Jayden continues to talk all of the time, coming up with new things that make us laugh everyday.
Scott is working on a new project. He has decided to build a sandbox for Jayden. He spent all afternoon trying to dig an area for the box and was breaking up roots most of the time. We’ll see how long this takes. He has other plans to put in a patio and get patio furniture. He had no idea how much work goes into that.
Alyson and Tyler are just about two and half months old. We thought the sleeping would increasingly get better but it gets better and then worse again. Tyler has decided he doesn’t want to go to sleep in the evening and screams for quite some time. Same as nap time, he doesn’t want to sleep for more than 15-20 minutes and then wants to scream.
They were both weighed and measured today. Tyler is 22 inches long and weighs 11 pounds 2 ounces. Alyson is 21 1/2 inches long and weighs 11 pounds 8 ounces. Alyson has passed Tyler in weight, which we never thought would happen as she was much smaller than him for so long. Their head size is exactly the same but Alyson’s head looks so much larger than Tyler’s.
We had a very enjoyable Easter in Grand Rapids. Jayden was very excited when he found his Easter basket and got a number of the cars from the Cars movie (which he loves). He also had so much fun at an Easter egg hunt at grandma and grandpa Findley’s house in the afternoon. He wanted to keep looking for eggs after they were all found.
We added more pictures to our Shutterfly site. Check out the pictures at : http://theminton5ive.shutterfly.com/
Greetings to all! We apologize for the lengthy delay. The days seem to shoot by, days are busy and the night is used for taking care of things that you weren’t able to get to earlier. If I hear any complaints from any of you about being busy… (you don’t want to know what I think).
Nights aren’t getting any better. We are waiting for Grandma Kearly to come on back and SAVE us! Last week, Amy dropped the kids off with Grandma & Grandpa Findley, I took the afternoon off and we just slept. It was wonderful. Pure serenity.
All the children are getting more and more beautiful by the day. Tyler’s eye lashes are fuller, Alyson is quite a bit bigger and one heck of smiler, Jayden keeps saying more and more words along with putting together bigger sentences. Tyler and Alyson already have pretty good head control.
As we speak Alyson is pure nuts. Usually she is a good pretty good sleeper, well… Amy just keeps on holding and rocking her, it just doesn’t seem to help. S.O.S
Oh which reminds me, Amy and I had to deal with a first puke incident with Jayden. It was quite the spill. I rose to the challenge and got right into it. I am pure amazing sometimes.
Ka-chow!
So time to share some photos!
Alyson sure is getting big!
Jayden watching the children as Amy and I went to dinner <– Just Kidding
Jayden sporting Alyson’s head band.
Another thing I wanted to bring up is the amount of bottle pieces we wash each day. Amy or I will end up washing approximately 20 bottles. Well each of these bottles have 5 pieces. So we are watching about 100+ pieces along with pacifiers, mixing caps, etc. We can’t wait for this to end!
Hope you enjoyed! Besides child care we are looking for a full time reporter to document our days. This is of course another free position. 
- Scott
Alyson and Tyler had their 7 week appointment with the pediatrician yesterday. They both received the dreaded immunizations. I thought it was bad taking one kid in to get shots, taking two is much worse!! Alyson weighed in at 9 pounds 1 ounce and Tyler weighed 9 pounds 6 ounces. Alyson has gained almost 4 pounds since she was born and Tyler has gained three. Alyson is also only a half an inch shorter than Tyler and has the same head circumference as him. When born she was 2 1/2 inches shorter and had a much smaller head. She is a little pig and likes to eat a lot.
Hello to everyone!
It has been awhile since I have had the chance to post an update for everyone. We apologize! Time has been flying by…
Children already have been rolling over! Tyler and Alyson keep growing bigger, Jayden keeps getting cuter, and the nights not really getting any better. Alyson tends to smile quite a bit while Tyler likes to talk. Tyler also has taken a huge liking to being held and is very unhappy if you set him down. Scary. Jayden has been repeating about any words you can say to him. It is amazing how fast the words are coming now. Smart like his dad
Nights could be worse, and they could be better! I am usually okay with little sleep but when you break up the night several times with feedings, its like getting kicked in the head with no end in sight. I do have to say podcasts have been a great thing. I download the morning show Free Beer and Hot Wings and enjoy listening to them at times I should be sleeping.
The Minton Five have been getting meals delivered by very kind families and individuals that attend Amy’s good friend Sonia’s church. <– Is that even said right? If you haven’t noticed my grammer and wording could be better, but when you are tired, this all feels like a fuzzy dream. Soon I will trying to write on the computer screen with crayon. Anyhow, these people helping us out with food have been wonderful. It is definately appreciated and well liked! It always amazes me how someone you don’t know will help you in a time of need. We feel so in debt to them.
The last weekend was good having hours of interrupted sleep provided by Chuck and Kay. From what I hear Chuck was sleeping most the night but he did help! It was the greatest feeling having that! I felt like a new man for that day. Both of you are welcome anytime!
Now on to what you have been wanting!
Cute pictures!
This next picture makes me laugh and had to include it. Jen and Del came over to visit. Their beautiful daughter Kiana (Jaydens girl) has grown so much since I have last seen her. Just amazing! They were very cute as they played together.
Next we have some audio of Jayden speaking. He is saying so much but I had to share audio of him saying please. Click on the link and allow whatever sound player open the link. The typical Windows Media Player should work, they are just mp3s.
pleasebyjayden
This mp3 is Jayden first saying Tyler, and then a little quiter saying Ally. Sure is cute, but you might have to turn your sound up.
babynamesbyjayden
I hope you enjoyed! I wish I could think of more to share but at this time of night, it’s hard to even think. Plus I think I did have more but when it comes down to Internet Explorer being crap, it did lose some content despite to autosaving of this blog software. errrrrr
