November 2009

I'm not sure how it happened, but November is almost over! We haven't done anything too exciting...just a few random pictures to share.

Brayden spends "quiet time" in the office every afternoon, most of which is spent on his HEAD!

Brayden and Sienna are still BEST FRIENDS! They do absolutely EVERYTHING together. He's even been trying to convince me that Sienna doesn't need a nap so they can have "quiet time" together in the office!

I couldn't resist taking this picture of Sienna...her hair and sunglasses are just too funny. After seeing the picture, she reminds me of Michelle Tanner from Full House (the Olsen Twins)!!!

Brayden did have a bit of an accident a few weeks ago. He loves to ask Chris to wrap him up like a "burrito". Chris rolls him up in a big blanket and he usually just lays around trying to get out. For some reason, he ended up on his feet, walking around on the hardwood floor. All of a sudden there was a huge thump and Brayden landed face first on the hardwood floor, with no arms to break his fall. He has never screamed so loud in his life. After we got him calmed down and his nose to stop bleeding, we saw that his lip was HUGE! We moved him to the couch so that we could put ice on his lip and he immediately closed his eyes and became unresponsive! I finally started talking very firmly (almost yelling) to get him to snap out of it. At this point I was pretty scared because he has NEVER acted this way, and he's had 2 other semi-serious facial accidents. A couple of hours later Brayden was starting to act more like himself, so I wasn't as scared to put him to bed. He slept through the night and when he woke up, his lip was much better. In fact, by lunch time, he could eat and drink fairly normally. NO MORE BURRITOS FOR BRAYDEN! ;) An hour after the accident:

(click to enlarge)

48 hours after the accident (click to enlarge):

Chris and the kids made a bat jack-o-lantern the weekend after Halloween. Maybe next year we'll actually find time to make ours BEFORE Halloween!

While Chris and the kids were playing with pumpkins, I was out with Chris' mom (Jeri), sister-in-law (Kari), and Kari's sister. We went to the Woodburn Company Stores "Shopping Extravaganza". After a day of lunch, mimosas and shopping, we headed to Spirit Mountain Casino where I won $100!!! I was beyond excited because I NEVER win anything, which is exactly why I never gamble! What a fabulous day!

Random October Pics

Sienna loves to "work for money" on the computer...just like daddy!
Brayden loves to "fix" things with his Black & Decker tools...he usually spends a few minutes each day under the coffee table and/or dining room table.

Brayden and his buddy Koen from his preschool class!

Brayden made a "trailer" for the airplane using the stroller and car...I love watching his little 4 year old brain in action!!!

Brayden loves to surround himself with toys & pillows!

Sienna stole Brayden's birthday hat from school...I just love the look on her face when she got caught! ;)

Sienna's newest fashion trend...underwear on top of pajamas!

Happy Halloween!!!

This was by far my favorite Halloween! Not only was this Sienna's first Halloween without a cold, but the weather was amazing!!!

Last year I bought the kids' Halloween costumes a bit too big, so this year we decided to save money and stick with the same costumes. This is probably the last year that I can pull that off...the older they get, the more opinions they have on what they want to wear! Check out how much they have changed in the last year: Halloween 2008. I just love Sienna's short, curly hair...I can't believe how much it has grown over the last year.

Brotherly Love: When trying to get a cute picture of the kids, Brayden grabbed Sienna by the neck! As you can see, Brayden thought it was funny, but Sienna wasn't as happy about it...
After taking what seemed like a gazillion pictures, we ended up with a semi-decent picture of Super Girl & Mr. Incredible!

Before dinner we headed to downtown Canby for a little trick-or-treating fun! Our first stop was Papa Murphy's for free mini-cheese pizzas! Brayden wore his Mr. Incredible mask for all of 30 seconds....

The kids ate the pizzas for dinner, although, they didn't really eat much of them...as you can see, they didn't turn out great. I popped the HUGE air pockets, but the pizzas were never the same again....bummer!

After dinner, my friend Leslie and her family came over to trick-or-treat. Her son, Eli, and Brayden were twins (by accident)! Don't worry, despite Brayden's expression in this picture, he was super excited to go trick-or-treating!

The whole trick-or-treating gang!

Just like last year, the kids did great walking up to the doors by themselves. A few times Sienna stayed at the front door so long that I thought we'd have to go get her!

Trick-Or-Treat!

Sienna was the cutest Super Girl...EVER!

The boys were so excited to get more candy that they kept running off and leaving Sienna behind. Luckily, Sienna wasn't afraid to take off in a sprint to catch up! Although, towards the end of the night she did end up falling 2 or 3 times...she must have gotten tired!

Brayden rang this doorbell about 15 times, despite the fact that I was yelling at him to stop. Lucky for him he still got candy because they gave out FULL SIZE candy bars! In fact, 3 houses in our neighborhood did that. It is very generous, but do the kids really need full size candy bars with all of the candy they collect on Halloween?!?!?

Brayden was so hyped up at the end of the night (he hadn't even had any candy), he started doing funny dances. Sienna just stared at him like he was a bit strange!

Brayden's 4th Birthday!

We were finally able to celebrate Brayden's 4th birthday on Sunday. His party was originally scheduled for the previous Saturday, but we had to postpone it due to fevers, colds, soccer games & 2 cases of the swine flu! YIKES!The last 2 years we had Brayden's party at Pump It Up, but this year we decided to save money and have it at home. I was a little worried about how we'd keep so many kids entertained, so I bought a pinata and a Pin the Tail on the Donkey game. As it turns out, most kids don't want to put the tail in the wrong spot...Brayden was the only one that didn't try to take the blindfold off before "pinning the tail on the donkey"!

Here is a random collage of the kids brave enough to wear the blindfold. Even Chris and his brother, Rich, gave it a try. Although, they cheated just as much as the kids...they used their hands to feel where the kids had put their tails.

After the game, it was time to eat cake! This was by far the hardest cake that I have ever made... I plan on taking a fondant class before attempting Sienna's cake in June!!!

We finally got a family picture where everyone was looking at the camera...AMAZING!!!

Happy 4th Birthday, Brayden!

After cake, it was time for the pinata! I bought a pinata stick, but as you can see, it wasn't very strong. I think the pinata might have been demolished sooner if the stick would have been stronger!

All of the little boys had the funniest faces when hitting the pinata:

After the little kids had 3 or 4 turns, we had to bring in the BIG boys! It even took Brian and Jack several tries to break open the pinata...we definitely got our money's worth!

It got a little crazy once all of the candy hit the ground!

Time for presents! This year I actually had a hard time keeping up with Brayden! In previous years, he'd get distracted and want to play with each toy he opened. I guess he's growing up!

Before bed, we let the kids have a little treat. Since we hadn't cut into "Mike", we let the kids choose what part of him they wanted to eat. Brayden, of course, wanted to eat his big eye!

Mike was actually a big rice crispy treat, covered in marshmallow fondant...YUM!!!! The kids liked the marshmallow fondant better than the cake & buttercream frosting.

Only six more months until I need to start planning Sienna's 3rd birthday!

Brayden's 1st Field Trip!

Brayden's preschool class headed to Teacher Andy's house to pick pumpkins, ride ponies, and snack on yummy pumpkin bars! I'd like to say that it was tons of fun, but Brayden kept complaining the whole time that he was cold and wanted to go home! I guess he takes after us...we all would have rather have been sitting in front of a nice warm fire. :)

The kids never cooperate when we want to take a family photo. This was the best out of 3 pictures...
There was a ton of stuff for the kids to play with. Sienna's favorite table was the corn table. In fact, she didn't want to leave to pick out a pumpkin, so we only came home with one pumpkin!

The kids hammered golf tees into pumpkins...what a great idea!

Sienna was so excited when Teacher Andy brought her pony, Rudy, out. On the other hand, Brayden wasn't interested in Rudy, at all. Sienna blends right in with Brayden's preschool class...she's the same size as most of them (she's wearing the pink hat)!

Sienna waited very patiently for her turn to ride the pony.

Even though Brayden didn't want to ride the pony, he finally decided to give it a try. I'd like to say that he had fun, but he never cracked a smile! I was totally suprised by his attitude because the 2 years that he rode the ponies at Fir Point Farms, he loved it! You can check him out here: 2008, 2007. Brayden with Teacher Andy:

Sienna must have waited for about an hour for her turn on the pony. But, her turn finally arrived and she was all smiles! I was actually surprised she was so excited because her pony ride last year didn't go all that well!

Sienna and Teacher Anne:

After the pony rides, the kids took a break to have a snack in the barn.

Teacher Andy's 3 Year Old Class: Brayden, Logan, Gavin, Emily, Teacher Andy, Ava, Koen, Hunter & Ben. Front row: Sam, Brianna & Tyson

Sienna's Big Girl Bed

After several nights of being woken up by Sienna yelling, "Tuck Me In!", we decided it was time to see how she'd do in a big girl bed. It was just fifteen months ago that we transitioned Brayden from a crib to a big boy bed. How can it already be time to transition our baby to a big girl bed?!?!?! I think that Chris and I were both dreading this a bit...Sienna has always been a bit rebellious, so we weren't sure if she would stay in her bed. Not to mention that she hates change...especially when the change has to do with her and sleep.

I wasn't exactly sure what Sienna was going to say when we asked her if she wanted to start sleeping in a big girl bed. Sienna always refers to herself as our "small baby"...she never wants to be a big girl! But, to our surprise, she was really excited to sleep in a "big girl bed". Maybe it helped that I had gone shopping that morning and bought her new bedding, which she immediately wanted to open and sleep in. She was not very happy that she had to wait for me to wash it! Oh, and did I mention that we had to take down Brayden's old crib (she had been sleeping in it since January since his mattress goes lower than hers), as well as put her crib together. What a task! But, with Brayden's help (he actually helped take the screws out of his old crib and put the screws in Sienna's new bed), we got it done fairly quickly.

Can't you just see Sienna's excitement??? Since the bed has been in the garage for the last 10 months, the kids cleaned it with baby wipes.

The bed was finally ready...Sienna was extremely excited to climb in!

Brayden was so excited that we let him climb in, too!

So far, Sienna has slept great in her new bed! She woke up at 7:00am the first morning (30-45 minutes earlier than usual) and the second morning she slept until her usual time (7:45am). She's also taken 2 great naps! Here she is taking her 2nd nap...she looked so cute and cozy that I hated to wake her up!

Happy 4th Birthday, Brayden!!!

On October 19th, 2005, 3 LONG days after my due date, Brayden finally decided to make his appearance. He weighed a whopping 9 lbs 14 oz and was 21 inches long! Some days it's hard to believe that it has only been 4 years since Brayden joined our family...I honestly can't remember what life was like before we had kids!

Brayden's first celebration of the day included frosting chocolate cupcakes with orange buttercream frosting and Halloween sprinkles. What a fabulous breakfast!

Brayden's masterpiece!

Make a wish!

There's just something about our kids and frosting...they both eat the frosting first!

Brayden has been such a trooper since I had to reschedule his birthday party. Tonight we'll have Grandma & Grandpa Boley over for more cupcakes, tomorrow he'll have a small party at school and on Sunday, Brayden will get to celebrate his birthday with all of his friends!