I've been tagged...TWICE! Thanks Cam & Jocelyn! ;)

Five things on my to-do list today:
1. Remember to take Sudafed every 4 hours
2. Drink lots and lots of tea and OJ
3. Play with Brayden & Sienna
4. Catch up on email
5. Run errands

Snacks I enjoy:
1. Chips
2. Almonds
3. Popcorn
4. Anything salty!

Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Buy a bigger house.
2. Take a vacation.
3. Pay off Chris' student loans.
4. Volunteer somewhere where I could help others.

Places I have lived:
1. Salem, OR - 8 years
2. Bend, OR - 12 years
3. Ashland, OR - 1 year
4. Corvallis, OR - 2 years
5. Hillsboro, OR - 4 1/4 years
6. Canby, OR - 3 3/4 years

Bad habits I have:
1. I snack too much while the kids are napping.
2. I don't exercise...but I think about doing it all of the time!
3. I stress too much over the little things in life.
4. I drink too many "Triple Grande White Chocolate Mochas" from Starbucks.
5. I buy the kids too many clothes!

Jobs I have had:
1. Mom
2. Marketing & Training Manager - Intel (Hillsboro, OR)
3. QA Engineer - Intel (Hillsboro, OR)
4. Software Tester - Orcom Solutions (Bend, OR)
5. Assistant Manager - Videoland (Corvallis, OR)
6. Assistant Manager - ACT III Theaters (Bend, OR)
7. And those don't even include the gazillion other jobs I had in high school!

I don't have many friends with blogs, so I'm not tagging anyone in particular. But, if you have a blog and you haven't done this already, copy and paste this on your own blog and answer the questions about yourself!

Random Post Wednesday!

Since we've been sick at home for about a week (again!), I've had nothing better to do than to take random pictures. Enjoy!

Windows
Sienna loves looking out our windows. Unfortunately, the only ones at her level are blocked by toys. Of course, that doesn't stop her...
She wedges herself in between the toys to get a closer look!
Monkey Business
Sienna's turned into quite the monkey! She climbs in baskets and up on tables and couches! Recently she climbed onto the chair so quickly that she went head first over the arm of the chair before I could grab her. She ended up wedged between the chair and the wall but she came through the ordeal without a single scratch!
I hate to admit this, but since we've all been sick, Brayden has been allowed to watch quite a bit of TV...mostly the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Before Sienna became a monkey, his favorite spot to watch TV was up on the couch, hiding behind his Cars sofa. There was no way Sienna could reach him here!
Now that Sienna can climb on anything and everything in sight, we've had to stop using the furniture to block her exits from the family room. Since the ottoman is back in front of the couch, Brayden's new favorite spot to watch TV is on his Cars sofa instead of behind it!
Choo Choo Trains
Brayden and I had fun putting together a big train track last week...he even let Sienna play with it for a little while (shocking)! Maybe he didn't realize she was actually playing with his trains...

A few minutes later he decided that he was not very happy about Sienna playing with his trains. It didn't even matter that she hadn't actually taken apart any of his tracks...the problem was that she was touching them!
Dog Pile on Daddy!
The other night the kids were having fun piling on top of Chris. I thought it was so cute that I couldn't resist taking their picture!

Sienna's 1st Boo Boo

Right after lunch today, Sienna got her first boo boo...well, that's if you don't count minor bumps and bruises. She fell in the kitchen and hit her mouth on the corner of the cabinet. She gave herself a fat lip and cut the inside of her mouth on one of her teeth. Luckily it appears that all of the teeth are ok. Hopefully we won't have to postpone her 12 month pictures that are scheduled for next weekend. The "funny" thing is that the week before Brayden's 12 month pictures, he fell and hit his forehead on the edge of an open door. Luckily that was easy to photoshop out of the picture. Unfortunately the pictures don't do a very good job of showing how swollen her lip is (don't forget that if you click on the pictures, you can get a closer look at her lip!).

Hotel Macnab

We took a mini-vacation last week to our favorite spot...Hotel Macnab! I feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful place to take mini-vacations...actually, they are the only vacations we get to take with 2 young kids. Last summer my parents added onto their house (the house I grew up in) so now the kids have their own rooms! In addition to making their house bigger, they also added A/C! Now we not only get to sleep in peace, but we also get to sleep in a cool room!

Hotel Macnab
Hotel Macnab offers a variety of services and activities...the best cook (my mom, of course!), childcare, tennis courts, a swimming pool, a river, bike trails, etc...what more could you ask for?

Fishing
Grandpa had a special present waiting for Brayden...a fishing pole! Brayden had fun learning how to cast and reel the fish back in! Grandpa can't wait to teach Brayden how to fish in the Deschutes River! Chris had a little too much fun playing with Brayden's fishing pole...he accidentally cast the fish right over the roof! The fun ended when he tried to reel the fish in and realized that it was stuck! Grandpa got up on the roof, freed the fish and saved the day! Bubbles
As you all know, Brayden loves bubbles. Within minutes of arriving at Grandma & Grandpa's house, Brayden found the new bubble gun that they had bought for him. It provided hours and hours of outdoor fun during our visit! Brayden had fun making the bubbles...
But he had the most fun DANCING with the bubbles! (Notice his feet off the ground in the first picture!) The 1970's Toy Camera
Both the kids have always found this "Pocket Camera" fun to play with...who needs new toys when you can play with the toys your mom played with as a child? Brayden loved to walk around taking pictures and saying "cheese"! Sienna liked carrying it around while she showed off her walking skills to Grandma & Grandpa.
Brayden's 4-Wheeler
I'm guessing that when Grandma and Grandpa bought Brayden the 4-wheeler for Christmas, they had no idea that it was actually going to be Sienna's favorite toy! Sienna loved to push it around the house as well as sit on it...all while pushing the fun buttons. Playing Together
Very rarely do the kids actually do what I would call "play" together. However, while Grandma was slaving away in the kitchen, they sat on the floor next to the kitchen and played nicely together with my old barn.
They also played pretty well together in Grandma & Grandpa's fountain. Well, that was until Brayden decided to try to use his cracker to stop the water from coming out of the lion's mouth! Somehow the mushy cracker ended up in the fountain...in a million different mushy pieces...sorry Grandpa! The Stairs
Apparently Sienna loves stairs. We've had a gate up since Brayden was about 10 months old so she hasn't had the opportunity to play on ours. Unfortunately, there was no such barrier in front of Grandma & Grandpa's stairs so we had to make a barrier with the kids duffel bags. Of course she could crawl right over the bags, but at least it gave us a few extra seconds to retrieve her from the stairs. Luckily she wasn't obsessed with the stairs...they only caught her interest every so often. In addition to crawling over the bags, Sienna also had fun taking everything out of the diaper bag!
She must have been trying to figure something out because she looked like she was trying to count on her fingers. ;)
Maybe she was just trying to distract me from noticing that she was about to crawl up the stairs! Grandma's Birthday
Grandma turned another year older while we were visiting! Brayden helped Grandma open her presents and read her cards...he was very interested to see what she got! Brayden even painted her card all by himself!

The High Desert Museum
In February 2007, Grandma & Grandpa and I took Brayden to the High Desert Museum and he had so much fun that we decided to go again on Saturday. I had even more fun this time because the weather was much, much warmer and Brayden was able to do more things on his own. You can check out the pictures from our 2007 trip by clicking here.
We walked through an old, dark mine!

Brayden loved to watch the river otter "Thomas" swim underwater.
Thomas loves attention!
Brayden and Daddy checking out the Plateau Indians' tipi!
What a nice horse and foal made of barbed wire!
Brayden found a big nest to play in...

And a super fast slide!
A trip to the museum wouldn't be complete without a walk through a cave!

She Walks!

Sienna has actually been walking for about 3 weeks...I've just been too lazy to take a video of it! Ummmm...can you tell this isn't my first baby? ;) She is still pretty "wobbly", but every day she gets a little less wobbly and a little more daring. I used to close my eyes when she came within falling distance of the dining room table and chairs (she likes to fall head first) but she's doing so good now that I can actually keep my eyes open! haha! Enjoy!

Happy 11 Month Birthday, Sienna!

Our "little" girl is 11 months old! She is still growing like crazy...she is wearing mostly 18-24 month clothes and weighs (on our home scale) 22.2 pounds...YIKES! Oh, and have I mentioned that Sienna's walking now??? She also waves and gives "high-fives"!

Sienna has quite the little personality these days. Luckily stranger anxiety hasn't set in yet...she loves to play with everyone who will let her. Even though Brayden has never wanted to share with Sienna, he never really cared when other kids would take a toy away from him...he'd just get a different toy. Sienna couldn't be more different! If she doesn't get what she wants, or if something is taken away that she wants, she starts screaming at the top of her lungs. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have my hands full with her the older she gets.

Sienna still isn't talking much. Well, she talks all of the time, but the only words we understand are "dada" and the occasional "mama". Brayden didn't really talk much until 18 months and now he talks in complete sentences...apparently Sienna is following in his footsteps.

I never seem to have the camera ready when Sienna is actually smiling! When I try to get her to smile for a picture, she gives me this look that says "why are you taking my picture?".
I really thought that Brayden was the pickiest kid on the planet...I couldn't have been more wrong! This girl won't even eat yogurt, which Brayden has always loved. Today I finally got Sienna to try something other than cheese, crackers, & graham crackers. She ate one bite (a messy bite at that) of a strawberry nutrigrain bar! I've tried for months now to get her to take bites of pears, peaches, pasta, bread, peas, carrots, etc. and all she does is play with it for a few minutes before throwing it onto the floor. ARGH!
Besides throwing food onto the floor, Sienna also loves to throw toys onto the floor. Her sole mission every morning is to empty the contents of the toy box onto the floor...she doesn't even stop to play with any of the toys before they hit the floor.

Sometimes they play nice and sometimes they don't...

Playing Nice
Sienna and Brayden taking time out to have fun coloring together with the aquadoodle pens...

And...Not So Nice
After being stuck at home with colds for almost 2 weeks, Brayden was about to lose it when Sienna kept trying to "help" him build his train tracks. Since I was desperate to get Brayden some time to play by himself, I decided I had no choice but to put her in the Intellitainer. We have only kept the Intellitainer to help block Sienna from getting to the TV...she started resisting being stuck in it once she could crawl. Amazingly enough, she actually enjoyed it for a few minutes!

Random Post Wednesday!

Twins!
Catrina and I took the kids on a walk Monday morning...it was absolutely beautiful outside! When we got back to the house and unbundled the kids, we quickly noticed that Sienna & Avery were dressed as twins! What makes this even funnier is that the shirts are from a completely different store than the pants!
More Fun With the Wii
I thought it was so funny watching Chris and Brayden boxing on the Wii...like father like son!

Random Post Monday!

Self-Feeding
I don't know what it is about our kids, but they both REFUSED to feed themselves as babies! I know they have/had the ability to do it, but why should they bother when they know that someone else will feed them! They are just like their parents...STUBBORN! Last week I was on a mission to get Sienna to feed herself a bottle. She did good for about 2 feedings...and then she figured out that it was much more fun to turn the bottle upside down! If you've ever used a Dr. Brown bottle, you know how big of a mess that will make. Needless to say, I haven't let Sienna feed herself since then! Of course Brayden had to take his turn in the chair since it looked like Sienna was having so much fun. ;)
Crayons
Brayden really gets into his artwork...I tried talking to him (several times) and he was in such a zone that it was like talking to a wall! Freedom
Slowly but surely, Sienna is being given more freedom around the house. Now that she knows how much fun it is to play in the other areas of the house, she definitely doesn't doesn't like being trapped in the living room. Her 2 new favorites toys are 1) the art easel (which Brayden absolutely does NOT want her touching) and 2) the grocery cart which is full of play food.
The Wii
Chris decided that it would be fun for the whole family to get a Wii....like we needed more video games! I really don't like video games but I was curious about the Wii after hearing that it wasn't like regular games. Brayden and Chris have played several times but I haven't gotten much of a chance to check out anything but Mario Kart, which is actually pretty fun. Brayden and I have fun steering the wheel together. Brayden also has fun fishing with daddy. Below Brayden is playing his first game...Shooting Range.