Sunday, June 29, 2008

Sienna's 1st Birthday Party!

Yesterday was Sienna's 1st birthday party...only 18 days after her real birthday! I was so excited that it was supposed to be in the upper 80's/low 90's for her party. For those of you who know me well, you know how much I hate to have a messy/dirty house....an outside party was the perfect solution. I started checking the weather forecast every day and every day the high temperature kept getting higher and higher! Ugh! Even once the forecast reached a high temperature of 98 degrees, I somehow convinced myself that since the party was early, it would still be comfortable outside. Well, as soon as we stepped outside around 7am, I quickly realized that having an outside party was out of the question. The high temperature yesterday ended up at 101 degrees...it felt like a sauna! Ugh!

The original plan was to have a very small party. Well, as it turns out, it is nearly impossible to have a small party once you invite your family, close friends, and their spouses and kids! We ended up having 17 adults, 13 kids & 1 baby attend Sienna's party. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of everyone...I'm not even sure what I was even doing during the entire ordeal! Just kidding! I am pretty sure that everyone had fun, despite the heat.

Brayden and Wyatt braved the scorching heat outside long enough to look through the window at all of the smart people who stayed inside! haha! More brave kids...and Leslie!
Uncle Scott tormenting Brayden, as usual!
Grandma Boley with Brian & Jack (our nephews).
Grandpa & Grandma Macnab and Great Grandma Hewitt....all very smart to stay inside the air conditioned house!
Those of you who are regular readers of my blog know that this is actually my second crown cake. I made a practice cake for Sienna's real birthday! I am pretty sure that this cake turned out better than my first attempt...although I think that they both turned out pretty darn good considering I've never done anything like this before. Now the question is...will I ever do this again? Well, that I'm just not sure about!
On Sienna's real birthday, we gave her the crown cake to play with but she didn't even want to touch it! Sienna was definitely more interested in touching the cake the 2nd time around....she wouldn't even look up for a picture with me!
Brayden, Chris, Sienna and me...our first non-professional family picture since we were at the hospital the day Sienna was born! Love that look, Brayden! haha!
Sienna absolutely did NOT want to wear her princess crown!
This time we gave her a cupcake to destroy...we thought that it would be less intimidating than the big cake. Apparently she just doesn't have a sweet tooth like her daddy and brother!

I really thought that between Brayden and Sienna, I wouldn't have to open many presents. However, I had to open ALL of the presents! To be honest, I have no idea where Brayden even was and Sienna wasn't interested in the gifts until they were unwrapped.
Sienna was sitting in the Elmo chair reading books for the majority of the time that I was opening her presents.
The favorite 2 toys of the day were definitely the doll house...
And the bubble lawn mower! Of course we didn't actually do the bubble part inside the house and it was way too hot to play outside! These 2 toys were so popular that the kids fought over them all night long...and then the fighting started again first thing this morning!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

A cold, but fun day at the park!

We've had so much fun enjoying the nice weather this week. We went to the park twice, played in the backyard, and went to the zoo! Of course, both times we went to the park it was cloudy and cold in the morning! Today we played at Westlake Park in Lake Oswego for the first time and it was the perfect playground for Brayden...he could do it all by himself. Unfortunately the pictures aren't great because I decided it would be easier to take our old camera since our new one is big and awkward when you have your hands full with 2 kids. ;)

The Slide
Last year Brayden only wanted to climb UP the slides...this year Brayden actually loves to slide DOWN the slides! Here is Brayden having fun on the super slow slide! While we were there, he became friends with a girl who was a lot older and she kept climbing UP the slide. Of course that meant that Brayden had to do it too. Luckily his only injury of the day came when he fell on the asphalt and skinned his knees. OUCH! Even though there was some blood involved, he didn't even cry!
Wood Chips
Sienna had fun investigating the wood chips and pine cones while she watched Brayden get to do all of the fun stuff. She even took a bite of a pine cone but quickly decided that it wasn't worth a second taste. ;) The Slide
Our friends Lilya & Anne helping Sienna go down her first slide!
The Stroller
Anne brought 3 of her dolls and a stroller to play with. I can't wait until Sienna is old enough to play with some girly stuff! Sienna ended up in the stroller while we went for a walk and all 3 kids each got a doll to hold....yes, that means Brayden, too! Anne and Brayden both wanted to push the stroller with Sienna in it, but with Anne's expertise in stroller pushing, she got to do it during most of the walk. Poor Brayden just couldn't keep Sienna on the sidewalk! Sienna checking out the eyes that kept opening and closing on Anne's doll.
If you couldn't tell, Anne loves babies! She kept giving Sienna hugs and kisses...it was so cute!
Jumping
At the end of our walk, the kids found a fun activity...jumping! They must have done this for over 20 minutes.
Good-Byes
Brayden and Anne gave each other the best hug when it was time for all of us to go. We have gotten together several times, but this was the first time they really did play together. They had so much fun climbing all over the playground together...I wonder where my camera was when they were doing that? ha! Next time, I guess!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

A Day At the Zoo!

The morning started off a bit crazy. In order to keep Sienna happy so I could get all of our stuff ready, I gave her a sealed ziploc bag with a bagel in it. The next thing I know, the 2 pickiest eaters on the planet are chowing down on bagels! Brayden must have opened it and given a bagel to Sienna while keeping one for himself. Unless you've had to try to feed Brayden & Sienna, you won't quite appreciate how surprising this is!
The Zoo
Sienna chillin' in Catrina's stroller with her best buddy, Avery.
For the first time at the zoo, Brayden wasn't strapped into the stroller! Of course, we haven't been in almost a year...what a difference a year can make! He actually listened fairly well and even held my hand for awhile. Catrina's husband, Eric, was able to come with us and towards the end of our visit, Brayden decided that he no longer wanted to hold my hand...it was all about Eric's hand! Needless to say, Brayden had a great time running around the zoo. Here is Brayden checking out a waterfall!
And here he is checking out some fish...

With his buddy, Wyatt!
Leave it to the boys to find sand at the zoo!
I'm not sure they were actually that excited about seeing all of the animals, but they certainly had fun running around the zoo. Here they are checking out the sleeping cougar.
And of course they had fun driving the tractor!
I decided that the zoo is not the easiest place to take pictures...unless you like taking pictures of the backs of heads. After the tractor, I decided to put my camera away and just enjoy the rest of the day!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

VIDEO: Brayden's Silly ABC Song...and other random pics!

The Picnic Table
I thought I'd share a new picture of Brayden & Sienna's new picnic table with the umbrella. I just can't get over how cute and grown up they look sitting at the table!
Reading the Paper
Brayden loves reading the paper! As soon as he sees a newspaper, he just has to read it! Just don't tell him that he's reading it upside down! haha!
The ABC Song
After reading Brayden a Dr. Suess ABC book 2 times, he amazed us by singing the song by himself! I really do believe that Brayden has a photographic memory...I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I do know that it is a bit scary...he never forgets a thing! I have tried numerous times to get a video of Brayden singing his song and he just gets so silly when he knows he's on camera. You have to watch the whole video because his laugh at the end is the best part!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Sienna's 1st Trip to OMSI!

Well, Sienna had been to OMSI once before but since she was in the backpack the whole time, it doesn't really count! This time, with the help of Grandma Boley, both kids were able to run free! Sienna had so much fun and to my amazement, even though she was wearing brand new non-Robeez sandals that were a bit too big, she didn't fall even once! YEA! Here are a ton of random pictures from our fun day at OMSI:

Brayden was weighing the different rocks on the cool scale!
Brayden wasn't the only one interested in rocks...Sienna thought they were pretty fun, too!
Sienna also really liked this puzzle. It took me several attempts to actually get her to leave the puzzle and move onto something else!
Brayden and Sienna both spent several minutes investigating these interesting tubes. To be honest, I didn't even bother to look inside so I'm not sure what was in them. ;)

Sienna has just become interested in playing ball. Well, she likes to throw the balls...she's not quite ready to catch! Here she is with Grandma Boley trying to figure out how this crazy ball contraption works!
Brayden always has fun playing in the water!
I think he's going to be an engineer...he likes to figure out how things work.
While Brayden was playing in the water, Grandma Boley and Sienna were busy playing with the blocks. After a few minutes Brayden decided to go see what they were up to...
Peek-a-boo, Sienna!!! This wheel was Brayden's favorite toy at OMSI when we took him there on his 1 year birthday! The water table and the sand pit are Brayden's favorite spots at OMSI. When Brayden was 1 year old, we didn't let him play in the sand...he still liked to taste everything. When we let Sienna in to play, I thought for sure that she was going to try to eat the sand. Surprisingly enough the whole time we were at OMSI she only tried to put one thing in her mouth...the red shovel (in the sand pit). Most of the time she actually listens to us (crazy!) and once we told her no, she didn't try it again.
Sienna was pretty excited to find 2 shovels!
Once again, Brayden was having fun figuring out how things work...
Sienna is definitely not a girly girl...not yet, anyways! Her favorite toys are cars, trucks and airplanes! In fact, Brayden got a cool metal truck at Avery's birthday party and Sienna has pretty much taken it over...she drives it all over the house!
Sienna finally decided to visit the water table...
and she loved it!!!
Brayden and Sienna even had fun playing in the water together!
Next we went to the arts and crafts room. Apparently they got rid of the flubber but the kids still had fun playing with the play-doh. Another first for Sienna!
Before we left, we stopped to look at the yucky insects, spiders, fish, etc. Then we headed for a tour through the cool dinosaur exhibit before making our final stop downstairs where we experienced a 6.8 magnitude earthquake! Brayden had so much fun pushing the earthquake start and stop buttons! What a fun day with Grandma Boley!