While going through our Christmas pictures, I quickly realized that we didn't really do anything all that exciting for Christmas. Because of the crazy snow storms in Portland, and then the depressing rain in Bend, we weren't able to get out and do anything fun with the kids. Hopefully next year we'll be able to do all of the fun activities that I had planned for this year.
Christmas Morning
Brayden was finally old enough to be excited about Santa bringing presents for him and Sienna on Christmas morning. While Chris was upstairs getting Sienna, Brayden headed down to see what Santa brought him!
The kids had a lot of fun investigating all of the fun stuff that Santa left.
Brayden got a fun word puzzle.
Sienna got Clippos (which are TOTALLY disappointing).
And they got a front loader and a dump truck!
Bend
The day after Christmas, we loaded up the car and headed for Bend. Because of road conditions, we headed through The Dalles, which usually has less traffic. Except for all of the people stopping to put on chains (and then driving 2 miles an hour) between Troutdale and The Dalles, the trip went fairly smoothly. It took us a total of 5 1/2 hours, and we only stopped one time in The Dalles to go through the McDonald's drive through. The kids were absolutely amazing! Brayden never sleeps in the car and Sienna only took a 35 minute nap, but neither one of them got cranky while being strapped in the car for so long. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they did!
Upon arriving in Bend, Sienna cuddled up on the chair with Uncle Scott and read books. Note: if I had been the one to take this picture, I would have fixed her hair first...I don't even think she could see the book! haha!
After arriving at my parents house at 4:30pm, we decided to wait to have Christmas #2 the next morning when the kids were nice and rested (& us, too!). I'm sure this is the last year Brayden will let us get away with that! The next morning, while we were waiting to open presents, Brayden wanted to color with Grandpa. Of course, that meant that he wanted Grandpa to color...he was still a bit too tired to do any coloring himself.
Chris and the kids with my parent's 9 foot Christmas tree!
Santa left the kids stocking stuffers at my parents house! Sienna had fun taking everything out of her stocking...if only her arms were as long as the stocking!
Brayden did a great job opening all of his presents this year...as well as a few others! Breakfast is Sienna's favorite meal, and since we opened presents before breakfast, presents were not on the top of her priority list. Luckily for Brayden, that meant that he got to open all of her presents, too. Of course, that just wasn't enough for him...he also opened all of Grandpa's presents! What a present hog!!! I guess I should be thankful that I got to open all of my own presents. :) 
Brayden & Sienna both got stick horses from Grandma & Grandpa. Since the horses are actually bigger than Sienna, it took her a few minutes to figure it out. Here she is attempting just to hold it.
Of course, Brayden took off galloping while Sienna lost control of her horse!
Once again, the Wedgits at my parents house were quite a hit. This time Sienna was even able to build her own creations! If you have never seen these before, you need to check them out...they are great for all ages!
Grandma & Grandpa Boley bought Brayden this cool keyboard for Christmas. The kids were having so much fun playing with it at home that we had to bring it to Bend with us. It is so much fun that Chris and I have to fight with the kids to get our turn!!!
Chris and the kids love puzzles. Personally, I could do without them...I have zero patience for tedious tasks! Every Christmas/Thanksgiving that we spend with my parents, Chris has to do a puzzle. Here he is just getting started...they ended up finishing this puzzle in ONE day! Ok, so, the kids didn't really help...Chris and Grandpa did all of the hard work, despite the kids!
Now that Sienna is older, she gets to draw with markers. Even though she can't trace any of the lines, she loves to draw all over the pages and then erase them. The best part is that she's old enough that I don't have to supervise her too much!
Sienna and I had fun riding around on her horse together. Galloping around the house while carrying a 25 pound toddler is quite the workout!!!
After a few rides with me, Sienna decided she could do it herself. And you know what? She could! Even though the horse was big, she was a pro rider after just a couple of tries! She rode her horse all over the house... 
I'm not sure where the 8 days went that we spent in Bend...it went by so fast! While we were there, Chris saw a movie with my dad and brother, and then later my mom and & I saw a movie together. Chris and I went out to dinner on New Year's Eve (thanks for babysitting, Mom & Dad!!) and had the best dinners EVER at a little place called Staccato At the Firehall. We can't wait to go back the next time we are in town. On New Year's Day, I met a couple of friends from high school for a drink. Other than that, it was 8 days of relaxation...well, as much relaxation you can get with a 1 1/2 and 3 year old! Oh, and did I mention that I had a cold the whole time we were in Bend? The most irritating part is that I came down with it on Christmas Eve, even though I hadn't left the house in almost 2 weeks (except to play in the snow). ARGH! Luckily I didn't pass the cold on to anyone else...what a miracle!
After arriving at my parents house at 4:30pm, we decided to wait to have Christmas #2 the next morning when the kids were nice and rested (& us, too!). I'm sure this is the last year Brayden will let us get away with that! The next morning, while we were waiting to open presents, Brayden wanted to color with Grandpa. Of course, that meant that he wanted Grandpa to color...he was still a bit too tired to do any coloring himself.
Chris and the kids with my parent's 9 foot Christmas tree!
Santa left the kids stocking stuffers at my parents house! Sienna had fun taking everything out of her stocking...if only her arms were as long as the stocking!
Brayden did a great job opening all of his presents this year...as well as a few others! Breakfast is Sienna's favorite meal, and since we opened presents before breakfast, presents were not on the top of her priority list. Luckily for Brayden, that meant that he got to open all of her presents, too. Of course, that just wasn't enough for him...he also opened all of Grandpa's presents! What a present hog!!! I guess I should be thankful that I got to open all of my own presents. :) 
Brayden & Sienna both got stick horses from Grandma & Grandpa. Since the horses are actually bigger than Sienna, it took her a few minutes to figure it out. Here she is attempting just to hold it. 
Of course, Brayden took off galloping while Sienna lost control of her horse!
Once again, the Wedgits at my parents house were quite a hit. This time Sienna was even able to build her own creations! If you have never seen these before, you need to check them out...they are great for all ages!
Grandma & Grandpa Boley bought Brayden this cool keyboard for Christmas. The kids were having so much fun playing with it at home that we had to bring it to Bend with us. It is so much fun that Chris and I have to fight with the kids to get our turn!!!
Chris and the kids love puzzles. Personally, I could do without them...I have zero patience for tedious tasks! Every Christmas/Thanksgiving that we spend with my parents, Chris has to do a puzzle. Here he is just getting started...they ended up finishing this puzzle in ONE day! Ok, so, the kids didn't really help...Chris and Grandpa did all of the hard work, despite the kids!
Now that Sienna is older, she gets to draw with markers. Even though she can't trace any of the lines, she loves to draw all over the pages and then erase them. The best part is that she's old enough that I don't have to supervise her too much!
Sienna and I had fun riding around on her horse together. Galloping around the house while carrying a 25 pound toddler is quite the workout!!!
After a few rides with me, Sienna decided she could do it herself. And you know what? She could! Even though the horse was big, she was a pro rider after just a couple of tries! She rode her horse all over the house... 
I'm not sure where the 8 days went that we spent in Bend...it went by so fast! While we were there, Chris saw a movie with my dad and brother, and then later my mom and & I saw a movie together. Chris and I went out to dinner on New Year's Eve (thanks for babysitting, Mom & Dad!!) and had the best dinners EVER at a little place called Staccato At the Firehall. We can't wait to go back the next time we are in town. On New Year's Day, I met a couple of friends from high school for a drink. Other than that, it was 8 days of relaxation...well, as much relaxation you can get with a 1 1/2 and 3 year old! Oh, and did I mention that I had a cold the whole time we were in Bend? The most irritating part is that I came down with it on Christmas Eve, even though I hadn't left the house in almost 2 weeks (except to play in the snow). ARGH! Luckily I didn't pass the cold on to anyone else...what a miracle!While Chris was packing up the car in Bend, Grandma read book after book after book to the kids!
Home
HomeAfter a short 4 hour drive home (compared to the trip over), we finally made it back home. We came home over the Santiam Pass, which is my favorite way to go. Unfortunately, chains were still required and that meant more slow traffic...and more crazy people stopping in the middle of the road to put on chains!!! We only had one near accident at the chain-up area at the bottom of the Pass. I'm not sure why, but the traffic heading to Bend decided to take up 3 lanes (1 of which was ours) to put their chains on. They weren't even trying to pull over to the side of the road. That meant that we only had one lane and the traffic on the other side had zero lanes (semi-trucks and cars were seriously just stopped in the 3 lanes putting on chains). So, what's the traffic on the other side to do? Yup, that's right, use our one and only lane to get by all the crazy chains people. And where does that leave us? That's right! With no lanes and a bunch of people slamming on their brakes on solid ice/snow, while going down a hill! I thought for sure we were going to hit the car in front of us, but thanks to our ABS brakes, we stopped just in the nick of time...no accidents! YEA! Thank you, Chris for getting us home safely!!!
Once we were home, Chris unpacked the car (that is quite the task in itself) and then put together the rest of Sienna's Christmas present from Grandma & Grandpa Macnab...a stroller and bassinet for her new baby (who has yet to be named!). Both of the kids love to take her for walks around the house...
And that pretty much sums up the end of our 2008 and beginning of 2009. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2009 brings us...hopefully it will be better than 2008!
Once we were home, Chris unpacked the car (that is quite the task in itself) and then put together the rest of Sienna's Christmas present from Grandma & Grandpa Macnab...a stroller and bassinet for her new baby (who has yet to be named!). Both of the kids love to take her for walks around the house...
And that pretty much sums up the end of our 2008 and beginning of 2009. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2009 brings us...hopefully it will be better than 2008!
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1 comments:
Your kids look like they treat their baby doll so much nicer than my kids treat theirs. "Daisy" has been flung around by her hair and trampled on numerous times already. I think it's safe to say that it's too early to introduce a pet.
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