Random Post Friday!

I've managed to snap a few pictures this week despite the fact that Brayden is now in those "terrible two's" that I've heard so much about! Plus, Sienna is in the process of weaning herself off of her morning nap...at only 10 1/2 months! YIKES!

Sienna
I am still amazed that my "baby" is so independent and mobile. The other day I caught her sitting on Brayden's sofa bed playing with her hippo shape sorter. I thought she just looked too cute...and so grown up!

















Another moment that made me stop and think about how fast Sienna is growing up...she turned over one of her toys and made herself a drum!

















Brayden & Sienna
Sienna was having so much fun playing with Brayden and the strings from his "Lace & Learn" book. She was totally cracking up that Brayden was actually sharing his toys with her. By the way, did you notice that Sienna is standing up all by herself? She can take several steps, but I wouldn't really say she is "walking". The other night she walked across the living room, unassisted, but she hasn't done it since.












Sienna and Eli
Have I mentioned how much Sienna loves kids? Two of my friends came over with their kids (between the 3 of us we have 7 kids) and Sienna was in heaven. Eli is 1 year older than Brayden, but that didn't matter to Sienna...she had fun getting up close and personal with him!

Random Post Tuesday!

For some reason I haven't taken any pictures in over a week! I think this is the longest I've ever gone without snapping at least a couple of pictures. Mom Boley recently gave me a bunch of pictures from her camera so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to share them. Enjoy!

Brayden & Sienna chillin' with Grandpa Boley












Brayden playing peek-a-boo!

















Brayden and Chris












Brayden having fun going on Grandma Boley's famous "ride"! Brayden starts out sitting up in the air on Grandma's feet...

















And then Grandma bounces Brayden down to her legs!

















Brayden at OMSI with Grandma Boley

Beautiful Oregon Sunshine

We spent most of Saturday outside enjoying the beautiful warm, sunny weather. In the morning we blew bubbles, rode bicycles/tricycles, played with Brayden's plastic golf clubs and the tire pump (Brayden's new favorite "toy"). After naps we played with Brayden's new sidewalk chalk while Chris climbed onto the roof!

Bubbles
We had lots of fun blowing bubbles on the front porch! Well, there aren't any bubbles in this picture but it was the best picture I had!












Brayden's Tricycle
Brayden loves to ride his tricycle. Every time we go into the garage, Brayden climbs on while I put Sienna in her carseat. Unfortunately he hasn't quite figured out the pedals yet. Chris got my bike out of the garage and we rode it around trying to show Brayden how we pushed the pedals to get moving. Hopefully he'll get the hang of it soon!

















Barrettes
Sienna's hair is absolutely out of control and constantly in her eyes. I'm not sure why I hadn't though of this before (maybe it's because I'm not very girly), but when I was at my MOMS group, I noticed a cute little barrette in one of the little girl's hair. WOW...what an idea! haha! I have yet to find a super cute barrett, but found some that will do the job for now. Sienna looks so much more girly (& extra cute) with her hair out of her eyes. Unfortunately, it is NOT an easy task to get a barrette in her hair. She won't sit still for more than 1/2 a second and every time I touch her head, she tries to look up to see what I'm doing, making it nearly impossible to get the barrette in. Needless to say, it isn't the best hair style you've ever seen, but at least it keeps the hair out of her eyes! I tried to get a good picture of her new hair, but she was having too much fun "hammering".












Chalk
While I was out looking for barrette's, I picked up some sidewalk chalk for Brayden. Before having kids, I couldn't imagine why anyone would let their kids draw all over their driveway with chalk. However, after having kids, anything that keeps them entertained and out of trouble is ok with me!












Another picture of Sienna's barrette!

















The Roof
While we were outside enjoying the nice summer-like weather, Chris pressure washed the front porch. I would never recommend anyone build/buy a house that has the dryer vent that opens right onto the front porch! With as much laundry as we do, we get tons of disgusting lint all over our front porch...ick! We also noticed some nice weeds growing on our roof. Chris came up with the bright idea of going out onto the roof to pull the weeds. I absolutely hate it when Chris climbs on the roof. He used to do it all of the time in our Hillsboro house, which had a much higher roof. I couldn't even watch him while he was on that roof. Must I say that I'm scared of heights???? When we were outside playing with chalk, Chris decided it was time to go up on the roof to pull the weeds...yikes! Luckily this roof wasn't too high, but I was still scared and couldn't wait for him to get down.

Happy 10 Month Birthday, Sienna!

"Little" Sienna is 10 months old! Sienna is close to walking...she can stand by herself and take 2-3 steps before tumbling down. I really thought that she'd be walking by now...she's been cruising around the furniture for 2 1/2 months!

Smiles & Giggles
Sienna is still full of smiles and giggles. She absolutely loves her big brother even though he has become quite rough with her. Sienna actually loves ALL kids...from babies to big kids. She hasn't quite learned about "personal space" and is a bit aggressive for other kids her age.




















Waving
Sienna loves to wave at everyone and everything!

Random Post Sunday!

Painting
Over the weekend Brayden painted with real paint! We got him 4 paint colors (red, blue, yellow & green) and let him choose 2 colors to start with. It just figures that he chose U of O colors...yellow and green. I was pretty sure that paint was going to be absolutely everywhere...but to my surprise, most of the paint ended up on the paper!

















After Brayden finished his first painting, I gave him all 4 colors to play with. What an artist!

















Static Electricity
Sienna was playing peek-a-boo with Chris under a blanket and ended up with a bit of a mohawk!












Sienna's First Wagon Ride
Sienna went on her first wagon ride last week. Sienna enjoyed looking at all of the houses in our neighborhood while Brayden had fun playing with his rocket launcher. Those of you with at least 2 kids probably understand just how hard it is to take a picture where all of the kids are looking at the camera...with their eyes open AND smiling!

Brayden's New Art Easel

My good friend, Gurdave, loves to surprise Brayden with random gifts. Yesterday the nice UPS man delivered us a cool art easel! Brayden thought that it was so much fun that he didn't play with anything else all night...I think he stood there drawing for over 2 hours! He spent most of his time drawing with chalk but occasionally he'd switch to the other side to draw with crayons. Do you know how messy chalk can be??? As soon as he woke up this morning, it was straight to the easel!

Chris and Brayden putting the easel together.












Brayden having fun drawing with chalk.

















Brayden drawing circles!

Random Post Tuesday!

Hugs & Kisses
The other night I caught Brayden giving Sienna a hug and a kiss...it was so precious! Once I had my camera I asked Brayden to give Sienna another hug and kiss...it wasn't quite as good as the original hug & kiss, but still worth sharing!

















Reading with the Piersons
My friend, Leslie, and her 3 kids came over to play and before we knew it, Brayden, Eli & Brooke had all climbed up on the couch to read books!












More Guitars
Last night Chris found Brayden all decked out in my hat and scarf, playing his guitar. By the looks of the picture it looks like he was really rockin' out!

Brayden's 1st Easter Egg Hunt!

On Saturday morning we headed to Wilsonville for Brayden's 1st Easter Egg Hunt. The big field was covered with countless plastic eggs and what looked like even more kids! Brayden was super excited for the egg hunt and even practiced at home right before we left. However, once we got there and the hunt started, he was overwhelmed by the number of kids (& their parents) in the 1-4 year old group. He did get quite a few eggs in his bucket but the 4 year old buckets appeared to be overflowing!

The Field












The Hunt












Brayden's Eggs

Random Post Thursday!

More Legos
Since buying Brayden more legos (along with the red lego mat) last week, he has become quite good at building things on his own. Last time I posted a picture, he had had a bit of help from Chris with his lego structure. This morning Brayden not only built the whole thing by himself, but he used every single lego in the box!!!












Lego Boats
The other night while I was making dinner (& Chris was feeding Sienna), Brayden decided to see how many lego "boats" he could make. He had a lot of fun making each one...I think he ended up with 16 of them! Each time he brought in a new "boat", Brayden would count how many he had made. Well that was until he reached his 13th boat...he can only count to 12!

















The Coat Closet
One of Brayden's new favorite things to do is to hide in the coat closet. There is absolutely no light in there so I am surprised that he isn't scared to be in there by himself. He actually loves to play in there so much that all we have to do is threaten to take away the closet when he gets into trouble and he straightens right up...most of the time. Oh, and he really likes to wear our shoes, too (his feet aren't that big!).

















Painting & Coloring
Brayden has really gotten into color crayons and water painting and I thought I'd share his artistic skills. I thought that they were pretty good considering he isn't even 2 1/2 years old yet!

VIDEO: Brayden's New "Guitar"

Brayden has discovered how much fun it is to play a guitar (a.k.a daddy's tennis racquet). He's been having lots of fun playing it while singing and dancing. ;) Amazingly enough, he actually let me take a video of it. Check out his fancy moves at the end of the video...enjoy!

Random Post Friday!

Legos
Brayden has finally found a spot to play in peace. Because Sienna is in to absolutely everything, every morning we move a couple of pieces of furniture in order to keep Sienna fenced in the living room. Chris actually came up with this wonderful idea when Brayden was this age and he wouldn't leave the kitchen drawers alone...you wouldn't believe how many times he smashed his fingers...you would have thought he would have learned by the 100th time, or so! Once again it has been a lifesaver being able to keep Sienna in a safe environment. Brayden is also enjoying the new furniture setup because it means that he has his own tiny little spot of carpet all to himself.













Sleeping Beauty
Yesterday I had to wake Sienna up from her morning nap, which never happens. She was in such a deep sleep that she didn't even stir when I opened the door (both kids are very light sleepers and usually stand right up as soon as the door opens). I ran downstairs as fast as I could to get the camera, hoping that she wouldn't wake up before I got my picture. I ended up taking several pictures and even with the very bright flash in a dark room, she didn't stir. At this point I was getting a bit worried so I started talking to her and she finally moved...whew! She must have really been tuckered out!




















Sienna's Crazy, Crazy Hair
Brayden was practically bald until sometime after his 1st birthday...I had always wished that he had had more hair. Well, I've decided that it was so much easier to have a bald baby! Sienna wakes up with even crazier hair than I do! Every morning I have to practically soak her hair to get it to look somewhat normal. I thought you might like to see what I have to deal with every morning!













Sienna started drinking water out of her sippy cup this week. In the past if I wanted her to drink out of the cup (instead of chewing on it), I'd have to take the filter out. I can't even tell you how excited I am to switch her to a cup when we switch to whole milk in less than 3 months...I am so sick of washing bottles every day!!!

Happy 9 Month Birthday, Sienna!

Happy 9 Month Birthday, Sienna! This month Sienna learned how to wave and say "dada"! It also sounds like she says "hi", but I can't say for sure that is what she is saying. ;) Sienna is also getting better with the walker and just started taking 1-2 steps on her own before tumbling to the ground.

Sienna @ 9 Months
Sienna's 9 month measurements:
Weight: 20 lbs 6 oz (75th %)
Height: 29 1/2" (95th %)
Head: 44.6 cm (75th %)

For comparison, here are her 6 month measurements:
Weight: 17 lbs 3.5 oz (75th %)
Height: 27 1/4" (94th %)
Head: 43.2 cm (75th %)








Shhhh...don't tell Brayden I let Sienna read his new book when he was napping!!!













Karaoke
Sienna likes to sing karaoke...



















Well, she actually prefers to chew on the cord. Sienna will chew on absolutely ANYTHING! Her favorite things to try to chew on are the metal locks on one of Brayden's puzzles. I can't turn my head for 2 seconds without her getting into some kind of trouble!













The Window
The other day I heard a familiar noise...little hands banging on the window! It reminded me of when Brayden discovered the window.

More Excitment in Erica Acres!

The Gas Leak
For the 2nd time in less than 2 years, we've looked out the window and seen fire trucks blocking our street. Today I was walking into the kitchen when I just happened to look out the front window. To my surprise, I saw a fire truck with all of it's lights on. As I was showing it to Brayden (& wondering what the heck was going on) one of the firemen came to our door to tell us that the guys who have been working on cable lines in our neighborhood hit a natural gas line at the end of the street. They cut the power and evacuated most of our neighbors. We got very lucky (we were all still in our pj's) and were the first house they considered "safe". I was still a bit worried so I got everyone ready just in case we had to leave the house.

March 3rd, 2008:

The House Fire

It was even more scary when we woke up to the sound of helicopters hovering over our neighborhood in 2006. Chris and I were in Brayden's room getting him ready for daycare when we finally decided to look out the window. We didn't expect to be able to see whatever the commotion was, but to our surprise, the house at the end of our street was on fire! Luckily everyone got out safely but the house was a complete loss. They rebuilt their house from scratch and moved back in last summer. Today the commotion was once again at their house...the natural gas line that was broken was in their yard! Talk about being unlucky!

July 24th, 2006:

VIDEO: Brayden's Somersaults

For as long as I can remember, Brayden has been facinated with headstands and somersaults. However, whenever I try to get a good video of the kids, they always seem to stop doing what I'm trying to get a video of! With a little help from Chris, I was finally able to get a short clip of Brayden's somersaults...

Sienna: Sippy Cups and Flowers!

The Sippy Cup
Yesterday we caught Sienna taking a little break on the CARS sofa with Brayden's Mickey Mouse sippy cup...luckily it was empty! I couldn't resist taking a picture...I thought she looked like such a big girl trying to feed herself!




















The Flower Headband
When my good friend, Catrina, came over with her kids last week, Sienna was very curious about the cute flower headband that Avery was wearing. I'm sure that Sienna would have preferred to chew on the flower, but I thought she looked too cute wearing it!