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.

Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

Thursday morning we headed to OMSI with my friend, Catrina, and her 2 kiddos, Wyatt & Avery. The last time we went to OMSI Brayden was only 1 1/2 years old (one month before Sienna was born). What a difference one year makes! Luckily Sienna still likes to hang out in the backpack...I'm not sure what I'll do once she wants to run around, too! For the second time in a row, I forgot my camera...luckily Catrina came prepared. Thanks for the pictures, Catrina!

Brayden had fun using the magnifying glass to look at animal bones. Well, he actually had more fun squishing the magnifying glass against his face.
Brayden & Wyatt rescued wild animals...
Brayden had fun playing with a random boy and his mom in the sand pit...
Brayden joined Wyatt in a little "flubber" fun...
He even hung out with Sienna and me for a second or two!
Brayden found one of his favorite "toys"...a tape measure.Have I mentioned Brayden's love of magnets? Magnets don't work on our refrigerator so whenever we go to someone's house with magnets, he's glued to their refrigerator. OMSI has a cool magnetic board but unfortunately most of the animals are too heavy and slide to the bottom. Brayden had fun putting the animals in the sky and watching as they slid to the bottom!
Sienna was a trooper hanging out in the backpack for almost 2 hours. But by the time we were ready to leave, she was definitely ready for a nap!
As we were walking to the car, Brayden and Wyatt held hands... too cute!

Random Post Wednesday!

Sienna
Sienna has been full of surprises lately. Today I caught her "drawing" with the magna doodle and the aqua doodle pens (before she'd just stick the pens in her mouth)!

















I also happened to catch Sienna sitting on Brayden's sofa bed (again!) playing with the latch puzzle. I'm not sure why, but I always think she looks so cute and grown up when she hauls a toy over to the sofa to play with.












Older Brothers
Usually it is the older brother picking on the younger sibling. In our family, Sienna is the one picking on everyone else. She saves her "love bites" for me (she snuggles my arm and then goes for the kill), but she loves to roughhouse with Brayden. It started when Brayden would try to get away from her and she'd grab onto him because wanted to play. Now it's more like "wrestling". Luckily for Sienna, Brayden is VERY patient with her...I think he actually likes the abuse (he's giggling the whole time).

Sienna loves to pinch...can you see the handful of Brayden's arm she has in her fingers???












Sienna loves to kick!












And then she attacks the face!












Rides
After Chris pushed Sienna around on the airplane, Brayden decided that it would be fun to help. Now whenever we put Sienna on the car or airplane, Brayden is right there waiting to give her a push. Unfortunately, Sienna doesn't hold on too well and she usually ends up sliding off and onto the floor!