Drums, Forts, & More!

OSU Football
Saturday Chris and I left the kids with Grandma & Grandpa Boley while we went to our annual OSU football game. It was nice to get out of the house after being stuck at home with sick kids all last week. We had planned on enjoying more time tailgating this year, but by the time we found a parking spot and got to the where our friends were, it was only about 1 1/2 hours before kickoff! We couldn't believe how quickly all of the lots filled up this year...parking isn't usually a problem when we get there early. Even though we didn't get to hang out as long as we would have liked, we still had fun. Did I mention that the weather was perfect? In fact, we were looking into the sun the whole game and we were actually HOT! We left at half time and listened to the 2nd half of the game on the radio as we drove home. We timed it perfectly...we drove in the driveway just as the game ended! We ended up beating WSU 66-13!!! GO BEAVS!!!

Drums
Yesterday Brayden broke out the drum and started marching around the house making music.
Of course that meant that Sienna wanted to do it, too!
Then they started a parade through the house...Sienna played the drums while Brayden danced. It was too funny!
The Fort
Chris and Brayden created a new fort this weekend. Some of you might remember Brayden's old fort using his soccer goal (which is now permanently outside!). Now they use the table in the office....
It turns out that this isn't just any fort...it is actually a restaurant! Sienna and Chris show up to the window and Brayden makes them food. I'm not sure what Sienna just ordered...
but it looks like Chris is getting mustard on his sandwich!

I even caught Brayden eating on the job! That is definitely going on his next review! ;)
Eating As a Family
Poor Sienna had been sitting in Brayden's old highchair and even though we would pull her as close to the table as possible, it still felt like she was sitting all by herself. Yesterday we finally made it to Target and bought her a new booster chair so she can actually eat at the table with us. Her first meal at the table was lunch yesterday...it was so much fun to have us all sitting at the same table!
The Flowerbed
When we built our house we had planned on putting in a raised flower bed the following summer. Well, 4 years and 2 crazy kids later, we came to the conclusion that we weren't going to be able to do it ourselves...at least not anytime soon. Last week we decided to fork out the $$$ to have someone else do it for us. It took 3 guys 3 full days to put the wall and sprinklers in. As the kids and I watched them work in the yard, I was so very thankful that Chris and I had not attempted to put the wall in ourselves...it was much more involved than I could have ever imagined. Not only does the wall look great (it had been raining when I took the picture so some of the stones appear really dark), but it is very sturdy so people can sit on it. I can't wait to enjoy it in the spring!
The only downside of the whole experience is that next to the raised flowerbed there was a huge gap between the bottom of the fence and the ground. We were tired of random animals wandering into our yard (not to mention that it looks bad) so we asked the landscaper to connect some stones from the flowerbed in front of the fence to cover the gap. I assumed that they had a plan that would look good, but I was wrong. I am not happy with the "unfinished" look, but after playing around with photoshop, I haven't yet figured out what I think would look good there. So...if you have any ideas, send them my way!

Chalk, Painting & Other Random Fun!

The kids have been sick all week so we haven't left the house since Monday. Since we haven't been having too much fun, I don't have many new pictures. The kids have actually been pretty good this week, all things considered. Usually I go crazy staying at home just one day...but 4 days? Hopefully next week we'll be out and about doing our normal activities.

Chalk
Last night the kids had fun drawing with chalk. Well, Sienna mostly just held the chalk while Brayden did the drawing.


The Sofa
Chris caught the kids hanging out on the sofa together (again!)...I still think they look so cute sitting there so nicely together!
The Motorcycle
There are a couple of motorized vehicles outside of the Play Boutique. Luckily Brayden doesn't usually pay much attention to them. However, a couple of weeks ago he asked to ride on one and I just happened to have a quarter. I put aside my fear of all of the germs that were most likely all over it and let him go for his first ride. Luckily I happened to have a camera to capture the moment!
Painting
A few weeks ago Brayden was really into painting. He asked to paint morning, noon & night! He made quite a few masterpieces...if only we had room to hang them all up!

Homework
Brayden was given a homework assignment from the Play Boutique about a month ago (I'm a little behind in some of my pictures!). He glued on pictures of his family using a glue stick and then he colored the construction paper. I can't wait until both kids are older so we can do more arts and crafts!!!
WARNING - The following pictures are of Chris' stitches on September 28th. If you are like me and very squeamish, you might not want to look at them!

The first picture was taken about 5 days after Chris got the stitches and the 2nd picture was taken the day the stitches were removed (about 3 days after the first picture).

Working Together, Playing Together

Brayden & Sienna have recently started working together to destroy the house. Because removing every toy and every book from it's designated spot, and placing it either on the floor or on the couch can entertain the kids for what seems like hours, I let them do it...no matter how torturous the clean up process is. Not once do I have to get on Brayden or Sienna for being mean to the other...it's funny how they can work so well together when they have a mutual goal. This all started about a month ago when I posted some pictures of them emptying the toy basket onto the couch (Sienna would take the toys out and hand them to Brayden who then piled them onto the couch). They have recently moved on to include emptying the contents of all of the toy baskets as well as all of the books from the bookcase. But, as long as the kids are playing together nicely and we get a little peace and quiet, I'm all for it!

Sienna grabs the books from the bookcase and runs over to give them to Brayden to add to his numerous book piles.
Here they are again making more book piles! (Sorry about their outfits...I always change their pants for naps so they are more comfortable and sometimes I'm just too lazy to put their pants back on after they wake up!)
The other night Brayden came up with a new idea...instead of making book piles, he decided to line them all up on the floor. I must say it was much more impressive in person than in this picture!
Lately the kids haven't just been working together, but they have been playing together more. Or, at least side by side without fighting! The other morning after I changed their diapers and put clothes on, I decided that the kids were being way too quiet. I went into the office and found them both sitting on the CARS sofa drawing on their magnadoodle books! Too cute (well, except for Sienna's bruised face)! In case you were curious, the swelling is gone and her bruise is looking much, much better. It is no longer the first thing that I notice when I look at her. YEA!

44 Hours Later!

Here is a picture of Sienna 44 hours after her accident. The swelling has gone down considerably during the last 18 hours and she even took a decent nap today. Sienna had a runny nose for about 12 hours after the accident (only out of the nostril on the side of her face that was injured) so I considered calling the doctor this morning, but her runny nose was gone when she woke up. YEA!
As if Sienna's accident wasn't enough to deal with, Chris ended up in the ER last night where he received 8 fun-filled stitches in his leg. As if I needed more injuries to worry about! Chris was getting leftover pizza out of the refrigerator (while he was holding Sienna) and somehow he managed to drop the whole platter (I wasn't in the room and it all happened so fast that no one is really sure what happened). We aren't sure if the platter sliced his leg on the way down to the floor or if pieces bounced off the floor and hit his leg, but he ended up with 2 pretty significant gashes in his leg. Of course Sienna was HYSTERICAL during the whole episode. Chris really didn't want to go to the doctor (he's managed to avoid any sort of doctor in the 8+ years that we've been together), but Chris' mom and I told him that he had to go. Luckily Chris' mom was already over here so she was able to drive him to the ER. Of course that left me to deal with both of the crazy kids all by myself. Everything was good until bedtime. Sienna became hysterical (again!) when I put her to bed and I was forced to implement the 5, 10, 15 minute cry it out method. Ordinarily her crying wouldn't bother me too much, but I felt so bad about her bruised face and guessed that it wasn't helping her any. After about an hour she finally fell asleep. Once Sienna was asleep, I didn't have to worry about her screaming keeping Brayden awake, so it was his turn for bed. Thank goodness he's still in an "easy to put to bed phase" because I was at my wits end at this point! Chris conveniently arrived home about 20 minutes later. We immediately sank into the couch and watched the rest of Grey's Anatomy. All I can say is that I am so glad that this weekend is over...it can only get better from here, right????

Date Night @ The Play Boutique

One of the benefits of being a Play Boutique member is that you get 1 free date night per month. You get to drop the kids off from 5:30pm to 8:30pm while you get 3 full hours of quality time with your spouse! They feed the kids pizza (if only our kids ate food!) and the rest of the time they pretty much get to run around and be wild. Last night Catrina and her husband also dropped off their kids and the 4 of us headed across the street for dinner at Manzana. It was such a fun evening of adult conversation (not to mention great food) but unfortunately every great evening has to come to an end. Shortly before 8pm we decided to head back to pick up the kids since it was way past both Sienna and Avery's bedtimes. As we walked by the windows of the Play Boutique, I saw Sienna having fun playing by herself. By the time we had walked around the corner and into the building, things had changed drastically. The first thing I saw was the teacher holding Sienna, (while holding her hand up to her head) and running towards the back of the room. From my confused state I swear I saw blood running down her face!!! By the time I caught up to them, I saw that the teacher had grabbed an ice pack from the freezer. I asked what happened and when she turned around, all I saw was this huge, swollen bruise on Sienna's cheek. OUCH! Apparently she had been walking by the see-saw when someone got off and it came slamming down onto her cheek. I am so thankful that she didn't get hit in the eye or the nose. As you can see from the numerous pictures below, she got hit pretty hard. Poor thing!

Here are pictures from this morning...12 hours after the accident. It is really hard to tell but if you enlarge the picture (click on it), you can see that her cheek is so swollen that it goes all the way up to her eye. You can't even see her eyelashes she is so swollen!


These pictures were all taken last night about 45 minutes after the accident happened. The pictures really don't show the extent of how bad it really looked.

If you enlarge this picture you can see the big lump underneath her right eye. Amazingly enough, with the help of Tylenol, she slept all night until around 4:30am, when she kept rolling onto her right cheek and crying out in pain.

Random Post Wednesday!

Brayden made 2 beds for him and Sienna to nap on...on the hardwood floors! How comfy does that look? haha!
Brayden talking to Grandma Boley on the phone!
It was the first time he held the phone himself (usually we just hold it up to his ear).
Sienna painting for the first time! I put water in the cup holder in her highchair so she couldn't dump it out. Unfortunately she only painted for about 5 seconds before deciding that she was done with it.This was Brayden's first real art project. Chris let him use the Elmer's glue all by himself...I thought Chris was crazy but Brayden actually didn't make too big of a mess.

Sienna is having so much fun with the legos...she can even snap the legos into place. She put all of the legos on the red board all by herself. As you can see, she was pretty proud of herself!
Brayden and I put together some train tracks and when we left for a couple of seconds to go blow his nose, Sienna tore them all apart! We were only gone for a few seconds...I have no idea how she did it so fast. As you can see, Brayden was just a tad bit upset about his train tracks being destroyed!

Random pics from Grandma Boley

Last week Grandma Boley gave us a ton of pictures from her camera so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites!

Brayden and me at the water park back in July!

Grandma & Grandpa Boley came over to babysit and brought a cool bubble gun...need I say more?
Grandma Boley took the kids to the Clackamas County Fair. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the corn...

And the dirt!

They even took time out from playing to pose as a pig and a chicken!
Chris and me at my birthday dinner at the Boley's house.
Grandma Boley took the kids to OMSI (all by herself!!!) and they had a great time!
They even stopped at Burgerville on the way home for ice cream! This was Sienna's first ice cream cone and from what I hear, the only mess she made was on her chin!