It's Civil War game day!!! Go BEAVS!

Chris and I are looking forward to our friends' Civil War party this afternoon...unfortunately, they (& almost everyone else) are DUCKS! Boooo!

GO BEAVERS!!!

For 2 weeks, I have been trying to get a picture of both of the kids in their new OSU shirts (thank you Grandma & Grandpa Macnab!). Not surprisingly, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get a picture of them both looking at the camera! Here are a few of their better pictures:

What a handsome, little OSU fan!
Sienna is always making silly faces/expressions/gestures! All I wanted was a simple picture of her and her big, beautiful smile, but of course she wouldn't cooperate! Sienna should be able to wear her OSU outfit for at least another year...her shirt is a 3T and her pants are Brayden's old 2T sweatpants. WOW!
When one of them is sort of cooperating, the other one is doing something silly...like putting a football in their mouth!
Just when the other one starts to cooperate, the first one puts a football in their mouth! They couldn't plan these things better, even if they tried!
And then the time comes when Brayden can't handle holding onto his football for even a second longer...he has to throw it and then go in for the tackle. Of course, that means that Sienna has to throw her ball, too!

Safari Sam's

Last Saturday we took the kids to Eli's 4th birthday party at Safari Sam's. We had never taken the kids there before so I was pretty excited to check it out...I'm always looking for indoor fun during rainy season. Even though Brayden had a great time (he cried and cried when it was time to leave), I realized as soon as we walked in that there was absolutely no way I could take the kids there by myself! While Chris tried to keep track of Brayden climbing all over the huge jungle gym (big enough for adults), Sienna and I spent some quality time in the toddler area:
The only climbing Sienna did was up a few stairs. She mostly stuck to my side because she was way too young to do anything else...

While Sienna & I chatted with friends, Brayden was off climbing!

After awhile, Brayden took a break to take a short drive with Sienna...

He was even nice enough to let Sienna have a turn!

MORE Fun with Airplanes, Shopping Carts & Stickers!

Airplane Rides...AGAIN!
We finally got our camera back from being cleaned so I thought I'd share some of the newest airplane pictures. No matter how many times they go flying together, it never gets old...they have the best time and are full of giggles and grins.

The other night they both managed to get on the plane backwards...but that didn't stop Brayden! He was a bit slower facing backwards, which was probably good...he usually zooms around so fast that we have to tell him to slow down.

The Shopping Cart
Last week Brayden and Sienna really got into carrying Sienna's 2 dolls around. Brayden decided to take his doll "to run errands", so he loaded her up in the shopping cart and took off...at a very frightening speed!

Of course then Sienna had to have a turn so she added her doll to the cart and took off...at a much slower speed.

Stickers!
Brayden has always loved stickers but now that Sienna is almost 18 months old, she is able to have some fun with them, too...unsupervised!

Brayden is such a good big brother (most of the time). He gets the stickers out for Sienna...

And then points to where she should put it!

Sometimes Sienna even helps Brayden with the stickers (when did she grow up???). These sticker books from Costco have been entertaining the kids for days...well worth the $7.79. I think we might have to go back for more!

Airplane Rides, Painting, Books & Crazy Hair!

The Airplane Ride
The other night Brayden and Sienna hopped on the airplane and went for a ride...together! Brayden did all of the work...Sienna was just along for the ride. And what a fun ride it was! Sienna was giggling and laughing the whole time...even as they crashed and went tumbling to the floor!

The Art Class
I really thought that I'd be able to take pictures this week since Chris was coming to Art class with us. I'm not sure what I was thinking! It was so much work for both of us, I'm not sure how I survived the first week of class by myself! I did manage to take one picture...which really isn't all that exciting. This week they painted 2 different turkey's and made a felt board with different cut-out shapes.

Reading Books
Sienna hopped up on the couch to read a book...and of course Brayden had to go and disturb her peaceful reading by stealing her book!

No matter how mean Brayden is to Sienna, she still adores him and copies everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) that he does....right down to his silly facial expressions!

Crazy Hair

Brayden usually has pretty short hair so it is very rare for him to get crazy hair. Ever since Brayden received the worst haircut possible (I could have done better!), I've decided to see what will happen if we let it grow for awhile. Now that he actually has some hair, he wakes up with some very interesting hairstyles.

VIDEO: Dancing!

Our digital camera is being cleaned so I've been taking quite a few videos of the kids playing together. When they aren't busy making piles of toys/books all over the house, they are busy dancing around the living room. A few months ago we bought the kids an Oregon State football that plays the school's fight song. Brayden and Sienna love to turn it on and dance around...while doing other various activities. The video is fairly long (over 3 minutes) and is actually 3 separate videos put together. It gives you an idea of how Brayden and Sienna interact all day long. Sienna copies everything that Brayden does while Brayden pretends to hit Sienna and takes away her toys. Enjoy!

GO BEAVERS!!!

Chris and I were lucky enough to score tickets to the Oregon State game today. The unfortunate part is that the tickets were from my parents...my dad hurt his back last Sunday and he still wasn't feeling up for the game. So, we were more than happy to take the tickets off their hands. Thank you Grandma & Grandpa Macnab for the tickets and thank you Grandma Boley for babysitting...again! Before we headed out, Grandma Boley took a picture of us all decked out in our Beaver shirts & sweatshirts...
The weather was absolutely amazing for the game...again! The first game we went to (October 11th) was so sunny that we were actually hot at times. Today's game we were on the shady side, but we were still warm enough in our long sleeve shirts (I also wore a vest)...in November! Not only did we enjoy beautiful sunny skies during both games, but we also WON both games! Today's win was against CAL and even though we were ahead the entire game (with the exception of the first few minutes), it was quite the exciting game...right down to the last 30 seconds! Chris and I actually stayed for the ENTIRE game. In fact, I think almost everyone in the sold out stadium (45,000+) stayed until the last few seconds of the game. Of course, that meant it took us about an hour to get out of the stadium, walk to our car and make it the 10 miles to I-5. But, it was all worth it!

Purses, Ponytails & Painting!

For some reason I haven't been taking many pictures lately...and the ones I have been taking don't really seem all that exciting. Somehow Brayden managed to stay clear of the camera this week, so here is our sweet little Sienna...

Playing with Mommy's Old Purse
The other morning Sienna found my old purse and started carrying it around. It has to have been one of the first "girly" things she's ever done. I thought it was so cute watching her walk all over the house carrying the purse...unfortunately she was on the go so much that I didn't get any great shots.

Sienna's Ponytail
Sienna's hair is finally long enough to put into a ponytail! Well, for the most part. Now I just have to find a way to get her to hold still so I can use a comb to make it look pretty! Although, she's so active that I doubt it would be worth the effort...it'd probably come out in less than 5 minutes.

The Art Class
Brayden and his friend, Wyatt, have been doing Gymboree activities together since they were 15 months old. Once Catrina and I started talking, and we found out that we were due with our 2nd babies within 9 days of each other, we quickly became friends. I'm just not sure I'd have survived this long without her. But, the time has come to say goodbye...at least goodbye at Gymboree! We'll still see each other plenty...thank goodness! As it turns out, all 4 kids love music class, but Brayden and Wyatt get a little too wild and the time has come to separate them. Since Brayden loves any and all art projects, I decided to check out the art class that Gymboree offers.

Sienna is still pretty young for the art class, but, it was STILL more fun and relaxing then having to put Brayden in the corner every 5 minutes at music class. The kids got to do 2 painting projects before sitting down for story & snack time. After story time, we did our last art project for the day...we made shakers! The kids got to put stickers on a plastic cup before they filled it with little random noisy bells, animals, confetti, etc. I couldn't believe how many projects we were able to do during a 45 minute class! Now I just need to figure out where I'm going to hang all of these paintings! Next week I should be able to take a few pictures because Chris is coming with us to check out out the class!

Sienna's artwork is on the LEFT and Brayden's artwork is on the RIGHT.

The Lodge At Torrey Pines

WARNING: These have to be some of the most boring pictures ever to be posted on our blog!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Boley stayed with the kids for 2 nights so Chris and I could head down to San Diego for a mini-vacation. Since our honeymoon 6 1/2 years ago, I think I've been the one to plan, organize & schedule every vacation. Well, except for the time we headed to Las Vegas back in 2003. This time, Chris did all of the work...I was just along for the ride. It felt great! Late Friday morning we boarded a plane headed for San Diego. And that was the beginning of the most expensive 3 day vacation that we've ever taken! It felt great to know that when we got off the plane in San Diego we'd be greeted with sun and temperatures in the low 80's! Does it get better than that?

Once we were above all of the clouds hovering over Oregon, I was able to snap a few shots from my window. I have no idea what mountain that is in the background...we didn't have one of those nice pilots that told us what we were seeing out of our windows.

Our first stop (after waiting in line for what seemed like hours to get our rental car), was to visit my brother, Scott. He just moved to San Diego in September and we wanted to check out his new apartment. Lucky for him he lives right across the street from a bunch of stores and restaurants (Costco, Best Buy, Subway, etc). We ate lunch a little restaurant called Oggi's. Given the beautiful weather, we opted to eat lunch outside...in NOVEMBER!!! We were absolutely loving it and decided right then and there that we could definitely live in San Diego! Of course, there is the small matter of the cost of living. ;) Since I forgot my camera back at Scott's apartment, I was forced to use my cell phone to take some pictures. Doesn't Chris look excited to have his picture taken?

Next stop: The Lodge At Torrey Pines in La Jolla. After Chris told me where we were going, I asked him how he had heard about this golfers paradise. Apparently he saw a commercial for it on tv...this is where they held the US Open earlier in the year. Ok, so we don't golf, but the place looked absolutely AMAZING on their website!!!

Here is the room that cost us a small fortune...

It was a very nice room, but we didn't think that it was really worth how much they were charging. Although, it was one of the cleanest rooms that I've ever stayed in, and to me, having a clean room is absolutely priceless!

We had an amazing deck...

With an amazing view of the golf course and pacific ocean! This is where we spent most of our time at the lodge...soaking up the wonderful California sun! It was so nice and relaxing to be able to sit outside and read. Well, it would have been more enjoyable if our next door neighbors weren't constantly smoking on their patio! ARGH!

Chris had planned every single detail of our trip...right down to a couples massage on Saturday afternoon. It was so nice to spend quality time with my husband...without kids screaming every 5 seconds. Even though we had a nice, relaxing 3 day weekend, we'll never go back to the Lodge At Torrey Pines. We had several problems with items in our room that never got fixed, they tried to charge us for items in the mini-bar that we did not eat/drink, and they messed up my breakfast the last morning we were there. Ordinarily the messed up breakfast would have been no big deal...everyone makes mistakes. But, when I brought it to the server's attention, instead of offering to get me a new omelet, she only said "Well, I'm not sure what he could do to fix it". Ummmm...excuse me? I'm spending a bazillion dollars on an omelet and you won't even offer to have them make me a new one...one which includes all of the ingredients promised in the menu? Honestly, when you are staying at an expensive resort, you would think they'd do a bit better trying to make the guest happy!

Here is another shot from my window as we traveled back to the rainy Northwest!

Sit 'N Spins, Snacks & Trains!

The Sit 'N Spin
I've mentioned numerous times that Sienna wants to do whatever Brayden is doing. The other day Brayden started using his sit 'n spin as a bar stool again (he hadn't done this for at least 6 months). It was almost exactly 1 year ago that he started using it as a bar stool...check it out here! As soon as Brayden got bored of sitting on it, Sienna hopped right on. She thought she was too cool sitting on his "stool"! She took time out from reading her book to give me lots of silly poses and smiles...

Hangin' Out
Brayden and Sienna have been hanging out together more and more. I hope they grow up to be good friends...is that hoping for too much? Don't answer that! ;) The other day they sat down to eat their afternoon snack together...Yesterday I was taking out the garbage when I realized how quiet the house was. It took me a few seconds of near panic before I found them...sitting so nicely together on the couch! I know, I know...this isn't the first time that I've shared a picture of them sitting together. But, this IS the first time that they took me by surprise! Usually I'm begging Sienna to play with Brayden after her nap because that is when she's most clingy. However, yesterday she actually took a great nap (a miracle!!!) and she wasn't clingy at all!

Trains!
Since Brayden got the "Gold Mine" train set for his birthday, we've all had fun making even more creative (& bigger) train tracks! Brayden likes to push a train around the track while he's being chased by his motorized train, Salty (you can see him just to the left of Brayden, pulling 2 trains up a hill). Hopefully Santa Claus will bring him a couple of more motorized trains for Christmas!