Monday Funday

Today was an overall great day! I want to blog about it now so I remember it while it's fresh in my mind. This morning we woke up and realized the house was a cold 66*. The heater kept blowing out cold air. Chris finished up getting ready for work, fed Jake, and he had to head out. I signed Claire up for an activity at the library. She got to make her own felt board, 2 stories with the felt pieces in a pizza box. It was so cute and so fun making it. Kellyn had a blast too. I know Claire is so smart and would LOVE preschool. She would also greatly benefit learning basic things like sitting on her bottom and being able to listen to a full story. I know she's a typical toddler but the story times are usually 45 minutes to an hour and she doesn't last that long. She's usually wanting to look at books or go home to play. 

After the library we went out to lunch with Chris. We ate some Mexican food and Kellyn kept staring at one of the waiters. She's such a flirt like her big sister!! Daddy wasn't amused. It was fun to see him during his work day and eat out. We don't eat out often as a family. We dropped him off and stopped at Home Depot for new air filters. It was snowing and the store doesn't sell the size I needed so I bought some that are a little bigger to cut down to size. 

We get home to a chilly house of 62*. I was surprised it wasn't colder. The girls are tired and so am I. They took naps with extra blankets and I moved the portable heater into the master bedroom. I made a maintenance request to the property management company. One of the many perks to having kids is being able to let them know you have kids in a cold house, the always get someone out the same day. Nobody likes the idea of cold babies! The guy was very nice, the ignitor for the furnace was toast and he replaced it. Now our house is toasty and warm again.

Kellyn is sleeping in her warm jammies and crib. We read her felt board stories and Claire put the felt character pieces up while I read. It was fun. Then Claire took the story page and started to "read". She told me she was going to read a story. She read that Silly Sally went to town with Neddy Buttercup. They saw an  owl in a tree and ate some icecream. She also "read" about Mommy and Daddy going to town. Jake came with us and we saw pigs on a farm. I like seeing her imagination come to life!

It was a little bit hectic in the morning but it was a great day. The snow was pretty and the house is warm! Another good day and hopefully the start to a good week!

Sunday family adventure!

I wanted to do something fun today as a family. A friend posted this link on facebook about 50 Portland things to do with kids before they grow up. Today we completed #28 on the list. We went to Multnomah Village to check out Thinker Toys. It was a nice toys store. Claire got to try out some of the toys and she bought some puppy stickers. We walked down the block to Annie Bloom's Books and they had a cute children's section in the back. Along the way to the bookstore we spotted a candy shop and some little restaurants. We read some of the books, pet the store kitty cat and headed back toward the car. Of course we couldn't pass up the candy shop. We got some truffles, fudge, and Claire picked out a princess shaped chocolate to try. I'm hoping next weekend we will make it back earlier in the day to have breakfast or lunch at one of the restaurants and walk around a bit more.


http://alphamom.com/family-fun/activities/portland-oregon-50-things-to-do-with-kids-before-they-grow-up/

So far on the list we have completed:
1,3,6,8,15,23,28, & 36

Not too bad since we've lived here for only a year!! I can't wait to check some more off of the list this year!


http://www.thinkertoysoregon.com/
http://www.annieblooms.com/about-us
http://www.hattiessweets.com/

First post of the year!

The new year started 6 days ago! We celebrated with some great friends! It was our second New Year's in Oregon and Kellyn's first New Year's celebration. We drove to Vancouver to celebrate with Megan, Eli, Atreyu, Taylor and his Dad. It was a lot of fun. We had some drinks, we ate crab legs, the kids played and we watched the ball drop. We stayed the night in their guest room so we wouldn't have to drive in the middle of night. Megan made a delicious breakfast in the crock pot overnight. We ate breakfast, visited for a little bit and headed home for the day! We were all tired from staying up so late...except Kellyn. She stayed on her normal schedule and went to bed way earlier then we did. We all took long naps and it was a lazy day for the family.

We have many things to look forward to this year. Chris and I have been together for 8 years this month. I can't believe it's been that many years already. We've had our normal ups and downs like any relationship but more ups then downs!! We've gone on vacations, had fun with friends, gotten married, had our beautiful babies, Jake joined our family, we moved to a new state! To many more happy years together with our family and friends!

Claire will be celebrating her third birthday! Like any other parent says, it's unreal that three years have flown by. She is turning into a little lady and I love watching her grow and seeing who she is becoming. She is sweet and sassy!! Lately it's been a little bit more sassy then sweet but she's learning and we're learning as she gets older.

Kellyn will be celebrating her first birthday! It was a bit of a rough start after she was born but everything has smoothed out and we have a better routine as a family of four. She has a great personality. I'm terrified of when she is a teenager. Oh boy we will have our hands full with two teenage girls.

Chris will be 29 in July, I'll turn 27 at the end of the year and we will celebrate our four years of marriage in June! I'm looking forward to fun year with family and friends and hopefully many road trips to the beach!