Memorial Weekend

We took the girls to the zoo on Saturday. It rained a bit, but not too bad and the cloudy weather kept the crowds at bay. Katya had a blast! Her favorite thing was the elephants. Reagan was fairly ambivalent and was pretty sick of being either in the stroller or held by the end of it. But she is a trooper! She caught a 20-30 minute nap in the stroller, something we almost never allow, and was her only nap that day. Katya also missed her nap and so when I put the kids down for the night, I never heard another peep out of them. It was my month to host book club so Craig went out with some friends and I had a great time with the book club gals. On Sunday we had a lazy morning and got a few things done in the afternoon. Yesterday we took the girls to Columbia Park and then Craig had to work in the afternoon. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Reagan 13.5 months old

Miss Reagan seems to have grown leaps and bounds these last few weeks. She is getting around so well, it makes her seem like such a big girl! She is really imitating our words, such as: hi, bye-bye, ta-da!, nigh-night, ect. I even heard her try to imitate, "I love you" after her electronic dog said it. This last week she has started to sign, "all done" after every meal and yesterday at OMSI she signed "please" for the first time. She has repeated it twice today, after I said the word please. She still loves to snuggle and crawls over to any blanket, pillow or even towel and cuddles it. I was wiping off the dogs paws yesterday and she was trying to snuggle the gross, dirt, dog towel.

It seems like she has been teething constantly for the past month. She has a new tooth just poking through on the bottom and on the top. It is pretty rough on her but she is managing. I was thinking that she might be getting sick, because I have not been feeling well either. But I think for Reagan it's just teething. For me, all I want to do is sleep and I have gotten into bed at 8pm the last 2 nights. I am achy and feeling weak too. It was so hard to get all the house work done yesterday, and of course it is already time to sweep, mop and vacuum again. I am so glad that I got the dinner prep done and all I have to do is throw it in the oven (and make a salad). I am counting the hours till Craig gets home! Love to all, Brenda

Picture perfect

Another great but exhausting weekend. We had a lot of fun despite the cranky children. We took the girls swimming at Columbia Pool on Saturday and then a visit to Grandma and Grandpa Faulkner's on Sunday. Craig and I enjoyed adult time with a movie (at home) on Friday night (Coreline) and dinner out on Saturday night. The dinner at McCormick and Schmicks was kind of horrible because of terrible, terrible service and mediocre food. But we enjoyed each others company and used Craig's gift certificate for being Widmer employee of the year. Melanie and Rich babysat and we are so grateful for such wonderful friends.

I LOVE this picture of Katya and Grandma. You can just feel the love between these two!

Weekend fun

Craig and the girls ended up joining me and the Longcor's for the Doggie Dash on Sat morning. I am SO glad they came! It was a lovely, sunny day and we enjoyed the walk even though it was a bit painfully slow going. Not only the crowds but having to stop for the kiddos and for me to use the bathroom. But it was fun being out and seeing all the people and dogs. After the walk, Craig, the girls and I trekked up to the Descutes Brewery for lunch. Then I walked up to Trader Joe's in the NW '23rd' neighborhood and Craig ran back over the river to get the Jeep. Fun outing...we were all spent by the time we got home!

Here are a few nice pictures of my beautiful Katya!




We Christened the new BBQ on Sunday with a tri-tip roast; yum! The grill works great! Thanks mom and dad!

The girls did not nap well on Sunday and were both toast by 5pm. We put them to bed by 545 and did not hear a peep out of either one of them the rest of the night! Craig and I enjoyed a beverage on the patio and each others company....Then we hit the couch for the Survivor season finale!! It was a pretty good season.

Here is one last picture: Reagan is starting to get some cute curls!1

Horray for Fridays!

It's the end of another long week. I have made Cobb salad for dinner...not very healthy but yummy! I love it because I can completely make it and clean up everything ahead of time so I can enjoy the evening with Craig and the girls. We are going to eat on the patio with the new dishes from Doug and Sharon; fun! The last few days have been beautiful, a little warm for me, but really nice. I have enjoyed taking the girls and Sterling to Columbia park. Katya has been wanting to ride in the Ergo so it's a nice little workout for me. I have been walking to the top of the park at Lombard and then around the path that circles the park for a little more exercise. It is so pretty! Yesterday we saw a family of geese; a mom (I assume) leading 4 babies followed by a larger adult goose.

Tomorrow morning I am going downtown with the Longcor's (neighbors) to participate in Portland's, 'Doggie Dash.' A fun run/walk that benefits the Humane Society. I am leaving the kids and pooches at home so it should be nice and easy for me. Craig works tomorrow night to make up for missing Monday. Bummer but should be good on the old pocket book:0) Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Our first iris bloom from the transplants from Doug and Sharon last fall.

Katya loves to go check out the flowers! We now have 2 white, 2 yellow and a white and purple open.

Being silly at the park.

Great weekend in Olympia

We had a wonderful weekend getaway in Olympia! We are tired and glad to be home but had so much fun. The weather was fantastic on Saturday and Sunday, and today was nice enough to walk down to the Cushman place and down to the water. We pretty much spent the whole time outdoors. Grandma, Craig and I took the girls to Preist Point Park and they both had a blast. Katya got to go with Grandpa Larry down to the Cushman's to see some chickens, ducks, and goats. We also saw lamas, cows, a horse, a huge dead crab, big dead starfish, a dead urchant and lots of little (live) crabs! How fun! I will post a few pictures here but most will be on Facebook. I took 577 pictures, yickes! I have that edited down to 262 and I posted about 40 of my favorites on Facebook.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's day to all the moms out there!! Espeically our moms, sisters and sister-in-law. Mom and Sharon, your card and small gifts are going to be late. I got them in the mail on Friday. We love you and are thinking of you!

Kelly Point Park

I think most of my blog readers probably already saw these pictures on Facebook but I thought I would post a few of my favorites here.

I took the girls here on Tuesday. It is less than 10 minutes from our house and such a great park! I can't believe I have never been before. The park is on the 'point' where the Willamette and the Columbia rivers meet. The water in the pictures is the Columbia. We didn't make it to the actual point, or the Willamette side this day. We have had to go back soon, preferably when the weather is nice. It was a fun place to take pictures but the clouds impeded the lighting. My amateur photos turn out much better when there is great natural light. I am excited to learn how I can compensate for poor lighting when taking pictures.

Despite the sand face and crazy hair, I love this one of Reagan. It is such a "Reagan" expression and I love the driftwood in the foreground.


The sun came out occationally which was helpful for photos. Not only does it help with lighting but it got Katya excited so I got a smile out of her!