Happy Birthday Aunt Candace!!

A BIG Happy Birthday shout out to Candace today! Our favorite Halloween treat! Hope you have a wonderful day celebrating with your family. We love you so much! Love, Brenda, Craig, Katya, and Reagan

Last day with Sterling!

It has been a really fun year of watching Sterling! Here is a picture of him when he first started coming over:

And this week: What a big boy!

We have a fun packed weekend ahead. Carving pumkins tonight and working on Halloween costumes (Katya no longer wants to be a witch). Tomorrow Angie, Moira, Katya and I are going to Disney on Ice. Then in the evening is the Tillman/Jackson annual Halloween bash! I will be flying solo, Craig is getting out of dressing up by staying home with the kids. Then Halloween! Katya is very excited of course. Hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween weekend.

Oh, one more thing, I figured out that Katya was quoting a movie the other day when she said, "Castles, princesses and parties." Haha! I am sort of relieved:0) It was from Shreak 3.

Cute kids, bad dogs

No, our dogs are not bad.  They are great dogs, just a lot of extra work.  After over a year of  contemplating,  I have made the decision to put Bentley up for adoption at the Oregon Humane Society.  It is really hard for me to talk about.  I feel really horrible about it, but I need to do what is best for our family.  It is my decision though, because I am the one who deals with him day in and day out, and I am the one who can't handle it anymore.  The main issue is the food thing.  

Bentley has gotten increasingly sneaky about stealing food.  He literally waits for my attention to be diverted and then takes food off the counter/table/Levi's bowl, whatever, right in front of me.  It is SO hard to keep track of food all the time with little kids.  If Katya leaves a snack on the dinning room table and leaves it for a minute it is gone.  I try to put Bentley outside or in our room whenever there is food out but it is hard to always remember.  And if he is outside when we are eating he will bark incessantly to be let it.  He also barks a lot when we leave, I know the poor dog has separation anxiety, but it stresses Levi out, and more importantly, it stresses me out.  I hate when I loose my temper and yell at him and I really don't want the kids to hear that.  I am so hoping that Bentley finds a home that will work better for him; someone with more time to devote to him is what he deserves.  I feel that having just one dog will be better for Levi too, he will get more attention and he is so sensitive to Bentley's high energy and my low-Bentley tolerance.  I am sure he will miss his buddy but I think he will adjust.  So next Thursday is the day I take him in.  It is going to be horrible, I am crying already.

Okay, cute kids time.

Some cute things Katya said today at the park: "Mommy! The sun is peaking out! That makes me so happy!" Later I overheard her talking to herself and this is what she said, "Castle! Princesses! Party!" Wow. Do I have a little girl on my hands or what?! I really love that my girl likes to get dirty, adores camping, all things scary and Halloween.

A cute thing that Reagan does/says lately is: "Mommy! Look-it." Usually it is something she is doing that she wants to show me. Too cute. She is also saying, "I want" but has made it kind of a contraction, "I'ant." Examples, "I'ant more," "I'ant milk." She is such an amazing talker!

I am so annoyed with the poor quality of Blogger's photo uploads. They look so pixelated, terrible.  I wish readers did not have to click on the photo to see the proper quality.  Maybe some day I will figure it out...I am no blog expert but I am learning.  Love to all, Brenda

Little Miss Contrary

Now that Miss Reagan has gotten the walking thing down, her independence is taking off! She is really funny with her, "No"s which take up a good part of her vocabulary lately. Girlfriend knows what she wants, most of the time anyways. She says around 50 words and dozens of 2 word phrases. The latest; last night she saw a racquetball and said, "Sterling ball." Last week Sterling was bringing a racquetball over with him and Reagan loved to pick it up and bring it to him. She is also saying more and more 3 word sentences. And Miss manners has added 'your welcome' into her repertoire.


Reagan gave up her morning and night bottles as easily as Katya did. Like her sister, she asked for it once and that was that. I think it helped that she only got 2 a day, and that she readily drinks cold milk out of a sippy cup. Instead of snuggling with a warm bottle when she first gets up, we put her right in her highchair with breakfast and cold milk. Reagan is quite good with a spoon, much better than Katya was. She looks like such a big girl eating cereal with milk!


Reagan is becoming aware of her elimination, about the same time Katya did. Unlike Katya, Reagan has always been finicky about having a poopy diaper. Now a days she is saying "Poop!" and grabbing her diaper when she poops, farts, or pees. I got the little potty out just to introduce her to it even though she is too young to start potty training. It is nice to just let her sit on it and talk to her about how mom, dad and Katya go in a potty.

As far as schedule, she is still taking one 2-3hr nap in the afternoon. Occasionally she will take 2 naps when she is sick. Her bedtime is between 6:30-7pm, depending on when she woke up from her nap, and she sleeps till 7-7:30am. My poor sick baby came down with a flu-like illness on Friday night. Katya woke up with the same fever Saturday morning. It feels like they have been sick none stop! Reagan has been running a fever for the last 36hrs, last nights fever got pretty high. Craig said they only felt a little warm this morning; a dose of analgesic and they are without fevers and in pretty good spirits. We are going to have another quiet day, movies and making Halloween cupcakes. Their appetites have vastly improved since yesterday so hopefully they are on the mend.

My Halloween lover!

Katya had a great time at The Pumpkin Patch (yes, that is the name of the farm) this weekend despite the crowds. Craig and I where pretty miserable sitting in traffic for 45 mins to get onto Sauvie Island and park. It was a mad house. But fortunately the line for the hayride taking you out to the pumpkin field went fast and the kids had a blast.


Katya had so much fun wandering through the patch of pumpkins that she did not want to commit to any one. She said, "I want a beautiful, little tiny pumpkin!" But every nice, little pumpkin she picked up would not do. "That's not a very good one," she would say. I ended up talking her into a nice green one when we had to leave the fields for her to use the bathroom.

Here are some cute pictures that capture her excitement!







I am wishing that we were in Bend today with my parents! We considered taking a few days off so we could visit them in Bend yesterday and today but it didn't work out. It is a very short trip for them, they flew in yesterday and are leaving tonight. We got a Skype from them last night from their hotel room which was really fun. They are enjoying the clear, but cold fall weather and getting a feel for the town. They are considering moving there, but Craig and I are not getting our hopes up. This morning my mom called and said that they met the mother of the priest who married Craig and I at Mass this morning! Too funny. It is nice that they went to Mass and got a really warm reception, since that would probably be their parish if the moved to Bend.

Love to all, Brenda

Reagan 18 months, Katya 3 years

The girls had their well child checks on Wednesday. I am grateful to Dr. Oller who agreed to get us in at 10:30 am after I had completely forgot about their 9 am appointment. I am so glad that I asked if there was anyway I could stil come in because the receptionist was wanting to re-schedule for another day. And she informed me that Dr Oller is leaving their practice:0( I am so glad we got to see her once last time and say goodbye! Plus I don't have to worry about finding a new pediatrician right away....we won't stay with Oregon Pediatrics with Dr. Oller gone.

Katya weighed in at 34 lbs, a 4 lb gain in the last year. She is 37.5 inches tall, almost 2.5 inches taller than a year ago. Reagan was 21 lbs, same as her 15 month check up and 31 inches (just 0.3 inch gain). Dr Oller thought that was fine and was happy to see her head growth following a nice curve, not slowing at all. She was impressed, as always (her words, not mine:0)), with their development. Katya named colors in the room perfectly and showed Dr. how she could jump and sing. Reagan's language skills are off the charts and Dr. Oller was amazed, as I am too, with how many words she is saying. Katya was so brave for her shots and barely flinched at the flu vaccine mist through her nose. Reagan had it worse, 4 shots, but is recovering fine.

We will miss Dr Oller, who is moving to a practice in Hillsboro, closer to her home. She has been great but we know there are a lot of great doctors out there and I am hoping to find one closer to us. Love to all, Brenda

Happy Fall

Craig and I are always happy to welcome back Fall weather. Our little Halloween lover (Katya) is also excited that October is here. The girls and I went out to The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island last week for some photos. I just can't get enough of these kiddos!

The little witch.

And the big witch.