Tulip Festival & Beach Trip

Addison looking at the field of tulips with the yellow tulips in the background


Addison smelling the red tulip


Addison looking at the tulips with the red tulips in the background


Mommy, Addison & Kennedy


Daddy, Addison & Kennedy


The Burleigh Family


Addison smelling the tulip


Addison & Daddy riding the train


Addison showing us that the tulips are open "this much"!


Daddy & Addison


Addison in the wooden shoe


Addison giving Kennedy loves


Addison in her hat and sunglasses is ready for the beach!


Addison getting ready to dig in


Addison throwing around the sand


Addison filling up her bucket with sand


Kennedy is tuckered out after walking on the beach


Mom & Kennedy


Addison showing Daddy Nemo and Dori


Addison & Daddy playing on the tortoise


Addison in the underwater suit


Addison on the turtle


Starfish and Sea Anenomies in the touching area at the aquarium

Hi all! This is a brief post to tell you a little about the first leg of our near 1 1/2 week much needed vacation. On Saturday morning we left for the beach and made a stop at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn. It was breathtaking. This is the first time any of us have been to the festival and we plan on returning annually. Addison had a great time running around, smelling all of the different tulips, telling us that they were either open or closed, and having a ride on a very old fire powered train.

After the festival we drove to Newport to stay at our Worldmark condo Schooner's Landing. It is a great condo, one that we haven't stayed at before. We took both girls swimming, walked on the beach, went to the outlet mall, and ended our trip at Newport at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Addison had fun digging in the sand and seeing Nemo and Dori at the aquarium.

We then drove up the coast to Seaside to stay at the Worldmark Seaside. On the way we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory where Brian and Addison sampled cheese and we bought some cheese curds "squeeky cheese" and salt water taffy. We arrived to Seaside just in time for the fog to roll in....so that meant we weren't going to head to the beach and walk on the sand. It was a relaxing evening in the condo and then back home.

Wednesday we are headed to stay at Worldmark's Eagle Crest in Redmond. It should be fun!

Easter Egg Hunt and More!

Addison getting ready for the hunt


Addison putting chocolate eggs in her basket.


Addison showing off her find :)


Addison all stickered up....even at the Easter egg hunt!


That's our Addison! Stickers, stickers everywhere!


Addison just loves to sticker herself!


Kennedy and her pacifier....silly girl ;)


Kennedy in her hat getting ready for the beach trip!

Last Saturday we went to Blue Lake Park for an Easter egg hunt. Let me tell you, I was not very impressed. Last year we went to the Easter egg hunt put on by the City of McKinney in Texas and they did a WAY better job. This year all they did was have candy put in the wet grass which was hard for the kids to find, as opposed to putting the candy in the plastic eggs. Addison did have a good time though and got more candy to add to her potty training rewards. Then on Sunday we all went over to my sister's house for a yummy Easter brunch. Addison had fun playing with EJ, my sister's nephew, and we had a nice time visiting with my sister, her husband, his brother, and my mom.

As for updates on the girls. Kennedy is getting more of a personality by the day. She is smiling like crazy and she even giggles. I love her little "goos". It's so cute if you say "goo" to her she will say it back and it's just so sweet!

Addison is her silly self. She got lots of stickers from Mama Vicki for Easter, so she has been going through those like they are going out of style (as you can see from the above pictures!). She is so funny. She really likes to watch Monster's vs. Aliens, Peter Pan, and Finding Nemo. When she watches Monster's vs. Aliens she loves Suzu (Susan) and grabs her off the screen and carries her around. When she watches Peter Pan she really likes Smitty and she calls him "my guy" and when he comes on she says "that's my guy!". She also says that Peter Pan is on her foot, meaning that his shadow is on her foot. She got this from when he is attaching his shadow to his foot. Too funny! Then there's Nemo. She loves the part when he swims in to open water and is going to touch the boat. She gets very stern and yells at him (like Nemo's dad does) and says "Nemo don't touch the boat, it's a icky boat". I just love little kids and their funny stories!

We are going on a vacation this weekend and will be gone for almost 1 1/2 weeks! We are leaving Saturday morning and stopping in Woodburn to see the Tulip Festival, then off to Newport for Saturday and Sunday night, where we will go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. After Newport we are off to Seaside for Monday night and will return home for one night. We will then go to Eagle Crest in Central Oregon Wednesday night through Sunday. It is a much needed vacation for all of us. We are very excited, as Addison would say "You excited? I'm excited!" and we hope to have lots of great pictures to share upon our return.

The Girls Update and New Lens

Portrait of Kennedy


Kennedy blowing bubbles


Kennedy's tiny little foot


Addison playing with her Easter bucket


Addison's scary face


Addison kissing Kennedy


Portrait of Addison


Addison using Ritz crackers as eyes :)

This past Tuesday both girls had ultrasounds of their kidneys. Why you ask. Well, both Addison and Kennedy have what is called a preauricular sinus (or pit) which is a small hole just in front of their ear, it almost looks like a tiny hole from a piercing. To Brian and I it wasn't a big deal, as Brian also has one. Since the ears are formed at the same time as the kidneys sometimes there is a correlation between the preauricular sinus and a problem with the kidneys. So, the girls had ultrasounds to make sure that there wasn't a problem. The girls did so good! Both of their appointments were scheduled at the same time, so I went in with Kennedy and Brian went in the Addison. Addison was very ticklish and thought the gel was cold and pretty much laughed the whole time. Kennedy smiled and cooed. We received the results today and they are both normal! This is exactly what we expected, but thought that there was no harm in checking them out just to be certain.

Brian and I also recently purchased a new lens for our camera. We are really wanting to expand our interest in photography and eventually take portraits on the side. Unfortunately right now we don't have the ideal space or lighting but we are hoping to resolve that soon. I have included some pictures about with out new lens. We are really pleased with it and can't wait to play with it more!

Let's Go to the Zoo!

Kennedy & Mom take a minute for a photo op


Addison & Mama Vicki looking at the animals


Mama Cheryl playing with Addison


Brandon, Cooper, Brian & Addison


Addison petting the goat


Close up of the giraffe


What a tall giraffe!


Zebra


It's a Meerkat!


Sacked out after a long day at the zoo

The weather was beautiful this weekend and was the perfect time to go to the Oregon Zoo! It was a big family event with my mom and sister, Jeff & Cheryl, Brandon, Shelby, Cooper, Sonja & Ethan. It was kind of hard to keep track of Addison, since she was sometimes being watched by any of the other persons in our party, so we kept having to try to keep an eye out and make sure she didn't run off. Which she did try to do a few times. We brought our strollers, hoping that part of the time she just might want to sit in it, but for the most party she didn't. Kennedy didn't want to sit in her stroller much either, so I hauled Kennedy around in my sling most of the day and she did very well, with only getting upset a few times...pretty good considering we were out and about and she was in the sling for quite a while. It was so cute, Addison would call to the animals, "come here (fill in blank with whatever animal we were looking at)". Addison had a good time running around and checking things out, she even got to pet some goats at the petting zoo. Addison really likes to play with her cousins Ethan and Cooper. She was so tuckered out at the end of the day, she crashed! A good time was had by all.

I must admit, I am a bit disappointed with the pics....although many of them are great, we could have done a better job if I wasn't trying to take pics with Kennedy eating in the sling, and Brian was trying to chase Miss Addison around while taking pics. It was a bit hard to do a quality shot with our hands full and 1 on the little ones :)

Kennedy is 2 Months Old!

Kennedy loves tummy time


Kennedy is all smiles :)


Kennedy also loves to suck on her hand


Kennedy looks like her daddy here


Close up of Kennedy


Kennedy about to smile


Close up of Addison as Snow White


Addison in her Snow White dress up clothes


Addison likes to wear the crown on the back of her head ;)

Sorry it has been so long since the last post....well, it really hasn't been that long, but when I usually post a few times a week it has been a bit long :)

Kennedy turned 2 months old today! Wow, it's hard to believe it. We had her 2 month check up and she is doing just great. She weighed in at 11lbs 3oz (62%) and 23 1/2in (87%), she sure is getting to be a big girl. Kennedy also got 3 shots today and the girl that did them didn't do them as I have seen in the past. Rather than putting the alcohol on both legs and just getting them done quickly 2 in 1 leg and 1 in the other she did the alcohol then a shot, waited a few seconds and repeated. So, poor Kennedy didn't get the shots over very quickly and she had real tears :( Honestly, this is the first time I have seen her really cry and it was heartbreaking.

On a better note, Kennedy is doing so many things. She is smiling all of the time! She especially likes to have you softly blow air in her face and she just grins and coos, it is just precious! Kennedy is a strong little girl, she has great head control and LOVES to stand all of the time (with some support under her arms of course!). But she can push up to stand and she holds her own :) Kennedy has been a very good sleeper at night and finally got rid of that nasty cold. She is back to our healthy, beautiful baby girl.

Addison is a funny little girl! She has quite the imagination and I think she has some imaginary "friends". Addison often points down the hall to our bedroom and said "there's a monster down there" and she isn't saying it to avoid going to bed. She also talks to and carries around an imaginary piggy. She will tell the monster "put piggy down" and "don't scare piggy". It is so funny, if you ask her where the piggy is she will run to the kitchen pick it up and give it to you and even put it down and pet it! What a character our little Addison is.

Addison loves dressing up and loves Snow White, so when I was out shopping and I came across a Snow White dress up outfit I had to get it for her! I put it in the trunk so that Addison wouldn't see it, since we would be giving it to her for Easter. Yeah, well if you know Brian and I very well you know we can't sit on gifts. Yep, that's right, she got it early and just loves it. I must say she does look good in red :)

As for Brian and I. Nothing much is new with us, just enjoying the company of our girls and hoping to get out of this tiny apartment SOON. I am getting ready for my sister's baby shower tomorrow, which should be lots of fun! We are awaiting nicer weather so we can take the girls out more. I just feel so terrible dragging them out in this nasty weather if I don't have to. It sounds like the weather may be nice on Sunday, so a trip to the zoo may be in order.