Merry Christmas!

I would have to say that this Christmas was my favorite with the girls thus far!  Addison & Kennedy were so excited for Christmas morning it brought a smile to my face over and over.  We spend Christmas Eve with Brian's family, starting the day having a family picture taken with Brian's parents and his brother's family (it turned out very nice too I might add!).  In the afternoon, we went to Brandon & Shelby's house to exchange presents for the kids.  Addison & Kennedy received some very nice gifts, their favorite would have to be the beauty salon, although I would say it was Brian's least favorite gift as the assembly was quite tedious!  I have also benefited from this gift, as I have had my hair fixed up at the beauty parlor a number of times now!  We spend the evening at Brian's Aunt Debbie & Uncle Terry's house, where we spent time with family, enjoyed some yummy panini sandwiches and homemade soups, and topped the evening off with a fun gift exchange.

Christmas Day started out the girls waking up and showing so much excitement that Santa had been there to bring presents.  The looks on their faces were wonderful!  Addison & Kennedy received many gifts, including dress up clothes and shoes, dolls, a bead set, an art set, Leapster2, Tag Jr., and much much more!  We had a wonderful afternoon with my mom and Brian's parents where we had brunch and finished off opening presents.  Again, more great gifts!  It was a wonderful fun and family filled holiday weekend!

Christmas at Rockaway Beach

We celebrated Christmas a week early at Rockaway Beach with my Dad, Dianne, and all of my siblings and their significant others, as well as my nieces and nephews.  We had a great time playing games, sharing laughs, and relaxing.  The girls had fun playing with their cousins and of course spending time with Mama & Papa!  Although the weather was a bit windy, rainy and cold, we managed to get in some time walking on the beach and enjoying the beach front scenery.  It was a very nice gift for my Dad and Dianne to rent a lovely beach house for us to stay at for the weekend.

Addison Turn's 4!

Addison turned 4 on 12/14 and we celebrated in style with a birthday party at our home with family and a few of Addison's friends.  We did a Yo Gabba Gabba theme and I even free handed a Foofa cake!  Addison really wanted to have a pinata, so she selected a rainbow one.  The kids had a fun time taking a few swings at it, but none of them were able to crack it open, so Brian improvised and virtually cut the whole thing open.  Addison opened her gifts, which she was appreciative of them all.  We had a nice time!  Addison is now so thrilled to tell everyone that she sees that she is 4 years old now!  Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I was more focused on sharing in the celebration rather than being the photographer this time year.  To all of you who attended, thank you so much for helping make Addison's 4th birthday so special!

All Aboard the Polar Express

This past weekend Brian, I and the girls, joined my friend Jenapher, her mom and sons in Hood River to ride the Polar Express.  The night before, we watched the movie, so that the girls were familiar with the experience, they loved it! 

Upon arrival in Hood River, we went to find out seats and someone was already sitting in them, so they told us to go upstairs and grab some tables.  As you can imagine, there was a bit of a problem as we were then sitting in someone else's seats.  After getting it all worked out, we stayed in the upgraded seats and the other family got seats a bit farther down in the rail car.  The rail car was decorated with lights and some ornaments and the servers were dressed in the same chef outfits as from the book. The conductor came aboard the rail car and frantically punched the tickets, the bum that sits atop the rail car came walking through babbling, we went to the North Pole to see where Santa lives and his workshop.  While we sat and ate our cookies and drank our hot chocolate, Santa then boarded the train with one of his elfs and talked to each of the kids and gave them a bell. 

The girls has such a fun time riding the train in their new fleece footie pjs!  Addison was thrilled that she got a bell and she keeps ringing it and saying "I believe!", it is so cute!  Kennedy had lost her bell, but luckily it ended up in Alice's purse (Jenapher's mom) so she will get it back soon and Addison won't have to share hers (which I might add she has been very good about).  We got to take home some nice mugs that were tailored just to this particular event as well.  We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to get off the train at the North Pole as we were led to believe, but all in all it is a good experience had by all!

Happy Holidays!

For those of you who would like a recap on what the Burleigh family has been up to this past year, here is the letter we sent out in our Holiday cards:

Dear Family & Friends,

This past year has been filled with excitement & many memories for the Burleigh Family!  

We started off this spring buying a house in Happy Valley, only 3 miles east of work.  It is nice being so close to work, however, we did have to find new childcare, which as many of you know can be quite the challenge to find someone that meets all of your needs.  It ended up working out very well for us in the end.  The girls are at a small at home daycare where Addison goes to preschool & comes home with projects daily.  We are really happy with our new home.  Lindsay spent the first month or so painting at least 2 rooms each weekend & the girls got to pick out the colors of their rooms (or should we say Addison picked out pink for her room & she selected purple for Kennedy’s room).  This summer, Brian & his dad put together a nice wood play structure for the girls that we had purchased.  It has swings, a slide, a rock wall, a picnic bench, and a little tower.  The girls love it & are so thrilled to have a “park” in their backyard.  

We are both still working at Kaiser Permanente in the outpatient surgery department, however, this year Lindsay was selected for the Orthopedic Surgery & Podiatry Surgery lead nurse.  Basically, Lindsay orders any of the special supplies needed for the surgeries in these particular services & makes sure the surgeons have what they need.  We decided to get bicycles & start biking to work.  I’ll be honest, we don’t bike as much as we would like, mainly because we are fair weather bikers & it is hard to get up, get ready, drive the girls to daycare & back home to get our bikes.  Not to mention that we race home on our bikes & whoever (always Brian) gets home first jumps in the car to drive over & pick up the girls.  However, we are hoping to increase our bike commuting this year once the weather warms up.  

Addison turns 4 years old this month (4 going on 14!).  It is amazing how much she learns, she loves going to “school” (daycare) & can’t wait until she turns 5 & can go to Kindergarten.  Addison is always practicing writing her letters & numbers & is constantly asking how to spell different words.  In November, Brian took Addison (for an early birthday present) to see one of her favorite shows, Yo Gabba Gabba, live.  Addison was so excited, she got to go backstage to meet the characters & have her picture taken with them!  Addison loves to color & draw (she is pretty good for her age!), & she can’t wait to take dance or gymnastics (which we plan to sign her up for now that she is 4).  

Kennedy turned 1 years old this past February.  In September, Kennedy ended up having tubes put in her ears, as she had fluid in her ears that wouldn’t drain.  What an improvement that has been for her. She couldn’t hear & that impacted her speech, now she is talking all of the time!  Kennedy loves playing with dolls, kitchen, & pretty much anything that her sister is doing that she can keep up with.  Kennedy is lucky to have such a great big sister.  Addison is always looking out for Kennedy & saying how much she loves her sister.  Kennedy’s own personality is beginning to blossom & it is so fun to watch, aside from the “terrible twos” stage that is upon us.  It is sad to see our baby becoming a little girl, but amazing all at the same time.  

Happy Holidays!
Love, Brian, Lindsay, Addison & Kennedy Burleigh
www.burleighfamily.blogspot.com for updates on what we have been up to!

Yo Gabba Gabba Live!

What an exciting day for Miss Addison.  For Addison's birthday, Brian and I bought her tickets to see her favorite show, Yo Gabba Gabba Live with VIP passes to spend time with the characters backstage and have some special private shows.  Brian took Addison and they had an amazing time!  Addison got to meet her favorite character Foofa (the pink one hugging her in the picture), she chose a cool Brobee (green guy) backpack, and she picked out a Toodee (blue one) shirt for Kennedy.  Addison was dancing and singing along to the performance the whole time!  I hope that Addison will remember this day for the rest of her life and remember how much fun she had!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was so much fun this year!  We were joined at our house for trick-or-treating by Brian's parents, my mom, my sister Sarah and nephew Cooper.  Addison was dressed as a pink princess (I even let her wear the jeweled headband I wore in our wedding) and Kennedy was a tulip fairy.  After the kids were all ready to go and it was dark enough, we began our mission.  This was the first year that Kennedy was really into Halloween, once she got the hang of it, she was running up to the doors and running on to the next house, it was a challenge to keep up with her!  Addison was so polite and always said "please" and "thank you".  Once we were finished and back at the house, we still had a few trick-or-treaters coming to our door and it was too cute, when the girls would hear the doorbell ring, they would run to the door with their buckets and sit there thinking they were going to be receiving candy from the kids coming to our door.  Silly girls!  I can't wait to see what Halloween has in store for us next year!

Picture Time!

It was about that time to get the girls pictures taken so we could update friends and family in our holiday card, so we went to Portrait Innovations and got it done!  Kennedy had a bit of a rough time, but all in all I think it was a successful trip.  Now for our family portrait session, we will see what is in store for us.

Liepold Farms Pumpkin Patch 2010

We had an amazing time at our annual trip to Liepold Farms Pumpkin Patch!  We were joined by many friends and family, which is always a bonus!  Both girls were able to take a ride on the mini ponies, they both had grins from ear to ear.  After the pony rides, we went on the hay ride, corn maze (this year's theme was Bugs....per Brian it was not as cool as last year's Star Wars theme), and pumpkin catapult.  By then we were all ready to have a bite to eat and it turned out in our favor that the Burgerville mobile cart was on site ready to feed us yummy food.  We ended our visit by picking out pumpkins.  It was so funny, there were little wheelbarrows for the kiddos, we only grabbed one thinking Kennedy was a bit young to use it.  Boy were we wrong!  Miss Kennedy was fighting her sister to use it.  That was a bit of a struggle, but it all ended well :)