Lincoln City Kite Festival

This was my first year going to the Lincoln City Kite Festival, however, Brian and Addison were able to enjoy the festivities 2 years ago.  This was a fun family event (Mama Cheryl & Mama Vicki joined us), the weather was perfect, it wasn't overly crowded, and the girls had fun playing in the sand and well getting a bit wet too!  I hope that we are able to make it an annual trip. We were able to enjoy the evening overnight in Lincoln City, which only added to our enjoyment.

A Day at Laurelhurst Park

Sorry for this post being out of order, but I completely forgot and had some great pictures to share from our day at Laurelhurst Park.  We had so much fun walking around the park and found the play structures to play on.  The girls loved, loved, loved the swings!  It was such a fun park and there were even teeter totters, which along with merry-go-rounds are hard to find these days it seems.  I can't wait to take the girls there again!

A Day off with Mom

I am so blessed to have Tuesdays off with my girls, and Brian has Wednesdays off with the girls too!  So, we each have a day during the week for us each to spend quality time with the girls.  We have so much fun!  We have a membership to both the Oregon Zoo and The Portland Children's Museum, both or which the girls love.  Here are a few pictures from our recent trips to both places.

It's a BOY!!!

Yep, that's right, we will be adding a little boy to our family and we are so excited!  I asked the Dr. to look again, because I was certain that we would be having a 3rd girl.  Too funny!  We have decided on a name, Jack Dalton Burleigh.  We have already painted the room dark blue and have selected a sports theme bedding.  I wasn't too excited about doing sports, but I told Brian he could have full reign on decorating the room and sports was the way he wanted to go.  I have to say I do like the bedding we chose, it has a nice old fashioned touch to it.  Both Addison and Kennedy are thrilled to have a brother and Addison keeps saying that he will be coming after her birthday.  So cute!

Canning, Gardening, Picking Berries, Oh My!

This year we have had our first garden.  I was the one who really wanted to have a garden, but Brian spearheaded the whole project and it has become his baby.  Brian planted tomatoes, cucumbers, 2 different types of squash, 5 different peppers, pole & bush beans, watermelon & cantaloupe.  Some of the plants have been more fruitful than others and Brian has plans to refine his garden next year.  But all in all, it has been such a great experience for our family.  Addison and Kennedy love going outside with Brian every evening to pick garden fresh veggies.  Addison's favorite were the cucumbers and Kennedy loved the beans.  They were always so proud of their picks coming in the kitchen with their arms full and asking me to wash them up so they could begin devouring them!

In addition to gardening we are learning to can fruits and vegetables.  Thus far, Brian has canned peaches that we got on the Hood River Fruit Loop and has pickled cucumbers and pickled peppers from our garden.  We have full intentions of making applesauce, canning pears, and whatever else we can find along the Fruit Loop this coming weekend!

We have also found a great location for berry picking that we have been frequenting.  On our first trip, we were able to get raspberries and blueberries and one trips 2 & 3 were got marionberries and blueberries.  I would say we picked nearly 60 lbs of berries over those 3 trips.  It was so much fun to watch the girls get excited about picking the berries, not to mention getting excited about eating the berries (I think Kennedy got more in her mouth than she did in the bucket!).  With all of our berries, I made lots of jam of all varieties, baked blueberry pies, blueberry zucchini summer squash bread, blueberry cheesecake, and then froze the rest for blueberry pancakes....yum!

We are really enjoying all of the fresh finds.  Bring on fall, I want to start making some pumpkin treats! :)

Addison's Broken Arm :(

On 7/19 after dinner, we all went to play in the backyard and enjoy the lovely weather.  We were playing "What time is it Mr. Fox?" and Brian was Mr. Fox.  When he called "lunchtime" and turned about to chase us, Addison ran and tripped over the edge of the wood frame for the play structure.  Brian and I knew immediately that she has broken her arm, it was twisted behind her (in an unnatural way) and we heard a snap that sounded like a wooden baseball bat cracking.  It was the most awful sound that we still relive in our heads today :(  We quickly scooped up both girls and drove them to the hospital where Addison sat in the ER untreated for 2 hours.

Once she was admitted to a room and xrays were taken it was confirmed that she had a distal humerus fracture.  Poor baby!  She was splinted and got to ride in an ambulance to Doernbecher's where she would have her humerus pinned in surgery the next morning.  Addison was very brave, much more brave than I would been!  She selected a hot pink cast, which she had to wear for 3 weeks.  She is now almost 1 month out of her cast and has regained nearly all mobility in her arm.  We go to our follow up since having the cast off and pins removed on Tuesday (9/6) and we should be in the clear to begin swimming lessons, riding bikes and basically acting like she never broke her arm....well, we will still be taking precautions but you get the gist :)

Kennedy's First Haircut.....

Brian and I arrived to pick the girls up from daycare on evening to find out that Kennedy had chopped her bangs off....of so we all thought.  Turns out, we found out a month later that is was actually Addison who did the handy work.  Poor Kennedy was so upset and had actually tried to tell all of us that Addison cut her hair, but Addison did such a good job of denying it and well Kennedy tends to say things like "Kitty bite me" when she actually bit herself.  So, it was easy to believe Addison when she denied it straight faced.  Well, finally Addison fessed up and said she did it because she thought Kennedy's bangs were in her eyes.  Kennedy was so upset about it and we tried to take her in to Great Clips to see if there was anything they could do to make it look a bit less like she was scalped in the front.  It was wishful thinking and Brian and I both knew it wasn't going to make a difference, but it was worth a shot!  Needless to say, it has been about 2 1/2 months since the incident and Kennedy's poor bangs are still looking a bit rough around the edges so to speak.