100 years of livin!

The Birthday Girl, she looks awesome!

My Gramma P has made it 100 years and this weekend we headed over to Spokane to celebrate this momentous occasion. I always love having an excuse to go to Spokane, even though getting there is a bit more difficult and it takes a bit longer. After taking off Friday afternoon, we began our journey across the state, with only two stops we made decent time. Saturday was the party day and the morning was full of lots of prep. Melia and I stayed back with the kids because they would just slow the process down. By party time, the kids were jazzed to run around, even though it was really a sit event. One of us spent most of the time chasing them around, but we all got in a little visiting time. It is nice to see everyone, we are all just so shy that we have a hard time branching out and talking to others. Gramma P looked great and came to the party even though she didn't really want to! Her descendants did a presentation of her life represented by 100 of an item that created a memory with her. Jesse and I did roses, Melia movie tickets, Dad tulips, and Peyton closed the show with X and O's. By the time this was over Peyton and Isabell were approaching melt down stage so we took them home for naps. The rest of the evening we visited with family and ate some pizza. Unfortunately, we had to leave Sunday, it seems like we never get to hang out for too long. Hopefully we can go back soon and stay a few days. Happy Birthday Gramma P!

Dad walking Brady around, all the old ladies loved him!

My aunt Jeanette with little Allison (my cousin Monica's girl)

My cousing Molly with her niece Millie (my cousing Sarah's daughter)

Molly and me, Molly has a mouth full of food!

My Gramma P's hairdresser, that is some stellar hair!

My great aunt Linda with Brady.

Melia and my aunt Debby

Big Brother, Little Brother

Aren't they cute? Brady wasn't too excited for that picture. For the most part the two have been getting along pretty well. Peyton is finally starting to act out a bit to get our attention, which I admit has mostly been on Brady (especially in my case.) But overall not too bad.


Peyton is now 27 mos old and still very much in his own world. I wish he would join our world more often because then maybe he would listen to me better. There are some days when Brady comes very close to being an only child, but I always restrain! Like I said, he has been acting out more which makes him harder to deal with, especially with Brady always on me. In other Peyton news, he is currently doing his favorite activity, dancing around with his hats singing "Preschool Musical" from Sesame Street. It is that song 24/7, and he only knows the chorus so it gets a bit repetitive for everyone else, but somehow still cute. Since he still prefers not to talk all the time, he has begun moving us to what he wants. He pushes and pulls, then moves our fingers to what he wants. It is interesting, but i still wish he would just talk. I guess he has started saying more stuff on his own, he loves to say "Buh-bye, I lud you, kiss" to everything we leave (sharks, people, the playground.) Let's see, oh he has also learned how to play on the computer all by himself, well Sesame Street. He can open the Internet, find the page, and then move the star to what he wants to play or watch. It's a little scary that he is so good at it already, but also handy at times.



And then poor Brady. Well, actually he has been doing better. The new antibiotic, plus some gripe water seem to be helping, but he still has trouble chilling on his own and calming down to sleep without being wrapped up like a burrito. It is still hard to look at him and not see Peyton. Even Peyton looks at baby pictures of himself and says Brady. At this point he doesn't seem to have too much of a personality, there is the occasional smile, but nothing that he is totally controlling. All of his hair is still intact, as I imagine it will continue to be. Now that he is out of the newborn stage (he doesn't really curl up on my chest ans sleep anymore, sad) I am looking forward to when he can sit and play on his own, but I don't really want him to move. We'll see if we can work that out.

There have been many tears shed by all three of us, but slowly, very slowly, I am beginning to handle this all better and adjust to a fussy baby and an, um, adventurous toddler. I desperately want to enjoy this, especially Brady's first months, so I am trying to adjust my attitude about getting stuff done. It's just that keeping them both alive and fed doesn't feel like enough of an accomplishment, so I spend all day trying to put Brady down so I can do other chores around the house and I feel like that is jipping me of time with both of them. I will have to work on it, so if you come over and the house isn't clean, well know that I want it to be, but I am spending some time with my boys!

Zoo, finally!

This is so way past the point, but I wanted to make sure I had it documented.

It was about the middle of August, on a semi-warm day. Three sisters, two kids, and a Gramma headed to the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. What awaited them, no one was prepared for. Ok, it is hard to write like that, but it is dramatic. So, anyways...Erica and I dropped off the newborns at a family friend's (it was the first time I was away from Brady) and took off for an adventure. Unfortunately, Melia wasn't able to join us, but then we only had two kids to keep track of. We always find this zoo to be the best because at an aquarium you have guaranteed sightings and you can get really close and the youngens seem to like that.

Peyton really enjoyed chasing after the peacocks trying to talk to them.

He also liked looking underwater at the walruses but got super freaked when they came right at him.



As always the water and toy area was pretty much their favorite part. Not to mention, it is Alesha's favorite spot to pose for pictures.



I did manage to get Peyton on the carousel, but of course only on the lame seat that doesn't move. He still really hates those things. Madison is much more adventurous.

Luckily, we all enjoy the Zoo or it wouldn't be much fun yet, the kids don't completely care where they are. We could have taken them to McDonald's play land and gotten the same level of enthusiasm, but this is really becoming a nice tradition.