My Angel and My Photographer

Brennan called me up to his room saying, "Mommy, look I'm an angel!" Madison had somehow convinced him that he would enjoy being dressed up in all these things - and purple lipstick is a must.

Maddie has taken to photography recently...but this week she took it a step farther and started 'posing' people for her pictures. Mike is a very good sport.

The Children's Museum

Children's museums are so wonderful; a place where kids can touch EVERYTHING and not get in trouble or hurt. It is so fun to let them go nuts, use thier imaginations and have a ball. My parents took the kids to the Portland Children's museum this week...and the kids can't stop talking about it.

A Yee Haw and a set up

Bren went through a phase where he wanted to wear this hat everyday. I think the picture in the bathroom captures his true personality.






The kids set up this little 'scene' to make me laugh. I heard them giggling, and walked to the stairs to find the 'elmos' napping, and the Krieg kids doing the same.

Jesus Loves Brennan

Bren is at such a fun age.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Girls just want to be loved...a couple of nights ago I heard Brennan running down the hall screaming...in hot pursuit of him was Madison. She was yelling, "I AM PRETTY! DANCE WITH ME!" She won, and he danced.

a few fun thoughts

I would like to thank my sweet husband for reviving my computer. A few weeks ago I dropped it on the fireplace....and he has been nursing it back to health. The poor thing, it's still wobbling along, and could die again on me at any moment, but for now, it can do the basics and I am thankful to have it. I don't have pictures on it anymore, and honestly, I am afraid to try to put any on, but I do have a few things that I can put on my blog. The first of which, we don't have a picture for anyway...we are expecting baby number three in September. While unexpected, we are very thankful that the Lord is blessing our family in such a wonderful way.

Here are some recent fun things that the kids have had to say:
**The other day it was a bright sunny day and I had all the blinds open and the sun streaming in the windows. I was loving it, even though it was blinding. After playing for a little while, Madison looked at me (through squinted eyes) and said, "Mommy, have you gotten enough vitamin D yet?"

**When I was putting Brennan to bed, he said, "Mommy, sing we is sawlty." I had to have him say it several times before I realized he was asking for 'we exault thee'

**While driving to the museum to meet some friends, Maddie asked me how to get there. I told her that it was on the other side of the river, to which she responded, "so...it's in China?" We have since talked about the difference between rivers and oceans :)

Just some odds and ends...

These are just some odds and ends from the last few weeks. The kids love this bike rack at the rec center; they love to 'hide' in bed, giggle until I get there, and then pop out and surprise me; and fortunately they love the rain and umbrellas. I, on the other hand, am about to go nuts from all the rain!!

What's so funny?

You think you see a boy with a basket on his head...but you are wrong. Brennan will clearly tell you that it is not a basket, but a football helmet!! And he wears it often!

Christmas in Oregon

Well, I have been a little lazy on updating my blog...so I have lots to add. I'll start with Christmas. We had a great Christmas with my parents here in Oregon. It was very relaxed and low key. We went out to the beautiful, yet cold, Oregon coast on Christmas Eve, and then had a fun day at home on Christmas. There was an amazing sunrise Christmas morning and then a great snowfall later in the day (it didn't stick, but it looked beautiful).

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN...

Madison (from down the hall) excitedly announces, "Hey Mom, I potty trained Brennan!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADISON!!

MADISON TURNED 4 TODAY!! She is very proud to be four. We had fun celebrating with friends on Saturday and then with just the family today.

Castle Time

Maddie and I had fun one day building a castle. The best part was that she wrote 'Belle' on it by herself (I told her how to spell it). It is so fun to see her learn and grow.

Absolutely Silly!!!

Brennan is always very entertaining! If you remember a few posts back he insisted on sleeping in his shoes...well a few days after that he slept all night with socks on his hands!
He is talking non-stop. Some of my favorites are:
criker creaters coming (trick-or-treaters coming)
huwts...BERWY BAD (hurts very bad - while pointing at a boo boo)

The other day in the car Madison said, "Brennan, I am going to tell you a funny joke. The chicken crossed the road." To which Brennan cracked up and responded, "dat vewy funny mannie"

hats...

We went to a freshman football game the other day and while the kids didn't get too into the game (until halftime when they went down onto the track and threw the ball around) they got into getting ready for it. They were very excited to wear these matching hats, and as you can see, Madison is very into posing for pictures!

Some things we are loving about Oregon....

We have really enjoyed the beautiful fall, and have actually had a couple weeks of beautiful sunshine, which I am very thankful for!
Mike's favorite things: the view of the mountains off the back of our house(which you can't see in the picture because of the low clouds, but I thought the trees were pretty), and even more than that, the view of mount. hood out front.
My favorite things: being just down the street from a great mall :), and the walking paths that are everywhere. They are great for the kids to ride bikes and scooters. The only thing I don't like about it, is the walk back is all uphill...and you know no one is riding bikes or scooters by that point...so I end up carrying it all!

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year. The kids got to go to two different Harvest Parties (one earlier in the week) and then when we got home from the Church last night they handed out candy to the trick or treat-ers. Maddie really got into handing the candy out, once she realized that she didn't have to give them her candy. We didn't get to much into costumes...just what we had around the house, but we tried.

BRENNAN IS 2!!!!!!!

Times goes so fast...we celebrated Brennan's second birthday on Monday. We stuck to a quite family birthday, with lots of trains and cake. Now that Bren is 2, he has become very independent and opinionated. His favorite thing to say is,"SELF, mommy" and as you can see in the pic, he insits on wearing these shoes to bed!

ZOO FUN!!!

Ok, this was hilarious! We went to the Oregon Zoo yesterday and it is so great there. It is amazing how close you can get to the animals. When we were leaving the orangutan's house, Halley the little girl that we went with leaned in and kissed the glass goodbye. And what do you know, the orangutan(I think that is what it was) kissed back. It was hard to get on film because the girls heads block it, but if you watch towards the end of the video, you will see the big guy kiss the girls goodbye!!!

Portland, Oregon

It has been so great to finally unpack our boxes here in Oregon. The kids have loved seeing thier toys again, have really transitioned well. You can see that Madison is eager to help out in the kitchen, and Brennan enjoys Madison's attention as he plays 'golf'. Every time she would get up from the bench, he would say, "SIT DOWN MAN-Y (maddie)Golf game!"

We have been settling in here in Portland, and the kids have been great sports with all the chaos. They love when we open something new - they play in boxes and have sword fights with all the packaging.