Fam in Town

This week has been awesome because I've had my favorite visitors in town... my family! A week ago, my little sister flew into town to stay with me for a couple days. Because she's so young, Peyton and I got to go pick her up at the gate. We were so happy to see her! I had a whole itinerary planned for us. After we got her settled in, we went shopping, which everyone knows is my favorite pastime. We went to the zoo one day, and now Peyton is finally starting to get an idea of what the zoo is all about. She's actually interested in the animals now, which makes it more fun for me. This time she signed "dog" every time she saw an animal. It was so cute. I would sign "Do you see the bear" and she would sign "dog". At least she gets that they're both animals! We got to pet the cows and goats and see the Wildlife Live show. We got to feed the birds right out of our hands, and they were landing all over us! We saw the bugs (yuck) and monkeys and safari animals and by far the cutest thing at the zoo: the polar bears playing with balls, and shooting them like basketballs! It was a little bit rainy and cold, but that only made it better since it wasn't as crowded.

Cheyanne the bird lady.

We went to this awesome park, Magnolia Park, and let Peyton swing on the swings, play in the water feature, and teeter-totter. We had lunch at our favorite: Panera. We went to the duck pond and fed the ducks. They even took chips right out of Cheyanne's and my hands! We went to Peyton's favorite place; Pump it Up, Jr. two times. Peyton likes it more and more every time we go. She gets so excited the minute we walk in the building.Standing Up - another favorite thing of Peyton'sLook at those silly teeth! She's got her bottom middle 2, and one on the right, then the top I teeth and the 2 front teeth are just barely popping through. She loved the slide!We went and got manicures and pedicures and Cheyanne went with Peyton and I to our Baby Sign Language class. Thursday my mom and brothers came into town, and we had a second itinerary of events planned. We went to the Portland Children's Museum. Peyton was a couple years too young for the Museum, but we let her play in the "Baby's Garden" which was for kids under 2. She was in heaven. She was allowed to crawl and climb and play and do whatever she wanted without anyone stopping her, since everything was totally baby-friendly.

Construction ZonePeyton's favorite part- the slide she could climb up and go down We also went to story time, which she seemed to like, at least for a little while. We went to OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and saw their current exhibit: CSI. It was pretty neat, but the best part was the interactive part of the museum, where we got to play around with all sorts of neat stuff. My mom and the kids also got to go on a tour of the submarine there. I had to stay behind with Peyton, but they had a great time. While they were on the submarine, I took Peyton to the little kid's section of OMSI, and it was even better than the Children's Museum. It had all the same stuff for the bigger kids, and also a space for babies only that Peyton loved.

Peyton got tired and her uncle JC carried her around for her nap We went to the Lake Oswego Farmer's Market, and ate some delicious food. We also did something I've been wanting to do since I moved to Oregon: we went to the coast! We went to the Seaside Beach and walked around the "Prom" (Promenade) and played arcade games, shopped, and ate tons of food. We were really happy because we didn't get rained out. The best ting we did there was go to the Aquarium. It was in interactive aquarium, so we got to feed the seals (who did tricks at our command to get the fish). We also got to hold a bunch of different creatures: starfish, sand dollars, sea snails, crabs, and we got to touch sea cucumbers, sea anemone, sea urchins, kiten, tube worms, and an octopus! It was so fun!

Peyton trying to grab the starfish That night my mom babysat Peyton for a couple hours so we could go to our brother-in-law's surprise 40th birthday luau. It turned out really cute. Sunday we went to church. The boys got to go to Jade's class, and Cheyanne got to go to my sister-in-law Ashley's class, so everyone was happy. After church we went to the duck pond again and played Frisbee and ran Tinky. I love this picture because Peyton is pointing to the ducks. So cute!Then we went to Magnolia park again and the big kids played tag while Noni let Peyton play on the toddler playground. Peyton loved every single second of it. She was so happy! She loved going up and down the little slides and crawling all over all the play structures. This picture is priceless. Also if you look closely, you can see Edward Cullen in the background!She loved swinging high with her AuntieEveryone is having a great time and the best part of all is they're here to celebrate Peyton's birthday with us today and tomorrow!

PS: as of this week Peyton is...

Going down stairs proficiently, saying "Tinky" (though it sounds more like "hha-hhh" or

"dee-de"), and sleeping like she's passed out: face down, Spread Eagle

I put this random picture on here because she looks just like me when I was her age, and I'm desperate to prove it.

Let's be honest... The scowl looks much cuter on her!

Watch Me Grow!

Tidbits

I feel like I have so many little tidbits to blog about, so here it goes: My totally random post.

First of all, for those of you who haven't been to our home in Oregon, Jade and I each have our own rooms. Mine is a craft room and Jade's is his Man Room. This is the room that is totally, 100% his. He is able to do whatever he wants to this room. He doesn't have to clean it, or put things away in a certain place, I don't nag him to clean it, I don't nag about decor, nothing. Well, awhile ago I mentioned this around his dad and brothers. That was my downfall. The bold statement caught their attention, and so the search for animal trophies began. First was Jade's pheasant, then a small deer head that he shot in Germany, then his dad's (huge) deer head, then his brother's goose, then his brother's bear rug. Well, a couple nights ago, Jade's brother Justin came over with a little surprise for me... All the taxidermed animals from their Northern California hunting trip. 8 exotic sheep and goats in total, plus 2 coyotes. I really should have gone with my first instinct and made that into a second guest bedroom.

While he's busy driving me crazy at home, Jade is also busy doing great at work. He got the "big dog" award for New Agent of the Month at New York Life again for May. He also got the Agent of the Month award for May, out of the whole office! He's definitely on a roll. Great job, babe. Thanks for working so hard.

Peyton and I have been having some seriously fun adventures, too. A few weeks ago we went with Peyton and Brittney Janeck to Rose City Ceramics, a place where you paint ceramic things, then they put them in the kiln, and voila- you have a ceramic something that you painted yourself. We had the girls paint mugs that said "I love dad"

We also went to a place called "Pump it Up, Jr." It is a warehouse full of inflatable play structures. They have a "Pump it Up" for older kids, but this whole place was for kids 6 and under. They had a bounce house with balls in it, a big slide, a 2-slide slide that you race down, a huge obstacle course, and 2 smaller play structures with different things inside. The day we went, it was toddler-only, so there were about 10 kids ages 11 months-3 years. Peyton wasn't so sure about it in the beginning, but after a little prodding, she really liked it. She didn't like it quite as much as the older kids because she can't run or jump, but she would stand up and bounce, and she loved crawling on the obstacle course. We'll definitely be going back.

Tinky has been busy being super pathetic. She's a traitor to her species. If she were ever in the wild, she would be shunned by all the "real" dogs. She's still sleeping under the covers, riding in the front seat of the car, and she sits on and lays on us. She loves us to give her love-bites on her chin and cheeks. She also loves kissing Peyton, especially since Peyton gives her open-mouthed kisses. Peyton loves crawling all over Tink, and Tink loves the attention. She's a little needy, as one might observe. The other day, I was cleaning my room when I noticed that Jade had left the shirt he had worn the previous day on the floor by our bed. Since I was busy, I didn't pick it up. A few minutes later I walked into our room and found Tink laying on our bed, with her head cuddled up on... get this: Jade's shirt! She had seen it on the floor, and smelled Jade on it, and decided she wanted to use it to cuddle on! So cute. In the picture below, Jade was laying down talking to me, then Tink laid down right next to him, and put her head on his mouth, so he could bite her. It was so cute, and just a little pathetic. By the way, Tink is scared to death of the new animal heads. For 2 days after we got them, she would not leave my side. She refuses to go in that bedroom, and she starts barking when the door is open. The last thing I'm going to blog about my oldest baby is that if given a choice, she would prefer not to sit or lay on the ground. She will always choose a chair or couch over the floor. One night we were in the office, and Peyton's pack-and-play was open. Tink decided to make herself a little bed, and she stayed there for a good hour before she got up.

Since Peyton and I are going to be out of town for Father's Day, we decided to surprise Jade and celebrate Father's Day early this Sunday. It happened to be a fast-Sunday, so he had "presents in bed" instead of breakfast in bed, then we let him sleep in for a change. We had a fun little "Father's Day" with Dad and his 3 girls.

Jade has been working late a lot lately, so when he was home for Peyton's bedtime routine on Saturday, I thought it would be nice for him to get to do the bedtime thing with her. Well, I'm sure it won't surprise you that Jade got a little creative with his job. I was cooking dinner when I heard Jade over my shoulder, "Peyton stuck her finger in a light socket." (All my sockets are covered, so I knew he was trying to scare me, and I intentionally didn't turn around.) Me: "Oh. Which one?" Jade: "One that's not covered" At this point I turned around...