County Fair

So yesterday, we went to the County Fair. Peanut was so excited to go see the animals. She told me that we were going to see a donkey, camel, cow, pig, chicken, rooster, and a horse. I kept telling her that there weren't going to be donkeys and camels but she wouldn't listen!

Our first stop when we got there was this kid area where you could do animal puzzles, play in a corn kernel pit, "milk" a fake cow, do a duck race, make a dirt baby and see"Mother Goose". Peanut got to sit on mother goose's lap and pet her bunny. She loved it!
After we did that, we made a dirt baby. This is a picture of the finished result. It is just some grass seed and dirt in a nylon and then you decorate it and after a few days, hair (grass) grows!

Then we went and saw all the animals. We saw cows and chickens and roosters and rabbits and ducks and pigs and goats and sheep and horses. Peanut was disappointed there weren't donkeys! Then we went and ate dinner. They had a steak fry going on so we got a yummy cheap steak dinner! We did manage to save room for dessert: an elephant ear and deep fried oreos. We made a consensus though and decided that regular oreos are way better!

Peanut got to pick 1 ride to go on (she is tall enough for a lot of rides!) and of course she picked the carousel! She loved riding the horsies! We had a fun day at the fair!

Potty Training...................

So, I have started the wonderful process of Potty training! So far so good! I have been giving Peanut lots of capri suns and chocolate milk so she can have plenty of moments to try the potty and it is working! Every time she goes she gets a sticker and she gets to put it on her potty chart. Also, after she has gotten 5 stickers, she gets a potty prize (dollar store junk)! She only had 1 accident on Thursday, and then Friday we had to put her in a pull up and of course that's where she went #2 (I know, TMI). She has at least 14 stickers on her chart though! Good job Peanut!

2 1/2 Already?

Where did the time go? I can't believe Peanut is already this old. She is such a joy in my life and I am so grateful to have her. I love her so much. Some of my favorite things about her are:

• Every time I sneeze, she says, "You alright? You okay?"
• She is so excited to see me every morning. After I get her she always says, "Mommy, I wake up!" I love that she is so happy in the morning!
• She loves to sing. Even in Church. Her favorite songs right now are these: Twinkle Star, Wheels on the Bus, Patty Cake, Little Bunny Foo Foo, I am a Child of God, Old MacDonald, Popcorn Popping. Sometimes if I sing with her she gets mad because SHE wants to sing them!
  
• She gives me super kisses on my cheek
• She loves getting ready with me in the morning. She brought her step stool in from the other bathroom into my bathroom so she can see herself in the mirror and she combs her hair and pretends like she is putting on makeup
• She likes to "lay down with mommy" before nap time and bedtime. It's just a ploy to delay going to sleep, but its so cute how she just cuddles up to me.
• She counts to 14 in English and to 5 in Spanish! Thank you Dora!
  
• She loves reading books. We did a summer reading program with the public library and I had to read her 20 books and I had 6 weeks to do it. We read the 20 books in half a day at least!
• She fake sleeps especially when its diaper time. She runs to the rug in front of the front door and fake snores while her eyes are open!
  
• She loves to sit on the counter and help me cook and help me empty the dishwasher.
• She loves to play at "play park" and loves swinging on the swings.
• She loves her stuffed animals
• She loves to color with markers
• Every time Brad comes home, she runs up to him and says "Daddy, Daddy" and gives him a big hug.
• She loves saying prayers. In fact, she wants to always say the prayer. It is so cute!
• I love that she is saying so many things and putting words in sentences and just communicating! I love that I am her mommy!
  

Blue Balloon

We treated ourselves to Red Robin the other night and Peanut was a good girl and got a balloon afterwards. Her favorite color is blue (she pronounces it Blewr) and for the rest of the night and the next day until it popped, she was playing non stop with it. She even wanted to take it to bed with her. The simple things in life.....

Play dough Anyone?

Peanut loves play dough. She could play with it for hours on end.

She likes making animals with it. Especially snakes! Oma would love that! Anyway, one day we were playing with it and Brad came home from work and started playing with us. I challenged him to a play dough contest to see how good he was at sculpting! The first thing he had to make were glasses.
Not too bad! So I challenged him to make a shoe.

Of course it had to be a Nike shoe! He did a good job even if I told him to make Nike Shox! Who needs Optometry school when you could be a sculptor! :)

Silver Falls

So, one of our friends was visiting with us for a few days, so while Brad was working, she and I and Peanut went down to Silver Falls. I have always wanted to go see them and its only about an hour and a half away. We stopped at this lookout (above) of the North falls and after looking at our map, we decided to go on the trail at the north falls because it looked like the easiest to do with a 2 1/2 year old!
So we took a trail and we were able to walk behind the water fall. It was really pretty.
Peanut was a little cranky at this point because she desparately needed a nap!
Here is the view from a bench behind the waterfall! I love the sound of waterfalls! Someday, I want to do the whole loop around all the waterfalls there.

Nemo Blanket

I made Peanut a rag tie blanket and she loves being bundled up in it.

Every morning, we come downstairs and she has to have her "nemo blanket".
She is snug as a bug in a rug! :)

Berry Picking

Today we decided to go to the farm and pick some yummy berries. It is cheaper to pick them yourself than to get them at the farmer's market, plus Peanut loves to carry the bucket and help us pick the berries

Both Brad and I had never picked blueberries before or even seen a blueberry bush, so here is one!
We got almost 4 pounds of blueberries, raspberries and boysenberries for $3.75! What a deal! After we were finished, we went and saw the chickens and the rooster and the turkeys and the horses! Peanut loved the horse!
Don't they look yummy?

Multnomah falls

On Brad's day off, we drove out to Multnomah Falls. We took this scenic route that passes by a bunch of smaller waterfalls before you get to the "big one". It was a really pretty drive. We stopped at one of the smaller ones first, so Peanut could walk around.
This is the smaller waterfall. It is still big to me! Peanut liked going to the bottom and playing in the water.
The picture above is taken on the bridge you hike up to that is about the middle of Multnomah falls. The picture below is taken from lookout area right by the entrance. You can also see the bridge we hiked to!
Once we got to the bridge, we decided to keep going up a little bit further. Peanut was being good and she didn't have to walk one step because Brad was pushing her in the umbrella stroller. The sign said it was only a mile to the top, so we thought we would see if we could make it up there. Slowly, but surely we did. We definatley could feel the humidity as we were hiking! It was a lot of fun though and we made it to the top! We let Peanut walk around a bit and then we made the journey back down again. It's funny how much faster it is going downhill than up!

Here is a picture from the top looking at the waterfall. You can't tell how big it is from up there!
On our way home, we stopped at an overlook of the Columbia River and this was our view. It is so pretty here!

Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July! ( This is a little late, but better late than never!) Anyway, this year we started our celebration on the 3rd and we set off our own little fireworks with our friends, the Burts.
Here is Brad showing his true colors as a pyro! :) Since we now live in a place where fireworks are legal, he was loving life! Peanut liked the first few fireworks but then she got bored really fast. Her and Alisa had more fun playing with the whipper snapper things you throw on the ground than watching the "big" ones!
It was really fun! Then on the 4th, Brad had to work, so Peanut and I just played outside and then when Brad got home, we had a BBQ and made yummy homemade ice cream!